We live in an age of advancing technology. It seems like every year, there is a new wave of upgrades to every piece of technology we have. Televisions are bigger with a crisper image, phones can do everything short of pouring your cereal for you, and cars are getting closer and closer to shifting into autopilot. Every year there is something better than the last year to save us time or offer us convenience. This trend is everywhere in our culture. The ethos of our western culture seems to say that there is always improvement to be made and that everything can be improved upon. For many things like t.v’s, phones, and cars, the premise of perennial improvement holds true, but for the gospel of Jesus Christ, it cannot be true, or else we forfeit the very nature of the gospel. [Statement of FCF: We are prone to try and improve the gospel by adding regulations and requirements so that we can attempt to tangibly fulfill those regulations on our life]. Perhaps you hear me make this claim and think, “He isn’t talking to me. I know that I’m found in Christ and that I am free from regulations imposed by men, so I can zone out now and think about how I am going to avoid my obnoxious aunt Bertha at our Thanksgiving dinner.” Please don’t do that. We can’t ignore this message from Colossians 1. Our sinful desires simultaneously push us to relax the standards of the gospel and add regulations to the gospel so that we can avoid the discomfort associated with being aliens in this world. Outside of ourselves, the culture pushes us to regard homosexuality as just one more acceptable lifestyle. And yet inside of ourselves, some dark corner within us yearns for the tangibility of manmade laws and regulations that restrict what should be joyous involvement with God’s creation. These deceptive voices pressure us to cave in our understanding of the gospel and replace it with something completely different. We cannot compromise with the world. Paul’s words in this text are timely for us today. In this letter, Paul wrote to the Colossians to refute false teachers who were taking root among the believers there. They were imposing regulations on the gospel thus overturning the unmerited grace afforded by the work of Christ. He spends a major portion of the letter assuring them that because they are in Christ and that they should not be taken captive by vain philosophies or oblige to regulations such as “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch.” In our text for this morning, Paul reminds us of the sufficiency of the Gospel by, first, thanking God for how he brought the gospel to Colossae. And he continues to remind us of the sufficiency of the Gospel by telling us the content of his petitions to God. So without anymore introduction, let’s read the text together.

The Proof of the Gospel’s sufficiency (3-8)

First, the Gospel always produces fruit (3-5a)

This simple Gospel that Epaphras preached among them had already produced noticeable fruit in them. He recognizes this in verses 3-5a, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” So, the gospel produced faith, love, and hope in a people who were otherwise faithless, loveless, and hopeless. If the gospel hadn’t produced any change in their lives, they would have no reason to trust it, but their lives had been transformed. They were continuing to have faith in Christ while loving their brothers and sisters in Christ all because they had the assured expectation of an eternal inheritance awaiting them in heaven. In verses 4-5a Paul mentions three virtues that we are very familiar with—faith, love, and hope. He writes these as recognition of the fruit these believers are bearing, but because these terms are so familiar, if we are not careful, we can skim right over the significance involved in each virtue. He tells the Colossians that he has been thanking God that their faith is in Christ Jesus, their love is for all the saints, and he says that these two are somehow dependent on the hope laid up for them in heaven. Now, these three are all interrelated and even interdependent, but how exactly are our faith in Christ and love for our brothers dependent on our hope that awaits us in heaven? It seems that there are two questions that need to be answered here: First, how is our faith dependent on our hope? In other places in Scripture we see this connection made. If we lack any hope in heaven, then what is the purpose of our faith? Paul writes very clearly in 1 Cor 15 that “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” And that “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Even though Paul didn’t write these words to the Colossians, the same line of reasoning applies here. If we have no hope in heaven, then there is no point to our faith. So, our assured hope in heaven gives clarity and motivation to our present faith. Second, how is our love for fellow Christians dependent on our hope? Lee responded to this question well when he preached this text a few years ago, and I will defer to how he said it. He said this, “when we do not find ourselves secure in the gospel, we are prone to envy, hurt, and tearing down others. If I’m pursuing glory and fame and yet you do something that brings glory and fame to you, then I might respond by resenting you, perhaps finding your faults and gossiping about you, and simply envying you. And why? I would do it because you’ve got something that I want for myself, something I’m chasing after, and something that causes me personal frustration if I don’t have it. On the other hand, if I realize that what I really and truly want and need is mine in Christ, then I am free to really love you. I know that what I hope for is secure for me in heaven. We’re not battling each other for something. Rather, I can delight in you and you in me. We can enjoy one another’s successes and mourn with each other as we face sorrows without envy and hate because we don’t have to try to get from each other. What we need we have in Christ.” So, what does the certainty of our hope in heaven help us to do? It clarifies and gives purpose to our faith and frees us from sinful desire so that we can love without hindrance. What exactly does this mean for us? Well, if nothing else, it seems that we should make much of our eternally secure hope in heaven. Brothers and sisters, if we are trusting in Christ for our salvation today, the apostle Peter tells us that we have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us], and that God is guarding us through faith so that we will persevere until the end. Our future reward and relationship with God is not a thing of uncertainty. We have absolute confidence in the everlasting work of Christ.

