The Letter to the Colossian Church- 1

Subtitle: A Prayer of Thanks

Colossians 1:1-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, July 13, 2025.

Today, we begin looking at the letter to the Colossian Church.  We will get into the background here in a second, but first let me sum up the letter as a whole.

The letter covers a wide range of things, but it essentially boils down to this.  Paul is encouraging them to remain faithful to Jesus the Christ and let the work of the Holy Spirit transform all of their relationships.

The doctrine, or teaching, of Jesus is meant to lead to a transformation of our relationships here on earth.  As we gain understanding to what God wants to do in our life, we need to surrender to His purpose.  We are called to yield to that purpose and work with the Holy Spirit in order to arrive at the end He has for us.

Let’s get into the letter.

Introduction (v. 1-2)

Letters in the New Testament typically follow the form of introducing the author first, then the recipients of the letter.  So here, we have Paul identifying himself as the author, but also as an apostle of Jesus the Christ, or Messiah.  This is not just a personal letter.  He is fulfilling his post as an apostle and has the purpose of Jesus in mind for them.

As an apostle of Jesus, he has been sent by God’s Anointed Man, not only to them, but to all the Gentiles. (See Romans 11:13 and 2 Timothy 1:11).  This calling is also “by the will of God.”  It seems unlikely that Paul would have called himself to represent Jesus to anyone.  He had persecuted the Church, and then, he turned back from this inquisition in order to join the Christians.  He had failed miserably in following God.  Yet, there is God’s grace calling him.  He knows that he is the chief of sinners, and yet, Jesus is the Chief of the redeemed!  So, he has humbled himself and publicly preached Jesus to Jews and Gentiles.

How many people in ministry want to be somebody big, whether pastors, worship leaders, prophets etc…  Whatever you do, don’t push your way into something that God hasn’t called you to do.  In fact, if many of them realized what God does to make someone a prophet, they wouldn’t want to become one.  Men and women of God are created through pain and suffering.  In the midst of the trial, their faith in God allows His message to rise up within them.  It is difficult, but it is the path our Lord walked before us, and he walks it with us even now.

Paul also mentions that Timothy is with him.  Timothy is most likely penning the letter as Paul dictates.  He is called a brother in Christ.  We will pick up some other details as we go through the letter.

Colossians is one of four letters that Paul wrote from Prison.  They are often called the Prison Epistles.  Three are next to each other in the New Testament: Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.  The fourth letter is the book of Philemon, and it has a strong connection to this letter to the Colossians.  There is good evidence that Philemon was a part of the Colossian Church, but more on that in a later sermon.

Paul’s time in prison was in the early 60s AD.  We know from Acts 28:30 that this lasted at least 2 years.  There was a great fire in the city of Rome in 64 AD.  Caesar Nero blamed this fire on the Christians and launched a persecution against them.  (Note: There was no evidence for this, and many conjectured that Nero had it done by others so that he could build a new palace.  However, that is also speculation.) 

Church tradition tells us that the apostles Paul and Peter were both killed in this time.  Whether Paul was still in prison and easy to grab, or had been released and therefore arrested at some point again, his death could salve the populous of Rome.  We are told that Paul was beheaded in Rome, which was the quick death given to citizens.  This would probably have Paul writing this letter under house arrest in Rome some time around 63 AD.

He is writing to the Christians of Co-LOS’-sae, which was a town in the province of Asia.  Here is a link to a map. 

Paul addresses them as saints.  They are holy because they have been set apart for the purpose of God in Jesus.  Saints are called to the holy duty of sharing the truth of Jesus to those who are still the “aints.”  Thus, these saints are also faithful brethren because they have responded to that purpose and are holding fast to the truth of the Gospel, which they had received.

Paul gives the salutation of Grace and Peace.  Peace (Shalom in Hebrew) was a common greeting among Jewish people, but this is even more a peace from “God our Father.”  It is radical for him to include these Gentiles in with the Jews in this phrase “our Father.”  Grace is a reference to God’s favor that is made available to all in Jesus and the Christians that he sends.  Paul desires that the peace of God and the grace of God would be theirs.

Paul gives thanks for them (v. 3-8)

In verse three, Paul relates that he prays always for them.  However, a big part of his prayers is giving God thanks for them. 

It is good for our prayers to God and our attitude towards one another to start with a foundation of thankfulness and thanksgiving. The prayers of a person who is ungrateful will be tainted with anger, frustration, and complaining.  It infects our relationship with God and the people around us.  This is true for parents to children, spouses for one another, and any other relationship you can imagine.  A good illustration of this is Israel coming out of Egypt.  After God’s amazing and powerful deliverance, they spend most of the time complaining and blaming Moses, even God for their difficult situation in the desert.  Of course, there were some among them who were thankful.  Complainers don’t see or simply dismiss the good in their life and choose to focus on the difficult.  When you are looking for something to complain about, you are going to find it.

How can a parent be thankful for an imperfect kid and a spouse for an imperfect spouse?  Our thankfulness for the other person is not based upon their perfection.  Rather, it is based upon the perfection of the God who gives us to one another.  Have you ever thought that another imperfect person is the perfect thing for us, since we are imperfect, too? 

Let’s get into the particulars of what Paul is thankful for regarding the Colossian believers.

He is thankful that they had put their faith in Jesus as the Anointed One of God and continued in that faith.  They believed that Jesus is the rightful ruler over all humanity and that he would lead them (us) into God’s inheritance for the saints.

It is one thing for Jews to embrace Jesus as Messiah.  They already believe that a Messiah is coming.  They only have to believe that Jesus is the him.  Yet, it is quite another thing for a Gentile to embrace a Jew (Jesus) as the Anointed One of God whom God has sent to be Lord over all peoples.  Paul is not taking this for granted.

We need to remember that faith is not just an intellectual belief.   It also involves the actions that flow from that belief.  These Colossian believers had joined the community of believers, and their lives were being transformed by their response to the teachings of Jesus and his apostles.

