AM Bible Study Group; March 6, 2013
Colossians 2:1-5
Theme: What Paul sought to protect in the church at Colossae teaches us what we should seek to protect in our own church family.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
In this morning’s passage, the apostle Paul models for us an intense, sacrificial love for the church. It shows us how his love for the church was a jealous love—a love that was protective of those things about the church that are precious to the Lord Jesus. As we look together at this passage, may the Holy Spirit help us to grow together in our own commitment to protect those things in our own church as well.
Notice . . .
I. FOR WHOM IT WAS THAT PAUL WAS CONCERNED (v. 1).
A. Paul wrote, “For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh . . . (v. 1). Paul himself had never actually been to Colossae (see also v. 5); nor had he seen those in Laodicea. It was another man—Epaphras—who first brought the gospel message to the Colossians (see 1:6-8). But though he’d never met them, he deeply loved them and cared about them. Epaphras came to Paul while he was in prison and told him about the Colossian believers’ faith in Christ through the gospel, and about their intense love for the other believers, and about their joyful hope of heaven (1:3-5).
B. And that was all Paul needed to know. As far as Paul was concerned, then, he was suffering the things he was suffering in prison as if for them—and rejoiced that there was anything at all that he could do to help establish them and build them up in the faith. (By the way: that would include us as well—since we too have not seen his face. If Paul were in the flesh on earth today, he’d be just as eager to protect those things in us who are in this church as he was toward those in Colossae.)
II. HOW IT WAS THAT PAUL WAS CONCERNED (v. 1).
A. He says—as if speaking to us, just as much to them—“I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you . . .” The word Paul used is the Greek word agõn—from which we get the English word “agony”. It describe a strenuous athletic competition or race; and it came to be used in a figurative sense to describe anything that was a struggle or that involved a strenuous personal fight (see 1:29). Paul was prepared to contend vigorously to see to it that his beloved brothers and sisters in Christ were established, built up, and continuing in the faith.
B. And he was also concerned that they be fully aware of that conflict. This was so that their awareness of his own readiness to contend earnestly for their establishment in Christ would help motivate them to also take part in that conflict themselves. When we see someone like Paul making such deep personal sacrifices to protect and advance the church—even to the point of suffering imprisonment for it; and expressing a willingness to lay down his life if need be (Acts 21:13)—shouldn’t that cause us to also take the church seriously? (See Philippians 1:27-30).
C. Finally, we see that Paul’s conflict on the behalf of these believers was intentional and purposeful—with a clear ‘threat’ in view. It was motivated by a desire to protect them—“lest”, as he says in verse 4, “anyone should deceive you with persuasive words” (see also v. 8). The Colossian believers were at risk of being lured away from a sincere faith in the simple message of the gospel; and Paul was ready to fight—with all he had in him—to protect their devotion to Christ. He wanted them to be as ready to fight for their own purity in Christ as he was on their behalf.
III. WHAT IT WAS ABOUT THEM THAT PAUL WAS CONCERNED TO PROTECT (v. 2-3).
A. Paul said that it was “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 the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (vv. 2-3). These are the things that he knew Jesus wanted to see in His precious church; and so, they were the things that Paul labored hard to protect within her.
1. He was concerned that their hearts may be encouraged. A good, healthy church is a place that encourages the hearts of those who are in it—a place characterized by grace and forgiveness in which people who have been hurt by the ravages of sin can safely come and get better.—a redemptive and healing place, because it helps people develop a vital, personal relationship with the Redeemer Himself. The false doctrines that threatened the believers in Colossae were destructive, in part, because they threatened the basis of the church’s encouragement. Those various false doctrines suggested that Jesus was not sufficient as our Savior; and therefore, that salvation from the sins of the past and hope for glory in the future were uncertain. That’s why Paul was so eager to protect them from the negative influences of such falsehood.
2. He was concerned to protect their sense of unity in love for one another. He spoke of their being “knit” together, or “united” together in love. It was the idea that their lives and hearts were woven together in a warm, affectionate, loving relationship with one another (see also v. 19). When we allow room for one another’s “lessor” differences within the context of our fundamental spiritual unity (see Ephesians 4:4-6), the church grows (Ephesians 4:15-16). Paul was eager to protect the fundamental, essential unity that joined the believers in Colossae together in the Savior in a spirit of mutual love.
3. Finally, he concerned to protect the assurance of their understanding in the knowledge of Christ. In the face of all the false teaching around them, Paul affirmed that in Christ alone was hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There was nothing to be had of ‘spiritual wisdom and insight’ outside of Jesus Christ. It was all found in Him alone. And the great need of the believers in Colossae was not to know some other alternatives of “secret wisdom”; but rather to know Jesus more deeply. In knowing Jesus, they would attain to “all riches of a full assurance of understanding” (see also 1:27). He wanted to protect and advance that full assurance; because it was something very precious to Christ Himself.
IV. WHY PAUL WAS SO CONCERNED TO PROTECT THESE THINGS IN THEM (vv. 4-5).
A. He writes; “Now 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” (vv. 4-5). The devil doesn’t come to us and plainly, straightforwardly say, “I am trying to get you to abandon your faith in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ alone, and persuade you to chase instead after things that will never do for you what He alone can do for you.” Instead, he seeks to draw us away with “persuasive words”—pseudo-spiritual double-talk that has the sound of being “true”, but in the end is nothing but a pack of lies. And note that Paul wouldn’t be concerned to alert the believers to this if it weren’t for the fact such words really had “persuasive power”. That’s why he was so concerned to protect and preserve what the Colossian believers had going for them already.
B. But Paul was also concerned to protect them because of his own sense of delight in them. Though he wasn’t present with them, he nevertheless delighted to “see” in them (most likely through the report of others) their “good order” (that is, their mutual sense of submission; and willingness to rank in order with one another), and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ. These qualities were a pleasure to Paul, because they insured the protection of those things that were precious to Christ, who died for the church. Therefore, Paul was personally motivated to protect and preserve them; as well as desirous to do so out of love for his Savior.
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Our church family is something very precious to the Lord Jesus. It’s a part of the larger body of Christ—the church that Jesus purchased for Himself through the shedding of His own blood. He has permanently established the basis of the encouragement of our hearts, of our unity in love, and of our enjoyment of all riches of a full assurance of understanding that comes from knowing Him. These things are worth protecting because they’re both precious to Jesus and a blessing to us.