At the beginning of Colossians chapter 3 the apostle Paul says some things about the Christian life which are very exciting and at the same time very challenging.

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

These are not difficult ideas to grasp. We are united with Jesus Christ in his death and in his resurrection. Paul says much the same in Romans 6.

Romans 6:3 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

The theology is simple. We share the blessings which Christ’s death and Christ’s resurrection bring because we have died with him and have been raised with him. The problem is not the theory but the practice. These passages are difficult because our experience doesn’t square up with our theology. I don’t feel dead. I don’t feel raised. My old life MAY have died with Christ – but it doesn’t feel dead. It’s dead – but it’s kicking!

I remember an early episode in the television drama NCIS – the Navy Criminal Investigative Service. In it David McCallum plays the forensic pathologist Donald Ducky Mallard. As he is conducting a post-mortem he often talks to the body on the slab in front of him. This episode began with the biggest surprise of Ducky’s career. As he was about to begin his examination, the “dead” body woke up. The man wasn’t dead at all! He was alive and kicking! That isn’t supposed to happen. Dead bodies usually stay dead. “We have died to sin,” says Paul. As far as sin is concerned we should be as dead as a body on a slab. Sin should have as little effect on us as the pathologist’s knife on a dead body. That’s the theory. We should be dead to sin.

But our Christian experience often turns out opposite to the theory. The struggle we all face in living the Christian life is to live the new life God has given us instead of keeping on living the old life. It’s a daily battle.

The battle begins in our hearts and our minds.
Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

It’s a battle of the will – “set your hearts on things above”. In Hebrew thought the heart is the centre of the will and decision making, not the centre of our emotions. It’s also a battle of the mind.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Hearts AND minds – it’s a daily struggle to live the new life Christ gives us, and not to go back to live the old life you used to live. To occupy ourselves with heavenly things and leave earthly things behind forever. This is the challenge we all face as Christians. It’s a very, very difficult battle. But the secret of victory is very simple. It is indeed in those words of verse 3, “you died”, “you died”, “you died,” “you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

J.B. Phillips translated this, “For, as far as this world is concerned, you are already dead, and your true life is a hidden one in Christ.“

Your old life is dead and your new life, your real life, is hidden with Christ in God. This sounds simple in theory but we all know that it is so much more difficult in practice. The first challenge is to recognise that we have died when we don’t feel dead. The second challenge is to realise that we have been raised with Christ when we don’t feel any different from what I felt like before I became a Christian. But these are two very definite statements. You died. Aorist once and for all past tense. A historical event. You have been raised. Aorist once and for all past tense. Historical event. The challenge is to live our lives in these amazing truths.

The tragic fact is that many Christians do NOT live brand new lives. The reason for that is that they don’t live in the truth that their old life is actually dead! That’s why Paul has to command us to keep on putting our old life to death.

Colossians 3 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

The Bible says that our old life is dead. We must live in that truth.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

We have taken off our old life, taken off, like an old set of dirty ragged tramp’s clothes we take off and throw away and burn! And we have put on our new life, put on like a spotless new suit we can be proud to wear. “Exchanging for my wretchedness your radiant robes of righteousness.” Past tense. We have taken off the old self, and put on the new self. But there are elements of our old life we must keep on getting rid of.

Verse 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.
Verse 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these.

We have died with Christ but we have to keep on and on working through the implications of that death, time after time after time after time. In Romans 6 Paul puts it like this.

Romans 6 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Count yourself dead to sin. Reckon yourself to be dead. Consider yourself dead to the power of sin. “Think of yourself as dead as far as sin is concerned.” (Good News Bible)

John Gregory Mantle wrote, “There is a great difference between realizing, ‘On that Cross He was crucified for me,’ and ‘On that Cross I am crucified with Him.’ The one aspect brings us deliverance from sin’s condemnation, the other from sin’s power.”

Our victory over sin comes from remembering that we share in Christ’s death. We have been crucified with Christ. He has paid the penalty for our sin and sin no longer has control over us. That is the truth, even though we still experience the fires of temptation. Our old self may be dead, but it is dead and kicking!!

The truth is that our old self will always keep pulling us away from God until EVERY part of our old self is truly dead and buried. And the problem is that we are not always willing for our old self to die.

Soon after Augustine’s conversion, he was walking down the street in Milan, Italy. There he accosted a prostitute whom he had known most intimately. She called but he would not answer. He kept right on walking. “Augustine,” she called again. “It is I!” Without slowing down, but with assurance of Christ in his heart, Augustine testified, “Yes, but it is no longer I.” There is the secret of victory over sin. “It is no longer I.” My old self is dead!

We all want to put to death the old me with its sinful desires and sinful actions. We want to get rid of the obvious sins, the things which make us feel guilty. But there are also other bits of the old me that we quite like. Sins that don’t seem to do me any harm. Each of us has bits of our “old selves” that we are happy to cling on to. And as long as we are happy for those bits of the old me to still be alive, then my old self will still have a pull on me. The old me will not fully die. It will be dead and kicking.

The Roman philosopher Seneca put it well, “People love their vices and hate them at the same time; they hate their sins and cannot leave them.” Until we leave our vices and our sins, our old lives will always be dead but kicking. I’m talking about bits of the old me like ambition. Those parts of my old self such as wanting to be popular, or successful, or happy. All these parts of the old self which may not seem to be doing us any harm. These pulls from the past will be different for each of us. But each of us will have them! And each of these parts of our old life must die! I am reminded of the story of the rich young ruler who asked Jesus

Luke 18 18 … ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
And Jesus said to him, 22 …. ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’

When we think of that story we usually think about money and wealth and possessions. But of course the application is much broader than that. Here is about giving up. Being prepared to give up ANYTHING which could possibly come between us and God. We may have no problems about giving up wealth or possessions. But is there anything else in our lives where Jesus would say to us, “One thing you lack …” and the one thing you lack, the one thing you still have to give up, is this, or that. It could be a friendship or a relationship. It could be a hobby or an interest. It could be a favourite television programme or something else which takes our time and energy away from God. “One thing you lack ….”
Until we have given up that one thing – our old self will always be dead, but still kicking!

In the film “Devil’s Advocate”, Keanu Reeves plays a successful lawyer who moves to the big city to work for the big boss played by Al Pacino. It becomes clear that the boss is no less than the devil incarnate and the film illustrates countless ways in which the devil can deceive and entice people into all kinds of sin. But more than once Al Pacino’ character says, “My favourite sin is vanity.” Pride can lead people to bend the rules or even break the law so they will be popular or successful or famous. Because deep down everybody cares about what other people think of them.

When we are dead we will not care about such things. Other people’s opinions of us. Success. Popularity. Fame. Reputation. Everything which goes together to make up our “image”. There are so many things which matter so much to us in this life which won’t affect us in the least once we are dead! Our old self, “the old me” who has died with Christ, won’t be dead and buried until we have let go of such things completely.

Recent events in politics and even in churches remind us of the deep deceitfulness of the human heart – how so often people’s motives are impure and mixed and sometimes downright evil! Even Christians. Some Christians and even famous Christian leaders can believe they are serving God for His glory, when really they are only serving God for their own ends, for their own glory, for recognition, for financial gain or to meet needs of their own.

Luke 9 23 Then (Jesus) said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

God calls us to put our old self to death. To nail our old self on the cross with Christ and leave it there. God calls us to let go of “what might have been.” To forget forever the other paths our life might have taken if we had not followed Christ. To forget forever what we have given up in order to follow Christ. The can be NO LOOKING BACK

Luke 9 62 Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’

So what about your old self? Is it dead and buried with Christ? Or is your old self still dead and kicking? How are you getting on in the battle with the devil’s favourite sin, vanity, pride?

A young man went to an old preacher and asked, “How can I get victory over pride and criticism?”
The preacher said to him, “Go to the grave of Brother Jones and as you stand by the grave say all the nice things you can about him. Flatter him greatly.”
He did as the old preacher advised. When the man returned the old preacher asked, “What did he say?”
The answer, “Nothing. He is dead.”
The old preacher then told the young man to go out to the grave and criticize Brother Jones. “Say mean things to him.”
And when he came back the old preacher asked, “What did he say?”
The young man said, “Nothing, He’s dead!”

