Will you please turn to the book of Acts, Chapter 19? Just one verse, Verse 10.
Acts 19:10:
And this continued for the space of two years; so that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Galatians—Colossians, the letter to the Colossians, Chapter 2. We will read from Verse 6 through the first part of Verse 10.
Colossians 2:6-10:
As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
rooted and builded up in Him, and established in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ:
for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,
and in Him ye are made full.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Master, our Lord Jesus, we are all here waiting to hear from Thee. We ask that Thou wilt speak through Thy Word to our very hearts, that we may hear Thee and then rise up and follow Thee.
We commit this time into Thy hands and trust Thee. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
We have been sharing on the life of the Body of Christ as demonstrated in the book of Acts. We have shared on the positive side as well as the negative side of this body life.
The negative signs are the things that we need to avoid, and the positive side consists of the things that we need to possess.
As a matter of fact, the life of the Body of Christ is one with the life of Christ Himself, because it is the one life, the same life. It is the life that our Lord Jesus lived in His incarnate body, and the same life is now lived in His mystical Body.
So anything that is contradictory, contrary, or different from the life of Christ as He lived in His incarnate body cannot be considered as the life of the Body of Christ on earth today.
So, brothers and sisters, there is much that we can learn from the life of the churches in the first century, because their life is the same life as we have today. It is the very same life that our Lord Jesus lived while He was on earth, because the church is the Body of Christ, and its life is the life of Christ.
Now this morning, we will consider the life of the church in Colossae.
Now, in the book of Acts, you do not find the name Colossae there. But we do have a letter written by the Apostle Paul for the church in Colossae.
Colossae was one of the three cities in the Lycus Valley. The other two were Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Now, you find in the letter to the Colossians that the Apostle Paul mentions Laodicea and Hierapolis, because these three cities formed a kind of triangle. They were close to each other, within walking distance, and in a sense they were one unit.
Of the three cities, Laodicea was the most prominent one. It was an important commercial city. Hierapolis was next in importance, and actually Colossae was the least of the three.
And yet we find that to this little city, to this small church, a great letter was written. How we thank God for this letter to the Colossians.
What would we do if we did not have this letter? Our knowledge and understanding of our Lord Jesus would not be complete; it would not be full. It is through this letter to the Colossians that we come to a fuller knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
So far as we know, when Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, he had never visited that city.
Of course, later on, as you read the letter to Philemon, he mentioned that he would visit them. But anyway, you find that his knowledge of the state in Colossae came from Epaphras and other people.
He did not have a direct relationship with the church in Colossae. He had never been there.
But while he was in Ephesus, you remember, in Acts 19:10, he was there for two years, so that all Asia heard the Word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles.
Ephesus was a capital city, so people in that Roman province of Asia, in Asia Minor, would visit Ephesus. During those two or three years, Paul so faithfully preached the Word of the Lord that the people who came all heard the Word, both Jews and Gentiles.
And it is quite certain that Epaphras, through the preaching of the Apostle Paul, heard the gospel and received faith. He was from Colossae. Philemon, also a native of Colossae, heard the gospel from Paul and believed—not only he, but his whole family.
So, through these brothers and sisters, the church in Colossae was raised up.
When you read the letter to the Colossians, Paul mentions Epaphras and calls him “the beloved fellow-servant.”
Now we know that the Apostle Paul was a bondservant of Jesus Christ. By bondservant, it means that he was a bondslave. He was a slave to the Lord Jesus, one whose ear had been pierced forever through love. He belonged to the Lord Jesus.
Paul was proud to call himself the bondslave of Jesus Christ. Now, this is Epaphras. After he believed in the Lord Jesus, he too became a bondslave of Jesus Christ.
He not only believed, but he surrendered his whole life to the Lord. He had his ear pierced, as it were, to be a bondslave of Jesus Christ.
And not only so, Paul also called him a faithful minister of Jesus Christ. He was a faithful servant, a faithful minister. He ministered the Word of God to the people in Colossae, in Laodicea, and in Hierapolis.
When you read the letter to Philemon, Paul calls Epaphras “my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus.”
Now, how did Epaphras first become a prisoner in Rome? We do not know for sure. But one thing we can suppose is this: he traveled almost a thousand miles from Colossae to Rome to find Paul in prison. Perhaps he was such a zealous person, so zealous for the Lord in preaching the gospel, that he too was put in prison. So he became a fellow-prisoner of Jesus Christ with the Apostle Paul.
