Inheritance

July 13, 2025 homily on Colossians 1:1-14 by Pastor Galen

“… giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.”  – Colossians 1:12

Feeling like a Hundred Million Bucks

Imagine that you received a call letting you know that some long-lost relative whom you’ve never met has just died, leaving you with an inheritance of a hundred million dollars.

It sounds crazy, but let’s say you find out it’s not a hoax, it’s really happening. You absolutely will inherit a hundred million dollars; the only thing is that you don’t know when you’ll be receiving the money. It could take weeks, months, or most likely years.

The question is, how do you live in the meantime? How does the knowledge that you will someday be a multi-millionaire change your perspective on life?

Some of you might quit your job and go out and spend it all even before you have it, while others might continue to live simply and frugally. But probably for all of us, the knowledge that we would one day inherit a hundred million dollars would change the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. Most likely, we would feel a bit more confident and secure. We’d start to stand a little straighter, walk a little bit more confidently. We’d start thinking more about the future, and less about the past.

An Inheritance that is Out of this World

In the opening of their letter to the Christians living in the city of Colossae, the Apostle Paul and his colleague Timothy tell the Colossians that they have been rejoicing and thanking God ever since they heard about the Colossians’ “faith in Christ Jesus” and their love “for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for [them] in heaven” (Col. 1:4-5). In other words, the Colossians knew that they had an inheritance awaiting them in heaven that was even better than a hundred million dollars. And this knowledge transformed their lives.

Paul and Timothy specifically use this language of “inheritance” further down, in verse 12, when they encourage the Colossians to “[give] thanks to the Father who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints of light” (Col. 1:12).  We see here that this inheritance has both a future tense — in that there is a “hope laid up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:5) and there is also a present tense, in that we have already been enabled — or other translations say “qualified” — “to share in the inheritance of the saints of light (Col. 1:12).

The Colossians — Pulled in Different Directions

Now why did Paul and Timothy choose to use this language of “inheritance” when writing to the Colossians? And what was it that prompted them to write this letter to the Colossians in the first place? After all, this was not one of the churches that Paul had planted or pastored. In fact, he had never even visited Colossae, and the church was full of people who had never met Paul and Timothy.

Well, as with Paul’s letter to the Galatians that we looked at last week, the church in Colossae was made up mostly of Gentiles, meaning that they didn’t come from a Jewish religious and cultural background like Jesus’s first disciples and like many of the members of the early church. And, like the people of the church in Galatia, they too were being made to feel that they were second-class citizens — that they were not good enough because of their cultural background and because they hadn’t adopted all of the cultural practices of the Jewish Christians. As with the Galatians, there were people trying to convince them that they had to follow all of the Jewish dietary laws and customs and traditions in order to be fully accepted into the family of God.

But the Colossians were facing an added pressure — as we’ll see in a few weeks when we look at chapter 2 — in that there were some who were trying to take the Colossian church “captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition” (Col. 2:8). You see, the Colossians came from a diversity of religious and cultural backgrounds, and so it’s not difficult to imagine that they were facing a lot of pressure from their friends and family and colleagues to participate in all sorts of other religious practices and philosophies. Colossae was a very tolerant place towards all sorts of religions — it was a sort of melting pot when it came to religious practices, and so the pressure the Colossian Christians were facing would have been to just sort of consider Jesus as one of many gods, and to just sort of mix and match and piece things together on a spiritual level, rather than worshiping only Jesus and trusting in Christ along for their salvation.

Despite these pressures, the Colossians seem to be doing pretty well. They are worshiping God and extending love to the other believers and they are living in the hope of what has been laid up for them in heaven. But Paul and Timothy know how discouraging it can be when others are constantly telling you that you are not doing enough, or that you’re not good enough, or that you’ll never be enough. No doubt Paul and Timothy have seen others given up completely and walk away from the faith for these very reasons.

And so Paul and Timothy wrote this letter to the Colossians after hearing about their faith and the pressures they were facing to let them know that Jesus Christ is indeed enough, that they don’t need to give into the pressures on the one hand to mix and match religious practices, or on the other hand to try to take on a cultural or religious experience that was not their own and to become essentially captives to the Law. Rather, Paul and Timothy want to encourage them that Jesus is enough, and because Jesus is enough, they too have all that they need, because they are fully members of the household of faith. They are not second-class citizens. They are fully and completely children of God.

