Pastor's Notes
Are you a faithful Christian? Devotional thoughts on Colossians 1:2
" Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father." Colossians 1:1-2
Paul calls the recipients of this letter the "saints and faithful brothers in Christ..." It is my conviction as informed by the Holy Scriptures that if this cannot be said of any of us, we cannot seriously consider ourselves followers of Christ. Why do I say this?
First of all Paul calls them "saints." There are a lot of Christians who will say, "well, I'm no saint!" I think I understand what most of them mean. They are saying that they're not sinless, not better than anyone; they're not thinking of themselves as "holier than thou" in the negative sense of the phrase.
But the truth is IF they are a Christian, IF they are a follower of Christ, then they ARE a saint. The word translated from the Greek as "saint" is referring to "one who has been set apart as holy." This does not mean that you are perfect and sinless, but that you have, in Christ, been set apart by the sovereign choice of God to be His child. You are set apart, distinct from the rest of the world. The Holy Spirit is working in you to conform you into the image of Christ. You right, you're not perfect and sinless; but someday you will be as you stand before God, covered in the righteousness of Christ, standing on His merit. Until then we should be progressing in our walk, although we do stumble, each day looking a little more like Jesus. WE ARE SAINTS!
Secondly, Paul calls them "faithful brothers..." Not just brothers, but faithful brothers. If you are a saint of God, then you are part of the family of God, and you have brothers and sisters in Christ. This is one of those things that boggles my mind when I talk to people who claim to be Christians but have no desire to attend corporate worship. I spoke with a lady one time who told me "Oh, I go to church; I just don't mingle with people. I turn on the TV and watch ________ church every Sunday morning."
That is not going to church. That is watching religious television (which may or may not be fit to watch). People want to argue that you don't have to be a "member" of a local church to be a Christian. That may be "technically" correct, seeing as how we have 30 million members of SBC churches that only about 10 million actually attend church. But, the logic doesn't follow.
I'm not going to get into the issue of Regenerate Church Membership, although it is an important issue. Just consider this: in a marriage relationship, if the husband and wife don't talk, and they don't spend time together, is the relationship healthy? It may be a marriage "technically" on the books, but the spirit of it isn't there. A family that never eats together, never speaks, never spends time together may "technically" be a family by definition, but not in the spirit of the matter.
Now, Jesus told us that the world would know that we are His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35). Don't people want to be around what they love? Whether it is family, sports, hobbies or their job, they make time for what they love.
Paul writes that we are members (parts) of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27). Corporately, we make up the body of Christ, the Church.
If you love the "faithful brothers" wouldn't it stand to reason that you want to be around them? And if you love Jesus, don't you want to be around other members of His body, His Church?
Then it follows that if you don't want to be around the fellowship and worship with other believers, how can you consider yourself a "faithful brother" (or sister)? You can't. You need the church. I need the church. That is God's ordained means of spreading the Gospel and bringing glory to Himself.
The issue is this: every follower of Christ will exhibit these characteristics. In relationship to God they are saints, set apart by God to be conformed to the image of Christ and to make His glory known. In relationship to one another, they will be "faithful brothers" and sisters who seek the fellowship of the saints in order to worship together, holding one another accountable as they serve Christ together.
The question is, can Paul say this of you?
