Christ, In Whom are Hidden, Col, 2:1-3
Colossians 2:1-3 · Vern Peterman · Sep 26, 2004
Ephesians & Colossians, No. 37
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262313274510

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We are indeed going to proceed into Colossians chapter 2. And believe it or not, we have arrived there. So I'm glad you're with us as we're able to embark on this new chapter. And as we do so, just something I thought would be important to bring up.

You probably noticed this word mystery is in there. And you're thinking, oh no, Vern's going to talk about moose again here. I just want to let you know, okay? I just won't speak of moose at all, okay? Just because I know some of you are probably tired of it. So anyway, I won't speak of moose at all. We'll keep the moose hidden, all right? All right. We will do it, however. This is three verses, so we'll take it one verse at a time, break it up into three verses. And so we'll start off like this with chapter 2, verse 1.

And so Paul is continuing on, even though we're starting a new chapter, he's continuing on as he's talking to the church at Colossae here, writing to them. He had turned a corner, talking particularly about his ministry and about his wrestling. And he introduces here this idea of his struggling in verse 1. He describes his struggle not as a minor one. He uses this word, the Greek word is Helikos. We get our word Helix from this.

In the time of the New Testament and the time before that, interestingly, it had the idea of being full-grown. Okay? Full-grown. Not the idea of some, you know, spiraling structure, but full-grown. What Paul is getting across here is that the struggle that he is having on their behalf is not minor. This is no wimpy struggle. He is trying to tell them, look, I'm having this struggle and it is a major struggle. It is not insignificant. So he's trying to get that across. You're looking at scale, magnitude, this is up there.

He also continues to use, as we pointed out before, These athletic terms, and this particular athletic term that comes up here, we brought up previously, it's agon, and it's part of the family of words where we get our word in English, agonize. It's interesting, we think of agonizing, we don't automatically think of an athletic event or an Olympic event, but that's the source of the word. And we brought up last week pictures of athletes who are straining, and these strained faces expressing that and that's the way he's putting it.

And he uses this term, on your behalf, that, as we pointed out in Colossians 1.24, has the idea of Olympic or athletic representation, just like we'll have in our Bible, in our Bible, in our Bible, in our Bible, in our Bible, in our Bible, in our Bible, in our Bible, in our Bible. own Olympics or athletic events, this person is running for this country. And we cheer, we may not have ever met the athlete, odds are we haven't, but we cheer this person, why?

They represent us. Paul is speaking in those same kinds of terms. He's saying, I want you to understand that even though you've not met me, and he had not met these people by and large, a rare few, Epiphorus is the only one we have a name, Later on, we get the piece of information that Philemon was also from Colossae. Other than those, we don't have the names of most of these people. He hadn't met most of them, and yet he is running in personal representation of them.

He wants them to understand, I take my representation of you in this struggle very seriously. We previously pointed out these athletic terms that Paul uses in Colossians. And we want to get across this idea of struggle. You've heard later on where Paul writes to Timothy and he says, I have fought the good fight. That's the same word, agon. And so one of the events that was included in this word agon was boxing. And this is a statue of a Roman boxer. I show it rather than a Greek one because it's one that's well preserved.

And what they would typically do is they would have leather straps that they would wrap around their knuckles. They would at times put spikes or pieces of metal in the leather straps. So it's not like our own boxing matches in our day, which can still be pretty brutal. These were ones intended to be pretty severely brutal. What's amazing is as you look at the history of these, these boxing matches will sometimes go on for hours. You know how in ours we'll have, okay, you've had your four minutes, go sit down for a minute?

No, you just keep fighting and fighting and fighting with these leather straps, sometimes with damaging hardware in the knuckles of the straps. So, why do we mention that? When Paul says, I have this great struggle, he is trying to communicate to them very clearly that this is something in which he intensely struggles. He's not comparing it to, I just went for a little jog on your behalf. He's not saying, I just played checkers on your behalf. He is communicating this is an intense struggle that he's been involved in on their behalf, representing them as we would have representation in our Olympics. Now, just to make it clear, we're speaking of boxing matches and not matching boxes. Now he says, your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea. So he's talking about those who are in Colossae as well as those who are in the neighboring city of Laodicea. Now this is Colossae today.

