Intro to Colossians – Blank Outline
Intro to Colossians – Filled in Outline
Bible Verses – Colossians 1:1-6
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Colossians 1:1-6
All right, we’re going to read from Colossians chapter 1 and this is the first six verses and we’re going to kind of introduce the book of Colossians this morning and then in the succeeding weeks we’re going to dive into this book. So let me read Colossians 1 through 6, you can follow as I read.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In this same way the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understand God’s grace.
Well, as you picked up from our scripture reading this morning, we’re going to jump into a book study, and that’s where I’m more comfortable. I like to get into books and just go right through and see what God has for us.
So, we’re going to look at the book of Colossians this morning. And if I were to ask you this morning, what do we know about the book of Colossians? It’s a letter, a letter written by Paul, found in the New Testament. Written to the people of Colossae. That’s all true.
So, here’s how I always approach a book at the beginning. I like to ask lots of questions. This is kind of like an investigative reporter.
So, this morning we’re going to ask five questions, and then we’re going to look at some application of what this book can mean for us. So here are the five questions, and some of them you’ve already answered, but we’ll go over them again. Who wrote the book? Secondly, to whom was it written? When was it written? Why was it written? And then what’s the content of the book? What’s the book all about? And so that’s where we are headed this morning.
And then as I mentioned, we’ll conclude with some application questions. So, when we ask the question, who wrote the book? And of course, we read that this morning. There are really two answers to that question, and the big picture answer is God did, right? All 66 books of the Bible, we read in 2nd Timothy 3, verse 16, all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
Did you get those four purposes? God’s Word is for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. And so, in one sense, the job of the person opening up God’s Word isn’t always to make us feel good. Someone has said the job of the pastor is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and there are times where the truth of God’s Word should correct us and rebuke us.
But ultimately, God wrote the book, all 66 books, and 2nd Peter 1, verse 21, reaffirms that. Prophecy, or God’s Word, never had its origin in the human will. These aren’t man’s ideas.
But prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so, the words in this book are literally God-breathed, every word. Therefore, the Bible is inspired by God, the Holy Spirit.
He used the writer’s personalities, but He spoke through them. So, it’s inspired. In the original writings, it is inerrant.
There are no errors. And therefore, it is infallible. It will never lead us astray or point us in the wrong direction.
And so, God wrote it, but the human author was the apostle, Paul. The Bible was written by 40 different authors over 1,500 years. That’s a long time.
We’re going to celebrate birthday number 250 in the United States on July 4th. The Bible was written over 1,500 years by 40 different authors. And the amazing thing is there’s one central theme.
It’s the theme of salvation. J. Sidlow Baxter wrote a book, The Master Theme of the Bible, and he said, the master theme of the Bible is the Lamb of God, the Lamb. And almost in every book of the Bible, Old Testament to New Testament, there’s the theme of the Lamb, the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, Jesus arrives, behold the Lamb of God.
1. Who wrote the book?
And so, the apostle Paul wrote the book inspired by God. Now when we ask the question, who wrote most of the New Testament? There’s a couple answers to that as well. The apostle Paul wrote most of the books, but by volume, the most prolific human author in the New Testament is Dr. Luke.
He wrote the Gospel of Luke, a long gospel. He wrote the book of Acts, a long book. And so, if you look at volume, Luke wrote more of the New Testament by volume than Paul did, although Paul wrote many more letters.
2. To whom was it written?
All right, so there’s question number one. Question number two, to whom was it written? And again, that was in our Scripture reading. It’s written to God’s holy people in Colossae. Paul refers to them as the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.
Colossae is about 100 miles away from the city of Ephesus, located in modern-day Turkey, if you were to go there today, although the city of Colossae doesn’t exist today. But that is the city of Colossae there, as I mentioned, about 100 miles east of Ephesus. And here’s the interesting thing.
I think I knew this, but I must have forgotten. Paul never visited Colossae. He might have passed through it, maybe on one of his missionary journeys, but when you read the book of Acts, there is no mention of the apostle Paul on any of his missionary journeys visiting Colossae.