Our Social Location: In Christ

This is why Paul and Timothy are intentional about referring to God “our Father” in verse 2, and God as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Col. 1:3). The “our” in these verses signals to the Colossians that Paul and Timothy see them as siblings, co-heirs to the inheritance that is awaiting us in heaven. And the reason we have this inheritance is because we are “in Christ”! In fact, this is how Paul and Timothy address this letter. Right in the beginning, they say, “Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae” (Col. 1:1-2). 

So the primary social location of the Colossians, more important than the fact that they are Gentiles living in Colossae, is that they are in Christ. Down in verse 13, Paul and Timothy state that they have been “rescued…from the power of darkness and transferred …into the kingdom of [God’s] beloved Son” (Col. 1:13).

Paul and Timothy want the Colossians to know that they can stand with their heads held high, they can walk in confidence and boldness and security as children of God because they are in Christ. They are citizens of the Kingdom of God, and they share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. And so they don’t have to live in worry or fear about what may happen, because their future is secure. There is a hope, and an inheritance stored up for them, and there’s nothing they need to do to earn it, because they are in Christ. If we are children of God, and God is our Father, that is enough.

The Inheritance of the Saints of Light

There are a lot of ways in which various ones of us have been made to feel “less than,” not quite good enough. In Christian circles, maybe you’ve been made to feel “less than” because you didn’t grow up going to church or because you don’t have a lot of Bible knowledge. Maybe you’re the only person from your household who comes to church. Maybe you’ve had a failed marriage, or maybe relationships within your family have been broken. Maybe you feel like no matter how hard you try, you can never do the right thing, or that others are constantly judging you. 

Society, too, often tells us that we’re not good enough. We’re not handsome or pretty enough, not intelligent enough, or athletic enough. We don’t have enough money, or power, or friends. We don’t have enough “social capital.” We don’t have enough education. And these lists could go on and on.

But if we have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then our primary social location is in Christ, and that is enough! We are children of God, and we have a hope and inheritance awaiting us. And the knowledge of this inheritance should completely and utterly change the way we live and carry ourselves and how we interact with others. As in the case of the Colossians, this knowledge should result in love for all of God’s children, because we recognize that this is not a competition. No one is going to get voted off the island!  There is plenty of room for all, and the hope and inheritance that is ours is available to anyone and everyone who puts their faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation.

And so because we are in Christ, we have an inheritance that is out of this world! So we can stand with our heads held high. We can walk in confidence and boldness, knowing that we are children of the Most High God, and we have a share in the inheritance of the saints of light!

That means when someone cuts you off in traffic, when someone ignores you or looks right past you, when someone slights you or disrespects you, when someone looks down on you or derides you, you can say to yourself, “They don’t know who they just disrespected! They don’t know that I am a child of the King, I have hope and an inheritance that is awaiting me in heaven! I am a child of God!”

And so the prayer that Paul and Timothy pray for the Colossians, in verses 9 and following, is really a prayer for all of us. Paul and Timothy pray that the Colossians would be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” that they would “lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:9-10). They pray that the Colossians would be “made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power and may be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father” (Col. 1:11-12a). 

Notice that Paul and Timothy do not pray that the Colossians would be free from pain and suffering, or that they would live lives of comfort and ease. They don’t pray that no bad things would ever happen to the Colossians. Instead, they pray that, whatever comes their way, the Colossians will be able to endure it with patience and even give thanks to the Father, “who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Col. 1:12b).

May this be true of us as well. May we walk in confidence and boldness as children of God, who have an inheritance with all the saints of light. And may we too lead lives worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work, as we grow in the knowledge of God.

Amen!

Questions for Personal Reflection in Response to Today’s Sermon:

1. What does it mean to you personally to have a spiritual inheritance “in Christ”?
2. In what ways do you struggle to believe or accept that you are a full heir in God’s household? How would your day-to-day attitude or interactions change if you fully lived into the truth that you are a beloved child of God?
3. In what ways do you experience pressure to “prove” your worth or faith? How might God be inviting you to rest in the truth that Jesus is enough?
4. What would it look like for you to “walk with your head held high” as a child of the King this week?
5. How does your sense of identity affect how you treat others — especially those society sees as “less than”?