The Letter of Paul to the Colossians is a colossal book! HA!! This book makes me picture that Marvel character, Colossus! This was the one that was chrome and hugely muscular! His super power is his ability to transform his body tissue into an organic, steel-like substance that grants him ginormous strength! He goes from 6’6” to 7’5” when he does his thing and is able to lift up to 75 tons! Missiles can’t hurt him. Heat can’t hurt him. Cold can’t hurt him! The elements don’t phase him! That is this book!

This book was written by Paul in about 64 AD at the same time that he was writing his letter to the Ephesians. It’s a prison epistle and he’s writing it from Rome where Caesar Nero is in power. The point of this letter is to beat down heresy like Greek Philosophy, Gnosticism, Judaism and Legalism! His aim is to teach them the cosmic Lordship of Jesus Christ! How Jesus is above and superior and preeminent over all things! The Christology of this book, how Paul masterfully lays out the truth of Jesus Christ is unsurpassed! It is 7’5” tall and solid chrome! With rims! HA! And when read in conjunction with the Letter to the Ephesians, you’ll walk away with this one-two punch, knocking out heresy.

Now by way of context, Colossae is located in the southwest corner of modern day Turkey. On a map, just to give you a feel, Turkey is directly north of Syria which is directly north of Israel. It’s directly east of Greece and directly south of Ukraine and Russia. At the time this letter was written, Colossae sat on a major trade route and folks would come from all over because there in the city was a product that you could get in other places but Colossae’s was the best. They were the leading producer of luxury grade beautiful dark red wool cloth! It was actually called colossinum, and the city was famous for it!

Now up until around 100 BC, you really couldn’t get this product anywhere else so the city was bumping! Folks would come from all over and they had to eat, right? They had to sleep, right? Romans didn’t have Winnebago’s back then! HA! So this product actually ignited an entire economy there in Colossae of restaurants, inns, entertainments type attractions and for that reason it was well settled, well established, well known, well alive. But in 100 BC, just 10 miles down-river, Laodicea was founded. There went the neighborhood! HA!

Laodicea became famous for their products as well, and guess what their leading product was? Glossy black and red wool…and so they really put a hurt on Colossae! Laodicea was also known for its, (guess what you Bible scholars), its lukewarm water! They had devised a system to get water and transport it in clay/ceramic pipes long distances and as the pipes sat in the sun they would heat the water so by the time the water flowed into the city, it was warmish…

And so you could travel the extra costly long ten miles to Colossae and have a cold bath or you could go to Laodicea and get some awesome wool there and have a warm bath! It’s like Colossae was Walmart and Laodicea is Target! Colossae ain’t got no clean bathrooms! Colossae ain’t got no Starbucks! So Laodicea put a major hurting on the economy there in Colossae!

Now to add to the hardship, Colossae was nearly destroyed by earthquakes in both AD 17 and AD 60 and so it was virtually rebuilt a few times and each time a bit less luxurious than the time before. By about 400 AD, the city was gone…and so the timing of this letter is right after the second rebuilding, two generations after it was virtually the center of the economic world and most scholars believe that Paul had heard of their hardship and in that hardship their once strong faith was beginning to increase in vulnerability to false teachings and doctrine. And so I love what he does. He engages!

Colossians Chapter 1 Verses 1 – 2

• A very typical Pauline greeting peppered with profound meaning. First, he is about to combat false teaching and doctrine and so he flashes his heavenly FBI badge! “I am an apostle of Jesus Christ, sent here by Him, under the orders of the Father! And I’m here to speak to those who will listen, and oh by the way, those who will listen are the saints, the faithful brethren in Christ.” HA! He is so brilliant! Can’t lose! If they say they won’t listen then they’re saying they won’t listen to God and identifying themselves as not faithful, right?!
• And then the eternal twins that accompany salvation through the cross…grace arrives through faith in Jesus Christ and through that grace we have peace with the Father. Always in that order, grace and then peace…

Colossians Chapter 1 Verses 3 – 8

• The familiar characteristics that mark a true believer. One who is close to the Lord and filled with the wisdom that is from above…the wisdom that comes with submitting to God’s ways and finding them supernaturally superior!! (You never will until you do surrender to Him by the way) Paul says we have heard of your great faith and your great love! (Notice, love for who/what? All the saints. Just a little side note there)
• But here’s the thing. Why? Why such great faith? Why does love mark believers like a tattoo?   Faith in Jesus Christ and His ways above your own…love for all the saints that appears in kindness and service, compassion and character…because of the hope of the life to come! And that is the power of the Gospel Paul says there in verse 5…bringing fruit everywhere it goes, he says in verse 6…
• Such a powerful opening to a colossal letter! That the hope we have because of Christ, the gospel of salvation and eternal life, has the power to even change your heart…as I am sure it does and can if you set fear aside, set guilt aside, set pride aside and seek Truth!
• There was a boy born to a war-torn home. Grew up finding his own way and eventually found his way to great evil. Intensely focused on self, he got all that he ever wanted. Used people. Fooled people into thinking they were important until they were of no more use to him. Haunted by past demons he turned to getting drunk and high and gradually (yet quickly) slipped into the darkest of lives. But because of the cross today he teaches the Bible to you…
• I am living proof. April is living proof. Chin is living proof. Scott is living proof. The question is, “When are you going to be living proof?”