Posted by Pastor Pat on September 29, 2011
To understand the Book of Colossians it is helpful to examine the three movements within the book itself; they are logical and sequential. In the first chapter Paul explains the sufficiency and singularity of Jesus Christ. He speaks of the exalted Christ. Here he identifies for the reader what is considered “orthodoxy”.
The word orthodox, from Greek orthos (“right”, “true”, “straight”) + doxa (“opinion” or “belief”, related to dokein, “to think”),1is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion.2
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Posted by Pastor Pat on July 27, 2011
The book of Colossians forms one of the most translucent revelations of Jesus Christ found within Holy Scripture. The veil has been rent and we are privileged and exposed to a full portrayal of who He is and what He has done for His people. Here we find the promise fulfilled and the picture completed.
Often, as is true with most of our handling of God’s Word, we read various pieces without seeing how the pieces fit into the bigger picture. This is unfortunate for us and demeaning to the text.
The book of Colossians is comprised of verses. These verses link together to form paragraphs and the paragraphs are part of a singular thought. Paul is not jumping from subject matter to subject matter as if there is no coherent thought and intentional design. Each of the verses and paragraphs form a thread in a beautiful tapestry. Each is a different color used by God to paint a breathtaking portrait of His Son. He is the promised seed within the Story. To understand the parts, you must understand the whole. It is the parts that make up the whole and it is the whole that brings continuity to the individual parts.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on February 6, 2011
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
(John 15:11)
The stability of the Christian life is built on the bedrock of God’s Word. We believe what He has said is true and will most certainly happen. Yet the certainty of His Word is built on the supremacy of His rule. His Word will happen because His will cannot be thwarted (Daniel 4:35).
Our ultimate joy rests in knowing God will never let His Word fail. The hope we have is not tentative or speculative as if to say there is the slightest chance that it will not happen. Our hope is a confident anticipation and our joy is real and firm despite our circumstances and surroundings.
Listen carefully to the following three verses (John 15:11; 6:24; 17:13).
John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 16:24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on November 12, 2010
Part 3
I. Justification is looked upon as a provision of grace and thus a gift (Romans 3:24; 5:16,17; Titus 3:5-7) and is appropriated by means of faith and stands in direct contrast of being attained by works (Acts 13:38, 39; Romans 3:21, 22, 26, 28, 30; 4:2-6, 9, 11, 13; 9:30-33; 10:1-13; Gal. 2:16, 17, 21; 3:6, 8, 11, 21-26; Titus 3:5).
Because this is true, you and I have nothing to boast in or of. The Scriptural evidence is so overwhelming that it is impossible to get around it. If it could have been attained by works, then it would not have been by faith. In the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518 Martin Luther made the following comments. Theology of the Cross – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology_of_the_Cross
• He is not righteous who does much, but he who, without work, believes much in Christ.
• The law says “Do this”, and it is never done. Grace says, “believe in this” and everything is already done.
II. Justification is based on the sinless life and sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:17; 3:25; 5:18, 19) and thus justifying faith finds its object in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22; 4:22-24).
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Filed Under: Paul
Posted by Pastor Pat on November 9, 2010
Part 2
In Romans 3 the word “justified” is used several times (Rom. 3:4, 10, 20, 24, 26, 28, 30 [see also “righteous” Rom. 3:5, 21, 22, 25, 26). Only God can declare a man righteous and yet men continually seek ways to make themselves righteous.
“THERE ARE fundamentally only two doctrines of salvation: that salvation is from God, and that salvation is from ourselves. The former is the doctrine of common Christianity; the latter is the doctrine of universal heathenism. “The principle of heathenism is, negatively, the denial of the true God, and of the gift of his grace; and, positively, the notion that salvation can be secured by man’s own power and wisdom. Whether the works through which heathenism seeks the way of salvation bear a more ritual or a more ethical characteristic, whether they are of a more positive or of a more negative nature, in any case man remains his own Savior; all religions except the Christian are autosoteric . . . And philosophy has made no advance upon this.”
