Our text today is a celebration. From a heart overflowing with thanksgiving, Paul celebrates the Colossians. As we listen in, my prayer is that we will be compelled to apply what he is modeling to our lives and church. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Colossians: Alive In Christ
TEXT: Colossians 1:3-8
TITLE: Something Worth Celebrating
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
1. Growing in Thankfulness for the Church
2. Remaining Confident in the Message of the Church

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”I am grateful that early in our Christian walk we were part of a church that emphasized and prioritized the biblical practice of seeing and celebrating God’s work in one another. Sad to say, it’s a dying discipline. And as it dies, a God-ordained means of joy, comfort, and Christ-exalting worship die with it.”

“The discipline was alive and well with the Apostle Paul. He was the master of seeing and celebrating Christ in others. To be with Paul was to be reminded of God’s multi-faceted goodness toward you and love for you in Christ Jesus.”

“A hallmark of Paul’s care of the church—whether he planted it or not (Paul didn’t plant the church in Colossae)—was his thankfulness for the church. Paul was passionate about God’s people and that passion was most revealed in His thankfulness expressed for and to the local church.”

“If anyone has seen the dark underbelly of the church, it was Paul. Paul was personally involved in so much of the doctrinal and relational messiness of the first-century church, but his thankfulness for the church never waned.”

“Paul’s thankfulness is not merely a general attitude; he points out three specific things he sees in them: their faith, their love, their hope.”

“Faith. This is where true Christianity begins. John 3:16-18, Acts 16:31, Romans 4:4-5 and Ch. 10, they all teach that sinners are saved, not through behavior, through faith.”

“Whenever we talk about having faith, we have to ask—Faith in what? The world loves faith. Faith is good. Faith is an expression of a mentally healthy and balanced life—You gotta have faith. Faith in yourself. Faith in reincarnation. Faith in your faith. It doesn’t matter. So as long as you have faith something, you’re okay. The problem with that viewpoint is that there is no inherent value in faith. Faith in your faith is works. Faith must be attached to something. It’s the object of faith that has value and power.”

“Paul is clear in 4 that the object of the Colossians' faith is Jesus. They have faith in Christ Jesus. Nothing else. No one else. They are saints and faithful brothers by faith alone in Christ alone. Salvation is not something you can earn. It’s a gift that comes by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. The Colossians' faith came as they heard and understood and TRUSTED in the gospel message from Epaphras.”

“The church in Colossae, and this church, are a group of people who trust Christ personally, exclusively, and continually. This is critical because we will see in Ch 2 that their faith in Christ alone was being challenged by certain people as insufficient. So Paul encourages them by celebrating their faith in Jesus Christ.”

“Their faith in Jesus has spilled over into their relationships with one another—namely, love for one another. At the heart of the Christian life is love. It begins with a divine love initiated by God, accomplished in the gospel work of Jesus, and applied to the hearts of unlovable sinners by the Holy Spirit through faith.”

“Paul has heard of the Colossians faith working through love for one another (Galatians 5:6). So he celebrates it, he encourages them in it, and he thanks God for it because it their love for one another is evidence that their faith in Jesus alone is real and sufficient because it reflects the love of the gospel that has come to them.”

“Paul refers to their hope, not as a subjective act of hoping isolated from their faith and love, but as the basis of their faith and love. It‘s not a verb, it’s a noun. Notice 5 again. Paul thanks God for their faith and love—because of the hope laid up in heaven for you. Of this (what’s this—it’s hope) you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel. In other words, the object of hope is Christ himself.”

“Once the Colossians had been without hope in this world. But now, through the gospel, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, in which they believe and stand in Christ, heaven, they have a heavenly hope. A sure future with the risen Christ in the glorious presence of God that will never end. In Christ, God no longer counts their sins against them. In Christ, Death has lost its sting because it . leads to an eternal life of immeasurable riches. As 1:27 says—Christ IS their sure and certain hope of glory because in him all God’s promises are Yes and Amen.”

“For so many people, hope is nothing more than a foundationless and blind optimism. But the gospel offers sure and lasting hope because it’s a  hope rooted in the living Christ, in whom God is faithful to all His promises.”

“…the Colossians faith in Jesus, the promised Messiah, was a fulfillment of the ancient and sacred promise of the OT that the gospel will go to the nations, that includes the Gentile Colossians.”

“The gospel is a real message with real power being used by a real God to save and sanctify real sinners. The bearing fruit is that people are being saved. The growing isn’t numbers, it’s sanctification—those who have been saved growing more and more in Christ as they go about the gospel mission.”

“This week I thought about how this applies to our desires to establish a CG on the Eastside this year with the hopes of planting a church in the future. It’s scary. How will we do it? What if we fail? Are we too small? When Paul tells the Colossians the gospel is bearing fruit and growing, he reminds us - As we go, we will grow.”

“For a church tempted to doubt the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ, this was just what they needed—to be spurred on in their gospel hope to reject error and persevere in the faith. Is it what you need today?”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 119:74
John 3:16-18
Acts 16:31
Romans 4:4-5, and ch. 10
1 John 4:9-10
Titus 2:11-13

QUOTES:
Charles Bridges - “How cheering is the sight of a man of God!  How refreshing his converse! How satisfactory and enlivening is the exhibition of his faith! The goodness of God to one becomes thus the joy and comfort of all.”

B.B. Warfield - “It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or the nature of faith, but in the object of faith.”

H.B. Charles - “Bearing fruit describes the power of the gospel among unbelievers; growing describes the power of the gospel among believers. As we share the gospel, we should be like roots, not pipes. Water passes through pipes without any positive effect on the pipes. But as water passes through the roots of a tree, the tree grows stronger. As the gospel is bearing fruit among the lost, it should be growing and deepening and increasing among the saints. This is the power of the gospel…it can bear fruit and grow at the same time.”

APPLICATION:
Q. How are you cultivating a thankful heart for your church? Starting Point: Focus on God’s grace evident in your church not your personal disappointments with your church.

Q. What is the object of your hope today?

• As we step into the unknown, even in faith, it can be scary—grow in trusting God

• As we leave our comfort zones—grow in contentment in Christ

• As we stumble and make mistakes—grow in conviction that God builds His church, not us

• As we make certain sacrifices for the sake of Christ—grow in seeing Christ as our only treasure

• As we give ourselves to what seems impossible—grow in experiencing the enabling grace and power of the Spirit

As we Go not Knowing, proclaiming, and demonstrating the hope we have in Christ on the East Side, the gospel will bear fruit through us and in us. 

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
In Christ Alone
All I Have Is Christ
We Receive
Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Ephesians 5:15-21