Colossians 1:2 “To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father” (NIV).
Can you imagine if Paul the apostle were here today and he sent you a personal letter and addressed you by name and then called you a holy and faithful sister-in-Christ or brother-in-Christ? Furthermore consider God knows right now whether you are a holy and faithful sister or brother. This is my desire, and I know it requires me to rely on my Holy Father every single day. Being holy and faithful is the call by God for every Christian, and our need is to submit to Jesus.
This letter is addressed solely to Christians. Note the city of Colosse is sometimes spelled Colossae. What was once a prosperous city, which is now a “low hill in a field,” the city is not mentioned any other time in Scripture.(1) Today the city of Colosse seems to be behind the scenes just like this book of the Bible, yet nearly 2000 years ago, it was a Christian mission field, and the souls of its people were of ultimate concern.
Hunter Irvine
(1) Clyde E. Fant and Mitchell G. Reddish, A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 173.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Colossians 1:1
Colossians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother” (NIV).
How exciting! My next season of writing will involve a personal commentary on the book of Colossians and entries will be more frequent.
In following Jesus for 26 years I have never heard even one sermon on a single passage of Colossians. Why not? Yet we will carefully exam this inspired letter. I add that recently I have had a number of people from other countries going into this blog, and I am honored people from all over the world read my writing. Thank you.
This epistle, another word for letter, is introduced with Paul being the author along with Timothy. Paul is bold in stating he is an apostle of Jesus, and the word apostle means someone who is “sent out.” It was a special leadership position for a small number of believers there in the first generation of the Church. They were people who had seen Jesus, being eyewitnesses of the risen Christ. Now Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ was quite unique, and there is no record of Paul having seen Jesus when He was incarnate, in the flesh, yet Paul defends his apostleship in the beginning of I Corinthians 9. And his writings are affirmed as Scripture by Peter as recorded in 2 Peter 3:15-16.
Timothy was a disciple of Jesus who did much. Not only did he stand by Paul in writing this letter, he assisted in the writing of Philippians, I Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon. And Paul wrote both I Timothy and 2 Timothy to him to encourage Timothy’s fruitful ministry work. Timothy accompanied Paul on Paul’s second missionary journey, as is shown in Acts 16. We clearly know Paul’s admiration for Timothy: “For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord…” (I Corinthians 4:17 NIV). Now Timothy was not a physical son of Paul, as we know from Acts 16 where it states Timothy’s mom was Jewish, a woman who had become a Christian, and his father was Greek. Yet Paul cared so much for Timothy he viewed Timothy as a son-in-Christ. Ultimately Timothy was a brother in Christ to Paul and all believers. This letter was written from Rome about 60 A.D. when Paul was imprisoned there.
I close with three considerations. First, once I worked at a place in Virginia and had a boss who at the time was a nominal church attendee with little interest in the Bible. He later had a life crisis, and afterwards we talked in an underground parking lot and he told me he had committed to the Lord. But once before his commitment, in the midst of a workday we were talking about the Bible, and my boss made the statement: “Paul was a nut.” I got riled up about that. The fact is Paul was not a nut, rather Paul was a disciple of Jesus who was willing to preach the Gospel at all cost. We students of the Bible need to carefully interpret what he is saying, yet Paul has been honored by Christians in each century since the birth of Christ for his devotion to Jesus. Paul was willing to get beat up for the sake of the Gospel, and he even died for Christ, being murdered under the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. Paul was a preacher for Jesus at the beginning era of the New Covenant when people were believing in Jesus, against all odds, in a phenomenal manner. We have Paul and Timothy to thank still.
Second, speaking of Timothy, though he is a disciple often in the shadow of Paul in our modern churches, may we realize his ministry work had an eternal consequence. Some disciples of Jesus do their work out of the spotlight, yet their loving work in the will of God is of equal goodness.
Thirdly, Paul and Timothy were loving friends who served Jesus in the historic apostolic age, and they are loving buddies now in heaven. May we be mindful there are only two things believers will carry over from this world into heaven and that is our own soul bonded with Jesus and our loving friends-in-Christ. Throughout the ensuing generations there have been countless loving brothers and sisters in Christ. The true love of God shared by friends is meant to be cherished. Cherish your loving friends.
Hunter Irvine
How exciting! My next season of writing will involve a personal commentary on the book of Colossians and entries will be more frequent.
In following Jesus for 26 years I have never heard even one sermon on a single passage of Colossians. Why not? Yet we will carefully exam this inspired letter. I add that recently I have had a number of people from other countries going into this blog, and I am honored people from all over the world read my writing. Thank you.
