The Letter to the Colossian Church- 11

Subtitle: Living out Your New Identity- 2

Colossians 3:12-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 5, 2025.

In the previous section, Paul had given us a list of the things that Christians need to put off, or to take off.  He generally mentioned in verse 10 that we should then put on the new self that is being renewed into the image of Christ.  The section before us gives a summary list of the virtues and character of Christ that we need to put on.  Essentially, we are putting off everything that is not Jesus and putting on everything that is Jesus.  In order to do that, we will need to get to know him by reading the Word of God and by spending time in prayer with him.

Let’s look at our passage.

Those who have been chosen of God (v. 12-14)

Back in verse 1, Paul used the conditional “if” to challenge them.  “If you have been raised with Christ, then set your mind on the things above.”  This was talking about having a heavenly perspective about things on the earth, doing earthly things for God’s purpose.  This is what the Lord’s prayer is getting out.  “Your Kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The conditional is not used to disqualify them, but rather to underline the importance of the command.

In verse 12, he does something similar.  Here, we have, “As those who have been chosen of God, then…”  This has the effect of tying the theological truth (you have been chosen of God) with a practical result in the way we live life- we will get to what that is in a moment.  Our theology should be logically connected to the way we live our life.  Our walk needs to line up with our talk.  We cannot claim to be a child of God while living like the devil.

So, who are these chosen ones?  God has chosen all those who will put their faith in Jesus, the Christ. 

There are some who challenge this understanding of God’s choice.  They believe it puts us in the place of saving ourselves.  They will typically say that the only reason you choose to follow Jesus is because God first chose you individually.  If He had not chosen you, then you would have never truly believed in Jesus.  At least, this is what they would say.  The problem here is that God from eternity past knew who would do what.  Yet, the contention of such theologians is that God chose people without any thought about what they would do.  He sovereignly chose some and didn’t others.  You may appear to choose Christ, but it is only because God first chose you.

I believe this is a misunderstanding of God and of His sovereignty.  All through Scripture, God is calling for us to choose Him.  “Choose this day whom you will serve!”  “Whose on the Lord’s side?  Come over here!”  The Gospel of Jesus is always presented as something we need to believe without coercion.

Thus, the character of God is such that He will not force us to come to Him.  Both because He is loving and because He is just, it is wrong to conceive of God controlling our ability to choose Him.  However, in the name of upholding the sovereignty of God- by saying He controls everything without anything from us- they actually end up limiting the sovereignty of God.  Essentially, they are saying that God cannot be sovereign enough to carve out a place wherein people can be free to choose Him. 

Truly, we cannot save ourselves even by believing.  The only reason faith can save is because God through Jesus did a real work of paying the price for sins.  A simple analogy is that of a meal.  If God never cooked the meal and put the plate in front of us, none of us are capable of feeding (saving) ourselves.  However, when God in His sovereignty cooks the meal, spreads the table, and calls whosoever will respond to eat at His table, the responding person is not saving themselves.  Rather, they are submitting to the sovereign choice of a God who is demonstrating His saving love to them.  When God puts the plate of grace in front of a person, they are able to believe and respond.   We are not save by our faith, but we are saved through it.

Paul further describes them as holy and beloved.  When you put your faith in Jesus, you become holy.  This does not mean that you walk on water and never sin.  A holy person is a person who has been set apart by God for His purposes.  Similar to a holy bowl in the temple of old, an Israelite should never take the holy bowls from the temple in order to impress people they are having over for dinner at their home.  The distinction is that there are common things that we all do, and there are holy things.  Christians are no longer to live their lives like everyone else, the common people.  We are to live our lives solely for the purposes of Christ.  In fact, the New Testament actually increases the concept of being holy because everything in our life becomes holy now.  We are to do all that we do for the purposes, glory, and honor of Christ.

You are also a loved one (beloved) of God.  The word for beloved is speaking of something done in the past that has continuing effects into the present.  You have been dearly loved by God by the work of Jesus Christ and the bringing of salvation to your door. 

In all of these things, being chosen, holy and loved of God, it is not intended to make us look down our noses at those who do not believe.  God’s love calls all to join the chosen and holy community.  He calls all to repent and join those who have stepped into Christ by faith.  Of course, none of us deserve to be in this place of His love.  However, we have been brought in through the work of Jesus and through our faith in him.

This leads up to a “therefore” moment.  Since you are chosen of God, holy and beloved, you should put on some things that we will get to in a moment.  This begins a list of virtues, or rather, the character of Christ.  It is using the language of clothing that was started earlier in the section on the vices we need to “take off.”  We undress our lives of the things of this world, and we dress ourselves with the character of Christ, the image of Christ.  We are taking off the works that our flesh generates and putting on the character and works that the Lord Jesus Christ generates through the Holy Spirit working in us.

