COLOSSIANS
Chapter 1, Verses 24-29
Doing What God Calls Us To Do!
(9–25-16)
Review: “Safe In God’s Hand!”
Colossians 1:23) [KJV] If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
QUESTION: Is this verse teaching us that Christians can lose salvation?
ANSWER: Please note the following verses:
John 8:31) [KJV] Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Hebrews 3:14) [KJV] For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
John 10:27-28) [KJV] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 6:37) [KJV] All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
John 17:12) [KJV] While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
NOTE: When we speak from the human perspective we need to “continue;” when the Word speaks from God’s perspective it is a done deal.
This Week’s Lesson: “Doing What God Calls Us To Do!”
Colossians 1:24-29) [KJV] Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
NOTE: Paul wrote this letter from prison so he was referring to his literal sufferings for the church; he was locked up for the crime of preaching the Gospel.
Vincent says in regards to “I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ’s sufferings,” “that portion of Christ’s ministerial sufferings which was not endured by Him in person, but is endured in the suffering of Christians in all generations in carrying out Christ’s work.”
QUESTION: What is the idea here?
ANSWER: Paul is not referring to the suffering Christ endured to redeem us; that suffering lacked nothing.
Hebrews 10:14) [KJV] For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
QUESTION: What does this verse show us?
ANSWER: The sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, as our sacrificial Lamb, has completely, totally saved us forever. There was then, and still is now, nothing lacking in that suffering as our Savior.
NOTE: However, the suffering Jesus endured as a means in which to bring the Gospel to the world has never ended, but He is yet suffering in His body, the Church, and has throughout the ages since His physical death, as we Christians suffer as a result of our message.
QUESTION: Are Christians still suffering as a result of the Gospel message they bring to the world?
- They are being slaughtered by ISIS in the Middle East.
- So-called peace loving Muslim countries arrest, and sentence to death, Muslims who convert to Christianity.
- Christians around the world are arrested and sent to jail for their faith.
- Christians in America are called haters for believing the Bible’s definition of morality instead of believing the politically correct version that the Left is pushing on us.
NOTE: America is now condemning Christians for their stance on Gay marriage and abortion; but they are silent about the American mosques teaching that gays deserve a death sentence.
25) Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
“dispensation” – “1) the management of a household or of household affairs; 1a) specifically, the management, oversight, administration, of other’s property; 1b) the office of a manager or overseer, stewardship; 1c) administration, dispensation” [Thayer].
26) Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
“The specific mystery Paul refers to here deals with many aspects of the work of Jesus in His people, but especially the plan of the church, to make one body out of Jew and Gentile, taken from the “trunk” of Israel, yet not Israel [Guzik].
QUESTION: What do these two verses show us?
- God dispensed His authority to Paul in the area of ministering the mystery of God to the Church [vs. 25].
- This mystery was the revelation that God was going to include the Gentiles {non-Jews} with the Jews in the Church Jesus was sent to build [Guzik] [vs. 26].
27) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
QUESTION: What was Paul suffering for?
ANSWER: He was suffering persecution as a prisoner as a result of his calling to preach the Gospel message that when we come to Christ, Jew or Gentile, He begins to live in us. That results in the promise that we will go to Heaven.
QUESTION: Is this “hope” of glory just a fanciful desire to go to Heaven, like when we hope we’ll win the lottery?
“hope” – “2a1) joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation” [Thayer].
ANSWER: Absolutely not! We have a “confident expectation” that we will go to Heaven. We are not hoping/wishing that we’ll go to Heaven; we are confidently expecting to go to Heaven when we die, or are raptured.
NOTE: Barb and I are going to Branson in November. We are not hoping to go, the way we use that word nowadays, but we are confident that we are going. We are so confident that we’re going that we already have tickets to the main show we want to see while we’re there, the Jimmy Fortune Show. I am so confident that I’m going to Heaven I already have my Ticket! Did you notice that Ticket is capitalized? That’s because Mr. Ticket is Deity!
28) Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
(GW) We spread the message about Christ as we instruct and teach everyone with all the wisdom there is. We want to present everyone as mature Christian people.
“perfect” – “1) brought to its end, finished; 2) wanting nothing necessary to completeness” [Thayer].
QUESTION: What warning would Paul be giving to every man?
ANSWER: If you want to go to Heaven you have to have your Ticket.
QUESTION: What is this verse 28, along with vs. 22, showing us?
22) In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
ANSWER: When you have “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” you will be presented to God Almighty as “perfect in Christ Jesus;” you will be so perfect that you will be “holy and unblameable and unreproveable” when you are presented to God Almighty. WOW!! WOW!! WOW!!
29) Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
(GNB) To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me.
QUESTION: What made it possible for Paul to succeed, in the face of persecution, at his mission?
ANSWER: The energizing power of the Holy Spirit was at work in him.
QUESTION: What does this verse show us?
ANSWER: God offers us His mighty strength to enable us to do what He calls us to do, but it doesn’t get done until we avail ourselves of His strength and get up out of our chair and do it!