Redeemed, Reconciled, and Rejected!

Redeemed, Reconciled, 

and Rejected!

The story of transformation in Paul’s concluding remarks in Colossians 4: 9-10, 14. 

Let’s be honest, how many of us actually read Paul’s concluding remarks at the end of the epistles? That’s what I thought. Paul is taking care of some family business two thousand years ago with people we don’t know, and we think it doesn’t matter to us. 

Coupled with this, I think we are used to viewing New Testament characters as fairly static, for the most part. There isn’t as much story-telling or  character development. But I want to suggest that, in Paul’s closing remarks, we get a picture of God working in the early church and we see that Jesus was transforming them as He is transforming us now!

Onesimus

...and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. (Col. 4:9)

Okay, so Paul tells the Colossians to greet Onesimus. Big deal right, he’s just another name. That is, until you read Philemon and realize that Onesimus’ name crops up there too. In fact, he is one of the primary characters in Philemon. 

Onesimus was a lazy slave, pretty much good for nothing, “serving” his master, Philemon. Well, one day, he runs away to Rome. While he is there he runs into Paul and becomes a Christian! Paul writes to Philemon and tells him to accept Onesimus back.

Fast forward to the writing of Colossians and who appears but Onesimus himself. But this time, Paul isn’t making any apologies for him, he calls him a faithful and beloved brother! So Onesimus has been transformed from a lazy, good -for-nothing employee to a young man whom Paul finds helpful in his work of preaching and spreading the Gospel! We see a story of someone who was redeemed from death to life!

Mark

Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him)... (Col. 4:10)

Now we are introduced to two new characters, the one that should stand out is Mark. If you have read the book of Acts, you will have seen his name come up there too, specifically in 15:37ff. Barnabas, Paul’s close companion who had travelled with him everywhere, wanted to bring Mark along with them on their missionary journey. Paul was against it because Mark had flaked out earlier and left them when times got hard. Barnabas and Paul disagreed about this so much, that they split and Barnabas took Mark with him and Paul took Silas with him. 

In Colossians Paul seems to be suggesting that things between him and Mark are now on good terms and Mark, far from flaking out when things get tough, is actually in prison with Paul!

Now, fast forward to Paul’s second letter to Timothy and his praise for Mark grows, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). Mark has been reconciled to Paul and was transformed to be an integral part of Paul’s team. 

Demas

Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. (Col. 4:14)

Along with encouragement, there is also warning. Demas was a part of Paul’s crew, he was hanging with him in jail and seemed, from every appearance, to be committed to the cause. Paul apparently thought so. But we read later on, “...Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10). 

Demas started out well, but he didn’t finish. He was even pretty involved with ministry, but he didn’t guard his heart and was lured away from Christ by the things of this world and succumbed to godliness.

So there actually is a lot to learn from those concluding remarks of Paul’s. We aren’t just presented with meaningless names of faceless people, but Jesus shows us through the New Testament that He is working on people and transforming them into His image by the Holy Spirit. These lists should not bore us, they should encourage us and, like all of Scripture, help us to see King Jesus more clearly. 

A Relationship, Not an Explanation

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

-Hebrew 2:8-9

As we go through life, whether we, or someone we know, will go through a very painful season. It is during these seasons that Christians and non-Christians alike will ask something similar to this question: “If God is good or if there is a God, why is He letting me go through this pain?”

The pain could be a disease or illness, the loss of a loved one, unemployment, or a myriad of other possibilities. No matter what the cause, the pain is there and we try to make sense of it or understand it, especially if we have faith in a God who is working all things to our good.

During these times, it is easy to doubt that God is working all things to our good. We wonder if He cares or if He has the power we thought He did. Surely, if God is who He says He is and if He loves me like He claims to, He wouldn’t let me go through this pain!

This seems to be the exact scenario that the author of Hebrews describes in the text quoted above. The problem is, Scripture teaches us that all things are in subjection to Christ. Yet when we encounter difficulty and pain, we do not see all things in subjection to Christ because certain events seem to be counter to His will.