It's one of the cities of the New Testament that's never been excavated. I've been trying to keep track of it and they were supposed to start something this year. They haven't. A university in Australia was supposed to have headed it up and it seems to have gotten bogged down.

But Colossae was in this Lycus Valley. It was one of the three cities in the valley, and it was one that had a glorious history but was declining. The neighboring cities of Laodicea and Heropolis, however, were maintaining, or Laodicea was even growing in its influence. So here's from Colossae looking towards the area where Laodicea and Heropolis were located. Here Colossae had a nice cool flowing stream nearby. Hierapolis had hot mineral springs, and to this day, you can go there and go to their hot springs resorts.

Laodicea was across the valley, and although it was doing well financially, it didn't have its own good source of water, and so it drew from Hierapolis, and there was an underground water pipe where it got its water. Therefore, rather than having the nice hot water of Hierapolis, by the time it got to Laodicea, it was lukewarm.

So that's why you see later on, a few decades later, in the messages to the churches, the message that the Lord delivers to Laodicea. He says, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot, so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Very interesting. This city of Laodicea continues to be spoken of in Scripture. As the Lord writes this message to the church at Laodicea, He continues on in verse 17.

He says, because you say, I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing. These were people who in the church had taken on the culture of the world around them and said, hey, boy, I've got big bucks. I'm doing fine. And they'd let that absorb into their thinking even in the church, even as believers. Even several decades later, you see the emphasis. Now, as we go back into this, hold on to that thought of their wealth, because we'll revisit that in a minute here.

And for all those who have not personally seen my face, now, of course, he was writing to the church at Colossae. They, other than a couple exceptions, had not met him personally. The same with the church at Laodicea and Heropolis and other towns and cities in the area. Imagine for a minute, living in the Lycus Valley, maybe in Colossae.

You've gotten a letter from a guy you've never met and this guy is writing you from prison. He is chained up to a Praetorian guard 24-7. Okay, here's this guy that's chained up to a Praetorian guard and a prisoner for the last few years. He's writing you a letter and you've never met him. What are you going to think of this guy? What are you going to think of what he has to say? What he wants to communicate to them is, look, I may never have met you, but I want you to know that what I'm writing to you comes from a heart of love and concern. The fact that I'm now in prison, the fact that we've not met, should not cause you to take what I'm writing lightly, should not cause you to think that I don't care, because, he says, I care intensely. Olympic intensity struggle on your behalf. I represent you personally and I take it seriously.

Here they are in Colossae. Here he is in Rome. A few months to get a letter from one place to the next, in those days anyway. He wants them to know that he cares for them very much, for him and all the people of Asia. that is Asia Minor, the western part of what we call Turkey now, just as if he was representing them in an athletic event. He doesn't take his competing from a distance lightly. Remember Ephesus, where Paul did spend a few years, was the place where Epaphras had gotten in contact with Paul.

But it says in Acts 19.10 that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. where the Lord spread outside of Ephesus during that time. And so there were about 500 cities and towns in that area where Paul had not spent time personally, but where the gospel had also gone.

That's what Acts 19.10 is telling us. So we're going to see these other churches also being in Paul's concern.

He's concerned, even though he personally has not been there, that they also understand what he's saying and that they understand clearly what he is saying. He is saying with great concern and care for them. For all those who have not personally seen me, even if I am writing from prison, even if I am chained up all the time to a Praetorian guard.

Now, in this verse 2, the first word that comes up here, This is that. It's Hinnah, and it has the idea of telling you the purpose. Paul isn't struggling without a purpose. He isn't struggling without a focus. He's not saying, boy, I'm just sitting here struggling, I wonder what it's for. He has a specific purpose and intent.

His Olympic level of intensity has a specific reason. It's very specific. That reason is what he's going to spell out to them in verses 2 and 3. He's going to lay that out clearly. I want to tell you that I have a great concern for you, and this is precisely what that concern is centered upon. That's what he's going to lay out in front of them. So here's the purpose of Paul's struggle. No, that's a purpose. No, no. Okay. All right.

The purpose of Paul's struggle is first there, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, part one. Part two, attaining to all the wealth that comes from the assurance of understanding He's saying, that is the center of my great struggle on your behalf. I am representing you personally, and I do not take it lightly. That's what he's telling them.

