faith

Who Is Paul? – Spiritual Warrior

Posted on by chgruver

So this week we are wrapping up with chapter 1 of Colossians with Paul introducing himself to the Colossian church as well as his ministry. We have seen how he is and evangelist, a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles, and now we will see that he strives for the believers. Colossians 1:28-29, “We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.”

Instruction

The first thing Paul mentions here is that he proclaims or preaches Christ. The false teachers preached a system of teaching, a list of rules and regulations, or philosophy and empty traditions of men; Paul pointed to Christ. It was not only preaching though, Paul also warned. He warned the believers of the lies of the enemy and taught then the truth. You see it does not help to just warn of the danger one also needs to teach the way to avoid that danger, this is precisely what Paul does in each of his correspondences. He recognizes that the church needs to be warned of false teachings, but he does not just leave it at that he then goes on to tell them why the teachings are wrong while presenting them with the truth.

Intent

At the end of verse 28 we see what Paul’s intent is, “so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Some translations use perfect. In other words Paul desires every believer to grow spiritually, to become mature and complete. That is because growth is the result of a healthy body, if the body is not healthy, if it is malnourished, or if it has died, it no longer grows. Paul in his preaching, warning, and teaching desires for believers to be spiritually healthy. That was the goal of his ministry; in fact his desire and passion is so strong that he labors and strives for it. You see Paul feels so strongly for his ministry that he wrestles and works to the point of exhaustion so that he may present believers that are mature in Christ. Each of us as believers in Christ have a calling, yet can we confidently say that we labor and strive just to fulfill our calling?

Intercession

While Paul ends chapter 1 with the intent and goal of his ministry he starts out chapter 2 with his primary tool to accomplish this task. He does this by praying for them. Paul prays that they be encouraged and that they come together in love. He wants them to experience the richness that they find in Christ and come to knowledge of who God is. You see it is not enough that Paul preaches, teaches, and warns but he understands that he needs to pray that God will work on them as it is ultimately God and the Holy Spirit that will change a person and help them to grow spiritually.

Table Talk – Episode 55 – False Teachers and False Prophets

Posted on by chgruver

July 22, 2016: This week Fritz took the lead as Pastor Sam was out for a Memorial Service. We ended up talking about false teachers and false prophets and how it is important to be rooted in the Word.
Table Talk is a weekly gathering of men in the Pinellas Park area from different denominations and backgrounds. We meet every Friday morning from around 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter restaurant. It is located at 6767 US Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park. If you happen to be in the area feel free to come out and join us for a time of fellowship and Bible study.

Who Is Paul? – Prisoner For The Gospel

Posted on by chgruver

So this week we are looking at how Paul introduces himself to the Colossian church by illustrating his three key ministries. Last time we saw him present his ministry of evangelism while also presenting the Gospel to the Colossian church. This time we will see Paul’s role as a prisoner for the Gospel. As we continue with Colossians 1:24-27, “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. I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints. God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Remember Paul right now is defending himself against the ridicule of the false teachers in Colossae, where one weapon they probably used was Paul being a prisoner of Rome. Paul uses his words to turn that weapon around.

Rejoicing

The first thing Paul mentions is that he rejoices in his sufferings, that seems like a contradiction, how can someone rejoice in suffering; yet Paul did. The reason he could state that he rejoices in his sufferings is because of why he was suffering. He was in prison because of the Gospel, it was because of his belief in Christ that he was suffering. It didn’t just end with his belief in Christ but his suffering also came because of his ministry to the Gentiles. It was in Jerusalem where Paul was arrested, and it was because of his calling to share the Gospel to the Gentiles that caused the Jews to call for his execution. Finally Paul rejoiced in his sufferings because it was for the sake of the church. You see in being a prisoner in Rome Paul had opportunities to minister and share the Gospel that he might not have had otherwise, all because of his suffering.

