INTRO TO
COLOSSIANS & PRAYER
We are sometimes at a disadvantage when reading Paul’s
letters to a church or an individual. Behind each letter there are questions
that lead to Paul’s answers, but the question is not spelled out. So with a
little digging we discover the purpose for the letter.
1. What prompted Paul to write to the church at Colossae?
The Colossian church was no different than today’s North
American church in the pressures that it faced. That pressure can be narrowed
down to the ever-present demand to conform to culture. While Christ calls His
people who love Him to be different, culture begs us to be the same. And if we
have to have our church gatherings, culture asks that we make our worship
relevant. Relevance is good but the adoption of some worldviews into the church
is what we call syncretism. Syncretism is the melding together of opposing
schools of thought.
We see
that Paul warned the church about syncretism and cultural pressures to conform
in 2:8, where he said, “See to it that no
one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on
human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Human
tradition and the basic principles of this world stand opposed to the person of
Christ. Some humanism can appear attractive, especially when defending human
rights. But when Christ is excluded from the equation, humanism focuses only on
the triumph of humankind. It is godless.
Epaphras,
an associate of Paul’s who may have been discipled by the apostle in Ephesus,
came to the Lycus valley and planted churches in Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis.
Soon after, false teachers came to the church, or who were part of the church
already, began to spread doubt among the believers. They said that it was good
that they had Jesus, but there was something more, something they were missing.
Believers were beginning to lose their bearings because of competing
theologies. They were unsure of what to believe.
From
Paul’s letter we can see that the false teachers were
a) offering a spiritual fullness not previously
experienced by the church (Paul responds by saying that they already have
fullness 2:9-10);
b) speaking of a new spiritual freedom, as if they needed
something more to be delivered from their spiritual oppression (though Christ
has delivered them from darkness and spiritual slavery 1:13 and 2:15);
c) claiming to have a particular spiritual insight that
others did not have.
This
last error involved an unhealthy emphasis on angels or intermediaries to whom
the false teachers claimed to have access. These may have been what some today
call “spirit guides” but what the NT called evil spirits, elemental principles,
or rulers of the air. Called the “Colossian heresy” by some, the error came
down to basically seeking other avenues to spiritual fullness apart from
Christ.
In
short, they were beginning to believe that the gospel Epaphras taught them was
incomplete. Or, to put it another way, they were made to feel that their faith
was lacking, that they were not enough for God, they fell short of being
complete Christians.
Can you
relate? How many times have you felt that you did not measure up to the
standard someone has set for the Christian faith? You wish you knew the Bible
like a pastor; you try to “be spiritual,” whatever that means, and feel grossly
unworthy of the title; you don’t speak in tongues or pray like the giants of
the faith. You feel like you are not enough.
Paul’s
letter answers that insufficiency by saying that in Christ all has been
accomplished. You need nothing more. You have been given fullness in Christ
(2:10). Paul gives hope to the Christians who doubt their faith and deliverance
through Christ.
Where
the letter to the Romans guides us into a deeply theological road to fellowship
with Christ, the letters to the Ephesians and the Colossians tell us how to
live in Christ. Where Ephesus tells us about the church, Colossians teaches us
about the supremacy of Christ.
The
breakdown of the letter to the Colossians can be presented in two parts:
Chapters 1-2 are mainly doctrinal presenting Jesus as the
Creator, Savior, and Lord.
Chapters 3-4 are practical and focus on how the believer
works out the daily reality of the supremacy of Christ.
As we enter into the letter itself, Paul begins with his
customary greeting to the church at Colossae. But then he launches into how
thankful to God he is for this church and tells them what he prays for them.
Rather
than preach to you about prayer, I felt that it would be appropriate and good to
pray along with Paul for our church. So I need your help this morning. The
needs of this body are more than one person can bear in prayer. Will you
partner with me in lifting up Kleefeld EMC in prayer?
We will
break our corporate prayer time into two parts, just as Paul did: part one will
be giving thanks for our brothers and sisters in Christ and part two will be
asking God to fill us with the knowledge of His will and the power to do His
will.
2. Praying Paul’s prayer for our Church
A.
Thanking God for our brothers and sisters in Christ
-
For our faith in Christ
-
For our love for God’s people
-
For our heavenly hope
-
For those who teach this good news
B.
Praying for Us
1)
Asking God to fill us with the knowledge of His
will.
So
that…
-
We may live a life worthy of the Lord
-
We may please Him in every way
-
We may bear fruit through good works
-
We may grow in the knowledge of God
2)
Asking God to give us power to do His will
-
With great endurance and patience
- giving joyful thanks to the Father
Our Father, thank you that you are the God of hope. You
have sent a word of truth into this broken, despairing world. What a remarkable
thing it is, in a world where everything comes to us biased and slanted by
those with axes to grind, to find a place where there is a word of reality, a
word of truth that we can trust! Send us now back into our world, to our
friends, our neighbors, the hopeless ones around us, and help us to
demonstrate, by the joy and peace of our lives, that we have found the answer,
we have found the place of hope. In Jesus' name.[i]
AMEN
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