June 2004

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Christian Chronicles, June 2004 - Volume 7, Issue 102

The Editor's Pen

The Apostle Paul had never visited Colosse, but had probably met Epaphroditus during his ministry in Ephesus. He writes to them, as we write to most of you, having never seen their faces. There is a certain poignancy in seeing the same names on the mailing list year after year, and to see the renewal cards come pouring back in is a fulfilling thing. We appreciate each of you. We have come to recognize your names, and the places where you live, even though there are so many of you now. What a great blessing it has been to serve the Lord in this ministry, and in our prayers daily is the thankful notice that one day, perhaps very soon, we shall see each of your faces forever with our Lord. Such hope we have.

As we consider a bit of Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse, we shall address a diversity of doctrinal issues. There is a certain order in the arrangement of Paul’s epistles, a sensible progress in understanding of the Christian experience. The letter to Philippi gives us wonderful instruction in what to expect in our Christian lives, what God expects of us, and what we are in Him. The key to that little letter are the words, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). Now, in Colossians, Paul turns our eyes fully upon the risen and glorified Lord, focusing the attention of the bride squarely upon her Groom, removing every fear, causing her heart to soar with hopeful expectation daily as she partakes of many spiritual blessings in service to God. Philippians teaches us to steward our temporal resources from an eternal perspective; Colossians tells us more than most of us want to know about the stewardship of our spiritual talents. Yet, it is an epistle of tremendous hope and glory, and God’s grace is completely sanctified from the world and the traditions of men in this brief letter. May we all be blessed. (Col 1:18b)

Mid-East Update

Egypt demands reform of the Palestinian security forces, to which Yasser Arafat has responded with agreement. However, there is concern among some nations, including Egypt, that Arafat may simply be stalling in order to retain control of the many security branches himself. Under the Egyptian plan, the Palestinian security forces would be formed into three groups. Arafat also agreed to delegate the necessary powers to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei to give him control of the Executive Branch of the government. But he also declared frankly that he will retain overall power as head of the Palestinian Authority, which would give him control over the security forces. He also linked his fulfillment of the plan with Israel’s fulfillment of their own obligations. What is immediately clear is that Arafat is not going to relinquish the tight control he exercises over the Palestinian security apparatus, even with any restructuring. Nor will Qurei have control of the Executive Branch as long as Arafat retains overall power, for he could and would veto any decision not to his own liking.

Ariel Sharon faces possible indictment over corruption charges. By the time this issue of Christian Chronicles reaches its readers, the question of the indictment will likely already be answered. If he is not indicted, his Gaza pull-out plan will probably proceed, but if he is indicted, the Likud Party will be thrown into some degree of chaos. Sharon’s son, Gilad, was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a group who hoped to develop a Greek island tourist resort. According to The Jerusalem Post on June 9, “Police suspected Gilad of creating a fictitious work agreement with (Likud power broker) Appel to funnel bribes to his father in exchange for his support in establishing a tourism resort on a Greek island. He and his father are also suspected of helping Appel convert land belonging to Moshav Ginaton designated as agricultural land, into land for housing.” Appel was recently indicted for bribing Ariel Sharon to use his power and influence illegally in pressing forward with the development plans. The development was never completed.

The prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is creating waves in Israel, as the Physicians for Human Rights have alleged that for the past six months prisoners at Sharon Prison have been subjected to humiliation and beatings and denied medical care afterward. This appears to be an isolated occurrence rather than a systemic problem in Israel’s prison system.

Lawlessness and anarchy are on the rise in Gaza and the West Bank, to the extent that senior Palestinian officials have called for an immediate crackdown. Their fear is that the Palestinian Authority is losing its grip on the Palestinian people, and that the entire society is threatened by shootings, arson and rampant vandalism. Because there is no proper police force in the areas, many businesses and banks are being forced to pay extortion money to local thugs in order to protect their assets.

It would seem from these stories that the whole region is awash in chaotic seas. Well, it is, but it is nothing new. Israeli politics have always been volatile, and the deep divisions between the Jews and the Palestinians have never really been bridged. Nor is it at all certain that the declaration of a sovereign Palestine will bring about peace. In fact, the opposite is true. There will not be any measure of real peace until the King of kings establishes His throne in Jerusalem. In that day, there will be no Palestinian state at all, but Israel will be all Israel, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River in Iraq.

