Protecting the Church
Colossians 2:1-5
When we looked in Colossians 1, we saw how the church was grounded in the gospel truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ. We saw who Christ is as the image of the invisible God, the creator and sustainer of all things. He is the reconciler of all things and the head of the church, so that He has preeminence in all things. We saw His work of reconciliation by the blood of His cross. We saw Christ’s work through the labor and struggle of His servants in the church, preaching, warning, and teaching to present everyone mature in Christ. Jesus Christ the central focus of everything.
Now, in Colossians 2, having laid the foundation of truth in Christ, Paul focuses on guarding the church from error. Colossians 1 grounds the church in truth, Colossians 2 guards the church from error. As I’ve stated before, it’s very likely that false teachers were threatening the new Colossian church. In Colossians 2:4, Paul says that he writes to the Colossians about assurance in Christ (Col. 2:2), “lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.” Then in Colossians 2:8 he warns them, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Paul wanted the church to avoid spiritual deception.
Paul knew the Colossians were in danger of being deceived, so as a pastor-shepherd, he protected the sheep by teaching sound doctrine and exposing false doctrine. He agonized over the church.
In Colossians 1:29, Paul had concluded by saying, “To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” His ultimate goal was to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28). And he worked hard toward that purpose, “striving” or struggling according to God’s power. We get our English word “agonizing” from that word “striving.” Now, in Colossians 2:1, Paul uses the noun form of that verb “striving” when He writes, “For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you.” It’s there in the word “conflict”. Other versions translate it as a great “struggle” (ESV, NASB). One translation reads, “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you” (NLT). The apostle Paul models for us an intense, sacrificial love for the church.
We read Colossians 2:1-7, and I have outlined this section as Paul’s concern for the church (Col. 2:1-3), his confidence in the church (Col. 2:4-5), and his charge to the church (Col. 2:6-7). Today, we will concentrate on the concern and confidence for the church. Next time, we will consider his charge to the church. Look with me at Paul’s …
- Concern for the Church (Col. 2:1-3)
Paul writes in Colossians 2:1, “For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” Notice first of all, for whom Paul was concerned. Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis (Col. 4:13) were all cities in the Lycus River valley of Phrygia (modern-day Turkey). Paul himself had never actually been to Colossae (see also Col. 2:5), nor had he seen those in Laodicea. It was another man—Epaphras—who first brought the gospel message to the Colossians (Col. 1:6-8). But though he’d never met them, Paul deeply loved them and cared about them. Epaphras had come to Paul while he was in prison in Rome and told him about the Colossian believers’ faith in Christ through the gospel, about their intense love for the other believers, and about their joyful hope of heaven (Col. 1:3-5). Now, even though Paul is “absent in the flesh” from them, he was with them “in spirit” (Col. 2:5).
How was it that Paul expressed his concern? He writes, “I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you . . .” Paul fought a strenuous personal struggle on their behalf. He was not just a silent observer to their situation; he was an active partner. He labored in prayer and ministry for the Colossian church, struggling against opposition and the forces of evil. The things that Paul was suffering in prison were for their sake (Col. 1:24). Paul contended vigorously to see to it that his beloved brothers and sisters in Christ were established, built up, and continuing in the faith (Col. 2:7).
Although it’s not directly stated, most commentators think that the way Paul struggled for these believers whom he had not met was his struggle in prayer. This interpretation fits with Colossians 1:9 where Paul writes, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding….” And in Colossians 1:3,Paul said he was “praying always for” the saints at Colossae. In Colossians 4:12, Paul writes about Epaphras, who is “always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” Both Paul and Epaphras agonized in prayer for the Colossian church. The word pictures them wrestling, straining every fiber in their bodies as they struggled in prayer.
By the way, the word “conflict” implies that praying for others is not easy. When Paul asks the church to pray for him he writes, “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 4:2). As Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Prayer is a spiritual conflict. But it is one significant way that we show our concern and care for one another. Are you agonizing in prayer for others? Are you exerting all your spiritual muscles in the conflict?
Paul desired for the Colossians to be fully aware of his great conflict for them, because by knowing that the apostle is struggling for them, they might be encouraged to contend for their own faith as well. He wanted them to be as ready to fight to protect their own standing in Christ as he was on their behalf.
What was Paul concerned to protect? Look at Colossians 2:2, “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ.” These are the things that he knew the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to see in His precious church. And so, they were the things that Paul strived to protect within her. This is why he struggled for the church.
Colossians 2:2 begins with the conjunction “that” pointing to the purpose or result of Paul’s struggle for the church. These verses contain three elements of a strong church that will avoid spiritual deception. Paul’s goal for them is first …
- That their hearts would be encouraged
A good, healthy church is a place that encourages the hearts of those who are in it. The word “encouraged” means literally “called alongside,” always with the idea of enabling or helping a person to meet some difficult situation with confidence. It includes being strengthened, invigorated, cheered, or comforted. It’s related to the term that Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit in John 14:26. When believers are strengthened by the Spirit, Christ will dwell in their hearts, they will be rooted and grounded in love, they will know the love of Christ and be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-18). Then Christ, through them, will do “exceeding abundantly above all [they can] ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).
