A Thank-You Note From Prison

ancient words, ancient words, words of old in the Bible. How is it that words pen so many centuries ago can still carry such power to our hearts today? And of course the answer is that these were God-breathed words. They are words that originated with Him and were given through holy men of old who pin those words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And then I love the way that song ties it also to the words that men gave their lives to preserve so that we could have them in our language today. Ancient words. We're going to look at some of those ancient words tonight in the book of Colossians. For an ancient letter that Paul had written to the church in Colossi. A couple of weeks ago we began looking at the book of Colossians. Tonight we're going to look at Paul's prayer that opens up the book. We introduced the book last time. We're going to look tonight at Paul's prayer that really opens the book, the letter to the Colossians. And this prayer is a wonderful evidence of being thankful in every circumstance. Paul had told the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5-18. In every circumstance be thankful for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You know it's not easy to be thankful in every circumstances. Think about that for a moment. It's not easy to be thankful in every circumstance. But there are things in every circumstance that we can find to be thankful for. Certainly not everything that happens to us is seen as good but God does work all things including the good and the bad together for good. It's difficult to be thankful I'm sure when you're losing everything in a hurricane like we've just seen in Alabama and Louisiana and Mississippi. But I will never forget in the day or so after that happened watching an interview with an elderly lady on television and she was saying something about having lost everything and then she said but I still praise my Lord because I know he is in control and I know that he will bring good from this and you know the newscasters couldn't break away fast enough to miss that but they got a good dose of someone who was thankful in every circumstance. It's difficult to know how to understand some things that happen. When I first got the word last weekend of Greg Melanick our missionary and then the word that he had indeed passed away it's difficult to understand that. You think of a man who is carrying the gospel to the dark land of New Zealand 50 years old seemingly no health problems. Wife and daughter and just all of a sudden collapses and he's gone. I was talking with Diane at the church at the service on or the visiting on Friday evening and she was reflecting on Greg's life and his ministry and she mentioned that she was grateful that it had happened here in the States and not while they were in New Zealand. She was thankful that he had not evidently suffered any and I thought here is the example of a woman who in very difficult circumstances is finding reason to give thanks. Well Paul finds reasons to give thanks even in a very difficult personal circumstance and even in a circumstance in Colossi that's very difficult. Paul is writing to the Colossians from a Roman prison. It's not an easy place to be. He is in jail. He is incarcerated because of his stand for Christ and his preaching of the gospel. His faithfulness to his Lord. It's not easy to be in jail. I'm sure I've never been there. I hope I never will have to be but it's not easy. I'm sure to write a thank you note from a prison cell. That's what he does. But the situation in Colossi was caused for great concern as well as we saw a couple of weeks ago in Colossi there was evidently a cult that had started some false teaching that had started that had impacted the church there in Colossian. Paul was very concerned after he had received a report from the pastor, Epaphras, about what was going on in Colossian. So he dashes off this letter to correct some of the false teaching that he fears is corrupting the church. That's a difficult thing for Colossi and yet Paul will find things to be thankful for about this church even though they're facing great difficulty and possibly defection from the faith. Paul finds some things to be thankful for. He's not discouraged. He is not ready to quit. He is ready to praise. And so let's read beginning in verse three. Where Paul says chapter one of Colossians, verse three, where Paul says we always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you. Isn't that amazing? We always thank God when we pray for you. I'm not sure I can say that about my prayers. I hope maybe you can. Sometimes my prayers are missiles of pleas to the Lord for help. But Paul said when I think of you I always give thanks. Always give thanks without fail. What does he thankful for? His gratitude is expressed in this prayer that flows through verse eight and he indicates that he is at least thankful for these three things. First of all he is thankful for the Colossians. Look at it there in verse three says when we pray for you, verse four says because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints, the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel. Paul mentions three qualities of this church that he's thankful for. Faith, love and hope. If you know anything about Paul's epistles you know that this is a common refrain for him. If someone would have asked me what kind of church does Paul want to see? What is his vision for the church? I think my answer would be without a hesitation. Paul wants a church that is characterized by faith, hope and love. Those three things because he mentions that to the Romans. He mentions it in first Corinthians. He mentions it in Galatians. He mentions it in first Thessalonians. And whoever wrote Hebrews mentions it too. I'm not sure if