At Work In You

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
1 Thessalonians 2:13

It has become popular to reduce the word of God to just words written by humans years ago. This gives us authority over it so that we can manipulate it, dissect it, and make it fit our culture. But when we do that to the word of God, when we treat it as if it is just a human word, we prevent it from having any transformative power in our lives.

The Thessalonians received the word of God as the word of God, and because of that it was at work in them. When we treat the word of God as the word of God, we submit to it rather than trying to make it submit to us. When we do this, there is an energizing of the word within us. As we surrender ourself to the truth of God’s word, the power of the word of God flows through us.

We see Jesus teach this principle in Matthew 10 when he says:

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”
“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.”

Matthew 10:32, 40-41

If you acknowledge Jesus for who He really is, the Son of God and Savior of the world, then He will acknowledge you before God the Father. If you welcome a prophet as a prophet, you’ll be able to receive from the prophet their reward and blessing (see 1 Kings 17:7-24). If you welcome a righteous person as a righteous person, you’ll receive the reward that comes from acknowledging them for who they really are.

Likewise, if we treat the word of God as the word of God, and not just words of humans written thousands of years ago, we get the reward of having the very words of God dwell in us, work in us, and pour through us. And God’s words have life-giving, creative power every time He speaks! (Genesis 1; Mark 5:41-42; John 1:1-5).

If, however, we treat the word of God as mere human words, our “reward” is that we’ll have unbelief, skepticism, and doubt at work in us–in our hearts and minds. The fruit will be human reasoning that is empty and powerless.

Not Simply With Words

…our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 1:5-6

The result of Paul’s ministry to the Thessalonians was not just that they intellectually agreed with the gospel, but that they imitated his way of life. They not only welcomed the message of the gospel, but they did so with joy in the midst of severe suffering.

How was it that Paul was able to see such life transformation from the proclamation of the gospel?

Notice how the gospel came to the Thessalonians. It came not simply with words but with three additional essential elements. You see, when the gospel comes simply with words, at best the result will be intellectual assent. The gospel was never meant to show up just in words.

Paul lists the three additional and essential elements that need to be there with the proclamation of the gospel: 1)power, 2)the Holy Spirit and 3)deep conviction.

Wherever Paul went, he not only declared the gospel but demonstrated the gospel through signs and wonders. People got healed. People got set free from the demonic. The gospel showed up in words and in power. Paul describes this reality to the Romans this way:

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
Romans 15:18-19

For Paul, in order to “fully proclaim” the gospel of Christ, it meant that the power of signs and wonders and the power of the Spirit of God had to be there. Which leads us to the second essential element: the Holy Spirit.

It wasn’t enough for people just to encounter the truth in their minds, they had to encounter the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that brings healing to the deepest part of our souls. It’s the Spirit that convicts us of sin and empowers us to encounter God the Father. When Paul proclaimed the gospel, he didn’t just want philosophical agreement. He wanted people to have an encounter with Jesus through the Spirit. This brings about the final essential element: deep conviction.

If the power of God and the Holy Spirit are there with the proclamation of the gospel, then deep conviction is sure to follow. As people have encounters with the truth of who God is and who they are, deep conviction of their sin and gratitude for God’s unconditional love and grace will be the natural byproducts.

For too long the American church has lacked deep conviction. We’ve given half of our hearts and a part of our lives to Jesus, when the truth is that we were bought at a price. Christians that are “all in” seem extreme to us because we’re so comfortable in our bastardized version of the faith. Unfortunately, the gospel came to us simply with words and produced Christians who intellectually dissect and under-live the gospel.

We need a generation in the American church that can proclaim the gospel and bring with it power, the Spirit, and deep conviction from a life fully surrendered to God.

Faith-Hope-Love

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:3

Paul praised the Thessalonians for essentially three things: 1) their work, 2) their labor, and 3) their endurance. But what is so interesting is what produced each of these: faith, hope and love. It’s not the only time Paul would write about how these three fit together (1 Corinthians 13:13).

In Christ, we will work hard for the gospel. Work is from the Lord and is a good thing. But our work doesn’t come from a place of striving. It comes from faith. James wrote about how work and faith go together when he said, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds”(James 2:18). In other words, real faith produces action. Real faith will work.