All right. It's that first part, their hearts may be encouraged. We want to take a look at it first here. All right. He's saying, that is the center of my great struggle on your behalf. I am representing you personally, and I do not take it lightly. That's what he's telling them. All right. It's the seed of the emotions, passions, intellect, and will.

It says that these people in the Church of Colossae, at Laodicea, and the others, I want them all to know these things. He wants to touch their hearts. He doesn't want to just count noses. He wants to touch their hearts. He wants to touch their hearts. He wants to touch their hearts. He wants to touch their hearts. He wants to touch their hearts. He's not just saying, okay, give me the statistics. How many of you got here and there and there? I want the numbers. What's the offering? Give me that.

He isn't looking for statistics and numbers and noses. He is looking for hearts. He is addressing hearts. It's people. He has a genuine interest in the very hearts of people, and he's spelling that out right up front. He doesn't want them just to be saved, certainly that. but he also wants them to grow spiritually. He's spelled that out at the end of the last two verses in Colossians 1. That their hearts may be encouraged. This word encouraged here, King James comforted, parakaleo, it means to call alongside. The range of meanings of this word, and it is a passive voice, including the receiving of aid, comfort, encouragement, counsel, consolation, That sort of thing.

The idea is that the ministry is in-depth and personal. It is not simply a matter of, okay, there's this big mass of people and I'm going to just kind of throw you a few little tidbits and good luck with it. It is in-depth, it is personal. He made the point in the very last part of chapter 1, every man, every man, every man, he wants each one to grow in maturity in Christ. No exceptions.

Paul is being, if you will, a spiritual cardiologist here. He's deeply concerned about the spiritual heart condition of each of the saints. You see that? That's what he spelled out in the last couple of verses. He says, that is the focus of my struggle. I am deeply concerned about what is the heart condition of every single believer there in Colossae, even though I have not seen your face.

I care intensely about you. He's telling them in these verses now what are the key factors in their heart health. Just like a cardiologist is going to say, okay, we need to see how you're doing, we need to look at this and this and this and this factor, and we've got to get some information on that, Paul is telling them here. Here are the things that really count when you talk about spiritual heart health. Let's take a look at those. Paul is concerned about their heart conditions. You know, he keeps bringing up this heart condition.

We're looking at it here in Colossians 2.2. He continues on in the next chapter, 3.15, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

In 3.22, he talks about sincerity of heart. And finally, in 4.8, he goes back to the encouragement of hearts. Heart condition is not a secondary item, but a primary concern that he does not let loose of. after each of those focusing both at the beginning and at the end, at encouragement of hearts.

Having been knit together is the next phrase that comes up here. I was talking about this, right? No, probably not. Having been knit together is Sum Vipasso, and it means to join together or unite. And the word is used this way not only here, and he's going to continue to use it again in verse 19, but it's also used as he writes to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 4.16. Now, it's also passive voice. We don't knit ourselves together. How about that? As believers, he's saying you better knit yourselves together. It's passive voice. It's something that is done to the believers. There's a shade of meaning here that I don't want us to let loose of.

It's a rich word that Paul is using. One of the things that we've brought out in the past is that there are still a minority, but a significant number of Jews in this area, from Colossae and Laodicea all the way over to Ephesus. A significant number of Jews, and they would have, in this area, been reading the Greek Old Testament.

In the Greek Old Testament, that word always means to instruct, every time it shows up. How about that? Knitting together, associated with and based upon instruction, teaching. It's quoted by Paul with the word instruct, Isaiah 40.13 in 1 Corinthians 2.16. So Paul himself has used it that way and referred to one of those Old Testament passages.

So this knitting together is a united and joined together involving consistent doctrine and instruction, same message as 1 Corinthians 1.10, given with a purpose and a person in mind and heart.

Cool stuff. This knitting together isn't just, hey, we feel gushy. We're really close because the pews are small. Is it being knit together because we have the same understanding, the same teaching, and we worship the same Lord and we understand Him and know Him together?

That's what it's talking about. What a deep word. Richness in that word. Then he says, he doesn't want to just leave it with that, in love. This isn't just information that is cold and hard and academic, but it's in love. It's a love that in context here means it's self-sacrificial, it has God as its source, and it doesn't seek anything but the good of the one receiving the love. It doesn't say, all right, what have you done for me? But instead says, what's the best? What will benefit the one loved?

