Colossians 2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul’s passion and burden for the church in Laodicea and Colossae to be encouraged, knit together in love, to reach full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery is our study!

What’s God’s mystery?

The mystery is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Carnal knowledge destroys. But godly knowledge builds you up. But the so called godly bible knowledge, if applied in the wrong hermeneutics and/or spirit, can equally cause division and even destruction in church! As we see that in Bethlehem church, formerly led by the famous John Piper himself. You see that’s knowledge from the bible, but the knowledge from the bible can be wrongly applied or unequally applied without correct nuance, it is no more treasures of wisdom and knowledge, because that can only be obtained from Christ. Any division spirit cannot be pulled from the treasure of Christ. Because Christ prayed that “that they may be one, as we are one”.

John 17:20–21 20 “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Christ wants us to be one, just as the Father are in Him and He in the Father, that we may be in the Father and Son. What a unison in totality!

The mystery and the richness of Christ should be so captivating that every Christian’s mind should be captured by it. Failing to understand the riches and the mystery of Christ will open up the way to go into petty wasteful unproductive and in fact potentially destructive paths. As Christians we want to be captured by Christ richness, richness not in terms of material wealth, but rather in the immensity all the glorious inheritance in Christ. If we are not captured by the richness and the mystery of Christ, there will be something lurking around trying to trip us.

Richard Baxter says it beautifully there’s nothing sadder for reformed pastor or professor standing up to preach the glorious riches in Christ , but he himself remain unsanctified by the very message he preaches or teachers. It is of utmost importance that every preacher absorbs the word of God and be sanctified by it and be captured by the richness and mystery of Christ.

So what is the richness of Christ?

The richness of Christ is the immensity of his love of his compassion, grace, power, glory, signs & wonders and majesty of his personhood. If we dwell in the richness of who Christ is on a daily basis, we would do well and avoid the trap tragic ends of so many trappings in this world. Even big names in this world faces tremendous challenges because a slight slip of your feet can begin to pull you from the focus on Christ and Christ alone. Instead we will see our eyes focusing on something that is totally wasteful yet seem to be appealing on the outside. We would begin to major on the peripheral. And this peripherals has caused the disruption, resignation of churches pastors and the chiefs and leadership etc. We must choose to immerse ourselves in the richness of Christ.

So now the next question really is for Christians. Everyday Christians should also be captivated by the richness of Christ on a continual basis. The question is how do we do it. The question is what does that look like. It takes daily discipline to stay immersed and enveloped by the love of Christ overcoming all the circumstances surrounding us. To find the reality of Christ and his power and his relevance in all our thinking’s, actions and planning’s in our daily life is really important. We would be sucked into controversy arguments if we do not stay within the richness of Christ. Christ has so much to offer to us and Christ wants us to dwell in his presence. And that’s why Jesus said I am the vine and you are the branch.

John 15:4–5. 4 Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Abiding in me or remaining in me and you were bear much fruit. We will not bear much fruit if we don’t abide or remain in him. Abide in him is to spend time with him in the worship in prayer and meditating upon God’s word. We have to have time for Christ daily. We have to invest in time to communicate with him to learn from the word of God for the word of God is life. When we read the Bible, life flows into our beings.

John 1:4 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind.

It is that life that keeps us going. We must therefore share that life, and the gospel power to the rest of the world. Practically speaking, we must begin to read more books of the devotional nature and theological nature on top of the Bible of course. I was sharing the grace of Christ in our salvation last night with my mum. For the heck of my inability to communicate in Mandarin, she seemed to get about 20% of what I said and could not get the rest. Frustrated I became but I remain hopeful and waiting to share with her again. A lot of evangelical’s Christian’s thinking is that “I will follow the Lord and I would try to do good deeds because he loves me and that will be able to translate into path to salvation.” Their simplistic understanding of “if I do good after I received Christ and if I continue to read my Bible, I will sure be on my way to heaven.” I kept saying it is not what you do they bring you to heaven but rather you have believed in Christ that saved you! Thank God He graciously saved us.

Of course the paradox is after you received salvation by the grace of God, there got to be an expression of that belief in Christ, faith in Christ.

That belief and faith in Christ will translate into a changed heart progressively. Nothing is going to happen overnight period but it was it has certainly be a steady committed way of transformation and that change of behavior is not our ticket to heaven. Rather it is the of our belief in faith in Christ has saved us. And that belief in Christ opens the door automatically for the Holy Spirit working this so that we will want to read the Bible we will want to run away from sins we will want to pray more but that is only after we believed in God who then gives us the heart for him.

The righteousness of God must be fulfilled and that’s only in Christ who died on the cross and resurrected on the third day by defeating death!

Romans 11 ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

Amen!