Colossians 1:1-14: Jesus in All

Introduction: Opening the Book

Well today we get to open the magnificent book of Colossians today. Whether you are with us in person or online, I know that God wants to speak to us through His word. By way of reminder, come with open hearts, minds, and bibles; a journal and pen for your notes; and an expectancy that God will show us and teach us what we need as He, the Good Shepherd, leads us. So let’s pray and ask Him to lead and guide us in our studies through this summer, the next 12 weeks, in Colossians.

As an introduction to this book, we will be using the resources from our brothers and sisters in Christ at the bible project to help us better understand this book:

One of my favorite outlines of the book comes from preceptaustin.org and it has been an immensely helpful resource to me, I pray it is for you and your studies also.

Take a picture of this and add it to your notes for the remainder of the summer so you know where we are at and how to follow along.

False teachers were encouraging the Colossians to supplement Jesus with philosophy, mystical experiences, legalism, asceticism, and special knowledge. Paul’s answer throughout the book is: You don’t need more than Jesus because Jesus is supreme over all things, sufficient for all things, and Jesus is in all. Our main thought for this entire book of the bible that I’m going to keep bringing you back to is this:

Colossians = Jesus in All

It isn’t merely that Jesus is involved in everything. It is that Jesus is supreme and sufficient in all things. We are going to walk that out over the next 12 weeks. And now, without further ado, let us jump into the first few verses of Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians 1:1-14 Text Outline:

• V1-2: Jesus in the Beginning of Our Salvation
• V3-5: Jesus in the Evidence of Our Salvation
• V6-12: Jesus in the Growth of Our Salvation
• V13-14: Jesus in the Accomplishment of Our Salvation

V1-2: Jesus in the Beginning of Our Salvation

So Paul writes to a people he doesn’t know and a church he didn’t plant to say, in essence, “You’ve got to see Jesus in all.” Before he addresses false teaching, spiritual growth, holiness, or anything else, he begins by reminding them who they are. He writes, “To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Paul isn’t making a distinction between two groups of people here, but highlighting two realities of the Christian life. Saints means holy ones, people who have been set apart for God. Faithful brothers and sisters speaks to those who belong to Christ and continue in loyal faith toward Him.

Notice the phrase that makes both possible: in Christ. They are saints because they are in Christ. They are faithful because they are in Christ. Their identity is not rooted in what they have done, but in who Jesus is and what He has done for them. Whether you feel this way today or not, this is what God says about His people. Paul was writing to ordinary believers in an ordinary church with ordinary struggles, and yet he calls them saints and faithful brothers and sisters. Not because they had earned those titles, but because Christ had given them those titles. And just as much as this letter was addressed to Colossae, if you belong to Jesus, these words are for you as well. This is how God sees His people. Let’s live in that reality today.

Well, then Paul continues, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” Grace was a common Greek greeting and peace, or shalom, was a common Jewish greeting. Yet there is nothing common about the grace and peace of God is there? How can Paul call ordinary sinners saints? How can he speak such peace over them? The answer is found in Christ. Their identity is not built on their performance but on God’s grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favor toward us. Peace is the result of being reconciled to God through Christ. Grace is the source; and peace is the result.

This raises an important question for us: Where do we first see Jesus in our salvation? We see Him in the grace that reaches us before we ever reach for Him. Before we sought Him, He sought us. Before we loved Him, He loved us. Before we could ever do anything for Him, He acted on our behalf. The first place we see Jesus in our salvation is in what He has done for us. That is where Paul begins, and that is where we must begin as well. Thank you, Jesus, for your grace that saves us and the peace that guards us.

V3-5: Jesus in the Evidence of Our Salvation

In verses 3-5 we see the start of Paul’s prayer as he thanks God for the Colossians. He gives us a beautiful triad that has shown up all over the new testament: Faith, hope, and love. The difference this time is the order he writes it in. The faith and love he has heard about comes from the gospel they heard because of the hope laid up for them in heaven.

