I’ve been reading Paul’s letter to the church in Colosse over the last few days.
One word comes to mind.
R i c h.
After reading a very inspiring post over at Mike’s blog, I decided that I would like to share some of this wealth with you, but I’m going to do it in a way in which you may or may not be familiar with.
I’m going to make it personal.
What I am about to present to you is the first chapter of the letter to the church in Colosse.
I have changed just a couple of small things in order for the letter to apply more directly you.
The things I have taken out are some names, and some things that are much more relevant to Paul, his apostleship, and the immediate context of the events taking place, historically speaking, than they are to us in the context in which we find ourselves today (In other words, I am not Paul the apostle, and you are not meeting with the first century church in Colosse. 
)
Now, saints,…
Saint…
This embellished portion of the letter to the church in Colosse is also for you.
Personally.
Take your time and read it in just that way.
It is from one saint to another…
Just as it was from Paul to the church, now it is also from me to you, as I have copied or typed nothing that I do not mean from the bottom of my heart.
Enjoy…
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To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who meet and fellowship in the Blogiverse:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying … for you, since I began reading of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;
because of the hope which is laid up for us in heaven, of which we heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to us,
as it has also in all the world,
and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among us since the day we heard and knew the grace of God in truth; I know of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason I also, since the day I recognized it, … I could not help but pray for you, and ask that we all may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
that we all may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to
the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself,
by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
And we, who once were alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present us
holy, and
blameless, and
above reproach in His sight– if indeed we 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,
…
…
The word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, … now has been revealed to His saints.
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
More to come…
Your Brother,
Johnny
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*Following this post, I would like to discuss what these things mean…
It would be fascinating to take it, first, one little section at a time, and then look at the portion given as a whole and see what the Spirit of the Lord has to say to us all.
As I said, take your time.
I’m looking forward to your feedback.
( *Even if you decide not to discuss what all of this means, It is my prayer that the Spirit reveal it to us in our innermost being. )
Thank you for this beautiful, personalized, heartfelt letter to us!
I don’t hardly know where to begin to discuss this, as there are so many truths spoken here. But when I applied this letter to myself, as you intended, this sentence stuck out to me in the beginning;
“since I began reading of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints…. “I know of your love in the Spirit”.
Am I known for my “love for all the saints”? Is the Body of Christ known for it’s “love”? I pray the LORD will fill me with His love so that He may be seen. I believe this is our only hope for a lost world to see the risen LORD. Yet, my own love seems insufficient. I don’t show it enough. Or, I don’t allow Jesus to love others enough through me – knowing His love IS sufficient.
Ugh! It always boils down to there being too much Marie left in this old body. I can only pray that He will have mercy on me and continue to show me how to die.
Who’s James Hart?
Oh, and I do want to discuss the rest of the letter. This was just the first thing that stuck out.
Hi, Marie!
Before I respond directly to your question, let me back up a little to the very first part of the letter:
“To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who meet and fellowship in the Blogiverse:”
This letter is written to ’saints’ those who are considered to be ‘most holy ones’, and who are also known as ‘faithful brothers and sisters’ who are IN CHIRST.
Now, I think that we all know that this ‘holiness’ is not something that have in and of our selves, but rather it is something which is imparted to us.
Consider what is written in the book of the Acts as to what Peter says to the crowd after the healing of a lame man:
“Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk?”
Our holiness is not something of ourselves, but rather, it also is a gift of God.
Remember CHRIST is your SANCTIFICATION.
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.
Now this little introduction is so easily overlooked, as it, or something much like it is at the beginning of every letter that Paul wrote to every church.
Paul realized that this must come first.
Before Paul addresses or touches on anything else the first thing that he wants to say to the Lords people is,’Grace to you, and PEACE from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’.
Take that in for moment.
No.
Take that in for the rest of your life, as that is exactly what it is….
His grace and His peace is ‘the rest’ that we all need in our life, and it is a free gift, given from the One true God who is also known as Love.
“I give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying … for you, since I began reading of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints;”
Marie, I do give thanks to God for you, sister. I was looking through Scott’s blog last night, going all the way back to the first post that I ever commented in and then traced it all the up to his most recent.
All the way through, the Lord sprinkled the ‘conversation’ with a very special grace,….a very unique grace that is both encouraging and enlightening…., pure, and of a sincere and sweet Spirit…and this grace comes from God through your heart, your mind, and right through your fingertips, to your keyboard, and then out to all of us who have the privilege of receiving it on a somewhat regular basis, and that same grace is an expression of love.
Marie, you only think that you do not love, but you do…, although it is not you, and it is not supposed to be you who loves, but rather it is the Christ in you who who loves.
We cannot love the way God loves so let us simply confess that, and take that burden to the cross.
This is what frees us up to allow His love to shine forth from our beings, we must admit that we cannot live the christian life, and that it is only Christ who ever could.
Hallelujah, it is His life and His love!!
“…because of the hope which is laid up for us in heaven, of which we heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to us,”
And finally, we take a look again at where this love comes from. Paul elaborates a bit, saying that it is because of…the good news.