A Prayer to Manifest the Gospel (9-14)

Second, the Gospel is effective in every context and culture (5b-6)

In verses 5b to 6 Paul wrote, “Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.” Why should they give credence to the simple gospel that Epaphras preached? Because it had not only produced fruit in the Colossians but also everywhere else in the world where it was preached. The power of the gospel Epaphras had preached to them was not an isolated event that happened in the smaller province of Colossae. It was a worldwide flood of the Spirit sweeping over the Roman Empire and beyond. How could the Colossians justify adding any human regulations to a message that had already changed the lives of thousands without any bells and whistles. This aspect of the gospel has massive implications for how we understand evangelism. We can go to any country in the world knowing that the gospel will be effective there because that’s what the gospel does. Regardless of age, race, gender, or ethnicity, the grace of God is powerful for forgiveness and life-change. But we will save that for another sermon.

Third, the Gospel is the standard to which we hold every minister (7-8)

After affirming that the gospel was effective in their lives and that it has also produced fruit everywhere else it had been preached, he reminds them that the gospel is sufficient even to evaluate men who claimed to be ministers of Christ. “which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.” Epaphras was trustworthy because he had faithfully preached this transforming gospel in Colossae. Note here that Paul didn’t count Epaphras as a faithful minister of Christ just because he liked the guy. He vouched for his character as a gospel witness based on the content of his message and the fruit of his ministry. Look at the end of verse 6. Paul reminds them that when they first heard the gospel, they “understood the grace of God in truth.” He knew that the gospel Epaphras preached was one of God’s grace, and verse 8 demonstrates that he also knew that the gospel Epaphras preached had produced a “love in the Spirit” between the believers, and Christ made himself clear that his followers would be known by their love for one another in John 13:35, when he said that “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So Paul used two gospel criteria to evaluate Epaphras’ message. The content of his message explained the gospel, and the fruit of his message was lived out in the lives of those who understood the gospel. Using the gospel to evaluate speakers is not an uncommon rule for discernment in the NT. In Acts 17, Luke calls the Bereans noble Jews because the examined the Scriptures daily to see if Paul was a trustworthy witness. In Titus 1:9, Paul requires elders to “be able to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” We could go on from examples throughout the New Testament, but the overwhelming evidence is clear. The Gospel is sufficient to discern whether or not a teacher is trustworthy. So, What Paul is affirming to the Colossians is that Epaphras meets the Criteria for a faithful minister of Christ because the gospel he originally preached to them concerned the true grace of God and produced fruit in their lives. So, in this first section of verses 3-8, Paul points to the power of the gospel as proof for its sufficiency. Yes it is simple proclamation of God’s grace, but it still produced life transformation in the lives of the Colossians. And it does the same in every context where it was preached. As a result of this gospel’s effectiveness, Epaphras was ratified as a trustworthy teacher, not because of his own merit but because of the truth and power of the message he preached to the Colossians. In verses 9-14, he starts out by telling the Colossians that he has been making petitions to God on their behalf. In verses 9-10 he tells them his primary request and the reason why he makes that request, “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him . . .”

The Content: His request is that they would know the will of God so that they could live in a way that pleases God (9-12a).

Paul’s example here in prayer is one that we can always follow. If we have no clue how else to pray for a brother, we can pray that he would understand the God’s will so that he can please God. But the Scripture is instructive here on a point that we can easily confuse in the way we talk about God’s will. Starting in verse 10, he writes, “bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father.” In these verses, Paul fleshes out most of what it means to live fully pleasing to God. It means bearing fruit and increasing in the knowledge of God and receiving strength only available from God and giving thanks to the Father for empowering us to do all these things through the work of the Son and the gift of the Spirit. We tend to talk about God’s will like we are feeling around in the dark while we wait for God to finally give us some direction, but our father hasn’t put us in the dark on a mysterious footbridge where we have to hesitantly feel around to make sure we don’t fall off into an abyss of unfaithfulness. No, he has revealed his will to us! His will is our sanctification, and the spreading of his renown, and love within the brotherhood of believers, and everything else that his Word commands. In the current text, enacting His will could easily meaning building a relationship with the unloved and marginalized coworker with the desire to see the gospel change their outlook on life. Or as cliché as it sounds, living God’s will in your life could also mean simply setting aside regular time to give thanks to God and intake His word to better understand His character and will. In most situations, the difficulty is not finding God’s will. Often, what needs to be done is very clear. The difficulty is having the boldness to act on it when there are hard things to be done.