• Faith looks upward to Christ. Faith is more than believing certain facts about Jesus; it is trusting Him personally and completely. The Colossians had heard the gospel and placed their confidence in Christ rather than in themselves, their good works, their religious performance, or their own wisdom. Faith is the open hand that receives what God freely gives. It acknowledges that we cannot save ourselves and that Jesus is sufficient for everything we need. This is why Paul thanks God for their faith rather than congratulating them for it. Even faith itself is evidence of God’s gracious work in a person’s life. Genuine faith lifts our eyes off ourselves and fixes them on Christ as Savior, Lord, and King.
• Love looks outward to others. One of the clearest evidences of genuine faith is a growing love for God’s people. Notice Paul doesn’t merely say they loved those who were easy to love or those who were most like them. He says he has heard of their “love for all the saints.” Christian love is not primarily a feeling but a commitment to seek the good of others because Christ first loved us. The gospel creates a new family where barriers of background, status, personality, and preference are overcome by our shared identity in Christ. When God’s love takes root in our hearts, it begins to flow out into our relationships. Love is faith made visible. What faith receives from Christ, love distributes to others.
• Hope looks forward to eternity. In Scripture, hope is not wishful thinking or positive optimism. Biblical hope is a confident expectation based on the promises of God. The Colossians had heard the gospel and become convinced that what God promised in Christ was absolutely certain. Their inheritance was secure. Their future was guaranteed. Heaven was not a possibility; it was a certainty. This hope anchored them in the present because it reminded them that this world is not their home and that God’s best was still ahead. Hope gave them perspective in suffering, endurance in difficulty, and confidence in uncertainty because their future rested in the hands of Christ.

What makes this triad especially beautiful in Colossians is the order Paul uses. Usually we think of faith, hope, and love as three separate virtues, but Paul shows us how they are connected. The faith and love he celebrates are flowing out of the hope laid up for them in heaven. Because they are convinced of what Christ has secured for them in the future, they trust Him in the present and love others along the way. Hope fuels faith, and hope fuels love. The more certain we are of what awaits us in Christ, the more we will trust Him today and the more freely we will love the people around us.

Faith looks upward to Christ. Love looks outward to others because of Christ. And hope looks forward to eternity with Christ. Paul sees their faith, love, and hope and thanks God because he recognizes that these are not merely human virtues; they are the fruit of God’s saving work among them. Jesus is the source of their faith, the model of their love, and the object of their hope. That is why Paul can thank God for them. The evidence of salvation is faith, love, and hope, but behind all three stands Jesus.

V6-12: Jesus in the Growth of Our Salvation

Ok, now Paul just shared this beautiful truth about them, who Jesus is to them, and it might be hard to receive because they’ve never met, right? Paul has never met them but he shares how he knows all of this: because of this great man Epaphras. I can’t guarantee this, but I believe that Paul shared the gospel with Epaphras, Epaphras brought it home to Colossae and was a huge starter of the Colossian church.

So Paul clarifies that, but he’s sharing something beautiful in this: The good news that you believe that came from Epaphras is also producing fruit and increasing all over the world. He is linking them into the big story of God’s people. He’s saying to them, and to us if you’ll hear it, we are not alone in this gospel. We believe in the greatest story that has been shared for millennia. It is now our turn to live it out well and preach it well. It’s a beautiful encouragement because before Paul shares any big concerns he has for them, he shares the precious and deep roots into the Jesus story we all have.

So now in that, Paul says, “Here’s the contents of my prayers for you. I shared that I pray for you all the time and I thank God for you, but let me now tell you what I’m saying to God.” We can see the beauty of his prayer in 3 movements: Filled, walk, strengthened, and then later the deliverance portion. I say that because, in the original Greek, verses 9 through 14 is one long sentence which is his prayer. We are breaking it up a bit so we can understand its movements a bit better and in our language. As we work through this prayer, I want you to know that I pray this over our church constantly. Would you consider praying this over me also? Every word in this section is so rich and deeply important! For the sake of our time together, Let’s look at the big idea pieces together.

1. Filled

Let’s start with this word filled. Paul prays that they would be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will.” When I hear that, I immediately think about how most of us ask the question, “God, what is your will for my life?” Usually what we mean is, “Should I take this job? Should I move? Should I date this person? Should I buy this house?” We tend to think of God’s will almost exclusively in terms of big decisions. But Paul is praying for something much bigger than that.

The word filled means full. Filled to the brim. Filled to overflowing. Paul isn’t asking God to give them a little bit of wisdom or a few helpful insights. He is praying that God’s will would saturate their lives—their thoughts, their desires, their priorities, their decisions, their relationships, everything.

