Colossians Week 8 - Be Salty

Almost there. So far we have spent seven weeks looking through the book of Colossians, trying to discover what the overarching ideas that the Holy Spirit has wanted us to learn. We have gone through three full chapters and now have arrived at Colossians 4 verse 2. So if you have your Bibles, it’s in Colossians 4:2 where we’ll be starting today.

As we have gone through Colossians, we have talked about how the Church is to know Jesus intimately, so that others may know him. We have talked about how Paul wants us to be here for the Church, and not make the Church here for us; manipulating the work of the Church for our own gain. This led us to ask the question, How can I be here for the Church without making the Church here for me? To answer this question, we have talked about how God has brought us into his fullness, through Jesus’ death and resurrection. A fullness that is supposed to be experienced beginning now, because Jesus has said that the reason he had come, is so that we would experience life and life to the full (John 10:10). Not just off in heaven when we die, but right now as we make our way to eternity.

But then we asked, if God has brought us into his fullness already, and we are to experience it now, then why aren’t we?

To answer this question, Paul revealed that there are things in our lives that are dead because of Jesus’ death, but they need to be put to death in our lives. These things hold us back from experiencing God’s fullness and we need to continually go to God and tell him to kill these things that hold us back, such as lying, gossip, anger, lust, evil desires and the list goes on. But it’s not just about killing these things, we need God to make alive those things that come from him. Things like: compassion, kindness, humility, and patience. This is why an intimate relationship with God is so important. As we rely on him to kill those things in our lives that are supposed to already be dead, we begin to experience his fullness more and more. 

So we learned that to experience the fullness that God has brought us into, we need to have an intimate relationship with him. But, as we learned last week, this fullness cannot be experienced without people. We learned that loving God and loving people are interconnected, and it’s God himself who connects them. To experience God’s fullness we need to love him, but also love the people around us, because without one, the other suffers. And without both, we cannot fully experience God’s fullness. We were created to love God and love people. It is an inherent trait that was built into us, by God, at creation. Therefore by not having an intimate relationship with God, we cannot hope to experience his fullness at all, but without a love for people and meeting their needs, we cannot hope to experience God’s fullness in the way that God created us to experience it. So it’s from this understanding that we move into today’s section of Colossians.

So let’s get into today’s passage of Colossians 4:2-6, and see what the Holy Spirit was speaking to the Colossians Church, and us today.

“2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Even though there is one more section after this one, we see that this section is Paul’s concluding his thoughts that he has been taking us through since chapter one.

In the first section of Colossians, which was chapter 1 verses 1-14, we talked about how one of the first things Paul addressed with the Colossians Church was that they needed to be in prayer. Paul informed his readers that, the Church was interconnected by prayer. That though we are thousands of miles apart, we are all with each other through prayer. Though I do not know anyone in Iran, I can pray for the Church there, my brothers and sisters there, because I am connected with them. I can pray for the Church in Brazil, in China, in Canada, in India, in France, and through prayer, I stand with them. And through prayer, that connection is strengthened. I don’t know how it is going to play out in heaven. I don't know how the bond I share through prayer is going to reveal itself when I’m there, all I know is that through praying for the Church around the world, I am connected to the family that I have been adopted into through Jesus’ cross and resurrection.

In that first section, we saw Paul emphasizing the need, and calling the Church to pray. He did this, not by saying, “You should be praying,” rather by saying, “I am in prayer for you.” Paul revealed this spiritual truth, through his own example. Because he was in prayer for the Colossians Church, a church that we learned, he never had physical contact with, yet feels a connection with. And that connection comes through prayer.

Here at the end of his writing to the Colossians Church, we see that he is requesting their involvement in prayer. Paul says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”

Paul asks for the Colossians Church to be devoted to prayer. Devoted to connecting to the world-wide body of believers that is the Church. Paul is asking that they devote themselves to going before God for their brothers and sisters in Jesus, asking God to open doors for the gospel to be heard. And at the end of this letter, the Holy Spirit is reaching to us, asking us, are we willing to be devoted to prayer. To connecting with other believers across this world. Asking God to reveal himself and work through them. We know this, because Paul never points to specific people as prayer warriors. He never segregates a special group for this task. Praying for other believers around the world and next to us, is a ministry that everyone of us needs to be a part of.

