Colossians 1:15 - God. First.

-"Who is [the] image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation..." 

-This Beloved Son in Whom we find forgiveness of our sins, He is God.  He is the literal visible expression of the God Who is but Who is otherwise invisible (despite the fact that His handiwork is clearly displayed throughout the entirety of creation).  Jesus is the eikon of God, His image.  Now, there is that which is ‘according to’ the image, having similarities to the image (people - Genesis 1.26-27, 5.3, Colossians 3.10), and there is that which IS the image (Jesus - 2Corinthians 4.4), altho at the end of the day with an image usually we’re only talking about a representation (cf Revelation 13.14, Acts 17.29, Matthew 22.20) - typically, the eikon is not the original.  We know that Jesus Christ, however, is the exact visible representation of the invisible God (Hebrews 1.3), He is God incarnate, the great I AM (Exodus 3.14, John 8.58), manifest for all to see what God is like (John 1.1, 1.18, 14.7-9).

-He is also the firstborn of all creation.  Unfortunately our English word and concept of firstborn is limited.  In the OT it can refer to one who is first in sequence or one who is supreme in rank, or both, and yes this would have definitely applied to one who was the actual firstborn son in an eastern household, but the concept is not necessarily confined to the idea of lineage or literal birth (cf Exodus 4.22).  In other words, refering to Christ as the firstborn does not have to mean that Paul thinks Christ was also created.  The fact is that refering to Christ here as firstborn does not associate Him with creation as much as it sets Him apart from and above it.  He is both before creation in time and He is over it in rank.  Paul elaborates on this in the next verse, but for now he is calling us higher, onward and upward, to set our sights as high as possible as we draw near Jesus.  He is first and foremost, He is fully God, and He must increase.

Colossians 1:14 - Gone.

"...in Whom we are having the redemption, the forgiveness of the sins." 

-In Whom.  In other words, in God’s beloved Son, Jesus, this One Who has been given the Kingdom.  He is the One Who reigns over it, and He is the only Way into it.  He is the One, and there is no one else.  In other words, if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have redemption.  You are still trapped in the domain of darkness.

-Jesus is the One in Whom we have the redemption, the release, the setting free of a slave by paying the required ransom.  We were being held captive as slaves in this domain of darkness, and it was our sins that both put us there and kept us there.  The price for our release was that which would expiate (atone/provide forgiveness for) our sins.  God’s holiness and justice did not allow Him to simply overlook our sins, yet His limitless love for us compelled Him to forge a way for us to be forgiven.  We know from Scripture that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9.22), and that it is impossible for anything but the blood of an innocent and righteous human being to suffice as payment for the sins of mankind (Hebrews 10.4, 9.12, 1Peter 1.19).  Thus the shed blood of Jesus becomes the only satisfactory atonement for our sins (Matthew 26.28).  Paul states elsewhere that our redemption and forgiveness is specifically through Jesus’ blood, the precious pure blood of the Lamb of God (Ephesians 1.7).

-Forgiveness.  The standard definition means to stop feeling angry or resentful towards someone for something they did, something bad, some offense or transgression.  But this is not what God means by forgive.  The word in the Greek means to send away, to let go of something, completely and in total.  This is what God does with our offenses, our sins, as far away as the east is from the west (Psalm 103.12), in the depths of the deepest sea (Micah 7.19), never again to hold them against us or revisit them.  Gone.  They are completely gone.  And when you think about it, one normally cannot simply stop feeling angry about an offense as long as the offense remains.  You gotta take care of the problem, otherwise it will sit there and fester and poison the relationship.  Somehow, you gotta let it go.  You gotta let it go.  That is forgiveness, and that is what God did with our sins.

-Yes, the problem was (and is) sin.  It was sin which had put us in the domain of darkness and kept us there.  The word is hamartia, to miss the mark, and boy, do we ever.  It describes our deeds, but it goes deeper, as it is an inborn condition of the heart, the inescapable tendency to depart from the order given by God and to establish oneself in one’s own position and to go one’s own way.  It is finding satisfaction and fulfillment and pleasure in something or someone else to the exclusion of your Creator, behaving independently and self-sufficiently apart from Him.  It is a state we are born in-to, and a lifestyle we cannot avoid.  It is inevitable - those who are in the flesh cannot not sin.  It manifests as both a falling away from a relationship of faithfulness towards God as well as living in opposition to what He wants, disobeying His commands and law.  And the penalty, the wages of sin, is death (Romans 6.23).  Left to ourselves, without divine intervention, we would not only live out our lives as slaves to sin, but would also be forced to pay the full penalty of sin, physical and spiritual death, separated forever from our Creator, away from His breathtaking goodness and love, from His indescribable peace and joy, away from His Light, consigned to outer darkness forever (Matthew 8.11-12, 25.30).  But good news, joy of joys, we have been delivered from this fate through Jesus, through faith in His blood!

Colossians 1:13 - The Ultimate Rescue Mission

"...Who rescued us out of the authority of the darkness and transferred unto the kingdom of His beloved Son..." 

-Says here that it was the Father Who rescued us.  The word is rhyomai, to rescue or deliver, and can be applied to anything which rescues one from danger which is severe and acute.  The focus is usually on the danger (as opposed to being saved by or to something, which is sozo), and in the NT is typically more of a physical danger as opposed to a spiritual one (cf Luke 1.74, Romans 7.24, 15.31, 2Corinthians 1.10, 2Thessalonians 3.2).

