Author: Chris Johnson

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:8-15 (day seven)

And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses. (Colossians 2:13)

Don’t miss this verse this week.  It holds one of the great Truths we proclaim.  When we are obedient to Christ’s call to repentance we are completely forgiven and set free from the dominion of sin.  It is for this perfect gift that we celebrate today in worship and in the Supper.  We gather and we partake because God has made us alive together with Him.

As we prepare for the Supper today remember this word from 1 Corinthians:  Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.  Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  (1 Corinthians 11:27-28)

May we examine ourselves this morning, and find our hearts pure by the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 2:1-7 (day seven)

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him (Colossians 2:6)

We are called to walk in Jesus.  Walk.  Not sit or take off in a fighter jet, but walk.  We all seem to want to do anything other than walk in Jesus.  We will plop ourselves down and do nothing, or we’ll walk around with every burden we’ve ever thought of on our back slowing to a crawl with such weight on our shoulders.

And there are others of us who get it in our heads that we can run ahead of Jesus like we know where we’re going.  We’ll hop on a unicycle, juggling flaming knives hoping Jesus sees us in all our glory.

Why can’t we just walk in Jesus?

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:24-29 (day seven)

Paul is completely committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

“I do my share on behalf of His body” (v.24)
“so that I might fully carry out” (v.25)
“We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man” (v.28)
“For this purpose also I labor, striving” (v.29)

These descriptions are not the limited to a generational missionary.  These are the life of a man filled with the Holy Spirit living out the great commission.  We cannot read these as a beyond us, because they are not.  We are fully capable of the same work in the might of Jesus Christ, and such is our call.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:20-23 (day seven)

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death... v.21-22a

When God offers reconciliation and peace it is an all-encompassing offer.  Upon surrender to Jesus Christ we are not treated as POWs or enemy combatants or even foreigners now under a new rule, we are treated as family.  It would be fairer for us to be considered traitors, but the grace of God guarantees that we are full heirs with Jesus Christ in a new kingdom.

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:16-17)

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:15-19 (day seven)

Colossian 1:15-20 is a perfect description of Jesus Christ (I know we only went to verse 19 this week, but that stops our study in the middle of a sentence):

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.  For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Have you meditated on it day and night?

Have you memorized it?

Have you shared it with someone?

This name of Jesus Christ is incomparable in power.  When we internalize that name we swell with grace, and when we share that name we unleash that power on a broken world.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:9-14 (day seven)

We are taught from an early age that the necessities of life are air, water, food, shelter, and sleep. These are the five things that we cannot live without, however, Scripture teaches something different. The Word of God tells us that the necessity of life is a relationship with the Lord, which only happens as described in Colossians 1:13-14:

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Without that redeeming work of God death will not be contained by any amount of air, water, food, shelter, or sleep.

Re:Verse passage – Colossians 1:1-8 (day seven)

Our Christian faith is built on relationships.  First, it is built on a relationship with Jesus Christ, then it is encouraged through relationships with brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ like Epaphras:  just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. (Col. 1:7-8)

All of us have had people like Epaphras in our lives who either shared the Gospel with us or strengthened our faith.  Who are those people in your life?  When did they show up?  How did they edify you?

Remember those faithful saints who cared for you thanking God for them, and if possible, write them a thank you note telling them you thank God for them.  It may be just the encouragement they need.