Title Colossians 01:15-27 God's Stewardship
Contents
God's Stewardship
Colossians 1:15-27
The Apostle Paul did not stop praying from the day he heard the various circumstances of the Colossian Church in prison. And I found the conditions of thanks to God and offered a prayer of thanks. After that, Paul explains who we believe in Jesus Christ from verse 15. He is the image and expression of God, the justice of God, and the one who explains God. Although we cannot see or touch God with our eyes, God is revealed through Jesus Christ, through whom we can see God in our spirit and know His economy. Also, Jesus Christ is the Creator of the old heaven and earth and is the Head of the old creation. He accomplished the new creation by his resurrection from the dead, and in the new creation he is also Head and supreme. The Lord existed before the creation of all things in the universe, and at the same time He was the first to be created.
According to our reason, Jesus Christ came to this earth 1900 years ago and was crucified and died. But from God's point of view, Jesus Christ existed before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8 says, "All those who were not written in the book of life of the Lamb that were slain before the foundation of the world worshiped the beast, which is an image. Before the foundation of the world, God foresaw the fall of man. That is why Jesus Christ was killed before the foundation of the world, and the Lord Himself came to this earth and accomplished redemption by being crucified and dying.
What the invisible God is is now made clear to us by the coming of Christ. The Apostle Paul realized and knew that Jesus Christ is God and at the same time sustains all creatures, became incarnate to redeem us, redeem us, and now dispense the abundant life of the Lord to us.
A servant, a worker, and a steward are needed to deliver the riches of the Lord and all necessary areas to the chosen saints. The apostle Paul said in verse 24, “I now rejoice in the afflictions that I suffer for you, and I fill the rest of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for the sake of his body, the church.” There are two aspects to Christ's suffering. One is suffering for our redemption, which the Lord has already accomplished on the cross. Another is suffering to produce the body of Christ. When Saul persecuted and destroyed those who believed in Jesus, Jesus captured Saul. 'Lord, who are you?' 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting' In order to produce the body of Christ, Christ was undergoing many sufferings and persecutions. The Apostle Paul was also happily participating in that suffering.
The rest of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, while looking forward to the day when the church, the body of Christ, will be adorned with the bride and marry the Lamb, the Apostle Paul confessed, 'I fill the rest of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh.' We, who were called by God before the foundation of the world, must be filled with the remaining sufferings of Jesus Christ in our bodies. So, until our bodies are transformed into glorious beings, it is never something I do, but what God supplies with the power of God. Through those sufferings, the riches of Jesus Christ in us are supplied, and the experienced riches and riches of the Lord are distributed to people. It is the stewardship of the church to supply these unsearchable riches of Christ.
The Apostle Paul confessed through a letter to Timothy, 'I am the chief among sinners'. Even though he was a cursed being who could never be destroyed before God's judgment seat, he realized that it was God's mercy and grace that gave him the stewardship. When I see myself, it seems that I have no qualifications or abilities, but it is God who has appointed me as a steward. So let us not be anxious, though we may be in the valley of the shadow of death throughout our lives, but when we call on the Lord, He transfers us into the kingdom of the Son of Love and supplies us with abundance.
A lot of hardship, hardship, and cost comes from trying to take on stewardship. That's why the Apostle Paul said, "I rejoice in the sufferings for you and have been stewards of the church according to the economy that God has given me, so that I may perfect the word according to the economy that God has given me." You said. Through the church, which is the fullness of the One who fills all things in all things, we cannot do it, but God provides the necessary things by pouring out the fullness into the church. The workers of the church are those who make the people woven and formed into the building materials of the church.