-But clearly in this instance the danger actually is of a spiritual nature.  Paul says that we - referring to those who have trusted in Christ but like every other descendant of Adam - were in the authority of darkness, that power which has stood in opposition to the Light for as long as anyone knows.  From a purely physical standpoint, darkness simply refers to any place where light is not present, and has since the beginning of creation, as we read in Genesis 1.3-4.  Darkness and light become a powerful recurring motif in Scripture, and we see that darkness comes to signify any place where God is not actively present (altho we know that He is of course present everywhere)(cf 1John 1.5), as well as that realm where those who are in rebellion against God reside and operate.  Light then, signifying God’s great power and love and goodness, is that which dispels darkness - it is always this way.  Those who do desire to live apart from God or in rebellion to Him thus prefer to live in the darkness.  And in fact, we were prisoners who were being held captive in darkness by the powers of darkness (Ephesians 6.12, 2Timothy 2.26), no ability to truly see or get around or ultimately survive, hence the immense goodness of the Good News (Isaiah 9.2, 60.1-3, 61.1, Matthew 4.16, Luke 1.79, 2.32, 4.18, John 12.46, Acts 26.18, 1Peter 2.9).  Granted, there are many prisoners of darkness who actually prefer to stay there (John 3.19, Ephesians 4.18), in order to continue in a lifestyle and evil deeds lived apart from God (and of course in the process of rejecting God they will ultimately be rejected by Him). 

-Note the contrast here between these two places.  One is a Kingdom - there is a Sovereign Ruler Who provides order and justice.  The Kingdom also belongs to someone.  It was given to God the Son by His Father.  The Kingdom is also a place of love.  Thus we can assume that the Kingdom is a place of caring - the Kingdom itself and its subjects are looked after and cared for and nurtured.  The darkness however would be characterized by none of this.  It is also a place where there is some exercise of power and authority, but again darkness is defined more by the absence of Light, the absence of God’s active presence - which means it is populated by a bunch of godless would-be kings who are not ultimately in charge.  It is more akin to a state of anarchy - where disorder and chaos reign.  There is no love or caring or any goodness in that place where God is not active.  It is rather a place of hiding and stumbling, ignorance and uncertainty, deception and lies and distrust, a place of fear and anxiety, and ultimately the death of your soul.  That is where we were being held captive (by our own choosing remember), and God Himself came after us, launching the ultimate rescue mission, one which continues to this day.  Darkness is the place out of which we were rescued, and we have now been brought into the Light, into that place of love and caring and life forever.  Oh, what a glorious day...!

Colossians 1:12 - Gratitude now!

"...giving thanks to the Father the (One) having qualified us unto the part of the inheritance of the saints in the light."

-A life and a heart of unspeakable joy and overflowing gratitude to our heavenly Father, the One Who made us and saved us - as we saw in v. 3 - this is the essence of worship, and this is the goal, the great purpose for which we were made and born and born again.  Which is why we find ingratitude at the headwaters of so much waywardness.  Failure to give thanks is where people first go wrong (Rom 1.21), but when they have been truly made right with God, we see that they cannot not give thanks.  They can’t keep quiet.  In fact, what we see throughout Scripture is that all of creation is part of a great and growing chorus of irrepressible praise and thanksgiving to the One Who not only made it but Who is rescuing it and making it right once and for all (Ps 69.34, 148.1-13, Is 44.23, 55.12, Lk 19.37-40, Rom 8.19-21, cf Rev 4.9-11, 5.11-14, 7.9-12, 11.15-18, 19.1-7).  The only ones who do not join in are those who live in rebellion against their Maker.  But one day... every knee will bow.

-For now, for those who do join in, Paul gives us here one reason why there is such thanksgiving.  It is tied to that rescue mission, to what the Father has done in rescuing us former rebels who have now trusted in His Son and qualifying us to share His inheritance.  Think about that - the possibility of coming into a share of the inheritance of the wealthiest, most powerful Being not just on the planet but in the entire universe.  Imagine being named as an heir by someone like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates and suddenly coming into more wealth than you could have ever imagined.  Which of course would never fill the infinite abyss in my heart, but the point here is that these erstwhile rebels now saints in light who are named as heirs of the glorious King of the universe come into an inheritance which is incomprehensible, incomparably and ineffably greater than any earthly bequest.  The inheritance of the saints in light - these ones who have been made holy by the One Who alone is sublimely holy - is not only a share in His holiness and all that comes with it but it is, in fact, the Holy One Himself.  We.  Get.  Him.  He is the Pearl of great price.  We are His and He is ours.  Great day in the morning - think about that!  We get the One Who brought light out of darkness, out of nothing, with a word and created the light of a billion trillion stars, the One Who is our Light and Salvation, the One Who is the Light of the world and in Whom is the Light of men, the One Whose blazing glory will one day illuminate the entirety of heaven such that there will be no night and no need for lamps or even the sun.  What a day, an unending day of rejoicing - and gratitude - that will be...!  And in fact it is already cranking up... Thanks be to God!

Colossians 1:11 - Power for the impossible

"...in all power being empowered according to the might of His glory, unto all perseverance and long-suffering with joy..."

-And because it is humanly impossible, this constant prayer and pleasing God and bearing much fruit (for truly, apart from Him there is nothing I can do - John 15.5), Paul continues by asking the Lord to empower the Colossians with all power.  Power which comes from the almighty God of glory.  Limitless.  Infinite.  Inexhaustible.  Unquenchable.  Immeasurable.  Inconceivable.  Power which knows no bounds.  It is beyond description or compare or comprehension.  It is beyond anything we can imagine and it is more than sufficient for anything we need.  It is the power that ignited and sustains trillions upon trillions of stars, in each of which the power of billions of nuclear bombs is being continuously detonated every second of every day.  This is the power of almighty God of glory.  The God of the impossible.  The God of wonders.  The God of miracles.  The God of much fruit.  Nothing is too difficult for Him, and He can take my impotence and turn it into a miracle.  In fact in the Greek language the gift of ‘miracles’ is actually called the gift of ‘powers’.  He has the power to bring life out of death, creation from nothing, beauty from ashes.  He has more than enough power to take my humble fishes and loaves and multiply them to feed a multitude.  His infinite power is readily available to help each of us navigate dark valleys of death and climb mountains (or perhaps even remove them entirely) and to transform our lives into something divine.

