Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians. We're going to consider a small portion of Colossians 1, the first eight verses of that book. I'm going to try to begin something of a study with you. I know I won't have the opportunity to preach regularly to you, but when I do, I'll be preaching from Colossians. So I look forward to that, and I hope you do as well. Colossians chapter 1, we're going to, as I said, consider verses 1 through 8. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. We don't write letters all that much today, do we? But when we do write a letter or, let's say, an email of sorts, we do so for reasons, right? we sit down we put pen to paper and we have a reason for writing what we write my daughters have taken up writing letters to their friends in northern california with the move they started doing that and they have reasons their reasons are to you know catch up with old friends to stay in contact with them to share with their friends some of the new things going on in their lives. Well, this letter here written by Paul, too, comes with some reasons. And this opening section presents us with three reasons that Paul writes this letter. The first is that Paul is an apostle. He's an apostle of Jesus Christ. The second is that this is a church. It's the church at Colossae. And third, something has been heard. Something has been heard. And so these are our points this evening. The reasons for this letter is that Paul is an apostle writing to the church at Colossae and writing to them about something that has been heard. Well, let's begin with our first point, shall we? This was written because Paul is an apostle. Paul here announces just with the opening, the very first word he says is Paul. This is Paul. He announces who he is, the author of this letter now for us here tonight this is something of an obvious statement right we know who the apostle paul is he's the man who formerly persecuted the church he's the man who in acts 8 tells us was was ravaging the church going from house to house taking christians men and women and putting them in prison he was the man who in acts 9 was breeding threats and murder against the apostles he was the man who was then after persecuting the church so harshly harshly amazingly converted to faith in jesus christ he was the man that jesus appeared to the glorified resurrected christ appeared to personally he was the one that jesus said he would set apart unto himself and that he would take this man paul and he would use him as his own instrument to bring his name to the Gentiles. Now we know this about Paul, don't we? We know these details about who he is. And so again, this is something of an obvious statement when we read here. This is Paul. We can so easily just gloss over it. But you see, the church at Colossae may not have known all of those things. You see, at this point, at the point in the time of the writing and receiving of this letter, the Christians at Colossae had never met Paul. They never met him. Paul tells us in chapter 2, verse 1, he says, I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face. Paul had never met these Christians. These Christians had never met him. Now, they probably most likely would have heard who paul was and so they may have had a a general sense of who he is but they don't know him personally and that makes a difference doesn't it that makes a difference in the receiving or the writing and receiving of a letter because here is paul and he's writing to them as an apostle he writes to them in this official sense you see paul's not writing to them to see what's new in their lives as my daughters might be doing with their friends he doesn't write to them to to check in on the textile industry in Colossae he doesn't write to them to see how the economy in Colossae is doing having the the the the road that connects Colossae to other major cities being shifted over to Ephesus he doesn't write to them for any of those reasons does he he writes because of who he is an apostle of jesus christ by the will of god and again that reason would shape the writing and the receiving of this letter many of you don't know me a few of you do but many of you don't know me all that well you know me as the new pastor of congregational life here at Escondido URC. And so if I was to call you, if I was to take to the phone and give you a phone call, at some point you would probably wonder, Pastor Contreras, why are you calling me? Right? Certainly, because I call you in this official sense as your pastor. I'm not in the habit of calling you. We don't really have a relationship, do we, other than what we know here. Well, that's how Paul comes to these people. He writes to them as an apostle. One who writes to these Christians in that official sense. Again, he's not a neighboring pastor. He's not a friend from around the way. He's Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Now, what is an apostle? What is an apostle? Well, the word apostle has a range of meanings in Paul's letters. In Philippians 2.25, it means a messenger, as when Paul says, I thought it necessary to send to you Apaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger, your apostolos. Apostle could also mean a recognized missionary, as in 1 Corinthians 9.5. Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and brother of the Lord in Cephas? But the way, again, that Paul intends this word to be taken in the opening of this letter is in its official sense. As one who has been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, a representative of Christ, an ambassador of Christ, as Paul says elsewhere. And as one who is commissioned by Jesus, Paul has a message to proclaim. He has a truth to share. You see, the apostles served as a foundational role in the life and existence of the church and the people of God. And that's what Paul alludes to when he says in Ephesians 2, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone. An apostle in the official sense were men called, commissioned by Christ himself to take his message, his gospel, to the churches and ultimately to the ends of the world. And that's really why there are no longer apostles today. The office of the apostles was a foundational office. It was an office which laid a foundation. It set in place for others to build upon. It was the office which gave us the very Word of God, the very Word of Christ to Christ's people. