Aug 3

“... to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;” Colossians 2:2

The apostle desires the hearts of the saints to be comforted, knit together in love and reassured in the understanding they have been imparted of the truths of God. In particular he points here to the doctrinal truth, the ‘mystery’ of God, now revealed. This has to do with the powerful truth that God is One. Some would divide God into three separate, distinct persons rather than to see He is but One God, who manifests Himself in multiple ways. This is in part the truth over which Paul wanted the saints at Colossi to rejoice and be assured in. He also instructs them, later in the same chapter, not to be deterred from this truth by traditions, deceptions, philosophies or man’s reasoning. He reminds them that in Jesus dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and that they and all believers are complete in Him! This powerful and liberating truth identifies God and focuses all the glory, the honour, the power and the worship to the One to Whom it belongs! Hearing from, obeying and following the ways of the Holy One of Israel, was and remains core doctrine among the Hebrews and should be so among all Christians also. All of deity, the fullness of it, is in Christ Jesus! It is all in Him! Scholars agree that ‘and’ (kai, in the Greek) may be rendered to mean ‘even’, or ‘that is’, and does not always imply a ‘copulative’ (addition) action. Thus the mystery of God ‘and’ of the Father, ‘and’ of Christ, in our verse, is not a mystery involving three beings, persons or gods. It is the mystery of God, now revealed to man through His word involving God, that is, the Father that is, Christ! We are told in 1Timothy 3 that the great mystery of the Godhead is how that God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory! Jesus fits all of that description! Paul confirms that the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelt in Jesus, not just a portion, a second person, a third or a partial aspect! The same One God, who was the Father in eternity, took on the form of man and became known as the Son of God in redemption, died on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead, and now abides as the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers! This is a great assurance, a cause of great comfort, and an establishing, stabilising truth to all the faithful - that we may personally know the God we have believed in and trusted for our salvation! 

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

July 13

“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” Colossians 2:9

Having encouraged the Colossian church to walk in Christ as they have received Him, and warned them of the pitfalls and dangers of man’s traditions and philosophies, Paul now reinforces the pivotal concept of the deity of Christ. He teaches that In Jesus, dwells all the fullness of Deity, in a bodily form! Several concepts are to be noticed here. Our faith in Christ Jesus is predicated upon the fact of His deity, not merely on the divine origin of His doctrines, as some would have it, making Him merely another prophet or messenger from God. Jesus is God! He is the fullness of God in One being. The tense of the word ‘dwell’, is in the present. This means that Jesus remains God today, and was not God or Godlike merely as some stage in the past, but continues to be the true and full manifestation of Deity today. We note also that not a portion or a percentage of the Godhead dwells in Jesus, but the all the fullness of it. The import of this statement is paramount. Some have wrongly concluded that Jesus is but a third of some divine committee of three persons, but that would prevent Him from having ALL the fullness of deity residing in Him! Jesus must be the One and Only, Supreme deity, for this to remain a true fact of scripture. If all dwells in Christ, then there is no more to dwell in any other ‘person’! The ‘fullness’ here, must refer to all that the Godhead or deity is, the sum total of the power, and the completeness of the essence of what Deity is - all the attributes and all the fullness of them! Thus it is all in Jesus, and He is All in All! When we pray to Him, we are praying to the entirety of the Godhead. We are praying to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, for these titles merely reflect the various offices, which Jesus, the One God fulfils! That is why we are to pray and do all in the name of Jesus, for it is name in which the power and authority of God is summed up. There can only be ONE Almighty, and the fullness of that power cannot be divided, as some imagine among multiple divine persons! We have it on good biblical authority that it all dwells, abides, resides and remains in Christ Jesus! ‘Godhead’ here cannot be seen as some aspect of divinity alone, but a reference to the entirety of all that is God, the whole of Deity. Anything less, would make this statement irreconcilable and inane. It would be like saying that ‘in Jesus is the all the fullness of only a part of what God is’. That would make Him less than all of God, and therefore, not God at all! Almighty Deity requires an absolute singleness a numerical oneness, and is not something that can be shared, pooled or made communal! Yahwah Himself states that there is no other god beside Him. He knows all things, yet does not know of the existence of another Almighty person! This same, singular, Almighty God became flesh, the Logos incarnate, was born of the virgin Mary, and as the Son walked among men. In that bodily, human form, existed all the fullness, just as it did eternally prior to the incarnation! Jesus was always Almighty God, from eternity. The physical body died in offering and sacrifice for our sins, but was resurrected immortal. It continues to exist today, as the only visible, physical form that God has even begotten or taken for Himself. One day we shall see Him, as He is. We too will have immortal, eternal bodies like unto His glorious body, and will eternally live in heaven with the One in whom dwells, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

