“Bear Fruit in Every Good Work”

Series on Colossians

Colossians 1:1-29; 2/6/11

Introduction: Illustration: “From one pastor to another.” A couple of weeks ago a church member e-mailed me this humorous letter from one pastor to another about the miracles he had seen happen in his church; it reads like this: To My Dear Friend, Pastor Phil Blowhorn: I sure hope attendance at your church was better'n my church. Mercy, pastorin' ain't always easy, now is it? We had us a bunch of sick folk, and them added to all the shut-ins made for a whole lot of pew cushions to look at from the pulpit. I got to admit, I was feelin' somewhat put out, but I went ahead and preached anyhows. Only thing was, with all them people missin' the echo in the church gave me a hoot of a headache. My wife said I needed to git out and ride a bit 'cause the fresh air would make me feel better. Sure 'nuff, she was right. Not only did my head clear up, but what I saw renewed my faith in the Good Lord. I tell you, Brother, I seen miracle after miracle! My Sunday School superintendent, Hank Weaselbaum had called to tell me that he was so deathly sick, he wouldn't make it to church. But there he was, drivin' down the road with his favorite fishin' pole stickin' out the window. I tell you, only a miracle coulda' snatched him out'a the jaws of death that way! Then there was my head deacon. He had done left a message on my answerin' machine that his back was so jerked out'a line that he thought he might have to have surgery. But I want you to know that when we drove past the golf course, there he was, hittin' golf balls on the drivin' range. Hallelujah, our prayers worked! Edna Brump sent word with her sister that she wouldn't make it 'cause her stomach was all upset and she didn't want to take a chance on havin' a mishap in the church. But glory! There she was, standin' in line at the Feedin' Trough Smorgas-bord. Another healin'! All told, we saw that 20 of our sick folk had takin' a turn for the better and were up and about. Yes, sir, Brother Blowhorn, I'm excited! I just know we'll be havin' us a packed house next Sunday, what with all the sick and shut-ins revived by such a touch from Heaven. I look forward to givin' you right nice report. Your good friend, Pastor William.

This morning we start a series on the book of Colossians. I believe this book will challenge us in our faith and in how we live as the people of God, and will help lead us to see and experience the miracles of God. Today we start by looking at chapter 1 and how our faith is to lead us to bear fruit for God, and that God is there as Creator, Sustainer, and Reconciler.

I. Thankful for Your Faith- (Colossians 1:3-8)

a. Pray for you- Let’s start by reading Colossians 1:1-8, “Paul, an

apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, ² To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. ³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people, ⁵ 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 ⁶ that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”

One of the most important things we can do as God’s people is to pray for one another. You may not know exactly what is going on in someone’s life, but you can pray for their faith to be strong, and for their love for the Lord to be evident to others. The truth is, we cannot have enough prayer in our lives! Maybe you hear a prayer request on Sunday, and you decide to pray for that person throughout the week. Or maybe God just brings someone’s name to your mind, and you decide to pray for them. Thank God for them, for their faith, and God’s love in their lives.

b. The word of truth- Paul also reminds us that the truth of God,

which is found in His word, the Bible, is at the heart of bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God, and for bringing growth to God’s people. We might shy away from sharing God’s word with others, but in doing that we keep the power of God’s word from doing the work that it can.

If you are reading a little bit of scripture each day, then you can share that with those around you. I set a pretty big goal for myself about a year and a half ago, and that was to memorize one psalm a month! I am currently in Psalm 18. The beauty of this is I have the word of God constantly in my mind, and on my lips.

EX. Not too long ago I was having coffee with a friend of mine, and something she said reminded me of Psalm 12. And so I quoted the psalm to her. I could feel the very power of God flow through me as I was speaking it!! The Bible is God’s word of truth, and is meant for us to share so that it might bear fruit and bring growth.

c. God’s grace- On top of this, Paul encourages the Colossians in

regards to God’s grace. It is in understanding God’s grace that we are not only led to faith in Christ, and to salvation, but also we are led to grow in our Christian walk. The grace of God is the truth that God does not hold our sin against us, but offers us a way out of it. As we accept this grace, we are given the ability, through Christ, to live apart from our sin, and follow God’s truth, so that we might be able to do great things for God! Without God’s grace, we would indeed be lost.

II. Every Good Work- (Colossians 1:9-14)

We next turn to Colossians 1:9-14, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

a. The knowledge of His will- The knowledge of the will of God,

Wouldn’t this be great to have? If you are like me, there are many days you go through wondering what you are supposed to accomplish. OR, you have many decisions that you need to make: what would God have you to do? We are always wondering what God’s will is for our lives. How are we to know? Paul talks of how he prays for the Colossians that God would indeed fill them with the knowledge of His will. If this is true, then knowing God’s will doesn’t come from outside of us, but from within; from God’s Spirit giving us this knowledge and understanding.

