PREVIOUS SERMON  (sorted accordingly,starting from recent )

Have you ever ask yourself why King/General Joshua did not say ‘… as for me and my house, we will serve God, rather he said, we will serve the Lord’? It is to let you know that our Lord Jesus Christ is God! But you see that because of the fear of being killed in those days even now, people are afraid to call Lord Jesus God rather they prefer calling Him, son of God instead of directly calling Him God that He is, Who came to planet earth on divine visit to one of His creations in other to teach mankind certain essentials of life after having sent so many people including prophets but these people could not teach man perfectly what He want so He decided to come Himself to teach so that man will be able to live life the right way and be in peace but you notice that in spite of all of these divine efforts on the side of God and these divine messengers (men and women) pride in man and gross ignorance did/have not allowed mankind to humble himself and learn directly from his Creator which is why no matter how man try in life you see that he/she cannot perfectly and correctly get on in life all by himself except Christ helps him! Our need for a story does not mean we settle for any kind/type of story. Novelists know/feels/thinks that the most appealing stories are those which contain an element of romance and adventure. All good romances and adventure stories contain certain ingredients: the power of a great love, the presence of good and evil, the threat of danger, the eventual judgment/consequences of evil, a quest or a journey, and, most importantly, a hero or heroine who passes various life tests to save the day or even his or her life or serve certain purpose displays all of these attributes. Now we have talked of the possible contents of good novels, probably the reason why people always like to read them, such as its content of romance and adventure; but it is very interesting to know and realize that God’s book of life, the Bible also contains all of these attractive items found in virtually all novels or story books and even more, so why is it that people, mankind in general feels very reluctant and sometimes exhibits habitual hatred for God and His Words in the Bible, Why? When I try to meditate on this why, I began to get pointers that from the very inception of time or abinitio, mankind developed acute hatred for God and the things about Him simply because man out of pride and egotism always like and want to arrogate things such as successes, achievements, bravery, power and ability to himself instead of arrogating them to God Who is the author and finisher of everything including life itself. Man is a proud being and always like and want to be boastful and be hailed and talked about in everything thus wrongly arrogating to himself all the dues of God, failing to give glory that belongs to God to God, which is too bad and very wrong too! Let all humans know of this truth and try using the word of God to train ourselves to be humble, meek and true in all aspect of life, this is very important! Many sections of the Bible would lose something if the elements of adventure or romance were absent. Imagine if, in fairy tales, the evil prince or the wicked uncle could sin with impunity, if the dragon could easily be overcome, or if the good prince could save the day by sitting in his castle and studying philosophy. If this were the case then nobody would read them. Those who wrote those ancient stories knew the necessity of including threats of danger, time limits, rescue bids, and so on knowing that they serve to guide man those who are wise. People have to make important decisions within a time frame: If the stone is not returned to its proper place in the tower before the morning sun strikes the eastern wall, your kingdom and your bride are forfeit. The story before us today is just one of the many Bible passages that show us that out of all the choices we are called upon to make in life, the most important one is to come over onto the Lords side, which means allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in all works of life. But we certainly need to keep in mind that Bible stories, though full of romance and adventure, are not fairy tales but fact and realities of life. It is important to know that these life-and –death issues called life realities is very crucial and needs to be well studied and imbibe/known. We must never forget this awesome truth: Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment which is the direct consequences of his wrong thoughts/decisions/actions in life, Heb. 9:27, “And just as it is appointed and destined for all men to die once and after this [comes certain] judgment,”