-But note here the purpose of the power.  Not necessarily for miracles or healing or flashy preaching, this.  It is to produce patience and perseverance and long-suffering and joyful thanksgiving in the lives of those who are facing the attendant persecution of following Christ in the midst of a world that is already replete with brokenness.  It's hard enough just to live with and survive the brokenness we all face everyday.  Stuff breaks down.  Bodies and minds break down.  Houses and cars break down.  Even relationships are subject to breakdown.  Everything is subject to the law of corruption (cf Romans 8.21) and needs constant work and maintenance, and even then there are no guarantees.  But then for those who follow Christ, there is the added and very real challenge of facing temptation and struggling against the flesh and the enemy as well as the world.  Our neighbors and our nation and the spirit of this world are all in a default antagonist position towards God and His people, specifically towards Jesus Christ, and if I am following Christ they are all set against me too.  Granted, the battle they wage is a losing one, and we must remember that many of our neighbors actually are seeking and hungry to know God, but God promises us that those who desire to live godly in Christ will be persecuted (2Timothy 3.12; cf John 15.20, Mark 10.30, Matthew 13.21, 5.10-12).  When push comes to shove, when the opportunity presents itself, those who are living in rebellion towards God will bow up against His people and mistreat and even kill them in order to continue in their attempt to live apart from Christ.  Contrary to the teachings of the so-called prosperity gospel, life doesn’t suddenly start coming up roses for those who follow Christ.  The law of corruption and the promise of persecution aren’t magically suspended for God’s people.  Thus the need for God’s power each and every day, fresh power from His Spirit to hang in there under hardship and mistreatment and injustice and disappointment, to endure suffering and brokenness with patience and rejoicing and gratitude that makes our neigbors and the nations stop and take notice and inquire about our living hope and enduring joy and our peace that defies any earthly explanation.  Because when you think about it, patience and joy in the midst of brokenness and suffering is just what they least expect, humanly impossible, definitely other-worldly.  Which is exactly what God wants to do in my life - something out of this world...

Colossians 1:10 - On pleasing God...

"To walk worthy of (the) Lord unto all pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the full knowledge of God..." 

-What is walking worthy of the Lord? What does it look like? Clearly the end result is that the Lord is well pleased with the one who has been walking thus. Which means there will be pleasing of God along the way, doing the things that please Him, doing the things that He wants.  Walking worthily means doing and saying (and thinking) those things which are appropriate and fitting for someone who is truly a child of God, who is truly saved. The words and deeds fit, and this is because they are exactly what God wants. they in fact make Him happy, they give Him pleasure. 

-How does this pleasing God happen?  Thankfully we are not left to our own devices on this.  Psalm 115.3 says the Lord 'does whatever He pleases' - so whether or not I cooperate, I don’t need to question whether or not God will be pleased in general, as that is guaranteed.  In Is 46.10 God tells us that, "I will accomplish all My good pleasure." Doesn't it make sense to do my utmost to be a part of that, to at least try and get my life in step with the rest of the universe as this grand symphony of the pleasures of God plays itself out?  He says, "I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I WILL GIVE IT to the one who is pleasing in My sight." Jeremiah 27.4.  It is indeed possible to be pleasing to our Great Creator God.

-Do not miss this: pleasing God is most certainly at the core of what the Christian life and knowing God is all about (1Corinthians 7.32, 2Corinthians 5.9, Galatians 1.10, Ephesians 5.10, Philippians 2.13, 1Thessalonians 2.4, 4.1, 2Timothy 2.4, Hebrews 11.5-6, 13.21).  In fact, the path to the peace for which we all long is knowing that your ways are pleasing to the Lord (Proverbs 16.7, Luke 2.14).

-Paul actually says, 'unto ALL pleasing.'  This could indeed be the result in the life on one who is constantly consumed by what God wants, which is exactly what Jesus did.  Jesus managed to live into this perfectly - always pleasing (John 8.29, cf Matthew 3.17, 12.18, 17.5).

-But let's be honest, how can we as finite, powerless and sinful creatures give God pleasure?  The key to pleasing the Lord is to do what He wants.  If you are doing what He wants, you can be sure that you are giving Him pleasure.  It follows that God therefore is pleased with things that glorify Him, with whatever shows off and celebrates His goodness, because we know that all things are for His glory, this is what He cares about, what He is ultimately pursuing and wants more than anything else.  So the two are tied together.  Do you want to bring God pleasure?  Celebrate His goodness (worship).  Spread the knowledge of it by blessing and serving others and telling them about the breathtakingly good God.

-Paul talks about bearing fruit in every good work, which is the proverbial proof of the pudding.  It confirms that God is both alive and He is at work in my life.  Our good works show off God's goodness (1Peter 2.12, Matthew 5.16).  And we're not just talking about plain old good works.  These deeds bear fruit.  Fruit is the increase added on to our good works by God Himself.  It is the out working of His Spirit and of His power (Matthew 13.23, John 15.2, 15.4-5, 15.8, Galatians 5.22-23, Philippians 1.11, Colossians 1.6).  Scripture does not portray this fruit as a little dab'll do ya.  The lives of God's people are to be FILLED with fruit, constant fruit, much fruit and more fruit.  we need to ask ourselves, HOW DOES MY LIFE FIT INTO ‘MUCH FRUIT’?  In order for there to be much fruit, there must be seed - hearing of the Word (Luke 8.11, 1Peter 1.23, cf Romans 10.17).  And there must be much water - much praying and abiding and unleashing of the power of God's Spirit in and thru our lives.  And there must be much reaping - much putting the Word into practice and bringing it to bear on the lives of those around us.  So, spend time in the Word (hearing, reading, studying it).  Spend time in prayer.  And do what the Word says and share it with others.  Very straightforward, simple, and attainable.  But not on my own, apart from a vital connection with my Creator.