Then Paul mentions that the Thessalonians’ labor was prompted by love. The word translated “labor” in the Greek is the word kopos. It means “laborious toil involving weariness and fatigue.” We have here the image of a woman in labor, fatigued by the process of delivery. Ultimately, it is the unconditional love the mother has for her baby that gives her the strength to labor. Love is capable of doing what seems impossible. Love will labor through just about anything.

Finally, Paul mentions their endurance inspired by hope. When a marathon runner hits the wall in the middle of the race, it is the hope of the finish line that gives them the endurance to keep going. Hopelessness saps all our energy and steals our ability to press through hardship. But hope is energizing. Hope keeps a person going long after they should have given up. Hope sustains us and gives us endurance.

Faith, hope, and love: the essential trinity of character formation–the superfood fruits of the Spirit. Faith, hope, and love produce people who can work hard, labor through difficulty, and have endurance for the long haul.

Wrestling in Prayer

Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
Colossians 4:12

Epaphras was a fellow servant of the gospel with the apostle Paul and was considered to be one of the Colossians. So when Paul concluded his letter to the Colossians, he was sure to let them know that Epaphras was always wrestling in prayer for them. The word for “wrestling” here in the Greek is the word agonizomai. I’ve already mentioned in a previous post that Paul used this word to describe his own ministry in Colossians 1. It means “to labor, struggle, fight, or contend like someone engaged in an intense athletic contest or warfare.” It’s where we get our English word agonize.

This passage shows us that sometimes in prayer we must contend for what we are asking for. We must fight for it in prayer. There is warfare going on around us and we must wrestle in prayer for others. We are not wrestling something out of God’s hands, but we are contending against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms and prayer is one of our weapons, our spear. God is not resisting us but the enemy is, so we must contend.

Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 6:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:12, 18

So who are you wrestling for in prayer? Who are you contending for in your daily prayer life? Answers may not come instantly, but know that your prayers will affect the war raging around us in the heavenly realms (Read Daniel 10 if you need reassurance of this, especially verses 12-14).

Let Peace Rule

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 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 grace in your hearts.
Colossians 3:15-16

We are to let the peace of Christ, the peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), rule in our hearts. The word translated as “rule” is the Greek word brabeuó. It means “to act as an umpire, making the call in a conflict between contending forces, to arbitrate.”

The idea here is that there are different things contending for your heart. Fear, anxiety, worry, doubt, chaos, criticism, hopelessness, confusion, stress, and much more are all contending for a place in our hearts. We are commanded to let peace be the guiding principle, the final word, the thing that makes the decision as to what stays and what goes. Let peace call balls and strikes. Let peace decide what is safe to stay in your heart and what gets called out. In other words, if it doesn’t line up with the peace of Christ, it doesn’t get to stay.

How do we do this?

We get some clues in the passage of Scripture that follows.

Be thankful! Gratitude invites peace.
Let the word of Christ (or message of Christ) dwell in us richly. Staying regularly in God’s word invites peace.
Teach and admonish with wisdom. Applying wisdom to our lives invites peace.
Sing to God, with grace in our hearts, all different kinds of songs, hymns, psalms and songs from the Spirit. Worship focused on the grace that’s been poured out for us invites peace.

These simple but profound spiritual disciplines establish an environment of peace in our hearts.

Real Change is Possible

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Colossians 3:5-10

Paul was the primary apostle to the Gentiles. He loved that Gentiles were becoming followers of Jesus. He welcomed them into the Church with open arms. Yet, he also saw that they were coming into the Church with all kinds of baggage from their former lives as pagans in a Roman culture. He knew they would need to be intentional about “taking off the old self” and “putting on the new self.” Yet, he believed real change was possible.

We see the same message to the formerly pagan Gentiles who were now Christians in Corinth:

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Paul believed real change was possible from their old selves. He believed change was possible for those who had been involved in sexual immorality, adultery, drunkenness, greed, and yes, even homosexuality.

I agree with Scripture and with Paul. Real change is possible! We don’t have to be trapped in our old life. We don’t have to try to justify our sin. We are new creations in Christ. Brand new! Freedom is available to all who would seek it!

