Where Are You?

Where are you? Usually when we answer that question, we refer to our physical circumstances and location. Paul could have said, “I’m in prison. I am in chains.” But although Paul, when he wrote this letter, is physically a prisoner, it is clear he is not spiritually chained. His location is “in Christ.” And he is writing to assure the believers in Colossae that their spiritual location is also “in Christ.” That is their permanent, never-changing location.

Paul writes “to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae” (v. 2) and to the church as a whole—and to the entire family of Christ. Later we read, “Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house” (4:15). He essentially says, “Greet the siblings,” and then he names a specific woman leader and the church that meets in her house. Paul hasn’t met these Christians, but he knows their names and knows how they are connected. Paul knows and wants them to know that God is their Father and his heart toward them is “Grace to you and peace” (1:2).

The original recipients of this letter, like all of us, had both a physical location (in Colossae) and a spiritual location. Their spiritual location is “in Christ.” Because of this spiritual “location” and spiritual status, they receive grace and peace from their heavenly Father. In this location, they have an unshakable hope, kept in heaven for them (v. 5). Their physical location had fallen on hard times. Colossae was a once important city, but at the time of the writing of this letter it was in decline. Not long after this letter was written, there was a devastating earthquake and a lot of people abandoned the city.

In a similar way, we have two locations. If we are followers of Christ, we have a spiritual location—we are in Christ. We also have a physical location—we live in a particular place around family, neighbors, friends, and coworkers. Our physical location can (and does) feel so important to our lives, but it is temporary. Paul is writing to the Colossians (and us) to strengthen their gospel focus on their spiritual location and status of being “in Christ.” Living out of this eternal reality is how they will be able to navigate the challenges of an ever-changing and often draining and stressful physical location.

Thanksgiving

In verses 3–8 Paul opens with a prayer of thanksgiving for the Colossians. Although Paul had never met them, he prays for them frequently. As he does so, he gives us a snapshot of how integral prayer is to the Christian life. Paul knows that prayer is critical for spiritual growth. We need to actually pray for other people, and we actually need other people to pray for us. We, too, need to give thanks to God the Father.

Paul reminds them of the truth of the gospel as he prays his thanksgiving for them. This true gospel is based on the historical facts of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Some who he is writing to would have been alive when Jesus died and rose from the dead. They would know the gospel wasn’t made up, but it is rooted in what others saw with their own eyes.

Believing the true gospel is how their eternal location became “in Christ.” When we, too, first believed the good news of what God does in and through Jesus, we were spiritually relocated to be “in Christ.” Being in Christ means that we are spiritually connected to Jesus—forever. Paul reminds them that the faith, love, and hope that they have is because of the gospel that was preached to them and this is the gospel that is now bearing fruit and growing all over the world.

I recently read that Christianity is growing faster than the world population, and evangelicals and Pentecostals are growing even faster than Christianity as a whole. The gospel is still bearing fruit around the world! People are meeting Jesus globally in more languages and people groups than most of us have even heard of! A few years ago, I had the joy of being able to participate in a weeklong pastors training in Mundri County, Western Equatoria, South Sudan. The pastors were from the Moru tribe, and they have the Bible in the Moru language. It was amazing to get a glimpse of the evangelism and church planting they were doing. I had never heard of the Moru—there are only 100,000 to 200,000 people who speak their language. And still, the gospel has been bearing fruit for over 100 years in this region! Praise be to God!

But the gospel doesn’t just grow outwardly. In verse 6, Paul specifically mentions that the same gospel that is growing and bearing fruit around the world, “also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.” The gospel is continually growing deeper in our own lives and hearts. We never outgrow our need for it. Understood this way, the gospel isn’t merely a onetime message we need to receive for salvation, like walking through a gate.

It is also the very path we walk along in order to grow in Christ. Paul is reminding us that the gospel isn’t just the secret to Christian growth, it’s the center.

Petition

In verses 9–14, Paul keeps on talking about how and what he prays for them. He is aware of the forces working against the church in Colossae. So he prays for them to live out in real life and real time everything it means to be in Christ—to know God’s will, to walk worthy of him, to please him, to bear fruit in good works, to be strengthened with his power so they can endure, to be patient, joyful, and give thanks (vv. 9–12). Notice he is not giving them a new law to obey, but a new life to live. This is how those who are in Christ live out their faith. When we are in Christ, our spiritual location grounds us in gospel living.

In Colossians, Paul invites us to pray as he does to stir up our hunger toward becoming like Jesus.

Let us also pray that we go deeper in the gospel of Jesus, that we bear fruit, and that we know what God truly wants for our lives!

This is an invitation to become who we are in Christ.

Without Christ, we would be in spiritual darkness, we would still be living for the wrong things, without God, without hope, hardened in our sins. If we are in Christ, we have a new location: God has put us in the kingdom of his Son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

Let’s pray that the deep comfort of our eternal location would become clearer to us. And let’s pray for this gospel hope to sustain us as we seek to walk faithfully in our present temporary location, your home in this world.

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Excerpted from Colossians: Becoming Who You Are in Christ © 2024 by Steve Huber. Used with permission of New Growth Press. May not be reproduced without prior written permission.

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