Monday, April 18, 2016

Colossians 1:21-2:7 "Christ Did It All"

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                Last week we began our series on the book of Colossians, Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae.  In looking at the majority of the opening chapter of this book, we noted that, while containing Paul’s introduction, it was primarily about Jesus.  It was a reminder to these Christians who Christ really was.  In particular, it was about Christ’s supremacy, his supremacy in creation and his supremacy in redemption; fundamental and foundational beliefs that were being overlooked and forgotten.  I chose to begin the reading of our text this morning with a rereading of the portion that deals with Christ’s supremacy in redemption as a means of reminding all of us of something specific:  that Christ’s death is sufficient.  I made a statement last week that if we feel like we have to do anything else other than have faith in Christ (which is a work of God in our lives itself and not something that we take the lead on) in order to be saved then it is as if we don’t think that Jesus’ death was enough.  If we think that we contribute to our salvation, then it is as if we don’t believe that God could do it without our help.  Our good works, our right actions, our observance of certain rituals, or even our “accepting” of Christ as it’s commonly referred to don’t earn us our salvation, God grants it to us.  And I think that if Scripture is abundantly clear on one thing above all else, it is that God doesn’t need us to help Him.  Many times in Scripture and in our own lives, we see God working in spite of man’s sinful actions.  And so, as we make our way through our text for today, I want all of us to keep in the forefront of our minds the understanding that Christ’s death is not only sufficient, but that it is sufficient and effective all by itself.

                Remember, Paul’s writing this letter to a group of Christians who are falling victim to a school of teaching that is telling them that they are in need of doing certain things in order to gain their salvation and to have an assurance of that salvation.  They’re still worshipping God, just devaluing what happened upon the cross.  So, after reminding them of the work of Christ in redemption that they are devaluing, he moves on to talk about his own personal testimony of sorts.  He talks about the fact that he has had the privilege of doing some outstanding things for the sake of the kingdom.  He’s planted churches, suffered for the sake of the gospel, lived as a minister, given up a lot of worldly things, been faithful with what God has given him, and the list goes on and on.  We could sit here and go on for hours and hours about the wondrous things that the Apostle Paul has done for God’s kingdom, yet none of those things have anything to do with his salvation other than being the joyous response to the good news that God has chosen to save him.  None of the things that Paul did with his life in any way earned him his salvation.    As I pondered over that idea this week it really hit home with me; something resonated with me; that a lousy guy like myself who really hasn’t accomplished a great deal for the sake of the kingdom is in the same boat as someone like a Billy Graham or a Charles Spurgeon or R.C. Sproul, or even the Apostle Paul himself.  All of these folks who have done this wonderful work for the sake of God’s kingdom, “leading” massive amounts of people to Christ, providing invaluable resources for generations and generations of Christians, their salvation is based upon the same thing that mine is, the righteousness of Christ.  Now, that’s not something that I just realized, but it’s something that still amazes me every time I think about it.  To think that our salvation is based upon the same thing as a John Knox or a Martin Luther or a John Calvin ought to just leave everyone of us in awe.

                So, Paul, as he’s talking about his own experience and how it doesn’t account for anything in terms of salvation, dealing with the legalism part of this false teaching in Colossae, takes aim at the mysticism portion of this problem.  As he was writing of his being a minister, Paul wrote, “I became a minister…to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.  To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  And this may not sound like pointed language to us, but we have to remember the context here.  In pagan religions, the “mysteries” were secret insights that were given to a select few, typically after they had paid some amount of money.  Paul uses the term mystery here in an intentionally ironic manner directly aimed at these pagan religions, particularly mysticism.  He uses this term mystery to speak of the revelation of God that has been made available to the nations, Jesus Christ.  Remember, Paul has already referred to Christ as the “image of the invisible God.”  We noted that Christ is the visible revelation of God who otherwise remains invisible to us in our state of sin and corruption. 

                You see, we so often forget that really until the time of Christ, God was, to use Paul’s words here, “hidden” from the Gentiles.  God was “hidden” from those who were outside of His chosen people of Israel.  Up until this point, those outside of Israel had virtually no clue about God’s saving purpose for them.  It seems so very clear to us as we look back upon Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament that Jews and Gentiles were to be united in the coming Messiah, but it wasn’t so clear in the moment.  For example, the prophet Zechariah spoke of the coming king saying, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!     Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”  We read those words and we see that clearly when Zechariah said that the coming king would speak peace to the nations that that is referring to God’s kingdom being expanded to include more than just Israel.  However, we simply can’t overlook the fact that that concept was a foreign one during that time.  Most every Jew thought that the coming Messiah was there to restore God’s people, the Jews, and not that he was coming to bring those outside of God’s people into the fold and to reveal God to them.  We cannot have hindsight vision when it comes to trying to understand the mindset of those believers who lived during and on the heels of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  We have to try and understand the circumstances in which they were living.

