Study no. 2: An Easy Life or a Great Life?
Colossians 1:15-2:1
Redefining what it means to be successful.
Paul describes salvation in just a few words here in verse 12. It was not a matter of Paul attempting to teach about the salvation we have in Jesus, but he says what he does more as a matter of thanksgiving.
But here is what we can appreciate from Paul's words:
33 "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. In this parable we get a picture of the 'weaker' kingdom wisely waving a white flag and desiring terms of peace. Also in the picture we can imagine two possible outcomes: 1. If the weaker king had stood his ground, the stronger king would have come in and wiped him out. There would have been death and devastation. The weaker king recognizes this and submits to the terms of peace. What might those be? This is the second outcome: Waving the white flag means ... “Please don't hurt us, you can have whatever you want.” Now translate this over to Jesus being the strong king and you or I being the weaker king. If we do nothing ... we are dead. The king is coming. If we bow before him waving the white flag ... we live. But we are now his (servants or slave). What a deal. Is it an easy life that is ahead? No but it is a great life!
1Lu 17:20 ¶ Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 "nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
2Lu 17:21 " ... For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
3Lu 16:16 "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.
4Lu 19:12 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.13 "So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’
52Pe 1:11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
6Mt 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
7Ro 3:25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
81Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.8 ¶ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
9John 13:4-10
10Eph 2:1 ¶ And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Colossians 1:15-2:1
Redefining what it means to be successful.
Paul describes salvation in just a few words here in verse 12. It was not a matter of Paul attempting to teach about the salvation we have in Jesus, but he says what he does more as a matter of thanksgiving.
But here is what we can appreciate from Paul's words:
- The Father qualified us. Salvation is not about us. It is about Him.
- We were delivered from the power of darkness. This has reference to Satan. Why is he called the power of darkness in this instance but in another place Paul refers to him as an angel of light?
- Conveyed into God's kingdom - What is His kingdom and why do we pray “Thy kingdom come?” The phrase 'Kingdom of God” (or various forms of it) occurs 120 times in the New Testament. That is impressive. In Matthew 13 appears a list of parables that have come to be known as the Kingdom parables. In each of these Jesus begins with the words, The kingdom of heaven is like ... As you read through each parable you get the picture that the kingdom is here and now. And that is correct. The present kingdom of God consists of you and me1. We are told that the Kingdom of God is actually 'within' us.2 We are commanded to preach 'The Kingdom', we are told the the 'Gospel of the Kingdom' will be preached in all the world ... and then the end will come. We are told that a transition occurred at the time of John the Baptist3. The transition was the period of time (or dispensation) known as 'the Law and the Prophets' which ended with John's coming, and since that time the new dispensation, the Kingdom of God, is being preached. Believers have the responsibility of caring for the kingdom while we wait for the king to return4. But there is another sense in which the Kingdom of God is future5. Peter says that we look forward to our entrance into the kingdom. What did he mean, especially in light of the fact that we are already in the kingdom ...and it is within us? Apparently he had in mind what John mentions in Revelation.
In Revelation 11 we read that when the 7th trumpet sounds the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of the Lord. And then in Matthew 25 we read about Jesus saying to a group of people ... Enter the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So what we need to understand is that Satan has a kingdom. It includes every person who is unsaved.... every person that has not repented of sin and taken Jesus as Lord and Saviour. The huge gate that encloses his kingdom is called by Jesus, The gates of hell6. There is another kingdom ... it is called the kingdom of light. It includes all believers in Jesus Christ – those from Adam to the end of time. We are in the kingdom of light because we have been 'translated' into it. But the King is not here. We are 'Occupying' (KJV) or carrying on his business. But the King is returning. When he gets here and conquers the earthly kingdom and begins the one thousand year millennial reign ... That is what Peter means by entering the Kingdom. It is the same kingdom that we are already in, only then the King will be here ... and he will be ruling. - He did this by way of redemption. What is that? Is the blood important? What about forgiveness … does this mean past present and future? Is it wrong to pray and ask for forgiveness? (Verse 14) When we take communion 'fruit of the vine', we are recognizing that the blood of Jesus washed sin away. There is a term used by Judas in the Bible, 'innocent blood'. He was referring to Jesus. Jesus took our sins 'into His body'. His blood was no longer sinless. And then He shed his ... now guilty blood ... upon the ground ... for you and and for me.
So does this mean that all of our sin is forgiven ... past present and future? Not quite. While He paid the sin debt of the whole world ... for you He washed away the sins of your past. Not the sins of your present and future.7 For daily cleansing we come to Him, the source of our cleansing ... daily ... or oftener.8 According 1 John 1:7 we have fellowship with God as our sins are cleansed. Jesus washed the disciples feet after the last supper9. Peter tried to refuse. Jesus said if he refused to allow him to wash his feet ... he could have no part of Jesus. Then Peter asked for a total bath. Jesus told him (and us) that we all had our bath ... that is, at salvation we got washed. He said now we only need our feet to be washed ... daily. Thats what John 1:7-9 is all about. - Who is the Saviour? Could our Saviour be anything less than God? He is the image of God. He is the source of all creation. He is called the firstborn … this is not with reference to his being born at all. It has reference to the word first. Firstborn in scripture, although it may have originated as the literal first born child changed quickly to mean the child having priority. When the word is applied to Jesus it refers to His having a position of priority over everyone. Note – When Jehovah's witnesses comment on the verse ... He is the firstborn of all creation, they take it to mean that he was first created. In so doing they are grasping at straws for something to support their position of a Muslim type God – no trinity. The following context makes it quite clear that Jesus was not created.
- The creator did more than produce a physical universe … he also created and oversees law and order. In so doing he permits man not only to govern themselves but to get the government that they deserve.
- He holds all things together – at the universal level and at the cellular level or the atomic level.
- And he is the head of the body. That is he started the church and has authority over it. He has first born rights over it as well as over the universe.
- 15 – 22 This 'preeminent' One is the Saviour who reached out to us, to reconcile. What does that mean? The basis for reconciliation is the shedding of His blood. Reconciliation and peace with God are one and the same, but when we think of peace it adds a new dimension and appreciation of the results of salvation. Ro 5:1 ¶ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Because of our sin we were at enmity with God. Prior to becoming children of God we carried with us guilt. If we acknowledged God at all it would be with a sense of fear or judgment. This is a good time to examine a short parable that Jesus gave to explain peace with God.
33 "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. In this parable we get a picture of the 'weaker' kingdom wisely waving a white flag and desiring terms of peace. Also in the picture we can imagine two possible outcomes: 1. If the weaker king had stood his ground, the stronger king would have come in and wiped him out. There would have been death and devastation. The weaker king recognizes this and submits to the terms of peace. What might those be? This is the second outcome: Waving the white flag means ... “Please don't hurt us, you can have whatever you want.” Now translate this over to Jesus being the strong king and you or I being the weaker king. If we do nothing ... we are dead. The king is coming. If we bow before him waving the white flag ... we live. But we are now his (servants or slave). What a deal. Is it an easy life that is ahead? No but it is a great life!
- Verse 21, 22 We who once were … alienated and enemies … are now reconciled. Note: Paul states in another place that we were dead10. Be careful how we take the word dead. If dead means totally lifeless then we could not have been enemies. Then we would have been nothing
- 23 Here Paul throws in a statement that needs to be understood ... right in the middle between Eternal Security ... and Insecurity based on a salvation of works. We are saved ...not by works, but repentance and faith. It is faith in Christ that is crucial to salvation. This verse says that we need to continue in faith. As long as we keep on believing ... and that is not work we will be a part of the kingdom for eternity.
- 24. This reveals Paul's personal attitude toward his standing in Christ. What is yours? Paul thinks that he was too bad for Jesus to save. He says he needs to top it off with his own suffering. This is a humble attitude. He does not mean for a second that the payment of Jesus on the cross was insufficient to cover his sins. 24-29 Paul describes the life he is living. What kind of a life is it? It is a life of rejoicing. But wait a minute … it is a life of suffering as well.
- 2:1 Paul considers his the Colossians (and the Laodiceans) to be a struggle. Our life in Jesus is not designed to be a life of ease. Jesus said that for each of us there is a cross. We need to pick it up and follow him. His cross was an indicator of his direction ... to die for the world. Our cross is an indicator of our direction ... to die for him if necessary as we move toward the eternal kingdom. Not an easy life ... but a great one.
1Lu 17:20 ¶ Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 "nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
2Lu 17:21 " ... For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
3Lu 16:16 "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.
4Lu 19:12 Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.13 "So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’
52Pe 1:11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
6Mt 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
7Ro 3:25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
81Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.8 ¶ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
9John 13:4-10
10Eph 2:1 ¶ And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,