-Paul also mentions growing towards knowing God fully.  The essence of eternal life is knowing God personally (John 17.3, 1Corinthians 1.21), and one day, in eternity, in His presence, we will see Him face to face and there will be this sense of knowing God fully, as He really is (1Corinthians 13.12).  In contrast the path to destruction is paved with the failure to know God and relate to Him in light of that knowledge (Romans 1.18-23).  And so Paul is paying for these believers, to the end that they continue progressing and growing in their knowledge of the Lord - Who He is, what He is doing, what He wants.  The better we know Him, the more we will be positioned to do the things and live a life that pleases Him.

Colossians 1:9 - A lot of meat left on the bone...

"Because of this also we, from what day we heard, we are not ceasing on behalf of you praying and asking, in order that you should be filled with the full knowledge of the theléma of Him in all spiritual wisdom and understanding..." 

-Here is a second time Paul says that he is constantly praying for these Colossians believers. He is not only giving thanks for them, thankful that the Word of God is bearing fruit and increasing in their lives. He is also praying and asking on their behalf - and that without ceasing. The sad truth is there are very few people I do not cease to pray for. Which points out several sad things about me - I don't fully realize the power and potential of prayer, I don't care about most people enough (about their spiritual destiny and their progress in the faith) to bring this awesome power to bear on their lives (I do care, but not enough), and frankly I am just too spiritually selfish and lazy.  I am not yielded enough nor am I spending sufficient time in prayer to see this power really unleashed in and through my life.  My prayers tend to be a-little-dab’ll-do-ya’s, eleventh hour requests for things that concern me.  There's a lot of meat left on that bone.  Oh how small my heart and my faith, these.

-One thing which might help is to identify a 'target audience', the people to whom God has sent me to bless.  Truth is I already have one - I just need help identifying it.  Ask yourself, to whom has the Lord sent me? It's not about ability, It's about access.  To whom do I have access as part of my everyday routine?  Who is it that through my words and my deeds AND my prayers I have been given the chance to bless and to be a part of helping to change their spiritual destiny?  Who is it that I have the chance to help follow Jesus?  No doubt much of my malaise vis a vis praying for and blessing others goes back to my own heart for the Lord, how real and how awesome He is (or is not) to me. The more consumed I am with Jesus and what He wants, the more focused on others I should be, and the better positioned I will be to bless them with Jesus and the goodness of God.

-Paul's prayer for the Colossians reflects this truth.  He is asking the Lord to fill them, to control and consume them, with the knowledge of His theléma, of what He wants.  And what does the Lord want?  What does He care about most?  It is His glory, His breathtaking goodness and greatness.  It is His glory being known and celebrated to the ends of the earth.  It is thus Himself that He cares most about, and rightly so.  And He wants every person everywhere to not just KNOW the truth that He is unsurpassingly and unimaginably good and great but to truly UNDERSTAND this truth and to know HOW TO LIVE in light of it (which is wisdom), to put Him first in their hearts and minds and lives, to love Him more than anything or anyone - TO WANT HIM.  He wants those He designed as His image bearers to know and celebrate and spread the knowledge of His breathtaking goodness wherever we are, wherever we go. This is what He wants.  And Paul's vision for these folks whom he does not even know is for them to be consumed with living into what God wants.  To that end he is praying for them constantly.  Like I say, there's a lot of meat left on that bone...

Colossians 1:8 - The devolution of self

-"...the [one] also having made clear to us your love in [the] Spirit."

-Here is further confirmation that what Paul knew about the faith of these Colossian believers he had heard from Epaphras.  As we read in the previous verse, Epaphras was the one who had planted the church, and he was now serving (with) Paul, which provided the opportunity for Epaphras to bring him up to speed on them. 

-But more than that, it is what Epaphras told Paul about the assembly in Colossae that got Paul’s attention and should get ours as well.  According to him, the believers in Colossae had love.  And not just any love - they had God’s love, born of His Spirit and directed towards one another.  This was further proof of their bonafide faith.  Jesus Himself had told the first disciples that the way people would know that His people were in fact His people would be by the love they have for one another (John 13.34-35).  Not just some kindred spirit or affection arising out of some shared mutual interests.  We’re talking selfless, sacrificial, giving and forgiving, faithful love without condition or bias or any strings whatsoever, devoid of pettiness or jealousy or pretense.  It bridges barriers of status and culture and muscles through perceived slights and quirks of personality.  It pursues oneness with those who God has gathered out of the world to be a family and asks, ‘How are you really?  How can I help you?  What can I do for you?’  And then it serves, this love of God which He puts in the hearts of His children, flowing through their veins and out of their lives into the lives of their brothers and sisters, sharing, meeting needs, helping, encouraging and building up - love is the watermark, it shows for sure that my faith is genuine, the real McCoy.

-Which now gives us two identifying traits of genuine faith: it loves, and it spreads.  It is not simply a moral code or a set of do’s and don’ts I try my best to follow.  It is not simply being nice to people or about having a place to go on Sunday morning.  It is not me trying to survive the evils and perils of the world with my life and family and beliefs as intact as humanly possible.  It is the devolution of self, my self becoming more radically self-less, more all about Jesus and all about others.  It is God changing my life in a way that changes those around me for the better and forever.  That’s what was happening in Colossae.  Is it happening in me?

Colossians 1:7 - Un-American?

"...just as you learned from epaphras the beloved fellow slave of us, who is a faithful minister of Christ on behalf of us..."

