Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast. And he's back back again. You asked, we answered. And he's back from his vacation in California. It was not a vacation. You do look darker. So all I'm saying. It's cause I'm in the shade. Uh, no, it was, it was good. We had a great year about there, uh, board meetings went really well. So those of you who were praying for that, we really are grateful for that. And that just reminded of the blessing of, of having our sending church there. Uh, group that love us and love you guys, even though some of you don't know who they are. Um, they care about you a lot and they pray for you. And they're, they're praying for our continued growth and, and, uh, just the success of the gospel going forth from our church. And so it was a good time to give them reports on how things have gone over the last year. And well, I guess six months have two of these a year. Um, as well as anticipate what the next year is going to bring. And so it was a, it was good. He was encouraging all the way around. I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, but I'm glad to be home to. Now. Kelly's psycho, California flexed. When I was landing, I was flying into John Wayne airport and the sun was going down and it was just like this brilliant orange sky out over the ocean. So, I mean, I was like, okay, I see you California. But all of the, the locals out there we're bundled up when it hits 65. My second day there. This is the coldest day of the year. This is not cool. That is kind of a fun flex. I look forward to that someday. I'm not anxious to go and do that. Cause I might be like, oh man, this is nice. But someday. I'm going to go there. I'm going to be wearing my board shorts and my t-shirt. And they're and they're cold bundled up weather. Yeah. I mean, I didn't have a temptation to be like, oh man, I want to go back. I tell you what though. did sit in as I was driving around. Oh, sure. And saw that's powerful, like the little league field where my kids grew up playing baseball and saw the parks and we drove by our old house or it just, you know, it hit, did you go inside? Uh, No, because somebody else is living there. That's all right. They don't mind. Well, Yeah, there's a country song about won't take nothing but a memory, but I didn't feel like being the weird guy. Yeah, so. But, um, I'm glad to be home. It was funny being on campus at the church because I'm a familiar enough face having been there for six years, that people. It wasn't out of place to see me there. And so it took people two or three glances to realize, oh, it's you, but you should do that. Here. What's your name again? Yeah. Yeah. What's his name, pastor Steve. Yeah, but no grateful to be back and, uh, excited for our Christmas series was launches today. Wow. Yeah. Joy peace, patience, kindness. Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Right. Is that the one? Yeah, no, we're doing hope. Peace and joy. Today, we're focused on a hope. Uh, just a profitable study. It's going to be a little bit different if you're listening to this before you get to church a little bit different approach this morning in the sermon time. So I'm still preaching God's word, but it'll feel a little bit different. Sounds like you're. Equivocating a little bit like, Hey, don't expect it to be all of God's word. Just most of it. That well, that wasn't my intention. Okay. Well, yeah, we hope it's a great sermon. There it is. Boom. Uh, yeah, men's cricket was last night and, uh, Obviously you were not playing any games. You guys know we record these arteries. So we're hoping that that's going to be a great event as well. I'm looking forward to the brisket. I mean, come on. There's nothing else. That's going to be more fun. It takes a little bit of a encouragement to get people, to submit their brisket to criticism criticism. Right. So I understand that there's some reticence there, but. I think the effects are going to be well worth it. So I'm looking forward to, uh, to eating. I forget how we're judging. I think we're doing a ballot system. Okay. That's what we did last year. Yeah. Turned in names for who they can't. I can't wait. Yeah. Yeah, I'm an unbiased observer, a participant this year. I didn't. So that's all right. But you drive through a, in and out and bring that. That in brisket form. Just get a bunch of patties. And now. Bring it. All right. Speaking of eating, let's jump into the word of den. The bread of life. Um, there's the connection. There's the connection. Yeah. So, uh, you remember we left Paul in prison in Rome, and now we're turning to what are known as the prison epistles in Colassians find Lehman. We've got Ephesians tomorrow, then. Uh, Philippians on Tuesday. So there's quite a bit of ground to cover here. Which is why we need to jump in, but these are all letters. The reason that they're called the prison epistles, if it's not obvious at this point is they were written while Paul was in prison. And we believe while Paul was in prison in Rome during these two years of house arrest that he's there. So. That's what is the backdrop? And again, why there, the chronological plan is, is so helpful is we know that and we can track with that now. So, uh, he's writing this from prison and, uh, the theme of Colossians is the sufficiency of Christ. Um, Hebrews the theme of Hebrews is similar, only Hebrews it's it's Christ is better. Jesus is better than the old way of doing things. In Colossians, Paul was writing in combating almost a, uh, early form of Gnosticism Gnosticism being this idea that there's a, uh, The physical material beings are evil, that the spiritual world is what is good in that there as applied to Christianity is there's an Uber Christian, a super Christian who can have these visions and, uh, these, these mystical experiences that make them better than other believers. And in Paul's writing to combat this nonsense in essentially saying. If you have Christ, do you have enough? If you have Jesus, you have everything that you need. Um, as the book opens up in chapter one, I