The Basis: His request to God is dependent on the sufficiency of the Gospel (12b-14)

He writes in the second half of verse 12 that the Father “has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” This, brothers and sisters, is the gospel. God has already done all the work! He is the source of our faith and spiritual wisdom, and power, and salvation, and he is worthy of every ounce of gratitude and praise we can muster. If it were not for the intervention of the father, then our prayers would be futile. We would have no confidence to approach the most holy place where God’s Spirit dwells and we would have no mediator intervening for us in heaven. Look in these verses. Who is doing the action in verses 12-14? THE FATHER has qualified. . . HE has delivered . . . HE has transferred us . . . and only IN CHRIST do we have forgiveness of our sins. Where do we enter into the picture? Only in receiving the gracious benefits of Christ. We can do nothing to improve on his work or increase our standing before God except trust him for our salvation and endurance. The Godhead has actively pursued us when we were helpless, and we are completely dependent on the work of Christ for any merit we have. There is no substance we could avoid or church activity we could attend to earn the reconciliation he has freely given us. So, God the Father’s gracious working through the past work of Jesus Christ qualifies us to be inheritors of an eternal inheritance because Christ reached into the earthly kingdom of darkness and has built a light-filled bridge of faith into a place where darkness has no authority. As believers, we continue walking on the bridge having tasted the eternal bliss that awaits us on the other side. God’s work in this passage is not limited to verses 12-14, His working is the substance of every verse. Let’s quickly walk through the verses from 3-11. Who does Paul thank in verse 3? Notably, he doesn’t thank the Colossians. He doesn’t write to them and say, “Thank you for finally accepting the gospel! Epaphras was growing weary of the long debates over dinner and your constant skepticism toward the things of God.” No, Paul thanks God the Father who gave them the grace to hear and understand the gospel through the working of the Spirit in their heart. In verses 4-5, we saw the classic Christian triad of faith, love, and hope. Christ is the center of each of these. He is the object of our faith; His work in our redemption is the example and source and of our freedom to love; and His resurrection is the only reason we have a hope laid up in heaven. Each of these virtues revolves around the work of Christ, and if we remove him from the equation in any way, our faith becomes futile, our love becomes stagnant, and our hope becomes false. The faith, love, and hope Paul refers to is certainly fruit of the gospel, but if at any point, the work of Christ is removed, these virtues become yet one more effort from fallen humanity to please a perfect God. In verse 6, the message that is proving effective in all the world is “the grace of God in truth,” not the works of men in truth. In verses 7-8, Epaphras is a faithful minister of Christ simply because he has honestly preached the grace of God in truth. In verses 9-11, Paul is depending solely on the sufficiency of the gospel for his prayer to be heard and for the Colossians to respond with faithfulness. If we walked through the verses of this passage and had the assumption that the gospel is not sufficient, we would disagree with Paul on every point. God wouldn’t deserve thanksgiving for our salvation, we would. Epaphras’s message of grace would have been mere deception. Paul’s prayer would be futile, and we would not yet be qualified to share in an eternal inheritance. Without that hope, we would have no impetus to have faith or to love. If the gospel is not sufficient, then everything we hold as truth falls apart. But praise be to God that the work of Christ is sufficient for us! If we trust in his name for salvation this morning, we have received freedom from regulations. He has fulfilled every letter of the law having died on the cross to atone for our sins. We are no longer enslaved to the lie that we must work all our lives hoping that our abstinence from drugs, lengthy prayers, and generous pocketbooks will be enough to earn favor with God because his resurrection has guaranteed us a greater inheritance than we could ever earn by any amount of charity we could contrive.

Conclusion
So, brothers and sisters, as we meditate on this passage, is there something in your life that defines your self-worth apart from Christ? Is there a voice in your life that calls for you to hold on to some effort that you think will gain you merit based on your own work? Let me exhort you to rest in Christ this morning. Look past the requirements and expectations placed on you by your friends or your family or whoever might be passing judgment on you. Look instead to Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith who endured the cross and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God waiting for the day when we will dwell in righteousness as those who have perfect communion with the God who has purposed to love us from before Creation (Hb. 12:2). This is good news sufficient beyond any improvement, and we can persevere knowing that we need not do anything to secure our eternal hope. Let’s pray.

The Proof of the Gospel’s sufficiency (3-8) First, the Gospel always produces fruit (3-5a)

A Prayer to Manifest the Gospel (9-14) Second, the Gospel is effective in every context and culture (5b-6)

Third, the Gospel is the standard to which we hold every minister (7-8)

The Proof of the Gospel’s sufficiency (3-8)

First, the Gospel always produces fruit (3-5a)

A Prayer to Manifest the Gospel (9-14)

Second, the Gospel is effective in every context and culture (5b-6)

The Sufficiency of the Gospel

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