1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
I love the Lord. That
is not why I began to serve Him but I serve Him out of love now. Whatever your reasons for asking Christ to
dwell in your heart, it must one day turn to love and relationship because God
has not done this as a jobs program or eternal insurance. He wanted children and Christ wants a
bride. The Hebrew word for father is ab or sometimes abba. Love is ahab.
In Hebrew letters the word for father is aleph bet. The word for love
is heh aleph bet. You might ask, “So what?”
Love is the breath of God joined to the strength and
protection of a father. Abram went from being a great man to
beyond greatness by adding that breath of God. AbraHam. Sarai went from being the mother to mother
of multitudes with that breath, SaraH. God wants to add that divine breath to your
life too. Can you see how God might be
offended by sex passed off as love or ungodly relationships? As offensive as that might be to Him, I
believe our lack of loving fathers standing by their roles might be equally
distasteful.
If we fail to love one another and love God then from His
point of view, what is the point? He
created us to love. We are so tuned to
it that we will seek it when there is no possible avenue for proper love and
respect around us. Look at the first two
verses again. Jesus is sitting on the
throne beside God’s right hand waiting for our fullness to come. From time to time He must intercede on our
behalf because we forget ourselves and behave like the world.
They are both fully aware of the lost around us and their
hearts desire is for those people to be saved…but…we are the center of their
focus. We have responded and
replied. We have turned our eyes to the
hills from where our help comes. What
verse two is trying to make us understand is do not be double minded. Do not put your hand to the plow and look
back. Your paths will never be
straight. Focus on the goal and press
toward it no matter how those around you may try to drag you off course.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God.
I keep hammering at this and it never seems to get through
to anyone. We are dead. Dead men and dead women don’t complain; they
don’t sin and they don’t run off on their own adventures. In our case we are dead in Christ and our
life is hidden with our Savior in our Father.
We are hidden like Psalm 91 says, under the wings of our Lord. We are protected under His feathers. Our real life is not of the Earth. We are passing through and have an
opportunity to do some witnessing for our Father while we’re here.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with him in glory.
We’re not going to be left behind in some Heavenly Harem
when Jesus returns. We are the body of
Christ. When He returns and stands with
his feet on both sides of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and that hill
breaks in two, it will be our feet and our legs that stand on that mountain. I have no idea what that will look like. Consider the statue that king Nebuchadnezzar
saw in his dreams and the one he actually built. The one he saw was gold, silver, iron and
iron mixed with clay. The one he built
was solid gold. Jesus said our lives
must be tried in the fire so we might come forth as pure gold.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the
earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry:
Make your physical body behave as if it is DEAD. Let’s just look at this short list provided
here. A FAR more comprehensive one can
be found in Galatians but let’s look at this one. I have been in the church for a long time and
am amazed how many people who never miss a service will do these things. No fornication – No sex with someone you are
not married to. That’s pretty clear; no
free taste in the name of love. No
uncleanness – No impure thoughts and time spent looking at pornography or
forbidden sexual practices. No
inordinate affection – Plain old ordinary lust.
That thing you feel when your head is swiveling around on the beach like
it’s going to spin off and hit the floor.
No evil concupiscence – Evil longing.
Wanting something that you know is forbidden to you. Homosexuality falls into this category no
matter how much you try to dress it up with marriage or ‘love.’ Finally, no more covetousness – You can’t
want what someone else has and you shouldn’t keep wanting more, never being
satisfied with what God has blessed you with.
Paul said, “I have learned to be content in whatever state I
am in.” He would not have looked at a
wealthy man’s Lear Jet and said, “I sure wish I could have that to minister
with.” He went where God sent him and did
what God told him to do. If you live
within your means and trust God to bring increase you will have everything you
need. This is idolatry because it is
more important to you than service to God and you are telling God He does not
know how to take care of you.
6 For which things 'sake the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience:
Not the children of the devil but the children of
disobedience. It could be the children
of the devil or just disobedient children who refuse to obey and restrain their
own fleshly desires. Wrath is the word orge.
The word means that God is so incensed by our disobedience that He
explodes in passionate uncontrolled anger.
Now that is not what I want to ever see pointed in my direction. Have you ever seen the aftermath of a
tornado? It can roar down a street and
level one house to the foundation while not even tipping over the birdbath next
door. If we stand side by side and the
wrath of God hits you, I will be scratching my head wondering what happened to
you. Sorry but there was no way I was
going to use myself for this analogy.
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in
them.
Can’t speak for you but I have definitely walked down that
road before. I have to say I am thankful
that God waited until I took a few spiritual showers before he looked too hard
at me. Let’s be honest, even now we all
struggle. It is a constant battle to
remain dead to sin. We don’t always
succeed. Regardless whether we do or not,
don’t give up. A righteous man falls
seven times but he gets up again.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Anger - Orge –
violent passion. Vengeance is mine; I
will repay saith the Lord. Wrath – Thymos – Blazing instant heat which
destroys and is just as quickly gone. “I
don’t know what came over me.” Malice – Kakia – “When I get done with them they
won’t know what hit them. They won’t
even see it coming until it’s too late.”
