Daily Meditations from John N. N. Ng'ang'a: week of 4-10 October 2010 ..... The Church is Members Club that Exists for Non Members

 

Day 1

Col 2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.NIV

Here Paul is saying, : I am actually not only concerned about where I am but even the lands where I have not reached like Colossae and Laodecea and other places where I have not been .. I want you to be aware that I am actually praying for you.

You are in your church yes, but if you truly are a Christian you must always go beyond your church. A lot of churches, when you look at their budget, their budget a hundred percent is used by the church itself. That tells you clearly they have a problem. I know a church where they say not less than ten percent of the money must not be used with the church membership. Of course if you are a pastor and you are using money to help other people they might throw you out because for example you are not giving them tea during the Sunday services.

The way to know whether the church is biblical is if or not all the money used on the members. You need to understand that the church of Jesus Christ is like a members club that exists for non-members. Try to go to Karen golf club when you are not a member and they will throw you out. But the church is different. It is a members club yes for Non-Christians are not allowed to become leaders there. In an AGM, only born again people are allowed to vote. But that is all. Only for an AGM. The rest of the year, what you do for Christians you also do for non-Christians. If there are sick persons in Kenyatta Hospital who attend your church you don't run to the one that is a Christian first , that one you know he can pray for himself. If a non-christian who comes to the church is there also you visit him first so that you can try lead him to the lord.

So Paul says: please be aware how much I am struggling. Not just for where I am but for places I have not been ...for all who have not personally met me.

 

Day 2

Col 2:2  My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.NIV

In other words he is saying, I may not be very sure ,since I am not the one who preached there ,whether they have the truth of the gospel. I know they have become a church but do they understand the truth of the gospel. Do they have a full understanding?

That's why I cry for them. Why do I cry? That they may be encouraged, that they may be united in love, they may be in fellowship, they are united and that they may have a full understanding. Do you have that desire for people who are not members of your church? One of the marks of a cult is that they think they are the only right people. If you ever see a church which says we are the only right people, please know that although it might no be a cult, it has one of the marks. It needs two or three others before you call it a cult but it has the beginning.

Now, you think everybody else is wrong, we are the only people that are right. Paul is saying, I am happy where I am but I am interested with people who have bee come saved in other places ..They are my brothers although they are not in my group. I want people to be united in love and I want them to have the full understanding of the gospel. In order they may know the mystery of God.

And what is the mystery of God? Christ.

 

Day 3
Col 2:2-4. 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. NIV

in whom -- The reference is doubtless to Christ, as his name is the immediate antecedent, and as what is affirmed here properly appertains to him.
are hidden -- Like treasures that are concealed or garnered up. It does not mean that none of those "treasures" had been developed; but that, so to speak, Christ, as Mediator, was the great treasure-house where were to be found all the wisdom and knowledge needful for people.
So again it is repeated that to know Christ is very important since everything else, every treasure, is hidden in Christ. Once you know him, you have all the treasures you actually need…

the treasures -- is common to compare any thing valuable with "treasures" of silver or gold. The idea here is, that in reference to the wisdom and knowledge needful for us, Christ is what abundant treasures are in reference to the supply of our wants.
wisdom -- The wisdom needful for our salvation. ..why are so many doing things that will hurt them in this life and the one to come? It is because the lack this wisdom ..
[And knowledge] ..The knowledge which is required to guide us in the way to life. Christ is able to instruct us in all that it is desirable for us to know, so that it is not necessary for us to apply to philosophy, or to the teachings of human beings.Better still Christ helps us to know what knowledge is acceptable and which is not acceptable.
Christ already said in Matt 6:33

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.NIV

Those are what Paul is calling treasures. What do you regard is important for you and your family to have? That is what is treasure. God is promising that once you have Christ or rather once he has you then be assured of him giving all this treasure if it is good for you.

WE are assured of life of joy, a life of contentment once we chose to be led by him and available for his use. Question is whether we are willing to look for this hidden treasure. This is also the message of my 10 year old book> The secret of contentment. It is really a secret otherwise so many rich pole would not be living such a life of misery. But the secret is hidden in Christ. You must be in him to discover the secret.