He is also thankful for their love for all the saints.  Our love for one another is the proof of our love for Jesus.  We are not to have a fake worldly love, but the same love that Jesus had when he went to the cross for us.  It is the same love that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13.  In each of us, there are many things that are unlovely, but in Jesus, we can live out the love of God for one another.

At verse 5, Paul goes into a digression.  Digressions are not always bad, and we should recognize that this is a digression that has been led by the Holy Spirit.  Paul simply follows a chain of thoughts that are either foundational or simply an important connection to each link in this logical chain.  In this digression, we see how the work of God in one person can lead to a community of people exercising faith in Jesus and love for each other.

These Colossian believers had put their faith in Jesus and were loving one another because of the hope that was laid up for them in heaven.  Here, we see Paul’s famous trilogy of faith, Hope and love.  The hope laid up for us in heaven is not just the idea that we will go there when we die.  The Lord Jesus is at the most secure place in the universe (next to the Father), and he is waiting until it is time to return and take up the kingdoms of the earth.  God has promised that the saints of every age will participate in this kingdom because Jesus will resurrect them to do so.

Thus, their love (our love) is not to be based on the hope that we are going to get something from each other.  Of course, love is much better when we love each other back.  However, Jesus also told us to love our enemies.  The last time I checked, enemies do not reciprocate the love that a Christian gives to them.

This hope had been explained to them when they had originally received the Good News (Gospel) about Jesus the Christ.  This hope is an essential part of the Gospel.  All believers have this hope reserved for them in heaven where nothing (no rust, no moth, no devil) can steal or corrupt it.  All believers will participate in the Kingdom of Jesus when he comes to earth again.  How?  We will be given immortal bodies, resurrected, in order to reign with him!

Paul notes that the Gospel not only came to them, but it was going into all the world.  It then began bearing fruit and increasing (verse 6), both in the world and in them.  This has been going on “ever since” they had heard and understood the truth about Jesus.

This leads Paul to mention Epaphras.  In chapter 4 verse 12 we will be told that Epaphras is from Colossae.  Apparently, he had received the Gospel on a trip (perhaps to Ephesus).  He had then taken the Gospel back to his home town.  Paul calls Epaphras a beloved “fellow bond-servant” and a “faithful minister” of Christ.  A bond-servant was a slave who only did the will of their master.  Whereas, the word minister was more of a position or job.  It refers to a person doing a service on behalf of someone who is greater than them.  These twin ideas of being a slave and being a servant recognize the dual aspect we have in Christ.  On one hand, he has purchased us back from slavery to sin.  We owe him everything, our very lives.  Yet, in his love for us, Jesus does not treat us as slaves.  Rather, we become volunteers serving his purposes.

All of these things that Paul is mentioning were related to him by Epaphras who had apparently visited Paul in his imprisonment.  Thus, in verse 8, Paul writes that Epaphras had informed him about their love in the Spirit.  In a way, this just comes back full circle to the love of the saints that he had mentioned earlier.  However, loving in the Spirit emphasizes the leading of the Holy Spirit in their expressions of love.  Loving in the Spirit is similar to the way that Paul talks about walking in the Spirit in Romans 8.  Walking in the Spirit is equated to being led by the Spirit.  In this case, they are being led by the Spirit in how to love one another.

It is easy to say that we love people, as long as we are in charge of what that love will look like.  But, the Spirit of God challenges believers to love one another in very specific ways.  Our love for one another needs to look like the love of Jesus.  It needs to be sacrificial, in obedience to God and in honor of Him.

The world is good at creating an outward show that it can point to in order to declare that it is loving.  Of course, these are the kind of people who hire image consultants to help them look better.  God save us from image consultants.  What we need is the Holy Spirit teaching us how to love.  What we need is to die to ourselves and say yes to the Spirit by doing the hard things that He inspires.  We need a Holy Spirit transformation!

Can we give thanks to God even when things are going “in the wrong direction?”  This is where our faith in the hope that God has reserved for us can help us to be thankful.  Even if things are really headed in the wrong direction- and I am skeptical of our ability to judge that well- the God who loves us enough to send Jesus to die for us on a cross can work it around to our good.  Can I trust that?  Our flesh can’t, but our spirit can!  We can have hope because God’s faithfulness is not based upon our perfection.  We can say that even now God is being faithful to us, so we have nothing to fear!

Colossians 1 audio

The Kingdom of God- 7

Subtitle:  Inheriting the Millennial Kingdom I

1 Samuel 2:9-10; Psalm 2; 37; Daniel 2; 7:13-14

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, April 27, 2025.

We are going to talk about some passages that speak of inheriting the kingdom of God.  This first week we will focus on the Old Testament promises in this regard.  Next week, we will look at what the New Testament has to say about this.

When Jesus returns, his Kingdom will move from the phase we are in now into a new phase.  This is what we were talking about in a previous sermon when we said that the Kingdom of God is “now, but not yet fully.”  This phasing in of the Kingdom was not completely clear in the Old Testament, but the rudimentary prophecies about it are still there.

The Kingdom that Jesus sets up at his return to earth is often called the Millennial Kingdom because Revelation 20 speaks of it being a thousand- year period of peace on this earth under the rule of Jesus and his resurrected saints.  Millennial is simply Latin for 1,000 years.

However, this is not the complete kingdom of Jesus.  It is only phase 2.  Phase 1, which we are in now, has lasted for nearly 2,000 years.  There is even a third phase that is revealed in Revelation 20 in which this earth and these heavens are melted down and recreated into a new heavens and a new earth.  Only righteous immortals will be allowed into that New Creation.  God the Father along with the Son will dwell with redeemed humanity in perfect harmony, and there will be no fallen beings, human or otherwise.

This is why it can seem contradictory to read passages that speak about Messiah ruling forever, and then reading Revelation 20 and the thousand year reign of Christ on this earth.  This concept of different phases of the Kingdom is important to grasp.  The Kingdom isn’t ending.  It is only moving into a new phase.

