FROM PRISON WITH A PURPOSE

 It is so exciting to begin this study with you!  So by now you have read the book of Colossians in its entirety twice and aided by the Holy Spirit and  your trusty colored pencils began, the process of observing the text. The observation that you did will propel you into today's lesson and help you obtain even greater understanding of the passage and how God desires it be applied to your life. 

So did you take me up on the challenge and start you day off spending time with God?  The psalmist spoke about spending time with God in Psalm 5:3

"In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly."

There is something sweet about coming to Him in the morning-giving Him the first fruit of my day.  It begins to change us and transforms our minds and hearts as we come to Him as our source of truth.  Unfortunately, when I go to the internet, news, or social media-I often am uncertain what is true and what is a lie.  So why go to those things first?  Why would I not go to the one who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life," (John 14:6) and get His perspective from the start.  

How did your observation go?  I wish I could hear what you have to say and what God may have taught you!  Don't be discouraged if this seemed difficult this week.  It often is for those who are beginning to learn how to observe the scripture.  Although it may not be for you, when I started, I found highlighting with the colored pencils to be a bit daunting.  It will get better, but in the meantime you may want to make a legend with the color and corresponding words you are highlighting.  

To help you out each week, I will include the passage we are going to look at and what I highlighted. Well lets get this started!!!

 Here is my legend for this section:

God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit

People

Places

Repeated words  (some of the words may not be repeated in these verses but are in following ones)

Words related to the Gospel

 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by  God's will and Timothy our brother,2 To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are the faithful brothers and sisters. Grace to you and  peace  from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s saints— 5  because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.  You have already heard  about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly appreciate God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear loved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your  behalf, 8 and he has  told us about your love in the Spirit

So how did you do?  I'd love to sit down with you and hear about your prayer time and what you learned through study this week!  My prayer is for you to grow in knowledge and intimacy with God and experience life changing transformation though His Word! Let's jump right in and start going over the first of Colossians.

BACKGROUND:  Reading over the book of Colossians we  find the overarching theme to be the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Paul, who is currently imprisoned, is writing  to the church at Colossae, a town that is located in a province of Rome in what is modern day Turkey.  Because Colossians falls under the genre of Pauline letters, we have to understand what is going in this particular body that caused him to write. It appears that Paul has never visited this church, and only hears of them from a man named, Epaphras.  It is thought that the letter was written sometime around 60-62 AD to this group of Gentile converts.   Rome did not look fondly on these new believers and it is likely that they were under persecution for their faith, but there was more going on with this group.  Chapter 2 makes it clear that some of these converts were being influenced by a heretical philosophy that had crept into their congregation. They were stepping into the gospel, but trying to wavier from the truth and  simplicity of it. Ideas and practices from Non-Messianic Judaism, mysticism and Greek philosophy were infiltrating the body and creating a mentality that Jesus was a stepping stone  to something better. 

This book reminds us that we, like the Colossians, may be guilty of having the mentality "Christ and" something else instead of "Christ alone."  As we move deeper into this study you will be challenged to scrutinize your own belief system and see if there are similarities between you and the Colossian believers, but for now let's begin to dig and see what this letter is teaching us.

GREETING:  Paul greets the church as author of this letter and identifies Timothy as co-author.  Background on Paul can be found in Acts 7:54-8:3, Acts 9:1-30.   

Have you been guilty of only skimming the greeting of books that are letters to the churches.  If so, let's take a deeper look into the first 3 verses of this book.  They are rich!!  Paul identifies himself as an "apostle of Christ by the will of God." This introduction indicated that he had authority to speak as Christ's apostle, a task that was entrusted to only a few.  Paul doesn't say this because he is a status seeker-he simply seeks to fulfill the task that he has been given by God. Paul is clear on his purpose, his charge was preach the gospel and build up the body of Christ by helping believers with their struggles in obedience.  Walking out that purpose is exactly what we see him doing when he writes to  the Gentile believers at Colossae while on house arrest, tethered to a Roman guard.  

 He address his letter to the faithful believers "in Christ" at Colossae (v2)  We will see the reference "in Christ" multiple times in this letter, so let's define what that means. 

• In Christ our life is so incorporated in Him that He encompasses our entire life
• In Christ we are exclusively and inseparably joined to Him and no other
• In Christ, He determines the behavior of believers
• In Christ believers are now joined to a new family where mutual faith in Christ has created a spiritual kinship that supersedes blood lines. 
• In Christ we can begin to understand our true identity

Considering what Paul is going to have to address, he greeted them with a reminder  of their  identity "in Christ."  

He continues his greeting in v2 by saying "Grace to you and peace from God the Father."   In light of the message that Paul was about to deliver, he needed to remind them of the grace in which they were saved through faith.  As people who were persecuted by Rome and dealing with the corruption and heresy infiltrating the church, they needed to remember their great salvation. Grace is one of the major tenants of the gospel message.  The salvation that came by  grace through faith (Eph 2:8), was not only a saving grace. Scripture says that God's grace is sufficient (2 Cor 12:9)  They needed to understand the sufficiency of the gift of Jesus Christ, who was full of grace and truth (John 1:17). Christ was going to be sufficient for their every need and every challenge.

