Colossians 2:2 by Dr. Grant C. Richison To: Colossians Main Menu To: Grace Notes Home Page Colossians 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ Paul here expresses his desire was for the spiritual welfare of the Christians in the Lycus Valley. His concern was always first and foremost their spiritual maturity. He did not design his ministry around their health, wealth, success or prosperity. His concern was for spiritual prosperity. Four lines of defense protects the believer from assault from the enemys counterattack. The first relates to truth. ---------- that their hearts may be encouraged This phrase indicates the first protection from assault on truth. The first defense for the Christian when his faith is under attack is to personally orient to Gods Word. We find how to cope with adversity and frustration in this principle. This is our first line of defense. PRINCIPLE: Orientation to Gods Word while under pressure to question our faith is our first line of defense. APPLICATION: What should we do when we face adversity? Scream and fall apart? Find someone with a sympathetic ear? We will never liberate ourselves from Satanic attack without getting behind this first line of defense. God fortifies our hearts with the Word first. This phrase can mislead us if we read it with an understanding of people at the twenty-first century. Most of us interpret heart to mean emotions and encouraged to mean emotional support. Neither of these meanings convey the idea of the first century. The stabilizing principle during times of attack upon our faith is that our hearts may be encouraged. The word heart does not refer simply to our emotions. It has nothing to do with the idea behind Valentines Day; it does not mean romantic and sentimental. We often hear the expression He means well; his heart is in the right place. In other words, he bumbles through life but he means well. He is sincere but wrong. The word heart is never used in this sense in the Bible. When the Bible uses the word heart it refers to the entire person. The heart is the mind, emotion, will, spirit, memories, attitudes -- the complete person. When tragedy comes to our lives generally the first thing we do is stop thinking and begin to operate emotionally. We throw tantrums and become hysterical. Hysteria means we stop using the thinking part of the heart. PRINCIPLE: The Christian life involves the complete person -- mind, emotion and will. The attitude is the result of the complete person. APPLICATION: The Christian must draw upon the resources for the complete person to live the Christian life. Attitude sins devastate relationships. They make us judge other people. We enter antagonisms because of these attitudes. Attitude sins cause instability. Instability makes us operate as a psychotic person who does not know he is psychotic. The Word of God establishes our hearts by orienting us to Gods way of thinking for the complete person. Encouraged means literally to call along side. It means to call upon someone who is near at hand. It eventually came to mean to call upon resources for help in time of need. What are the resources to help in time of need for the Christian? Here someone comes alongside to teach us what we need in times of difficulty. It is not the person per se but the truth that the person brings that encourages us. It is the truth that stabilizes us in difficulty. PRINCIPLE: Truth stabilizes us in times of difficulty. APPLICATION: From the inculcation of truth we mount a counterattack against sham or counterfeit ideas. When we call upon truth or utilize truth when things fall apart around us, we will experience Gods peace. We will demonstrate to a lost world that not only does Jesus Christ save us eternally but he saves us in time. That is entirely apart from personal resources. He saves us by the Word of God. How much time have you spent behind this first line of defense? The word encouraged may mean confirmed here. The Colossians believers were in danger of a spiritual paradigm shift. They were tempted to shift into an eclectic system of religion (Gnosticism). This caused them to enter a phase of instability. They were no longer sure of what they believed. Spiritual instability makes us susceptible to false doctrine. No one can recover from a spiritual problem while dominated by their emotions. Enthusiasm will not protect us against doctrinal distortion. All it will do is make us like a yo-yo going up and down with every theological trend that comes along. PRINCIPLE: The Word of God gives spiritual stability to the soul. APPLICATION: Are you sufficiently knowledgeable of the Word of God to recognize and cope with false teaching? If not, spiritual instability will make you susceptible to attack upon your faith. Do you take your problems out on those closest to you? Are you unkind to everyone? If you are, then you are a spiritual casualty in Gods war against Satan. During this past week, did you take out your problems on other people? Have you become a dissatisfied member of the human race? Have you become obsessed with your problems? Did you become hysterical? If we blame everyone else for our problems we will remain in instability. No matter what situation we may face in life, God can meet us in it if we allow him to do it. God has not designed the Christian life to operate like