Of course, there are some differences of opinion about the Millennium within Christian circles, but we are going to save that topic for another time.

Thus, we can enter into the kingdom of Jesus right now by repenting of our sins, turning to Jesus in faith, and living the life of faith to the end of our life.  Yet, Scripture does make a distinction with the idea of inheriting the kingdom.  In general, this is a reference to the phase 2 kingdom that is set up at the Second Coming of Jesus.

Let’s look at our first passage.

The Old Testament Promise

1 Samuel 2:9-10

This is a prophecy that is given through Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel.  Hannah was unable to have children and it bothered her.  Her husband had another wife who had no problem having children.  In fact, the woman was cruel and ridiculed Hannah’s predicament.  Hannah was so broken that she made a promise to God.  If He would giver her a son, then she would give the son back to God. 

To make a long story short, Hannah becomes pregnant.  After she weaned the child, she brought him to the high priest at the tabernacle and handed him over to the LORD’s service.

Yet, God had shown Hannah something through her situation.  He truly was on the side of the righteous and had a day of judgment set for the wicked.

She speaks of God giving strength to His “King” and to His “Anointed” (Messiah).  This is amazing because Israel did not have kings in those days.  It is her son, Samuel, who will be told by God to anoint a king for Israel.

Of course, God is revealing this to her.  Yet, there are prophecies of Israel having a king long before this.  Hannah sees a connection between her giving up hope on ever having a child and Israel giving up hope on having a king that would deal with the wicked.  God’s answer to her prayer gives her faith that He will answer the larger prayer of the coming of God’s Messiah King.  This Messiah King would be the fulfillment of the Serpent-Crusher prophecy of Genesis 3:15, and many others up to this point in Scripture.  The chosen line of men from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses, etc. would one day succeed in bringing forth the ultimate Chosen One.  God would judge the nations by exalting His Anointed King and giving him strength to overcome them.

Let’s look at our next passage.

Psalm 2:1-12.

This psalm opens with the nations in an uproar over the decision and action of God to set up His Messiah.  How that happened is not described, only that it has, and the nations do not like it.  They conspire together in an attempt  to throw off the restraints of God and His Messiah.  Though the passage speaks of fetters, or bands, these are metaphorical fetters.  They do not want to cooperate with a righteous leader.  They want to do their own thing, which is wickedness and corruption.

The fetters are the moral teaching of Messiah, and His powerful effect upon people to join the ranks of the righteous.  This creates a restraining effect upon these wicked kings.

It is natural for them to fight among one another for dominance, but here we find them uniting together to attempt an overthrow of Messiah.  Let me just say that unity sounds good, but we must always ask ourselves what we are unifying around.  These men are unifying around a wicked act, getting rid of a righteous king.

Verses 4-6 show that God is not worried by their conspiracy.  He even laughs at their plotting.  Of course, you and I worry about it all the time.  Perhaps, we should fix our eyes upon the One who is far more powerful than all the powerful nations combined.

We also see that God is not going to change His mind.  The installation was in the past, but it is not going to be revoked by Him, nor will it ever be.  God has made up His mind.

Verses 7-9 has the Messiah explaining God’s promises to Him.  He has been made a Son to God the Father.  He will be the only one who is worthy in God’s eyes to inherit all the nations.  No king of this earth past or present deserves the rule of the earth.  Jesus is the only One who is worthy.  This is the subject of Revelation 5. 

In fact, notice that  it says, “I will surely give the nations.”  This emphasizes that it is something that is going to happen in the future.  God is resolved to do it.

Thus, Jesus, the Messiah, has been given the nations and has power and authority over them.  Yet, he has not yet taken up his inheritance.  Why not?

Well, look at verses 10-12.  The delay is all about this rebellion against the LORD and His Messiah King.  God is not willing that any should perish.  He is not quick to stomp the arrogant kings of the earth and the people who are caught up in their wake.

Instead, God gives fair warning to the kings.  They need to make peace with Messiah before the day of wrath arises and they perish in the way.  This long period of grace is for the purpose of helping people to make a better decision.  Wake up before you run out of time!

Thus, the phrase that ends the psalm- “Blessed are those who put their trust in him” (Messiah)- is not just about the kings making a choice.  Those under the kings can jump ship and join Messiah.  The righteous should be the very first to embrace Messiah and would already be trusting in him.

The word for “trust” in that sentence is interesting.  Hebrew has several words for trust.  This one carries the connotation of fleeing into a safe place that we are trusting to save us.  This can be fleeing from rebellion into Messiah to avoid the day of wrath, but it can also be fleeing into Messiah for protection from these tyrant kings.

Jesus and his commands are a safe place to those who trust in Him (flee to Him for refuge).  In fact, part of that blessing is that we will inherit with the Messiah King.  To whom are you fleeing for refuge?  Or, to what are you fleeing?  People seek refuge in all manner of things, but only Jesus can protect us before God.

Thus, those who refuse to give homage to The Son, Messiah King, will perish in a day of wrath, but those who take refuge in him will be blessed!  In fact, the only reason they were able to rebel in the first place is because God is gracious.  They are taking advantage of His grace in order to conspire against Him and the righteous king. 

Yet, God still gives more mercy in calling them to repent and be saved.

Now, God’s purpose and plan takes place over long periods of time.  It is important to Him that humanity grasp what He is trying to teach us.  This calls for patience and trust.

Psalm 37

This next passage is Psalm 37.  We are going to quickly look at several verses in this psalm.  We will see there that God wants us to inherit this kingdom with Jesus, His Messiah.  Six times the psalmist emphasizes our inheritance.  Psalm 2 focuses on Messiah inheriting the nations, but Psalm 37 focuses on the righteous doing so as well.

In verses 1-2, we are encouraged not to fret nor to envy the workers of iniquity.  Of course, this is part of our problem.  We grow tired of waiting for God’s deliverance, and then see the wicked “getting away with it!”

