You Shall Receive Power

Acts 1:4-8. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 17, 2026.

Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, so we are going to focus on why the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was so important following the resurrection of Jesus.

Let’ s look at our passage.

Power to be a witness

These are the last moments that Jesus is with his disciples before ascending into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.  He had earlier given them the mission of taking the good news about his work of salvation to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:18-20).  Yet now he makes a stipulation about this.  He commands them “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father…”

We should notice that Jesus wants us to receive this promise of the Father before we go about the mission he has given us.  It is clear that he is referring to the promise of the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon all believers.

Of course, the very next words out of their mouths are about the Kingdom being restored to Israel.  Is it now, Lord?  Jesus tells them that the Father is not giving that information to them.  They need to focus on receiving the Holy Spirit and accomplishing the mission Jesus has given them.

Notice that the Holy Spirit will give them power, and they will be “my witnesses.”  There are many ways in which the Holy Spirit empowers us.  One of these ways is to make us a powerful witness of Jesus.  In this sense, we are a particular kind of evidence for Jesus, a personal witness.

There are a couple of ways that we are his witnesses.  The first is that we are his witnesses because we give testimony about him.  He is the object that we have witnessed or the content of that to which we are testifying.

The world would not know who Jesus is, what he has done, and why it is so important, without someone who knows about it going to them and telling them.

This is Paul’s point in Romans 10:13-15.  He takes an Old Testament truth, “All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” and reverse engineers it.  How can people call upon the Lord and be saved if they don’t believe in him?  How are they going to believe in him if they haven’t heard about him?  How will they hear about him if no one tells them?  How can someone tell them if they haven’t been sent?  Jesus is the beginning of this whole series.  He sends all of his disciples to go to the world around them with the good news of his salvation.

They needed to wait because the Holy Spirit was going to be poured out on a particular day, the Feast of Pentecost.  Why that day?  Pentecost was a celebration for the harvest so far and the harvest to come.  In this case, Jesus is bringing in a spiritual harvest of people from Israel and the nations who will hear the good news, believe, and come into his kingdom.

We are also his witnesses in the sense that we belong to him and are doing a work for him.  In fact, Jesus is witnessing to others through us.  This spiritual dimension to our witness should not be overlooked.  It goes beyond you and me.  This witness is more than what we say and do.

When we share God’s terms of salvation with a lost world, it really is the Lord Jesus working through us to draw people to himself.  God can lead us, but He also works beyond us and in ways that we cannot see.  I may be nobody, but some people can only be reached by a nobody who shares the greatest somebody in the universe with them.  Can you be God’s nobody and trust Him to do what you cannot do?  This is part of the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus truly is sending us with a task, but He is also truly working with us and through us by the Holy Spirit.  The answer is not to shrink back and say that God will do it.  Nor is the answer to try and do it all by yourself.  We must give our all to this mission but also trust the Holy Spirit to do His part.  The job is too big for us in ourselves.  We need the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life to do this.

We are to give witness through what we say

One way in which we are witnesses is by our active vocal testimony.  The Holy Spirit can give us boldness to speak when we are afraid.  We see this with the apostle Peter who was afraid to stand with Christ on the night of his betrayal.  Later, a Spirit-filled Peter would boldly speak in the temple compound, calling his people and Israel’s leaders to repentance.

The Holy Spirit can also help us with giving us the things to say.  The preaching and teaching of the apostles was written down so that we can hear these inspired words.  Yet, the Holy Spirit can give us specific leading in what to say to people.  We need to learn to listen to Him and boldly speak it.

The Holy Spirit can also help in the heart and the mind of the person who receives our testimony.  You may feel His presence and working, but then again, you may not.  The main thing is to trust that the Spirit is always helping even when you don’t see it.

There is a part of our testimony that is not so much ours, but that of the original eyewitnesses to Jesus.  This cannot be reduplicated.  No one alive today can give testimony to seeing Jesus.  Yet, we can pass along this eyewitness testimony.

Tens of thousands of people witnessed the life, teachings, and death of Jesus.  Over 500 people witnessed that Jesus was alive after his death and burial.  Acts 1:3 speaks to the infallible proofs that Jesus gave to these people.  Some of those proofs were simply that he was alive.  Some of those proofs were that he was more than a mortal.  Jesus showed Thomas the crucifixion marks on his body.  They touched him.  He ate fish.  Jesus was not an apparition or spirit.  Yet, he was more than a mortal man.  He appeared and disappeared in their midst when they were locked in a place.  He ascended into the heavens in front of their eyes.  These eyewitness accounts were written down so that they could be verified and used to test others who claimed to have testimony about Jesus.

By the beginning of the 2^nd century, the last of those eyewitnesses were dying.  This is why the Bible is so important.  It is an eyewitness record of those who were there.  This is also why the Bible is so attacked in our day and age.  The devil doesn’t like the Bible.  People who love to sin don’t like the Bible.  Even my own flesh turns away from these words without the help of the Holy Spirit.  It is important that we have the help of the Holy Spirit to share the testimony of these Apostles contained in the New Testament.

