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Colossians 4:2-4 ESV
The “mystery of Christ” is the gospel of Christ, of our salvation, to bring about the obedience of faith (Romans 16:25-27). It includes redemption through the blood of Christ and the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace and the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ (Ephesians 1:7-9). And this includes God’s grace, and it includes the fact that Gentile believers are fellow heirs with Jewish believers in Christ, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Ephesians 3:1-12).
Wow! That “packs a punch!” It has a powerful effect or it is capable of having such an effect. It says a lot! It “covers a lot of ground”, i.e. it deals with much information and many facts and a large area of a subject which I am going to attempt to cover here, by the grace of God, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For this speaks of salvation, obedience of faith, and redemption, forgiveness of sins, God’s grace, his will, his purpose, Jew and Gentile one in Christ, of the same body, of the same faith and promises. And these are all part of the gospel. So, this may take more than one writing. But these writings are devotions, not doctrinal treatises.
So, let’s get started. The first subject we will deal with is salvation. What are we saved from? And what are we saved to?
Salvation
The word rendered “salvation” in the Greek is “soteria” which means deliverance, salvation. It is defined as “God’s rescue which delivers believers out of destruction and into His safety” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). And what does this word “deliver” mean? It means to “take out, remove, completely out from, remove completely, bring into a complete rescue” (biblehub.com). But what are we rescued and delivered and saved out from?
Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (Galatians 1:4) and to deliver us from the domain (power, control, rule) of darkness (sin, evil, wickedness) (Colossians 1:13). And he died to deliver us out of our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin and from the domain (power, control, rule) of sin, and from hell as our eternal destiny (Romans 6:1-23). So we are saved, not just from the punishment of sin, but from the control of and the power of sin over our lives and out from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we no longer walk in sin.
And I am going to stop right here and state that all of this is conditional on what we do in heart response and in action with regard to what our Lord provided for us through his death and resurrection. For if we are truly delivered from the power and rule of sin over our lives, and if we are truly delivered out from our addiction (slavery) to sin, it means we will no longer walk in sin. Sin should no longer be what we practice. We should no longer be living under the control of sin, for if we are, it will end in death, not in life eternal with God, regardless of what our lips profess.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
And what are we saved to? To walk in newness of life in Christ, dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, so no longer enslaved to sin but now living as slaves to God and to his righteousness. To present the members of our bodies to God as instruments for righteousness. To obedience to Christ which leads to righteousness and sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God. And now to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return (Romans 6:1-23; Titus 2:11-14; cf. Ephesians 4:17-24).
For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to (save) our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with him to sin and we live to his righteousness (lose our lives), then we have the hope of eternal life with God. For if we are ashamed of Jesus and of his words in this life, he will be ashamed of us (deny us) when he returns (see Luke 9:23-26).
To be continued… Some of these will be on my blog and not in devotionals: Run With It!
Should I Not Preach Jesus
An Original Work / July 4, 2013
Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.
I make myself a slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts to Christ.
All this I do for my Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of His Name;
Do it for the sake of His gospel,
So that I, its blessings gain.
Scripture notates the sins of others;
Written down for us as examples
To keep us from setting our hearts
On evil as did those of old.
Do not worship other gods of man;
Do not give your hearts to them;
Not partake in immorality.
Do not test your Lord and King.
So, be careful if you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his word to warn us,
So through faith we will not fall.
No temptation has o’ertaken you
Except what is commonplace.
God is faithful to not let you be
Tempted past what you can bear.
He gives the way of escape.
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”
The “mystery of Christ” is the gospel of Christ, of our salvation, to bring about the obedience of faith (Romans 16:25-27). It includes redemption through the blood of Christ and the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace and the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ (Ephesians 1:7-9). And this includes God’s grace, and it includes the fact that Gentile believers are fellow heirs with Jewish believers in Christ, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Ephesians 3:1-12).
Wow! That “packs a punch!” It has a powerful effect or it is capable of having such an effect. It says a lot! It “covers a lot of ground”, i.e. it deals with much information and many facts and a large area of a subject which I am going to attempt to cover here, by the grace of God, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For this speaks of salvation, obedience of faith, and redemption, forgiveness of sins, God’s grace, his will, his purpose, Jew and Gentile one in Christ, of the same body, of the same faith and promises. And these are all part of the gospel. So, this may take more than one writing. But these writings are devotions, not doctrinal treatises.
So, let’s get started. The first subject we will deal with is salvation. What are we saved from? And what are we saved to?
Salvation
The word rendered “salvation” in the Greek is “soteria” which means deliverance, salvation. It is defined as “God’s rescue which delivers believers out of destruction and into His safety” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). And what does this word “deliver” mean? It means to “take out, remove, completely out from, remove completely, bring into a complete rescue” (biblehub.com). But what are we rescued and delivered and saved out from?
Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (Galatians 1:4) and to deliver us from the domain (power, control, rule) of darkness (sin, evil, wickedness) (Colossians 1:13). And he died to deliver us out of our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin and from the domain (power, control, rule) of sin, and from hell as our eternal destiny (Romans 6:1-23). So we are saved, not just from the punishment of sin, but from the control of and the power of sin over our lives and out from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we no longer walk in sin.
And I am going to stop right here and state that all of this is conditional on what we do in heart response and in action with regard to what our Lord provided for us through his death and resurrection. For if we are truly delivered from the power and rule of sin over our lives, and if we are truly delivered out from our addiction (slavery) to sin, it means we will no longer walk in sin. Sin should no longer be what we practice. We should no longer be living under the control of sin, for if we are, it will end in death, not in life eternal with God, regardless of what our lips profess.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
And what are we saved to? To walk in newness of life in Christ, dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, so no longer enslaved to sin but now living as slaves to God and to his righteousness. To present the members of our bodies to God as instruments for righteousness. To obedience to Christ which leads to righteousness and sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God. And now to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return (Romans 6:1-23; Titus 2:11-14; cf. Ephesians 4:17-24).
For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to (save) our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with him to sin and we live to his righteousness (lose our lives), then we have the hope of eternal life with God. For if we are ashamed of Jesus and of his words in this life, he will be ashamed of us (deny us) when he returns (see Luke 9:23-26).
To be continued… Some of these will be on my blog and not in devotionals: Run With It!
Should I Not Preach Jesus
An Original Work / July 4, 2013
Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.
I make myself a slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts to Christ.
All this I do for my Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of His Name;
Do it for the sake of His gospel,
So that I, its blessings gain.
Scripture notates the sins of others;
Written down for us as examples
To keep us from setting our hearts
On evil as did those of old.
Do not worship other gods of man;
Do not give your hearts to them;
Not partake in immorality.
Do not test your Lord and King.
So, be careful if you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his word to warn us,
So through faith we will not fall.
No temptation has o’ertaken you
Except what is commonplace.
God is faithful to not let you be
Tempted past what you can bear.
He gives the way of escape.
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