Now, how about Philemon? If you read the letter to Philemon, you find that Paul calls Philemon “the beloved and our fellow-worker.”
Philemon was a beloved brother, just as Paul said, “the beloved physician Luke.” Philemon must have had a very gentle nature. He was a person of hospitality, and he expressed his faith and love in practical ways. All the saints received from him that gentleness and hospitality.
He was called a fellow-worker. Now, we do not know what his profession was, but evidently he was a well-to-do person because, you remember, he had slaves. Onesimus was one of the slaves who robbed him and fled away.
So he must have been a well-to-do person, and he opened his house for the church to meet. He was a very hospitable person, and he was called a fellow-worker of Paul.
You know, not only did Paul have co-workers who worked together with him full time, as it were, but there were others who had a profession and yet worked together with him, like Priscilla and Aquila. They were tentmakers, and they were fellow-workers of the Apostle Paul. So that was Philemon.
Then there was Sister Apphia. Apphia probably, and most likely, was the wife of Philemon. She was a dear sister.
Brothers and sisters, if she was not of one mind with her husband, it would have been very difficult for Philemon to open the house for the church to meet. As a matter of fact, in an open house, the sisters probably have greater responsibility.
So here you find Sister Apphia. She was of one mind with her husband, and together they served the Lord, opening their home for the church to meet.
Then there was Archippus, “my fellow-soldier.” Who was Archippus? Most likely, he was the son of Philemon and Apphia.
Here you find a young man who was a fellow-servant, a fellow-soldier of the Apostle Paul. As a young man, he fought the good fight of faith, and he was also in the ministry, as it were, serving the Lord.
So you have a beautiful family here, and the church in Colossae met in that family.
With Epaphras, such a faithful minister, and with this beautiful family, you can imagine the condition of that little church in that house.
As you read the letter to the Colossians, you get a glimpse of it. In the letter, Paul said that after he and Timothy heard of them—because they had never been there, but they had heard about them—they did not cease praying for them.
They had heard of their faith in Jesus Christ, their love toward all the saints, and the hope reserved for them in heaven.
So, brothers and sisters, you find in this little church that they had faith in the Lord Jesus. They had love toward all the saints—not discriminating, but love for all the saints. And they had hope. Their hope was in heaven, not upon this earth.
Now, we know that these three elements are the chief ingredients of Christian life. You remember in 1 Corinthians 13:13: “Now abideth faith, hope, love.” These are the three ingredients of Christian life.
In this little church, they had all these three ingredients. So, brothers and sisters, this little church had a wonderful beginning.
It was through the combined effort of Epaphras, Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus. Through their examples, through their lives, and through their ministries, you find that a little church in Colossae was raised up—a wonderful, good beginning.
But unfortunately, within a few years, the situation in Colossae greatly changed.
When Paul was in Asia, that was probably around A.D. 54 to 58. But when he wrote this letter to the Colossians, it was around A.D. 62 or 63. So within a few years, the condition and situation in Colossae had greatly changed.
Unfortunately, some heresy began to come into that church. Some people brought in strange teaching, and this teaching began to get hold of the people there and exert an evil influence.
Now, what was that heresy? Today we call it the Colossian heresy.
If you read the letter to the Colossians, you will find that it was a strange combination of heathen Gnosticism and Jewish ritualism.
On the one hand, there was heathen mysticism. That was the beginning of Gnosticism. You have a class of people, a very small group, who claimed that they were the people who knew. They had wisdom. They understood the mystery of the universe. They explained creation.
They had angels and different levels of manifestations of God. So it was a kind of philosophy, mysticism, and speculation. These things began to come into Colossae.
At the same time, there was Jewish ritualism. They began to keep days: something you could not touch, something you could not eat—all these rituals and ceremonies.
It was a strange combination. We would think that if you delve into speculation, metaphysics, philosophy, and mysticism, you would be in that realm of floating in the air; you would never touch anything material or physical.
But strangely, you find that often, on the one hand, there is that kind of metaphysical thinking, and at the same time, there is a combination with very physical and material ritualism. That is a strange thing, but this was the Colossian heresy.
Why did it have such a strong influence on that little church? Probably for this reason: the saints in Colossae had heard the faith and the truth, and after they believed, they truly grew well in the Lord. But in their desire to go on, this heresy came.
It told them that if they wanted to be perfect, if they wanted to be complete, if they wanted to have fullness, there was a way. And that way was through that heresy, through some kind of mysticism and ritualism.
“If you accept this, you will become spiritual. You will enter into fullness.”
