Truth Today: Colossians 1:6

(...the gospel) that has come to you. Just as in the entire world, this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

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We know from the previous verse that the message of truth is equated with the gospel (Colossians 1:5).

Now we are learning that the gospel has to come to people so that they can come into the hope of heaven once they believe in the truth—Jesus (John 14:6).

Pilate asked, "What is truth?" after Jesus said anyone who is of the truth listens to him (John 18:38).

There are people who are of the truth—Jesus—across the world.

Jesus told the disciples that there are sheep who are not immediately with them, as he spoke with the disciples before his death (John 10:16).

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We are still exploring the theme of the implication of the death of a man in Jerusalem thousands of years ago. It is the same implication for those 400 miles away from where the death happened. The gospel has to reach them, and they have to believe.

Jesus is not just a Jew, but he is the creator (Hebrews 1:10). He is God the Word (John 1:1), the Word that was God, that is God, the Word that became flesh and took up residence among us (John 1:14), died on the cross, shedding his blood to ransom us from the wrath of God as we find refuge under him (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

The same way the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the children of Israel guaranteed that the angel of death would not strike their firstborn when they were in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-36),

The same way a serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so that whenever the children of Israel looked up, they would be saved from sure death from the snake bite, which came as judgment from God (Numbers 21:4-9).

Jesus used that as a picture of the salvation he represents for us (John 3:14).

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How did the gospel of truth come to you? It can come through words, books, or an assembly of believers.

At one time, it came on the back of horses. It can come again and again to you.

The Bible says now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2), and as that he speaks, do not harden your heart (Hebrews 3:15).

The rejection of the gospel comes with dire consequences—eternal damnation (Hebrews 2:3).

There is no name given under heaven by which we might be saved (Acts 4:12). If we reject his sacrifice, there is no longer any atonement for us (Hebrews 10:26).

He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 22:13); there is no one that came before him, and no one is coming after him. He is the beginning and the end of God’s salvation plan. He is the source of life who died to give life to those who believe.

He is the one and only, the incarnate God. Do you believe?

What do you need to do to be saved? Believe.

Is it that simple? Yes.

God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching, is what the Bible says (1 Corinthians 1:21).

And that is how it is going to be because God would not have anyone boasting in his presence that he somehow qualifies for salvation (1 Corinthians 1:29), except that God was gracious to him and saved him. God would not have boasting in his presence.

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The gospel did not merely come to the Colossians; it is also bearing fruit.

It is bearing the fruit of changed lives. And not just that, it is a global phenomenon.

It was Jesus who said that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, and with that, he gave a marching order for the apostles to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19).

That command still stands. Go! God will have a harvest from all nations and languages as fruit of the sowing of his son, Jesus, as a seed (John 12:23-24).

That is what will happen. We can see it all around us. God is faithful.

The bearing of fruit is credited to the gospel, nothing else. It is the word of truth that bears fruit. Therefore, Paul told Timothy to preach the message (2 Timothy 4:2).

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In the lead verse, we learn two things about the gospel. It is a revelation of the grace of God, and it is the word of truth. That mirrors what John wrote: grace and truth come about through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

We may attempt to differentiate between what is grace and what is truth. But grace, in this context, is God’s favorable disposition to us because of Christ Jesus.

Truth is stating that that is the case. Grace is the objective reality; truth is conveying that reality.

It is something you appreciate, something to wow you, and you continually give thanks to God through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:15).