2016-04-22
Good Morning All,
We’ve begun a crucial undertaking--getting to know God better. In the last four devotions, the Holy Spirit directed me to introduce this subject and to give some geographic, cultural, economic, and historical background about Colossae, a small but important town in Asia Minor around the time of the early church (~60 AD). 360 years prior to this time, the prophet Isaiah was charged by God with the task of being His representative in the face of hardened hearts. Isaiah did what all of us should do when God asked, “Whom shall I send?” He answered, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah had no idea just how important his messages in the Scripture might be, only that he was willing to take on a very difficult task for God [IS 6: 6-8]. A prophecy of Isaiah’s attitude is found in PS 119: 70, “Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in Your law.”
In Mark’s time 360 years later, teaching about the urgency of Christ’s second coming was already being shared. MK 13: 15, “Let no one on the roof of his own house go down and enter his house to take anything out.” Timing matters, and we must be alert to that. It’s why Christ said, in MK 13: 28, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as it’s twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know the summer is near.” (The fig tree is used here as a symbol of Israel). We don’t want to be like five of the Ten Virgins whose lamps were not fueled and lit when it was time for the Bridegroom to marry [MT 25: 1-13]. 1 THESS 5: 2, “The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” There is nothing accidental about Christ’s second coming or anything that is in God’s plan. Even from the day Simeon first blessed the baby Jesus in the temple---“For my eyes, [Lord God] have seen Your salvation,” he said, in LK 2: 30. The timing of revealing God’s secrets to the Gentiles was very much a part of this plan, and God’s timing carefully chosen. AC 13: 45-47, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abrasively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, ‘We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you rejected it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” This is nothing new, as it was said 300 + years beforehand, in IS 49: 6, word for word. If we come to understand this urgency even in our own time, we will comprehend why Paul felt it so important to convey this message about Christ to Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea.
You’ll remember that I wrote about Paul’s message and numerous conversions happening first during his three years in Ephesus. Epaphras, Paul’s messenger and a servant of Christ who took the letter to Colossae, was one of them. During that earlier time, Paul had begun speaking in the synagogues, but the Jews met God’s messages with stubbornness and publicly maligned Paul, despite his persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God. Later, Paul took over the lecture hall of Tyrranus during the hotter hours of the day (11 AM to 4 PM) when Tyrranus, the regular lecturer, philosopher, and rhetorician, wasn’t using it. Paul shared God’s messages for two years there, having daily discussions with the disciples, so all the Jews and Greeks of Ephesus would be in on them [AC 19: 8-10].
While I’ve been focusing on the origins and history of the spread of the church, when we get down into the study of the book of Colossians itself, we will see Paul had heard that the Colossians have been loving toward all the saints and faithful [COL 1: 3-4]. But the importance of competing with the opposition existing in this time [~60 AD] needed to be seen and understood. That opposition was the “Colossian heresy.” Last week I mentioned its six arguments: ceremonialism, asceticism, angel worship, deprecation of Christ, secret knowledge, and reliance on human (over divine) wisdom and tradition. We’ll go into these in much greater detail later. These are the seeds that gave rise to Gnosticism, a widespread heresy which will also be discussed in greater detail in future devotions in this “Knowing God” series. The scene with all its various parts is now set for what happened next and also for what Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention why this book is being chosen for this series in view of the fact that it is only four chapters long. Over the years, as I’m sure you have correctly assumed, I’ve studied the Bible in great detail, noting relationships between various verses and passages from all over it. This has been done particularly with an eye toward revealing key prophesies and relationships between OT and NT. It should also be obvious that I believe every word, punctuation mark, number, statistic, etc. of this book to be the true word of God. There are some parts we are meant to take literally and others figuratively. We must pray before reading that our hearts will be open to everything God wants to reveal to us--every important message or lesson He thinks we should have. Also we should ask Him to give us discernment [PS 51: 6; PS 119: 125].
He loves it when we use His words along with our own in prayers. So, pray along with me now and every week that we understand truth, and that we can all please God with our self-discipline in prayer and study.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to You today with freedom and confidence that our prayers are heard by and matter to You. Today, we ask for wisdom, discernment, love and responsibility in this study of the book of Colossians. The supernatural aspect of studying directly from Your word comes upon us in the form of hunger for more and more. You impart, through the Holy Spirit, messages and lessons for an eternal lifetime. We are grateful and blessed when this happens. One can study Your word and learn something new every time we return to a particular verse or passage to which You direct us. While Colossians gives us the layout for this series, You will take us all over the Bible for greater understanding. By no means is this to be only an intellectual study. That is because we know this is a primary way to become better acquainted with You. Knowing You and Your heart matters greatly to all of us, because these messages and lessons are designed to perfect us to the point where we are ready to return to Your side in heaven; the time for this is Your decision only. You have an immediate purpose for our lives, and a cosmic one. One applies to what we do in our earthly life; the other applies to the legacy we leave behind for future generations. If we faithfully obey You, both purposes will be carried out successfully. Dearest Lord, we dedicate ourselves to this study, to loving others, to worshipping You, to sharing Your Gospel, and to living lives of distinguished service to You. We are imperfect, and we need Your presence and intervention. So, we ask for them, Your wisdom, and discernment, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. We praise and thank You in His name for all You do and all You are. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’ve been commanded to write the first message of a new segment of these “Knowing God” messages called “Overview.” In an effort to refute the heresy competing with Biblical truth, it is necessary for us to understand Who Jesus Christ actually is, and to first begin seeing an outline of what God has given us, through Paul, in the first chapter of Colossians. At first, this looks like an intellectual (academic) view of things, but we soon figure out that vital spiritual truths to be applied with wisdom and discernment are contained in this book. It is meant to nourish our souls and bring change for the better to our lives. We first receive them through our physical senses (sight, hearing, etc.). Then, we gather bits and pieces of information, which we look at for relationships. The next step is to meditate on and think about what we’ve learned, to see how it applies to our individual lives. Later, we will live out (if we have hearts open to the Holy Spirit –our Teacher) what we’ve learned, allowing it to alter our formerly human desire-driven attitudes and actions. Once we’ve tried these things out and experienced God’s goodness affecting us and others around us, we will make these lessons and messages part of our pattern of habits. But, that’s not all! Once we have truly received these messages as God wants, we will share them with others willing to listen. If one rereads this paragraph, he will see a method that the Holy Spirit uses to purify us from our sinful nature. People who are truly happy have peace of mind, as well as confidence in our need to rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance. They are the ones who have the best possible quality of life on earth, while we all await the second coming of the Lord Jesus. We love and need each other, to strengthen faith and obedience to God. Moreover, it is a wise person who makes our Lord the very Center of his life! Praise and thanks be to God for loving us enough to share His word with us!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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