MEMBERSHIP OF CHRIST'S CHURCH: A NEW STATUS
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Membership Of Christ's Church
a) The Messiah or Christ — who is the Son of God — is the King of the kingdom of heaven. Paul tells us that we have been transferred from the world into that kingdom (Colossians 1:13). A few verses later, Paul puts this fact another way. Christ is the head of the body, the church (Colossians 1:18). In the companion epistle, Paul tells us that we are members of this body (Ephesians 5:30). This spiritual body was made possible by the sacrifice of Christ's fleshly body enabling our forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation (Colossians 1:14, 21-22)
b) We realize how great a privilege it is to be a member of the church whose Head is Christ. This marries that fact with Paul’s comments in Colossians 3:8-17.
c) Here Paul outlines the characteristics that God expects of members of his kingdom or church.
2. A New Status
Colossians 3:11
11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
a) The world makes distinctions between people, treating some with partiality and favoritism, whilst mistreating others with injustice and prejudice. To the member of Christ's church, all people are one. "There is no distinction."
b) God has "qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light" (Colossians 1:12), and there is no higher status that human beings can achieve (Colossians 3:3-4).
c) However, being chosen thus by God does not cause us to look down on others, but rather to look up to God in humility and praise, to have compassion on our fellow men, and to wish and work to share our light with them, that they also might become chosen of God and accepted.
d) We associate with the poor and the lowly, with the sinners and the ignorant, with the persecuted and the downtrodden. We no longer think of ourselves as above them or superior to them. God wants them to be redeemed and reconciled to him too, and to share the kingdom with us. We are but his servants to that end (Colossians 1:20).
The End ...
1. Membership Of Christ's Churcha) The Messiah or Christ — who is the Son of God — is the King of the kingdom of heaven. Paul tells us that we have been transferred from the world into that kingdom (Colossians 1:13). A few verses later, Paul puts this fact another way. Christ is the head of the body, the church (Colossians 1:18). In the companion epistle, Paul tells us that we are members of this body (Ephesians 5:30). This spiritual body was made possible by the sacrifice of Christ's fleshly body enabling our forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation (Colossians 1:14, 21-22)
b) We realize how great a privilege it is to be a member of the church whose Head is Christ. This marries that fact with Paul’s comments in Colossians 3:8-17.
c) Here Paul outlines the characteristics that God expects of members of his kingdom or church.
2. A New Status
Colossians 3:11
11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
a) The world makes distinctions between people, treating some with partiality and favoritism, whilst mistreating others with injustice and prejudice. To the member of Christ's church, all people are one. "There is no distinction."
b) God has "qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light" (Colossians 1:12), and there is no higher status that human beings can achieve (Colossians 3:3-4).
c) However, being chosen thus by God does not cause us to look down on others, but rather to look up to God in humility and praise, to have compassion on our fellow men, and to wish and work to share our light with them, that they also might become chosen of God and accepted.
d) We associate with the poor and the lowly, with the sinners and the ignorant, with the persecuted and the downtrodden. We no longer think of ourselves as above them or superior to them. God wants them to be redeemed and reconciled to him too, and to share the kingdom with us. We are but his servants to that end (Colossians 1:20).
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