What Have They Heard?

Larry Siegle
08/04/24 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: What Have They Heard? - L Siegle

What Have They Heard?

(Colossians. 1:3-14)

Thesis:  What is the Reputation of the church in the community?

INTRODUCTION

1.    The title of this message is What Have They Heard?

2.    Someone once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”

        a.     A friend of mine listed me as a reference for employment recently--the company wants to have an impression of

               the character qualities, work ethic, and ability of the person to do the job.

               1)    Anyone who has been involved with HR knows just how carefully one must be in what is said about a

                       potential candidate for employment.

               2)    Most companies do extensive background checks, credit checks, drug testing, etc. during the hiring process.

        b.    The goal is to fine the right person for the right position--this increases productivity, workplace satisfaction, and is

               beneficial to both the company and the person under consideration.

        c.     Employee ‘turnover’ creates budgetary issues because of the extensiveness of the process.

3.    This week, in a Facebook group “Warren’s Real Breaking News” --there was a short request:  “I need an open Church. 

        A Priest or Pastor!  Anyone that stands with Jesus!”

        a.     After reading the 88 comments, most of which were simply about, church events, youth activities, and other

               social activities and entertainment, the person finally defined what was meant by “open church” ---apparently

               they had tried to call many of them only to get voicemail---no person to talk to.

        b.    The intent of this dear person was to find someone willing to discuss all of the things going on in the world and

               how believers can take a stand for truth and a stand against wickedness.

4.    Paul wrote his letter to the Colossian Christians in about 61 CE to commend them in their work as a congregation.

        a.     Colossae was located in the region of Phrygia (Acts 2:10) where some had traveled to Jerusalem for the

               celebration of the day of Pentecost--where Peter was preaching.

        b.    There is no indication that the apostle Paul in his missionary journeys had the opportunity to visit the

               established congregation there.

        c.     The entire region was a center of ‘diversity’ in terms of religious beliefs and practice--secretism (blending of

               various ideas and concepts) had become popular--not all that different from what we see in the religious world

               today.

        d.    Paul writes to the believers in the area to both warn them and to commend them for their stand for the truth

               and work in preaching and proclaiming the gospel of Christ.

THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH HOLY AND FAITHFUL

1.    The words of Paul to the church there was a written testimony of the character and nature of those “holy ones”

        (saints) who are said to have been faithful (Col. 1:1, 2).

        a.     It should be the desire of every Christian, and every congregation to be identified as “holy ones” (saints)--set

               apart in our relationship with God, faithful in the work that God has given us to do for the Kingdom.

               1)    Israel was called by God to be “holy” as a “nation” and as a people (Exod. 19:5, 6)

                       a)    God, the “Most High” desired that His people be separate from the other pagan nations and the gods

                              they worshipped and what was practiced.

                       b)    This sense of “separation” was for the purpose of protection of God’s desire to give His people what was

                              the very best for them.

               2)    Christians are called to be separate in our lifestyle from the mindset, attitude, and actions of the world

                       (James 4:4)--the temptation is to just “blend in” with what is going on in the world around us (I Pet. 1:13-16).

2.    The expression of Paul is directed to those believers who were surrounded by all sorts of cultural ideas, concepts, and

        conduct that was contrary to what God wanted them to practice in their daily lives.

THE SCORE CARD OF THE COLOSSIANS

1.    The apostle Paul tells the believers and commends them for the impact the preaching of the gospel has had in

        reaching out to “regather” the scattered “nations” (Gen. 10, 11).

2.    By the time Paul writes this letter, the gospel has spread to “every creature under heaven” (Col. 1:23; Mark 16:15).

3.    These Colossians had before been “alienated and hostile” to the things of God, but now, through the redemptive

        work of Jesus, they had been “reconciled” and brought into relationship with Jesus as Messiah (Col. 1:21-23).

4.    In the same sense as the gentile believers in Ephesus, “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 2:13).

        a.     Paul in Ephesians references the “spirit that works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2) “prince of the power of

               the air” whom he references also in his letter to the Colossians and the victory that was won over the “wicked

               spirits” (Col. 2:15, 20)--this included the attempted bondage of Judaizers trying to bring them under the “dead

               works” of the Old Covenant “law” (Heb. 6:1; 9:14)

               1)    The Colossians were being pressured to conform to the culture of their day and to the religious practices of

                       those who wanted to bring them into the terms and conditions of the Old Covenant.

               2)    Paul tells them of his own joy in the report that he heard from Epaphras (Col. 1:7).

        b.    Because of their stance with God, they had been “qualified” to receive the “inheritance” from God (Col. 1:12).

               1)    The Greek word rendered “qualified” means “to equip for completeness, made fit, sufficient, and adequate”

                        to fulfilled and to receive God’s very best (Eph. 1:19-23).

               2)    These Colossians had been “transferred” out of the “kingdom of darkness” into the “kingdom of the Son of

                       His love” (Col. 1:13, 14)

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

1.    One of the questions I get most of the time online, is “what is different now from what it was like in the first century?” 

        In what sense has fulfillment really changed anything?

2.    The process that had begun on the Day of Pentecost continued for approximately 40 years to bring the church into the

        condition of fullness and completeness “in Christ” (Col. 2:10)

        1)    Their standing with God was based on the “fullness” of Christ in them, the “hope of glory” (Col. 1:26, 27).

        2)    The Greek word rendered “fullness” or “complete” (2:10) is pleroo, the same word Paul uses when discussing the

               “fulness” of the gentiles (Rom. 11:25) the unveiling of God’s “mystery” in the regathering of the “scattered

               nations” (Gen. 10)

3.    These believers in the first century only experienced “in part” what was going to arrive in its completeness at the “end

        of the age” when the terms and conditions of the New Covenant were fully realized.

        a.     The reason it is difficult for people today to understand the extent of the change that was taking place, is that our

               context of life today is not the same is the context of what life was like for those living during that first century

               period of time.

        b.    Those who heard the preaching and teaching of the apostles, who lived at that time, in those circumstances and

               experienced the suffering, hardships, and difficulties would have fully appreciated what was being shared with

               them.

               1)    The example of 9/11 and how the world “changed” with the events of that day.

               2)    Those who have been born beyond that event cannot relate to what the world was like before that event.

        c.     The same is true of those who lived between the time of the cross and the “end of the age”--those now living

               beyond that time cannot relate to what life must have been like prior to that time.

WHAT HAVE THEY HEARD?

1.    When we examine our lives and the church today with just 20 or 30 years ago, we have to pause and examine where

        we were, where we are, and where we are going in the future.

2,    Whatever we can attribute to our own progress is the result of what God has accomplished in our lives through the

        redemptive work of Christ.

        a.     Our mantra must be, “We have it all in Jesus”--nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

        b.    Christ is the One who empowers us to walk in the victory that God has provided for us.

3.    God has called us to “walk in wisdom” toward those outside the body of Christ (Col. 4:5, 6).

4.    God has called us to provide a “defense” for what we understand the Scriptures to teaching--an “answer” to the

        honest of heart who are seeking God and searching for truth.