Every American president since Jimmy Carter has sought to bring peace to that war-ravaged part of the world, and every one of them has failed. Each time it has appeared that a peace agreement was near, violence has broken out afresh. The enmity of those two peoples has simmered just beneath the surface since the Zionist movement first began, frequently boiling and overflowing the surface to spill violent blood on the Holy Land. We know that there will be a peace agreement signed and ratified, but it will not culminate in peaceful relations between Jews and Palestinians. As anti-Semitism rises around the world, the antichrist will turn against Israel and seek her destruction. The time of Jacob’s trouble will not be avoided simply because an avaricious world imposes a false peace upon Israel. Indeed, her time of trouble will only begin with the ratification of that forthcoming treaty. These are exciting times indeed in which to be a watchful Christian.

Fruit of the Vine

Those of you who are parents or grandparents know the joy of seeing a new child born into the family. Everyone rejoices, and smiles abound. Friends and relatives congratulate the new parents or grandparents and bring gifts for the new child.

God is also like that. He is thrilled when a lost person comes to a knowledge of the truth. Indeed, even the angels shout and rejoice every time a person is saved (Lk 15:10). And our God is a great Giver of gifts to new-born Christians—spiritual gifts of far greater value than we can even conceive of in this present darkness.

It is among the most thrilling of moments when Christians witness another lost person’s illumination. Many shed tears of joy just to see it happen, and no truly saved person can experience that moment without the certainty of the presence of God in it. We at Christian Chronicles occasionally hear from a subscriber who will tell us that he or she has used our little paper fruitfully, and it is things like that which encourage us to persevere. For that is when we receive the assurance that we are pleasing God in our labors. Well did Paul write to the church at Colosse, “...that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work…” (1:10). That was Paul’s prayer for the Christians in Colosse, and that is our prayer for every subscriber to CC. We have a strong desire to share in your fruitfulness and to have you all share in ours.

Perspectives

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. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself… having made peace through the blood of His cross.

(Col 1 :18-20)

How little we think of the glorified Lord. We have images, supposedly of Him, everywhere. They are all the same, basically. Thin, long-haired, bearded, middle-aged Jew, and rarely with the angry face He must have worn when He overturned the money-changers’ tables. We see Him in the agony of death upon the cross, His very life pouring forth and spilling onto the ground. Even then, however, He still looks essentially the same in all the drawings. But that is not what Jesus looks like today, even if perhaps He did look similar to that in His pilgrimage on Earth. The fact is, we do not know what He looked like. But we know what He looks like now, and it would seem obvious to every candid mind that it makes sense to portray Him in our imagery and in our minds the way He looks today, for He will never again appear other than as He does at this very moment. John saw Him, in almost indescribable glory, and conveyed the scene to us in Revelation 1:12-18. That is our Lord. We think of the cross because that is where we learned first that He actually loves us individually, and redeemed us in that crimson flood.

It is good that we are mindful of the cross. It is difficult to be otherwise-minded when we remain such sinners. We see Jesus on the cross because we know that we put Him there. But Jesus on the cross is not our hope. Oh, no! Our hope is in a conquering God, whom we shall see face to face, whom we shall follow into the climactic battle of the ages preceding the kingdom age. Our hope is not in a slain Lamb, but in a roaring Lion. From the time we see Him at the rapture, we shall be in preparation to mount our horses and ride across the heavens after Him to destroy Gentile world dominion and establish His throne over all the world for a thousand years. Many men have tried to establish such empires as shall be our Husband’s, and they all failed; He shall not fail.

Jesus became poor for us, that we might be made rich in Him, and we do not consider what vast riches in glory He gave up in order to become so very poor; nor do we often consider what great riches have already been given us. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ is already the possession of the poorest saint. Infinite power of which we cannot conceive is under the control of that same Jesus, and is in each of us in its fullness. And we are firmly grasped in the palm of the hand that wields that power. All of the power, prerogatives, and all of the attributes of the Godhead reside in Christ, and He resides in us and we in Him. How very silly to worry over temporal things when we have the great power of God Himself in us. What matters is not us, but Him.

We read the Bible and we think that it is about us. We certainly want it to be about us, and we want it to tell us every good thing about our hope that we can grasp, and it does. What a wonderful thing that a book about Someone else has so much to say about us. Our God is inconceivably intelligent to be able to make us understand the things we know about ourselves in a Bible that is centered around Himself. Aha! A glimmer of light. Of Light! We increase in the knowledge of God, and we grow (Col 1:10).