Death, sickness, tears, poverty, loneliness, etc. are all the result of a fallen world, a world that has rebelled against its ruler. These things that are in rebellion do run counter to the decreed will of God, those things which He has commanded. 

Our minds cannot fathom that a situation can be in subjection to a being as great as God and yet run counter to His decreed will. There is an element of mystery to this that we simply will not be able to understand while we are here on earth. It is as simple as that. We don’t know why God permits all the evil that exists in the world, especially as it affects His children, His church.

It is into this mindset that the author of Hebrews, and ultimately the Holy Spirit, offers a resounding and comforting truth. Though we do not see or understand that everything is in subjection to Christ, we are able to see Christ. We see a Savior, by the eyes of faith, who has suffered and tasted death for all of us and has risen to rule in heaven.

Christ does not give us an explanation, He gives us a relationship! He gives Himself to us to trust in Him, that He truly is working all things for our good, and at times, that does involve pain and hardship (cf. Heb. 12:7-11).

Say a person gets brain cancer, like Matt Chandler, a pastor I greatly respect, recently did. He has the option of asking lots of questions, being frustrated by no answer, and building up bitterness towards his God. Or, he can respond in faith, learn that God does have a loving reason for this and will be with him throughout the entire process and teach Pastor Matt who He is and allow him to grow to be more and more like Christ through the process. This is, truly, how Matt Chandler did respond, and it sets an example for the rest of us to follow. Here is the video, I highly recommend watching it!  

John Stott: A Pillar of Strength in Our Age

Today marks the death of one of the most influential leaders in Christianity. He had not only influenced Christianity at large, but he has also played a great role in my life. His theological precision and care, coupled with a pastoral heart which sought to winsomely win over souls for Christ have been a testament to what a Christian minister should be. I have benefited greatly from his various commentaries and other works both directly and indirectly, as almost every preacher I have sat under over the years has been influenced by John Stott.

Great men set us an example to follow. They forge ahead of the mass of humanity and courageously go where others dare not. John Stott has done this in many ways as he defends and advances the cause of the Gospel in the world. He has left a great legacy for those of us who follow him. At this point, words fail me, I simply cannot describe the impact that he has had on my life.

In closing, one of the greatest marks of John Stott was his humility. In his day, he stirred quite a large controversy in an article he published. Though a committed evangelical his whole life, he did wrestle with the idea of hell. In his article, he confessed that he was not closed to the possibility of annihilationism, the view that there is no hell, that those who do not go to heaven simply cease to exist at the end. What was so remarkable about this article was the humility with which he approached the topic. He knew he was running against tradition, but he was honest with his the struggle that he was undergoing on this particular topic.

He was a great man, and I am encouraged by the fact that he has now received his reward. He is now in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, a journey which he was started in his youth and continued on the rest of his life. John Stott truly has fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith.

Why is God Consumed with Himself?

I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. -Is 42:8


There is a confession of the Christian faith that I have struggled with over the years. It has always been a nagging dissatisfaction in the back of my mind, a thought that I have never given much expression to, but which has nevertheless remained a firm fixture over the years. I do believe that I am not the only Christian that has had this question; indeed, I believe that many Christians either flat out reject the idea or, like myself, are quietly provoked by it.

The confession is this: God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, is consumed with His own glorification.

The sound of this statement is disturbing, but why? I believe that our disturbance lies in error on our behalf, rather than on God’s. In the Scriptures, God condescends to use anthropomorphizing terms to describe Himself. That is, to enable our getting to know Him better, He has used language to describe Himself in human terms though He is not a human. There are a plethora of examples in Scripture of this; the Psalms are ripe with them, as are the Prophets. Indeed, God does not only use anthropomorphic terms to describe Himself, He has taken on human nature to save us. But He is still not a human being.