Many reject the path of the righteous because they want to join in the spoils with the wicked.  Thus, they become wicked themselves.  But, a day of judgment lies before the wicked.  First, they have a personal judgment day at their death.  All souls stand before God and give account for their life.  I would be worthy of judgment as well, but I have fled unto Jesus Christ for refuge from that judgment. 

Yet, there is a secondary judgment.  The nations will be collectively judged at the Second Coming of Jesus.

If we skip ahead to verses 9-11, we begin to see that those who wait for the LORD will inherit the earth.  It even speaks of the meek inheriting the earth.  Being meek is the picture of an afflicted person who has restrained their tendency to fight, and instead, have trusted in God’s judgment. 

It is easy to feel that God takes too long and take matters into your own hands.  Yet, notice Jesus.  He too face proud arrogant men.  Yet, He trusted the Father even unto death.  Thus, the Father has given Him the blessing of being the firstborn from the dead in order to receive the blessing that He deserves.

It is so with us.  Our hope is not in “getting ours” in this life.  Yes, our flesh would like that very much.  Yet, no matter what I get in this life (and there are a lot of good things in it) my true hope is in God resurrecting me in order to inherit alongside of Jesus.  That is our reward and inheritance.

In verses 18-20, the psalmist emphasizes that the inheritance of the righteous shall be forever.  However, this is contrasted with the plight of the wicked.  They should flee unto Messiah for refuge, but many won’t.  They will perish and vanish at the time of God’s choosing.

Verses 22, and 28-29 again speak of those blessed by “Him” inheriting the earth, but the cursed being cut off.  Now, God doesn’t want to curse and cut people off.  That is why He is telling us all of this up front.  We can avoid it.  If a person is in the place of faith in God’s Messiah, then they are safe (the place of blessing).  But, those who are not in the place of faith in God’s Messiah are outside of the safety.  They are in the place of cursing and not safe.

This is reiterated again in verse 34.  God will exalt those who wait upon Him to inherit the land.  Yet, that exaltation will not happen before it is the right time.  Verse 40 even says that God will save those who are waiting upon Him from the wicked because they trust in Him (flee to Him for refuge).

We must quit looking at what the wicked are doing and getting.  Instead, we must live righteously and wait for the inheritance that God has reserved for those who serve His Messiah!

Daniel 2:44-45

Most Old Testament prophecies emphasize that Messiah’s kingdom lasts forever.  But, the Millennium (1,000-year period) is an important part of that forever kingdom.

In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of his empire and those that would come after him.  It is pictured as the image of a King whose head is of gold, shoulders of silver, waist of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay.  Daniel explains to the king that they are successive empires that are diminishing in glory, but also becoming more destructive.  These kingdoms would be destroyed by a rock that is cut out without hands (not a work of a man, but God).  This rock would strike the feet of the image destroying it.  The rock would then become a mountain that fills the whole earth.  This kingdom will never be destroyed and will last forever.  This indestructible kingdom is in some ways here already, but this passage is looking ahead to an even greater act in which the empires of the world are demolished and removed.

Daniel 7:13-14.

Daniel 7 opens with another picture of these empires, but they are not pictured as metals in a human image.  They are pictured as beasts.  I think Daniel 2 pictures these empires as they see themselves, but Daniel 7 pictures these empires as God sees them, beastly kingdoms that are only becoming more grotesque and monstrous.  In fact, God has the final beast slain.  It is then that we see the Son of Man riding on the clouds to the throne of God.  There he takes up a kingdom that will have dominion over all the earth.  All the earth will serve him (which is the book of Daniel connotes even a religious worship).  This will be an everlasting dominion that never passes away.

We can see how the Jews of the first century could be perplexed at a crucified savior.  It seems to fly in the face of all that God has promised about this coming kingdom.  Why would God do this?  Why this way?

God has done it this way because none of us is worthy to participate in such a kingdom with His Messiah.  Imagine a worthy king with no one worthy to be in his kingdom.  Can such be called a kingdom?

The grace of God has carved out a place of safety where people can flee into Messiah for refuge.  These people are unworthy in and of themselves.  Yet, they have believed God and His Messiah.

We have been looking ahead to what is coming.  It is good to know what you are working for.  Yet, we cant be stuck looking ahead all the time.  So, as we come back to the present, what do we do now?  We trust God to be our savior and wait upon Him and His timing.  We don’t fret over all that we see happening around us.  We don’t let it leverage our hearts and minds away from doing what god has called us to do.  We remain in Christ and serve him, his purposes, and his commands.

These things we ought to do and more because the worthy king of God has laid down His life that we might join him in that kingdom!

Inheriting the Millennium audio

The Kingdom of God- 3

Subtitle:  How to Enter the Kingdom of God

Various passages.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 30, 2025.

Last week, we talked about the distinction between the present Kingdom of God and the future phase of that Kingdom at the Second Coming of Jesus.  This present phase is predominantly spiritual, but it makes an outward difference in our lives.  This is a strange kingdom that is not like any kingdoms of this world.  It is not limited to particular borders, and though it is world-wide, it is not an empire that forces nations into compliance.  Jesus is a different kind of king reigning over a different kind of kingdom, a Kingdom of God.

In Matthew’s account of the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus is presented as King Messiah calling people into his kingdom.  He is also presented as the New Moses, sent to set up the New Covenant with God.

Israel was under a true bondage.   Yes, the Romans had them under their boot.  However, their biggest bondage was spiritual.  They had a king who wasn’t even from the tribe of Judah.  The priesthood and leaders of the Sanhedrin had developed a corrupt system under the color of law, but working counter to the purposes of God.  The spiritual Pharaoh of this world kept them in servitude to his purposes every bit as much as was the case before the exodus.  Those who would follow Jesus would escape by God’s strong right arm.

