Colossians: Fullness

Let us turn together please to Colossians, the first chapter in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians. The construction of this book is really very helpful. I'm saying this for the sake of my younger brethren who are our next teachers in God's assemblies.

It is a very wise thing when you're going to consider a book to look at how it is constructed because that's going to lay the emphasis as to where you will be finding the real purpose of the epistle. And it's very interesting to notice as well that he's going to teach us in this passage what I want to notice with you in chapter one is that what motivates our hearts unto obedience and to the things which are spiritual is found in this chapter and its occupation with the person of the Lord Jesus. That's what motivates, not negativity.

Negativity causes us to sit back and be thus under judgment which we do require concerning our flesh but to motivate our spirits in our lives we find in chapter one that Christ is in preeminence. Then the apostle is going to take up in the second chapter the problems. First he occupies us with the person of the person of our Lord Jesus which I want to notice from one statement that's found in this first chapter.

But then in chapter three after he deals with the problems and gives the dear believers gives to each of us an understanding of how the problems can overcome us that is problems from the outside from the wicked one through different avenues he brings types of temptations into our experience. Then he shows us what the prospects are. First he gets the person before us then he'll look at what might be a snare to us but then he says look beyond that to the prospects.

What are our prospects as believers in the person of the Lord Jesus that is chapter three and then in chapter four he shows how that is going to affect our relationships as we have in that fourth chapter. But in chapter one of the epistles of the Colossians I want to notice with you please if you will read a few verses we'll commence at verse seven of chapter one. As he also learned of Epiphras our dear fellow servant who is for you a faithful minister of Christ who also declared unto us your love in the spirit.

For this cause we also since the day we heard do not cease to pray for you and to desire that she might be filled and that that's an interesting word is going to be found nine times or seven times pardon me in this first chapter and in the first few verses of chapter two. It's the idea of being filled with fullness drawing from a fullness with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that she might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness. Verse 15 please speaking now this very marvelous passage of the holy word of God speaking of Christ who is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the church which is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the father or a better rendering for this verse is it for in him all fullness was pleased to dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him i say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were at one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight verse 27 reads to him to whom God would make known to us God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles which is christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in christ jesus the lord graciously bless our reading and help us so i want to notice with you a little concerning the person of the lord jesus in this passage this this chapter is a most important chapter dear younger brother and dear younger sister for you to study carefully there are three chapters that are number one chapters in a book john chapter one and the emphasis in that chapter of the first chapter of the gospel according to john is the son as the only begotten and that's what you need to study the only begotten son when you come to hebrews chapter one you're going to find that he is called the first begotten and that needs to be studied because it's declaring fullness that's in the lord jesus that we are drawing upon and the third one is in colossians chapter one where we read in this passage he is the first born son that's an important statement because each of these passages are putting the person of our lord jesus in a sphere of preeminence he in that sphere is preeminent he is the fullness and that is what i want to try and notice with you a little today in verse 19 for in him all fullness was pleased to dwell now when you come to chapter 2 of colossians you will find again that the fullness of deity dwells in him but that's not this fullness in chapter 2 it's the fullness of deity everything essential in perfection unto fullness of god is in him but when we come to chapter one it's a fullness in the spiritual realm that we can draw upon and that is what i want to try and notice with you a little today there are three sections in this first chapter that that is going to draw upon the fullness that's in the lord jesus in the spiritual realm that is his power and his grace and his peace as we have in our passage and his wisdom we're drawing from that that is what is going to fulfill in us the knowledge of his will be filled with the fullness of that knowledge that comes from us it comes to us as we draw upon him and it will be seen as we read together in verse 23 of our chapter but first of all let me notice with you then the three sections that are affected by and are drawing upon and from the fullness of the person of our lord jesus and i wish to mention this because i wonder if young minds are saying what do you mean draw upon it how can i draw from the from fullness well the second section is going to be what we read of the reconciliation of all things our creation as we realize is under the curse of sin it fell and way back in the garden of eden when adam sinned and it has marred the full potential of what god purposed in this creation that's going to be lifted and that's going to be lifted because of what's in the lord jesus he is the agent who has made peace god is the author of peace he