Here Paul really opens up his heart to the Colossians and also the believers in Laodicea, to whom his letter would be read as seen in Colossians 4:16, saying, “And when this epistle has been read before you, [see] that it is read also in assembly (the Church) of the Laodiceans, and also [see] that you yourselves in turn read the [letter that comes to you] from Laodicea.” He speaks of his great concern for them and that same concern is for us –a concern that grew, no doubt, when he heard the news brought to him by Epaphras that a serious error was circulating among them just as so many serious errors are in circulation to in our society, the reason why people should not play with this message. The apostle longs that they may ‘be encouraged in heart and united in love and belief in our Lord Jesus Christ’ gospel and teaching.’ The Amplified Bible uses these words: ‘that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love’. How encouraging it is for believers when their hearts are united in love. However, the opposite is also true: discouragement is the consequence of believers realizing their hearts are not united in love. But love is not enough. Paul is aware that lasting unity depends on truth as well as love. The believers at Colossae need to be of one mind as well as one heart; hence his concern that they may have ‘the full riches of complete understanding’ in order to know the mystery of God, namely Lord Jesus Christ Himself coming into their heart. The false teachers in Colossae believed that revelation could be received outside of the Saviour Jesus Christ, but here Paul lays down the thought that all essential truth is found only in Christ, and they need not look any further than Him Lord Jesus Christ for spiritual understanding and divine guidance. It is the lack of this, that has kept the whole world in the deep ignorance and darkness that prevails today! A situation that requires serious divine spiritual attention in other to remake the world just as someone rightly sang it in a song. Is on Christ that can remake the world through His indwelling of people and that exercise and processes is ongoing even though the world and her people are trying to resist the divine spiritual moves, but who can battle with the Lord? Just as in the New Testament times, so likewise today error creeps into the Church if/once men and women claim to have insight and revelation or teaching beyond that which Scripture and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ unfolds. The unity of believers is at risk whenever the people of God are not of one mind/heart on the things that are essential according to the Scripture and the Gospel. A common mind/heart about the truths of the Bible and the Supremacy of Christ is the only possible basis for Christian unity and love. If there is not one mind there cannot be one heart and one love! This is the truth.

Did you hear that, Christ is the only hope of our being amongst those to whom the riches of God’s glory will be revealed to at the due time when Messiah appointed. A true servant of God, we said last week, seeks to make the Word of God fully known and Christians fully mature. Paul claims that he has been commissioned for this task, and clearly he did his work well. But what did he base his work on? It was this great truth: that ‘Christ within and among you, the Hope of [realizing the] glory’. Paul refers to it as a mystery which though kept hidden for generations had now been made known. ‘The mystery … now disclosed’ refers, of course, to the fact that Christ indwells Gentiles as well as Jews and welcomes them into His Church on equal terms with Israelites –a revelation that first came through the apostle Paul see Ephesians 3:2-6, “2 Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace (His unmerited favor) that was entrusted to me [to dispense to you] for your benefit, 3 [And] that the mystery (secret) was made known to me and I was allowed to comprehend it by direct revelation, as I already briefly wrote you. 4 When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. 5 [This mystery] was never disclosed to human beings in past generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles (consecrated messengers) and prophets by the [Holy] Spirit. 6 [It is this:] that the Gentiles are now to be fellow heirs [with the Jews], members of the same body and joint partakers [sharing] in the same divine promise in Christ through [their acceptance of] the glad tidings (the Gospel).” This was a sign that a new era had begun, which will culminate in the second coming. But the question is, now that it has been told to the world people as a revealed knowledge, have the people accepted it and believe it in unity? Focus with me now on the phrase ‘Christ within and among you, the Hope of [realizing the] glory’. There are many who accept that Christ is for them, but they have no experience of Christ’s indwelling being in them. They may be ready to assert with the rest of us that we have an advocate with the Father, Lord Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, as seen in 1 John 2:1, saying “My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father—[it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action]”, but in reality they and even us do not know Him as a power within them/us or do we? Paul is saying the secret of maturity is having Christ within –thinking, willing and feeling in the heart of His consenting servant. Once Christ is not indwelling you, majority of the things you think and do are bound to be error prone, no more no less! ‘Christ within and among you, the Hope of [realizing the] glory’. What a phrase. But is it only hope –a possibility? As we saw the other day, the word of hope in Scripture means a sure and certain expectation with no shadow of doubt. To have Christ near to us is not enough. He must be in us, subduing the deep selfishness of our nature, ridding us of our moral rottenness, helping us to transform our wrong character, attitude, behavioral pattern and life style, all summed up to constitute our moral rottenness. And as William Law said, ‘A Christ not in us … is a Christ not ours.’ Then if Christ is not our, what do we have?

