Sermons

Thursday, 6 April 2017

…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. Colossians 1:26

Paul continues with words concerning his ministry. The previous verse, taken together with this one, says –

“…of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, ²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.”

In fulfilling the word of God, “the mystery” that he now writes about becomes the subject. The explanation of what this mystery is comes in the next verse, it being the idea that salvation has come not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles as well. Paul describes this as a “mystery.” In the Bible, a mystery is something which has been hidden in God’s wise counsel until a time when He determines to reveal it. It is something that could not be known apart from His special revelation.

Types, shadows, and pictures of it may be seen in the Old Testament, but until those were explained through the word of Christ, they remained hidden as mystery. The book of Jonah, for example, gives a picture of what Paul is referring to, but only by looking at the story through the lens of Christ Jesus can it be properly understood. Thus Paul says that the mystery “has been hidden from ages and generations.” Vincent’s Word Studies notes that this term includes, “The unit and the factors: the aeon or age being made up of generations.” He goes on to say that, “Before the beginning of the ages of the world the counsel of God was ordained, but not concealed, because there were no human beings from whom to conceal it. The concealment began from the beginning of the world, with the entrance of subjects to whom it could be a fact.”

In other words, God determined from eternity past what He would do, and the plan was fixed. However, it is a plan which He has kept unknown to His creatures until a set point when it would be revealed. This plan is now explained in the coming of Christ, and in the forgiveness of sins even to the Gentiles. Even those who walked with Jesus didn’t grasp it at first. This is seen, for example, in Acts 11 –

“When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’” Acts 11:18

The mystery was hidden until a certain point. It was concealed, but it “now has been revealed to His saints.” Those in Acts 11 began to understand what was happening, but Christ selected Paul to be the one to fully reveal the mystery to the world through His writings. The saints, meaning the believers in Christ, can refer to Paul’s writings in order to fully grasp what has occurred and to look for proper doctrine in how to conduct themselves in the age of the revealed mystery.

Life application: Whether a Jew or a Gentile, you are a saint of God if you have called on Christ Jesus. Rejoice in what He has done for you. If a Jew, you are brought out from being under a heavy burden and are granted complete restoration with God through Christ. If a Gentile, without ever having been under the yoke of the law, you are brought directly into the people of God by simple faith in what He has done. Rejoice in this and give God the glory!

Heavenly Father, You have worked in history to restore all peoples to Yourself. In the giving of Your Son, we become saints through faith in what He has done. What a simple thing to receive, and yet it is an offer which is mocked and scorned by so many. Help us to be bold and proclaim the truth of Your word, never waffling in what it says. There is one way to reconciliation with You and that is through the work of Christ. Let us not set aside this grace, but to trust in it wholly and completely. To Your glory alone we pray. Amen.

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

…of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, Colossians 1:25

The words, “of which,” are speaking of the church as referred to in the previous verse. Paul states that he has become “a minister according to the stewardship.” In verse 23, he had stated that he was a minister of the gospel. At other times, he states he is a minister of God and of Christ. The gospel is the message of God, that Paul serves, it is the story of Christ, who is his Lord, and the church is His body which receives that message of Christ from God. All are intricately tied together.

Paul’s ministering to the church is, as he says, “according to the stewardship.” The word is oikonomia, and it indicates an administration of affairs, such as the stewardship of a household. Paul was selected to be the particular minister according to the administration of God’s dealings in the world through the church, the body of Christ. As noted, this stewardship is “from God.”

God has laid out the plan of the ages, and it is slowly unfolding in the stream of time. At this time, the church is how God is dealing with the affairs of His household. Thus, the church-age is called, “the dispensation of grace.” Paul’s duties as a minister in this capacity are, as he says, “given to me for you.” He is writing to those at Colossae, a gentile church. This letter, along with his other signed letters – all to gentiles – are authoritative for the gentile-led church-age because he is the Apostle to the Gentiles. His commission is noted in Acts 9, and it is a duty which he faithfully executed in order “to fulfill the word of God.”

The Greek here indicates “to fill up the word of God.” His duties as a minister of God was to teach and to make fully known the word of God to the Gentile world. The salvation, instruction, and growth of the Gentile-led church is the object of his calling and ministry. Further, in his actions, he is also filling up the word of God in the sense that this was prophesied in the Hebrew scriptures. The Gentiles would come to God through the work of Christ, and Paul’s efforts are what was now accomplishing that. Those efforts continue on to this day as his letters set the authoritative standard for this dispensation.

