Truth that brings life

Truth that brings life - Col 1:1–9

—Part 1 in Colossians series

Andrew Fountain – Sept 18, 2016

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John 12:49,50

For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.

“As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.” (John 6:57)

John 14:23–26

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Now this is a challenge to any preacher
- We always want to “add value” to what God has said
- This, by itself, is not enough to change lives!
  - It needs my help!
  - My wonderful insights and inspirational thoughts
  - My motivational illustrations and stories
- Why is this?
  - We lack confidence in the power of the Scriptures
  - Do you believe these seeds would sprout and grow if you planted them?
  - Really? Why?
- Is this just as powerful?
So I felt my challenge this morning was to let Jesus speak for himself, and not get in the way
- That doesn’t mean I just read it and sit down
- A seed still has to be sown as effectively as possible
- So it means that my one focus is trying to understand what Jesus is saying, and do my best to explain what this means in our lives.
So I felt it would be good to go through a book of the Scriptures, and I have settled on Colossians
- Short, practical (and it is one of my favourites)
- We can get through it in 9 weeks. (Job would have taken 2 years)

Colossians - The Passage

Colossians 1:1-9

Col 1:1-9 - highlighted

This is an amazing piece of writing that Paul has done
Actually it is a precision work
- Didn’t use bullet points
- A “mirror” style of writing (the second half mirrors the first half)
- Not just a casual letter—he realizes that this is something of lasting importance, and they are to pass it on...
- I don’t usually like to bring technical stuff into my sermons, but if God has put something there, we have a responsibility to find it.
- I’m going to show you Paul’s literary style, which is very poetic, and beautifully intricate
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 centre 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
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 gosepel was bearing fruit and growing

Implications

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)

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

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
- A quick preview:
  - 3:12–15
  - 3:18–22
  - 4:5,6
So what is this truth, that produces these dramatic changes?
- That is what we will look at for the next three message
- Essentially is it Grace, but grace can become a very empty word if we talk about it a lot
- words get “devalued”, like “awesome”
- so we will learn next time about the extrordinary destiny God has, that is truth “awesome”
Do you believe that the “word of truth” is life-changing and brings fruit?
- If so, then spend some time reading it this week
- Anne recorded a video of a TV programme on the development of the English Language
  - We watched a TV documentary about the story of the translation of the Bible into English
  - The presenter was extremely perceptive (truth=power for Catholic Church) (BBC are not ususally!)
Story of girl from Tehran