If you are struggling to believe this, particularly about homosexuality and those facing LGBTQ issues, here are some real testimonies of real change: https://changedmovement.com

Faith for Healing

To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
Colossians 1:29

Paul describes his ministry as “strenuously contending,” or some translations say “laboring,” “striving,” or “struggling.” The root word in the Greek here is agonizomai, where we get the English word agonize. It’s the same word Paul uses in his letters to Timothy when he talks about fighting the good fight.

But Paul doesn’t strive or contend with his own power. Instead, he contends with the energy of Christ that works so powerfully in him. This verse is a great example of how ministry is a co-laboring with Christ. There is a synergism here that requires the power of Jesus and our continual contending. It’s a both/and situation, not an either/or. Both component parts are necessary.

Understanding this truth is helpful when trying to understand why we must contend for healings in healing prayer. Too many people misunderstand God’s sovereignty and assume, “If God is going to heal, He will. If not, He won’t.” This simplistic understanding of God’s sovereignty doesn’t account for our participation in being the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.

We co-labor with Christ to bring about His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Yes, it is the power of God that heals, but it is most often the power of God through us. Just as God’s primary way to share the gospel is through us, His Body, the same is true for physical healing. Just as Jesus sent out the disciples in Matthew 10:8 to heal the sick, He sends us.

Yet, we will soon discover our faith go through a process–a journey of sorts. We begin with the question of whether Jesus can heal the thing we need healed. We usually believe Jesus can heal, generally speaking, but we’re not sure He heals the thing we need healed. Does God even heal this sort of thing? We’re just like the father who brought his demonized boy to Jesus and said, “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us”(Mark 9:22). Jesus replied, “If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes”(Mark 9:23).

When our faith grows and we begin to believe Jesus can heal, we’re still not sure he is willing to heal. “Maybe it’s not God’s will to heal this,” we wonder to ourselves. Maybe he’s not willing. We approach Jesus the same way the man with leprosy did who said, “If you are willing, you can make me clean”(Mark 1:40). Notice Jesus’s response. Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Jesus was indignant that anyone would ever assume He wouldn’t be willing. He’s always willing to heal. It is in the very nature of God to heal. One of God’s names in the Old Testament is “the Lord who heals you”(Exodus 15:26).

When we become convinced that Jesus can heal and is willing to heal, we realize that the problem is not on His end of the equation. If healing requires a co-laboring with God, it begins to dawn on us that healing often occurs when God’s power flows through us. The problem isn’t God’s power but the through us part. The woman who had been bleeding for 12 years understood this. Notice what she thought to herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed”(Mark 5:28). It wasn’t about if Jesus could heal her or if he was willing. She knew Jesus was willing and able. It was about what she was going to do to contend for her healing. “If I…”

What if I were to tell you that Jesus is healing autism around the country? Notice the process our minds go through. Can Jesus heal autism? Is that something He heals? Yes. But do you think Jesus is willing to heal autism? Yes. Below are some video testimonies of Jesus doing just that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzzfIMmNmzc&feature=youtu.be

https://www.facebook.com/bethel.church.redding/videos/659320897854957/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

From Death to Life

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.
Colossians 1:21-23

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not that we are basically good people who just need a little help to become better people, and if we would follow some principles of Jesus, we would be better. Many churches are proclaiming this message, but this is not the gospel.

No, the gospel is that we were once enemies of God. Our thoughts and our behavior revealed the fact that we were alienated from God. But God, in His great love and grace, sent Jesus, the image of the invisible God, to die for us. We were dead in our sin and so Jesus came to rescue us by dying for us.

When Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, He brought us with Him. We have now been transformed from death to life. The message is not that good people get a little better but–by faith in Jesus because of the grace of God–dead people come to life!

