“Jed Harris, producer of Our Town and other plays, became convinced he was losing his hearing.  He went to a specialist, who gave him a thorough checkup.  The doctor pulled out a gold watch and asked, ‘Can you hear this ticking?’ Harris said, ‘Of course.’  The specialist walked to the door and held up the watch again.  ‘Now can you hear it?’  Harris concentrated and said, ‘Yes, I can hear it clearly.’  The doctor walked out the door into the next room and said, ‘Can you hear it now?’  Harris said, ‘Yes.’  The doctor said, ‘Mr. Harris, there is nothing wrong with your hearing.  You just don’t listen.’”¹

If that seems a little funny, it’s because it’s such a common condition.  As with all the rest of us, the problem is usually not with hearing, but listening–the deep, considerate exercise alluded to in 1 Corinthians 14:29 (where it is called judging, discerning, etc.).  Without this kind of focus, we miss game-changing pieces of revelation–something that might have become spiritual food for us in years to come, or even a word of rescue.  Elihu was the source of such a word.  The man literally disclosed to Job God’s operational principle upon mankind.  It would have gone a long way toward making sense of Job’s sufferings.  However, this disclosure was embedded amidst other words, and we don’t know if Job was listening anymore at that point. If he wasn’t, he missed pure gold.

Worth the Price of Admission

The disclosure of how God works in our lives is worth the price of admission.  The details of His work are different from person to person, but the overarching principles are the same.  Once you learn them, you can begin to recognize them even if the names and circumstances are all changed.

First, God speaks.  He does so even as we swear in frustration that He doesn’t.  In fact, He does in multiple ways (33:14).  But we generate a constant level of ambient noise through excuses, evasion, and dismissals that actually silence those words.  That is why “man does not perceive it.”  Our refusal to listen might mean it is all over right there.  God would be fully justified in saying, “I’m done with you; you beg incessantly for answers that you don’t want and direction that you won’t take.”  He could do that, but He doesn’t.  Instead, He tries to open the ear of the heart (33:16).

If Lines Are Out…

If communication continues to be out, God does not stop.  He simply starts speaking another language–that of suffering.  You might claim confusion with His former attempts, but this dialect is understood by all.  The message–”the rebuke”–is pain (33:19).  Ignore words all you want, but you won’t be ignoring this one.  You will pay it a premium of attention.  Sometimes even if you’re listening well, situations come along that teach in a way that words never could.

What’s the Urgency?

What’s with all this divine urgency? For sure God doesn’t speak in order to generate pleasant religious background noise. His words are calculated to save us from “the pit” and “the sword” (v. 18, 24, 28, 30)–dangers that threaten our spirit, soul, and body in various ways.  Things that we are tending toward because of dumb decisions, foolish neglect, and bad attitudes.  Yet there is more at stake than preventing ill-effects.  God’s kind work restores us to a vigor that we did not previously have (33:25).  It stimulates a celebratory joy (33:26-27) and enlightenment (33:28-30) unknown to us before He went to work in our lives. None of His work leaves us the same way as He found us.  None of His children are poorer after encountering His hand.

Elihu’s disclosure is often overlooked as life goes upside down, but without the principles contained in it, we would all be both stuck and doomed.

No Answers

At this point in the book of Job, it’s obvious that God isn’t going to fix anything quickly.  We’d settle for a trade-off here, at least some kind of explanation for the chaos that has struck Job’s life.  But apparently it isn’t the time for answers.  Instead, Job gets a visit from three friends.  A dialogue launches between the four men that goes on to comprise the bulk of the book of Job–almost 30 chapters of going back and forth.  The down side is that these friends are clueless about what God is doing in Job’s life.  Although in 2:11-13 we find them at their best, hoping to sympathize with him and comfort him, their patient vigil quickly gives way to frustration.  They’re sure that Job is some kind of closet sinner whom God has seen fit to punish.  They start triple-teaming Job with verbal assaults based on their faulty assumptions and logic.

What Good Could Come From This?

The significance of these droning, lecture-like chapters should not be missed.  That is, most of the spiritual maturation process occurs in the matrix of friends, and for the most part, friends who understand very little about what we are going through.

We question the wisdom of this reality, especially after considering some of our own experiences.  It is hard to imagine anything more potentially destructive than the character assassination going on here.  How could anything positive grow in the midst of it?  Yet Job, in his frustration, begins to drill down corkscrew style, into some of the greatest, most meaningful questions that a person could ever ask.  These are golden concerns that come from the heart and not from mere theological speculation.  In a fit of pain and anger Job cries out, “What is man?” (7:17) and “How can a man be right before God?” (9:2).  It is real seeking driven by anguish and aggravation.  Quite unintentionally, his friends are provoking him forward with their empty religious platitudes, stirring the entire matter.   From the midst of the miserable exchange, like a seedling from a pile of manure, Job’s hunger for God germinates.  He confidently proclaims, probably between tears, “I know that my redeemer lives” (19:25).  It is an Old Testament cry for Christ and going along with it, a further one:  “I shall see God” (19:26-27).

