It started off as an ordinary day. I woke up, put on my tie, climbed the guard rail, and made the 30 step trek from my apartment to my work space on vicarage, which was literally the building next door. I lived on the other end of the parking lot. I did my normal morning routine, and took my usual bathroom break around 8:30 a.m. As I was walking out, I saw him. Him? The district president. I wondered, “What is he doing here this early? He lives on the other side of the state. To be here at this time, he had to leave at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. What is going on?” I came to find out that there was a serious problem with a staff person, and that, my supervisor, Pastor Roth, called him in to help. He needed all the help he could get with this one.
The book of Colossians starts with a similar scenario. The pastor at Colossae, Epaphras, has a problem, a big problem. And so, he meets Paul in Rome as the Apostle is under house arrest. Epaphras makes the 1,300 mile journey on foot to talk with Paul personally. Could you imagine walking that far to talk to someone about a problem? In the ancient world, one could travel between 20 to 40 miles a day on foot. With that in mind, it was a month journey at 40 miles a day and a two month journey at 20 miles a day! All of this travel was done one way to talk to Paul about this problem! He would spend at least two to four months just walking there and back!
And so, what does Epaphras go to Paul to talk about? What is plaguing the Colossian Christians? Epaphras tells Paul that there are false teachers denying the power of the Gospel! They claim that the Gospel alone is not enough to bear fruit or to change sinful human beings. Something more is needed! He tells Paul that they are denying the sufficiency of Jesus. These false teachers are lessening, and diminishing, His atonement, divinity, fullness, glory, and authority! Unfortunately, there are more issues. These false teachers claim special insights and revelations into the mysteries of God: this is why Paul focuses on wisdom, knowledge, and insight being in Jesus. Should it then be a surprise to hear that they are encouraging people to follow dietary laws, severe self-discipline and restraint, man-made traditions, and a religious calendar? Remember, they held the Gospel and Jesus aren’t enough. They didn’t deny those things, but dangerously lessened them. Like an infomercial, they said, “Wait, there’s more!”
With these problems and issues plaguing Epaphras and the people of Colossae, no wonder he makes the 1,300 mile trek to talk with the big gun himself, Paul the Apostle.
We still see these same things today; the problems that Paul addresses in Colossians are not new. We live in an age that puts a high premium on knowledge and learning. However, human wisdom and knowledge are allowed to sit in judgment over Scripture and the Gospel. We live in an age where authority is challenged, delegitimatized, or dismissed, especially that of Jesus and His Word. We live in an age of self-help and self-improvement: the mind can will and bring forth the change it wants to. So much for the Spirit’s work through the Gospel. And we live in a world that says Jesus isn’t enough. He isn’t enough for life, joy, contentment, hope, and daily living. And so to help his fellow pastor, and these fellow saints in the Lord, Paul pens Colossians in prison to encourage, instruct, and redirect them to the Jesus. His words are just as important and applicable today as they were then. As he starts Colossians, the Apostle proclaims that we have the sufficient Word of Truth, the Gospel.
Paul starts by thanking God for their faith, love, and hope that come from the Gospel. I love how the NIV puts these verses: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people-the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the Gospel.” Paul says that the Gospel is sufficient for hope, faith, and love. Hope is a faith that is directed toward the future. And what is that faith and hope? It is that God has done everything for you in gaining heaven. Heaven is not achieved by you. You can’t do it, and neither can I. Heaven is not achieved by you, but it is stored up for you, for you! The day is coming when you and I by faith in the suffering lamb of God, Jesus, who takes away the sin of the world, the day is coming when we will stand before our God perfect, blameless, holy, washed, and cleansed…forever! That is for you! It is not by you. It is stored up for you. And that gives me hope.
Hope rejuvenates my heart. And what happens when I have hope? Faith and love spring up from hope! Faith is all about my relationship with God (that He can be counted on, and that His promises are time-tested and eternal.) Love is all about my relationship with people. Through God’s Gospel promises, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts. As we patiently and confidently wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled, our Spirit-instilled hope from the Gospel interacts mightily with faith and love, and we grow in all three. Our hope from the Gospel fuels our faith, which shows itself in love. This all comes from the Gospel; the one that the Colossians heard. The one you are now hearing. The Gospel is sufficient for hope, faith, and love. The Spirit gives those gifts through it. And like the opponents, Paul says, “but wait, there is more!”
Paul continues: “the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing-as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.” The Gospel is sufficient for faith’s fruit and the Church’s growth.
The Gospel that the Colossians possessed was no mere fly-by-night message proclaimed by some secretive, local sect. It was a universal message of life and truth. The wonderful change that the Gospel had brought about in the Colossians’ hearts and lives was being duplicated in the hearts and lives of people all over the world, Paul says, Emmaus included. The Gospel’s work doesn’t stop after it works faith in the heart. It continues to bear fruit and good works in us through the Holy Spirit. Good works are those thoughts, words, and deeds that please God. It is thoughts that are sexually pure and decent. It is words that build-up, encourage, and support our neighbor, or defend them. It is deeds like mowing the lawn, supporting our collection drive, or giving a cup of cold water to someone in need. The Gospel, the news that Jesus died and rose for us sinners, continues to work in our hearts and its power enables believers to bring forth faith’s fruits by the Spirit. Paul says that it continues to spread, too.
Consider Paul’s own day. The Church starts with a few hundred people at the Ascension, and within 70 years at the turn of the century, historians say that number grew to about 500,000! That is over a 1,000% increase! The Holy Spirit works through the Gospel, and still does today, as it goes throughout the world bearing fruit and bringing people to faith. Nothing needs to be added or changed to the Gospel that bears fruit and grows the Church. It is sufficient for the task.
Paul ends by saying the Gospel is sufficient for delivering redemption and forgiveness. In verses 13-14, he says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” God reaches out through the Gospel to rescue us from the kingdom of darkness and death, and brings us into the Kingdom of His Son, Jesus. The words delivered and transferred point us back to baptism, which incorporates us into Jesus’ saving work. There, we were buried with Him. There, we were raised with Him, and walk not just in the newness of life, but live in His kingdom, free from the powers of darkness, sin, and Satan! We have an address change! We have salvation! And God’s gift of salvation comes with a host of blessings: knowledge of His will, strength, endurance, joy, an everlasting inheritance, and the present gift of redemption and forgiveness! All of this is delivered through the Gospel by the Holy Spirit.
As Paul opens his letter, he reminds the Colossians, and us, that the Gospel is sufficient for faith, hope, and love. He proclaims it continues to bear fruit and grows the Church. It continues to deliver and forgive sinners. The Gospel is all sufficient. Amen!