But Paul is not just asking for believers to be in prayer for the Church around the world. Paul is asking that we take our intimate relationship with Jesus and our love for people, and start sharing it with others. Paul says starting in verse 5, “5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Our relationship with Jesus and love for people is not supposed to be contained within the confines of the Church meeting. Instead, it is supposed to be lived out in our lives. Let’s say we get our 8 hours of sleep every week, that’s 56 hours total. That means that we are roughly awake 112 hours. We usually meet as a Church, roughly, only 2% of the time out of our week, and that’s if we meet for Sunday School, Worship, and one more hour during the week (3 hours total per week).

But if we’re only meeting one hour a week, that percentage drops to .89%. That means if we’re only coming to a one hour worship time every week, we’re spending less that 1% of our week with the Church. That means, we could be spending up to 36% of our time at work, and 69% of our time with other people. The fullness of God that we are called to experience, is to be experienced 100% of the time. That means it is supposed to be experienced both in that 2% with the Church, and the other 98% with people outside the Church. To put that in hours, 3 hours a week with the Church and about 109 hours with people outside the church.

That is why Paul says, make the most out of every opportunity. And with 98% of our life outside of the Church, we will have many opportunities to share our experience of God’s fullness with people.

But Paul doesn't just talk about the opportunities we have, but also how we are to go about those opportunities. He says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt…”

Our conversations should be grace full, meaning we should allow people room to be messed up. We can’t expect people to be perfect. We can’t expect people to say all the right things, or act all the right ways. And it doesn’t matter if their a believer or not. We have to give some grace to people, because God gives it to us.

But Paul doesn’t just say, “hey, give grace.” No, he tells us to season our conversations with salt. Now, he’s not talking about carrying a little package of salt around, and when we have a conversation to sprinkle it while we talk. he’s actually giving us a practical idea.

To us, salt might not be something we would associate with conversation, but when we realize the use of salt, we can see why Paul wants our conversation seasoned with it.

Salt is used to create texture, our conversations need to build people up. Salt is a flavor enhancer, our conversations to be life enhancing. Salt is a nutrient source, our conversations need to give godly nutrients for the mind and heart. Salt is a binding agent, our conversations need to build our bond with people.

By seasoning our conversations with salt, Paul is saying, “build people up, enhance their life, let them see that you have life in you, and bond yourself to them.”

These five verses are summoning up everything that Paul has been writing about in the last 3 chapters. From praying for the Church, to living out the fullness of God in front of the world. Paul is calling us to live out loving God and loving people in real and practical ways.

We are to be mindful and intentional about the words we speak, asking God to put to death those things that hold us back, and bring alive those things that come from Him.

This is Paul’s summary. He is asking us to take what we have learned and walk it. To live it out. To connect with the Church world wide through our prayers. To have an intimate relationship with God and to love people by meeting their needs. 

And then to take that and make sure that we’re building people up, and bonding ourselves to them through our conversations. 

So this week, my challenge for you is this: Get some salt, you can pick it up for free in and prepackaged from McDonalds. Once you get it and it’s in some sort of bag, tape it up on a mirror, put it in your car, or carry it around with you. But whatever you do, put it in a place where you will be reminded daily to live out the fullness that God has brought you into, and to allow that fullness to be carried on the word of your conversations. Because remember 98% of our waking hours are spent outside the Church gathering, but all our conversations are to be carried out in the fullness of God that is seasoned with salt.

May God richly bless you as you go out and follow his call on your life, amen.

Colossians Week 7 - Experiencing God's Fullness Through Our Relationships

Today we’re going to continue our study in the book of Colossians, where we will be picking it up in chapter 3 verse 18. So if you have your Bibles you can begin to open up to Colossians chapter 3 verse 18.

Now, we are coming ever closer to the end of our study through the book of Colossians with only three sections left. And after today, only two to go. In the two previous sections that we have covered we’ve been following Paul as he has been focusing on the fullness of Jesus. This fullness that we have discussed is knowing God intimately. We have talked about how we are to know God intimately, and how this is the goal of Christianity. 

