139. Beginner Bible Course: Paul's letter to the Colossians and to Philemon in Colossae

EPISODE 139:  Simple Bible overview:  PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE COLOSSIANS, AND TO PHILEMON

On a small municipal airport in Iowa. One Sunday afternoon, a retired guy comes in and wants to rent one of your single engine planes for a Sunday afternoon fly. He pulls out his pilot's license and shows it to you. You tell the guy, I can't give you a plane till four o'clock. Cause I don't have anyone here who can go up with you. We require a copilot. The first time you fly the guy graciously, thanks you and leaves your mechanic comes in and says, you don't know who that was. Do you? That was solely Chesney Sullenberger. He's the one who put down that three 20 Airbus into the Hudson river. When he lost both engines, every passenger was saved. That's embarrassing.

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It's a crazy travel day and you're waiting for an airport limo. The next one pulls up. It's driven by a really old guy in a cowboy hat. You take a hard look inside. Then you say to those waiting next to you. Go ahead and take it. I'm going to wait for the next one. I'm not sure I want to ride with this old geezer. A whole bunch of people scrambled to get inside. When the limo drives away, a guy taps you on the shoulder and says, dude, you have no idea who was driving that limo. Do you that geezer was Richard Petty. He'd had gotten you to the airport safe. He's used to driving 200 plus miles an hour within inches of other cars. He one Daytona seven times, you just missed a great ride.

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That's embarrassing. I got married in Rochester, Minnesota in the eighties. Imagine the day before my wedding, I'm in the gun to building of the Mayo clinic. I hear this old geezer playing at the master grand piano in the lobby. He's really quite good. I go up to them and say, Hey, my wedding's on Saturday. Would you be willing to play at it? He smiles and says, I'd love to. When he shows up at the rehearsal, I asked him, would you like to come in for a little practice before the wedding? Or have someone turn pages for you? He smiles in, in a Russian accent, says, I think I'll be all right. The next day at my wedding, he plays beautifully. I have one of my groomsmen, hand them a hundred dollars honorarium with a thank you note.

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I mean, what a blessing to have that old guy plays so nicely at his age. Two days later, I get a thank, you know, back. It was an honor to play at your wedding and it's signed Vladimir Horowitz. I'm mortified. It's that awkward? Oh my, that was embarrassing. I feel so stupid kind of reaction that Paul wanted to trigger in the letter he wrote to the collagen's people in Colossae were teaching and believing that Jesus was not sufficient. He was insufficient either in his ability to make us right with God or to help us grow to be more God honoring. As we walked with him as his apprentices.

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I want to stop for a moment and talk about those two things sufficient, make us right with God and help us grow as God followers. Salvation includes both of those. I don't know if you've seen fireplace matches their wood matches about 12 inches long. When you talk about salvation or getting saved, most people think about striking the match, that event, that flame up that striking of the match moment. When I got saved, when I went all in on Jesus as Messiah and Lord, some people don't remember such an event and that's okay, that may be preferable.

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My mom was one like that. She grew up in a God honoring home and frankly had always had an all in on Jesus' heart as both Messiah and Lord, there was no moment in time that she turned to Jesus. I could wish that on my own children for many others, probably most there is an event. A moment in time where we go all in. According to scripture, that is the start of salvation. The striking of the match. The moment we are delivered from our sin, salvation is more than that. A lifelong journey of being delivered from ourselves and our brokenness from being freed from the impact our society has had on us.

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We already learned the word for this process, sanctification God slowly and progressively cleaning the dirt off us. Little precious pig pens. As we walk the walk of faith in Jesus. So to make it clear, salvation is the striking of the match and it burning all the way down the line. As we live life, both of those are considered under the label of Jesus being our savior, providing our salvation. Paul is calling out the Colassians. He's saying the strike of the match is simple. It is all in faith, in Jesus, as Messiah and Lord, you don't need to add anything else to that to do so as embarrassing, awkward, it shows our ignorance of who Jesus is.

