It's good to see everyone tonight.
We have a wonderful crowd, a large crowd for us, on a
Wednesday evening and we're so thankful that you're here and
look forward to having a good study.
In the book of Colossians chapter 2, we're going to begin
reading there in verse number 1, and the questions that are
before us for consideration, if you don't have them there on the
back table, but the questions will cover verses 1 through 6.
So that's really all we're going to read for an introductory.
Text is will read Has one through six of Colossians
chapter 2 and then go into the questions.
Paul begins therefore by saying for, I want you to know what a
great conflict. I have for you and those and
laodicea. And for as many as have not seen
my face in the flesh that their hearts may be encouraged being
knit together in love and attaining to all Riches of the
full Assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery
of God, both of the father and of Christ in whom are hidden all
Treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Now, this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuade
persuasive words for for though, I am Absent in the flesh.
Yet, I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order
and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ as you have,
therefore received Christ, Jesus, the Lord.
So walk in him correctly, read and barring any mistakes on my
part reads, the passages that are before us for a little while
this evening and question, number one says, what does the
word conflict mean in this verse?
And why did Paul have a great Conflict for those?
in laodicea, first of all, the word conflict is really
virtually the same word that is mentioned in the latter part of
chapter one, with the word striving it really is very
similar in definition and it refers to a person of great care
and anxiety and we're talking about the Apostle Paul, he felt
great care and he felt great anxiety for those in colossi and
also for those in laodicea In fact laodicea was the chief city
of phrygia in the province of Asia located just south of
hieropolis in the lycus river valley.
In fact, it was very close to colossi and Paul had great
concerns for both the colossian church and also for those in
laodicea it. And if you notice in in verse
number 1, He says and for as many as have not seen my face in
the flesh, Chris pointed this out.
I think last time I remember him saying something about this that
the Apostle Paul did not was not there as the founding preacher
or the founding Apostle when the church was established in
Colossus in colossi. In fact that's exactly what he's
saying. And I think really by the using
the phraseology here those that have not seen my face in the
flesh, prove that Paul All did not start the congregation in
colossi and it also proves that he did not start the
congregation. That is in laodicea.
Now, obviously, there's word got back to Paul and Paul was deeply
concerned for the church in these areas and what we're going
to find throughout the course of these six verses is we're going
to notice if there was a line that needed to be drawn between
false Doctrine, false teaching and the truth.
And this was a congregation that was doing that.
Just right. They had not drifted from the
truth but there was great opposition that had entered in
among them and they needed to be encouraged and Paul was greatly
concerned and that's why he said I have great Conflict for you
Colossians and also for those in laodicea because of what was
going on around that time. So now the main warning was this
and this is really the main object of this epistle.
It's to warn the Colossians against false teachings of
judaizers and against modern philosophy.
You know, I think about modern philosophy, I don't know
everything there is to know about modern philosophy in those
days. I know about modern philosophy
and our day and really, what people often times do is they
try to base beliefs on the philosophical reasonings of
today. And really that's why there's
people that don't recognize absolute truth.
They basically say that it is something that's for you and
something that's for me and they can be different, that's just
fine and sometimes it's based upon the model.
Philosophies of the day, the two great opposition's to the truth
in this area were those judaizers that had entered in
bringing aspects of the Old Law to bind on Gentile converts?
In fact, that's what we know about this place.
We don't know a whole lot about it, but we do know this.
They were Gentiles primarily but entering in among them were Judy
izing teachers that had brought in various aspects of the Old
Law. Now, I want to make a point
about answers for just a minute. Do you remember when we studied
Galatians and the church is a multiple congregations in
galatia, the Judy Isaac teachers that had brought in various
aspects of the Old Law like circumcision.
Wanted to bind on Gentile converts.
What God had not bound. In fact, I want to make this
point though. The Judy izing teachers were
among the Church of Christ. They were members of the church,
but what they have done is they basically said this.
