Wednesday August 15, 2023 Some content taken from A Vision for the Church
God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me. Colossians 1:27-29
A Vision for the Church
The book of Colossians is an epistle, or a letter, to the church in Colossae, written by Paul as he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul was writing to warn them against reports of false teaching spreading through the church. This dangerous teaching lessened Christ’s role and undermined what they had been taught about their new identity “in Christ.” Paul wrote to warn them and encourage them in their growth towards maturity in Christ, but he had another message for them too. Today we are going to see what special message and mission Paul had for the church in Colossae, and for the church today.
After his greeting that we looked at yesterday, Paul goes into a poem of sorts about Jesus as Creator. Some scholars believe this part of the chapter was actually from a poem or hymn in the early church that described what Christians believed about Jesus. Then Paul begins to remind them of where they were, where they are, and where they are going.
· We are separated from God because of our sin - Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions v 21 We were born alienated from God. We grew physically, though still separated from Him in our sin. As long as we live in our sin we will remain alienated from Him.
· Christ has reconciled us by His death on the cross (and resurrection from the dead). But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death… v 22a Because we are sinful, we cannot have a relationship with God. God’s answer to our alienation is reconciliation, initiated by His work on the cross (reconciled in the body of His flesh through death). God paid the debt for us because there is no way we could ever pay the debt of sin we owe. The Bible says, The wages of sin are death… – Romans 6:23 Someone has to pay and God made a way through His son. He gave His life so we could have a relationship with God through reconciliation and have eternal life.
· He has called those who have placed faith in Him to a different kind of life. To present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him. v 22b This is the result of God’s work of reconciliation. Together, these th,ree words show that in Jesus we are pure and can’t even be justly accused of impurity.
· He has called us to preserve and proclaim. If indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it. v 23 Our reconciliation and our faith in Him helps us persevere, and we must persevere. Paul’s main goal in life was to continue in the truth of the Gospel. We are not saved because of our godly behavior, but it is important for us to continue in godly behavior. Our lives are a living, breathing proclamation of the goodness of God.
Paul’s Mission for the Church
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me. v 22-27
Proclaiming His name is one of the most important things we can do. This is what the church should be doing instead of following false teachers. The message we proclaim is Jesus Christ, Lord of all. He created all things, He is in and of all things and He gets the glory.
What do we proclaim? We proclaim His goodness, His promises, His faithfulness, His mercy, His forgiveness, and what He has done in our hearts and lives. We need to tell this lost world that there is Hope, and His name is Jesus.