However, you don’t have to be an eyewitness to experience the spiritual truths that Jesus has made available to us.  We are the spiritual offspring of those original disciples.  Just as the words and work of Jesus transformed their life, so our lives have been transformed by that as well.  Salvation is not simply a legal distinction.  It is a living experience where the Spirit of God transforms our heart and mind.  We go from being a people in slavery to sin to being a people living out the righteousness of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit helps our witness by fueling the transformation of our lives.  This personal transformation also gives zeal and passion to our testimony as well.  In short, we bear witness to the saving power of Jesus.  Jesus truly saves those who believe in him.  He saves them from their sin and failures.  Of course, we see some of that happening right now.  Some of it we will see happening in the future (I’m not perfected yet).  Yet, we are following the Perfect One who is the perfecter of our faith.  Only you can tell the testimony of what faith in Jesus has done for you.  We need to seek the help of the Holy Spirit to empower transformation from the inside out.  Then, we need to share it with others.

We are to give witness by what we do

Our witness is not just by our words.  In fact, we must be careful that our life is not discordant with our words, or the words of our Lord Jesus.  Hypocrisy only interferes with our ability to witness for Jesus.

In this sense, people will see our lives.  Our actions and overall life will testify for us.  Both verbal testimony and demonstration testimony are necessary in our lives.  We cannot do one and neglect the other.

This is why the Bible records the experience and subsequent lives of those who believed in Jesus.  Peter became a man with a spiritual backbone.  Saul of Tarsus became a follower of Jesus who would put his life in jeopardy in order to bring the good news about Jesus to those who had never heard.

This is part of the testimony in their day and age.  Yes, they said things, but their actions and lives powerfully underscored these words.  When Stephen was stoned for giving testimony to the Lord Jesus, it may have scared some people away from following Jesus.  Yet, he was only the first of many who gave testimony with their lives that Jesus was worth losing your physical life.  They faced persecution, torture, and death.  When Saul of Tarsus became a Christian, it shocked everyone.  Some Christians feared that it was a ploy to discover who they all were.  Unbelievers believed that he had gone mad.  However, no one could counter the claim that Saul of Tarsus was no longer who he used to be.  The evidence of his life before and after spoke volumes about the kind of man he used to be and who he became once he believed upon Jesus.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

There is real power working in this.  Many of these Corinthians used to be caught up in various types of sin.  If Jesus had remained in the grave, we would not be reading these words today.  If no one’s life was ever transformed by these words and the Holy Spirit who works through them, we wouldn’t be here today.

A transformed life is our biggest testimony.  It is God’s will for you to be transformed by the truth of His Word and the power of His Holy Spirit.  Thus, we need to expect this, desire this, pray for this, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He empowers this in our lives.

We need to pray for the Spirit’s leading in our daily lives.  What are the ways in which I need to be transformed to become more like Jesus?  Only a person who is in the Bible, in prayer, and wrestling with their sinful flesh by the help of the Holy Spirit can give testimony of a life that is being transformed.

May God help us to rest in His gracious work of transformation in our life and to know His peace day by day.

Receive Power audio

The First Letter of Peter- 22

Subtitle: Closing Words

1 Peter 5:12-14. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 3, 2026.

As we finish this letter, we have reached the place where Peter gives his closing words to the recipients of it. 

It is mostly a basic closing of a letter. It mentions the carrier of the letter and gives greetings to people in the churches of Asia Minor from Peter and others with him.

Yet, there are a couple of items in this passage that have created some controversy. 

Let’s look at our passage.

Peter’s closing words (v. 12-14)

Peter first explains that the letter has come to them through a man named Silvanus.  Silvanus is mentioned as a fellow worker with Paul and Timothy in 2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians.

We should also make the connection between this Silvanus and the shortened form of his name used by Luke in Acts, Silas.  Though Peter and Paul use the longer form, Luke seems disposed to using a more intimate and informal name for him.

Silas was a Jewish Christian who was among the men of Jerusalem in the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15.  He accompanied Paul back to Antioch in order to verify the decision of the Jerusalem Council.  Luke describes him as a prophet and teacher who is clearly of Jewish descent.  Silas ends up accompanying Paul on his 2^nd Missionary journey through the areas addressed by Peter’s letter.  He would know the people and be familiar to them, having ministered among them with Paul.

Peter refers to Silvanus as a “faithful brother” and comments that this is his opinion or estimation of him.  The gist of this is simply that the one these churches know as a faithful brother already has also been found by Peter to be faithful as a brother in Christ, i.e., a spiritual brother.