As we begin to see Jesus as He is today, our sense of awe is heightened, and we begin to take a more sober view of our service to God. When our very hearts understand that the bride may hear the call of her Groom today, and when we consider who our Groom is, well, it should at the very least be cause to consider our priorities anew, not from a sense of fear, but of hope and joy in the expectation of seeing His face and serving Him sinlessly, in perfect harmony with His will from that moment throughout eternity.

The Bible is not about what we may or may not do. That is a diversion from the devil. The Bible is the Word of God, and Jesus is clearly said to be that Word. The Bible is not about us; it is about Jesus Christ, and we are affected by what it has to say, and blessed by the many astounding promises that God makes to His children who are in Jesus Christ. When Paul says that in all things He should have the preeminence, he is not talking about all of creation, though Jesus does have preeminence over everything created, for He created all that which has been created. But Paul is saying that Christ should have the preeminence over everything in our lives. He made peace between God and sinners, turning sinners into saints through faith, by grace. Our minds and hearts should be so filled with thoughts of Jesus that we have little time for other things, not because we are that spiritual, but because He is indeed and altogether that glorious, powerful, intelligent, merciful, long-suffering and kind in His providence for His children.

Three Virtues: Faith, Hope, Love

What great light came to Colosse when Paul’s letter arrived. Those faithful souls surely did not understand the depth of instruction contained in it for many years. Like us, when they read the Scriptures, their understanding was fragmentary. How wonderful it would be to be able to read any of the Scriptures and have a full understanding of all the doctrinal issues related therein. The rule is, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear (Mk 4:28). A single kernel of wheat grows, cell upon cell, until it has produced the full flower, and then the multitude of kernels that come forth when the flower fades. Our understanding is like that. We read these epistles and we glean new things, kernels of understanding, without being able to grasp the infinite mind of God. The longer we live and the more we study, the fuller does our “ear” grow. Paul, it seems, could say more and allude to more truth in fewer words than anyone who ever wrote anything.

Paul begins with the three primary virtues that color all of the Christian experience: faith, hope and love (1:4, 5), a combination of virtues without which nothing spiritual can happen. In this epistle, he changes the order from that in 1 Cor 13:13, where he named them as faith, hope and love. Here it is faith, love and hope. Nevertheless, Paul offers thanks to God always for these souls, because he knows that those three virtues are found in their midst. Because those Christians have faith, hope and love, they are being fruitful (1:6).

Having never visited Colosse, it would seem reasonable that Paul would here express in his prayer his great desire to see them. But that is not his prayer for these Christians. He says that he prays that “you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (1: 9b-10). His prayer is that they will be strengthened with the very power of God Himself, that those three virtues will result in three spiritual virtues: patience, longsuffering and joy (the results of faith, love, hope, in that order). Paul is not here concerned with his own affection and desire, but his prayerful desire is focused upon their fruitfulness. He has already told them that we can walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, by being fruitful (v.10).

Paul knew that if the three virtues of faith, love and hope were in them in great abundance, they would constantly be finding cause to give thanks to their Father, who has an inheritance for all His children in the brilliant glow of His eternal glory. Their faith would bring to their hearts the very love of God, resulting in great hope indeed, both in this life and in eternity. He understood that, even though we walk in sinful flesh, we are already eternal creatures, and temporal life is merely our stepping stone into eternity. Nothing earthly mattered much to Paul except those spiritual things that produced faith, hope and love in the heart of every soul that increases in the knowledge of God. When he said to the Philippians that, “for me to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21), that is exactly what he meant. Paul acknowledged that God had already delivered the Colossian Christians from the power of darkness and had already conveyed them into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom alone redemption and the forgiveness of sins are found (1:13-14). We often walk in darkness in our day to day lives, but that darkness has no power over us to condemn us or diminish our faith. We can continue always in faith, love and hope. As we increase in the knowledge of God, those three virtues grow in our hearts and minds, strengthening us and bringing us closer to that place of spiritual maturity.

