SUMMARY
Have you ever let your past defeat you or define you? Someone once said that we crucify ourselves between two thieves; regret over the past and fear of the future. Regret is a terrible taskmaster. If you spend too much time dwelling on your failures, regret will twist your soul and leave you broken and depressed. Today’s message is about helping you get your life back. Thank God for how far you’ve come!
Three Milestones 3-5
Paul is addressing the “faithful brethren in Christ.” 2
The faithful brethren may not live flashy lives but they grow.
What kind of life do you want to live? Faithfulness will get you there.
Faithfulness produces three milestones. 1 Corinthians 13:13
These are the important characteristics we need to have in our life.
#1 Your Faith Has Grown
Faith is the confidence that God will keep his promises.
Faith is trusting that God will always take care of you. Proverbs 3:5-6
If you have the faith of a mustard seed… Matt 17:20-21
Are you trusting the Lord more now than you used to?
#3 Your Love Has Grown
This love is the love we have for fellow believers in Christ.
Christians are supposed to create a community of believers.
Don’t just talk about love, do it! 1 John 3:17-18
Are you more willing to help a brother or sister out than you used to be?
#3 Your Hope has grown
The hope we are talking about is the hope of heaven!
True hope comes from God.
Our hope rests in heaven, not on earth! Titus 2:13
Do you hope for heaven more than you used to?
Only One Way 5-8
If you can’t say that you’ve grown, it is time to learn from your Mistakes.
Determine today to find the right path and stay on it.
There is one and only way to get on the path to spiritual growth.
The Message
Before you can grow, you must believe the Gospel.
Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:9-11
Maturity
It is that message that allows you to grow to maturity.
The Gospel is the root that grows deep into the ground.
Faith, Hope and Love are like the fruit that grow once the Gospel is planted.
The Messenger
Today it is my privilege to tell you if you want a better life, you need Jesus. Don’t let your past defeat you or define you. Spend no more time in regret over the past or fear of the future. Only look back with the redeeming hope of the Gospel that Jesus forgives and heals. Looking back now you can move forward.
STORY
Have you ever let your past defeat you or define you? Someone once said that we crucify ourselves between two thieves; regret over the past and fear of the future. Regret is a terrible taskmaster. If you spend too much time dwelling on your failures, regret will twist your soul and leave you broken and depressed.
Because of that, some people think that you shouldn’t look back because that is not where you are going. But remembering the past has its benefits. Looking back can help you move forward.
The other day I spent some time looking through photos from years gone by and I realized how different things were back then. There were struggles that I’ve come through. There were good things that I’ve accomplished. And there were attitudes that I have navigated.
A lot of people give up, because it just looks like nothing is happening. In any given moment it may look like you haven’t made any progress but when you trace back your steps you see a completely different story. Only when you see how far you’ve really come will you have hope to move forward. Unlike the many people who tell us not to look back, we say: Visit often; just don’t take up residence in the past.
Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be. You’ve come a long way my friend!
Today’s message is about helping you get your life back. And we are going to do that by helping you think about the distance you’ve come so that you can recharge and set out to change your future. Thank God for how far you’ve come!
And we are going to set up three important milestone markers that you can pound into the ground as a reminder of the progress you’ve made.
Three Milestones 3-5
Paul begins this letter in a way he does many of his other letters: Verse 1, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s a nice greeting, and a nice way to start a letter. Paul is addressing the people in the church at Colosse who he calls “faithful brethren in Christ.”
These are the people who show up week after week at church. These are the people who serve Jesus year after year without fail. The faithful brethren may not live flashy lives, but there is something to be said for faithfulness. Faithfulness shapes our lives. Faithfulness is something you can count on. Faithfulness is the raw material that God uses to change us into the people we want to be. What kind of life do you want to live? Faithfulness will get you there.
And faithfulness produces three milestones.
3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven
Paul had been reviewing the progress that the church had made, and it made him thankful. It also made him prayerful. He was thankful and prayerful for three reasons. #1. Because of their faith in Christ Jesus. #2 Because of their love for the saints. #3 because of the hope they had of heaven.
