Colossians 1:3-8 - What you Already have in Christ

“Jesus is good, but you need more.” That idea sounds harmless until you see what it does to a church, and to your own heart. We open Colossians chapter 1 with the backstory: Paul writes from house arrest after Epaphras reports a dangerous drift in Colossae. Some voices are pushing Greek philosophy and “secret” spiritual knowledge. Others are pushing religious legalism and Jewish traditions. Different packaging, same hook: Jesus plus something else.

We slow down in Colossians 1:3-8 and focus on what God has already produced in these believers: faith in Christ, love for all the saints, and hope laid up in heaven. We talk about what real faith looks like when it changes the way you live, why agape love is truly supernatural, and how Christian hope is confidence about what’s ahead, not an “I wish” feeling. If you feel like you are always shopping for the next thing to fix you, Paul’s reminder lands like a reset button: you may not be lacking, you may be forgetting.

Then we follow Paul’s logic to the source of fruit: the truth of the gospel. The good news of Jesus is not a slogan, it is a living seed that brings new birth and real spiritual growth. We also get painfully practical about what stunts that growth, using Matthew 13 and the parable of the sower: the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches can choke the Word until it becomes unfruitful. We round it out with Galatians 5, contrasting the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, and we end with a prayer for soft hearts and lasting change.

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Transcript

Why Colossians Was Written

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Colossians chapter one. Let's start in verse one. Just kidding. Three. Verse three. All right. So we're not far into uh study of the book of Colossians. It's a letter. You may not realize that. It's a letter written uh from Paul to a fellowship of believers meeting in the city of Colossi. Not really much different than what we're looking at right here. Just a bunch of people getting together and deciding they want to hear what God had to say to them. Now we're not sure how they met, but a man named Epaphras came to Paul there as Paul was in Rome under house arrest. We could say he's in prison, but it's house arrest. It's not fun, it's not perfect. But this man, Epaphrus, comes to Paul. Now, Epaphras is connected to the church in Colossae. Um, he was a leader there in that church, and he meets with Paul, and it becomes clear that there's false teaching creeping into the church in Colossae. We expected it. False teachers are peddling Greek philosophy, saying Jesus is good. It's good that you believe in Jesus, but you need a little bit more. You need our secret knowledge, right? You need our deeper knowledge, and we'll consider that as we move on in the book, what that was and how that looked. Paul's gonna come against it for sure. Now, at the same time, right? So Greek philosophy in one side, at the same time, the Judaizers were coming in. Judaizers are uh a common enemy of the church there in the book of Acts and in Paul's writings. They came in saying, Jesus is good, but you need the traditions, you need to observe the feasts, you need to circumcise your sons, you need to be more Jewish to really get the whole thing. To really get all of what Christianity is, you need more. And so, one way or another, the problem here was it was a Jesus and situation. Jesus is good, but you need more, you need something else. Jesus plus, you could say, and Paul took this very seriously

The Danger Of Jesus Plus

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because he knew anytime you added anything to Jesus, you lost it all. Jesus plus anything is nothing, Paul would say, and Paul would know. Uh, he compares it to a body, right? We've seen this that we're in Christ, we're a body, we're the body of Christ. And you look around the room, and we all have different characteristics in this body. But, now listen, but Jesus is the head, we're the body of Christ. Jesus is the head. Guys, if you let go of Jesus, you've lost your head. And no head, no life. Head's very important to life, and and so Paul he takes it very seriously and he gets right to it there in prison, and he writes them this letter. We call it the book of Colossians, um, and encourages them to hold on to Jesus with everything that um they had. Now, the rest of chapter one is still a little bit of an introduction here, and Paul's gonna go through a few things. And I just kind of want to hit the rest of the chapter here in overview, and then we're gonna hit verses three through eight, so not much. But in verses three through eight, Paul tells the believers what they already have, what they already have in Christ. Verses nine through 14, Paul encourages them to be careful to keep those things that they already had. Verses 15 through 20 is a spontaneous time of worship. Paul, and thinking about all these things, he says, you know what we need to talk about? We need to talk about Jesus and how amazing he is. So there's this spontaneous hymn of worship about Jesus. Now, verse 21 through 23, Paul's encouragement to them, carry on. You've got to keep going. And verse 24 through 29, Paul expresses his determination that he will not give up on them either. So we'll see that in the next few weeks. I don't know how long it'll take, but we'll get there, right? Verse 3, though, is where we start, and we read verse 3 through 8. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith

A Roadmap Of Chapter One

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in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you as it has 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 declared to us your love in the spirit. So here Paul starts off by saying, This is what Epaphras has told us about you. Now, in Roman rhetoric, uh, this is known as the exordium. It's a little bit of flattering, right? When you're going to give a speech in front of someone, like in the book of Acts, right? Uh one came giving a speech in front of Felix and said, Oh, great Felix, you've done so much for our people. It's just a little bit of flattering, it's to bring the people in. Now, Proverbs lets us know that flattery is deceptive. If people start flattering you, you might want to be on guard, right? Um, but Paul kind of puts his twist on this, and he says, here's what I've heard about you, people in Colossae. And the twist is that it's all things that God has done in them and for them. So Paul's going to compliment, but really he's complimenting the work of God in the Colossians. Uh, Paul's purpose in this is to remind them of what they already owned. The people, as we have talked about, the people in philosophy were shopping for something else, something more. But they forgot what they already owned. All of us do this,

Reading Colossians 1:3-8

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right? Um, guys, girls too, some some of you girls for sure use socket wrenches, but you know, you go to your socket set and you go, what do I need? I need a 10 millimeter socket. Hey they're all here except the 10 millimeter, right? Isn't that the way it goes? And you you go and you buy yourself either a new socket set, or if you can find it, just the one socket. But you know this. You know that somewhere there's a pile of 10 millimeter sockets making fun of you. You know what I mean? They're like, we're all here hiding in the corner, you just don't know it. And and we already have what we need, we just forgot where we put it, and that's so much what's going on here. Paul reminds them, guys, you already have everything that you're looking for in Jesus. Look at what God has done for you. Look what God's worked in your life. Now, notice in verse four what Paul says they have. I've heard of your faith, I've heard of your love, I've heard of your hope, right? Faith, love, hope. Reverse the order, and it's something we all know. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Faith, hope, and love. Something that God works in our lives as believers, and they had it. Paul says, I've heard about these things, I've heard about your faith. Now let's look at these for a second. I've heard of your faith, guys. You believe in God, you believe in Jesus, and it's affected your life in a real thank you, a real in an honest way. Uh, that's what faith should do. We talk about faith, but it's believing something. Now, listen, it's believing something enough to let it change your life. It's Hebrews chapter

Praise That Points To God

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11 that we went through not that long ago. It's these people who just trusted God, and because they trusted God, they live their life in such a way. Well, Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that without faith, it's impossible to please God. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. James kind of gives us more details there in James 2.26. It says, real faith has works because faith without works is dead faith. And Paul looking at these believers in Colossae says, You got it. I've heard about your faith. What you believe is changing the way you live. Amazing. Now notice they also had love, love for all the saints. In other words, they love their friends there in Colossae, just like we love each other here, right? They love their friends in Colossae, but they loved all believers all around the world. That word love, you know it, it's agape. When we see the word agape, we should be a little amazed because this is a miraculous God kind of love. This is a love that loves our friends, but it also loves our enemies and wants what's best for them, too. Uh, that's a supernatural love. Galatians chapter 5, starting at verse 22, we read that the fruit of the spirit is love. And we should be kind of amazed by that when we see it in our life. And now, follow. Have you ever been amazed when you've seen God's love produced in your heart, especially for someone that you're having a very difficult time with, and you want what's best for them. You don't want to hurt them, you don't want to see them suffer, you want what's best, and and we should look at that and go, wow, that's amazing. We should be amazed by it. Epaphrase lets Paul know these people are the real deal. They've got faith, living faith, they've got love, and they've got hope, a hope of heaven. Now, hope is not an I wish kind of situation. I hope I win the lottery. You know this. But it's this way that runs our life, it's a confidence. When we talk about a hope of heaven, we're talking about this confidence, there's more to life than what we see. And these guys had it. They were living their life in faith, in love, and in hope. Now look at verse six here in Colossians chapter one. Paul lets us know it's bringing forth fruit. Now, I'm not a fan of fruit. You didn't need to know that, but I'm just not. That's the secret to my great health. I have this weird kind of phobia of fruit. Um, ask my kids, right?