And so, you might think, well, then how did this all develop? Well, we’ll get into that in… well, let’s get into it right now. In our Scripture reading, if we would have gone one verse further, Colossians 1:7, Paul’s talking about the gospel and how it’s impacting the world. Verse 7, you learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf.
Ah, so the Colossian church wasn’t founded by the apostle Paul, but they heard the gospel from Epaphras. And now there’s a little bit of sanctified speculation here, but how did Epaphras hear the gospel? Well, Paul was in Ephesus for a long time. He ministered there two, I think three years, and so scholars think that Epaphras may have come to faith in Christ at Ephesus through Paul’s ministry, and then Epaphras makes his way back home to Colossae, and what does he do? He begins to share the gospel, and people come to faith in Christ, and a church is established.
And so, at the end of this book, Paul gives greetings to the church at Colossae from Epaphras. This is, I’m going to read Colossians 4:12, Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you that you may stand firm in the will of God, mature and assured.
And so, there’s the city of Colossae. The church wasn’t founded by Paul. It was founded perhaps through one of Paul’s converts.
His name was Epaphras. Let me just read a little more background about the city of Colossae. Back in the first century, the city of Colossae was an important economic hub for much of its history.
Renowned for its textile production, it was located in the region of Phrygia, which is now a section of modern-day Turkey. Scholars throughout history have generally agreed that the city had declined sharply by Paul’s time, retaining only a shadow of its former glory. It was ravished by an earthquake around A.D. 60 and eventually faded from prominence, with most of its population slowly drifting into more favorable locations.
3. When was it written?
And so, at one time, Colossae was a very prominent city, but because of some things that changed and really some geographical roads that were now no longer going through Colossae, it has kind of sharply declined. And as I said today, the city does not exist. Well, question number three then, when was it written? When was this written? And most scholars think between 60 and 62 A.D., so we’re going to just plug in halfway between those two.
Let’s say it was written about 61 A.D. So, what we’re looking at this morning is a letter written by Paul to the church that’s well over 2,000 years old, two millennium. And so, Paul wrote it in 61 A.D., and it’s one of the prison epistles.
So, Paul’s in Rome under house arrest, and he’s going to go to trial, and he’s awaiting trial. And so, he’s under house arrest. He’s able to have visitors come and go, but he’s awaiting trial, and he doesn’t know what the outcome of that trial is going to be.
And so, Paul’s under house arrest for two years. But Paul makes some wise use of his time. He has visitors, he ministers them, and then he writes four letters.
They’re called the prison epistles. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, all written by the apostle Paul when he was in prison. So, it was written in 61 A.D. during Paul’s house arrest in Rome.
4. Why was the book written?
All right, question number four. We’ll spend a little more time on this one. Why was the book written? Why did Paul…what was the motivation, what was the impetus for Paul to write this letter? And here it is.
It’s to warn believers of false doctrine and to encourage them to grow spiritually. So, Paul writes this letter to warn this church, these new believers, about false doctrine, wrong teaching, and he wants to encourage them in their spiritual walk, in their Christian growth. Now, you might say, well, how did Paul find out about what was going on at the church of Colossae? And here’s what happened.
Because, as I just read in the end of the book here, Colossians chapter 4, verse 12, Epaphras, who is one of you, sends greetings. So Epaphras is with Paul in Rome. Epaphras is the key person in the church of Colossae.
And when I looked at the map to see where Colossae is, where Rome is, 1,180 miles. Now, Epaphras didn’t hop on a plane and fly to Colossae, did he? He had to travel by land, probably by sea, 1,180 miles to go visit the apostle, Paul. It had to take him probably a couple of months.
I mean, back then, there’s no communication, there’s no cell phones, there’s no texting, there’s no emailing. And so, what is motivating Epaphras to make that kind of journey for that amount of time to talk to the apostle Paul? And what’s motivating him is false teaching. Epaphras is concerned about the very essence and life of the church at Colossae because of false doctrine, and Epaphras needs to talk to somebody who is more versed and knows a lot more than he does.