Let me take humility- which we will talk about in a bit- for an example.  We are not called to put on humility as we might define it, or as the world defines it.  We are called to put on humility as it is defined by God and especially revealed through the words and actions of the Lord Jesus.  It is His image we are donning.  We look to him to understand the what and the why of humility.

This world loves to give lip service to love, toleration, justice, equality, and inclusivity.  However, the definition of these things, and how they are actually lived out, often lead to a perverted expression of them.  Seeking these things for the sake of saying we are doing them puts us in the driver’s seat.  It is a form of self justification.  Society will continue to adjust the definitions of these things according to the desires of their sinful flesh.  Christians are called to embrace Christ and let his humility be lived through us.

So what are we putting on?  First, we put on a heart of compassion.  There are two words here, even though some translations will translate it with one word.  The first word refers to a deep place in the guts of a person.  It is best translated as heart, but we might get a glimpse of the meaning in our description of “getting the butterflies.”  Notice that we do not speak of the butterflies as being in our heart, but rather our stomach.  So, the type of compassion they are describing comes from a deep place that is deep within you and is accompanied by a feeling in the pit of our stomach.  In this case, it is not the butterflies (nervous excitement of what is ahead).  It is compassion for someone’s predicament.  You did not cause their plight, but their misery has touched something deep within you and motivated you to action.

Compassion is the first word that God uses to describe Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6.  That Hebrew word also has the emphasis on a deep-seated compassion for those in misery.

We want to be careful of only having a heart of compassion for people that we like, or for people in which it is socially acceptable to help.  Putting on the compassion of Christ will put you at a Samaritan well talking to a woman who is very far from God.  The people around you (even the woman herself) may protest that you shouldn’t do this.  However, Christ expressed the great compassion that God the Father had for her by giving her his compassion in the moment.

We are also told to put on kindness.  Kindness somewhat speaks for itself, but it speaks of a general disposition of goodness towards others.  A person who is kind has a kind of default setting.  They are predisposed to being good, benign towards others.

We are to put on humility as we said before.  This is a lowliness of mind towards others (and God).  Our position or standing does not influence the way we speak and deal with people.  We do not approach them as superiors, nor even as equals.  We come with lowliness of mind, knowing that God helps the humble, but resists the proud.

It is easy to think that you are humble when you think about God.  The real test is in our relationships with one another.  When we think we are smarter than others around us, when we compare ourselves to them and think that we are better than them, we will act in ways that are anything but humble.  How smart and how much better than us Is Jesus?  Yet, how humble was he in the face of men who were clearly wicked?  Did you deserve Christ to come down and serve you by taking your place on a cross?  No, you do not; none of us do.  Lay down your pride and judgments and simply serve others for Christ.

We also put on gentleness.  The gentleness of a person says nothing about how strong they are.  Gentleness at its core is not about weakness, but about control of strength so as not to cause injury.  What is true in the physical is also true in the way we approach one another.

Of course, we should remind ourselves that these virtues of Christ are not some kind of law.  When Jesus whipped the men out of the temple, it did not look gentle.  We are to be gentle with one another, but sometimes a strong word and strong action is necessary.  However, it must be the image of Christ and the Spirit of Christ that is governing our words and actions in that moment.

We are to put on patience.  The word here has the idea of a long fuse.  We need to be slow to anger (another virtue that God uses to describe Himself in Exodus 34:6).  You need to take off your short fuse and put on a long fuse, and not long as you define it.  We put on the long fuse of Christ with one another.

In verse 13, Paul moves deeper in the virtues, showing how they lead to virtuous actions.  It is not enough to think virtuous thoughts.  Such virtues will and must always lead to virtuous action.

Bearing with one another is the picture of someone who may need to be carried from time to time.  It is never convenient to have to carry someone, but love compels people to use our strength to help the weak in whatever form it occurs.  In fact, we all need to be carried, whether metaphorically or literally, at times.

What do I mean about a metaphorical carrying?  None of us are perfect, despite the attitude of some.  There is a certain heaviness that others experience in those less than perfect moments.  The choice to either overlook, i.e., not make an issue of something, or to bring up the issue, but with an attitude of love, is a heaviness that others must carry in the presence of my differences from Jesus.  Some of these are sin.  I am disobeying the commands of Christ.  Others are simply offenses.  My personality is grating on yours, and of course, those differences can lead to overt sinful choices.  When we ask for forgiveness and extend forgiveness, we are choosing to carry the weight of one another.  When we step in and help in moments that were even caused by the lack of foresight of the other, we are choosing to carry them.  We should make room for one another by not holding on to the sins and the offenses that others have done to us.  Perhaps we should think of it this way.  Our sinful flesh would rather hold on to the weight of the sins and offenses, never letting go, when Christ would have us drop the list we are keeping and carry a different weight, the burden of love for a person.

