Liberty Baptist Church
DECEMBER 7
Isaiah 9:6–7ESV
- O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL (HIS NAME SHALL BE)
- COME THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS
Romans 12:9–13ESV
- AWAY IN A MANGER
Luke 2:8–14ESV
- COME BEHOLD THE WONDROUS MYSTERY
- Ok church if you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, go ahead and grab them and head on over to Colossians 4. We are going to wrap up the book of Colossians today and then next week we’re going to jump over to Luke and spend a few weeks studying the birth narrative of Jesus as we move towards Christmas.Speaking of, huge thank you for those of you who came and setup our sanctuary this last week. I love it when our stage looks like this and it makes me ready for the Christmas season.Over the past 21 weeks that we’ve studied this book what we have seen is that Christ is all. That statement is loaded and the goal has been to understand what all it means. Today we’ll highlight several different parts of this book, but ultimately what we’re looking at is Paul’s final words to this little church.As I’ve studied these verses this week I actually think there’s a whole lot to glean from the conclusion of this letter. We won’t be able to cover it all in depth, so I hope to give a good overview. What might seem like just concluding comments with a few hellos from some friends is actually instructive for both the Colossian church and for us. In this last section the main thing Paul communicates is When Christ is all you are given a mission with a community sustained by grace. If that’s Paul’s main point, it’ll be ours to.When Christ is all you are given a mission with a community sustained by grace.Alright, now back to our text. Let’s read Col. 4:7-18 and see that When Christ is all you are given a mission with a community sustained by grace.
Colossians 4:7–18 ESV Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.This is God’s Word for God’s people. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.MPS: When Christ is all you are given a mission with a community sustained by grace.Now what we’re going to do is take the main point from this passage and break it down into three parts that match the flow of our text. But all of this, each point, has the presupposition that Christ is all. If Christ is all then there are subsequent gifts for you, but if Christ isn’t all for you, then this actually doesn’t apply to you. It creates an invitation, but one you must respond to in order to receive.For Paul, Christ was all. Everything else was rubbish to him. It led him to where he was when he wrote this letter. It led him to write the content of this letter so that we might find Christ to be our all. SO if he is, then the first point that we see from this is that Christ is all:You are given a mission.Paul, sitting in a Roman jail, is visited by a guy named Epaphras who likely planted the church in Colossae and Laodicea. Epaphras reports of all the things that’s occuring back home and since Paul can’t come and visit and provide help, he writes this letter and sends it back with two guys—Tychicus & Onesimus. Their purpose in going back is to testify about all that they had occurred in the life of Paul. Look at how these first two verses start and end…Colossians 4:7–9 ESV Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.See the symmetry and emphasis? “They will tell you of everything.” For what purpose? Why are they charged with telling the church at Colossae what all has occured? Look at the end of v8…to “encourage your hearts.”You see Paul is going to testify to how the risen Christ affects the situation in Colossae, yet the people in Colossae might still be left wondering about the supremacy of Jesus if it has led to Paul’s chains. So by them going and reading the letter and then turning and telling the church at Colossae about how God is still using Paul despite his chains and how God is accomplishing his mission despite all of the hindrances they faced, the people’s hearts would be encouraged.When I was on staff at a church in NC, the guy I directly reported to said that one of our jobs was to be master story takers, and we would retell those stories all the time. I think it was Eugene Peterson who said something along the lines that all of life was lived through the lens of a story. There is a narrative that we all tell ourselves about reality, and because of this stories draw us in. I can sit here and argue with you logically from the Scriptures. I can persuade you to mentally ascent to the truths of this book, but our problem is that they often stay in our heads and never move to our hearts. However, stories motivate us. Stories help see that there is a risen savior who reigns over all things and that even in the midst of chains he is accomplishing his mission and he’s accompanying his people. Stories bring truth into reality for us. They help connect our hearts with our minds.So Tychicus and Onesimus were sent to tell a story. A true story. They were to report about all of Paul’s activities and everything that had taken place because that story displays that Christ is all. When the church hears that, they’re encouraged! They’re encouraged to believe. They’re encouraged to persevere. The testimony of these two guys helps bring to life the contents of the letter.Here’s what I love about this…what do we know about these