Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20070429.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Colossians: Maturing Over False Beliefs By Christ's Supreme All-Sufficiency
Part I: Encouragement From Past Events To Trust In Christ's Supreme All-Sufficient Discipleship
(Colossians 1:1-8 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. Many calls from all sorts of religious belief systems beckon to move us away from the Biblical truth that all we need for spiritual fulfillment is our Supreme, All-Sufficient Savior, Jesus Christ.
    2. One way to counter these calls is to recall how Christ has already shown us His supreme all-sufficiency:
  2. Encouragement From Past Events To Trust In Christ's Supreme All-Sufficient Discipleship.
    1. The Epistle to the Colossians has as its theme "the supremacy and all-sufficiency of Christ" that Paul promoted to equip his readers to mature over errors they faced that hindered them from trusting in Christ's supremacy and all-sufficiency, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., p. 1690, "The Colossian Heresy."
    2. Accordingly, even in his epistle's introduction, Paul focused on the practical evidences of Christ's supreme all-sufficiency in the past discipling record of the Colossian believers themselves:
      1. Paul introduced his Epistle by giving thanks to God the Father and praying for them since he had heard of a triad of spiritual graces they possessed that revealed they were true believers, Colossians 1:1-5:
        1. He gave a warm, typical introduction in his letter to the Colossian believers, claiming the readers were saints and faithful brothers in Christ, Colossians 1:1-2a.
        2. Accordingly, Paul wished these true believers God's grace and peace, Colossians 1:2b.
        3. His conviction that they were truly saints and faithful Christian brothers came from the testimony of coworker, Epaphras that they had three major graces, Col. 1:4-5, 7-8: (1) these believers had faith in Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of the Christian faith, 1:4a; (2) they loved all the other saints, another mark of true Christians, 1:4b; John 13:35; (3) such faith and love evidenced their hope of eternal life in heaven, the content of the Gospel they would have already believed for salvation, Colossians 1:5.
      2. Now, Paul noted this true conversion occurred due to Christ's Supreme All-Sufficiency, Col. 1:6-8:
        1. Paul recalled the Gospel of Christ had arrived in Colosse for them to believe to be saved, 1:6a.
        2. He also noted that, that same Gospel had born fruit wherever it went in the world, and was continuing to grow in making converts even as it had among the Colossians, Col. 1:6b,c NIV, ESV.
        3. Paul reported that they had (apparently) received this Gospel from Epaphras, a dear fellowservant of the Lord with Paul, a messenger who had reported back to Paul of their welfare, Colossians 1:7-8.
      3. Viewing the historical record of this process displays Christ's supreme all-sufficiency, Acts 19:1-20:
        1. The Colossians had not seen the Apostle Paul, Colossians 2:1. Rather, they had been reached by Epaphras who had been converted to Christ by Paul while he visited Ephesus 100 miles away and heard Paul preach there, cf. Acts 19:1, 10; Ibid., "The Church at Colosse".
        2. That ministry occurred under duress for Paul: the Christian faith was slandered at the synagogue, so Paul separated new converts from it daily to discuss the truth in the "lecture hall" of Tyrannus that was "available . . . to traveling philosophers and teachers," Acts 19:8-9; Ibid., ftn. to Acts 19:9.
        3. During the two years of Paul's daily ministry in this secular hall, Epaphras with many others in that province who traveled to and from its commercial center at Ephesus heard the Gospel, Acts 19:10.
        4. God validated the truth of the Gospel before Paul's hearers versus the synagogue slander by granting great miracles in Paul's behalf, Acts 19:11-12: (1) Undermining the legalistic synagogue slander, God enabled Paul's ceremonially unclean used work aprons that he had discarded at the city dump to heal all the infirmed who touched them, Acts 19:11-12. (2) God also gave Paul respect before onlooking Gentiles when unsaved Jews failed to exorcise demons like Paul could, Acts 19:13-17. (3) So greatly grew the credibility of the Gospel that Paul's hearers burned several million dollars worth of magic books in turning from witchcraft to Christ, Acts 19:18-19; Ibid., ftn. to Acts 19:19.
Lesson: To BEGIN to guide the Colossians to focus on Christ's supreme all-sufficiency, Paul reminded them how that greatness had ALREADY POWERFULLY discipled them to their current states!

Application: May we RECALL Christ's great work to disciple us to our CURRENT level of faith as a BASIS for trusting His capacity to CONTINUE to disciple us as our Supreme, All-Sufficient Savior!