Christ In Us: The Hope of Glory Col. 1:27

Christmas 2021

Christ In Us: The Hope of Glory

Col. 1:27

​​27 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)

As we approach the letter to the church in Colosse we find that every issue and struggle facing the church in Asia minor is facing Colosse

Believers were working hard & battling false teaching.

Paul in v.24 uses the word affliction is tribulation in Revelation

Paul understands his suffering as a reflection of Christ’s suffering

The need was for the truth of the gospel to be heard and embraced.

Was the gospel of Jesus only a Jewish thing? Can only certain people be saved?

Col. 1:3-6 - The gospel is spreading to the whole world!

The question of the text.

What does it mean that God the Son can be in us? (Jews or Gentiles)

What does that mean?

How does it happen?

What does it matter?

The foundation and meaning of Christmas answer those questions with two words: The incarnation!

Jesus does not offer salvation apart from offering Himself and we cannot experience salvation apart from experiencing Christ.

The gospel is not a system, hierarchy, or set of regulations.

It is the person and work of Jesus, which is, indeed, the message.

It is the message of God with us!

And so:

Main Idea: Jesus joined himself to our humanity so that we might be joined to His.

Jesus Joined Himself To Our Humanity

Joined to dwell with us

Jesus the Preeminent One - Col. 1:15-17

First we must see who this One is born in a manger

He is the Eternal and only God

He is the Creator of all things

He is over all things

He is glorified in all things

Came to dwell with us

Luke 1:26-35

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

John 1:14

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Joined to die for us

Col. 1:19-20

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Eph. 1:7-10

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth [in Christ ]10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Joined to live in us - v.27

This is a mystery - Christ in me?? Think about that for a moment?

V.21 - 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

The term really means secret. It is something that was kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints.

What’s the secret? That God has chosen to include the Gentiles in the blessings of salvation (see Eph. 3:1–6).

You gentiles who were outside the covenant now have Christ in you!

Paul is saying you like me have only one hope, the person and work of Jesus Christ

“For Paul, this “mystery” is one aspect of the gospel, but it draws from its center as it points to the powerful work of God in the death of Christ that breaks down ethnic and cosmic barriers in the creation of the one people.”

Want to get Christmas this year, ponder why it is that your saved!

This is our hope

This hope is “the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

You see for the Jews their hope and glory was the Torah. The looked forward to a day when the glory of the torah would be restored.

To identify Chrtist as “the hope of glory” is to identify Christ as the fullment of the Law.

This is the purpose of Col. 2:3 - Christ is where we find our treasure and our Wisdom.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Therefore all people, no matter background or ethnicity,

whether free or slave, homeless, Drug addict, prostitute or wealthy business owner can come and must come humbly to the cross, repent and place their hope and trust in Christ and be saved.

They can stand with all the redeemed and say.

Gal. 2:20

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jesus Joins Us To Himself

Calvin declares, “We must not contemplate Christ outside ourselves from afar.”

What does he mean? Christ did not take our humanity as his own to be our Substitute Redeemer in isolation to us, but to join us to the humanity he intends on re-creating and reorienting to God.

Joined by the Holy Spirit (to the Lord) -

1 john 4:13

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

1 Cor. 6:17;19-20

17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. sSo glorify God in your body.

Joined by our spiritual adoption

Gal. 4:4-7

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Joined for communion

Jesus does not offer salvation apart from offering Himself and we cannot experience salvation apart from experiencing Christ.

The incarnation brings two realities into our lives as believers:

Our union to each other is created through our union with Christ

1 cor 12:12-13

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Our union with Christ creates a union with each other

1 Cor 12:21-26

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Col. 1:27; 2:2

27 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. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The reason Paul desired the church to grab hold of the mystery that Christ came to us in order to unite us to him is so the church might be built up and matured in love.

Our communion with Christ leads to communion with each other and our communion with each other spurs on our communion with Christ.

And none of this would be possible if God did not come to us and take on our humanity so that we might be joined to His.

So That

We might Live in hope - Col. 2:6; 3:1-10

Walk in Christ - How ? - 2:6

Set your mind on Christ - 3:1-2

Seek Christ with all your might

Put away that which doesn’t reflect Him - v. 9

Put on that which does reflect Christ - v. 10

We might experience Christ

Don’t let Christmas turn into New Years without enjoying Christ as the one who came to earth and united himself to you so that you might know Him and enjoy Him.

The Lord is worthy of our worship but loves to be enjoyed in the worship.