These three are the same three that Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:13; These three things remain, faith, hope and love! These three are a trilogy or a trinity of the important characteristics we Christians need to have in our life.
These three milestones explained how far the Christians in the church at Collosse had come! And I want to use them as a way to examine just how far you have come. Let’s start with faith.
#1 Your Faith Has Grown
Has your faith grown? In this case, faith is the confidence that God will keep his promises; it is trust that God will take care of you always.
Looking back, are you trusting the Lord more now than you used to? Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths!”
Are you trusting God for your finances more than you used to? Are you trusting God to handle your relationship problems more than you used to? Are you trusting God to take care of you through your difficult situations, more than you used it?
Jesus said, “If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you will be able to say to this mountain move, and it will move!”
If you have grown in your faith, you have reason to be glad! More growth is coming!
#3 Your Love Has Grown
Has your love grown? In this case, this is talking about the love we have for fellow believers in Christ. There are lots of loves: Love for our acquaintances or neighbors, Love for family, Love for a spouse or lover, Love for God, and then there is the love we are supposed to have for our fellow believers.
This is a special kind of love. Christians are supposed to come together in a group we call the church, and create a community where we care about one another. 1 John 3:18 tells us, “Let us not just proclaim our love in words, but in our actions!” And the verse just before that, (17) explains what this means: If you have earthly possessions and you see your brother in need, and yet you withhold it from him, the love of God is not in you!”
Looking back, are you more willing to help a brother or sister out than you used to be? Are you more generous with your funds and more sensitive to the needs of others than you used to be?
If you have grown in your love, you have reason to be glad! Because the more you love, the more you are able to experience love!
#3 Your Hope has grown
In this case the hope we are talking about is the hope of heaven!
They say that a man can live 40 days without food, 4 days without water, 4 minutes without air, but not one second without hope.
Where does your hope come from? Are you holding out hope that your life will get better? That your finances will improve? That your relationships will be better? That your heart will be happier? If you are putting your hopes in money, circumstances, people or even yourself, you are putting it in the wrong place.
True hope come from God. True hope comes from trusting God even when times are difficult. True hope comes from reminding yourself that this world is not all there is! In fact our hope rests in heaven, not on earth!
In fact Titus 2:13 says, that we should be “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ!” Are you hoping more for heavenly things than you used to? My mom used to always tell me, “Dennis I’m ready to go home to be with the Lord!”
If you have grown in your hope, you have reason to be glad! Because there is no regret in the hope of the Lord! We will never be ashamed that we placed our hope in Him! Jesus always keeps his promises.
Looking back, If you grown in faith, hope or love, you’ve made progress. You are on your way to a good life! Look how far you’ve come! Remind yourself, “That’s where I used to be”! “This is how I used to be”! But I’m different now! I’ve grown.
If you can’t say that you’ve grown, then let me to remind you to learn from your Mistakes, and start growing today. Determine today to find the right path and stay on it so that you can celebrate your successes.
So just how do we get on the path to life change? I’ll give you the one and only way to get on the path to spiritual growth.
Only One Way 5-8
of which you heard in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
The Message
Here is the message that makes a difference: Verse 5 calls it the “Word of truth of the Gospel!” Before you can experience true Faith, Genuine Hope and authentic Love, you must believe the Gospel. This is the Gospel
if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10
Maturity
It is that message that allows you to grow to maturity. As verse 6 says, it is that message that brings forth fruit. The word fruit is an agricultural illustration. The Gospel is the root that grows deep into the ground, and Faith, Hope and Love are like the fruit that only grow once the Gospel is planted. You can’t have fruit without a root! You must believe the Gospel to grow!
The Messenger
And that leads us to the messenger. I want to say a few words about the messenger. In vers 7, Epaphrus was the messenger who taught them the Gospel. Every message has a humble messenger, and that is my place today.
I am the messenger. And I am telling you if you want a better life, you need Jesus. Don’t let your past defeat you or define you. Spend no more time in regret over the past or fear of the future. Only look back with the redeeming hope of the Gospel that Jesus forgives and heals. Looking back now you can move forward.
I hope you can see how far you’ve really come. Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but thank God you are not where you used to be. You’ve come a long way my friend!
Look how far you’ve come!
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