Please turn in your Bibles this morning to the letter to the Colossians. Paul's letter to the Colossians, you'll find that on page 1142 in most of the few Bibles. It's only two sheets long, it's between Philippians and 1 Thessalonians. Last time we considered Paul's greeting, verses 1 and 2, in which he prepared these imperiled believers who were oblivious to their danger to heed the edifying warning of his letter by affirming their relationship. The Colossians knew and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. They knew themselves to be saved by grace through faith. But in the face of life struggles they were being tempted to strive after something extra that would give them the boost they needed in this life for complete victory over sin for steadfast joy in every trial and for predictable effectiveness when serving Christ. In other words, they wanted to overcome the frustrations of the Christian life. Now. And out of concern for them, Paul wrote this letter with apostolic authority to build them up in their faith in Christ. To bolster their assurance of His saving and sanctifying work. And at the same time, to warn them against forsaking Christ by turning after these extra things. Christ alone has accomplished all that needed to be done, all that can be done, for God to save sinners and to prepare them for glory. All that we need to motivate and equip us in this life is received through faith in Christ alone. Now, we continue today in verses 3 through 14, which are tightly woven together. But even though they are, there's obviously two parts here. Two parts of prayer, we might say, beginning with thanksgiving and moving into petition. In verse 3, Paul writes, we always thank God, the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. And then in verses 4 through 8, he sums up that for which they are thankful. In verses 9, Paul goes on to assure them that since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. Then in verses 9 through 14, which we'll consider next time, he identifies some weighty petitions being made to God on their behalf. So bear that structure in mind as we read God's word this morning. Again, our text will be verses 3 through 8. Hear now the word of God. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace and peace to you from God, our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints. The faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven, and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world, this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Today we'll consider, as I said, only the first part of this prayerful consideration. Paul's encouraging thanksgiving by noting its prayerful expression and also its established basis, that for which he prays. Paul seeks to encourage the Colossians with the announcement that he and Timothy are thankful to God for them and that their expression is thanks to God in prayer. We know from Paul's letters that he and Timothy and all the apostles were men of prayer. Nearly every letter includes the revelation that they were in prayer, not only for the advance of the gospel, for the expansion of the church, but also for particular churches and particular saints. They spoke to God about all these things. They practiced what Paul preached in Philippians chapter 4 where he says, In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And they did so for the Colossians. And the first thing we notice about Paul's prayerful thanksgiving is to whom it is addressed. Paul refers to God in the salutation as God, our Father. But here, he refers to God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. A unique expression in all of Paul's epistles, and there for a purpose, I'm convinced, that will become more clear as we go through the letter. But I think at least he sets it there in a way that suggests Jesus' unique relationship to God the Father that's distinct from our own. The God-man, Jesus. The Christ, the Messiah, our Lord, is the Son of his Father in a way in which we are not. God the Father is eternally above and apart from all that he has made. But God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is God come in the flesh to participate with us in it. And according to the Apostle John, chapter 1, verse 18 of his gospel, no one has ever seen God, referring to God the Father. But God, the only begotten, God the Son, has come for this purpose that we may know Him. He has come to make Him known. In the flesh on the earth, Jesus never ceased to be God. And at the right hand of God, the Father in heaven, He'll never cease to be man. He is the only begotten Son of God. Forever. We forget this. We tend to spiritualize the resurrection of Jesus. And we tend to forget that it's God in the flesh who has come and who has gone to heaven before us. And Paul sets that before us here in these brief words that he's praying to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten Son and because we have faith in Him, we've been joined to Him as the Colossians were and as are all who believe in His name. We are the adopted sons of God. Therefore, when we pray as Paul and Timothy prayed, we can pray to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also our Father. Well, secondly, we note that for whom Paul is giving thanks. For you, he says. For the Colossians. We read it so fast. what stands behind this reference to them is that it is normal in Paul's time to write letters to people and to start those letters with words of encouragement about them to acknowledge their status to praise them for their status and to congratulate them on their achievements perhaps you've received a letter that way from a credit card company that wants something from you. They tell you how good you are before they ask you