Be Rich in the Word: A Vision of Life in Christ

In Colossians 3:16-17, Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” The reason Paul urges the church to be rich in the Word is because he knows that without the Word we cannot be the church. So, in this post I want to consider the context of these verses, and in the next posts I’ll return to them and press into their meaning a bit more. 

Seeking the things Above (3:1-4) 

In the first four verses of this chapter, Paul lays the foundation on which he builds everything else in this chapter, so we really need to understand the foundation. He begins with the words, “If then you have been raised with Christ,” that is, if you have put your faith in Christ by the grace of Christ, then you have been made alive with him, you have been raised up with him, and you have been seated with him in the heavenly places (see Ephesians 2:5-7). This is your new reality, and if this is true of you, then Paul wants you to know that some other things are also true of you. 

Specifically, we see in verse 3 that by putting our faith in Christ, we have literally died to our lives on this earth so that our true lives are hidden with Christ in God. For a number of reasons, our God and Savior has thought it best to leave us here on earth for a brief season but the truth of the matter is that our lives are no longer defined by our lives in this world. 

Further, we see in verse 4 that when Jesus Christ who is our life comes again and his glory explodes upon the sky so that every eye sees him and every ear hears him, we will not tremble in the way the nations will tremble because the truth of who we are will also become apparent at that moment. I don’t know how this is going to work, I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but what I plainly see in Scripture is that when Christ appears in stunning glory, we who belong to him will be there with him. 

Friends, if you believe in Jesus Christ, this is a picture of your reality and your destiny which is why Paul exhorts us in verses 1-2, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” By faith, you have died to this earth and by faith your life is in Christ, so seek and set your mind on Christ with all the passion and energy you can muster. Keep your eyes on the prize. 

Put to Death What is Earthly (3:5-11) 

With this exhortation in mind, Paul instructs us in verses 5-11, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you [because of your identity and your destiny]: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” 

Paul’s point is this: since we who believe in Jesus are not who we once were, let’s put to death our former way of life. Since our destiny is to be revealed with Christ, let’s rid ourselves of everything that’s not like Christ. Since our highest pleasure will be found when we see him face to face, let’s remove every obstacle to that pleasure day by day. 

Put on What is Heavenly (3:12-17) 

Now, on the positive side, Paul instructs us in verses 12-17, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” 

Again, Paul is saying, since our identity and destiny are found in Christ, let our way of life imitate Christ. Since we have been loved with an everlasting love by God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, let’s love one another with this same love especially by bearing with one another and forgiving one another and protecting the unity we have with one another in Christ. Since the peace of God in Christ is the essence and aroma of our lives, let’s live as thankful people of peace toward God and one another. 

Conclusion 

Friends, both Paul’s negative and positive instructions are implications of what God has done for us in Christ (see 3:1-4). He’s calling us to live in a certain way as an overflow of who we are. He’s calling us to value certain things and to devalue other things as a display of the fact that our hope is in Christ and not in this world. So, by the grace of God, let’s hear this call and take action. Let’s put to death what is earthly, and put on what is heavenly for the glory of Jesus’ name and the increasing joy of our souls. 

Living by Faith: An Introduction to Hebrews 11

As it relates to the daily lives of Christians, the thrust of the letter to the Hebrews is that we must persevere in the love of Christ by faith in Christ. Those who have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and for a restored relationship with God, must keep on believing in Christ and clinging to Christ and listening to Christ and walking in the ways of Christ and engaging in the body of Christ. If we refuse or otherwise fail to persevere in this way, if we don’t keep on keeping on in Christ, we should not think that we know him and that we are saved. 

The author has been pressing on this theme since the second chapter of his letter. Consider the following passages. “Therefore,” because of the glory of Christ that was described in chapter 1, “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it” and “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (2:1) Christians, we must persevere in the love of Christ by faith in Christ. 

“Take care, brothers [and sisters], lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (3:12-14). Christians, we must persevere in the love of Christ by faith in Christ. 

“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it” (4:1). And again, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that none of you may fall by that same sort of disobedience” (4:11). And again, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (4:14). Christians, we must persevere in the love of Christ by faith in Christ. 