Life application: To understand what God is doing in the world through the church, one must refer to Paul’s letters. The Lord selected him to give us the authoritative letters of instruction for this dispensation. To ignore Paul will lead one to have a vast gap in proper theology. A complete misunderstanding of what God intends for His church will be the result. Take time each week to read one of Paul’s letters. Any can be read in a single day. If one is read each week, they can all be read in 3 months. If you do this always, you will have read them four times in a single year. And that is just one letter a week.

Lord God, help each of us to not look back on our lives and say, “Gee, I should have spent more time getting to know the Lord through His word.” Instead, when we come before You for our moment of inspection, may we do so knowing that our time was well spent, reading Your word and searching You out. We have time for TV, sports, and all kinds of temporary, useless stuff. But have we made time for You? Help us to think this through clearly, and then to act accordingly. Amen.

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, Colossians 1:24

The words of this verse have been misused by the Roman Catholic Church to indicate that the sufferings of Christ were not all sufficient for our redemption and atonement, and that Christ’s people must continue to earn their way into glory. This has nothing to do with what Paul is speaking about here.

He begins with “I now rejoice.” The Greek is more abrupt, beginning with the word “now.” The word “now” is temporal. He is saying, “I am bound with a chain, and in the midst of this captivity and suffering, I rejoice. This was the case even though he was appointed as an apostle by Christ and was doing that work as an apostle. The sufferings then are a part of that apostleship which is “for you,” meaning those in Colossae (and thus us!).

In these sufferings, he states, “and fill up in my flesh what is lacking the the afflictions of Christ.” The term, “the afflictions of Christ” is unique to this passage of Scripture and the intent is a fuller explanation of 2 Corinthians 1:5 which said –

“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.”

The church is destined for suffering, just as it is destined for glory. Paul understood this, and he felt that as much as he suffered there was an abounding of consolation to be found at the same time. Nothing was lacking in the process of suffering. And the consolation which he felt was surety that he possessed the Spirit of God. In knowing this, he was thus comforted because the Spirit is a guarantee of future glory for the believer. Hence, he notes exactly this in Philippians 3:10 –

“…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

In “being conformed to His death,” we shall also be raised as He was to eternal life through “the power of the resurrection.” There could be no shame in the suffering if there is the coming glory which that suffering leads to. Understanding this, believers are not to be ashamed of suffering, but instead are instructed to be willing to bear His reproach, knowing that we bear all of the honor and future glory that comes with it.

With this understanding, we can then see that the words, “and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” mean that suffering is a part of the human experience in a world filled with sin. Paul’s sufferings don’t add to the atonement which Christ alone provided, but they rather are a natural result of what is expected in the church as it takes on the challenge of bringing the gospel to the world. Missionaries have died, or have been tortured, for bringing the message of Christ to pagan lands. In this, they are filling up what is lacking. There is a need to be met (a lack), and they are the ones who are filling that need. This is, as he says, “for the sake of His body, which is the church.” If the message is going to go out as Christ commanded, there will be afflictions associated with it. Were it not so, He would not have told His followers to take up their cross. This continues even now as the message continuously finds those who wish to crush it and persecute those who proclaim it.

The physical body of Christ Jesus suffered for our sake so that we could become a part of the mystical body of Christ, the church. This body continues to suffer until the church is complete. This has nothing to do with atonement or earning our way into glory, but it is the natural result of carrying the message in a world which needs to hear the good news of Christ Jesus.

Life application: Not all will suffer as Paul speaks of here, but for those who do, they are filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of the church. This is not something to be ashamed of, but to glory in. Let us rejoice if we do suffer in the process of sharing the gospel. It means we are a step closer to the day when the church is complete.

Heavenly Father, thank You that everything necessary to bring us back to You has been accomplished by Christ Jesus. What He did on the cross has completed that need, once and for all. Now, it is our turn to continue on with the work of Christ in sharing what He has done for us. Should we suffer in the process, let us rejoice that we have shared in a small way in bringing the message to those in darkness. Any suffering is temporary, but the glory of what lies ahead is eternal. Help us to remember this as we head out to share this precious message. Amen.

