Colossians 1:21b-23

You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

New Living Translation

Through Jesus's death, we were reconciled with God. All our sins were forgiven, and now we are blameless. We can stand before Him without a single fault.

Paul states clearly in other passages that believing in this - the essence of the Gospel - is how we are saved. In this passage, He warns us that we have to continue to believe it. We have to stand firm in this belief. He warns us not to drift away from this assurance. It isn't enough to believe it in the moment of our salvation. We have to live our lives on a daily basis with the assurance of this complete release from sin.

Why did Paul have to give such a warning? In my own experience, it is because I am still aware of all my faults. I do stupid, selfish things sometimes. It is so hard to see all my failures, and still believe that I am holy and blameless, and I can stand before Jesus without a single fault.

I need to remember the reality of the situation. First of all, Jesus knew long before I was saved not only the sins I had already committed, but also the ones I would commit right up to the end of my life. They are all completely forgiven. They may be present and active in some way to me, but to Jesus even the sins not yet acted out are already covered by His blood.

There is also a part of this that is hard for me to fully grasp, yet it is the source of my hope. The concept of entire sanctification is the promise that not only did Jesus forgive my sins, but He is also changing me from the inside out. He isn't just forgiving what I do, or will do. He is also fulfilling the promise given in the Old Testament that He will write His laws on our hearts.

What this means is that instead of abandoning myself to my sins and not caring, I can't do something wrong without feeling miserable. He is changing how I think, how I feel. And little by little I'm giving up sins because they just are not worth it anymore. I'd rather please Jesus than please myself.

Looking back over the past few years, I can see amazing evidence of this transformation. Jesus is so faithful and amazing!

Colossians 1:15-20

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.

He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

16 for through him God created everything

in the heavenly realms and on earth.

He made the things we can see

and the things we can’t see—

such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.

Everything was created through him and for him.

17 He existed before anything else,

and he holds all creation together.

18 Christ is also the head of the church,

which is his body.

He is the beginning,

supreme over all who rise from the dead.

So he is first in everything.

19 For God in all his fullness

was pleased to live in Christ,

20 and through him God reconciled

everything to himself.

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth

by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

New Living Translation

This passage is generally understood to be a hymn of the early church. It includes some very important statements of what the early church members, and we, believe about Jesus.

First, it is clear that they believed Jesus was divine. Critics of Christianity claim that Jesus never said He was God, and the early church never believed this. They are wrong. Jesus clearly said He was God, and from this hymn it is clear that Paul believed so as well.

Is. 44:24 says: "The Lord, your Redeemer and Creator, says: 'I am the Lord, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. By myself I made the earth and everything in it.'"

If Isaiah says that God created the world by Himself, and Colossians says that He did it through Jesus, than Jesus must be God Himself!

This passage also says that Jesus is the head of the church, first to be resurrected, first in everything. The biblical concept of "head" is not ruler or boss, as we would think. Instead it means the first, the leader, the one who shows the way. Of course Jesus is also our ruler, our Lord. But the point being made here is that Jesus is the first to raise from the dead, and the One who provides reconciliation for all sinners with God. He is the source of our salvation, and the very source of our life.

Colossians 1:9-14

9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

New Living Translation

In this passage Paul outlines how he is praying for the people in the church. It is a good guideline for us, as we pray for others.

1. Thank God for them.

2. Ask that God will give them complete understanding, not just the parts that come easily to them. That they will have spiritual wisdom, not just human wisdom that accepts the parts of the gospel they like.

3. That they will live to honor and please the Lord, doing good all the time, and be kind to each other.

4. That God will strengthen them with His power so they will have the patience and endurance needed to face life’s challenges.

5. That they will be filled with real joy, not dependant on circumstances, but on God.

6. That they will be truly thankful for all God has done for them.

Colossians 1:6

6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

New Living Translation

Hearing the Good News about Jesus is not like hearing other news. It isn't some story that makes us feel good, but is soon forgotten. Instead, it's purpose is to change our lives.

If we truly believe the message of Jesus - that He is God, He loves us, He died to pay for our sins so we can be completely forgiven, and that He rose from the dead, providing for us the promise of resurrection and eternal life as well - then we will never be the same.

It makes me so sad when people are "converted", but then continue to live their lives as if nothing has changed. That indicates to me that they took this incredible message of love and grace, and turned it into nothing but a story and a "fire insurance policy."

I wonder if sometimes this is the fault of the church. We stress the truth of forgiveness and the promise of escaping Hell and going to Heaven. In the process, we lose sight of the real power of this message.

Jesus didn't die just to get us out of Hell. That is a wonderful gift, and I don't want to diminish it. But He died for much more than that. He died and rose again in order to set us free from sin.

The promise of salvation comes not just from confession, but from repentance. What that means is we don't just admit we behaved badly. I've seen many people make such a confession with an attitude of resentment. It is as if they are upset about being caught, but have no intention of really changing. Or perhaps they are going to change - they intend to make sure they don't get caught again!

Repentance means that we agree completely that we have behaved badly, that our attitudes are messed up, and that at our core we are self-centered and sinful. It means that we have decided deep down that we don't want to live with this sin. Not only do we want to be forgiven, but we want to be changed.

Once we repent, the power of the Good News is unleashed! The Holy Spirit goes to work, changing our desires, our dreams, our very thoughts. It doesn't all happen overnight, but the process should begin immediately. And over time, we should see progress as God is changing us from the inside out.

Colossians 1:3-6

3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

New Living Translation

According to this passage, faith in Jesus and love for people both come from a confident hope in what God has promised to give us in Heaven. So, just what is this promise, and why does it produce faith and love?

In short, the promise is that we will be with God for eternity. We will also be rewarded for what we have done, and we will have a wonderful home beyond our wildest imagination, and we will reign with Him forever. The beauty and wonder of Heaven is described as something beyond our comprehension. There will be no pain or suffering. It will be an eternity of joy, peace, and the most fulfilling occupation possible, though I'm not entirely sure what that will be!

I wonder, how does this guarantee of heavenly rewards and blissful closeness to God Himself produce faith and love?

The love part is easier to explain. Knowing that I'm promised more than I could ever get for myself inspires me to stop fighting for all I can get now. I can have confidence that no matter how much I accumulate in this life, it is all going to seem worthless once I'm in Heaven. It is much easier to love other people when I don't have to worry about taking care of myself.

It is a bit more difficult to understand how this promise produces faith in Jesus. It seems like it should be the opposite - faith in Jesus should give me confidence in this promise. In my way of thinking, I have hope in Heaven because I believe in Jesus.

But apparently, the reverse is true as well. Because I have a confident hope in Heaven and all it's glory, I am free from selfish concern for self. Not only does this free me to love others, it also allows me to devote myself completely to Jesus. I can love Him, serve Him, worship Him, and grow in faith because of my complete confidence in what He is going to give me. Concern for myself is removed from the equation, because I'm guaranteed to have more than I could ever imagine.

The more complete my confidence in His promise, the deeper and stronger my faith can grow. I am able to have more faith, because the chains of self centered desires and self preservation are broken.

Lord Jesus...increase my confidence in Your promises! Help my faith and love to grow stronger and deeper with each passing day!