Series on Colossians 2. - Colossians 1:24-2:7
Paul wanted the reader to be certain of the supremacy of Christ and here speaks of how now to their generation God had revealed the mystery of the ages, the greatest treasure this world has ever seen,
namely The Messiah Jesus revealed to the Gentile world as The Hope of Glory in you. He is worth spending our lives upon even when things are really difficult and painful the joy that comes through knowing Him surpasses everything.
1) Suffering for Christ, Paul says he gives thanks even in his sufferings because he knows that when we, as the church the body of Christ suffer, then mystically Christ shares in our sufferings, as he said to Paul on the Damascus Road ‘Saul - why do you persecute ME?’ Jesus warns His followers that, the world just as it persecuted the prophets and then crucified Him, will continue to persecute His Church until He returns.
2) The Secret of Christ, Now Paul was seeing Gentiles coming to faith in Christ all around him not just as a result of his own ministry but hearing reports from Timothy, Epaphras and many others of how people in their thousands from all nations were turning to Christ. Revival all around Him in the
known world how exciting that must have been, have we lost this excitement today. Christ in You the hope of glory, Paul spelled out the all sufficiency of Christ in regard to one’s salvation and that the fullness of God was now available to everyone who believed, This was to counter the heresy that was beginning to come into the church and would soon be a major problem for the church (Gnosticism). Christ is all and is in all.
3) The Strengthening by Christ God wants you to daily grow and develop in Him and for your faith like a strong plant to take deep root in Christ, so that when the sun scorches you and the storms beat down upon you, by His power and strength within you and with the knowledge He suffers along with you and feels your pain, you can sail on through the eye of the storm rejoicing in His presence and power, and thanking him for His love strength and guidance.

Sunday, February 5, 2012