COLOSSIANS 1- PART 4

One of the biggest blessings for me of the years I spent in the leadership of Bible Study Fellowship was the time spent in prayer at the leader’s meeting.  I can remember my very first one when, with each woman on her knees, we began to pray together.  Well, they began to pray, I was dumbstruck just listening to the content of their prayers and the deeply personal way these leaders spoke to the Lord.  I thought I knew how to pray, but listening to those women, I realized that I knew nothing.

Bible Study Fellowship back then, and probably still today, saw itself not just as a place for women (there are men’s classes too) to study the Bible, but also as a training center for leaders.  Training of leaders included learning to pray.  It was there that I learned the difference between praising the Lord and thanking Him.  

Do you know the difference?  Thanksgiving is expressing gratitude to God for what He DOES.  Such as, "Thank you, Lord, for this food.  Thank you for answering my prayers for my son's health."

Praise on the other hand, is all about WHO GOD IS.  Praise is assigning worthship to God for Himself, in all the aspects of His person and work.  

 In those BSF leader’s meetings we always began with praise.  We were even trained, when praising God, to not use the word I, as in, “I praise you for. . .”, but to say instead, “Lord YOU ARE. . . .”.   

The Apostle Paul gives us a beautiful expression of praise as he draws the attention of the Colossian believers (and US!) to the supremacy of Jesus Christ in verses 15-20 of the first chapter of Colossians.  In speaking of Jesus, Paul says he is:

“The image of the invisible God”

The firstborn over all creation

For by him all things were created

Things in heaven and on earth

Visible and invisible

Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities

All things were created by him and for him

He is before all things

And in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead

SO THAT in everything he might have the supremacy

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him

And through him to reconcile to himself all things

Whether things on earth or things in heaven,

By making peace through his blood shed on the cross.”

What does it mean to have supremacy?  Webster’s defines supremacy this way:

“the state or condition of being superior to all others in authority, power or status.”

Synonyms include: predominance, dominion, authority, master, control, rule and sovereignty.

As the One who is sovereign ruler over all things, the very image of God the Father, Jesus is worthy of our worship and praise.  

He is creator and sustainer of all things, for they were made by Him and for Him and He holds them all together.

He’s the head of His body, the church.

He’s the firstborn from among the dead, first to be resurrected.

It has been my habit when reading passages of Scripture to note in the margin the character qualities and names for God I see in a passage so that I can use them to praise the Lord.  In this passage, I see Him revealed as: 

the Image of the Father

Inheritor of all things

Creator

Sustainer

Head of His body, the church

the Beginning

the Firstborn from among the dead

Sovereign

Fullness of the Father in bodily form

Reconciler between God and man

Peace Maker.

My prayers so often include just thanksgiving and requests for God’s intervention in my life and the lives of others.  Praise reminds me of the greatness of the One to Whom I address myself.  Praise reminds me that God is so much bigger, so much greater than my circumstances.  Praise to Jesus for who He is is where I need to begin my times of prayer, because He is worthy of my praise first and foremost.

COLOSSIANS 1_ PART 3

A few years ago now I volunteered to read and then write a review on a book which was receiving widespread attention. The premise of the book was this, in an effort to go deeper in her worship of God, the author began cataloging all the ways in which He had gifted and blessed her.  In truth, I found the book, written in a style I didn't appreciate, difficult to work my way through, but I loved the idea of writing down the things for which I was grateful to God and I began it to do what the author did and soon had a long list of the usual and then the more atypical things for which I was thankful.  It became quite a lengthy list before I stopped!

I have a plaque hanging on the wall of my lanai that says, “There is always a reason to give thanks.”  I found that so true as I made my list.  Every day that I opened my eyes and found myself still here was a reason to give thanks!  I gave thanks for friends and family, a home to live in, weddings and new babies, daily food and water.  I routinely giae thanks for the beauty of the world around me – for trees, and sandhill cranes and mockingbirds, for green grass, flowers, the smell of orange blossoms, fluffy clouds in a clear blue sky and gentle rains, the smell of sea water and the spray on my face.  God, the giver of every good and perfect gift, was always the object of my thanks.

I loved that Paul began his letter to the church in Colosse with his thanks for all he’d heard about their response to the gospel and their faith in Jesus and love for others.  His gratitude to God for them and all he’d heard about them, led him to continually pray for them and for their spiritual growth.  

In the second part of verse 12 Paul speaks again of thanks.

Verse 11-12  “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. . . . and joyfully giving thanks to the Father. . .”

There is so much for which we might thank the Father, but Paul mentions something specific, something we may neglect to thank Him for in our own prayers.

Verse 12b  “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

What does Paul mean by that?  We understand it a little better when we include verses 13 and 14:

“For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

I think we’ll understand verse 12b better if we begin with verses 13-14. 

What is it that the Father has done for us for which we are to joyfully give thanks?  He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of light.  

Are you a fan of those zombie apocalypse shows?  We know they’re fiction, right, but in a sense, before Jesus redeems us from sin, we are like those zombies.  We’re walking around, going about our lives, thinking we are fully alive, but spiritually speaking, we’re still dead as far as our relationship with God is concerned, because of sin.

How do we escape this awful state?   

Colossians 1:13-14 – Jesus, who is the light of the world, rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into His kingdom of light when He died in payment for our sin, so that we might be forgiven.

Back to verse 12b.  “(The Father) has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”  Jesus has “qualified” all those who have been saved by God’s grace, through faith in the person and work of Jesus alone, to be coheirs with Him of all the Father has for us (Romans 8:17).

What does that inheritance include?  Heaven certainly.  A face to face encounter with Jesus.  A promise of acceptance, not condemnation for sin.  (Your sin has been paid for by Jesus.)  The promise of living with Jesus when He comes again to establish a new earth and a new heaven where righteousness dwells.  And so much more we cannot even fathom this side of heaven itself.

I'm sure you and I have a lot for which we can give the Father thanks.  Today though, instead of just giving thanks to the Father for all the usual things, let’s thank Him as well for all the ways in which He has blessed us spiritually.  

 Why not start a list today and keep adding to it as we go through Colossians?

Here are some suggestions:  Thank you, Lord for:

Those who prayed faithfully and unceasingly for me to know You Jesus

Bestowing the gift of faith in Jesus on me so that I might no longer walk in darkness

That all over the world, despite what it may look like, there are those who today are believing the gospel and trusting in Jesus by faith for the first time

Dr. Cook, and Pastor Hoffman, and the Mostroms, and Eleanor, and Liz, and Miss Johnson, and Ruth and all those taught me about you, Jesus

The spiritual wisdom and understanding you have given me in response to the study of the Bible over the years

The power of the Holy Spirit who helps me understand and grow in the knowledge of You

The strength and power the Spirit bestows so that I might have endurance and patience for all life holds

That You Father have qualified me to share in the inheritance of all those who belong to Jesus in Your kingdom of light

That I will never again walk in darkness now that I have seen the light of life in Jesus

Rescuing me from the kingdom of darkness, translating me to the kingdom of light through the person and work of Jesus