As a caveat, I am not denying the divinity of Christ, what I am denying is that God shares the same status as human beings. He alone exists uncreated, in a class separate from every other thing in existence. Unlike any human, His power is limitless, His knowledge knows no end, and His existence has no origin or termination.

That said, our balking at the original statement comes, I believe, when we forget who God is. For any man or woman to have their personal glorification as the vision for their existence would be narcissism at its purest and a value which humanity would universally reject as taboo and loathsome.

Yet God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is different. Consider this, who does a man or woman have to thank for their accomplishments? If they succeed in their job, if they raise their children well, if they reach any other goal in life, the thanks will lie somewhere outside themselves, if they are honest.

Take a persons career, for instance. To succeed in a career, one has to be trained to some degree by another. Circumstances must also be favorable and the right opportunities need to open up at the right times. In other words, success in a career is dependent on many variables external to the individual. There may be some measure of talent inherent in an individual that will make success in a career more likely, but that talent is not something they have bestowed on themselves. If we believe what the Bible does say, we must admit that God gives individuals the talents they have to succeed. Not only that, He also gives the training and the opportunities for success, through various mediums to be sure, but all these blessings originate from Him. So, a person has little to thank him or herself for when they succeed.

On the other hand, no one has trained God, no one has given Him opportunities, and no one has made Him with certain talents that will help Him succeed at being God. There is no one higher than God for God to thank. We delight in Him because He is the originator of the good in us. Logically, He can delight in Himself because He is the originator of the good that He is. He is consumed with the best thing that exists: Himself!      

Love as the Greatest Motivator

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

-1 Cor. 13:13

The other day I was reading 2 Samuel 23:15-16, “And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David.” As I finished this section, I asked myself: what would cause these three men to rick their lives to get David a cup of water? The only answer I could find was love.

Love is the ultimate and final motivator. Fear can only motivate to an extent, and a superficial extent at that. Fear does not inspire someone to go above and beyond to serve. Duty only motivates someone to do what is required; it does not provide motivation for the extraordinary.

Love motivated God to send Christ into the world, the defining supererogatory action of history. God had no duty to send Christ. Indeed, duty would have been fulfilled by the just judgment of all humanity, not the offer of salvation. Nor was God motivated by fear to accomplish the salvation of the world. Love accomplished this greatest act of history.

Likewise, love is the singular motivation in our relationship with God. A response to God purely out of duty neglects the accomplished work of Christ by producing the false notion that we can repay God the debt we owe Him by our dutiful works. Duty is also a poor motivator in times of trial and temptation when other options, sinful options, seem to provide far more. Yet love will triumph in these times to compel us to turn to Christ in love to live life like Him.

Naturally, all humans love something or someone other than God, the Bible uses the term idolatry to describe this; something else takes the place that God should have in our lives. Yet, as we surrender our lives to God, He does an amazing thing in our hearts. He turns our heart away from the idols that we love and changes us so that we love Him instead. As we grow in love for God, our love for idols decreases.

Finally, the Apostle Paul reminds us that love is the greatest part of our relationship with God. Faith will last until we reach heaven when we will see the object of our faith. Hope will last until that hope has been realized. But love will last for the rest of eternity as we rest in the love of God forever. 

Faith as The Mode for Knowledge

…but the righteous shall live by faith. –Hab. 2:4

I graduated from Seattle Pacific University just over a year and a half ago with a Bachelors degree in Philosophy. One thing I learned in the Philosophy program was how to develop an argument. I learned how to respond to those with whom I was arguing and how to win, either by pointing out faults in their arguments, or crafting better arguments myself.

This was an invaluable education and I have profited greatly from it, but I learned another lesson from this experience as well. As a Christian, I hold the unpopular view that Christianity is the only true religious system and that hell is real and lasts forever and all humans are going there unless they accept Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives and receive the benefits of His death, burial, and resurrection. As a Calvinist, I hold the unpopular and controversial view that God is in sovereign control of the entire course of history. These two views together account for many of the philosophical arguments I have engaged in over the past few years.