Everything we do, is to get us to a place were we are living our daily lives in the fullness of God. It is a place where we experience God’s presence, his love, and his peace. Paul as told us that we come into this fullness only through Jesus’ death, and resurrection. And when we realize that this fullness of knowing God intimately is for us now, then we can start to live in it day-to-day, rather than thinking it can only be experienced when we die. 

From this understanding that the fullness of God is to be experienced now, rather than later, Paul tells us that there are things that we can do to help us experience God’s fullness. in verses 1-17 of chapter 3, we discover that our heart or our feeling self, and our mind or our thinking self, need to be focused on God. So our thoughts and our feelings need to be solely focused on God, and not the things of this earth that would draw us away.

In this process of getting our mind and heart on God, we found that it isn’t about hearing what we need to do or not do, rather it is listening to God and allowing him to tell us what is right and what is wrong.

We found that our relationship with God is based on him. Not on a pastor, not on a teacher, but on the God who saved us and brought us into his fullness. So, now we need to discover, with God, what we should and should not do. Should I go here or not? Should I dress like this or not? Should I do this or should I do that? All of which are answered in the context of our relationship with God. Are there black and white boundaries? Of course, yet at the same time there are the grey area inside those boundaries, and it’s within those boundaries that we are talking about.

And in doing so, as we live out our relationship with God, discovering new things in it, Paul reminded us that we are to be patient and graceful toward other people as God leads them. We need to allow God to work in their lives as they grow in their relationship with him. 

And it’s with this understanding that Paul moves us into the next section of his writings to the Colossians Church.

To understand the thought process of Paul, let me read the last verse from our last section which is verse 17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

“18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.”

Paul takes us from understanding that we are to experience God’s fullness now, and that this fullness is experienced through our personal relationship with him. We are also to allow others to experience their relationships with God, so that they too can experience his fullness.

But here’s the kicker to all of it, our relationship with God, and the experience of his fullness does not exclude the relationships we have with people. See, we can easily make our relationship with God so personal, that we lose sight of the fullness of God. If we focus on our own understanding of the Bible and we make doctrine king, we can have a tendency to make service a peasant. If this happens, then that we have put our personal interests ahead of our relational responsibilities. When we make touching a book more important that touching a life, we have closed ourselves off to the needs that God has give us to meet. When we believe the idea that the purity of the saint is more important that the dirt of the sinner, and therefore the association we have with them, we miss the Jesus who touched the leprosy of people.  If we truly desire to experience the fullness of God then we must realize that it can only be experienced in relationship with God and with people.

Jesus says in Mark 12:29-31, that the two greatest commandments are these: to love God and to love people. We have been talking about how God is leading us, as the Alliance Church of Quartzsite to Love, Lift, Locate, Life. This leading of God is based in Scripture and here we see it again. Paul is piggybacking onto Jesus’ two greatest commandments. Paul is saying, Jesus brought us into his fullness through his death and resurrection and do you know how you can experience it? By letting the do’s and don’ts come out of your personal relationship with God, and how you conduct your relationships with people. 

The two cannot be separated. Just as Jesus said, the most important command is this, and the second is this. Jesus forever connected the two for us to experience the fullness. We were created to love God, being in relationships with him, and to love people being in relationship with them.

Now Paul gives us 3 relationships in this passage: First Paul gives us the husband wife relationship. Telling us that wives are to submit, which is a sign of respect, and husbands are to love. The second is, children are to obey, which is a sign of respect, and Father’s are not to embitter or discourage their children. Interesting that it is the Father-Children relationship that is singled out, but as we have said before, we’re focusing on the over arching idea here, rather than the verse-by-verse scrutiny that we could do. Finally we have the slave or servant who is to obey, which again is a sign of respect, and the master to be just and merciful to his slaves.

Knowing all this, what is Paul trying to say overall? What is the overall idea, in the thought process of our relationships being a part of our experiencing God’s fullness?

In each relationship, one party in making sure the other one is having their need fulfilled. A wife needs to know she is loved. A husband needs to know he is respected. Parents need to know that they’re children will trust them. Children need to be encouraged. Masters need to be respected and their servants need to know that the master is treating them well.

