The one thing God wants us to know

If you were to boil everything in life down to one idea, what would it be?  What is the one thing that God wants us to know?

1 Timothy 2:1-4
First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 

This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

So what is the truth the God wants everyone to know and accept?

1 Timothy 2:5-7
For there is one God and mediator between God and man,
a man, Christ Jesus,
who gave Himself – a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

For this I was appointed a herald, an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

A mediator is responsible for brokering the conditions of a settlement between two opposing parties.  This person is not involved in the conflict and does not take sides, but their job is to use their persuasiveness to convince both parties to compromise a little bit of what each one wants so that reconciliation can occur.  The difficulty with the problem between God and man was that God is incapable of compromising His holiness and mankind is unable to offer an acceptable sacrifice as atonement for our sin of rebellion against God.

Given this stalemate, Christ Jesus did what only a desperate mediator would do – He entered into the negotiations Himself.  Because Jesus is fully God and fully man – not a partial, not half/half, not a created being – His abilities and attributes are unmatched by anyone or anything else.  As such, Jesus has the greatest value in all creation…which is why giving Himself has the ability to be a ransom for all.

As Paul had previously told the believers in Ephesus:

Ephesians 1:20-21
[God the Father] demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens – far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

God thinks so highly of Christ Jesus’ sacrifice that He is willing to accept everyone who will come to the knowledge of the truth and believe in Jesus for eternal life.  The value of Christ’s sacrifice is so great that ANY and EVERY sin is covered.  In a practical sense, this means that a mass-murderer and your average, nice-guy neighbor both have the same opportunity for a relationship with God.

The flip side is that because God thinks so highly of Jesus’ sacrifice, He will not accept anyone who rejects Jesus’ offer as their ransom.  As such, they will have to stand on their own record…and when left to that scenario, none of us make the cut.

This is gospel in a nutshell.  The focus is on how great a sacrifice Jesus made, not on how badly we’ve sinned in comparison to other sinners.  That is the one message God wants us to know – that a direct relationship with Him is now available because of what Jesus has done.  The mediator has stepped in to do what we could not, in order that we could be reconciled to God the Father.

Keep Pressing,
Ken
 

Some habits need to die

As Paul transitions from teaching the Colossian believers about God to teaching them practical ways to live out their relationship with God, there is a very specific concept that he wishes to convey to his readers.  Paul tells them that when we trust that Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins, we are identifying with His death and also identifying with His resurrected life.

Colossians 3:2-4
Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.  When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Since we have died with Christ to the elemental forces of this world, there are some habits and ways of our previous life that need to die also. 

Colossians 3:5-7
Therefore, put to death whatever in you is worldly: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient, and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.

Just as our past sins were counted against Jesus and were buried in His tomb, our sinful lifestyles and thinking habits also need to die.  Paul gets real specific about what choices and behaviors will stir up God’s wrath, and his warning here makes it clear that believers can still struggle with these issues.

Don’t skip over Paul’s list just because he starts with sexual immorality.  If we have never had a full-blown affair, it doesn’t mean we’re completely immune from it happening.  In fact, if we continue down Paul’s list, we find a dangerously linked chain of motivations…with the root of sexual immorality being something we all struggle with.

The preceding behavior to committing sexual immorality is to tolerate a level of impurity in our lives.  The Greek word for impurity relates to moral filthiness, especially in regard to sexual sin.  Behind the moral filthiness is lust, which is an inordinate affection or improper passion that we cultivate in our thoughts.  Lust is always born out of evil desires – when we nurture a craving and desire for what is forbidden. 

Paul then relates these evil desires back to greed.  We typically think of greed when it comes to money; however, at its core greed is a selfish, burning desire to acquire more of something or a coveting of what isn’t rightfully yours.  The deeply buried root to all of this is idolatry.  Greed starts in us whenever we trust something or someone more than we trust in God, because at that point we are giving ourselves to an idol.

From this chain of behaviors, we can clearly see how one thing leads to another…how a mistrust of God can lead us all the way down the path to sexual immorality.  It doesn’t happen overnight…the process is typically subtle, until one day we wake up wondering how it all happened.

Paul’s point is that wherever you find yourself on the spectrum, at that point you need to kill it.  The process cannot be allowed to continue to grow until we reach full-blown rebellion in sexual immorality.  Up until this point, the sinful progression and most of the damage done is specific to our own lives.  When we give into the sin of sexual immorality, there is going to be a significant amount of permanent damage done to all relationships in our own life and in the life of anyone who participates with us. 

The key to aborting this cycle is in Paul’s direction to put to death whatever in you is worldly.  To put to death is an active, action choice we can make.  The Greek word means to cut off, starve off, and deprive of power.  Whatever behavior or thought-process in our lives that is leading us down this path needs to be completely abandoned.  We must make the choice to cut off and starve these feelings. 