-Epaphras is beloved.  There would be no doubt that Paul had a special affection for Epaphras.  He had led him to Christ and discipled him, had sent him out to plant the church in Colossae, and his protegé had now returned to serve alongside Paul and help him (wherever it was that Paul was imprisoned at this time).

-Epaphras is a fellow slave, a co-doulos with Paul.  He had freely surrendered himself and his wants and desires to what Jesus might want, and was completely given over to do whatever the Lord asked of him.

-Epaphras is also a 'deacon' of Christ to Paul, a faithful waiiter if you will.  Paul uses that word deacon.  It is someone with a servant’s heart, someone who is willing to do the dirty work, doing what needs to be done, and in this case it includes serving Paul, taking care of his needs, probably even bringing him food, since a prison would normally not provide any.

-Servant - one who serves, who performs duties or services for another, someone who does things for others because they are unable or so that they won’t have to - is the standard posture and mindset for Christians (or should be), especially for those in a leadership position.  It is doing things without being asked, things which may go unnoticed, often without gratitude.  It is doing things with a view to how they benefit others, as opposed to how they benefit me.  Some in this life are paid or are made to be servants in more of a temporary capacity; those who follow Christ do it for free for life.  We are first and foremost to be a servant of the Lord (cf Deuteronomy 10.20, 6.13; Matthew 4.10, Psalm 18.0, 100.2; Daniel 6.20, 7.14; Malachi 4.1, Luke 1.74-75, 16.13; Romans 12.11, 2Timothy 1.3, Hebrews 9.14, 12.28 - which will in fact be our occupation in eternity, Revelation 7.15, 22.3)(serving Him with our whole heart - Isaiah 29.12 - as opposed to serving idols - Psalm 97.7, Jeremiah 5.19, Romans 1.25, 1Thessalonians 1.9), and by extension we are to be a servant of God’s people (John 13.12-15, Galatians 5.13, Ephesians 4.12). Jesus taught much on this and led by example (Matthew 20.25-28, 23.10-12; Mark 9.34-35, Luke 22.27, John 13.3-5).

-God calls only a handful of people in Scripture ‘My servant’ - Messiah (many times, cf Isaiah 42.1), the nation israel (many times, cf Isaiah 41.7-10, 44.1-3, albeit imperfectly - Jeremiah 11.10, 13.9-11), but then only David (Psalm 89.3), Isaiah (Isaiah 20.2) Moses (Malachi 4.4), Eliakim (Isaiah 22.20), Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25.9), Zerubbabel (Haggai 2.23).  

-WOULD ANYONE CALL ME A FAITHFUL SERVANT?  A BELOVED FELLOW SLAVE?  WOULD GOD CALL ME HIS SERVANT?  Slave and servant.  These words are not meant only to describe special friends of Paul.  This is to increasingly be the posture and attitude of anyone who claims to follow Christ.  Slave and servant.  Think about those words.  Unfortunately our culture does not in any way reinforce that kind of behavior or thinking.  It is not something to which any normal red-blooded american would aspire.  Slave is a four-letter word.  No, for us it's all about freedom - the power or right to speak or act as I want without any hindrance or restraint.  While I don't believe this was the kind of thinking that inspired many of those who founded this great nation, is this not the prevailing spirit in the USA?  Honestly I'm not sure this is always such a good thing - it can feed right into a mindset of me-first me-better.  Slave and servant.  As much as anything that means me NOT first.  Others better.  Others first.  Jesus foremost and first of all.  May God give us grace today and every day, give us the strength to swim against this prevailing american ethos and like Epaphras before us channel a true spirit of Christ in submitting ourselves fully to Him, to whatever and everything He wants, towel wrapped around our waist and sleeves all rolled up at the ready to do the dirty work, to serve and meet the needs of those around us.

Colossians 1:6 - Gospel gone viral

"...the [Good News] coming unto you, just as it is also in all the world, bearing fruit and growing, just as also in you, since what day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth." 

-A few observations.  This Good News, this Word of Truth, is indeed alive.  It is powerful.  It has been bearing fruit and increasing for two millenia, spreading and going viral through all the world, giving hope to multiplied hundreds of millions of people.  It was happening when Paul wrote this letter (cf Acts 6.7, 9.31, 16.5), and that growth continues unabated in our day.  It doesn't make people perfect, not this side of heaven at least, nor is it immune to being abused and misused by well-intentioned and mal-intentioned alike.  But the fruit of the spread of this true Message of hope and peace has literally changed the lives of billions of people, as those who have carried it in their hearts and lives and on their lips have not only built churches but things like schools and orphanages and hospitals and wells as well.  God's messengers bring compassion and dignity and ethics wherever they go and establish things that we in the west now take for granted, things like freedom - democracy.  Literacy.  Higher education (many universities began as institutions of theological training).  And again, yes, there have been notable and even tragic abuses along the way, but in every instance you'll find that the fault lay with a flawed messenger, not with the Message itself.

-Note that growth - both personal spiritual growth as well as the spread of the Message throughout the world, the actual increase in the number of disciples - is tied to understanding.  It is not just enough for people to hear or even know the Word - they must understand it.  They must perceive its intended meaning and respond appropriately.  Thus in understanding they must also commit themselves to it - any failure or shortcoming in my commitment to the Gospel means I haven’t fully understood it.  The messenger's job is to faithfully and boldly speak the Truth in a way that is clear and accurate.  The rest is up to our hearers (and ultimately the Lord).

-Note too that what they came to understand is the grace of God.  Not just some creed.  Not a path for personal peace or self-improvement.  Not a set of religious rules or sacrifices intended to curry favor with a capricious and over-demanding deity.  The Good News is that holy and righteous almighty God accepts me and literally adopts me in to His forever family as an underserved gift.  There is not one thing I can do to earn it.  Simply believe and receive.