The best way to begin carrying a person is to pray for them.  Ask God to change your heart.  Ask Him to help you see what you can say, or not say, do, or not do.  Be committed to a good relationship in the name of Jesus.  Ask for wisdom on how what things should be overlooked as trivialities and what things need to be addressed in love.  Ultimately, be committed to carrying the weight of working things out with a person who may not be easy for you.  In fact, I am sure that all of us have people who have found it hard to carry us in such a way.

Paul’s next point of forgiveness is a natural next point as I mentioned above.  We all need to learn to forgive each other.  Of course, there are times when people persist in belligerence and refuse to get along.  However, Paul is calling us to this commitment of love.  Love forgives.  Love refuses to hold on to a record of wrongs.  Love never quits!

Paul says the same thing in another way.  “Whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”  Think about this.  Did Christ forgive you of your sins because you became perfect?  No.  It was first because he loves you and secondly because you responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  We must be quit to let go of complaints in forgiveness.  If a person refuses to deal with offenses, we are still to move forward by keeping the door open for reconciliation.  Here is a prayer to try.  “Lord, this offended me, and it is hard to let go.  I turn this over to you and trust you with whatever happens.  Let me do only what you want me to do.  Let me say only what you want me to say.”

Verse 14 then states, “Beyond all these things…”  Some versions say “Above all these things…”  Since Paul has been using the language of clothing, it may be better to translate this as “On top of all these things…”  This final thing is like the outer cloak that everyone would recognize as your cloak.  It is the signature touch to getting dressed in the Character of Christ.  We are to put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Thinking of love as if it were clothing may seem strange.  However, it makes sense.  Love is something that is not generally welling up from within our soul.  It is often the conviction of the Holy Spirit pointing us to this thing called love that challenges us to pick it up and clothe ourselves with it.

Although love will help people to have a bond of unity, this most likely refers to love as the virtue that ties all of these character traits together into a bond of perfection, or a unity of full maturity.  If we only contemplated these character traits as individual items on a list, they may be twisted beyond the point.  It is love that teaches us when gentleness must give way to a firmness and perhaps to a harsh word.  All of these things should be seen as facets of love which ties them all together into a perfect man, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Love is being committed to the good and well-being of another as God defines it.  Jesus said it best.  “Love one another as I have loved you!”

How did Jesus love us?  He did it with his whole heart, even when it hurt, sacrificially, undeniably, outwardly, etc., etc., etc.  He is calling us to love one another this way.

Some further exhortations (15-17)

In verse 15, Paul gives them an imperative. However, it is an imperative about letting something happen to you that God will do, if you yield.  You are the question here, not God.

We are told to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  The word for “rule” here has the idea of an umpire.  In other words, let the peace of Christ have such a position in your heart and mind that it is calling the shots and grading our attempts.

The Colossians were dealing with some men who were coming into their church and making judgments about how they were serving Christ and what they believed.  Some disconcerted Colossians were listening to these men and following their judgments.  Yet, Paul knew that these men were leading them into the philosophies of men and the legalism of religionists.

This admonition to let the peace of Christ call the shots in your life would be a protection against those who would try to trouble our hearts about whether we were acceptable to God or following Him correctly.

The peace of Christ can be seen in different ways.  First, it is the peace that Jesus creates between us and God the Father.  In Jesus, we can know that God the Father does not see us as an enemy.  He sees you as His child.  This knowledge can be a protection when others try to scare you about how God sees you.

However, the peace of Christ can also be seen as something that is an internal experience.  Just as Jesus stood up in the boat and cried, “Peace!  Be still!,” so we have many times when we need the Spirit of Christ to silence the internal troubled waters.  This comes as we spend time in prayer, seeking His wisdom and direction.

Finally, the peace of Christ can also be the external experience that believers have between one another. In the context of this passage, all of these have their place.  They work in a three part combination.  My relationship with God the Father leads to an inner experience, which can then lead to working for the external peace between brothers and sisters.  We have been called to this peace of Christ in one body (vs 15) by One Lord and One Spirit!

This is the work that the Spirit of God will do and is even now doing in our fellowship with one another.  However, you, I, need to cooperate with this purpose of His.

He qualifies this activity with the phrase, “and be thankful.”  This is the first of three times that he reminds the Colossians (us) to do these things while also being thankful.  Have you ever done something you were supposed to do, but with the wrong heart, perhaps begrudgingly?  Yes, we need to work for peace between us, but we need to do so without complaining to God about others.  Yes, this is hard, but God is in it.  Trust Him!  Give thanks that you are not doing this by yourself.  You are partnering with One who is greater than anything you may face!  Give thanks!

