Life Project Blog

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:9-12

Continuing on from last time, we come to a paragraph that is both full and rich in meaning, and yet often cluttered up with unnecessary doctrines.  Consider the opening sentence, Paul points out that in the Person of Jesus lives all the fullness of God:  Jesus is all God and Jesus is all man: God lived in His physical body.  Jesus has also brought you and me to fullness, but fullness of what kind? Here it is in simple terms:  All of the fullness of God resided in Jesus Christ, and in Christ the fullness of the Holy Spirit resides in you and me. Neither you nor I are the Messiah, nor are we divine, but we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and He is divine.  Kind of makes you wonder why we don’t follow His lead more often, doesn’t it?

Paul continues to state that Jesus is the head of every power; He is at the right hand of God running the universe… and we are in Him.

Not a bad place to hang out!

The next sentence goes on to say that we have received a circumcision that wasn’t performed by human hands.  This is puzzling until we recall what circumcision was in the Old Testament.  There, circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham; it was how people would recognize a man in covenant relationship with God.  That was the covenant that set God’s covenant people apart from everyone else, and circumcision was a kind of mark or seal of that covenant. Paul is talking about another kind of seal or sign of our covenant relationship with God, a sign that marks us as belonging to Him.

The last sentence in our text answers a question, and raises another; perfect!

The first part answers a question when it identifies Christ as the one who performed this circumcision without human hands, and that tells us that this circumcision is not a physical procedure at all, but instead a spiritual procedure.  In this procedure, our natural self that lives according to the flesh is put off, and I think most of us will agree that this happens when we enter a relationship with Christ.  This would be really easy if Paul stopped right there, but he goes on…

Here’s the whole sentence again:

Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

The trouble happens when Paul followed the having been circumcised by Christ with “having been buried with Him in baptism” part.  I say that there is trouble here, because this is where Christians like to divide into camps and slug it out.  We aren’t going to do that though, are we?

It appears to me that there is some kind of a connection between this “circumcision” and baptism, but what is the connection?  If we were “buried with him in baptism” what were we buried into?  Well, when He was buried, He was dead, having died on the cross.  So, if we are “buried with him” then we must be buried into His death… right?  If this “circumcision” was the link between the old man and the new man, and it is also linked to baptism into His death, then there must be a link of some kind being established here… see it?  They are parallel. Notice that Paul also mentions that we are “raised with Him” by our “faith in the workings of God.”

OK, so here’s what we’ve got so far:

1. What an awesome thing it is to be in Christ!

2. He is the central focus of our lives, our all in all as the old hymn says.

3. In Christ, we have the fullness of the indwelling Holy Spirit: Amazing!

4. Paul has made a comparison between Old Testament circumcision, a new kind of circumcision and baptism.

5. Paul elaborates on that comparison in the next section.  We’ll leave this as a tease for now, and I’ll look forward to seeing you back here next time.

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

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:6-8

People are sometimes surprised when I say that Christian theology is basically simple to understand, and these three simple verses sum it up pretty well; it is simple to understand them, don’t you think?

We received Jesus Christ as Lord; continue to live in Him.  We do this by being rooted in Him, built up in Him and if we are strengthened in the faith just as we were taught, we will overflow with thanksgiving.  What should our priorities in life be?  Simple, we should be in Him, rooted in Him and strengthened by Him, or to put in another way, our life’s priorities are all about Jesus Christ.

Verse eight follows with a bit of practical advice, which is to seek Christ and let go of the hollow ways and teachings of this world.  It goes without saying that if we are seeking after Christ, then we are not seeking after the things of this world. If we are seeking Christ, then we will find His ways and want to follow them in our lives, rather than worrying about what everyone else is doing.

You see, none of this is complicated, in fact it is so very simple that sometimes we feel the need to complicate it− but then making the simple difficult is one of the ways of this world.

As we seek His face, as we seek His presence, as we seek His Truth, we seek after that which is good, wholesome and true.  As we do this, our faith is strengthened, our walk closer and dearer, and our outlook on everything else will change forever.  When that happens, we will be filled to overflowing with thanksgiving, praise and… His presence.

I want you to know how hard I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Colossians 2:1-5

In these verses, Paul mentions to his readers that he has been “struggling” for them (v. 1) and that his struggle was that they come to know the full riches of a complete understanding of the mystery of God, namely Christ. (v. 2) we know that the “mystery of God” is one of the ways that Paul refers to the Gospel, so he is struggling so that the people might come to see all that they have in the Gospel.  To put it another way, Paul is struggling to make disciples, to assist these people in growing in their faith to a mature level of understanding.

It struck me that this is what we are all called to do.  To “struggle” so that our brother or sister may come to fully understand the riches that are in Christ is our purpose in this life.