guys? Not much. Tychicus has probably been a disciple of Paul for a while and traveled with him. You can pick up on his story in Acts.What about Onesimus? Runaway slave of one of the members of the Colossian church! Usurper of authority. Betrayer of trust. Common criminal. Yet Paul sends him back for two reasons…to testify and to be reconciled. Can you imagine? Imagine what church was like that Sunday when that guy who pagan when he ran off is now back testifying to the one he ran away from? I mean!Church, look at who God uses to accomplish his mission. Those who have training and those who are train wrecks. That’s the kind of people God uses.So what then is the mission that God has given us if Christ is all? It is no different than that of Paul or Tychicus or Onesimus. Like Tychicus and Onesimus…like Paul…like all three of them.You are given a mission to witness to all God has done.You are given a mission to send others out.You are given a mission to see others reconciled & restored.There’s all sorts of verses we could go to to see that this mission wasn’t just for these guys, but is for us to. For time’s sake, let’s just look at 1.2 Corinthians 5:17–20 ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.If Christ has reconciled you, that is as Paul says in Colossians, if you have been transferred to a new King and if your debt of sin has been forgiven & cancelled then you’ve been raised to new life as a new creation. Your mission is now to live out what has happened in your life—reconciliation. God has reconciled you in Christ. What greater story is there? Now, because that’s true of you, you’re chosen, holy & beloved in his eyes. SO you can seek to be ministers of this exact same reconciliation that you’ve received. You witness to what God has done. Tell the true story. You train up & send out those you’ve invested in. You do the hard work of reconciling earthly relationships, because that’s what Christ did for us.If Christ is all, you are given a mission, but there’s good news, you aren’t sent on that mission alone. That’s our second point: If Christ is all:You are given a community committed to one another.It probably jumped out at you when we read this all the names of all the people Paul mentions that say hello. That’s intentional. There’s Aristarchus, Mark, & Jesus called Justus. Those 3 dudes are Jews & then he mentions Epaphras, Luke & Demas. Those 3 guys are Greek. Remember, that in Paul’s day for a Jew to be in fellowship with someone who wasn’t Jewish was looked down upon. But now, Paul isn’t just pointing out his diverse group of friends; he’s actually celebrating it. Why?Colossians 3:11 ESV Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.Christ is all wasn’t just something he said, it’s something he lived. Paul now fellowshipped, was ministered to, equipped and sent out all sorts of people. The biblical community that Paul lived in had all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of upbringings, all sorts of worldviews that were now united under Christ. All of these people were no longer identified by their heritage, but by the grace of God who created them and reconciled them not to just himself, but to one another. What a glorious community and it’s what you’re given when Christ is all.But it doesn’t stop there. One of the purposes of this community is to restore & discipline. We won’t look at every guy mentioned but I do want to examine a few. We’ve already talked about Onesimus’ purpose for being there, but there’s also mention of Mark. Back in Acts Paul & Barnabas had a pretty big blow up over Barnabas’ cousin Mark abandoning them while on a missionary journey. Paul was frustrated with Mark. We don’t know all the details of what happened, but I do know that there was certainly hurt experienced in the midst of it. Yet, here a little while later this Mark is clearly with Paul and might even soon be headed to Colossae.So you’ve got Onesimus, who now reconciled to the Lord is being sent back to be reconciled to Philemon. That’s church discipline. And you’ve got Mark who’s been reconciled to Paul and apparently journeying with him again. Then there’s Demas, mentioned at the end of v14. Later on Paul says Demas deserts him because he loved the world.Church hurt does happen, and it always happens when Christ stops becoming our all. Many of you have experienced this. Some of you have been the cause of it. As long as you’re here, I hate to say this, but you will feel hurt from someone else. You’re in a room full of sinners, but the glory of the gospel is that Jesus reconciles us to those that have hurt us because he has reconciled us to him despite our rejection of him. When this community functions healthily, it both disciplines—Onesimus & later Demas— and then restores: Mark.You’re given a diverse community that restores and disciplines, but do you know what else it does? It genuinely cares. Notice the language of care here…End of v10 “Welcome him”end of v11 “they have been a comfort to me”V12 “Struggling on your behalf in prayer”V13 “He has worked hard for you”V14 “Luke the beloved physician”and then throughout the word “Greet” is used 5 timesPaul cares for those he’s sending out, and wants others to realize they’re on the same team. Paul wants the church to know that 3 Jewish guys in particular have been a comfort to him. Some think that he points that out because the heresies