“God’s purposes revealed”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Colossians 1:24-2:7 (Forward, p. 5) CEV p. 1233
In this letter to the church at Colossae, the apostle Paul goes to great pains in trying to set his readers straight. He does so on a couple of counts:
a) First, as to the purpose of his own calling, his own apostleship: Paul alleges that his suffering was on their behalf, and that God’s plan was to make him a servant of the church in order to preach His complete message to God’s people. Indeed, he sees his present suffering as a way of continuing, or completing in the sense of extending, the very work that Christ came into the world to achieve. And, indeed, is this not true both then and now? The work of Christ is never finished, especially in terms of the Gospel, the Good News. It must be shared, transmitted, to each and every generation!
b) With regards to this message—one that had not been disclosed until the present—it is that Christ now lives in them, and is now their hope of sharing God’s glory. It is for this reason that he and his colleagues use all their wisdom to warn and teach them—all, in order that they, as Christ’s followers, might grow and become mature. That is why Paul struggles as he does, in order to encourage them and help them grow in love. And by so doing, they will be wonderfully blessed with complete understanding and will truly know Christ. He does all this so that they will not be fooled or led astray by ‘fancy talk.’ Instead, they are to plant their roots firmly in Jesus Christ and allow Him to be the foundation of their lives. As they have accepted Christ as their Lord and decided to follow Him, they are to continue in that faith and trust in Him and continue with a sense of gratitude towards Him.
And so Paul is reminding his hearers of some ‘unfinished business’, both on his part and theirs. The Gospel is never ‘quite’ finished, in a couple of ways. Firstly, it is never ‘finished’ in terms of being shared, transmitted, for every age and every group has a need to hear it and embrace it. And secondly, it is never ‘finished’ in the sense that they must continue to live it, to live in love, in obedience, in gratitude, and in faithfulness to Christ. They should not allow themselves to be led astray by strange or fanciful ideas or doctrines. And, as it was true for those believers back then, it is no less true for us today. Amen.
Forward notes: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (chapter 2 vs. 6-7).
“I am not an expert in construction or landscaping, but I have some experience doing both. And what I know from that experience about things that are rooted and things that are built is this: trees will not grow, and buildings will not stand, unless you take the time to prepare the soil first. This is probably why Jesus spent so much time talking about planting seeds and building houses on different soils. The metaphor of putting in long hours of hard, unglamorous work—clearing brush, digging trenches, grading and leveling—before the ‘real’ work begins is still meaningful today.
“Some years ago, I built a small fort for our kids in the backyard. I spent hours trying to level the dirt and make it ready, but I was perhaps too eager to start constructing the fort. To this day, the fort still leans. So often, we want to skip ahead and get to whatever we think the ‘real’ work is, but as anyone who’s built a leaning fort can tell you, it will be better if you finish the hard work first.”
Moving Forward: “What foundational work do you need to tend to today?”