To experience God’s fullness is to have an intimate relationship with him that pours over to the people around us. This means that we are working for the good of the people around us. In our relationship with God, we look to recognize the need in our relationships. If we are a husband, we are looking to fulfill our wives need of love. If we are a business owner, we are looking to fulfill the need of taking care of our employees. Not matter what the relationship we are looking to fulfill the need of the opposite party.

To experience God’s fulness is to realize that our relationship with him extends to the people around us. We are not supposed to be some monk, who isolates themselves form people. Instead, the only true way to experience the fullness of God, the way he has intended us to experience it, is by waking up to the fact that we are in this together.

Why is it that our relationship with people is so important? Because God created us to realize that we created with a need that is found in relationship. Genesis 2:18 says, “It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper for him.” God created Eve because Adam was created to need a companion, to need relationship. Adam was created to be in relationship with a human, this is because God is a relational God. It is found in the revealing that God is three in one, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as Jesus reveals in Matthew 28:19.

So then, why did God create the Church? Jesus says in his prayer in John 17: 21, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” God created the Church to show the world that he is real, through people who are experiencing his fullness with each other.

The people sitting around you are not there just to take up space, but so that you will be able to experience God through meeting their need, and them meeting yours.

This is why the writer John says in his 1st letter to the Church, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

Our relationships with people are interconnected with experiencing the fullness of God. We cannot hope to know God deeper, if we are not willing to know his people. But if we are to experience the fullness of God now, all we must do is seek to fulfill what Paul is saying in these verses. 

We are to make sure that the needs of people that we are in relationship with are being met. I need to make sure my wife is having her love need met. I need to make sure that my children have their encouragement need met. I need to make sure my parents have their respect need met. I need to make sure my boss is having his respect need met. Because as I seek to meet the needs of the relationships around me, I seek to make my relationship with God stronger, because the desire to meet these needs comes out of my desire to build me relationship with God himself.

What would this body of believers at the Alliance church look like if each of us sought to meet the needs of the other believers around us, for no other reason except to please God?

I want to be a part of a group of believers that cared for each other like that.

So this is my challenge for you this week: Ask God, to open your eyes to the people around you. Then make a list, like the one in section we talked about today. A list of the needs that people need from you. Are you a father? Are you a business owner? Are you a teacher, a husband, wife, sister, brother? What do the people on the opposite end of your relationship need from you?

Let us go and experience God, through the relationships he has given us.

Colossians Week 6 - God Works Within Us

Since we have been going through the book of Colossians we have seen that the writer, Paul, has been talking about the Church in general and our relationship with it. Last week we finished up a two part talk, where we focused on the us aspect of that relationship. We talked about how we are to be built up, we are to have our faith strength, and we are to be thankful toward God. All this leads us to knowing the fullness that Jesus has brought us into, which is knowing him intimately. 

We also talked last week about how Christianity is not an organized religion. We talked about how an organized religion is meant to create a false spiritual experience. While Christianity is a faith based relationship.

Christianity isn’t based on what the pastor tells you what to do, rather on what God is working on within you. Which is where Paul is going with this whole thing. Last week, we saw that organized religion wants us to be so focused on the do’s and don’ts so that it can create a controlled experience, whereas Christianity is meant to be lived as a living breathing movement of where God is leading and teaching us. 

In order for that to happen though, we need to give each other room to explore what God is teaching us.

But in this, there are somethings that we need to be seeking to deal with in our relationship with God. And it’s with that mindset that Paul moves on to chapter 3 of Colossians. So if you have your Bibles, we’ll be start reading in Colossians chapter 3 verse 1.

Now as we get into this, I have to let you know that I struggled with how much we were going to cover today. Because, to be honest this is one of those sections where it could easily be cut into two, but as we have said before, we’re here looking at the overarching ideas that are being put forth in the book, rather than looking at the verse-by-verse of it all. So, even though there is a lot to cover, we’ll read this as Paul lays out his thoughts. Let’s begin reading.

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Let’s stop right there. In our last section we talked about how Paul wants us to know the fullness that God has brought us into. That fullness, we discussed, was knowing God intimately. We talked about how that is a common theme throughout the book of Colossians so far, and it is in this passage that Paul is going to give some rubber to road application for us. Before it was mostly abstract kind of thinking, know God, but now Paul’s going to get into how that actually works itself out.

