FAITH AND LOVE, SPRINGING UP FROM HOPE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

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 that has come to you.

Colossians 1:1-6a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today, we begin a study of Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae and his “faithful brothers and sisters in Christ there. Like his letter to the Philippians that we have just finished, Paul writes to the Colossian believers from his imprisonment in Rome. It was believed he authored the letter around 62 A.D.

The city of Colossae was located in the district of Phyrgia within the Roman territory of Asia Minor. It sat at the foot of Mount Cadmus and approximately nine miles southeast of Laodicia. Today, Colossae sits near the city of Honaz which is located in the Anatolia region of modern day Turkey.

Of interest, Colossae is only mentioned in Paul’s letter and it’s believed he never visited there. This is reinforced by his own words as he starts chapter 2 saying that was contending for the believers there and in Laodicia as well as others that he had not met personally.

So how did Paul know about the church and the threats he writes about in this letter?

As we will see in chapter 1, one of Paul’s missionaries, a servant of the Gospel named Epaphras, shared information with the Apostle which sparked his concern over false teachings that were creeping into the church and threatening to lead the believers astray. Through his letter, Paul seeks to establish the supremacy and complete adequacy of Christ and the utter inadequacy of any teaching that may contradict or discredit Him. That’s what you can expect to see as a central theme over the weeks ahead and the messages from this epistle.

As we look at today’s opening verses, we see Paul using his typical format.

First, he identifies himself as the writer but note that he adds his identifying vocation as well. For Paul wanted his readers to know that he was “an apostle of Christ Jesus”, not by his own authority but rather appointed “by the will of God”. Like Jesus, Paul wanted the Colossian Christians to know he was about the Father’s business in the Gospel work he was carrying out. He also wants the believers to know that he was writing on behalf of Timothy, who we know was Paul’s younger mentee and protégé.

Next, Paul identifies his audience, the ones he is addressing with the letter. Here, we know he’s writing to His “faithful brothers and sisters in Christ” at Colossae but I love how Paul adds this:

“To God’s holy people”

Paul wanted the Christians in Colossae that he formally recognized them as being set apart from those who had not accepted Jesus as Savior. He viewed them as holy when he wished them “grace and peace...from God”, his Father and theirs.

Indeed, Paul sought to encourage the Colossian Christians for their “faith in Christ Jesus” and the love they had “for all God’s people” In fact, Paul wanted them to know that he and Timothy lifted up prayers of thanksgiving to God because of what they were doing. This was something Paul did all the time and we should follow his lead when we seek to lift up a believer or body of believers who are reflecting the life and love of Jesus in a special, notable way.

So the Colossian Christians were praised by Paul and Timothy for their faith and love but where did that faith and love originate? What was the source?

We find the answer in Paul’s very words as he writes:

“...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 that has come to you.”

We’re in the spring season now and we can see gorgeous plants emerging from the ground. They are literally springing up from a source, a seed or a bulb under the ground which has been watered and fed so growth can occur and the end result is something amazingly beautiful.

When a person chooses to believe in Jesus, they receive a hope of salvation, a hope stored up in heaven that takes root and produces an emerging faith and love that is in and of Christ Jesus. The Colossian Christians experienced this first hand and it was obvious through the way the church and its believers functioned.

Friends, the same hope stored up in heaven for the Christians in Colossae is the hope we gain today through Jesus. Let us all allow that hope to continue producing a wellspring of faith and love for all of God’s people, a faith and love that will show our holiness to all.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com