And so, he goes a long way to talk to the apostle Paul. And so, he kind of tells the apostle Paul what’s going on, who these false teachers are, what some of these issues are, and then Paul uses that information to correct it and to write the book of Colossians. And here’s what I’ve learned.
When you’re in crisis, and I think Epaphras probably was, and the church probably was, when you’re in crisis, whether individually or as a church, you will go a long way to get some help. You will go to great lengths. When you are in pain, when we’re in physical pain, we’ll get that taken care of.
When we’re in emotional pain or a crisis in our life, we’ll go a long way to get some help. And that’s what motivated Epaphras. He’s concerned about the church and its future direction.
When you’re in crisis, you’ll go a long-ways to try to get some help and encouragement, and I think this is what Epaphras is doing. And so, he makes that 1,100-1,200-mile journey to meet with the Apostle Paul because of some false teaching, and the future of the church was at stake. So, what is some of the false teaching that had begun to infiltrate the church at Colossae? Let me just give you a quick overview.
There was false teachers with a defective view of Christ. They were denying His real and true humanity and not accepting His full deity. There was a false belief in the first century called Gnosticism that believed anything that was physical was evil.
And so, how could God be human flesh? And so, there was a false teaching about who Jesus was. Paul also appears to dispute the Jewish emphasis on circumcision and traditions. As with all early churches, the issue of Jewish legalism in Colossae was a great concern to Paul.
So radical was the concept of salvation by grace apart from works that those steeped in Old Testament law found it very difficult to grasp, very difficult to let go of their old traditions that were in the Old Testament. Consequently, there was a continuing movement among legalists to add certain requirements from the law to salvation. Primarily among them was the requirement of circumcision, which was still practiced among the Jewish converts.
And so, Epaphras tells the apostle Paul what’s going on and what these false teachers are trying to promote, and that’s the impetus to write the letter of Colossians. He wants to correct some doctrinal error. He also wants to encourage them in spiritual growth, and that’s the second part of the book.
Chapters 3 and 4, he writes about how it worked to live the Christian life. And so, the first part is primarily some doctrinal things, and then chapters 3 and 4, the second part has to do with application. All right, last question, and then we’ll look at some three application truths.
5. What is the outline of the book?
What is the outline? What’s the content of the book? So, as I mentioned, part one, the first two chapters, Paul writes about the supremacy of Christ, that Christ is preeminent, and he wants to correct this error, this false understanding of who Jesus is. And so, that’s chapters 1 and 2.
i. Introduction
ii. The Preeminence of Christ
iii. Freedom in Christ
There’s an introduction, there’s the preeminence of Christ, 1:15, through chapter 2, verse 3, and then Paul talks about freedom in Christ.
iv. Submission to Christ
v. Conclusion
And then the second part of the book, part 2, chapters 3 and 4, has to do with submission to Christ. And so, this is the practical aspect, and the apostle Paul talks about the position of the believer, the practice of the believer, and then he concludes the book.
application truths
So, that’s kind of the outline that we’ll follow as we study the book of Colossians. So, I’d like us to think about what are some application truths from this this morning? Because the purpose of Scripture is not like, okay, now maybe I have some more knowledge of the book of Colossians. Now maybe I know that, you know, Paul never visited there.
Now maybe I know that it was probably started by his convert Epaphras, and now I know that there’s some doctrinal errors. But what can we learn this morning that can challenge our lives? And so, I want to share three things. And here’s the first one that I want to draw from our background study here overview.
1. Every believer is a minister of the gospel
Number one is that every believer is a minister of the gospel. Every believer, if you know Jesus, you’re a minister of the gospel. And I take that point, that application from Colossians 1:7, that the church of Colossians wasn’t started by what we think of as a clergy person or a missionary.
It was started by a layman. It was started by somebody just like you, sitting in the pew, who heard the gospel and went to his hometown and shared it. And so, we need to realize that if we know Jesus, we are a minister of the gospel.