Responsibility

It is in the final aspect of Paul’s rejoicing in his suffering that Paul then expands his responsibility. In his ministry he has become a servant to the church. When dealing with the Jews Paul could have made a compromise and stopped ministering to the Gentiles. This would have prevented a good deal of suffering that Paul endured, yet because he was called by God to minister to the Gentiles he could not abandon this calling. This calling was to make God’s message fully known. Part of this message is what Paul refers to as “the mystery hidden for ages and generations,” This was that salvation is for both the Jew and the Gentile, in the Old Testament Israel was God’s chosen people and a Gentile had to become a Jew to share in the blessings of Israel. Now, however, Jews and Gentiles are both saved by faith in Christ; in other words there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. One saying I like that has multiple meanings is that “the ground is level at the foot of the cross.” It means everyone has the same chance and offer of salvation, we are all offered the same grace, it does not matter who we are, how we look, or even our ancestry; we are all the same.

Who Is Paul? – Evangelist

Posted on by chgruver

In looking at Colossians we have seen how Paul presents the centrality of Christ. The only issue is that here Paul is writing to a group of believers that all they know is that he led their pastor to faith and that he is now a Roman prisoner. The false teachers in Colossae tried to use this one fact to discredit Paul and lead the Colossian believers astray. So what Paul does next is to take a break from building up who Christ is and to explain his situation, who he is, and what his ministry is. The first aspect of who he is that he mentions is his ministry to share the Gospel; he is an evangelist. We see this in Colossians 1:21-23, “Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him—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.” Again while Paul did not personally evangelize to those in Colossae, he points out that a large part of his ministry is through the spreading of the Gospel, as he states “I, Paul, have become a servant of it.” In explaining evangelism as being a major part of his ministry, he essentially shares the Gospel with the Colossian church right there by explaining their spiritual state past, present, and future.

Past

Paul starts out by pointing out a person’s spiritual state before they come to faith in Christ. He states that we were alienated and hostile, our actions were evil. You see before we come to faith in Christ we all have an issue with pride. We view ourselves as being the most important and all our actions tend to revolve around what will best suit us. If others benefit from our actions it is because we were to also benefit from it. Essentially before Christ we are trying to be our own god, the unbeliever will do whatever they can to make themselves look good, or to better their situations. This is even seen in works based religions; no matter who they claim to worship they are basically worshiping themselves, because according to their religion they are the ones to bring about their own entrance into their concept of heaven. What I am getting at here is that you can’t live in such a way that views yourself as god and not be on hostile terms with God. This is why humility is a major part in a believer’s life, they recognize who God is and repent of the previous behavior and thoughts.

Present

The past spiritual state leads right into the present spiritual state of the believer, that being we are reconciled to God. The thing is it is not anything that the believer does that reconciles them with God, but it was God who took the initiative. This was done through the work of Christ on the cross, this was all done while we were still considered to be enemies with God. To refute the false teachers that denied Christ having a human body, Paul stresses that reconciliation came by “His physical body through His death.” Paul then mentions the purpose of the reconciliation is to make the believer holy, faultless, and blameless before God. You see it is not how we look to ourselves or others, but it is all about how God sees us, which once we accept His grace and salvation we have a perfect standing in Christ.

Future

Finally Paul points out the believer’s future spiritual condition, in that of our glorification. Paul refers to this as the “hope of the gospel.” Before Christ the Colossians were without hope, but once they came to faith in Christ they were given the promise of eternity in the presence of God. The imagery Paul uses here was to illustrate that if one’s faith is built on the solid foundation of Christ, then nothing will cause you to move away from that faith. We are not saved by continuing in our faith, but we continue in our faith because we are saved.

It Revolves Around Christ – Beloved

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To wrap up this week we have seen how Christ is the creator as well as head of the church in regards to His centrality. Today we will look at how Christ is beloved by God. In Colossians 1:19-20 we see, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

Define the Terms

When Paul wrote to the Colossian church the word he used for “all fullness” was one that the gnostic false teachers were familiar with. It was a technical term which meant “the sum total of all the divine power and attributes.” Then by dwell Paul was not just simply meaning to reside such as I dwell in a fifth wheel camper at a campground, but more along the lines of to be at home permanently. Essientially Paul was stating that Christ had the power and attributes of God and that they were an essential part of his being. This was powerful as the gnostics believed that matter was evil and thus God could not interact with it, but Paul is stating just the opposite. It is not just that Christ had the power and attributes of God but that God the Father was pleased for Christ to have the fullness of God within Him.