is the god of peace god hath made peace for creation we read in our passage and the agent of that is the person of our lord jesus and therefore from his word from his action from his presence creation is going to be reconciled all things that does not speak of the evil realms no that's in philippians chapter two they'll be subjugated beneath his feet but in colossians chapter one it's reconciliation unto the harmony of the will of god for that creation and the third sphere let me just mention it to you before we come back to the practical that we want to look at in chapter one the third sphere we read about is in verses 22 and 27 and it's the glorification of saints christ is seen in this passage as the head and all the members of his body draw from the head likeness to himself that's what the idea is of bringing and drawing from his person all that we shall be eternally a spiritual body with likeness to his body then we will have a spiritual mind with capacity for spiritual things eternal the invisible we shall have a mind that's capable of comprehending grasping appreciating and understanding that which is spiritual in the heavens and we will have a spirit a spirit that will be spiritually and eternally holy undefilable in holiness forever and ever that's that's all drawn from the person of the lord jesus because that's who he is in his fullness now in the meanwhile while we are here i want to notice with you what we have as the sanctification of the believer's life as we draw from his fullness i hope beloved brethren that it will be a joy to us as we consider the fullness that's in the lord jesus that is available in this passage it's being uncovered for us and we draw from that for what he is going to speak of as that which pleases god and that's a singular statement in this epistle singular in this sense unto all pleasing pleasing god in everything awesome brethren it's humbling to think that the eternal god in all his glory and his singular greatness that i can give pleasure to that holy heart now he says in everything give him pleasure how am i going to be able to do that it's drawing from the fullness that's in the lord jesus and that is what it gives to me to me character and is pleasing unto himself and so dear younger believers as you strive i know you do i did myself when i was younger used to get along with god and and wrestle with how can i be pleasing to god what is he wanting from my life what is he looking for in my character of course we realize there are things that are pardon me inconsistent with the character of spiritual life but it is drawing what is possible that we might be conformed in likeness to our blessed lord jesus christ so first of all and just a little bit of homework for you i want you to look up the seven times you're going to find this idea of fullness now it's not going to use the word full all the time it's going to say filled or be full or be filled or fullness seven times because every one of those occasions there's a relationship between you and your lord between you and his fullness you see we are the members we're drawing from our head he is making us what we are and that is what he is going to bring before us here in the practical way all right let's look at verse nine please if you will everything we eat in relation to our new creation in christ we can receive from him his inexhaustible supply of fullness verse nine declares that you might be filled you may draw from fullness with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding now please go over to verse 23 and notice how this is is actually clarified for us a little as to the idea of the fullness of the knowledge of his will that we draw from continuing in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven so the first point that is made here is the idea of drawing knowledge from our blessed god in truth and this is the way it's going to be seen in right it's going to give to me that stability of remaining continue in the faith and the word for continue means they're just like you began keep right on don't change there's no compromise here we're continuing we're remaining in the faith that's beautiful because that's what we received he says when from the gospel which he heard which was preached and ye have received so the first thing that we're going to be able to look to our lord for and in the intimacy of our understanding of our relationship with him we draw this the ability to stay the same remain faithful the idea of being faithful is really the idea dear brother of continuing in a path of faith that's being faithful if i continue in a path of self-choosing that's not faithful and faithfulness is not stubbornness faithfulness is the obedience of faith obedience to the word that's drawing from our blessed lord as we have in this passage and so the first thing is the knowledge of his will which is seen in the remaining in truth that's been received so the idea of remaining in verse 23 again notice he says it's going to give to you a grounding and a settling and the interesting word for the word grounding means be intelligent that's how i am grounded in the faith i get to learn the doctrines and to learn the doctrines of the gospel and to learn the doctrines of the person of christ that's what has been given to us from verse 15 to verse 19 that is a tremendous passage dear young believer take each section and write on explain it look into it meditate on it it's for him it's by him it's in him it's from him it's him in fullness and that fullness is what is going to give to you a grounding and that's what's going to make you dear brother and dear sister each of us irrespective of age that's what's going to make us be pleasing unto god grounded in the faith you see god is the author of this faith this great truth because he's revealing he's unveiling to us the person of our lord jesus and in unveiling his fullness that exposes error that shows where we are wrong that will expose the selfishness of our of our manner and as i am occupied with his fullness i'm drawing from that and it settles me and the word for settling there too interestingly