Colossians 4:7- 18
7As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. 8For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts; 9and with him Nesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here. 10Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas's cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him); 11and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. 12Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. 13For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas. 15Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. 16When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. 17Say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it." 18I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand Remember my imprisonment Grace be with you.
Observations
· As Paul concludes his letter to the Colossian church, he introduces us to some of his faithful and beloved brothers. There is Tychicus, the “beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, Onesimus, the “faithful and beloved brother from the Colossian church to which Paul is writing; Aristichus, a fellow prisoner who sends his greetings to this church; Barnabas, cousin of Mark and fellow traveler with Paul on his missionary journeys, of whom the church had received instructions and who was to be welcomed; Jesus called Justus who was among the fellow workers for the kingdom of God; Epaphras, who was also a member of the Colossian church and bondslave of Jesus Christ, who always labors earnestly in his prayers for his Colossian brothers, that they may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God, and who also has a deep concern for his brothers and sisters in Colossi, as well as other churches in that area; Luke, the beloved physician, who traveled with Paul, sends his greetings; and Demas, who is also Paul’s fellow missionary, but who had once left him because of his love for this present world. Paul also sent greetings to the saints of Laodicea and also to Nympa and the church that meets in her house. And finally, there is Arichippus, who the church is to instruct to Take heed to his ministry and fulfill it.”
Remarks
· These were Paul’s beloved brethren. We too have beloved brothers and sisters whom we should hold in high regard and love from our hearts as Paul loved and greeted his dear ones from prison. But, since Paul’s time, the church that Christ established has debated, fought, divided, contorted, conformed, deformed, reformed, replicated, restored and apostatized, until one can scarcely find the true church. I spent years in legalism with those who are certain that they are right and everyone else is wrong. My brethren used to preach a sermon titled, “The Way That’s Right and Can’t Be Wrong.” I also spent many years in liberalism (although I didn’t subscribe to their progressive theology) I was with a church that has the grandest slogan I have ever heard: “The church where salvation makes you a member.” But people came and went as they pleased, giving too little thought to the matter of their salvation. When I asked a leader about this failure, he replied, “The church is open ended; we have to make room for people with different views. Different views in matters of opinion to be sure, but certainly not in matters of faith! Through these experiences I came to realize that my brothers and sisters are those who have submitted in faith to Christ as their Savior and Lord and are following Him to the best of their ability. I also learned that faith does not depend on one's belonging to either the right church or the left church but to Christ. And with this understanding, my faith found a resting place in Christ alone.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Private Devotion and Public Conduct
Colossians 4:2- 6
2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. 5Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Observations
With so much emphasis on methodology, lots of people have full notebooks who are not fully engaged in the Lord’s work. On the other hand, many are engaged who are not prepared. This paragraph of six verses has the answer to this dilemma—three verses on preparation and three verses on practice.
1. Preparation means private devotion.
Devote yourself to prayer. I have heard people say prayer since I was a kid, and I have said them most of my life; but I have too seldom heard or experienced genuine prayers of devotion. Do people say the same prayers in their private devotions that they say in public worship? Paul didn’t say, devote yourself to repetition but “devote yourself to prayer.”
Keep alert in prayer. One doesn’t have to be very alert to mutter memorized words that he has repeated a thousand times, but he does need to be alert if he is attempting to express the deep thoughts and feelings of his heart to God. Two pioneer evangelists in an American restoration movement stopped at a frontier tavern for a draft of spirits and a meal. As they prayed, one of them drank the others portion. After the prayer and the startled look of the man who lost his drink, the other said, “Jesus said, ‘Watch and pray,’ and you weren’t watching.” The best negative example I know is that given by C. S. Lewis in his Screwtape Letters. Satan (Screwtape) assigns a demon nephew (Wormwood) to watch new Christians as they pray. His task was to divert their attention away from Christ to other objects. He was instructed to cause his subjects to pray to a picture of Jesus on his bedroom wall as he knelt at his bed to pray. Wormwood’s greatest success has been in diverting his victims from Christ to icons and “sacred” objects that surround them. In a little country church in WV, as the members were observing Communion, Wormwood diverted someone’s attention from Jesus to a ground hog sunning himself on a rock, and the new discovery buzzed throughout the assembly, diverting everyone’s attention. But the best positive example I know is that given by Benjamin Franklin in his Autobiography. He relates how his grandfather had a Bible secured under the seat of a chair. When devotion time came, someone would turn the chair upside down while grandfather read from it. Another watched at the door to make sure no one saw them reading the Bible. They were watching while they prayed. Paul says “Devote yourselves to prayer; keep alert and be thankful in it.”