By the way, this is how the New Testament really began.  Letters were written by apostles to particular churches or group of churches in a region.  We are not told how Silvanus distributed this letter to so many churches.  Did he come bearing multiple copies?  What church did he go to first?  Some of these questions we cannot know.  However, it is most likely that the letter was first given to a particular church, which would most likely make a copy of it.  Since Silvanus is well acquainted, it is most likely that he personally saw to the distribution.  It would allow him to touch base and minister to the churches similar to Paul’s attitude in his missionary journeys.  Thus, Silvanus would come to a particular town, a church member would make a faithful copy, and he would then take the letter to another town, most likely taking time to exhort the church on the contents of the letter.

Similarly, Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth would slowly be copied and shared with other churches in the region.  At some point, the Church felt it was important to assemble the verified letters of the apostles that had long acceptance in different regions into a collection.  This ultimately became the New Testament.  By the time this assembling happened, it would have been impossible to make up a letter that was not original to the apostles and pretend like it was.  Too many churches had copies of these letters over too long of a time.  The cry of “foul” would have been deafening from the churches if such was attempted.

Peter then summarizes his purpose in the letter.  He has both testified and exhorted them in the true grace of God.  He testified in that he declared what he heard and saw.  He has exhorted in the sense that he is calling them to stay true to what they have received.  This is what I know to be true, and this is what you should do.

So, what is the true grace of God?  We can start with pointing to Jesus.  Jesus as the Son of God and Son of Man had come as God’s Anointed to save Israel and the Gentiles.  This is opposed to all the false claimants to be God’s Messiah.  Jesus is the true Christ versus the false Christs that came before him, and those that came after him.  Peter gave faithful testimony to the person, work, and teaching of Jesus.

These teachings were taught and written down for the strengthening of those who believed.  These Scriptures are an analog revealing Jesus the Messiah to those who read it.

However, it is not enough to receive the truth about Christ in verbal and written form.  We must remain firm in our faith. 

Some versions differ between Peter giving a command, “Stand firm in it,” and Peter simply declaring, “in which you stand.”  The difference between the two is a couple of letters in the verb “stand.”  We do not know how the difference came about in some of the old manuscripts.  Regardless, both are good and true.  They had received the Gospel, so it is entirely appropriate for Peter to testify and to exhort that this is the true grace of God, in which you currently stand firm.

Yet, they will need to be faithful until the end of their lives.  Over time, threats will come against the true grace of God.  They will need to stand firm in what they have received.  Thus, it would be entirely appropriate to voice this as a command.

For us today, we may not know which form Peter initially intended.  However, we do know that Scripture challenges us with both ideas.  It is good for believers to be standing firm in what the Scriptures reveal about Jesus, but it is also important for us to persevere in standing firm to the end of our life.

There is generally nothing controversial in a section that sends greetings, but we have such here.  Peter’s phrase, “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you,” has two areas of contention.

The first has to do with who or what is the pronoun “she” referencing?  This has been generally interpreted as referring to the body of believers where Peter is, i.e., the church he is at.  The word for church in Greek is a feminine term and thus takes a feminine pronoun.  It is singular because the group is spoken of as a singular entity, a local expression of the greater Church of Jesus.  This also fits with the fact that we know Peter is addressing churches in Asia Minor.  A pronoun without connection to a person or name would more naturally connect to another church.  In fact, the description of being chosen together with the recipients of the letter further strengthens the idea of “she” referring to the local church in Peter’s location.

It wasn’t until later that the idea was floated that “she” could refer to Peter’s wife.  The problem with this is that she is never mentioned in the letter, and it would not be the most natural interpretation of Peter’s words.

Just as the early church referred to each other as brothers and sisters (spiritually), churches were commonly referred to as sisters.  This ties into the Hebrew usage in the Old Testament of the current citizens of a city being the daughters of the city (seen as a mother), e.g., the daughters of Jerusalem etc.

Another example of this in the New Testament is in 2 John 1:13. “The children of your elect sister send you greetings.”  The current believers who make up the chosen sister church where I am at send you greetings. 

I think it is most natural and most fitting with the evidence of history to see this as a reference to the believers of a particular church.

The second question in the above phrase is the identity of Babylon.  Is this a literal reference to Babylon or is it a symbolic reference to Rome?

The earliest evidence we have that still exists is from around AD 313.  Eusebius in his Church History cites an earlier work from Papias.  He states that Papias had written a five-volume work called Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord.  Eusebius claims that Papias, along with other early church fathers, believed Babylon in verse 13 to be a symbolic reference to Rome.

We should also note that there is no known counterclaim that literal Babylon was intended.  Thus, the evidence of history at this point would be on the side of a symbolic reference to Rome.

However, it is not implausible that Peter could have gone to literal Babylon.  There was a large Jewish community in Babylon that eventually became the source for the Babylonian Talmud.  It would make sense that the Apostle to the Jews could be sent by the Holy Spirit to testify there.  Yet, there is no evidence from history that states such.  It is simply a conjecture that could only be substantiated if we assume Babylon is literal here.

John has a similar thing in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  There is a reference to “Mystery Babylon” which sits on seven hills.  The testimony of the early church is that this referred to Rome.

