Colossians Series: A Life Where Christ Comes First – Colossians 1

Summary

 Journey through Colossians 1 with me as we explore Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae and learn that Christ is first in all things.

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Podcast Transcript

Intro

Hi friend, I’m Brigette Henry. And you’re listening to the One Spiritual Journey podcast where I share stories from my spiritual journey and teach you how to walk closer with God on your spiritual journey. I’m so glad you’re here because that means you want a deeper relationship with God. In Colossians 1:28, Paul says,

“We proclaim Him warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

And that’s my goal for this ministry: to help present you mature in Christ. So, grab your coffee, or your tea if you’re a tea addict like me, and let’s dive into today’s topic.

Introduction to Colossians Series

Hello and welcome to the One Spiritual Journey podcast. If this is the first time you’re listening, I am super excited to have you. And if this is not your first time listening, I am so glad to have you back. Today is the beginning of a series on the book of Colossians. So over the next two months, over the next four episodes (this one included), we’re going to be going through the four chapters of Colossians. It’s a short book, but it is super powerful. And it is really important to me.

God led me to the book of Colossians earlier this year when I was struggling with my ministry and my purpose. I knew that I wanted to speak to women and encourage women and I wasn’t sure what that looked like. And God just said, why don’t you look at Colossians? And now, Colossians is the foundation of my brand and I go back to it consistently to determine whether or not what I’m doing is actually what God has called me to do.

Colossians for the New Year

So, Colossians is super important to me. And I also want to go through the book of Colossians before the end of the year. I know we’re getting into the holidays, and I did a holiday episode two weeks ago. But, I want to go through the book of Colossians by the end of the year because of its instruction on Christian living. I think all of us want to have a better year next year. That’s always the goal when we’re looking towards a new year. But a lot of us get so focused on the holidays that we don’t think about how to make the next year better.

And so, because Colossians has such an emphasis on right Christian living, I think it’s a great book to go through before the new year so that you can prepare yourself to have a better year next year and to choose goals and resolutions that line up with Christ’s purpose and intention for your life.

So, without further ado, we’re going to jump into Colossians. I’m going to give you some context, and talk about the theme of Colossians a little bit. And then today we’re going to go through Colossians 1. I’m going to try try not to speak too fast because there’s a lot of information to cover in the first chapter of Colossians. So, let’s talk about context.

Context

The book of Colossians is a letter, and it was written to the church at Colossae from the apostle Paul. Now, Paul had not been to Colossae as far as we know, and he did not found the church in Colossae. Paul preached the gospel in Ephesus, which is about 100 miles west of Colossae. And by the way, all of this information that I’m getting about the context and specifically about the city of Colossae is from the book “Be Complete” by Warren Wiersbe. I’m going through that book right now with my mentor and I’m really excited about how that’s going to inform and give aid to what I share here.

But anyway, Ephesus was about 100 miles west of Colossae and Colossae was a small town along a trade route. So they were exposed to a lot of different things and there was this tension between Easter philosophy and Jewish legalism. There was a large Jewish colony there, so the town of Colossae, though small, was a good mix of Jews and Gentiles. So when Paul preached the message of salvation to the people in Ephesus, a man named Epaphras heard the gospel and brought it to the people in Colossae. And Epaphras later on, about the time the book of Colossians was written, was sent to check on Paul in prison. And he told Paul about this church and about their struggles.

So Paul felt compelled to write a letter to them to encourage them and give them wisdom. So that’s what we’re reading today. A book addressed to both Jews a Gentiles. A letter that was meant to encourage and expose heretical beliefs to make the gospel clear. And to give some guidance for good Christian living.

Themes

So, I keep mentioning Christian living as a theme, and I do believe that’s a very strong theme in the book of Colossians. But Wiersbe sums up the book of Colossians with the theme: the Preeminence of Christ. I had to look up the word “preeminence” because I knew what it meant but I couldn’t explain it. “Preeminent” means “supreme”, “of ultimate authority”, “the highest rank or importance”, essentially, Christ is first in all things. And I would strongly agree with that.

I have a note in my Bible based on the commentary from the Faithlife Study Bible and this is what it says:

In this letter, Paul responds to rumors that people in Colossae where claiming that Jesus was a good start, but other beliefs needed to be added. Paul affirms “nothing needs to be added to the work of Christ” (words in quotes directly from the Faithlife Study Bible).

Essentially, Paul affirms that Christ is preeminent. And so, this letter has a strong emphasis on Christian living. Because Christ is preeminent, this is how we should live. And Paul lays that out for us in this letter.

Goal of this Series

So my goal with this series is to teach you what Paul was teaching the church at Colossae: How to live a life where Christ Comes First. And you’re going to see as we go through the book of Colossians that a lot of the things that the church at Colossae dealt with then we are still dealing with today.