Colossians 3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

What difference did becoming a Christian make to you? How did your life change when you first accepted Christ as your Saviour and Lord? If it is too long ago or you can’t remember or you were brought up in a Christian home then answer this instead. In what ways is your life different now because you are a Christian? How is your life different from neighbours and friends who do not know Jesus.
Paul’s letter to Philemon tells us that the difference Christ makes to our lives should be enormous!
The letter to Philemon is the only example we have of Paul’s private and personal correspondence. It was sent with Tychicus to Colossae along with Paul’s letter to the Colossian church. It is a letter to introduction from Paul to Philemon, a prominent Christian in the church there, on behalf of Onesimus who was a slave belonging to Philemon but who had run away.
This little letter shows us just how much Jesus Christ is concerned with transforming lives.
The difference Jesus makes in CHANGED LIVES
Onesimus was a slave. Apparently he was not a very good slave. He was idle and disobedient. “Formerly he was useless to you,” says Paul. Then he became even more useless to Philemon because he stole from his master, ran away and became a criminal and fugitive. He was completely useless!
Somehow Onesimus had found his way to the anonymity of Rome where he had bumped into the apostle Paul. And through Paul Onesimus had met Jesus Christ, and his life was transformed!
10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

“He became my son” says Paul, in the same sense as Paul calls Timothy his son. In other words Onesimus became a Christian. From being useless he became useful. A wasted life – redeemed! There is actually an amusing play on words here, because the name Onesimus really means “Useful one.” Jesus Christ can take broken spoilt useless lives and transform them into beautiful cleansed useful lives!
Onesimus the useless slave has been gloriously saved! So the right and honourable thing for him to do is to return to the master who in Roman Law is still legally his owner. Paul would prefer Onesimus to stay helping him in his ministry, but he knows what ought to happen instead.
12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.
Onesimus was so useful to Paul, and to God. Some think the purpose of the letter may be to persuade Philemon to send Onesimus right back to Paul again.
13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced.
The story of Onesimus is a prime example of the difference Jesus Christ can make to our lives. Jesus changed his life, and Jesus can change our lives, if we let him! But God doesn’t just change us in ourselves – he also transforms the way we think and behave towards one another.

The difference Jesus makes in CHANGED RELATIONSHIPS
To begin with it is hard to imagine what a runaway slave like Onesimus could have had in common with Paul, former Pharisee, Roman citizen, apostle of Jesus Christ. As different a white plantation owner and a black slave. How on earth could they have met? The answer is probably that they met in jail when Onesimus was captured and Paul was imprisoned for his faith. And that led to their remarkable relationship. See how much Paul cared about that man.
10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.
12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.
Paul views Onesimus, 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me …..

You may remember towards the end of Colossians Paul writes (Colossians 49) He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you.
Paul cares about Onesimus that he is prepared to act as his guarantor.
17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.
Paul is writing a blank cheque on behalf of this runaway slave. That’s how far the changed life of Onesimus led to a changed relationship with the apostle Paul.
So Paul makes this heartfelt plea to Philemon, the slave’s owner.
10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. 12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.

There were great risks for a runaway slaves returning to their owners. They could legally face death, or all kinds of punishments in revenge. There were so many reasons why Onesimus would not go back to Philemon. But Onesimus was returning of his own free will, in obedience to God. And Paul makes a exceptional request on behalf of this runaway slave.

15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.

Outside of that culture we cannot begin to imagine how great a thing Paul is asking of Philemon. To receive a runaway slave back – not as a slave but as a brother. Welcome him as you would welcome me!
The letter to the Colossians talks about forgiveness and unity.
11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

C.S.Lewis rightly said that everybody thinks forgiveness is a good idea, until they actually have something to forgive! Colossians talks about there being no slave or free. Colossian talks about forgiving grievances in theory. The letter to Philemon spells out just what that will mean in practice for one slave-owner and one runaway slave. And in the same way as Jesus changes us our relationships with other people must be transformed to show his love! There are no longer differences between slave and free, or Jew and Gentile. But in our generation in our church we must make sure that there are no divisions between men and women, or old and young, or rich and poor, or doers and spectators.
Underlying changed relationships we can see the basis of Paul’s appeal
The difference Jesus makes in CHANGED ATTITUDES.
Paul addresses Philemon on the basis of LOVE.
8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.
Christianity is not about obeying rules and regulations and orders. It is not a religion of duty – like that of the Phariseeism Paul had left behind. Being a Christian is about serving God in love, loving God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind, and loving your neighbour as you love yourself. Paul had commended Philemon for his love.
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

Paul is now explaining to Philemon how his love should be expressed in practice towards Onesimus. Of course he is not above dropping a few hints about what he thinks Philemon should do.
. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced.
Nevertheless Paul, and God, are not interested in any actions which are forced. God wants our love and worship and service always to be spontaneous.
So Paul makes an appeal based on his own relationship with Philemon.
19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

It appears that Philemon’s own faith and salvation was as a result of Paul’s own ministry. Out of gratitude to Paul, and to God, Philemon should repay that debt. And each of us own an inestimable debt of gratitude to God for the miracles of forgiveness and new life he has given us. We should show it in changed lives, changed relationships, and changed attitudes.
But what about Philemon and Onesimus? Did the story end happily? Did Philemon forgive his runaway slave? Well, there is some historical evidence that Onesimus went on to become one of the first bishops of Ephesus, and that it was Onesimus himself who was responsible for collecting up Paul’s letters so that they became part of the New Testament passed down the churches. Whether that is the case or not, I’d like to think the fact that this little letter from Paul found its way into the pages of the New Testament rather than into Philemon’s fireplace in little pieces is good evidence that Onesimus was indeed welcomed back, “not as a slave but as a brother.”
And the message to us is very clear that we should welcome and accept and forgive each other as dear brothers and sisters, as God has forgiven us. THAT is the difference that Jesus makes!

John Wesley. Martin Luther. George Whitefield. William Wilberforce. William Temple. What have these got in common, apart from being amongst the most well-known and influential men of God in recent centuries? The answer is simple. Each of them spent at least two hours a day in prayer. Like all of the other saints of God, they had discovered that prayer is both the means to maturity and the measure of maturity for every Christian.
John Wesley wrote, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.”
Martin Luther said, “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending 3 hours daily in prayer.”
William Law said, “He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and a happy life.”
We have seen from Colossians that God wants every Christian to move on with Christ towards Christian maturity. We saw the supremacy of Christ as the image and the firstborn and the fullness of God, and considered the amazing truth that Christ lives in us! More than that – we have fullness of life in Christ and Christ is all we need for Christian growth. Our real life is Christ – so we should live all of our lives “the Jesus way”, as Christ would live in our shoes, doing everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus. So how should we put all these glorious truths into practice? Paul answers in Colossians 4:2
“Devote yourselves to prayer.” “Continue steadfastly in prayer.”
There is a wealth of riches in prayer. Most of us only begin to scratch the surface of the tremendous power of God which prayer can release. If we want to press on to Christian maturity, prayer as an expression of our relationship with God is key! And it is no surprise that prayer is mentioned in different ways more than a dozen times in Colossians. There are at least three themes, and the first is this.

THANKFUL PRAYER (Colossians 4:2)
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
We have already seen this theme of thanksgiving several times. All prayer should begin with thanksgiving. And if we followed Paul’s example in the pages of Colossians, we would spend as much time thanking God for His benefits as we do asking Him for those benefits.
Colossians 1:3-4 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.
It’s easy to thank God for the ways he has blessed us. But do we make time to praise and thank God for bringing other people to faith and for His work in their lives?
Colossians 1 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Thanking God for the wonderful salvation he has given us all – rescue from darkness into his light, redemption, forgiveness, a marvellous inheritance and all the blessings of His Kingdom. After we have been Christians for a while it is easy to forget the amazing difference becoming a Christian makes to a person. We have Christ living in us and our real life is Christ. For all we have received in Christ, may the Lord make us truly thankful!

