In Christ at Colossae

Colossians 1:1–2

About the Sermon

We’ll get off to what may feel like a slow start, focusing this sermon on the first two verses of Paul’s letter. Yet in these two verses are an entire worldview needed for reading the rest of the letter.

About the Series

Is Christ enough for us? Speaking of Christ, Paul writes, “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him” (2:9, 10). He is. The message of the book of Colossians is that spiritual fullness is found in Christ and Christ alone, and this fullness leads to fruitfulness and a life fully pleasing to God (1:10). Like the church at Colossae, the church in our age faces a pernicious threat. Not always the threat of outright doctoral heresy, but the subtle addition of religious sounding but worldly solutions to the problem of sin. It might even sound something like, “Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch” (2:21). Instead, Paul offers us the only way to true maturity: “Him we proclaim . . . that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (1:28).
Is Christ enough for us? Speaking of Christ, Paul writes, “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him” (2:9, 10). He is. The message of the book of Colossians is that spiritual fullness is found in Christ and Christ alone, and this fullness leads to fruitfulness and a life fully pleasing to God (1:10). Like the church at Colossae, the church in our age faces a pernicious threat. Not always the threat of outright doctoral heresy, but the subtle addition of religious sounding but worldly solutions to the problem of sin. It might even sound something like, “Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch” (2:21). Instead, Paul offers us the only way to true maturity: “Him we proclaim . . . that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (1:28).

Sermons in the Series