week of 07/22/11 3rd recorded HighQuest Colossians 1:28-2:7

The passage I read was Colossians 1:28-2:7

You can find that passage here:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201:28-2:7&version=NIV

The verse that most stood out to me:

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

As I reflect:

Follow Christ, not me. And don’t water down the Gospel

This passage has a few similarities with the 1 Corinthians 3:1-15 passage I recently reflected on. One of those similarities is that Paul desires people to follow Christ and not to follow Paul. We also see in the 1^st two verses of this passage that Paul has no desire to water down the word or only deliver a little bit of Gospel along with a few short stories about himself. No, Paul (like us) is called to minister to everyone in his path, sharing the Gospel with all his strength and for all the truth that the Gospel is. He hides nothing . In the last passage I reflected on (as far as my recorded Bible studies), Paul must have been very frustrated with the elders of the Corinthian church for their carnal hearts refusing maturity. Here we see that Paul’s desires every believer to fully mature in Christ.

Be encouraged and unite. Group Christianity is better than trying to figure it out alone.

Continuing into chapter 2, Paul explains that despite his never having been there in person, the Laodicean church and the church in Colossi were both on his heart. He relays the following message to them: Be encouraged and be united in love so that you may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ. A few quick notes on this. Firstly, I wonder if the believers at Colossi were in some way already discouraged by an event of the times and if Paul (being aware of this) was speaking directly to it. He gives excellent advice for growth here that we can still see helping Christians to mature today. Don’t just get “saved” and then segregate yourselves. Get into a church, get some fellowship, and love each other. Uniting with other believers is an essential part of following Christ because we are a body of believers that is fully functional together and we support one another both in function and in understanding. Where I am weak, my God is strong. And often that is shown in pairing me up with a brother in the body that is strong where I need strength. It works both ways and is a magnificent design.

Is the Mystery really hidden?

Verse 2 actually flows right into 3 “2…may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” So what does he mean by telling them they can “know the mystery of God”? What does he mean by “hidden”? Well, this is actually a dynamic that is still in play on both the spiritual and the physical battlefield of today’s modern religions. There were then as there are now men that are very good at delivering a close to true message. It will look similar to the truth, sound similar to the truth, and be enticing to those who desire knowledge and wisdom. Back then it may have been the Gnostics who believed a great deal of knowledge was required for salvation and they would write down this knowledge and lock it up for only themselves. So in that way people (namely the believers in Colossi) could have been quite tempted to follow another way. It was a common popularity status of the time to seek knowledge and wisdom and so many people claimed to have some knowledge that wasn’t otherwise common in hopes of gaining a following to disciple after them. For those that wished to know the hidden messages of these Gnostics, Paul is instead warning them of that danger while at the same time letting them know that Christ is the mystery of God. That’s it.

Don’t be deceived by the look-a-likes.

You don’t have to follow after Joyce Meyers who preaches false doctrine, or be comforted by the lies spoken into your heart by prosperity preacher Joel Osteen. You can have the mysteries revealed to you in Christ. Don’t fall into the worlds deceiving temptations. Of course they aren’t obvious. You wouldn’t believe or follow anything they say if it was obvious that they spoke in contradiction to the word. That’s why you have to be mature in your walk and fellowship with other like minded Christians that are mature in their walk and spend time seeking these treasured truths in the word that God has given you. If you are a “new” believer, get around mature believers who walk the talk. Listen and learn and compare to the word of God what they say. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. Not your TV evangelist asking for your Credit Card #. In verse 4 he says, “I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.” I tell you believer, do not be deceived for there are even more deceivers today than there were when Paul first wrote this warning. God to the Rock and stand by His word… No matter how good the lies may sound and regardless of their credentials. A paper on the wall in a frame doesn’t mean you have a relationship with God any more than a great smile and good speech mean you’ll make a wonderful president. Ok, I’ll withdraw that last remark. I pray for Obama and he needs our support, not our bashing of his failures. But I hope you get Paul’s point and mine.

Encouragement – You’re doing good so far. Keep it up.

Wrapping up the passage, Paul encourages the believers of Colossi that his warning wasn’t meant as a condemnation for failures already in play. He says in fact that he delighted in their discipline and how firm their faith in Christ is. He encourages them as his goal in verse 2 saying now in verse 6 and 7, “⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

My response to the Lord:

Father, as I share your gospel which I should surely do more of, may the people I speak to hear you and not me. May they be directed to follow you and not me. May my stories never take from your stories or from the purpose of sharing them. Father, be glorified in all that I do and say. I pray that you would help me to fellowship with other likeminded believers as this (as you know) is a struggle of mine and surely I could use the extra support. Lord thank you for revealing so much to me through your word, my brothers, and through life experience. It is not now, nor ever will it be questioned by me whether or not your Holy Spirit has been at work in my life. I see it and am thankful for that redeeming work. I pray for discernment as given by that same Holy Spirit that I would not fall captive to the lies of the enemy no matter how persuasive his liars and teachers are. May I always see right through those false prophets and teachers. May I always be receptive to my brothers in Christ that should I become blind to a false teacher, I would hear from my family in Christ about that teacher and then know the truth. Lord, thank you for encouraging me in this walk. I know that my suffering doesn’t compare to that of your Son who took the weight of a punishment meant for me. However, what suffering I have endured You have guided me through and out of. I know that even now there is an end to my current trial and I look forward to the light at the other side. Thank you Lord. Thank you.