Author: looking2jesus13

Keep Looking Up

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:1-4

Colossians 3:3-4, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” 

If you fill a hot-air balloon with ambient, temperate air, it will not rise.  Yet if you fill it with helium or hot air, it is made lighter and, as a result, tends upward.  The believer in Christ has been filled with the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of God lives in you.  His chief purpose is to reveal Christ to you and in you (John 16:14).  His presence in you has made you lighter than air—so to speak.  You tend upward.  You are presently tied to earth and reside in an earthbound tent.  But the moment the ropes are untied—you will ascend.  As a hot-air balloon tends upward, so we are to keep looking up.  We are given several reasons to here in our text:

Because you are commanded to (two present tense imperatives).

Because this world is not your home (You have died; you have been raised up with Him; Ephesians 2:6; Galatians 6:14).  It is as the hymn says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.”

Because that is where Christ is. As long as you are here, you are absent from Him (1 Peter 1:8; John 14:1-6; 2 Corinthians 5:6 — “knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord”). 

Because your life is hidden in Christ.  What is life?  Life is more than eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage (Matthew 24:38).  Life is bound up in Christ (John 1:4; 5:26; 17:3; 1 John 1:1-3; Galatians 2:20).  What does it mean that your life is “hidden in Christ?”  A rose bush lies dormant through the winter months, yet signs of life appear in early spring.  Though invisible in winter’s snow, the makings of rose buds lie there in that bush.  They are hidden in the vines.  The leaves continue to grow.  The rose buds will begin to show.  The roses will bloom.  Christ lives in you.  You sense His presence.  Yet there are aspects of that which are presently hidden from view.

Because Christ is going to be revealed from heaven.  “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed.”  Where will He be revealed from?  Heaven.  How will this take place—one of two ways.  Either through your death (2 Corinthians 5:1, 6; Philippians 1:23 — “having the desire to depart and be with Christ”).  Or, if you happen to be alive at the time, through the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16).  As believers, our attention, our focus, our yearning is for His return: Philippians 3:20; 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20. 

Because you will be revealed with Him in glory.  God is doing an amazing work in you.  To take you—dead in your trespasses and sins as you were, and to transform you—into the very image of Christ, is an amazing thing!  We often speak of heaven as the place where there are no longer any tears (Revelation 21:4).  And so, it is.  From the positive side—it is a place where your true identity in Christ will be fully revealed.  The work is now ongoing (2 Corinthians 3:18).  But it will be done (Philippians 3:21).  We cannot fully comprehend all that is entailed (1 Corinthians 2:9).  It is a work which is beyond all we asked for or thought possible (Ephesians 3:19-21).  All this will be revealed to us when we see Jesus!  We will marvel at Him!  And until that day, we keep looking up! 

Certain things naturally draw our attention.  We don’t have to be told to look at a glorious sunrise or sunset.  Or, to marvel at the view if we stand atop a mountain, or on the edge of a deep canyon.  There are beautiful things in this world which capture our attention.  Their beauty works to fix our gaze on them.  There are more glorious things in heaven still!  Christ is beautiful.  Heaven is beautiful.  Keep looking up!

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME

This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

Chorus:
O Lord, you know I have no friend like you,
If heaven’s not my home, then Lord what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

They’re all expecting me, and that’s one thing I know,
My Savior pardoned me and now I onward go;
I know He’ll take me thro’ tho’ I am weak and poor,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. [Chorus]

I have a loving Savior up in glory-land,
I don’t expect to stop until I with Him stand,
He’s waiting now for me in heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. [Chorus]

Just up in glory-land we’ll live eternally,
The saints on every hand are shouting victory,
Their songs of sweetest praise drift back from heaven’s shore,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. [Chorus]

Heavenly Minded

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:1-4

Colossians 3:1-2, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed in a swimming accident decades ago.  God has since blessed her with a great ministry of encouraging people to “keep seeking the things above.”  She was once quoted as saying, “I just want to be with Jesus, get my new glorified body, and have the pain wiped away.”  She says that it is not just the physical frustrations that make her long for heaven, but her battle with temptation and the pain of life.  Most of all, she just wants to see Jesus.