Paul now rises to the heights of spiritual understanding. He comes face to face with the knowledge that Jesus is the very image of God. He is God in visible form. He is God in human form. The expressed image of God is Christ, who has priority over all of creation. Priority, for He created everything that there is. We create nothing. We take matter and rearrange its form so that what was once one thing is now something else, but its atoms and molecules are not changed. Jesus created everything that exists from nothing, by His mere Word (Ps 33: 6-9). Not only in the material realm does Jesus have priority, but in the spiritual realm as well. Every angel that lives, fallen and faithful alike, was created by the Word of the Lord, for His own use. There is nothing that predates Christ, for He is eternal, like the other two Persons of the Trinity.

This same Jesus, who created Lucifer and will destroy Satan, this great and glorious God described by John in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the Head of the body, of which we all are members. He was the first person raised eternally from the dead. Lazarus was raised, and the Old Testament prophet Elijah gave life to the widow’s son, but none of those people lived eternally. Many souls were raised from their graves in Jerusalem after Jesus arose from the dead (Mt 27:52-53), but they all returned to their graves eventually. Jesus raised Himself from the grave (Jn 10:18), and lives now to impart eternal life to all who place their faith in Him. He is the firstborn from the dead.

Thus, Paul says, He should have the preeminence in all things (1:18). It is those words, “all things,” that we tend to read past with only a cursory thought. In our minds, we give Jesus preeminence over creation, over the devil, over ourselves and others, but we do not consider the circumstances of our lives in that light. We plan and we attempt to execute those plans, and are frustrated when our plans go awry. When we suffer disappointments in career, relationships, finances, health and service to God, we become saddened or discouraged or angry, forgetting altogether that all things work together for our good, according to the wisdom of God’s greater purposes (Rom 8:28). We are certainly a mixed up lot, seeing the goodness of God in those things which reason tells us are good, but resenting those things that we consider ill fortune. When we give Christ the preeminence in every aspect of our lives, we seek the good in those things that the world would reckon to be bad, and we are then able to rejoice in sufferings as well as in those things that we reckon to be victories (Col 1:24). We do not often consider that it is a privilege to suffer (Phil 1:29) for Christ’s sake, nor do we often see our suffering as being for His sake unless we are being overtly persecuted on account of our service to Him. Yet, when Christ has the preeminence in our lives, we acknowledge Him in every circumstance, and we are able to rejoice, knowing that His purposes for us are always beneficent.

Everyone spends at least a part of his life as an enemy of God, alienated by evil deeds, seeking selfish pleasures, and desiring advantages in every transaction. The hope of the lost is in everything temporal, which is truly no hope at all, for everything temporal must end at a hole in the ground. Hopeless (even though not often being aware of it), no unsaved person has genuine peace and contentment at the core of his being. There is a germ of bitterness that draws a web of unease across the pit of his stomach in even the “best” of times. The unsaved may experience human love, but they cannot know the love of God, either for themselves or others. The best of human love is tainted by selfishness and the fear of loss. Even unspoken and unrecognized, the subconscious drain on happiness caused by those two evils is debilitating in every relationship of the unsaved to the unsaved. It is true even among the saved in many instances. Life without Christ is all darkness, punctuated by death. Ah, but life in Christ is all light and love. It is selfless toil in service to God and man, rejoicing in suffering (Col 1:24), being cognizant of and fulfilling a stewardship of spiritual gifts, with eyes on the eternal life that we now enjoy in Christ, understanding somewhat of the mystery (Christ in us) that no man who lived before the cross ever grasped, walking the new life of faith, preaching and teaching and warning believers and unbelievers alike, all in the power of the Holy Spirit (Col 1:24-29), driven by fruitful faith, along with hope and love.

Paul carried a great burden. It wasn’t his tent-making equipment that weighed so heavily upon him. It was the love of God working in him on behalf of others. Constantly did he pray that those would “grow in love,” whom he knew and had instructed, or even those of whom he had only heard. For only in loving others may one attain “to all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:2b-3). Faith produces patience, and hope produces joy, but it is love that is the lubricant for every good work to which we are called. Love produces a longsuffering spirit whereby we serve others and God faithfully and patiently, with our hearts and eyes on the recompense of our labors, the great hope laid up for us.

Many Christians have extensive prayer lists, but none even approaches the long, long list of the Apostle Paul’s. How does one come to love someone whom they have never met? By praying for them fervently, diligently and daily. It is not possible to pray properly for anyone without developing a love toward them that transcends that which is merely human. And there is wisdom in developing such love for others, for it is done only in Christ, in whom every jot and tittle of genuine wisdom is found. A faithful man is one who trusts that God is smarter than he is, and relies upon Him. That man will be less concerned with self and more concerned with others, because his concerns for himself are answered by his faith. The man who has no personal worries will love others, with the compassion of Christ Himself, and he will pray for them. And his hope will be great, for love produces much fruit. The Christian life begins with faith, is sustained by hope, which together produce that most essential of all the virtues, love.