Colossians 1

So, I’m going to start in Colossians 1 and I’m going to be reading through the Christian Standard Bible in this series. I’m not going to read through the whole thing. I’m going to go through it in sections. If you have your Bible with you, that’s going to be super helpful, but I will read through all of the text just to be sure you are not just hearing my opinion or my commentary on these passages but that you are truly hearing the word of God and can discern for yourself whether my words are true.

Colossians 1:1-2

So, Colossians 1:1-2 say:

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

 Paul introduces himself and Timothy and then addresses the letter to the church at Colossae. So we know who the letter is to and who it is from. He describes the church at Colossae as “faithful brothers and sisters” and as “saints”, which gives us a really good indication of what Paul thinks of the church at Colossae. He sees them as faithful followers of Christ.

One interesting thing that I want to point out to you: in a lot of Paul’s letters, he introduces himself this way and then he says, “grace to you and peace from God our Father.” And he does that in this book here. I just learned that Paul is actually greeting the people with both the Gentile greeting and the Jewish greeting. The Gentiles used the word “grace” to greet each other and the Jews used the word “peace” to greet each other. You’ve probably heard a Jewish person whether in person or like, on TV, say “Shalom”. The word “shalom” means “peace”, and that’s how they would greet each other. So when Paul says, “grace to you and peace from God our Father”, he is making a statement that he is addressing both the Gentiles and the Jews in this congregation.

Colossians 1:3-8

So, moving forward to verses 3-8 it says,

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.”

When Paul writes his letters, he begins with a form of greeting and then a form of thanksgiving. And this is the thanksgiving passage. This is the part of the letter where Paul expresses gratitude for the church at Colossae, for what they have done and for their faith. And in this portion, two things stand out to me. One, gratitude. Paul’s gratitude for their faith. And two, encouragement. Paul seeks to not only thank them and express gratitude for their faith, but also to encourage them.

So there are three things. Number one, he says “we have heard of your faith”. He basically says, I know you, I know your faith. The second thing he says is, “we pray for you”, which we’re going to get to in a minute. And the third thing he says to encourage them is “the gospel is spreading”. Not only have you heard the gospel, but it is spreading in other parts of the world.

Colossians 1:9-14

Then, in the next section, in verses 9-14, Paul moves into a prayer. Now, I mentioned that Paul kind of has a formula for all of his letters. He does a greeting, he expresses gratitude and thanksgiving and then he prays. He writes out a prayer. This formula does break, though, when he is talking to a church who is not doing well. Who is denying Christ or embracing false beliefs, heretical beliefs. And so, this is already a good indication, that he is keeping his formula, that this church is full of faithful believers and is doing well. And that’s what I love so much about Colossians and why I chose it as the foundation for my brand. The women that I am speaking to are the women who want to grow in their faith. They are faithful believers who want a deeper relationship with God. Which we’re going to talk about a little more as we keep going through Colossians 1.

Paul’s Prayer

So verses 9-14 say,

“For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

My Prayer for You!

So this is Paul’s prayer for the church at Colossae, and this is also my prayer for you. As I was building my brand, God called me to write three different prayers. One for my ministry, one for you, and one for myself. And this is literally the prayer that I pray over you. I highly encourage you to mark this prayer in your Bible because it is a great passage to pray over other people who you are trying to encourage or help grow spiritually. This is a perfect passage to pray over them. Especially if you’re not familiar with praying scripture, this is a really good place to start. Pray it for yourself, pray it for yourself, your kids, your friends, whoever. This is an excellent place to start.

Now, at the end of this passage, in verses 13-14, Paul kind of transitions into talking about what Christ did for us. And this is the opening to a poem Paul shares about who Christ is and everything He has done for us.

Colossians 1:15-20

So verses 15-20 are a poem and this is what it says:

“He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have
first place in everything.
For God was pleased to have
all his fullness dwell in him,
and through him to reconcile
everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross.”

So Paul has transitioned into talking about Christ. And this is where the meat of this letter really comes in. Paul has finished his formula of greeting, thanksgiving and prayer, and now, he’s talking about the meat. And he jumps in here because his emphasis is on the preeminence, the superiority, the, as my Bible says, the centrality of Christ. That Christ is first. And he uses this poem to remind us exactly who God is and that He is first.

Now, there are three things I want to pull out of this poem. They’re kind of like mini-themes that you’re going to see throughout Colossians.

Christ is God

The first one is that “Christ is God”. That they are one and the same. In verse 15 it says, “He is the image of the invisible God.” Essentially, we can see God through Christ! He is the perfect image of God. We also are made in God’s image, and Christ, as a human, was made in God’s image. But this image is a little different. Meaning that because Christ is God, He is a way that we can see an invisible God. In verse 19, Paul continues this theme and he says, “for God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” You’re going to see this theme expand throughout the book of Colossians. Particularly, I have marked down in 2:9, Paul again talks about this idea that Christ had the fullness of God the Father within Him.