Colossians 2 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
We should rightly be overflowing with thankfulness. Thankfulness is more than just saying “thank you” lots of times. If you give a child a present, sometimes you will receive a polite “thank you.” At other times you will see their eyes widen and a big smile as they say “thank you, I love you.” It is obvious to God whether our words of gratitude are only on our lips or whether they come from our hearts.
Remember what we learned a few weeks ago now about our worship being characterized by thankfulness.
Colossians 315 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Paul says that the whole of our lives, everything we say and everything we do, should be offered to God in the Name of Jesus as an expression of our gratitude.
The opposite of gratitude is not just ingratitude. It is taking things for granted. And that is so easy, the more that we have. We forget to be thankful – we just take all the blessings God pours on us for granted. All the blessings of this life – food and drink, clothing and shelter, warmth and security, health and strength and doctors and medicines, travel and freedom. And then there are all the blessings God has poured upon us in our Lord Jesus Christ! We must make time to actually express our thankfulness to God.
Colossians 42 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Thankful prayer which recognises our total dependence on God and His grace is the first stage which then leads on to what I will call

EFFECTIVE PRAYER (verses 3-9 and 18)
Some people have problems with Colossians 4 and indeed the final chapters of all of Paul’s letters because they seem so disjointed, often just a list of names which can appear boring or irrelevant. Who could possibly be interested in all these people? Well of course, the Colossians were! We need to realise that these chapters are Paul’s prayer letters to his prayer partners. The Colossian Christians want to pray for Paul and so they were eager for topics for prayer and the names of individuals to pray for. The only reason these verses seem less relevant for us is that we don’t know the people. If we were Paul’s prayer partners we would want these details. But even if we don’t need to pray for these specific individuals, Colossians 4 gives us some valuable principles for effective prayer.
1 Effective prayer will be INFORMED
Colossians 47 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

Paul shares his personal news so that his readers will know all about his circumstances and the situations of others, so the Colossians will be able to pray for them more effectively. He even sent messengers who would be able to share in much greater detail than would be possible in a letter. Paul believed that prayer works. So he kept other Christians informed of his work.
2 Effective prayer will be INVOLVED
Effective prayer will be caring and committed. Think of Paul’s example in chapter 1.
Colossians 13 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints …. 9 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. 10 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

It is obvious that Paul really cared about the Colossian Christians. The kinds of prayers God loves to answer are those where we passionately care that He DOES answer, where we are meaningfully involved in the situations. Just going through a shopping list of requests for things we don’t really care about isn’t really prayer. If it doesn’t matter to us whether God answers our prayer or not, it isn’t going to matter to God either!

3 Effective prayer will be INTELLIGENT
Colossians 4. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
Effective prayer is specific. “An open door for the gospel” “that I may proclaim it clearly.” Effective prayer is also realistic. Note that Paul doesn’t ask the Colossians to pray that he will be miraculously freed from prison as he had previously been in Philippi. He only asked the Colossians to pray for what they could realistically believe God could and would do.
And as Paul asks the Colossians to pray that he should be an effective witness in his own life, he also reminds the Colossians to aim for the same in their lives.
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
And then there is the personal plea in verse 18. Remember my chains.His primary concern is for his witness to the gospel. Almost as an afterthought, he then asks for prayer for his personal needs.
Thankfulness leads on to effective prayer. Informed. Involved, caring and committed. Intelligent, specific and realistic. We all need to grow in these aspects of prayer. But then there is a third theme of prayer through Colossians which we also need to discover more about, and we can call that

WRESTLING PRAYER
12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
There are actually two examples of people wrestling in prayer in Colossians. Here we have Epaphras, and in a moment we will look also at Paul himself.
We learn from the letter to Philemon that EPAPHRAS was a fellow prisoner along with Paul. We had met him back in Colossians chapter 1:6-8
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.
From this it seems very likely that Epaphras was the evangelist who had taken the gospel to Colossae in the first place. As founder of the church he had become its leader. When he took news of the church to Paul Epaphras had ended up in jail with him. But that hadn’t stopped him from working on behalf of the church.
12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
Paul writes that Epaphras is wrestling, or agonizing, or contesting in prayer for the Colossians. He is “fighting spiritual battles for you,” Paul says – a real prayer warrior.
13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Epaphras was busy doing the only work he possibly could do for the Colossians while he was in prison. He was praying for them – praying that they might stand firm, mature and fully assured. Mature – the same word as we have been thinking about all the way through this letter, that the Colossians might become mature in Christ.
When I get to heaven I am very much looking forward to finding out who it was who was praying for me all those years before I was a Christian and none of my family were Christians and none of my friends were Christians. I have a strong suspicion that it was actually the school secretary of my primary school. Somebody must have been praying for me. I know for sure that my salvation and being led to the right church and ultimately becoming a minister did not result from my own prayers but from somebody else’s prayer. Epaphras was wrestling in prayer for the Colossians.
But the apostle Paul himself also had that ministry of wrestling in prayer. Colossians 128 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

What was the hard work which Paul was doing on behalf of the Colossians? How was he struggling for them and for the Laodiceans and for so many Christians he had never met, there in his prison cell. Of course it was his prayers for them all. Praying that they be encouraged in heart, praying that they be united in love, praying that they might have the full riches of complete understanding, praying that they may truly know Christ who is the mystery of God. How important it is to pray for the spiritual growth and maturity of other Christians!
Thomas Chalmers said, “Prayer does not enable us to do a greater work for God. Prayer IS a greater work for God.”
Our maturity in Christ often depends as much on the prayers of others as it does on our own prayers. How much we grow up into Christ as a church in the coming years may well depend on the committed prayers of the faithful few who know what wrestling with God in prayer is really about. The effectiveness of our outreach and evangelism certainly rests supremely on all of our prayers!
Colossians 128 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
Our goal is to become mature in Christ – perfect in Christ. And we do that not only by labouring with all God’s energy, but also by the hard work of prayer – thankful prayer, effective, informed, involved and intelligent prayer, but also wrestling prayer.
Prayer on the handout:
Lord, grant me the grace to desire and to pray
that others might become more mature in Christ than I,
provided that I become as mature as you want me to be. AMEN.

For the first five years after I became a Christian at school and then all through university everywhere I went I used to wear two little lapel badges. One was red and said “Jesus lives” and the other was green and said “Jesus saves”. For most of that time I also wore a large wooden cross around my neck. In some ways I was what would have been called a “Jesus freak”. I thought then and I still believe now that it was very important to tell the world that I was a Christian.
Of course, wearing the badges didn’t make me any more holy or any more loving. Just because everything I did was linked by those badges to the name of Jesus didn’t make my words or my actions any more Christ-like. But they were a witness, sometimes a good witness, sometimes a bad witness.
I am sure that the apostle Paul had in mind something much more important than wearing badges or t-shirts showing the name of Jesus when he wrote Colossians 3:17
17 whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
DOING EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS (verse 17)
Saying things and doing things in Jesus’s Name means a lot more than just wearing a “Jesus” label. In Bible times the name of a person was often an expression of the character of the person. Saul means “asked from God”. Paul means “little”. Peter means “rock”. Jesus means “God save us”. Doing things “in the name of Jesus” is not about telling people you are a Christian and then thinking that just because you claim to be a Christian you are actually representing Jesus. Putting a Christian sticker on a car doesn’t seem to make much difference to the way many people drive!
Doing things in Jesus’s name is about living “the Jesus way”. Doing what Jesus wants in the loving way Jesus Himself would do it. We have already seen in Colossians that Christ lives in us and that God is transforming us into the image of Christ. Last week we learned that “our real life is Christ”. If Christ truly lives in us and our real life is indeed Christ, then we will seek to ask and speak, not just “with a Jesus label” but with the nature and character of Christ Himself. Our whole life, everything we do and say, will be like a badge telling the world that Jesus lives and that Jesus saves!
We thought last week about throwing off the dirty tatty rags of the old life we used to live before we were Christians and putting on the spotless new suit of the new life God has given us in Christ, the life of Christ Himself living in us. So we will want to do everything “the Jesus way”, as Jesus Himself would do in our shoes, everything in Jesus’s Name. And Paul explains how we can do this in three important areas of life.
Everything in Jesus’s Name IN OUR WORSHIP (verses 15-17)
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Verse 16 definitely refers to Christians meeting together for worship but I believe all three verses apply to worship and give us FIVE different characteristics of worship.
PEACE 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. Christ gives us peace but not as the world gives peace. Christ gives wholeness, an inner calm and serenity which gives us security. Peace should rule in our hearts, especially as we meet together in services and home groups and church meetings. Christ’s peace should characterise the relationships between believers who make up His body, the church.
DIVERSITY (v 16b) and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. There will be variety in our expressions of worship. We Baptists probably don’t use the hymn book of the Bible the Psalms in our worship often enough. “Spiritual songs” doesn’t mean choruses so much as spontaneous spirit-led singing, and we probably don’t have enough of that in our worship either.
There are many similarities between Colossians and Ephesians, and Ephesians 5:19 says this. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speak to one another AND sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. We sing some hymns addressed to each other: Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Others are addressed to God: Make me a channel of your peace. Other hymns are appropriately an exhortation to ourselves: Praise, my soul, the King of heaven. We can sing to each other or to God or even address ourselves. But it isn’t truly worship when people are just singing. Not to each other or to God or to their own hearts but just singing to empty space – that’s not Christian worship.
THE WORD OF CHRIST (v 16a) 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. This means equally the word about Christ and the word Christ speaks. Our worship should be focussed on the word of Christ, the word in Scripture and the prophetic word. We should allow that word to dwell in us richly and permeate our souls as we take time to pray and reflect and respond on God’s word to us.
TEACHING AND ADMONISHING (v 16) 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, Christ’s word can come to us in teaching, but also in admonishing, personally challenging us to become more like Christ. Some Bible versions translate admonishing as instructing, others as counselling, others as advising. Remember what Paul said in Colossians 1:28 So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ. We need all of these, teaching, admonishing, instructing, counselling, advising, and even warning if we want to become like Jesus. That’s where Home Groups and also meeting 1-to-1 with other Christians are so helpful.
In our worship: peace, diversity, the word of Christ, teaching and admonishing. And one more characteristic which is mentioned three times in the three verses.
THANKFULNESS v15 …. And be thankful. v16 … with gratitude in your hearts to God v17…. giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Again the same in Ephesians 5:20 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thankfulness should characterise not only our times of worship but indeed our whole lives. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Every part of our our lives should be a thanksgiving offering to God – all in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Worshipping the Jesus way.
Everything in Jesus’s Name IN OUR FAMILIES (verses 18-21)
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Living as a genuinely Christian family is not easy. The key is there in verse 18 – to do whatever “is fitting in the Lord” and in verse 20 – to do what “pleases the Lord” and by the Lord, of course Paul means “the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The first thing is to recognise that in God’s perfect plan for family life, there are different roles and different responsibilities. Complete equality – but different roles. Equal, but not identical. I’m going to leave the difficult task of explaining how that should work out in detail in today’s world for another sermon. For this morning I will just read what Paul says.
Wives, submit to your husbands. The whole Bible, not just the apostle Paul, expects a wife to recognise the ultimate authority of her husband within the family. But the context of that authority is love. 19 Husbands, love your wives
Ephesians 5 spells out the relationship between husbands and wives in more detail. 25 Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it 26 to make it belong to God. Christ used the word to make the church clean by washing it with water. 27 He died so that he could give the church to himself like a bride in all her beauty. He died so that the church could be pure and without fault, with no evil or sin or any other wrong thing in it. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they love their own bodies.
So the standard and pattern for the husband’s love for his wife is Christ’s love for the Church. If a husband truly shows that kind of love for his wife, the wife would not find it hard to submit to her husband.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything. This is not just for goody-goody children. It is God’s pattern for family life. But then there is also there is a requirement for parents: do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Marriage at its best is God’s visual aid to the world of his love for us in Christ. Family life at its best is a picture of the life of God’s forever family, the church. The challenge for us as Christians is to make sure that in our marriages and our families everything we say and do is indeed in the Name of the Lord Jesus – family life the Jesus way.
Everything in Jesus’s Name IN OUR WORK (verses 3:22-4:1)
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