Then in chapters 5 and 6, the author halted the flow of his argument because he was afraid that his readers had become so hard-hearted that they couldn’t even hear the message he was proclaiming to them. He was concerned that they would be bored by the glorious things God has done in Christ, and so he rebuked them very sharply in love and then said this: “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (6:9-12). 

Please pay careful attention to that last line. One of the antidotes to being sluggish and thus being severely disciplined by God is to imitate the faith and patience of those who inherit the promises of God. Now, that line is the seed that latter sprouts up to become Hebrews 11. In fact, if you were to jump from 6:11-12 right to 11:1, the letter would be seamless and make perfect sense. “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises…Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen” (6:11-12; 11:1). 

Do you see what I mean? Read this way, the letter would be seamless and make sense, but the problem is that it would also be tragically false and teach us false things about what it means to persevere in Christ by faith. Why do I say that? Only because this way of putting things would miss the gospel, and above all things, we do not want to miss the gospel! To write the letter this way would give us the impression that persevering in the love of Christ by faith in Christ is essentially a work of the flesh, that it’s something we do for God. It would therefore make a mockery of the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ by which we are saved and by which we stay saved and by which we will be saved forever. 

By inserting chapters 7-10 into the discussion, the author most powerfully shows that persevering in the love of Christ is not about doing something for God but rather depending on what God has already done for us in Christ. It’s not about struggling in our flesh to have faith; it’s about resting in the finished work of Christ. The old covenant was marked by the words, “All that the Lord has said we will do,” but that covenant didn’t work and it will never work because “we will do it” always devolves into “ain’t gonna happen”! Thus, in his amazing grace, God gave us a new covenant in Christ that is marked by the words from Jeremiah 31:31-34, “I will do it, declares the Lord.” In other words, God is saying, “I will do for you what you could never do for yourselves, and your only part is to listen and believe. And I’ll even give you the grace for that so that in the end I get all the glory and you get eternal joy.” 

With this in mind, the author again, at the end of chapter 10, issues a serious rebuke and warns us that it’s no small thing to turn away from the sacrifice of Christ. This rebuke is very similar to the one in chapter 6 and it warns us that rejecting what God has accomplished for us in Christ is tragic and eternally dangerous. Indeed, the author says that if we push Christ aside there’s nothing left for us but to face the wrath of God without protection, and indeed, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (10:32). 

In love, the author had to again warn his precious readers but as he did at the end of chapter 6, so again he concludes his rebuke with an encouragement. In verses 33-39 he reminds his dear readers that they did indeed have a genuine faith in God, that the righteous live by faith, and that they were of those who will preserve their souls and not of those who would shrunk back and perish. They had need to persevere in the love of Christ by faith in Christ and the author had hope that they would do so. But given that faith plays such a crucial role in life with Christ, he now turns his full attention to that topic in chapter 11 and says, “Let’s talk about faith for a little while. Let’s talk about how faith operates and how you can press on in Christ at this time of your lives.” 

Friends, I hope you can see that this train of thought puts faith in an extremely important place. I would dare say that there’s nothing in this life so valuable as faith: not money; not gold or silver or precious metals or jewels; not houses or cars or boats or other possessions; not prestige or power among our neighbors or co-workers or fellow citizens; not talent or success in our chosen fields; not good looks and straight teeth and fashionable clothing; not all the fleshly pleasures this world affords. Nothing in this world is so valuable as faith, and if nothing else, I pray that this post will inspire you to get faith no matter the cost or consequence. 

Book Review: "Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present" (by Gerald Bray)

Gerald Bray's Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1996) has become something of a classic work for those whose labor is teaching and preaching the Bible in the context of a local church. Here Bray presents a thorough summary of the history of hermeneutics from the pre-Christian era to modern times. He is guided by the conviction that the local church is the proper place for the reading, study, and application of the Scriptures rather than the academy, while acknowledging that the ongoing ministry of the church needs to be informed by the thoroughgoing scholarship of those who love and serve Christ in academic circles. This book is therefore both academically respectable and broadly accessible to pastors, leaders, and members of local churches. 