Time for a Standing Ovation

It is difficult to get a man to the momentous point where his confessed hunger for God springs from a source other than external religious influences.  Job isn’t wishing for the return of his riches or the recovery of his health, or even to see his deceased children in heaven.  All of those wishes have been eclipsed by a desire for a first person connection to the Lord Himself.  This is a fine place for a standing ovation.  It has taken tragedies wrought by the devil, excruciating pain, and three failed friends, but Divine work has moved the man closer to a genuine relationship with God than he has ever been before.

Job 1:12 is downright chilling.  It marks the release of Satan to ultimately do whatever he wanted with Job (short of killing him).  Where else could this go but untold suffering?  In fact, the evil spirit inflicted on the poor man nearly every category of pain known to our race.  Job drank the bitter dregs of men who caused him complete material loss and then he endured several so-called “acts of God” that killed loved ones.  The final blow  came with the devastating loss of his health, which the Bible calls “loathsome sores.” And as an additional piece of garnish to Job’s crowded plate, he found out what it was like to be kicked when you are down, a lesson which his wife and his friends were very willing to provide.

Opinions Galore

Under such circumstances the temptation is severe to begin thinking of God as the adversary (actually, Satan literally means “adversary”), to get angry with Him, to consign our faith to the junk heap as useless superstition.  Our view of the pain itself often makes everything worse.  Job saw himself as a cosmic victim, mistakenly going through the whole ordeal.  Job’s wife despised his sufferings it as freakish, hopeless bad luck (2:9).  Job’s friends believed that he was being punished for some hidden sin.  Even the devil was operating under a partially wrong impression–that this was all about a contest or chess match of sorts.

At the End of the Day

Satan disappears at the end of chapter 2, after throwing everything in his arsenal at Job.  His team has lost and so he quietly leaves the narrative without concession speech or excuse.  Job still stands. But this was not the end of the situation because God was not in it to begin with for victory, vindication, or bragging rights.  He was in it for Job.  Everyone else is done with Job.  Even he himself concedes complete, unredeemable ruin.  Where all are finished, however, God has just started.

Pain Works

The first result of pain in all its forms is immediate focus and attention.  Job was effectively stopped in his tracks.  His daily multitude of concerns…stopped.  His interests…stopped.  His dreams…stopped.  For Job the world has ceased turning. All lesser priorities have vanished.  Nothing seems to exist anymore except him, his pain, and the silhouette of the One who is behind it all, looming larger by the minute.  The suffering has stopped Job, but it most certainly has not ended him.

Something to Remember

So what about us?  Where does this leave a group of twenty-first century readers?  With a sobering reminder.  We must always keep in our considerations the God who values our fellowship with Him on a far greater scale than our transient comfort and happiness.  There is probably no thought in the world more unsettling and yet more encouraging.

No Blanket Explanations Here

First, a qualifier: the book of Job can’t be used as a blanket explanation for all sufferings at all times upon all people.  You might want to look for the rationale behind tsunamis and famines in some other book–Revelation, perhaps, or the apocalyptic portions of Matthew.  Remember that the focus of Job is upon a godly individual who passed through some incredible sufferings only to emerge on the other side a different man.

The Mystery Deepens

Job was blameless and upright, an oft-repeated observation recorded in scripture (Job 1:1, 8).  This simple fact should remind us that the sufferings he endured were not for the sake of evil concealed in his heart.  We’re way beyond dealing with some type of closet gambling addiction here.  Job was righteous.  Of course, this only heightens the mystery surrounding why God allowed him to pass through so much.  We, like he, are dogged with questions of why such righteousness doesn’t rate greater protection.

Clues from the Apostle Paul

The Bible supplies us an important clue later on, when the Apostle Paul identifies the presence of more than one kind of righteousness.  According to him, there was the authentic righteousness of God and then, like a mannequin standing nearby, the human variety, cultivated according to culture and religious accomplishment (which Paul detailed in his own pre-Christian experience in Philippians 3:4-8).