Oh yes. You have to be baptized for the
remission of sins in order to be saved, but you have to be
circumcised Gentiles if you want to remain saved and therefore,
all the opposition of Judaism teachers brought those pressures
in on Gentile converts. So, in this area though what do
we have? There is a mixture of Judaism
philosophy and idolatry and all three of these were things that
Paul had to deal with. When writing this letter and
that brings us to verse number 2 and I'll read the question after
I read the verse. So he said that their hearts may
be encouraged being knit together in love and attaining
to all Riches of the fullness of the full Assurance of
understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of
the father and of Christ. The question reads, what is
meant by the phrase? To the knowledge of the mystery
of God. Well, first of all, I'm going to
answer that question. You just a second, but I want to
make a point here. Look at the connection that Paul
gives as he talks about their comfort, and he links it
together with being knit together in love.
And you know, I think that is so powerful and I think that is
something that really applies today to if congregations are
knit together in love and members of the body of Christ
are truly knit together and they have dealings with one, another
personally and socially and we have tight-knit, relationships
and congregations are knit together.
In love, don't you think that it'll help each and every one of
us through the trials of Life? Great comfort comes.
When we are able to handle the The trials of life and sometimes
that is with needing one another and helping each other through
that. And that's what Paul was talking
about. One of the aspects of bearing
one another's burdens. You know, we bear one another's
burdens in a general sense and we bear one another's.
Burdens according to Galatians 6, in a specific sense which
helps our brother Through The Temptations that would cause
them to stumble. So, being knit together in love,
he puts that together and such a state.
One scholar said is a great source of satisfaction because
if Disciples of Christ are bound together, they will be mutual
help to each other to meet the Trials of life.
I thought that was a very powerful point that Paul makes
that connection. And so, let's talk about mystery
now. The word Mystery by definition
is something that has always existed, but was not yet
revealed. Chris did an excellent job
pointing out various things, that could fall into the
category of a mystery or things that had in was in the mind of
God, but was not made evident or reveal.
And there's many things that we could plug in in a specific
sense, though, it's talking about something that deals with
the salvation of Gentiles In this passage.
And so while it could fall into many categories about the
mystery or something, that is existed in the mind of God, but
was not yet revealed. In here, it's in reference to
verses 26 and 27 of the previous chapter.
Let's read that for the mystery which has been hidden from ages
and from Generations but now has been revealed to his Saints to
them. God willed to make known what
are the riches of the glory of his.
This Minister, this mystery among the Gentiles which is
Christ in you the hope of glory. Now let's just flip back to the
book of Ephesians rather quickly and look at Chapter 3.
And we want to read verses three through six because this is the
mystery that Paul was dealing with in Colossians.
It's the same thing that's he dealt with in Ephesians.
So in Ephesians chapter 3, beginning in verse 3.
Paul said there how that by Revelation he made known to me
the mystery as I wrote before in few words by which when you read
you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.
Just incidentally, before we read the next verse.
I think this is so powerful because this proves that a
person can understand the word of God.
In fact, Paul said this, it was revealed to him by the spirit in
such a way that he was able to write it in such a way that when
you those an emphasis read it, they would understand Paul's
knowledge in the mystery of Christ and then he says what it
is. Which is another Ages was not
made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the
spirit To His Holy Apostles and Prophets here.
It is. That the Gentiles should be
fellow Heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in
Christ through the gospel. It had always been the case and
it always been God's plan that there would be jew and Gentile
alike in one body, the church and that mystery that Paul was
talking about was evident in the mind of God, but not yet
revealed. But is now revealed in the
church and through the church, the body of Christ.
And so, that is the mystery that has been revealed.
So, now we come to verse 3, In verse 3, says, in whom are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The question is, what is meant by the phrase, the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge? Well, obviously as this was a
continuous letter. And it wasn't broken down into
book chapter and verse When It Was Written, it was done by the
translators later on. So when we look at verse 3, we
find it to be a continuation of verse 2 and verse one ends, with
the words both of the father and of Christ.