To know God’s will for our lives, we need to seek God spirit to Spirit. This might happen by us having a feeling of what is right for us to do. This might happen by God putting a thought into our minds; a thought that is supported by the Bible. This might happen by God giving us a sense of what He is leading us to do. We can have the knowledge of God’s will by our seeking out God’s Spirit from within.

b. Strengthened with all power- And so by God’s will being made

known to us, and by God’s word being present in our lives and on our lips, we begin to experience the power of God at work. As we open ourselves up to this power of God, we are strengthened in our lives; we are more able to live as we were created to live; we realize that we don’t have to just get through the day, but that we can be victorious because of God’s power giving us strength each day!

All the more, Paul tells us that God ‘has rescued us from the dominion of darkness.’ STORY:

There once was a pastor in a small New England town who came to church, one Easter Sunday morning carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Of course this raised some eyebrows from those in the congregation. He then began to tell them about how the day before, he had come upon a young boy with this birdcage. The 3 little birds seems scared and cold, so he asked the boy what he was going to do with them. The boy said: “I’m going to take them home and have fun with them; maybe make them fight, and then feed them to my cats!”

The pastor was stunned at this statement, so he then asked the boy if he could buy the birds from him. The boy responded: ‘They don’t sing, and they aren’t pretty; what would you want them for?’ The pastor again asked the boy how much he wanted for the birds. The boy thought that the pastor was crazy, and said: ‘$10.’ This was far more than the birds were worth, but the pastor took out a $10 bill and gave it to the boy, who then gave the pastor the birds. The pastor then opened the cage door and let the birds fly away. He had set them free.

With this the pastor told another story; a story of Satan and Jesus having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. "Yes, sir, I just caught a world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!" "What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked. Satan replied, "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!" "And what will you do when you are done with them?" Jesus asked. "Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly. "How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked. "Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you. You don't want those people!!" "How much? He asked again. Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears and your life." Jesus said, "DONE!" Then He paid the price.
And that is how we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness!

III. The Image of God- (Colossians 1:15-23)

Why would Jesus do this? Paul tells us in verses 15-23:

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. ²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”

Jesus did this because He, as the Son of God, was part of creating us. Not only is He our creator, but our sustainer, as He holds all things together for us. Without Christ the world would literally fall apart! But because of our sin, and giving ourselves over to the temptations of Satan, Jesus had to make peace on our behalf by His blood, shed on the cross.

As any parent would not want their children to be alienated from them, so God did not want us to be alienated. Our minds can get unfocused and distorted in our thinking, but in Christ we can be reconciled and freed. As Christ is the image of God, God in the flesh, He was able to pay this price. As Christ is the image of God, God in the flesh, we are able to understand God’s love through Him. As we are created in the image of God, we are able to be established and stand firm in Christ.

IV. Making Known the Mystery- (Colossians 1:24-29)

Finally, we read verses 24-29: “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. ²⁵ I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— ²⁶ the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. ²⁷ To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸ He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. ²⁹ To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”

a. The mystery of God: Christ in you- “The chief difference between

other religions and the Christian faith, as it relates to the matter of personal salvation is: every other religion teaches a form of self salvation; Christianity teaches that God came in the person of His Son, Jesus, to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. For example: In Buddhism, deliverance comes through the abolition of desire by self-effort. There is no god and no savior. Hinduism says that each person must receive the fruit of his or her own wrong doings in future lives if not in this one. There is no escape by forgiveness but only the final release of Nirvana, involving the extinction of being.”(Taken from Every Day Light, by Selwyn Hughes, p. 25, Day 23)

The mystery of the Christian faith is that not only is Christ our savior, who gives us forgiveness and eternal salvation, but He also resides within us! There is no god who is closer to us than our God! This is the mystery that Christ came to bring, and the truth that Christ came to make a reality.

b. Everyone fully mature- Paul concludes with the teaching that we

are all to be made fully mature in Christ. This is what Paul gave His life for; this is what God called Paul to do with His life. This is what I feel compelled to do as a minister. But in truth, this is what all of us should be striving for, for ourselves, and for others. It is not enough to accept Christ as savior, but He must be our Lord, for whom we seek every day, and whose truth we attempt to know and live out.

Paul acknowledges that he does not do this by his own strength, but by ‘the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.’ So too we will not do this by our own knowledge or strength, but by the knowledge and strength Christ gives to us.

Conclusion: This chapter is packed full of great spiritual nuggets that should encourage us, challenge us, uplift us, and remind us of how we are in need of such a savior as Christ. God gives us truth, knowledge, peace, hope, and strength though Christ who gave Himself for us. The least we could do would be to share His word with others, and seek to grow in our faith each day. Let us commit ourselves to do this, and in so doing, show the love and thankful hearts we have. Amen.