In verse 3, Paul goes on to say that in Christ are all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and it strikes me that this statement runs counter to what the world around us sees as “wisdom and knowledge.”   Verses four and five are really telling: Paul tells his readers that he is doing this so they will not be deceived by “fine-sounding arguments.”  I love that, “fine-sounding arguments!”  What shall we take from this?  As I see it, we have a serious role to play in leading our “younger” brother to stand firm in the knowledge and truth of Christ, to help them, to guide them and yes, to struggle for them so that they will not be deceived by the “wisdom” of this age, and to nurture them into the fullness of Christ.  I wonder how often we see this imperative as our goal, rather than looking out for ourselves only…

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Colossians 1:21-23

In the previous section, we had a look at verses 19-20 and saw that God through Christ made peace with all things by the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross. Now we finish this amazing paragraph…

There was a time when each of us was alienated from God; we saw ourselves as His enemy because of our evil deeds.  I broke this into two parts, because I’d like us to think about two ideas here.  First, we saw or thought (in our minds) that we were God’s enemies.  In Scripture, God never made us His enemy; it is we who made the choices that headed us in this direction.  It is (or was) our own attitudes that created the problems. It was never God; it was always us.

Second, “because of your evil deeds.”  Which evil deeds do you think Paul is talking about?  I would suggest that most people, certainly most preachers, would assert that Paul is referring to some sort of list of infractions, a Bill of Indictment, so to speak.  I hope we might take a different approach, and hope you will give this a little thought.  It isn’t so much a list of violations that Paul is talking about here; it is the very condition of being in rebellion against God that he is talking about.  If we are in rebellion against God, then we are not in relationship with Him.  If we are not in relationship with Him, what are the rules, anyway? Consider the Jews and the Gentiles.  From the Jewish point of view in the Old Testament, a Jew was good or bad based upon his or her keeping the Law, the 613 laws of Moses.  If they disregarded the law, they had problems, if they kept the law all was as it should be.  The Gentiles on the other hand, weren’t even in the ball game.  Nobody expected them to keep, or even to know the law.  They had no covenant with God, they had no Law.  How could they “get right” with God? Not an easy thing to do: The very fact that they were Gentile made them evil and unclean. We were enemies with God in our minds because of our evil deeds of rebellion against Him, and this transcends a rule book and petty violations.

“But now he has reconciled you…” (v. 22) Because of what Christ has done on the cross, everything is completely different.  He made a peace treaty; you accepted its terms and signed on to it. Now you are in a whole new kind of covenant, and that covenant has made you as clean as though you had never sinned, in God’s sight.  All of that rebellion is forgotten, expunged from the record− over.

Well, now we haven’t quite finished the sentence.  This is a tough spot, beginning at verse 23 with the word “if.”  You may agree with me, or you may disagree, but as I see it, the word “if” makes this a conditional statement. “…free from accusation— if you continue in your faith,…”  As I see it, and I think the rules of grammar back me up in this, we have the blessings of the promises in the New Covenant, unless we decide to totally renounce our faith in Jesus Christ and go off and follow other gods.

This passage ends with Paul pointing out two things, did you catch them? The work of Jesus Christ on the cross has established peaceful relations between God and Man; your sins are taken away and you are blameless before God.  This is the Gospel, and it is the first point of summation.  Paul has become a servant of this Gospel (and by extension, so have you and I).  This is the final point of summation.

So what do you think?  Are you thinking that you’ve heard this a thousand times and there’s nothing new in this text for you?  I sure hope not, maybe you might reflect a little more, and seek His presence asking what He has to say to you in this.  I know that I’ve taught it a thousand times, and each time is just as exciting as the first time I grasped it…

God loved us so much, while we were still thinking of ourselves as His enemies, that He went and did all of this…?  Really…? And not only that, but we are a part of the spreading of this awesome demonstration of the boundless love of our eternal God…?

May He draw all of us closer to Him in His Word today.  May He fill our hearts with glad assurance of the truth of His Word, and may He increase in our lives as we grow in our faith and in our desire to draw ever nearer to Him in everything that we do.

 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

Last time, we had a look at Colossians 1:15-18 and saw an amazing list of who and what the Son is, and those three verses, as we saw, are filled with “wow” moments.  In these two verses, Paul mentions the “Why”.  God, it must be said, had a reason for sending His Son to the earth:

First, notice how verse 19 begins: God was pleased to have all of His (God’s, the Father’s) fullness dwell in Him (the Son, Jesus). It seems telling to me, that this fullness of the reality of the Person of the Son is called “pleasing” to God; to me that sounds like purpose is involved here; God’s purpose.  Everything about Jesus and His mission to earth is deliberate and purposeful, and Jesus mentioned this quite a bit as I’m sure you recall.  God was definitely at work.

So them all of God’s fullness was dwelling in Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ, God was pleased to reconcile all things to Himself.  Again, let’s just slow down and consider what this is saying.  With God’s entire fullness dwelling in Him, Jesus does something to reconcile all things to God, thus pleasing God. All things, in heaven and on earth were reconciled… because Jesus made peace by shedding His blood on the cross.

