Colossians: The Christ of Our God

There is one thing about God that is disturbing for nearly everyone, and that is that he is invisible-- meaning that he is without form that we can perceive, but in Christ he is given the form of a man. God the Father is invisible, but Jesus Christ reveals Him to us in visible form.

This is also evident in John 1:18,"No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only (Son), who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known". God the Father is invisible, but we can learn about some of His qualities and attributes by studying His handiwork in the creation. I guess this is why I am a geologist, because God designed it to be this way. "For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made," Romans 1:20.  We cannot see God the Father with our eyes, but His presence is just as real and as certain as my presence here or yours.

Fully God Fully Man

In becoming a man, however, Jesus did not discard His divinity, His divine identity.  Jesus is the image of the invisible God. It means that He is the exact representative or manifestation of the invisible God.  He is the invisible God made visible for our sake.  No one has seen God at any time, but God the Son has made Him known to us. This is evident in 1:19 and 2:9, verifying that God was both fully God and fully man. Jesus is not just the Son of God, He is God the Son, and all the fullness of God dwells in Him.  Everything that is true of God is true of Christ.  Every attribute of God is present in Christ.  Every characteristic of Almighty God is found in Christ, who is Himself God Almighty. 

The Creator and Sustainer

Christ is the author of all creation; there is nothing that he himself did not create. It's easy to be confused about that term “firstborn,” because it sounds as though Jesus was the first thing created by God, and then He created all the others. The term firstborn is a term that was used to denote the heir; he owns the universe. There is something unique about Christ, he not only created all things, but he also sustains all things as well. It is by Christ that all things are held together and how they were created (1:16-17).

The Head 

Jesus is also the head of the church being the head of the body. I love how Paul uses analogies to help make it  easier to understand our Lord. I believe he does this just as Christ used parables to teach, so those who can hear will listen and understand. He said that just as the body has many different bodily parts, so the church has many different people and all of us have our own function to fulfill as God has gifted us. We can see this in so many ways, but the way I like to look at it is that Christ is the brain. He’s the controlling force; he directs all the parts of the body as He sees fit. The sin in our lives is much like a bodily infection that wants to take over the brain. Just as the brain sends out signals to parts of our body, Christ sends us conviction and spurs our hearts by the Holy Spirit, yet we still act often times in disobedience.

I would just like to end by one thing I have learned from Colossians. When I struggle with sin, I look at the preeminence of Christ, and ask myself," What am I not believing about Jesus and what am I believing when I am sinning?" If he is our Christ, who is our life, the Name above All Names, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Lover of our souls and the Redeemer of our Lives, then in all things, He must have the supremacy. Jesus is the answer to my problems.

Colossians: Spiritual Knowledge and Thanksgiving

"just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
    And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:7-14

Colossians 1: 7-8
Something that can be tough for Christians to speak of other Christians well. I know that there is one person in particular, in my life, who loves Christ with everything he has, but my sinful nature always wants to belittle him or speak in ill will of him. We see the flaws in our fellow brothers, but the godly man speaks as Paul does of Epaphras as well as Epaphras does of the brothers at Colossae; if we do speak of our brothers and sisters then we should do so in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, so that we do not cultivate a loathing for the Holy Spirit's work in the world.

Colossians  9
I like that Paul doesn't only pray for faith, love, and hope; he prays also for them to know God more fully and to be filled in the knowledge of His will. We can look at this in so many ways! As Christians, we know our Triune God, but we can sinfully believe that we have it all down. We are saved, so that is enough, but WRONG! If you believe that you have learned all that is worthy to learn then in the future when God reveals truth to you in His Spirit, your heart will grow in contempt, and as it grows in contempt you will begin to disdain God's dignity. The beautiful thing here is that to be filled in the knowledge of His will all you must do is read his word: it is up to him what you are blessed with in your reading, prayer, and meditation over the scriptures. Be encouraged, Christian. You will be blessed.