June 18

“…and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding…” Colossians 2:2

The apostle’s prayer was that saints may come to a place of unity, strength and fulfilment in God. It seems the problem existed then as it does now, that most of us become content with but a little of God, enough to get by and just sufficient to feel justified in bearing the title of ‘Christian’. It is God’s desire we see here reflected through Paul’s epistle, that we grow to have and appreciate the full spectrum of the riches which are found in Christ Jesus! Quality of spiritual wealth is not determined merely on quantity in a preferred aspect or practice, but also on appropriating and reflecting the full scope and variety of all that is available in Christ. Unlike what is often true with man outside of Christ, where we find highly skilled professional individuals who may be the best in their particular field of expertise, yet sadly lack in the necessary parental or marital skills to be equally successful there, the Christian is to strive towards excellence in every aspect of the Christian walk. There is no such thing as a ‘specialist Christian’, one who may specialise in say giving financially, but knows nothing of faithfulness in prayer, dedication in service or desire for holiness. A man may well be called to a specific area of ministry such as pastoring, but this does not exonerate him from fulfilling all the other necessary aspects of the Christian walk, in fact such a call, makes him even more responsible to fulfil them and to such a degree that he may be an example to others! This spiritual richness comes with a full assurance, a firm conviction and strong persuasion, based on the understanding of the biblical teaching. God’s Word, is the depository of God’s revealed will and wisdom, and understanding what He has shared with us is like tapping in the largest oilfields or striking the richest lode of gold. It is the only way we can truly become spiritually rich! No one who seriously appreciates the value of such treasures, is content with just a little of it, but rather desires to mine and extract all he can from this source.  Accompanied by prayer and a humble spirit, knowing and understanding God’s Word, is partaking of heaven’s boundless treasury and feeding at God’s sumptuous table! It is the Lord’s greatest joy to give to those who long for richness beyond the temporal and material things of this world, the best and greatest divine resources and treasures. It should be our greatest joy to thankfully receive all He has for us, appreciate it above all else in life, and use it for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

May 10

“For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven…” Colossians 1:5

A life without the knowledge of Jesus Christ is a hope-less life! In Christ we have hope, both for this life and the life to come. In this life the hope that Jesus provides, gives meaning and form to our existence. Despair and emptiness are vanquished by this hope, and we can live a fruitful, purposeful and directed life. This hope is secure and does not pass away, nor is it diminished by the changes of time and circumstances. God has established this hope, and its bond is kept safe for all believers in the treasury of heaven. In the life to come, we will experience the full meaning and benefit of the eternal hope God has given us. Eternal life received through salvation, is intended here by the word hope. Hope is an apt metonymy for salvation with its eternal rewards, for in one word it captures all we long for and hold on to in our hearts! For the believer hope is not found in any worldly or material achievement or possession. Prosperity and success in life are not the ingredients which formulate the hope of the true Christian. The saint’s hope is based on that which is ‘out of this world’, in the realm beyond the physical, in the kingdom and home eternal! That is what drives the desire, passion and vision of the believer. It is this knowledge and reality held personally in Christ, by those who believe Him, which causes them to endure the greatest hardships, persecutions and remain steadfast and faithful through the worst torments and troubles of life! The hope is greater, it far outweighs, is richer and more valuable than anything else a man can own! With courage and determination we must as believers, hold fast to the hope which is laid up for us in heaven and not lose sight of our eternal reward.

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

May 7

“…then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:4

There is more to the Christian’s life, than what transpires while we are here on earth. There is a great and powerful spiritual dimension, yet this remains unknown or largely forgotten and disregarded. The Apostle reminds here believers that our main interest and focus in life should not be on material, temporal things. Our ‘affections’, that is our love for, what attracts us and what makes us contented, should be found in Jesus. He is our life and the flow in which we move, plan and live our lives. We are also reminded that soon Jesus will return, He will ‘appear’, that is He will manifest Himself and He will judge the world. In that day nothing of the material, temporal realm will matter at all. Only what we have built by way of a spiritual life, a relationship with Him will be significant. We are encouraged by this exhortation to take note and stock of our lives. Where do our main interests lay? What do we spend our time with? Where are our energies mostly invested? We are to be people whose desire for this world is disabled, and whose lives are a living sacrifice to the Lord! This is the condition and the necessity if we are to appear with Jesus, that is, be at His side, the winning side, the side of right, power and glory at His coming! Nothing and no-one in this world is an adequate trade-off for the eternal life and the position we can fill at the Lord’s side. Let us carefully weight out and carry the responsibility of our Christian calling, for it is a high and glorious call from the Holy God!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Mar 17