There is no earthly wisdom that has ever produced anything remotely resembling the wisdom of God. Every philosopher is constantly seeking the answer to that seminal question, “What is truth?” If any philosopher had ever answered that question adequately, all would immediately be out of work, for the goal of philosophy would have been reached. However, they all look in the wrong places, for Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6). We are to be rooted and built up in Christ, and established in the faith (Col 2:7). The heights of wisdom are found in Psalms 1, 10, 14, 19, 37, and 90. These declare plainly that earthly men and their ways are completely foreign to a spiritual system of values and “reason.” The world system operates on earthly reason, not on faith. If a thing is not tangible, or reasonable from a human perspective, it has no value to men of the earth. Earthly man could not rejoice in a prison cell such as that in which Paul wrote such encouraging letters. Reason would compel him to adjudge his circumstance to be horrific, but Paul rejoiced always, and always over the spiritual virtues of those to whom he ministered and for whom he prayed, and not over anything in himself except Christ.

Paul had said, “For me to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21). To do otherwise is to cheat oneself of blessing now and reward later. Jesus is truly God, and we are complete in Him, having been forgiven every sin and shortcoming. He took the entire legalist system under which the Jews operated and nailed it squarely to His cross, completely disarming the devil and his hordes. The issue today is not the Law of Moses, but the love of God. When Jesus came out of the grave, He paraded His victory over the devil before the eyes of the world. He was raised on account of our justification (Rom 4:25).

Paul changes direction somewhat here (Col 2:13-19). He says, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (2:16-17). We have but one command, to love God and one another (Mt 22:37-40; Jn 13:34-35; 15:12, 17; Rom 5:5; 12:9-21; 13:8-10; 1 Cor 13:1-13; 16:14; 2 Cor 5:14; 8:24; Gal 5:6, 13-14; Col 3:14; 1 Th 3:12-13; 1 Tim 1:5-7; Heb 10:24; Jas 2:8; 1 Pet 1:22-24; 4:8; 1 Jn 2:5-11; 3:14, 23; 4:7-12, 16-21). Essentially, we are cautioned to do one thing, and not to do one other: We are commanded to walk in the Spirit and forbidden to walk in the flesh. The former produces fruit and the latter brings misery to ourselves and others. We are given many commands and prohibitions in the New Testament Scriptures, but the issue boils down to the essential difference between walking in the Spirit or the flesh. Anything that does not violate the law of love is perfectly all right for any and every Christian, though not every Christian’s faith is sufficiently strong to allow everything. Christianity is not about Christians, but it is about Christ. Love can and must move Christians into the arenas of the unsaved, but we are to walk in the Spirit, getting none of the world “on us.” The world and its various social structures imposes many rules and regulations, but the Christian is not to see himself as bound by them except insofar as the principle of love is concerned. Denying oneself the liberty that we have in Christ makes us feel better about ourselves, and allows others to boast in our flesh, but none of that sort of thing has any spiritual value at all (Col 3:20-23). Cookie-cutter Christians are concerned about self, critical of others, and faithless toward God. Their lives are all about themselves. If we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, but will bear the fruit of the Spirit, the first of which is love (Gal 5:22).

The preoccupation of the world today with angels is both dangerous and foolish. They are universally portrayed as fat baby angels, or beautiful lady angels in flowing robes. Neither is correct. Ezekiel, chapters one and ten, give us a description of angels, and they are fearsome beings indeed, as many prophets understood when they encountered them. We look to angels for assistance when we ought to be looking to Christ, our Head. The Gnostics were a group who denied the deity of Christ, placing Him in the hierarchy of angels. Paul answered them with the clearest statement in the scriptures of the Deity of Christ (Col 1:15-19; 2:9).

In the third and fourth chapters of Paul’s letter to Colosse, he addresses the characteristics of a spiritual walk. He begins by instructing them to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, and not on things on the earth” (3:1b-2). Having put on the new man, we are to put off and put to death all the sinful deeds and works of the flesh (Col 3:5-9). The new man is a love-based creature, and we are, therefore, to put on “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Col 3:12-14). Such open expression of love is not politically correct, but it is that very love to which we are both called and drawn. It is the love of God.