Once she went to visit Corrie ten Boon after Corrie had had a stroke.  Corrie had lost all ability to communicate.  She had to use gestures and the expressions of her face to convey her thoughts.  The topic of heaven brought the greatest response and joy from Corrie.  Joni described her longings for heaven and concluded by singing a song to her:

Though I spend my mortal lifetime in this chair,
I refuse to waste it living in despair…
He has given me a gift beyond compare.
For heaven is nearer to me,
And at times it is all I can see.

We, like Joni, are to seek for, to set our affection on, the things above.  This is a command.  God commands us to set our hearts on the things above.  We see here there is a choice.  We can either set our hearts and minds on things above, or things which are on the earth.  Those are the two choices before us.  We should also note the unbeliever doesn’t have those two choices.  Lacking the Spirit of God, he lacks the ability to set his mind on things above, as we do.

The same two possibilities—to set our minds on things below or above—are spoken of in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  We have five senses which make us aware of things related to the here and now.  The world, the flesh, and the devil are working to entice us and involve us in worldly affairs.  If we are to keep our focus, we need the help of the spirit. We have a travel “brochure,” the Bible, that speaks to us of the glory of heaven.  We have a travel guide, the Spirit, who is always pointing us in Christ’s direction.  It is as the Spirit of God fills our hearts with the Word of God that our attention is directed to the things above.

We are not simply given commands—God doesn’t just say “look there.”  He gives us the reason.  We are to “keep seeking the things above” because that’s “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).  He who loved me and died for me is seated there.  Our glorious Savior and Lord is seated there.  Our hearts lie there with Him.  We yearn to be united with Him in unfettered intimacy.  And another reason is given— “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).  We are to keep seeking things above because there is something “hidden” in heaven which is waiting there to be revealed.  The fullness of who we are in Christ is presently “hidden” with Christ in God. 

J. C. Ryle, “Keep on looking unto Jesus. Faith shall soon be changed to sight and hope to certainty. Looking to Jesus on earth by faith, you shall end with seeing Jesus eye to eye in heaven. Those eyes of yours shall look on the head that was crowned with thorns, the hands and feet that were pierced with nails, and the side that was pierced with a spear. You shall find that seeing is the blessed consequence of believing, and that looking at Jesus by faith, ends with seeing Jesus in glory, and living with Jesus for evermore. When you awake up after His likeness, you shall be satisfied.”

IS THIS THE CROWING DAY?

Jesus may come today,
Glad day! Glad day!
And I would see my Friend;
Dangers and troubles would end
If Jesus should come today.

Refrain:
Glad day! Glad day!
Is it the crowning day?
I’ll live for today, nor anxious be,
Jesus my Lord I soon shall see;
Glad day! Glad day!
Is it the crowning day?

I may go home today,
Glad day! Glad day!
Seemeth I hear their song;
Hail to the radiant throng!
If I should go home today. (Refrain)

Why should I anxious be?
Glad day! Glad day!
Lights appear on the shore,
Storms will affright nevermore,
For He is “at hand” today. (Refrain)

Faithful I’ll be today,
Glad day! Glad day!
And I will freely tell
Why I should love Him so well,
For He is my all today. (Refrain)

Self-Made Religion

Bible Reading: Colossians 2:8-15

“My dear Wormwood, the real trouble about the state your patient is living in is that it is merely Christian.  They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity.  What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call ‘Christianity And.’  You know—Christianity and the Crisis, Christianity and the New Psychology; Christianity and the New Order; Christianity and Faith Healing; Christianity and Psychic Research; Christianity and Vegetarianism; Christianity and Spelling Reform.  If they must be Christians let them at least be Christians with a difference.  Substitute for the faith itself, some fashion with a Christian coloring.”  The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis.

Our passage speaks to the dangers of what we might call a “Christ-and” approach to one’s Christianity.  It wasn’t that the false teachers were outright denying Christ.  Rather, they diminished Him in His person and work, simultaneously adding other things they deemed necessary.  But Christ is sufficient. Our calling is to the “simplicity and purity of devotion to (Him)” (2 Corinthians 11:2-3).

There were four main substitutionary additions the false teachers were promulgating.  And they all have their modern-day counterparts.

Christ and PHILOSOPHY… (Colossians 2:8).  The false teachers supposed themselves to be privy to some elevated knowledge and claimed that for a person to be truly spiritual there was something else they needed to know.  Some modern-day examples of this include the new age movement and humanistic psychology.