· Be thankful while you pray. My maternal grandfather always said the same prayer at the table. As if he were anxious to get it over with and start eating, He prayed so rapidly that we were unable to understand what he said. “We thank Thee Father” he would say, “for these and all blessings of life. Stand by us in sickness and in death save us in Jesus’ name. Amen.” Failing to understand him, my younger brother tried to impersonate him by saying, “Vizer viser thank the father, vizer viser thank the father.” I wonder if we don’t often say, “Vizer viser thank the father” rather than devoting ourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
· Pray for others who serve that they may speak forth the mystery of Christ, making it clear in the way they ought to speak.
2. Practice means public performance. “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.”
Conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsides. Paul is assuming that Christians will conduct themselves properly toward one another, even though he has to deal with this matter elsewhere. But Christians often behave in such an appalling way toward outsiders that they become totally unattractive to those they are supposed to be winning for Christ. A Christian must certainly be wise when dealing with the world. It is hard to realize and harder yet to face the way we violate the covenant we made with Christ in the beginning. This very minute is the time to change that.
Make the most of the opportunity. In Bible College I had a grand old English and speech teacher named W. Claude Hall, who also conducted a “spoken English class.” He made our language come alive, particularly individual words. When one of us mispronounced a word, he would grieve over its abuse. “Just look at that poor little word lying there,” he would say, “you have wounded it and it is bleeding. He was severe with us, but he taught us to be exact in our speech, and we were recognized throughout the brotherhood as students of Brother Hall, who meant for us to “make the most of our opportunity” when we became ministers.
Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt. We sometimes think of “rude” and “crude” rather than grace as being connected with speech. But “grace” also means refinement, loveliness and charm. No rude person can communicate the grace of God to others. Salt is a preservative; it is also a seasoning. So, treat your speech as you would treat the food you are serving others.
Know how you should respond to each person. Gracious speech is certainly a good place to start in responding to both “outsiders” and insiders. But we have such varied backgrounds and temperaments that we must learn how to communicate with them individually. Years ago I heard Dr. Wayne Oats, a prominent psychologist and educator, speaking on how to train a child. He quoted a professor he had known as interpreting Prov. 22:6 to means, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will be himself.” This seems radical but it is profound! The text does say “child” and “he” and not children and they. Each child, just as each of those to whom we respond, is different, and his difference needs to be respected and treated with grace. If each child were “trained up” in this manner, he would be himself rather than some sort of a “generic” person.
Remarks
· During my years in ministry, I have served in a restoration movement, a reformation movement and a number of factions that weren’t moving at all. I have studied and written about movements, cults, sects, creeds, and a host of other aberrant systems, only to learn that most of them, using the same Scriptures and the same arguments, have claimed to by the “Lord’s church,” the “true church,” and the “only church.” But men have not been empowered to judge who belongs to Christ and who does not. “The Lord knows who are His (II Tim. 2:19). No sect or faction is solely and exclusively the “beloved brethren” in Christ, no matter how loudly it persists. If it were it would not be, fighting, debating, dividing, reforming, restoring, replicating restructuring and apostatizing until it is no longer recognizable as the Lord’s church. Men’s lives belie their claims.
· I have always been disturbed by the legalistic strictness of church theology – the example its devotees set for outsiders and the way they treat their members. I have also been disappointed by churches that are so lax that they have no standard of membership verification. I have decided that it is better to join Christ than to join a church, knowing that to belong to Him is to belong to His church. “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”
2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. 5Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
Observations
With so much emphasis on methodology, lots of people have full notebooks who are not fully engaged in the Lord’s work. On the other hand, many are engaged who are not prepared. This paragraph of six verses has the answer to this dilemma—three verses on preparation and three verses on practice.
1. Preparation means private devotion.
Devote yourself to prayer. I have heard people say prayer since I was a kid, and I have said them most of my life; but I have too seldom heard or experienced genuine prayers of devotion. Do people say the same prayers in their private devotions that they say in public worship? Paul didn’t say, devote yourself to repetition but “devote yourself to prayer.”