Nothing produces the peace of God like the love of God. When we love others, it is then that the peace of God rules in our hearts. We have peace with God (Rom 5:1), and are called upon to live peaceably with all men, to whatever extent it depends upon us (Rom 12:1-18). When the Word of Christ dwells in us, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and the love of God is manifest in us in practical ways in our dealings with others. Families are to live together in love. Those who work in the world are to allow the love of God to be the guiding principle in their relationships with their superiors, and those superiors are to treat their employees with kindliness and fairness. In all of Paul’s epistles, and in the general epistles, and in the gospels, love is the principle product of faith and hope.

Prayer, especially intercessory prayer, stands as the only way that we can communicate with God. If we do not begin each day with prayer, our lives quickly devolve into the flesh, and our foolish hearts are darkened. We are to be lights in the world, and the light that is in us is brightened and strengthened by prayer and study of the Scriptures. As we increase in the knowledge of God, our love becomes increasingly “real.” Peace then rules in our hearts, and we are eager to serve God. A day begun without prayer will always be a day spent in frustration and conflict.

Many Christians ask why they cannot ever seem to lead anyone to the Lord. Every Christian is gifted spiritually, but not all have the gift of evangelism. Nevertheless, Christians who pray fulfill the words that Paul wrote to Colosse: “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Col 4:5-6). When you pray for the ministry of others, when you pray for the salvation of a lost soul, when you support fruitful ministries, when you comfort the bereaved, visit the sick, or do anything else that is driven by the love of God, God uses your work in the overall process of the building up of the body of Christ, and you bear the fruit of the Spirit and will receive your reward.

Paul said, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through Him” (Col 3:17). We all seek to please God, but most of us spend much of our time thinking of ourselves, either praising ourselves for that which we do well or judging ourselves for some sin. We think of ourselves and our desires, and our minds are mostly set on things on the earth. There is nothing that a Christian cannot bring God into in his life. Solomon said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov 3:5-6). If you would be pleasing to God, be fruitful and increase in the knowledge of Him. Then your faith will be strong in Him, your hope will soar, and you will begin to love in selfless ways in which only a mature Christian can love others. Faith, hope and love, these three, and the greatest of them is love (1 Cor 13:13).

Christian Standards

No book in the Bible teaches us how born-again children of God ought to conduct themselves any better than the book of Colossians. It seems as the years have passed by that far too many people have lost the value of Christianity and they too often show it by the way they conduct their lives. The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:9-12: “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” Paul says that he prayed that they would have the knowledge to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him being fruitful in every good work. No one will ever, within themselves, be worthy of Christ Jesus. We are only made worthy by His blood and the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. But Paul says that we ought to strive to walk worthy, that we ought to strive to please Him, and that we ought to strive to be fruitful in every good work.

Dr. H. Lockyer wrote: “Among philosophical schools of ethics there are those who teach that the greatest good can only come from the happiness of the individual, or be seeking the happiness of the community, the state, or society. The Epicureans, named after the Greek philosopher, Epicurus, taught that pleasing self is the chief good. ‘Eat, drink and be merry.’ Hedonism represented by Aristippus and the Cyrensics, stood for physical pleasure and sensual enjoyment. The Greeks taught that supreme good came from the perfection of the individual and thus gave prominence to perfection of body and personality, both physical and mental. Altruism teaches the happiness of others at the expense of one’s own happiness: while Utilitarianism says that the highest good is the happiness of the community.”

The highest code of ethics, however, is the system of moral teaching inculcated by Christ, and which represents Christianity on its practical side, as carried out in private, social and communal life. In fact, Biblical ethics bring us to the outward manifestation of the inward work of grace. Being made righteous before God, it is imperative for us to live righteously before men. Says Dr. W. J. Townsend, “The moral laws and precepts of Christianity are based on Righteousness, and is their pervading element in all relations” (Isa 54:14; Matt 6:33).

Ethic is from a Greek word meaning “character” and is connected with custom or habit. Moral is from the Latin “mores,” meaning habits or customs. Thus moral philosophy deals with right conduct, ethical duty, virtue. Right is from the Latin “rectus” implying “straight” or “according to rule”. Summum Bonum, or “the supreme good,” is the supreme end at which we aim. Our actions may be directed toward many ends. Ethics, then, are taken up with the supreme or ultimate end to which our whole lives should be directed.