Christ and LEGALISM… (Colossians 2:16-17).  The false teachers were claiming in order for a person to be truly spiritual there was something else they needed to do.  For example, obeying certain food laws and observing particular dates.  Legalism is not the same as obedience.  The believer is to lovingly obey the Lord Jesus (John 14:15).  Obedience is the Spirit-empowered and love-motivated response to God’s commands.  Legalism is the flesh-empowered and pride-motivated attempt to gain self-righteousness through the keeping of man-made rules (Mark 7:8-9).

Christ and MYSTICISM… (Colossians 2:18-19).  The false teachers claimed for a person to be truly spiritual, there was something else they needed to experience.  The Colossian heresy included such things as the worship of angels and desire for visions.  Modern day examples: the new age movement; out-of body experiences; channeling, eastern meditation. 

Christ and ASCETISIM… (Colossians 2:20-23).  False teachers claimed for a person to be truly spiritual there was something in else they needed to endure.  The Colossian heresy included such things as self-denial, self-abasement and severe treatment of the body.  They obviously took pride in the endurance of such things and believed God looked favorably on their actions.

So, Paul admonished the believers in Colossae, “See to it that no one takes you captive…” (Colossians 2:8).  The word translated “captive” is a combination of two Greek words, meaning “to carry away” and “booty.”  It has the idea of kidnapping someone or plundering a house.  The thought here is—don’t be kidnapped by these deceivers and their falsehoods!

We need to ongoingly ask: “But what does the Bible say? (1 Thessalonians 5:21).  As A. W. Tozer once advised, “…any of it (teaching) that is good is in the Word of God and any that is not in the Word of God is not good.  I am a Bible Christian and if an archangel with a wingspan as broad as a constellation shining like the sun were to come and offer me some new truth, I’d ask him for a reference.  If he could not show me where it is found in the Bible, I would bow him out and say, ‘I’m awfully sorry, you don’t bring any references with you’.”

IN CHRIST ALONE

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Songwriters: Keith Getty / Stuart Townend
In Christ Alone lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group, Capitol CMG Publishing

Paid in Full

Bible Reading: Colossians 2:8-15

Colossians 2:13-14, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

In 1505, Martin Luther made a vow during a thunderstorm to become a monk, and so he did.  As part of his monasterial duties, he prayed incessantly day and night, fasted, chastised his body, kept vigils, wept at the altar, confessed his sins, repeated psalms and recited Ave Marias.  Despite all of that, he found no comfort.  Instead, he discovered being a monk was merely a never-ending discipline of religious duties.  These duties did not affect his heart at all, having realized that all its mysticism, legalism and asceticism amounted to nothing more than a fabricated attempt to climb to heaven.  He became convinced of his sin and his unworthiness, but he found himself unable to do anything in his own effort to ease the sense of condemnation he felt.  He was like Christian in John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” unable to rid himself of the heavy burden he carried upon his shoulders.

We’ll get back to Martin Luther’s story in a bit, but make note of what this verse is saying–Through Christ, God has canceled the record of debt which stood against you!  Your sins amounted to an unpayable debt you owed to God.  Kind of like the national debt—now over 30 trillion dollars!  Or, like the debt owed by the forgiven slave in the parable of the unmerciful slave (Matthew 18:21-35).  He owed his master ten thousand talents.  The New Testament talent was the equivalent of 6000 denarii.  A denarius was equivalent to one day’s wage.  So, a debt of ten thousand talents would be the equivalent of some 160,000 years’ worth of wages!  Clearly an unpayable debt, which is the point.  The master of the slave was incredibly gracious and merciful in forgiving the entire debt.  In the parable he is likened to God in that respect.  God has worked through Christ, and His death on the cross, to forgive the entirety of your sin debt!

Your certificate of debt was nailed to the cross.  “But wait,” you say, “it was Jesus who was nailed there?”  Indeed!  God took your certificate of debt, which stood against you, and nailed it to the cross in the person of Jesus Christ.  God”…made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21)!  Now it’s stamped “Paid in Full!”  By God’s grace, through faith in Christ, you’ve been forgiven all!