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation. Someone else is building upon it. Lady Chuan, take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. What is the foundation? It's Christ. Where do we have that foundation laid? In the Scriptures. In the Scriptures. Because let's face it, the church at Colossae no longer exists, does it? The church at Philippi no longer exists. The church at Ephesus no longer exists. But you see, it's not about a continual succession of any particular church. It's about the message. And what is that message? It's what we have here contained in 66 books in the Bible. It's that message of redemption. This epistle being one of those books written to the Christians at Colossae. And so this letter was written by Paul. Paul. And he must lay the foundation that he lays in this book. He must bring this message to bear upon the lives of these Christians here. And so this letter would have been received as authoritative, wouldn't it in heaven? It would have been received as authoritative, coming from the hands of Jesus' appointed emissary. He's the apostle of Paul by the will of God. And so with this information, how do you think the Christians at Colossae would have thought of this letter, having received it? They would have, again, thought of it as something official, something formal, something binding upon them, something from Christ himself through his apostle. It would have been in their minds something that came with authority, all authority, something that they should listen to, something that they should subject their lives to, place themselves under. This was from Paul, the apostle of Christ, the man specifically called by Jesus to bring his message to Christians throughout the world. And so it's a formal message, formal letter. So it should be taken serious. Paul says in chapter 4, verse 16, he says, And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of Laodicea. This letter and its truths was supposed to be circulated among God's people. Still being circulated today, right? Wherever God's people gather together to worship Him and hear from His Word, this letter is still written, or it's still read, it's still heard, it's still binding upon God's people. It's the very Word of God, active, living, useful for teaching, correcting, reproving, training in righteousness. And so I ask you tonight, how do you receive God's Word? Do you take it as binding upon you and your conscience? Do you take it as the very Word of God? Do you subject yourself and your entire life to it? Why have you come here this evening? Have you come to just hear from an old book? Maybe to hear the opinion of some man? To hear of traditional practices that people have done for years and years? I hope not. I hope not. See, imagine being in the church at Colossae. You hear that the Apostle Paul has written you a letter and your church. You'd make sure to be there, wouldn't you, to hear that letter read, to hear that letter explained, preach, apply to your life. We should do the same today, shouldn't we? This is Scripture, God's very words to His people. And so the question for us tonight is, are we making use of it? Are we making use of Scripture? Are we submitting ourselves to it? Are we devoting ourselves to it? Are we allowing it to influence every area of our lives? Do we read it in the morning? Do we consider it throughout our day? Do we read it in the evening? Are we using it at family devotions? Are we making the most of God's very Word to us? We should, because that's what it is. It's God's Word. So this is the first reason that Paul writes, because he is an apostle. Well, the second reason that we consider tonight is that this is a church at Colossae. Paul says in verse 2, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae. Paul writes this letter to these people because they are a church. They're Christians. He doesn't write to them because they share a particular ethnic background. He doesn't write to them because they all agree on a specific way to overthrow the Roman magistrate. He doesn't write to them because they're all of the same social class. He writes to them because they are a church of Jesus Christ. They're the church at Colossae. Paul expresses this when he calls them saints and faithful brothers in Christ. Two things that I want to focus on here in what he says. First, being in Christ. In Christ refers to being in Christ as opposed to being in Adam. Paul says in Galatians 3, There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. The important point here is that these Christians are in Christ. In Christ is a favorite way of Paul to speak of when referring to Christians. Christians are in Christ. They were once in Adam. They were once of the world. But now they've been called out of darkness and are now in Christ. Their physical location may be in Colossae. It may be in Ephesus. You may even be in Escondido, California. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is whether you are in Christ. See, Paul has much to say in this book about being in Christ. If you look down with me at chapter 1, verses 15 through 23, it's titled in our ESV Bibles, The Preeminence of Christ. Paul begins this book by laying the foundation for Christians. Christ is that foundation. We may be in the world, we may be different in all kinds of ways, but if we're in Christ, we have an identity that supersedes anything else that we could ever identify with. we're in christ we're christians and paul gives us the most helpful way of thinking about this as uh when he says in chapter 2 verse 6 if you would turn with me just there briefly one page over if you're using my bible chapter 2 verse 6 he says therefore as you received christ jesus the lord so walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught abounding in thankfulness paul's speaking of abiding in christ isn't he abiding in christ see as christians everything hinges upon us being connected to christ rooted in him built up in