Blasphemy – Blasphemia -
“Those miserable, low life scum sucking pigs!”
Doesn’t even have to be spoken against God. This is why God said if you call someone a
FOOL you are in danger of judgment.
Finally, Filthy mouth communication – aischrologia ex hymon stoma – Obscene language and filthy
speech. The tongue is an unruly evil for
with it we bless God and curse men. Men
and brethren, this should not be (James 3:8-10). And yes, I have seen these things in the
church. It’s understandable since we are
supposed to gather the hurt and wounded together to encourage each other to
live holy but it is sad to see in God’s house.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the
old man with his deeds;
Lying – pseudomai – Psuedo means fake. A lie is a fake conversation passed off as
the truth. It’s intent is to lead someone
astray from the truth and truth is what will make you free. Satan is the father of lies. We used to be part of his kingdom. God is the Father of truth and now we are in
His kingdom. There will be a test
later.
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him:
You are washed in a shower, fed in a restaurant, entertained
in a concert and renewed in knowledge. A
shower lasts only so long as you don’t sweat or get dirty. A restaurant only stops your hunger for a few
hours. Entertainment becomes addictive
and you keep wanting more and more exciting entertainment. Living knowledge of God’s Word will keep the
flesh at bay and submitted to our Lord and King. Jesus wouldn’t make bread of stones, walked
on water, was translated into the Kingdom of God and fed 5000 with a few loaves
after defeating Satan. Now that’s an
image to become.
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in
all.
In the new man God no longer judges by the nation you live
in whether an actual Greek – Hellenist; Jew – Judean; spiritually and
physically made Jewish or never made Jewish (Circumcised or Uncircumcised);
Barbarian – Neither Jew nor Greek, rough speech, Scythian – Forbears to modern
Russians (considered the most backward, violent barbarians of all); Bond –
Doulos – Ear bored slave (Exodus 21:5-6); Free – Under no compulsion to do
anything. In Christ we are all equal
before God though we all have different responsibilities to Him and different
gifts and administrations of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering;
Are you clothed?
Before their fall Adam and Eve were naked yet without sin. They were clothed with righteousness. After the fall they lost their righteousness
and were naked in their own eyes. God
says that before Christ came into our lives we were naked in all these areas
and must as the elect of God put on a garment of praise. How about you? Are you running around as a naked saint or
are you dressed to impress. Nothing
wrong with that if it’s the right type of clothing.
First of all, do you know that you are the elect of God,
holy and beloved? Is that understanding
part of your own personal sense of self-esteem?
To be the elect means that you were chosen. No man comes to God unless the Holy Spirit
draws him. Bowels of mercies means to be
passionately gracious to others. I must
be honest; in all my time in the church I have not seen most people display
this burden for mercy and love displayed more than a small percentage of the
time. Self-righteousness has been much
more evident I’m sorry to say.
Kindness to … kids, pets, cute things, oh how sweet; grumpy,
cranky old men, two faced liars and criminals – okay, now you’ve gone too
far. Actually beloved, God expects you
to go even farther. Humility of mind –
what do you think of yourself? We are in
a difficult position in Christ. We are
kings and priests and yet we must humble ourselves before some of life’s worst
people and treat them with utmost respect while they often despise us. All that we are we receive from Christ and He
was willing to give all to buy our lives.
We too must be willing to give all (emotions, heart, strength and
intellect) to the service of God.
Meekness – Someone once said that meek is not weak but is
power under control. We know who and
what we are in Christ. It is not
something we have to prove to anyone; what we must prove is that we are under
control to the point that your opinions and words about or against me will in
no way affect how I respond to those around me or you for that matter. I will be meek as a lamb no matter; like a
sheep before its shearer I will not speak out against those who rail against me.
Oh dear, I can see those necks wobbling right now.
Longsuffering – Patience, forbearance, constancy (remaining
constant in love and action no matter the provocation. It was said that Rabbi Hillel from whom Jesus
quoted many times could not be made angry.
There is even a story about a man who deliberately kept pestering Hillel
and keeping him from his rest on the Sabbath day to make the honorable man
angry. After the third or forth
interruption of his Sabbath meal Hillel was heard to tell the man, “If your
purpose is to cause me to lose my peace or become angry you are spending your
time in vain. I will not become
angry.” The same could not have been
said of Rabbi Shammai. Longsuffering may
not be the most important attribute for saints of God but it is one that God
uses powerfully in our lives and we ought to follow His example.