Notice that he calls it THE TRUTH of the good news, which is that, through Christ, we have peace with God, and that He has made us an altogether new creation, as we are IN CHRIST.
What a blessing!
Now the question is do we believe it?
Do we believe the gospel?
Do we believe that it is all because of Him, and not because of us?
Do we think that we could possibly have something to add to His perfect and finished work?
Before we touch on ‘working out our salvation’ or ‘walking in the Spirit’, let us first consider where we are with this wonderful reality of the gospel.
So, now that I have taken the long way around, (but sometimes the scenic route is better for the soul, amen?) I hope that I have met your questions and concerns.
‘I must decrease so that He may increase.’
Wise words, for sure, but also, consider the context.
John the Baptist was a type of Elijah. As moses typified the law, John typified the prophets of the old testament, the old covenant.
The old covenant was wrapped up in a law keeping system which could only point to our need for the coming Christ.
John knew that that old covenant had to get out of the way for the new…
The way I see this in application today is that, yes, we, us who want to find hope in ourselves, those of us who want so desperately to measure up to God’s holy standards, we must decrease, our ‘law keeping’ (even if the are ‘christian living laws’) efforts must die.
Our ‘own holiness’ must cease.
Our own goodness must be crucified….
SO THAT HE MIGHT INCREASE.
So let’s!
Lord, we desist.
We reckon ourselves, complete with our ‘I want to be good enough’ thoughts and our ‘I can do it’ attitudes, to be dead.
We believe that we have died in and with you on the cross, and that we now live in and with you in new life, and we pray that you RE-MIND us of this very thing in any way that you can, Lord, remind us that it is You and not us who are able to satisfy God and that as we rest in that truth, You will live Your life through us.
We believe you, Lord, and when we do not, help our unbelief.
We praise You for You alone are good.
Amen!
May your day be blessed in the Lord!!!
Johnny, I give thanks to God for you as well! Thank you for the blessing and the reminder that we are all we need to be IN CHRIST.
Lord, help my unbelief!!!!
Johnny, you really are a very insightful teacher! You see, people like me need people like you that can expound on the Word of God and make it come to life for us personally. My husband is also very good at that.
You dwell on who Christ is in us and not on what we can do as long as we have God “helping” us. These efforts are in vain as they are apart from Christ.
I will take time later to meditate on the remainder of the letter. I am anxious to “hear” your perspective.
“We believe you, Lord, and when we do not, help our unbelief.
We praise You for You alone are good.
Amen!”
Amen Johnny!
Blessings!
Well, if what you mean by ‘people like you’ simply meaning those with an inclination to teach and that ‘people like me’ meaning people with an inclination towards encouragement for the building up of the Life in the body, then, yeah…okay, Amen!
I’m sure that you are gifted in many ways, and I just know that the other saints at New River are blessed even by your very presence.
We all have something to bring to ‘the table’.
We are all unique members of the One Body of Christ and none of us can say, “We don’t need the ear”, or “The foot is not as important as the hand”, etc…
You are INVALUABLE, sister!!!
Without you, the body is incomplete!!!
Looking forward to more circulation of Life!!
~Johnny
Greetings. Colossians is a favorite of mine and the deity of Christ is unmistakably manifest in it. (as is the case with all scripture.) I’ll have to respond more at a later time as I’m currently involved with other things, however, the fellowship of saints in the blogiverse is incredible. To be in contact with so many from such varying backgrounds is a real blessing. As you mention, everyone has something to bring to the table and much encouragement is found in the interractions. (Suddenly Malachi 3:16-17 comes to mind.) Thanks for the encouraging post.
Have a blessed evening in Christ.
timbob
“..And they shall be Mine”, says the Lord.
Amen, Timbob!
And yes, the deity of Christ…and also His preeminence.
Looking forward to more comments…. , as time allows, of course
Peace to you all, in Christ,
~Johnny
OK, the next few verses – the ones I memorized when I studied the book of Colossians using Kay Authur’s study guide – the prayer I’ve prayed for many people over the years – how do you interpret those verses down through the “inheritance of the saints in the light”?
The words are all very beautiful and the result would be outstanding – you know, to please Him in all respects (NASB). How do you relate this to the Kingdom Gospel. What must take place to be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”? What must take place in order to be “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might”? By “steadfastness and patience” does he mean peace in knowing God will work it all out?
And, what does it mean; “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified(BOLD) us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light”?
What do you think the “inheritance” is specifically (other than Jesus Christ Himself)?
Take your time. I LOVE these verses! I think I will love them even more after hearing your perspective! Most of the Bible teachings I have been through have not been with Kingdom perspective. Thus my questions…
Blessings!
Marie,
I’m blushing here.
Well, I’m going to heed your counsel and take a little time with my response.
I have started into it and have already decided that it needs to be a post in itself (it’s that long!).
I’m almost finished with it, and I’ll need to give it a quick ‘once over’ for errors and such.
I can tell you this much…
It’s good news.
Maybe in the meantime some of you other holy ones could contribute to the conversation.
Till next time (coming soon!!)
~Johnny