Everything is Connected to Christ

So the first thing is “Christ is God”. The second mini-theme is “everything is connected to Christ.” Essentially, there is nothing outside of Christ. In verse 16 it says, “everything was created by Him”. In verse 17 it says He is “before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” In verse 18 it says He has “first place in everything.” And in verse 20 it says that He intends to “reconcile everything to Himself”. Essentially, everything is going to be redeemed. And it’s going to be redeemed through Christ.

Christ is First

The third mini-theme is that “Christ is first”, which is also our main theme, the Preeminence of God. In verse 15, it talks about how Christ is “the firstborn over all creation.” In verse 17 it says, “He is before all things.” Verse 18 says Christ “is the head of the body…the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” We’re going to talk about that phrase “firstborn” in just a second. Verse 18 ends with “so that He might come to have first place in everything.”

Now, that phrase “firstborn” is a little confusing. But the Amplified Bible essentially says that phrase, “firstborn”, is just emphasizing His preeminence. It’s saying He has all authority, He is sovereign, He is supreme over all things. And that phrase, “the firstborn from the dead”, is also symbolic of our resurrection. Basically it’s saying, Christ was the first one resurrected, but there will be more. And we will be that more.

Colossians 1:21-23

Now, moving on the verses 21-23 it says,

“Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.”

So now, as I was just reading that, I noticed another connection. I mentioned that in verse 20 that it says He intends to “reconcile everything to Himself.” And just now in verse 22 I read, “but now, He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.” And I love how Paul is drawing us through the gospel. He’s showing us, this is what Christ has done. And, by the way? He has done it for YOU.

So after he explains what Christ has done and he’s made the connection that Christ has done it for us, he gives a warning not to stray from the gospel as it was presented to them by Epaphras. Again he says, don’t add to it. Christ is first. Christ is supreme, and He is preeminent.

Colossians 1:24-29

Then Paul transitions at the end of this section to talk about himself as a servant. So in verses 24-29 it says,

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.”

So, there is a lot going on in these verses, so I’m going to break it up into three different sections. And I’m going to reread those sections as I go through them because it is, there’s a lot of theology here.

Verses 24-26

So, verses 24-26 say,

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.”

So first of all, that phrase, “I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions“, is very concerning to some people. It almost sounds like Paul is suggesting that Christ’s work on the cross is not complete. So just to clear this up, Christ’s work on the cross was complete. Christ’s work was to die and be resurrected and therefore defeat death and to create a way for us to have a relationship with the Father that was different than the relationship we have before.

What Paul is talking about is the suffering that is required to bring Christ to the entire world. Basically, Christ left some work for us to do! And part of that work is the Great Commission, to go to all the world and preach the gospel, and to make disciples. And Paul is saying that is what he is doing. That he has become a servant of that mission. So it’s not that anything is lacking in Christ’s work on the cross. It’s that Christ has left work for us to do and Paul feels called to that work.

How Paul completes Christ’s work

Now there’s two ways, I believe, that Paul does this work. One is as a missionary and two, is his suffering. As a missionary, he spreads the gospel. He shares the mystery, which we’re going to talk about in a second. And, Paul also suffers. I don’t know if you’ve ever read a book or watched a movie where an authority figure is being challenged by someone below them and they are afraid to kill that person because they’re worried if they kill that person the message they were spreading will spread more. And essentially, that’s what Paul’s suffering is doing. As Paul continues to suffer for the gospel, the gospel keeps spreading more and more. Because people are asking the question, why is he willing to suffer for this?

So those are the two ways that Paul is completing in his flesh what is lacking in Christ’s affliction. He is spreading the mystery, the gospel, and he is suffering as he does it.

Verse 27

Now, verse 27. Let’s talk about that “mystery”. It says,

“God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.“

The “mystery” is essentially the gospel. The “mystery” is God’s plan of salvation for everyone, including the Gentiles. Now, this is not news to us. We might read this and say, well, what is the mystery? What is Paul keeping from us? Paul’s not keeping anything from us. We live in a world where we have heard the gospel. If you’re at least listening to this podcast, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the gospel. And so, the “mystery” is not news to us. But the “mystery” would have been revolutionary and groundbreaking to these listeners. Especially that Christ came to save everyone, to give everyone salvation, including the Gentiles. And these listeners, this church in Colossae, had probably already heard that before, but they needed to be reminded of it.