The result is not that we are a little better. The result is that Jesus now presents us to the Father as perfectly holy, without blemish and free from accusation. We are clothed with Christ, not the filthy rags of our old life. Paul said it this way to the Christians in Corinth:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals,thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (New English Translation)

We stand before the Father blameless because of what Jesus did for us. “…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus”(Romans 6:11)

Living a holy life simply means we stop doing CPR on our old, dead life. Our old self has been crucified with Christ and buried with Christ. If we sense it coming out of the grave, it does so as a zombie that needs to be put down. It is not who we are anymore. Holiness is simply being who we now are in Christ. Holiness is living out our true identity as new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Paul says it this way to the Romans:

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:13-14

Glorious Riches

I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:18-19

The Philippians were faithful to give generously to the work of the gospel. Because of this, Paul was confident that God would meet all of their needs “according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” Literally in the Greek, the phrase reads, “according to the riches of Him in glory in Christ Jesus.”

What exactly are these riches that are “in glory” that can be found in Christ?

In a discussion with the Romans about why most of Israel rejected the gospel and many Gentiles had accepted the gospel, Paul asks the question, “What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy…?”(Romans 9:23). At the end of wrestling with this mystery, Paul declares, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”(Romans 11:33).

To the Ephesians Paul wrote:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s gracethat he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ…
Ephesians 1:7-9

Then he explained:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:6-7

And finally:

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people,this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery…
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Ephesians 3:8-9, 16-17

And once more to the Colossians, Paul writes:

the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 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.
My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 1:26-27; 2:2-3

Over and over again we see that the glorious riches in Christ are the grace, forgiveness, power, wisdom, and understanding that come from knowing the mystery of the gospel. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, and Christ has now been revealed through the gospel. Christ is now “in us,” which is the hope of glory. Christ dwells in our hearts by the Spirit through faith in Him.

Having a relationship with Christ unlocks the riches of the Kingdom of God–the wisdom, knowledge, power and grace of God Himself. Not only is God pleased to meet our material needs through the provision of the resources of the Kingdom, but He’s pleased to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom to us through Christ by the Holy Spirit.

In Every Way

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:15-16

This verse reminds us that Jesus is able to understand our weaknesses and our temptations, and yet He did not sin. Because of this, we can be confident as we approach God in our time of need. In God’s Presence we will find mercy and grace, not condemnation and judgement.

Inevitably, however, someone will read this passage and wonder, “How was Jesus tempted in every way, just as we are? I know we are to take this to mean He completely understands our situation, but what if Jesus was never in our situation? Jesus didn’t have to face infidelity, abusive parents, or addiction. He never had to parent a prodigal child or lose a child to cancer, stillbirth, or miscarriage. Jesus may have faced similar things, but He doesn’t REALLY know what it is like to go through what I am going through. He hasn’t faced the hardships, temptations, and weaknesses I face.”

Typically, then, there is a response about how God is omniscient and knows everything, and so Jesus does really know what we are going through. But omniscience in this case feels distant. It feels like a kind of knowing but not a full knowing because it’s not down in the muck of life. It feels, somehow, lofty and erudite but not intimate. We want God to have intimate knowledge of our experience, not aloof omniscience.

A couple weeks ago I was driving around the Baltimore beltway contemplating all of this, and the Lord revealed something to me. I felt the Lord say, “Mark, it’s not just that I am omniscient. I am all-knowing, and that would be enough to intimately understand you. But my love for you went even further. I have been dwelling in every believer in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, for over 2000 years. I have intimate, God-with-us knowledge of each moment of the life of every believer. From the time they gave their life to Jesus to the time that they died, I intimately experienced every moment, every thought, every hurt, every temptation with them.”

Let that sink in. Every Christian, all over the world, for over 2000 years. The Holy Spirit has intimate, firsthand, personal knowledge of every moment. If Jesus Christ is “God with us”(Matthew 1:23), then the Holy Spirit is “Christ in you, the hope of glory”(Colossians 1:27). That’s why the Holy Spirit’s nickname is “the Spirit of Christ”(Romans 8:9-10). And we know, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God”(1 Corinthians 2:10). So the Holy Spirit has been the divine link–communicating the things of God to us but also the “things of us” to God.

We can be sure, there is no one who understands us better than God. He knows our weaknesses, our struggles, the hardships and temptations we face. He knows us not in a distant way, but in a way that is up close and personal. His omniscience is not aloof but intimate. He knows…in the deepest, most personal way. He knows.