An Israelite who was in Egypt when Moses appeared had a choice to make.  They could follow Moses out into the desert, risking death in one form or another, or they could stay in Egypt and not rock the boat.  Even when we want free from some things, we can fear what might happen.  They had worked out a compromise with their situation.  They knew exactly what to expect from the Egyptians.  The comfort of the devil we know can outweigh any promises of God to bring us into a better kingdom.  Yet, the only way they could have participated in the kingdom that God was promising was to follow Moses, the one He had sent.

The same is true of Jesus.  He was initiating a kingdom that would be different than what national Israel had become.  Those who wanted to participate in it would need to listen to him and follow him.  This is the template for entering the Kingdom of God.  We can even recognize that God did powerful signs and wonders with Moses and again with Jesus in order to help them to have faith for such a choice.

So, as we look at entering the Kingdom of God, let me just say this.  Entering the Kingdom now is prerequisite for entering the next phase of the Kingdom at the Second Coming of Jesus.

Let’s look at some passages.

Matthew 21:28-32

Jesus used this parable to challenge the religious leaders of his day.  The tax collectors and prostitutes (among others) of their day were like the first son.  They were not interested in being a part of the Father’s work and the fruitfulness He intended.  However, now they were regretting (repenting of) their callous response to the Father.  Now, they were believing God and entering the Kingdom. 

The religious leaders on the other hand were like the second son.  They had responded in their life like they were going to do the work of the Father, but they have not actually done it.

This would have seemed to be a false analogy to them.  However, Jesus points to the prophet, John the Baptist.  His message was a simple one.  It is hard to say that there was something wrong with it.  “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”  He also quoted a passage in Isaiah to highlight their need to get ready for Messiah.  Messiah was coming and they would want to be spiritually ready for him.  Many people in Israel responded to John’s teaching.  They recognized that they were not ready.  They needed cleansing in their life in order to be ready. 

Why wouldn’t the religious leaders like this message?  It is because he called them to repentance as well.  Just read Matthew 3:7-12.  They were a brood of snakes who had no clue about the wrath of God that was about to pour out upon Israel.  The Messiah was coming as the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.  This baptism would be life to those who repented and believed, but it would be a fiery destruction for those who did not.  These religious leaders would not acknowledge John as a prophet, and therefore believe his message, because he dared to speak to them as if they were not right with God.

Thus, they refused to do the work of God, i.e., to believe upon the One He had sent.  This is the key to entering the Kingdom.  Repentance has two components to it.  It involves a change of mind that is spurred by the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  I realize that I have been rejecting the way of God and trying to forge my own way.  This change of mind about our way (and God’s way) leads to the second component: turning away from our sin and towards the way of the Lord.  These tax collectors and prostitutes were not just believing that Jesus was the Messiah.  They were also walking away from lives of sin and turning towards living out the words of Jesus.

Jesus is the litmus test for all mankind.  You can say that you love God, but what you do with Jesus and his teachings will reveal exactly what is in your heart.  Of course, no person is perfect in following Jesus.  We do not get into the Kingdom because we have a perfect record of obeying the words of Jesus.  It is his perfect performance that provides a place of grace by which we can spiritually grow to become like him, little by little.

These religious leaders probably fell into different categories.  Some of them really did think they were doing what they were supposed to do.  They had been taught by others that this system was God’s system, and that they were God’s faithful representatives.  However, they had to ignore all kinds of spiritual red flags that would have surfaced as they read the Scriptures.  On the other hand, there were most likely some of these men who really had no faith in God.  They simply had learned how to harness the system to their benefit.

The problem with self-justification is that it doesn’t serve you well in the end.  It only serves to blind you to the grace of God.  We would all do well to sleuth out the self-justifications that we are using to avoid obeying God.

Thus, Jesus points out that those who were believing in him, putting their trust in who he was and what he taught, were entering the Kingdom of God.

John 6:27-28

The work of God and the will of God are the same thing in this passage.  Jesus had performed a miraculous feeding of thousands in the wilderness around the Sea of Galilee.  He had then left the area at night without their knowledge.  Many of these people searched along the Sea of Galilee for Jesus, until they found him in Capernaum.

In this passage, Jesus is not mad that they worked so hard to find him.  Rather, he is pointing out that they were not as interested in what he was teaching as they were about a free lunch and a spectacle to see.  Jesus is challenging them to work for spiritual food that can give them everlasting life.  Again, it is not about the act itself.  It is about the internal intention of the doer.  Jesus wants us to come to him and learn.  However, he wants us to do it for the right reasons.

There are many today who have attached themselves to the Kingdom of God.  They call themselves Christians, but they are really looking for a free lunch.  They see it as a ticket to something in the natural: wealth, friends, good times, clean fun, etc.  However, their flesh resists the word of God making any real change in their life.  They are like the religious leaders of the days of Jesus, thinking they are good with God and incensed that anyone would say they need to repent.

This passage spells out exactly what God is asking of us.  “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”  This word for believe means to trust in him, to put the full weight of our life upon him.  It is far more than just believing that he existed, or that he is the Messiah.  It is about trusting that he is the Word of God to us, that we do or don’t listen to him at our own peril.

Even though it is true that putting our faith in Jesus is how we enter the Kingdom of God, we wouldn’t be able to do that if it weren’t for God’s grace.  It is He who has formulated a plan for redeeming us out of our sins.  It is He who sent Jesus to be the perfect image of Him and the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  It is He who wants us to trust in Jesus, promising to forgive us of our sins if we do.  Entering the Kingdom is a cooperation between what God does and how we respond.

Some people try to minimize our choice by saying that it threatens the sovereignty of God.  An example of their argument is this.  “You can’t really have a choice, otherwise God isn’t sovereign.”  Of course, that turns sovereignty on its head.  It is a human telling God that He can’t create humans with the ability to choose, even when they are stuck in sins.  If God truly is sovereign, then He can do whatever He wants.  A humble reading of the Scriptures will always see the absolute challenge from God to take hold of the salvation that He has made available to us.  God’s Word can be boiled down to His hand reaching down to us and saying, “Why will you die?  Take hold of My Hand!”