a yo-yo. He has designed stability into the Christian life by building an edification complex through the Word of God. That does not mean that we are free from difficulties and disappointments. No doubt every one of us will face bitter situations. God designs adversity in our lives to prove us. If we try to tell everyone about the tragic plight of our lives, it would result in a maudlin mess. How would you like it if everyone you meet in church tells you about the ghastly things that happened to them each week? There would be no end to the mush: You poor dear. Oh, I am so sorry. This is not what God designs for his children. God purposes that a believer stand on truth first and foremost. That does not mean that God precludes compassion by either himself or other people. Compassion is a secondary value to truth in Gods program. After proper instruction in the Word, the Christian develops a spiritual edification complex whereby he will be able to face any number of challenges to his faith. If, for example, we use the promise I Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you, then we move behind this first defense bulwark. If we fall apart and look for emotional sympathy then Satan make take us captive. All of us have heartaches. The difference between people lies in how they handle their hurts. Some people sulk and hide themselves from people that hurt them. When they isolate themselves like that, they sink into attitude problems. They turn on their friends. They sulk and whine. They do not want to talk to anyone. If anyone attempts to communicate with them they bite their head off. They are irritable and unkind to anyone that comes along. Are you that kind of person? Do you snarl and snap and bite? Do you turn on your friends? If you are that kind of person, you are not behind the first line of defense. You cannot orient to God and make it count for him. PRINCIPLE: The Word of God develops an edification complex of the soul. APPLICATION: The heart is not encouraged by sympathy. The worst thing we can do is to sympathize with people with negative attitudes. It will confirm their burgeoning self-pity. Discouragement can lead to attitudinal problems. The Bible attacks this problem with the principle of displacement. The principle of displacement means that we replace negative thinking with thinking about the principles of the Word of God. We displace sinful thoughts with Gods thoughts. PRINCIPLE: The principle of displacement changes our attitudes so that we can live victoriously over attitudinal sins. APPLICATION: No matter what situation we may face in life, God can meet us in it if we allow him to do it. God has not designed the Christian life to operate like a yo-yo. He has designed stability into the Christian life. That does not mean that we are free from difficulties, disappointments. No doubt every one of us will face bitter situations. God designs adversity in our lives to prove the capacity of our soul. If we try to tell everyone about the tragic plight of our lives, it would a maudlin mess. How would you like it if everyone you meet in church tells you about the ghastly things that happened to them each week? There would be no end to the mush: You poor dear. Oh, I am so sorry. This is not what God designs for his children. God purposes that a believer stand on truth first and foremost. That does not mean that he excludes compassion. Compassion is a secondary value to truth in Gods program. We tend to run to counselors or other sublimations rather than using the Word of God to displace negative thinking. The tense of the verb encourage indicates that we only need encouragement at times. Suffering in Gods design is occasional (I Pet. 1:6). God does not expect us to suffer endlessly. The voice indicates that the resources comes from outside ourselves. They are divine resources. These resources are not operation bootstraps. We do not earn or deserve the right to possess these privileges. Encouragement comes from the Word of God. The mood of encouraged indicates that the choice is potential depending on whether we want to use Gods resources or not. They are available but whether we use them or not is entirely up to us. God will not force them upon us. We use them on our own free will. PRINCIPLE: God does not want us to live the Christian life by operation bootstraps; he wants us to draw upon the Word of God to use his resources for life. APPLICATION: It is Gods will for us to appropriate divine resources but he will not overrule or override our volition. God wants us to relate to him on the basis of our choice. This is the basis of fellowship with him. Peace under duress is only potential. It depends on our utilization of Gods resources. The resources are available but they must couple to our choice. Therefore, the way we prepare for the Christian life is to learn the principles of Gods Word and apply them to our situation. We must be ready to apply these principles and promises at a moments notice. The second line of defense challenges us to enjoy intimate fellowship with other Christians. ---------- being knit together in love Being knit together is a compound word in the Greek. It means to make to come together. God wants us to join together in a union of fellowship. In Acts 9:22 knit together mean to bring together Scriptures so as to prove a