The fruit and the power of the Good News in a congregation’s life - Hope Chapel Oak Lawn Hope Chapel Oak Lawn

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.Colossians 1:3-7

Do you have a certain way you pray for those you regularly pray for? I am not referring to the position you pray such as, on your knees, standing or sitting or even walking. What I am referring to are the topics you pray for when praying for a person. Yes, their particular situation many times will determine the content and or points we pray for them about. For example, when my son was in the Marine Corps stationed in California the points of my prayers for him were vastly different than when he was stationed in Iraq during the conflict. And now my prayers for him are totally different now that he’s working full time as a civilian. When we personally know the person we are praying for and their particular needs, we are able to be more specific in our prayers for them. However, there are persons we pray for which we only know about from what others tell us. This was the situation with the apostle Paul and the congregation of the city at Colosse.

When the apostle Paul wrote to the church in the city of Colosse he was writing to a congregation who he did not know personally. Unlike many other churches he wrote to, he was not founder of the church in the city Colosse. In spite of these facts Paul knew so much about them he was still able to tell them that, “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.” Paul knew so much about them he was able to compare them with other congregations that he knew personally.

How was Paul so confident to be able to pray and say what he did about a congregation whom he did not know? The answer is in verses 7 and 8. What gave Paul such confidence to say such deep spiritual truths about this group of believers in Christ Jesus was, he knew Epaphras who was their spiritual leader or mentor, who brought them the gospel message about Christ Jesus whom they had placed their faith in and received as their Savior and who was teaching them about their relationship with Christ Jesus. “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.”

Another important characteristic to note about Epaphras’ leadership among the Colossian Christians was that, Paul recognizes him as a “servant”, in the Greek diakonos. Epaphras was not a leader as it is understood with many professional ministers of today. “There is no ecclesiastical hierarchy inherent in the word “servant”. Why was Epaphras recognized by Paul as a “servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ”? Many of the spiritual characteristics and or the spiritual maturity of a congregation are a reflection of the leaders who serve them. The following are just a few characteristics of this congregation that are learned form a leader or minister who is a servant.

• The servant leader leads in agape love with discernment and wisdom.

• The servant leader is one who leads by example.

• The servant leader is one who is humble but not timid.

• “The servant leader leads from a position of personal security, that is, knowing who God has made him or her to be, and resting in the peaceful awareness and confidence that God’s hand is ordering his or her personal destiny.”

• “A servant does not seek to control, but seeks opportunities to serve others.”

Knowing the spiritual maturity and character of a spiritual leader or pastor of a congregation will tell us much of how the people of that congregation are being taught or mentored. Just because a spiritual leader is dynamic and charismatic and a congregation is large does not mean the people are spiritually mature and becoming who God created them to be in Christ Jesus. Reading these first eight verses of the letter to the Colossians, Paul mentions some important spiritual characteristics or indicators of the spiritual maturity of this group of Christians which is a reflection of Christ in their lives and of the life of Epaphras who taught them and was an example to them. On other words, what was taught by and exemplified in Epaphras was evident in the lives of the congregation of Colosse.

The following are the reasons for Paul’s thankfulness to God when he prays for this group of believers.

3, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…”

– 4a, For we have heard of your

What Paul knows about was from what he was told.

– 4b, faith in Christ Jesus

This was not only the faith they had to receive or to trust in Christ as their Savior, but it was the commitment they had to follow and life their live in Him and for Him.

– 4c, your love for all of God’s people,

The love for others and how it is demonstrated or expressed to others is the best proof of Christ in their lives.

The love for others that this congregation had was agape love which was learned from the example of their spiritual leader Epaphras. Please see the insert of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

–Start of insert–

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

The characteristics of what agape love is and love does,

also what agape love is not, and does not do.

Verse	NIV	Wiest – Expanded Greek Translation
4 Is	Love is patient	Love meekly and patiently bears ill treatment from others.
	love is kind	Love is kind, gentle, benign, pervading and penetrating the whole nature, mellowing all which would have been harsh and austere
does not	It does not envy	is not envious, jealous, resentful, covetous
	it does not boast	Love does not brag, nor does it show itself off, is not ostentatious, flashy
Is not	it is not proud	does not have an inflated ego
5	It is not rude	does not act unbecomingly, improperly
	it is not self-seeking	does not seek after the things which are its own, egocentric, conceited
	it is not easily angered	is not irritated, provoked, exasperated, aroused to anger
does not	it keeps no record of wrongs.	does not take into account the evil [which it suffers],
6	Love does not delight in evil	does not rejoice at the iniquity, sin immorality, injustice
Does	but rejoices with the truth.	but rejoices with the truth
7	It always protects,	endures all things
	always trusts,	believes all things
	always hopes,	hopes all things
	always perseveres.	bears up under all things, not losing heart nor courage
8	Love never fails.	Love never fails.

–End of insert-

– 5a, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven.

The basis and motivation of a Christian’s faith or commitment for Christ and their action of love “for all of God’s people” is the confidence of hope they had of what was theirs waiting for them to inherit.

– 5b, You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

This “expectation” was because of the power of the life changing truthful Word of God, the “Good News” that was taught to them.

– 6a, This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world.

“Good News” is synonymous for gospel. “The gospel is the saving work of God in His Son Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16).”

The message that they heard and believed is the same that is preached “all over the world”.

– 6b, It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

The reality of the “Good News” and “truth” of God’s Word is their changed lives or “fruit” just as in other believers.

The maturity and Christ likeness of a believer’s life is not measured by the material blessings one has and or the ease of life that one appears to have but it is measured by their personal spiritual characteristics and fruit.

Fruit – John 15:8, This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Pastor John