for what they want. That was a practice in the Greek letter writing campaigns when people wrote letters. And Paul follows this pattern, but he does it with a twist. In verses 3 through 14, he writes encouraging words that certainly affirm their status. And all the while giving thanks to God for how he has achieved it for them. Rather than commending and congratulating them, He commands and congratulates God, in effect, by giving him thanks for that which he has done. To God be the glory. Great things he has done. And in this way, by opening this letter this way, Paul is already beginning to reorient and correct the perspective of his readers who are being tempted to take responsibility and credit for their own status and their own achievements in the spiritual life. And it's to these people that have that temptation, to any of us who have that temptation. False teachers will promote programs and techniques that have the appearance of wisdom. They'll have self-imposed worship and false humility that will lead people away from Christ, in the name of Christ. So already Paul is beginning to change their perspective, to change our perspective as we read this letter. See, Paul is working to prevent in the Colossians what had happened to the Corinthians, whom Paul had to write and admonish when he said in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not? The Corinthians were convinced that the good things that they were enjoying were their own doing. And that in order to have more of it, they needed to do more. Paul says, already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. In other words, Christ is all you need. You don't need anything else. He had to admonish the Corinthians and he's trying to prevent the Colossians from going into that same error. Therefore, when he writes these words to them, he's not trying to boost their self-esteem. He's not trying to butter them up for what's coming later. He's telling them a truth that we need to remember. That all the blessings that they enjoyed and all the blessings that we enjoy are the gracious gifts of God that have been purchased by Christ and for which Paul and Timothy give thanks, for which we can give thanks. And by his example, Paul reminds them and through them us of the plenty that God has provided in Christ. And he encourages us to gratitude and to contentment with what he provides. Paul also tells the Colossians that he thanked God for them always. Now, when Paul says in verse 3, we always thank God when we pray for you. And in verse 9, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. He's not claiming that they prayed nonstop for the Colossians or even that they prayed nonstop at all. I think the Colossians need to know this. And we need to know this. They were tempted to think that they were not victorious in the Christian life because they weren't praying all the time. Well, among other things, Paul had sermons to preach and letters to write and lessons to lead and visits to make. And besides all that, he had tents to make. So prayer was one aspect of his ministry. Important, to be sure. Paul is encouraging the Colossians with the knowledge that when he and Timothy did pray, which was frequently and regularly for them and for the churches and for other saints, that whenever they prayed for them, they did so with thanksgiving to God for them, for these brothers and sisters whom they'd never met. Now, prayer for the saints is not restricted to the apostles, people of God. Each of us is free and encouraged to pray for the saints, generally, in particular, those that we know and those that we don't. Many of you know the privilege and the pleasure, the delight in praying for the saints. Many of you get the email that Brenda sends out, that people share their Thanksgivings and their requests. And many of you take those emails and you pick up the phone and you call someone else to tell them what they need to know. What a privilege it is that we have to do that. And what a privilege it is to do that even for those things that we know about that no one else knows about. So prayer for the saints is the purview of all believers. But it's also true that prayer for the saints remains part of the apostolic ministry that Paul began, that Timothy carried on, as part of the ministry carried on by ordained officers in the church today. It is a calling that is particularly for them. you may or may not be aware, our church order, the church order of the United Reformed Churches in North America, rightly identifies the primary duty, the primary duty of ministers and elders and deacons is to be continuing in prayer. And they do. For the duties that they have to perform, they pray for themselves. And they pray for you. They pray for you. And just as Epaphras helped Paul and Timothy to pray with knowledge about the Colossians, let me encourage you to help the officers God has ordained for you to pray for you with knowledge. Share with them your thanksgivings. Make known to them your needs. That when they remember you in prayer, they can pray with knowledge. They can give thanks. And they can offer petitions. It is an ongoing ministry in the life of the church. Well, we've seen how Paul and Timothy's thanksgiving to God in ongoing prayer for the Colossians was to be an encouragement to them. And I pray it's an encouragement for you. But now we turn our attention to the established basis for which Paul gives thanks. This basis is discovered in what Paul has come to know about them. Verse 4 begins, Because we have heard. Again, Paul had never met these people. Because we have heard. Introduces, through verse 8, a summary of what God is doing in them and what God has already done for them. You see, the Colossians were publicly professing faith in Christ. Paul says, We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints. And Paul says in chapter 2, verse 6, that they had received Christ as Lord. They were no longer set apart from one another as Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. Together they professed faith in Christ. And in Him they were set apart from the world. They trusted that they were right with God, that they were justified, that all their sins had been taken away and that the righteousness of Christ had been given to them. They professed faith in Christ. Now the Apostle James warns us that faith by itself, if not accompanied by actions, is dead. You may know it. Faith without works is dead. In other words, it's not enough just to say, I believe. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus. As the saying goes, talk is cheap. Evidence that your faith, your profession, your belief is true, that your faith is saving faith, the kind of faith that James is talking about, is revealed in your walk, how you live. And this is because it's the Spirit of God who is at work in both. True faith is created through the Gospel, by the Holy Spirit. And it's the Holy Spirit who displays His work in us by what we call the fruit of the Spirit. Paul sums up this fruit in Galatians 5, verse 22. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these there is no law. It's the work of God in His people. And in verse 8, Paul describes the Colossians' love that they have for all the saints as love in the Spirit. love in the Spirit. And what is this love? Is it a warm feeling? Maybe. Is it born out of like for someone? Could be. But even if those two aren't present, it can still be love in the Spirit, which Jesus commanded in John chapter 15, that we love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he laid out his life for his friends. This love that is the work of the Spirit is selfless love. Sacrificial love. Love that puts the needs of others above our own. Love that is on the lookout for what can be done for someone else. And where this love is present, this greatest fruit of the Spirit, The Spirit is present. And true faith is found. This love is modeled after God's own love toward us in Christ. Which Paul reveals in chapter 5 of Romans, verse 8. God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And when we know this love, when we know the love of God the Father for us in Jesus Christ our Lord, according to 1 John chapter 4, We love because he first loved us. In fact, John continues, such love is self-evident. If anyone says, I love God and yet hates his brother, he's a liar. The Spirit's not present. There is no true faith. But Paul reports that he has heard of the faith they have in Christ Jesus and the love that they have for all the saints, this love in the Spirit. And these together bear witness of what God is doing in them. Which is according to verse 6, just what he is doing all over the world. What he was doing there, what God was doing there, he was doing everywhere. Wherever the gospel was heard, he was working. What God was doing then, he continues to do now. And he'll continue to do all the days that it takes until Christ comes again. Until he has rescued every last one of his chosen from every tribe, nation, people, and tongue, he continues to work in his people to create faith that expresses itself in love for the saints. Well, this work that was evident in the Colossians, what God was doing in his people, this fruit results from what God had already done for them, the root. Paul directs the Colossians from this fruit to its root in verses 5 and 6. And there he reminds us that it is the word of truth, the gospel, the good news of what God has done for His people in Jesus Christ that has come to them. And it is the gospel that all over the world is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among the Colossians. It's the gospel that's the root. And what is this gospel? Paul just mentions it here. He describes it these many ways, but he just mentions it. He doesn't unpack it. And he will in days ahead, as we consider this text, in wonderful and marvelous ways, unique in all the New Testament. For today, I would call to your mind probably the simplest summary of the Gospel in Scripture from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, where Paul summarizes this Gospel beginning in verse 3. The Gospel is, to make it clear, That Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. That he was buried. That he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. And that he was seen. That he appeared to witnesses. Even Paul. And then, in verse 20 of chapter 15, he goes on to say that Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as in Adam, all die. So in Christ, all will be made alive. But each in his own turn. Christ, the firstfruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him. In Romans chapter 1, Paul calls this gospel, the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. It announces not only the historical fact that the God-man, Jesus Christ, died, was buried, was raised on the third day to life eternal in the body. It also promises and guarantees to everyone who trusts in Him the hope of our own resurrection in the body forever and ever. This is the hope that Paul refers to here. He talks about faith, hope, and love in many places in Scripture and almost always from the standpoint of our experience that we experience faith, that we have love, that we have hope. But here, he talks about our faith and our love that we experience, but he talks about the hope that is outside of us. The resurrection. This is the hope from which faith and love spring, he says. It's objective. It's certain. It's stored up for you in heaven, he says in verse 5. And in verse 12, Paul calls