The second thing that we need to let happen is that we need to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.  The Word of Christ is firstly the Scriptures.  Not just the words that are in red, but the whole thing.  All Scripture is God-breathed, and the spirit of prophecy is Jesus.  Read it and bring it into your heart and mind.  Take ownership of this need to have God’s Word dwelling in you.  Yes, churches and pastors are handy, but take time to go further.  Ask God for a love of His Word.  The idea of the Word dwelling richly in our hearts has to do with the fruitfulness of the Word of God.  It is a seed that is intended to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Take time to prepare the soil of your heart.  Till up the hard parts, roll out the big rocks, and spend some time weeding in your heart so that God’s Word may be fruitful in your life.  This is its normative effect.  This is why we do not read the word as a mere exercise in quantity.  Rather, we spend time praying about what we read and meditating on it.  We spend time fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit over what the Word is saying to us.

Paul adds to do this with all wisdom.  This does not mean our wisdom, but the wisdom of Christ.  This too is a part of our prayers and meditations.  They had received wisdom about the Scriptures from Christ and his apostles.  When others come along later and try to trouble the waters, wisdom would say to be careful.  You already have everything you need in Christ.  Turn back to Him instead of looking to a man on this earth.

He continues telling them to be teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  Of course, we can teach and admonish without singing, but there is something about singing that takes God’s Word to the next level.  In some ways, it is a spiritual warfare that pushes out the enemy.  It is easy to say words that you don’t believe, but it is much harder to sing them.  In fact, a person may begin singing half-heartedly, but songs have a way of lifting us and calling us to a higher place of worship. 

Yet, notice the second occurrence of thankfulness.  “Singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  In the midst of heavy brothers, offenses, and forgiveness, in the midst of attempts to take off cruddy clothing and to put on the attire of Christ, we can sing with thankfulness and gusto because we are doing it for Christ!  He ain’t heavy; He’s my brother!  How can a heart sing this, say this, without first coming to grips with the Lord who has carried us all and made us to be brothers to Himself?  Even in the midst of stony hearts and hurtful actions, we can be thankful that the God is working out His salvation in us and through us!

Singing to Christ about the glories of who He is, what He has done, and how we are called to be like Him, can drive the devil out of a situation and put our hearts in the right way.

Verse 17 then becomes a summation to this section.  “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Everything I do or say should be done in the name of Jesus.

What does that mean?  “In the name” speaks to doing these things in His place.  You are to be Him in the lives of others.  Your goal should be to let Jesus do through you what He would do if He were there.  It also has the idea of doing it in the reputation of Christ.  Everything we do can affect how people see Christ.  Of course, this can be intimidating because we are not perfect.  Still, I am representing Him and should not act in such a way to dishonor Him.  What do I do if I have acted selfishly and not as Christ would have me?  Be honest.  Confess your error and ask for forgiveness.  Point people to the truth of Christ rather than yourself.

Finally, “in the name” also speaks to doing these things in His purpose, as an ambassador, and as a service unto Him.  If we were more conscious of this in everything we said and did, we would be far more circumspect in our actions towards one another.

He then reminds us for the third time to be “giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”   How can we get a heart like this, a heart that does tough stuff with a thankful and cheerful heart?  We can only get it from Jesus, one day at a time, one dying to self at a time.  May God help us to truly believe that He can help to transform our hearts over time and lead us in living out the image of God that He so perfectly revealed and is even now inspiring within us.

New Identity 2 audio

The Letter to the Colossian Church- 5

Subtitle: Christ's Work through Paul

Colossians 2:1-5.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 10, 2025.

Last week, Paul was describing how Christ was working among the Colossians.  He ended chapter one writing about how Christ was working through him to help them.  This passage continues that discussion.

Paul's struggle for them (v. 1-4)

In Colossians 1:29, Paul mentioned that he was “striving” on their behalf, but with the power of Christ working through him.  This word is used again in chapter 2 verse 1, but now as a noun.  Paul has been in a struggle for them that has the sense of intense labor.  This struggle is about establishing the believers of Colossae as complete in Christ (1:28 and 2:10).

It will be clear as we go through this letter that Paul is not just thinking about being completed in the resurrection.  He is thinking of the present reality of being complete in Christ.  We are complete in Christ right now because we have everything that we need for life and godliness in this life.  I don’t need to find a guy in Tibet who has great wisdom.  I don’t need to go to secretsoftheearth.com and pay 5 easy payments of $999.99.  We have all we need because of Jesus.  Every believer in Jesus needs to have this understanding as foundational in their life.