Babylon was prophesied against by the Old Testament prophets.  But, a close reading of those prophecies will note that Babylon comes to be treated as a Symbol or a System that is created by a rebellious spirit behind it.  This spirit of empire and domination by wicked spirits is used of an end-time city/powerhouse that will be destroyed by the Beast.

Why has this become an issue?  The Reformation led to many arguments between Protestants and Roman Catholics.  A main contention between them had to do with the authority of the Pope.  Did God give him authority to command all the Church of God on earth?  Roman Catholics say yes and Protestants say no.

In arguing these cases, several lines of arguments cross this verse.  The Roman Catholics point to Peter as being the Rock (foundation) of the Church.  They also claim that he was the first Bishop of Rome.  He then handed his authority down to the next Bishop upon his death.  They then claim an unbroken line of succession from Peter to the current Pope.  The authority of Peter belongs to the current Pope.

Protestants may argue against Peter ever being in Rome, except perhaps at his execution.  They will also argue that Peter was never a bishop in Rome, definitely not the first bishop.  In fact, the New Testament never speaks of Peter going to Rome.  Even when Paul goes to Rome at the end of Acts, it already has a church of believers there.  If there were not already a bishop of this church, then he would have definitely set some faithful elders into those positions, as was his way among all the churches he started.  Peter is not mentioned as residing there.  He is most likely still in Jerusalem or that region.

Regardless of all of the above, Protestants can be polarized into believing that they have to believe this is literal Babylon in order to prove the argument of the Romanists wrong.  I believe this is a fallacy.  Regardless of whether this is a symbolic reference to Rome or a literal reference to Babylon, this does not matter with the argument over Papal succession and authority.  The truth is the truth, and men are quite capable of taking a true statement and using it to substantiate a false claim.  It is the claim that is false and not the statement used to support it.

Ultimately, it has no bearing on our faith where Peter is writing this letter.

Peter then gives them greetings from “my son, Mark.”  Mark is not his literal son, but his son spiritually.  This is the nephew of Barnabas who abandoned Paul’s first missionary journey into Asia Minor.  He eventually became a helper with Barnabas and then later with Peter.  Mark with Peter was similar to the way Timothy was for Paul, a younger minister that aided them in their ministry.

This Mark is the same one who wrote the Gospel of Mark.  Mark was too young to know all that Jesus did, but his Gospel has historically been described as the account of Jesus from Peter’s perspective.

Peter takes advantage of the greetings that he gives in order to remind them to greet one another with the kiss of love.  Now, the kiss of love is the opposite of the kiss of betrayal given by Judas to Jesus.  The kiss of betrayal is a superficial pretense that covers wickedness underneath.  Christians are to greet one another with a kiss of love, not hypocrisy. 

Of course, how cultures greet one another are various.  It was common in those days to kiss on the cheek those you meet.  In our culture, we might say to greet one another with a handshake of love.  We should not be outward jerks to one another, but neither should we be fake with one another.  Christians must do the inner work of being able to love other Christians.

Personality clashes and events that happen between two people can muddy the waters of our love for one another.  It takes forgiveness and repentance for a group too remain in the love of Christ for one another.

Finally, Peter blesses them by saying, “Peace be unto you all who are in Christ.”  The Christian has peace with God because they have believed upon the One that He has sent to save us.  When we embrace Jesus, we are no longer enemies to God, and He is no longer an enemy to us.  If this is rightly understood and believed, it gives a person an inner sense of peace by the Holy Spirit regardless of the chaos and threats of suffering that surround them.  It is a peace that passes all understanding.  If you know that you are okay (right) with God, then the threats and slander of men are easier to ignore.

Yet, Peace also describes the eternal purpose of God for those who belong to Jesus by faith.  We are in Christ like Noah and his family were in the ark.  Judgment is coming upon this earth, but the one who believes and follows Christ is in the safe place that God has provided for them.  Jesus is not just a way to avoid judgment.  He is one with whom we have a relationship through the Holy Spirit.

Our challenge is to hold fast the proven and true Word of God we have received from faithful believers before us.  Yet, that word teaches us how to know the Lord Jesus and how to follow him.  May we stay faithful to Jesus, the Faithful One, until the end of our life!

Closing Words audio

The Glory of Jesus the Christ

1 Corinthians 1:26-31.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Resurrection Sunday, April 5, 2026.

Today we are going to contrast the glory of this world with the glory of Jesus who is the Christ.  You may or may not have anything glorious about you, at least by the world’s standards.  What you are currently doing may never be praised by other people.  But God sees our life like a Father watching over a child.  He helps as needed but also wants us to choose and grow to be like Him.

The glory of this world hits us at a very young age.  Who are the smart kids in class?  Who are the strong kids or the beautiful kids?  Most of us are somewhere in the middle of that experience.  You could say that nothing about us stood out from the rest.

The word glory (as a verb glorying) is synonymous with the idea of a boast or boasting.  At its root, there is the idea of something either worthy of praise or something that is simply praised by people.  Thus, to obtain glory in this world is to obtain something that is praise-worthy by the world’s standard.  A person who glories in their own accomplishment is praising themselves.

Paul challenges us not to boast in ourselves but to boast in the Lord Jesus.  Of course, God is not against our gifts and achievements per se.  He is the God who made muscles, but He did not make them for a muscle-bound man to praise himself and use those muscles only for selfish ends.

I said earlier that most of us are probably average.  However, we are quite innovative when it comes to this area of boasting.  Glory has a sphere to it: global, national, regional, local, my family, etc.  This area can be fraught with a driven pursuit that feeds upon that glory which is not healthy.

When people have a lot of glorious things in their life, it is hard for them to see the glory of Jesus and believe in him.  We might even see that it is impossible with a man, but all things are possible for God.  The problem for a rich man is not that he is rich.  His problem is that he boasts in himself and sees the riches as proof of how great he is.  He will idolize those riches to the exclusion of a relationship with God.

The glory of Rome and empires

Rome represents the glory of this world that is in ignorance of God’s Word.  They were an empire that ruled over a large region of the world.  They were able to project their power long distances from Rome, their capital city.  The Romans may have run into some Jews, but in the end, they did not know God.  They did not know His Word.  This ignorance was due to the rebellion of their (and our) ancestors at the Tower of Babel. 

Those first generations were in rebellion to the truth and knew it.  They purposefully rejected God and so were rejected by Him.  Of course, another generation grows up that begins to listen to justifications by their rebellious fathers.  This continues until a generation arises that is not even aware of the earlier rebellion.  They become ignorant that there was a time in which their ancestors lived and believed differently.  There is also a spiritual dynamic to this justification.  Many false religions have their roots in deceiving spirits that lead men into error and into permission-systems that give them power over whole societies.

In seeking a way different from God’s command, they followed the same path of Adam and Eve.  They (we) listened to the serpent’s lie and follow a path of false hopes and false glory, a glory that ignores and is ignorant of God.

Such a path is precarious.  The Romans were not always the empire.  Before them, there was the Greeks, and the Persians, and the Babylonians, and the Assyrians, etc.  All nations lust after this kind of glory, the glory of dominating others and being the head of the nations. 

The glory of Israel

In some ways, Israel was no different, but it was not as far down the path that the nations had gone down.  God had kept a remnant among them, and His Word was still prevalent if not followed.  Israel represents a glory that arrogates and twists God’s Word to itself.  Thus, many gave lip service to God’s glory, but in the end, they were only concerned with their own glory.

God’s work among Israel was glorious.  Somewhere along the line, the glory of God became mixed up with their own glory.  To arrogate is to presumptuously appropriate to oneself without right or authority.  This is a subtle rebellion that masks itself under a thin veneer of righteousness.  The religious leaders as a whole had twisted the system to their purpose and their glory.  This essentially ignored God’s Word while continuing a sick insistence that they were adhering to God’s Word faithfully. 

The glorious construction of temples and palaces within the people of God was not wrong.  God had told them to build the temple and make it glorious.  However, this was to point to God’s glory.  Even boasting in a temple is beneath our calling.  We can glory in all the wrong things about what God is doing in us, missing the purpose for which He gives the gifts that He does.

Idolatry and the altar of self

This is what Paul is talking about in this passage.  Christians were not generally from the great of Rome or Israel.  Yet, God had chosen them, the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

When our glory is self-seeking, it becomes an idol, idolatry.  Few people obtain the heights of worldly glory.  However, everyone glories in something.  It is because we were made by a glorious God in order to dwell within His glory.  We were made to be in relationship with the ultimate glory, God Himself.  When we cast off God, the glory within in us is simply a mark of His purpose.  Detached from God, this kind of glory is destined to fade and decay, like a corpse without a spirit.

There are pitfalls to glory that Christians must learn to navigate.  It is a mistake to glory in lesser things to the exclusion of the greater.  It is a worse mistake to glory in shameful things.  The only antidote to such pitfalls is to remain in humble relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ.  Another pitfall is to be corrupted by personal glory, thinking that we are its source.  Such vainglory causes people to be entitled, over-protective, immoral, and arrogant.

God’s Word warns against all of these things and shows us that all humanity is in a slavery and a bondage to sin.  We are unable to break free from its tyrannical hold and step into the purpose for which God made us, at least without Jesus.  This brings us to the glory of Jesus the Christ.

The Glory of Jesus the Christ

The glory of Jesus is that he is the only human who perfectly lived in connection to the Glory of God the Father.  He perfectly lived out the purpose of God.  What was that purpose?  It was to restore humanity to its intended place at God the Father’s side.  It is to be His image-bearers, imaging His purpose on the earth through our lives.

