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 Acts of the Apostles- 90

Subtitle:  Almost Persuaded

Acts 26:19:32.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty on February 2, 2025.

It is not common for a person to put their trust in Jesus the first time they hear the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.  We can be stubborn in our ways, and thus resistant to it.  However, we can also be resistant to change even when we know that it is the right thing to do.  We may say to ourselves:  “Not now,” “I’m not ready,” “I have too many fun things to do” and “I’ll get around to doing it later.”

When people come to that place of making a decision it is much like coming to an intersection.  You need to make a choice, and there are many reasons why you won’t come to a stop and deeply ponder the choice.  At the moment, you sense that there is something real to this message.  You believe that it really is God touching your heart and mind, drawing you to Himself.  However, regardless of our choice, that moment passes us by.  It becomes easier to keep doing what you were doing before.  

The flesh does not like being in this awkward pinch of admitting our life has been lived unrighteously and that we are in need of God’s saving grace.  It will do anything to resolve the tension of the moment and get back to normal, whatever that is.  The danger here is that God’s conviction comes and goes.  We can let it pass and miss the opportunity for the time being.

Yet, God in His grace gives us an undetermined amount of time in this life to come to our senses and put our trust in His Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Today, we will look at a man who was almost persuaded, but almost is not enough.  Let’s look at our passage.

Paul addresses King Herod Agrippa II (19-23)

We are picking up at the point of which Paul has told the account of his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Verse 19 is where he turns from the story the encounter to speak about his response to that event.

It would be easy for us to read that account and think to ourselves, “If Jesus did to me what he did to Paul, then I would believe.”  Of course, this is easier to say than to do.  Many people have experienced powerful moments where they saw miraculous things and believed God was speaking to them.  Yet, later, after the moment had passed, they began to doubt it.  They think that it was just a subjective, psychological event instead of a real encounter with God. 

Our response to the overtures of God is critical.  He puts intersections in our path, whether we know it or not.  As we cruise through these intersections, our decisions determine whether we embrace Jesus and step onto the path of blessing, or whether we remain upon a path of destruction for ourselves and for others around us.

Paul let’s Agrippa know that he believed and obeyed the heavenly vision he received that day.  He went into Damascus, where his plan was to arrest Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial.  Yet, his purpose was changed.  He waited for the Christian Ananias to pray for him, and then he began preaching to the people in Damascus to become Christians.  He preached to Jews, but he also preached to Gentiles.  Jesus was God’s Anointed man not just to save Jews, but Gentiles too.  This is a different Paul with a different purpose.  He was now about the purpose of Jesus.  When you live for your own purposes, you stay the same person in general.  There may be some hiccups and drastic moving around of the props on the stage of our life, but in the end, we keep going in a direction of wasting our lives on the lesser things of pleasing our flesh, satisfying our momentary desires.  However, to live for the purposes of Jesus is to become a very different person who is on a very different trajectory.

Paul preached a message (verse 20) of repentance, turning to God, and doing works that are appropriate to one who is repenting.

Repentance is essentially having a change of mind.  In this context, you are having a change of mind about how you have been living your life, i.e., for pleasing yourself.  However, it is not enough to just change what pleases you.  This is not a repentance that saves.  It only puts you on another dead end path.  Repentance must move to the second part of the message, turning to God.

All of our self-choices lead us away from the path of God, but they also lead us away from relationship with God.  We are not just talking about things that God wants you to do, and things he wants you to refrain from doing.  We really need to stop ignoring God, or even being hostile to Him.  We need to learn the wisdom of yielding to His great wisdom like a child recognizing that their father knows best.

It is from this relationship that we can express the third component of Paul’s preaching.  We do works that are appropriate to repentance, or fitting for it.  It is not enough to change how you talk about God.  Those who repent want their lives to become like Him and their lives to accomplish His purpose.

