Core Value: Gospel

Our Cosmic Transfer, Col 1:9-14, 21-23

Welcome.

We just started a series explaining our new vision statement and core values.

To ignite a gospel-spreading movement through multiple local congregations in the greater Philadelphia area and the world, so that individuals, communities, and cultures are renewed in Christ.

We want to look at the first of 8 core values:

The Gospel

The gospel is the astonishing good news that Jesus Christ as God became a man, and in our place lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserve to die. His resurrection from the dead is the central event of human history, bringing the everlasting hope of heaven to the worst of sinners and renewal to our broken world. When we lovingly trust in Jesus and let go of our self-saving strategies (whether irreligious autonomy or moral “goodness”), we find true life, joy, peace, and purpose. We live our present lives in the hope and security of God’s gracious promises. The gospel is the foundation and means of everything we are and do as a people.

We will spend many sermons looking at the Gospel. There are so many aspects and dimensions, implications and applications. Let me emphasize, this is the foundation and means of everything we are and do as a people.

Through studying our passage in Colossians today, we want to take a good look at this Gospel.

　⁹For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

　¹⁰so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

　¹¹strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously

　¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

(Colossians 1:9-12, NASB)

We have not ceased to pray for you

That you may be filled with the knowledge of His will

To walk in a worthy manner

Bearing fruit in every good work

Increasing in the knowledge of God

Being strengthened

Giving thanks

Paul prays for knowledge of God’s will that would produce a godly life.

Paul’s focus is not on behaviors or attitudes, but something deeper. Paul’s prayer is not for love, service, discipline, patience, etc. His prayer is for an understanding of God’s will, which would then produce change in our lives.

1. This prayer for knowledge is probably to combat some of the heresies the Colossians were in danger of believing. As we go through Colossians, we may see hints of Paul trying to correct some false beliefs. (Paul wants them to understand the Gospel)

2. The knowledge of God’s will includes an understanding of the Gospel.

It is the Gospel that produces a life worthy of the Lord. We saw last week that Paul says the Gospel is bearing fruit and growing. The Gospel produces hope, which produces love and faith.

3. Understanding the Gospel is a spiritual work that Paul prays for. (last week: it is the “enlightening of the eyes of our heart,” Eph 1:18) Paul doesn’t just preach the Gospel; He prays for their spiritual understanding. We pray for this as well.

4. The Christian life is driven by an understanding of the Gospel and produces a life of good works. We reject a Christianity that claims to embrace the Gospel but then does not result in actions, behavior, love, change. And we reject good works that come from our own effort, kindness, and personal goodness as woefully deficient and in fact condemnable by God. As we look at our passage, for Paul, being saved and living a godly life are part of the same fabric. These are not separable. Both are part of coming into a new kingdom, both are part of the great work of Christ in our lives.

With “giving thanks to the Father,” Paul then explains what the Father has done for us. One brief definition of the Gospel is just that: the Gospel is the story of all that God has done for us in Christ. So one of the natural results of someone who does understand the Gospel is a deep sense of gratitude and worship. It is a life of thanksgiving that is part of the life that is worthy of God.

What has the Father done for us? What is the Gospel?

Qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints (cf. v. 5, “hope laid up for you in heaven”)

Delivered us from the domain of darkness

Transferred us to the kingdom of His Son

Redemption, the forgiveness of sin

Let me included vv. 21-23. We again see a dramatic transfer from one state to another

Alienated, Hostile in mind, Doing evil

Reconciled, To present you holy, blameless and above reproach

There are two realities/domains/kingdoms/spiritual states

Domain of Darkness	Kingdom of Christ
Alienated	Reconciled
	Inheritance of the Saints
(guilt/punishment)	Redemption, Forgiveness of sin
Hostile in mind	Understanding God’s will/Gospel
Doing evil	Holy/blameless life before God

Dramatic and drastic deliverance

It is a picture of 2 different kingdoms, domains

Throughout the gospels, Jesus would say that the kingdom of heaven is here.

There is a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of light, the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God. And these two kingdoms are at war. There is hostility and rebellion. Eph 2 puts it as “following the ruler of the kingdom of the air” and being “by nature objects of [God’s] wrath.”

We were transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Christ. Eph 2 puts this as being “raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly realms,” and having “the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ.”

It is not just a ticket to heaven, it is becoming a new creation, entering a new society, where instead of being objects of wrath, now the incomparable riches of grace and lavished upon us.

There was a movie a few years ago (2003) called, “A State of Mind” [picture]. It was a documentary about two North Korean girls, 11 and 13 years old, as they trained for gymnastic performances in what’s called the Mass Games. They would practice hours and hours, and when the games drew near, up to 10 hours a day. Despite coming to school extra early, despite bumps and bruises, despite harsh demands from their instructors, their driving hope was that maybe their “great leader,” Kim Il Sung, might show up for one of the many performances and be pleased. At the end of the movie, we’re told that Kim Il Sung was unable to attend any of the games. The games display the national value of patriotism and unity. People are taught to be loyal. What is striking is how these kids are indoctrinated with views that Kim Il Sung is their great protector, provider, hero. His posters are everywhere. His birthday is a national holiday. They’re also taught the evils of America and the dangers of the world. The documentary shows the modest, if not sometimes destitute, living conditions. I think at some point, one family (4) was given 1-2 small chicken and 8 eggs for a week. But the people are quick to say how their great leader took care of them through the hard times.