Keep alert in prayer. One doesn’t have to be very alert to mutter memorized words that he has repeated a thousand times, but he does need to be alert if he is attempting to express the deep thoughts and feelings of his heart to God. Two pioneer evangelists in an American restoration movement stopped at a frontier tavern for a draft of spirits and a meal. As they prayed, one of them drank the others portion. After the prayer and the startled look of the man who lost his drink, the other said, “Jesus said, ‘Watch and pray,’ and you weren’t watching.” The best negative example I know is that given by C. S. Lewis in his Screwtape Letters. Satan (Screwtape) assigns a demon nephew (Wormwood) to watch new Christians as they pray. His task was to divert their attention away from Christ to other objects. He was instructed to cause his subjects to pray to a picture of Jesus on his bedroom wall as he knelt at his bed to pray. Wormwood’s greatest success has been in diverting his victims from Christ to icons and “sacred” objects that surround them. In a little country church in WV, as the members were observing Communion, Wormwood diverted someone’s attention from Jesus to a ground hog sunning himself on a rock, and the new discovery buzzed throughout the assembly, diverting everyone’s attention. But the best positive example I know is that given by Benjamin Franklin in his Autobiography. He relates how his grandfather had a Bible secured under the seat of a chair. When devotion time came, someone would turn the chair upside down while grandfather read from it. Another watched at the door to make sure no one saw them reading the Bible. They were watching while they prayed. Paul says “Devote yourselves to prayer; keep alert and be thankful in it.”
· Be thankful while you pray. My maternal grandfather always said the same prayer at the table. As if he were anxious to get it over with and start eating, He prayed so rapidly that we were unable to understand what he said. “We thank Thee Father” he would say, “for these and all blessings of life. Stand by us in sickness and in death save us in Jesus’ name. Amen.” Failing to understand him, my younger brother tried to impersonate him by saying, “Vizer viser thank the father, vizer viser thank the father.” I wonder if we don’t often say, “Vizer viser thank the father” rather than devoting ourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
· Pray for others who serve that they may speak forth the mystery of Christ, making it clear in the way they ought to speak.
2. Practice means public performance. “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.”
Conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsides. Paul is assuming that Christians will conduct themselves properly toward one another, even though he has to deal with this matter elsewhere. But Christians often behave in such an appalling way toward outsiders that they become totally unattractive to those they are supposed to be winning for Christ. A Christian must certainly be wise when dealing with the world. It is hard to realize and harder yet to face the way we violate the covenant we made with Christ in the beginning. This very minute is the time to change that.
Make the most of the opportunity. In Bible College I had a grand old English and speech teacher named W. Claude Hall, who also conducted a “spoken English class.” He made our language come alive, particularly individual words. When one of us mispronounced a word, he would grieve over its abuse. “Just look at that poor little word lying there,” he would say, “you have wounded it and it is bleeding. He was severe with us, but he taught us to be exact in our speech, and we were recognized throughout the brotherhood as students of Brother Hall, who meant for us to “make the most of our opportunity” when we became ministers.
Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt. We sometimes think of “rude” and “crude” rather than grace as being connected with speech. But “grace” also means refinement, loveliness and charm. No rude person can communicate the grace of God to others. Salt is a preservative; it is also a seasoning. So, treat your speech as you would treat the food you are serving others.
Know how you should respond to each person. Gracious speech is certainly a good place to start in responding to both “outsiders” and insiders. But we have such varied backgrounds and temperaments that we must learn how to communicate with them individually. Years ago I heard Dr. Wayne Oats, a prominent psychologist and educator, speaking on how to train a child. He quoted a professor he had known as interpreting Prov. 22:6 to means, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will be himself.” This seems radical but it is profound! The text does say “child” and “he” and not children and they. Each child, just as each of those to whom we respond, is different, and his difference needs to be respected and treated with grace. If each child were “trained up” in this manner, he would be himself rather than some sort of a “generic” person.
Remarks
· During my years in ministry, I have served in a restoration movement, a reformation movement and a number of factions that weren’t moving at all. I have studied and written about movements, cults, sects, creeds, and a host of other aberrant systems, only to learn that most of them, using the same Scriptures and the same arguments, have claimed to by the “Lord’s church,” the “true church,” and the “only church.” But men have not been empowered to judge who belongs to Christ and who does not. “The Lord knows who are His (II Tim. 2:19). No sect or faction is solely and exclusively the “beloved brethren” in Christ, no matter how loudly it persists. If it were it would not be, fighting, debating, dividing, reforming, restoring, replicating restructuring and apostatizing until it is no longer recognizable as the Lord’s church. Men’s lives belie their claims.
