6.13.21 Colossians 1:6
The gospel is bearing fruit and growing in the entire world, just as it also has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth.
Throughout the Old Testament God warned the Israelites to withhold from worshiping the gods of the Canaanites. The Canaanites would worship up on the hills to try and get as close to Baal and Ashteroth as they could. One of the things they would look for was a “spreading tree” to worship under, which meant that it would be one of the largest and most vibrant trees on the hill. Jesus talks about a different tree in today’s Gospel that comes from a tiny little mustard seed. It starts out as a tiny seed, but then grows to a nice and healthy size. Just a few little interesting details about the mustard tree or bush -
Mustard bushes reach an average mature height of between 6 and 20 feet with a 20-foot spread, although exceptional plants can reach 30 feet tall under ideal conditions. They have a spreading, multistemmed growth habit. Each leaf is 1 inch wide and 3 inches long, and they are arranged in sets of two on opposite sides of the stem. Tiny, yellowish flowers appear each year, which ripen into 1/2-inch-diameter berries. The berries provide a reliable means of identifying the shrub because of their striking translucency and pink or scarlet color. Mustard bushes come from arid climates and have evolved to deal with poor soil, scarce moisture and extreme heat. They grow especially well in dry soil. (http://homeguides.sfgate.com/size-mustard-bush-100618.html)
Jesus compares the kingdom of God to this tree. So you think of Jesus, who died on a tree. We are the birds who nest under his shade. We find comfort from the heat of death and the conviction of the law. We feed on Him for nourishment and strength to give us life. We thrive in the midst of a desert drear. Jesus is the true “spreading tree” that God wants us to rest under. He planted and established the church on one hill of Golgotha, when He died for the sins of the world and rose from the dead.
As a bird goes flying to find rest under a tree and build a nest as a home in the tree, so Jesus wants you to come flying to Him for rest and shelter. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The rest is found as you are baptized into Christ and planted into the church, as you continue to hear God’s Word and rest under the shade of God’s grace, and as you feed on Christ to be nourished in your faith. We come in from the heat of difficult marriages, diseases, jobs, sicknesses, and pain. We sit in the shade of Jesus to find rest for our souls.
Paul told the Colossians that he was thankful that as they fed on Jesus they were growing. That’s what the gospel does, it produces life and growth. And maybe that bears repeating. The gospel is bearing fruit and growing in the entire world. It may not seem like the gospel is growing as we see our world turning from bad to worse. It seems like it’s dying. But the problem isn’t with the gospel. The problem is that so many people have turned away from the gospel. Many Christians have stopped listening to it. Many have stopped receiving the Lord’s Supper. Many have trusted in coffee and entertainment to try and attract people to the church instead of proclaiming the gospel. But when the gospel of Jesus is proclaimed, the church grows and bears fruit.
Just recently I planted a little over 100 dollars worth of grass in my lawn. I had thatched it and aerated it prior to a rain in hopes that it would fill in my dead patches of lawn. I was disappointed when it didn’t really take. I wanted to see life! Many of you have probably planted gardens and are eagerly waiting to see if your plants will grow well. It’s interesting how different seasons produce different results. Sometimes beans grow well and other times tomatoes grow well. You eagerly wait for the harvest and can’t wait to enjoy its fruit. God plants the Word in your soul and He loves to see growth. He expects to see growth, because the Gospel is powerful. It naturally grows. That’s what He plants it for. He wants you to grow in your faith and He wants you to share your faith so that more people come to faith in Jesus.
Again, Paul said that it was doing just that among the Colossians “from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth.” Notice how he writes that. There’s a couple of things that strike me. First of all, it came from HEARING it. Faith and love flow from listening to God’s voice in the Word of God. Paul was writing more words of God for them to listen to. That Word is not clearly spoken to you in your feelings or your emotions. God doesn’t speak to you clearly in what you think. He doesn’t speak to you in your prayers. He speaks clearly to you in His written words. If His words don’t match with your emotions or feelings or your prayers, then trust the Word and not your emotions. That’s where the growth happens.
Secondly, note that growth started on the DAY they heard it. The process started right there and then. It continued to grow from there. He didn’t speak of faith as a stagnant thing. The DAY they heard the Gospel, it took root. It piqued their interest and captured their attention. That very DAY was a starting point that began a journey of learning and growth for them. It’s kind of like eating a plate of baked spaghetti for me. I try to eat it in a controlled manner. But once I taste it I have a hard time saying to myself, “Ok, you just had a full plate of it. You don’t NEED any more.” My taste buds say, “Yes, but I WANT more!” The neat thing about the gospel is that you can never get too much of it. It doesn’t make you overweight and lazy. The more you eat, the more it gives you energy and strength and comfort! And you can never have too much of that!
The Holy Spirit puts us under the tree of the cross to feast on His grace. We go there when we are sweating our sins. We go there when we are exhausted with life. We go there when we are suffering and worn out. And the neat thing is that this tree is never far from us. We don’t have to travel for miles and miles. It’s right there on our bookshelf. It’s right there on the Internet. It’s right here at church. We come here when we are dying and guilty and afraid. We look up and see, “There is God in the flesh. Hanging there. He’s dying there for me. He’s saying to me, ‘I’m here for you. I came here just for you. I wanted to pay for your sins. Find rest here. Find forgiveness here.” So we sit under the tree when we come to the Supper. Jesus says, “Come. Kneel. Eat. Drink. This is what I used to pay for your sins. I want you to personally know and believe that I still love you. I’m still with you. You’re still forgiven.” What a beautiful place to be.