Colossians 1:5 - Not the greatest, but in the top three!

"Because of the hope being stored away to you in the heavens, which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News..." 

-Having mentioned their faith and their love, Paul now mentions their hope.  Elsewhere Paul singles out these three things as those traits which endure above all others, which rise to the top as those which most characterize a follower of Jesus Christ (and to be sure he adds that the greatest of those three is love - 1Corinthians 13.1).

-Hope is a feeling of expectation for something which one desires - the more hopeful you are, the more confidence you have of laying hold what you desire.  Inversely, the more hopeless a situation, the less confident you are of a desired outcome.  And there are many nuances to hope in Christianity.  There is the general desire and expectation - warranted or not - in this case for salvation and eternal life (Titus 1.2).  There is the source of the expectation or the object on which that hope is placed - in this case it is the person (Jesus) or thing (the Good News) that will save you (He IS our only hope - 1Timothy 1.1; the hope of the Gospel - Colossians 1.23).  There is the expectation which we then fix on the One Who will save us before we are actually saved (which is somewhat synonymous with faith - 1Timothy 4.10, Ephesians 1.12, 2Corinthians 1.10).  Then there is the expectation which results from or is strengthened by salvation, the living hope and confidence and assurance which results from faith or saving hope (Romans 5.2, 5.4-5, 12.12, 15.13, Hebrews 6.18, 1Peter 1.3).  But Paul here is grateful not because of their feeling of hope, but because he knows there is a sure hope laid up for them in heaven.  It is something external to them, a hope which is the sure outcome of their hope in the Gospel.  In other words, he is thankful for the reality of their salvation, which is through their faith, and of which HE is confident because they love one another.

-One might ask, what of those who have NO hope, or who have false hope...?  A situation or life that is utterly hope-less is no place to be.  Surely those who have found hope in Jesus have something to share...!

-Nevertheless, Paul adds that the Colossians had previously heard about this heavenly hope when they heard the Good News.  He also calls it the Word of Truth.  It is completely true, and therefore it is completely trustworthy.  You can commit your entire life to it - forgiveness for your past, purpose and power in the present, and hope as well as total forgiveness for the future.

Colossians 1:4 - WE. ARE. FA-MI-LY.

"...having heard [about] your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you are having unto all the saints..."

-Again, Paul hadn’t been to Colossae.  He didn’t know these believers personally.  But he had heard about them - and he had heard two things which prompted him to give thanks to God: they knew Jesus, and they had love for others who knew Jesus. 

-Faith is pistis, a noun form of the verb pisteuo, meaning to believe or trust.  It is not simply knowing facts or truths about something or someone, it is believing/trusting that those things are in fact true.  Pistis is trusting IN something or someone.  It is all about the object - that something or someone can be fully believed and trusted.  And it means complete reliance - commiting yourself to those truths and living into and living out their implications.  In this sense, pistis in Christ Jesus means that you fully believe the things about Him which we read in Scripture, and you completely rely on them, on the truth that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that no one can come to the Father except through Him.  That He is Son of God and that He died on the Cross for our sins and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.  That only in Him can I find forgiveness for sins and peace with God and eternal life, and only through Him can I be made fully right with God.  But once I place my pistis in Christ Jesus, these things are all true for me, and I become part of the universal family of faith.  Paul had heard that there was in fact an assembly of these people of pistis in Colossae, and for this he gave thanks to God.  It was cause for celebration (Lk 15.4.7)!  They had turned around from following other gods or from trusting in their own efforts to make them right with God and were now following Christ!

-Paul is also thanking God for their love.  Love is the proof of the pudding, the evidence of my pistis.  The fruit of the Spirit is love.  The greatest of these is love.  All men will know you have pistis in Christ - IF you have love.  Paul had heard that these people believed in Jesus as Savior but he KNEW these folks were true followers of Jesus because they had His love, specifically for others who were following Christ.  Things like going to some building or meeting one day a week or giving money to some church or charity can be good things but they are not mentioned as tangible proofs of pistis.  The litmus test of faith in Scripture is, do I demonstrate genuine love for God’s people? (John 13.34-35, John 15.12, John 15.17, Romans 12.10, Romans 13.8, 1Thessalonians 4.9, 2Thessalonians 1.3, 1Peter 4.8, 1John 3.10-11, 1John 4.20-21, 1John 3.17, 1John 2.9, James 2.14-17, 1John 4.12, 2John 5, Deuteronomy 15.7-8)

-And note that Paul describes it as the love they had ‘for all the saints’.  Not just love for God’s people who are similar to me or who like me or who live close to me.  These believers had love for ALL of God’s people.  Saints who were different - different ages, different personalities, different ethnicities.  Saints who lived elsewhere.  Saints who didn’t have it all together, who were flawed (just like the rest of us).  Saints with different views on things like politics and social issues and theology and on how to do church.  ALL the saints.  Everyone who was truly following Christ the best they knew how.  Because there is a tie, a unity, a oneness which binds God’s people together that is more important and more powerful than the things which conspire to pull us apart.  This oneness is produced by God’s Spirit and it composes all of God’s people, every single one of them, into a body, one collective whole.  A family.  A family that truly loves one another.  Love - the infinite everlasting unending love of God - knits our hearts together (Colossians 2.1-2).  Love - that which pursues and forbears and forgives - keeps the family together (Ephesians 4.1-3).  Love that is humble and lowminded and not self-seeking and looks out for the interests of others builds the family up (Ephesians 4.15-16).  Love - the kind that really cares for others - is the ultimate proof of whether or not someone truly knows Christ.  