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Paul goes on in Colassians to say the burning of the match from end to end throughout our lives is also by faith in Jesus alone. We don't have to add anything to that either. Jesus is enough. The letter to the collagen's is perhaps the most vivid description of who Jesus is in the entire new Testament. We looked at John's gospel trailer in episode 82, it's only two and a half minutes long. So if you haven't listened to it, please do in that trailer, the first 18 verses of John's gospel, he gives us a list of who Jesus is. It's pretty amazing. An 80,000 foot view of Jesus.

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The Messiah collagen's dives down lower to perhaps 15 or 20,000 feet. It vividly tells us of who Jesus is. And then it points us to how those who have gone all in on this. Jesus can walk. This walk can burn for God all the way down the match through our lives in a way that is pleasing to God and frankly can be quite amazing. So what were the collagen's seeking to add to Jesus as if Jesus was not enough? Paul identifies a number of things. They were adding human wisdom and persuasive arguments. In other words, philosophy, you need a Jesus plus philosophy.

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They were adding the traditions of men decrees like don't handle this. Don't taste that don't touch that. In other words, your diet was a part of what you needed to do to be saved or burn for God. They were adding festivals or special days. They celebrated. Some were adding self-abasement everything from simple set asides. The, I gave it up for lent things to severe treatment of their bodies. Still others were adding the worship of angels or visions or special things they'd had seen or experienced in Colossae.

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These believers were being taught all in launch faith in Jesus, as Messiah and Lord was not enough. These things had to be added not just to come to God through Jesus, but to burn for him throughout your life. To those teaching these things. Paul gives a little information about who Jesus really is. Here's what Paul says. Jesus is our rescuer. He's rescued us from darkness and brought us into the kingdom of light. Jesus redeemed us. He made us God's twice. He bought us back and in buying us back, he forgave our sin. Paul describes what Jesus did.

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It says if Jesus wrote up all our sins on a sheet, then nailed it to a cross. Writing Tet, Telus Thai paid in full. It is finished across that. Jesus reconciled us to God. He made us write us with God through his blood shed on the cross. Jesus now presents us Holy and blameless and beyond reproach before God Paul continues. Jesus is the image of the invisible God that it was the father's good pleasure that all the fullness of God should dwell in Jesus. Paul adds in him, all the fullness of God dwells in bodily form.

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We learned this before you shall call his name, Emmanuel God with us. Paul adds further still in Jesus. All the treasures of the knowledge of God are hidden. I pick on one of my boys, students we'll call him Matt. I say someday, Matt will probably get married. And his darling blind two year old girl will climb up on his lap one night and say, daddy, what does God look like? According to Paul's letter in Colassians, Matt can look his little girl in the eyes that smile and say, honey, God looks just like Jesus. And let me show you a Jesus looked like from the new Testament, Paul continues to tell us who Jesus is.

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He is over all creation, adding it was Jesus who created. Did you know that in Genesis? God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, we talked about who's this us God's talking about. According to Paul's letter to Colassians. The instrument of creation was Jesus. The son, Paul adds not only have all things been created by him, but they were created for him. And Paul adds further still in Jesus, all created things hold together. I don't know what scientists have concluded hold atoms together, but you almost get the sense from Paul's statement that Jesus is the force holding Adams together.

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Paul continues. Jesus is the head or the leader of God's people. The church through him, God's people have been buried to their old lives and raised up to a brand new life. Being transformed by Jesus. Jesus is also over all human rule and authority. He is at the very top of the food chain. And last he is the firstborn from the dead. That whole resurrection deal. His resurrection is a model for and guarantees our own resurrection. Paul says people that's who Jesus is. Why would you ever think you needed to add anything to that to be saved or to burn for Jesus on this journey through life, Paul then moves on to living our lives, burning all the way down, that match for Jesus.

