Steadfast in Faith and Hope
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Opening:
Everyone believes in a gospel; savior found
Money, fame, relationships, self fulfillment
Only one true gospel, the gospel of Christ
Let the world to have too much influence on what the gospel truly is
Reason- too inclusive; set standard of gospel so low, have made it pay-to-play sports team
No standard God has set- all welcome regardless
Gospel is very inclusive in who can obtain it- exclusive in who actually has it
Gospel to hold to despite what world says- foundation of the church
Must not deviate from-Paul’s plea for the church
The Body of Christ:
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in 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.
Paul encouraging to continue in producing fruit/godly lives
Last section- focused on why Jesus being God is important to realize
Reasoning= Jesus is God and has authority over all creation- made/ redeemed the church through his death on the cross
Continuation of Paul’s case for why submit to Christ
Focuses on the importance of acknowledging Christ humanity- reason why we submit
Paul starts argument by bringing Colossians back to who they were before their faith
Alientated- perfect verb tense(verb took place in past); to be considered strange/foreign to God
Alien- foreigner to a country
Aliens in ancient Israel allowed to reside in country limits; told to care for aliens as those who are loved by God
U.S. takes aliens and cares for them- my family from El Salvador legally reside in U.S.
Aliens couldn’t have all privileges of native Israeli has
Couldn’t partake in religious ceremonies(Passover) or worship God in the sanctuary as his people
Only assimilated(circumcised) aliens could have all the privileges of God’s people
Reasoning- goes to command God gave Abraham to circumcise all male’s residing in Israel to make them part of God’s promise(land of Israel/being made God’s people)
Circumcision= sign that you are submitted to God’s word/love him
Aliens weren’t part of the promise of God; not given the Holy Spirit/salvation
Why? God did not know them; eternal life isn’t a place- it’s knowing God
This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.
Alienated= unknown to God, and not a part of his promise-not his people; not privileged to inherited eternal life
Not only aliens, but we were hostile/enemies of God
Enemy= adversary; one who hates and seeks to harm the person; one who opposes you
Hostile in mind= opposes God in our desires; evil desires
How can you say that I am an enemy of God, I’m a good person most of the time, how is that so?
Paul addresses claim- points to our actions
Our lives proved that we were enemies of God/ sin automatically pins us against God
Sins made us not God’s people- God’s people not only those who were circumcised, but those who keep God’s laws as their standard of living/obey
For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That person’s praise is not from people but from God.
God’s people are those who cut off old ways for God’s ways; who follow God, not the desires of flesh
Before Christ, who lead your life?
Yourself- our natural desires
Post-modernism= your experience/truth is reality; all are good at heart- all know what good is and intend to do good
Contradictory to scripture where we read what desires of our flesh really are
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Our flesh leads to separation from God, separation from God=death
At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Can’t help but sin- natural disposition to sin
Original Sin- Since Adam’s fall, we are all pre disposed to sin, natural desire above all is to sin
Because all humanity existed in the loins of Adam, and have through procreation inherited his fallenness and depravity, it can be said that all sinned in him. Therefore, humans are not sinners because they sin, but rather they sin because they are sinners.
John F. MacArthur
Crave sin
We are evil; there is none that is good
All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
Us before Jesus; Doesn’t feel good to remember who we were- important
Paul reminds Colossians to prove to them to show they are not good at life-needed a savior
Caesar Millan- take food aggressive dog food away to show they are subject to owner/dependent on owner for food
Do you realize you need a savior?
Often like to portray selves as people who got it all together- talking to people at church; reality, dying
Able to see that you are not good enough to make your life work?
Paul making us realize, we need Jesus
Vs 22- “but now”= shift from the life of death, to life of living
reconciled= mended relationship w/ God destroyed by sins
Mended by Christ sacrifice on the cross-important; physical body=physical body
Docetism= strain of Gnosticism; claimed that Jesus did not have a real body/didn’t suffer on cross, only appear as suffering
Stupid? Modern day reality of perception of Christ; denial of Jesus being a real man
The main character of the book (referred to 28 times) would seem to be “the Lamb,” an astral being seen in visions (no claims to historicity here!), and the book overall is redolent of ancient astrology.