think one interesting note here, it looks like in verse seven, that it Patrisse. This appears to have been their church planter and or pastor at the time. And he mentioned him as the one who is the faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us of your love in the spirit. So Versus is a connection to Paul there. Uh, with the church at Colossae and then he goes on and, and prays for them as he often does at the beginning of a, of an epistle. And this is just, uh, Uh, uh, warm prayer for them that they would be filled with the knowledge of Christ to walk pleasing to him, bearing fruit. That there would be increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened to endure giving thanks for the gospel and the gospels work in them. And so he's praying for them and it's just a positive encouraging prayer. Uh, this is not the same thing as Galatians where he's saying, Hey, how quickly you deserted the gospel that I entrusted you to. This is him really trying to encourage and build them up, reminding them of the sufficiency of Christ, which is where he goes. After this and one of the greatest, uh, Christological hymns, and some people actually think this was a him before it was transcribed as, as scripture. Um, In verses 15 through 20 specifically, and this is just praise of Christ and his dad, his power is in the word that really always jumps off the page to me. And this section here is in verse 18. It's the word preeminent, which means that he should have first place in everything. And so when we think about our lives and our identities and every identity that we have in Christ, it should be that Jesus holds first place. We are first and foremost, followers of Christ as we are husbands and wives and fathers and mothers and, and you know, teachers and doctors and everything else. We are first and foremost, followers of Christ. That's what it looks like for him to be preeminent in our life. And yet it's not just that he should be it's that he is. As a matter of fact, we're simply acknowledging that with our lives and when our lives is not conformed to that standard. That's when I think Paul would say, look, it's time to change and acknowledge. Knowledge that we're simply aligning ourselves with the reality that he is preeminent. Yep. Yeah. And one other note on here that may trip you up is the concept of him being the first born. Uh, you may read that and think, wait a minute. I thought he was eternal and he is eternal. Uh, and so what, this is not referring to his first born by origin, but first born by rank. Um, and so in that sense, he is the first born. The first born was the one that held the highest rank amongst all of the siblings. And so if Christ is our brother and Paul would we'll refer to him that way in other texts, And we are co heirs together with him. He is the preeminent one. He is the one that has first place in that. And so that's what it means there in verse 15, he's the first born of all creation. Now later on, he says, he's the first born from the dead that is in chronological order. That is that he is the first one risen from the dead. And we will rise from the dead also like him. And so firstborn, you use two different ways here in a collage and shepherd one, but it's important that we understand that when it's used there the first time, um, in verse 15, it's not about his origin, but about his rank because origin. Then we're crossing the lines into heresy, seeing that at some point Christ did not exist and he had to be birthed by the father. And that's a Trinitarian heresy. I was the first born from the dead. Uh, first and in terms of chronology, if Lazarus came before him and, uh, the way, the way to assign. Uh, so in what sense is he first. In the resurrection body. And so he is the first one to be raised from the dead, never to die again. And that is unique to him, um, and will be true of all of us when he returns for his bride. That's a good clarification. Yep. Helpful. Uh, after this, then he begins to turn to some of his direct ministry to them and he expresses some concerns for them. Um, he talks about the threats that are coming against them, the purpose for Colassians, uh, in, in why he wrote, he wanted them to understand that Christ and not these ascetic visions or, or empty philosophies that Christ is the source of wisdom of knowledge. He talks about that in verse three, that in Christ chapter two, verse three. Are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge should, there's nothing more that you need. In other words, Colassians, don't give in to these other things, encouraging you to, to pursue these ascetic visions and everything else like that. Uh, then he goes on an intox about walking in Christ and walking. Well, verse eight is a familiar verse. It's one of the warning versus C2 that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. According to human tradition. And the elemental spirits of the world, not according to Christ. Again, just warning them. Uh, because Christ is sufficient. Uh, all the, the fullness of deity verse nine, dwells bodily in Christ. Uh, we've been raised with him. He talks about spirit baptism there. We were buried with him by baptism into which you were also raised with him. And then the great passage there in verse 13, that we were dead. And our trespasses and uncircumcision of our, of our flesh, but God made us alive together with him for giving us our trespasses canceling the record of debt. So that credit card bill that was insurmountable, he canceled that out. And the way he did it was he took that out and he nailed it to the cross in verse 14, which is just a great depiction of the, what we call substitutionary atonement that took place on the cross. That is that Christ took our place in a tone, satisfied. God's wrath against our sins. Uh, versus 16 and following then he addresses they're standing before Christ. Then he says in verse 16, let no one then pass judgment upon you. Uh, in other words, the, these people that are coming and saying, you have to do this, you have to do this, you have to do