Brothers and sisters, you find that such teaching appeals to the natural desire of man. Naturally, there is a desire in man to do something, to achieve by our own effort, because that will, in a sense, feed our ego.
So this heresy came and said, “Yes, you can get a superior knowledge. If you keep certain rituals, immediately you are initiated into the secret, and you are completed. You are perfect. You have wholeness.”
You find that it appeals to the flesh and caters to our natural desire.
If you want to grow to fullness, it takes time. Naturally speaking, even physically, it takes time to grow. You have to go through many things, and then trials, and gradually you grow into maturity, into completeness.
But here you find a teaching according to the elements of the world, according to man, not according to Christ. It says that if you are initiated into certain secrets, and if you keep certain rules, you immediately enter into fullness. You become spiritual almost instantaneously.
Brothers and sisters, that thing began to get hold of the Colossian saints.
It had such an influence upon them that Epaphras, that faithful minister, found himself unable to cope with the situation.
He decided to take a distant and dangerous journey of almost a thousand miles to Rome to see Paul, to try to find help from Paul.
Now, in the letter to the Colossians, you can see that when Paul heard of what had happened, he was really burdened for their situation.
You remember Paul, in 2 Corinthians, said that the care of the churches came upon him: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?”
That was the heart of the apostle. So when he heard of that unfortunate situation in Colossae, his heart burned within him. He wrote a letter to them.
In that letter, he shows us why they got into such a situation and where the remedy is.
Brothers and sisters, this church in Colossae had a very solid foundation. They had faith, hope, and love—a good beginning, a good start.
But it does not guarantee that it will end well. This is something for us to be warned about.
They had a good foundation, laid by faithful men and women, and yet the enemy came and sowed tares, almost destroying that church.
Brothers and sisters, the enemy did not only do that in the first century. He is still doing it today.
Do not think that because there is a good foundation, there is no danger of being led astray. Brothers and sisters, beware. The enemy is trying to sow tares into the ground where good wheat has been sown.
As I said before, with the Colossian believers it was not because of carelessness. It was not that they said, “As long as we can go to heaven, that is it.” They did have a desire to grow in the Lord. They had a desire to follow the Lord.
They were not like the Corinthian believers. The Colossian believers were different. After they believed in the Lord, they wanted to go on. They wanted to go into fullness. They wanted to be spiritual.
But in following the Lord and pursuing the Lord, they had to deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord. It is difficult. It is hard. It is like climbing a mountain.
Then this teacher came and said, “You do not need all this. There is a wisdom there. You can enter into it, and you know everything. Just keep a few little rules, and you are perfect. You are ready.”
Brothers and sisters, that is a temptation: a shortcut to spirituality, a shortcut to fullness.
Do you think we do not have such temptations today?
Brothers and sisters, you find that in Christianity today, there are lots of shortcuts being offered. They are not according to Christ. They are according to the elements of the world. They are according to the teaching of men.
They tell us how we can be spiritual instantaneously. “You do not need the cross. You do not need to pay any cost. You do not need to deny yourself.”
“All you need to do is receive some wisdom. If you are initiated into it, and if there are some things you keep away from, then you are perfect.”
How many people have fallen into such teaching? Today we are not completely out of such teachings.
Why were the Colossian believers tempted? It was because they did not have the full knowledge of God’s will.
They had a good foundation, but they did not have the full knowledge of God’s will. Because of this lack, they were tempted and led astray.
So when Paul heard of their situation, he not only shared with them what the full knowledge of God’s will is, but he actually prayed for them.
If you look into the letter to the Colossians, you find how he prayed. He said, “I pray that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
Now, that is what is needed. If we only have a good foundation, brothers and sisters, we are not protected from being led astray.
We need to be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will, and that alone will keep us from being tempted and led astray.
Now, what is the full knowledge of God’s will? It is evident from the letter to the Colossians. Paul shared with them what the full knowledge of God’s will is.
The full knowledge of God’s will is centered upon His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the supremacy of Christ. It is the preeminence of Christ. It is Christ, all and in all.
So here you find Paul telling them, “The Christ that you know is much bigger than you have realized.”
You would think that you can have fullness outside of Christ. There is no such thing, because in the will of God all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and you are complete in Him.
In other words, it is the will of God to put everything of His wisdom and knowledge in His Son. His Son is the fullness of God’s wisdom and knowledge.
Everything was created in Him, by Him, and for Him. He is the beginning. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the Head of the church.
It is through Him that all things are reconciled, made at peace, brought back, and summed up in Christ Jesus.