Bray begins with a treatment of various issues proper to hermeneutics throughout the ages (divine revelation, the nature of the canon, the relationship of the text to the life of the church, and tensions inherent in the interpretation of the Bible). He then surveys the history of biblical interpretation in three parts: from ancient times to the dawn of critical study, from the dawn of critical study to the entrenchment of the historical-critical method, and various late-twentieth-century alternatives to that method. He concludes by outlining what he thinks will be the immediate future of biblical interpretation and thus briefly touches on issues of linguistics, text criticism, the historicity of the Bible, and the growing global dominance of the English language in biblical and theological studies. 

Each major chapter is organized into several sections: an outline of the period or subject, a summary of the major figures relevant to that period, concepts and issues relevant to that period, the major hermeneutical methods utilized in that period, and an explication of one or more biblical texts that most influenced or characterized that period. 

Bray’s work follows well established lines and is therefore not ground-breaking, but it is a most-helpful summary of the history and complexities of biblical interpretation and I highly recommend it to all who are interested in the faithful interpretation and proclamation of the Word of God in the life of the church. 

What is "One Work"?

One Work exists to exalt Christ and equip his people by developing and distributing Bible-saturated resources that help them fulfill their one work, namely, to live by faith in Christ. I got the name for this ministry from John 6:29 where Jesus says, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (emphasis mine). 

The day before Jesus said this, he had fed a massive crowd of people in a miraculous way, after which he sent his disciples across the Sea of Galilee to a city named Capernaum. As they were making their away across the sea by night, the winds picked up, the sea became very rough, and they were making little progress despite their constant and exhausting efforts. Suddenly, though, Jesus appeared before them walking on the water and saying, “It is I; do not be afraid” (6:20). With that, he got into the boat, and what do you know, “immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going” (6:21). 

The next day the crowd sought Jesus out, and having found him in Capernaum they asked how he made his way there. Rather than answering their question, Jesus spoke to the condition of their hearts. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” (6:26-27). 

The crowd was either confused or awakened by Jesus’ words, so they asked, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (6:28) Good question. Jesus responded with some of the most significant words in the Bible: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (6:29, emphasis mine). 

Friends, Jesus himself is the food that endures to eternal life, and the way we eat that food is by believing in him, not just in one moment of time but in every moment across time. This is the singular work to which God has called every human being, namely, to believe and believe and believe in Jesus whom he has sent for his glory and our salvation. 

Indeed, the fundamental labor of life is living by faith in Jesus Christ, and this labor deserves all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We should fight for faith more fiercely than those disciples fought to cross the Sea of Galilee, and let’s be honest, living by faith is a fight. 

It’s a fight to give our attention to Jesus. It’s a fight to listen to his words and take them seriously each day. It’s a fight to learn what it means to pray without ceasing, to talk to our Savior at all times and about all things. It’s a fight to draw upon his power so that our obedience is possible, willing, and joyful. It’s a fight to die to our fleshly desires and distractions. It’s a fight to forsake the world and its ways. It’s a fight to resist Satan and his wicked designs. It’s a fight to be formed into the image of Christ. 

Living by faith is a fight, but here’s the thing: as we look to Jesus, he will fight this fight in us, through us, and for us. He will feed us from his eternal supply and give us all we need, up to and including eternal life! He will cause our boats to cross the sea and he will bring us to the shore where he has sent us. 

The fundamental labor of life is living by faith in Jesus Christ, and the primary way we do that is by intensely looking to him. Truth be told, we don’t have to do anything but look to him, and then he will work his power in us. We don’t have to do anything but trust in him, and then he will teach us his ways. We don’t have to do anything but depend on him, and then he will give us all we need to do his will. We don’t have to do anything but rest in him, and then he will bear his fruit in us. 

Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (6:29, emphasis mine). Therefore, One Work exists to glorify him by helping his people learn what this means and how they can apply it to every aspect of their lives. To this end, I’ve created a YouTube channel, a blog, a Facebook account, and a Twitter account, and I'm working by faith each day to populate these platforms and develop other written materials. 

If you’d like to get behind this ministry by praying, by helping with administration, by contributing written material or videos, or by offering financial support, please reach out to me and I’ll follow up with you as soon as I can. In the meantime, please pray for Kim and me, and know that we’ll be praying for you.