Colossians 1:21-2:3 Kasey Castillo
Be Willing, on a Daily Basis, to say, “I will. I will trust You, Lord”
Good morning, everyone! If I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet, my name is Kasey. And I do want to say I am humbled and honored to be able to share with you thing morning.
A few months ago, I was in a very bad place. I was sad. I had a bout of depression (I know this because years ago I had chronic depression, so I know exactly what it feels like.) One Thursday night–in the midst of this–I shared about it all at Testify and some of you were there, so you heard it all. Of course, I knew in my head the Grace of God, but I wasn’t It was horrible. I haven’t felt that way in years and years and believing it. I had not felt this way i years. It was horrible. But one day, a few weeks after Testify, it literally simply lifted. It went completely away. Praise God. But one of the good things that came from it was that it reminded me of how hopeless I was when I was going through it and how I believe Jesus saved me from it. And it helps me have even more compassion for someone who may be experiencing that today. Before we get started, let’s pray.
What is our goal for today? let’s take a quick peek ahead: look at the end of your handout, Colossians 2:1-2 says Paul wanted something so badly he agonized over it: he wanted them, he wants us–to get all of the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of Christ.
I want to clarify what this wealth is. Genuine wealth is knowing these three things:
1. It is knowing His grace:
Ephesians 1:7 says, 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.
2. It is knowing the Hope of His calling
Ephesians 1:18 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
3. It is to be strengthened with Power through His Spirit
Ephesians 3:16that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
Sounds wonderful! I want to know His grace, the hope of His calling and to be strengthened with the Power through His Spirit. Bring it on!
Obviously, God has exceedingly done His part. What is our part in this?
Do you see the little image at the top of your handout with the wedding rings and the wedding vow, “I will.” With this wedding vow, a bride would express her deliberate decision to love, honor, cherish and remain faithful to her husband, regardless of the circumstances she may encounter with her groom And, it represents what Paul is exhorting the Colossian church–and us! to do in the passage we are going over today.
Our part is to be willing to make the marriage vow to Christ, “I will. I will trust You, Lord.”
Let’s go over our points today so you get the big picture:
1. Background/Where We Are in the book of Colossians
2. Our Lives Before We Received the Gospel
3. The Gospel’s Assurance of Our Salvation: Reconciliation
4. The Requirement of Remaining in the faith of the Gospel
5. Gaining the Genuine Wealth that Comes with a Life Built on the Gospel
1. Background/Where We are in the book of Colossians
The church at Colossae was in trouble because of the ungodly influences in the city. As we know, Paul couldn’t be with them–he was in prison. He had never even met them. But he loved them dearly. In today’s passage, we are going to see Paul pour out his heart to the Colossian church and beseech them, plead with them in a way. It seems that he has caught word that they were at risk of being persuaded to adopt beliefs outside of Christ. So, he is going to exhort them to stick with Christ and look nowhere else.
Last week, Donna did a beautiful job laying out the passage establishing Jesus Christ the creator and sustainer of all things, the head of the church, and the one through whom God reconciles all creation to himself through his sacrificial death.
And this is where we pick up.
2. Our Lives Before We Received the Gospel
❖ _21 And although you were previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds,
Paul is well acquainted with being alienated from God and having a hostile attitude. Paul was violently aggressive toward Christians. Paul was present during The Stoning of Stephen. Paul approved of Stephen’s stoning. You can read about it in Acts 7:54 - 8:3. It says Paul began to destroy the church. Wow.
Paul lived for himself. He was empowered by pride and hatred, doing his will always. One reason I believe Paul was exceedingly mature in Christ is this foundation: he deeply understood the severity of his sinful conduct and God’s grace in forgiving him. It was Paul’s springboard for a deep, gratitude-filled, tender-hearted relationship with Jesus Christ. It made him willing, on a daily basis, to say, “I will. I will trust you, Lord”
3. The Gospel’s Assurance of Our Salvation: Reconciliation
➢ _22 yet He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death,
■ in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—
Paul is saying here that now that we have put our trust in the completed work of Christ on the cross, God has made it, so we are in harmony with Him. That is what reconciled means, to bring into harmony. And with this harmony, He has
slammed the gavel down as a judge would in a court and deemed us judicially free of all charges of sin. Psalm 103:12 says, 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
What I would like to do right now is give you a perspective on the word reconciliation that for me, gives it so much more power than the traditional definition of “to bring into harmony.” I am going to explain to you how it actually means more of proving that two things or people are in harmony.