-In a world where forces seem increasingly antagonistic to faith, it is understandable that people of faith can find themselves on the defensive.  It is easy to find ourselves more concerned with orthodoxy, with making sure we have our spiritual act together and with minimizing our exposure to those who perhaps do not.  The same can happen in a culture saturated by Christianity, where God’s people can become complacent about the eternal destiny of those around them (since it can feel like so many have heard and are following Christ), and the church becomes more like a cruise ship where the passengers have the luxury of focusing on aesthetics and on fine points of practice and doctrine.  In both scenarios, our pursuit of a straight and true othodoxy can put us at odds with or at a distance from others who are truly following Christ as well.  But make no mistake - love is orthodox.

-Do you care?  Do I care?  Do we really care about one another?  There are no excuses.  There is no place in the body for division or unforgiveness or unlove.  If you know your fellow believer has something against you, leave your offering at the altar and first be reconciled to your brother.  Zero tolerance.  And what if I have something against a fellow believer?  I must forgive them the way Christ has forgiven me.  I must let it go and go low and serve and love them with the love for them that God has supposedly put in my heart.  Oh it’s there - if I really have faith in Christ.  I just need to stop bottling it up and give full expression to it.  Love for ALL the saints.  Which saint do you know who you need to love today?  Find some way to bless them, to serve them. thank God for them.  Pray for them (the way they might pray for themselves). Find some way to serve them.  Let God fill your heart with His compassion and forgiveness and love for them.  There are no excuses.  Because love is the proof of our faith.  As Paul writes elsewhere, if I do not have love, I am nothing... (1Corinthians 13.2) 

Colossians 1:3 - The most powerful word (or two if you speak English)?

"We are giving thanks to God, [the] Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always about you..."

-For most of us, our communication with the Almighty consists of shopping lists and last-minute end-of-our-rope get-me-out-of-this-Lord’s (if we talk to Him at all).  Paul gives us a great model here - he leads with thanksgiving (grateful praying), he is always praying (unceasing praying), and he is praying for others (intercessory praying).  In fact, here he is gratefully - praying a lot - for people who he most likely did not even know. 

-But we do have so much for which to be thankful.  The fact is that everything we have ultimately does come from the Lord, and thus we can and should start by thanking Him for everything instead of constantly just asking Him for more.  Gratitude is recognizing the benefit or favorable circumstances enjoyed by you and/or others, and typically involves communicating appreciation and words of thanks to whomever may have had a hand in making it possible (which can be directed both vertically to the Lord from Whom are all things as well as horizontally toward any person or persons who may have also had a hand in it).  It is opposed to a consumer-oriented me-first focus which never looks past my needs and my wants and my stuff (see a tragic yet humorous illustration of this in Numbers 11, where God’s people are ungrateful for their daily bread, for their deliverance, and finally for the meat which is both a blessing and a curse from the Lord.  their ingratitude is ultimately a rejection of God and His goodness - Numbers 11.20 - which is exactly the same problem Paul points out in Romans 1.21).  Ingratitude is the purview of infants - they exist in the realm of ‘me, me, me’ and ‘mine, mine, mine’.  Rather, a true sign of maturity, of emotional and spiritual growth and health, is for one to develop patterns of personal contentment and thankfulness and appreciation for my own stuff which then grows and extends to others - gratitude for their successes and efforts and stuff even when it doesn’t directly concern me.  How amazing would it be if my kids came to me with hearts full of gratitude for all that I have already done and provided for them, rather than dwelling on and hounding me about the next thing they think they need in order make them happy.  If you're a parent, you know exactly how amazing that would be.  I think God feels the same way about His children.

-That’s exactly what Paul is showing us here - the kind of gratitude that encompasses the things of others as well.  He does this quite a lot actually (cf Romans 1.8, 1Corinthians 1.4, 1Thessalonians 1.2-3).  Everything for everybody else is also from the Lord, and if we were able to get our eyes off our navel and actually consider the interests of others (Philippians 2.4), we would find much fodder for prayer, even if we only focused on reasons to give thanks.  No doubt some of Paul’s gratitude we see in Scripture can be traced to the reality that all the people for whom he was thankful were fruit of his labor, either directly as spiritual children - he had evangelized their city and had planted that assembly - or (as in this case) indirectly as spiritual grandchildren who had come to faith through the work of someone Paul had trained and in whom he had invested much.  In a broad sense every one of these people who were following Christ among the Gentiles were the actual fulfillment of Paul’s call as the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 1.5, Romans 11.13, 1Corinthians 9.2, Galatians 2.8, 1Timothy 2.7).

-But do not miss that Paul is giving thanks TO GOD.  Consider that even an atheist may stumble on the general importance of gratitude in life and wind up giving thanks to some non-existent fates, or to the stars or perhaps mother nature, or perhaps to no one in particular.  In such an instance all one is really doing is saying that they are lucky, enjoying a fortuitous result of a great cosmic accident.  And while there is certainly nothing wrong with counting my blessings, for me to be aware that I have reasons to be thankful, and to subsequently either fail to give proper thanks or to give thanks to the wrong benefactor (esp a non-existent one) - this is certainly ignorant and most likely rude and ultimately serves to reinforce my natural selfishness, that it’s all about me.  In my failure to actually recognize and acknowledge my benefactor, my stab at gratitude does very little to enhance my spiritual condition, to say the least.  

-Gratitude thus is the seedbed of worship, part of the wondrous divine dance with our Creator.  It acknowledges God’s hand, His provision, His preeminence.  It says, ‘I trust You, that You know what You’re doing, and that this thing for which I am giving thanks is (ultimately) a good thing (even if it may not feel that way in this moment).’  For example, imagine what it would be like if your kids actually thanked you for some punishment you were forced to administer for their benefit.  Think about what it would say about their trust in you and their understanding of your heart.  I’m not saying that kids need to worship their parents - far from it - but such a scenario illustrates the potential power of what gratitude can communicate.  These two words (altho most languages use only one word to say 'thank you') perhaps more than any other elevate my attitude and enhance all my relationships.  We neglect their use to our own detriment.