Paul wrote Hebrews or not. But whoever wrote Hebrews mentions the same three things. This is a common thought of Paul that he wants a church. He enjoys seeing a church. He praises God for a church that is characterized by these three qualities. Faith, love, hope. Let's look at that a little more carefully as he describes them in his prayer. Faith, verse four, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. Obviously he thanks God for their faith in Christ as their Savior. They have trusted Christ. They have come to know Him as their Savior. And I know this is a Sunday night crowd. I know these are the faithful folks in the church. I know this is the group of people that we would expect everyone here to know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. But I never like to assume that. There may be someone here who's never placed their faith in Christ. You may have even placed your faith in other things, even your good life or your good works or your testimony or your church affiliation. There may be any number of things that you could have your confidence in that you're thinking when I get to heaven, this is what I'll answer when God says, why should I let you into heaven? That you would answer, well look what I've done or look at my life or look at my moral character. My friend if you're trusting anything other than the shed blood of Jesus Christ who gave his life on the cross to pay for your sins. If you're trusting anything else you're trusting in something which will fail you because the only way to be in heaven is through Jesus Christ as your Savior. He is thankful for their faith in Christ. But faith doesn't stop there. Obviously faith in Christ continues on. He will say to this very group of people in chapter 2 and verse 6 so then just as you received Christ Jesus is Lord continue to live in Him rooted and built up in Him strengthened in the faith as you were taught. And so faith in Christ continues not saving faith but walking by faith, trusting confidence in Jesus Christ that He is the one we can turn everything over to. We can give our lives to. We can trust Him for direction. We can trust Him for peace and joy and all of our needs to be met. We can trust His promises. The Christian life is a walk of faith if it's lived properly. So this apostle thinks of this church and he praises God for their faith. But notice he also thanks for thanks God for the Colossians love. He says in verse 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints. This kind of love is a uniquely Christian virtue. This kind of love, this agape love, this self-sacrificial love, a giving of yourself for the good of another person is a uniquely Christian virtue. It does not exist in the world. The world at its very core is looking out for itself. It is looking out for number one. And even when it does reach out to someone else, the motivation is for that which will benefit me. And so when Paul is thanking God for their love, he's thanking God for a trait that is uniquely Christian. Jesus said in John chapter 13 and verse 35, by this all men will know that you're my disciples. If you love one other and the Bible tells us in first John chapter 3, John the Apostle, the Apostle of Love, tells us as he picks up on this refrain of Jesus, he says we know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. So love is the characteristic of a Christian. Loving Christ is what loving Christ and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ is what identifies us. It's the trait of a believer, a self sacrificing concern for others. It's the kind of love that does aid others in need. It's the kind of love that as we saw this morning helps others bear the boulder that they cannot bear by themselves. That's the sacrificial, selfless love that we are to give to others. It's the kind of love that gives encouragement to one who is beset by trouble and difficulty. But notice Paul says this kind of love is expressed for all the saints. It's interesting to me what he says there. This is a special love for believers. Now obviously there is a love that we have also for unbelievers. It's the same love that God has for the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We're to love the world of people in that same way to where we desire to reach them with the gospel and we desire for them to share heaven's glories with us. So there's a love for unsafe folks but Paul here is talking about love for the saints. A special love that is common to believers and he says all the saints, a love for all the saints, not just certain ones, not just ones that I identify best with or my personality matches well with or that are my unique friends. No all the saints, all the saints, you know what the wonderful thing is this includes all the saints all over the world. It's fascinating to travel and see other believers in other places of the world. One of the wonderful blessings and great blessings that you have provided us in sending us to visit our missionaries is to be able to connect with other believers in other parts of the world and it never fails no matter where you are if you cannot speak the other person's language there is a recognizable bond that exists between believers, a bond of love and immediately you fall in love with those folks and there's a recognition that we are family, that we are in Christ, that God is our Father, that we are brothers and sisters. It doesn't even have to be spoken it's just recognized. It was amazing in Japan this summer to be with folks that we could not speak to unless the missionary was with us but as we met with that church and we were at the camp with the children and the adult workers it was just an amazing first impression of the fact that we are together in the family of God, we are brothers and sisters and there was automatically instantly a bond