Here’s a proposition for us to consider:  If Jesus had to reconcile all things to God by “making peace” then a state of conflict must have existed prior to the cross.

Of course, we know that there was indeed a state of conflict from the moment that Adam entered into open rebellion against God back in the Garden (Genesis 3). We often refer to “sin” as though it is nothing more than the violation of an ordinance, which is how the Law of Moses codified it, but “sin” was around long before it was so clearly defined, or codified.  Sin is actually rebellion.  We were in rebellion; God reconciled us by having Jesus make peace. Jesus made a Peace Treaty, and a Treaty is a kind of covenant.  Jesus said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:28) See how this comes together?

As we go through our day, what an amazing thing we have to reflect upon: God’s love for each one of us is so great, that He was pleased to send His Son, full of all of the fullness of the Father Himself, to die on the cross to make peace with us. Can there be a greater expression of boundless love than that?

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Colossians 1:15-18

How can you read these few verses and not just fall into one of those “Wow!” moments?  Even if you only read the first sentence: Wow!

It is ‘content rich’ to say the least.  Consider the first sentence, The Son of God, Jesus the Christ, is the image of the invisible God; let that sink in…  People sometimes ask how they can know God, and the answer is to look at Jesus Christ; He was here, on this earth as a man.  He is a historical figure, who left behind a written record of what He thought, said and did.  He was a Teacher, so His teachings are there for all to see.  He was the image of God, and He spoke directly to us, so if we want to know what God is like, learn what Jesus was like… and you will have it! Jesus, the Son, is also the firstborn of all creation− don’t skip that phrase!  You and I are part of the Creation of which Jesus is the firstborn… yes, that means you and I are meant to have a relationship with Him, after all that is why He came to the earth in the first place.  Oh, my, reflect on that for a while…

This is exciting!

Moving on, we see that in Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth.  Of course we know that Jesus was present when God spoke the word and the universe came into being, but now it seems that Jesus might have actually done the talking. A careful reading of John 1 will confirm that Jesus was actually the Word itself!  He is not only the firstborn, but the Word that created everything.  All I can say is “WOW!”

Every single thing there was, is, or will be was created by, through and for Jesus Christ, including you, including me. There are certain times when the enormity of something makes it difficult to describe it with mere words, and honestly this is one of them.

Our Lord, the Son, is the head of the Body, which is the church of which all Christians are a part.  Yes, you and I are a part of the Body of the One who created everything.

He is also the firstborn of the dead, which is to say that He is the first to die, and then to rise again in glory, but He is not to be the last, for you and I will also arise in glory in due course.

I hope that you will take a little time to reflect and pray on these few verses.  As you do, please consider that this Jesus wants a relationship with YOU!  He is there, He is calling your name, will you respond? No, that question was not for the unbelievers−  It is directed by me to all of us, including myself, who profess to be His followers.  Will we all join together to answer His call to relationship, with the One who created all, who arose from the dead to prepare our way; will we respond to His invitation, to pull up our chairs and listen at His side as He shares with each of us?

WOW!

Philippians 4:10-23

Paul closes out his letter in this final part of chapter four. This is largely a personal message to the Philippians, and there are some things about it that we can learn, especially if we keep the theme of the letter in mind; being worthy of the gospel.  As Paul has shared what it means for a believer to live the Christian life and to walk with Jesus as opposed to just believing, in these last verses we see this teaching in practice.

In verses 10-13, Paul expresses his happiness that the Philippians have shown their regard for him in sending one of their men to Paul with aid, as you might recall.  He is happy not so much because he needed anything, but because they expressed their concern.  Then, he goes on to mention that he has learned to be content with whatever he has, be it plenty or little, whether he is hungry or well-fed, for he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. (v. 13) Once again, we see that Paul’s orientation to focus on Christ is all that is really needed to get through any situation.

In vv. 14-19, we see another aspect of the sharing on the part of the Philippians; it seems to be a habit with them.  On more than one occasion they have sacrificed to share their material resources with Paul, and in so doing they have made their faith manifest.  They didn’t simply say, “Gee, that’s a shame I’ll pray for you.” They sacrificed to meet a need; they behaved as Christ would behave.

Isn’t that what this whole letter has been about?

You might recall that in the very beginning of the letter, Paul mentioned that because he has been locked in prison, guarded by Caesar’s palace guard, Caesar’s very household had come to hear the gospel.  In those early verses, Paul didn’t actually say whether or not any of them had come to faith, only that they had heard.  All things considered, that was a really amazing thing, but in verse 22, Paul reveals the most amazing thing of all:

All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.

There were believing brothers in Christ within the very household of Caesar, because Paul had been imprisoned in Rome to await his trial before Caesar, a trial that was to cost him his life. Even in that dire circumstance, the gospel moved forward to the glory of God.

How much we accomplish for the gospel if we will only take to heart the lessons that we have found in this letter!