A few ways to practically do this:

·        Avoid the internet when you’re bored late at night
·        Avoid getting infatuated with new acquaintances of the opposite sex
·        Avoid comparing your spouse to others
·        Install Covenant Eyes or some other accountability software
·        Relationship issues are not discussed with someone of the opposite sex
·        Choose contentment with what we have – both things and relationships

There are many other ways to deprive power from this sinful cycle.  There are also many ministries aimed at providing help, as we all deal these desires.  We must talk to safe, Godly friends about where we’re struggling.  Making a list of situations to avoid will help, but the best way to put to death whatever in you is worldly is to replace those things with setting your mind on what is above.

What we dwell on, what we think about, will ultimately direct our actions.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The glorious wealth of this mystery

That God would one day reconcile the world through the Jewish people was something that God had foretold all the way back at the Garden of Eden.  However, once Jesus paid the penalty for our sins when He willingly died on the cross, the implications of our restored relationship with God were revealed.

Paul explained this to the believers at Colossae:

Colossians 1:22-23
But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him…This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I Paul, have become a minister of it.

As Paul explained the good news of the gospel – that we have been reconciled to God through Jesus’ death – he also had the privilege of explaining the full effect of Christ’s resurrection.  Since we were unaware of these relational benefits…Paul refers to them as a mystery. This term in Scripture refers to a truth previously unknown, but now revealed by God. 

Colossians 1:25-27
I have become its minister, 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 to those among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The mystery was that the Gentiles could also believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins – which means they (and us!) are equally included in God’s family.  The ultimate benefit, though, goes even further. 

Beyond being forgiven for the guilt and penalty from our sin and rebellion…
Beyond being part of the family…
Beyond having a relationship with our Creator…

What Paul points out in verse 27 goes even further.  It goes above and beyond anything we could have imagined.  It is the glorious wealth of this mystery, the greatest implication of our restored relationship with our Creator.

It is Christ in you. 

The one Paul earlier described as the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth…He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead…

The most magnificent, the most valuable, the greatest person in the Universe has taken up residence within each believer.  Regardless of background.  Regardless of nationality. 

He’s with you every moment, because He’s in you. 

Meditate on this today.  Spend time thinking about the glorious wealth of this mystery.

Keep Pressing,
Ken 

Completely rescued

Earlier this year, hundreds of fishermen were rescued from a life of slavery on Thai fishing boats.  These men had been trafficked and sold to work on these boats for up to 20 hours a day.  Some were kidnapped, others were lured there with promises of money or work prospects.  Yet instead of these lies, they were paid with beatings, torture, and sexual abuse. 

When the Indonesian government stepped in and rescued them, the world cheered.  Others had done for them what these fishermen could not do for themselves.  However, once they had been freed, they had nowhere to go and no one to help them cope with adjusting into being part of the real world.

There is a spiritual parallel to this story.  Christ has done for sinners what they are unable to do for themselves – He took the punishment for our sin, because we could not pay that debt.  Since the Father accepted Christ’s payment, those who trust in Christ for eternal life have been rescued from the domain of darkness.  Fortunately, though, we are not left to ourselves.  Our story doesn’t end there. 

As Paul began his letter to the Colossian believers, he reminded them that not only were they rescued from sin’s domain, but they were also rescued to a new domain.  Read the verses below and look for where believers have been transferred to:

Colossians 1:11-14
May you be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.  He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God the Father transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.  While we were removed from sin’s jurisdiction, we also get a complete change of citizenship.  Only those in authority of a country can determine who gets to be a citizen; no other country’s declaration, decision, or complaint can affect a given citizenship.  As such, God can add anyone – from any background, region, or nationality – to the kingdom of the Son He loves.  Those He has chosen to transfer into Jesus’ kingdom are the ones who trust Jesus’ payment on the cross and trust Him for eternal life.

And it’s not like God has rescued us and then placed us into some other far-off area where life is just little better than it was before.  The Father doesn’t just send us on our merry way.  We aren’t left to figure out the question of “What do I do now?” or “How do I deal with the leftovers from my past?”  On the contrary, we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son He loves.  Given how much the Father loves the Son, then the benefits of that relationship will spill over to those who identify with the Son! 

During His last night on earth, Jesus told His disciples:

John 16:27
For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.

We have redemption, we have the forgiveness of sins, but we are not left behind as orphans without a country.  Instead, we become part of the one Who is dearly loved by the Father!  We now have both a place and a purpose.  We have a new life as citizens in Jesus’ kingdom.

Never forget where we were rescued from, and always remember where we have been rescued to.

Keep Pressing,
Ken