that had been perpetuated in Colossae might have had Jewish origin. So, the church could’ve been tempted to be hard hearted towards the Jews, but Paul says, these 3 Jews in particular have comforted me in the midst of my unjust imprisonment.Then there’s Epaphras. This pastor didn’t just plant this church and move on. He diligently works hard at praying for these people because he genuinely loves them. Prayer is a lifestyle for him not just an occasional occurence on Sunday morning.I was talking with a buddy the other day about how to deal with something he saw as a threat in another friends life and my buddy said, “I don’t want to shoot at his feet I want to aim at his heart.” He couldn’t have been more right. The problems that we face either in ourselves or those with whom we’re in community with all flow from the heart. Who is the one who can make hearts clean? Christ alone.This is why Epaphras prays and why we pray. Not occasionally, but struggling. Committed to it. Because if we truly love one another and want Christ to reign in one another’s hearts and we want each other to grow in maturity and full assurance in their standing with God, then we need God to work. If you care, then you will pray.But notice, that Epaphras’ care isn’t just seen in prayer. It’s seen in action. He sees a problem that he needs help with so he goes to Paul to get input and help, and all of this brings comfort to Paul who’s in chains. Epaphras, like the rest of the men with Paul, can’t alleviate the chains, but they can bring comfort through their presence and encouragement through helping Paul carry out the mission of every believer.This care isn’t just for Paul though. It’s also to the church at Colossae. This is why they send greetings. To greet someone means that you acknowledge their existence. You see them as a person who’s worthy of interacting with, thinking about, and putting forth a little effort to communicate with. While this is normative for Paul’s letters, it is also a sign of genuine affection for those outside of themselves.Which is why this diverse community who genuinely cares for one another and seeks restoration and discipline at the same time is encouraged to collaborate with other churches.Col. 4:15-16Paul wants the church at Colossae to trade letters with the church at Laodicea, but then he specifically acknowledges one of the house churches in Laodicea—Nympha’s house church. So we see both collaboration between churches, but also see establishment of individual churches within those communities. Now there’s more we could say to that and things to meditate on and apply, but we’re going to keep moving.When Christ is all you are given a community that is committed to one another despite diversity to restore & discipline, to genuinely care, that collaborates with other churches and that enables and empowers leaders.This church has a history of raising up leaders and sending them out. Epaphras plants it and then is sent Paul, yet he doesn’t actually come back, at least yet. But in his absence Archippus is is given a ministry to fulfill. Seems kind of isolating to get that last line, doesn’t it? That might be super encouraging, or it might be really intimidating.Piper has a really interesting take on Archippus. Archippus is only addressed again in Philemon 2, right before Paul encourages Philemon to take Onesimus back not just as a slave but as a brother in Christ. Piper thinks that he is singled out because of the awkwardness of the situation with Philemon and Onesimus, and he wants him to especially step into the middle of this situation to care and help where needed, because that’s what pastors do. They help when and where they can.I love to do that for you. I love preaching. I love teaching. But I love trying to serve you and help you in the midst of really hard things in life. To me, that’s the joy of ministry. Pastors get a front row seat to see the reconciling work of Christ play out in peoples lives. It’s hard. It’s messy. But it’s glorious. Why wouldn’t you want to do this?Church, when Christ is all you are given a community that committed to one another. It’s diverse, which can make it challenging, but beautiful. It cares enough to pray for one another and comfort one another. It greets because it values and sees one another. It disciplines when needed and restores when possible. It collaborates with other churches and enables and empowers leaders. That’s the community Christ gives you when he is your all, and when Christ is all of that community, that’s what it looks like. So here’s the question: Are you a part of one? I think at Liberty we can check all of those boxes, and for those of you that aren’t committed to a community then I’d love to invite you to this one. What is keeping you from committing to the community God has given you to be a part of? Christ gives you a community to help accomplish the mission he’s given you. Paul saw it as necessary. He lived it out because Christ was his all. What’s keeping you from it?You might be going, but I’m afraid. I’ve been hurt before. There’s problems here (I mean, have you seen the pastor). The Sunday School teacher isn’t good enough. It doesn’t fit what I want. Maybe the way you could really phrase it is: it’d take an act of grace for me to commit here. I’ve got good news if that’s your perspective.When Christ is all, you are given a mission with