Paul starts off with saying set your hearts and minds on things above. What are those things above, and why is it our heart and mind? Well the things above is the reality that, as Paul says in verse 3, our lives are hidden with Christ in God. In other words, it’s what we have been talking abbot for a while now: the fullness that is to be experienced now, and which will see a new dimension to when Jesus returns. The two are the same.

The heart, as we have talked before are our feelings, and our mind are what we think.

So Paul is saying that we need to get our thinking selves, and our feeling selves on the same page. What’s that page? To focus on the fact that our lives are Jesus’ and we can experience that full life now with him.

But what does this full life entail? Remember we asked that same question last week, and we said it’s getting to know Jesus intimately? Well, here are the nuts and bolts of how that happens within that intimacy. Let’s start back at verse 5

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 

In verses 1-4, Paul says that we need to get our lives focus in the right place, with understanding that our lives are Jesus’. He says we need to get our thinking selves and our feeling selves to live in that reality. But here’s the thing, you and I know that there is something wrong, there’s something holding us back. Paul knows it too. So he says, let’s put to death those things that are holding us back from experiencing this fullness of life that we have been brought into.

He then gives us a list of things that are holding us back: Sexual immorality, impurities, lustful things. Translated into the modern happenings of our world, some of these cold be: homosexuality, adultery, pornography, even what can be see on TV and movies. 

Paul talks about evil desires and greed, which Paul calls idolatry, because it’s those things that we try to replace God with for our security.

He goes on with anger, rage. When somethings not right, it’s the way we respond with destruction. Malice, which are those ungodly, self-centered reasons that drives us to do things. Slander, filthy language, and lying which is using our mouths to breakdown, rather than build up.

Paul just hit things that go on in our thinking and in our feeling. He says those things are to be put to death, and our thinking selves and our feeling selves need to refocus to our lives with Jesus.

Now the usual answer to this list that Paul just gave us is, “I can’t do that. I’m not some super-spiritual person.”

And in verse 11, Paul’s response to that someone who would respond with this statement.

11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Paul’s answer to us saying that this can’t happen in our lives: You can. Why? Because it’s not about your social, economic, ethnic, or spiritual background. It’s because Jesus lives in you.

You can put to death these things that Paul has listed because of no other reason than you have been brought into the fullness of Jesus, and now Jesus through, the power of the Holy Spirit, lives within you.

And even more, because Jesus lives in you and you can put to death these things that were listed, Paul says to not stop there, but to replace it with the things that are found in the fullness of God’s life. Verse 12 says…

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

We asked the question in our third week of going through the book of Colossians: How do we be the person that is here for the Church and not make the Church here for us?

Here’s the answer: by getting our thinking and feeling selves to put the things that we lived in before Jesus, to death. We do this only through the power of the Holy Spirit living inside us. When we get our thinking and feeling selves to focus on the fullness that God has brought us into, we can begin to replace those dead things, with living things that are found in the fullness of Jesus.

When we are fully participating in this kind of relationship based spiritually, then we can sit with each other as fellow relationship based people, bearing with each other as we deal with taking off the old dead things, and putting on the new living things of the fullness of Jesus. We can forgive each other, because we understand the struggle that is in us, and how much Jesus has forgiven us to bring us into his fullness. And we can be united together, because of our Savior and his work. We can boast in what Jesus has done, rather than in what we have done. And in doing so, we can celebrate what he is doing in other people’s lives, because he is moving within them, jus like he is moving in us.

And as we do this we can stand next to each other, people who are on the same path at different stages, singing to our God who has saved us. Paul says in verse 15 and 16…

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

When Paul says that we are to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. He is telling us to sing songs that are written in Scripture, which are psalms. We are to sing songs that talk about our faith which are hymns. And we are to sing songs that come out of our the relational experience we have with God.

At the beginning we said that this whole section of putting to death those things that keep us from refocusing our hearts and minds on the fullness Jesus calls us into, can only be done through our relationship with God. I cannot do this for you, because I am not God and I don’t know what needs to happen in your life for you to experience God’s fullness more. It’s the same for you to me. All we can do is to thank God for each other, encourage each other along the way, and share with each other the insights we have gained through our experiences that God has led us through.

