God’s Treasure Chest: Part 1

Colossians 2:1-7

Thank you for joining us as we study God’s Word together. No matter where you come from or what has happened to you, the Holy Spirit can speak to you through God’s Word and show you the next step to being more like Jesus. We pray this program will disciple you in your walk with Christ and help you be like Him.  

For our study today, we will look at the first seven verses of Colossians 2. The title is “God’s Treasure Chest,” and we will look at a few treasures that can be ours when we live for Jesus. These treasures are not gold, silver, or money, which is usually the first thing that comes to mind when we think about treasures. However, they are every bit as valuable.  

Please give your attention to Bible teacher J Mark as we consider God’s treasure together.   

Many years ago, an old man searched for gold in a riverbed in South Africa. He’d been at it for many years. Now and then, he found a little bit of gold, not enough to make him rich – but just enough to keep him alive and maintain his interest. 

The part of the river in which he was prospecting was relatively new to him – and there were more signs than usual of the presence of gold. He was pretty excited – gripped by the gold fever, but he didn’t find much gold again. 

As his dig neared its end, he found himself exhausted and discouraged. He was just about to go home one evening when he saw some unusual pebbles. He liked the look of them, so he slipped about a dozen of them into his pocket.  

At home, he got out a tin and put the pebbles into it. This tin was unique and filled with personal items: letters from his son, a photo of his wife, who had died some years before, the collar from his old dog, who had died 18 months earlier, and more. Dropping the pebbles into the tin, he slowly closed it, put it back into the cupboard, and forgot about the pebbles. 

Another ten years passed, and he still hadn’t made that gold strike he longed for. By now, he was ancient and ill, too. With no ready money to pay for a doctor, he died. 

A few days later, the police came to his house. They looked through his belongings to see if there was anything they could sell to pay for his funeral, but they found nothing of value. Even his house was just an old wooden shack falling to pieces. 

And then they found THE TIN. As one of the officers looked through it, he gasped with surprise. “Look at this,” he said to his partner, pointing to the pebbles the old man had placed in that tin 10 years earlier. “They`re uncut diamonds!” he said. “They’re worth a fortune!” 

The old man had, INDEED, been very rich but had died thinking that he was penniless – because he hadn’t looked closely enough at what he thought were just pretty pebbles. He’d spent the whole of his life searching for riches but had missed the FACT that those pebbles were the answer to his longings. ¹ 

He had access to extravagant riches, but because he didn’t know what he had and failed to ask anyone else, those riches didn’t do him any good. That old tin of largely sentimental items was indeed a treasure chest!  

Too often, you and I are like the old prospector; we have treasure at our fingertips, yet we fail to recognize what we have. And so, today, I want to talk with you about “God’s Treasure Chest.” We’ll be studying Colossians 2:1 to 7.  

¹For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,  

²that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 

  ³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  

⁴I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.  

⁵For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. 

⁶Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,  

⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 

Our text reveals several priceless TREASURES found in God’s Treasure Chest.” 

The First Priceless TREASURE (found in God’s Treasure Chest) is, 

Genuine Love 

Paul begins chapter two by speaking of his great love for the Believers. How do we know of his great love for them? Look at the action words: labor, striving, conflict. They all indicate the apostle’s deep and abiding love for the saints. You don’t expend that kind of effort without love, even if it’s love for yourself.  

The word, striving ” in verse 29 of chapter one is connected to the word, conflict, in verse one of our text. It’s a word that comes to us from the arena of Paul’s day, with its grueling physical competition and mortal combat. It’s also the root of our English word agonize. In Second Corinthians chapter 11, after listing a series of trials and suffering he endured as part of his ministry, Paul says, “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my deep concern for all the churches.” Paul loved people deeply.  

Sacrificial love was a defining characteristic of Paul’s ministry, even when he had hard things to say or had to administer discipline. And yes, sacrificial love is the defining characteristic of all true Believers, according to John 13:35, First John 3:14, and other Scriptures.  

Colossae was one of the churches beginning to experience the harmful effects of Gnosticism. Paul wanted them to know that his deep concern for them flowed from his passion for Christ and his love for them. He then further expanded the circle of his audience by adding, “and all who haven’t seen me face to face.” 

