We are just beginning a study on the book of Colossians. Last week we looked at why Christ, the image of the invisible God, Creator and Sustainer of all things, is called the preeminent One. Today we’re going to talk about what our preeminent Savior does in and for His children.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll see that Colossians is all about Jesus. It calls us to worship Him, understand who He is, and live in light of that truth. It’s both theological and practical. So, I hope you will come back each week and grow with me through Paul’s letter to our first-century brothers and sisters.

At the bottom, you’ll find links to this week’s other posts.

What Does Christ’s Preeminence Mean to Me?

Colossians 1.11-14

Last Week

Two weeks ago I introduced this study with a little background. Then we looked at verses 1-14. We also talked about Paul’s reason for writing his letter to the Colossians, his concerns, and how he was praying for them.

Last week we looked at the preeminence of Christ, why that is supremely true, and touched on our union with Him.

Here are the links to the previous two posts:

Introduction to Colossians

Colossians, the Preeminent Christ & Why It’s Important

Today we’re going to talk about what the preeminent Christ does in and for us and some of the ways He enables us to live the Christian life. So, let’s dig in.

The Preeminent Christ Who Came Near to Us

We ended last week by talking about how the preeminent Christ, the invisible God, the Creator of the universe came near to us. First, He dwelled among His people, the Israelites, in the tabernacle in the wilderness and later in the Holy of Holies in the temple. Then He dwelled among us in the person of Jesus Christ (Jn. 1.14). And now He tabernacles with us as the indwelling Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 6.19.

We, also, saw that, because of sin, we had no other hope of being right with God (Rom. 3.23, 6.23). But when we put our faith and trust in Christ, He saved us (Eph. 2.8-9) and reconciled us to Himself by the blood of His cross (Col. 1.20). If we belong to Him, we were crucified with Him and raised to walk in newness of life (Gal. 2.20; Rom. 6.1-6). We were set free from the power of sin and there is peace between us and God. That’s the gospel in a nutshell.

We should remind ourselves of all that, what some have called preaching the gospel to ourselves, because doing so will fill us with gratitude, empower us, and inspire us to live for Him.

So, how should all of this impact our day-to-day lives, struggles, and concerns?

Bearing Fruit for the Kingdom

Let’s look back at Colossians 1, beginning in verse 3:

³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, ⁷just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf ⁸and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹And 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, ¹⁰so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Epaphras had heard and believed the gospel, returned to his hometown, and shared the life-giving truth with the people there. In the same way, we are to bear spiritual fruit in our own lives.

But God doesn’t leave us to do that in our own strength.

Strengthened with His Power

Let’s look at verse 11:

¹¹being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

He strengthens us with His Power (1.11, 29; Phil. 2.13 NLT). We can’t live the Christian life in our own strength. But God provides His power for whatever He calls us to do (1.11, 29; Phil. 2.13 NLT).

One of the ways He strengthens us is through the gospel. Romans 1.16 says that the gospel is the power of God (Rom. 1.16). His power grows in us as we meditate on the gospel, or as I said a minute ago, as we preach the gospel to ourselves. The more we think about His grace, His forgiveness, His patience, His death on our behalf, the fact that we’ve been raised with Him, and enabled by Him, the more we experience the power we need to live the Christian life.

For Endurance & Patience

But notice the reason, back to verse 11, “… for all endurance and patience with joy.”

Endurance generally refers to our circumstances and patience generally refers to people. So, God gives us His power so we can endure through all the ups and downs, the tests and trials of life. That includes what you’re going through. As we meditate on the truths of the gospel, God gives us the power we need to endure when life gets hard.

And the more we meditate on the patience God has with us, the more patience we’ll have with the people in our lives who, like us, may be difficult at times. We can take the grace of God that’s been poured into us and bend it out to others.

And He enables us to do it with joy. James 1 says:

²Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (some translations say, endurance) ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The only way we can be joyful in trials goes right back to the gospel. As we think about all God has done for us and is continuing to do, the Holy Spirit produces in us steadfastness and completeness. That’s another way of saying spiritual maturity.

We can be joyful not because of the trial but because we understand the gospel and we understand how God works in our trials. We have the Indwelling Spirit (Jn. 14.16, 26; 1 Cor. 6.19) who grows us in Christlikeness (Rom. 8.28-29).

Our Inheritance

Verse 12:

¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

He has qualified us to share in His Inheritance (v. 12). This harkens back to the Old Testament. Just as the Israelites were to inherit the Promised Land, we too, have an inheritance. The bible is full of references to our inheritance. It’s heaven itself and one day reigning with Him in the new heaven and earth, but it’s also the blessings of salvation here and now.

The Preeminent Christ Has Delivered Us

Verse 13:

¹³He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness which is sin. We have the power to choose to obey God and not the pull of sin.

Roman 6:

¹⁷But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

As Paul said in Romans 6.4, we can “walk in newness of life.” We can choose obedience. Just as the Israelites were freed from their bondage in Egypt, we’ve been freed from our bondage to sin. Their deliverance was a picture of ours.

But we need His help. We’re dependent on Him and the resources He provides.

The Preeminent Christ & His Resources

What are some of those resources?

He has given us access to Himself in prayer.

¹⁶Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4.16).

He has given us His Word.

³His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (2 Pet. 1.3-4).

God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, everything we need to live life in this broken world with other sinners and do it in a way that is pleasing to God.

It’s through the knowledge of Him. It’s through the Word of God. But we must read it, think about it, let it dwell richly within us (Col. 3.16) so the Holy Spirit can bring it to our remembrance when we face the tests, trials, and temptations of this life.

He has given us the body of Christ.

If you are not part of a local New Testament church, you are cheating yourself out of one of God’s greatest means of grace.

²⁴and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, ²⁵not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Heb. 10.24-25).

The Preeminent Christ Has Transferred Us to His Kingdom

Back to verse 13, Our preeminent Savior has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son. This world is not our home. We are just passing through. Like the Colossians, we have a hope laid up for us in heaven (1.5).

For This Christ Died

Verse 14:

¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We have redemption in Him. He bought us back from the kingdom of darkness, from slavery to sin. We belong to Him. We’ve been forgiven, past, present, future.

¹⁴by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross (Col. 2.14).

When a criminal was crucified, the charges against him were written out and nailed to his cross so everyone could see and be afraid to do the same. Our sins were nailed to His cross.

But rather than giving us a license to sin, understanding that should make us want to love and please Him more (Rom. 6.15)!

But when we fail, and we will, we need to remember that he has made peace between us and God by the blood of His cross (Col. 1.20).

We need to confess it to Him and receive His forgiveness (1 Jn. 1.9). Then we need to go back to the cross and see our sin nailed to it. We need to remember what He did for us.

We need to preach the gospel to ourselves. Because as Elyse Fitzpatrick says, “It is for this that Christ died.”

Jesus Christ is Preeminent, the Creator, the image of the Invisible God. Even more amazing is what He does in and for those who are His. #Christ #Jesus #Christians #soulsurvival

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Why we need to “preach the gospel to ourselves.” #gospel #Christian #soulsurvival

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