So ending his thought, Paul adds this in verse 17, 

17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We need to be working with God to experience his fullness. We need to come to the Church to sit with other believers, other people who are engaging in this relational process, to be encouraged, to be challenged, to be supported, and to worship the God of our fullness together.

So today, I want you take take a piece of paper and write down what God is working on in your life. Then, if you can ask someone that you know is a Christian about what is God currently teaching them. That way you can see the similarities and the difference, as you both walk with God.

God bless and have a great day.

Colossians Week 5 - The Fullness of Jesus

Today we’re going to continue making our way through the book of Colossians and if you have your Bibles you can open up to chapter 2 of Colossians where we left off with verse 9. 

Now since we have been going through the book of Colossians, we have been taking it section by section, so that we can get a fuller understanding of what the Holy Spirit was trying to reveal through the author Paul. 

That is until we came to chapter 2 verses 6-23. We talked about how this section dealt with so much information that we need to cut it into to parts. The first part dealt with verses 6-8, where we talked about how Paul was telling us as individuals that we needed three things: 1) To be built up in Jesus by solidifying our understanding of who he is, 2) That we need to have our faith strengthen through serving people, 3) And that we need to be continuously thankful by looking at the good God has done for us.

Then we talked about how these three things that we need in our personal lives are to combat, momentary philosophies of how we approach our relationship with God, human traditions of how the Church is supposed to act, and spiritual forces that our trying to divert our attention away from God and onto momentary problems.

It was all this that we talked about, which needed to be flushed out, before we could talk about the next part of the section.

So now knowing that we need to be built up in Jesus, to combat momentary philosophies. Knowing that we need to have our faith strengthened through serving, which combats against human traditions getting in our way in reaching people. And knowing that being continuously thankful keeps our eyes on God and away from the momentary problems of this world that the spiritual forces around us want us to focus on. It’s now that we can move forward in understanding the next part of the section. So if you have your Bibles with you, would you please open up to verse 9 of chapter 2 in the book of Colossians. Where we’ll read together. 

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Let’s take a breather right there, and digest everything that Paul is writing.

After I had begun my own personal relationship with God, I tried to attend churches. While I sat through a lot of sermons over time, it seemed to be that I was hearing the same thing over and over. Don’t do. Don’t do this, don’t do that.

And when I heard the Gospel message given, it was seemed like it was, “God saved you from sin.” Now, I’m not saying these things I heard were bad, but there began to be something missing in my relationship with God. I felt like this whole being saved thing was more about the things I wasn’t supposed to do. But as I read the Bible, it seemed like there was more to the story than just the things I was saved from, and the things I wasn't suppose to be doing. 

A few years of this went on and for one of my studied I had to read the book the Four-Fold Gospel by A.B. Simpson. In the book, Simpson talked about what we were saved from, sin and death, but then he added a section on what we were saved to. He gave point after point about how we are not just saved from something, but we are saved to something.

Here, Paul tells us that we are not only saved from something, but we are saved to something.

Verse 10 says, “10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.”

Paul is saying that when we put our trust into Jesus as our Savior we are being brought into fullness. Paul goes on to give us three overarching ways that Jesus accomplishes bringing us into this fullness: 1) By triumphing over the spiritual powers of this world, 2) By putting to death our old self-focused lives, 3) And by raising us to new life.

Our being brought into fullness can only pass through the work of Jesus on the cross, and through his resurrection. Paul is picking up on what Jesus had taught, as recorded in the book of John 14:6, “6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Us being brought into fullness can only be accomplished through Jesus, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead.

But what is the fullness that Paul is talking about? What does it mean to be brought into this fullness.

Well, Jesus says in John 10:10, “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

So this fullness is a fullness of life. But what does that mean?

I want to share with you something else from A. B. Simpson. He wrote a hymn in 1904 called “Himself.” Take a moment to read through the lyrics below, or follow the link to hear the song for yourself: https://youtu.be/CvTPC3JtiCI

Verse 1: 

Once it was the blessing,

Now it is the Lord;

Once it was the feeling,

Now it is His Word;

Once His gift I wanted,

Now, the Giver own;

Once I sought for healing,

Now Himself alone.

