God Speaks
I wish you could know how much I have struggled in prayer for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for my many other friends who have never known me personally. 2 This is what I have asked of God for you: that you will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love, and that you will have the rich experience of knowing Christ with real certainty and clear understanding. For God’s secret plan, now at last made known, is Christ himself. 3 In him lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I am saying this because I am afraid that someone may fool you with smooth talk. 5 For though I am far away from you my heart is with you, happy because you are getting along so well, happy because of your strong faith in Christ. 6 And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done.
8 Don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies, their wrong and shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas, instead of on what Christ has said. 9 For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; 10 so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power.
11 When you came to Christ, he set you free from your evil desires, not by a bodily operation of circumcision but by a spiritual operation, the baptism of your souls. 12 For in baptism you see how your old, evil nature died with him and was buried with him; and then you came up out of death with him into a new life because you trusted the Word of the mighty God who raised Christ from the dead.
13 You were dead in sins, and your sinful desires were not yet cut away. Then he gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for he forgave all your sins, 14 and blotted out the charges proved against you, the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed. He took this list of sins and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross. 15 In this way God took away Satan’s power to accuse you of sin, and God openly displayed to the whole world Christ’s triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away.
16 So don’t let anyone criticize you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating Jewish holidays and feasts or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these were only temporary rules that ended when Christ came. They were only shadows of the real thing—of Christ himself. 18 Don’t let anyone declare you lost when you refuse to worship angels, as they say you must. They have seen a vision, they say, and know you should. These proud men (though they claim to be so humble) have a very clever imagination. 19 But they are not connected to Christ, the Head to which all of us who are his body are joined; for we are joined together by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God.
20 Since you died, as it were, with Christ and this has set you free from following the world’s ideas of how to be saved—by doing good and obeying various rules—why do you keep right on following them anyway, still bound by such rules as 21 not eating, tasting, or even touching certain foods? 22 Such rules are mere human teachings, for food was made to be eaten and used up. 23 These rules may seem good, for rules of this kind require strong devotion and are humiliating and hard on the body, but they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires. They only make him proud.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: The Apostle Paul struggled in prayer on behalf of the believers in Colossi and the church in Laodicea even though he had never met them personally. His prayers have been modified to apply to the readers of this blog in the prayer below. Paul was afraid that some slick-talking false teachers would try to convince the Colossians that the Gentiles would have to strictly follow the Jewish laws and regulations and that Jews who believed in Jesus would have to continue to follow them as well. Paul taught that when we turn to Christ and develop a strong faith in Him, He forgives our sins and blots out the verdict against us and gives us the right and power to live whole new lives. Paul warned them not to let the philosophies, (theories and ideologies), wrong and shallow answers based on men’s thoughts and ideas rob them of their faith and joy in Christ Jesus. Paul taught that when we come to faith in Christ, He sets us free from our old evil desires. Baptism by immersion in water is an action in the physical realm that portrays the spiritual truth that our old evil nature died on the cross with Christ and was buried with Him; when He came up from the dead, so did we rise to a brand-new life because we trusted in the Word of the mighty God who raised Christ from the dead. The indictment for all our sins was nailed to the cross. Jesus Christ’s death on our behalf cancelled any right Satan had to accuse us of sin. The crucifixion and resurrection were God’s open statement to the world that Satan has been defeated. The God-initiated Jewish ceremonies and rituals were only temporary glimpses of what Christ would accomplish. Trying to keep them apart from dependence on Christ is prideful and rebellious. He is our head and all those in His body get their nourishment and strength from Him. Human rules and regulations (although they may sound noble) cannot save our souls or give us victory over our evil desires, thoughts, and actions. Depending on our own strength of will only lead to pride and eventual defeat. We must trust and obey Christ alone.
Prayer: Gracious God and Father, this is what I ask for myself and those who read this blog: “that [we] will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love, and that [we] will have the rich experience of knowing Christ with real certainty and clear understanding. For God’s secret plan, now at last made known, is Christ Himself. In Him lie hidden all the mighty, untapped treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3 TLB italics used in this translation) “And now just as [we have] trusted Christ to save [us], [may we] trust Him, too, for each day’s problems; live in union with Him. [May our] roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him. [May we] go on growing in the Lord and become strong and vigorous in the truth [we] were taught. [May our] lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all He has done.” (Colossians 2:5-7 TLB) “For in Christ there is all of God in a human body; so [we] have everything when [we] have Christ, and we are filled with God through [our] union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power.” (Colossians 2:9-10 TLB) Please help us to recognize and apply all that Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension accomplished. Help us to realize that even Your good laws can’t save our souls or rescue us from our sinful attitudes and actions. Only trusting in Jesus and obeying the Holy Spirit’s promptings can do that. Most of all, please help us to live by Your power and for Your Glory. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will research and write out a list of all that Jesus accomplished for me at the cross, review it frequently, and thank Him for it often.
- I will discuss this list with a fellow believer.
- I will politely discuss this list with a curious unbeliever.
- I will write out my testimony of what Jesus means to me, how I came to trust and obey Him, and what that means in my everyday life, then share it with someone specific.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.