The Problem of “Cocoon”

When we read Job’s self-assessment in chapter 29, it sounds remarkably similar to Paul’s human righteousness laundry-listed in Philippians.  Job claimed works of social justice, compassion, and various things that we (and God) would find hard to condemn. In fact, in case you forgot, God calls it all “blameless and upright.”  Yet something is missing.  In fact, it is the same thing that often goes missing in the life of typical Christians who have managed to “master” Christian behavior.  Their testimonies are righteous, no doubt, but strangely insular.  Christianity for some dear children of God is little more than a cultural cocoon of sorts, a lifestyle of service, works, and deeds without an experiential firsthand connection with God Himself.  I’ve compared this to the dilemma in a marriage where the frustrated wife asks her clueless husband, “Do you love me?”  “Sure I do, he shoots back. “I mow the grass every week.  I bring chocolates every Valentine’s Day.  What else do you want me to do?  Give me a break, there’s only 7 days in a week! “

He doesn’t get it and neither do we.  So we adopt extremes like deciding not to do anything anymore.  ”Fine,” we say, “I’ll just sit at the feet of Jesus.”  It’s a great idea for the moment and definitely appealing to the poetic soul, but one that eventually runs afoul of scripture.  Like us, God has a love language of deeds, not just quiet contemplation.  He delights in our works on behalf of His name.  He doesn’t want to undo them, He just wants something more than them.   This is an extremely difficult concept to get across to people who were born into Christian homes and raised on communion bread.  If God says, “I want something more,” they immediately draw a blank.  What more could there be?  Missions?  The food shelter?  Junior High camp counselor?  It is almost impossible to describe in mere words.  The narrative of Job therefore goes to work demonstrating our utter inability to understand where we stand (or rather, where we’re stuck) and the dramatic push forward that we sometimes need.

Verses (English Standard Version)
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
Job 1:8  And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

Phl 3:4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;  6  as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith–

God intends this simple principle whenever and wherever the truth of Scripture is made known to us:  What goes in, must come out!  Colossians presents this flow of thought, first unveiling Christ in the highest, most transcendent way.  That revelation trickles into our concepts, changing the way we think of Him and His salvation.  Then it trickles into our daily living where we put on the new self, and finally, after having been experienced intensely and applied deeply, comes out the far end of the pipe in a new home and work life.

The passage under consideration, Col. 3:18-4:1 (which contains no tee-shirt verses), gives the Apostle Paul’s description of what Christ looks like when released into our most personal life settings.  It doesn’t get any more real than this:  Christ at home with the spouse and kids.  Christ at work with coworkers and bosses.

Christ All Over the Place

The criteria seems simple.  Wives submit to your husbands–that is, stop the power struggles and the single-minded quest to get your way.  This models the Son of God who submitted to imperfect people all during His earthly life.  Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh.  That models the self-sacrificial love and kindness of the Son of God who loved to the point that He died on the cross.  Children obey your parents, modeling the Christ who obeyed His own earthly parents, as well as His heavenly Father.  Fathers, do not discourage your children.  This demonstrates the Christ who could discipline His disciples with a sharp word (telling Peter, “Get behind me, Satan”–Matt. 16:23) and then encourage them mightily (“You will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”–Matt. 19:28).  There is even a way for slaves to live out Christ.  Although that social institution has been outlawed (thanks to seeds planted in the New Testament), application still exists for all of us who feel forced into an exhausting workweek, making less money than we think we deserve.  What should we do in such a situation?  Listen to the boss and work with sincerity.  Stop doing things just to be seen.  Actually work when you’re at work.  This models the sincerity and honesty of Christ.  There is also a charge to masters, who approximate today’s bosses.  They should not strut around high on themselves, wronging the people who work under them.  Their fair treatment will demonstrate the Christ who is just and judges without bias, rewarding those who deserve it.

Nothing Profound?

At the end of the day (and this epistle), nothing theologically profound has emerged that can match the likes of the earlier description of Christ in Colossians 1.  But Paul isn’t gunning for profundity at the end of his letter.  Rather, he details how we can know that a wife, a husband, a child, a father, an employee, or a boss are all in current possession of the spiritual reality of a true and living Jesus. That is something worth its weight in gold.

Verses (English Standard Version)

Col 3:18  – Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
22 Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.  25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.  4:1 Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Salvation means a lot more than a sweep of God’s hand, a royal command from His mouth, and then eternal fire insurance.  Our salvation turns upon our very union with the Son of God–the closest possible identification with His death and resurrection.  His accomplishments have affected us to the point that we have died with Him and have been raised with Him.  The prior connection that we had with the things of the earth has been severed and we are now living in the things above.  As the apostle Paul assures us, Christ is our life.

