Hello everyone!
After posting a slightly modified version of a portion of Pauls letter to the church in Colosse, presenting it to the ‘virtual church’, Our dear sister in Christ, Marie, asked if I would give my perspective on just a small bit of it.
Well, if you are able to read this post in it’s entirety, you will find that I do, finally respond to her questions
Marie,
I had to back up a little for some context to the scriptures that you wanted to focus on, so let me start here…
(And I will get to the rest…)
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“We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit“.
Alright then, now for the portion which Marie brought to my attention:
“For this reason…”
Wait! For what reason?!
“…your love in the Spirit”
I believe it is safe to say that the reason Paul gave thanks was because he had come to know these two things about the saints in Colosse:
1) Their faith in Jesus Christ
2) Their love for the saints (one another)
These two things are love in the Spirit.
He also was thankful for:
3) The hope which was laid up in heaven for them, which they heard of before in the word of the truth of the gospel …
This hope was already bringing forth ‘fruit’ in them since the day they heard and knew the grace of God in truth (Since the day the seed was planted, sprouted, and took root).
This was very important to Paul.
To him, he was like a gardener planting seeds, hoping for a fruitful harvest. When Paul became aware of the ‘fruit’, their love in the Spirit, that was popping up in ‘the garden’, he couldn’t help but give thanks!
Before going much further, I feel that I must take a moment to emphasize something.
Because we are all in different places, I believe that it is of the utmost importance that we all take a closer look at those scriptures again:
“…because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth…”
Notice that at first Paul says, “You heard BEFORE in the word of the truth of the gospel…”
And then He follows with, “It is brining forth fruit…among you since the day you heard and KNEW the grace of God in truth…”
No matter where we are in our walk with the Lord, it’s not a bad idea to bring to remembrance those things which were the foundation of our life in Christ–
(Okay, just a little paraphrase here,…but I assure you that it stands true to meaning!)
“(The word of the gospel in truth) (has been) bringing forth fruit,…among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth”
Now this is where it is all to begin;
When we know the grace of God in truth.
This is something that is often rushed through and reduced to, “Just say this sinners prayer”.
Oh no. It is so much more.
Yes, we do come initially to the Lord as broken sinners and yes we pray, but we must be exposed to something much more substantial than those things.
To stop at, “Lord, forgive me,” or “I repent” is to miss out on the knowing the grace of God in truth.
While our brokenness and attitude of repentance are absolutely necessary for knowing God, we must also be exposed to the grace of God in truth and not only mere mental assent.
Think about it.
MANY people know that Jesus saves.
That’s a fact (and a well worn one at that).
Thanks to Churchianity, everyone knows that “Christian aren’t perfect, were just forgiven”.
Conceptually, this is common knowledge.
“Got sin? Get Jesus.”
But how many of us who ‘know’ the grace of God really k n o w the grace of God in truth?!
Too often the ‘Christian life’ is peddled to us in a form similar to this:
1) Get saved (sinners prayer).
2) Go to church.
3) Read Bible.
4) Pray.
5) Tithe.
6) Witness.
7) Get ‘plugged in’.
There we have it.
So we trade ten commandments for seven. I guess you could call that good news (!?)
So many believers only think that they’ve been set free from the law when, in reality, they try to do all of the ‘Christian things’ to get or be right with God.
Now I’m not at all saying that these things are bad things, and yes, of course these things are in the scripture (however misrepresented they are today) and, in fact, one can benefit to some degree from doing these things, but these things are no substitute for the grace of God in truth.
The grace of God must be something more to us than a teaching, or an idea.
It must be in TRUTH.
We must come to a place, before we can move along any further in genuine growth in Christ, where we have had an “AMEN LORD!” experience of receiving the grace of God in truth.
And not only once, but we must, on a regular basis, be nourished up in the sincere milk of the word of God before ever hoping to grow up into ‘young men/women’ much less spiritual ‘mothers or fathers’.
“Is this yet another ‘Christian’ law that must be kept?.
No!
This is a matter of life and death.
This is a matter, not of doing something to improve who you are, but it is a matter of RECEIVING SOMEONE who lives His life for you.
Is not the ‘milk’, the very substance of the ‘mother’?
Jesus Christ is The grace of God in truth
Unfortunately, today (not unlike the first century), the message of Gods grace has been mingled with too many other things.
Everything from law, to prosperity doctrine (which is also, by the way, law).
Very few people are sharing Jesus Christ.
How is it possible that Jesus Christ is but seldom mentioned in the midst of a group of believers, and then when He is mentioned, it is said in a way that makes the people feel guilty.
No!
That is NOT the way it should be!
Jesus Christ IS the grace of God in truth!
Jesus Christ, in His person and in His work. Everything about Him is the ultimate proof that God is, indeed, good.
Jesus Christ must be, in our lives, both individually and corporately, first place.
Knowing the grace of God in truth involves experiencing a genuine encounter with God through Jesus Christ.
We approach Him in true reverence and HE showers us with His grace and His mercy.
Here is the heart of the gospel, it is what Paul delivered to the saints at the very beginning:
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…”
This is all about eternal life and the resurrection, but it is truly about Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection…”.
Think about that.
If you have Christ, then you have the resurrection!!
Christ is All!!!
Hallelujah!
We may freely come to Jesus Christ and find that He is the One who forgives and saves.
