Colossians, Part 2

I was going to say, I'll wait before I say anything here. Am I supposed to do anything with the screen up here? There we go. Well, greetings to everyone. Thought I'd do something a little different today. Originally, we were scheduled to have a video, and we played several of the videos from the TV program of late. So I thought what I would do is just simply do a split Bible study. Maybe that way we'll get through Colossians 2 today. So we'll take a look at that and see. So what I plan to do is to go for about 45 minutes, take a break. We'll have another song. I'll give announcements, and then we'll come back and finish the Bible study. So I'll save the announcements and all of that until the announcement period. If you will remember...let me just mention this first. Last time we started a Bible study on the book of Colossians, and I had a handout that I gave everyone. Now, there's a new handout today on Colossians 2. So I don't know how many of you carry those things around with you and have them here or not, but we're going to pick up in Colossians 1 and verse 19. We made it through verse 18, and hopefully we can go on into chapter 2 before the break, and then we can come back and finish this chapter up. The reason why I mention chapter 2 is because chapter 2 is probably one of the scriptures that has been most misused by theologians and by so-called theologians down through the years to try to do away with God's law and to say that it's been nailed to the cross and we no longer have to keep it. So you and I need to be able to explain that up one side and down the other. So we get through with the Bible study today. There's nothing about Colossians 2 that you won't understand, I hope. So we'll see how that goes. Now, just as a quick review, the book of Colossians was an epistle that Paul wrote or a letter that Paul wrote while he was in prison. He wrote it. He never had visited the church in Colossae or Laodicea, but the pastor who had raised the church up there had reported to Paul that there were some problems. And so Paul then, as an apostle, overseeing this area, writes back and he gives a, let's say, not just an update, but he gives a challenge or he tackles what these problems are and he explains clearly what the Bible has to say about it. If you'll remember in chapter one, I introduced the fact that one of the main heresies that was prevalent in the church back at that time was the heresy of Gnosticism. Here recently, Mr. Bruce Gore spoke on that topic and showed how modern Gnosticism or the, say, the results of Gnosticism have carried on down to our today and the philosophy and the ideas. One of the things that Paul shows is the preeminence of Jesus Christ and he shows that Christ is preeminent. He's above all the creation. He's above all the angels, above all spirit beings, anything that's been created. If you remember back in verse 13, we find that Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and has now translated or put us into his kingdom and that we are redeemed through his blood and we have forgiveness of sins, that he is the image of the invisible God in verse 14 and that he has pre-eminence over all the creation.

So, Christ is over everything. In verse 16, by him all things were created. So, you find that Jesus Christ created everything and it shows not only on earth but in heaven, not only visible but invisible.

And then he sustains all things. He's before all things. He's also the first born from the dead and he has preeminence. So, that sort of summarizes what we recovered the last time. I'm not going to try to shout or whoop or do anything today. I'm hoping I make it through the two sessions. By the way, I might mention I went to a doctor this past week. It may have been the week before, I forget. I thought it's about time I checked again with a throat, nose, ear specialist. See what they had to say about this seems like perpetual cough that I tend to have. I've been to these doctors twice in the past and basically they've told me, don't sing, don't hum. I mean, that was their basic recommendation. They said singing and humming vibrates the throat and you can cause irritation, so therefore don't do that. So, that's why sometimes I'll just go stand in the back of the room instead of singing, simply to avoid that. But this particular doctor ran a scope up my nose and down my throat and thought I had something called LPR, which is akin to acid reflux. I've never known myself to have acid reflux. I never have to take roll aids. I don't have anything of that nature that I've known of, but he said, over half the people who have this problem don't know they have it. So, he said, it's not unusual not to experience that, but he said, what happens even if you get a little bit of acid that comes up into the voice box, that is a lot more sensitive than the lower area down here. And he said, you get a little acid up there, what happens, it irritates, can burn that area. And so, therefore, you have a constant irritation there, and as a result, you tend to cough. I mean, that's his summation. Now, he also is wanting to eliminate that there's a problem with the lungs, as well as allergies. I think there are allergies that contribute to it, but he said, this is especially true when you lie down at night, that acid tends to back up. So, he's given me something to fight allergies, and he's given me something to fight acid reflux. And he said, let's take a month or two and see if that cures the problem. If it doesn't, then they'll do something else. So, that's where we stand with that. So, I thought I'd just mention that. Anyway, going on in verse 19. We've killed 10 minutes here, and we've got to get started. Notice it says, for he please the Father that in, or it please the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and that by him to reconcile all things to himself, that's the Father, to reconcile all things to himself the Father, by him Christ, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross. Now, I wanted to stop in verse 19 because this is an especially interesting verse, an important verse.

You notice what I have up here on the board, and this is also in your handout.

