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| I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be, and I am not the man I note be; but by the Grace of God, I am not the man I used to be. (Rev Captain John Newton 1725-1807) |
1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict
I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my
face in the flesh; 2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit
together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 And
this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5 For
though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and
beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. 6 As
ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted
and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is
the head of all principality and power: 11 In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God,
who hath raised him from the dead.
(Col 2:1-12)
THE MINISTER’S CONCERN: Please note the extraordinary example Paul sets
for us as Christians and as ministers. He prays and suffers pain for those to
whom he directly ministers – the Laodiceans – also for those whom he has not
seen, and many whom he SHALL never see. These latter, friends, would be you and
me. What broad compassion and love Paul, once a persecutor of the church and
now its minister , has for the WHOLE Church – past, present, and future. He
doubtlessly looks back with abject contrition on the sins for which he has, by
Grace, been forgiven. “For I would that ye knew what great
conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not
seen my face in the flesh.
Once struck down by that brilliant Light on the Road to
Damascus, Paul never returns to his old profession of seeking out and
destroying the people of God. In times past, Paul was a scourge to the
believers; now he is a co-laborer with them. Is it not amazing that God can
take an avenger and turn him into a comforter in an instant? What of that
depraved old sea captain, John Newton, who dealt in the slave trade and treated
both slave and crew so harshly that all hated him. He used vulgar and obscene
language, and was drunk more often than sober. Yet, God turned John around one
night when he met him in a storm that threatened to seek the vessel upon which
he was a passenger.
John prayed in the hull of that ship for the first time
since the passing of his dear Christian mother at age 9. God saved John Newton
in more ways than one. His crippled vessel wobbled into port in England, her
mast broken and her sails torn to shreds. John became one of the greatest
ministers in England and later wrote a book of hymns, the Olney Hymns. His most
well-beloved hymn is Amazing Grace, for that was what saved John Newton, and
that is what changed Paul. As Jesus said of the repentant woman who
bathed his feet with her tears: “Wherefore I
say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but
to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Luke
7:47) Paul’s zeal was nourished by the bottled tears he owned before Christ met
him, by His Providence, on a dusty old Damascan Road.
CONCERNS OF THE CHURCH: “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit
together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” The
Lord we serve epitomizes love. We cannot love Him unless he has loved us first.
Love unites in purpose, will, and action. Families stay together because of
love. In the past, a father and mother would sacrifice their health and plenty
for their children. The child does not know such a sacrificial spirit. The
parent ALWAYS sacrifices more for the child than vice versa. God has sacrificed
all for us. What have we given up for Him? Of course, greater love in times of
a barren harvest will grow and overflow. We are comforted by our love for God
and for His people. Our labors for one another, just as parents for a child,
seem as nothing compared to that increasing benefit of love that is our wage.
Love will also result in greater understanding and knowledge of the object of
that Love. The Church, stayed on Christ, will seek Him out on every mountain,
and every dune of the desert. Those great mountains and dunes are presented to
us in the Holy Bible. Do we care enough to read of Him daily?
All who know the Triune God will readily admit to the
glorious mysteries that are both revealed and hidden from their eyes. No man
knows all of the mysteries of God for He has not seen fit to yet reveal all
knowledge even to His Elect. Knowing God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost forces an acknowledgement of mysteries beyond frail man to
comprehend. Who designed and placed on the wing the great eagle, or drew the
boundaries for the tides of the sea, or the precise and continual movement of the
heavenly bodies in their orbits? There is Trinity in all things. Ask me and I
shall prove it. In this Triune God are hidden the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. The Christian cannot gain a great estate of that knowledge through
the process of osmosis – he must actively pursue wisdom and knowledge through
the pages of Scripture, and even of God’s natural laws as well. The Church has
work to do, but it also has mysteries to learn.
FALSE TEACHING: “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you
with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with
you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of
your faith in Christ.” If we learn well enough that which is true,
the counterfeit lies of Satan will not deceive us. There are two kinds of
knowledge – of good and evil. Of course, a third might be labeled nonsense.
