[Let the message of Christ dwell among you] … richly …
Summary: Experiencing Christ involves separating the wheat from the chaff, or as we say these days, the signal from the noise. Paul wants you to succeed and experience Christ richly.
Is it true that salvation is all about who we know rather than what we know?
Putting the burden of faith on what we know is a common misconception. We know this is true because so many people do it!
It is not that there isn’t precedent for relying on what we know. By the time Jesus was a man and walked on earth, almost the entire priest class was obsessed with knowledge about God rather than knowing God.
We know that this is true because when God, in the form of Jesus Christ, came and walked among them, they didn’t recognize him.
In fact, they argued with him!
The Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law continually found fault with Jesus because he didn’t follow their rules.
But Jesus knew who he was. He didn’t argue with the Pharisees based on his opinion about God. Jesus knew what he was talking about because he is God (John 10:30).
After the people who didn’t know God but thought they knew everything about God had killed Jesus, Jesus proved them wrong again by rising from the dead.
Then he sent God’s own Spirit among the believers, beginning with his disciples whom he now called Apostles. As a result, the knowledge of God began to spread among the Jews with fire (Acts 2:3-4) and power (Acts 4:33, 2 Timothy 1:7). Eventually, even some Gentiles were drawn into a relationship with the living God (Acts 10:44-45).
At this point, a man known as Saul began to persecute the people who believed in Jesus (Acts 8:3). In his own words, he “persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13). He did this because the believers disagreed with what he thought he knew about God.
Then, Saul (also known as Paul) saw the light. He met Jesus face to face, and that changed everything. In a flash of light, everything he thought he knew about God evaporated, and the reality of God changed him forever. Paul’s encounter launched his mission to share the true gospel, though not everyone grasped it.
What happens next has caused a lot of confusion among the believers.
Paul argues that we need to stay true to the gospel message. He argues against anyone who gets it wrong, such as the “the circumcision” group (Ephesians 2:11-13), and argues for a correct understanding of faith.
Why do I go into all this background about Paul and the Gospel message?
Because the “message of Christ” is really a letter of introduction and an invitation to meet Jesus personally. Not necessarily like Paul did on the road to Damascus, but by faith. Through faith, we can experience the living presence of God through his Holy Spirit. Through faith, the “message of Christ dwell(s) among us.”
To experience the “message of Christ” richly, it is best to experience it directly. Paul relied on Christ’s revelation, not human ideas, to keep the message pure. Enjoy Jesus. Don’t let anyone water down his message. Rely on the Scriptures, and Christ will dwell among you richly.
Application: Trust Jesus by letting His word guide you.
Food for Thought: How can we spot the difference between human teachings and Scripture?
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I would have to say that anything that steers us away from Christ and toward ourselves is a clear sign that it is human teachings. Human teachings within the Body are meant to help us understand what God has said in His Word, not impose new conditions or traditions that replace what Christ is doing in our lives. In my experience, human teachings outside of the Body gravitate toward humanism, the idea that mankind can save itself.
I think too, oftentimes in human teachings there is an absence of grace. Scripture is abundant in grace. It doesn’t mean Scripture allows us to do whatever we want without consequence. It means that the Holy Spirit will convict us of our sin. Our free will remains a gift from God.
Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Thank you, Chris!
Your comment “I think too, oftentimes in human teachings there is an absence of grace,” reminds me of the lack of Grace in the Athanasian Creed. After a complex and at times seemingly self-contradictory description of the Trinity the creed says, “Therefore, whoever desires to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.”
Suddenly, instead of being saved by our faith in Jesus, we must have faith in a graceless creed to be saved. More than that, our “faith” is reduced to the “work” of “thinking thus.” Who can control their thoughts like that? Scary stuff!!
Thanks CH. I like the emphasis that scriptural teachings will lead us to Christ as opposed to ourselves. I also like the emphasis on grace. Well said my friend.
Scriptural teachings will be Christ centered rather than based on purely human reasoning and the latest cultural philosophical fad.
Colossians 2: 6 – 8: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces a of this world rather than on Christ.
Scripture will also ask us to agree with the truth it contains as opposed to adding our own.
2 Corinthians 10: 5: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Timothy 3: 16 – 17: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God a may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
1 John 4: 1 – 3: Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Thank you, Rich! Well said! (And quoted! 🙂 )
Great comments Chris and Rich!
How can we spot the difference between human teachings and Scripture?
We are all born, spiritual beings, placed in physical, confining bodies by God, for a limited time, during which we will make a decision with eternal rewards or consequences.
2 Peter 2:19, They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.
John 8:32, Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
John 8:34, Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
John 8:36, So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Galatians 5:1, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:17, For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
All human teachings promise immediate temporary gratification while scripture, inspired by God, promises eternal rewards beginning now. Jesus Christ is our example and the power to overcome the powers attractive to our flesh as He gives His power to receive freedom and eternal life in Gods will.
Believers separate themselves from this world as they exchange the consequences of living according to the enslaving desires of these bodies for the eternal rewards of spiritual freedom to do as we please.
What pleases believers is living in the freedom and power to please God over a life according to the ways of mankind.
Thank you, Ron!
“Believers separate themselves from this world as they exchange the consequences of living according to the enslaving desires of these bodies for the eternal rewards of spiritual freedom to do as we please.”
Very well said!