Of course, even our response to that is helped along by the grace of God.  When we take hold of His Hand, we find underneath of us the Everlasting Arms of God holding us up.  Entering the Kingdom is not just a choice of man, but also a choice of God.  His Holy Spirit not only transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, but He also makes our spirit come alive.  We are spiritually new babies, born into a Kingdom that has older siblings to help us grow.

John 3:5-6; 14-15

In this context, one of those religious leaders, named Nicodemus, had come to Jesus late at night.  He was bucking the trend of his peers, but didn’t want them to know that he was having second thoughts.  He knew that only Messiah could do what Jesus was doing, but he was perplexed by what Jesus taught.

In this passage, Jesus explains that natural birth is not enough to bring someone into the Kingdom.  It takes a spiritual birth.  It has to be an operation of the Holy Spirit that convicts a man to believe God and do what He is saying.  A person who refuses to do this remains dead spiritually, but a person who does is made spiritually alive, born again (or born from above).

As Jesus is explaining the need for a spiritual birth, he points to an event in Israel’s history to illustrate what he means.

 Numbers 21 tells a brief story of Israel in the wilderness.  They were complaining against God and even calling the manna that He supplied “worthless bread.”  God then sent poisonous serpents into their camp.  Many people were dying from the serpent bites.  When they came to Moses repenting and asking what they should do, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole.  Those who are bitten could look upon the serpent and be healed.

This might seem strange.  Why would God make such a weird requirement of them?  When we compare this to what Jesus is talking about, spiritual birth, it is understandable.  They had sinned and were suffering the effects of their sins.  However,  the root of their sin was a lack of faith in God’s leadership and intentions for them.  Looking upon the serpent would be both simple (no great righteous work of their own) and an act of faith.

We see this in the story of Namaan the Syrian general who had leprosy.  The prophet told him to dip in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed.  Namaan did not want to do it at first.  He was headed home, incensed that the prophet didn’t come out to see him.  Yet, his servant talked him into doing it because it was a simple thing to do.

There is no healing properties in a bronze snake, but it represented something that they would not be inclined to go look at.  They would have to trust the Word of God through Moses.  It was their faith that allowed them to live.  Spiritual birth is similar.  We are all bitten by sin and dying from it.  Unless we look upon Jesus with simple trust in him, we will die in our sins.  Spiritual birth is listening to the Holy Spirit and doing what He is calling you to do.  It is saying no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit.  The Spirit is calling all men everywhere to put their trust in a crucified Lord.  This seems silly to our flesh, but it is the requirement of the Lord in order to receive eternal life.  When people put their trust in Jesus (look upon him), a real spiritual work of the Holy Spirit is done in their life.  They are made to be spiritually alive.

Let’s go back to Matthew 21 where Jesus tells a parable.

Matthew 21:33-42

Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who plants a vineyard.  It goes to great expense to set it up and create protections around it.  He then leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  At vintage time, he sent servants in order to receive its fruit.  Yet, the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  The landowner sent more servants, but they did the same again.  Then, the landowner sent his son believing that they would surely respect his son.  However, when they saw the son, the wicked vinedressers killed him so that they could steal the inheritance.

After telling this story, Jesus asks the religious leaders what the landowner would do.  They answered rightly that the landowner would come and destroy them.  He would then lease the vineyard to others who would render to him the fruits of the vineyard in the proper season.

Of course, this story is about them.  They are the wicked vinedressers who are killing the prophets that God sent to them.  Last of all, they are even now preparing to kill Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus then points them to Psalm 118:22.  There, the psalmist speaks of the builders rejecting a stone that then is chosen to be the chief cornerstone by the Lord.  The message is the same.  Those who were supposed to be leading Israel to be fruitful for the purposes of God were not doing that.  Those who were supposed to be building Israel into a great temple unto God the Father were rejecting the very rock of Israel that the Father had sent to be the Chief Cornerstone.

This is not so much about Israel as it is about the religious leaders of Israel.  They were being fired by God.  He was raising up new vinedressers from among Israel and even from among the Gentiles.  They would do a better job.  These vinedressers would be Jews and Gentiles working together.

It is important to see that the present phase of the Kingdom is about fruitfulness.  God wants those who have put their faith in Jesus to be fruitful and to help the Church be fruitful.  When Christ returns, will he find a harvest of righteousness and strong believers still trusting in him?  Or, will he find us drinking with the sinners and beating His servants?

Many have served Jesus and died through the centuries.  Yet, Jesus will resurrect all the righteous who have died and all of the righteous who are still alive.  These will then enter into the next phase of the Kingdom of God.

Are you in the Kingdom now?  Put your faith in Jesus and turn from your sin.  Live your life for His purposes instead of pleasing yourself.  This will give you a place in the Kingdom of God today, and an inheritance in the future phase when Christ returns to take over the kingdoms of this world.

Kingdom 3 audio

The Acts of the Apostles- 92

Subtitle:  Shipwrecked

Acts 27:21-44.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 16, 2025.

We are going to continue with Paul on his storm-tossed journey to Rome.  But before we do that, I want to share some similarities and contrasts between the Apostle Paul and the prophet Jonah.

Both of these men were tasked by God with taking a message from Him to Gentiles and their king or kings.  Paul of course has a scope that is much larger than Jonah who was only sent to the capital city of Ninevah.  They both end up in a storm that threatens their lives, but are spared by God in order to deliver their messages.  Finally, they both end up in water that could kill them, but are helped by God.

Yet, there are some big contrasts between Paul and Jonah.  Paul goes toward his task as a willing voice to the Gentiles.  Whereas, Jonah is running away from his meeting as an unwilling voice to the Gentiles.  We could add to this that Paul has a heart of love for the Gentiles (not wanting them to perish), and Jonah wants the Gentiles to be destroyed.  Paul is taken in chains by others to his task, even though he would freely go.  However, Jonah uses his freedom to flee from the task.  Of course, there is great irony in this.  We can see that spiritually Paul is the man who is free and that Jonah is the man who has a spiritual bondage to vindication.  We also see that the storm is sent to chastise Jonah for disobedience.  Whereas, this is not the case for Paul.  The storm only helps people to see God’s mark of approval upon him.  Finally, Paul is happy to see Gentiles saved, but Jonah is sad that they are spared.