So, here are people Paul has never personally met, yet he has this deep, committed, self-sacrificing love for them. How can that be? Because he had heard from Epaphras about their faith in Christ and their love for all the saints, in chapter one, verse four. That fact made them Paul’s brothers and sisters in the Lord, and he gladly accepted them into his heart and life. That, my friend, is what the love of Jesus does. Genuine love is a priceless treasure in God’s treasure chest. It is a love that flows out of His very being. We love because He first loved us. 

This genuine love is agape. It motivated Jesus to tell those who crucified Him, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they’re doing.” Recently, a friend who grew up in another country told a story about his father demonstrating this kind of love.  

A neighbor who owned property that adjoined his dad’s land was replacing the fence. As he rebuilt the fence, he intentionally moved it several feet onto my friend’s dad’s property. Instead of getting angry and calling the authorities, my friend’s dad helped the neighbor build the fence! As a Christ-follower, he was more concerned with the man’s spiritual condition than he was about the loss of his land.  

I confess that I fall far short of the example of Jesus, Paul, and my friend’s dad in embracing this treasure of genuine love. 

Paul wants the Colossian Believers to experience this same kind of love. Several of our English translations of Scripture use the words “being knit together” to describe this relationship of love. Think of that analogy: Separate strands of thread or yarn are integrated to create a functional object or an article of clothing. Not only does this weaving together produce something useful, but it can also be lovely. 

While studying this concept of being knit together in love, one writer used the word “coalesce.” One definition of coalesce is “to grow together,” like the edges of a wound. That’s something we can all understand. We’ve accidentally cut ourselves and observe how the layers of skin and tissue grow together and become one again. Paul says that’s the kind of love he wants to see for those who follow Christ. The body of Christ cares for itself and others.   

For more than 15 years, my wife has been on a cancer journey. We have experienced an incredible outpouring of genuine love from the people of God. People we have little contact with or don’t even know are praying for her and us. And they showed their love in various tangible ways: volunteering to drive her to treatments, giving meals, sharing financial gifts to help cover increased expenses, and more. Those expressions of love bring us joy and encouragement, as Paul mentions in this text.  

The only way to experience this genuine love Paul is talking about is to have a personal relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (verse 27, chapter 1) is the only source of this kind of love. Most love that people experience is conditional; it is based on feelings. If you treat me well, I’ll do the same for you. However, as the apostle Paul discusses in our text, genuine love is sacrificial. It is willing to love the unlovely and even those who offend us.  

Genuine love for Christ results in genuine love for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. And that love is, at least in part, a result of discovering… 

The Next Priceless TREASURE (found in God’s Treasure Chest) is, 

Full Knowledge 

The apostle Paul wants his readers to “[attain] to all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and Christ.” The message just before this one explained Christ’s mystery in you. Notice the adjectives here: “all riches” and “the full assurance.” We’ll talk more about these in a few moments. And notice, too, this full knowledge isn’t for a select few, as the Gnostics taught, it’s for all Believers. 

The kind of knowledge and understanding Paul talks about here is not simply the knowledge of intellect. According to First Corinthians 8:1, the type of knowledge and understanding the Gnostics had made people proud, and they looked down on those who didn’t share their supposedly enlightened positions. We see that in the academic world today. You’re seen as ignorant if you have less than a college education. But I know many people who’ve never been to college and are significantly contributing to society. They are often more settled and happier than those with a series of letters behind their name.  

The Gnostics derived their name from the Greek word gnosis, which refers to knowledge yet is present and fragmentary. Paul calls Believers to have full knowledge, or epignosis, the knowledge of experience informed by the intellect but fleshed out in the practical decisions of daily living.  

Here are the first two treasures: genuine love and full knowledge. Yes, these are not things you normally think of as treasures, but they are God’s treasures, not ours. We need His help to value the things He values. Thanks, J Mark, for sharing these with us. This was part one of the lesson. Please join us next week to hear about the rest of God’s treasure chest if you can.     

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Thanks again for being with us today for the first part of this teaching. Discussing God’s treasure reminded me of what Jesus taught us about our treasures. He said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” God help us treasure the things He treasures.