I know there is no slavery in Britain today – although you wouldn’t believe it when you try to get kids to do the washing up! But these verses have lots to teach us all about any work we have to do, employed or voluntary, schoolwork or housework and even serving in the church. If we want to do our work in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the Jesus way, the key is in verse 22. We should do everything with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Likewise in verse 23 we should do everything as working for the Lord, not for men, and be looking for our reward from God, not from other people. Doing any work in the Name of Jesus involves bringing Jesus into every situation. Jesus was a carpenter – he knew his trade. So how would Jesus do MY job? How would Jesus undertake this responsibility in the church?
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor
“Not as men-pleasers” not just while others are watching, to put on a good show. Not clockwatchers, doing the bare minimum. But doing more than we are asked and better than others are expecting. Jesus calls us to be “extra mile” men and women.
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, Working with all our hearts. Not half-hearted or apathetic, but fully committed to the task whatever it might be. Punctuality and hard work. Giving the job your undivided attention. There is no better Christian witness than wholehearted commitment to one’s work, tacking every task cheerfully and doing it well. And what a poor witness half-hearted apathy and grumbling and moaning can be.
as working for the Lord, not for men … It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
If Jesus was our boss, would he be satisfied with that quality of work? Would you be happy to present that piece of work to Jesus? We would never want Jesus to say to us, “You didn’t really try with that.” “You made a poor job of that.” Surely we want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Doing our work the Jesus way!
The path to Christian Maturity is to offer every part of our lives to Jesus in thanksgiving for all He has done for us. Serving Christ in our worship, in our family life and in every form of work. Doing everything as Jesus Himself would do it – in the Name of Jesus, the Jesus way. The more we place Christ at the centre of our lives the more we will grow up to be “mature in Christ.”

We started our expedition 6 am. Trains took us to Dover and a very rough sea crossing. By evening we were in Paris and then we spent a sleepless night standing in the corridor of a French “sleeper” train which didn’t have any seats. At 6 pm we arrived in the French Alps and so began a 3 week Trek in Moutiers in France to Aosta in Italy up and down several mountains including more than 13,300 feet up Gran Paradiso which is the highest mountain in Italy. We walked more than 200 miles with rucksacks weighing half a hundredweight full of tents, stoves, food and clothes. When the sun shone the temperature was in the 80s. When the sun wasn’t shining it was raining. At night and at altitudes above 2000 feet it was snowing. We had none of the conveniences you might expect at modern campsites because there weren’t campsites. We just stopped overnight where we could find a piece of level ground near an icy mountain stream. It was the most memorable holiday of my life even though it happened almost 40 years ago.
Three weeks later we arrived home and our families didn’t recognise us. Stepping into a warm bath to wash away three weeks of mud and grime was one of the happiest moments of my life! Hot water and soap! Feeling clean at last! And of course then when I got dressed, I didn’t just climb back into all the clothes I had been wearing for three weeks. That would have been stupid! To get really clean but then put on those filthy damp clothes again. Of course, I put on clean fresh dry clothes. Because you just don’t return to civilisation but then carry on wearing the same clothes you wore hiking across the Alps. That wouldn’t be at all appropriate. It’s just not done!
But, Paul says to the Colossians, that is a picture of exactly what Christians do if we live our lives after we become Christians in the same sinful ways as we did before we were saved!
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
For Paul, becoming a Christian and beginning the Christian life is just like throwing off an old set of filthy tatty rags and putting on a brand new spotless suit.
We have taken off our old self – we throw away our old life and our old sinful human nature when we come to Christ as Saviour and Lord. And we have put on the new self – as Christ cleanses us all our sins are forgiven and we receive a brand new life to live, a new nature, a new self.
And that new self is being continually renewed in the image of its creator. In Colossians 1:15 we saw that Jesus Christ is the image of God. We are being continually transformed into the image of Christ, to be more like Jesus.
2 Corinthians 318 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
The Good News Bible puts verses 9-10 this way.
Do not lie to one another, for you have taken off the old self with its habits and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself.
Throwing off the old – putting on the new. But how do we do that? Well, Paul says, it’s an attitude of mind. It is about understanding and believing the incredible things God has done for us in Christ. It is all about realising that
YOU HAVE BEEN RAISED WITH CHRIST (vv 1-4)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Before we were Christians we were entirely separate from God, cut off by sin. But now our lives are inseparably linked with Christ’s life. We saw that in Colossians 1:27 Christ in you – the hope of glory. And again in Colossians 2:10 You have been given fullness in Christ.
Our lives are linked with Christ’s death and resurrection. Colossians 2 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
We have died with Christ (verse 3) For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
And we share Christ’s resurrection (verse 1) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ.
We also share Christ’s exaltation (verse 1) set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
And we will share in the glory of Christ’s return (verse 4) When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Your real life is Christ. Our true identity and our ultimate destiny is spiritually and eternally bound up with Christ’s life and death and resurrection. The Message paraphrase puts it really well.
So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you.
“Your real life is Christ!” So we should live on that basis. Verse 1 – set your HEARTS on things above. In Bible times the heart was not the centre of the emotions but the centre of our WILL. And verse 2 – set your MINDS on things above – our will and our intellect should all focus on the truth that our real life is Christ! We should strive to see everything in its true eternal and spiritual perspective.
The battleground for our Christian conduct is in our minds and our wills. We know that God exists, we know the Bible is true, we know that Jesus Christ is Lord. So we will want to live our lives on the basis of these eternal truths, not on the basis of the ignorance and disobedience which characterises this fallen world.
A newspaper reported that a young man who once found a £5 note on the street resolved that from that time on he would never lift his eyes while walking. Over the years the article said the man also collected, among other things, 29,516 buttons, 54,172 pins, a dozen pennies, a very sore back, and a miserly disposition. But he also lost many things – the glory of sunlight, the radiance of the stars, the freshness of blue skies and the smiles of friends.
Some Christians are like that man. They may not walk around staring at the pavement but they are so caught up with this world that they give little attention to spiritual and eternal values. They spend all their time on this world and give no thought for the next. That is dangerous. Paul says that Christians are “seated with Christ in the heavenly places.” But if we give all our attention and affection to a world that is passing away, we lose our upward look. Our perspective becomes distorted and we fail to soak up heaven’s sunlight. Buttons, pins, and pennies, but no treasures laid up in heaven.
The Living Bible paraphrase makes the point very clearly.
Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where He sits beside God in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts: don’t spend your time worrying about things down here. You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God. And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with him and share in all his glories.
Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God. So LIVE on that basis! And so you should:
PUT TO DEATH YOUR EARTHLY NATURE (verses 5-11)
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
There are so many pressures and temptations in today’s world. Moral pressures of immorality impurity and lust. Materialistic pressures of evil desires and greed. Evil actions start with evil thoughts which is why we need to get our thinking and our attitudes and desires right in the first place.
8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
Again, sinful words begin with sinful thoughts. All these sins belong to our old nature. There is no benefit in thinking about the sins themselves, but great benefit in considering WHY we should turn away from sin.
6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. Sin makes God angry. In our evening services before Easter in the letter to the Romans we saw that God’s wrath is a central theme for Paul. Our sin brings on God’s wrath and separates us from God.
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these:
Sinful thoughts and words and attitudes were part of our OLD nature. But now we should throw them away and never put them on again, now we are Christians. A prisoner is so very glad to get rid of his prison uniform when he is released. That uniform is for people serving their time – facing their punishment. Free men wear different clothes! A tramp who inherited a fortune would soon throw away his old tatty smelly clothes and wear new ones. In the same way, when we become Christians, Paul says God gives us a new set of clothes – and we should wear them!
WE MUST PUT ON OUR NEW SELF! (verses 12-14)
you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