· I have always been disturbed by the legalistic strictness of church theology – the example its devotees set for outsiders and the way they treat their members. I have also been disappointed by churches that are so lax that they have no standard of membership verification. I have decided that it is better to join Christ than to join a church, knowing that to belong to Him is to belong to His church. “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”
Friday, March 27, 2009
Human Relations
Colossians 3:18- 4:1
3:18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. 21Fathers do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. 22Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
4:1 1Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven
Observations:
· Here, as in Eph. 5 and 6, Paul deals with various human relations, giving clear instructions. Let’s read this Scripture again and see if it won’t improve both our understanding and our relationships.
· Husband and wife: In both Scriptures wives are mentioned first, not because they have a greater responsibility but probably because their attitude and action so greatly influence their husbands and their homes. Wives are to respect and submit to their husbands and husbands are to love and not be embittered against their wives. Wives are not told to love their husbands, nor are husbands told to submit to their wives. This is God’s order. This is the way marriage works.
· Children are to be obedient to their parents in all things. If children expect to be blessed as family members, they must accept their responsibility as family members.
· Fathers must not exasperate (frustrate, infuriate) their children, causing them to lose heart.
· Slaves are to obey their masters with sincerity of heart. (Perhaps this could now be applied to employees).
· Masters are to treat their subordinates with justice and fairness.
· No matter who you serve, you are serving the Lord, who will see that “he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done.”
Remarks:
· How can a wife be subject to a husband who is angry, demanding and cruel?
· How can a husband love a wife who is neglectful, controlling and cold?
· How will children learn to obey their parents if they are not nurtured in a loving home?
· How can a child grow up to have a good life and family of his or her own if he or she is unruly and demanding?
· Is there anyone more cruel that a father who exasperates and intimidates his child?
· Everyone, not just masters, should be just and fair with those under his authority.
· I just felt like asking questions today; I’ll leave it to my readers to answer them. I’ve had my share of doing things wrong and receiving the consequences of the wrong which I have done. What I want to do now is to admonish and exhort others to live close to the Lord, to avoid pitfalls and to make the most of their time.It is one thing to learn these principles of human relations and another thing to practice them. I suggest that all learn these principles thoroughly, and when there is a situation that calls for specific action, let them be aware of what they are doing. Isn’t it strange how people are so careful about following instruction in every area of life and in the use of every product, but so careless in following God’s instructions regarding human relations?
3:18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. 21Fathers do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart. 22Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
4:1 1Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven
Observations:
· Here, as in Eph. 5 and 6, Paul deals with various human relations, giving clear instructions. Let’s read this Scripture again and see if it won’t improve both our understanding and our relationships.
· Husband and wife: In both Scriptures wives are mentioned first, not because they have a greater responsibility but probably because their attitude and action so greatly influence their husbands and their homes. Wives are to respect and submit to their husbands and husbands are to love and not be embittered against their wives. Wives are not told to love their husbands, nor are husbands told to submit to their wives. This is God’s order. This is the way marriage works.
· Children are to be obedient to their parents in all things. If children expect to be blessed as family members, they must accept their responsibility as family members.
· Fathers must not exasperate (frustrate, infuriate) their children, causing them to lose heart.
· Slaves are to obey their masters with sincerity of heart. (Perhaps this could now be applied to employees).
· Masters are to treat their subordinates with justice and fairness.
· No matter who you serve, you are serving the Lord, who will see that “he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done.”
Remarks:
· How can a wife be subject to a husband who is angry, demanding and cruel?
· How can a husband love a wife who is neglectful, controlling and cold?
· How will children learn to obey their parents if they are not nurtured in a loving home?
· How can a child grow up to have a good life and family of his or her own if he or she is unruly and demanding?
· Is there anyone more cruel that a father who exasperates and intimidates his child?
· Everyone, not just masters, should be just and fair with those under his authority.