him established in him abiding in him our lives our existence everything we think everything we do everything we say hinges upon us being in christ abiding in him identifying with him are you in christ are you in christ you're either in christ or you aren't you see spiritually you have to be somewhere there's no neutral ground you're either in christ or you're in adam spiritually speaking it doesn't even matter if you're in a church even if you're a member in a church you may be a member of this church but if you're not in christ and that membership is for nothing doesn't matter you might as well be in timbuktu spiritually because wherever you are you are not in Christ and if you're not in Christ then you're in Adam and if you're in Adam then you are still dead in your sins and if you are in Adam then the law of God still hangs over you ready to crush you and if you're in Adam then there is no reconciliation for you with God your sins are not forgiven there's no peace no grace no love there's no hope there's just a fearful expectation of judgment as scripture teaches us so here's the important question another important question how do how does one enter into christ how can one be in christ and the answer is by faith isn't it by faith in christ by faith we look to christ jesus by faith we trust in him for the forgiveness of our sins by faith we trust in his life his death his resurrection and ascension. If you're trusting in Jesus Christ, then you are in Christ. And if you're in him, then as Paul says here, you are a saint, a saint, a saint and a faithful member of Christ. And again, this is why Paul is writing this letter. He's writing to those who are in Christ Jesus. He's writing to saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, what is a saint. We can make much of that term, can't we? Reverend Gordon used a movie illustration this morning, so I thought I would use one as well. One of my favorite movies is The Count of Monte Cristo. Maybe you've seen it. If you have, then you know there's this kind of famous saying in that movie where the priest who is in jail with Edmund Dantes, after being found out that he's been lying for a number of years he says i'm a priest not a saint and we might chuckle at that right because we understand what he means by that people today make much of the term saint we we think of saints as a special class of christians they're super christians right those who are especially blessed by god but that's not the way the bible uses the term saint a saint in the biblical sense is someone who has been set apart by god set apart in christ the greek word itself that's used here is the word holy holy what does it mean to be holy it means to be set apart nothing is holy in and of itself except for god but god can make things holy can't he he made ordinary bowls cups and utensils holy in the old testament he even made a people group holy right He made Israel holy unto Himself. And He still does that today. When you trust by faith in Jesus Christ, you are in Christ, set apart. You can be sure that in His eyes you are a saint. Yes, He will continue to make you holy in your character, but we know that that's a process, isn't it? That's a process. But if we're in Christ, then we're certainly set apart unto Christ. do you see yourself as holy you see yourself as set apart unto christ is that your identity do you realize that you have been set apart to god and to his purposes as a christian do you identify with this truth do you identify with being in christ you see people today identify with all kinds of different things don't they they identify with particular orientations they identify with genders they identify with interests and hobbies sports teams and even particular people groups now even though the world does identify with these worldly things i do have to say the world does a pretty good job of identifying with such things they know what it means to identify with such things you see you'll never see a Padres fan wearing Dodger gear will you and why wouldn't you because they don't identify with that team it would be a betrayal of the team that they identify with Christians on the other hand I think we struggle to identify with being in Christ I think we struggle to identify with the fact that we've been set apart into Christ We're saints, Christians, part of the church of Jesus Christ. Again, this is the reason Paul writes this letter. He wants these Christians to walk in the very same manner in which they have received Christ. Rooted and built up in Him. Established in the faith. Established by faith. Abiding in Christ. Are we doing this? Are we walking in the manner that we have received Christ? by faith rooted and trusting in Him? Or are we mixing our identities? Maybe when we're in church services on Sundays, we identify with Christ. But then once we walk out of this building, we identify with all kinds of different things. Maybe we're like fair weather fans. You know what a fair weather fan is, right? When the team is doing well, that person identifies with that team. And then when another team does well, they identify with that team. See, Paul writes this letter to these Christians because he wants them to identify with Christ, to abide in him, to remain in him. He wants to encourage them to do that. He wants to point them to the one in whom they have been set apart unto. Well, the last reason that Paul writes this letter is because something has been heard. This final section, verses 3 through 8, is Paul's personal report to this church of his prayer for them. He says, beginning at verse 3, We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Paul says here that he prays for these people in Colossae because he has heard about their faith. It's interesting, but Paul uses some form of the word heard here four times. Once in verse 4, which I just read. Then again in verse 5, he says, Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of this you have heard. Then in verse 6, after speaking of the gospel, bearing fruit among them, he says, Since the day you heard it. Then finally in verse 9, And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. There's a lot of hearing going on here, right? A