Of course, a person could come up with more.  All of this gives us insight into the thorny ground of wanting justice from God while keeping true to His heart towards all people.

Now, let’s get back to our passage at hand.  We left them on a ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, caught up in a storm so powerful that they are throwing stuff overboard to save their lives.

Hope is given (v. 21-26)

Verse 20 ended with the statement that all hope was gradually being lost.  However, God had different plans.  When we are in hard and difficult times, we can be tempted to complain about them.  Yet, their situation when from hard and difficult to an existential crisis.  They had come to believe that they were going to perish in this storm.

It is at this time that God speaks to the men through the Apostle Paul.  Paul encourages them and gives them hope in this time.  However, this would not be a hope of circumstances, what their eyes could see. 

Our hopes are generally pinned on what we can see, what seems most probable.  However, Christians are told to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Now, that passage is not telling us to ignore the things we can see and to suspend our thinking.  Rather, it is calling us to remember that God is greater than all of the things we can see.  Such a hope is something that is deeper than what we can see.  In a situation absent anything that gives visible hope, a man stands up and says he has been given hope by God, a word from God.  Of course, this begs the question who is this guy.  Men like Luke, Aristarchus would draw great hope from Paul’s words.  He has proven trustworthy to them.  Perhaps a man like Julius the centurion would also draw some hope.  Perhaps everyone else would simply draw hope from the courage it took for him to stand up and say that there is still hope.  Regardless, Paul stands up and speaks hope to them, “after many days” of fighting the storm and going without food.  All told, they would spend 14 days fighting this storm.  We don’t know how close to the end that Paul received his message.  I would think that God did it at just the right timing. 

As Christians, all of us would like to receive a concrete word from the Lord.  However, when God uses someone else to speak into our lives, we are generally not as thrilled to rely upon it.  We balk with the thoughts of how trustworthy they are.  We even balk at whether we think it is possible or not.  This is not a game of “hearing things from the Lord,” as if we are trying to see who can get the best record.   God speaks into every situation generally through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.  However, from time to time, He will speak specifically.  If God has given a word, then it will bear out to be true every time.  If you have been in a situation where you think that God spoke something to you, or someone else told gave you a word from the Lord, and it failed to happen as was said, then the failure wasn’t with God.  You have to go back to God in prayer and humble yourself.  Perhaps you jumped to conclusions about what the word meant.  Look closer.   Perhaps you wanted something so badly that you let your imagination get away from you. 

What we have here is a man who has faith in what God has said, and it will bear out exactly as God told him.

Paul gives the classic I-told-you-so, but it is not given in a vindictive spirit.  Rather, he is really trying to help them.  “You didn’t listen to me before, but listen to me now.”  He is coming alongside of them to encourage them.

We have to be careful not to let our spirit become bitter when people don’t listen to us.  People are free to choose and learn their own lessons.  Yes, your ego may have been hurt, but God is not working in order to spare your fragile ego.  Perhaps we fear that our experience is overly tied to how they respond.  Listen, God is quite capable of helping you regardless of who listens to your godly counsel.  Yet, the foundation question is this.  Am I truly giving godly counsel?

Essentially, Paul tells them that no one will die, but the ship is going to be lost and destroyed.

It is then that he describes how the word of God came to him.  A heavenly messenger spoke to him that very night.  The message is this: don’t be afraid, you must speak before Caesar, and God has granted you all those who sail with you.

There are two things here.  First, the message is really to Paul and about what he will experience.  He doesn’t need to fear because God wants him to appear before Caesar.  Yet, it is also clear that Paul has been praying for the lives of these sailors, soldiers and passengers.  God has heard his prayer and is granting him this request.  I don’t believe the angel is sent to convince Paul that he will survive.  Rather, he is sent to assure Paul that all the others will live.

This is important because Paul shouldn’t even be there in one sense.  He was unjustly arrested without due process, and he is protesting trumped up charges about Jewish religion.  Their salvation physically is going to be due to the intercession of this man.  This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about them.  God cared enough to put His special man on their boat.  As God spoke to Jonah, we can see here.  Jonah didn’t care about Ninevah, but God saw 120,000 people who couldn’t even distinguish their right hand from their left hand spiritually.  They were lost and in the dark, but God cared about them and sent Jonah, sent Paul, sends you and me!

Paul understands this.  He was a man who was supposed to have the light of God, but was absolutely clueless to the truth, until God had mercy and showed him the light.  How much more are these Gentiles worthy of a hearing who have only known darkness and lies?

Paul gives them his conclusion.  They should keep their courage (take heart) regardless of how tough it is going to become.  We don’t always receive such information from God.  When we are in difficult situations, part of us may want to use that to accuse God.  However, faith is not found in knowing the future.  Faith is found in knowing the One who not only knows what will happen, but can work it to our good in impossible ways.

The real question is this.  Do I really know God?  If I do, then that knowledge will help to strengthen my faith, as well as the Spirit’s help.  Yet, this kind of knowing is a knowing of experience.  I can know what God’s word says, but I need to experience times of trusting God (or failing to do so) and finding out that He is trustworthy for myself.

The sailors attempt to save the ship (v. 27-38)

As we said, these men have been caught in this storm for nearly two weeks.  Regardless of when Paul told them this message, the sailors try everything they can (probably with the help of all able-bodied passengers) to save the ship.

