12 Colossians: The Mystery of Christ -Wisdom and Knowledge in Christ

Quite possibly the first reality program was Gilligan’s Island.  Of course I know that it is a scripted television show and that is the opposite of what they tell us about reality T.V.  They tell us that it is unscripted but if you have watched any of these shows they place on set people who are opposites and then throw gasoline on the cast waiting for explosions. Consider if you will the cast on Gilligan’s Island. There was the Skipper, the head of the ship and his less than mentally capable first mate. Then the exceedingly rich couple, the brainiac scientist, an everyday girl next-door and a movie start. What are the chances of all these people being on the same boat?  Next to zero.  But it is okay because it is not real life. It is just a television show where, because of a storm, they all get shipwrecked on an island for years, upon years.  Then finally they are able to get off the island only to get placed back on the island because the less than mentally capable first mate cleaned the compass. When Gilligan cleaned the compass, he had removed all the magnets. The compass now does not work! I have had a situation where my “compass” did not work.  Today we all use smartphones for directions. Remember paper road maps?  Remember trip-ticks from AAA?  Remember book atlases? We sure smartphones now and before the current phone my old phone had something happen to it.  I do not know what it was but when using the map app (which in the moving business that is used often), it had me a mile away from my actual location. So I am driving down and interstate and it has me over in a field.  I am way out, way over there and the voice lady was not quite sure what to do.  She was on repeat telling me to follow the route (follow the route, please follow the route). I am following the route!  The lady in the phone has NO idea. In real life direction means everything. When one gets going in the wrong direction disastrous things happen. You see it in the fake television story of Gilligan’s Island but that reflects real life. This is our situation in Colossae. Paul, who has never visited this congregation and never met these people, is concerned about the direction of the church.  Paul, in the opening chapter was already setting the stage for his instructive words to the congregation.  He was laying a foundation in the following ways: He desired that they continue to be filled with all spiritual wisdom and understanding (1:9). This cannot be overstated. Far too many people get saved, come into the church and then shy away from growing more in Christ. This not only is addressed in the text out of chapter one but is also in our section from today’s reading. You must spend time in the word. You must spend time with godly teachers. (We will also see the value of this today as well.) You cannot shy way from walking with the Lord.  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, or stands in the way of sinners or  sits in the seats of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on this law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree that is planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither.”. Paul is essentially saying in 1:9 that I want you to grow. You cannot get to know something unless you spend time on it (illustrate?). His desire is that they be strengthened with all power and able to endure with patience. (1:11) How can we be better at endurance? Short answer, knowing Him. Paul desired they have firm knowledge that they are delivered from one state, death and darkness, to another state, redemption and forgiveness. (1:13-14) Then Paul focuses on the nature of Christ: His nature as both creator and sustainer God and also the humanity of Christ that he died for the redemption of church and to be the head of the church. (1:15-20) The very people that were in the church are those who had no hope of salvation. (1:21-22) The foundation has been laid with those things. He wanted the readers of his letter to have this firm grasp on some important matters and then iIn our text today he is going to begin addressing seem issues that have crept into the Colossian church.  Here in is the heart of the letter.  This is why Paul was writing Colossians and the Loodiceans (2:1). Before we look into this text more specifically let us ask the Lord to bless our time together. He opens this section speaking about a struggle.  The word is agona  (ἀγῶνα).  Sounds like agony right?    This is the same word used regarding the Greek games (the Olympic games). Think of athletes who are pushing.  For those who have played sports you have been through the 2-a-days and the wind sprints and the conditioning.   I recall the first day of wrestling practice. The coach paired us up with people near the same size and gave us a small area on the mats and blew the whistle and we were the wrestle this person.   After what seemed to be ten minutes both of us were extremely winded, tired and weak.  The coach was like, what is up? You have been at this for 25 seconds.   This is the agony.  The long training sessions to gain the endurance.    This is the passion of Paul. I am in agony.  I am straining.  I am reaching out with all my strength and I want you to learn this?  With what is Paul concerned?   False teaching.  Paul is going to zero in on some of the issues at both Laodicea and Colossae.    There is a biblical history on this topic.  As the Hebrew people were coming into the land of Canaan, after they had left Egypt, the Lord gave them instructions.  He told them clearly, remove the people from the land, rid them completely for they will be a snare to you.  They will influence you to be unfaithful to the Lord.   Have you ever felt that for some person or some cause.  Maybe it is a family member or someone with whom you work or possibly someone at school.    