I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness-- 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians1:25-27
Paul feels very privileged to serve God by spreading the Gospel:
- He describes it as the Word of God in its fullness (It is complete!)
- It is an age-old mystery now revealed (The time is now!)
- The saints, the called ones, get to make it known (We're part of this!)
- There are glorious riches (We are forgiven and free)
And then he sums up the gospel message as this:
"Christ in you -- the hope of glory!"
That's the gospel in a nutshell.
We could not save ourselves so Jesus took our place for punishment and now when God looks at us, He sees what Christ has done - He sees Christ in us - and because Christ is IN us we are being renewed and transformed.
This is our hope - and it leads us to glory - not ours but His.
Let's review it again...(!)
- Christ is God's Final Word (Heb1:1) we have a complete message
- All of history worked its way toward Bethlehem and Golgotha and to us.
- We get to tell others.
- There are glorious riches - we have forgiveness, restoration and eternal life.
It is Christ - the glorious Son of God - living in us!
We are forgiven and being transformed and we will be with Him in glory.
What a privilege it is to serve Him!
---
--------------------------
Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