Can you imagine what it would be to take those girls, or a North Korean solider, pull them out of North Korea, and bring him to the US? They see what their “great leader” has been doing to his people and the world. They see big homes with toilets and electricity, and plenty to eat, there’s personal freedom to travel outside your town without getting papers from the government, there’s freedom of religion, freedom of expression, a free media, etc. Imagine if President Obama took a personal interest in them and made sure they were given the privileges and opportunities they’ve been deprived of for so long.

What is to be transferred from the domain of darkness to kingdom of light? What is it to be under the rule of Satan and be under the rule of Christ? It’s not just a ticket to heaven. It is a comprehensive transformation: your identity, your worldview, your values, your freedom. To quote Aladdin, it’s a whole new world.

It is a picture of alienation and reconciliation; relational picture

The picture is being separated, being an outsider, an enemy. There is some barrier, wall, divide. But now that barrier has been torn down, and the two are brought together.

This can be at a corporate level. In the context of Colossians, these people in Colosse were Gentiles, not Jews. They were outside the blessings and promises of Yahweh. They had no relationship or access to God. But now, in Christ, they are welcomed, invited, and are just as much a citizen in this Kingdom as any Jew.

But for us, we can probably relate to this picture at a more individual/personal level.

There are stories in the Bible about an adulterous wife whom a husband takes back, or a rebellious son who returns home and whom the father embraces. These are pictures of reconciliation, relationships restored.

We all know what alienation is like. Kids who aren’t getting along with their parents, and maybe you’re really, really happy to go to college and get out of home. We’ve had friendships that have deeply hurt or disappointed us; we’ve felt betrayed or used or rejected or even violated. We’ve seen marriages that are miserable, with years of resentment, anger, hurt, maybe even abuse that have made home a prison. It’s hard to go through life in this fallen world with fellow sinners and not feel the filth, pain, alienation of messy relationships.

That’s the picture of our relationship with God as well. We were enemies of God, objects of wrath. We’ve rejected, insulted, mocked, disobeyed Him time after time after time.

But now, we are reconciled, the sins against God have been put on Jesus and now we are reconciled. The Gospel is about how Jesus forgave and loved his enemies.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)

See the greater fullness of the Gospel [with above chart]

For some, the gospel means we’ve done some bad things, but Jesus forgives us and gives us a ticket to heaven. The problem is that we have a truncated view of the problem and a truncated view of what God has done for us. Your gospel is too small.

It’s not just that we’ve done some bad things. It’s that we were citizens of a kingdom of darkness, we were in rebellion against God. In our hearts, we did not love God, we loved ourselves. We did not worship God, we worshipped ourselves. We did not follow God, we did as we pleased. This is not just the problem of some bad choices. This is a far deeper problem of rebellion, hostility, and alienation with God.

And God did not just give us a ticket to heaven. He accepts us, loves us, adopts us as His children (we are brothers, fellow-heirs with Christ). He brought us into a new kingdom, a new society/world order, to live and prosper under His rule, His protection and care.

And He is making us holy and blameless and above reproach in the sight of God!

You are good enough, you pass the test, you’re approved of

We all want that: college admissions, peers, parents, public, God Himself

What is it that God finds you pleasing, lovely, that you “pass the test” are found glorious?

Paul emphasizes this dramatic, cosmic transfer. We’ve gone from hell to heaven.

Greater than the miracle of healing a blind man or feeding 5000 or walking on water is the miracle of someone actually becoming a Christian, an alienated enemy of God entering the kingdom of Christ and becoming a child of God. It is the greatest of miracles.

This is the story of what God has done for us in Jesus.

Paul gives this picture of how much the God has done for us. But Paul says a few more things (3).
1. This cosmic transfer was accomplished by Jesus’ death on the cross (v. 22)

“in the body of flesh by his death”

It was because Jesus died on the cross that we can now enter this new kingdom.

Jesus took our place. He took all our rebellion and alienation upon Himself.

In the battle between the kingdoms, Jesus took all the crimes we’ve committed as his own.

In our relational alienation, Jesus took all the offenses and abuse upon Himself, both victim and victimizer—and he died on the cross. This was the price paid for the cosmic transfer.

2. We are to continue to trust in the Gospel (23)

There is one condition. To use language we’ve used before, we don’t just start in the Gospel, we continue in the Gospel. We don’t just start by faith, we live by faith. The Christian life begins and ends by grace through faith. The faith by which we’re saved is the faith by which we live.

To become a Christian, you have to believe that this transfer is not just possible, it is yours in Christ.

To live the Christian life, you have to believe this transfer is actually yours. And if you believe this, it produces freedom, joy, worship, love. To use the categories Paul mentioned above [show diagram], it produces good works (kindness, generosity), a great intimacy with God (know him personally), strength (faith to receive), and thanksgiving.

3. There is a world-wide gospel movement (23)

Paul is a minister of the Gospel, a Gospel that is proclaimed to all the world.

This cosmic transfer is good news, and its available to anyone who could call on Jesus.

And we believe God has called us to the share in that Gospel movement.

To ignite a gospel-spreading movement through multiple local congregations in the greater Philadelphia area and the world, so that individuals, communities, and cultures are renewed in Christ.