Such Were Some of You

 

 

 

As I have said in previous posts, I have had struggles with my prayer life and study, but in the last couple of weeks, that has been changing.  There is the passage that I read recently that gave me the words to describe how I have been feeling.   It is from Psalms.

Psalms 42:1-2 (ESV)

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.​

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

Even the title that was chosen for the Psalm seemed appropriate; I had just been in this weird place. But in the past few days God was gracious and gave me this passage to remind me to stop hunting for a cure to my dilemma and drink.  He used a sermon on Colossians 3 to lead me to that healing water.  He reminded me who I once was and how He had changed me in the blink of an eye on a Sunday morning in April in a basement church…

As I listened to this sermon, I just started copying the passages the preacher referred to, and I looked through them again as I put these thoughts together.

Such Were Some of You

The premise for this sermon was both rebirth and sanctification.  It opened with Colossians 3:5-9, where Paul reminds the people of Colossae who they were once but emphasizes that they have no business returning to those ways.

Colossians 3:5-9 (ESV)

⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

As I read this passage this morning.  I could not help but remember a passage from a devotional I had written a week or so ago.  It was from Colossians 1, and it dealt with faithfulness of the Colossae people

Faithfulness at Colossae

This Church was adhering to the true Gospel.  They were focused on the original teachings of Paul, and he was thankful for their faithfulness, and it was reflected in his prayers.

Colossians 1:3-8 (ESV)

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, ⁷ just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf ⁸ and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

It is clear that Paul loved these people and felt sure that their faith was strong, but he also knew, like all of us, we still struggle with our flesh in spite of the love and faith that we have in Christ Jesus.

Consider This

Our salvation does not come by works of any kind.  But there are things that we do because we are born again.  I like how Paul says it in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So to walk in these good works that God has prepared for them, the good Christians of Colossae,  need to shed the old self and put on the new self.

The New Self

Shedding the old self and putting on the new is the process of sanctification.  Our desire to be like Jesus.  This desire is not natural.  It comes because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  He changes our desires and gives us strength.  It is clear in verses 12-14.

Colossians 3:12-14 (ESV)

¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

What a powerful passage, but he continues in verse 15.

Colossians 3:15-16 (ESV)

¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

This task of sanctification is not easy.  There is an adversary, and there is our nature.  If this were easy, would we need all the warnings and encouragement?  Probably not.

United in Christ Jesus

There is one other crucial piece to consider in all this, and it is in Colossians as well.  It is another command that Paul makes as he discusses these things; it is found in chapter three of Colossians.

Colossians 3:9-11 (ESV)

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

As I read this passage, I could not help but be heartbroken at all the division in the world today.  It is everywhere.  But there must be NONE in the church, for two reasons…  first because of this passage and second because of the significance of the example of faith that we find in Jesus and His Word.

I realized how frequently I had read over these verses and not realize how massive the divide was at that time.  There was a wall between the Jew and Gentile (Greek); Circumcised and Uncircumcised. Another great divide between the free and the slave, but it was not racial.  Slaves came from all people groups.  A person could sell themselves into slavery to pay a debt.  Finally, the Barbarian and the Scythian.

The Barbarians and Scythian were divided between themselves and everyone else.  Both were miradors.  They would raid and pillage and as bad as the barbarians were the Scythian was worse.  The Scythian was filthy and engaged in cannibalism, as well.  They seemed to have no regard for anything but their desires. The Scythian almost made regular barbarians respectable.

Further Reflection – United in Christ

As I considered that passage, I realized how Jesus singled no one out as being too bad to be forgiven and to be saved.  It is such an amazing passage.  Even a cannibal or barbarian could be forgiven.  The key was that we were ALL one in Christ Jesus.  Then Friday of last week, something else came up that I felt I needed to include.

My wife Pat and I are involved in a small group study on Friday night at a friend’s house.  We are working through John.  Friday, we read John 4, which is the section of John where Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman at the well.  As we discussed this topic Colossians three was still bouncing around in my head, and I cannot remember who brought it up, but as we discussed the Samaritan women someone mentioned Nicodemus.

This lead to a discussion of the two extremes the John happened to share before and after John 3:16-21.  One was a learned teacher who felt he was destined for heaven because of his lineage and the other a woman who had been married five times and was now living in sin that seemed not to be too concerned about her future.  Then I thought of Colossians 3:9-11.

So the conclusion we came to is that we ALL need Jesus, and once we have Jesus there is nothing to separate us from one another.  We are all the same in him.

Closing Thoughts

So as I ponder all this, I cannot help but be drawn back to some passages of encouragement to help me keep moving forward…

First

2 Corinthians 4:16 (ESV)

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Then

2 Corinthians 4:17 (ESV)

¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

And again

2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV)

¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

In all this, the thing that we need to feed our spirit is truth and knowledge… knowledge of God.

Colossians 1:9-11 (ESV)

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,

Praise God that we have these things within our reach.

Prayer

Father, thank you for another day.  Thank you for the gift of breath and life and the wisdom you afford us in your Word.  Father, help me never to forget where my help comes from;  I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth(Ps 121:1-2).  Father God, thank you for all that you are, and it is in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Quote

“I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God.” “Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers – October 9 Daily Devotional