means don't be groping for the sensational god isn't looking for you young man to be trying to be sensational he wants you to be like christ our lord jesus was sensational in this sense there was no one else ever like him singular in his glory and that's what god wants you to be that's pleasing pleasing him in all things isn't that beautiful oh to give that pleasure to god and that is accomplished by drawing from his fullness it gives me intelligence and it keeps me from trying to reach out beyond to become recognized or become something i'm not just to be settled and stop groping for the sensational or the novel and that will not of course fulfill what is pleasing unto god now look at verse 10 please that you might walk worthy of the lord now the word for worthy there is an interesting word it has a dual meaning you're walking worthy of the lord of course the lord is before us in his fullness now how can i walk worthy of that fullness the word first of all is going to mean to you that you can be of the same weight that is put put it in the balance put in the balance what is found in the person of your lord his power his grace his wisdom that you may draw from put that in the balance now put your life in the other side of the balance that's the idea of walking walking in like weight with the grace that he gives he gives grace and trial grace to endure grace not to compromise grace to keep grounded he gives that grace and he gives power courage to stand and resist and to move forward he gives that because that's his fullness that's who he is and that's what's going to be seen even when he reconciles all things unto himself to the will of god and when he brings us into glory it'll be the result of that fullness now he says this you draw upon that that's walking worthy worthy of the lord oh i love that statement that's what god says that's what's pleasing in all things pleasing god in all things the more that i am balanced with likeness to my blessed lord the more my holy heavenly father is pleased i i covet that i yearn just to give god a little pleasure not a tear of regret or sorrow which our flesh will give to him but no to please him in everything but he adds another thing in this word that he has before us here to walk worthy in verse 10 the idea means to magnify the lord that is a very precious thing because it shows dear younger believer an older saint and there are older saints here let me say this to the younger ones you watch the older believers what makes that dear sister so pleasing what makes that dear brother so approachable what is it about that older brother that you feel like he is a father you know what has happened he's been drawing he's magnifying the grace that's found in his lord in his own life and that's what god wants me to do because that will be the testimony that will be the the little pillar of monument unto his praise likeness to the lord jesus now that is that is given to illustrated for us in the epistle or rather the book of the acts you will remember when peter and john were together the people had to say about them they've been with jesus they talked like them they had the same message that they heard that jesus preached these men are preaching and they're doing the same works can we not covet that beloved the sanctification of my life is drawing from his fullness that it might be seen i've been with jesus but he's going down another thing notice in verse 10 being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god now fruitfulness very often we think of as being the results of our work or the results of what we have been endeavoring to do we see results and so that is fruit but beloved that is not the fruit of our little passage here and and likewise when you're thinking of the fruit of the gospel don't forget that's not fruit in your life that's the gospel's fruit preach the gospel it bears its own fruit so what we have in this passage is the same idea the things that are pleasing are fruit now my brother read to us in galatians chapter 5 concerning the fruit of the spirit that's the result of this drawing the fullness that is in him dwells in the head and it's from the head i draw my wisdom it's from the head i draw my will that's that's what this passage is saying in relation to pleasing god in everything so he adds in this tenth verse being fruitful now notice the sphere of it it's in every good work now the word for good in your new testament there are two words for the word good that is in the original text and the one word good means something that is speaking of the value of the object it's good all the material in it is very good it's good quality within the subject matter but the other word for good means it communicates good and that's what's here because that's what my blessed lord did he communicated good think of the compassion think of the tenderness go to the gospel of luke and it's the lord jesus because luke being the doctor he's very sensitive to different characters characteristics of weakness in people and he speaks about widows he speaks about children and he does speak about sickness in more detail than the other writers because he was a doctor and in every one of them he brings in the lord jesus he's capable of sympathizing he's tender in his attention to the needy he is looking after the poverty of the widow that's the good that's here that's the good works it's not the good works to see who i am no brethren and see who he is ah that's the secret that is what is pleasing under god and so there is to be developed as i draw from him in the reading and meditating upon his person i will be transformed into likeness unto those things that are fruitful in good works and he adds at the end of the verse increasing in the knowledge of god in john's gospel our lord jesus speaks about his father in every chapter except two he's all the time speaking about his father there are occasions that he went away to a mountain just to be alone with his father the knowledge of god that's how we get the knowledge of god brethren that's likeness to the lord jesus and so can i say to those again who are