Growth

The making of saints.

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1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.  Colossians 1:1-8

 

When Paul uses the word “saints” to address the followers of Jesus he is saying that they are “holy.” They are a people “set aside” for God. That is, they are on reserve, cleaned and like God. When the Scripture speaks of holiness it always has God as the reference of holiness. One important note though, our holiness is not preserved by staying on a reserve shelf, tucked away safely from the world. No, we are also faithful. We are able to engage in life remaining faithful and responsive to Jesus.

Some Christian traditions have identified particularly outstanding Christians in our history as saints. But the New Testament reference of saints is to all the followers of Jesus. We are the saints, the holy ones made so “in Christ.” In Christ we are becoming a “faithful” people. The steady movement of our long obedience in response to Jesus’ grace transforms our character and makes us faithful.

This is who you are, and who you are becoming: A saint. A faithful one in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Our Joy

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20For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. 21For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.

25Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith.  Philippians 1:20-25

The Apostle Paul declares his heart for Jesus. You can hear in his words above, the zeal and passion he has for Jesus and his intention to live for Jesus and to be with Jesus no matter what happens in life. Even while writing from prison, death has lost its sting for Paul because he is looking forward to a day when he will be with Jesus fully.

But he has another desire. Paul desires greatly that people, like the Philippian church, keep growing in Christ. He wants them to grow and he’ love to be a part of it. Not only that, but Paul wants them to keep experiencing the joy of their faith.

I want the same thing for you. It’s true. There is joy in Christ Jesus for us. And I hope,  that you have the joy of knowing the One who has overcome death, sin, and evil. I hope you have the joy of knowing the One who loves you completely and fully. I pray that the Holy Spirit renews your mind in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord so that you experience our Heavenly Father’s great love for you! And I pray that His love will produce joy.

Live as people of the light!

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8For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

10Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,

“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Ephesians 5:8-14

 

When I wake up my kids on a school day, not only do I call out to them, but I also turn on the lights! The light works longer than my voice!

In Christ our lives have been flooded with light. Jesus described the transformation this way, “You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14) Belonging to Jesus causes us to live as people of light. Light is powerful. Even a little bit of light shining in the dark can lead us forward. Jesus has not been stingy with the light, He says our lives have filled up with His light.

However, even as His followers we can dim the light. And that is tragic. As a follower of Jesus we are making 1000’s of small choices to either keep the light bright and unhindered or to turn it down. Paul highlights two of those processes.
1. Carefully determining what pleases the Lord.
2. Determining not to participate with other people in the pursuit of “worthless” empty deeds of evil and darkness.

The presence of Jesus is light. Exposure to light creates unease in people because of the disease in their hearts. Its no wonder that accusations fly against the light when there is a confrontation of light into the darkness. But we must keeping hoping that the love, purity, honesty, humility, goodness, faithfulness, and joy produced by the Gospel in your life exposes and dispels the gloom of darkness.

God says today to me and to you, “Wake up O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Get close to God with freedom and confidence

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8Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. 9I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.

10God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

12Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honoured.  Ephesians 3:8-12

 

“Sometimes its tempting to believe prayer is futile.” Never let this thought take over as a belief; it will derail your life with Jesus. The Apostle Paul is aware that we can develop a “because-I-have-trusted-Jesus-life-must-be-easy” idea. Our expectation of comfort unhinges us from mission and from prayer. So Paul reminds them, “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.”

Paul is telling the church in Ephesus that his service and his suffering as a follower of Jesus is part of God’s plan for the church to display God’s wisdom. Paul has become a beneficiary of God’s amazing mysterious plan. Paul is living in the presence of God because of Christ. Paul is living boldly and confidently in God’s presence. This is your opportunity as well.

Take a moment now, to enter in God’s presence through your faith in Christ. Approach Him with freedom and confidence. Meet Him and ask Him to show you more of your endless treasures available to you in Christ Jesus. Speak to Him of what is on your heart and mind.

What are you building your life on?

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Here’s the quote from Tim Keller, in The Reason for God showing how “particular kinds of brokenness and damage” are caused by idolatry. You can also ask yourself, “What am I building my life on?  If I build my life on _____ then I could expect ______.

If you center your life and identity on your spouse or partner, you will be emotionally dependent, jealous, and controlling. The other person’s problems will be overwhelming to you.

If you center your life and identity on your family and children, you will try to live your life through your children until they resent you or have no self of their own. At worst, you may abuse them when they displease you

If you center your life and identity on your work and career, you will be a driven workaholic and a boring, shallow person. At worst you will lose family and friends and, if your career goes poorly, develop deep depression.

If you center your life and identity on money and possessions, you’ll be eaten up by worry or jealousy about money. You’ll be willing to do unethical things to maintain your lifestyle, which will eventually blow up your life.

If you center your life and identity on pleasure, gratification, and comfort, you will find yourself getting addicted to something. You will become chained to the “escape strategies” by which you avoid the hardness of life.

If you center your life and identity on relationships and approval, you will be constantly overly hurt by criticism and thus always losing friends. You will fear confronting others and therefore will be a useless friend.

If you center your life and identity on a “noble cause,” you will divide the world into “good” and “bad” and demonize your opponents. Ironically, you will be controlled by your enemies. Without them, you have no purpose.

If you center your life and identity on religion and morality, you will, if you are living up to your moral standards, be proud, self-righteous, and cruel. If you don’t live up to your moral standards, your guilt will be utterly devastating.

Tim Keller, The Reason for God (Dutton, 2008), pp. 275-276

Jesus invites us to build our life on Him through knowing Him and doing His word and will. When Jesus’ work through the cross is the foundation of our life He actually becomes what will last through the storms of time.  Jesus says,

24  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.27And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”  Matthew 7:24-27