The previous, the previous verse.
Now, Paul includes both the name father and Christ because
they're both included in the subject.
Now first of all there's there's the mystery And they in the
subject, is the mystery, the mystery existed in the mind of
God, it was fulfilled when Jesus shed his blood on the cross and
died for the sins of the world and on the day of Pentecost when
the church was established, then it was fulfilled and therefore
that Mysteries made known through the church.
So the subject in verse 3 does refer to the mystery, obviously,
but it also refers to Jesus. In fact, if you look at Verse 3,
it says in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. Some translations Say by whom
and obviously it's not only referring to the mystery, but
it's also referring to Jesus because all of those things of
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Jesus are in
Christ. And he becomes that that Source.
In fact, one scholar said, Paul asserts that all Treasures
stored for safekeeping in Christ in is in Christ himself.
All right. Wisdom and knowledge are
specifically mentioned. These words our concept are
similar but they're different in fact the word knowledge
according to fair means intelligence or understanding,
wisdom is the application of that knowledge and practice and
so they are very important. Both of them are very important.
In fact, you can have all the knowledge in the world.
You can have correct inside of the word of God.
You can have all the knowledge of the world and have no wisdom
at all to apply it and it's meaningless.
So both of them run hand-in-hand and by the way, we get knowledge
when we study the word of God, And we get wisdom, when we asked
it of God and God gives it liberally.
Now there's also other ways that we can get wisdom and from a
worldly standpoint that is when we learn from the experience of
others and we learn from our own failings and shortcomings and
when we mess up and we recover and we survived the mess up, we
learn wisdom and we learn from that mistake and we move
forward. That's true.
But what we're talking about is we're talking about things that
pertain to Salvation all of that is found in Jesus Christ.
So we're talking about from a specific sense, knowledge and
wisdom. Is dealing with salvation and
all of that is in him or in whom the beginning part of the verse
that is Jesus Christ in Jesus, there's all the knowledge and
there's all the wisdom in Salvation it comes from Jesus
Christ. Okay, Verses 4 and 5.
Now this this I say lest anyone should deceive you with
persuasive words for though, I am absent in the flesh.
Yet, I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order
and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
Okay, so the question says this, first of all, what was Paul's
great concern for them and I'll just answer that question first.
Obviously has great concern for them.
Is that they remain faithful. Anytime you have great
opposition from a spiritual perspective and it's pulling on
people that are trying to do that, which is right.
It obviously generates great concern that those that are
members of the body of Christ will remain faithful.
So, first and foremost, that's in the mind of Paul his concern
for them was that they remain faithful.
So he warns them against false teachers, these false teachers
used a mixture of philosophy and Judaism In such a way as to
mislead unsuspecting disciples away from the Simplicity of the
gospel of Christ. Have you ever heard somebody
say? That the gospel is so simple or
the word of God is so simple or there's something, so plane in
the word of God. And so understandable in the
word of God, it takes a preacher to mess it up and I think that's
really true in the world. The gospel is simple, it's the
simple gospel. It's easy to understand.
And if you have a good and honest heart, the seed of the
Gospel is planted in that good and honest heart and you may not
know anything else, but you know, how to be saved.
And then once you start studying the word of God, God.
It is the simple gospel, it's the truth and it's easy to
understand. But when you have people that
are I don't know of renowned or you have people that are or
great orators or maybe just people with strong
personalities, it can weigh down people that are trying to do
what's right and can distort the simple gospel.
And that's what was happening. They were doing so in such a
way, with a mixture of philosophy and Judaism to
mislead unsuspecting disciples away from the Simplicity of the
gospel of Christ. Now, I think there's something
that is very sad to me. And that is the unsuspecting
part. What about this?
What about a man that decides that he's going to be a heretic?