One day, Luther traveled to Rome and visited The Scala Sancta, commonly referred to as the Sacred Stairs.  This staircase had been brought from Jerusalem.  It was supposedly the same steps down which our Savior walked from Pilate’s Hall to the hill of Calvary.  There were 28 steps made of solid marble, covered with wood to keep them from being worn away from all those who walked the stairs.  Pilgrims came from all over Europe to climb these stairs.  The thought being that for every step they climbed, they received indulgence, or pardon for the sins of that year.  Therefore, when they reached the top of the stairs, these people believed 28 years of sins were blotted out.  Martin Luther went to Rome to climb these sacred stairs, yet on the way up the stairs as he was praying, the words of the verse, “the righteous shall live by faith,” came to him.  He stopped praying and descended the stairs. For the first time, he realized forgiveness and salvation were not earned, but freely given by God.  He trusted in Jesus and received God’s forgiveness. The rest, as they say, is history!  You’ve been blessed—by grace through faith in Jesus—to likewise share in his experience.  Your sin debt has been paid in full through His shed blood! Praise the Lord!

JESUS PAID IT ALL

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Refrain:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow’r and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone. [Refrain]

For nothing good have I
Where-by Thy grace to claim;
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb. [Refrain]

And when, before the throne,
I stand in Him complete,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
My lips shall still repeat. [Refrain]

Complete in Him

Bible Reading: Colossians 2:8-15

Colossians 2:10, “and in Him you have been made complete.”

It is the nature of false teaching to diminish the person and work of Christ.  So, it was in the church in Colossae.  The message they were espousing was that Christ was not enough.  There was something in addition which those believers needed to do, or something else they needed to know, or something else they needed to experience, or needed to endure.  Their heretical viewpoint was that Christ was not adequate to save, or to supply all which was needed.

Things haven’t changed so much, as John MacArthur has observed, “We often think today that Christ is a part of our lives. He’s maybe an important part but not all.  We need Christ plus philosophy, we need Christ plus psychology, we need Christ plus ritual, Christ plus ceremony, Christ plus some miraculous experience, or Christ plus some mystical intuition, or Christ plus some bodily self-denial or immolation, we need to do something to hurt ourselves in order to gain merit with God, or we need to do something to transcend this world, have some kind of mystical experience to really know God or something like that.”

The good news is in Christ we have been made complete.  We don’t need anything else.  In Him, “all things that pertain to life and godliness” have been granted to us (2 Peter 1:3).  The Greek term translated “complete” was a nautical term which spoke of a fully loaded ship, prepared to go to sea.  I’m familiar with this term from my submariner days.  Before deployment, they’d muster together a ship loading party, then we’d pass all the provisions hand-by-hand from the dock and down through the hatches.  Sometimes we’d be out at sea for a month or two and it’d take a lot of supplies, but we never ran out.

Everything you need for now and eternity are in Christ.  All the answers to your soul needs and salvation are provided in Him.  All that is necessary for your growth in Him has been provisioned to you.  Everything necessary to bring you safely home to heaven one day is bound up in Him.  They are all in Him and only in Him.

Charles Spurgeon has commented on this, “All the attributes of Christ, as God and man, are at our disposal. All the fulness of the Godhead, whatever that marvelous term may comprehend, is ours to make us complete. He cannot endow us with the attributes of Deity; but he has done all that can be done, for he has made even his divine power and Godhead subservient to our salvation. His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, are all combined for our defense. Arise, believer, and behold the Lord Jesus yoking the whole of his divine Godhead to the chariot of salvation! How vast his grace, how firm his faithfulness, how unswerving his immutability, how infinite his power, how limitless his knowledge! All these are by the Lord Jesus made the pillars of the temple of salvation; and all, without diminution of their infinity, are covenanted to us as our perpetual inheritance. The fathomless love of the Savior’s heart is every drop of it ours; every sinew in the arm of might, every jewel in the crown of majesty, the immensity of divine knowledge, and the sternness of divine justice, all are ours, and shall be employed for us. The whole of Christ, in his adorable character as the Son of God, is by himself made over to us most richly to enjoy. His wisdom is our direction, his knowledge our instruction, his power our protection, his justice our surety, his love our comfort, his mercy our solace, and his immutability our trust. He makes no reserve, but opens the recesses of the Mount of God and bids us dig in its mines for the hidden treasures. “All, all, all are yours,” saith he, “be ye satisfied with favor and full of the goodness of the Lord.” Oh! how sweet thus to behold Jesus, and to call upon him with the certain confidence that in seeking the interposition of his love or power, we are but asking for that which he has already faithfully promised!”

COMPLETE IN CHRIST

In Jesus Christ I am complete,
My soul is cleansed from sin;
His love in me is ever sweet,
His grace abounds within.