-This kind of vertical gratitude is a key component of successful leadership (which we definitely observe in Paul).  Vertical gratitude is humble - it acknowledges that there is someone greater than me, and that whatever good things happen are not ultimately because of me.  It also inspires, and it is contagious.  When present in those who lead, it sets a positive tone for the group, and creates an attitude of faith.  Bumps in the road are less likely to turn into setbacks or occasions for complaining.  Whenever you have a chance to lead or influence others - in your home or in your church or at your school or place of work, know that the example of gratitude you set, one of faith and humility and trust, will indeed set the tone for everybody else.

-And note that Paul’s gratitude includes these Colossian believers.  Paul is in essence saying, ‘I thank God for YOU.’  This kind of horizontal gratitude is also a critical part of successful leadership, not to mention part of good relationships in general.  It is a way to be a blessing to others.  People who get thanked are encouraged to keep going, to do it again.  They work harder and longer, and with more confidence and self-esteem, and they are more loyal.  They feel better about themselves and about what they’re doing.  People who know they are appreciated stick around longer.  A lot of people in this world and in your life are and have been working pretty hard, busting their tail, often with no word of thanks from anyone.  Keep your eyes out for those whom you can bless with a word of gratitude - it could be a family member or a relative, or someone at your church or place of work, or at the Starbucks or restaurant you frequent.  Paul says to these folks who he did not know, ‘I thank God for you’.  Who can you thank God for today?  Tell them that.  Say it to their face if you can, or on the phone if you aren’t nearby.  Even if they don’t respond in a tangible way, you can be sure that your word of gratitude will bless and encourage their heart.  Be constantly on the lookout for those who need a word of thanks...

Colossians 1:2 - Who they ARE

"...to the [ones] in Kolossai, holy and faithful brothers in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father."

-And so Paul the apostle along with Timothy the brother is writing to the assembly of faithful Christ-followers in the city of Kolossai (Colossae) - in the region of Phrygia (now western Turkey) known as the Lycus Valley.  As best we can tell, Paul never actually visited there (Colossians 1.4), although it is possible he passed through during his third missionary journey (Acts 18.23, 19.1, 19.10).  But most believe this assembly was planted by Epaphras (Colossians 1.7), who was from Colossae (Colossians 4.12) and had become one of Paul’s co-workers (Colossians 4.13).  In fact Colossae had ceased to be an important city in Paul’s day, and was actually devastated by an earthquake not long after Paul wrote this letter and was never rebuilt (unlike the neighboring cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis).

-He has called Timothy ‘the brother’ and now calls these ones his brothers, people who most likely he had never even met.  And to be sure, there is a supernatural bond which exists between those who truly follow Christ, one put there by God’s Spirit Himself.  It is familial - we’re talking family ties.  It is universal, it transcends boundaries of space and even time, and it is often instantaneously recognizeable.  Yes, it is even palpable - Christ-followers frequently can recognize other believers prior to interacting with them, and after meeting can feel an instant connection with one another.  Those who have journeyed together in Christ for some time actually experience a bond which defies description.

-He refers to those he is writing as holy and faithful brothers.  Holy is God’s doing - when God calls a person and puts them in Christ, He declares them holy - set apart and totally right in His eyes.  That is now who/what they ARE.  They are holy, just like the One Who called them.  Faithful, on the other hand, is our doing.  It is our cooperation with what God has done and is doing in our lives.  It is our response to His Word and His Spirit and His work and leading, a long obedience in the same direction, a lifestyle of devotion that persists and endures in season and out of season, for better or worse.  Some will be inclined to insist that faithfulness is totally God’s doing, that it comes from God just like everything else, and to be sure it is a fruit of God’s Spirit which He does produce in our lives.  No doubt He does give us the grace and the power to choose to obey and to be faithfully devoted to Him.  But in the end, He does not force our choice.  I choose.  I choose whether to obey or disobey.  My faithfulness or lack thereof is not God’s problem - it’s on me.  I think Paul is simply recognizing here that it is a both/and.

-He gives them a very standard greeting here as well, wishing them grace and peace.  Peace as a greeting was customary, rooted in the Middle Eastern culture (and continues to this day - shalom/salaam), and we see in Paul that grace - God’s undeserved favor - had superceded peace as something he would greatly desire for his audience to experience.  Paul had learned the truth that there is no peace without grace.

-He had also learned that all things are from God the Father (as well as through Him and for Him, cf Romans 11.36-37), thus the mention of grace and peace coming to the Colossians from God the Father.  Usually Paul adds the grace and peace as coming from the Lord Jesus Christ as well.  We’re not sure why he fails to mention Christ here in this letter.  Perhaps it is a shortened greeting for a church he didn’t know.  He is certainly not trying to de-emphasize Christ (Paul mentions Christ 24 times in this letter in fact - ranking it 5th out of his 13 letters in terms of frequency).  But here is a question - how often do i mention Christ?  In my letters or frankly in any of my other communication?  Granted I am not an apostle, nor am I primarily writing letters of encouragement and instruction to churches.  But do I even mention Christ at all?  For Paul, it was all about Christ.  He really can’t not talk about Him.  He starts off talking about Christ, he keeps mentioning Christ, and he finishes in talking about Christ.  To Paul, Christ was an ever-present reality, a real and true friend and Savior and Lord and a priceless indescribable treasure, and he talks about Him frequently (all the time).  Christ had changed everything for him, and now everything was all for Christ.  No doubt to the extent that I don’t talk about Him, I show that I don’t really know how surpassingly awesome He is.  The more I really encounter Christ and come to understand Who He really is, the more I will like paul be unable to not talk about Him...