Take your Bibles with me today and turn to Colossians 2. Colossians 2. We are going to read the first seven verses of the chapter in a minute.

According to the city website, there are 49 churches in Mattoon. Of those 49, probably around 11 I would say are clearly not preaching the gospel at all. That leaves about 38 churches that are, in some form or fashion, evangelical - meaning they claim to believe the Bible and claim to preach salvation by grace through faith. That’s a lot.

There are at least 10 of those churches that are baptist (whether the name “baptist” is on the sign or not.)

• First Southern
• First Baptist
• Providence Church
• Bible Baptist
• 2nd Baptist
• Maranatha Baptist
• Faith Fellowship
• Grace Fellowship
• Word of Life Baptist
• 7th Day Baptist (which I’ve never heard of)

At one point, there were five independent baptist churches in town. Bible, Calvary, Faith, Emmanuel, Maranatha.

We aren’t that big of a town.

Now, here is my question: how does that happen?

Let’s take Mattoon out of it. I came here from Athens, TN. McMinn County Tennessee, which is a little smaller than Coles County - had I think 89 Baptist churches when we moved here. 89!

How in the world do you get 89 baptist churches in one small county? Well, there are a few ways it happens:

First, some of those churches got started for good reasons. Someone came in and said “there isn’t a church here that believes what we believe” and so they started a church. I don’t know what percentage of churches start like that - but I know it’s not a lot of them.

Most of the time, what happens is you have a bunch of people in one church that get mad and they break off and start another. I told you that in our town we once had 5 Independent Baptist churches. Well, three of the five were started by former members of Bible Baptist during times of conflict.

My mentor and pastor in Tennessee used to say that he had started 14 churches in his fifty year ministry - and none of them were on purpose.

Here is my point: Satan loves dividing people. Satan is always working to undermine and divide churches.

We’ve been going through the book of Colossians. Colossians was written by the apostle Paul to a church in the little town of Collosse. Paul had never been there. The church was started by one of Paul’s converts and disciples named Epaphras.

And the church was having some problems. The church was experiencing some conflict. There were people in the church teaching things they shouldn’t and saying things they shouldn’t - and it was threatening to divide the church. The first church of Colosse was about to become the first, second and third church of Colosse. Paul didn’t want that.

So Epaphras went and paid Paul a visit, and Paul hearing the situation, wrote the church this letter. Chapter 2 is the heart of the letter - where Paul is going to address this situation. All through chapter 1 Paul has been laying a foundation, reminding them of their position in Christ. In chapter 2 Paul is going to deal with the sources of their division.

So let’s read the first seven verses here of Colossians 2.

[!Bible] Colossians 2:1-7 - KJV

1. For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2. That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
5. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7. Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

In chapter 1, Paul shares a prayer for the Colossians. You can read that prayer in verses 9-11. That is a prayer for individuals. A prayer for each Christian in Colosse. He prayed that the individuals would be

• filled with the knowledge of his will
• and that they would walk worthy of the Lord
• and that they would be strengthened with all might.

But here, Paul is sharing his prayer for the church. This is his prayer for the church at Colosse (and by extension, their sister church at Thessalonica.)

And Paul wants them to know this is a serious prayer. He calls this prayer a conflict that I have for you. That word “conflict” is the greek work “agon” which has actually come into our english language. We all know the word “agony.”

Paul is saying “I’m in agony over you, I’m struggling mightily for you, I’m going to battle for you.”

Even though Paul had never met these people, even though he was weeks of travel away from these people, he was incredibly burdened for this church. He didn’t want to see this church torn apart.

So he shared his prayer request with them. And there are four parts of this prayer request.

Now, listen, we aren’t facing the exact same threat that this church in Colosse faced. We aren’t dealing with a bunch of false teachers trying to introduce some gnostic heresy in the church. But Paul’s prayer for Colosse is still something our church needs. It’s pretty universal really.

In other words, what Paul prayed for Colosse isn’t just the remedy for that specific church problem - it is the remedy for almost any church problem. It is medicine that our church needs.

So what are the four parts of this prayer request? What are the four things a church needs?

Let’s pray and I’ll give those to you.

The first part of Paul’s prayer request here is:

That their hearts might be comforted,

The word “comforted” there is actually a word that means much more than just comfort. It’s the exact word that describes the Holy Spirit and it means “to come along side”

Come along side to do what? Well, sometimes to comfort. Sometimes to challenge. Sometimes to strengthen. Sometimes to encourage.

So Paul’s first prayer request is that…

1. A church needs comforted hearts.

Or we could say “encouraged” hearts, or “strengthened” hearts.

This word “comforted” always carries the idea of someone coming alongside you and getting you ready to meet some difficult situation.

Have you ever been going through a hard time, and had someone come alongside you and just say “I’m here with you, I’m praying for you, you can do this, you can get through this?”

That’s the idea here.

When people are discouraged, when people are downtrodden, when people are distressed, they are easy prey for the devil.

And when that is the spirit in a church, that church is in bad shape.

So how does a church get encouraged. How does a church maintain enthusiasm as it goes through trials?

Well, encouraged hearts come from the second part of Paul’s prayer request here. He prays…

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love,

So not only does a church need comforted hearts…

2. A church needs unified spirits.

“Knit together in love” - that’s a beautiful phrase isn’t it?

You know - I didn’t plan this, it just worked out - but tonight I’m talking about “brotherly love and charity” and this morning we are talking about a church being “knit together in love.”

This is so important.

[!Bible] Psalms 133:1 - KJV

1. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

This is a consistent theme in the Bible.