· I just felt like asking questions today; I’ll leave it to my readers to answer them. I’ve had my share of doing things wrong and receiving the consequences of the wrong which I have done. What I want to do now is to admonish and exhort others to live close to the Lord, to avoid pitfalls and to make the most of their time.It is one thing to learn these principles of human relations and another thing to practice them. I suggest that all learn these principles thoroughly, and when there is a situation that calls for specific action, let them be aware of what they are doing. Isn’t it strange how people are so careful about following instruction in every area of life and in the use of every product, but so careless in following God’s instructions regarding human relations?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Putting On the New Self
The new self that a Christian must put on cannot be realized until the old self is put off. One doesn’t put clean clothing over dirty clothing.
Colossians 3:1-17
1Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amount to idolatry. 6For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-- 11a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. 12So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 4Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Observations
· “Raised up with Christ” means that believers were in God’s scheme of redemption and grace when Jesus gave His life a sacrifice for their sin, and when they understood this, they participated in a re-enactment of His death, burial and resurrection by being buried in water and raised up to live a new life (Rom 6:1- 11; Col. 2:12-14). Baptism is not a ritual cleansing of the body (I Per. 3:21) but a participation, a sharing with Jesus in His death and resurrection, as in the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 10:16).
· This experience marks the end of the old self and the beginning of a new life in Christ. When you died, you were hidden with Christ in God. From that time on, new things have been required of you. (1) Keep seeking the things above. (2) Set your mind on the things above. (3) Consider the members of your earthly body dead to immorality and (4), “put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of its Creator. This renewal results in a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience unity and love.
· The way to worship God is to “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, (that is, within your midst or among you), as you give thanks to God with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. A parallel passage says, “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19).
Remarks
· Those who question or deny that Christians can be filled with the Spirit are grieving the Spirit rather than allowing Him to move them in worship. Those who use this precious scripture to condemn the use of instrumental music in worship are also in error by claiming that this verse prohibits something it doesn’t even mention. Why do people complicate, reject, deny and otherwise modify God’s system of redemption and manner of worship? All He asks is that we “put off” the old immoral self and put on a new nature which is modeled after our Lord. We begin, maintain and cultivate this nature by participation in the life of Christ. This life-style is new in every respect. Think about it! We have a perfect Model, along with all the support and encouragement we will ever need. God hears our prayers and accepts our collective praise when we are filled with the Spirit and worshiping Him in songs of praise. Our greatest problem has been the way we have distorted God’s gifts and requirements. Could He have spelled it out any clearer?
Colossians 3:1-17
1Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amount to idolatry. 6For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-- 11a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. 12So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 4Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Observations
· “Raised up with Christ” means that believers were in God’s scheme of redemption and grace when Jesus gave His life a sacrifice for their sin, and when they understood this, they participated in a re-enactment of His death, burial and resurrection by being buried in water and raised up to live a new life (Rom 6:1- 11; Col. 2:12-14). Baptism is not a ritual cleansing of the body (I Per. 3:21) but a participation, a sharing with Jesus in His death and resurrection, as in the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 10:16).
· This experience marks the end of the old self and the beginning of a new life in Christ. When you died, you were hidden with Christ in God. From that time on, new things have been required of you. (1) Keep seeking the things above. (2) Set your mind on the things above. (3) Consider the members of your earthly body dead to immorality and (4), “put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of its Creator. This renewal results in a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience unity and love.
· The way to worship God is to “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, (that is, within your midst or among you), as you give thanks to God with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. A parallel passage says, “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19).
Remarks
· Those who question or deny that Christians can be filled with the Spirit are grieving the Spirit rather than allowing Him to move them in worship. Those who use this precious scripture to condemn the use of instrumental music in worship are also in error by claiming that this verse prohibits something it doesn’t even mention. Why do people complicate, reject, deny and otherwise modify God’s system of redemption and manner of worship? All He asks is that we “put off” the old immoral self and put on a new nature which is modeled after our Lord. We begin, maintain and cultivate this nature by participation in the life of Christ. This life-style is new in every respect. Think about it! We have a perfect Model, along with all the support and encouragement we will ever need. God hears our prayers and accepts our collective praise when we are filled with the Spirit and worshiping Him in songs of praise. Our greatest problem has been the way we have distorted God’s gifts and requirements. Could He have spelled it out any clearer?
