Sunday, April 30, 2017

April 30, 2017 | Pastor Bayles | The Mystery of Christ's Identity | Colossians 2:1-5



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April 30, 2017 | Pastor Bayles | The Mystery of Christ's Identity | Colossians 2:1-5

The Mystery of Christ’s Identity
Colossians 2:1-5

What is the work of discipleship? The first part is a gathering task. Jesus left his disciples with the task of sharing the Gospel in order to gather His sheep, His own, His elect from “the four winds of the earth” (Mat.24:31). In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul stresses that this task is accomplished by preaching the message of Christ: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor.5:14-21). The second part of discipleship is is a teaching task. Jesus said, “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mat.28:19). In today’s text we will see this part of discipleship in full action. It should not surprise us that at the center of the task of teaching, the subject of the person of Christ is prominent. As we have discovered again and again, the substance of the Christian message is a person, a very unique person, Jesus the Christ. Here Paul emphasizes that the nature of Christ is a mystery, complex, yet a knowable. It is at the forefront of his teaching to the Colossian church and to us today.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

April 9, 2017 | Pastor Bayles | Belief: The Proof of Reconciliation | Colossians 1:21-23



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 April 9, 2017 | Pastor Bayles | Belief: The Proof of Reconciliation | Colossians 1:21-23

The Scripture states: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). This is perhaps the most astounding statements in the Bible. We would expect to see and we are so comfortable with seeing that rewards follow successful behavior. We fulfill the commandments, then we receive a reward. However, if this principal is the standard, then we all would be eternally condemned, for “There is no one righteous, not even one!” (Rom.3:10). “But God...” has reconciled the lost to Himself through the atonement of Jesus Christ at the cross. This is the message presented in the poem of vv.15-20 and brought to a crescendo in v.19, 20: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Jesus Chris is the guarantor of reconciliation for God. God’s justice is universally for all the redeemed. This is the judicial, eternally resolved fulfillment of salvation. It is total and complete. Yet another dynamic emerges from this universal reality. That is the unfolding or revealing of this redeemed status. This is the subject of Paul’s message today. The unveiling of justification who, though still sinners, are the recipients of the atonement Christ has purchased at the cross. Today we will see the opening of a gift that has been hidden, but now revealed by faith alone.