And he may not just say, I'm going to be a heretic, but he
may come with an erroneous position and start leading other
people astray by an erroneous position in lieu of or instead
of the truth. And by the way, that is the
definition of a heretic. It's not somebody that just
misunderstood the word of God and taught it wrong by accident,
it's talking about somebody that willfully decided to choose
Choose an erroneous position teach the erroneous position and
draw a party or sect unto himself.
That is the definition of a heretic.
Excuse me. And you know what happens when
the heretic does what he does, there's always an innocent
person or innocent people. Unsuspecting people that don't
know the difference that get LED astray.
Maybe somebody could say well you know, based on the
philosophy of modern philosophy and our own modern thinking you
can make it sound. Oh and yeah.
How could that have? That's got to be okay.
I mean, look at all the good that it's doing.
I don't think God's really going to make you stick to that,
right? I mean, look at all the
wonderful people that are there that are following such a
Doctrine or such a false teaching, whatever it might be.
That's what happens when a heretic decides to bring in an
erroneous position with the purpose of distorting.
The truth and preaching the error instead of the truth
drawing a party or a sect and to himself, that's exactly what
they were doing a mixture of philosophy and a mixture of
Judaism and the unsuspecting members.
What Paul was concerned about, okay?
so in verse 5, In verse 5. Paul says for though, I am
absent in the flesh. Now obviously that meant this
Paul was in prison so Paul could not be with them presently In
the Flesh. He said yet, I am with you in
spirit and that word Spirit, simply means in mind, I'm with
you in mind and then he says rejoicing to see your good order
and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ and that comes
back to the question. What is meant by the phrase?
Rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. Well, obviously the colossian
church had not departed from the faith yet, but they were in
danger and Paul gave the warning because of that.
But for the present time, he was very pleased with their
excellent Devotion to Christ and he wishes to have them continue
in the same status. Obviously, he couldn't be with
them bodily, but he was obviously with them in spirit or
in mind. And obviously, also he had
remembered some of the things that were said about the church.
There, look at chapter 1 Colossians chapter 1, and verse
4. So obviously, epaphras could
have brought back some great news about what was going on
about the colossian church. Even though Paul was not there
presently because he was in prison Colossians 1 and verse 4,
since we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of
your love for all the saints. So, Paul could rejoice in those
good things because he had heard that from epaphras who brought
back word of the status of the congregation.
So the phrase rejoicing to see your good order and the
steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
Two words order and steadfastness.
In fact, in the original origins of these words, they are
military, it's a military phraseology and the word order,
by the way. The word order comes from a word
that literally means orderly condition and it doesn't mean
some set routine to be followed. It's not that he was saying that
I've heard of your mechanical progression of things and your
routine. That's not what he was saying.
It implies that the church in colossae see though had some
system in its procedure. The same thought as expressed in
1st Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 40.
Remember what Paul said there? He said let all All things be
done decently and in order. Just a little side note about
that phrase. And in order years ago, there
was some folks among our people that believed in a set order of
worship. In fact, where we came from over
in minors Oaks there were folks that believed in a set order of
worship. And what they had done is, they
had taken this passage, which says in First Corinthians 14 and
40, let all things be done decently and in order, meaning
and order an agenda, an order of worship.
But that's not what this word means.
Went back is the same word in our passage as found in 1st
Corinthians, 14 and 40 and it means it's a military term and
it means an orderly array or fashion.
So when we come together and worship, for example, there's no
chaos we worship together in an orderly fashion.
Paul was saying, one of the great things that he had heard
about them, was their order and their steadfast.
So the orderly array of or fashion that they were doing
something. Okay, but then the word
steadfast also a military term and it means to make firm or
firmness, according to Thayer, steadfast in a military sense.
It means to present a solid front to the enemy.
Now, obviously, the enemy is the devil.
The enemy is the devil and all of its evil influences.