“Rooted and built up in him…” Colossians 2:7

The apostle Paul here uses two metaphors together, to convey the strongest concepts of the quality of the walk we ought to have in God. The foundation of our faith has been laid and is established, and that Foundation is Jesus! Through salvation, we are positioned on this Foundation, the firm rock of the Lord’s teaching.  Paul alludes to the way we should continue in Christ. He states that “as we first received” Him, we should also walk in Him. This walk is intended to be a progressively more profound experience with God! Like roots of a tree digging deeper and becoming stronger, even so, as we walk in the Lord, we must go further in the truth and understanding of His Word, and so become more firmly held, into the true and solid foundation Jesus has laid. There is no other foundation necessary, but there is for the believer, a necessary work of going deeper in His truth, deeper in love for Him and deeper in desire and obedience towards the Lord. No true believer can continue in a surface or shallow relationship with God. We are planted in the ‘good soil’ of His truth, and there, we must put down deep and healthy roots. Thus Paul firstly indicates the necessity of a deepening walk in Christ, and along with that and of equal importance, being built up in Him. We all recognise this is an ongoing aspect of our relationship with the Lord! Being firmly gripped into the Foundation - Jesus Christ, we can now, if we allow the Lord to work in us, become the kind of structure and edifice for God that He desires us to be. Here too we see a progressing and continuing work, as stage by stage, the Lord helps us to build, enlarge and improve on what we have had to date. It is again important to realise that the believer cannot remain stationary in his growth in God. Stagnation for the Christian would be like a structure that is partly built and then abandoned. It is God’s will that His people are growing people, constantly learning and becoming more perfected in His ways and principles. Spiritual growth is a process which will endure through life, and we can facilitate it by being willing to both go deeper and higher in God! Jesus is both the ground into which our roots can grow deeper, and the solid foundation upon which our edifice is established! 

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Mar 7

“... Hearts...might be comforted, being knit together in love…” Colossians 2:2

Our text expresses the comfort and encouragement, experienced by those who are united in faith to God. Christians are well acquainted with the distresses and trials of life, the rigours of persecutions and the challenges of reaching the lost. All such things add to the ‘discomfort’ that may be experienced as we walk ‘in Christ’. Yet God has not left His people without comfort! He not only sent the ‘Comforter’ - His Holy Spirit, to fill, empower and guide the believer, but He has also ensured that our hearts may find comfort in the reality of the companionship, fellowship and brotherhood that exist within the Church. The bonds of this company of blood-washed, redeemed individuals are strong! God’s family is meant to be close-knit and cohesive. Like the sinews and tendons that hold the joints of our bodies, even so the members of the Body of Christ, are held together by the strong bonds of the truth and love, which God has imparted to them. This is the mortar that joins each brick in the building and forms the edifice of God! The brethren that belong to the family of God, are not meant to be disavowed, distanced acquaintances, empty of common purpose and devoid of interest and love for one another.  The opposite is true! God’s will for us is that we are ‘knitted together’ into a solid, unified ‘oneness’, fused with the ‘glue’ of His amazing love, and motivated by His Spirit to carry out His godly and spiritual purposes! May the hearts of those who willingly put aside their own program of life, and embrace God and His ways, find in Jesus, and in the wonderful family of God, the joy, comfort and strength of His love, and the blessing of intimate unity.

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Feb 11

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above…” Colossians 3:1

The apostle Paul raises here a powerful argument for our consideration. He establishes in previous chapters that we are buried with Jesus in baptism, and our sins removed, we rise with Him into a new life by His Spirit. This fact accepted and proclaimed, he then sets for us a ‘litmus test’ (a simple test that produces a clear, objective answer) of that which should naturally follow the resurrected life! IF we are in fact new creatures, resurrected individuals, born again believers, THEN our desire, affinity and passion should now be DIFFERENT to what it USED TO BE! Our minds and hearts cannot possibly still long for the dead things of sin and degradation we were saved from! It should be inconceivable that we should want anything to do with that which we claim to have left in the grave! IF we are resurrected with Jesus, we should make our priority and propensity the maintenance of spiritual life and sturdy spiritual health. No longer can our proclivities be of the world and the things of the world. Our appetite, inclination and taste should be for those superior things, the things ‘which are above’, the things of God! How self-defeating and injurious to the cause of Christ are those who claim to be ‘born-again’, but still live like they are dead in trespasses and sins! They have changed neither manner nor habits; neither company nor preferences; neither vision nor desire! Carnality is their banner and they know nothing of the holiness of God. They are just as empty of spiritual life as they ever were, but wear on the dead toe of their spiritual corpse, the tag of ‘born-again Christian’! They remain in the mortuary of dead religiousness and have the zeal and passion of those confined to the morgue! Where is the evidence of the resurrected life in Christ? Where is the hunger and seeking after God first and ahead of all else? How can we tell that we are genuinely new creatures? The test is simple! We should take it regularly! What do we pursue? What is our primary desire? Is it for God or for our flesh? Do we long more for the things of God or are we still totally taken and attracted by the things of the world? Let true believers stand and show the testimony of the resurrected life they have in Christ by their fear of God and hatred for sin, their love for others, the spiritual nature of their choices, the quality of their service to God, the Christ-like humility of their self-image and the intense passion  to obey God's word and to fulfil God’s will and purpose for their lives!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion