Chico Alliance Church
Review
It is so easy to get sidetracked and focused on the wrong thing. Some people spend their whole life climbing the ladder of success only to discover it is leaning against the wrong wall. Paul writes to the believers at Colossi to keep their focus sharp and clear. He writes to encourage their hearts in a world that would burden their hearts and destroy the joy of being cherished subjects in the kingdom of God. He helps them to be clear on the supremacy of Christ over all creation as well as the sufficiency of Christ for all creation. The proper driving force of an effective minister of Christ is the glorious message of restored relationship with God. At the heart of all the labor and striving, proclaiming, admonishing, teaching and presenting is the astonishing message of hope of restored glory that Paul dedicated his life to declare. Today I shift want to draw our attention to the heart of the ministry. Today we explore the absolute core issue of Christianity. In indwelling Christ!
Introduction
American Christianity has diluted the core issue of the Gospel for decades. Everyone claims to be a Christian these days. It is only a matter of mental or verbal assent to a system of belief that makes me a Christian. If I decide to change beliefs, I cease to be a Christian. Paul seeks to protect these believers from delusion and dilution of the heart of the Gospel. Paul wrote to encourage their hearts by fixing their focus on the reality of their position in Christ. These truths generate a heart overflowing with gratitude. As the early pilgrims stopped to recognize God’s abundant blessing in the new world, today we stop to give thanks for the abundant spiritual blessing as Children of the New Covenant in the kingdom of God.
I. Paul Exhibits Powerful Prayer 1:3-12
II. Paul Exalts God's transfer Program 1:13-23
III. Paul explains his personal ministry 1:24-2:5
A. The heart of the minister
B. The heart of the ministry
1. Christ indwells us
Paul writes concerning the ministry given him by God.
25God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness to you Gentiles. 26This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to his own holy people. Col. 1:25-26
• It was a mystery hidden from past generations.
• It is a mystery now manifested or made known to His saints.
to make manifest or visible or known what has been hidden or unknown,
to manifest, whether by words, or deeds, or in any other way, make actual and visible, realized
to make known by teaching, to become manifest, be made known
to expose to view, make manifest, to show one’s self, appear
to become known, to be plainly recognized, thoroughly understood who and what one is
The verb action given “manifest” is point time passive.
This mystery was hidden but at a point in time (coming of Christ) God made it known to all men.
• It is the truth concerning the indwelling Christ our only hope of restored glory.
27to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. 1:27 NASB
For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory. Col. 1:27 New Living Bible
You see, God created man as a glorious manifestation of the image of the invisible God.
What is man, that You take thought of him? And the son of man, that You care for him?
5Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And crown him with glory and majesty!
6You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
7All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, 8The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.9O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1-9
Man’s acquires glory by reason of his relationship to the one who created Him. It is in the context of a high view of God that we may discuss a high view of man. However, because of rebellion and a fatal separation in relationship with the Creator, the glory once manifested by reason vital relationship with the glorious Creator became horribly marred. Even though man remained a bearer of God’s image, the image now manifesting in the world was a disastrous distortion of the original design. Having lost any hope of a restoration to the original design, man, instilled with an inward aspiration for reflecting the Creator’s glory, sought to establish his own glory apart form relationship to the creator.
The result of this feeble attempt to manifest glory without relationship to God is apparent in the world around us today.
Men of low degree are only vanity, and men of rank are a lie;
In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath. Psalm 62:9
In the context of this Psalm contrast the rebellious to the ones who put their trust in God and find their life in Him. People, although marred by the fall, still bear the image of their creator. Capital punishment laws in the OT spring from the truth of image bearing creatures. James talks about not cursing those made in God’s image. As far away as man may run in his rebellion, all men bear the worth and dignity of God’s image.
Only God can restore fallen man to once again reflect the glory he was originally designed to reflect. The truth of reconciliation and renewed relationship between rebellious flesh and blood creatures and a Holy invisible God is a mysterious one. It taxes human reasoning and understanding. In fact, there are aspects of God’s truth that cannot be understood by anyone without supernatural understanding granted by the Holy Spirit. But here, Paul declares our hope of restoration to glory to be found through the indwelling Christ.
“Christ in you the hope of glory.”