in Christ. It's amazing love for all the saints there is a special love across the world when people are in Christ it goes across all language barriers, all cultural customs you may not like their food but you'll love the people it just goes across everything else that love in Christ love for all the saints and this was a church that expressed that and lived that out Paul thanked God for their love but he also thanked God for their hope notice what he says verse five the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven that you have already heard about in the word of truth the gospel hope in the Bible is a certain looking forward to the future in the Bible hope is not uncertain you know when we use the word hope we use it like this well I hope maybe it's going to rain tomorrow it's talking with a couple of gentlemen before the service we were talking about how dry it's getting and while it's been nice to have this beautiful weather the ground's getting awful dry and so we might say well I hope we get some rain this week and we're speaking in uncertainties we don't know whether it will rain or not no way for us to tell that doesn't help to look at the weather they don't know either but we just hope we hope it may rain so when we use that word we're speaking in uncertainties when the Bible uses that word it's speaking uncertainty it's a future forward look but it's a certain look you see hope in the Bible is a certain looking forward to what God has promised us in the future what we know we have and notice he says that very thing in verse five that hope that is stored up for you in heaven so it's a certain looking forward to what we know we have in Christ in the future this is the reason for the faith and the love that we have sure we can have faith in Christ and we can love one another because we know what's ahead we know that in the end we are with him and no matter what happens in this world we have a home in heaven reserved for us now there are several characteristics of this hope that Paul mentions here in this verse first of all is the character of that hope it's the prospect of heaven he says this hope is stored up for you in heaven all of our hope rests in heaven that's the culmination of our hope is in heaven our hope is not in anything in this world now hope we recognize that because sometimes we get all concerned about how things are going to turn out in this world and whether or not we're going to have enough oil reserves or whether or not we're going to have enough of this or that or the other and we're just so fretting about what's going to happen our hope is not in this world and our hope for for that which is lasting and those solutions which will end human dilemma and suffering is not in this world now I sincerely hope that our president and congress and others who are in positions of responsibility can ease the suffering of folks in the southern part of our country have been devastated by this hurricane but you know something else is going to happen like that sometime in the future maybe not on that scale but there will continue to be things that cause people to spare in this world ultimately our hope is not in political solutions our hope is not in money that government can throw at problems our hope is in heaven that is what we look forward to as Paul says in Romans 8 if we have everything here solved for us he doesn't say it in quite those words but that's the gist of it if we have everything already here then what is there left to hope for heaven is glorious because of the hope that we have in Christ that's what we look forward to it's in heaven its character is that it settled in heaven the prospect of heaven then notice its certainty the hope that is stored up for you in heaven stored up it's already there it's just waiting for us the idea of being stored up declares its certainty it's reserved it's waiting for us already it's not like well it may be there and it may not no it's already there what God has promised for us is already waiting for us in heaven I love the way Peter said this in 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 and 4 look at these verses praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and notice this next verse verse 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade kept in heaven for you that great this inheritance that we have what God has laid up reserved for us in heaven that inheritance cannot perish it cannot spoil it cannot fade away in the very next verse in verse 5 says laid up for you who are kept through the power of God so not only is the inheritance reserved we are reserved for it the inheritance is reserved for us we are reserved for it that's a double reservation that's not going to fail the certainty of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and then the foundation of that hope our hope is foundation in the gospel in verse 5 the hope that is stored up for you in heaven that you've already heard about in the word of truth the gospel our hope is rooted in its foundation is built on the gospel the gospel is that Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose and rose again the third day from the dead for our salvation that's the gospel that's what we place our hope in that's what our hope springs from that's where the roots of our hope go to we do not hope in heaven because we think we're going to be good enough to get there we hope in heaven because of what Jesus did for us at the cross our hope is rooted in the gospel the foundation of our hope is in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ so Paul thanks God for the collotions thanks God for their faith for their love and for their hope but secondly he thanks God for the gospel itself he's already mentioned it there at the end of verse 5 where he says this hope you have already heard