What He Did

The next thing Paul points out is that God was pleased with Christ through Christ’s actions, “and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.” God was not only pleased for Christ to posses His nature and power, but also because of Christ fulfilling His purpose. Christ came to pay the ultimate price for humanity’s sin. The only sinless person dying on the cross as punishment for the sins of the world. When sin entered the world it caused separation, separation from God, separation from man, and it basically tears everything apart. What Christ did was to remove that separation; He restored the relationship between man and God, this is what Paul means by “making peace through the blood of the cross.” You see as we become new creations through our faith in Christ these divisions that were caused by sin start to get repaired. We find it easier to love our neighbor and to pray for our enemies. We find ourselves to be more forgiving at times; although these changes never come easy or all at once. It is as we truly become followers of Christ that we start to first hand experience this making of peace and reconciliation that only Christ can offer.

It Revolves Around Christ – Head

Posted on by chgruver

This week we have been focusing on the centrality of Christ as Paul presented to the Colossian church in Colossians 1:15-20. Last time we looked at Christ as the creator, today we will look at how Paul presents Christ as the Head of the church. In Colossians 1:18 we see, “He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.” This concept of Christ being the head of the church is one Paul uses in a number of places. It is one that shows Christ’s leadership over the body of believers, but is also shows the believers’ submission and trust in Him.

When one looks at the concept of the head and the body the best way to look at it is how our own body works. When we think of doing something our heads tell the rest of our body what needs to be done and it follows. You want to walk over to your friend’s house, your head tells your body to get up off the couch and then to start taking steps to head out the door and over to your friend’s house. For the most part your head will not willingly tell your body to do something that is harmful, though there are times when you do something that may cause you pain but it is for good, like exercise. In acknowledging Christ as the head of the church, we listen to His will and follow it. We have trust that His will is not going to harm the church but help it to grow.

Another thing that Paul mentions here is that Christ was the firstborn from the dead. This also is a way of looking at Christ as the head of the church because the head also is not just leader but source or origin. The church came out of Christ, He is the one the founded the church. Firstborn again like we saw last time indicates a priority over, Christ was not the first person that was raised from the dead, but He was the most important. That is because when Christ rose from the dead it was demonstrating His power over sin and death; others may have been raised from the dead, but they later on faced death again. Jesus faced death once and overcame it, He is still alive sitting at God’s right hand interceding on the behalf of all believers.

This verse finishes off by stating the purpose of this section that is the everything is centered around Christ. He has first place in everything, other translations state Christ’s supremacy or preeminence over everything. The false teaching that the Colossian church faced, and we even hear some shout today is that Christ is one out of many ways; what Paul is stating and what Christ stated Himself is that He is the only way.

It Revolves Around Christ – Creator

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In our journey through Colossians last week we looked at Paul’s prayer for the Colossian believers. This week we look at what Paul has to tell these believers right off the bat regarding their relationship with Christ. The false teachers were all pointing out other things that the believers needed to focus on to obtain salvation or reach a point of spiritual maturity; Paul comes out and states all you need is Christ. In fact Paul goes so far as to say that Christ is the center of it all. We see his words in Colossians 1:15-20 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross— whether things on earth or things in heaven.”

Creator

The first thing Paul points out to the Colossian church is that Christ is Creator. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” The first thing Paul states in these three verses is that Christ was firstborn over all creation. What this means is that Christ preceded and takes importance over creation, not that he was created. In other words Paul explains to the Colossian church that Christ was God in the flesh, and His presence allowed us to see the essence of who God the Father is.