We are told that around midnight the sailors sense that they are approaching land.  Even though it is pitch dark with howling wind and rain, they probably hear the sound of the waves dashing against something other than the ship and other water.  Years of sailing had attuned their senses to recognizing that distinct sound.  Was it wishful thinking, their mind playing tricks on them?  Regardless, they were convinced enough to take some sounding with a plummet line.  They soon discovered that the depth went from 20 fathoms to 15 fathoms.  They were sailing towards shallower and shallower waters, which is a hallmark of land.  All ships have a certain depth of water that they can sail in without the bottom of the boat bottoming out.  To keep this from happening, the command is given to throw out anchors.  This is dangerous because of the wind and the waves.  Yet, they had to try something to buy them time for a chance to make it to land.

Some of the sailors used this command as a pretense to try and escape on a small skiff, a lifeboat.  However, Paul recognizes what they are doing and warns the centurion and the soldiers that none of them will live if those men do not stay with the ship.  This may seem strange, but in 2 Corinthians 11, we are told that Paul had been shipwrecked three times and had spent a day and a night in the water.  He had spent a lot of time traveling on ships, so he knew that they were not throwing out an anchor.

Why would Paul say that the soldiers would not survive if those men didn’t stay with the ship?  This does not seem to have been a part of the earlier angelic message, but it may have been something that Paul did not mention.  It is also possible that the Holy Spirit prompted Paul’s mind in the moment that this was not part of God’s plan.  Think about it.  They are buying time for a shot at navigating any rocks and making it to land.  For these sailors to abandon ship in this moment, is to leave the rest of the people to sure death.  It would take everyone of them just to have a hope of getting to the shore.

This is where we should recognize an important fact.  These men’s skills would not be used to save the ship, but they would be used to help get the ship to a place where the people could make it to land.  God wanted to save the men of the ship, but He also wanted to use these sailors, at least partially.

This brings up the mystery of how God uses our actions at times versus sending a miracle.  We could call it the miracle of God including our efforts, even those of unsaved people. 

He wants us to do what we can even when it will never be enough.  Imagine a disheartened dad facing his inability to do a good job with his kids.  He may recognize that he is not up to the task and is failing these kids in many ways.  So, what then?  Do we just quit?  Don’t give up in such situations.  There is a sense in which none of us are enough for every relationship and purpose that God gives us to do.  However, God is not only able to use our weak and feeble attempts, but He intends to use them.  He intends to use your weak efforts, not just to help your kids, but to help you.  In the midst of your weakness, you will find God’s assistance as you give yourself to the task.  You will find yourself growing in ability, but even more, in faith that God can and does work through you and in you.

As it gets close to daylight, Paul encourages the men to eat food for their strength.  “Not a hair from the head of any of you will be lost!”  Yet, pay closer attention to how Paul presents the bread to them.

Luke’s phrasing about Paul giving thanks and breaking the bread suggests that this was also treated as communion for the Christians on board (Luke and Aristarchus).  There is something spiritual happening here as they prepare for the final push to survive.  God is using Paul to implant in the minds of all of these men this crazy man giving God thanks for bread when their lives were in danger.  They don’t know God, but they now have experienced life with a man who does know God.  These 273 (276 minus Paul, Luke and Aristarchus) souls are being touched by the God of heaven who cares for their souls.

At this point, sensing that this is their last chance at land, they send the last of the cargo (the grain) over into the sea.  This would lighten the boat and give them the best ability to steer the ship and maneuver to land.

They fail to save the ship, but God delivers them (v. 39-44)

These men will fail to save the ship, but God does not fail to save their lives, at least physically.

Once there is enough light to see, they make a run for the beach.  This involves putting up the mainsail and cutting away the anchors at the same time.  They don’t recognize the land, but they do see a place on land that is their best chance.  As they put up the sail and cut the anchors, the ship lurches forward.  At some point, they become stuck on a sandbar (often these also have clay under the sand).  The wind and the surf begins tearing up the back of the ship.  It is time to abandon ship and pray to make it to the shore without drowning or being dashed against the rocks.

Things are happening fast at this point.  They will need to swim for their lives.  We are told that the soldiers were preparing to kill the prisoners.  This was common policy for Romans and many cultures of the ancient world.  Those charged with the custody of a prisoner pledged their own life for the life of the prisoner.  If they lost a charge, then they would be put to death.  In situations where there was no way to guarantee their custody, prisoners would be put to death.  Yet, God has been working on Julius the centurion.  He normally would be okay with killing the prisoners, but he favors Paul.  Thus, he tells his men not to kill the prisoners.  Of course, then it comes down to how much they trust him.  They had to respect him enough to follow such an order.

The instructions are quickly given.  Those who can swim are to jump in first and make for land.  Others are to grab a board or something from the ship so that they can hopefully float to shore.  I love the phrase, “so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.”  This was a miracle; but even more, it was a miracle that Paul had proclaimed well in advance.  Paul had testified and witnessed to the fact of his God’s grace for them all.

In the end, the greatest shipwrecks are those that metaphorically happen in the lives of people, individuals, groups and even Republics.  Paul uses this metaphor in 1 Timothy 1:19 for a shipwrecked faith.

Sometimes there are things in our lives that God does not intend to save, even though He intends to save us.  This can bother us.  We are so used to serving Him with those things that it can be unclear just exactly what we are trusting.  Satan tested Job in this way.  God wouldn’t let him kill Job, but he could take away many of the good things in Job’s life.  Would Job curse God and die?  Did the things mean more to him than God?  These are the questions we face as we do life with God.

God always intends to save the souls of people.  The loss of ships and things in our life are not proof that He doesn’t care.  Rather, He cares about much bigger things (like eternal salvation) than we often do.  No matter what we face, God wants to save us, to save our family, to save our church, to save our State, to save our Republic, to save our world.  He is not willing that anyone perish.  So, He is working every day to the ends of saving everyone’s soul.  The real question is do you have enough faith to stand in there with Him like Paul did?

When you face a time of losing things, don’t ask God why He is doing it to you.  Rather, put it on the altar and let Him know that He means more to you than those things.  Then, ask Him what it is that He has for you to do in this situation so that other might know who He is.  Yes, sometimes our trials are just as much about the people watching us go through them than they are about us.

Shipwrecked audio