The word fullness comes from the Greek word pleroma, and you've heard me use that before when I gave the sermon, dealing with Gnostics. This is taken from the new Bible dictionary. The exegesis use of chapter 2, verse 9 is undoubtedly the fullness of the deity, the totality of the Godhead, dwelt in Christ. And this means may be decisive in settling the correct interpretation of chapter 1, verse 19. Now, let's read verse 9 in chapter 2 because the word pleroma is used again here. In verse 9 it says, for in him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, meaning that in Christ dwelt the fullness of God, but in a bodily form when he was God in human flesh. He was God in the flesh. He was also the Son of Man. So, coming back to verse 19, it says, it's pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell. In other words, the fullness of God, the divinity of God, the power of God, the attributes of God, all of these dwelt in Christ. Now, why is this important? Well, notice going on. In this text, the choice is between taking it as a quasi-technical term of early Gnostic speculation, which used the word to denote the region inhabited by the full number of the intermediate beings which were thought to exist between the Creator God and the created world, and taking it in the sense that God in his fullness, the entirety of God's attributes, his full divinity, which was pleased to dwell in Christ. So, obviously, Colossians 2 is very clear in verse 9 that that's what it means, that all of the attributes, God's full divinity, dwelt in Christ. So, Paul is combating the speculative teachers at Colossae who reduced Christ to this celestial hierarchy. And so, what that means is the Gnostic self of Christ was only one of these created beings. They thought he was a created being, that he had not self-existed for all eternity, along with the Father, but that he was created and he was part of this, what they call, Pleroma, which was this vast area where all of these intermediaries existed. So, Paul emphasizes throughout the book that Christ has authority over all spiritual powers. He is countering the common Gnostic teaching that tended to make Christ less important, sometimes only one of the angelic beings from the heavenly Pleroma. So, Paul uses Pleroma in a different sense than the Gnostics used it.

Now, moving on here, you'll notice here it says, all of the fullness. Now, we have another quote here. This is from Robertson's Word Pictures. This is a recognized technical term in theology, denoting the totality of the divine powers and attributes. The Gnostics distributed the divine powers among various eons. So, they said all of God's power was divided among these various angels and lesser angels and gnomes and dwarfs and sips and all of these fellows, all the way down. Paul gathered them all in Christ, a full flat statement of the deity of Christ.

So, he is emphasizing here that Christ is God, that the full deity dwelt in him. Now, finally, this may be overkill, but I thought I would make sure you understood what the term means. A term likely used by those in Colossae heresy to refer to the divine powers and attributes, they believe they were divided among the various emanations. Paul countered that by asserting that the fullness of the deity, all the divine power and attributes, was not spread out among the created beings, but completely dwelt in Christ. Now, that's absolutely important, and one reason I'm taking time to cover this is because, and we come over here to chapter 2, and we begin to get into the philosophy of Gnosticism that Paul is counteracting, you'll find that this is part of it, the Gnostic's belief in this Pleroma.

Now, in verse 20, verse 20 here, says, for by him, by Christ, to reconcile all things to himself. The word reconcile here means to change or to exchange. It refers to a change in the sinner's relationship to God. Who changes? Who has to change? Does God have to change? We're the ones have to change.

We have to repent. We have to change our way of living, our way of thinking, and so we have to change to go God's way. Man is reconciled to God when God restores man to our right relationship through him. This is an intensified form of the word reconciliation, and it means a total and a complete reconciliation. Now, we find that he made peace through the blood of his cross. This, again, is something that flies in the face of Gnosticism.

Remember the docetic Gnostics denied the real humanity of Jesus? They said that Jesus was just a man, that it was only the Christ who was divine, and yet you find all through this book he refers to Christ and Jesus both as being divine. And so, how could just a man, shedding his blood, atone for the sins of all mankind unless he were God?

See, that's his argument, and so that's why he mentions that here. Now, it says he reconciled all things. The word all things is used in the Scripture to mean the whole universe, spiritual and physical, that there's going to come a time in the future that there'll be a new heaven and a new earth, and all things will be brought into a right relationship with God. Not only the creation, the creation will ultimately be brought into a right relationship with God again, but only those who agree with God in his plan will still be there to have a right relationship with God.

And so, the holy angels, the satan and his demons, will be cast into outer darkness. All those humans who refuse to go along with God will be consumed in the lake of fire. And so, ultimately, only God in his way will be there, and there will be peace and harmony throughout the whole universe.

Now, in verse 21, it says, And you who were once alien, alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, blameless, and irreproachable in his sight. Now, the word alienated means estranged or cut off, separated.

So, what this is saying that in the past, before God calls a person, before you begin to walk this way of life, and God calls you, you were cut off or separated from God. You were not a part of his family, a part of his kingdom. All people were completely estranged from God. Remember what Ephesians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 said. I'll just read that, talking about the Gentiles. Paul said, At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once afar off have been made near by the blood of Christ. So, you'll find everybody has been that. In the past, we've also been enemies. The word enemy can be translated hateful. Before our conversion, we loved wicked works. Now, we wouldn't say we loved wicked works, but if we did not agree with what God said was evil and wicked, and we were living the opposite, then we loved wicked works.

