Do you remember learning about Paul? He traveled all over the place spreading the good news of the Gospel and planting churches.
Which, given his history is an amazing story all on its own. Paul – formerly known as Saul – used to drag people out of their homes to have them jailed for speaking the good news of Jesus. He watched and approved of the cold-blooded public stoning and death of Gospel-spreaders. He was on his way to shut down every Christ worshiping home he could find – when God intervened.
God worked a miracle and turned a zealous-for-the-law man with a heart full of hate into the single most influential biblical writer and Gospel-spreader of his time. Pop open the new testament and you’ll find 13 (Hebrews being the debated 14th) books written by Paul to the churches of his time. This is an amazing story, and you can read all about it in the book of Acts.
Today, though, I want to talk about one of the letters Paul wrote. There was a church in the region of Colossae, which historians do not believe Paul planted but it was one that Paul heard about.
Some background information on this region: The people here were incredibly interested in magic. I do not mean magic like you read about in the Harry Potter books; I mean magic in the sense it was used back then. It meant the study of science, religion, the supernatural all wrapped up into one study – the study of magic. At the time, all these things were one and the same, not split like we think of them today.
The people at the time were looking for answers, they were looking for wisdom and knowledge. Enter the Gospel. It provided them with the answers about who God is, how the world came to be, who we are, and what the purpose of our lives was. Except, there were still other philosophies and religions that were popular in the region. These philosophies started entering the church at Colossae, and the message started to morph into Christ plus x, y and z. Mystery cults were popular in that region at that time and many people turned to those secret rituals in an attempt to establish relationships with an unknown god to achieve things like immortality. Asceticism (the self-discipline of denying things that brought pleasure, like food) was also commonly practiced and was being brought to the Church as a way to become closer to God.
The people of Colossae had believed the Gospel and had set aside their old pagan gods, but they then began to fuse the different religions together. Paul heard about this and wrote them a letter to warn them against this practice, telling them that Jesus was everything they needed and that anything in addition to the Gospel was false teachings and should be put aside. He told them that he was proud of them for keeping the faith and he encouraged them to stay strong in the faith and keep fighting to cling to the Gospel, because the Gospel was everything they ever needed. Paul wrote this letter to encourage them, to warn them against the dangerous fusion they were humoring. He writes about how Jesus is everything they will ever need, that their fulfillment is found in Jesus, and they are on the right path if they will stick to that path. He gives them instructions on how to live their lives now that they have found their savior, God, and encourages them on in love.
This letter explains who Christ is, what he has done, how it therefore changes our lives, how false teachings threaten to pervert our understanding, warns us to be on guard against such temptations, and gives practical life advice on how to live in Christ in such a way that celebrates who he is and who we are in him while protecting our hearts from the smooth lies of the world.
As applicable today as it was when it was first written, I want to walk through this book and invite you to follow along as I share my thoughts.
As always, I am but a work in progress.
Cheers.