Strong hearts result in a powerful Christian life and an effective church. We exhort or encourage one another with the word of God. Paul instructed Timothy to: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Tim 4:2). “Exhort” in that verse is the same word “encourage”. Paul instructs the church at Thessalonica to “comfort [or encourage] one another with these words” (1Thess. 4:18). In a genuinely loving church, you will receive sound teaching, both from the pulpit and from mature believers. Sometimes, sound teaching will confront where your life is not in line with God’s revealed will. You need a church that, like a good doctor, tells you what you need to hear for spiritual health and growth (2 Tim. 4:1-5).
So Paul struggles that their hearts would be encouraged. And also …
- That they would be united in love
Paul says he wants their hearts to be encouraged, “being knit together in love” (Col. 2:2). The goal is that their lives and hearts would be woven together in a warm, affectionate, loving relationship with one another. Paul uses this same verb in Colossians 2:19, writing about how the church as “the body,” “holding fast to the Head,” is “nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.” It is only Christ and His love that unites the body of Christ. Paul was eager to protect the fundamental, essential unity that joined the believers in Colossae together in the Savior in a spirit of mutual love.
Let me tell you, if you want to have a healthy, vibrant, growing, strong Christian life, love God’s people by being knit together with them. Hebrews 10:25 commands us to be “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Don’t try to be a lone-ranger Christian. Even the Lone Ranger needed Tonto, right?
Then thirdly, Paul struggled so …
- That they would be fully assured in their knowledge of Christ
He writes, “… and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:2-3). In the face of all the false teaching around them, Paul affirmed that in Christ alone was hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. There was nothing to be had of ‘spiritual wisdom and insight’ outside of Jesus Christ. It was all found in Him alone. And the great need of the believers in Colossae was not to know some other alternatives of “secret wisdom”; but rather to know Jesus more deeply. In knowing Jesus, they would attain to “all riches of a full assurance of understanding” (see also Col. 1:27).
There’s an old song that goes like this: “You can go to your church, you can go to your school, but if you ain’t got Jesus you’re an educated fool.” Everything you need to live for God is found in Christ. He has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. An essential part of protecting God’s people is keeping Christ at the center.
A strong, healthy church will be one where you see the Holy Spirit comforting you, the love of the fellowship strengthening you, and the Word of God by the Spirit of God informing and teaching you about the things of God and of the mystery of Christ. A church like that will be protected from error.
Then in the last two verses for today, we see Paul’s …
- Confidence for the church (Col. 2:4-5)
4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. (Col 2:4-5 NKJV)
Now, you might think that Paul revealing the possibility of failure doesn’t sound much like confidence. We need to understand Paul isn’t anticipating their failure; he is equipping them to encounter adversity that will surely come. He knows if they are trusting in the Lord, they will not give heed to the false doctrine and enticing words of false teachers.
The devil doesn’t come to us and plainly, straightforwardly say, “I am trying to get you to abandon your faith in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ alone, and persuade you to chase instead after things that will never do for you what He alone can do for you.” Instead, he seeks to draw us away with “persuasive words”—pseudo-spiritual double-talk that has the sound of being “true”, but in the end is nothing but a pack of lies. You know, there are sometimes I’m so amazed at how talented false teachers are at twisting the Scripture to say what they want.
True preaching is always bound to the text and the meaning of the text and conveying what the text says and what it means. False preaching, false teachers, impose or transpose into the text what they want it to say, so they take it out of context or they actually add to the text or they omit from the text, but they certainly don’t interpret it in its historical, grammatical, theological context.
Paul is confident in this church because even though Paul is not with the Colossians, he received the report from Epaphras about them. Therefore, he rejoices to see their good order and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ. The words “order” and “steadfastness” are both military terms. Paul pictures the church here as an army that stays in formation and doesn’t have any that fall out of rank. “Steadfast” describes something solid, firm, strong such as a fortified bulwark or wall. It depicts the church as a whole maintaining a solid front against the foe. He wants the church to be a cohesive unit, strong, stable, steadfast as they go forward in the truth of the gospel.
“Steadfast” is the opposite of trendy, flashy, or sensational. Orderly and steadfast churches don’t chase after the latest fad or church growth techniques. Stable churches don’t keep people hyped up with speculations about the end times. They don’t promote the latest self-help insights or tools of psychology or sociology. Stable churches, frankly, are kind of boring! But we are to be steadfast in our faith in Christ. The biblical gospel is a sure foundation to guard us against spiritual deception.
Our church family is something very precious to the Lord Jesus. It’s a part of the larger body of Christ—the church that Jesus purchased for Himself through the shedding of His own blood. He has permanently established the basis of the encouragement of our hearts, of our unity in love, and of our enjoyment of all riches of a full assurance of understanding that comes from knowing Him. These things are worth protecting because they’re both precious to Jesus and a blessing to us. You can be protected from spiritual deception by being committed to a Christ-centered church.