Think about it this way. Most of us don’t stop eating until we’re full. We know exactly what it feels like to leave a meal satisfied. Yet many Christians are content to live spiritually hungry. We grab a verse here, a podcast there, a Sunday sermon when we can make it, and then wonder why we’re struggling to walk closely with Jesus. Paul is praying for something different. He’s praying that these believers would be so filled with the knowledge of God that it shapes everything about them.

Now some of you might be thinking, “That sounds impossible. How could I ever know God’s will like that?” The good news is God is not hiding His will from you. Scripture makes some things abundantly clear. God’s will is that people come to salvation. God’s will is that His people be filled with His Spirit. God’s will is that we live lives that please Him. And all of that comes through the work of the Holy Spirit who continually points us to Jesus. At its core, Paul’s prayer is this: Holy Spirit, teach us to think like Jesus. I knew I could weave that into at least one more sermon! Here’s why though: because if we learn to think like Jesus, we’ll begin to live like Jesus.

2. Walk

Then Paul says he wants us to be filled so that we walk. He wants us to be filled with this knowledge and wisdom—he wants us to think like Jesus—so we live it out. That’s because right thinking leads to right living. We can unfortunately live in a place as Christians where we like to hear good things about God and maybe even feel a certain way about God, and yet it doesn’t translate into the transformation in our living which the bible calls walking. We’ve got to walk it out.

And that is Paul’s next portion of his prayer. Paul says clearly, live your life in a way that is worthy of Jesus. If you are going to be filled with all wisdom, it cannot stop there. It has got to be worked out in our lives. It’s actually what is pleasing to God. Did you see that in the text? This actually pleases God. What pleases God is when we think like Jesus and walk in the things He has called us to do. Together, these two things please God, and then they actually produce an increase in these areas also. It’s a beautiful thing God does in us.

3. Strengthened

And if you’re going to carry that out, well, you’re going to need strength and power to do it, and that’s what Paul prays for. So God strengthens us for endurance and patience. Why? Because learning to think like Jesus and live like Jesus is hard. Everything around us is pulling us in the opposite direction. And sometimes we are going to want to quit. Sometimes we will stumble. And that’s part of walking.

So we are going to need strength from God, according to His glorious might, which is never ending, to be able to endure and be patient—and did you notice how? With Joy! That we would joyfully endure and be patient. Yep, we’re going to need God’s strength for all of that. Patience and endurance in difficult circumstances, with difficult people, with mixed emotions, and everything else in between.

And then Paul adds one more piece: give thanks. How can we give thanks while we’re enduring? How can we give thanks while we’re being patient? Because God has already qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. In other words, you already know how this story ends. Your inheritance is secure. Your future is settled. Heaven belongs to you because you belong to Jesus. So while the road may be difficult, the destination is certain. That’s why Christians can joyfully endure. That’s why we can be patient. We already know what awaits us. We gain everything in Jesus.

V13-14: Jesus in the Accomplishment of Our Salvation

That’s why I love how he ends this amazing prayer. Paul reminds us of that great work that Jesus accomplished for our salvation. This has got to remain rooted in your mind whenever you feel or think that God isn’t at work in your life in this situation, or relationship, or whatever you are going through. You’ve got to live right here in Colossians 1:13-14. Look at the great work that has been done!

You have been delivered from the domain of darkness. Do you know what that means? You were once ruled by your own thoughts and the devil himself. That’s what Paul is describing here. You once were living in darkness, whether you knew it or not. And our great God, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, rescued you from that. You are no longer ruled by the domain of darkness. Oh, thank you, Jesus! The rescue mission of heaven was successful!

And it doesn’t stop there. You were also transferred into the kingdom of Jesus. These are war terms. What the Colossians would have heard, and what we need to hear, is that there is a conquering King named Jesus who has taken us from that kingdom of darkness and has made us a part of His kingdom of light. Everything we have and everything we are now belongs to this new conquering King, the Son of love, where love reigns supreme.

Not only did King Jesus conquer Satan, but He bought you with His blood, and in that process, He sent your sins away completely and forgave you. No matter how you are feeling today, do not allow your thoughts or anyone else’s to deny what Jesus fully accomplished in His rescue mission of your soul. What a powerful truth we live in today. This is why we can say through our time in Colossians that: Jesus is truly in all things.

Conclusion

As we close out this amazing piece of scripture today, we have an opportunity to proclaim His death until He comes through one of the commands of our great King: to take communion.