Someone wrote this, whenever we hear the word minister or ministry, people often think of the pastor. But it’s important to know and remember that every believer is called to minister. And so, all through the New Testament, the apostle Paul writes to different believers about this point that, hey, we all have a spiritual gift, at least one, and we have a responsibility to use that gift.
And so, Romans 12, verse 6, we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophecy, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve.
If your gift is teaching, then teach. This is not an exclusive list, by the way. If it is to encourage, then give.
Maybe you’ve got the gift of encouragement. I know some people like that. And every time I’m around them, I leave them feeling encouraged.
If it is giving, then give generously. Many people have been blessed with the gift of giving who give generously to meet the needs of other people and to spread the gospel. If it is to lead, do it diligently.
If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. And so, every one of us, if we know Jesus, is called to minister. Ephesians chapter 4, same principle, that God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip God’s people for what? Works of service, to do the work of the ministry.
Then we read in verse 16, from Christ, the whole body grows and builds itself up in love. How does that happen? As each heart does its work. So, as everybody in the body finds out what their gift is and begins to use it, what happens? The body grows. And so, every person is a minister if you know Jesus as your Savior.
And I really believe that, I mean, if you’ve known Jesus for more than a couple of years, you ought to be able to answer this question, what’s your spiritual gift? And the second question is, am I using that to advance God’s kingdom? I really believe it’s a question that when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, God’s not only given us the gift of salvation, but he’s equipped us and he’s given us a spiritual gift, and I’m like, what’d you do with it? And so, every believer is a minister, and the church at Colossae was established because Epaphras used his giftedness and he shared the gospel. He maybe had the gift of evangelism, that’s another one of the gifts, and the gospel spread. So, truth number one, every believer is a minister of the gospel.
2. As part of the family of God, we can impact the lives of people we have never met
Here’s the second one, as part of God’s family, I always like to refer to our church as the church family, because that’s really what brothers, what Christians are, they’re brothers and sisters in Christ. You pick that up all through the letter, it’s written to the faithful, brothers and sisters in Christ. In chapter one, verse one, Paul refers to Timothy, our brother, at the end of the book, he’s sending some greetings, Tychicus, our brother, greets you, Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea.
And so, as part of God’s family, we can impact the lives of people who we’ve never met. That’s application truth number two, as part of God’s family, we can impact people that we’ve never met. And that was true for Paul.
Colossians 2:1, haven’t read this yet, but just to give more emphasis here, I want you to know, how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, nearby city, and for all who have not met me personally. Paul says, I’m striving for your church and the Laodicean church, and I’ve never met you. And so, here’s Paul, he’s writing this letter to people he’s never met.
He’s faithfully praying for people he has never met, and as part of God’s family, as ministers of the gospel, we can impact the lives of people that we’ve never met, and maybe we’ll never meet them until heaven someday. So, how does that work? How do we do that? Well, there’s a couple of basic ways. One’s through financial giving.
So, as we… And let me just say to all of you, thank you for your faithful giving as part of Community Bible Church. You know, years ago, like most churches, we had an offertory and passed an offering plate, then COVID hit, and so we kind of came up with different ways. And so, I’ve had visitors come ask me, like, don’t you guys ever take an offering? Well, we kind of do.
We just got that box back there. What I learned during COVID, because people began to mail in their gifts, is that our giving increased during COVID. And then we just put that box back there and say, well, as long as God’s meeting our needs, we’re just going to keep that box back there and trust Him to meet our needs.
And so, as we give, it impacts lives in the Dominican Republic, in Haiti, the Van Tiems serving in Scotland, the Woodards have ministered in Papua New Guinea, the Jenks with Awana Ministry in South Central Michigan. And then, through our Celebration Sundays, we just invested $10,000 in Tactica Ministry. And believe me, that ministry is touching hundreds of lives in law enforcement, in Costa Rica, in the United States, in many places around the world.
As you give, that enables the gospel to meet their needs, and someday you’ll meet some people in heaven that you’ve never met, and maybe they’ll say, hey, thank you for your generous giving. Same thing’s true of prayer, the same principle. Paul’s praying for these people that he’s never met.
