April 21, 2024 • Pastor Christopher Thompson • Colossians 1:19–23
Religion, properly understood in the Christian perspective, is a way by which we show our God love. It was never meant to save, but this has been an issue from the beginning. One of the areas where the early church struggled was where Jewish law fell within the salvation process. Just a couple of decades after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, one Jewish religious ritual has become the center point of controversy; the Apostle Paul will put this practice in its proper perspective. That practice...circumcision.
This past week, we saw that our God has revealed the mystery of eternity. There is no secret about who and how one might have eternal life. First, salvation is available to all Jews and Gentiles only through Jesus of the Bible. As we continue with Paul this week to the Colossian church, we will see that we are…Complete in Christ.
We have a saying in our society that some, maybe many, “like a good mystery.” And if that mystery does not adversely involve them, that is probably true. But if it impacts us, my guess is that we are likely to “not like that mystery.” Pain as an example. Mystery pain is not something most of us look forward to, and yet I know for some in this room you have suffered from mystery pain for decades. What would you be willing to do, who would you be willing to follow, who would you be willing to pay if they could reveal “whatever” mystery you faced? Well, groups were rising even in the mid-first century that claimed they had the answers to God's mysteries. Yet Paul, writing to the believers in Christ within the Colossians church, lets them know that the Mystery has been revealed and is free to all.
