Christ – let people see Him

Who will people see today?

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3 v 15-17)

It is Christ’s peace.

Strict rules and regulations being inflicted on the Church at Colossae did not bring peace. All the customs and traditions, the denials and the strivings to find the ultimate fell short every time. Christ is peace. Nothing else. No one else. Don’t look to the world. You can gain the whole world and you won’t have peace if you don’t have Christ. Your friends may want the very best for you. They want you married, they want you to have children, they want you to have a great job, a house, a car, they want you to be happy, to travel, to experience, to be well. They are good friends. But they don’t understand that the best wish they could ever have for you is that you have Christ. To have Christ is to have peace.

It is Christ’s message

The infiltrators into the Church at Colossae had their message. It was Christ plus. They would have been able to point to the Scriptures (the Old Testament obviously not the New) to back up their message. The message of religion can be very real and can cause a person to commit the most terrible of crimes (as seen in France this last couple of weeks with the Islamic terrorists). If religion’s message can do that then it can at least certainly burden the one who is hearing it. However, there was another message:

The Message of Christ was passed through the communities of the 1^st century Church through the re-telling of the stories and teachings of Jesus and also the Apostle’s letters to the Churches.

And what is the Message of Christ? It is definitely this: “Look what I have done for you. Look who I have made you. Let no one dilute this message.”

It is Christ’s name.

To speak or do whatever in the name of the Lord Jesus is to take something of the very nature of Christ which shows who He is and what He can do. The knife-wielding terrorists in France shouted, “allahu akbar” meaning God is greatest and then did the most evil of acts. That is Satan’s copy of what the Apostle is saying in this verse:-

Whatever it is we do or say we do it with the full consciousness that the presence of Christ is here.

Of course in these verses there is so much more regarding the songs from the Spirit and being thankful to God the Father.

It is a beautiful snap-shot of the triune God.

But I am purposely focusing on Christ through these blogs of Colossians.

May you carry His peace and message and whatever happens may people see the name of Christ in your life.