Friday, March 13, 2009
No One is to Act as Your Judge
Colossians 2:16- 23
16Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. 20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
Observations
· “No One is to act as Your Judge” means that you should live in such a way that no one will have an occasion to judge you. Since this letter was written to Christians, we must understand that Paul is instructing us how to live and not how to control our critics. He says in verse eight, “See to it than no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit.” In these verses he continues with three additional prohibitions. (1) The first is against ordnances and practices of the Law of Moses which were merely shadows of things to come in Christ (vs. 16-17). (2) The second is against false humility, worship of angels, standing on visions, and inflation of the fleshly mind (v. 18). (3) The third is against handling, tasting (eating) and touching, according to the commandments and teachings of men (v. 21, 22). These, no doubt, refer to pagan rules that were infiltrating the Colossian church.
· All of these prohibitions are against the flesh, which is not to have any place in the church. Nevertheless, they were brought in, elevated above the Word, and became acts of worship, even though they “are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” If you doubt this, do a little study of today’s New Age and Progressive Church Movements. Deliverance from these sins of the flesh can be realized only in Christ, and freedom can be maintained only by “holding fast to the Head,” which is Christ. True believers died to these shallow, sinful and perishing things—these human things, when they died with Christ.
Remarks
· When I was a young preacher, I was always concerned about the disinterest and dullness of my people. One day I spoke to a highly respected old preacher about this. He gave me a simple reply that I have never forgotten. He said, “Don’t ever underestimate the ignorance of your audience.” And Jesus said, “He that has ears to hear let him hear.” If you and I, my brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t stand up for Jesus who is going to do it? And if we don’t stand for Christian doctrine rather than imaginary and fleshly things, who is going to take a stand? If you are standing on the Solid Rock, may God give you power through your faith.
· Those who truly believe must help unbelievers and doubters to understand these things and to take a stand for Jesus in this unbelieving generation. Paul is saying that we must not give others an occasion to judge (condemn) us, nor should we judge others. Everyone dislikes a critical, judgmental person. We must live as examples before others and leave the judgment to the Judge; otherwise we will be known as critics rather than as witnesses for Christ. After years of training and preaching as a critical minister, this has been a hard lesson for me to learn. But I am learning it, and so are you if you are trying. And you must try.
16Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. 20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
Observations
· “No One is to act as Your Judge” means that you should live in such a way that no one will have an occasion to judge you. Since this letter was written to Christians, we must understand that Paul is instructing us how to live and not how to control our critics. He says in verse eight, “See to it than no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit.” In these verses he continues with three additional prohibitions. (1) The first is against ordnances and practices of the Law of Moses which were merely shadows of things to come in Christ (vs. 16-17). (2) The second is against false humility, worship of angels, standing on visions, and inflation of the fleshly mind (v. 18). (3) The third is against handling, tasting (eating) and touching, according to the commandments and teachings of men (v. 21, 22). These, no doubt, refer to pagan rules that were infiltrating the Colossian church.
· All of these prohibitions are against the flesh, which is not to have any place in the church. Nevertheless, they were brought in, elevated above the Word, and became acts of worship, even though they “are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” If you doubt this, do a little study of today’s New Age and Progressive Church Movements. Deliverance from these sins of the flesh can be realized only in Christ, and freedom can be maintained only by “holding fast to the Head,” which is Christ. True believers died to these shallow, sinful and perishing things—these human things, when they died with Christ.
Remarks
· When I was a young preacher, I was always concerned about the disinterest and dullness of my people. One day I spoke to a highly respected old preacher about this. He gave me a simple reply that I have never forgotten. He said, “Don’t ever underestimate the ignorance of your audience.” And Jesus said, “He that has ears to hear let him hear.” If you and I, my brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t stand up for Jesus who is going to do it? And if we don’t stand for Christian doctrine rather than imaginary and fleshly things, who is going to take a stand? If you are standing on the Solid Rock, may God give you power through your faith.
· Those who truly believe must help unbelievers and doubters to understand these things and to take a stand for Jesus in this unbelieving generation. Paul is saying that we must not give others an occasion to judge (condemn) us, nor should we judge others. Everyone dislikes a critical, judgmental person. We must live as examples before others and leave the judgment to the Judge; otherwise we will be known as critics rather than as witnesses for Christ. After years of training and preaching as a critical minister, this has been a hard lesson for me to learn. But I am learning it, and so are you if you are trying. And you must try.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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