I am an accountant–I am kind of strange in that I really love finance and accounting, economics, the whole nine yards. I have worked in the business world in various forms for 35 years give or take a few. As a CPA I have worked for global companies, family-owned companies–boutique accounting firms–global accounting firms. You get the picture–I have a lot of experience in financial reporting. And I cannot express to the importance, in accounting, of the reconciliation. You understand what a reconciliation is, I am sure. You reconcile your bank account. You compare what you have either written down or in an app against your bank statement. You make sure the two sources are in harmony, right. And after you do that, you have absolute assurance of how much money you have (or don’t have) in that account.
But what If an investor wants to know the financial health or sickness of a company, what are they going to do? They are going to review the company’s financial statements, right? How do they know they can trust the information? Because the financial statements have been audited. And very interestingly: what are the firms in our world called that audit financial statements? Assurance Services. One of the requirements of getting a CPA license for me was I needed 2,000 hours of audit. So back in the day, I audited a lot of financial statements of very big, huge entities.
And what does the auditor do when they audit these statements? They verify the reconciliation of each and every account. This gives everyone ASSURANCE, PROOF that the information is true.
You know the stock market ticker board with the continuous stream of stock symbols and prices? All of that information analyzed on Wall Street is based on
reconciliation. The reconciliations are proof that the information analyzed is accurate. It is a very powerful word in the financial accounting world.
And I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Paul had an understanding of this powerful sense of the word when he used it here. And then when you add the fact that God’s in the equation. Boom. Done. God has reconciled you to Himself through Christ. This is a powerful statement of proof that you have a perfect standing with God. Your judicial standing, due to having been reconciled, is that you are holy, blameless, perfect in God’s sight.
4. The Requirement of Remaining in the faith of the Gospel
23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and
- not shifting from
◆ _t_h_e_ _h_o_p_e_ _o_f_ _t_h_e_ _g_o_s_p_e_l_ _t_h_a_t_ _y_o_u_ _h_a_v_e_ _h_e_a_r_d_, _ _
it is so vitally important that we understand this. If we have a firm understanding of this, it will help us attain to all the wealth–the grace, hope and power of the Holy Spirit. And the better we know God, and His character, the more we will be willing, on a daily basis, to say, “I will. I will trust You, Lord.”
I have three points I want to make regarding this difficult verse: 1. We cannot ignore it. We need to address it. 2. Because of our sin nature, we are bent to automatically think we are on our own and 3. This warning is addressing our heart-attitude; our will.
Point 1. We can’t ignore it. There are warnings all over the Bible on this topic. I noted some Scriptures you can look at on your own if you’d like that address these warnings. But one I’d like to note this morning is John 15:6, Jesus said, 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
This is a very sobering verse.
Point 2. Because of our sin nature, we read this verse and our go-to response is we are left all alone to deal with it–I get this vision of a person desperately hanging on to a life raft in the middle of the ocean. But this is UNTRUE. We are not alone to meet this condition of staying in the faith.
A central theme in the entire Bible, is that the root of sin is our desire to live independently from God. It is so deeply embedded in our sinful nature. I think Isaiah 53:6 says it so pointedly: 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
But notice what this verse in our passage does NOT say: It does not say, “if indeed you continue being a good person, trying your best not to sin.” It does not say that. It does not mean, if you slip up, you’re going to Hell. No way. It does not mean, you got to pull yourself up by the bootstrap and do better; you got to try harder. No, it doesn’t. But we tend to go there all the time because of our sin nature.
Point 3: This passage is addressing our heart-attitude toward God–our will. Are we willing to live DEPENDENT OH HIM. I love the verse in Hebrews because it is so simple I can easily grasp it; without faith it is impossible to please God.
It says, “if indeed you continue in the faith.” It means great things. That’s why it is called the gospel---or the good news. It is nothing to be afraid of. But it something to be aware of.
It is an attitude check. What is your heart condition? Do you come to Jesus as a bride, tender-hearted and saying, “I will! I will trust You Lord?”
Or do you have an ungrateful, prideful heart toward God—unphased by the reconciliation we talked about, and the deeds of your flesh are reigning in your life. You’re continually practicing sin, and you do not care.
Galatians 5:19-21 says, 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In our passage this morning, we know that Paul’s end goal is for us to attain the wealth of knowing–the wealth of assurance of our salvation. But in truth, God does not want anyone to have any assurance of eternal salvation when they
have that ungrateful, prideful heart. He doesn’t want anyone to be comfortable in this condition.