this. You have, you need Jesus. And he's pushing back against that and saying, no, you don't need Jesus and let no one disqualify you, you have everything that you need. If you have Christ. Uh, the, the external that the ones verse 23, he said that all these things that they're encouraging to pursue, he said they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism. That is severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. And so, in other words, he said, you can conform all you want to externally, but the real issue is internal. And that's what you need to make sure that you have in place. And that only comes through right relationship with Jesus because Jesus is enough. Chapter three, then we're encouraged to put on and put off. If we have been raised with Christ and seek the things that are above. And so he gets into this spiritual inventory list. And so pastor, rod, let's unpack for a minute here. Cause he's just talking about Jesus is enough. Jesus enough. Jesus enough. Um, A while back. Uh, maybe 10 years, 15 years. I can't remember how long ago this got to I wrote the book. Jesus plus nothing equals everything. And I remember that book came out and everybody immediately GRA you know, gravitated towards that book. And, and it seems like we could fall into that trap. With Paul and collagen's here going, okay. Jesus has everything I need Jesus. Plus nothing equals everything. Except we get to chapter three. And it seems like he's saying, yeah, you've got Christ, but then there also needs to be godliness here. We need to grow in, in our sanctification. So how do we understand. The, the danger of that mindset that was promoted by that, that book. Maybe not that book specifically, but what that book would imply. Versus what we find here, the rest of galoshins. Did you ever read that book? I did. I didn't. I read selections of it. I never read the actual, the content of it, but. I read enough to know what Tallinn was going for. Um, don't don't you don't divorce chapter two from chapter three. I know we have a number, a big number that says these are two different chapters, but remember Paul didn't write them that way. This is one continuous train of thought. So let's start with verse 23 of chapter two. These things have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion at a set of asceticism and severity to the body. And Paul's point is that they're really not helpful though. There's no value in them in stopping the indulgence of the flesh, which sounds to me like Paul has this concern that there, there is a right responsibility for the Christian to say, I need to stop indulging the flesh. I need to start with the flesh now, or to put it the way Jesus, put it to die to myself and take up my cross and follow him. What that will look like then for the Christian is that we are now setting our attention and our affections on the things that are above. We deliberately move our sight in are our attention, our mental faculties from here and now to there. And then. And what that will do then for the person who is alive in Christ is to have an effect on our, our morality. To have effect on our character Devin effect on what we do. And so he says, look, there's, there is a sense in which salvation is unilateral. That is his saving work that is done on our behalf, but there's also a. In a sense in which salvation is also a cooperation with the spirit to, as verse five says, put to death, what's earthly in us. And so there is a responsibility. That comes with being grafted into Christ. There is an awareness. We are sinful. We are still fallen in our flesh, but because we now have the ability to say no to sin, we have the responsibility to actually do that. That is not connected to our salvation and a first cause it is a second cost. So it's a second order situation where, because we're saved, we do those things. We don't do them to become saved. Yeah. Yeah. Great distinction. And we find another one of those lists in the put on here that are so helpful for us to consider just like the fruit of the spirit and other passengers. Um, to hold our life up to you to say, okay, do I see these things in my life? Because if I am raised with Christ, then the implication is these things should be present in my life. And. Uh, we need to be as Christians diligent to hold our life up to scripture and allow the spirit to reveal the pockets of our life, that we don't see enough of these things in, or, and really we never get to the place where we're like, oh, I've got enough godliness. I don't need anymore. We should always be striving for me. I made it. Yup. All right. Yeah. If you're dead, then we'd say yes. Yeah, you did make it. Yeah, you did. Yeah, but not yet. Not yet. Um, So, yeah, so this is another good one of those inventory lists to hold up to our lives. Uh, from the rest of the chapter three and into chapter four, he really gets into specific instructions there for the local church. And it talks about family relationships there. Uh, wives submitting to husbands. We're going to hit that harder in Ephesians tomorrow. Um, and husbands to their loving their wives. Oh, wait that more in Ephesians chapter five and tomorrow's episode, but there's a lot of parallels between Colassians and Ephesians. There's a lot of similar territory in, in common ground between these two letters. Uh, but he dresses fathers bond servants just, Hey, here's how to live as Christians. And remember, we take a lot of this for granted. Because we have 2000 years of church history behind us. Paul's writing to a lot of converted Gentiles and a lot of, uh, Jews that are trying to figure out what does life look like now that we're in Christ? How do we understand this now that the law is no longer an operation in the way it once was? How do we conduct ourselves? So that's why he's going over. Some things that we look at and we're like, okay, It seems somewhat basic, but it's. It is. And yet it's so good. And in needed at this time, this, this was a, an early. Uh, as the word is often used of our church, uh, fledgling church, um, At