This last point is not to imply that we cannot make mistakes, or have weak moments of doubt or temptation.  It really is a calling of a person’s bluff.  You can say that you believe in Jesus, but if you continually refuse to listen to all of his words, then you are kidding yourself and trying to deceive others.  You do not believe in Jesus, but rather, you believe in the Jesus of your own making.  Let’s be clear.  No one makes it into heaven by perfect performance.  But on the other hand, you are not going to fake your way in.  You either live for the purposes of Jesus out of a relationship with him, or you don’t.  It is as simple as that.

Think about it.  The love of God sends Christians across the path of individuals in order to wake them up to this need to repent.  He continues to do this over the top of the many times that we stiff-arm the moment and continue on in stubbornness.  He continues this to our last mortal breath.

Paul then says that he was seized in the temple and nearly killed because of this obedience to Jesus.  Yet, God helped him so that he could keep testifying to the life changing truth about Jesus. 

The help of God doesn’t always look like an angel appearing and slaying all of our enemies.  Sometimes it comes in the form of a pagan, Roman commander who is only concerned about keeping his own job.  Could God use a bureaucrat when you are sucked into their little fiefdom of power?  You bet He can.

We have seen this help throughout the book of Acts.  It was not about removing all difficulty and bad things from Paul’s path (the path of Christians).  It was a powerful help, but not one that insulated us from all that feels like it is harming us.  Paul would eventually be helped into the presence of God through martyrdom in Rome, but his time was not yet.  In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul takes the time to enumerate some of the difficult things that happened along his way.  We already talked about how he was beaten in the temple in Jerusalem.  However, what about the time in Lystra where he was stoned by the crowd and left for dead?  God helped him that day.  He didn’t’ die.  Yet, he still felt the pain.  He was still rejected and moved on to another city.  Paul suffered many things for the cause of Jesus Christ.  Yet, he learned to trust the path that Jesus was leading him on.  In the 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul then moves to speak about a physical malady that he suffered.  He prayed for the Lord to heal it, but the Lord told him “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

Think about that.  If we never had any difficulties, then God’s power would not be what He wants it to be.  It would be lacking somehow.  It is not lacking power because God is omnipotent.  But the power is enhanced in our lives when we have weakness.  The weakness here is not talking about moral weakness, but even that is a testimony to the power and greatness of God.  Paul then states a lesson he had learned, in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.  “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast ^[c]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”  He is strong because the power of God uses it in ways that we don’t see, and in ways that we would rather not see.

If you think that God is not being fair and that it is cruel to not remove our sufferings, then just remember that he too walked this life and suffered.  The power of God was displayed in what looked like a weak man named Jesus.

Many today disregard Jesus as a weak message that must be rejected.  They think of the effect of his message on society as a weakening of that society.  But, they are wrong.  In truth, they are seeing the power of God and rejecting it, at least for now.  Still God’s grace works to convict their hearts of their error.

So Paul testified to Jews and to Gentiles that the prophets of the Old Testament had said these things would happen to the Messiah.  First, Messiah would suffer, and second, the prophets said that the Messiah would raise from the dead.

The Anointed Savior would suffer on behalf of our sins.  This is all through the prophets when you have eyes to see.  Even the promise in Genesis 3:15 of the Seed of the Woman who would crush the serpent’s head has a promise of suffering for him.  The serpent would do the same to his heel.  This may sound like a lesser blow, but a bite from a poisonous viper can be a mortal blow, even in the heel.  What about Psalm 16?  David prophesies that the Messiah would not be left to the grave and see decay.  Hmmm, sounds like some suffering would occur.  What about Psalm 22?  In the midst of existential suffering, something happens that is so great that the whole world will be amazed.  It even speaks of all those who died worshiping him.  Of course, the powerful passage of Isaiah 53 is shocking in its description of Messiah’s suffering.

The third things is that Messiah would proclaim light to the Jews and to the Gentiles.  He would be a healer of the breach and lost inheritance. 

Even though this is highlighted throughout the Bible, some people had too much to lose to believe in Jesus.  “The Romans will come and take our power away!”  Yet, in refusing to embrace Messiah by letting go of their power, they missed Messiah and still lost their power.  In the end, they lost everything, and many even lost eternal life.  “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”  (Mark 8:36).

