The letter to the Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul somewhere around the year A.D. 60. He wrote this letter during the course of his two-year house arrest in Rome.
The church at Colossae appears to have been planted by a man named Epaphras during Paul's three-year visit in Ephesus. Motivated by the gospel he heard Paul preach in that city, Epaphras returned to Colossae and shared the gospel with the people of his home area. A local church was born, but in time, that young church struggled to accept sound doctrine, and the lives of its members were being affected by this reality.
Paul wrote this letter to help these young believers understand good doctrine, specifically doctrinal truths about Jesus Himself. Paul wanted these young Christians to develop a healthy and mature faith. He wanted them to live out the truth of the gospel. He wanted them to know the real Jesus deeply, and through that relationship, apply the gospel to the ways in which they lived. He also wanted to help prevent them from following false teachers who taught unbiblical and worldly things.
As we study this book together, I hope that we'll develop an appreciation of who Jesus is and how He is capable to satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. He is Lord over all creation. He gives us greater things than this world can supply, and He invites us to trust Him completely so we don't fall prey to the ungodly practices and philosophies of this world.
Paul ministered this truth in Ephesus. Epaphras ministered this truth in Colossae. What would it look like for us to follow their examples and minister this truth in our time and in our location? What kind of minister can you and I become through the power of Christ?
I. A minister who is thankful for the faith and love of the church
““We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,””
If you could re-live any season of your life, what season would you select? Would you choose your high school years, or are those some of the years that you'd be happier to forget?
When I was in high school, I started to become more open about telling others about my faith in Jesus. Some people responded to what I shared with polite interest while others seemed more apt to mock my young faith. I still vividly remember when I caught a friend mocking my beliefs behind my back when he thought I wouldn't notice. It was hurtful.
It's easy to be critical. And in some respects, it can be a popular thing to mock followers of Christ or become critical of the church. At times, I even hear professing believers speaking poorly of the church and pointing out its flaws in an unhelpful or un-redemptive manner.
But how did Paul speak of Christ's bride in this passage? And how did those who told him about the church speak? They spoke well of them, even when they were speaking about them outside of their hearing. Paul was told of the faith and love that were Spirit-empowered characteristics of the church in Colossae.
Every era of church history has been filled with challenges and struggles that the church must confront. Some of those struggles are internal and others are external. But in the midst of the pagan Roman culture of the day, the church at Colossae was demonstrating genuine growth in faith and love. Wouldn't it be nice if that could be said about every local church?
This young church had genuine faith in Jesus, and the result of genuine faith is love. As we love God, we are inspired to love those He has created in His image. In fact, loving others as Christ has first loved us is one of the most powerful ways the Lord demonstrates the power of His gospel to an unbelieving world.
Several months ago, I invited a friend of mine to visit our church on a Sunday morning while he was in the area. He took me up on that invitation and recently told me that the visit had a profound impact on him and his family. It destroyed his stereotypical impression of what the church was like. Everyone he introduced himself to was gracious and kind to him. His children were immediately invited to participate in an afternoon youth event. And since that time, his family made the decision to begin attending a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching church in their community. He told me that his experience with our church family one Sunday morning directly contributed to that.
I think that's exactly what you or I would have experienced if we visited the Colossian Christians and worshipped together with them. Their genuine faith in Jesus was demonstrated through their genuine love for others.
II. A minister who is thankful for the hope of the true gospel
““because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,””
It must have been quite an interesting time to live during the century immediately after the resurrection of Jesus. During that century, brave men and women travelled all over the known world and shared the gospel with others. Many of them knew that in doing so, they were likely risking their lives because some areas would take deep offense to hearing that the national pagan deities they worshipped were false gods, but in the midst of that reality, the Spirit of God was also preparing hearts and opening eyes to understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth.
In these verses, Paul reminded the Colossians that the gospel that had reached them was now being proclaimed all throughout the world, and great spiritual fruit was being produced as more and more people came to faith. People throughout the world were learning what real hope truly is. The hope Christ supplies isn't a wish or a possibility, it's a guarantee. Through Him, we're given the opportunity to live hopeful lives, and that hope isn't extinguished by our changing circumstances. That's a message the Lord wants this world to hear and embrace.
I'm grateful for every opportunity the Lord gives us in our generation to share the message of our hope in Christ as well. It can be argued that we have even more opportunity than the generations that came before us did. When I became a pastor a few decades ago, I would prepare sermons that were only heard by those who were present in the building the moment those messages were delivered. If you weren't there, you missed it. Now when I preach, the messages are heard by those who are present, live-streamed to others online, shared via podcasts and videos during the week, and the text is published in blogs and books. The messages that originate in our local pulpit are literally heard throughout the world every single week.
I'm also grateful for others who are taking creative approaches to make the hope of the gospel known. You may be familiar with the ministry of Operation Christmas Child, and how that ministry sends shoeboxes of gifts to impoverished children, which also leads to opportunities to preach the gospel to these families. They've been doing this for years, and just recently I actually heard of a young woman from the Philippines who saved the gifts she received from a young man in the United States. Those gifts were sent when they were children, but she reached out to him years later to thank him. He responded, and not too long ago, they actually got married and now they have a child.
In every generation since the gospel was first preached, we are being given creative opportunities to make it known throughout the world. How illogical would it be for you and me to be the recipients of the great hope of salvation, and then keep that hope to ourselves. It wouldn't make sense. We'll emotionally explode if we don't tell others of this hope that excites us.
III. A minister who is willing to bring the good news
“ “just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.” ”
Did one person tell you the gospel, or did the Lord use many people to tell you before you finally responded to it? I can point to quite a few people who played a part in me hearing the gospel. Family members, church leaders, camp volunteers, and even a few friends. More people than I probably realize planted seeds of the gospel in my life that eventually bore fruit.
The Colossians heard the gospel from Epaphras. When his eyes were opened up to it, he couldn't wait to tell the people of his hometown. He risked experiencing their rejection and ridicule to bring them the hope they needed. By the grace of God, people responded and the church took root there. Without the aid of modern transportation, Epaphras traveled about 100 miles from Ephesus to Colossae, most likely on foot, because of the joy he had in Christ that he wanted his friends and family to also possess.
There's a well-loved verse in the book of Isaiah that speaks of the good news traveling by foot to reach a listening ear.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” ”
People like Epaphras motivate and inspire me. He was a man of action, not excuses. As far as we know, he didn't possess any special title or credentials. I don't know if he was well educated or if that wasn't something available to him. All I know is that he knew a good thing when he saw it, and he wasn't waiting around for someone to give him permission to do what the Spirit of God was compelling his heart to act upon. When the Holy Spirit told Epaphras to tell his hometown about Jesus, he did it.
Many people spend a lot of time praying for others to come to faith in Jesus. They also spend a lot of time praying that someone will tell the people they love about Him, but they doubt that the Lord could use them as that messenger because they don't have a title, credentials, or superior education. I would contend that there are some people in your life that will only listen to you, and the titles and credentials of others might actually be a hindrance to them being willing to listen to someone else.
There are dozens of people who played a direct part in my reception of the gospel. In your case, you might be the person who first plants the seed of the idea, or you might be the person who shares a personal application of how the hope of the gospel changed your heart. You might be the last link in a chain of people who help lead someone to Christ, or you might be the first link. But you don't need a title to be a minster. You just need faith in Jesus, love for His people, the hope of the gospel, and the willingness to open your mouth wide enough to speak.
© John Stange, 2022
