We began our series on Colossians this week. I’m just taking it scripture by scripture from start to finish. I have a couple goals with this series. First, I believe the theme of the supremacy of Christ is vital to understanding our individual purposes as well as participating in the mission of the Church as a whole. Secondly, preaching this way is instructive in how to study the Bible and extract meaning within the context of the original audience and the book as a whole. Often just understanding the history around the book (especially when you are reading a Pauline letter like Colossians) is enough to clarify difficult passages.
I won’t go into the detail that I did Sunday because it doesn’t necessarily translate well into blog form. So here are the high spots…
Some brief background for Colossians:
- Colosse was a small town 100 miles east of Ephesus
- Paul had never been to Colosse, but the church was an outgrowth of his 3 year ministry in Ephesus
- Epaphras was the pastor of the Colossian church and was a convert of Paul’s
- The church met in Philemon’s home
- Paul was helping Epaphras combat a heresy that was growing in his city and in his church. The heresy was a syncretism of Jewish legalism and mysticism that bore great resemblance to Gnosticism. This philosophy taught that Jesus was neither fully God or fully man, was an intermediate being between man and the divine, and did not have the capacity or authority to fulfill our needs.
- There are 4 chapters. The first are a defense of the supremacy of Christ. The last two deal with the ramifications of this as it is practically demonstrated in our lives as followers of Christ.
One thing to note in Paul’s greeting (1st 3 verses) is that he establishes his authority and credibility to speak to them in such an authoritative way. Then later in verse 7 and 8 he identifies himself as being in relationship with Epaphras, the pastor of the church. However your church government is structured, there is safety and credibility in relationships. This is just as important among those in leadership positions!
I really focussed in on Colossians 1:15-18. First, we should stop and simply recognize that this is a very moving piece of scripture. Not just because of rhyme and meter, but because of what it says. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. If we have seen Him, we have seen the Father. This God with the unspeakable name, so holy and majestic, was walking the earth as a man. Not only that, but He created all things for himself. Don’t the heavens declare His glory? He is the beginning and end of all things. In Him all fullness dwells. He is the head of the church and has made the church to be the vehicle through which he demonstrates His supremacy in the earth.
Amazing! How would we act differently if we really believed these things about our Jesus? Would we hesitate to put our trust in Him? Would we hold back in repentance? Would we hesitate to obey His commands? Would we forget His promises?
[tags]colossians, bible study, supremacy of Christ, jesus, God, bible[/tags]