Only you and God know your heart-attitude. Your heart-attitude toward God is everything. Are you willing to say, “I will. I will trust You, Lord”
So, if you’re here this morning and you have a willing heart, if you are grateful for what Jesus did for you on the cross and you have a desire to say, “I will! I will trust You, Lord” you have absolutely positively nothing to be concerned about it. You are the bride of Christ.
And this is a beautiful segue to number 5.
5. Gaining the Genuine Wealth that Comes with a Life Built on the Gospel
❖ _24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
➢ _and in my flesh I am supplementing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions on behalf of His body, which is the church.
Paul recognizes that his attitude in his suffering is a powerful testimony, with purpose: to encourage the church that with Christ, all things are possible through Christ–even having a rejoicing heart in the midst of suffering. This is a beautiful fruit from walking in the Spirit. And now we will jump to verse 28:
❖ _28 We proclaim Him,
➢ _a_d_m_o_n_i_s_h_i_n_g_ _e_v_e_r_y_ _p_e_r_s_o_n_ _a_n_d_ _
➢ _t_e_a_c_h_i_n_g_ _e_v_e_r_y_ _p_e_r_s_o_n_ _
■ with all wisdom,
- so that we may present every person complete in Christ.
Once again, Paul’s desire is to spur the church to maturity, that is what Complete in Christ means. It means maturity in Christ.
Chapter 2:
❖ _2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have
➢ _i_n_ _y_o_u_r_ _b_e_h_a_l_f_ _a_n_d_ _
➢ _f_o_r_ _t_h_o_s_e_ _w_h_o_ _a_r_e_ _a_t_ _L_a_o_d_i_c_e_a_, _ _a_n_d_ _
➢ _f_o_r_ _a_l_l_ _t_h_o_s_e_ _w_h_o_ _h_a_v_e_ _n_o_t_ _p_e_r_s_o_n_a_l_l_y_ _s_e_e_n_ _m_y_ _f_a_c_e_, _ _
■ 2 that their hearts may be encouraged,
- having been knit together in love,
■ and that they would attain to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding,
- resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery,
◆ _that is, Christ Himself,
So, we set out this morning knowing Paul’s deep desire for us
to get all of the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of Christ. To know His grace; to know the Hope of His calling and to be strengthened with Power through His Spirit. The more we know God, the more we understand His character, the more growth we experience in trusting Him and obeying Him.
And we have been learning that to get their we must be willing, on a daily basis, to say, “I will. I will trust You Lord.” We start there. That is the springboard. Then we develop three beautiful habits
1. We read our Bibles. If you aren’t in the habit of this, I want to encourage you to get in the habit. Have a set time and place for you to meet with the Lord each and every day. I always encourage my kids, read the Bible. Not books about the Bible (although they are not bad) but the Bible. The Bible is a supernatural book. A book like no other, that will change you from the inside out. It will. Hebrews 4:12 says,
12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
2. Meet with other Christians, and be knit together in love, praying for each other. Paul says in Romans 12:15, 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and
weep with those who weep” We want that close interpersonal relationship with our family in Christ.
3. Lock arms with your Groom, Christ, and walk with Him all day, every day. And get into the habit of trusting Him with everything: not only trials, but temptations. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
I have a little Helpful Habit that is there on the bottom of page 2 of your handout. It is simply a helpful habit, not a formula for success that is not what I am trying to achieve here. But it might help some of you. It is a first letter mnemonic using SPIRIT to get into the habit of going to Christ with everything all day, every day with every situation.
First Letter S: STOP. Get into the habit of stopping–that’s 90% of the battle right there. Stop and seek Christ before you say something or do something and then whoa, things spiral quickly.
P - Pray. Take it to God, ask for Help from the Holy Spirit. Ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the One who has the POWER!
I - this is for Intellect. Recall all of the goodness, grace, promises of God. My absolute favorite verse here is Matthew 7:11. If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
R - Receive His Grace. Put out your hands and Receive His powerful grace and make that statement,
The I in the mnemonic: “I will. I will trust You, Lord”.
And T, Thank Him, because I guarantee you, He just answered that prayer from His willing Bride.
You get into these three habits, you will see abundant fruit in your life, you will attain all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ
We are in for a wonderful life, where, although trials and temptations come, we will have victory because of our wealth in Christ