This epistle, another word for letter, is introduced with Paul being the author along with Timothy. Paul is bold in stating he is an apostle of Jesus, and the word apostle means someone who is “sent out.” It was a special leadership position for a small number of believers there in the first generation of the Church. They were people who had seen Jesus, being eyewitnesses of the risen Christ. Now Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ was quite unique, and there is no record of Paul having seen Jesus when He was incarnate, in the flesh, yet Paul defends his apostleship in the beginning of I Corinthians 9. And his writings are affirmed as Scripture by Peter as recorded in 2 Peter 3:15-16.
Timothy was a disciple of Jesus who did much. Not only did he stand by Paul in writing this letter, he assisted in the writing of Philippians, I Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon. And Paul wrote both I Timothy and 2 Timothy to him to encourage Timothy’s fruitful ministry work. Timothy accompanied Paul on Paul’s second missionary journey, as is shown in Acts 16. We clearly know Paul’s admiration for Timothy: “For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord…” (I Corinthians 4:17 NIV). Now Timothy was not a physical son of Paul, as we know from Acts 16 where it states Timothy’s mom was Jewish, a woman who had become a Christian, and his father was Greek. Yet Paul cared so much for Timothy he viewed Timothy as a son-in-Christ. Ultimately Timothy was a brother in Christ to Paul and all believers. This letter was written from Rome about 60 A.D. when Paul was imprisoned there.
I close with three considerations. First, once I worked at a place in Virginia and had a boss who at the time was a nominal church attendee with little interest in the Bible. He later had a life crisis, and afterwards we talked in an underground parking lot and he told me he had committed to the Lord. But once before his commitment, in the midst of a workday we were talking about the Bible, and my boss made the statement: “Paul was a nut.” I got riled up about that. The fact is Paul was not a nut, rather Paul was a disciple of Jesus who was willing to preach the Gospel at all cost. We students of the Bible need to carefully interpret what he is saying, yet Paul has been honored by Christians in each century since the birth of Christ for his devotion to Jesus. Paul was willing to get beat up for the sake of the Gospel, and he even died for Christ, being murdered under the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. Paul was a preacher for Jesus at the beginning era of the New Covenant when people were believing in Jesus, against all odds, in a phenomenal manner. We have Paul and Timothy to thank still.
Second, speaking of Timothy, though he is a disciple often in the shadow of Paul in our modern churches, may we realize his ministry work had an eternal consequence. Some disciples of Jesus do their work out of the spotlight, yet their loving work in the will of God is of equal goodness.
Thirdly, Paul and Timothy were loving friends who served Jesus in the historic apostolic age, and they are loving buddies now in heaven. May we be mindful there are only two things believers will carry over from this world into heaven and that is our own soul bonded with Jesus and our loving friends-in-Christ. Throughout the ensuing generations there have been countless loving brothers and sisters in Christ. The true love of God shared by friends is meant to be cherished. Cherish your loving friends.
Hunter Irvine
Monday, August 8, 2016
Encouragement - Hebrews 3:13
Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (NIV).
The 2016 summer Olympics are under way, and I watched several of the competitions today. Back in 1996, I was living in northern Virginia, and the Olympics were in the United States that year. The torch was run across the country to Atlanta, Georgia. One day the local newspaper reported the people carrying the torch would come through our area the coming Saturday, and the paper included a map with the complete torch route and schedule. I was excited to learn the torch would be brought right along the street where my apartment complex was. At the time I rented an “efficiency” basement apartment which measured 22 feet by 13 feet, seriously. It was efficient alright.
Come that Saturday, about fifteen minutes before the projected time, I went outside to the street. To my astonishment, up and down the street as far as I could see in both directions was a crowd of people. I was amazed so many people lived in the block. Day to day I would walk much, as I have for much of my life, and I would only see the average number of people here and there. Yet it was as though all of Arlington had left their abodes to line the street.
People around me were excited and friendly, and I talked with some nice folks next to me. A few minutes later, I heard people cheering to the west, and it was obvious the torch was coming down Lee Highway. Then the runner came within my sight. He ran with upright posture holding the torch firmly before him, and he was smiling. People cheered as he ran by! I cheered! It was cool. Then it was over, and the crowd began to disperse.