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Posted by Pastor Pat on November 6, 2010
Part 1
Romans 3:19-31
How can I be right with God? What does it mean to be right with God? How would you like to never have to worry about God being mad, angry, or upset with you? How would you like to find rest in the midst of life’s struggles? How would you like to finally measure up to God’s righteous expectations for you? Apart from sounding incredible, it also sounds impossible. But you and I can be right before God.
The book of Romans has already created a dilemma within man by revealing his position of complete spiritual bankruptcy before God (Romans 1:18-3:20). Chapter three verse ten is emphatic, “there is none righteous no not one.” In light of his condition man is barred from God’s presence, guilty of sin and a recipient of God’s full and undiluted wrath. In our next post we will consider the doctrine of justification by faith.
Posted by Pastor Pat on October 16, 2010
Read Ephesians 2:11-22
The “therefore” forces us back into our previous thought: Therefore remember . . . . It is a call not to forget from where you came (2:1-3) and what God has now done (2:5, 6). The entire work of God is to restore the fellowship and harmony and peace that once existed but was broken by humanity’s rebellion against Him. It is only as we declare our autonomy and make the story about us that the breach is formed and conflict exists. Oh how painfully sad whenever there is conflict and strife within the body of Christ. All of the division that exists by geography, economics, gender, race, allegiance, intellect, ability, sense or the lack thereof is corrected at the cross in the person of Christ. His work makes it possible for the curse to be reversed. It does not matter how it is expressed; in God all things are (ultimately) reconciled. As far fetched as the idea appears to be, the intent of God is to reconcile all things created (not just human relationships). The cross is God’s pronouncement as it relates to this conflict.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on October 10, 2010
Read Ephesians 4:1-6
Whatever Paul brings to the table in 4:1 and following is a consequence of his previous thought. Paul begins in verse 4:1 by imploring his audience “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which they have been called.” Somehow we have twisted the thought of walking worthy to mean something that is meritorious and thus resulting in our acceptance before the Father. Yet everything up to this point clearly points out how our acceptance before and access to the Father is firmly rooted in and flowing from our in Christ status (1:5; 2:18; 3:12).
“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:5).
“For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:18).
“In whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him” (Eph. 3:12).
The thought of worthy is something that is compatible with or suitable to. Paul’s simple thought is that our lives should mimic our spiritual union with Christ. Whatever we are in Christ we should be while in the world. It is His life flowing into us and thus flowing out of us. Although it might be anti-climatic, let us not forget that the “us” of Ephesians is the “we” of the church and not the “us” of isolated independent individualism.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on August 16, 2010
Do you ever find yourself succumbing to fleshly lusts? Have you ever wondered why you find it so easy to do evil when the good is equally present? No matter how hard you try to talk yourself out of it, failure seems so inevitable; your frustration level is climbing; stress becomes a part of your every day life. The gap between what you know to be true and how you experience life is glaring and the schism is heart breaking.
I am confident that all who read this can identify with Paul’s dilemma as lamented in Romans 7:19. Those who do not identify fall into one of two categories: those who are spiritually dead as an unbeliever, and those who are spiritually deceived as a believer.
Honesty and transparency are difficult, for they leave us vulnerable. The alternative, however, is mask wearing, and I have always found mask wearing to be uncomfortable as well as stifling and “plastic.”
So, let us be honest – both you and I struggle. While we do not struggle with the truth claims of faith, we do struggle with our progression forward. We want to see Him and have Him use us in an unprecedented way. We want to see Him with the eye of faith. We want to believe that which awaits us can swallow up the trials of this temporal world. We want to believe that somehow in the midst of all this “craziness” God is in control. And yet . . . we struggle. We struggle at work; we struggle with our kids; we struggle with our spouse; and we struggle financially, emotionally, physically, and, at times, spiritually. We just flat out struggle. Life is hard; nothing appears to be easy. We want the supernatural and miraculous. We want God to snap His fingers and fix all of our problems. Yet despite all of these desires, it is still incredibly difficult to do right when wrong is so easy.