this point and they needed this, this guidance and instruction as Paul was writing to them. Uh, the rest of chapter four, then he encourages them for towards readiness and towards godly living, walk in wisdom towards outsiders, make the best use of time. I love that idea and that's always convicting. It's always a good thing to be reminded of. As we approach the end of the year. Um, thinking about how you use the time that you have this this year and looking forward to the next year, you're going to have Lord willing. If he doesn't call you home or return for the church, you're gonna have another 365 days next year. What are you going to do with your time? How are you going to maximize it and use it for the Lord in that regard? And. And then the, the end of the book, much, like we pointed out in the book of Romans, he addresses individual people that were there in the church. And so he's calling out these names and talking about them and how much he loves them. He does mention notice mark there in verse 10. It's. So. Paula and mark have a reconnection there. The cousin of Barnabas. Remember there. There's a sharp disagreement that led to the split of Paul and Barnabas. On their missionary journeys. He's greeting mark here in Colassians. So things seem to have calmed down between them. And we thank God for that. That's a great show for reconciliation and the kind of role that that should have in the body of Christ. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So there's, there's Colassians again, theme of Colassians. Jesus is enough. Jesus is sufficient. Uh, jumping over to find Lehman, which is our secondary reading for today or not secondary in order, but just are. Or quality, but in order. Um, This is a short one and it's, uh, often, uh, Uh, overlooked book letter in the book, but it's, it's so good. If you take somebody in, uh, this book who unnecessary. Is the name of the slave who had run away from the, the owner? Um, oh no, an SMS. I. Forgive me own estimates was the owner of the slave, the master, right. And find Leman. Was the slave. Am I thinking of that? Right? Bye Lehman is the master. Thank you. SMS whose name I believe means refreshment or refreshing. I was a runaway slave. I was misreading verse 10. I appealed to you from my childhood SMS. Yeah. You're right. That's it. That's why it didn't. You can get them confused. The names are challenging. They're so fine. Lehman is the owner. The master owner Smith is the slave, or at least it's a moniker for the slave. And basically in the story here, ons, miss runs away and, uh, through his time with Paul comes to faith in Christ and Paul. Sends an estimate back to find Lehman, uh, to reconcile and pleads with, by Lehman to treat him well as he is now a believer in a brother in Christ. Um, in, uh, appeals to him to say, Hey, if you've suffered loss for him, charge it to my account. So it's, it's a great picture of, we just talked about reconciliation between, uh, Paul and John mark. We see it. That brought up again here in find Leman. In this urgent, uh, or this urging of Paul towards finally me to say, Hey, be reconciled to your runaway, slave and estimates here. Don't treat them the way the law. Might give you. Privileged to treat him, but as a, as a fellow believer in brother in Christ now welcome him. And have them restored to fellowship with you. What an amazing book. And for us, we read it and say, oh, Jaan yeah, kind of normal. But what a profound up upending of the way society thought previously to that, I mean to say, Hey, master and slave let's reconcile. And I think Paula. Subtly, maybe not. So subtly is basically saying, Hey, send them back to me. I can use him. Right. I think this is one of the most interesting books in the new Testament that often doesn't get the press because it, it seems so common. So, uh, so. Uh, I don't know. It doesn't seem exceptional. Like, you know, Ephesians read Ephesians like, oh, this is all amazing. This just seems so ordinary. Right. And yet what's behind it is so extraordinary that to miss it would be to do yourself a great disservice. So number one I would say is pay attention to the fact that. And master slave relationship. Um, even though it wasn't antebellum south, we're not talking about chattel slavery here. We're still talking about a very real social institution that had class divisions. I mean, you still could have respect and you could have a family and have a pretty. Uh, respectable livelihood as a slave, but to say, Hey, master and slave reconcile under the banner of Christ, which effectively leveled their, their class distinctions was pretty amazing. Number one, but number two, I also think there's some really interesting subtlety on the part of Paul to say, Hey, send them back to me. I can use him. Please do this, you know, you owe me yourself. Yeah. Come on buddy. You know, Ante up by lemon. You have plenty of means, I think is the under undertone there. Right? Right. So there you go to Pauline epistles written from prison. Um, we've got more coming tomorrow with Ephesians and then Philippians the day after, but let's. Got I pray that we would be a church that is quick to reconcile with one another. If there's disagreement that arises, I pray that you would guard us against disunity in the body. I pray that we would be. Um, a church that's characterized, as we talked about in collusion. Uh, Colassians about, uh, the idea that the Jesus truly is enough and that we would have that, that mindset that none of us would be trusting in our works. Um, or trusting partially in Christ and partially in our work together that we would be fully trusting in Jesus for his full sufficiency in his full righteousness. And that the life of obedience that we live is simply the by-product of our devotion to him. Our love for him. As a result. And so God. Uh, make us a Christ saturated church. Uh, a church that loves Jesus with everything that we have, and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Are y'all keeping your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast. Bye.