We must wear the new clothes God has given us, because of just who we are in Christ.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
We are God’s chosen people, holy, cleansed and purified and set apart for God, dearly loved by God. So we should live like that!
Preparing his son to become the Monarch, King George V would often remind Prince Edward VII, “My Dear Child, always remember who you are.” And as Christians, we need always to remember who we are! And so we put on the character of Christ, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Day by day God wants us to grow more like Christ, who lives in us.
13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Bearing with one another, forgiving each other. Not just seven times, Jesus says, but 70 times 7 !! Forgiving each other as God has forgiven us, as the Lord’s Prayer reminds us.
14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Perfect unity: a church without divisions of any kind.

11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

It’s obvious really. If Christ is in each of us, and each of our lives are wrapped up in Christ’s life, there CANNOT be any divisions. Christ is all, and in all! And over all these virtues, put on love. More than anything else – love. Put on love like an overcoat. Love which binds us together in unity and perfection and maturity.
We should all press on to Christian maturity, perfect in Christ. More like Jesus in all that we do, all that we say, all that we think, all that we are. And we do that by throwing away the old clothes of our sinful human nature and putting on our nature, the image of Christ. Because our real life is Christ.
The story is told of an eagle that had been captured when it was quite young. The farmer who snared the bird put a restraint on it so it couldn’t fly, and then he turned it loose to roam in the barnyard. It wasn’t long till the eagle began to act like the chickens, scratching and pecking at the ground. This bird that once soared high in the heavens seemed satisfied to live the barnyard life of the lowly hen.
One day the farmer was visited by a shepherd who came down from the mountains where the eagles lived. Seeing the eagle, the shepherd said to the farmer, “What a shame to keep that bird hobbled here in your barnyard! Why don’t you let it go?” The farmer agreed, so they cut off the restraint. But the eagle continued to wander around, scratching and pecking as before. The shepherd picked it up and set it on a high stone wall. For the first time in months, the eagle saw the grand expanse of blue sky and the glowing sun. Then it spread its wings and with a leap soared off into a tremendous spiral flight, up and up and up. At last it was acting like an eagle again.
We can let ourselves be too comfortable in the barnyard of the world. But God wants you to live in a higher realm, to soar on wings like eagles!
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Day by day, dear Lord I pray:
To see You more clearly;
To love You more dearly;
To follow You more nearly
Day by day.

Colossians 2 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
Christian maturity – that’s the theme of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians at Colossae. He sets before them and before us the goal to become “Mature in Christ”. Paul want Christians to avoid being sidetracked by false teachers and misleading ideas. He want Christians to move on with Christ and become more like Christ. The secret to Christian maturity which Paul reveals is so simple and straightforward it can be summed up in just one word. And that one word is “Christ”. All we need if we are to become mature in Christ is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing else. Simply Christ Himself.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

We are to be ROOTED in Christ – like a tree which stands firm in all the storms of life because its roots are deep. Not like a cut flower which may be very pretty but is actually dead! And we are to be BUILT UP in Christ – like a building established on immovable foundations.
Jesus Christ is the secret and the source of all Christian maturity, growth and fruitfulness. In Christ we have received absolutely everything we need.
We have FULLNESS IN CHRIST
Here is Paul’s theme in verses 9-15
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
We saw in Colossians 1 that Christ is the image of God, the firstborn of God and the fullness of God.
Colossians 119 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
The full nature of God was in Christ. Christ was “full to bursting” with God. The Living Bible puts it this way. “God wanted all of Himself to be in His Son.” Everything God is, Jesus Christ is! Jesus Himself said so in John 10:30. “I and the Father are one.”
Christ is the fullness And Paul picks us this theme here in Colossians 2 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
Everything God is, Christ is! All the fullness of deity in bodily form. And then Paul says something even more amazing.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
Christ has all the fullness of God, Christ is head over every power and authority, and Christ gives to US fullness. You have been given fullness in Christ. Literally it says, “you are fulfilled in Christ.”
Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” is definitely a paraphrase here. But he expresses verses 9-10 like this.
Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too.
We have been given fullness in Christ. This surely follows from what we learned last week from Colossians 1:27 and God’s secret cosmic masterplan, “Christ in you – the hope of glory.” Christ is the fullness of God. Christ is in us. So we have fullness in Christ. Absolutely everything we could ever possibly need, God has given to us in Jesus Christ. Christ is in us – and we share His life, His death and His glorious resurrection.
12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

We have been buried with Christ and then raised to life with Him – his resurrection life is IN US! That’s not what we have to aim at in our Christian lives. That’s the starting point! Christ in us – the hope of glory. The fullness of God – in us!
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
We were dead because of our sin. Jesus took away our sins as He died on the cross in our place. So God has forgiven us. And as Christ lives in us, we have everything we could ever need.
2 Peter 1 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Everything we need for life and godliness – because we know Jesus! And in Him we are fulfilled.
That’s why Paul says what he does in verses 6 and 7.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

The secret of Christian living and Christian growth and Christian maturity is to “continue to live in Christ,” rooted, built up and strengthened in His fullness.
So, says Paul, we need to watch out, be on our guards, keep our eyes peeled!
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