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Posted by David Bosshard on
DISPUTATION OF DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER
ON THE POWER AND EFFICACY OF
INDULGENCES
OCTOBER 31, 1517
Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the
following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg, under the
presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and of
Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at that place.
Wherefore he requests that those who are unable to be present and
debate orally with us, may do so by letter.
In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite,
willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.
2. This word cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance, i.e.,
confession and satisfaction, which is administered by the priests.
3. Yet it means not inward repentance only; nay, there is no inward
repentance which does not outwardly work divers mortifications of the
flesh.
4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self
continues; for this is the true inward repentance, and continues until
our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
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Posted by David Bosshard on March 22, 2010
By Edmund Chan
The Architecture of Theology
Theology is a vast and rigorous discipline. The historicity and complexity of Christian theology as a discipline is captured by J. I. Packer’s succinct statement:
For eighteen centuries Christian thinkers have pursued a discipline – variously called first principles (so Origen), wisdom (so Augustine), theology (so Thomas Aquinas), Christian philosophy and doctrine (so Calvin), dogmatics (so Reformational and Catholic teachers since the seventeenth century), and systematic theology (so American protestant teachers since the nineteenth century) – that seeks a full and integrated account of all Christian truth. Books developing this discipline have borne a variety of titles – enchiridion (handbook), ekdosis (exposition), sententiae (opinions), summa (full statements), commentarius (survey), loci communes (topics of shared concerns), institutio (basic instruction), medulla (marrow, as in bones), syntagma (arrangement), and synopsis (overview), among others – and have been put together in many different ways.1
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Posted by Pastor Pat on March 15, 2010
Read Ephesians 2:1-10
Paul continues to show the immeasurable nature of God’s redeeming grace by noting the context in which it took place. It is as if he provides the reader with a snapshot or summary of the whole story from beginning to end. It is because we were dead in our trespasses that God would have to forgive us by means of redeeming us from sin’s debt (1:7). Verses 2 and 3 describe the state of what all once were prior to their adoption as sons and daughters (1:5).
Verses 1 through 3 do not distinguish between male or female, Jew or Gentile, bond or free. All are in the same dead state brought on by trespass and sin. Paul highlights the enemies of grace: the world, the devil, and the flesh. All three work to overthrow and undercut the provision of God for the inability of man. Verse 4 acts as a sharp contrast to the initial three verses. It functions as an explosion of hope. In contrast to all that we are, here stands God who is rich in mercy and great in love. He does not allow us to continue as we were but sets us on a path of life and light. Because of who God is in essence, all His actions are inseparably linked to and flowing from this abundant resource.
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Posted by Pastor Pat on March 3, 2010
Read Ephesians 1:3-14
Throughout this short letter, Paul speaks of God’s superabundant activities flowing from Himself to His people. Such words as “rich, lavish, surpassing greatness, surpassing riches, unfathomable riches, surpasses knowledge and far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (1:7, 8, 18, 19; 2:4, 7; 3:8, 16, 18, 19, 20) are employed in an attempt to capture the magnitude of God’s person and work to redeem His people from sin’s debt and to adopt them as sons. All of this was written by Him into His story (1:4, 5, 9, 11, 21; 2:7, 10; 3:11).
Paul’s opening sentence reaches from verse 3 to verse 14. Here is an avalanche of descriptive words that unveil what God did in the securing of His people for Himself. Here we read of God as a tri-unity working (energy) to secure for Himself worshipping sons and daughters. Our passage speaks of God the Father blessing (v. 3), choosing (v. 4) and adopting (vv. 5, 6) trespassers into His family. We can equally note the activity of the Son to redeem slaves by forgiving debt by means of His own substitutionary and voluntary death (vv. 7, 8). It is the Son who makes known to us the mystery of their eternal purpose (vv. 9, 10), how from rebellion, division, and damnation He brings peace, harmony, and life. It is through Him and in Him all things created find the object that silences the rage from within and the loneliness that robs and destroys. What is the outcome, the inheritance of His activity? Through Him, the alienated are adopted, the rebel is restored, the indebted are pardoned and the forsaken are chosen.
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