Verse 9 of chapter 1, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we’ve not stopped praying for you. I’m sure Paul had a long prayer list, you know, with all of his ministries and churches that he was involved with, but here he’s writing to people he’s never met, and they’re on his prayer list.
So, through our prayers, through giving, through witnessing, maybe leading a person to Christ who will lead other people to Christ, we can impact the lives of people we’ve never met. And someday, I think in heaven, we might hear those words.
There was that song by Ray Boltz a number of years ago, thank you for giving to the Lord, I’m a life that was changed. And so, I don’t think until we get to heaven, we’ll know the full extent of the impact of faithfulness here in giving, in praying, and in sharing the gospel. All right, one more this morning, and then we’re done.
3. The importance of orthodoxy and orthopraxy
Every believer’s a minister of the gospel, as a part of God’s family, we can impact the lives of people we’ve never met. Number three is the importance of orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Now those are just big words that really mean right belief and right behavior.
The importance of right belief, of knowing the truth, and the importance of right behavior. Because we live out what we believe. Our doctrine, what we believe, explains our duty.
Our belief should impact our behavior. And so, we go to 2nd Timothy chapter 2, verse 15, a very, very familiar verse in the New Testament, and the apostle Paul writing to his son in the face, Timothy, do your best, Timothy, to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, who correctly handles the word of truth. The other translations say rightly dividing the word of truth.
It means cutting it straight. It means we get orthodoxy; we go to the orthodontist to get straight teeth. It’s right doctrine, right belief.
And what was the problem in Colossae? Well, if they don’t understand who Jesus is, if they don’t know who Christ is, you’re not going to heaven. You’re not going to understand the gospel. And so, the vital importance of the true gospel, by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.
This is why Paul wrote harsh words to the Galatian church because he says if you or an angel or anybody else preaches a gospel of a different kind than the true gospel, let them be accursed because you’re leading people astray. So, we understand from the book of Colossians how important right doctrine is. There’s five fundamentals of faith, and I won’t go over them this morning.
Are there areas of disagreement between Christians and some other doctrines that aren’t the fundamentals of faith? There certainly are. There’s lots of disagreements about eschatology, when the rapture occurs. There’s a pre-tribulational rapture, mid-tribulational rapture position, post-tribulational rapture, pre-wrath rapture position.
We can disagree about those. But there’s certain key doctrines, and certainly who Jesus is, is central to salvation. And so, we learn from the book of Colossians the importance of right doctrine.
Here’s what Paul said to the Ephesian elders when he met them for the last time, and they met at the end of the book of Acts. This is Paul’s farewell to the leaders of the Ephesian church, and he writes these words, I’ve not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Be shepherds of the church of God. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw disciples after them.
He’s giving them a warning like, hey, you Ephesian elders, we founded this church, but you need to be careful and make sure that doctrinally you stay on the right path, the correct path of Scripture. And so, orthodoxy is right belief. Orthopraxy is just a fancy word for right behavior.
And so, we behave based on what we believe. And so that’s important as well. And when we get into the second part of the book, Paul begins to give some instructions about how to live the Christian life.
See then that since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Verse 5, put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, which is idolatry.
Verse 12, therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, close yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. On and on Paul goes like, hey, this is how you need to behave now. And it’s all based on our belief.
And so, three truths that we can apply from our overview of the book of Colossians is that every believer, if you know Jesus, you’re a minister, you have a gift. And we’re all ministers of the gospel of Christ. As we use that faithfully, someday I believe we’re going to in heaven be introduced or meet some people that we’ve never met before.
They’re going to say, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your faithfulness in sharing Jesus. Thank you for your faithfulness in giving.
Thank you for your faithfulness in praying. And then lastly, how important it is to know the truth. Jesus said the truth will set you free.
And not only to know the truth, but our goal isn’t just more knowledge, it’s what? Transformation of life and living in the truth of God. And then God will be honored by that.