Yet, Paul is not just struggling for them.  He speaks of “those who are at Laodicea,” a town that was roughly 10 miles away, and “all those who have not personally seen my face.”  Paul went to many cities and personally started many churches, but the work of Christ was bigger than him.  The churches he started spread the Gospel and started churches throughout their regions.  Also, this was a very mobile time in the Roman Empire, so it was common for Christians to travel due to business. 

So, why does Paul care about these Christians that he has never met personally?  It is because of the ministry that Jesus had given to him (1:23).  He was tasked with proclaiming the hope of the Gospel among the Gentiles (1:23, 27).  He cares because Jesus cares.  Christ is the source of this care, this struggle, to help them have everything they need.

Have you ever thought that there might be someone doing spiritual battle on your behalf that you have never seen?  Perhaps you would be surprised to hear prayers prayed by your ancestors for their offspring.  Jesus himself even prayed for those who would one day believe because of the words of those he sent (John 17:20).

Don’t look at the lives of others and complain that you don’t have what you need.  Instead, look to the heart of Jesus for you and trust that He is supplying all that you need.

Paul’s overall purpose is to establish them as complete in Christ, but verse 2 gives us an immediate goal: he wants to encourage their hearts.  The word for encouragement here is a verbal form of the word used for the Holy Spirit as our Helper.  It has the sense of strengthening in the various ways that we may need, whether strengthened in mind, heart, or deed.

The Colossian believers are facing threats that could discourage them from following Jesus.  That may be through false information about Jesus, or through promising things that are false.  We will see more about this as we go forward.

Just as he speaks of them as part of a larger group (those who have not personally seen my face), so he reminds them that their encouragement is not just an individual thing.  Their hearts are being “knit together in love.”  How is this happening?  It is the work of the Holy Spirit as we go through life.  He is working to tie our separate hearts into a unity of purpose that is centered on Christ alone.

When we cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in knitting our hearts together in love, we are enabled to receive something that God has for us.  It can be thought of as a target or as a place into which we can come:  “to reach all the riches of the full assurance of understanding.”

The Greek grammar requires extra words to bring the sense into English.  Some versions show this by putting these extra words in italics.  The grammar points to the riches of the full assurance of understanding as a target or end result of being knit together in love.  Thus, some versions will add the word “attaining” and others “to reach.”

This phrase is similar to the riches, or wealth, talked about in 1:27.  These are spiritual riches that come from our understanding of Christ, which full assurance is a part.  When we have the proper understanding about God’s will and the Anointed One He has sent, we will then have a full assurance.  Again, notice Paul’s emphasis on the fullness we can currently have in Christ.

This phrase is somewhat general, even vague, on its own.  The next phrase will make it clearer.  Yet, it is important to recognize the role of having full assurance and full understanding of what God is doing.  If you think you are lacking something, then you will be susceptible to the charlatans who come along offering something “more.”  It is similar to the idea of shopping while you are hungry.  It isn’t wise.

It doesn’t take a long time for a believer to have full assurance of understanding.  This is not about understanding every aspect to God’s Word and reaching a certain level of training.  We need to be careful what we hunger for.

I believe the next phrase is simply restating the prior in a specific way: “to reach the knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ.”  The mystery of God regarding Messiah is no longer a mystery.  Generations prior to Jesus did not fully understand what God would do through Messiah.  In Jesus, we have received that full understanding.  The mystery is revealed and the curtain is pulled back.  We ought to daily praise God for this revelation.  The Apostles were faithful to record what Jesus did and revealed to them about his purpose.

Just in case a person is missing Paul’s point, verse three drives the point home.  In Jesus, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.  This continued use of words like “fullness” and “all” is connecting us back to Christ and the Gospel about him.

We can grow tired of the “Jesus solution” that has been given to us from God.  A “new and improved Jesus” might be more alluring.  We might even have a hunger for a better solution.  Believe me, the devil is working overtime to put such solutions in front of you.  Beware!  No true knowledge can come from any source, but Jesus.  All we need has been written down for us.  We also have the same Spirit that moved upon Paul to write these words working in our hearts to receive it by faith and walk it out.

Thus, Paul says in verse four that he doesn’t want anyone to delude them through persuasive arguments.  This may come across as a general concern, but we are going to see in this chapter that Paul is aware that this is already happening in Colossae, Laodicea, and elsewhere.  People were traveling around, claiming to have something better, or a better understanding of the Gospel of Christ.

We see this still today.  These people are far more accessible due to the internet.  They can sound persuasive until someone like Paul begins to point out all the errors in their reasoning, which he will do in short order.

Paul’s joy (v. 5)

Though Paul is concerned that someone may delude them with persuasive arguments, there are things for which he is joyful.