lot of hearing, at least reportedly, going on here. Now, if I wrote a letter to you and I used the same word over and over, then it would sound wordy, right, and redundant. But when Paul uses the same word over, he's emphasizing something, isn't he? What is it that Paul is emphasizing? He's emphasizing what these Christians have heard and received and what he has heard about their hearing and receiving. See, he writes to them because he has heard of their hearing and receiving of the message of Jesus Christ. He writes to them because of the gospel. This is a gospel-centered letter written by a gospel-centered apostle, written to a gospel-centered church calling these Christians to remain gospel-centered. And so at the center of all this hearing is the good news of Jesus Christ. It was the gospel that was shared with these people, it was the gospel that they heard and received, and that was bearing fruit in their lives. And it's this report that Paul says he has heard and so prays for regularly. You see, as I said, Paul had never met these Christians. Verse 7 tells us that a pastor by the name of Epaphras reported to Paul about this church and these Christians there. We don't even know much about Epaphras other than what Paul tells us here, that he is a faithful minister of Christ on their behalf. Epaphras was a minister in Colossae. He was probably the person who planted the church there. He was the man who reported to Paul the fruit that this church was bearing after the gospel had been preached and heard and received by them. But you see, he was probably also the man who reported to Paul the challenges that this church was facing. Although this church was a gospel-centered church, they were being challenged to give up their gospel centrality. Paul says in verse 23 of this chapter, If indeed they continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel they have heard, then they will be presented holy and above reproach. You see, there were false teachings that were arising in this church at Colossae. Paul alludes to such in the fourth verse of chapter 2, and then again in verse 8 of chapter 2. Again, turn there with me just briefly, beginning in verse 4 of chapter 2. He says this, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. And then again in verse 8, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. What we see here is the influences and the pressures that this church was facing, they weren't your typical challenges that you would imagine coming from the world. These were influences that were more subtle, more acceptable, and therefore more deceptive to these Christians. In some ways, these influences and pressures would have maybe even seemed good to these Christians. They were man-made rules that led these Christians to develop a kind of spiritual pride in themselves, to think that they were better than they really were. Those rules seemed good, not bad. It wasn't the overtly sinful things that we look out and see the world participating in. These were man-made rules, worldly nevertheless. And man-made rules can tempt any Christian, right? Tempt the Christian to put their faith in those rules and not in Christ. Same goes for us today, doesn't it? There are always these subtle pressures and influences that we face. Again, I'm not talking about the overtly sinful pressures and influences that we may immediately see as wrong. I'm talking about the more subtle ones, more acceptable sins, more deceptive influences. Like the good life, the American dream, or a kind of Christian culture that leads to complacency, pride, apathy, that religious life, if you will, that religious life that woos us into thinking that we are in Christ when we really are not. It's dangerous, isn't it? It's deceptive. And we can be deceived even when we don't know it. That's what deception does to us, doesn't it? So let me ask you something else tonight. What may be stifling your faith this evening? What may be challenging you from abiding and remaining in Christ? What is it? What may be subtly attacking you and your faith? See, I'm convinced that this church at Colossae was solid Christians. They knew the gospel. They knew Jesus Christ as the Savior. Look what Paul says of them in verse 4. He speaks of faith, love, and hope. He says, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Faith, hope, and love. Those are Christian virtues, aren't they? Tonight I look out at a church of Christians who trust in Christ, of a church full of faith, love, hope. And yet there are still influences upon us, aren't there? There are still pressures upon us as Christians. And so this book and this opening section is a good reminder to us that we too still need to remain gospel-centered. We, too, need to remain Christ-identified. We, too, need to remain in the Word of Christ. And that's what this book will do for us. That's what Paul wants to impress upon his hearers at Colossae, and by extension, us here tonight. So, yes, there are all kinds of reasons that we write letters to each other. Paul writes to this church at Colossae because he wants to impress upon them to remain in Christ. to abide in Him, to walk in this very same manner that they have received Him. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You tonight for Your Word. We thank You for the wisdom that it grants to us as Your people, Lord, opening our eyes to the subtle pressures and subtle influences of the world, Lord. Our hearts often deceive us. The world and the devil are always ready. But thanks be to Christ Jesus who has conquered sin, the world, and the devil. And so, Lord, we pray that you would use this time in your word, use this book in our lives, Lord, to continue to draw us to Christ, to cause us to continue to remain and abide in Him. We need Your Spirit, Lord. We are a people who are ever dependent upon You. And so we pray and ask, Lord, that You would open our eyes to the various ways that we might be slowly drifting, shifting, as Paul says in this book, from Christ and from You. Convict us where we need convicting, Lord. Encourage us where we need encouragement. And may you receive all the glory, all the praise. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.