about in the word of truth the gospel now verse 6 that has come to you all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth a Paul defines the gospel in these verses in ways that contrast sharply with the false teaching that's taking place in Colossi this cult that has found a foothold in Colossi is the exact opposite of what Paul says the gospel is all about what you'll notice several of these contrasts first of all notice the truth of the gospel the end of verse 5 he says you've already heard about it this hope in the word of truth the gospel the gospel is truth it is found in God's word which is truth we don't have to doubt what the gospel is it is the word of truth the truth of God's word is beyond question and the gospel which results in our salvation is found in this book the word of truth these ancient words that Jerry sang about earlier the gospel it's truth it is truth there's no question no doubt unlike this cult this false teaching because it is clearly founded in God's word who is true this word is the word of truth it bears his own stamp of truthfulness and authority it is God's truth the word of truth then notice the universality of the gospel he says all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing that's a wonderful thing to see the universality of the gospel the gospel is the same everywhere no matter where you put it it will take root and start growing doesn't matter what language doesn't matter what country doesn't matter what culture doesn't matter what color or race or religion the people have when you plant the gospel it takes root and it starts growing it's the same everywhere not like this little cult in Colossi which was a local phenomenon a flash in the pan kind of thing the truth of the gospel is seen in that no matter where it is planted it takes root and it grows it bears fruit it flourishes because the gospel is life giving and that brings me to the next description of the gospel it's results notice the gospel that is all over the world the Bible says here in verse 6 is bearing fruit and growing bearing fruit and growing one of the wonderful things about the gospel is it brings life again unlike Colossi who steal converts from other people no cult no false teaching has ever had the power to give life they just steal converts from other churches and from other from other religions only the gospel can give life only the gospel can bear fruit only the gospel can be planted take root and grow and give life and the gospel has given us life if we trust the Lord Jesus as our Savior we have life in Christ we have eternal life the results are fruit unlike the proselytes of the cults this is genuine fruit people born out of darkness transferred into the kingdom of God's dear son the kingdom of light people who have been given eternal life new life this is the gospel this is the character the result of the gospel but then if you will notice its character the character of the gospel is found again at the end of verse 6 all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth character the gospel as it is the gospel of grace what is the gospel like what is the message like that it communicates it's a message of grace it's a message that tells us you cannot earn what this gospel provides for you this new life this reserve this inheritance reserved in heaven you cannot earn that you cannot work for that you cannot deserve that in any way the Bible says that the wages of sin is death now you all know what wages are some of you who have retired remember maybe what wages were a wage is something you earn because of work you do you do the work you deserve the wage that's fair payment for what you have done you've earned it you deserve it the Bible says our wages because of our sinfulness is death the wages of sin is death we all deserve because of our sin eternal death separation from God forever but I'm so thankful that Roman 623 doesn't end there the wages of sin is death but the gift notice that's not a wage it's not something you earn it's not something you deserve it's not something you get paid for work you've done it's a gift and a gift is something that is freely given by grace by the grace of the giver the free love of the giver God in his grace offers us salvation it is not something we do something for and God pays us back it is something God freely out of his love offers us with no strings attached with nothing that says if you perform up to a certain level I will allow you into heaven God says I love you I give you freely this gift the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and so this gospel is characterized by grace it is the grace of God that is afforded to us through the gospel Paul thanks God for the collotions their faith their love their hope he thanks God for the gospel it's truth it's universality it's results it's character and then he thanks God for epaphrists this dear brother in Christ verses 7 and 8 he says you learned it speaking of the gospel you learned it from epaphrists our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf and who also told us of your love in the spirit where did they hear this gospel from they heard it from a man called epaphrists who as we saw last week had probably heard Paul minister in the region around Ephesus and had carried that message back to his own hometown of Colossi and won some people to Christ by preaching the same message you heard Paul preach and had started that little church in Colossi epaphrists is described as a great example he's an example as a pastor he's an example as a Christian he's an example as a faithful worker for our Lord he's described in two ways here first of all his relationship to the master is described in verse 7 epaphrists our dear fellow servant he is a bond slave he is a servant of Jesus Christ a fellow servant with Paul of Jesus