Colossians 10-11
The thing that resounds in this passage is holiness; we hear from God himself to be holy, for I am holy. In order to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, we are to seek holiness in steadfastness in our lives. This may mean that we must cut things off from our life, but this is also as Christ encourages us to do the same when he says if you right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, for it is better to go to heaven with one hand rather than go to the fires of hell with both hands. That was paraphrased, but this passage spoke to me saying to be holy and that cutting off your old self is simply apart of your sanctification. He has previously prayed that they might have both a sound understanding and the right use of it, so also now he prays that they may have courage and constancy.

Colossians 12-14

We have so much to give thanks for as Christians; I attended a local church in Madisonville where they were so thankful and joyous that I was filled with glee knowing that these brothers and sisters love Jesus Christ with everything that they had! Our God has made himself known to us through his son in whom his blood not only is redemption for us, but pardons all of our sins in the past, present, and future. We truly have a gracious God who knows of the depth of our sin, but can still come to us, and present us Holy before himself through the blood of his son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. When I read this passage I always am reminded of the prophet Isaiah when he says "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,and thick darkness the peoples;but the LORD will arise upon you,and his glory will be seen upon you." It goes back sin yet again-- our sin separates us from God, for it is darkness, and God is light; darkness and light cannot coexist. This is why we must hold on to Christ because we are not acceptable to God other than through Christ. He says that this redemption was procured through the blood of Christ, for by the sacrifice of his death all the sins of the world have been expiated.

Reflections & Thoughts of Colossians 1:1-6

Colossians 1:1-6

    Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
    To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
    Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
    We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
   

    Just FYI, I am not a theologian, I am just a sinner saved by grace with a desire to know Christ more fully, so I may be jumbled up in my writing as well as it may be apparent that I have no theological training. When I read this I was encouraged just that Christ would give me the ability to learn about scripture, and be able to memorize it. While I have been on the road, I have struggled to find community; this is something that we may take for granted at a church like Sojourn, but when you are out working in the oil fields it is rare to find a faithful brother-- it is a blessing that for a time I have been able to come and seek encouragement and revitalization at my home church in Louisville. God has given me a church to be blessed by and learn from in every place I have been. 

A friend of mine once told me that Paul had not actually been to Colossae, but they knew of him from one of those men whom he had mentored. I've noticed that Paul always identifies himself to the readers of his letters, and my guess is that he wants to verify that he is indeed an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ (an apostle of Christ Jesus), so he doesn't write from his own authority (by the will of God)-- he writes to encourage his faithful brothers in the faith. I can really identify with Paul when he says "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you...", in all our joys and struggles we must readily call to remembrance the goodness of God, and the unmerited blessings that He brings to us by our fellow workers in the Lord through the Spirit. There are two things that he is thankful for that as a Christian often times I overlook or simply under value; he is thankful for their faith in Christ and their love for fellow Christians-- it may not say that he is thankful for anything else, but I reflect on these things seeing in my own life those whom I am not thankful because of their faith and love for other Christians. He wants us to acknowledge with gratitude not merely those things which the Lord confers upon us, but also those things which he advises others.

Good ol' Canis lupus impersonating Ovis aries again...

Scripture always convicts me that Christ is truly Lord especially when I read ,"since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus"-- it always shows me to keep my eyes on Christ because he is our salvation and the proper image of our faith. Since we are made in his image, I see myself in life focusing on myself instead of the Lord, yet not realizing in the moment the glory of what it means to be made in his image. It leads then to "because of the hope laid up for you in heaven", and when I read this I see that Paul has already mentioned three really big things that are a part of the Christian life. 

• Faith - We have faith in Him who was the propitiation by His own blood once and for all, atoning for all of the sins of his people for sin in the past, present, and future, and  he is now exalted at His Father’s right hand. He who knew no sin became sin, so that we may know the righteousness of God. Our faith is a gift from Him.

•  Love - I feel as though I should love Christians not for their station, or for their natural amiability, but because Jesus loves them and because they love Jesus. The faith is in Christ Jesus, but the love extends beyond Christ, and goes to all those who are in union with Him.

• Hope- Christians have a hope in the world to come whereas people of the world have a hope in something that can be seen by the eyes; by this I mean that we do not desire fame and riches, long life and prosperity, or for pleasure and domestic peace, for our hope is in the promise that Christ return and he will make all things new, fulfilling what he has spoken to us in His word.

