Tag Archives: apostle

Grace And Peace

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GRACE AND PEACE

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.” Colossians 1:1, 2.

Quite a mouthful in the opening sentence! Unlike our modern communication, ancient letters said it all in the first sentence; writer, recipients, and who they were. Who were Paul and Timothy?

Paul described himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He was not a self-appointed or self-proclaimed apostle. We have many of those today. Why do spiritual leaders love titles? Does it elevate them above the rest or give them an edge on spirituality? On what authority do they claim those titles? Those who call themselves Apostle So-and-so or Prophet So-and-so – can they honestly say that they were given that title and office by the will of God?

With a title comes a task – to lead people by example as Paul did. Because he was a God-appointed and Spirit-anointed apostle, he could say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” How often do those who carry official-sounding titles betray them by espousing people to themselves! They are the only ones who are right and not to recognise that is to dishonour their title.

Who was Timothy? A brother! Timothy was Paul’s young trainee. When Paul found him, he realised that he had found gold – a young believer who had the makings of a fine leader. Paul did not give him the title of apostle. It was not his right to give, but he trained and mentored him to understudy him as a faithful and fully equipped leader. He was able to leave him in Ephesus to care for the church there while Paul went on with his mission to make Christ known where He was not known.

Paul regarded Timothy as his son in the faith. He often accompanied Paul on his journeys and acted as messenger and support during Paul’s imprisonments. He was a comfort to Paul in his suffering and in his old age, a true son upon whom Paul could rely to continue his work when he was no longer there

Who were the Colossians? The ancient city of Colossae was built on a major trade route which ran through the Lycus River valley in the province of Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey. It was famous for its dark red wool cloth called colossinum from where the city got its name. The city lost its importance when the nearby city of Laodicea overtook it as a business centre.

Paul spent two years in the nearby city of Ephesus from where the gospel spread to other centres, carried by converts from Ephesus. It is likely that one of Paul’s converts, Epaphras, was responsible for carrying the message to Colossae. Philemon was a member of that church, to whom Paul wrote a short letter about his slave Onesimus.

Although Paul did not know the people in the church at Colossae personally, he could still address them as “holy people” and “faithful brothers and sisters.” Why? Because, like his Master, he could view them as already complete in Christ. As long as they were in Christ, from God’s perspective, they had already been perfected. “In Christ” is, of course the operative word.

Grace and peace! Grace – a prayer for his readers to experience the ongoing grace of God in their lives, and peace – a normal Jewish greeting – “shalom” but for Paul the result of all God’s mercy to us – His peace that guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Infused into this greeting is all the richness of God’s work in the lives of those who are “in Christ”.

This was much more than just a nicety, a polite greeting like we would say when we say “hello” and “goodbye” but, to Paul, it was the expression of his heart and his love for God’s children, even if he did not know them personally.

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Caesar Or No Caesar!

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CAESAR OR NO CAESAR!

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding His Son who, as to His earthly life, was a descendant of David and who, through the Spirit of holiness, was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ the Lord.” Romans 1:1-4.

Jesus had come and gone. He had lived for thirty three years, spent three years teaching, preaching and doing miracles, was executed as a blasphemer and a threat to Rome, rose again and returned to the Father. The disciples were left blinking. What was that all about? How on earth were they going to make sense of it all?

Ten days after He left them, the Holy Spirit came, just as He promised. The light came on and their Old Testament Scriptures began to radiate with new meaning. Words Jesus had spoken, things He had done, and things that were done to Him began to fall into place.

On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit invaded the lives of those who were waiting for Him, Peter — the one who had denied Him, the one who had hidden behind closed doors with the other eleven — stood up in the temple packed with worshippers from all over the Roman Empire, as well as the Jewish leaders who had led the charge against Jesus, and shot from the hip.

“Jesus was God’s Son. He proved it by His life and miracles. He died, but He came back to life by the power of God. You did it! You killed Him! But it was God’s plan, and now He has sent the Holy Spirit as He promised.” The crowd was horrified, appalled. Many in the group were there when they demanded His death and they were terrified. “What can we do?” they wailed.

