04 May 2025

Paul's Encouragement for the Church, Part 2 (TMF:2610)

Friday, May 09, 2025

Peace to Live By: Paul's Encouragement for the Church, Part 2 (TMF:2610) - Daniel Litton
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Paul says Christ is God’s mystery. That’s peculiar because we don’t often seem to think of Christ as a mystery. It seems like we already know a lot about him. We know who he is, that he’s God. We know about his birth and earthly ministry. We know about his crucifixion for our sins and then rising from the dead. We know these things. So what is the mystery? Before we get into this mystery, let’s back up a little bit and not miss the part of the verse where Paul says of the church, “being knit together in love.” It’s a cool illustration, or picture, that is used here—one of which certainly refers to clothing, and how clothing is made. Interwoven. Each thread interwoven into another. And all the threads, each crossing the other, form the whole. It really is the perfect picture of the church. It is how it’s supposed to be. And interestingly, and on more of a sadder note, while the concept makes good sense to us, experientially, it may be more foreign to us in American church life than we realize.

Paul's Encouragement for the Church, Part 1 (TMF:2609)

Thursday, May 08, 2025

Peace to Live By: Paul's Encouragement for the Church, Part 1 (TMF:2609) - Daniel Litton
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Continuing in verse 2: “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ” (ESV). The first goal of the struggle can be realized as seeking to encourage. To encourage. That’s a good goal. That’s a noble goal. Everyone needs encouragement. Back then. Even now. But the kind of encouragement being discussed, that which is being focused on, isn’t just a general encouragement to make people feel better. It certainly is going to make people feel better—but the encouragement in and of itself has a specific goal. And what’s interesting is that we are taken roundabout back to the mind—to “understanding” and “knowledge.” Paul talked about this at the end of chapter 1, about knowledge. We noted that he mentioned it a couple times. Well, here it is again. The understanding and knowledge though are geared toward Christ. Paul says Christ is God’s mystery. That’s peculiar because we don’t often seem to think of Christ as a mystery.

Paul's Struggle for the Church, Part 2 (TMF:2608)

Wednesday, May 07, 2025

Peace to Live By: Paul's Struggle for the Church, Part 2 (TMF:2608) - Daniel Litton
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Surprisingly, Paul had never met the Colossian believers, nor those in Laodicea for that matter. We can assume, and it will be alluded to in chapter 4, that the two churches had a close connection. That would make sense since they were located about mine miles apart from each other. Doesn’t seem like much to us, and even back then, wouldn’t have been far. We can understand to a further degree than we probably realize what meant Paul meant when he said they hadn’t seen him in the person before. The Colossian believers had no idea what Paul looked like from a physical stance. Though, the same is true with us today. We don’t know what Paul looked like. Of course, there are artistic renderings, especially anglo ones, often used in more formal church settings, which depict Paul. But we know these are very likely to be inaccurate. Too, we might have a picture of Paul from our favorite Biblical T.V. show or movie in which he is depicted. But, truth be told, we really don’t know.

Paul's Struggle for the Church, Part 1 (TMF:2607)

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Peace to Live By: Paul's Struggle for the Church, Part 1 (TMF:2607) - Daniel Litton
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Beginning in Colossians 2 today, starting in verse 1: “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face” (ESV). We begin today with Paul’s acknowledgement of a struggle. A struggle in the work he is seeking to accomplish. The good news is that it’s a positive struggle. It’s not something that is negative or causing him and Timothy to be downtrodden. Where is the struggling coming from? Obviously, it’s coming from an inner love that Paul has toward the believers in Colossae. It seems safe to assume that no one would put that kind of effort in such an endeavor without love. And for the nearby city of Laodicea, Paul also shared that love. Notice he emphasized the work by noting “how great a struggle” it was. Paul was presenting the good news to world, and the believers in Colossae and Laodicea had believed that good news. And Paul wanted to make sure they continue down that path—away from the negative influence of the world from which they had escaped.

Paul's Desire for People's Maturity, Part 2 (TMF:2606)

Monday, May 05, 2025

Peace to Live By: Paul's Desire for People's Maturity, Part 2 (TMF:2606) - Daniel Litton
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People have asked the question in the past, of what is thought about some of the modern, more charismatic, televangelist (to use a somewhat dated term) types of preachers? Pay attention to the fact that Paul told us today that his and Timothy’s teaching came “with all wisdom.” While it doesn’t seem right to group these type of teachers into one bag and declare them all no good, at the same time it is important to be wise. Let’s lay out an illustration to try to get the point across. Let’s say someone wanted to be healthy as a person. Now let’s say that person decided to eat a healthy, balanced diet, and that of which caters to the person’s individual needs. We would call that person wise. But we wouldn’t call that person wise, on the other hand, if the person instead decided to eat chocolate cake three times a day, everyday. It seems likely there would be unnecessary weight gain, and not to mention other issues. This is the wisdom we are talking about.