younger i know the older ones have already developed this in their life but dear younger brother i i'm going to give you the illustration of a young man he came to me with the question he called me by name mr smith he said how can i get closer to god when i'm so busy and he is busy he has a good position he has a good job and he has three little children how can i well i had to say to him the one thing you're going to have to do brother is you're not going to be able to shirk your responsibilities to your family but you're going to have to get up earlier in the morning to have some time with god put that into the discipline of your life young man and younger sister you've got to have a particular time alone with your god it's the only way you're going to get to know him just like the lord jesus the increasing in the knowledge of god one more let me notice with you as i close we have in the in verse 11 strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness strengthened now the idea here of course is drawing strength this is strength that i do not have when you turn to chapter three you're going to find that statement you're dead well there's no strength there spiritually speaking brethren we're dead to the world to sin to self we are dead there's nothing there but he says your life is hid with christ in god that's where we draw from and that's what's in our little text here in verse 11 drawing strength and the word for might there is not the word dynamite it's not the idea of blowing up in a big blast the might there it very simply is the consistency of it he's strong today and he's strong tomorrow and he's strong the next day it remains strengthened with all might and the purpose of that is according to his glorious power i love that statement because it's teaching me that according to the circumstance i will be found in there will be power sufficient ah brethren dear sisters there will be trials come into your experience you who are young men and young ladies and beloved saints who are here or who are older they know the truth of this according to the trial so will be the power available and the idea of the power of course is the manifesting what our lord jesus manifested can i turn us brethren to the night of the sanhedrin when our beloved lord was in that awful place of the praetorium and men were spitting on his face not a murmur from his lip men slapped him in the face men hit him with their fist men tore hair from his cheek not a murmur strengthened with all might by his glorious power you see well that means to say we just become a doormat and everybody steps oh no no that's not it brother that's not what our lord jesus was throughout those trials he was manifesting the glory of his power the marvel that nothing could ever deter him or ever divorce him from the pathway of divine purpose for his life and let us turn our eye to him now behold him seated in majesty at the right hand of the throne of the of god in heaven crowned with honor and with glory that face once so marred we shall gaze on at length no scars brethren no spittle glorified glorious power strengthened with all might as he mentions in that passage unto all patience and long suffering that's an interesting word and joyfulness let me close with noticing with you the progress in those three words this is what is drawn this is the fruit of what is drawn from meditation and time with your blessed lord drawing from him through his word first of all he mentions patience and the idea of patience generally speaking in the new testament is the idea of sticking at it enduring it not just gritting your teeth and saying oh here goes i have to stick with this no brethren it's enduring it because of the results notice what that leads to long suffering long doesn't say suffering long long suffering the idea of long suffering really is the the character of spirit that accepts accepts the situation some have called that the grace of acceptance that's long suffering patience leads to that grace grace of acceptance we were just hearing of that in the home where i'm staying in marion just the other day a man that has a very very very sad disability and you would know him if i mentioned him to you but i just said for the sake of what he said when someone asked him what do you think about this as far as god allowing this to be you you be this way so he can hardly even feed himself now and he can't understand all his words you know he said he says this is the best for me because god did it that's long suffering he has accepted it from his god and the result of that is joyfulness now the idea of joyfulness is not being happy because it hurts that's nonsense the joyfulness is the fruit of that that is the fruit of rejoicing in god his fulfillment of it brethren that's deep deep water it is holy ground but it's likeness to the jesus and as we see our blessed lord as god has glorified him so we come to the end of our chapter where we have noticed and god is going to glorify us can i just point you to that brethren as we as i close the day is coming when the ultimate is going to be realized i'm going to have a body of likeness to his i i look forward to that so much a body that will display the eternal triumph of resurrection and glory through faith in the lord jesus i'm going to have a mind that will be capable of understanding and grasping and fathoming spiritual things which i'd yearn to fathom now but i cannot i do not have the brain power and i do not have the discipline sad to say but it's coming and it's all coming from him and i'm going to have a spirit of undefilable holiness all because of my link with the head he and his fullness in him all fullness was pleased to dwell god graciously help us to draw from him beloved soon we will see his face we will be like him and he in all the preeminence of his person will eternally be displayed as the fullness of all things chapter 3 and verse 13 is the key of colossian epistle and that's exactly what it says christ is all and in all in everybody that is in every believer he will be seen that glorious one help us to be like him now as we await his return