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if
any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
I don’t have to put up with this!!! Okay, one question. Whose do you think you are? If God’s…you absolutely do with few
exceptions, infidelity in marriage or someone trying to destroy you. That does not include your boss being a jerk
or your spouse being rude or insensitive.
These are things to pray through.
Forbearance is a knight in full armor upon his powerful warhorse, in a
hurry to important business, pausing to allow a poor man to herd his single
sheep across the road. The duty is
important; the man heavily armed and highly placed and yet he will not abuse or
disrespect one of God’s less lofty subjects even when that subject is a
cantankerous, rude and disrespectful old pauper.
Forgiving one another – When you think of forgiveness do you
think of forgetting or ‘dropping it?’
When God forgives He often forgets our sin but in our case, forgiveness
means something different. For us…and
God…it means to give grace, mercy and assistance to the one who has wronged
us. In other words, it means to turn the
other cheek while going the extra mile.
Keeping no record of wrongs is just one aspect, being a blessing is a
more important part. Can you do it? I have a quarrel with you because of what you
have done so I am going to go the extra mile and do something good for you to
let you know there are no hard feelings.
Yes it requires wisdom so you don’t become a slave to an abusive
personality, but we are talking about another somewhat immature brethren
beloved.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is
the bond of perfectness.
I want you to consider who Paul was talking to in this
letter. He had never been to Colosse and
wasn’t able to personally minister to them.
Much of what he lays out here can take years of trials and frustration
and tests to grow into and yet Paul expects it of these new converts. Is it possible that we in this country and
possibly those in other countries allow themselves a little too much freedom to
be a fruit inspector, judging one another to determine who we ought to love and
less being fruitful?
“Above all,” he writes, “put on love, agapao, God’s love,
which is the bond that holds us together perfectly.” One thing I have discovered is that no matter
how frustrating my son or daughter or anyone else who has full access to my
heart may have hurt me, I will still love them.
The relationship is not broken.
Are there relationships you have ended, not because they have so
terribly hurt you but simply because it seems too hard to love that
person? Be honest about it but after some real soul
searching, repent and submit yourself under the mighty and loving hand of
God. Love, forgiveness, longsuffering,
gentleness, all the fruit of the Spirit are choices you make.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the
which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Do you have His peace?
Philippians 4:7 says we can have a peace that exceeds our ability to
understand or comprehend. This peace
should RULE, command and lead our hearts so we can be like Rabbi Hillel who
loved the difficult visitor and said with confidence, “You can’t make me
mad.” There are times when I wonder if
we really expect God to step in and be the power that makes a difference in our
lives and relationships. We are called,
requested and invited into this body and we ought to be thankful for it.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
You can’t have the word of Christ dwelling in you at all if
you don’t study. The bare minimum should
be basic weekly Bible study at church.
Every saint ought to have a personal devotional time where they read and
meditate on God’s Word. So first God
starts you on meditation and then encourages you to teach, warn and encourage
one another by singing to one another.
It appears to me that we ought to have started Bible karaoke night in
the church and start belting out gospel songs to one another while allowing the
grace and love of God to take root in our hearts. It also seems that if you lack grace this is
the way to develop it…sing praises.
I see it this way; if you don’t feel like singing and making
melody to the Lord then your spiritual grace tank is low or empty. Human beings are not like cars where you
drive around until you need a fill-up and then buy gas. We are like a mill grinding wheat and powered
by a water wheel. The moment the water
stops so does the mill. The moment God’s
immediacy in our life stops so does the work we can perform in Him. If there is no melody in your heart you are
disconnected from the heavenly source and without true power.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do
it with ALL your might.” Romans 8:28
says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, who are THE CALLED according to His purpose.” To these we add the admonition to live in the
NAME of Jesus. John 16:24 says,
“Up to now in your life you have asked nothing in my name
(Jesus). Ask now and receive that your
joy may be full.” Work hard for the Lord
with all your might and God will make everything work together for your
good. Why? Because you are called to
accomplish good works in the Name of the Lord and He will not allow you to fail
but causes all things to work together to make you successful in your
endeavor. Since Jesus sits at the right
hand of our Heavenly Father and since He is our advocate and the propitiation
for our sins, we pray THROUGH the name of our Advocate Jesus and God will
answer so OUR joy may be full.
How great a promise is that?
18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it
is fit in the Lord.
This verse has the potential to be one of the most divisive
in the Bible. There are presuppositions
involved here that must be fulfilled for it to work and even bring peace and
harmony to your home. It presupposes
that you and your wife are both born again Christians who are dedicated and
committed to live their lives in a Christian manner. It presupposes that you both put God first in
your lives and are not selfish and disrespectful of the mate God has loaned to
you. We often say that God has loaned
our children to us and we are required to raise them in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord so when they are grown we can present them to God as
mature saints who are ready to take up their kingdom responsibilities. Adam said, “The woman you GAVE me
sinned.” He was attempting to pass the
responsibility from himself to God.
