Intro to Colossians 1:1-8

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/12/2016 9:03 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Intro to Colossians 1:1-8

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 1:1-8

            Message of the verses:  “1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

    “3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4  since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5  because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8  and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.”

            Let’s begin by looking at a description of the word “gospel” and then we will look at how it is defined as Biblical truth from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.  John MacArthur writes “Gospel (v. 5) is the Greek word euangelion, from which we derive the English word evangelize.  It literally means, ‘good news.’  It was used often in classical Greek to speak of the report of victory brought back from a battle.  The gospel is the good news of Jesus’ victory over Satan, sin, and death.  It is also the god news that we, too can triumph eternally over those enemies through Him.”

            Now we will look at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4  and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” and that is the good news of the gospel.  We see here that the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died to provide complete forgiveness of sins and rose again that those who believe might live forever.

            John MacArthur notes eight basis ways that Christians are to respond, and all are noted by descriptive phrases which use the gospel, and the first one is that we should proclaim the good news as seen by the example of what Jesus did as seen in Matthew 4:23 “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.”  Now this is followed by the apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and believers in all the ages, so we are to proclaim the gospel.

            Second we are “to defend its veracity.”  Paul tells us that he did this as seen in Philippians 1:16b “knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.”  Peter tells us that we are to make a defense to everyone who asks us to give an account for that hope that lies within us:  “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

            “Third, we are to work hard for the advance of the gospel.”  Philippians 1:27b tells us “I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” 

            Fourth “we are to pursue the fellowship we share with others who have believed the gospel.”  Let us look at an example of this from Acts 2:42 “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” 

            Fifth “we must be ready to suffer for the sake of the gospel.”  Example from 2 Tim. 1:8 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.”

            Sixth, “we are to make sure that our lives do not hinder the gospel.”  Example from 1 Corinthians 9:12 “If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.”

            Seventh, “we must never be ashamed of the gospel.”  This is seen in Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

            Eight, “we are to realize the gospel carries with it divine empowerment.”  Example is seen in 1 Thessalonians 1:5 “for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”

            Now in our next SD from the book of Colossians we will look at the all important salutation from verses 1-2.

12/12/2016 9:33 PM