                Paul is deeply worried about this congregation.  He cares for them.  He loves them; even though, as we see in the first verse of chapter two, he’s never met them face to face.  He says that his hope is that “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, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  Paul wants them to be strengthened and united in their commitment to God and to each other.  He wants them to be encouraged and to grow in their faith and in their knowledge of God.  And the only way in which they can do that is through Christ, the visible revelation of God, the treasure of wisdom and knowledge.  They can be strengthened through the church, the bride of Christ.  They can come to the Father in prayer through Christ.  Paul knows without a shadow of a doubt that as their commitment to and understanding of Christ deepens and grows that they will see the error of this system that is teaching them that their actions matter in terms of salvation.  He knows that as they grow in their understanding of Christ that they will have an assurance of their salvation because in the one whom they are trusting for their salvation, Jesus, there is nothing but assurance and certainty.  And that’s just as true for us as it was for those Christians in Colossae.  Think about it for a second, if our salvation was based upon anything within us or that we needed to do, even our saying “Yes”, then there is a certain level of uncertainty isn’t there.  Even in something that we’ve done a thousand times, there still exists the possibility of a mistake.  However, when it comes to Christ, there is only certainty.  Once we are truly in Christ, that’s where we remain.  Jesus even said as much during his earthly ministry.  “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” (John 10:27-29).  We don’t earn our salvation; God gives it to us through Jesus Christ and the work of His Holy Spirit.

                If you’ve noticed, Paul has kept using the words mystery and hidden here to convey a specific idea, and we find out what that is in verse 4.  “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”  Now, I said earlier that he uses “mystery” and “hidden” ironically to get at the mysticism folks, but there’s also a certain aspect to which these terms do apply to the Christian faith as well.  Several years ago, I had a friend who wanted to talk to me about my faith.  He wasn’t a non-Christian, but he wasn’t really a devout Christian either.  We all know this type of person.  They believe in God and that Jesus was the Son of God (although they’ve never really given any thought to what that means).  They know parts of the Bible, but have no idea what the Bible really says.  They pick and choose the verses that they like or that agrees with their thinking; that type of Christian.  Anyways, my friend asked me, “Tommy, can we sit down and have a logical conversation about God and the Christian faith?”  I told him, “absolutely not.”  Now, y’all know me and so does he.  He thought I was just messing with him or that I was joking that the two of us weren’t capable of logical thoughts and conversations.  “No, I’m serious” he said.  “Me too,” I replied, “there’s nothing logical about God and His relationship with us and what He’s done for us.”  I went on to tell him about how logically speaking; breaking a law or a covenant should result in punishment, especially when that law or covenantal agreement is perfect.  Logic dictates that after Adam and Eve sinned that we would find only condemnation and that that would never change.  However, God does something illogical (if I can use that term) and there is this plan for our redemption and our salvation.  Paul is telling his audience, and us, that we need not be swayed by logical arguments and ear-pleasing words.  If we can understand it completely, then it isn’t worthy of worship.  Personally, I’m glad that I can’t fully understand God because it is just one more assurance that I have that the God that I worship is greater than myself.

                Finally, Paul gives them what is sometimes referred to as the summation of the central theme of this whole epistle when he says, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”  Now, I’m going to come back to this passage during our next time together, but I think that it’s truths are crucial for our fully grasping what Paul is saying in our text for today.  Paul is concerned about these Christians remaining faithful to Jesus Christ while also calling them to grow, but grow in the right way.  Because that’s the entire issue at hand isn’t it?  These folks have come to know Christ and now they are looking to grow in their knowledge of him.  Meanwhile, there is this group of folks who are telling them that they grow by doing these certain things, that they earn their way to salvation by doing certain things.  Paul doesn’t rebuke the desire for growth within this congregation; he simply wants them to go about it the right way.  And any teaching that is promoting that we have anything to do with our salvation is not the right way.  Paul encourages them to live in Christ, to walk in Christ, to build everything that they have upon him, but to do so out of love and thanksgiving for what he has done for us already, not so that we might complete his already completed work.

                I know that we’re going to end things much the same this week as we did last week, but that’s just the nature of this epistle.  Paul is, if nothing else, hammering home this point to the Colossians during the first part of his epistle.  We don’t, nor can we, add anything to the work of Christ.  I heard a speaker at a conference one time say that God had cast the nets and all we as leaders had to do is reel them in.  I won’t tell you my reaction to that statement because there isn’t enough time left, but let’s just suffice it to say that I didn’t agree.  Friends, any understanding of Jesus Christ that has in view the mindset that we must finish what Christ started is an understanding that doesn’t understand who Jesus is and what Jesus did.  I know that’s a bit of a tough, so let me put it this way.  Christ’s work is enough.  What’s the song that we’ve sung numerous times here?  Jesus Paid It All; it doesn’t say Jesus paid most of it and we have to finish the job.  Jesus, completely, totally, eternally, and in all humility paid the price that was owed for our sins.  Our job, as it were, is to rejoice in it, to live in it, and to respond as Paul says, “abounding in thanksgiving.”  

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