Truth that brings life

Truth that brings life — Col 1:1–11

—Colossians 1:1–12

Andrew Fountain – Aug 4, 2024

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Goal

To give us all confidence in the power of God’s Word
to bring life and light and hope
to us and to those we speak to

Truth that brings life — Col 1:1–11

Focus on Colossians 1:1–9
What the passage is telling us
The prayer at the end (9–11)

What is faith?

Not a leap in the dark, or belief without evidence
It’s trusting a person, based on the evidence you have that they are trustworthy
Salvation comes from trusting Jesus by giving him your life and following his teachings.
Faith in Jesus grows as we exercise it and see him proving faithful

Colossians 1:1–9

Col 1:1–9 highlighted

We don’t usually pay much attention to literary and poetic features in the Bible, for a couple of reasons
1. We simply don’t notice them because they belong to another culture
2. We have a cultural assumption that beauty and truth are different categories
  - If you want to say something in a beautiful way, we say, ah, that was nice
  - But truth is a different category—you just stated it as clearly as possible. Don’t try to make it beautiful
  - This is a very modern assumption: In ancient times, the more important it is, the time you should put into the form of the words.
- So I’m going to simply show you what is there, because if God’s put it there, we can’t just ignore it.
If the Holy Spirit caused Paul to write it like this, then we should pay attention
At the center of this passage is the phrase, “bearing fruit and growing”
- This image is taken from the creation account in Genesis,
  - where God told the new creation to bear fruit and grow and fill the earth
- The image is of a seed, growing and spreading
What is the seed?
- the word of truth, the gospel, the grace of God
How did it get planted?
- It “came to them”, they “recognized”/accepted it
What fruit has this word of truth produced?
- faith, love, hope
- Faith in Jesus Christ
- Love for one another
- Hope —not a vague hope, but the certainty of their destiny
So think of it. Simply because of this truth coming in, there is now
- a people of Faith in Jesus
- a people who are radically loving one another
- and a people secure in their destiny
  - It has transformed them!
- the rest of the letter expands on these
- we will see that in these coming weeks
READ the passage from the structured form
What does this news cause Paul to do?
- pray for them
What does he pray?
- see in a minute
If we were writing this today, we would probably lay it out logically in order,
- Starting with the truth of God’s grace
- Then the fact that they heard it
- They that it brought forth fruit?
Why does Paul put it in this inside out way?
- He actually does follow this logical sequence
  - from (in the word of truth) back to the start (so it is in reverse order)
    - and then
  - from (the grace of God) to the end normal order
- This style of writing it twice, once in each direction, was a common one.
- That way, the most important thing was right in the middle
  - That the gospel was bearing fruit and growing
Imagine you were travelling through a dry and barren wilderness
- And suddenly you came across an area thick with flowers and fruit trees!
- How has this happened? This is the story of the Colossians in a desert of dark paganism

2. What the passage is telling us

salvation comes through truth—it does not bypass the understanding
- It is true that understanding is not enough (people talk about the head and the heart)
- but there is a doorway between the head and the heart, that that is the one truth goes through
- It doesn’t get to the heart directly (wake up one morning)
Think of this for a moment. Paul has not yet visited Colossae
- Imagine you are walking through a desert, and suddenly you read an area that until recently was just a desert, and now fruit trees...
Isn’t this amazing: here is a loving community in the city of Colossae
- It is created entirely by the seed of truth, taking root and growing by the power of the Spirit
- Now there is a fruitful loving community, where previously there was just dead soil
Show video clips (no theological value at all)

Luke 8

A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds devoured it.
Other seed fell on rock, and when it came up, it withered because it had no moisture.
Other seed fell among the thorns, and they grew up with it and choked it.
But other seed fell on good soil and grew, and it produced a hundred times as much grain.”
…The seed is the word of God.
Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Luke 8 cont’d

Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in a time of testing fall away.
As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing the word, cling to it with an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance.

Truth that brings life — Col 1:1–11

Focus on Colossians 1:1–9
What the passage is telling us
The prayer at the end (9–11)

Paul’s prayer: Col 1:9–11

and asking that you may be:
filled with the knowledge of his will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

so as to walk worthy of the Lord:

in all ways to please him,

in all good work bearing fruit and increasing
in the knowledge of God,

in all power being empowered,
through his glorious strength,

in all endurance and patience
with joy, giving thanks to the Father

Note the structure: 4 things are flowing out of this knowledge wisdom understanding
Hang on a minute, there is a problem here Paul: How can knowledge change people?
- What you need is some experience
- You need a radical encounter that changes your life
If you were to say to Paul, what good is head knowledge, is information?
- Paul would probably say: These are the words of God. They have life in them. These words can transform nations, and give life to the dead.
Paul really seems to believe that if you are really filled with this knowledge, it will bring fruit
- Look at the list of fruits he expects
In fact, he spends the rest of the letter unpacking this
So what is this truth, that produces these dramatic changes?
- Essentially is it Grace, but grace can become a very empty word if we talk about it a lot
- words get “devalued”, like “awesome”
Anne watched a TV documentary about the development of the English Language
- and the massive impact of the translation of the Bible into English
- The presenter was extremely perceptive (even though it was the BBC)
- The Catholic Church at the time blocked any translation because they saw they would lose so much power as an organization if everyone could read the Bible themselves.
Application
- This is how the gospel works
- Reading of

Romans 8

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.