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For two chapters, he gives us guidelines about how we can burn for God. First set your mind on the things of God. Our mind is our gyroscope. It needs to be reformed and it's reformed or reprogrammed by the word of guide Paul or just the collagen's let God's word richly dwell in you and remind each other of God's word and teach it to each other. Then Paul uses the language he used in Romans the put off, put on language. He says, put off your old ways and through Jesus' power put on the new life. He says die in your body to the old things and be raised to new living.

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Don't dig up that dead cat of your old life, leave it buried. Then he gives the list of the things to put off and the things to put on in both our attitudes and our words. Paul moves on to our home. How do we burn for Jesus with love, respect, and deferring to each other. In all household relationships, he moves to the workplace, urging employees to work hardly as onto the Lord and employers to manage the businesses and professional practices with fairness and justice. Paul moves to the church, urging us to be devoted to prayer and to pray for open doors, to reach the people with the gospel.

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And then Paul directs us toward our outside world to those who are not believers. He instructs the collagen's to conduct themselves wisely, to use gracious speech, to ask God to lead interactions without ciders so that these interactions can be redemptive. Paul then closes his letter to the Colossians with a series of greetings. We discover Timothy is with him. So as Dr. Luke and Mark, Mark is now with him. Yes, the Mark that caused him to split with Barnabas back when they were planning the second missionary journey, Paul and Mark have resolved their conflict.

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These two men have come together. Paul also mentions a man named Anessa miss in Colossi. He's an amazing story. That story is given in the smallest letter. Paul wrote in the new Testament, Phi Lehman. It's right before Hebrews in your Bible. If two pages stick together, you'll miss it. It's only 26 verses, but his story is quite extraordinary and extremely applicable to us though. Paul hadn't visited Corinth. Somehow. He had a significant part in leading a man named Phi Lehman to go all in on Jesus as Messiah and Lord Phi Lehman lives in Colossae. And he has a slave who runs away that slave ends up in Rome, in prison near Paul Paul shares the gospel with this runaway convict slave.

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And he goes all in on Jesus. That slave is on SMS upon an SMS release. Paul writes this letter to Phi Lehman and sends it with an SMS as this runaway slave returns to his master fire Lehman. In this letter, Paul says he wishes he could keep an SMS as he would be so useful to Paul as a fellow worker. But Paul States I'm sending him back because he belongs to you. Paul asked by Lehman to receive him back now, not just as his runaway slave, but as his brother in Christ, of course, Phi Lehman had other legal options on SMS was his slave.

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He could punish him for sure and make his life miserable going forward. And he could maybe do even worse than that. But Paul in his letter uses a bit of pressure. First details by Lehman. If <inaudible> owes you anything because of this runaway time, I will pay you personally. Then Paul reminds fly Lehman, humanly speaking. You actually owe me. Well, your eternity, since I led you to Jesus, make my heart glad by doing the right thing and keep a room ready. As I hope to come to you soon. There's accountability. I love that. Not so subtle pressure.

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Here's the issue at heart? What is Phi Lehman going to do now with a brother in Christ who has previously cheated him? And I would turn the focus toward us. What are we going to do with a fellow Christian? Who's screwed us over. Paul addressed this in first Corinthians, generally in the issue of taking them to court. But here Paul is specific. He's urging Christians to grow in the ability to forgive other Christians for offenses. Jesus followers are not perfect. People Paul's letters teach us. We're being slowly sanctified, washed up by Jesus. If we let him that process is messy.

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Christians are Porchia people, prickly people, God has put together in a nest. Paul's telling us we need to learn to forgive each other. When we poke each other, forgive each other as Jesus has forgiven us. Speaking of Porchia people, that's a good way to describe a local church. Paul now turns his attention to these nests of Porchia people and specifically how to manage these nests. We call the next three letters, the pastoral epistles pastor letters to, to pastor Timothy and one to pastor Titus. They describe managing the Porchia people nests.

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We'll look at the first letter to Timothy and the letter to Titus in our next wordpicture.