a community sustained by grace. Our third point from this text is:You are sustained by grace.If we were to scroll back or flip over to the very beginning of this letter we’d see that this letter begins with:Colossians 1:2 ESV To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.And then when we look at the very end of this letter we seeColossians 4:18 ESV I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.Grace to you. Grace with you. That God has given us this letter is a means of his grace towards us. The content of what we’ve looked at over 21 weeks now is the essence of grace. The message comes to you in grace and it conveys the heart of God’s grace towards us: Jesus. The climax of this book is Christ’s supremacy and the close of this book is grace with us. The way my simple head has viewed this is as a mountain. If grace is at the beginning and grace is at the end then the high point is the peak of that grace. Grace is what bookends this because at the heart of grace is Christ and at the heart of Christ is grace.The grace of Christ doesn’t just save you in the midst of awful circumstances. It does do that, but it also calls you into something more and upholds you as you go through it. Look at Paul. If we were just to look at Paul in relation to Colossae and think about how God’s grace affected him what all could we say?We could say that the grace of God gave Paul a mission to testify to the supremacy of Christ for the Colossian church and he gave him the community to make sure that that church heard the message from God. That’s the point of this sermon.We could say that the grace of God empowered Paul to see outside of himself. What’s the line before “Grace with you.” Remember my chains. I’ve not been in chains before. No clue what it’d be like to think that God had called me in an extremely powerful way to carry a very powerful message and then find myself in jail. I’d probably wallow in despair some. I’d probably be wondering if I had hallucinated on that road to Damascus. Yet here’s Paul, having had the worst trip ever to Rome, chained unjustly, and what’s he thinking about? The church in podunk Colossae. What would cause that? Grace. Grace that empowers him to see outside of himself.We could say that grace enables mission despite circumstances. Paul’s mission, like ours, is to testify. But we’re too busy. But our kids have sports and 4H and stock show. But we’ve got too many irons in the fire. But we’re behind on bills and need to spend more time working. But we don’t know enough. Ain’t none of those excuses but we’re in chains. Paul had a pretty solid excuse to just put things on pause. He didn’t have that platform in Rome any more. Yet despite his circumstances the mission went on. More than that, the circumstances enabled the mission to be accomplished. I know I’ve said this before, but I wonder if Paul would’ve ever written the prison epistles if he hadn’t been imprisoned. Would we even have this book if he hadn’t been in jail? Praise God for suffering for Paul. It actually enabled the mission to go forth.OR we could say that grace sustained Paul in the midst of his circumstances. This just further fleshes out what we’ve just talked about but I think it’s worth stating. As we’ve remembered his chains and we’ve considered what all was going on in his life it’s easy for me to see why Paul would’ve wanted to throw in the towel. Let’s just run it back real quick.You’re in jail and you encounter this slave who’s runaway. You lead him to Christ and start to disciple him only to realize you need to send him back to where he came from so he can make things right.Then, by some chance, this guy named Epaphras shows up who heard you preach, got saved and planted churches and he’s all in a tizzy because of problems in those churches he planted. In fact, he just sits over there in the corner and prays all the time because he’s so concerned.THEN Mark shows back up..yes, that Mark who abandoned you on one of your journeys and he wants to work things out.Meanwhile, something is going on with Demas and you’re not sure what but you’re pretty sure he’s about to bounce.So now you’re sending Tychicus—one of your faves—to go deliver a letter and call out the leadership at the church in Colossae and hoping and praying they don’t ruin everything you just did with Onesimus—the slave you convinced to go back and be reconciled.I’m weary just from repeating all of that. But Paul says in Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.” Grace sustained him, it enabled him, it empowered him to live out the mission with the community that he had around him. But best of all, grace abides.Grace be with you. When Church is over today all of my kids are going to ask me, can I go with so and so or can so and so go with me? It happens every Sunday. No. The answer is no. Don’t ask.Let’s just say for illustration purposes it is to go with Mamie & Papa. Now if the answer was yes—and it’s not—then I wouldn’t send my kids bible’s with my parents and then keep the kids back. I wouldn’t send just their shoes and then keep them back. I’d send my kids with them. The very kids themselves would go.If grace is what takes us to Christ and what flows from Christ then when grace goes with us guess who goes with us. Christ. He abides. He is with us. He remains. Because grace isn’t just an idea or an attribute, grace is ultimately a