Does this mean that Jesus has failed?  Jesus has not failed.  He has and is accomplishing all that the Father desires.

Paul ends this passage (vs. 31) by quoting Jeremiah 9:23-26.  “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.  It pictures a person who understands and knows God the Father.  The knowing here is not a knowing of information.  It is a knowing of experiencing life with another.  Jesus is the only one who truly understood and knew God.  He heard the words of the Father and lived them out, speaking them exactly.  He never gave up believing in the will of the Father, even when it lead to a cross.

In Jeremiah, we are told that such a person discovers some things about God.  He is full of faithful, covenant-keeping love.  His judgments are all just and true, dependable.  Finally, His dealings are all right and good with everyone.  Jesus taught us to trust the Father no matter what.

Such a person also delights in the purpose of the Father.  Jesus delighted in God’s purpose to redeem humanity.  He delighted in the covenant-keeping love of God, not just for himself, but he imaged that love to the world around him.  He delighted in the just and true judgments of God but also imaged such to the world.  He delighted in righteous dealings with all.

It may be strange to think of Jesus delighting in going to the cross.  The Father did not so much delight in the cross as He delighted in what the cross would make possible.  And so Jesus delighted in the joy that was on the other side of the cross, not avoiding it, but going through it.

We can shrink back from difficult paths that God sets before us.  However, such difficult paths only enhance the glory of God and our knowledge of Him.  It is often the price of intimacy.

Jesus laid down his life as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sins.  He did so to make it possible that we could be forgiven and restored to the place intended for us at the Father’s right hand.

Let’s end with contrasting the glory of the cross with the glory of the resurrection.  The resurrection is a glorious and overcoming glory.  It is shocking in its power against an enemy that appears to be invincible (death).  It is similar to the glory of God to bring forth all of creation by His Word.  A part of us wants God to simply speak a word and fix everything.  This would be a fix that doesn’t require me (you) to change.  God will change us, but it cannot happen without death.

The glory of the cross is that Jesus sacrificed his mortal life to save us.  He is not throwing his life away because it is worthless.  Rather, he is laying down something of supreme value.  He was using it for the Father’s good purpose, to redeem humanity, you and me.

Jesus did not cling to the lesser glories that he could accomplish in his mortal flesh.  He did embrace the greater glory of one who knows the Father and trusts Him.  On the other side of laying down the false glories and the lesser glories of this world is the resurrection glories of Christ.

May we go forth and live for the glory of Jesus the Christ alone.  May we understand these two poles of the glory of God.  The glory of the cross involves pain and isn’t desirable in our flesh, but it leads to the glory of resurrection which involves great joy!

Glory of Jesus audio

Letter to the Colossian Church- 16

Subtitle: Partners in Ministry II

Colossians 4:12-18.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, November 9, 2025.

Today, we will finish this letter.  Paul continues listing various ones who are with him and send their greetings to the church in Colossae.

Let’s look at our passage.

Epaphras (v. 12-13)

Paul recognizes that Epaphras is one of their number.  This is a way of saying that he is a believer from the church in Colossae.  In fact, we should remind ourselves of Colossians 1:7. There we are told that Epaphras is the one who brought the Gospel to Colossae.  Apparently, he became a believer in Messiah Jesus while away, and then he went back to his hometown to share the Gospel with them.

Paul refers to Epaphras as a slave of Jesus Christ.  Epaphras was technically a freeman, but he lived his life like Paul, as a slave to the will and purpose of Jesus Christ.

It may be more powerful for a free person speaks of themselves as being a slave of Christ.  However, even slaves could embrace being a slave of Christ.  Though an earthly master may have claim over their body, the Lord Jesus has claim over our body and soul.

As Americans, we are all about our freedoms and rights.  There is a place for that, but we are not to use our freedom as a license for sin (Jude 1:4).  Which is more important, the freedom to do whatever you want, or being free from the things you have done and their consequences?  You can’t have both.  There is not one of us who does not have stupid and even sinful choices in our past.  We are accountable to God, and yet, He is gracious.

Epaphras serves Christ.  What a world this would be if more people would choose to be slaves of Christ.

Paul describes him as always laboring earnestly for the Colossian church in prayer.  The word for laboring earnestly comes from a root that refers to agony.  It pictures someone in a wrestling match exerting power to the extent of pain.  Anyone who has had children can identify with this image.  Epaphras had an intense concern for them and labored for them in prayer.  In light of chapter two of this letter, we can imagine it had to do with a prayer that they would not be deceived by charlatans.

Next, we have some of the general goals of his prayers.  First, he prays that they would stand.  This idea of being set, or fixed, in a place is a reference to their salvation and being set within Christ.  Yet, closely attendant to this desire are the descriptors, complete and fully assured.  It is not enough to join the people of God.  There is a lifetime of tests and trials ahead of us.  One of the ways that the enemy pulls us out of Christ is by tempting us with something we are missing (see Genesis 3).  Paul has made the point in this letter that we have everything we need in Christ.  When spiritual scammers come calling, we need to be careful that we are not hungry for something else.  Thus, we need to be fully assured that we have all that we need in Christ.  This only comes through prayerful relationship with Jesus as we read the Word of God and face life in its light.