There are so many things which can distract us from Christ. Hollow deceptive philosophies. Human traditions. Elemental spirits, which is what basic principles really means. It is so easy to be sidetracked from continuing to live in Christ, conned out of depending on Christ alone. People come along and tell us, you don’t just need Christ. You need Christ PLUS something else. Christ plus rituals. Christ plus experiences. Christ plus rules. That is exactly what had happened to the Colossians. So this letter reminds them and us that we have
Fulness in Christ NOT IN RITUALS (vv16-17)
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
The danger of EXTERNALISM. We know that we don’t become Christians just by going through rituals. We must avoid the mistake of thinking that we need rituals in order to grow as Christians. The risk comes when outward forms and appearances become more important than the inward realities. When good habits are reduced to “going through the motions” or even worse, “putting on a show.”
This had become a problem for the Jews. They had come to depend on the outward act of circumcision rather than trusting in the God who gave them that covenant. Our Christian life does not depend on the outward acts of men.
11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
Verse 8 warns about the dangers of human traditions. Tradition can be beneficial – but it can also replace true faith. Patterns can be helpful, or they can be deadly. A theologian with the delightful name of Jaroslav Pelikan says, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
The Colossians had become sidetracked by festivals, celebrations and Sabbaths. They were distracted by matters of food and drink. Rituals and traditions are only outward things – the reality is Christ. The reality is Christ. Whether it is in our times of worship or our quiet times, or in any area of life, we must make sure we are not relying on mere rituals or human traditions. They can’t help us become mature in Christ. Keep your eyes peeled – all we need is Christ. Not rituals, and secondly
We have fullness in Christ – NOT IN EXPERIENCES (vv 18-19)
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
We know that we don’t need special exotic spiritual experiences to become a Christian. Nor do we need these things to grow as Christians – only the grace of God! But throughout history there have been people who have insisted that if you want move on to a higher level of spirituality you need some kind of special initiation ceremony into the deeper secrets of faith. In the early centuries of the church those misguided individuals were called Gnostics and they persuaded others that there are short cuts to spiritual maturity. Here in Colossians we find some of the earliest precursors to Gnosticism. People obsessed with “special visions” or “angel worship” or “false humility”.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Christians having spiritual experiences of course – just as long as those experiences come from God and not from hysteria or from the devil. P.T. Forsyth said, “We need an experience of Christ in which we think everything about the Christ and not at all about the experience.
We should all pray to be blessed by encounters with God. But beware of anyone who offers you a “special experience” of God immediately turn you into a super-Christian – especially if they expect you to pay for that experience. Because there is no such thing as a short cut to Christian maturity. Christ and Christ alone is the secret – the way, the truth, the life.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is simply letting Christ fill you – more of you in Christ and Christ in more of you. Back in the 1960s and 1970s in the early days of the Charismatic Movement the “hot potato” was the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. That gift is very valuable in personal prayer, but it is not essential for Christian life and growth. In 1980s and 1990s the big issue was “deliverance ministry.” That isn’t a short cut to Christian maturity either. Deliverance is very rarely needed for Christians – normally repentance is all that is needed. Then almost 20 years ago the Toronto Blessing came along – an overwhelming sense of the presence of God. This was a real blessing for many Christians, and it still happens to some people in some places today, but it is not an essential for every Christian. We shouldn’t fight God if he chooses to surprise us with interesting encounters – but we mustn’t chase experiences for their own sake either.
Christians already have fullness in Christ and in the power of His Cross and resurrection. Any suggestion that we might need more robs us of what we already have.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
If we think we need anything more than the fullness we already have in Christ, we are being deceived. So if anybody offers you some special experience, be it extraordinary visions or worshipping angels or anything else you may find from all around the world on the internet nowadays, remember Paul’s warning.
19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Keep your eyes peeled. Neither rituals nor special experiences can help us become mature in Christ – all we need is Christ. Not rituals, not experiences, and thirdly
We have fullness in Christ – not in RULES (vv 20-23)
20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
We know that we don’t become Christians by obeying rules and regulations. We mustn’t be deceived into thinking that all we need to grow to Christian maturity is to obey somebody’s set of rules. That was the mistake that the Pharisees made. Replacing a living personal relationship with God with a legalistic religion of duty bound by regulations and taboos. We must beware of demanding of other Christians, and especially new Christians or young Christians or Christians from other backgrounds and cultures, anything which God does not demand. And we must beware of thinking that God is satisfied if we live according to some set of rules WE have made up – rather than living in constant trust and dependence on Him. The Christian life is not about rules. It is about our relationship with God.
23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Rules may seem helpful and even spiritual. That is why they have been popular in some kinds of churches throughout the centuries. But in fact rules are useless – only Christ and the power of his cross and resurrection can give us any victory over sin and take us on to spiritual maturity.
So we must keep our eyes peeled. So many people tell us that we need “Christ PLUS” if we are to grow as Christians. The truth is we don’t need Christ plus rituals, Christ plus experiences, Christ plus rules, or Christ plus anything else. All we need to become mature in Christ is Christ the fullness of God, living in us and giving us His fullness!
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

“How can you be sure you are going to heaven?” That’s an important question we all must face. None of us know what tomorrow may bring. So what answer would you give if somebody asked you, “How can you be sure you are going to heaven?”
I have good news for us all this morning. Nobody need leave the church today without knowing for certain that they are going to heaven. If at the end of the service you can’t say, “I am sure I am a Christian, I am certain I am going to heaven,” then come and see me and we can fix a time to have a chat until you are certain.
The apostle Paul answers this question in our passage today in Colossians 1:25-27.
25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
God has a mystery. By that Paul does not mean some kind of puzzle to be solved. God’s mystery is God’s secret masterplan for the universe. That cosmic masterplan, God’s will and purpose, has been kept secret for centuries, but it has now been revealed in Jesus Christ. What a wonderful and glorious mystery it is. And the secret is simply this. “Christ in you – the hope of glory.”
GOD’S MYSTERY: CHRIST IN YOU – THE HOPE OF GLORY (vv 25-27)
JB Phillips translation says, “Christ is in you, bringing with Him the hope of all the glorious things to come.”
We have the happy certainty that one day we will share God’s glory. And our guarantee of heaven is in God’s masterplan – “Christ in you!
What is a Christian? In Colossians 1:27 Paul makes this very clear. “Christ in you.” A Christian is somebody in whom Jesus Christ is alive and at work.
We learned this last year in our series of evening sermons in Galatians 2:20.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
A Christian is somebody in whom Christ is alive. “Christ in you!” Just think for a moment of what that amazing statement implies. Last week we saw that Christ is supreme. The outline of that message is on our service sheets today together with the outline for this morning. In Colossians 1:15-19 Paul reveals Jesus Christ the Son of God to be the image of God, the firstborn of God and the fullness of God. Now here in verse 27 he says “Christ in you!” Everything Jesus Christ is, is IN US!
Jesus Christ is the image of God, the exact likeness of God, the perfect human representation of the Almighty, All-knowing, Ever-present, Eternal, Holy, Ever- Loving, Transcendent God. Christ is the image of God – and Christ is IN US!
Jesus Christ is the firstborn of God, the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists, standing first in line in this present age. And Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the age to come, the first to rise from the dead in God’ new creation, the church. Christ is the firstborn of God – and Christ is IN US!
And Jesus Christ is the fullness of God, full to bursting with God, overflowing with God. Christ is the fullness of God – and Christ is IN US!
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and then He was raised from the dead to rescue us and redeem us and reconcile us to God. But Christ then goes on working in our lives. And he doesn’t just work from the outside but from the inside. Jesus is not on the outside of our lives, like a sculptor chipping away at our sinful thoughts and our bad habits. Christ is IN US! God is on the inside of our lives, living and working within us, filling our lives with the resurrection life of Christ Himself and transforming us into the image of Christ from inside us! “Christ in you – the hope of glory!!”
Christ in us – that is our starting point. From there we press on to Christian maturity. That is Paul’s goal for every Christian.
EVERYONE MATURE IN CHRIST (vv 28-29)
28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
We have Christ inside already – transforming us into His image until we reach perfection, or the word could equally be translated maturity, in Christ. Mature in Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:18 puts it like this.
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
The Spirit of God is at work in us, transforming us into the likeness of Christ. This isn’t about having more of Christ in us. We already have ALL of Christ in us. We already have all the resources we could ever need to live the Christian life. What we need is “Christ in more of us” or put another way, “more of us in Christ”.
For this we need teaching. We also need admonishing, challenging, correcting. Here at NSBC we have a course in discipleship to help us become more like Christ called Fan The Flame. There are leaflets about Fan the Flame on the side if anybody is interested.
28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