truth, But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving (translated by proving) that this Jesus is the Christ. We put Scriptures together so as to compare them with what other passages teach. Paul proves that Jesus is the Messiah by putting Scriptures together. We are to put ourselves together with other Christians as we would put together proof from the Bible. In Acts 16:10 the word means to examine closely, Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Paul concluded by laying the circumstances together that it was the will of God for the team to go to Mascedonia. Close fellowship among Christians is something we should closely examine. In I Cor 2:16 the word is used of putting together reasons so as to demonstrate or prove, For who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. The implication in this passage is that no one can put information together to instruct God. He transcends finite human understanding. The human intellect does not have adequate frame of reference to deal with the infinity of Gods mind. No one can prove anything to God. We are to put Christians together as we would marshal logical arguments. Ephesians 4:16 uses this word the passive sense, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This means that God did something to the church. The church did not do this. God brings the church together in one symmetric whole. He gives the church the right gifts and the right people at the right time. It is his mix. He knows the right ingredients that will produce the right result. PRINCIPLE: God wants Christians to coalesce, to join or knit together in intimate fellowship. APPLICATION: Intimate fellowship with other Christians enhances the strength of our souls. Close communion comes from love. Being knit together means that believers join together in love to fight against error. We must be careful how we join the attack. Christians should shoulder to shoulder in love serve the Lord. The unity of love comes from common truth. The Greek indicates that knitting together in love comes before encouragement in truth. We will not apply truth to experience unless we walk in the unity of love among Christians. So it would read having been knit together in love, we encourage... PRINCIPLE: Love among Christians precedes encouragement in truth. APPLICATION: Love here is not sweetness and light. It is love that transcends personal feelings. This love does what is best for others even if it causes the person who delivers the message pain or the person who receives the message pain. Love communicates that which corresponds to truth. The best thing we can do for those we loves is to be truthful with them. ---------- and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding Here is the third line of defense in an assault against Christianity. In grace, God has given us a full assurance of understanding of the mystery of Christ. The riches of the full assurance of understanding is sound judgment about the great truths of Christianity. God provides assets for our use in time. These go beyond our gifts, abilities, intelligence or talents. A person with full assurance of understanding no longer calls into question the Word of God. Doubt is no longer the central mode of operation. This believer embraces truth with high satisfaction. Certainty comes from understanding. The confident believer carries full assurance of understanding. He is full of assurance. Because he has many certainties, this results in the wealth of assurances. Full assurance is the fixed persuasion that we comprehend the truth. This person has reached the elevation of confidence that he knows for sure what truth is. He does not misconstrue truth or attach meanings it does not bear. He knows the mind of God in the matter. PRINCIPLE: Confidence comes from the full assurance of understanding. APPLICATION: Full assurance describes how we utilize Gods privileges for our life. When we orient to Gods provisions we may struggle with sins but if we sin, we have confidence that God will forgive when we confess (I John 1:9). We rest on Gods faithfulness to forgive. We cast our care upon him because we are confident that God cares for us (Phil. 4:6,7; I Pet. 5:7). When we pray we know that God hears us because of Christ because we come in Jesus name. Because God has given us privileges (grace), we can have confidence. We cannot have confidence in our performance. When the world looks at our orientation to grace they see a different quality of life. They see a confident person. This confidence cannot come without knowledge. Knowledge of Gods Word gives us confidence. We become confident people because we understand the grace, the privileges of God based on what Christ did. Do you have confidence in your life? Do you know what to do with the sin, adversity and problems? Can you take a stand knowing you are in Gods will? If a person does not possess this certainty of truth, then error will perpetuate. If what we hold today is gone tomorrow, we enter into dubiety and fluctuation where truth can never be fixed. Tolerance of every wind of doctrine becomes the only central norm for determining reality. If new ideas chase away convictions, spiritual instability will result. If what we hold today is gone tomorrow, truth cannot be eternal or absolute. What does that say about an