Sermon Tone Analysis

Colossians 2:1-5

A Rope of Sand with Strength of Steel

 

/I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.

My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is/.

Colosse was united to Laodicea in the Apostle’s mind.

When he thought of one, he thought of the other.

They were united in more than mere proximity, however.

Obviously, at the time Paul wrote this letter these two churches shared a great deal in common.

The Apostle struggled in labours for these two churches [*Colossians 4:13*].

The two churches were to exchange greetings and to exchange letters from the Apostle [*Colossians 4:15, 16*].

The churches may have shared pastors at one time, or at least shared interest in one of the pastors.

At the conclusion of the letter Paul addresses a man named Archippus [*Colossians 4:17*], likely the son of Philemon [cf.

*Philemon 2*].

From the tone of the verse near the end of the Colossian letter, Archippus was probably the pastor of the Laodicean church.

At the time of this letter, these two churches were united with that which fully unites God’s people until voluntarily broken by one of the parties.

Was there such a break in fellowship?

John, writing no more than a few decades later, would convey the scathing message of the Risen Christ to Laodicea.

Laodicea had become a church which sickened the Lord.

They had grown lukewarm, tepid, neither hot nor cold.

Did the church at Colosse seek to maintain a semblance of unity with their fellow church of the Laodiceans?

Did the church at Colosse maintain close relations with their sister congregation?

The two congregations could literally look across the valley and see their respective cities, but did they continue as one in the Faith?

The question will be answered through considering the Word of God.

I leave it to you to weigh the teaching of the Word and judge for yourselves whether the two churches might have maintained their confession of unity.

We Baptists pride ourselves on our independence.

We speak of the autonomy of the church.

By this we mean that no outside agency can dictate to us in matters of faith and practise.

No government agency can tell us what to believe.

No denominational agency can tell us how to conduct our service to the Lord.

No sister church can dictate to us how we shall worship.

Instead we are fiercely free in our service before the Lord.

In the text for this message the Apostle speaks of encouragement and of unity.

The encouragement of which he speaks and the unity to which he refers are those precious commodities which are centred in Christ the Lord.

Paul rejoices in the orderliness and in the firmness exhibited by these two churches.

He commends them and encourages them in that which glorifies the Lord Christ.

So long as the churches followed the apostolic teaching, they enjoyed sweet communion.

However, as soon as one departed from that apostolic doctrine, there could be no further communion.

Just so, it is our doctrine which unites us and not any organisation.

That doctrine constitutes a rope of sand with strength of steel.

We Are United by Love.

I know that among us are some who, by word and by precept, would argue that love is an emotion.

They are focused on their feelings and they thus gauge the quality of others’ love by their own feelings.

I further know that when I avow that we are united by love that they will likely imagine that I mean love for one another.

While that may be great “pop” psychology, it is neither good science nor sound theology.

In fact we do love one another, but we love one another because we have received the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In other words, the love which unites us as Christians is our mutual love for Christ our Saviour.

To the degree that I love Christ, I love my fellow Christians deeply from the heart.

This does not mean that I am particularly concerned about how they feel, but it does mean that I am greatly concerned with how they act.

Godly love is concerned to benefit the recipient and not to merely make another feel good about himself or herself.

That love for Christ is in view is evident from reading the preceding passage.

/Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory/.

/We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me/ [*Colossians 1:24-29*].

By this position, the Apostle makes clear that he is concerned that the people of God be united in love for the true Faith.

He speaks of Christ’s afflictions and of his own struggles which he had endured for the sake of the body.

He is concerned to present the Word of God in its fullness, convinced that it is the mystery of salvation.

In short, his focus is on the Son of God.

Clearly, the Apostle’s first priority is the presentation of the Gospel; and for this cause he struggles/ with all his energy/ [*Colossians 1:29*].

That which binds us in love for one another is love for Christ.

Consider the teaching of the Word concerning that love.

/We love because He first love us/ [*1 John 4:19*].

A primary truth is that godly love is unnatural.

If it were natural we would need no encouragement to love one another.

If it were a learned response we would by nature be lovers.

In fact, by this verse we are compelled to say that it is impossible for us to love others until we have received the love which God has for us.

Notice the context in which that verse is found.

/This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another/ [*1 John 4:10, 11*].

*Galatians 2:20* teaches us that the love of Christ is a sacrificial love.

Consequently, if I discover that divine love I will become willing to sacrifice myself for fellow saints.

The love God demonstrates toward us is centred in the sacrifice of Christ [cf.

*Romans 5:8; 8:28, 35, 39*].

Again, this would indicate that if the focus of my love leads me to value the love of others by how they make me feel, I have no concept of the meaning of divine love.

I am compelled to take time to address this issue because there are yet those within the church of the Living God who are so focused on themselves that it is questionable whether they have yet experienced the love of God.

I am compelled to stress in this message the fact that we are united by love—love for Christ and love of the truth of Christ!

If we thus love Christ, we will love the brotherhood of believers.

The expression of that love will have little to do with how we feel or even with how others respond.

We will express that love through making every effort to maintain a spirit of unity instead of attempting to make the church adapt to our concepts.

Dear people, it is not love to manipulate and micromanage the attitude of the people of God.

Love is expressed through a spirit of submission to one another, rejoicing in the appointment which Christ gives to each of us, and walking together in truth.

Love Results in Complete Understanding.

The maturation of saints is hard work.

Paul speaks of *struggle* such as an athlete would endure in the arena [ajgwnizovmeno" *1:29*], of *wearisome toil* [kopiw' *1:29*], and of *suffering* [paqhvmasin *1:24*], all within a few brief sentences.

The power for all this demanding work was from Christ.

The purpose for all this labour was to enable the people to resist false teaching and to obtain encouragement and unity.

There is no full knowledge apart from moral commitment.

Complete understanding results from complete yielding.

This understanding is centred in Christ.

As he writes the Church at Colosse, Paul writes of rejoicing /in what was suffered/ on their behalf [*Colossians 1:24*].

He writes not of how he feels; such sentimentality is the concern of people with time on their hands and who are sufficiently unchallenged as to focus on themselves instead of considering how they may build others in the Faith.

The Apostle invested his time admonishing and teaching [lit.

*counselling and instructing*]/ /everyone [*Colossians 1:28*] because false teaching was even then threatening the churches.

The Gnostic heresy had invaded the churches, and the churches situated in the Lycus River Valley [Colosse, Laodicea, and Hieropolis] appeared to have been especially vulnerable.

Paul’s concern was the production of mature believers, as is evident by his words in *Colossians 1:28* which state his longing to present everyone perfect in Christ.

While we cannot speak with complete authority on the content or presentation of the Gnostic heresy, we know enough about that teaching which competed with the Faith of Christ to present the essence of that strange doctrine.

Whatever the particular branch of Gnosticism, the Gnostics claimed to have an elevated spiritual understanding.