For some reason you have real agony over their situation. They have been distracted by the cares of this world.   We have this in the church here in Colossians.  Some people came in and were influencing negatively.    This is not limited to Colossae. This was a constant struggle in the New Testament church.  Two thousand years later it is still an issue.    They were not struggling because they were a young church. That is usually what a pastor would say here.  This is a young church and they are struggling because there are influences that are not good.  Paul is going to address those as we continue in chapter two.  The stark reality is the teaching growth in Christ can come outside of Christ.  This letter is addressing that.  Galatians addressed that.  This issue caught Paul’s attention frequently.   In 1800’s America, there is this thought that the desire should be the first century church.  The dominate thought during this period was that the first century church had everything figured out and was perfectly pure and as time progressed the church became impure.    This is absurd.  Makes me wonder if they had read the New Testament.                 Acts and Romans issues between Jews and Gentiles in the church                 In Corinth there was accepted sexual immorality & drunkenness at Lord’s Supper                 Galatia was troubled with those teaching there needed to be submission to                                                    circumcision in order to be saved                 Thessolanica was plagued with thinking they missed Jesus’ second coming                 We have already discussed the issue with understanding the nature of Christ                 The idea that salvation came through secret knowledge harmed church for years So you see the idea that church was better in first century than now is not warranted.  As I have stated several times, we stand on two thousand years of theological things being worked out and debated.    But again, to say that the problems in Colossae was due to it being a young church is not warranted.  This congregation is nearly 217 years old.  We are not safe from being led astray.  It is the job of the pastorate to watch for wolves.  To watch for error.   Think of the church in general in the United States of America. There is a twitter feed (x) called Protestia.  It is an account which 90% of its content is serious things going wrong in the church.   Let me be clear here and I have said this before.  There are matters of first importance and matters of second importance.  There are matters of Orthodoxy.  I have described it several times as open hand and close hand issues.  I am not referring to open handed things here. When we get to the matters in Colossae, Paul is not referring to open handed things.    There are people who are meeting this morning who have perverted the Scriptures and are allowing and accepting sexual deviancies.  They think they are redefining marriage, but it can’t be redefined.   I am not kidding when I am telling you there is a church called Bethel Church in Redding CA which has ten thousand members.  There are more than a hundred stories that I could tell you about with this congregation.  One that comes to mind is they put gold colored glitter in the ventilation system.  During the Sunday assembly at the right time they let it fall out of the ceiling and the pastors were claiming that God’s presence was evident in that gold glitter.  The leaders knew that the glitter was in the ventilation system and they knew that it would be cued and it would fall and they told the people, God’s tangible presence is here, look at the glitter, look at this gold dust.   It is not limited to Bethel Church.  There are issues with other congregations like Elevation Church.  Maybe you are not aware of any of these things.  Maybe you wonder well why even bring it up because we will never visit those churches.   It is not that simple.  They all have their own worship music.  If you listen to what is called Christian radio you may have heard some of it.  Elevation worship, Bethel Worship, Hillsong Worship, Maverick City, all of these churches are teaching ungodly things.   As was written in the bulletin a few weeks ago looking into the future we are looking to add to the good stuff that is already here and taking place.  Talked to Nancy and we are seeking at some point to expand on the worship.   As a pastor of the church I have to be on guard.  I have to be looking for potential issues.  This worship music is troubling.  Not only must we watch what we are being taught but we can’t fund those congregations.  You use their music, they receive a royalty.  You use their music you are funding their heresy.   This is a serious issue.  The things that Paul is addressing in Colossae we still face today.  There are people who want to change the gospel of Christ and it is subtle.   I will be very frank with you here, I would not recommend any program on Christian Television.  None.  I have not watched it in years but when I did it was garbage.  Use rabbit ears on your television and they take up about 15 channels in central ohio and very little of what is taught is truth.   This is the state of the church in America.  There are some very wonderful congregations both small and large.  There are some very talented and gifted and theologically correct praise teams.   But this is a matter I take very seriously.  I have watched Christians get so caught up in the beauty of a song or a movie or television show and have not considered the content.   That is the hart of Colossians.  The people had been led astray and Paul was struggling to address this.  With all his energy he was trying to get their attention and correct where they had been led astray.   He did not want them to be diluted with plausible arguments (2:4). He did not want them to be taken captive (2:8) with a bad philosophy or empty deceit.   He wanted them to be wise IN CHRIST. (2.6-7)