 

Day 4

Col 2:4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

I tell you this - Respecting the character and sufficiency of the truth revealed in Christ ,then you need to listen to gods word if you are to benefit from its knowledge.
so that no one may deceive - Deceive you, lead you away from the truth…for every one of us stands the risk. The more spiritual your inclination the greater the chance that you can end up in a cult .that is why you must get biblical knowledge.
by fine-sounding arguments -Artful words, smooth and plausible arguments; ..the attractiveness of the message , the high credentials of the messenger does not mean he is not from cult .
Thus Paul is concerned that after they have known the true gospel, somebody does not mislead them into a cult. That's why he wants them to be taught. And it is very possible to start right and go off target…like the Galatians started in the Spirit and ended in the flesh. And it is something that Paul is actually very interested in. That is why he tells them: I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine sounding argument. It is important that you know what's the truth.

 

Day 5

Col 2:5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. NIV

Paul is actually saying-"My heart is with you." ---That is, I seem to see you; I feel as if I were there, and were looking upon you; and I have the same solicitude as if I were there, and saw all the danger which exists that your beautiful order and harmony should be disturbed by the influence of false philosophy;
delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. .. That is, I rejoice as if I saw your order.
Thus Paul says :For though I may not be there with you but in my spirit I really desire the good of the whole church. Not just the people that are around me but the whole church of Jesus Christ wherever it is .. He means that I am here but I am conscious and going through what you are going through. I delight to see how orderly you are. In other words the story he has heard about Colossians is that they were having a church that was orderly and he was happy about it.

How we pray that we may know that if we come to Christ, one of the ways of knowing that we have come to Christ is we start to become people that have been sent, that have been commissioned to reach the whole world.. So we don't just enjoy all the riches there is by knowing Christ but those riches become available to other people through us.

May the lord help us as we think about this that he may put people in our mind ,some of them our relatives, some of them our neighbors, some of them our professional colleagues and others people who may be near, others who may be far away. Following this message may we truly want to become witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Day 6

Col 2:6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, NIV

Paul now turns to Christ's Lordship and the False Teaching at Colossae. .. he wants to discuss the The Sole Sufficiency of Christ. 2:6-15.

The apostle begins his argument with a reassertion of the uniqueness of Christ and of the believer's relation to Him. Like we saw in chapter one ,He is the creator and owner of everything. There is nothing we need that he cannot provide. As the head and conqueror of every authority and as the very sphere of the Christian's new-age existence, Christ's place in the Christian life is all-inclusive, and it is exclusive of all others. Non Christians live under the devils authority and need to be liberated ..But how will they be liberated? By faith in Christ's death and resurrection as we get saved.

So verse 6 is saying ….You Have received him by faith as your Savior……or as you were instructed respecting his rank, character, and work…live like that into the future and you will enjoy His liberty. The object here is to induce them not to swerve from the views which they had of Christ when he was made known to them. They had at first probably received their ideas of the Savior from someone reliable…and, at any rate, the apostle designs to assure them that the views which they had when they "received him," were founded in truth.

Continue to live in him.

Anything new must always be checked against the original..new is not always better ..However rejecting all new may lead to loss ..e,g salvation message was new …If saved by grace then even continuing has to be by his grace .Continue in those views of Christ; live in the maintenance of them; let them regulate your whole conduct. The word walk, in the Scriptures, is used to denote the manner of life; and the sense here is, that they should live and act wholly under the influence of the conceptions which they had of the Saviour when they first embraced him.

We also need to hear this…. and do not permit yourselves to be turned aside by any clever teachers, or teachers of mysticism.

 

Day 7

Col 2:7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. NIV

We must continue to enjoy Christ liberty by getting rooted in Christ ...growing in our knowledge off him and his word

rooted and built up in him
" to be a sky scrapper you need to go down very deep yet no one will later know how deep you are until there is an earthquake"

strengthened in the faith as you were taught
" As taught by the founders of the church-biblical roots "

and overflowing with thankfulness.
" You invest in preserving what you are thankful for"

If there is any thing for which we ought to be thankful, it is for the knowledge of the great truths respecting our Lord and Saviour. Question is... do we regard getting deep in God's word as critical exercise? Or do value other spiritual graces and regard reading the bible in our personal quiet time as one of the easily avoidable options?

We need to realize that not to read the word for ourselves will mean we become shallow and can easily end up in cult.