COLOSSIANS | Week 2 | Chapter 1:1-2
We all have expectations. From what our plans are for the day to how we think our future will look, we all view life through a lens of expectation. This week in our Colossians series, we see that our expectations deeply affect our experiences with ourselves, others, and with God. Join us as we look into these opening verses of this book and see how, as Christians, we need to have a correct view of our relationship to God, ourselves, one another, and the world!
It’s all about Jesus!
Date: January 24, 2021
Series: Colossians
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Sermon Extras
THE REST OF THE SERMON | Colossians | Week 2
What do I expect my relationships to look like? Is Christianity solely personal and private? How do we view God? What is our place in the world when things are thriving or when things are crumbling? This week on The Rest of the Sermon, pastor Jason and pastor Tyler talk about the views we, as Christians, have of different relationships throughout life and how those views affect both ourselves and others.
It’s all about Jesus!
Pastor’s Comment
Thank you so much for listening in here at West Side. We often say that we love the word of God because it points us to the son of God. We hope these messages encourage you and equip you to love Jesus more. We also want you to be apart of a local church, we believe these messages are only supplemental, being apart of a local church is essential. Blessings.
SERMON NOTES
Colossians 1:1-2 – “A correct view of relationships”
REVIEW: Last week we started and did an overview of the book of Colossians, important that you check it out. “A clear view of Jesus Christ can change your life.”
INTRO> I remember over 6 years ago now, for the first time, meeting with the leadership here at West Side in what is now the nursing room. And talking to each other and establishing a relationship and asking questions. Finding out what was important to them and finding out what was important to me.
APP> That is what we see the Apostle Paul do in these opening verses. Remember Paul had never met these people, he had only known about them from their founding pastor/elder Epaphras, Paul introduces himself and in these 2 short verses he lays out for the church in Colossae, And here is the Big Idea:
Big Idea > A correct view of your relationships is critical.
1) Our relationship to God- Father. v2b
- “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” Paul right out of the gate reminds them of who God is. That everything else that is to come in this letter is based on this relationship, this view of God.
APP> Yet often times the great error that we as Christians make, is the we project our view of God onto God. “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.”
—A.W. Tozer,
Wrong Images of God: (*Gravity leadership, Axion 2, pg 26)
- The Distant Deity
- The Demanding Judge
- The Deterministic Micromanager
- The Doting Grandfather
- The privilege to call God Father was paid for by his Son, Jesus.
- Grace and peace are gifts from the Father.
- Grace is the basis of the relationship and peace is the Father’s presence in the relationship.
2) Our relationship to ourselves – saints. v2a
- “To the saints….” The fact that Paul used this word to describe Christians and the church at Colossae is shocking. It’s the forum of an OT word, that God used for Israel. It means his set apart people, his chosen people. And the only way that is true for us is because of what Jesus did for us in our place.
- We don’t fight for our identity we fight from it. (Luther’s theology simul justus et peccator.)
- What we believe determines how we behave.
- Being a Christian is about progress not perfection.
APP> “A saint is somone whose life makes it easier to believe in God.” – William Barclay
3) Our relationship to each other- family. v2
- “and faithful brothers…” That term brothers if you notice in your Bible that has a footnote means, brothers and sisters, mankind if you will.
- In Pauls letters the term “Our Lord” used 53 x, “My Lord” used 1x
- The church is not a place or a performance but rather a people gathered by God. (*ILL> The Greatest ShowMan)
- In God’s family when somone fails we never bail. (This is the only time Paul uses the word “faithful” in a greeting)
4) Our relationship to the world- in Christ.v2
- “in Christ, at Colossae” Paul is using a play on words here in the original language, it literally reads “in Christ in Colossae”
- Christians are dual citizens with an ultimate alliance to Jesus Christ.
- Your current location and situation is not your identity. “No matter where you are geographically and physically, what you are spiritually will never change. You may be at work, at play, overseas, under the weather, out of money, but you are always and unchangeably in Christ. You may be down in the dumps, over the hill, or beside yourself, but you are always and unchangeably in Christ. You may be at paradise or in prison, at the movies or in Chicago but you are always and unchangeably in Christ. Your geographical, earthly, physical location has no effect on your spiritual identity.” Sam Storms, THe Hope of Glory, pg21-22
APP> So… at the beginning the Apostle sets our relationships straight as if to say, “Everything flows from here… from viewing our relationships rightly.”
How are you viewing these relationships wrongly?
- Our relationship to God- Father
- Our relationship to ourselves- Saints
- Our relationship to each other- Family
- Our relationship to the world- In Christ