And I mean, I could cite to you dozens of different ways that we've all disobeyed in the past before we were converted. Romans 8-7 says, The carnal mind is enmity against God. We're all familiar with that. Emmity. There's a hatred. There's an animosity there against God. So, you find that you and I have been reconciled then to God. As it says in the body, that yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless.

So, through Christ's death, it's now possible for us to be reconciled, brought back in harmony with God, and to be at one with God, to have our sins paid for. And again, this is accomplished through Christ's body, through His body of His flesh. Now, the Gnostics considered flesh, material, physical things as evil. So, how do you reconcile the fact that Christ died? His body was beaten. He was crucified.

He gave His life. He shed His blood as it says. We're reconciled in the body of His flesh through death. That flies totally in the face of what the Gnostics believed and what the Gnostics taught. Christ, again, was greater than all of the creation. So, as a result of this, He's able to present us holy. The word holy means positively consecrated, separated unto God. This is a common reference to New Testament believers. We are called saints.

Same word, or same basic word. A saint is one who is separated, set aside to God, without blemish. So, guess what? You and I are supposed to come to the point where we are without blemish or without sput. The word means irreproachable.

irreproachable means that you can't find flaws in us to call to account to pick flaws in. Well, that's what you do when you're reproached, but what if you're irreproachable?

Is there anybody here who's yet without a flaw?

I'm not going to hold my hand down. No, we're not absolutely there yet, are we? But, guess what?

We can repent. And when we repent and ask God for forgiveness, God forgives our sins. And we are made right or righteous in His sight. And so, therefore, we are justified. We're made right in His sight. We're right with God at that point. And so, God is able to accomplish that. It says, notice, present you holy, blameless, and irreproachable in His sight. Maybe not in your sight. I mean, you and I, looking at ourselves, we know we have these flaws. But God looks at us, we're His sons. And He's willing to overlook our flaws when we repent. Now, moving on, verse 23, says, if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast, so you and I, our job is to stay grounded, brethren. How many people did not stay grounded in the truth and are no longer in the church? We are to be steadfast, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Now, this may be a hyperbole, where Paul says that it's preached to every creature, but what he's saying is that the gospel had basically been heralded abroad over the Roman Empire in a wider fashion than most people believed. And so, the apostles had spread out. And we have records in the Greek text of the other apostles going down to Egypt, going up into Britain, going all over Europe, up into the Baltic areas, and into many of these different areas. They even went into India. And so, the gospel was spread through the known world at that time. Now, that brings us to verse 24.

And again, this is a very interesting verse. Paul says, I now rejoice in my sufferings. Now, Paul had probably suffered more than all of us put together as far as physical punishment.

He'd been shipwrecked, what, four or five times. He'd been beaten with 39 stripes three or four times. He'd been stoned and left for dead. He said there were times when he was naked. He was hungry. There were times when he went without. He had no clothes. There were times when he abounded, times when he was abased. And so, Paul went through all of the suffering. He was chased as a common criminal. He was in jail many times. He had a rap sheet and a record, you know, this long, so to speak. He kept being thrown in jail, and God kept delivering him. At this point, Paul was in prison. He's in Rome. And he had suffered much for Christ in the church. So he says, now I rejoice in my suffering for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body and his church, which is his church. If you go back, and we won't read this in 2 Corinthians 11 verses 16 through 33, it gives a whole listing of what Paul went through, 2 Corinthians 11, 16. All of the sufferings, everything that he went through. When we are persecuted for righteousness, brethren, this is true of all of us. It doesn't just matter about Paul that any one of us, it is not just directed at us, it's directed at Jesus Christ. When you're doing right, what is righteous, and you're persecuted for it, it's the same as if Jesus Christ were here doing it because Christ lives in us, Galatians 2.20. When you persecute the body, you attack the head.