Christ, as a man, perfectly manifested what it meant to be reflect the image of the invisible God.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
The truth clearly communicated in the Gospel is that this same Jesus now longs to indwell the ones who return to right relationship with God by faith in Christ. Our only hope of once again reflecting the full image of God in all its glory is for Christ to live in and through us and for us to walk in him. Jesus expressed this desire to His Father before His crucifixion. First, He expressed a longing to be glorified, to be restored to the glory He experienced with the Father before the incarnation. Then Jesus turned to the relationship between Himself and His followers.
"And the glory which You have given Me I have given (perfect tense) to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You loved Me. 24"Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25"O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:22-26
Our hope of glory comes from the indwelling Christ. That God would actually indwell mankind was certainly a mystery and an unknown experience. God walked with them. God stood beside and went before them, but no real experience of God in them.
Paul declares that even our bodies are temples of the living God. It is this indwelling transforming presence that must remain the core of what it means to be a Christian.
Not adherence to creed.
Not continued faith.
Only the presence of God.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. Romans 8:5-11
Our hope of life, our hope of glory comes by reason of the indwelling Christ. His indwelling comes by reason of his criteria not ours. We can wish all we want, do all we think is necessary but the final say is the decision by Christ to transform our life as place to manifest his glory. If he does not indwell, we do not belong to him. If he does indwell us, we will be cast from his presence regardless of what deeds we may have done.
The core issue of Christianity is that we are in Him and He is in us.
He indwells us; our life is hidden with Christ in God. This truth will be explored further later in chapter 3.
What does it mean for Christ to indwell us? It seems so far removed from reality. This phrase seeks to communicate the absolute most intimate, all consuming, and all absorbing relationship possible. It is a unity that defies earthly illustration. It is a relationship that blurs all defining boundaries. Where does one stop and one begin? It is an all-absorbing relationship. This relationship is a vital and life-giving as oxygen being in us and us in oxygen. One is only a Christian by reason of the indwelling Christ. If you do not have the Spirit of Christ you are not a Christian. If He is not in you and you are not in Him you are condemned along with the world and have NO hope of restored glory.
It is Christ in you the only hope of restored glory.
This is the core message we have been given to proclaim to a lost world desperately seeking a restoration to the place of dignity and glory as image bearers of the invisible made visible. Tangible experience of this restoration to glory is not just a hope at the return of Christ but it is possible to experience what it means to reflect God’s glory more and more every day.
Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom. And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more. 2 Cor. 3:17-18
Paul further declares the theme of ultimate restored glory in chapter three where he continues to urge right thinking.
You have died and Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who IS our life is revealed (in all His glory) you too will be revealed with Him in glory.
In fact, even the creation itself awaits this glorious revelation of God’s image-bearing children. Romans 8:16-25
Paul gave all his life and energy to declare the message that others might enjoy restored relationship with God.
APPLICATION
A clear understanding of this life-changing truth will not only affect how we live but how we minister.
• It effects our walk – The resurrected Christ lives in me.
• It effects our witness – The resurrected Christ ministers through me.
Meditate! Ask God to make this truth real in your everyday experience.
He lives in you. He doesn’t come down from on high. He doesn’t somehow pour more of Himself into you. He, in all his resurrected glory lives in you and is your only hope of once again reflecting the glory of the image of the invisible God. It is the purpose for which we were called. That we might become conformed to the image of Christ who is the perfect image of the invisible God.
Not only does Christ choose to indwell every believer but we are also knit together by Him because of relationship with Him. I am vitally connected to my parents by blood, genes and so forth. I am also vitally connected by blood to my brothers.
2. Christ unites us
As also expressed in Christ’s prayer to the Father, the vital of Christ with each of us intimately ties us to each other. Paul expresses the glory of this truth here in this passage also. The foundation of his desire to encourage their hearts is based not only on the fact that Christ indwells them but Christ united them together.
“knit-together” (point time passive)
The passive voice here indicates that Christ did this uniting to them. The basis of their unity is love and a true knowledge of this wonderful mystery of the indwelling Christ now revealed to all people. Paul no longer looked at people the same according to the flesh or outward experience. He perceived believers as new creatures in Christ and unbelievers as potential candidates to present complete in Christ.
Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5:16-18
Paul’s joy came from the fact that these people were firmly grounded in this wonderful truth.
APPLICATION
The unity of the Trinity, it’s the ultimate illustration of divine community.
Jesus draws us into that community by reason of his indwelling.
“I in You, You in Me, I in them, them in us.
When each of us hold fast to the head that is Christ, we too can experience to a significant degree the divine community with God and each other. They will know you are Christians by your community. How beautiful it is when brothers dwell together in unity. It should be our continual quest to pursue peace with all men and demonstrate what it means to minister and serve one another in love.
In verse 2:6-3:5 Paul reinforces proper thinking regarding the centrality of our all-sufficient, indwelling Christ.
IV. Paul encourages renewed thinking
A. The basis of the Christian’s daily walk vs 6-7
I want to finish our time in the word today by looking at the foundation of our daily walk.
Paul affirms that the basis of our entrance into the kingdom is the presence of the indwelling Christ. What is the basis of our daily walk in this new kingdom?
“as you received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him”
How did we receive Christ Jesus? Paul in Galatians 3 clarifies the process as well as he ties it into our daily walk.
3:1You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
The answer is an obvious one. We received Christ by putting our trust in the word of God that He would honor the work of His Son, which accomplished for us what we could not do – keep the law perfectly. Romans 8 declares, what the law could not do because of the weakness of the flesh was accomplished by Christ for us on the basis of faith. So we receive Christ and experienced the indwelling Spirit of Christ by trusting His promise to do in us and for us what we could not do. We receive sonship by reason of being in Christ and Him in us.
Paul affirms here, that the way to walk and live the life of the Christ is exactly the same process by which we initially received Christ.
3Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4Did you suffer so many things in vain-- if indeed it was in vain? 5Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 6Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS SHALL BE BLESSED IN YOU." 9So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. Galatians 3:1-9
The same way you received him (by trusting his promises) so walk or live in Him. Live your life in a continual faith and love relationship with Christ. He indwells you; He manifests His glory through you. Our daily walk is based on a work already done for us and continues in us by the indwelling Christ.
“having been firmly rooted in Him” perfect passive verb
Christ caused us to be grounded and established in Him and we are still grounded.
to cause to strike root, to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded
Our previous grounding at a point in time is the basis for our present and future walk.
“now being built up in Him” (present passive participle)
to build upon, build up
to finish the structure of which the foundation has already been laid, to give constant increase in Christian knowledge and in a life conformed thereto.
“now being established in your faith” (present passive participle)
“to make firm, establish, confirm, make sure”
These are all passive verbs.
These are all the things the indwelling Christ is there to do.
These are all the foundation on which we walk our daily walk.
We can walk in Him just as we received Him because…
• The indwelling Christ firmly rooted us in Himself and we are still rooted.
• The indwelling Christ continues to build on the foundation He established.
• The indwelling Christ continues to establish us in the faith as the author and perfector of faith. (Heb 12)
Continued establishment in the faith comes through continued instruction in the faith for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
6For I am confident (perfect tense—confident and still confident) of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philip. 1:6
“Perfect” to bring to an end, accomplish, perfect, execute, complete, to take upon one’s self, to make an end for one’s self, to appoint to, impose upon
Paul had great confidence in the work of Christ in others and for himself.
For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day 2 Tim 1:12
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out (present) your salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will(present) and to work (present) for His good pleasure. Philip. 2:12-13
These astounding truths prompt overflowing fountain of thanksgiving to God who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saint in light. As we truly come to understand the glorious gravity of the eternal indwelling Christ and His past, present and future work in our life we can jump for joy and shout songs of thanksgiving.
CONCLUSION
? The living Christ comes to indwell us by His Spirit.
? The living Christ knits us together in community with the Godhead and each other.
? The living Christ establishes us.
? The living Christ continues to build upon the foundation He establishes.
? The living Christ continues to establish us in the faith so that we can walk in Him.
All of this comes about and continues by faith in the person and purpose of God.
Trust Him today.
If you have not asked Him to come into your life and transform you, you are not a Christian. If you have, continue to believe that he will do in your life what you cannot do on your own. He will transform you into His image and He will keep at it until He returns.
There is no better reason for Thanksgiving!