Refrain:

All in all forever,

Jesus will I sing;

Everything in Jesus,

And Jesus everything.

Verse 2:

Once ’twas painful trying,

Now ’tis perfect trust;

Once a half salvation,

Now the uttermost;

Once ’twas ceaseless holding,

Now He holds me fast;

Once ’twas constant drifting,

Now my anchor’s cast.

(Refrain)

Verse 3:

Once ’twas busy planning,

Now ’tis trustful prayer;

Once ’twas anxious caring,

Now He has the care;

Once ’twas what I wanted,

Now what Jesus says;

Once ’twas constant asking,

Now ’tis ceaseless praise.

(Refrain)

Verse 4:

Once it was my working,

His it hence shall be;

Once I tried to use Him,

Now He uses me;

Once the pow’r I wanted,

Now the Mighty One;

Once for self I labored,

Now for Him alone.

(Refrain)

A.B. Simpson recognized what the fullness was that Paul is writing about here in Colossians. 

The fullness of this life is not the things we have, but to know Jesus the Creator. From the second section Paul, has been hammering us with knowing Jesus. That it is the relationship with Jesus that is the most important aspect of this Christian life. From this one understanding,  everything else extends. 

Paul tells us in the first chapter of Colossians, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Getting to know the God who created us is what it means to be brought into fullness. Because when we enter into that place, everything us comes together. 

The questions we have, the struggles we experience, the desires of our heart, all this begins to be understood in the presence that God created us to experience. This is why it is so important that in the book of Revelation chapter 21 it says, “3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

This experience that is talked about in the book of Revelation is meant for every person who puts their trust into Jesus as their Savior. And that experience is meant to begin now. It is not a wait and see experience of some by and by time, but rather what is talked about in the book of Revelation is a more intense experience that we are to be having right now in this life.

But here’s the thing, we tend try and create a false experience, a false fullness. And it’s this false experience that Paul addresses, starting in verse 16. Let’s continue reading.

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

I’ve heard people talk about organized religion, and a lot of what they say is true. But do you know what the worst thing about organized religion is? Organized religion is meant to create a false spiritual experience. It accomplishes this through a list of do’s and don’ts. Through controlling it’s people with what they can and cannot do. By telling them to follow a certain pastor, or rabbi, or teacher. Organized religion desires to have us experience the fullness of God within a box that can be managed, by another.

But here’s the thing, Christianity is not an organized religion. It is a faith based relationship. And as we’ll see the next time, there are things that we can do to help us in our relationship, but those things are between us and God, not us and a pastor. Not us and a rabbi, not us and a teacher. 

I believe it is my calling as a pastor to help us go through the Scriptures to uncover the truths as the Holy Spirit of God directs us, but I am not, nor should I ever be the basis for your relationship with God.

Nor should any of you be the basis for my relationship with God. We are equals, walking this path of understanding our relationship with God together. We are to give grace to each other to achieve, and fail as we move forward, knowing God. 

Yes, there are some set perimeters, such as there is only one way to find this fullness and it’s through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but there is a lot of areas within that, that we need to discover together with God, as he reveals it. 

Paul is telling us that we have been brought into fullness of a relationship with the God of the universe, let’s not try and revert back to a false spiritual experience that is based on blanket do’s and don’ts that confine us more that liberate us.

Church, this is what we need to do: instead of taking our God as a religion to follow, and looking for that next spiritual experience, we need to seek God as a relationship that is fulfilling just because it is him.

The question I want to ask today is this, “Do you know Jesus in a full way, or is your relationship with him a religion?”

This week, every time you're in the shower I want you to say a prayer asking God to help you live in the fullness that Jesus has brought you into. Why the shower? It’s a place of solitude where nothing of the world is beckoning you. We all need to live in the fullness that Jesus has brought us into, if we did, how much different would the Church be if we had the life focus that A.B. Simpson had when he wrote, 

Once it was the blessing,

Now it is the Lord;

Once it was the feeling,

Now it is His Word;

Once His gift I wanted,

Now, the Giver own;

Once I sought for healing,

Now Himself alone.

And I would add, “once it was the experience, now the fullness of the Lord, I seek.”