The knitting together is entirely within agape love. Here is this agape love, which we've defined, and this knitting together process is entirely within love. It doesn't overlap it or straddle it, it doesn't just keep a little toe in the circle, a little bit of love here and there. Entirely within love, that's the way he spells it out. Having been knit together.

Now, interestingly, the same words Paul writes in 4.16 of Ephesians, being fitted and held together, that's the same word, also in love. So he's telling the church at Ephesus a similar message with a bit more detail. Okay, so why is Paul concerned about the believers being knit together in love? Why would that be a concern to him?

Think about the false teachers. Remember we've been telling you about the false teachers in Colossae? What are they coming in with? Their false teachers are coming in with, hey, we want some of you, some of you, and we'll put you through this initiation process.

And what does that do? That divides the body. Ah! Big problem. So what does he say? No, all of you, everyone, knit together, there is no elite and non-elite group. There is no, you've got this knowledge and so now you're part of this special group and you're on the outs. No. There is no elite and non-elite group. This embraces every believer. It is not divisive. Being knit together, unlike the false teachers' teaching, is basic to the character of the Gospel. Big difference. Stark contrast from what they've been getting from these false teachers.

Let's look at the second half of that, attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding. This attaining to all the wealth, Is this physical wealth? No. Here is spiritual wealth. And remember when we were pointing out the Laodiceans, what were they concerned about? They got pulled into this physical wealth thing. If they had understood Paul here, they wouldn't be getting the message several decades later that they have a problem with being over-attached to their wealth.

But Paul is making the point, apparently one that even now they need to learn, that this is a spiritual wealth and that's what they need to focus upon. This word in the King James is riches, and it's translated that way in other contexts, plutos. Ephesians and Colossians both make use of this word several times, more in Ephesians than Colossians. Ephesians particularly makes note that it's the riches of his grace, the riches of his glory.

You remember when we studied Ephesians 2.7, it will be eternity for him to reveal the surpassing riches of his grace.

10,000 years isn't nearly enough. We're talking really huge riches, immense magnitude of riches. That's the kind we're talking about. He also says in the next chapter of Ephesians in 3.8, unsearchable riches. It's interesting, if we imagine riches, we think of some treasure chest or something, and we say, that's really great. Imagine some of these guys recently who found a sunken ship of gold coins, great value there. This is so big you can't imagine searching it. That's the kind of riches he's talking about.

It's not finding a treasure chest on the ocean floor, it's finding the whole ocean full of riches. That's the point that he was getting across to them and that the church at Laodicea, even several decades later, still had not picked up on. What's really rich? What really is wealth? what we should care about, what really is riches that we should care about. Finally, it says, the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding. This full assurance here is a word that means to be absolutely assured, to the full extent assured. Paul and the author of Hebrews uses it. It's not even used in the Greek secular literature. It seems to be a word that was used particularly by Paul and the author of Hebrews here.

But have you noticed, I'm sure you have, we live in a world that doesn't embrace absolutes. If you come to somebody and you say, Hey, did you hear what Jesus said? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. By the way, there's a definite article in the Greek in front of each one of those. No one comes to the Father but through me. You're likely to get a look something like this. The world does not automatically accept that idea that there is an absolute, singular way to come to know the Father, to have access to the Father.

If you tell somebody what the Bible says, the fool has said in his heart, The response is likely to be very distrusting, puzzled, skeptical. If you come to someone, maybe it's even a believer, and tell them that the Bible says you, if you're a believer, are saved completely, permanently, and absolutely, and it cannot be lost, You will even have believers who won't like that. You'll get all sorts of skeptical looks. You'll get believers who don't like the idea that you're certain. You'll get a wall of skepticism and concern with those kinds of remarks. The world doesn't take a liking to anybody who says that he or she knows anything or something.

Absolutely. Have you noticed that? There are even Christians who are absolutely certain And to get this point across clearly, we can be absolutely certain, that's his point here, about things that God has made absolutely certain because He is the absolute and that's for certain. Alright? This world does not know absolute. And the reason is they don't know Him. He is the absolute.

About that we can be certain. And that's part of Paul's point here. He says, here's something you can be sure about. Everybody else likes to sit there and debate. Even the Jews like to sit there and debate and leave things in a sort of a stuck tension. And that's why the Gospels record that Jesus taught unlike the scribes and the Pharisees, He taught authoritatively. Even the Jews like to have things sort of hung.

This is absolute. This is certain. And Paul says, that is precisely why I'm struggling. I want you to know that this is certain. Finally, we have this last block, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We have this word, understanding, that comes at the end of verse 2.

Synesis, we've touched on this before in Colossians 1.9, and this word has the idea of bringing things together so that they make sense. We can use in our modern the idea of to have it together, to have a sense of, oh, that's how all the parts fit.

That's how everything comes together. Now I understand. We also have kind of this concept in our culture of it's kind of the light goes on. It's that idea. Ah, now I see. And that's what He wants them to come to as well. He wants them to understand. He wants them to say, ah, now I'm seeing. Now I'm understanding. That's the point he wants them to come to.

Very much his focus. Resulting in a true knowledge. King James has this as acknowledgement. It's epinosis. It's an in-depth knowledge. It's an intense knowledge. It's not this kind of noses. It's not any other kind of nose. It is instead, it's an in-depth knowledge. It is substantial, thorough, and penetrating. It shows a deep familiarity. It shows an intensity of knowledge. It isn't superficial or shallow or just simply an introduction. It isn't just packing our heads full of facts and information.

Now, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ Himself. A mystery, as Paul has laid out, is something that has previously not been made known, And he's talked about different mysteries before, and we'll see additionally, he talks about other mysteries. But here he says this is the focal mystery, God's mystery, Christ himself. Christ was spoken of for centuries. We have all sorts of prophecies, about 300 of them in the Old Testament, that speak of Christ's coming. So it's not that he was completely unrevealed, but he had not been shown, revealed totally to men. It was given to Paul to further describe and to reveal the riches, the full extent of the riches in Christ.

Galatians 4, 4 and 5 puts it this way, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth a son born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might redeem the adoption of sons. Here is the one about whom the prophets wrote for centuries. Here is the one. In the fullness of time, God sent his Son.

There is the revealing. Finally, in verse 3, he says, in whom, that is, in Christ, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. To think about it here a minute, hidden, what does he mean hidden? Does he mean, is he going back to the Gnostic false teachers and saying, okay, we have a special secret for you? and it's hidden except for those special few? No. He's saying, this is a truth that we preach to everybody. It's hidden only if you don't look there. Only if you don't look there. And truly, the world has an inclination to look everywhere else, doesn't it? The world wants to look everywhere else and encourage us to look everywhere else. That's not his focus here.

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, For centuries, people have been tantalized by the idea of treasure maps, or divers diving down and finding some unimaginable treasure in the sunken deep, or finding in some distant remote room some locked chest full of all sorts of treasure. That's what comes to mind. Instead, what Paul says here, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You've been looking everywhere. You've been looking all over the place.

He says, here he is. This is the one who is the treasure. The wisdom and knowledge were what were being offered by the false teachers. He's saying instead, nope, they're in Christ entirely. If you look anywhere else, they're hidden. But they're found in him.

As human beings, we're tempted to be tantalized by what is hidden behind the mists and the fog and the forests and the woods. What's around the bend in the river? And those little thoughts kind of tempt us and tantalize us. But what is he saying? All the things that we human beings are inclined to pursue, they're found in Christ. They're found in Him. hidden only because human beings are inclined of their nature to look everywhere else. In Christ they are found and it's not a secret knowledge. He's also putting the focus here on treasures because the inclination of human beings is to treasure all sorts of things.

He's saying this is a treasure you will never exhaust. That's why he describes it as he writes to the Church at Ephesus, unsurpassed, unfathomable riches. Riches that will take eternity to reveal. That's where the treasure is. It's in Christ. It's not in special information or a special elite group. It's in Christ himself. That's the treasure. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at this.

Indeed, you are the very treasure. It is in you and in relationship with you. Not just the things that we know about you, But you're a very person that there are treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And what is amazing is that we don't just look at that and wonder, but instead you share your glory with us.

What a marvelous thing. Beyond that, it is so unsearchable, so amazing, that it will take eternity for us to fully come to understand that. We praise you for that, Lord. We look forward to the eternity ahead, ahead of now, where we can learn that, even beginning now.