See, you can persecute me. I mean, you could come along, you know, somebody could come along and beat me up. They could hit me in the stomach, kick me in the shins, you know, and all of that. And you might say, my stomach hurts, my shins hurt, but does the rest of my body hurt and empathize and go along with it? Well, sure it does. Well, the same is true here. What you find, brethren, is that all of us have been put in the body, and we do suffer persecutions. There are trials and tests that we go through, and we are being prepared as the bride to be a compassionate, piteous, understanding bride of those who will be called later on in coming to the Kingdom of God in the millennium and the great white throne judgment. Jesus Christ wants a bride who was comparable to Him. Remember when Adam looked at all the animals? He said, none of them are comparable to Me. But when Christ marries the Church, He must marry a bride who is comparable, who is like Him in nature, not only in composition, but in nature, in outlook, in tenderness, in love, in compassion. And that's what we are being prepared for. Now, beginning in verse 25 through 27, you find, if I could summarize it, the mystery of God is mentioned. The correct mystery of God, the hidden truths, is about God's plan of salvation, how God is carrying that plan of salvation out. It's not the Babylonian mysteries. This is what the Gnostics got involved in. That had been spiritualized by the Greeks. How many of you have heard of the Rosicrucians today? They used to advertise quite a bit in some of the offbeat magazines. The Eastern religions, a lot of the Eastern religions, the cults, are coming this way. And people think all these Eastern religions are so wise, and they have so much information and knowledge. All of these go back to the Babylonian mystery religion, one way or the other. They're passing on these, quote-unquote, hidden truths that have been passed down through the ages.

Well, you find that Paul again begins to introduce, and he's introducing what we're going to come to in chapter 2, when he says here in verse 25, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God. Stuart was generally a slave back at that time who managed his master's household, supervising other servants, dispensing resources, handling business and finances. And Paul viewed his ministry as a stewardship from God. He had the responsibility of overseeing the household of God. The church is called the household of God. So he said, I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. And God said that he would raise up ministers to go to the Gentiles. He would raise up those to go to the Jews. And Paul was raised up by God, a fulfillment of prophecy, to be able to go to the Gentiles. Now, verse 26, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to the saints. Now, I want you to notice why it concentrates so much on the term mystery, because the Gnostics believed in mysteries. They had secret knowledge. They had understanding nobody else knew, and you had to come to them to get that knowledge. Now, Paul said, okay, yes, there is this secret knowledge. Mystery means hidden. Hidden knowledge, hidden information, or hidden truth, or mistruth. But in this case, it's talking about hidden truth. But now it's revealed to the saints what? By Gnosticism? Is that where it comes from? Well, verse 27, to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of the mystery. So God revealed it. It's from God. He's the one who makes it understood. It says, to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles, which is? So what is the mystery? Christ in you, the hope of glory. So mystery has to do with the fact that Christ in us, this is our hope of glory. You and I are hoping that we will have a glorified body one of these days, that we will be made a spirit being. And how is that possible? Well, God comes and lives within us. Galatians 2.20 again, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And so Christ lives in us, and His divine nature is placed within us. The fruit of God's spirit is our place within us. The fruit of God is given to us. And so this gives us the power, the strength that we need to overcome and to grow, to develop the very mind character of God, the nature of God. So, what you find is Paul was combating the supposedly special knowledge claimed by the Gnostics, who claimed that they had a higher saving knowledge. He said, you don't need that. It all comes from God, and it's through Christ. Him we preach. Verse 28. Jesus is the perfect. Warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Now, you and I want to be perfect. The word perfect is telios, and again, have that on the slide here, and it's in your handout. The word telios means to be complete or mature, and it's a word that implies someone who starts out like a baby, immature, and grows up to an adult, becomes mature. You and I grow immaturity. We become complete. It doesn't mean flawless, because you and I still have flaws. We're still sinless. Our sinful, I should say, not sinless, but sinful. We still make mistakes.

But we are striving to become mature and complete. God is not going to give eternal life to just babes. We have to grow up. And then in verse 29, "...to this sin I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily." Now, the word striving is a Greek word that gives us the English word agonize, to agonize, and refers to the effort required to compete in athletic events.

You ask anybody, we could ask David over here, any of the dance boys, anyone who's ever participated in athletics knows that you have to put forth a lot of effort. I played football and basketball in high school. We were instructed in the summer to get in shape, and I always thought I came out to practice in shape. But it didn't take me but one day to find out how miserably wrong I was. You know, you work out for six hours and then run a mile and run 10 100-yard winds, and you find out that I'm not in as good a shape as I thought. Well, what you find, anyone who wants to excel, those who go on to the Olympics, these are people who dedicate themselves for years in training and honing the body. Well, this is what Paul is talking about, that he put forth the same type of effort as he says here, striving according to the working which works in me mightily through God's Spirit. He had to put forth the effort, but he realized it was God's Spirit doing the work. It was God who was accomplishing the fruits and the results. So he had to strive, and he was putting forth as much effort to help the church there in Colossae and the other Gentiles as anyone who was involved in an athletic contest. Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to say, Work as if it all depended upon you, but realize all along that God is doing work. So you and I have to put forth a maximum effort. Nothing less is required by God. We have to put forth a maximum effort. And then God is the one who does the work. We work, God gives the increase. He's the one that brings forth fruits. Okay, that brings us to the end of Chapter 1. So I think we'll go ahead. I was going to go another five minutes or so, but this seems like a logical break. Alan, if you don't mind coming back up and leading us again to another song. And while you're doing that, I'll change programs.