Husbands, the verse above makes it the woman’s
responsibility to submit willingly to you.
Stay out of her business. Wives,
it is your responsibility to submit to your saved, loving Christian
husband. Unless you live in a culture
that forces the issue, you must do so willingly. Consider this…if you do not submit to your
husband you will have to explain your reasons to God. If it turns out that your husband’s failures
as a head of household or even as a minister of God’s word and purpose are a
direct result of your unwillingness to be a true helpmeet then you will answer
to God.
Abigail submitted to her fool of a husband Nabal until it
was apparent that doing so would cost the life of every male in her
household. She quietly fed David’s men
and stopped the slaughter before it started.
She even accepted blame for not being a helpmeet to her husband’s greedy
nature by being attentive to the visitor’s needs and allowing her husband’s
poor attitudes to bring such danger into the household. God killed Nabal and she married a husband
that appreciated her wisdom, David.
Wives have the ability to make a marginally decent husband
into a great man of God and good provider.
They do it through encouragement and helping the areas where your
husband is somewhat weak. It is hoped
that your husband will assist where you are somewhat weak as well. These relationships should never be him
against her but them, the couple, taking on the world.
19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against
them.
Husbands, husbandmen (one who causes plants to flourish),
love, agapeo with God’s love your
wives and do not be bitter or embittered against your wives nor cause them by
your actions to become bitter. Husbands,
sacrifice as Christ sacrificed Himself for the church, give yourself for your
wife so she might be filled with love and joy.
The responsibility is ours, as husbands, to make marriage to us as
pleasant and rewarding an experience for our wives as possible.
It is apparent that you will have little possibility to
succeed and flourish in marriage unless verse 18 and 19 work together.
20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is
well pleasing unto the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1-2 says, “Children obey your parents in the
Lord because it is the right thing to do.
Give honor to your father and mother which brings a promise that you
will live long on the Earth.” This is
one of the first commandments of God.
Jesus reminded us that He always did those things which please the
Father (John 8:29). One thing I have
discovered is that almost all children love and cherish their parents when
young and as they get older they begin to be angry toward them. Part of this is a child’s desire to become
more independent, but part is due to the parent’s relationship.
21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they
be discouraged.
Fathers – do not provoke (stir up and agitate) your children. We are supposed to be a bringer of stability
to our children. Love and strength ought
to flow from us to them and give them a foundation of self-esteem to build
on. If we discourage them they may never
overcome this early loss and succeed.
Consider this, one child grows up in a loving and
encouraging home where parents spend time with their children and help them
discover their strengths and some things they can be passionate. Another child grows up in a busy household
where the parents come home too exhausted to spend time with their
children. Left to their own devices they
are often in trouble and have no idea what things are out there to pique their
interest or help them succeed. Later in
life those children marry.
If the first child marries someone else who has had quality
time with their parents the two will likely excel as parents and as a couple
and find success. If the first child
marries the second child things might be more difficult and it places a lot of
pressure on the well raised child to help build the other spouse’s confidence
to succeed. If both spouses are the
second child then they may never succeed and lack even the direction needed to
guide their weak spouse. Both are
weak. How you raise your children
largely decides how they succeed later in life.
I have known highly intelligent and not so intelligent
people in my life and the ones with good self-esteem and discipline generally
do better while the ones without do not, regardless of their intellect. Having a great intellect is of no use
whatsoever if you have no drive or will to exploit it.
22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to
the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart,
fearing God:
We discussed this before, servants – doulos – bond slaves – serve your masters according to the nature
of the relationship, not just to get by or seem to be doing your tasks, as if
you seek to be recognized, but with a single minded determination to be the
best servant possible as if it is unto God.
Abraham’s servant stood to inherit everything if Abraham died childless
and yet he went out of his way to find the perfect wife for Issac by praying to
make sure he didn’t make a mistake.
Joseph was sold into slavery in order to complete his preparation for service
to God. As a slave he did EVERYTHING as
unto the Lord and God blessed him.
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord,
and not unto men;
I don’t think we really have to explain this too much since
we approached it fairly clearly a few verses ago. No matter who you work for and no matter how
much it seems you are working for a personality her or there, do it to God and
not to the man. Why? Next verse.
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward
of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
That’s why. The
inheritance isn’t just in the hereafter and it isn’t just dependent upon how
much you witness or how holy you live.
Your inheritance is affected by everything you do and say, especially
toward those who have rule over you. God
desires to reach the mighty and the weak and he will use you to reach kings if
your attitude is right.
25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong
which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
God will defend you or defend others from you. You do not want God to have to protect others
against you. Live by the Spirit. Love by the Spirit. Treat everyone better than you want to be
treated. Make God’s way clear for
Him. Make it the way of life eternal and
blessings in the here and now.
Press in beloved,
Bishop J
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