Monday, 3 April 2017

…if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Colossians 1:23

There is a lot going on in the first two words of this verse. It says, “If indeed…” On the surface, it seems as if what he has said in the previous verse about being reconciled, and thus presented “holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” is conditional. However, the word “if” “conveys a supposition hardly hypothetical – ‘If as I presume;’ ‘if, as I trust.’ St. Paul cannot refrain from needful warning, be he refuses to anticipate failure” (Charles Ellicott).

The word translated as “if” is noted as a word where “the assumption may only be portrayed as valid” (HELPS Word Studies). Stated even more directly, the Expositor’s New Testament says that it “expresses the Apostle’s confidence that the condition will be fulfilled. This abiding in faith is the only, as it is the sure way, to this presentation of themselves. This is directed against the false teachers’ assurance that the gospel they had heard needed to be supplemented if they wished to attain salvation.” In other words, what appears doubtful in the English is actually a statement of certainty in Paul’s mind.

The same construction of “if indeed” is found in Ephesians 3:2, and 4:21. In both instances, Paul is stating a fact, not something to be doubted. He would not use the grammatical construction as he has, unless he was making a point of certainty. Taking the words now in this light, they can continue to be properly evaluated. He says, “…if indeed you continue in the faith.” Many translations say “in your faith,” and this is what Vincent’s word Studies argues for. He says, “The faith is not the gospel system, but the Colossians’ faith in Christ. Your faith would be better.”

And so Paul is arguing that the Colossians have a hope which is grounded in their faith, not in some external thing that must be applied to, or added to, their faith. He next speaks of this faith as being “grounded and settled.” The grounding is in what the faith is directed to, which is “the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). That which is settled is is based on the grounding. The Greek word comes from a root which means “a seat.” The idea is that we are seated on the foundation and are thus immovable. Our faith is what set us firmly and fixedly in this manner.

In this position, he then says, “and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. Because of our faith which is grounded and fixed, we will not be so moved away. His words, again, are not words of doubt, but of reassurance. The words went out, they were received, and it is these words which have grounded us. Nothing needs to be added to them in order for our hope to be realized. Paul then says that the gospel “was preached to every creature under heaven.”

His words are given with the time-reference of “was” to indicate that which is ideal, not actual. In other words, the gospel was effectively proclaimed “when the Saviour, in His accomplished victory, bade it be done (Mark 16:15)” (Cambridge). In other words, when Christ said that the gospel was to be preached to every creature, it was effectively done at that time. The commission was given, and it it will meet its intended goals; nothing can thwart the purposes for which it is intended. This is certain because the words “every creature” are not limited to humans, but to all of the scope of creation. Through the gospel, all things will be reconciled, even those things to which the gospel was not actually preached. But the proclamation that it is to be done is itself sufficient to ensure that it will be accomplished.

Finally, he concludes with, “…of which I, Paul, became a minister.” This phrase is used by him in Ephesians 3:7 also. He has made an emphasis of the gospel being the true and reliable message of God which comes through the work of Christ. It is the only true message of reconciliation among all of the countless false gospels which have been proclaimed. In stating that he has become a minister of this gospel, he is asserting that his commission is valid and authentic. Any message by an evangelist or apostle that contradicts his words is thus a false message.

Life application: There are nuances in the Bible which are intended to keep us from error. If we simply assume that the English translation we are reading is correct, we can easily fall into error. This is especially so because even in the English, there may be several ways of interpreting what is being said. However, the same is true with the original languages. Therefore, a careful study of Scripture with other passages in Scripture are often needed to fully understand what is being conveyed. If one verse assures the believer of eternal salvation, and another seems to imply this is not so, then one or the other must be misunderstood. Study and contemplate the words of Scripture carefully, don’t get stuck on a single translation of the word, and don’t trust only one commentator’s views on what is being said. Be well-rounded in your study of this precious word.

Lord God, thank You for the many blessings of this life. You have given us so much, and we often fail to show our gratitude for what You have blessed us with. Help us to make gratitude an on-going and constant habit. Help us to be thankful at all times, but especially for the Gift of Christ Jesus our Lord. In showing thankfulness for Him, we will then never have a time when we are ungrateful! How good You are to us, O God. Amen.