faithful

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.

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.

A Friend of a Friend – What Must Be Done

Posted on by chgruver

In looking at Colossians 1:3-8 we have seen that Paul has heard about this young church that came out of the fruit of his ministry in Ephesus, and reminds them of the source of their hope. Today we will see what Paul points out as what should be done with that hope. In Colossians 1:6-8 we see, “It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.” Paul now goes and starts telling the Colossian church the purpose of the Gospel.

Bearing Fruit

He starts out with telling them that the Gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world. Essentially Paul is stating that the Gospel is to continue to be spread, they heard the Gospel from someone and in turn they should be sharing the Gospel with others. Paul does this by telling the Colossians that it was not just them that found their hope through the Gospel but that the Gospel is for all people in all places. He was essentially stating that it was not just them that will find salvation in the message of the Gospel, but that they should be willing to spread it so that it would continue to bear its fruit.

Seed Planted

This point was driven home by Paul indicating that the seed that bore the spiritual fruit found in the Colossian church was planted by Epaphras. This was not one of the apostles, a missionary, or even some full time minister; this was just a fellow Colossian that heard the message and came to faith while he was probably visiting Ephasus. God used an ordinary man for His extraordinary purpose. As mentioned in the Great Commission we may not all be evangelists, but as Christians we are all to go and spread the Gospel around the world.

What’s The Fruit

So what is the fruit that is growing all over the world that Paul is talking about. It is those that have given their life to Christ. As mentioned they recognized God’s grace in the Gospel and gave their hearts over to it. On exposure to the Gospel message they had a stirring in their hearts as a result of the Holy Spirit drawing them to God that let them see this great gift that is offered to them, which they did not deserve. That is exactly what grace is, receiving something which you do not deserve; on the other side of the same coin is mercy, which is not receiving something you do deserve. You see through mercy we do not receive the punishment of death that we deserve due to sin and through God’s grace we receive life; not because of anything we did but because of Christ and what He did for us in His love. This is what Paul is doing right off the bat, he is reminding the Colossian church of the Gospel message, the message that led them to faith. He is reminding them of God’s grace and mercy as this needs to be first and foremost in their minds, especially when he starts to counter the false teachings that the church is dealing with.

A Friend of a Friend – What You Heard

Posted on by chgruver

So we started looking at Colossians and this week we are looking at Colossians 1:3-8. Last time we looked at how Paul is thankful to God because of what he has heard regarding this young church. Today we will look at  what Paul states they have heard that is the basis for their faith. Colossians 1:5, “You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you.” Paul had just gotten finished telling them that he had heard of their faith and love which resulted from their hope. He now goes to tell them where they got their hope from and the reason it is reliable.

The Promise To Come

Paul is reminding them that their hope, this assurance of a promise to come, is contained within the message they have already received. It is not found in some secret revelation, or through some mystic experience. It is also not obtained through some strict adherence to a set of rules. Paul boldly states that to understand the hope that is reserved for them in heaven all they need to do is to look at the message they received through faith. The Colossian church has all these people coming in trying to say that receiving the Gospel is a good start but to truly be a Christian they need to follow a certain set of rules, or obtain some secret knowledge that hasn’t been revealed to them. Right here at the start Paul reminds them that the Gospel is all they need, it is the source of their hope.

The Truth Is The Truth

There is a reason that Paul refers to the Gospel as the message of truth, that is because no matter what the popular opinion is the truth will always be the truth. Paul was telling the Colossian church that no matter how popular the false teachings are, how appealing they may be, or how easy it would be to just go with the flow, the Gospel is the truth and only message that leads to salvation. In our own lives when we encounter various teachings we should always test them against Scripture to see whether they are false teachings or sound teaching. Paul is stating that no matter who is teaching or what the message is it should line up with the Gospel, anything else will draw you away from Christ.

So Paul is telling the Colossian church that they came to a saving faith in Christ through the message of the Gospel that they had received. This message was the truth and there is no hidden knowledge or mystical experience that is further required to obtain salvation, nor is there any special set of rules that they must perfectly follow. We need to remember the same thing, our faith is not about anything other than our relationship with Christ. If we are told that in order to be saved we need to do anything that takes our focus off of Christ we should steer clear of it; as our faith should have us constantly seeking Him, not some hidden knowledge or special experience, and not some set of rules.

A Friend of a Friend – What We Have Heard

Posted on by chgruver

In looking at the book of Colossians, after Paul gives his customary greeting he goes into praising God about what he has learned regarding this young church. He starts off in Colossians 1:3-8 with saying, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth. You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf, and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.” You see as I mentioned last week this church was not one that Paul had directly founded, his relationship would be similar to developing a close friendship after being introduced through a mutual friendship.