The name Jesus occurs only seven times in the entire book, Christ only four times, and Jesus Christ only twice! While Revelation may very well derive from a very early period (contrary to the views of most biblical scholars, who deal with the book only in its final form), the Jesus of which it whispers obviously is not a man. He is a supernatural being. He has not yet acquired the physiological and metabolic properties of which we read in the gospels
Ridiculous claim- any biblical study, find the lamb/lord referred to Jesus
Non-Christian accounts of Christ from Roman historian- Cornelius Tacitus/ documenting Nero’s persecution of Christians for fire in Rome/wiping his name clean for being real cause
Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular
Easy claim to deal with-Roman historian has nothing to gain from Jesus being a real man
Why Paul addressing reality of Christ having a body?
Gnostics taught all flesh is evil, but spirit is good
Jesus couldn’t have a body because He wasn’t evil
Teaching leading away from true gospel- leading people to live terrible lives, but justify it because their spirit is good
Fruit is evidence the spirit lives in you; no fruit-no spirit; no spirit-no salvation
Paul corrects wrong view of Christ- dangerous
Take away Jesus’ humanity, diminish severity of sacrifice
Jesus needed to be a man/ salvation not possible if Jesus wasn’t a man
Reason- Jesus is our high priest
High Priest(Jewish culture)- top ranking priest/ the priest’s priest/ over all priest within a city
High Priest had very important job that none else could do
Responsibility of conducting Yom Kippur(Day of Atonement-OT)
Once yearly(10th day of Tishri[mid sept-oct]), high priest would enter God’s presence as representative of the people of Israel to sacrifice animal to cleanse Israel of their sins for that year
How could Jesus be representative is he wasn’t a man?
Jesus called mediator- goes in between parties to make peace; between us(sinners, law breakers, criminals) and God(righteous, holy judge) who needs to punish those who have broken law
How could Jesus represent us if he had no idea the sick state we are in because of the pull of sin?
How can a lawyer successfully represent their client’s innocence if they never know the details of the case?
Jesus needed to be a man to show us sympathy when we sin
Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
Unlike other high priest, they were sinners; sacrifice needed yearly because it was from a sinful man
Jesus underwent all temptations we do, yet did not sin where we did
Jesus lived perfect life, followed God’s law perfectly
Therefore, his sacrifice is worth much more since He gave himself as our ultimate sacrifice, unstained by sin/corruption
Pleading our case of innocence before God; “whenever we sin, he in a sense shows his Father again the wounds he incurred by his death, testifying that the price demanded for our sins has been paid once for all”
Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.
Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself.
Jesus’ sacrifice cleanses the church and makes her beautiful before God
Husband sees bride walking down isle, God views his church: holy, faultless, blameless
God speaking to his church: Song 4:7.
You are absolutely beautiful, my darling;
there is no imperfection in you.
True gospel/saving gospel/ foundational gospel of church
Gospel gives/earn Christ full authority over your
Reason Paul says he’s a servant of gospel(vs 23)
We too must become servants of the gospel!
Falling Away:
Must not fall away from true gospel
Choice each must make
World will teach different gospel- sounds appealing
Teach false gospel of rejecting Christ and following yourself, but still saved
Despite knowing truth, choose to go against
How often are we tempted to divert from the truth for the lies we know won’t lead to life?
Paul warning against- don’t abandon the faith
God views ONLY his church this way- not all the world
Culture teaches God loves all regardless- no need for change, but God accepts and loves you
Only if we stay true to gospel= the gospel; other meets end as rest of the world
Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
Stand strong in face of false gospels, HOW? Faith & Hope
Often paired together; need one for the other
Faith= trust, confidence God will keep his promise of his Holy Spirit
Hope= expectation Holy Spirit will give eternal life
Nothing can separate us from God’s love; no longer foreign/enemies of God
Now God’s people, entered into his promise, have eternal life
Struggles? Lean into faith even more despite appearance
Too scared to trust- need to see/certain/prove himself trustworthy
Life not off 100%; car crash
When has God failed us? When has not listening to God ever turned out better than being obedient?
Hold tight to faith and hope-nothing can shake you
He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built.