He adds the phrase, “in all the will of God.”  The Scriptures lay out all of God’s will for us.  Of course, the Holy Spirit may lead you in specifics, but they will always be within the general will of God laid out for all the saints. 

In verse 13, Paul reiterates the deep concern that Epaphras has for them.  This word is different but also has a root that means pain.  Notice that Paul also mentions the towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis.  Laodicea was west of Colossae about 12 miles.  Hierapolis was north of Laodicea about 5 miles.  It may be that Epaphras had a role in the Gospel going to those towns as well.

Luke & Demas (v. 14)

This is the same Luke that accompanied Paul on many of his journeys.  Just as he is footing the bill for his house-prison so he would be footing the bill for any medical assistance.  From his letters, we see that Paul had issues with maladies on the road.  Luke seems to have sensed the call of the Holy Spirit to assist Paul with his medical expertise.   Of course, he is filled with the Holy Spirit and a capable minister as well.

Luke describes himself as being with Paul during the voyage to Rome under arrest.  It is most likely that he too is a prisoner with Paul.  Or at least, he has been allowed to accompany Paul due to frequent issues.

Paul shortly mentions a man named Demas who sends his greetings along with Luke’s.  Demas is also mentioned in the letter to Philemon in a similar fashion.  There is one other place where Demas is mentioned and that is 2 Timothy 4:10.

Paul tells Timothy that Demas had left him and gone to Thessalonica.  Of course, the ability of people to help out in ministry can have its own seasons.  However, it is the phrase that follows that tells a tragic story.  Demas left Paul “having loved this present world.”  It is not clear if Demas has left the faith.  Yet, it is clear that Paul is describing his leaving as a spiritual problem.

Of course, ask yourself this.  How long would you be able to hang in with Paul before you were ready to hang in the towel?  Demas is doing more than going back home to minister there.  His heart is longing for the things of this present world, and it is drawing him away from ministry.  Perhaps, he feared never having this or missing out on that.  There is nothing wrong with having things in this life.  God made them all to be enjoyed with thanksgiving, but the desire for the things of this world must never come between us and our Lord.  You cannot lean upon the things of this world.  God’s work in you is not dependent upon these things either.  It is not built on finances, wealth, family, connections etc.  Rather, it is built upon Christ who is our everything.

Did Demas apostatize, leave the faith?  We simply do not know the rest of the story.  Let his brief mention be a cautionary tale.

Nympha or Nymphas (v. 15)

Paul now switches to specific people on their end that he wants to greet.  At this point, we have a textual issue about whether Paul is addressing a woman or a man.  Your version of the Bible will be very clear on its translation either way, but there are some issues.  Let’s look at them.

First, the Greeks would change the ending of a name depending on how it was being used in the sentence.  We do not do this in English.  How is this a problem?  The name has a clear male form, Nymphas, and a clear female form, Nympha.  However, this name is not the subject of the sentence but the object.  Paul says, “[implied subject “you”] Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha/Nymphas [one of the objects of the verb “greet”].  Because it is an object, the ending is changed to “Nymphan” in order to make clear how it is functioning in the sentence.  The problem is that both Nympha (f) and Nymphas (m) have the same form when used as an object.  So, the name cannot tell us whether this is a male or female.

This then brings us to the recognition that a pronoun is used following the name, “and the church that is in [is it “her” or is it “his”] house.  Normally, the pronoun would have made it clear.  However, there are some manuscripts that have “her” and some that have “his.”

The manuscripts that have “her” tend to be older manuscripts.  However, there are far fewer of them than those that say “his.”  The challenge is to determine which manuscripts are more reliable, the ones that are older or the ones that are more numerous.

There is another issue.  If this represents a change- perhaps thinking it is in error for some reason, we have to ask which change makes the most sense.  Does it make more sense that the pronoun was originally “his” and was changed to “her?”  Or does it make more sense that the pronoun was originally “her” and was changed to “his?”  Many believe that it is unthinkable that someone would have changed “his” to “her” and believe that it must be the other way around, “her” was changed to “his.”

This represents the difficult world of determining what the original letter said.  The evidence appears to lean towards “her,” but not heavily so.  There is still doubt.  Some of the case for “her” is speculation, even though that speculation may make the most sense.  The problem is this.  We do not know what we do not know.

I take time to go through this so we can see that this debate is not about liberals trying to change the Word of God versus conservatives trying to protect it.  This verse has become one of the go-to passages for those who promote women fulfilling ministry roles in the church.  However, those who reject women in ministry offices will also reject the “her” translation.

Notice that this is a house church within the Laodicean community.  It was very common for churches to meet in someone’s house.  In fact, a city could have multiple house churches depending on the size of the Christian community there.  Nympha/s is clearly a leader in that church.

