Living in Colossae...Yearning for Ephesus
Allowing the Gospel to change your local, no matter how small
Being a Christian in a small town like Colossae, it is easy to get discouraged when you see God’s Spirit moving in other places. People hearing the Gospel for the first time in a tribe in Papua New Guinea with dozens coming to faith in Christ. An inner-city church plant that sees over one hundred people worshipping God on the first Sunday that they open their doors. A summer camp or VBS in a ritzy area of the country with hundreds of kids in attendance doing wild and crazy things like zip lining over the forest. God seems to be doing amazing things though-out the rest of the world; everywhere but right here in little ‘ol Colossae.
I sometimes wonder if the Christians in Colossae thought this way (maybe the ancient world had less zip-lines). Situated about 100 miles east of Ephesus, the little village of Colossae existed on a major trade route that travelled from east to west. Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea formed a tight knit cluster of towns along this trade route so there were always people traveling through from Mesopotamia to the western part of the Roman Empire. I am sure that Colossians people heard non-stop stories of excitement from the far-flung reaches of the Empire; picture Luke Skywalker on his uncle’s farm, gazing longingly at the duel sunsets on Tatooine (sorry if that Star Wars reference went over your head…you can see the clip below).
Can you relate to living in a little town like this? I know I can. I always tell people that I live in a little village that you would only know existed if you passed through it to go to another city. We literally have one stop light and it doesn’t even have all three colors; it’s just a blinking red light. We do, however, finally have a Dollar General! The mark of true, rural living. Living in this town it’s easy to hear about exiting stuff that is going on in other places; the “Ephesus” that draws the modern day Apostle Pauls. People will pass through and visit and you’ll hear amazing stories about all of the ways God is moving in other places.
This perspective, however, is not biblical and Paul disabuses the Colossians of that notion in chapter one. He says,
“Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, 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.”
Colossians 1:5-6
Why highlight the words that I did in the above verses? Well, first of all, “faith, hope, and love” are the cardinal virtues of the Christian faith according to 1 Corinthians 13. Faith looks back to the past at what God has done for us, hope looks forward to the future at what God will do for us, and both meet together in the present in the form of love toward God, others, and ourself. When we think that the Gospel is only doing work “out there” then we fail to see that the Gospel works even in the smallest of places. Yes the Gospel changes nations, cities, and little towns like Colossae but it changes individuals first and foremost.
You may be the only Christian in your little town but odds are this is not the case; I’m sure there are at lease a few others you can and do fellowship with. This means that those attributes of the Christian life, things like faith, hope, love, fruit, spiritual growth, and truth, can have their impact in your community.
The Colossians had the privilege of drawing the attention of someone like the Apostle Paul and no doubt that gave them encouragement that their work in the Lord was not in vain. We may not get that human recognition on this side of eternity however your work for the Lord does not go unnoticed.
“I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.” -Jesus-
Revelation 2:19