Remember that we said it that these verses have been described as some of the most beautiful in the New Testament. The statements Paul makes can be compared with those found in Ephesians chapter 2, for instance Ephesians 2:3, “3 Among these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature], obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind [our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by nature children of [God’s] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind” and 2:12, continued saying “12 [Remember] that you were at that time separated (living apart) from Christ [excluded from all part in Him], utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the [Messianic] promise [with no knowledge of or right in God’s agreements, His covenants]. And you had no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God.” Paul reminds the Colossians –as we all need to be reminded –of what Christ has done. Indeed, we should never get tired of hearing it, for the central dynamic of the Christian life is not what we do for Christ, but what He has done for us. Dick Lucas gives a good analysis of these verses when he divides them as follows: what you once were, where you now stand, and how you must go on, are what Christianity is all about! And what were we? ‘Enemies,’ says Paul. Many are unwilling to apply this term to themselves in their unconverted state, and do know what, one sincere way to regard yourself so that God’s word will make a good changing impression on you is to tell or call yourself exactly what you are based on some of our unchristian attitudes and displays. They say, ‘I was never at enmity with God, just apathetic to Him.’ But dig deep into every human heart and find not apathy towards God but antagonism and disobedient. Embedded like splintered glass in every soul is a basic distrust of and lack of love for God. Oh, these raw basic truths are there even though we may not choose to accept the fact. We often don’t like the idea of God telling us what to do, and so act independently in spite of the fact that we have been told it’s to our own ruin. Yet where are we now through grace? Reconciled, by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. By our faith in Christ Jesus, now the enmity is over and peace has come to our hearts. We stand in God’s presence ‘holy …without blemish and free from accusation’, based on our Lord’s great sacrifice for us in other that we are saved from being ruined and destroyed by our sin! And how should we go on? We are to ‘continue in [the] faith, established and firm, not moved or waver from the hope held out for us in the gospel’ (23), “23 [And this He will do] provided that you continue to [s]stay with and in the faith [in Christ], well-grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting or moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached [t][as being designed for and offered without restrictions] to every person under heaven, and of which [Gospel] I, Paul, became a minister.” If we are to continue in the faith then we must remain content with the gospel that brought us to Christ and not try to change it especially to how it suits us or to how it is convenient to us. Those who seek to add or take away from the gospel do not continue in the faith: they contaminate it. And once this happened, it will no longer yield its purpose to you and everyone around, let us be very care!

Do you see the reason why if any loses his or her Christ content as a result of sinfulness and sinful nature, being worldly or carnal, having being spiritually contaminated as a result of eating or drinking one thing or the other (injestion), he or she has lost his or her center of life and can no longer exist as a normal being (ndi nwuru anwu na aga ije; being empty) even though he or she appear normal, this is the truth and is the condition of many today on earth and such ones need to seriously keep seeking Christ to be drawn/restored/reconciled back to Him otherwise inheriting His Kingdom is far from such people. Centripetal is moving or tending to move towards a centre. These words clinch everything: ‘In Him all things consist (cohere, are held together’. We could also say, ‘Out of Him all things fly apart –they go to pieces.’ One commentator puts it like this: ‘Everything in Christ is bound together in perfect harmony, not simply by power or force but by love. Further on in Colossians we find these words: ‘And above all these [put on] love and enfold yourselves with the bond of perfectness [which binds everything together completely in ideal harmony].’ (3:14). One man and a woman known to me were disinherited by their family when he/she became a Christian, a phenomenon that is happening in many homes and family! However, they rose to become leading figures in society, and made efforts to relate to their family even though they were reluctant to have anything to do with them. Slowly their love for them won through. They held the family together because they were held together within –by being in Christ. So know that when you are in Christ, you are surely the bond through whom Christ holds your family together both near and extended, so no matter how apparent separation may look, know that with time all will be drawn/restored/reconciled back together again, this is the law and the principle! Many years ago, after I had written that the reason why all things in the universe cohere is because they are held together by Lord Jesus Christ, a nuclear scientist shut himself in his office for hours and refused to take any calls because the fact hit him as never before that what holds all creation together is not a force but a Person – Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know why? Because scientists postulated that the universe and all created things are held together by a Force! So hearing and knowing now that their postulation is wrong, rather that the universe and all created things are held together by Lord Jesus Christ, hit them like a bomb! Our Lord once said, in Matt. 12:30, “30 He who is not with Me [definitely [a]on My side] is against Me, and he who does not [definitely] gather with Me and for [b]My side scatters.” Everything outside of Christ scatters and this is why the world have not known Peace in spite of all the efforts of all the established organizations too numerous to mention. This is not merely theological opinion: it is working fact. Get among any group of Christians, talk about Christ, and you are together. Talk about our Church traditions and you are apart. Let this simple but solemn truth grip your soul with new force and renewed love today: ‘In Him all things hold together, out of Him all things fly apart and scatter’.