Seeds for 1/30/2023 - Colossians 1:23b

Scripture: “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”

Observation: I’m going to confess something up front. I’m not confident I understand what Paul means when he says that the gospel they heard “has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” Paul was still active in his ministry and striving to get to new places, or send a co-worker, because the proclamation was still proceeding outward. What I suspect is that Paul is making the point that the gospel proclamation that is happening at large is the same has been taught to the Colossians. This message is not unique to them; they are connected to the same message being shared everywhere.

This line is putting a cap on the last few verses: “This is the gospel that you heard.” What gospel is that? The one summarized in verses 21-23a. We were alienated from God in our belief and behavior. God has reconciled us to Himself in Christ. What God has done for us in Christ gives us hope and is ours through active, ongoing faith. That’s the gospel—good news worth announcing and sharing.

Lastly, Paul says that he has “become a servant” of this gospel.

I’m drawing two things together from this today: (1) We need good news that gives us hope. The most important, life-anchoring good news I can hold onto is continuing to have faith and hope in what God has done for me in Christ. (2) We all serve some message. It might be economic, political, social, moral, national, psychological, spiritual, or something else. Paul became a servant of this message, this claim of “good news.”

Application: What message do you serve as being the best news anyone could hear to give them hope?

Prayer: Lord, help me hold firm in my heart and mind the central message of the Gospel. Help me serve that message of hope above all others. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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