From the foregoing definitions we find that ethics represents the science of the ideal in conduct, or the science of human duty and the principles of right actions, sanctions and ideals of human conduct and character. By Christian ethics we mean that the greatest good and highest morality can only come from following the will of God as it is revealed in the Bible. An ethic is a standard of character, and God’s standard for us is Jesus Christ (Phil 2:5; 2 Tim 3:16,17; Heb 12:2; I Pet 2:21; I Jn 2:6). God, however, has not only a standard for us, He intends Christians to be standards (I Tim 4:12; Jas 1:22). Think of these manifold requirements.

We are to be different from the world (2 Cor 5:17; Rom 6:4; 12: 1,2).

We are to shine as lights amidst the world’s darkness (Mt 5:14-16).

We are to walk worthy of God, as His ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20; Eph 5:8).

We are to be examples to others in all things (I Cor 4:13; I Tim 4:12).

We are to be conspicuous for our humility (Eph 4:12; Col 3:13; I Pet 3:3,4).

We must appropriate divine power for the accomplishment of all God wants to make us, and desires us to be (Phil 2:13; 3:21; 2 Pet 1:3).

Throughout all the Epistles are scattered rules and directions covering the whole ground of private and social life. The Apostles taught that as a man believed, so he must behave. Creed should be reflected in conduct. Virtues must be acquired. Colossians 3: 12-17 states: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

We have a high and holy calling. We belong to Christ. We must act accordingly. Having accepted Christ, we must live for Christ, which is not a mere fleshly imitation of Him, but the outworking of His own life within us. Colossians 3:1 says: If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. The three essential elements in living a right Christian experience are faith, hope and love.

Why Do You Subject Yourselves to Regulations?

Paul raises an interesting point in the brief passage, 2:20-23. It is technically a warning against asceticism, but it puts forth a doctrine that is not well-received in many churches today. He writes, “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourself to regulations— ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using– according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”

Norman L. Geisler writes, “Asceticism is a man-made system of rules (often taken out of context from God’s Law) based on human commands and teaching (all emphasis is Geisler’s). The persistent example of legalism in the New Testament was the Old Testament command of circumcision which God intended for the Jews as a sign of faith (Rom 4:11) but which the legalists wanted to make a condition of grace (Gal 2:21). Living by such regulations or self-made religion has a certain appearance of wisdom (sophias; cf. Col 1:9; 2:3; 4:5), but it has absolutely no value in restraining sensual indulgence. ‘Sensual indulgence’ is literally “the flesh” (sarkos; cf. 2:11, 18). For denying the body its desires merely arouses them, as is well known by many who have tried to lose weight by sticking to rigid diets. Neglecting the body, Paul argued, does not nourish the spirit.” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary; Walvoord and Zuck, Editors; Victor Books, Wheaton Il, 1983– Pg. 679)

Social rules have coincided with political correctness to the point that now whatever is not politically correct is often deemed to be sinful by religionists. At some point, mainstream “Christianity” has come to be about what we may and may not do; about sin, and not about the Savior. The devil is the most subtle creature ever created, and his inroads into conventional religious thought have been made without the professing church even noticing. And the rules vary from nation to nation. In this nation, if a preacher were to have a couple of glasses of wine with a meal, he would be scorned by many congregations. In other countries, that would be seen as perfectly normal, and would even be expected. At some point, the message of professing Christendom shifted into a moralizing stance, where the goal has become to make cookie-cutter Christians out of everyone, where each group has its taboos and its allowances. If your white shoes are not shined, you must not be saved.

The message is always, “Don’t do this,” or, “Don’t do that,” or, “You had better do this or that.” And the things that we are cautioned not to do are the very things that we know we are going to do. And the things we are commanded to do are the things we know we will not do, so that we walk out of those churches more alienated from God than when we walked in the door. And that is precisely the devil’s plan. He wants the focus of the preacher and the congregation to be squarely on the flesh (usually someone else’s flesh, but not our own), so that we can wallow in righteousness by judging our neighbors and hating rather than loving one another. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be filled with darkness (Mt 6:19-23). No one’s eye is good whose focus is upon the darkness of sinful flesh (cf. Rom 7:15-25; 8:5-8). When our eyes and hearts are focused upon the Savior and not upon the sinner, then we do by that nature those things that God would have us do, but when our hearts and minds are focused on the flesh, we do the things of the flesh. When will preachers learn that we do not make spiritually mature Christians by causing them to conform to some arbitrary standard that has been established by social means? Christians are led along the road to spiritual maturity by increasing in the knowledge of God, not by examination of their own or other people’s sins.

Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. Things that perish with the using. Consumables. Don’t smoke, never take a drink of alcohol. In some denominations, the rule is no dancing. Other denominations sponsor dances. In some, there are no musical instruments. In others, there are rock bands. Prohibitions. Commandments of men. Legalism. We put on our shows of righteousness, fooling no one but ourselves. God is not fooled. The unsaved call us hypocrites, and they are right. Christians sing that wonderful old Hymn, “Just as I Am,” but they do not mean it any longer. The song should now be changed to “Just as I’m Going to Be as Soon as I Conform to the Rules.” It is difficult to tell what denominational church one is in because doctrine has taken a back seat to “How to Get Along in the New Millennium.” Sin has relegated salvation to the back seat in most worldly churches as the focus has been turned onto rules and regulations. What Paul was saying in reference to the believer’s completeness in Christ and the abolishing of the Law at Calvary (2:10, 14-17) is that we are to give Christ the preeminence in our lives. We are to see ourselves in Him, having His righteousness in these yet-sinful bodies. Paul wrote to Rome, “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers a thing to be unclean, it is unclean” (14:14). To the church at Corinth, he wrote, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the Gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you” (9:22b-23 and context). In the next chapter Paul tells the Corinthian believers, “If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake” (10:27 and context). The faith of some is strong and the faith of others is weak, and none should judge others by that which they allow or do not allow in their own lives.

The issue is not man-made religious rules. It never has been, though the devil would love to make it so. The issue has ever and always been the preeminence of Christ. But Christ has been pushed out the door (Rev 3:20), and now churches seek to make all their members become carbon copies of one another so that they may boast in your flesh (Gal 6:13). “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).

This is not a polemic against all local churches, but against the majority whose aim is “morality,” and not service, whose emphasis is on the flesh, not on the spirit, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things (cf. Phil 3:19). The Holy Spirit is able to tame the flesh if our eyes are on Him and not on our own reformation. Let us put the horse in front of the cart and live rejoicing in the liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:18-25). Liberty is not license, but was purchased at very high cost by our Lord.

The Bond of Perfection

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,
longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against
another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

(Col 3:12-14)

“Teleiotes” It is translated “Perfection” in the NKJV. It is a form of the same word that is translated “Perfect” in Paul’s epistles. Its essence is completeness, of full age, fully matured.

“Sundesmos” It is translated “Bond.” The essence of that word is a uniting principle, a joint tie, or a ligament.

Every Christian who desires to reach a place approaching spiritual maturity must also reach a place wherein he learns to truly love others—people whom he knows, and people he has never met, as Paul loved the Christians at Colosse, having never met them. We are even instructed to love our enemies. Those are not empty words or vain commands. As we grow in grace and increase in the knowledge of God, our ability to truly love others grows as well. We become increasingly selfless in our relationships, seeking the other person’s interests above our own, and the love of God pours from us toward those whom He would love through us.

C.I. Scofield, in a footnote to 2 John 5, wrote:

“The new law of Christ is the divine love, as produced in the renewed heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5; Heb 10:16), which flows out in the energy of the Spirit, unforced and spontaneous, toward the objects of the divine love (2 Cor 5:14-20; 1 Thess 2:7-8). It is, therefore, “the law of liberty” (Jas 1:24; 2:12) in contrast with the external law of Moses. Moses’ law demands love (Lev 19:18; Deut 6:5; Luke 10:27); Christ’s law is love (Rom 5:5; 1 Jn 4:7, 19-20), and so takes the place of the external law by fulfilling it (Rom 13:10; Gal 5:14). It is the “law written in the heart” under the New Covenant .”

We have said it many times, but it bears repeating: Love is not something that we feel; it is something that we do. It is a decision that we make consciously, and it requires action, not emotion. We learn to love by deciding to love someone, and then by doing the things that love demands, without thought of self. It grows on the vine of fervent intercessory prayer, and it does indeed bond the various parts of the body to one another. It is the glue that makes the body whole, by which we bear fruit.

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