Paul is interrupted (v. 24-32)

Festus cuts Paul off and declares that he is mad.  He has apparently had enough of this babbling about Jewish prophecies and Messiahs.  It is also possible that he is quite uncomfortable with this powerful moment.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit is touching his heart, and his flesh is kicking against the goads.

The devil is always looking for useful tools to break up God’s convicting work in others.  The interruption of Festus breaks up the flow of Paul’s defense for following Messiah Jesus.  Yet, Paul brushes this aside deftly.  He tells Festus that he is not mad, but speaking sober truth.  We know what truth is.  Paul is not lying.  However, the word translated sober has the concept of a sound mind that is self-controlled and not under undue influence.  Paul is in his right mind and dealing with reality, not some hypothetical, prophetic fantasy.  He is in full command of his faculties as he speaks the truth.

Paul then quickly turns the discussion back to Agrippa.  Agrippa is his true target because he is well versed in these issues and knows that Paul is not talking gibberish and out of his mind.  Paul then puts a rhetorical question to Agrippa.  “Do you believe the prophets?  I know that you do.”  He doesn’t get into all the different rabbinic schemes for how Messiah would come and what all he would do.  But, Paul knows that Agrippa has at least a rudimentary acceptance that there is something to these prophecies.  There is truth in them.

Paul has given Agrippa evidence that demands a verdict, and so, Paul is not just asking Agrippa if he has a general belief in the prophets, but whether he believes Jesus is what those prophets was talking about.  This is the question that Paul is putting before Agrippa.  Are you ready to join us Christians in believing Jesus is Messiah?

The response of Agrippa can be summed up by saying that he is not ready to join the Christians in this believing Jesus stuff.  He literally says, “In a little, you persuade me to become a Christian.”  It is traditionally taken to mean that he is almost persuaded, but not quite.  Others see here an ironical statement or even a question.  Do you persuade me to be a Christian in such a little time?  Whether Agrippa is close to believing, or actually stiff-arming Paul, the net effect is still the same.  He is not persuaded.

The truth is this.  You cannot almost believe in Jesus.  You either do or you don’t.  The term Christian here needs to be understood in its context.  It was a term of derision about a heretical group that was being quashed by the religious leaders.  Agrippa may even be shocked that Paul could consider that he would join this outcast group.

There is an old hymn called Almost Persuaded.  Here are a few of the verses:

 V. 1: Almost persuaded now to believe; Almost persuaded Christ to receive; Seems now some soul to say, Go, Spirit, go Thy way; Some more convenient day On Thee I’ll call.  Comment: notice that the decision is put off to a more convenient time.

V. 3: Almost persuaded, harvest is past!  Almost persuaded doom comes at last!  Almost” cannot avail; Almost is but to fail! Sad, sad, that bitter wail, Almost, but lost!

What a powerful statement.  Almost is but to fail.  When the question is put to people, it goes through their mind what it would mean for them to become a Christian.  To follow Jesus and live for his purposes would upend the life of everyone who does it.  What would it mean if you became a follower of Jesus?  In how many ways would your life be “ruined?”  Paul lost a career among the most prestigious Pharisees.  He lost a life of wealth, comfort and the accolades of the powerful men of society.  Yet, he gained Jesus!  He gained the favor of God the Father.

None of us can save people.  Paul couldn’t save Agrippa, but the Spirit of God was there to help Agrippa if he wanted it.  The rest of the story for Agrippa is not important to us today.  Did he ever come to faith in Jesus?  There is no record of that.  However, the key for you or for people to whom you witness is this.  You can’t always know how much the Holy Spirit has prepared a person to hear.  We must be faithful to plant the seeds of truth, water those seeds with more truth, and yet, only God can bring in the harvest.

People need to face the question.  What will you do with Jesus?  Will you now believe and follow him?   Yet, we must also know that this is a work of the Holy Spirit.   Through prayer, we can learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we may be silent so that the Spirit can incubate the message.  However, other times, we need to put the question before people, nudge them to make a decision, rather than letting the flesh just fall back into its routine once the moment has passed.

May God help us to be fully persuaded and be used of God to persuade others.

Almost Persuaded audio