A Greenhouse of Grace

But we are expected to interact with that eternal reality on a daily basis.    This comes by following the mandate to put to death the things of the earth that are in us, and to put on the “new self”– virtues which are being renewed in the image of Christ.  But before anyone imagines this as a lonely exercise, pay attention to the larger context of Colossians 3.  Because, within the church, many other members are also “putting on the new” as well.  In fact, within this corporate setting of other believers, we are empowered and encouraged to live out the new virtues.  It is there that the Word of Christ dwells in us richly, not simply to promote greater knowledge, but peace and joy in myriad quality relationships between usall.  The New Testament church life provides a greenhouse for the grace of forgiveness and harmony that could only end as Paul described:  “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” ( 3:16).

Verses (English Standard Version)

Col 3:1 – If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 – Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices  10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.  11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; butChrist is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Now What?

What should we do past the point of receiving Jesus?  Everyone has opinions, even non-Christians (How many times have you heard, “If you were a real Christian, then you’d ____________,” or some similar wording?).  The subject gets even more complicated as we factor in all the differing emphases of various Christian denominations.

Paul simplified the whole thing by subsuming it all inside of one great pursuit:  “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, then walk in Him” (Col. 2:6).  According to the apostle’s way of thinking, this involved going deeper (“rooted”), and higher (“being built up”) in Christ.  But just in case “Jesus” meant just any nice or religious thing to the causal reader, Paul added that this was the faith “you were taught” (2:7).  We aren’t supposed to create another Jesus, but to grow deeper and higher into the authentic One that we received.

Beware of Faith-Jacking

There is a warning in the next verse about not being taken captive (2:8).  Because when you’re finally willing to grow—which for some of us takes years to decide—you’re vulnerable to “faith-jacking.”  That means being lured into philosophies that are really just alternate views of Christ.  The problem is not merely academic.  Attached to every particular version of Jesus is a Christian life, for better or for worse.   The Colossians bought into a Christ repackaged as a bizarre hybrid of earthly Judaism and New Age Gnosticism.  The outcome was worse than just being wrong.  Sick characteristics began showing up in their Christian lives, such as concerns with ceremonial ordinances, mystical ideas, and delusional spirituality.  Our takeaway in 2011:  don’t mess with Jesus.  If you go down the Colossian road of adopting a Christ optimized for popular consumption, then your Christian life will look like a bad Jerry Springer episode, but won’t look much like the New Testament.

Improving on Perfection?

Paul wrote that in Christ “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (2:9).  You can’t get better than that.  Happily, if that is the Christ to which you’re hooked up, the result will be “You in Him are made full” (2:10).  In this sense, “full” means complete, perfect.  Ever try to improve on perfection?  You’re doomed to mess it up.  Try improving on 1 + 1 = 2.  Try “fixing” the Mona Lisa with Photoshop.  You’re sure to get a mess.

What is it about being fulfilled and complete that we just can’t stand?  Our primal parents in the Garden of Eden quickly tired of happiness and chose death and pain.  Apparently, they thought they were improving the situation.  Likewise, “the powerful working of God” is in Christ (2:12).  But human beings stand by Him with a red sharpie, ready to adjust Him however they want.  We’d like Him nicer.  Or we want Him meaner.  We’d prefer a Jesus who is more Republican or One who rubberstamps liberal causes.  There’s the Jesus who enjoys mocking the failures of the church or who is a spirit guide or gun lobby advocate.  There’s Jesus the quintessential American, or the moral crusader, or inventor of western Christianity, or simply the fan of all things religious, no matter how wacky.

We find out sooner or later, though, that while we might try to borrow the power of the biblical Christ and import it into our preferred version of Him, something always gets lost in translation. Better to stay with the original often copied, but never duplicated Son of God.  That’s where you find the fullness.  That’s where you find the power.

Verses (English Standard Version)

Col 2:6 – Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.  8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.  11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.  13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

The Bus is Headed Your Way

What is the first thing that pops into your head when the word “Christ” is mentioned?  If it’s a bearded figure like an illustration from a children’s Bible, then let me respectfully say that it’s not going to be enough. Life is headed your way.  Statistically speaking, we’re all going to experience broken hearts, financial pressures, marital friction, failing health, and finally, end of life scenarios.  When all of that happens and life’s troubles get on a collision course with us, the last place we want to be is inside of a smart-car sized Jesus.  No, when the Greyhound bus bears down on you, it’s better to be seated inside of an aircraft carrier.  And according to the Apostle Paul, that is exactly the kind of Christ to whom we have been transferred.

