Colossians 1:3-8
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 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, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
Introduction
For a second week, we are going to consider Colossians 1:3-8. Last week, I focused on answering the question: How can Paul’s tone be what it is here—thankful and joyful—when the point of the letter is to address a really significant and dangerous heresy? The answer, we saw, is that there’s a unique kind of joy (a circumstance-transcending-kind-of-joy) that comes from living a life of faithfulness, among a faithful people, and, most importantly, with supreme confidence in the unfailing faithfulness of God.
This morning we’re going to focus on a different question that the text also addresses: What is the gospel and what role does it play in Colossians? In v.5, Paul mentions that the gospel had come to the Colossians and was bearing fruit in them and throughout the whole world. But what is the gospel, what kind of fruit does it produce, who does it produce such fruit in, how does it do so, etc.? These six verses don’t tell us everything there is to know about the gospel, or even answer all of those questions, but what they do tell us is good news indeed.
Before I share the big idea and implication of this sermon, and before I pray, let me say a brief word about why I’m preaching this sermon from these verses. Why not consider what the entire letter says about the gospel? Paul certainly didn’t intend to say everything about the gospel in this passage, so what’s the value of getting an incomplete picture? Those are reasonable questions. My answer is simple. This passage is so densely packed with gospel that I want to show you how Paul has woven it into every line of this letter right from the beginning, so you’ll be better prepared to recognize it in the rest of the fabric of the rest of this letter.
With that, the big idea of this sermon is that the gospel is good news for every aspect of our lives forever. Christ is indeed above all and in all. And that is densely packed into these few verses, even as it is densely packed in all of Colossians. The main takeaway, then, is to learn to live more fully in light of the reality of the gospel.
Gospel Density
If an outside observer were to follow you around undetected for a full week, 24/7, what would they likely conclude is the most driving force in your life?
Would it be your job/the need to make money? The desire to avoid anxiety or fear? The pursuit of pleasure/entertainment? The love of your family? School/good grades? A relationship? Sports/hobby? The opinions of others? The need to succeed? Taking care of someone?
What motivates you? What primarily shapes your decisions? What is your main frame of reference in life?
Whatever your answer was coming into this morning, my earnest prayer is that the Lord would use this sermon to increasingly bend it toward the gospel; such that from now on, when asked what most drives your life, motivates you, shapes your decisions, and is the lens through which you see yourself and the world around you, your answer will truly be: the gospel, the good news of Jesus!
That is the answer that permeates this letter and Paul’s life. It is the only answer that will allow the Colossians to respond the heresy confronting them in a manner that is pleasing to God and good for their souls. And it is the only answer that will allow any of us to live the lives we were designed to live and for which Christ died.
To be extra clear, if your first thought when presented with something new or familiar, hard or easy, suffering or sweet, good or bad, entertaining or boring, religious or secular, work or leisure, alone or in a group, with anything and everything, is anything other than how it relates to all that Jesus is and accomplished for those who believe in Him, then you will never experience that thing as you were meant to.
As we saw last week, Colossians 1:3-8 is largely about Paul’s faithful thanksgiving to God for God’s faithfulness to the Colossians and the Colossians’ faithfulness to God in the midst of trying circumstances.
What I want to point out here is that the gospel was in and around and over and under and through all of that. Again, we’ll see it all throughout this letter, but the fact that it’s so densely packed in these few verses ought to wake us up to its power and glory and necessity and all-encompassingness.
Consider with me, then, nine expressions of the gospel, embedded into this opening paragraph and how your life wild be different if they shaped your perspective and aims and heart and mind.
Jesus and the Gospel Are Inseparable (vs. 3, 4, 7)
First, Jesus and the gospel are inseparable. No Jesus, no gospel. He is all and in all.
I hope many of the points I share this morning are at least somewhat familiar, but this one most of all. There is no gospel, there is no good news, apart from Jesus. There is nothing that Paul believed more firmly than that. That is why he thanked God, “The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is why he commended the Colossians for their “faith in Christ Jesus.” And it is why he praised Epaphras for being “a faithful minister of Christ.”
As we’ll see at the very end of this sermon, and many times throughout our time in Colossians, there is no gospel apart from Jesus, because Jesus is the gospel. He is the means by which there is good news for sinners and He is the good news for sinners.
Jesus and the gospel are inseparable.
The Good News of the Gospel Is Ours through Faith in Jesus Christ (v.4)
Second, the good news of the gospel is ours through faith in Jesus Christ. We get a glimpse of that in the beginning of v.4.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus…
One of the most significant aspects of the gospel is that it is ours through faith. Within that, there are two terms we need to consider more carefully: “through” and “faith”.
In our culture, the term “faith” is often used to mean “wishful thinking;” something we’d really like to happen, but know to be really unlikely.
“I have ‘faith’ that my team is going to pull it out (despite being down by 20 with less than a minute to go),” we often hear.
Or, people say, “I have ‘faith’” that someone will pull through a significant illness when there’s no good reason to believe they will, and every good reason to believe they won’t.
Because of that modern sense of the term, people often think that faith in Jesus is equivalent to believing fairytales or that they’ll win the lottery—not an absolute 0% chance of being true, but not far from it.
The kind of faith Paul references here, though, is very different. Rather than hope for something that is almost certainly false, biblical faith is complete trust/full assurance of something that is absolutely true, but also invisible.
The author of Hebrews says it like this, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Paul’s words in v.6 come close to that. There, he talks of receiving the gospel in faith as hearing and understanding “the grace of God in truth”. To have faith in the gospel, we must hear the content of the gospel, we must understand it, and we must trust in it as truly true (more on that later).
Culturally speaking, faith requires hope and a slim chance of truth. If either ingredient is lacking, there is no faith.
Biblically speaking, faith requires both trust and truth. If either ingredient is lacking, there is no faith.
The second word I want to focus on is “through.” The good news of the gospel is ours through faith in Jesus.
Do you know what a conduit is? There are a number of conduits all around us right here in this room. A conduit is a means by which something travels. An electrical wire is a conduit through which electricity travels. PVC pipe is a conduit through which water travels. Fiber optic cables are a conduit through which data travels. And faith is the conduit (and the only conduit) through which the good news of the gospel travels.
When we combine what we just saw of these two terms (“faith” and “through”) with the previous point (Jesus is the gospel), we take an important step toward a fuller grasp on Paul’s understanding of the gospel. Jesus is the good news. Faith is the conduit through which the good news of Jesus flows from Him to us.
Again, I am not claiming that in these verses Paul thoroughly unpacked these ideas (although he does that with a number of these throughout Colossians and all of them throughout his other writings), only that his belief in these ideas is embedded in these verses (and all of the letter). Learning to recognize them upfront will help us get all that God means us to out of the letter.
Faith in the Gospel Always Bears Fruit (v.4, 6).
A third way we see the gospel woven into this opening paragraph is found throughout vs.4-6: The gospel, when received by faith, always produces fruit in increasing measure.
Of this, Paul wrote, “… the gospel, 6 … has come to you…[and] it is bearing fruit and increasing… since the day you heard it…”
We are right to wonder what, specifically, he meant by “fruit.” Throughout the letter, we’ll see different kinds. In v.4, though, we see the first of many, “We always thank God…when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints…
The Colossians had faith in Jesus and it bore the ever-increasing fruit of love for other Christians (“all the saints”).
There are two equally grievous doctrinal mistakes that have been made throughout the history of the Church in this regard. First, many have falsely believed that bearing fruit (being a good enough person, praying enough, going to church enough, doing enough good for enough people, giving enough money, reading the Bible enough, even loving all the saints enough, etc.) is the conduit through which the good news of the gospel flows. That is the absolute antithesis of the gospel. The whole point of the gospel, as we will see, is that it is impossible for anyone to bear sufficient fruit to make good news flow.
A second common and equally grievous doctrinal mistake is that the only good news that flows through faith in Jesus is forgiveness of sins. Many who have rightly realized that we can’t bear enough good fruit to produce good news for ourselves, have wrongly assumed that good fruit is entirely disconnected from the gospel. But embedded in Paul’s opening words is the good news that through the same faith that forgiveness (justification) flows, so too does good fruit (sanctification). Indeed, bearing good fruit is one of the surest signs that your faith is genuine, that it is indeed functioning as a conduit for the good news accomplished by Jesus.
The Gospel Is Entirely Owing to the Grace of God (v.6)
Forth, the gospel is entirely owning to the grace of God. Why is it that God has determined to make the good news of Jesus flow through faith, resulting in increasing fruit-bearing? Only and entirely because of His grace.
Paul refers to the gospel as “the grace of God” (v.6).
We’ve already seen that Jesus is the good news and faith is the conduit through which that flows.
Grace is the only reason God sent His Son, Jesus, to be and bring the good news to a lost, sinful, undeserving, rebellious people. Grace is unmerited favor. It is a free gift of God. It is God’s riches at Christ’s expense.
And that (saved by grace in Jesus, not works of the law) was right at the heart of Paul’s ministry of mystery.
The Gospel Is the Word of Truth (v.5, 6)
Fifth, the gospel is the word of truth. We touched on this earlier as we considered the biblical notion of “faith.” I said that faith is trust in something entirely true but also entirely invisible.
It bears repeating that Paul firmly believed that every element of the gospel was/is true. He makes a point of this in both vs.5 and 6.
5 …. Of this [the hope laid up for you in heaven] you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel…
6 … [which is] bearing fruit and increasing…since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth…
Paul would elsewhere write that if any aspect of the gospel’s claims were false (particularly the resurrection), then everyone who trusts in it are fools to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).
All of this is critical and worthy of repeating because of the central focus of this letter (addressing the syncretistic ideas (the lies) being presented to the Colossian Christians). The gospel is a dividing line in a number of ways, but especially in that it is true, whereas the myriad other claims being thrown out at the Colossians were all false.
Grace, young adults especially, the gospel’s claims are true, factual, and accurate, or there is no version of Christianity worth participating in, much less setting your eternal hope in. Paul believed this with all he had, all the way unto his death…and so must you!
Ask your questions. Seek answers. Test the gospel’s claims. Don’t be afraid to press on the truth. It can handle it. It will not fail because it is true. You need the Spirit’s help (more in a bit) to see and believe, but that’s because our minds have been corrupted, not the claims of the gospel.
The Gospel Is Good News for the Whole World (v.6).
Sixth, the gospel is good news for the whole world.
…the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing…
Even though God’s world-wide plans were clear from the beginning, many of His people missed that from the beginning. God commanded His people to take the good news of His glory unto the world, but instead they stayed together and built a tower to their own glory. Abraham and his offspring were blessed in order to bless, but they loved the blessing itself more than the God who gave it and so they tried to hoard it for themselves. Under King David, Israel reached its pinnacle as a nation and was poised to truly be a light to the nations (as God commanded), but instead, they got so caught up in their success that the kingdom was soon torn apart.
The good news of God and His promised Deliverer were always meant to go from God’s people to the whole world. But for all kinds of reasons, until Jesus’ sent His followers into the world, it always got held up.
Paul’s description of the gospel going into all the world, was truly the fulfillment of God’s promises from of old. It was never for one tribe, one language group, one people, or one nation. The good news of Jesus was always meant for the whole world and by the grace and power of God it was finally going into the whole world and bearing fruit.
The Gospel Cannot Be Kept to Ourselves (v.7)
Seventh, the gospel cannot be kept to ourselves. If you truly know and believe the gospel, you simply cannot be silent about it. You must share it with others.
In that way, evangelism is one of the fruits born whenever the gospel is received in faith. The Colossian’s could only believe the gospel because they heard it. They heard it because Epaphras shard it with them (v.7). And Epaphras shard it with them because true faith in Jesus always results in sharing Jesus.
We all do this in lesser ways all the time. Whenever you come across anything you really like, that really impresses you, that is really good for you, you cannot help but to share that with others—a new band/song that, a new product that works better and costs less, a super cute sweater that’s on sale for 90% off, a new restaurant with the best, most authentic smoked meat, a new movie/TV show that was so good you binged the whole thing, you get the idea. We love sharing the things we love.
Now imagine coming across something that is not only enjoyable, but also life-saving—a new medicine that not only cured your disease, but made you stronger, smarter, and better looking too; a new treatment that not only took away your pain, but also caused you to be able to paint the most beautiful pictures. Wherever that’s the case, then it’s even more obvious that you cannot keep this to yourself, right? In fact, in that kind of situation, it’d be wrong to keep it to yourself. If you care about the person at all, it’d be your great joy to share it.
The gospel is all of these things eternally and infinitely more. It’s not only good news for some joy, for some time. It’s good news of all joy forever. And it’s not only that it provides some measure of rescue for some limited time, but that it is the promise of rescue from infinite and eternal suffering.
Paul’s understanding of the gospel is woven through every verse in Colossians generally, and 1:3-8 specifically, and one aspect of it is that it is such good news for a world in such a bad spot, that we cannot receive it and keep it to ourselves. We must take it, as we’ve seen, to the whole world, no matter the cost.
The Gospel Is Empowered in Us by the Spirit (v.8).
Eighth, the gospel is empowered in us by the Spirit. Paul doesn’t say much about the Holy Spirit in this letter, but as with the rest of the points, his belief in the Spirit’s unique role in empowering every aspect of the gospel is embedded in it all. We get an example of this in v.8.
7 … Epaphras … 8 … has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
We saw earlier that the love the Colossians had for one another was the fruit of the gospel in them. We see here that it was the Holy Spirit that caused the gospel to bear that specific fruit in them. Again, that is always the case for every gospel fruit—the Spirit is the one who gives the growth.
What glory it is that God is Father, Son, and Spirit and all three persons of the godhead work together to cause the gospel to take root in us. Praise Father, praise Son, praise Spirit, as we see their gospel work in Colossians!
The Gospel Is the Good News that We Have a Certain Hope Laid Up for Us in Heaven (v.5)
Finally, you might have noticed that I skipped a pretty big gospel clause in v.5. I wanted to end with it because it is the most explicit gospel claim and the most significant part of Paul’s argument in this passage. And because of those things, it ties everything together in a really helpful way.
To help you see all of that, let’s reread vs.3-6.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 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…
Try to follow along as I do my best to explain the gospel-logic of these verses.
In v.3, Paul wrote that he was filled with thankfulness to God for the Colossian Christians. We’re right to wonder why.
He tells us in the next verse (v.4): He was filled with thankfulness because of their faith in Jesus and the love they had for one another. We’re right to wonder where that faith and love came from.
Again, he answers that question for us in the next verse (v.5): The Colossian Christians had faith in Jesus and love for one another “because of the hope laid up for [them] in heaven.” We’re right to wonder what that hope is and where it came from.
In very Paul-like fashion, yet again, he answers those questions immediately.
The Colossian believers were just normal Colossians. They were going about their day, doing their best to do their best. They were surrounded by all kinds of ideas and truth claims and opportunities—just like all of us. And then, entirely unexpectedly, along came this guy named Epaphras. He had some ideas, truth claims, and opportunities that were different than any they’d ever heard.
Epaphras’s message was “the word of the truth, the gospel.” Paul called his gospel “the grace of God in truth.” In other words, Epaphras’s message was the good news that God was offering them an awesome gift. It was a gift that they could receive immediately and was being kept (by God) eternally for them in heaven.
So what was this heaven-kept gift being offered to them?
We have to look ahead a bit to find the specific content of that gift, that grace, that object of the hope. We see it first in 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
And we see it even more clearly in 1:21-23, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith…”.
So, here’s the logic: Epaphras shared this news with the Colossians—the good news that God was offering all of them the gift of deliverance from darkness’s domain, entrance into the kingdom of Jesus, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, holiness, blamelessness, and the approval of God (above reproach). All this was accomplished by Jesus’ death, and it would be theirs if they would trust that God was keeping it all for them.
They believed him. They trusted that God had indeed laid all of that up for them in heaven. Awesome!
Conclusion
And so it is for you and I, Grace Church. The same offer, the same good news of perfect hope being laid up for us in heaven, the same gospel, is available to all of us. And if we will receive it in faith, we too will receive all that Epaphras offered to the Colossians and that Paul thanked God for.
As the rest of this letter will make increasingly clear, and the thing I want you to see with crystal clarity, is that when we do believe this, when our faith truly is in Jesus, when we truly receive the good news, the gospel, then no facet of our lives will be untouched or unshaped by it. Every thought, feeling, desire, and action will all be shaped by the hope that is laid up for us in heaven.
It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of ourselves or others—who we are, what we’re for, where our value comes from, etc.—apart from who Jesus is and what He’s done for us.
It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of going to school—picking classes, listening to the teacher, doing homework, walking down the hallways, hanging out with friends, eating lunch, participating in extracurricular activities, etc.—apart from how it relates to our citizenship in the kingdom of the beloved Son of God.
It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of going to work—which job we take, where our job is, how we work, how we interact with bosses and coworkers, the quality of our work, the hours we work, etc.—apart from how it relates to the hope laid up for us in heaven.
It will be impossible to imagine any aspect of church—which church, why we come, what ministries we participate in and don’t, how we view others within the church, where we serve, how we prepare for and participate in worship, how we pray for and talk to one another, etc.—apart from the gospel-love we have for all the saints.
It will be impossible to imagine any of our free time and money—what we do and buy, who we spend them with, what brings joy and rest, what we look to for pleasure and where we find it—apart from the grace of God in truth.
As Christians we strive to mature in our relationship with God. And the central component of maturing in our relationship with God is learning to see all of life through the lens of the gospel. Press into that this week. Talk to others about it. Find out where they’re doing that well with the Spirit’s help and where they are struggling.
The gospel is good news for every aspect of our lives forever. Let us learn together, therefore, to live more fully in light of it for the glory of God and the good of the whole world.