Hidden In Christ

By pastorbillwalden

I apologize to those who submitted questions as church last week, and which I was unable to answer.  I had to make an emergency trip to Mexico, and couldn’t get to your questions.  I still have them, and will try soon…

Until then, consider this nugget I discovered while studying for Colossians 3:1-4.

Colossians 3:1-4 1If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

The challenge the Colossian saints had was that religious legalists were persuading them that Jesus wasn’t enough for holy living.  They were convincing them to adopt lots of weird beliefs and practices, which the Apostle Paul refuted with great energy.

As I thought about this passage, the following thoughts came to mind:

“Perhaps the overbearing legalism of the heretics came forth because the outward lives of the saints at Colossae didn’t look “good enough” to those who looked at externals.  Perhaps they were not progressing fast enough to suit these legalists, or didn’t look holy enough, or in any number of ways, didn’t appear to be what the legalists thought they should be.  Paul assured them that “their lives were hidden with Christ in God”.  What was true about them God surely knew, and that in the good sense.  God knew their holiness, their longing for change, and their pure motives.  While it is true that ‘fruit’ from a Christian’s life ought to be evident, it is also true that much of what God is doing in someone is ‘hidden with Christ in God’, and will be revealed when Christ appears”.

Some pursue religion from false motives, others from pure.  Some with impure motives seem to succeed with their religious pursuits.  Others with pure motives seem to struggle and look less successful spiritually speaking.  Our lives are “hidden in Christ with God”.  While some might judge our externals, He knows us from the inside.

“As Christ died, & went into the tomb, His life was hidden with God, until he came forth & was fully & completely seen & known for Who he truly was.  We died with Christ, & while part of us is truly known, the fullness of who we are in Him is hidden, until He appears.  Then who we are, will be fully known”.

Blessings all…I have a crazy schedule coming up…I appreciate prayers…

How We View Others

By pastorbillwalden

God’s evaluation of a man is altogether different than man’s evaluation of man.  Religious people habitually look upon the appearance of a man and determine his degree of holiness.  They listen to his words and decide if he meets their standard of godliness.  We easily and often evaluate another’s standing with God based upon a standard of godliness that we ourselves have invented.

Such was the case with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day.  They had taken the commandments of God and misinterpreted them to such a degree that they exalted their own traditions, while in actuality, they broke God’s Law.

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Rules That Kill

By pastorbillwalden

It is true that Christianity often misrepresents the heart of God. That can be said of many other religious groups as well, but I will comment on Christianity and its misuse of the commandments of God.

It takes spiritual maturity to understand the heart of God which is behind a commandment of God. When considering the commandments of God, we must try to understand God’s intentions, not just His words. Why does God issue forth commandments for men to live by? What are His motives? Is God capricious in His decisions about how man should live, or is there a Loving Heart behind those Well Known Words. Are we to simply obey the commandments of God, and not be interested in God’s intentions?

In Matthew 12, we see Jesus confronted and spiritually attacked by the Pharisees, who were the religious legalists of the day. They were the so-called experts in what God had said, but they had lost all understanding in why God had said what he said. They had taken the laws of God, and expounded upon them. They had taken the simplicity of God’s Laws, which were intended for man’s good, and had written commentaries on them. They had created ridiculous scenarios about what God did and didn’t mean.

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