Fullness

Hey everyone.
I would like to share a concept with you that I saw while studying Colossians.  It is a concept that disciples are going to already understand, but I want to make sure that I teach it to my children or to someone that I am reaching out to and studying the Bible with.  The concept is pretty simple.  It is that "full is better than empty." 

Here is what it says in Col. 2:8-10:  "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental forces of this world rather than on Christ.  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness." 

Paul tells us that the thinking or philosophy of the world is hollow.  In other words, it is empty.  He compares these empty philosophies with the fullness that is in Christ.  If you think about good things, we will always choose full over empty.  Would you rather your wallet be full or empty?  Would you rather your gas tank be full or empty?  Would you rather your refrigerator be full or empty?  Generally I choose full.  Full is better than empty.  So we are trying to get people to choose full lives in Christ over empty lives in the world.

The problem is that Paul also says that these worldly philosophies are deceptive.  How are they deceptive?  They are empty things posing as full things.  The world is constantly reaching out with its emptiness trying to convince people that it is full.  It's like the chocolate Easter Bunny that you think is solid, but when you bite into turns out to be hollow.  The chocolate still tastes good, but the hollowness is somewhat disappointing.  For example, that party lifestyle that seems to promise so much fun and happiness, really delivers very little.  Yet we are bombarded with it constantly, and so are our children. Perhaps you and I see through it, but most people do not.  

I pray for own children that they will have that kind of perception, to see the lures of the world for what they really are: hollow.  Much better that we can all find real joy and full lives in Christ.  Because we all understand that full is better than empty. 

Tom  

Holding it all together

Hello everyone.

This post is short and sweet, but I think you'll like it.  In Col. 1:17 it says, "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." The context here is that Paul is talking about the supremacy of Christ.  Jesus had created everything, whether visible or invisible. It was created by Him and for Him. He is supreme.  What I want to focus on is the statement Paul makes that says that Jesus holds all things together. There are some obvious things that we think of here. That Jesus holds the church together and that Jesus holds creation together can be seen clearly from the context here. But I want us to think about how Jesus holds everything together on a more personal level. 

Not only does Jesus hold the Earth together, but he holds my life together. Within my life, he holds my marriage together, he holds my family together, he even holds my career as a teacher together, often working things out for me in ways I could have never expected. And everything that I do, I am better at it, if I allow Jesus to be supreme in it. (This year, the Hugheses are going to the World Discipleship Summit in San Antonio.  Jesus is even holding my vacation together.)  I can see Jesus at work in big and small ways, holding my life together for me. I hope you can too.

Tom

Joyfully Giving Thanks to the Father

Hey everyone.

This post will conclude my examination of Col. 1:1-13.  We have looked at three things that please God in every way: Bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God and being strengthened according to his glorious might.  Finally we come to the last one, Joyfully giving thanks to the Father.

Paul gives us a lot to be thankful for right here in this passage.  Let's look at a few of them:

• He has qualified us to share in the inheritance.  (Awesome)
• He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness.  (Also Awesome)
• He has brought into the kingdom of the Son he loves.  (Even more Awesome)
• Jesus has provided us with redemption and forgiveness of sins.  (It is like a Grand Slam of Awesomeness)

Right here we can see that God has rescued us from something really bad (the world and our sin) and in exchange has given us something really good (the kingdom, forgiveness and an inheritance among the saints.)  We have a lot to thankful for, and not just thankful, joyfully thankful.

Some other thoughts on this:
II Cor. 2:14 "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ."  It's like Jesus is leading a victory parade that we are a part of.  Life as a disciple is good, it's victorious and we should be joyfully thankful.

I Thes. 5:18 "Give thanks in all circumstances."  It is easy to be thankful when everything is going well.  Not as easy to be thankful when things are difficult.  However, if we are to obey this command, there will be times when he have difficulties (perhaps the Lord's discipline) to be thankful for.  Time for a quiz:  Who says this, "But I with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you."  Don't know?  Jonah says it while in the belly of the big fish. (Jonah 2:9)  Jonah had his issues, but he understood here to be grateful for the Lord's discipline.

Ps 107:8, 15, 21, and 31 all say the same thing.  "Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind."  We have a lot to be thankful for.  God has done wonderful deeds for us, and has given us big things (salvation, the church, marriage, families) and small things (coffee, chocolate and french fries are ultimately his inventions) that we should be grateful for.  Our gratitude pleases him.

Tom   

Being Strengthened

Hey everyone
I'm on Spring Break, so I have a little bit more time to write.  So I am going to continue my discussion of Col. 1: 10-13, by talking about "being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience."  (Col. 1:11) 

I think that the first that I notice here is that it is not a command to "Be Strong."  It is that we allow God to strengthen us, or better yet, be our strength.  He is the one work, but he works in us and through us.  He is the strength.  Think about Joshua.  In Josh. 1:7-9, God commands Joshua to "Be strong and courageous." But God tells him to be strong because "the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  Joshua was commanded to be strong, just as he was commanded to obey God's word.  He was also guaranteed success, but it is important to understand that all of this was couched in a guarantee that God would be with him.  Again the strength came from God.

It is a good thing that we can look to God for strength and allow him to strengthen us.  I Cor. 1:25 tells us that God's weakness is stronger than my strength.  It is a good thing that I not have to rely on my own.  Consider Phil 4:13, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." 

Let's look at a couple of ways that God strengthens us.  Heb. 13:9 "It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace."  Understanding God's grace strengthens us.  Heb. 12:7-13.  God's discipline strengthens us, if we allow ourselves to be trained by it. 

Consider also II Cor. 12:1-10.  Paul boasts, not in his strengths, but in his weaknesses.  Why?  Because he gets it.  God is so much greater than he is.  God's grace is sufficient.  God can take Paul's weaknesses and turn them into strengths.  Paul's weaknesses allow God to be glorified rather than Paul.  That is why Paul could say, "For when I am weak, then I am strong."  (II Cor. 12:10) 

So I understand then from this scripture that it pleases God if we allow him to work in our lives.  We submit to his discipline and enjoy his grace.  Then we become strong because of Him.

One last note:  I notice that allow God to work also brings us some good benefits.  At the end of v. 11, allowing God to strengthen us according to his glorious might, brings us endurance and patience, certainly two good qualities to have.  Endurance and patience mean that we will never give up on ourselves or on other people.

Tom 

Growing in the Knowledge of God

Hey everyone

I am continuing to look at Col. 1, where we can see how to please God in every way.  Today we will look at scriptures about how we can grow in the knowledge of God. 

Now, I'm going to begin by telling you a story.  My good friend Angelo, has an identical twin named Lorenzo.  Lorenzo is an acquaintance, while Angelo is a good friend.  One day at a cookout, they tried to trick me, as each acted like they were the other one.  But I didn't fall for it, because I knew Angelo well enough to know the subtle differences between the two.  How did I come to know Angelo so well.  We had spend a lot of time together.  We had eaten together, prayed together, spend time in the Word together, even been to the Emergency Room together.  I had grown in my knowledge of Angelo.  OK, so the principal is the same here.  If you want to grow in your knowledge of God, you have spend time with Him, reading and studying his Word and praying.

Here are a few other things to think about is we strive to grow in our knowledge of God.  In the book of Ezekiel, God says 55 times, "you will know that I am the Lord," or "they will know that I am the Lord."  One thing that God wants us the know about him is that he is the Lord.  His word is supreme and we need to do what he says.

Now, while we need to understand Lordship, at the same time we need to understand love.  I John 4:7-12 tells us that "God is love," and that we should love one another.  Verse 8 says that if we do not love, we do not know God.  So in our effort to grow in the knowledge of God, we can do so by submitting to his lordship, but also by loving each other.

One last thought.  John 1:18 tells us that no one has ever seen God, but that Jesus has made him known. So we can know God as we look at Jesus.  With that, we see in Colossians 1:28-29, Paul says that Jesus is the one that we "proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone."  He says that they do this to "present everyone fully mature in Christ."  As we strive to grow in our knowledge of God, we help each other become mature (or grow), as we share about Jesus.  Education theory tells us that the best way to learn something is to teach about it.  You retain more.  As we teach others about Jesus, they benefit, but so do we.      

Tom

 

Bearing Fruit in Every Good Work

Hey everyone.

A few days ago, I looked at Col. 1:10-13 where Paul talked about living a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing him in every way.  I am taking the time to look at each one of these things, because like you I want to please God. 

The first one that Paul lists is, "bearing fruit in every good work."  If I am going to please God in every way, we have to ask myself, "How can I do this?"  I think I have to answer two questions to really understand this.  First, what does Paul mean when he says "every good work"?  I found this exact phrase two other times in the New Testament.  One in II Cor. 9:8, it says, "having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."  Interestingly, the context of this scripture is giving.  In v. 7 Paul says, "God loves a cheerful giver."  One pleasing fruit that we can bear is giving.

The other place where the phrase, "every good work" is found is in II Tim. 3:16-17 where it tells us that the word of God equips us for every good work.  Now, there is no way to make a comprehensive list of every good work, but this scripture tells me that being in God's word can prepare for whatever good work I might be involved in.  Compare that to Ps. 1:1-3, where it says that those who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked and who meditate on the law of the Lord are like a tree planted by water, that bear fruit in season.  According to Ps 1, if we want to bear fruit, we must be in the word and we need to have good counsel.     

We also need to consider what it means to bear fruit?  Does it mean to produce the fruits of the spirit in our lives?  Yes it does.  Does it mean to make disciples?  Yes.  Those are the things we usually think about when we talk about fruitfulness, and God does want us to bear these fruits.  But are there more fruits that we can bear.  I have already mentioned the fruit of giving,  Here is another one, Matt. 3:8 and Luke 3:8 say the same thing.  "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."  We also produce fruit when we repent.  Another important thing to remember comes John 15 where Jesus talks a lot about fruitfulness.  He tells us that He is the vine and we are branches.  If we want to bear fruit he must remain in him.  We need to be rooted in him to produce fruit.  (Jn 15:8 also tells us that by our fruit we show ourselves to be his disciples.  Jn 15:15-16 he tells us to produce fruit that will last.)

I'll end with this.  Ps. 104:13 says, "He waters the mountains from his upper chambers, the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work."  The "He" referred to here, is God.  God asks us to produce fruit, but God also produces fruit, and it is very satisfying. 


Tom

Pleasing Him in Every Way

Hey everyone.

In my own study, I have began a study of the book of Colossians.  I found something interesting that I thought I would share with you.

In Col. 1:10-13 it says: "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of the kingdom of light."

Now, as this is written in English, this is one very long sentence.  It has a phrase "that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way."  This is followed by a colon and then it begins a list.  If I am understanding the grammar here correctly, Paul is telling us how to live a life worthy of God and please him in every way.  If Paul wrote this today, it might come in bullet points, like this:

• Bearing fruit in every good work.
• Growing in the knowledge of God.
• Being strengthened according to his glorious might (so that you might have great patience and endurance.)
• Joyfully giving thanks to the Father.

Now accomplishing all this would be quite a tall order, but it is exciting to consider the possibility of pleasing God in every way, isn't it?     

Over my next few posts, I want to examine each bullet point above, and see what we may do to accomplish this and please God in every way.

More to come.
Tom