Aside from Christ, there is no knowledge, no wisdom, and no fullness. You can find everything in Him, and outside of Him is all vanity and emptiness.
Brothers and sisters, this is the full knowledge of God’s will. We need to know Christ in the will of God.
What is the purpose of God, the eternal purpose of God—a purpose which God purposed even before the foundation of the world? What is that will?
That will is Christ, everything, and in all. That is God’s will.
Brothers and sisters, if we know this is God’s will, then we will stay here.
So Paul said, after you have believed in the Lord Jesus, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him. Do not be led astray by philosophy and vain deceit, according to the elements of the world, according to the teaching of men, and not according to Christ.
Everything must be according to Christ. In other words, is it Christ?
If it is philosophy, is it Christ? If it is ritualism, is it Christ? Will mysticism lead us away from Christ? Will ceremonialism lead us away from Christ? The issue is Christ, all and in all.
That is God’s will. That is God’s will for every one of us.
Paul said that he labored to bring everyone complete, perfect in Christ Jesus: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
That is not only for individuals, but for the whole church. It is Christ, all and in all. It is neither Jew nor Greek, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither bondman nor freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
Now that is the full knowledge of God’s will, and this is something into which we have to enter.
Brothers and sisters, we thank the Lord that He has exercised us these days to get into the person and work of our Lord Jesus.
We say, “Oh, we know the person and the work of our Lord Jesus.” Yes, we know a little bit of it—the foundation. Thank God for the good foundation.
But, brothers and sisters, we need the full knowledge of God’s will. We need to know Christ as God knows Him. That is infinite. There is so much that we need to know.
Knowing that this is God’s will will keep us away from the teaching of men and from the elements of this world.
But how can we get into such full knowledge of God’s will? We find that it is more than something that other people can pass on to us.
Now, it is true: God has revealed the mystery to the apostles and to the prophets. Through the apostles and prophets, they share with us what God has revealed to them concerning our Lord Jesus.
It comes from revelation. God reveals His Son, and He has given us that full knowledge. Today it is an open secret. We read it in the Word of God.
But just reading it, just hearing it, you will not get it.
That is why you find Paul praying. He prayed for the Colossian believers. Before he began to share with them, he prayed for them.
He knew that even though there is such revelation, when you try to share it, it will not become living unless the Spirit of God quickens the Word.
So, brothers and sisters, when we read the Word of God, we need to pray and ask the Lord to open our spiritual understanding.
We need more than a mental apprehension or grasp of the Word. We need the Holy Spirit to open up the Word and make it living and operative within us.
That only comes by revelation of the Holy Spirit. So we need to pray that the Lord will open our spiritual understanding—not merely that we mentally receive it, but that it becomes spiritual reality.
Then we will really see Christ as all and in all to us, so that outside of Him we need nothing and seek for nothing. Brothers and sisters, we need prayer.
So as we go through this new series, we need more prayer. It is only through prayer that light will come to us.
Furthermore, aside from prayer, we must have a willingness to be dealt with by God.
You know, when the revelation of Jesus Christ comes to us, invariably it will cut across our self-life. It will cut across ourselves, our own opinions, our own ideas, our traditions, and all these things.
Whenever there is a revelation of Jesus Christ, it cuts across anything that is not of God. When that happens, the Holy Spirit will apply the cross to our lives.
Now, are we willing to take up the cross and follow the Lord? If we are not willing, then even if we receive light, eventually that light will fade away.
Or we may still keep the knowledge, but the light is gone and the life is gone.
So revelation and the cross cannot be separated.
Brothers and sisters, when you have a revelation of the Lord Jesus, you are lifted up to the third heaven. Who does not want revelation? It is so glorious.
But remember, if you have such revelation, there has to be a thorn in your body. Otherwise, you will be proud. There have to be dealings.
These things go together.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I feel that this is not just history that we are talking about. I feel that it is very living with us today.
We really need to be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That is what we need.
Now, I wonder: after Paul wrote that letter and sent it by Tychicus, when it arrived in Colossae, I wonder what happened.
Here you have this letter, a wonderful letter. Oh, how I thank God for that letter. You know, a little church, not even mentioned in the book of Acts, and yet here is a tremendous letter. That shows the love of God, does it not?
Such an important letter arrived in Colossae. I wonder what happened when they read it.
Here you find Tychicus. You know, Tychicus was also a fellow-bondservant of Jesus Christ and a faithful minister. Paul said he would not only tell them what had happened to Paul, but he would also encourage them.