He has not been there in person.  However, he has been in spirit.  He thinks about them, pray for them, meditates on what to say or to write to them.  Like a parent with a kid who has gone off to college, so we can carry the spiritual burden for others.  This spiritual concern has led to Paul having great concern for them, and yet also, great joy.

He rejoices in their orderliness.  Part of loving one another is doing things in a way that allows peace to reign among us.  God creates things, but then puts them in an orderly relationship with His creation.  These relationships among created things began as “very good!”  Believers are to let this new creative work of the Spirit bring an order to the chaos of the previous life of sin.

Our attitude and actions with one another should not be in ways that try to disturb or upset one another.  Their “love” for one another is not by their definition, but by Christs.  This kind of love will display itself in an orderly way.

Of course, a person can complain when they are corrected that a teacher is “disturbing” them and being disorderly.  This kind of special pleading is not being serious.  There are orderly ways to correct someone.  Of course, it will feel disruptive to them and because they are following their flesh and not the Word of God or the Spirit of God.  So, we are not talking about an orderliness that is defined by each one of us, trying to find a lowest common denominator.  Christ commands us to love one another in the way that he loved us.  He loved us enough to tell us the truth about our true condition and the only means of salvation.  He called us to repent.

We see this orderliness also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14, where Paul describes the operation of spiritual gifts.  “All things must be done properly and in an orderly manner” (14:40).  Also, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (14:33).  Some try to rule out many spiritual gifts as being disorderly.  However, they often have a view that treats some of the spiritual gifts as “no longer in service.”  In their minds, they no longer exist and are out of order in any exercise of them.  This again is a special pleading that says more than the Scriptures do about spiritual gifts.

Paul also rejoices in the steadfastness of their faith in Christ.  This may be because many of them have not been deluded (v. 4), at least not yet.  Just as God is steadfast in His love towards us by sending Jesus while we were yet sinners, it is good for us to display faithfulness to one another and towards Christ.  We are following His lead.  A faith that remains strong, even when buffeted by  ill winds and false teachings, is something that should lead us to rejoice.

These are the things we need to do in following Christ and bringing joy to those whom Christ has given the ministry of encouraging our hearts.

Christ through Paul audio

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- 5

Subtitle:  Our Battle in the Kingdom

Ephesians 2:1-10.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 13, 2025.

Today, we are going to identify some enemies of the Kingdom of God and anyone who is a part of it.  We need to see these in our own life and learn how to deal with them.

Let’s look at our passage.

Our enemies (v. 1-3)

When we talk about enemies as Christians, it is important to recognize a huge shift from the Old Covenant with Israel through Moses and the New Covenant with “whosoever will” through Jesus.

Israel was commanded to go into a specific area that had been judged by God.  Thus, there were literal battles between Israel, representing God’s people, and the nations that were in rebellion against God.  Israel would be a sword to some nations, but also a revelation of the One True God to the nations surrounding the area that God had given to them.  In other words, Israel was not trying to take over the world, nor were they commanded to do so by God. 

Yet, even in the Old Testament, we see that these enemies were not the only enemies Israel faced.  There were Israelites who were unfaithful to God and misled the people.  There is even a testimony from the prophets that there wasn’t one of them that was totally righteous before God.

God shows anyone with eyes to see through His interactions with Israel that no amount of fighting bad people, bad nations, and stamping out the sinners in their own nation, would fix this world.

Yet, in the New Testament, the command of Christ to his disciples does regard battles and going to the ends of the earth, but it is not about fighting physical enemies and taking physical territory.  The battle is more about the spiritual enemies that are keeping the world captive to sin. 

This highlights a common mistake that atheists will make.  They will challenge Christians with a statement like this.  “Your God commands you to kill homosexuals!  How can you defend that!”  Of course, they have clearly not understood the message of the Church, and more importantly, Jesus Christ.  The New Testament presents that all people (including Israel) are sinners in bondage to sin.  All are guilty before God and deserve death, rather than salvation.  Yet, God sends us Jesus.  He is the divine intervention that helps us in this tragic predicament.  Yes, we are all worthy of death, but Jesus has obtained for us the hope of forgiveness and redemption.

Jesus is not currently taking territory geographically, but rather, internally.  Those who believe on him are not only forgiven, but the Spirit of God enables them to take possession of their inner souls.  This is intended to spill out into their life and affect the people around them.  It spills out into their family and neighborhood.   If enough people in an area are transformed by faith in Jesus, then it can even spill out and affect a whole nation.  Thus, geography can come under the rule of Jesus, but that is not the current focus, the heart of people is the focus.

For the Christian, there are still very real enemies, and some of them are even people.  Yet, we do not deal with them in the same way as Israel was commanded.  So how are we to deal with them?  This passage in Ephesians chapter 2 helps us to identify them, and then, we will talk about how to battle them.