Refrain:
Complete, complete, I’m all complete,
Oh, glory to His name!
Redeemed, redeemed, just now complete,
His love I will proclaim.

In Jesus Christ I am complete,
My sins are all forgiv’n;
To do His will, it is my meat,
My name’s enrolled in Heav’n. [Refrain]

In Jesus Christ I am complete,
My needs are all supplied;
In Him I have a safe retreat,
My soul is sanctified. [Refrain]

I’m in the living Church of God,
In Christ I am complete;
Supported by His precious word,
I’ll worship at His feet. [Refrain]

So Walk in Him

Bible Reading: Colossians 2:1-7

Colossians 2:6-7, “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.”

Christ alone can make the lame to walk.  The lame beggar of Acts chapter 3 was born that way (Acts 3:2).  He had to be carried from place to place from others.  He was miraculously healed by the ascended Christ, as Peter made clear to his audience (Acts 3:6-8; 4:10-12).  We are like the lame beggar inasmuch as it is impossible for any of us to take a heavenward step apart from Christ’s intervention.  Just as we need Him to save us from our sins, we need Him in every subsequent step in our journey to heaven. 

The false teachers in Colossae were espousing their own “walk this way” approach to things—believe them (Colossians 2:4, 8); follow their rules (Colossians 2:16, 21-22); share in their mystical experiences (Colossians 2:18). We’ve inherited from our forebears, Adam and Eve, a sinful tendency to deal with our sin problem according to our own wisdom and self-effort (Genesis 3:7 vs. 3:21).  We pridefully gravitate to solutions of our own making.  Yet no one is saved by human reasoning, or human merit, only by receiving Christ as Lord and Savior!

How did you receive Christ?  As with the church in Colossae, the church in Galatia was also confronted with false teaching (those who were saying that faith in Christ was not enough).  Paul addressed the matter in the strongest terms possible (Galatians 1:6-9).  Paul admonished those believers: “This is the only thing I want to find out from you; did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh?” (Galatians 3:2-3).  Christ (and the Spirit) can only be received by hearing with faith.

How did you start walking?  Can you remember how you took your first steps as a baby?  Probably not—you were too young! Can you remember how you were enabled to take your first steps as a believer?  It wasn’t by your own doing, as Ephesians 2:1 makes clear, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.”  As a hospice chaplain, who has seen this for myself, dead people can’t walk.  It’s necessary that we become born again and made alive by the One who had the power to call Lazarus forth from the grave, 

You received Jesus by faith, to a walk by faith.  To have faith, to believe, involves more than mere mental assent.  It is to put one’s confidence in, to trust and rely on something, or someone.  Here we are speaking of trust and dependence on the One who is absolutely trustworthy.  You trusted in Him to save you from your sins, so you are to continue in a walk characterized by complete reliance on Him. It is as someone has written: “Lord, I can’t.  You never said I could.  You can and You always said You would” (John 15:5; Philippians 3:3, 4:13).

Wayne Barber has commented on this, “As you therefore have received Him” Do you remember when you were saved and how you felt knowing you could not do anything to save yourself except to trust Christ. Now, how do you “walk in Him”?  You need the attitude of total trust in one Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul reminded the saints at Philippi that he “put no confidence in the flesh“ (Philippians. 3:3).  What if we would all have Paul’s attitude in our daily walk, simply allowing the Spirit of Christ to do in and through us what we know we cannot do in our own strength. When you see someone who has stopped thinking about what God can do and started thinking about what he can do for God, he has entered out of the sphere of “in Him” and in essence into the sphere of “in Himself”, walking in legalism. Be very careful in this area. It can be very subtle and sound very spiritual to say, “I’m going to DO something for Jesus.”  Much better to trust Jesus to do through us that which we could never hope to do on our own.  To do according to His wisdom and strength!  To do in a way that is “far more abundantly” beyond what we would ever think possible (Ephesians 3:20-21)!

TRUSTING JESUS

Simply trusting every day,
Trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Refrain:
Trusting as the moments fly,
Trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Brightly doth His Spirit shine
Into this poor heart of mine;
While He leads I cannot fall;
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Singing if my way is clear,
Praying if the path be drear;
If in danger for Him call;
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Trusting Him while life shall last,
Trusting Him till earth be past;
Till within the jasper wall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Jesus Knows All

Bible Reading: Colossians 2:1-7

Colossians 2:3-4, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”

In 1986 Robert Fulghum published his best-selling book, “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.”  Amongst the lessons he says he learned are things like this: share everything, play fair, don’t hit people, put things back where you found them, clean up your own mess, don’t take things that aren’t yours, say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody, wash your hands before you eat, flush, warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.  I like that list, especially the warm cookies and milk part.  It reminds me of the simplicity of my younger days, when distinctions between right vs. wrong were far clearer (Isaiah 5:20).  Where do you go to know the things you need to know?