The second thing Paul points out regarding Christ and creation is that not only did Christ precede creation but He is the one who created. One way to look at this is that Christ is firstborn because He created all things. Not only did He create all things but He did so with a plan and purpose. Paul is stating that you have false teachers stating that the material world is evil, but Christ created it good and even if we see things that we regard as evil God ultimately uses it for His purposes.

The final thing Paul points out regarding creation is that Christ holds all things together. He is in control because He is firstborn over all creation, and all things were created in Him. What this means is when you look at the world today and all the chaos and uncertainty as believers we have no need to worry, because Christ is in control. The United Kingdom left the European Union, whether you were for it or against it remember Christ is in control. Don’t know who to vote for regarding the US presidential race, remember no matter who is elected God is in control. This is a ray of hope no matter what dark times we may face, God is always in control, we may never understand the reasons why something happens but God has a plan that will always happen. This is why we can place our trust and hope in Him.

Table Talk – Episode 53 – Encouragement

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July 08, 2016: This week we heard from Pastor Sam a testimony from when he was on vacation and how God used him to encourage others in their time of need.

Table Talk is a weekly gathering of men in the Pinellas Park area from different denominations and backgrounds. We meet every Friday morning from around 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter restaurant. It is located at 6767 US Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park. If you happen to be in the area feel free to come out and join us for a time of fellowship and Bible study.

Prayer of Brotherhood – Salvation

Posted on by chgruver

So we have been looking at Paul’s prayer regarding the Colossian church as found in Colossians 1:9-14 and last time we ended with how as believers they should be giving thanks to God when strengthened for endurance and patience. Paul also goes on to mention other reasons that as a believer we should be giving thanks. If you look at Colossians 1:13-14, “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.” Paul points out four things that as believers we should be thankful for besides being enabled to share in the inheritance that we will receive as believers, we were rescued, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven.

Rescued

The first thing Paul mentions is that God rescued us from the domain of darkness, meaning we were once held captive or as prisoners to sin and God came down and freed us. If we were in physical bondage and captivity we would surely be grateful to the person who came and rescued us from our situation, well spiritually that is exactly what God did. We were at one time in a position, spiritually, where sin and darkness were in control of our lives. Before we came to Christ sin was what ruled in our lives, if we happened to do anything “good” it was because it benefited our sinful desires. However, Christ came down and removed the power sin had over us to where no longer are we controlled by our sinful desires.

Transferred

The next thing Paul mentions is that after we were rescued we were transferred to Christ’s Kingdom. You see he did not just free us from sin and leave us to wander around. We were transplanted from one kingdom to another, we went from slaves under sin to citizens in the Kingdom of God. We were rescued from our sinful desires and placed under the Lordship of one who requires us to do good. When Christ removed the power sin had over us we were given the Holy Spirit who urges us to follow God’s will.

Redeemed

It is not just that we were rescued from Satan’s power and became citizens of God’s kingdom but Christ has also redeemed us. What this means is that we were bought for a price, the word used here was that of paying a ransom. When sin entered into the world with Adam, we were taken captive; and when Christ died on the cross the ransom was paid to where God was able to bring us back into His kingdom. We were bought at a price to which we are no longer for sale. When we were redeemed by Christ the sale was final.

Forgiven

Finally we should be thankful because our sins are forgiven, which goes hand in hand with redemption. Look at in the way of when people would go into slavery due to large debts, because of sin we had an unpayable debt and thus became slaves to sin. Christ came and redeemed us, bought us from the slavery to sin, and then forgave us, payed off or canceled our debt. You see we should be thankful to God because of our salvation, as not only does God make it possible for us, but He is the one who saves us. We cannot do it on our own, only God had the power to bring us salvation.

Table Talk – Episode 51 – Meeting People’s Needs

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June 17, 2016: This week we got to talking about how as the church we need to be meeting people’s needs.

Table Talk is a weekly gathering of men in the Pinellas Park area from different denominations and backgrounds. We meet every Friday morning from around 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter restaurant. It is located at 6767 US Highway 19 North in Pinellas Park. If you happen to be in the area feel free to come out and join us for a time of fellowship and Bible study.