The Jewish Struggle

It’s like when your life suddenly takes a 180, and you have to constantly remind yourself of what is true. Even though parts of the Old Testament emphasized the Gentiles receiving the Messiah, the Jews  had learned and taught for a very long time that they were God’s chosen people, and they were the ones who would be saved. And because of that, the Jews treated the Gentiles very poorly. Then, Christ comes, and He brings this “mystery”, which is being revealed to them. The gospel, which is Christ’s death and resurrection, is for everyone. And that would have been very groundbreaking for these listeners.

And Paul talks about this “mystery” a lot, not just in Colossians but in other letters because the gospel was a hard message for the Jews to grasp. They did not expect Christ to come the way He did. They did not expect Him to come and die and be raised to life. That’s not what they anticipated. They expected a warrior who would take down the Roman Empire. And that’s not what happened. And so, Paul reiterates this mystery over and over and over again because the gospel message is not what the Jews expected. That Christ came to save, and He came to save the Jews and the Gentiles.

Verses 28-29

Verses 28-29 are our last two verses and they might be my favorite. It says,

“We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.”

There are three things from these verses that I think are really easy to pass over and that is the words “wisdom”, “mature” and “labor”. They are more powerful than they sound and I like the way that the Amplified Bible talks about them.

Wisdom

It describes “wisdom” as “with comprehensive insight into the word and purpose of God.” Essentially, “we teach everyone with all wisdom” (CSB) “with comprehensive insight into the word and purpose of God” (AMP). That is so important that we have the word and purpose of God. That is what gives us wisdom.

Nature

And then “mature”. The word “mature” almost sounds like you just need to be more grownup. But you can also translate that as “complete” or “perfect”. We’re talking about sanctification here. We’re talking about getting to the end, being in heaven, and being “perfect”. That is a work that God is carrying out through our time on earth. We are constantly in the process of sanctification. And when we die, that process will be completed, and we will be perfect. We want to be “mature” believers. We want to be believers that are “complete”, that are “perfect” in our faith. And that is a process of sanctification, but it is a process that we should not run away from. We should be pursuing our own sanctification.

Labor

The third word is “labor”, and the Amplified Bible says it is labor “often to the point of exhaustion”. This isn’t just “I work hard”, this is “I work hard until I cannot work anymore.” Paul works to present people complete in Christ to the point of exhaustion. And I love that. And verse 28, and technically 29, of this chapter in Colossians is the vision that I adopted for my ministry. I pray this verse over myself, and remind myself that this is my calling. My calling is to present women mature and complete in Christ. And I am constantly going through all of the things that I do in this ministry and asking myself, does this help me present women mature in Christ?

So, we have made it through the first chapter of Colossians. This is a great place to stop for now. I am so excited to be sharing this book with you and I cannot wait to show you all the amazing things that God has for you in this book.

Outro 

Thanks for joining me today! If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like, follow, and comment so I can help women become mature in Christ. A few things before I go:

First, I would love if you prayed for me, my ministry and the women I impact whenever you get a chance. And if you need some help, I have prayers on my website you can pray over each of those things.

You can find links to the resources I mentioned today in the show notes. If anything is missing, or if you have any questions, please email me at brigette@brigettehenry.com. My name is spelled differently, so you can also find that email link in the show notes.

If we haven’t connected yet, let’s connect! You can follow me on Instagram for encouragement and to see the behind-the-scenes of my spiritual journey. I also have a weekly email newsletter if you would like to get updates on new podcast episodes, access to my freebie library, and more! You can find links to all those things in the show notes.

Lastly, if you are located near Northeast Ohio, I’m working to establish myself as a speaker. If your church has any upcoming women’s events, I would love to be your speaker! You can contact me through the link in the show notes.

Thanks for listening to One Spiritual Journey. I hope to hear from you soon! Bye!

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Links

Things I Mentioned Today:

“Be Complete” by Warren Wiersbe: https://shorturl.at/19Rg5

Faithlife Study Bible: https://www.logos.com/product/36338/faithlife-study-bible

Prayers for my Ministry: https://brigettehenry.com/aboutme/#myprayers

Connect With Me: 

Contact me: ⁠brigette@brigettehenry.com 

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/onespiritualjourney 

Join my mailing list: ⁠https://brigettehenry.com/subscribe⁠ 

Other Fun Links: 

Visit my website: https://brigettehenry.com 

Freebie Library: https://brigettehenry.com/freebies 

Subscribe for Access to the Freebie Library:  https://brigettehenry.com/subscribe 

Self-Care Worksheet: https://brigettehenry.com/freebies 

The RENEW Study: https://brigettehenry.com/freebies 

Notes: 

Music by AudioCoffee via Pixabay 

All scripture is CSB unless otherwise noted. There were several references to the Amplified Bible in this episode.

All Greek word definitions come from Strong’s Definitions. You can get access to this resource and more at blueletterbible.org. 

Find the transcript for this episode at: https://brigettehenry.com/colossians-series-a-life-where-christ-comes-first-colossians-1