#1 The World-

In verse 2, Paul talks about how each of them (of us) were before the believed on Jesus.  They walked “according to the course of this world…”  The word translated “course” in the NASB speaks of the systems of humanity within a nation and the world as a whole.  They may have distinctions, but there is a bent to them that is away from God.  This can be more or less, religious or secular.  Humans born in those societies tend to follow this course that is away from God.  Israel, which was supposed to represent a system of God, had become deep-captured, until they were just like the world around them, standing against God without even knowing it.  These systems of the world are more than just a bunch of individuals doing bad things.  It becomes a system that is greater than any one sinner, and is more than the sum of its wicked parts.

Of course, we cannot blame all of our sin on the world and culture around us.  However, a culture that is far from God makes it easier for a people to fall into the trappings of sin, and even define it as good.  If adults teach and model things to their kids that God says is sinful, then they are more likely to follow them, and that place becomes a place of bondage and tyranny, both spiritually and literally.

This can even happen in a society that claims to follow God.  The political leaders of Israel (Herod when Jesus was born) had created an anti-God power structure, no matter how much lip service He might give to Him.  Similarly, the religious leaders of Israel in the first century had also created an anti-God, anti-Messiah, religion in God’s name.  Think of that.  In God’s name, we put to death the very Messiah that He sends.  Of course, this isn’t an Israelite problem.  It is a human tendency driven by this world.

Christians do not fight the world systems primarily through political means.  We know that no amount of laws, punishments, prisons, wars, etc. will ever fix this world.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t have laws and such, but that we are not looking to these things to fix the world.

Jesus sends us to the world with the message of the Gospel.  We are to tell people the truth of their peril and God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus out of love for them.  We also live our lives according to the words of Christ and his apostles (the New Testament).  Thus, we refuse to conform to the ungodly pressures of the society around us.  We go to battle against the philosophies, ideas, and false religions that hold them captive, rather than against them.

Though our primary focus is not political, the politics of a nation will change when enough people repent and believe on Jesus.  When enough people are living out the commands of Jesus, that nation will be transformed.  We are not talking about reaching 51% and taking over.  Rather, a life that is lived for Jesus by the Holy Spirit’s leading is far more powerful than a mere vote in an election.  Thus, a once pagan place that persecuted Christians can become a place in which they are free to worship God.

The difference here is that our focus is not on the political, but rather on changing hearts.  The Scriptures are clear that Christianity will impact the whole world and make a huge impact upon it.  However, it also makes it clear that the political powers of the nations will not embrace Jesus when he comes back.

#2 The devil-

Verse 2 also says that they walked “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience…”  This prince of the power of the air is a reference to a spiritual enemy, the devil.  Him and the spiritual entities in league with him have deep captured the world.  Yes, the world is bent away from God, but the devil takes advantage of that and harnesses it for his ends.  2 Corinthians 4:4 says that the “god” of this age [the devil] blinds people from believing God and the Gospel of Jesus.  This spiritual layer lies behind the world system.  It ends up doing the bidding of the devil.  Some people do so knowingly.  We would call them satanists.  However, most people do so unknowingly.  They are simply caught up in a way of living that they have known from birth.  It becomes natural for them to do the bidding of the devil without actually trying to follow him.

We should recognize that, though the sin of humans is definitely a big part of our problem, the interference and misleading of these spiritual beings has made it far worse than it would have become.  Those who think we can build a Utopia by casting off Christianity do not understand the fire they are playing with.  These spiritual beings do not love humans.  They want to destroy us forever.  It is only by the grace of God that they haven’t done so already.

So, just as we can picture humans deep capturing the governmental structures of a society for criminally helping themselves to the people’s treasury, so we can picture the devil and his spiritual cohorts deep capturing the systems of this world to trap people in blindness to God’s offer of help.  This is what Jesus faced: a corrupt Roman system of government and religion, and a corrupt Israelite political and religious system.

There is a spirit (and spirits) working through those who are in disobedience to God (sons of disobedience) in order to create a world system that keeps humans in bondage to sin and blind to the Gospel.

How do we fight these spiritual enemies?  First, we put our faith in Jesus.  We listen to the teaching of Jesus and obey his commands.  This will immunize us to the false teaching and wicked commands of this world.  We also fight him by being alert to his schemes.  The Bible records all the ways that humans are tempted to rebel against God and live contrary to His design.  We fight him by being spiritual people who are not in bondage to sin (James 4:7).  We fight him by using the spiritual armor that Jesus supplies to his people (Ephesians 6:10-18).  We fight him through praying for one another.

Of course, some people say to themselves that they will not listen to the world or God.  They believe that they can somehow just serve themselves.  However, serving yourself only ends up serving the devil.