Jesus said “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.” By what? By the love that you have one for another. (John 13:35)

Paul prayed for the Corinthian church that they would “all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 1:10)

He told the Ephesian church that they needed to be “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)

He told the Philippians church ”Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” (Philippians 2:2)

Peter told the churches in Asia “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:” (1 Peter 3:8)

There are many other instances in scripture where we see this command, this desire, that our churches be places of unity. That they be together.

And do you know what - that is easy to say. It’s easy to talk about when there are no problems. But it get’s real and real difficult when there are issues. That’s why Paul said here that he was in agony, he was in great conflict praying for this unity - because it isn’t easy.

Let me read you a passage I read in preparing for this. This comes from a commentary on Colossians 2:

C.S. Lewis once said “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.” Something similar could be said for unity - it’s a lovely idea until we find something to divide over. That is when loving a brother or sister in Christ becomes a challenge.

The reason so many verses talk about unity in the church is because it is both important and hard.

Let me let you in on something here. We are not a bunch of perfect people. Every single person in this room is a sinner, and every single person in this room is able to be deceived, even by their own heart, and every single person in this room has their own competing selfish desires, and every single person in this room makes mistakes.

Including, and probably most - the one who is talking to you.

Do you know why the scriptures talk so much about unity? Because our natural state is disunity.

Do you know why the scriptures talk so much about forgiveness? Because there will be lots of times as we live together that we need to forgive and ask forgiveness.

So Paul prayed for strengthened, comforted hearts. Do you know what really helps people have comforted hearts? When they know their church is unified. When they know their church is together. It is so discouraging and uncomfortable to be in a place where there isn’t unity.

So a church needs comforted hearts. A church needs unified spirits.

Where do unified spirits come from? Well, Paul tells us in the next part of this verse:

[!Bible] Colossians 2:2 - KJV 2. That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

A church needs comforted hearts. A church needs unified spirits.

Thirdly…

3. A church needs understanding minds.

There is a reason why chapter 1 of Colossians goes so deep about who Christ is. There is a reason why, before Paul dealt with the problems in this church, he wanted to lay a strong foundation and a deep foundation about who Jesus is.

Because if a church get’s their doctrine of Jesus right and that doctrine filters down to the rest of their life - it’s going to inoculate them from trouble and division.

I read something recently that I thought was incredibly profound. I’ve been chewing on it now for weeks. Listen to this:

Our new society of the church is not a mutual admiration society, but a shared admiration society. Our affection for each other is derivative. It derives from our worship of God. A God who saves us from a million different “communities” of this world to become his family. Our identity no longer stems from our families of origin, our professions, or our interests and ambitions, but the fact that we are in Christ. We are Christians. And so as an urban american of the professional class, I have more in common with my working class, rural, Sudanese brother in Christ than my own non-Christian blood brother.

Listen, do you know how we get unity? We get unity by following Christ. We get unity by worshiping Christ. He is the answer - he is the thing that draws us together.

• The thing that unifies our church cannot be blood - accept the blood of Christ.
• The thing that unifies our church cannot be shared history - it must be His Story - the story of Christ.
• The thing that unifies our church cannot be culture or background - it must be Christ.

We aren’t a church because we like each other. We are a church because we all worship Christ together. That is the unifying feature.

Listen, if our church is built on any human similarity - than human problems will destroy it. But if our church is built on Christ - then the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.

If we have Christ right - no one is going to be able to beguile us with enticing words. If we have Christ right - and our foundation is dug deep in Him, then we will be able to withstand the tremors and earthquakes of life without falling apart.

This is the most important thing.

And let me make one more point about the importance of understanding Christ and how it ties into the church. The unity of the church and our understanding of Christ are tied together. Having comforted hearts, having united spirits and having understanding minds are all joined together. They all go together.

You cannot have a full understand of Christ without being a part of a unified community of believers. That’s God’s school for this stuff. And you can’t have a unified community of believers without a proper understanding of Christ.

Do you see how all of this is tied together?

Now, there is one more thing Paul prays for here. He prays for comforted hearts, for unified spirits, for understanding minds and lastly…

4. A church needs steady walks.

Look at verse 6:

[!Bible] Colossians 2:6-7 - KJV 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7. Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Do you remember the children’s movie from the eighties “American Tale”? Remember Fiefel the mouse? We had that movie on VHS in our house, and I watched that movie a lot when I was a kid.

There is this scene that always stood out to me. The family is boarding the boat at the beginning of the movie to come to America, and the dad keeps stopping. And over and over again, the rest of the line shouts out “keep walking.”

Here is Paul’s last request for this church - that they would “Keep walking.” That they would keep following Christ. That they would, with their feet firmly grounded in Christ, their head firmly established in the faith, continue to keep going for Him.

We need steady walks in Christ.

Can I implore you church: Keep walking. Keep following the Lord. Remember the joy of your salvation. Remember the joy of learning the scriptures. Remember all you have been taught. And keep going.

Walking is pretty simple. You just take the next step. Then you take the next one. A one year old baby can walk. So can a 95 year old man.

Keep walking. Keep following the Lord. Be rooted deeply in Him. Let Him build you up. And just keep walking.

Conclusion

So what do these verses mean?

A church gets it’s comfort from it’s spirit of love and unity, and that spirit of unity comes from a proper understanding of God and Christ. When a church has that spirit of unity, they are protected from false teachers and able to walk in Christ and grow.

Let’s be a church that is “knit together in love” - not a natural love - but a love we share for Christ - and let’s keep walking.

Let’s stand for invitation and prayer.