What about peace?  From a worldly perspective we think of it as lack of chaos, but that isn't what is meant here.  Jesus was called the Prince of Peace in scripture.  Before placing our faith in Christ we had enmity with God because of our sin, but Jesus came to bring us peace with God.    

"Grace and peace to you" encapsulates the gospel.  If you do not have grace, then there is not peace.  Peace begins with, and depends on the cross of grace. 

 Don't miss that everything Paul touches turns to the gospel.  He knows that God has entrusted the gospel message to him and although his traveling missionary journey may have been prohibited by his house arrest, he did not let the mission and the gifting that had been given him shrink back.  I don't know who needs to hear this, but circumstances in our lives may change, yet our mission does not!  Our purpose remains unchanged-how we walk out our purpose and how we use the gifts He has given, may just look different for a season or perhaps longer.

"God has give each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another."   1 Pet 4:10 NLT

 Paul found himself in a season, where he could not travel around freely and spread the gospel, but he was able to use pen and paper to encourage and build up the body of Christ.  He  understood that he still had a task to perform for God and adjusted how he would fulfill that purpose.  God will always use the gifts that He has given to you, however we must be available to use our gifts, perhaps in a different way than we have in the past.

Do not allow the gift you have to shrink because you are not using it appropriately.  Paul writes to the Colossians, a community of believers whom he has never met,  with a purpose from his prison. They were going to hear rebuke but before that they needed to be reminded of the gospel message, who they are in Christ and His sufficiency. 

THANKSGIVING

Paul  tells the church that he regularly prays for them and thanks God for their faith in Christ and their love for their fellow believers. Paul gives God the credit, not the Colossians, recognizing their faith and love for others comes from Him.   The thanksgiving in v 3-8  focuses on the effects of the gospel in Colossae and the world. Paul expresses his thanks for the following:

1. Their faith in Christ and their love for the saints (fellow believers) Faith and love are intrinsically tied together.  Scripture makes very clear to us that if we love God then we are to love fellow believers. (Jn 13:34-54) How can we share the love of Christ to the world if there is descension and failure to love our own brothers and sisters in Christ?  Our love for one another is actually how the world knows we are His disciples.  So how well are you loving fellow believers?
2. Their reception of the gospel  It is only possible for them to have the faith in Christ and the love for the their fellow believers because of the hope stored up for them in heaven. This hope comes from the hearing and receiving of the gospel (v5). The hope referred to here is  a confident expectation which waits patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled in His Son ,Jesus Christ.
3. The universal impact of the gospel This message has swept across geographical, racial and social barriers. Against all odds and under great persecution, it has spread.  This message of God's grace and His redeeming love can speak into any culture, regardless of how pagan.  Paul testifies to the effectiveness of the gospel indicating it "bears fruit." Fruitfulness here does not the mean fruit of the Spirit, which we know is a product of the Holy Spirit in the believers life.  Instead "bears fruit," means converts.  This message is growing and spreading.  People are coming to know Christ, because the gospel message was shared over and over again. It was true then and it is true today.
4. The solid foundation of the gospel Epaphrus laid out for the Colossians The only way that we will see the gospel bear fruit is when believers faithfully proclaim it and  others respond with understanding and obedience.  The truth Epaphrus proclaimed was in stark contrast to the heresy being spread by others in the church. 

So how do you apply this teaching to your life.  Take a minute and reflect on what God is saying to you  before moving forward.  

It may be,

• My primary purpose is to spread the gospel message of Christ.  To do that, I must understand that message and have experienced the transformation that comes by grace through faith.  God may be calling me to move beyond what I have done in the past and call me to something new.  How we serve Him often evolves and changes. 
• God is calling me to a greater love for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Instead of criticizing, I need identify how my fellow believers are walking faithfully and give thanks to God. 
• Who do I need to share the gospel with today?

I'd love to sit and hear what you have to say. Next lesson we will focus on verses 9-14.  Here is your homework:

1. Read slowly and intentionally Colossians 1 several times.
2. Begin your observation, using your colored pens.  Remember that you are looking for repeated words, phrases or concepts throughout the entire passage 
3. Color code v 9-14
4. Get out your notebook and answer the following questions

• In v 9 the CSB says, "For this reason also."  What is this referring?
• What does Paul say they pray for the believers at Colossae?
• The prayer is prayed with a specific result in mind.  What are the results listed? v10 and v11 (look at the "so that" statements)
• Why did they need the results listed above? 
• What does it mean "bearing fruit in every good work?"
• What is the knowledge of God referred to in v10?
• What is the saints' inheritance?
• What does it mean to be rescued?  From what have we been rescued?  
• What does it mean to be transferred?  To where have we been transferred?
• What is redemption?

I look forward to joining you next week as we continue this study together.  It is my prayer, as we study together that you will fall more in love with God and His Word.

"Your word is completely pure and your servant loves it." Ps 119:140