Hidden Treasures
Col 2:1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
Paul had a great desire and determination to see those here mentioned, but was under house arrest in Rome. His desire and heart was to be an encouragment to these personally. Yet how greatly we have all benefitted from his epistles.How many times I have felt this need to be with those I love and have led to the Lord online, yet for some reason this has not yet occurred. We follow the Lords plans as they are unveiled to us.
Col 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
Paul wishes to share with them, giving comfort, being all knit together in love. This is a neat way to describe our unity, "knit together in love." a single thread has not so much strength as a pattern knit together in God's own shape and will. Are we not also stronger against the enemies of the church when knit together?
Eccl 4:12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
...and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
Many have no knowledge of the wealth and riches of the confidence in knowing the promises and the revealed secret things of God, and of Christ Jesus. Knowledge is understanding. Many have no understanding of what they receive in Christ Jesus. This knowledge is found from hearing the word of God from the Bible and sometimes by revelation. A word of caution, know the word of God, lest you be fooled in your minds by a false message from an angel of darkness, or a false teacher.
Col 2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Before reading the Bible, pray for wisdom.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
James 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Col 2:4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
If you know the Lord and his word, then you will not believe any other message sent to lead you away. To beguile is to be deceived by false reasoning. How often this occurs in Internet chats. Wolves come in to separate and destroy the sheep, or to lead astray those seeking God.
Col 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. Though absent in the flesh, the Spirit of God is everywhere and Paul is with you joying in your order, your sound mind, and your solid determined faith in Christ. This was needed for false teachers had come to the church, with lies from deceiving spirits.
Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Walk in Jesus, your way is through Jesus Christ. Be planted, established and grow roots in the faith and word of Christ, in which is your Spiritual growth. The Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus. Go in the way you have been taught, not in worldly lies, abounding and increasing in his way, with thanksgiving in your hearts. Roots come from being planted in one place. Do not change churches, whenever you feel pressure, it may be the conviction of the Holy Spirit on you to surrender some secrtet sin to God. Do not keep uprooting yourselves and avoiding the pruning of God the Father. You will never grow this way.
John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Risen with Christ
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Beware of clever men of the world's thinking and empty deception, who follow man made rules and customs, after the accepted principles of the world, and not after Christ Jesus. Jesus prayed to the Father for his own.
John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Paul mentions the symbol of the Old Covenant with Israel and relates it to the New Covenant baptism. We are cleansed through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. The act of water baptism is symbolic of this New Covenant and identifies us with Christ Jesus. Yet we are risen with him into new life through faith.
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Through faith in Jesus, we who were dead in sins and the bad deeds of the flesh, he has made alive in his Holy Spirit, having made us a new creation having been forgiven of all offenses.
Water baptism is done in obedience after being received by Jesus. The real baptism is of the Holy Spirit and receiving eternal life.
1 Cor 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1 Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Unbound
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
The Jewish religion had bound it's people with many man made laws and ordinances to control the people. Those that were contrary to us, were nailed to the cross. Jesus had come born as a Jew to fulfill all the law, but not these. He commented on this to the Jewish leaders;
Mat 15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
Mat 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mat 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Mat 15:12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
Mat 15:13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
Mat 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
He destroyed the power of the Devil and his fallen angels, the forces of darkness in the spirit world. When Jesus raised from the grave he triumphed over death and the grave. All who shall come to Jesus through faith, shall receive power over the darkness and eternal life.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
We have liberty in Christ Jesus and are no longer bound.
Luke 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2 Cor 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are free in God's loving hand for eternity, never forgotten, never alone.
Angels
Col 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
DO NOT WORSHIP ANGELS. Truth is very important to me.I think for many, there is no truth. God is true and his word is true. And the truth shall keep you free. If we are beguiled, deceived by people with wrong ideas, it may start from a simple error.
Nowhere in the Bible, is an angel given a feminine title. They have been described as men, or very strong or as a shining light. We are not to worship them. There are holy angels of God and also unholy angels of satan. Guess which ones want to be worshipped? Right, those of satan. Let's look at some of the bad ones;
Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
There are still bad angels and spirits in the air. Schools teach children to say chants and invite in their spirit guides. Yes, often they become posessed by evil spirits that defy God.
Jude 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Again, Paul warned about a new gospel, another way taught then that of Jesus Christ.
2 Cor 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Cor 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
The good angels are sent from God to protect us and to give us messages. Every innocent child has an angel or angels.
Mat 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
Each of us who have been received by Jesus have angels, unseen around us.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool (as Jesus)?
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
I am sure that on several occasions that angels have protected me, when in time of peril. But we are to praise Jesus, it is our relationship to him that brings us into his care and protection. We are not to worship unknown angels, being puffed up in our own understanding . We are to submit to the head of the church, though others refuse Jesus.
Col 2:19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Jesus is the head of the body of those who believe in him. All who are saved from sins are called the church; the body of Christ. We each have a part of importance to the body. Some go forth with the gospel message while others pray. Some have gifts of helping while others have hearts of mercy. All, knit together as one body, make up the body of Christ Jesus and do his work. Jesus is the head of the church and above all things. Praise him and worship him.
In the Internet chats, often I run into people serving satan. Their souls are taken captive unable to respond to the good news of Jesus. We can only pray that God would allow them to hear and be free. In Jesus we are free. Blessed are those who receive new eternal life in Jesus.
Avoid Legalism
Col 2:20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
As new creations of God, our old self was crucified on the cross with Christ, with the old manmade laws and ordinances.
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
If this is so? Why are you under a lot of "do nots." Our life is one of love and good deeds. We are not to be put under an outward list of negative restraints. We are free to worship and serve God in the Spirit of God. One area of outward control could be in the music of the church. The kids like one style, while the older saints prefer the older hymns. The important thing is does the music glorify God. If so we allow the other to be blessed. We do not make a rule that only a certain style of music is the right kind.
Col 2:21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
Col 2:22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
We are not to be bound again to rules and regulations, the doctrines of men. Although we are to obey the laws. We must ask ourselves, does this action or thing glorify God and if I do this will it cause another to fall?
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Col 2:23 Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
We are not to enforce the doctrines of men as if they were the commandments of God. Self-imposed religion is man reaching to God, trying to justify himself by keeping a list of rules. Christianity is God reaching down to man in love through Christ.
A person may do everything to appear right in man's eyes, but inwardly there is no new heart. It is Jesus Christ that makes the new man and it starts in the heart, we do not fake it, it is the work of God.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Gary