person.He is a person who sustains us. He is a person who calls us on mission and gives us a community that he accompanies. Church that is our hope. That is the message of this letter. It is that there is grace for you in the person of Christ. Grace to give you all of what you’re heart truly desires. Do you know that grace? Have you experienced the redeeming and restoring work of that grace? Do you know the grace that is greater than all your sin? The grace that pardons and cleanses within? That grace is offered to you today in the person of Jesus. He’s calling to you. Will you respond?When Christ is all you are given a mission with a community sustained by grace. That’s what Paul was teaching and showing as he concluded this letter but it leaves us with one overarching question: is Christ your all? Do you have a mission that’s a lot bigger than you? Are you a part of a community that’s committed to that mission? There’s grace in it. There’s grace for it. There’s grace for you when Christ is all. Is he you all? Let’s pray.MPS: When Christ is all you are given a mission with a community sustained by grace.You are given an missionTo witness to all God has doneTo send others outTo see others reconciled and restored2 Cor. 5:17-18You are given a community committed to one anotherThat celebrates diversityTo restore & disciplineTo genuinely careStruggle in prayerComfort in sufferingGreetTo collaborate with other churchesTo enable & empower leadersWhat is keeping you from committing to the community God has given you to be a part of?You are sustained by graceGrace to you Col. 1:2 -> Grace with you Col. 4:18What does this grace do for Paul?Gives him a mission and a communityEnables mission despite circumstancesSustains in the midst of circumstancesEmpowers him to see outside of himselfAbides to the endGrace is a person.Now before I jump into our text I want to circle back to something that I’ve wanted to do for a while now, but haven’t prioritized the time for. What was this past Thursday? Thanksgiving! How many of you ate really well? How many of you probably don’t need to eat for a while because you ate so well? I’m kidding. Don’t answer that question. What’s the purpose of Thanksgiving? To stop and be thankful, right? We’re thankful because we’ve been given much. If you’re like me you’re not always grateful for when someone gives you something; in fact, sometimes you take it for granted thinking that you deserve it or it’s just part of tradition. SO thanksgiving forces us to stop and be thankful and recognize what we’ve been given. How many of you have a family tradition where you have to say something you’re thankful for? My wife’s grandmother used to make us circle up and hold hands and all then men would hate it, but it is a good and necessary thing to do lest we allow entitlement to grow in our hearts.The main point of this text is that when Christ is all you’re given something. This sermon will look at that something, but what should be our response in knowing that Christ has given us something? Thankfulness! And guess what’s been one of the main themes of this book?? Thankfulness.This isn’t our text, but real quickly I’m going to back on up to Col. 3:15-17 and I’m going to pick up at the end of V15…Colossians 3:15–17 ESV And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.What brackets the word of Christ dwelling in you and causing you to teach and admonish and sing? Thankfulness.Every Sunday, I stand up here and read the text and then as soon as I’m done reading I say something along the lines of, “This is God’s Word for God’s people.” What should be our response to the reality, the truth, that the Living God who reigns sovereignly and supremely has written and preserved His Word for His people? Thanks be to God. So I want to try something a little different today, and hopefully, maybe establish some tradition for us. I’ll read our text for today and then I’ll say, “This is God’s Word for God’s people.” And I want you to respond to that by saying, “Thanks be to God.” Let it be a prayer of sincere gratitude, but also one of great expectation. Let it be a reminder that you have been given something that you don’t deserve, yet God in his mercy has in your laps and in front of your eyes. Ok? Let’s just try it real quick to practice. I’ll say it and you respond, “Thanks be to God.” Luke 1:5–38ESV
James 5:16ESV
Isaiah 40:3ESV
Malachi 3:1ESV
Malachi 4:5–6ESV
Matthew 11:11ESV
Genesis 12:3ESV
Isaiah 7:14ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
John 1:12–13ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
John 1:12–13ESV
Philippians 4:19ESV
Psalm 23ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
John 1:12–13ESV
Philippians 4:19ESV
Psalm 23ESV
Hebrews 13:5ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
John 1:12–13ESV
Philippians 4:19ESV
Psalm 23ESV
Hebrews 13:5ESV
Romans 15:3ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
John 1:12–13ESV
Philippians 4:19ESV
Psalm 23ESV
Hebrews 13:5ESV
Romans 15:3ESV
Isaiah 41:10ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
John 1:12–13ESV
Philippians 4:19ESV
Psalm 23ESV
Hebrews 13:5ESV
Romans 15:3ESV
Isaiah 41:10ESV
Ecclesiastes 12:13ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
John 1:12–13ESV
Philippians 4:19ESV
Psalm 23ESV
Hebrews 13:5ESV
Romans 15:3ESV
Isaiah 41:10ESV
Ecclesiastes 12:13ESV
John 10:9–11ESV
- BEHOLD THE LAMB