When asked if he thought liberals were stupid, President Reagan responded, “Oh,
I don’t say that the liberals are stupid. It is just that they know so very much
that isn’t so!” There are a lot of ministers and Christians today that
would prefer to study sensational, spiritual books to the detriment of their
Bible studies. Quite often those books contain a look of spiritual knowledge “that
simply isn’t so.” Many young ministers start out with a heart on fire to
preach the fullness of the Gospel. They have a full faith and knowledge of the
Lord and all that He has done for them. They desire to share that good news. So
they attend seminary. At seminary, they learn of ‘conflict resolution’, of ‘office
administration’, of ‘how to GROW the church using questionable means’, of ‘philosophy
that calls into question faith itself’….you get the message. There is little
taught of biblical and historic Christianity. The Bible is taught from a
standpoint of questioning its veracity. If he has not already been deceived by
his pastor prior to seminary, a seminarian will be taught there to abandon the
ancient and biblical texts given by God to the prophets that were so well-beloved
by his fathers for an inferior and sterile new and copyrighted text – NIV,
NASB, RSV, ESV, etc – that attacks at every opportunity the divinity of the
Lord Jesus Christ and, today, incorporates the politically popular accents of
the world. Be not deceived, Christ warned us in the last days, MANY (not a few)
false prophets would emerge deceiving many. These false prophets are not all
Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Universalist, and so forth. Many are Baptists,
Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and every other stripe that places
denominational institutionalism above the Sovereignty of God. John Wesley once
had a dream in which he said he died and went to heaven. Happily arriving at
the Pearly Gates, he was welcomed by St. Peter. He asked St. Peter, “Are there
any Methodists up here?” to which St. Peter replied, “No.” Wesley asked, “Are
there any Baptists up here?” to which St. Peter again responded in the
negative. He got the same response to his entreaties about Presbyterians,
Anglicans, and others. Finally, Wesley inquired, “Well, sir, WHO is in Heaven.”
St. Peter responded, “The only ones admitted here are CHRISTIANS!” Are we
Christians, or are we Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, etc?
A mature and seasoned soldier will be disciplined and
conduct his duties in an orderly fashion. So will the disciplined and
knowledgeable Christian. No false teaching can diverted him from his course.
FALSE PHILOSOPHY AND ASTROLOGY: “Rooted and built up
in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein
with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ.” The true Christian avoids extraneous conversation
with the world. He neither walks, stands, nor makes himself comfortable with
the unrighteous. He is rather as a tree, planted by the Rivers of Water. “Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the
way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight
is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And
he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper.” (Psalms 1:1-3)
False philosophy is presented in the public schools, in
books and novels claiming high spiritual experiences, in the praise of the
mythology of Greece and Rome, and in the humanism that underlies every
dictatorial power. False philosophy enslaves, but the Gospel of Christ
liberates! The undue emphasis of tradition, even in the face of conflict with
the Word of God, claiming perfection in person and not God, and welcoming the
wickedness of the world into the doors of the church by way of immoral music,
lifestyles, and teachings that are not consistent with Scripture – these are
the termites and maggots that undermine the foundation of the church – that is,
unfaithful, Laodicean churches, but not the Church of God.
THE ANTIDOTE TO THE WORLD’S POISON: How often have I heard among
soldiers, hung over from a weekend of excess and drunkenness, say on Monday
morning, “What I need is some of the hair from the dog that bit me.” That means
they need another drink of alcohol to take away the grog of their hangover. In
a sense, that is true for the Christian, but in a different way. “For
in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in
him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” Jesus Christ took upon
Himself, being without the least blot of sin, our own sins on the cross at
Calvary. When the sinner looks in faith to the cross, He will be saved. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15) Christ
conquered the sin represented by the brazen serpent, and the great proponent of
sin, Satan himself, on the cross. Christ is our antidote for the deadly sins we
bear. We have the tainted and sinful blood Adam in our veins that leads to
certain death. We need a blood transfusion of the pure blood of Christ to heal
us.
THE CURE APPLIED: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are
risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him
from the dead.” We are washed by the blood of Christ from our sins
and we symbolically bury the old sinful nature, and take up an altogether new
nature in Christ. He died, and was buried, for our sins. We, too, in receiving
Christ are privileged, through His sacrificial death and resurrection, to die
and bury our sins, and rise with Him in the newness of life. God will not leave
us in Hell just as He would not leave our fathers in Goshen of Egypt. He is a
Father that always comes for His own. Are you His own?