How are we to navigate the precarious days in which we live?  Things are changing fast in the world and in our country–you sense that!  You’ve read your Bible and know that God is in control, and has a plan, and that He triumphs in the end.  Yet, it’s left to you to walk in wisdom in this present day, responding to the myriad of societal pressures and changes in a God-honoring way. How is anyone to possess the wisdom necessary?

Things started simple enough for the believers in Colossae.  Epaphras brought the gospel message to the folks there.  They heard and believed in Jesus and were saved.  But the Devil is always at work, and he worked to infiltrate the newly birthed church with some false teachers who were espousing various falsehoods.  They, like the elitists of our day, were pridefully asserting that they alone were privy to a superior knowledge that the Colossian believers desperately needed.  

Time and time again in this epistle, Paul directed his readers back to the sufficiency of Christ.  He was writing that “no one would delude” them with “plausible arguments” (Colossians 2:4).  In so doing, he directed them to Jesus Himself, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).  Jesus knows all!  And all any of us ever really need to know with respect to life we must learn from Him!  It makes perfect sense. We’ve already seen that He’s the One who created all things, the One who holds all things together.  All things will one day be summed up in Him!  He is the One who saved you!  Your life is now hidden in Him (Colossians 3:3).  He is now in you (Colossians 1:27).  There is nothing that Jesus does not know about anything or anybody, including you.

Enough then of listening to elitists who tout their superior knowledge regarding some new esoteric knowledge about this thing or that!  To Christ and the book, we must flee if we are to find our way in this evil day.  He has availed access to His knowledge and wisdom through His book (Colossians 3:16).  Our passage speaks of “treasures” to be found.  Let us then treasure the treasure which is “able to make (us) wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15-17)!

John Piper well summarized this thought, “Therefore let us bow down and worship Jesus Christ. If we are impressed with the scholarship of man and the achievements of scientific knowledge, then let us not play the fool by trumpeting a tiny chirp and ignoring the thunder clap of omniscience. Jesus alone is worthy of our highest admiration. Jesus alone is worthy of our trust. He can show us the Father (Matthew 11:27). He can give us irresistible wisdom (Luke 21:15). He can see how to make all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28). None of his judgments about anything is ever mistaken (John 8:16). He teaches the way of God with infallible truthfulness (Matthew 22:16). Trust him. Admire him. Follow him.”

SPEAK, O LORD

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness

That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory

Teach us Lord, full obedience
Holy reverence, true humility
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity

Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority
Words of pow’r that can never fail
Let their truth prevail over unbelief

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity

And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory

Songwriters: Keith Getty / Stuart Townend
Speak, O Lord lyrics © Thank You Music Ltd.

Knit Together in Love

Bible Reading: Colossians 2:1-7

Colossians 2:2, “Being knit together in love”

It is a beautiful thing when God works to knit folks together in love!  That He is well able to take us–in the diversity of our personalities and backgrounds and individual hopes and dreams–and make us to be One in Him, speaks to the glory of who He is.  We experience in such unity a glimpse of that which exists in the Triune God and a foretaste of that which awaits us in heaven.  Years ago I wrote the following regarding John Fawcett, the writer of Blest Be the Tie that Binds, and his experience.  Be encouraged by his story…

John Fawcett was only 12 years old when he was left without parents.  He became an apprentice to a tailor and worked 14 hours a day.  One of his few joys was reading Pilgrim’s Progress by candlelight on the floor of his attic room.  His entire Christian experience was rooted in what he learned from that book.

When he was 15 years old, George Whitefield came to his town.  An estimated 20,000 people gathered in an open field to hear Whitefield speak.  He spoke on John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”  Then the invitation was given.  All across the field people responded.  John Fawcett was among them.  Later, John made his way to the famous preacher.  John confided in him his desire to preach the gospel and George Whitefield encouraged him in that.