We may come to Jesus Christ and discover that He is the One who has presented to God the one time eternal sacrifice for sins.
We may come to Jesus Christ and hear Him say to us, “Where are they that condemn you?”
Ahhh…
But there is a catch,… right?
The whole ‘Go and sin no more’ part?
Isn’t this always the stickler?
But what really happened at the scene? After bringing the woman to the feet of this controversial Rabbi, and testing Him with their clever words,
“Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
“Whoever is without sin among you, may throw the first stone”.
His words frightened her accusers away ( even though her accusers were ‘right’), and they scurried off from the oldest to the youngest.
(why do you suppose the Spirit kept that little detail in there? ‘From the oldest to the youngest.” Hmm)
As for her, she sat before him, guilty as charged, and Jesus asks her, “Where are your accusers?…neither do I condemn you..”
Then she stood up.
“Go and sin no more”.
Here is the pattern:
We are found to be at fault.
We are ’set down’ before the Lord by our accusers.
Accusation rail.
Jesus speaks the Truth.
Accusers leave.
Jesus does not condemn.
We are able to stand up.
Now that we have experienced the true nature of the Lord Jesus, we become empowered to ’sin no more’.
Hallelujah! The Grace of God in Truth for this one caught in sin!!
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Behold Him, for He is glorious!!!!!!!
“Oh, all of this ‘hyper-grace’ is going to cause worldliness, and act as license to sin…!”
Then why is this the pattern shown forth in scripture?
Paul dealt with this same concern in his letter to the Romans:
WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
THEREFORE
we were buried with Him
through baptism
into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of
His resurrection,
knowing this, that
our old man was crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.
Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Likewise
you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Therefore
do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you,
for you are not under law
BUT UNDER GRACE (the Grace of God in Truth).
I’m not, at this time, going to expound on the above scriptures, but I will ask you to do this.
Read them slowly.
Get to know them.
Reckon them to be true.
And finally, now that I have ranted together some kind of stream of consciousness basis, I can get to the questions that Marie brought to our attention:
“How do you relate this to the Kingdom Gospel?”
Honestly, I believe that there is only one gospel.
The “Kingdom” means the “Reign” or the “Lordship”. Therefore all scripture is related and, in fact, points to this very thing. Basically a life walked out in the Spirit.
“What must take place to be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”?
Whatever His will is, and we shall get around to that soon (please, if you already know, share it with us) it is to be apprehended in ‘all wisdom and spiritual understanding’.
We must move on beyond a natural understanding and into a spiritual understanding which is accompanied with all wisdom.
Two things to keep in mind.
First, in answer to your question, this comes about by prayer, not academics. It is spiritual and not natural.
Second, this admonition and prayer was for a people and not a person.
This was for a group of people who were being built up together.
The first century reality of this gathering, and what passes for ‘church’ today are two dramatically different things with two dramatically different modes of operation.
May we all have a more clear revelation of the Life of the church, and the functioning of the members.
“What must take place in order to be “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might”?
That same prayer.
Now let me throw in the next portion of scripture:
“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;”
Here we have a little light shined upon what God’s will is to look like.
Keep in mind that a divine ‘filling’ of the saints with the knowledge of God’s will, accompanied with all wisdom and spiritual understanding must come first. Once this is apprehended, we begin to find ourselves ‘walking worthy’ of the Lord (Hint: It has to do with us first receiving the grace of God in truth, and getting hold of the fact that, because of Jesus, we have been made worthy), being fully pleasant to Him, etc…
“By “steadfastness and patience” does he mean peace in knowing God will work it all out?”
The nkjv says it like this:
“strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;”
The might that we have in Christ is for the empowering is to be expressed in our patience and longsuffering with joy.
This might doesn’t come with our long, drawn out, teeth grinding prayers and acts of penance, but rather, it is ACCORDING to HIS GLORIOUS power.
“And, what does it mean; “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light”?
And finally, because of all of above, we are able to genuinely give thanks to the Father.
Why?
Because HE HAS QUALIFIED US TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINT IN LIGHT.
Can I get an amen?!
How about a ‘Hallellujah’?!
Hallelujah, amen!!!!!
What do you think the “inheritance” is specifically (other than Jesus Christ Himself)?
Paul said that “The Kingdom of God is peace, joy, and righteousness in the Holy Ghost”.
We are told that we may inherit the Kingdom of God.
I think it is just that.
The kingdom is not so much a place (although I do indeed have wonderful expectations of the afterlife), but it is a reality, but yet it is also a Person.
The way that I see it, is that it all boils down to this one Purpose…
Gods eternal purpose, which is Christ in you (or y’all), the hope of GLORY.
Not just Christ alive in us, but Christ living through and among us (hence the glory).
But is there more?
Do I know and have I said all that needs to be known and said?
Absolutely there is more! With God, there is always more!!
Absolutely, I do not know all, and therefore cannot say all!
I only have my perspective and my glimpse of the whole truth.
As a matter of fact, I encourage everyone who reads my words to weigh them out, ask the Lord to reveal to you if they be true.
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I apologize for such a lengthy and maybe somewhat disjointed response to your questions, Marie, but there were some things that needed to be said prior to answering your questions.
Again, my comments about ‘the seven Christian Commandments’ with the church at large, is referring to just that. The rule rather than the exception.
Now, did I tell you that it was good news?!
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