Fruit of Discipleship

The first thing to take notice of is Paul states that he is thankful to God when he is praying for the Colossian church. Why is that you may ask? Well it shows Paul understands what it means to be a true disciple, to truly be growing in one’s faith. Paul may not have started the church in Colossae but it was started most likely due to his ministry. Paul understood that while not every believer may be an evangelist, it is the duty of all believers to spread the Gospel. So hearing about how some who came to faith after hearing the Gospel through him have led others to faith, which eventually led to the founding of other churches in other cities and villages, Paul cannot help but to be thankful that they get it. Paul is thankful not only because of the church and it being founded, but that the believers realize it is not just the job of the pastor, elders, or even a missionary to spread the Gospel; but that it is the job of all believers. Paul is thankful that seeing his three years in Ephesus did not just result in one church being founded but many churches through the region being founded through the fruit of discipleship.

Why We Heard

Paul goes on to tell the church what he has been told about them, “for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.” In 1 Corinthians 13:13 Paul mentions three characteristics of a Christian that will never disappear, those three characteristics he has heard of being found in the Colossian church, faith, hope, and love. The first thing Paul mentions that he heard about them was their faith in Christ. This was the common ground that they held and is one that all believers share, we may have different views regarding doctrine, but we all agree on the major issues. Paul isn’t saying that they just heard about Christ or have incorporated aspects of the Christian faith into their belief system, but that they have whole heartedly left their old ways behind and are placing their sole focus on God.

The next thing Paul expresses thankfulness regarding the Colossian church is their love, which is a progression from their faith. You see one of the evidences of our faith is our love for others, which it is through this love that we are compelled to do good works. This is counter to what false teachers were telling the Colossian church, they were claiming that obedience to rules, obtaining a secret knowledge, or having special experiences were the evidence. The love the Colossian church was not just shown to those that they agreed with, it was to all the saints. This meant that even if their beliefs were slightly different on minor issues, those that do not affect one’s salvation, they still showed them love as fellow believers in Christ. There are too many examples of Christian brothers fighting over small issues rather than being in fellowship due to their common beliefs.

Paul then goes on to state his thankfulness due to their hope. Today we have cheapened the definition of many words such as love and faith; but what the Bible refers to as hope and how we view hope today are completely different. We see hope as often wishful thinking, “I hope I get a new car,” or “I hope I can make my rent this month.” Hope in the Bible is something more concrete than that, it is a looking forward to the assured promises that will be fulfilled. The Colossian church loved their fellow believer because of their hope in the life to come. They realized that even if they have different opinions on certain things they will all be together in heaven with God and that is all that matters.

Welcome to Colossae – The Problem

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Last time we ended by talking about the unity of the believer and how it was because of this brotherhood that Paul felt it necessary to address the issues he heard the Colossian church was facing. So what were the issues he addressed, why was the letter to the Colossian church written? The issue that the Colossian church was facing was a mixture between Eastern philosophy and Jewish legalism.

Eastern Philosophy

The first part of the issue came from a concept that eventually became known as Gnosticism, this concept was that there was a special wisdom and knowledge that would only be achieved through spiritual perfection; and once one achieved this wisdom they were released from the earthly and material things. It came out of the philosophical question of “why is there evil in the world if creation was made by a holy God?” This question led to the belief among eastern philosophers that matter  was evil and as such God could not come in direct contact with evil matter. They also held a belief that angelic beings ruled the heavenly bodies and influenced the affairs on earth.

Jewish Legalism

Eastern philosophy was not the only issue that the church faced as Jewish legalism was also thrown into the mix. The concept of circumcision was believed to be helpful in one’s spiritual development as well as following the Old Testament Law, especially the dietary laws. This provided rigid rules and regulations that defined what was evil and what was good. The combination of these two led to the view that since material world was evil, a way was needed to control one’s human nature to pursue perfection. This resulted in either a strict legalistic view with rigid discipline or the view that since matter is evil all things are permissible; the Colossians more than likely drifted towards the more legalistic end of the spectrum.