The Bible became a new book to John.  He joined a small group of believers who met in private homes in Bradford.  When his apprenticeship was finished, he gave himself completely to the work of the ministry.  At age 18, he married a Christian girl named Mary.  Sometime later, he was called to pastor a small group of believers in Wainsgate.  The building was nothing but a small, horribly dark and damp chapel.  A few stools were all they had for furnishings.

There was no parsonage, so he and his wife lived with members of the church—rotating from house to house.  His genuine interest in the welfare of the people won their affections.  The church grew and so did his family.  They brought four children into the world in five years.  The church raised their meager salary of 200 dollars a year by 25%, but the increase was given in wool and potatoes.

About that time, an invitation came from a large church in London.  Their pastor had gotten too old to preach, so they were looking for a candidate.  It seemed to be the chance of a lifetime.  He journeyed to London and captivated the audience with his simple exposition of the Scriptures.  He returned home with a call to fill that influential pulpit.  His wife, Mary, agreed they should go.

When he announced he was leaving Wainsgate, the church was filled with consternation.  It seemed they could never replace their beloved friend and pastor.  Nevertheless, they made arrangements for his departure.  On that day, the congregation loaded the family’s belongings onto six or seven wagons for the trip to London.  Finally, the last box of books was loaded.  The children were set in their places. John and Mary began saying their goodbyes.  Most of the congregation was weeping.  Finally, overwhelmed by their sadness, John and Mary sat down on a packing case and began to weep.  Looking up at last, Mrs. Fawcett said, “Oh, John, John, I cannot bear this.  I know not how to go!”  “Nor I, either” said John, “nor will we go.  Unload the wagons and put everything back in its place.”

Quickly, the news spread through the crowd.  Sorrow was turned into joy, tears to laughter.  Pastor and flock were bound together even stronger than they were before.  A letter was sent to the church in London.  John went to work preparing his next Sunday’s sermon.  That Sunday, he preached from Luke 12:15, “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things he possesseth.”  He finished his sermon with a hymn he had written at midnight the night before.  The hymn said this:

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

The story behind the hymn helps us to better understand the third verse…

We share our mutual woes
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

John Fawcett went on caring for the flock and preaching the Word.  Eventually a new building seating 600 was built.  A day school for neighboring children and training school for young pastors was opened.  Eventually he went on to write “An Essay on Anger” which became a favorite of King George III who offered to John any benefit he could confer upon him.  The offer was declined with this statement from him “that he lived among his own people, enjoyed their love: God had blessed their labors among them, and he needed nothing which even a king could supply.”

John Fawcett and his wife, Mary, served the congregation for 54 years.  He died at the age of 78.  And the last stanza of his hymn came to fruition….

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship our spirit finds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne,
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one—
Our comforts and our cares.

We share our mutual woes;
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!

Bible Reading: Colossians 1:24-29

Colossians 1:27, “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.”

“Christ in you, the hope of glory!”–as Paul traveled and taught, this was at the heart of the mystery he proclaimed, a message regarding the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).  Paul was willing to endure all sorts of troubles in his endeavor to make it known (Colossians 1:24; Ephesians 3:1; 2 Timothy 2:8-10).  It’s estimated by biblical scholars that Paul would have traveled over 10,000 miles, by foot, on his missionary journeys.  That would be equal to walking from New York to Los Angeles 4X. Along the way he was confronted by various obstacles and threats, as detailed in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27: “—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.  Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

Paul’s love for Christ and love for others so motivated him that he gladly embraced all that!  As he went from place to place, he knew he bore with him the treasure of a message well worth sharing.  By God’s grace, that message, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” was likewise brought to you.

It’s not just that you know of Christ as a historical figure who once lived on earth.  Nor is it that you know about Him, as a theologian might know about the main tenets of Christology.  Nor is it that you know of Him as you might know of the name and occupation of an acquaintance, or friend.  The intimacy of your relationship with Christ transcends the nearness of the best of earthly relationships.  This is because you don’t just know of Him, or about Him, He lives in you!  How incredible is that!  Especially considering what’s been related to us thus far in this epistle regarding Christ.  He is the creator of all things, the One who holds all things together, the preeminent One, the One who has purchased your redemption by His blood—it is He who is even now IN you!