it the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. It's more certain than any earthly inheritance. Through faith in Christ, it's already ours. It can never be taken away and we will realize it fully at the return of Christ. It is, as Peter says, an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time. That is the Christian hope. And we long for that day when this hope will be realized. When our faith will be sight. When God himself will be with us and be our God. When he will wipe away every tear. And there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things life as we know it with all of its trials and frustrations setbacks and failures will have passed away. At that time we will no longer be able to sin only able with delight to obey God perfectly joyfully eternally. This hope is certain this hope is certain because the God who promised it is the God who secured it in Jesus Christ and it's God who grants us the grace to put our trust in Him for it salvation is all of God and Paul reminds the Colossians that God has also done this for them not only had they already heard it verse 5 and understood God's grace and all its truth verse 6 and learned it verse 7 They had trusted God for it. They have faith in Christ Jesus. Children, you've been memorizing Heidelberg question and answer 21. What is true faith? Well, it's not only a certain knowledge by which I hold for true. Everything God revealed in His Word is true. It's not only knowing. It's not only understanding. It's not only learning. It's a deep-rooted assurance. Created in me through the gospel, by the Holy Spirit. That the salvation that Christ has accomplished is not just possible. It's not out there for just others. It's for me too. It's God who grants the grace to trust Him for it. Well, not only has God accomplished salvation in the cross of Christ and given His people faith to believe it, He's also ordained messengers to announce the good news to them, that the gap may be bridged between what Christ has accomplished once for all and what the Holy Spirit applies to each individual child of God. In Romans chapter 10, Paul quotes the word of the Lord from Joel. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That's the promise. That's the gospel promise. And this promise raised some questions for Paul, important questions. He says, how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless someone is sent? You see, unless the work of Christ accomplished on the cross is communicated to those who need it, it can't be applied. The answer to each of these questions is they can't. They can't unless God clears all those hurdles. And God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ had overcome all these hurdles for the Colossians by sending them Epaphos. Paul endorsed his ministry in verse 7, identifying him as our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf. God had bridged the gap. Paul had never been there. Timothy had never been there. But God sent Epiphas with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was beloved by Paul and Timothy, like them, a slave to Christ, dedicated to and totally dependent upon Christ for everything. He was faithful in proclaiming the gospel. Therefore, the Colossians had profited from listening to him in the past, as the evidence has clearly shown. And they would be wise to continue to listen to him and heed his instruction rather than giving ear to the enticements of those who would lead them away from Christ by chasing after something extra. The people of God, we need to know today that this apostolic ministry carried on by ministers like Timothy and like Epaphos continues today. God continues to send men to preach the gospel so the gospel can be heard. So that those who are here can believe in Christ and those who believe can call on His name and be saved. He has done it today, as He does every Lord's Day. People of God, be encouraged by the thanksgiving given in prayer for the Colossians in this letter. It reminds you that God continues to create faith in Christ and love for all the saints in all who believe the Gospel. The gospel continues to be preached to you. The certain hope of the resurrection continues to be set before you. And while you wait for it, as the Colossians waited, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. His finished work is utterly sufficient and eternally effective for all that we need in this life and for the next. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that as we read this letter today, we can be mindful that that which you have done for the Colossians, that which you were doing for them that day, continues to be that which you have accomplished and that which you do for your people everywhere, at every time. And that you will continue to do so until the coming of Christ. We thank you, Father, for the work of Christ. that's sufficient not only for our salvation but also for our sanctification and that, Lord, indeed it is and will be effective. We thank you, Father, that the testimony to his work has been preserved in your word and has been passed down from generation to generation, that it continues to be preached to believer and unbeliever alike, Lord, and extend the promise of salvation to whoever will believe. and promise the certain hope of our resurrection to glory one day. Lord, we thank you for the gift of faith that we have heard and believe this is so. And Lord, we pray for anyone here who does not have that faith that they would long for what you have offered, Lord, life eternal, free from sin and misery. in your presence forever. That they would hear and understand the gospel. That they would long to know Jesus Christ. That they would call on his name and be saved. We ask all this in Christ's name. Amen.