“Repent!” said Peter, “and hand yourselves over to God’s mercy. Join Him, and us, and you will receive the same Spirit as we have.” And many of them did just that — three thousand on that day.

A few years before, in the vicinity of Israel’s “red light” district, Caesarea Philippi, where terrible things were going on in the name of pagan religion, Jesus gave them a commission. “Take my yoke, my disposition of compassion and mercy because of God’s mercy to you and give it to people like these, (referring to the pagans who were having intercourse in public with goats, in the name of their god, Pan). It will transform them and shut down places like this that are spawned by hell.”

Jesus’ yoke, which He placed on His disciples, would have serious repercussions for them in the Jewish and pagan Roman world to whom they were sent. They would clash with Roman and Jewish authorities because Jesus’ radical claims would be an in-your-face challenge to their authority and beliefs. It was the role of the apostles (the sent ones) to interpret Jesus’ life and death, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, according to the Scriptures and to invite their hearers to believe and to accept His yoke of discipleship for themselves.

In a shocking moment of revelation, one of the most vehement defenders of Judaism, Saul of Tarsus, met this risen Jesus and defected to “the Way” as the followers of Jesus were called. Jesus called him to interpret and proclaim the very message he was trying to stamp out by destroying as many believers as he could.

Paul, who was once Saul, became as ardent a protagonist of the faith he once persecuted as he had been an antagonist. Commissioned by the Holy Spirit, he and his companion, Barnabas, criss-crossed the provinces of Asia Minor and Europe with the message of Jesus. Paul longed to go to Rome, but he had to wait until he was taken there, compliments of the Roman government, to face trial for his “crimes” against the Jews.

In the meantime, a church had sprung up in Rome, thanks to the many unnamed believers who lived the message wherever they went. Paul was anxious that they in Rome understand the gospel because false teachers were everywhere, corrupting the truth with their misinterpretations. They did not understand Jesus’ yoke and they did not have the authority to interpret it to their hearers as did the apostles. And so he wrote a letter.

With masterful strokes, Paul gave his credentials and painted a picture of the Jesus he was sent to proclaim. Against the backdrop of the arrogant claims of Caesar, Paul presented Jesus’ credentials for being worshipped as “Lord”. He came in fulfilment of prophecy; He was descended from David, a true human; He died but was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit, truly God; authentically the Son of God and declared to be Lord. His full title: Jesus Christ the Lord — fully man, fully God and absolutely supreme, Caesar or no Caesar!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Missions

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Dear Family

As we reflect on missions in this month’s edition of Chronicles, I want to remind you what missionaries and mission is all about. As background, the word “mission” is derived from the Latin missionem, meaning “act of sending” or mittere, meaning “to send”. The Greek word we translate as “apostle” was translated as “missionary” in the Latin translation of the Bible, and basically means “sent one”. So in effect, all those men and women who have been sent to a mission field somewhere, are in fact “apostles”. We can take this even further, and know that we have all been sent in a sense, and thus all qualify as “apostles”. After all, Jesus is the chief apostle and we are his disciples! This is certainly a far cry from the hype with titles we see in the church today. The fancier a preacher becomes, the more likely he is to be called, “apostle”. Though in fact, the person who labours in the field, often unknown, mostly unrecognized, and probably under supported, is the actual biblical missionary or apostle.

Jesus’ commission to His disciples in Matthew 28:19 to “…go and make disciples of all nations…” means that whoever you are, and wherever you go, you represent the King, you go in His name, and as such are His “sent one” to wherever you find yourself. Whether we like it or not, God sends each one of us to go to our families, our friends, our social circles, our work places, our play places and anywhere else we find ourselves, with a message and a mission. God sent His Son to die in our place to reconcile us again to Himself. He did this because He longs for all mankind to know Him, to love Him, and to fellowship with Him. Our sin condition separated us from Him, but He sent the solution, the Missionary, Jesus Christ. Now he sends us who have come to know Him to do and to be likewise.

My prayer is that each one of us will respond as Isaiah did as we read in Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Paul