He has been in your heart since when you first trusted in Him for salvation.  Never a day has gone by where He has left you alone.  Things are sometimes messy IN you.  If you were a house you’d have need of a deep cleaning to host such a guest!  There are rooms and places where you’ve probably attempted to shut Him out.  Though He is well aware of all of this, per His promise, He’s never left you, nor forsaken you (Hebrews 13:5).  And though He intercedes before the very throne of God in heaven for you, He is nonetheless so immanent He is IN you.

You’ve no other friend like Him.  No friend so true and faithful!  No other friend so loving and patient and kind!  No friend so glorious!  It is the ministry of the Spirit of God to glorify the Son of God.  The Spirit is ever working to unveil to you the manifold beauty of the person of Jesus.  And Jesus’ presence in you foretells of a future unveiling unto His glory!  Where is this friend, who is in you, leading you?  To glory!  Sometimes the journey gets long and wearisome.  The light dims to where it is hard to see and stay on the pathway.  It’s easy to get discouraged.  But you are not alone.  The Apostle Paul traveled thousands of miles to make Jesus known, because unsearchable riches are bound up in Him!  You now possess these unsearchable riches!  He is in you and His presence in you works to assure you of your glorious destiny!

O THAT WILL BE GLORY

When all my labors and trials are o’er,
And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
Just to be near the dear Lord I adore
Will through the ages be glory for me.

Refrain:
O that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me;
When by His grace I shall look at His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me

When by the gift of His infinite grace,
I am accorded in heaven a place,
Just to be there and to look on His face
Will through the ages be glory for me. [Refrain]

Friends will be there I have loved long ago;
Joy like a river around me will flow;
Yet just a smile from my Savior, I know,
Will through the ages be glory for me. [Refrain]

So Great a Salvation!

Bible Reading: Colossians 1:19-23

Colossians 1:21-22, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

Be shocked by this recent headline in The Christian Post: “Over a third of senior pastors believe ‘good people’ can earn their way to heaven.”  The article explains how a recent survey by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University uncovered some other disturbing trends: “Researchers found in addition to believing people can merit salvation based solely on their good works, one-third or more of senior pastors surveyed also believe the Holy Spirit is not a person, but rather ‘a symbol of God’s power.’ Others said moral truth is subjective; sexual relations between two unmarried people who love each other are ‘morally acceptable’ and biblical teaching on abortion is ‘ambiguous.’”  Holy hogwash!

These modern deniers of salvation-by-grace-alone would have found themselves in good company with the false teachers in Colossae, who were likewise diminishing the person and work of Christ, in espousing a salvation based on one’s own merit.  But Paul knew and taught otherwise and confronted the false teachers in the strongest possible terms.

Theologically, the extent of man’s lostness is spoken of in terms of his “total depravity.”  One might also use the phrase “radical depravity.”  Total depravity simply means every part of our being is corrupted by sin, so much so, we lack the capacity to seek after God, or to do His will.  Apart from divine intervention, we are helpless to do anything to rectify our lost condition.

Colossians 1:21 succinctly declares this truth.  Man’s by-birth position, perspective, and practice are contrary to God.  Note Paul spoke thus regarding all the believers in Colossae.  That had been the prior estate of every single one of them.  He would have said the same regarding himself before he was saved.  What was true of all of them and Paul, is true of every person.  The lost sinner is alienated in his position, antagonistic in his perspective, and adverse in his practice.  His entire being is corrupted by sin.  As a leopard cannot change its spots, or a dead man raise himself up, so the lost sinner is powerless to do anything to change himself, or amend his lostness (Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 3:10-18, 5:12).  The hymn “A Child of the King” has it right: “I once was an outcast stranger on earth, a sinner by choice, and an alien by birth.”

Charles Hodge summarized the matter this way: “Our guilt is great because our sins are exceedingly numerous.  It is not merely outward acts of unkindness and dishonesty with which we are chargeable; our habitual and characteristic state of mind is evil in the sight of God.  Our pride, vanity, and indifference to His will and to the welfare of others, our selfishness, our loving the creature more than the Creator, our continuous violations of His holy law.”

How amazing then is the grace of God in the salvation of a soul!  We “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God… (Ephesians 2:3-4).”  Those last two words make all the difference!  God’s intervention is because he is “rich in mercy” and “because of (his) great love” (Ephesians 2:4).  Because salvation is entirely by God’s grace, it is God Who deserves and receives all the credit.  All glory goes to Him!  Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Praise God for it!

AND CAN IT BE?

And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?

Refrain:
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!

He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me. [Refrain]

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee. [Refrain]

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own. [Refrain]