Col. 1:21-27 THREAD
Like a parent telling their teenager her own story to help her weather difficult years, Paul tells the young Colossian church their story from God’s perspective.
They once were...distant from God, living as if He were their enemy, acting out in evil ways.
Like a parent telling their teenager her own story to help her weather difficult years, Paul tells the young Colossian church their story from God’s perspective.
They once were...distant from God, living as if He were their enemy, acting out in evil ways.
(We often think it’s the other way around: we did evil stuff, God made us *His* enemy, so we became distant. Paul says: You are distant because you made God *your* enemy in your own mind...and then acted in rebellion as a result....Like Harry Potter with Snape 😉)
They (the Colossians) now are: reconciled with God...because Jesus came after us, suffered our death, and took the judgment of Sin in His own body.
(So many other religions or philosophies spring from humanity’s search for God; the Gospel begins with God’s search for humanity...from the garden to the cross, from Eden to Calvary.)
They (the Colossians) are heading for glory.
Glory is to be made like Jesus...in holiness and in His resurrected body.
That’s the end of our story...not evacuation, but new creation and resurrection!
Glory is to be made like Jesus...in holiness and in His resurrected body.
That’s the end of our story...not evacuation, but new creation and resurrection!
And what is our hope of getting there?
Christ in you— the hope of glory.
Not our own efforts, but the work done with His energy working in us (Col. 1:29).
Christ in you— the hope of glory.
Not our own efforts, but the work done with His energy working in us (Col. 1:29).
Christ— the one who in the previous verses Paul worshipped as the sovereign, supreme, center of Creation & New Creation— is in YOU, personally and corporately as the Church.
(Some tellings of the Gospel fixate on our past— on what we’ve done and who we were. That is part of the story. But the Gospel doesn’t just deal with our past; it gives us a future!)
So...How would God tell your story?
You once were distant and doing evil because of the lie that God is against you. You are now reconciled by a Love suffered in your place and gave everything for you. And you’re headed for glory because Christ is in you.
You once were distant and doing evil because of the lie that God is against you. You are now reconciled by a Love suffered in your place and gave everything for you. And you’re headed for glory because Christ is in you.
