Christ In You

"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."  Col 1:27

I want you to know that you are being prayed for as you engage in this study of Colossians.  I hope that as  we go over these passages in detail that you begin to learn how to better study your Bible through careful observation, using scripture to help interpret scripture and spending time in prayer.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you are reading. We need His help in understanding what was being said to the people of that day but also how we can apply what we have learned to our life.

If we walk away from this study and understand what was being said to the church at Colossae, but not what God wants to say to us, then we have failed.  We will have developed an intellectual knowledge, but not  experienced transformation.  In  Colossians 1:27 God chose to reveal the great riches of His glory, not for intellectual growth, but so they could experience transformation because Christ was in them. 

As a note of encouragement, don't be afraid to mark in your Bible.  Use colored pens, use colored pencils, underline, highlight and make notes in the margin. These tools help you to carefully observe the passage. As you can tell in the picture below-I am unafraid when it comes to this and I want you to be too. 

Although I find no scriptural backing for my assumption, I  believe that the Holy Spirit approves of my extensive pen and pencil set!  As I read a passage multiple times and mark, the Holy Spirit begins to show me the truths within and gives me greater understanding of how it applies to my own life. 

So let's dive into our passage today.  

21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him— 23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. 25 I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Paul has just presented to the Colossians that Christ is sufficient, supreme and superior. He is enough! He is  the only one worthy of our worship and His work on the cross and through the resurrection have secured our salvation. In His person, His position, His power, and His purchase, He is the entirety of the gospel message!

Transformed to Holy and Blameless

The first verse of our reading lists 3 conditions or traits of the Colossians prior to knowing Christ.

1. Alienated:  They were separated from God; not belonging to His family
2. Hostile in their minds:  They not only lacked knowledge of God but many even stood in opposition to it.
3. Having Evil Actions:  The aforementioned alienation and hostility resulted in evil actions.

Why do we act surprised when non believers act in sinful ways?  It shouldn't surpise us! Even though they may be "good" people, without Christ, without knowledge of God then evil actions will result. 

Our condition prior to Christ is hopeless, however because of His sacrifice- His death on the cross, we are no longer alienated and hostile but holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.  Just as verse 13 says that we have been transferred from darkness to the kingdom of Christ, in verse 22 we see He transforms our identity.

The word for  transform in the Greek is  'metamorphoo' which is where we  derive our word, metamorphosis. According to Wikipedia, metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops and includes a relatively abrupt change in its body structure through cell growth and differentiation. We most often think of the process with a caterpillar who bursts from its cacoon as a beautiful butterfly. The transformation didn't just involve the caterpillar sprouting wings from its caterpillar body-careful inspection reveals what appears to be a whole new creature all together. That is the kind of change that takes place in the believer-its a change from the inside out. 

We see next the 3  traits of the believer AFTER Christ

1. Holy set apart for sacred use
2. Blameless does not mean sinless, but a willingness to be taught and led so that you are learning to do right in the situations of your life.
3. Faultless indicates that we are teachable and moldable

Now I don't know about you, but I don't always feel holy.  Yet, by God's grace through my faith in Jesus Christ I am holy.  Over and over in scripture, those who are members of the body of believers are addressed as "saints." This means, "holy one, set apart for God."  According to this definition believers are holy. We have been 'set apart' from everything else to accomplish something specific. We have been set apart for God.   Although we increase in practical holiness as we mature spiritually, holy is who you are the moment you come to faith in Christ. We become holy in  relationship with Christ. This identity is grounded in God's work in us and not our work for God.  

Continue in the Faith

We see in verse 23 that He will do this if you continue in the faith-grounded and steadfast and not shifted away from the gospel message.  Hebrews 11:6 says, 

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. "

This faith isn't intellectual knowledge or any type of sentimentality-the faith spoken of in Hebrews is burn the bridges and follow after Christ with absolute abandon.  That is a Hebrews 11 type of faith.

Hope of the Gospel

In the previous lesson I asked, "What is the hope of the gospel?" The hope of the gospel is Christ.  It entails the past, present and future.  It is the death and resurrection of Christ that ensures our hope.  In my life this gives me a confidence because I know that when He appears, I will appear with Him in glory, but until that day Col 3:1 says that He is hidden in heaven and my life is hidden with Christ, as well  (Col 3:3)

The act of  Christ on the cross paid my sin debt.   My sins are no longer credited against me, because of Jesus' blood and my faith in Him.  The purpose reconciliation is to present the believer as holy, faultless and blameless before Him, but we must remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and not shift from the "hope of the gospel,"  which is Christ. 

The Colossians needed to not move away from Christ. For a watered down gospel, a gospel with additions or supplements is not the gospel at all.  Unfortunately, many of them had been duped by the false teachers in to doing just that!  Paul stresses to them in Col 1:23  that he is a  servant of the gospel.  His unwavering loyalty, his allegiance, his service was all for the gospel message.

This prompts us to ask ourselves-is there anything other than Christ and the gospel message on which I am basing my life?  Is He enough or are we adding some other false or legalistic component?  

The Gift of Suffering

At first glance of verses 24-25 it was easy to think that Paul has somehow contradicted himself and is now saying that the affliction  Christ suffered was somehow not enough.  I think Eugene Peterson's  interpretation in the Message can give us a better grasp of these verses. 

"I want you to know how glad I am that it's me sitting here in this jail and not you.  There's a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world-the king of suffering Christ takes on.  I welcome the chance to take my share in the church's part of that suffering.  When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God's way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth,"  Col 1:24-25

During this time persecution of the church was harsh and the Colossians were no strangers to the hardship and oppression.  Paul lets them know that he is glad that it is him suffering in prison and not them. Imprisonment, ultimately opened a door of service for Paul to the church.  Now, I must admit, to say, "I am sure glad that it is me in jail, instead of you," to a group of people I've never even met-would  be a real stretch.  Paul saw his suffering as a gift-an opportunity, to lay out the whole truth to this body of believers.  This truth that he calls "the mystery" that was hidden but now is revealed.

Mystery Revealed

If you recall in a previous lesson we learned that one of the the false teachings that the church was struggling with was mysticism .  Paul is basically saying, "The gospel doesn't need mysticism, because there is mystery revealed to you " -it is "Christ IN you, the hope of glory,"  This may have been kept hidden for a while, but God now wants them to know that Christ was IN the believer. 

We don't have to hope in ourselves or our own strength.  Because He is in us we function depending on His strength to break through the bondage of sin and failure.  Our relationship with Christ is personal and He is working in our lives to bring transformation- 'metamorphoo.'

Our next lesson will conclude chapter one.  This segment of scripture will be very short, but it is a passage that is near to my heart and I can't wait for us to talk about it and its implications for the life of the believer. 

Your homework is the following:

1. Read and carefully observe the final verses of chapter 1
2. Read both Colossians 1 through Colossians 2 several times over the next week.