Christ you know the greatest description you can ever have is to be a servant of God greatest description you can ever have and that's not reserved for preachers and missionaries it's for anybody who knows Jesus Christ you are a servant of God forget all the titles and accolades the greatest thing to be said of you is that you're a servant of God a faithful servant is one who recognizes that we belong to Jesus Christ we're not our own we're bought with a price we're his we're not ours and so we are his servant we are his bond slaves we are bound to him by love's strong cord the love that he gave us in the gospel to be a servant of Christ is to recognize that we owe him everything because he gave his everything for us because he willingly laid down his life we should give our lives for him that's what it means to be a servant of Jesus Christ so epaphrists is a servant in his relationship to his master he is a servant and we are the same we are no less we are servants of Jesus Christ we are not serving ourselves our own agendas our own ideas our own dreams we are servants of Jesus Christ all of us are to be and we get our marching orders from him our directions from him we receive everything we're supposed to do from him through his word and as he lays upon our hearts how to apply that in our lives in our ministry saidings we are servants of Jesus Christ but he's also described not only in relation to his master but and also in relation to his work notice the description in relation to his work he is our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf do also told us of your love in the spirit he is a faithful minister now again when we hear the word minister we often think of those who are in vocational Christian service pastors but as we often say here at the chapel all of us are ministers how many ministers do we have at Johnson Chapel little under 600 we have four pastors little under 600 ministers because we're all ministers and a paphress was a faithful minister in his work but we are all ministers of Jesus Christ we've been given something to do for him we don't all have the same thing to do because of our various occupations and stations in life and stages of life we're not all able to give the same but we all should serve Christ in some way ministering a minister of Jesus Christ and notice as a faithful minister of Christ on Paul's behalf in other words ministering to the Colossians on behalf of Paul Paul would love to be there he's never seen them he's never been there in a sense if paphress is Paul's emissary ministering in Paul's stead on his behalf but notice he says in verse 8 he also told us of your love in the spirit that's a remarkable statement to me now if paphress told Paul a lot of other things no doubt because the information that Paul has about the problems in Colossi came from a paphress so he's going to write a lot about that later but the first thing he mentions is he told us about your love in the spirit here is a man who could have been discouraged because of what was going on in Colossi a man who was serving as their pastor and who was having people nipping at his heels with false teaching trying to disrupt the work of the Holy Spirit through his ministry that could have been mighty discouraging to a paphress there is nothing more discouraging than to have accusations of false teaching or accusations that it's not enough we have a little bit more to offer than what you're getting out of the Bible nothing could be more discouraging than that and yet a paphress first word to Paul is these are people who love Christ and love you in the spirit you see there's always something to be thankful for just as Paul demonstrated that a paphress does as well he rather than indicating his displeasure with the church indicates that they are a people who love Christ and who love Paul he is not an accuser of the brethren he is a minister a servant of Christ and a faithful minister of Christ Paul is thankful for this man he is thankful that he has a man like a paphress to labor beside him and no doubt what an encouragement this man must have been to the apostle Paul as Paul is in a Roman prison a paphress our dear fellow servant and a faithful minister well what are you thankful for tonight no matter what you're going through no matter what the circumstances of your life may be you may be here tonight as I know some of you are in physical pain in great difficulty you may be here with emotional strains in your life family relationships at an all-time low maybe job situation that is a great concern for you there are some things going difficult and some things going wrong in your life can you be thankful in every circumstance give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you Paul found some things to be thankful for and I believe if we search deep into our hearts and into the word of God we will find there is much to be thankful for tonight we can be thankful for the church at Princeton the church at Johnston Chapel we have a lot to be thankful for we can be thankful for the gospel that it has reached us that we've responded and that we can give it to others who can also have the same new life we've discovered in the gospel and yes we can be thankful for one another whoever it is that ministers to you like a pafferous minister to Paul you can be thankful for that dear brother or sister in Christ who's been a special blessing in your life and heart there's much to be thankful for let's pause and thank God tonight father we are grateful to you no matter what the situations are in our lives we are thankful to you you've been so good to us I do thank you father for this church what a blessing it is how these people bless my heart week after week if they're gracious attention to your word and they're desired to carry it out thank you for them