Faith That Changes How You Live

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And and yet, when you really think about fruit, things that grow, it should be pretty amazing to us how it works, right? This gnarled little seed goes into the ground. You put it in there, you water it, and and you know, you you let the sun shine on it, you give it some time, and it sprouts, it becomes a tree. You're so amazed by this. I know. But think about it, that's a miracle. That doesn't make any sense. How do you explain that with science? You know what I mean? That you put the seed in the ground, and then fruit comes off of it. You can't make that happen. You can do so much, but you can't make it happen. As Paul says, God gives the increase in those situations. Fruit is well, we notice here it's produced by a seed, and that seed is verse five, the truth of the gospel. Fruit in our lives, love being the main one, is not produced by good feelings or a determination. I'm gonna be a better person and love people. It's not, it's produced by God's word in our heart, the good news of what he's done. And here, Paul makes a big deal about it. It's the truth of the gospel that produces this fruit in our life. Now, the gospel. It's the good news, right? If you grew up in Sunday school, you would know. If I said, What is the gospel? You'd say, good news, right? And and you would be correct. We hear it a lot in Christian circles. For a while, it was a buzzword, right? We had gospel meetings, gospel presentations, full gospel business meeting. I don't even know what that is. Um, but the gospel, we know it, it's the good news. But let's think about that for just one second here, because Paul says that's where this fruit is coming from. It's the gospel. The gospel is a message, it's preached. We preach the gospel, and we look at that and go, well, that's good for you, preacher, right? You preach the gospel, but to preach just means to proclaim. And we can picture this, right? The Middle Ages is where it all came down, I think. For this, you had the person who would go out and say, proclaim, hear ye, hear ye. The king has said, war is over, right? The captives are free, no new taxes, right? You know, good news. And and the person goes out proclaiming that good news. Paul had such an opinion of this message that in Romans 1:16 he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. This is the power of God to salvation. This message is how people get saved, right? It's the message of what God has done for us. Now I know you know this, but come back and hear it. It's the message of what God's done for us, that we were lost in sin, we were dead in sin. And yet, God, for no good reason other than he wanted to, he sent his son. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whosoever believes

Agape Love And Real Christian Unity

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in him, John 3.16, should not perish but have everlasting life. And it's this good news that God loved us so much that he provided a way for us to be saved. That's what Jesus did on the cross for us. Now, that's a small message, right? There's a lot to it, but that's just that's it. I mean, that's the good news of what God's done for us. And yet, Paul here says, This is what leads to fruit. This is the power of God to salvation. It's the good news message. Um, think about it, so much happens when we believe. John chapter three, classic passage, the night passage, Nicodemus, comes to Jesus at ninth and he says, Teacher, we know you've been sent by God because nobody can do the things that you do unless God was with him. And Jesus answered him and said, You must be born again. What you really want, what you really need is to be born again. Now he answered him a question that Nicodemus never asked, right? You need to be born again. You gotta believe what I'm gonna do for you. You've got to trust it as a price for your sins. And and check it out. What happens is something we can't explain. A person is born again. Now, a seed growing is pretty miraculous, but a child being born, that's crazy, right? Modern technology, you know, we can put an egg and a sperm together and stuff, but you know what? We still can't make life, we really can't do it. There's this spark that God puts in a soul, right? A spirit in a human being, and life comes about. It's amazing, it's crazy amazing, and yet that's the example that Jesus says to Nicodemus you got to be born again, and that's what happens when you believe. You're born again with a new life. Um, and they all say it, right? Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 14 says there's a natural man and a spiritual man. You need the spiritual man to understand the things of God, and God produces a spiritual man. James says in James 1:18 of his own will, God, when he brought forth his word, the word of truth, he did it that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So James says the same thing by the gospel in our lives, we're brought out as a new creation, as firstfruits. Peter, in case you needed some more verses, Peter, 1 Peter 1:23, he says, as having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but

Hope As Confidence About Heaven

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incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. John says some of the same things in 1 John chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5. He says, You need to be born of God. And that's what we are when we believe. Born again, a new creation. Um now, this is this crazy work that God did in the Colossians. He sparked life in their hearts when they heard the gospel and they believed, they were given a new life. It produced fruit, faith, love, and hope. They had so much, they had just forgotten it. Now, little side note, and take a deep breath, come back, little side note time. What stunts the fruit of the good news in our life? Because that's the thing we probably see more than anything. Uh, Matthew 13. Why don't we turn to Matthew 13? Because it's hot in here. Uh, Matthew 13. I love Matthew 13. I come back to it several times a year at least. Matthew 13 is the parable of the sower, right? We all know it. Uh the parable of the sower, and Jesus tells a story there as he's sitting on the hillside. People are listening. He says, A sower went out to sow. A guy went out to plant seed. Yeah. And some of it fell on hard ground, the path, and the birds. Came and ate it. Yeah. Some of it fell on stony ground and it didn't get enough roots. When the sun came out, it shriveled. You can read it here in chapter 13. It shriveled and died. Some