The way Paul describes his Christian ministry is no different to the process we each follow as we strive towards Christian maturity.
I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
We work, and at the same time God works within us. A balance of cooperation between us and God.
Philippians 2:12 … continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
We work out our salvation as God works within us. Christ in you. There is a slogan popular in some circles, “Let go, let God.” But that is not what the Bible teaches. It might be better to say, “Do your best, God does the rest.” Christian maturity is something God develops within us. But we have to play our part so that the life of Christ is expressed in us. And what a wonderful goal that is to aim at.
Colossians 2:2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
This is what God promises us as we grow in Christian maturity. The full riches of complete understanding. Knowing the mystery of God, namely Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul uses a wonderful phrase to sum up all the blessings God has for us in his cosmic masterplan: “the unsearchable riches of Christ”. God has so much to give us as we become mature in Christ!
Christ is in us – but that is only the half of it. Because Colossians 1:27 actually says this.
CHRIST IS IN YOU – THE HOPE OF GLORY!
We may not reach Christian maturity in this life. None of us become perfect this side of heaven. But what Paul is saying here is this. Christ is in us NOW – and this is our guarantee that one day we will share in the glory of God.
“Christ is in you, bringing with Him the hope of all the glorious things to come.”
We sometimes devalue the word “hope.” In English we can use “hope” to refer to some vague optimistic wish. In the Bible the word “hope” is much more definite. We should probably translate it as “happy certainty.” When Paul talks of “the hope of glory” he is actually saying “the happy certainty” of sharing God’s glory.
Now hope is a combination of expectation and desire. I would love one day to walk on the moon. But since I have no expectation of that ever happening I can’t say “I hope to walk on the moon.” On the other hand one day I am sure I will have to visit the dentist. But since I have no desire ever to visit the dentist again it would be wrong to say, “I hope to visit the dentist.”
But my greatest desire is to spend eternity with Christ. And the promises of God make it absolutely certain that I will spend eternity with Christ. So it is correct to say, I hope to spend eternity with Christ. I hope to share in His glory. This is not wishful thinking. This is expectation plus desire. This is the happy certainty of our Christian hope.
We were looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans in our evening services before Easter. Hope is a major theme in Romans.
Romans 5:2 And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
We rejoice in the hope of sharing the glory of God. It has been said that man can live for 40 days without food, for three days without water, for several minutes without air but for only a few seconds without hope. Dostoevski said, “Hell is hopelessness.” The inscription above the entrance to Dante’s inferno read, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.”

When you look at the pessimism and gloom of some Christians you would think that they were destined for hell and even at its door. In fact the opposite is true. True believers have every reason to be filled with hope. We have a hope which is steadfast and certain! “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” “Christ in you – the hope of glory!” Not some wishy washy optimism but a confident expectation. The happy certainty that one day God will take us to be with him and we will share His glory for eternity. THIS is our destiny as Christians. THIS is God’s wonderful plan and purpose for us – yes even for you and even for me!
But as he told the Roman Christians, and as Paul himself experienced, the pathway to glory often includes suffering.
24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Romans 5:3 …. we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
The road to heaven will not always be easy. The sufferings or tribulations we face are the pressures of a godless hostile world on those who follow Christ. These teach us perseverance and build up our character. And instead of undermining our confidence in God, in fact these experiences of adversity and opposition strengthen our faith and build up our hope. Our hope comes through the resurrection life of Christ in us. Jesus has died – but Christ has also risen! And He has shown us the path we must follow, through suffering to glory, through cross to resurrection. And in the end, all our suffering will be worth it. And Paul says in Romans 8:18,
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
The founder of the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther wrote this. “If we consider the greatness and the glory of the life we shall have when we have risen from the dead, it would not be difficult at all for us to bear the concerns of this world. If I believe the Word, I shall on the Last Day, after the sentence has been pronounced, not only gladly have suffered ordinary temptations, insults, and imprisonment, but I shall also say: “O, that I did not throw myself under the feet of all the godless for the sake of the great glory which I now see revealed and which has come to me through the merit of Christ!”
The sufferings of this life are not worth comparing with the glory which is to be revealed in us! The best is yet to come! “Earth has no sorrow which heaven cannot heal.” (Thomas Moore)
Some folk here this morning may be suffering at the moment. Illnesses, trials, all kind of griefs, defeats and discouragements. Be reassured, however tough life gets, God will not let go of us. We WILL share in His glory! But how can we be certain? It’s simple, says Paul. “Christ is in you – that’s the hope of glory!”
How can you be sure you are going to heaven? Because Christ is already in you! “Christ in you – the hope of glory!”

Who died on the cross? That is not as trivial a question as it sounds. Because the person who died in our place on the cross was not merely a man, not just Jesus of Nazareth the carpenter’s son, not just a great moral teacher, not just a miracle worker. The person who died on the cross was none other than The Son of God, Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
This is really important when we come to Paul’s letter to the Colossians. We saw two weeks ago that the apostle’s theme is Christian Maturity.
Colossians 128 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
Our goal is to become perfect in Christ, mature in Christ. We saw two week ago that our starting point is the basics of the Christian faith, the gospel which brings us hope and faith and love. We saw that we need to discover God’s will, both God’s cosmic masterplan for the whole of creation and his specific will for each of our own lives. And we saw that God wants us to live lives worthy of Him, pleasing Him by bearing fruit in good works, by growing in our knowledge of God , by growing in our Christian Character in patience and endurance, and by growing in joy and thanksgiving.
It should be obvious that the key to Christian maturity is simply this – Jesus Christ Himself! This is why after his initial greetings Paul begins the body of this letter by quoting a very early Christian hymn to give us the most wonderful summary of who Christ is and what Christ has done for us. Paul’s glorious subject is the supremacy of Christ – Christ is supreme! He begins with
WHO JESUS CHRIST IS (verses 15-19)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him …

To describe who Christ is, Paul uses three words – the IMAGE of God, the FIRSTBORN of God and the FULLNESS of God.
The IMAGE of God (verse 15)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, The visible expression, the exact likeness of the invisible God. As the Message Translation puts it, We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. If we want to know what God is like, we look at Christ.
The word is ikon which originally meant a statue or picture or representation of something else. This reminds us of the story of Creation in Genesis 1:26-27.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.

Human beings were created in God’s image, to bear God’s likeness. Adam and Eve were like God in what they were, in qualities of mind and spirit. Adam and Eve were also like God in what they did, as God’s representatives in the world caring for creation. In the Fall of humanity that image of God in Adam and Eve was marred by their disobedience.
But Jesus Christ was not merely a man created “IN God’s image.” Jesus IS God’s image. The one and only Son of God, Immanuel, God with us, God incarnate as a human being. And God’s masterplan is to recreate His image again in all human beings.
2 Corinthians 5:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Paul spells this out in Colossians 3 and we will think much more about this later.
9 …. you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Christ the image of God was born a man and died and rose again to restore God’s image in everybody who puts their trust in Him. JESUS Christ is the IMAGE of God. AND THERE’S MORE! Christ is also
THE FIRSTBORN OF GOD (verses 15-18)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
18 …. he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
In Judaism the significance of being the firstborn is much more than being born first. It is a metaphor for a person who holds a position of special favour. In the Old Testament the firstborn inherits a double share. The chosen nation of Israel were described as God’s firstborn son. Christ is truly God’s firstborn son.
17 He is before all things,
“Before” here refers to priority in time – Christ existed before everything was created, before even time began. But “before” here also means “before in rank, in standing,” Christ stands ahead of everything else, first in all of creation.
That is because Jesus Christ was the firstborn of the OLD ORDER, of this present universe, of the whole of creation.
Christ is the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Christ comes first because he created everything! All things – not just on earth but in heaven as well, not just visible but even invisible things, spiritual thrones, powers, rulers, authorities. And not only did He create all things. But all things were created FOR Him. He was not only the agent of creation but also its goal, its purpose. All things were created BY Him AND FOR him!
And not only was Christ the CREATOR of all things. He is and remains the SUSTAINER of all things. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:2-3 puts it this way:
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Listen to that in the Message translation:
By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!
That’s how great Christ is!! Creator and sustainer of the whole universe – this present age, the old order. AND THERE’S MORE!!
Because Christ is also firstborn of the NEW ORDER – the age to come, God’s new creation, the church.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Not only was Christ the firstborn of everything which already is. He is also the firstborn of everything which is to come, the firstborn from among the dead, the head of the body, the church. So indeed in everything Christ has the supremacy. Christ is pre-eminent. He is the lynchpin of creation, the pivot on which everything is held in place. Christ is the focus towards which everything converges. Christ is supreme! Christ is the IMAGE of God and the FIRSTBORN of God. AND THERE’S MORE!!!
Christ is the FULLNESS OF GOD
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
The full nature of God was in Christ. Christ was “full to bursting” with God. The Living Bible puts it this way. “God wanted all of Himself to be in His Son.” Everything God is, Jesus Christ is! Jesus Himself said so in John 10:30. “I and the Father are one.”
Paul picks us this theme in Colossians 2 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
Everything God is, Christ is! All the fullness of deity in bodily form. And then Paul says something even more amazing.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
Christ has all the fullness of God, Christ is head over every power and authority, and Christ gives to US fullness. You have been given fullness in Christ. Paul says in Ephesians 4 that our goal is to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. That is what Christian maturity is all about. Fullness of life. The whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Our God is too small!! Jesus Christ is the IMAGE of God. Jesus Christ is the FIRSTBORN of God. Jesus Christ is the FULLNESS of God. Christ is supreme!! Bow down and worship – for this is your God.
That is who Christ is. AND THERE’S MORE!!! Because Paul now goes on to remind us what Christ has done for us.
WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR US (more briefly from verses 19-23)
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Paul reminds us of what we were without Christ.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
We were alienated from God, separated from God, trapped in darkness, rebels and strangers from God. Enemies because in our minds because of our wicked thoughts and enemies in our bodies because of our wicked behaviour. That is what we used to be. Then God gave his only Son Jesus Christ to save us,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
We have been reconciled to God. Christ has turned us from God’s enemies into God’s friends. And Paul also used other pictures for salvation earlier in chapter 1.
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We have been rescued. As those plucked from the jaws of death. We have been redeemed, like slaves bought out of slavery to sin and released as free men and women! And our sins have been forgiven!
. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation
How amazing that is! God views miserable sinners like you and me as holy, set apart for God, as without blemish, pure and unspoilt, as free from accusation, with a clear conscience and free from guilt! In Christ there is no condemnation.
What a transformation! But let us never forget that all these wonderful blessings come to us at such a great cost.
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