There’s an interesting catch phrase at the end of this verse that explains WHY the Colossians grew. It was because they not only heard the Gospel but also “came to know the grace of God in truth.” The NIV translates it by saying that the Colossians “truly understood God’s grace.” How do you “truly understand” the grace of God? Maybe it would be good for us to remember what exactly “grace” is. Paul uses that word in a variety of ways, but every time he uses it he is referring to a free and undeserved gift from God. If you look to Romans chapter 12, for instance, Paul writes about his gift of being called by God to be an apostle and a teacher when he writes in vs. 3, “by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” Later on, in vs. 6, he then writes about the different gifts God had given to the Christians at Paul’s time, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; and he goes on from there to describe a whole variety of gifts of grace.
When you live your life under the grace of God, you look at EVERYTHING as a gift of God that you DIDN’T DESERVE. You never deserve anything that God gives you. You see, looking at life as a gift of grace has to first of all stem from a profound sense of sin and worthlessness under the law of God. Think of what Jesus said in Luke 17:10, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
When you live life looking at everything as grace, then you won’t be proud when you seem to have more abilities or different abilities than anyone else. It was all a gift anyway. Who are you to boast about it? And when you lose something that you had and you worked for, you will still realize that you never deserved it in the first place. There’s a profound blessing in seeing EVERYTHING you have in this life as a gift of grace. When you sit under the tree of grace in the Word and you see life this way, it helps you to enjoy and appreciate all that you have so much more. It helps you be more GENEROUS and giving with what you have as well.
Then we have to look at grace when it comes to salvation too. Paul is clear about this as well. He wrote to the Corinthians in
2 Corinthians 8:9 “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
Where and how did Jesus “become poor?” When he took on flesh, was born of the virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried. He became poor when He chose NOT to use His powers to protect Himself from suffering and dying. Jesus didn’t have to do this. He CHOSE to do this.
He didn’t do this because we deserved it. The exact OPPOSITE is the case. Paul echoed this also in his letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:9–10 when he spoke of how God
“has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
When Paul speaks of SAVING grace, He always and only points us to JESUS. Who of us can forget those wonderful words to the Ephesians in chapter 2?
Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Notice again, how SAVING grace is found in Christ alone. God does the work. We receive it by faith.
Just this past week I went to Dow Gardens with my in-laws. I hadn’t ever walked through the gardens before. It was truly beautiful to see the wide variety of plants and vegetation throughout. So we strolled through and went up the canopy walk and enjoyed nature. Nothing specific stood out. It was all beautiful.
As we enjoy the many GIFTS from God, the danger can come when we treat all of them equally, not concentrating on the greatest gift! There’s one tree that God WANTS to stand out in your life, for you to specially focus on and find rest under. But if you don’t experience the heat of God’s wrath or the seriousness of sin, you will only look at Jesus as one of many beauties in life. You might even appreciate what you have as gifts from God, but you’ll mistake those gifts as things that will save you. You’ll stroll through life and think that this specific type of grace is optional. You can find God in nature and in anything good. You won’t take the time to rest under His branches. You’ll slowly starve yourself and die. And the sad thing is, you won’t even realize it. John wrote to the church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
When you don’t understand this SAVING grace of Jesus on the cross, you’ll look at life as a series of do’s and don’ts. You’ll think of life in terms of getting what you deserve or don’t deserve. You’ll think that when things go well God must love you, but when things go wrong God must hate you. You won’t know what to do when your pleasures rot and your vision gets blurry. You’ll find yourself lost and alone if you don’t take the time to park yourself under the tree of the cross.
Remember the story of Jonah. Sitting outside of Nineveh. Waiting and hoping that God would burn it to the ground. It was hot on that hill. Then God had a little plant grow up and provide him shade. He loved that little plant. He wanted it to stay there. It gave him comfort for a short while while he waited for judgment. God chopped it down with a worm.
In the Old Testament, the heathens looked for spreading trees to worship Baal and Ashteroth. They worshiped their gods through sexual immorality and child sacrifice. God chopped their trees down too. They deserved it.
You’ve got a wonderful tree, a permanent tree, a comforting cross growing over you. He’s covering you. He’s feeding you. He’s loving you. He’s forgiving you. He’s giving you more than you need for this life and everything you need for eternal life.
Back when I was growing up we had a big old weeping willow in our backyard. I used to love climbing that tree. We had a sandbox underneath it. Whenever I see a weeping willow it takes me back to the days of my youth. I wonder if it’s still back there. I haven’t been there for years. I loved that tree.
What about the Tree of the Cross? Take time to park under His shade. Make your home here. His gifts of mercy and forgiveness will help you to grow. His grace will rejuvenate you and make you feel alive. You won’t want to hold grudges. You won’t want to get revenge. You’ll be more forgiving. You’ll be more giving and gracious with what you’ve got, because you didn’t earn it either. You won’t get so stressed out about life, because you’ll remember you’re under the arms of Jesus. And you’ll become an oasis to others as well as they see your confidence, faith, and hope. Say to them, “Come under this Tree! It’s nice under here! It’s beautiful! It’s hopeful! It’s free!” Take time under the tree. It’s a beautiful and comfortable place to be. Amen.