eternal, absolute God? The mind becomes susceptible to constant question and influence without a revelation of God in Scripture. Fixed knowledge of truth fortifies the mind against false teachers. It is less likely to become seduced by insinuations that contain some truth and some error. The mind most susceptible to seduction is the mind that possesses an incomplete, one-sided view of the issue. It is unable to reconcile conflicting challenges to its bias. That person is much more liable to become seduced because he is constantly off balance. He is perpetually disturbed and perplexed by conflicting ideas that were insufficiently formed in the first place. A person traveling in unfamiliar territory is much more vulnerable to becoming lost. He may begin to doubt his direction. He becomes more prepared to listen to other suggestions no matter how capable they may be. No wonder full assurance is described here as riches! The combination of great knowledge and a strong faith make a rich spirit. The word riches is the word from which we get the word thesaurus. We live in a day of tolerance and vacillation. We are so pliable that we view someone who holds convictions as abnormal. The word understanding means acuteness of comprehension or penetrating intelligence that takes place before decision and action. This is reflective and productive thought. Understanding is the basis for recovering from instability. PRINCIPLE: Confidence comes from an acute comprehension of the divine truth of God. APPLICATION: If a believer understands the underlying principles of the Word, he or she can apply truth to their situation. If not, they wobble throughout their Christian life. Truth stabilizes the Christian life. If we live by our emotional boot straps, we will become vulnerable to every wind of doctrine that comes down the pike. If we live by truth, we will recover from instability. We hold a frame of reference whereby we can categorize any challenge to truth and measure it against the Word of God. Having done that, we can correctly assess the proper practical course of action. ---------- to the knowledge of the mystery of God The fourth and final defense of the Christian life is knowledge of the mystery of God. If the Christians understands the unique prerogatives and privileges of his position in Christ, he will develop poise in his Christian life. What is the mystery of God? This is the key to this phrase. The mystery of God is all truth that Jesus provided for the church (Eph. 3:1-6; Rom. 16:25-26; Col. 1:25,26). This is a truth not revealed in the Old Testament. The word mystery does not mean something spooky. It does not mean that it is obscure to us. It means truth not hitherto revealed. The truth of the church was not revealed in the Old Testament. This truth is not pertinent to how Old Testament believers lived their lives before God. The New Testament believer is in union with Jesus Christ. He or she enjoys prerogatives peculiar to that position. Every believer in the church is indwelt both by Christ and the Holy Spirit. This was not true in the Old Testament. In the church every believer is a priest; in the Old Testament only a few were priests. Every believer is his own priest and can go directly to God to satisfy his needs. He is spiritually self sustaining; he does not need to depend on others in authority. The word knowledge describes the underlying principles of the Word of God, in this case a specific principle -- the mystery of God. Knowledge is the construction material that forms the basis for the edification complex of the believers stability. It is the power to apprehend truth so that we can correctly grasp the issue face in life. The corrective for distortion of truth is additional knowledge of Christ. The mystery of God is not hidden from us but for us. The mystery is Christ himself (1:27). This believer clearly understands that prerogatives and privileges of the Christian life come from Christ and not self. Our rights before God are because of Christ. Therefore, we can be assured of those rights. ---------- both of the Father and of Christ Many modern texts read even Christ. That is, the mystery is all about Christ and what he did upon the cross in making special privileges for the believer. PRINCIPLE: If our knowledge grows into a certain understanding of the mystery of the Father and Christ, then our soul will prosper. APPLICATION: We are what we eat, physically; we are what we read, mentally and we are what we believe, spiritually. Paul wants us to assimilate the riches of his truth to the full. He wanted us to know all the ramifications and implications of it. God has made all the provisions necessary for the Christian life in Christ by grace. If we understand that, we grasp the mystery. It is crucial to understand positional truth. Positional truth is our status before God eternally in Christ. We hold a perfect status before God. The only thing that will give us ultimate poise is our understanding of our rights before God in Christ. Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. You can help further this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to: Grace Notes % Warren Doud wdoud@bga 1705 Aggie Lane Austin, Texas 78757
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 04:55:37 +0000
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