And so somebody that is steadfast is somebody that is
remaining steadfast remaining faithful and they are presenting
a solid front to the enemy which is the devil and all the evil
influences that he brings. So the colossian church is,
Faith had remained firm in Christ, but false teachers had
attacked, the very Foundation of their faith and because of the
unrelenting Persistence of these Paul wants to reinforce the
solid. Line between sound Doctrine and
false Doctrine. And we have to do that too.
We have to draw the line and make bold the line between sound
Doctrine and false Doctrine. And that's what Paul's great
concern was and then it comes to verse 6, which covers question
number 5, He said and you have therefore received Christ,
Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him. The question is, how does one
walk in Christ Jesus the Lord? Well first of all, the idea and
the phrase to walk means this It means the same type of
phraseology that Jesus said, when Jesus said ask, and you
shall receive seek and you shall find knock and it shall be
opened unto you. Now, what Jesus meant back then
when he preached that sermon was keep on seeking, keep on asking,
and so forth. Keep on longing, for keep on
looking. It's a habitual thing.
Continuation in your life continue to do that.
That's the same phraseology here walking in Christ.
The lord means Keep On Walking. I think sometimes people the
people of God need encouragement, They know what's
right? They know what the truth is, the
colossian Brethren knew what the truth was, those in laodicea
knew what the truth was. But in the midst of all of the
false teachers coming in and pulling them aside, they had to
do what they had to be steadfast and put up the front against the
enemy. The formidable foe of the devil,
they had to do that and they had to keep on walking.
I think sometimes we need to just encourage each other to
keep on walking. Keep On Walking.
Keep on remaining steadfast and encourage one another to do
that. That's exactly what he's saying.
Here, the idea means continue to keep on walking, it means to
continue to conduct one's daily life in a manner that is fitting
for a Christian. So, So to walk in Christ, is to
live a life that is patterned after him.
That's what it means to walk in Christ and that is only by doing
God's will. Jesus said, if you love me, keep
my Commandments. He also said if you love me,
keep my words and if you keep my Commandments if you keep my
words you shall abide in my love as I kept the father's
Commandments and abide in his love.
So what is he telling these Brethren?
I know that you've got all this opposition.
I know you got all this stuff going on but I've heard about
your good order and I've heard About your steadfastness and I'm
encouraging you to keep on walking and keep on keeping the
faith. To receive Jesus Christ, the
lord means to obey the gospel. And what he's saying is, since
you are a Christian and you have obeyed the gospel.
In other words, you didn't just receive Jesus in the blessings
of Jesus. And there's nothing more for you
to do. What he was saying is in that
passage as you therefore, have received Christ the Lord, in
other words, you've obeyed the gospel.
And he is your Lord and Savior, by the way.
Sure, but you do that by obedience to the gospel you've
been baptized for the remission of sins and Works.
He could have been saying this to.
He could have just said this phraseology, since you became a
Christian and you're a child of God and even washed in the blood
of Jesus. Then walk as you walk in him or
a life that is conducive to that relationship since a person
obeys the gospel and has their sins washed away.
They also have the spiritual blessings in Christ.
So also, in addition to that connected to this, if you
receive the spiritual blessings in Christ, walk as he walked in
other words, spiritual blessings come from obedience, it's all
connected. So, once you obey the gospel,
you have the spiritual blessings in Christ.
Walk as he walked walk, as he walked, and it's all connected.
I want to disclose one verse. If you look back at chapter 1,
And verse 10. That you may have a walk worthy
of the Lord. Fully pleasing him being
fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of
God. That is a perfect pattern for
the walk that we have. And by the way, there's nothing
that we could do to be worthy of Jesus, but we can be worthy
living a life that is worthy or conducive of being a servant and
that's what we are. As a Christian, we are a
servant. So our walk is that, which is
worthy of a serpent servant of Jesus Christ, growing in the
knowledge of God. We thank you for listening to
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