In other words, when Tychicus went there to help them, Onesimus was also with him as an example, a living example of what God can do. I wonder what happened.
Epaphras could not go back because he was a prisoner, so he could not return. But Paul, in the letter, said how Epaphras labored for them in prayer, that they might be perfect in Christ Jesus.
Paul and Epaphras labored in combat. It is a combat, brothers and sisters. In spiritual things there is a combat; there is a spiritual battle going on.
The enemy is trying to keep us from Christ, to keep us away from Christ. That is the enemy’s purpose. He will use all kinds of methods to keep us from Christ and away from Him.
Here you find Paul and Epaphras laboring. They prayed. They contended in prayers for the Colossian believers.
Now, I wonder, with all these prayers and with such a letter, whether the Colossian believers were awakened. I hope they were. I hope they were awakened and restored to Christ.
But anyway, Colossae is no longer mentioned in the New Testament. It disappeared from the New Testament.
About thirty years later, in A.D. 95 or 96, you find the Apostle John on the island of Patmos. He received a commission from the risen Lord to write a letter to the church in Laodicea.
Now, we have already said that Colossae and Laodicea formed part of a tri-city region. What happened to one could happen to the other. You cannot separate them.
Even in the letter to the Colossians, Paul said that after they read the letter, they should let the church of the Laodiceans read it, and they should read the letter from Laodicea. In other words, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae were one; you could not separate them.
So by the time of the Apostle John, Colossae was no longer mentioned, but Laodicea was there. We can imagine that what happened in Laodicea also happened in Colossae.
If you read the letter to the Colossians and the letter to the church in Laodicea, there are certain similarities.
In the letter to the Colossians, our Lord is revealed as the firstborn of all creation, which means that all things were created in Him, by Him, and for Him.
In Colossians, you find that He is the Head of the church, His Body. He has the first place in all things.
Now, in the letter to the church in Laodicea, how does the Lord reveal Himself to them? He says, “I am the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.”
So you have certain similarities in the revelation to the Colossians and to the church in Laodicea.
Then you look at their condition. With the Colossian believers, instead of staying in Christ, they were being led away from Christ.
Instead of following Christ, they were following the world and the teaching of men.
Then you look at the church in Laodicea. What do you have there? You find that they were neither hot nor cold, but had become lukewarm.
Now, as for judgment, how did the Lord judge them? In Colossae, the Lord said, “You are keeping those things—do not touch, and so forth. It only puffs up your flesh. It does not deal with your flesh.”
In other words, you are deceived. You think you are spiritual, but actually your flesh is getting bigger. You are deceived. That is the Lord’s judgment.
In the church of Laodicea, the Lord said, “You think you are rich; you lack nothing. But you are wretched, poor, naked, and blind.”
What was the call to them? In the letter to the Colossians, the call was, “Return to Christ. Return to Christ.” In the letter to the church in Laodicea, the call was, “Repent.”
So there are certain similarities between these two letters.
Now, there are two possibilities.
One possibility is that after they received the letter from Paul, they returned to Christ. By the grace of God, they really walked in Him, rooted and built up in Christ.
They had revelation and spiritual understanding. But after thirty years, another generation came up.
That generation received the revelation as knowledge without life. Because of this, you find the situation described in the church in Laodicea. They thought they were rich. They thought they knew everything. But actually, they were poor, blind, and naked.
That is one possibility. Of course, brothers and sisters, this is something of which we need to be warned.
Oftentimes, we find that the first generation has revelation, and with it, life. But when the second generation comes, they have the knowledge but no life.
Now, that is one possibility.
The other possibility is that, even after they received such a letter and so much prayer and love was poured upon them, they did not repent. They did not return to Christ.
The result is that the Lord says, “If you do not repent, I will spew you out.”
So, brothers and sisters, it is very, very serious.
I think we need to take this to heart. Not because there is a good beginning do we sit back and say, “Well, the beginning is done.”
But it does not guarantee a good end.
We need to be in fear and trembling before the Lord.
The only protection is that we have to be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
That is the only safekeeping. How we need to be before the Lord for it.
So may the Lord help us. Let us pray.
We heartily do believe that Thou hast a living, present message to us today through Thy written Word.
Lord, we pray that we may have the ear to hear. Keep us in humility, in fear and trembling, lest we be led astray.
Lord, we pray that Thou wilt keep us to Thyself, that we may truly walk in Thee, rooted and built up in Thee.
We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.