Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
I like good mystery stories, especially when they are portrayed in movies or TV shows. They can be classics like Agatha Christy or crime how-done-it like NCIS. But I am not very good at predicting who did the dirty deed. I follow red herrings; they are my downfall.
I like the way the writers weave a story that has me following them through the process of discovering the villain. And by the end, the bad guy has been caught and there is closure for the family. Nice and neat. That is the way I like it.
For over a thousand years the Jewish people had heard and seen the LORD move on their behalf. They knew they cycle of repentance, waning faith, outright rebellion, chastising rebuke, a cry for help and finally repentance and rescue. And yet they missed so much of the message of hope and mercy portrayed in they own history.
This lack of hearing what is really important, instead, focusing on the red herrings of history, is what Israel had done. They continued to hear they were the Chosen People, but didn’t hear the chosen for what answer. Their choosing was as God’s messengers to the world, to tell the story of God’s grace for all humanity. They became inward focused as a people.
Our text is part of some of the densest portion of Scripture. More meat is piled into the short food than almost any other passage. Paul wrote very condensed and insightful words. We have the privilege of reading them today.
Our text focuses us on the mystery of the Gospel, namely that Christ brings all humanity together in Himself. And as a result Christ now lives in us. A new relationship has been established that empowers us, through the Holy Spirit, to be God’s representatives here on Earth.
Now this mystery is a mystery because, despite the LORD’s promise of a new heart for those who would follow Him in obedience, the Jews had not embraced this truth. They were stuck on a performance agenda. They looked at the obedience as the key to their relationship with the LORD. Obedience first, then God could bless.
But the mystery presented in the Gospel has a very different sequence of events connected to it. God does all the work up front. He provides the rescue plan, the plan to extricate us from enemy territory, long before we ever respond. His plan was present before the world began. Now that is advanced planning.
And when we respond to the message, Christ comes and lives in us. Our relationship with the LORD is established and nurtured by the power of the Holy Spirit who now lives in us. And the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives gives us hope for the present and the future.
So why do we not jump at the chance to participate with God in His work here on Earth? I think that is because we are too easily distract, led astray by the false hope that we aren’t as bad as Scripture proclaims, that we are dead in sin. We would rather believe we are only slightly sick, and just a little bed rest and some chicken soup will make us better.
But few things could be further from the Truth. We are dead and need to be brought back to life. And that is what Jesus accomplished for us on the Cross. He died the death we should have endured, in order that we might live the life He designed us to live.
Now that brings us hope. God isn’t done with us. He hasn’t thrown us aside, but continues to work in and through us, despite our ongoing struggles with obedience. He continues to use people broken by sin, the dregs of society, those with nothing to offer but themselves. He does this so that His grace and mercy might be clearly displayed in those made in His image.
The Arnold Journey 