The Dimensions of Christ According to Paul

The densest and richest description of Christ in the New Testament is probably Colossians 1:15-23.  Consider his grandeur while taking a trip through the Apostle’s “laundry list”: He is the image of the invisible God.  That means without Him, God is invisible, up for grabs, subject to interpretation according to sinful, ill-informed imaginations.  With Him however, we have the complete and accurate expression of God.  Next, He is the Firstborn of all creation.  His position is preferred and blessed above everything else that exists.  Why?  Because all things were created by Him (as the active agent), through Him (as the vehicle and instrument), and for Him (as the very reason for its existence).  Furthermore, everything holds together in him (otherwise the entire creation would disintegrate into chaos).

He is the Head of the church (its source of life, rule, and guidance). He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead (that is, the first to die and return on a new plane with a life that can never die again).  This status is so that in everything He would be preeminent, supreme.  Ultimately, all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell in Him.  Any truth, teaching, belief, or experience should be evaluated according to Him as the standard because (please remember), all the fulness of God is in Him.  Add to this the fact that He is central in salvation.  When God moves to reconcile the universe back to Himself, the Son has been given the central place in that activity.

Christ as a Slice?

At the end of this passage, having surveyed such a vast Christ, the apostle nearly begs his readers to continue in the faith, and not to shift into some other, lower gear.  Christ was never meant to be a mere slice of life, but the One who overlays the whole.

The issue here is not in giving Him a larger chunk of our weekly schedule, but to live all the varied segments of our lives within Him. In light of the fact that he is preeminent over all things, doing this doesn’t make us heroes, just reasonable.

Verses (English Standard Version)

Col 1:15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him.17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Check out the latest e-book by John Myer – Warning Contains No Sugar: Honest Words for Aspiring Leaders in the Church.

Here’s a quick sneek peak:

“If you’re wondering what the title of this book means, it’s just this: comfy words won’t be spoken here. Once we start talking about spiritual leadership, what we’re really addressing is the welfare of God’s people. That’s serious. Most folks who aspire to leadership have little understanding of what they’re getting into. The nutshell version of it all comes down to people entrusting their souls to you. They trust you won’t lead them down a dark alley into religious extremes or doctrinal error, wasted time, or worst of all, a wasted life...”

Download the e-book here, today!

Dumbing Down the Epistles

During my first year of Bible reading, I remember meeting Jesus in the four gospels.  It was a landmark time for me.  But to be honest, I can’t say that I remember much beyond that last chapter of the Gospel of John.  The epistles (or letters) just didn’t do it for me.  The phraseology and deep concepts in them seemed impossibly difficult to understand.  And I noticed that other Christians felt the same way.  I remember sitting in too many Bible studies where we tried to tackle an epistle by dumbing it down to more familiar territory, like being kind to others or believing in God.  No matter what we handled, whether it was Ephesians or 2 Corinthians, the lesson learned was always some type of Veggie-tale admonition.  Now there’s nothing wrong with garden variety Christian ethics, but even as a new Christian I doubted that every difficult passage in the epistles had a simplistic connect-the-dots interpretation.  I knew Mad Magazine better than the Bible and yet still knew that.

The Meat and Potatoes

If we want to get help from the epistles, it means not pulling them down to our level, but letting them lift us up to theirs.  While the gospels are the introduction to Jesus (with the promise of deeper things to come), the epistles are the meat and potatoes.  If you really want to grow, you can’t do without them.  One rather outspoken fellow I knew claimed that the epistles were simply the religious opinions of the apostles and no more authoritative than anyone else’s views.  The person who said this of course, no longer follows Jesus.  Why?  Because he finally encountered situations that demanded spiritual meat and potatoes.  Milk wouldn’t cut it anymore.

Letters From…Where?

Maybe we get put off when we see the introductions of the epistles beginning with Paul or Peter or John.  But take a closer look at Colossians 1:1.  Paul was an apostle, a “sent one” of Christ Jesus by the will of God.  If that is true, it means the ultimate source in that verse is not a man at all.  The will of God is the originating address, the sending authority. We’re not dealing with somebody’s religious ideas, even informed ones.  God gave Paul his particular content over a long period of time and then willed it to be sent through the letter.

The Will of God

Yes, Paul is the human author, but in that capacity, he would wholeheartedly agree that he was only part of the process, not the ultimate sender. So you could begin with this simple proposition: the will of God is that the content of this letter would connect with you.  That’s the reason we’re going to spend 10 weeks in Colossians–so we can literally marinate in the will of God.  And no, I didn’t say, “The will of God for your life,” but the will of God, period.  Colossians is going to lay it all out–the strategic, grand, overarching thoughts and desires of God.  It’s good for us.  You see, once the big things are clear, our smaller, personal concerns will also tend to be a whole lot clearer (Note that I didn’t say easier, just clearer).

Verses (English Standard Version)

Col. 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Col. 1:9  And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,