The Issue

With the combining of beliefs that were found in the area the foundation of the Christian faith was being undermined. They attacked the person and work of Jesus Christ. They made a belief structure that had something for everybody by taking bits and pieces of Jewish legalism, Oriental philosophy, pagan astrology, mysticism, asceticism, and even Christianity. This is an issue that is even seen today. With the concept that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere, or the mixing in of eastern/new age philosophies and practices with the Christian faith. They took the view that “God is far away, matter is evil, and demonic forces are constantly threatening us;” where the Christian faith is that God is near us, God made all things good, and Christ has delivered His people from the powers of darkness. It was a heresy that tried to change people from the outside in, where spiritual growth happens from the inside out.

Welcome to Colossae -The Church

Posted on by chgruver

Last time we started our look at the book of Colossians by talking briefly about the author and the city of Colossae itself. Today I want to focus more on the intended audience of the letter by looking at the church in Colossae. Again looking at the first two verses in Colossians we read, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother: To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

The Church Itself

The first thing is to take a little background look at the Colossian church itself. This was a church that would have never been mentioned in the Net Testament if this letter was never written. That is because this was a church that Paul did not start nor even visit, instead Paul heard of their faith. This was a church that had more than likely started due to Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, in which the Gospel went out through all of Asia from there. It was probably in Ephesus that Epaphras and Philemon came to faith in Christ. These were two ordinary guys which God used to start ministries and churches in the three cities of Colossae, Laodecia, and Hierapolis. As with the city itself the church was predominately Gentile with a diverse background which probably led to some of the issues Paul deals with in the letter. Now in looking at Paul’s greeting we also see three things about the church that he reminds them of.

Saints

The first thing Paul tells the Colossian church is that they are saints, or that they are holy. This is a familiar address Paul uses in his letters to the churches, Galatians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians are the exception. The concept of a saint in Paul’s day was not how we view a saint today. Today when we think of a saint we think of a dead person that the Catholic church has granted the status of sainthood to after meeting a certain set of criteria. To Paul a saint was someone set aside for God’s purpose, or in other words a believer. You see it is not anything they did that made them saints, but it is all what God did; as it was through Christ that God made them, and makes us, holy.

Faithful

The next thing Paul states about the church is that they were faithful. You have to remember this was a church that started through hearing from others that more than likely brought the Gospel to Colossae after hearing it while in Ephesus, yet they held fast to their faith. In fact Paul later expresses praise in hearing about their faith. This was a young church started by regular ordinary people, no apostles, missionaries, or pastors started it, and when they faced an issue Epaphras probably told the church that they should seek advice from Paul on the issue. Rather than stray they sought out godly counsel to help correct wrong teachings that were trying to creep their way in.

Brothers

Finally Paul called the church in Colossae brothers. This demonstrates the unity that is shared among believers, we are all part of a family and as such work together. This sense of unity shows that we are not supposed to go at it alone, instead we should be willing to help each other out in times of need. I have often heard with some branches of the military the concept of “no man left behind,” as Christians we should have a similar concept that we should not allow each other to fall. We should encourage and life each other up, pray for each other, and when one of us falls we should be willing to help bring them back to Christ. The unity of the believer, the brotherhood of faith, means we should be willing to help and protect each other from falling into the grasp of the enemy. Paul exhibits this concept in that he doesn’t leave the Colossian church to their own devices, which he had no direct ties to the church to warrant his involvement, but because they were fellow believers that was the only reason needed for Paul to step in to address the issues that they were facing. So what were these issues? Well we will look at that next time.

Table Talk – Episode 47 – World vs The Spirit

Posted on by chgruver

May 20, 2016: This week we looked at James 1:20-27 and what it means to be “unstained by the world.”

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.

Table Talk – Episode 40 – Unity of Believers

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April 1, 2016: This week around the table we got back into Acts 2 and talked about the unity of believers.

Table Talk is filmed Friday mornings from 6:30-8:00 at the Egg Platter on US 19 in Pinellas Park, FL. If you happen to be in the area and interested in joining us please come; all men are welcome regardless of denomination.

Psalm 33:4-5

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“For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.”

When I read these two verses out of the Psalms the first thing that comes to mind is when James states, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” To me James is referring to what it states in Psalm 33:4 by stating how when we doubt when asking God for something as simple as wisdom we are doubting the nature of God. The Psalmist states that the word of the Lord is right and true, and that He is faithful in all He does.

What this means for us is that the universal promises found in the Bible we as believers can be sure that God will fulfill. Promises such as wisdom if we are to ask for it; but we need to have faith, to trust and believe that God is faithful. If we cannot rest in that truth, we find ourselves being tossed around like a wave in the ocean. We need to hold on to the foundational principle of our faith that the Lord is right and true, as well as that He does fulfill His promises; it may not be when or in the way we want them to be fulfilled, but He will fulfill them.