I believe that this verse is an important part of the debate, but we should not lean upon it too heavily.  Time may bring forth more manuscripts and older ones that will push the needle of certainty one way or the other.  We need to hold this lightly.

Yet, on the matter of women in ministry roles, the New Testament is far from putting women down and keeping them out of ministry.  We have mentioned Priscilla and Aquila in the past.  However, the Gospel is not pushing for women to take over ministry either.  We should stop listening to the world and our society, and we should not let the traditions of men get in the way of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever been in a church where there was a woman who was powerfully used by the Holy Spirit and the people of the church looked up to her as a leader?  If you haven’t, it is not as rare as you think.

Pentecostal churches had to come to grips with the fact that some women who were filled with the Holy Spirit were used powerfully in ministry.  Many churches were founded by women, whether through preaching or starting Sunday School classes.  Women were powerfully called and used on the mission field.  If you have a default setting that says God cannot use women in that way, then you will miss out on some of what the Holy Spirit is doing.  Yet, we are not to make the mistake of trying to make women leadership happen, as if there must be a 50/50 representation.  This is how the world thinks.  In Christ, we are more concerned with what he thinks.

In 1 Corinthians 4:19, Paul references some teachers who were causing problems in the church.  He says that he will “find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power.”  The true measure of the teacher is the presence of the Holy Spirit, not the outward presentation, whether words or gender.  The Church needs the power of the Holy Spirit in this hour more than it needs gender equity or patriarchal headship.  It also needs humility in the face of the hurts of people and the will of a holy God.

Paul’s final words (v. 16-18)

In verse 16, Paul refers to a letter that he has sent to the church in Laodicea.  This letter was most likely delivered by Tychicus and Onesimus on their way to Colossae.  It became common for churches who received letters from apostles to retain them and share them with others in their locality.  These would then be copied so that churches could have their own copy for reference.  This is how the New Testament took form.  Local and regional communities could vouch that these letters were authentically from one of the Apostles.  This can help us understand how churches quickly recognized false writings that would surface purporting to be from one of the apostles, particularly after the period in which they lived.  They could look to the style, the things taught, and whether it had a verifiable history of being written to a church or individual.

Paul also singles out a minister named Archippus.  He tells him to “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”  Take heed is an exhortation to watch and to focus upon a duty.  Archippus is also mentioned in the letter to Philemon so he may have bee a part of the church that met in Philemon’s home.  Paul refers to him as a fellow-soldier in Philemon 1:2.

Either Paul has reason to think that Archippus may be growing weary in ministry, or he may be simply encouraging him to fulfill the ministry in the sense of finishing well.  Both issues are important for our attention.  Doing our duty in ministry and in life is important.  Of course, if you fail, God will not fail the people in the church.  Yet, you will be accountable to him.  Similarly, we all need encouragement in life to “run through the tape,” as runners are told.  The weariness of the race creates an instinctual letting up as you approach the end.  We can also recognize that the ups and downs of ministry itself can create times of growing lax and losing our edge in ministry.  We all need encouragement to pay attention to the ministry that God has given us in the midst of the spiritual battle of life and ministry.

Paul tells them to remember his bonds.  I don’t get the feeling that he is fishing for pity.  Rather, Paul wants them to know that just as he was greatly empowered by the Holy Spirit and yet had great tribulation, so they could expect difficulties as well.  These are not signs that we are on the wrong path.  Rather, they are part of what it takes to follow Jesus who also suffered great persecution, even execution.  In all of these things, Paul has testified that Christ is worthy of any sacrifice.  He wasn’t in Rome without having chosen a path of suffering.  He wasn’t regretting his stand upon Christ, and neither should they.

He ends with the common sign-off, grace be with you!

As we finish, I want to encourage us with a summary of the letter to the Colossians.  I like to memorize at least one thing that is important about each chapter.

In chapter one, we are given a powerful Hymn to the Son of God’s Love.  It is an anthem regarding Jesus, the Exalted Messiah.

In chapter two, we have the influencers who were trying to pull the Colossians away from Jesus.  These were Jews who tried to make Gentiles follow the Laws of Moses, and Gentiles who tried to pull them into philosophies and mystical polytheism.  Paul then follows this up with a powerful tribute to the victory of Jesus over every spiritual power and the completeness of our salvation in him!

Chapter three calls us to do everything we do in the name of the Lord Jesus.  This leads to a series of exhortations that seek to recreate the relationships of the Christian home.  Husbands, wives, children, parents, slaves and masters, are all to use their position for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel.  Jesus is the Lord of all our relationships.

This last chapter reminds us to walk in wisdom towards the outsiders, those who do not know Jesus.  It ends by honoring the relationships that had been formed among those who were working together for the ministry of Jesus.

I pray that this study has encouraged you to put your trust fully in Jesus the Messiah!

Partners II audio