So we come back to my first question. Just who died on the cross? We have been reconciled, rescued, redeemed, forgiven, all through the death of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the image of God, the firstborn of God, the fullness of God.
Just think for a moment about the crucifixion of the IMAGE of God. Perfection tasting imperfection. The immortal overwhelmed by mortality. The eternal facing its end. The omnipotent God – powerless. The omniscient God – facing ignorance. The omnipresent God crushed by death itself.
And how about the crucifixion of the FIRSTBORN of God. The Creator of all things put to death by His own Creation. The Sustainer, the one in whom all things hold together, hanging dying and dead. “Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered.”
And think about the crucifixion of the FULLNESS of God. Everything that God is was in Christ there on the cross, experiencing agony and isolation and rejection and hatred and despair and even abandonment. The fullness of God poured out to complete emptiness.
This is who died on the cross for you and for me! The Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Christ who is supreme! Who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Bow down and worship – for this is your God!!

May I begin with a personal question. How old are you? In a few weeks I will be 39! I became a Christian when I was in the lower sixth form at school in June of 1973. Humanly speaking I was aged 16 when I was born again. A long time ago! I sometimes wonder have I changed much since then? Have I grown?
I began a sermon like this just before I left teaching and went to London Bible College. That was 29 years ago! But I wonder, have I really grown as a Christian over all those years? Do I know God any better? Am I any more like Jesus?
You see, Christians are meant to grow. We aren’t meant to stand still in our discipleship or our holiness or our prayer life or our witnessing. God wants us to grow! To move on with Christ.
At least that is what the apostle Paul teaches in his letter to the Colossians. He is writing to Christians, to the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.
We will see Paul has two reasons for writing. He wants the Colossian Christians to stand firm in their faith and not to be sidetracked by errors. But even more important, he wants them not to just stand still in their faith in some kind of dead orthodoxy, but to move on with Christ and grow as Christians, as individual believers and as a church.
The heart of his message in in Colossians 1:28-29.
28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
Perfect in Christ. The word teleios can mean either perfect or mature. Good News Bible and the Revised Standard Version talk about presenting everyone “mature in Christ”. The New Living Translation puts it like this.
We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.
That is our destiny as Christians. That is our goal. That is what we should be aiming at. To become, “Perfect in Christ,” “Mature in Christ.”
That is my aim – I hope it is yours. And that is why I have called this series Christian Maturity. It’s all about becoming “mature in Christ.”
I’ve been a Christian 39 years. Some folks here have been following Jesus twice as long! None of us have arrived! None of us are yet mature – but we should all be on the way!

WHERE DO WE START? (verses 3-8)
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5 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 6 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. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul starts by thanking God for the Colossian Christians and the difference God has made in their lives through the gospel. And we all start with the gospel. The good news about the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The good news which reconciles us to God. The good news about how God forgives our sins and gives us new life, eternal life, life in all its fullness.
Colossians 113 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
God begins to change us when we hear the gospel and understand God’s grace, God’s free gift of pretty amazing grace which brings us eternal life. And that gospel impacts on our lives in at least three ways.
The hope that is stored up for you in heaven (verse 6) – not just pious optimism but the happy certainty that one day we will share God’s glory in heaven.
Faith in Jesus Christ (verse 4) – the channel by which all God’s grace comes to us. Not just intellectual assent but truly putting our trust in Jesus. Martin Luther said, “Faith is a living daring confidence in God’s grace.” Daring indeed because if our hope is false, if our trust is misplaced, then we lose everything! Here is a test of how much faith we have. How much would you stand to lose if the gospel turned out not to be true? If we don’t LIVE it, we don’t BELIEVE it!
Faith and hope lead us on to Love for all the saints (verse 4) a supernatural love in the Spirit (verse 8). God’s kind of love which just never runs out, never gives up.
Hope. Faith. Love. These three things are not the sum total of the Christian life. But they are the fundamentals of the Christian life, the basics for every Christian. If you have not experienced these basics of hope and faith and love yet, then while I go on to talk about Christian maturity you might like to ask yourself – why not? Today might even turn out to be YOUR Christian birthday!
So we start with the gospel and the basics of hope, faith and love. What next? Paul explains

WHAT DO WE NEED? (verse 9)
9 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.
The vital ingredient in Christian maturity, not only in Colossians but in all of Paul’s letters, is this: “Knowing God’s will.”
We find it again in Colossians 412 Epaphras … is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
Discovering God’s will is not an intellectual process but a spiritual one. Verse 9 again:
asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
God’s will is not something we can work out for ourselves. We need spiritual wisdom and understanding. We need God to reveal his plans and purposes to us! And there are two levels to God’s will. Overarching the entire universe there is God’s ultimate purpose, God’s cosmic masterplan.
Ephesians 1 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
God has an ultimate plan for the whole of Creation. We should never get so bogged down in our own small corners that we lose sight of God’s cosmic masterplan – to bring all things in heaven and earth together under one head, even Christ.
But at the other end of the scale, God also cares about the tiniest details of all of our lives. God has specific purposes for each one of us. We each have an appointed place in God’s cosmic masterplan.
Romans 12 . 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
God wants each one of us to find out the part he wants us to play in the jigsaw of his purposes for the whole universe. Some Christians seem to just drift through life and work and home and family and church with no sense of direction or purpose. People who can’t see the target usually miss it. We all need to ask God to fill US with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. As somebody said, “To know God’s will is man’s greatest treasure. To do God’s will is man’s greatest privilege.”
If you are looking for God’s pspecific will and purpose for your life – ASK HIM! But we can start with the same general clues Paul gives to the Colossians because they apply to all Christians.

WHERE DO WE GO NEXT? (verses 10-14)
10 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, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We need to know God’s will so that we may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:
Isn’t that what we would all long to do if we could? Please God in everything we do? Live a life worthy of Him? And Paul spells out four ways we can do this.
bearing fruit in every good work,
ACTIVITIES: We aren’t saved BY good works but we are saved FOR good works. Founder of Methodism John Wesley said this. “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” Mature in Christ – are you growing in your Christian service?
growing in the knowledge of God,
RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: Knowing God’s word the Bible, praying, appreciating God’s love. How much better do you know God now than you did last year, or five years ago, or when you first believed?
11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
CHARACTER: depending on God’s glorious might and not our own feeble efforts. Christian maturity doesn’t come overnight. It comes through great endurance and patience, or it never comes at all. New Christians may be excused impatience, or lack of perseverance. Those of us who have been Christians for longer have less excuse. Christian maturity – are you growing in Christian character?
joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
JOY AND THANKFULNESS! These are often the characteristics of new and young Christians. Sometimes we think, “They will grow out of it. Wait until they have faced the problems I have.” In fact, joy and thankfulness are marks of MATURITY in our Christian faith. We should pray we will all grow INTO it!
Christian maturity in activities, in our relationship with God, in character, in joy and thanksgiving – all parts of living a life worthy of the Lord and of pleasing Him in every way.
Paul prayed these things for the Colossians. Let us pray them for ourselves and for each other. And as if we needed any more incentive to stay firm in our faith and to move on in Christ, Paul reminds us of everything God has done for us in Christ! From Colossians 1verse 12,
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God has done all this for us. The least we can do is resolve to move on with Christ and make every effort, by God’s grace, to become Mature in Christ.