Have You Heard About Colosse?

Early Friday morning at the dawn of first light I heard a male cardinal with his whistle-like cheer. Cheer-cheer-cheer! He was singing good morning to God, and announcing his presence in the trees outside my window. I heard him, but I could not see him. But I knew he was there. And when I heard, I began to whistle just like him. And I gave thanks to God who created all things, and to worship Him who gave this wonderful red bird the voice of cheer.

Pray with me. Dear Father in heaven and our Lord Jesus Christ, hear the voice of your servant and have mercy on me, that I may preach of Your word today, that all who hear may be blessed to receive renewed faith in You, renewed love for our brethren, and renewed hope for that which You have laid up for us in heaven. Amen.

My purpose in this sermon is in my prayer. Read the opening scripture and you’ll see it again.

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Colossians 1:3-8

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Colossian saints, because he heard about them. What did he hear? He heard about their faith in Jesus. And about their love for the saints. And this faith and this love that he heard about that was in them, well he knew why they had such faith. And why they had such love. The reason was because of hope. Hope in heaven to come. For their hope was in the promises of Jesus which He Himself had taught about thirty or so years earlier. Their hope was in Jesus!

And what did Paul and Timothy do when they heard about Colosse? They prayed and gave thanks for those new saints. I mean, have you heard about Colosse? There are Christians in Colosse! Who evangelized them? Yes, the Apostle was happy about them. Yet, he was also concerned for them because deceptive teachers and deceptive philosophies were threatening to undermine their faith.

And because of that, we Christians today have been blessed with a little four chapter epistle that overflows with some of the highest Christology found in the Bible. Go ahead and watch my sermon on YouTube and join in this Colossian journey. A journey to know Jesus so well that no one can take your crown.

Because Paul imagined a church where the Spirit of Christ was all in all. Where the practice of the people was such that each person, each saint welcomes the Word of Christ to dwell in him/her richly. A church where the people seek wisdom from God so they might teach one another and admonish one another with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs. Even as that red cardinal sings outside my window each morning.

That we may learn to pray like the Colossians were counseled to do, and to pray like Paul and Timothy, and to give thanks to God the Father through Jesus while receiving a daily refreshment of His grace and mercy in our hearts is my prayer also. In Jesus; name, amen.