The Gospel That Grows Fruit

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fell on the thorny ground, and the thorns came and crowded it out and choked out that seed, and it didn't bear any fruit. Some fell on good ground, verse 8, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. Jesus tells a story. Ground producing fruit, the seed. Now, if you read on there in verse 18, he explains the parable to his disciples. And he says, When anyone, verse 19, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received the seed by the wayside. But he received the seed on the stony places, is he who hears the word, the good news, the word, and immediately receives it with joy. Yet has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he verse 22, he received the seed among the thorns, he who hears the word. Now listen, hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And he received the seed on good ground, as he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit, who produces some hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. So the parable here again, you know it. It's God's word in our heart. The seed is God's word, the good news, you could say, in our heart. Our heart determines how we receive it. Could be a hard heart, doesn't go down deep at all. The devil comes and steals it out. Could be, you know, rocky ground without real depth. And when the sun of tribulations comes, it withers. God's word withers in our heart. But the one I really want you to see here is in verse 22 the thorny ground. He who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. So God wants to bring fruit in our life. But the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out what God wants to do, the cares of this world. This world has a lot of cares with it. These are some practical things, right? What should we eat? What should we wear? Where should we live? These are cares of this world. They're not bad in themselves, but they really absorb our life, don't they? And God has this beautiful word in our hearts. And the cares of this life, this world, the practical things, they choke it out. And we put it on the back burner. But notice, he also says the deceitfulness of riches. I don't like being deceived. Does anyone like being deceived? No. I don't like being taken, right? I hate that. That's why I don't like to go on vacations and you know get taken by somebody on the street, you know. I don't like it. But here Jesus says the desire for riches, more stuff, whatever that is in our life, it's deceitful. It will choke out what God wants to do. It'll absorb us. We think, oh, I'll be happy if I just had a little bit more, more stuff, a different relationship. I'd be so happy, but it never comes to pass. And here we're told it chokes out what God wants to do in our life. We have to be careful because God really wants to produce good things in our life. Galatians 5. Uh, again, you see, uh, let's turn there. Galatians chapter 5. This will be the last place we'll turn, I'm pretty sure. Galatians chapter 5. And verse 19. Um, looking looking first uh there uh at verse 22, we'll see the good stuff. 522, Galatians. But the fruit of the spirit is love. Now, all those other things describe aspects of love, I think. The main fruit of the spirit is love,

What Chokes Growth In Us

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and you could argue about that, but it doesn't matter. It's good stuff, right? When God works love in our heart. But notice what can really kill that good fruit in our life. Verse 19. The works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, that would be drug use, uh, hatred, that's a hard thing, contentions, jealousies, that's a heart thing, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambition, heart thing, dissenses, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the light, which I tell you beforehand that those uh who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. And and so the flesh, all these things in detail for us here, things that we do, things that we feel in our heart, they'll choke out the good fruit of God's love in our life. And that's what God wants. You know, not to choke them out, but God wants love, he wants faith, he wants hope. And there it is, he offers us all those things, these miraculous things that God wants to grow in our hearts. Um, Paul reminds them, Paul reminds them, this is what you already have. You don't have to look for it. This is what you already have in Christ, and he encourages them don't turn to any cheap copies. You're not gonna find that in legalism by observing the law and you know, observing the feasts and all these different things. You're not gonna find anything more than what you already have. You're not gonna find anything through deep secret philosophy. You're not gonna find it. It's only found in Jesus. That simple truth of what God's done for us. So, God, we've heard these things a million times. We've heard the good news in our hearts like that hard ground so many times. My heart is out. God, it's not just to get out of hell, uh ticket, but it's promise of a relationship with you. God would pray. You would give us a soft heart to always receive that beautiful truth of what you've done for us. God, that it would change our lives from the inside out. God that we would have hope. We would have faith. God, we would have love to show people. God, you would do that wonderful work in that wonderful work.