The lesson I have learned over the years is this: no matter how great the argument, no one is going to be convinced that God exists or that He is sovereign over every detail of history. There is simply no argument known to man that will convince anyone of these two truths. Yet the paradox is that they are true and must be known.

So, if two of the greatest truth’s of life are unavailable via argumentation, yet everyone needs to know them, how can anyone learn them?

The answer is faith! “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (1 Cor. 1:20-21).   

The great truth’s of life are only accessible by faith, which is God’s gift to His people. One cannot know or accept His Providence except by faith. I know this on a personal level. I have not always held so strictly to the Reformed view of Providence and, when approached for the first time with the doctrine, violently rejected it. Yet the Lord did work in my own heart to convince me of the truthfulness of the doctrine both by the testimony of the Scriptures and of the Holy Spirit working in my own heart.

Though these truths are only available through the discernment of faith, they are not devoid of logic and reason. Indeed, I do believe that as one is revealed these truths, the reasonableness of them becomes apparent for the first time and they do seem far more reasonable than the other options.

Philosophically, the position described above is referred to as fideism, fide being the Latin word for faith. It is not a blind leap, as many would argue. Rather, in my own experience I see it as a longer process whereby God, in His patience, has borne with my weakness and led me to the truth after a while of questioning. This seem to be the normal mode, though there are many cases where, in an instant, God has revealed the great truth’s of the Gospel to a person in a moment.  This whole process is a wonderful display of God’s condescending to humanity to reveal Himself, the Creator and Sustainer of all. 

The Good Fight

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

-1 Tim. 6:12

Growing up, I always thought that fighting the fight of the faith meant to white knuckle my way through temptation and try really hard to do good things. Recently, however, I am learning that the fight of the faith is not a fight for a morally better life; Christ has achieved the morally best life for us because we couldn’t. The fight, then, is for Christ.

Every battle has an antagonist and a cause. We fight against the antagonists and for the cause. In the faith, we fight every moment of every day against unbelief and we fight for Christ.

This formulation has always sounded vague and “churchy” to me, offering little practical help for the day-to-day life of the Christian. Yet I have been learning how essential this battle is. Every day I must fight against the unbelief, apathy and lethargy in my own heart, the hardness towards God that exists there, living a life of constant repentance.

The curious thing about all of this is that the strength and the desire to fight do not lie in me; they flow as gifts from God. He gives me the desire to fight and the strength to do so. The great preacher, John Piper, put this well in his sermon “Going Hard After the Glory of God” where he says, “The evidence that you have [God] is that you want more of him. Continued indifference to growth in grace is a sign of no grace.”

As I have been learning this lesson, about the importance of the Good Fight, I have also been learning how hard it actually is. This is not a one-time deal! We do not fight one battle and then rest for the remainder of our lives. The battle is not at our conversion, but every day after. Every day I have to wake up and seek God through prayer and the Scriptures, asking Him to draw me closer to Christ and to see His goodness.

Though hard, this fight is essential. We have all been made in God’s image and we have been made to be in relationship with Him. When we do not seek Him we are actually rebelling against our design. When we do seek Him we are living the way we were meant to live and will live lives that are more fulfilled; our lives will not necessarily be easier as a result, they will actually get harder. We will have to make hard decisions as we refuse to follow the world, to give into temptation, and to listen to Satan. In fact, it will be a battle every moment of every day. But we have a Savior who gives us strength and fights for us.   

I have learned a large part about fighting from The Memoirs of Thomas Boston, the reflections of a 17^th Century Scottish Presbyterian minister. Every page of his life is filled with the evidences of this battle. On a side note, this is why the practice of reading biographies of great Christians is so important. Through the testament of their lives they show us how the Truth of Scripture is lived our in every day life. Let us, then, surround ourselves with many seasoned veterans in this Good Fight as we push forward by God’s grace.