Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

What drives you to live for Christ? I hope that you’re not motivated by recognition. And we’re not trying to work to be saved. That’s been taken care of.

Our hope of heaven drives us. It’s not because we’re uncertain about our final destination. It’s because we know it is our home, and we can’t wait to experience it.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints– the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:1-14, NIV)

The occasion of this letter was that Paul had heard about Christians in Colossae. He introduced himself as an apostle “by the will of God” (v. 1). Paul identified the Colossian church as “saints and faithful brothers” (v. 2). He wanted to encourage them. He wanted to correct them. And he wanted to pray for them.

We ought to be praying for one another prayers of praise and blessing and strengthening. We can and should be learning a lot through study. But our strength ultimately comes from God through prayer. It’s like an athlete who trains and trains, but when asked how they won the gold medal, will say that they had a mom who inspired them.

But strength for what? To do what? Faith, hope, and love are our basic actions as Christians (v. 4-5). Faith in Christ, love for the saints, and hope of heaven – not that we hope to go there, but that heaven is a place of hope.

We need God’s strength to share the gospel (v. 5-6). So pray for strength for yourself and others (v. 11). While you’re at it, pray for endurance and patience. We must be faithful to pass the gospel on, just as it was passed to us (v. 6-7).

It’s the hope laid up for us in heaven that motivates us. This isn’t in opposition to being motivated by the grace of God, it’s because of it (v. 11-12a). We are not working to be saved. Our salvation is already secure (v. 12b-14). Again, Paul identified the Colossian church as “saints and faithful brothers” (v. 2). Wouldn’t you like to be identified the same way?

The good news is, we are! We sometimes don’t put ourselves into the same category because we know how we still sin. But if you trust in Jesus as your Savior and make Him your Lord, you have a hope laid up for you heaven. Our hope drives us not because we’re uncertain about our final destination, but because we know it is our home, and we can’t wait to experience it.