When athletes succeed in competition, people cheer. Cheering for someone is one kind of encouragement. Yet obviously there are more personal ways to encourage someone, and there are countless ways to encourage someone. As I have gotten older, I realize the necessity of encouragement to live the Christian life. As a follower of Jesus for 26 years, discouragement has been plenty and encouragement from people more sparse. And spending time with God, reading the Bible, doing ministry work, and doing the will of God are activities which I sure do not get a ton of encouragement for from people. Yet I can tell you the encouragement I have received from an array of brothers and sisters in Christ over all the years has been a treasure for me. I needed it. And I have worked to encourage others.
I write all of this in the wake of a week where I received some rescuing encouragement. Mounting stress as a result of being unemployed for a marathon time had reached a point last week where I could have had a meltdown. Instead I received some totally unexpected encouragement which kept me from feeling despair. From several different people last week, in a variety of manners, I was encouraged. I am grateful to all those people, all of whom do not even know each other, for blessing me. But what about those times when you are not getting encouragement from people. First and foremost, we need to listen to God our Father to be encouraged. He is always there.
There is spiritual opposition for the person who does the will of Jesus. Personally, I think especially since I have always been single and celibate, never having a loving wife, it sometimes feels like no one is cheering for me in lonely times. Sometimes it is hard for me to recognize that in simply following Jesus, I have angels cheering for me in numbers greater than that Olympic torch bearer. May you know that if you are following Jesus, you have the Creator and Sustainer of the universe not only cheering for you, yet also willing to give enabling help, and the reason is because He loves you. We followers of Jesus need to open ourselves to the encouragement of God. And we all need encouragement from brothers and sisters in Christ. So may we rely on Christ to become enthusiastic about encouraging one another. May each of us even encourage someone this week.
Hunter Irvine
The 2016 summer Olympics are under way, and I watched several of the competitions today. Back in 1996, I was living in northern Virginia, and the Olympics were in the United States that year. The torch was run across the country to Atlanta, Georgia. One day the local newspaper reported the people carrying the torch would come through our area the coming Saturday, and the paper included a map with the complete torch route and schedule. I was excited to learn the torch would be brought right along the street where my apartment complex was. At the time I rented an “efficiency” basement apartment which measured 22 feet by 13 feet, seriously. It was efficient alright.
Come that Saturday, about fifteen minutes before the projected time, I went outside to the street. To my astonishment, up and down the street as far as I could see in both directions was a crowd of people. I was amazed so many people lived in the block. Day to day I would walk much, as I have for much of my life, and I would only see the average number of people here and there. Yet it was as though all of Arlington had left their abodes to line the street.
People around me were excited and friendly, and I talked with some nice folks next to me. A few minutes later, I heard people cheering to the west, and it was obvious the torch was coming down Lee Highway. Then the runner came within my sight. He ran with upright posture holding the torch firmly before him, and he was smiling. People cheered as he ran by! I cheered! It was cool. Then it was over, and the crowd began to disperse.
When athletes succeed in competition, people cheer. Cheering for someone is one kind of encouragement. Yet obviously there are more personal ways to encourage someone, and there are countless ways to encourage someone. As I have gotten older, I realize the necessity of encouragement to live the Christian life. As a follower of Jesus for 26 years, discouragement has been plenty and encouragement from people more sparse. And spending time with God, reading the Bible, doing ministry work, and doing the will of God are activities which I sure do not get a ton of encouragement for from people. Yet I can tell you the encouragement I have received from an array of brothers and sisters in Christ over all the years has been a treasure for me. I needed it. And I have worked to encourage others.
I write all of this in the wake of a week where I received some rescuing encouragement. Mounting stress as a result of being unemployed for a marathon time had reached a point last week where I could have had a meltdown. Instead I received some totally unexpected encouragement which kept me from feeling despair. From several different people last week, in a variety of manners, I was encouraged. I am grateful to all those people, all of whom do not even know each other, for blessing me. But what about those times when you are not getting encouragement from people. First and foremost, we need to listen to God our Father to be encouraged. He is always there.
There is spiritual opposition for the person who does the will of Jesus. Personally, I think especially since I have always been single and celibate, never having a loving wife, it sometimes feels like no one is cheering for me in lonely times. Sometimes it is hard for me to recognize that in simply following Jesus, I have angels cheering for me in numbers greater than that Olympic torch bearer. May you know that if you are following Jesus, you have the Creator and Sustainer of the universe not only cheering for you, yet also willing to give enabling help, and the reason is because He loves you. We followers of Jesus need to open ourselves to the encouragement of God. And we all need encouragement from brothers and sisters in Christ. So may we rely on Christ to become enthusiastic about encouraging one another. May each of us even encourage someone this week.
Hunter Irvine
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