#3 Our Flesh-

Our third enemy is outlined in verse 3.  “We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind…”  Yes, we have the world and the devil to watch out for, but the most difficult enemy is internally ourselves.  Paul speaks of lusts of our flesh that fulfill the desires of the flesh and mind.  The desires are the simply what we want, our wishes.  These are connected to what is pleasing  to the senses of our body and what is pleasing to our mind.  Whereas, lusts refer to a strong passion for these things.  We can imagine a spectrum of intensifying desires that go from a low level preference for something all the way to a heated desire that is hard for us to restrain.

It is not that a pleasure in and of itself is evil.  Rather, when we live only to satisfy the desires of our body and mind, then we become captive to our flesh.  It knows no boundaries.  Without the help of the truth of God and the Spirit of God, we will become enslaved to the lusts of our flesh.  This can also happen when we pursue a spirituality that has no connection to the truth of God.  False religions all have their source in the devil and his cohorts.

We might even try to blame God for our penchant to over indulge our flesh.  However, God made these things to be a joy when they are not in control of our life.  If we listen to Him, then they will take their proper place and be His gift to us.  However, if we ignore Him, then they will become a curse to us as they continually seek pleasure at the cost of truth.

This is what we used to be.  However, now, we have become spiritually alive in Christ.  We are still in a body that is used to having its desires and lusts satisfied.  Thus, we have an internal battle against these.  Romans 8:13, “if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”  This is not just a list of do’s and don’ts.  We are called to be led by the Holy Spirit in putting them to death.  This begins with the Word of God, but is empowered as we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

We also fight these lusts by staying in a community of Christ-followers.  Thus, we have a Kingdom Community, the Holy Spirit, and a new spiritual life that corresponds to the old world, devil, and flesh.  When you lean into these things, you will find a growing victory over time.

We are to fight this battle of sin in a spiritual way.  Thus, the Word of God, which is spiritual, is essential, as well as prayer and fellowship with other believers.  If we feed upon the garbage of this world, then our old nature will overcome our new nature that is spiritually alive to Christ.

Up until now, Paul has reminded them of their old way of life that they had left behind.  Yet, notice in verse 4 that there are things that God is doing.

Our heavenly Father (v. 4-10)

No matter how bad our situation was, or is, or even could become, God is for us.  He has helped us, is helping us, and will complete the good work in us, if we will simply trust Him.  We are His family, and He cares for us.

Paul emphasizes that our heavenly Father is merciful and loving.  He may seem hard and unloving at times.  However, He wants to break through our blindness and our stubbornness.  No matter how failed and plundered a person may become- think about the thief on the cross- you can still believe in Jesus.  The mercy and love of God is not just offered to some.  It is offered to all who are lost.  This doesn’t mean that everyone will embrace it.  But, they reject it over the top of God’s amazing love.

It is His covenant-keeping, merciful, faithful love that makes it possible for a person who is under the tyranny of a spiritual enemy, stuck in the ruts of this world, and enslaved to the lusts of their flesh, to be able to break free, even when they are dead in their transgressions.

Verse 5 reminds us that it is God who makes us spiritually alive together with Jesus.  This is a very real spiritual work that is done by the Spirit of God when someone believes in Jesus.  From this point on, we can read the Scriptures and sense the Holy Spirit speaking to us.  We can be led by Him through the Word, Prayer, and actions of faith.

Paul reminds us that we have been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places.  This is a spiritual connection that we have to the greatest throne in the universe.  Yet, upon our deaths, we go to be with Christ, where we belong.

Verse 7 explains that our connection to Christ and the now, but not fully yet, aspect of the Kingdom has a climax.  In the age to come, God will demonstrate the surpassing riches of His grace toward us who have believed in Christ.  Yes, we will see the riches of God’s grace, but ultimately, we are the demonstration of God’s riches to the heavens and to the earth.  The resurrection promises to give all who have died and those who are still alive in Christ, glorified heavenly bodies.  We will shine with the glory of Christ at his side.  This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 8:18-25.  The heavenly beings, the faithful ones and the fallen ones, will see the faithful of humanity not just restored, but raised in glory.  Even rebellious and wicked humans will see the glory of those who trusted in Christ.

However, in all of this, the greatest battle is keeping ourselves focused on God’s purpose.  Thus, in verse10, Paul reminds us that we are God’s workmanship, His special work.  He works in us to do the good works that He has prepared for us in Jesus.

There is nothing wrong with making money, saving up, retiring, etc.  But, if that is all you are living for, then it will be wrong.  It is not the thing really, but me that is wrong.  When Christ comes in, all things should take their proper place so that we are no longer a slave to them.  We don’t have to be a slave to the lusts of our flesh, the course of this world, and the devil.  We can be free in serving Christ!

Our Battle audio