 If Christianity were something like a flower then I would hope that these three would be the petals representing true beauty that is of Christ. Thanks be to God that he has given the gift of faith to his people, for it is that faith that yields my love because it was, after all, Christ who loved us first: faith and love in and for Christ leaves us praying,"Come Lord Jesus!". The hope for myself isn't to lie on a hammock eating grapes in pleasure, but rather it is to be totally connected in a full and raw relationship with Jesus, so that is heaven to me simply to be in his presence for eternity. Of course, along with it come great things like no crying, no pain, or sin anymore because the hope is that Christ will make all things new.

When I read,"of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel," I was encouraged because I was reminded of the gospel. It is a thing that we must as Christians should be preaching to ourselves daily. The phrase "of this you have heard before" is something that I identify myself with in that I can get so dull to the gospel that I find myself vilifying the cross of Christ-- who am I to vilipend my Lord who was the first born of all creation? He created everything, predestined us for his glory, and even knows every hair on our head. It is during this time that I can see myself see believing less in the gospel and more in a mammonistic thought that I or Satan, himself, brings to my head. When I reflect on "the word of the truth, the gospel," all I can do is ask myself this one question. Is there any other truth? The answer is obviously no; the only truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ, for he is the way the truth, and the life, but do I believe this in my day to day life? Am I believing this when I sin? My actions would bespeak otherwise at times.

In verse 6 it begins with,"which has come to you" which made me stumble in memorization. It made me stumble because it seems that it would be easy to gloss over; let's be honest with one another, we would like to say that you came to God, and not the other way around: it is an easy thing that we can say and believe, but is it really the truth? No. God gives us that gift of faith, and it is only because of his Grace that we receive it. Mankind have capricious minds, switching back and forth, for that is one thing that God is not, and I am so thankful for it. He doesn't decide to change his mind considering the gift of our faith, and not only does he give us that gift of faith, he also sustains and grows our faith as well.

The gospel since those days has been bearing fruit and growing. When I read,"as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, as it also does among you," I reflected and thought of how great God's mercy and grace truly are to save so many souls from eternal separation from him. I don't see in the passage that everyone in the entire world will be saved, nor do I believe that every single person in the world is bearing fruit and growing, but I do believe this of his people. What does it mean to understand the grace of God in truth? Spurgeon puts it well when he says," We do not know the grace of God in truth unless it brings forth fruit in us. We may know it with the head very correctly, but yet we do not truly know it unless it is knowledge in the heart, knowledge in the inner man. We do not really know it unless it affects our lives, and brings forth faith love, hope; — faith, which lifts us above the world; love, which preserves us from selfishness; and hope, which keeps us up under all trials." He put it so well that I feel insufficient to actually provide an answer for my own question, for it feels that it is answered so fully to add to it would only depreciate the value of Spurgeon's answer.

All in all, I would have to say that God has blessed me tremendously in my efforts to learn and study even thus far in Colossians. I pray that my further study can be just as fruitful, dare I say even more fruitful.

Grace and Peace

Colossians & My Desire For Growth

I decided to dedicate myself over Lent to read, study, and memorize as much as possible of Colossians. The goal is not exactly to recite everything word for word, but to learn more about a good and holy God. It only has four chapters, so I though to myself... Could I memorize about a chapter over about 10 days? It seems like it shouldn't be that bad when comparing how many songs I have memorized even by one singer alone. You would think if you can memorize hundreds of songs that you could memorize 95 verses over approximately 40 days. I just want to clarify that I am not blogging to be self-righteous, but for growth in Christ, so I would be happy to hear from others in hopes to be conformed to Christ.

I desire to have a solid understand of who Jesus is and what He desires to do in our world today, so I thought that a book like Colossians would be essential for me in this process. I can talk until I am blue in the face about Jesus, but I have always struggled with memorizing bible verses, and knowing where they are exactly in the Bible. In my struggle with sin, it is always evident that me in what I have a hard time believing about the gospel is the sufficiency of Christ and his supremacy. 

It's my understanding that Colossae was about 100 miles inland from Ephesus on what was at one time, a major trade route to India and China, and with it being such a major trading headquarters, I assume, that it was a hub for many types of religion and spirituality. In my life before Christ, I was a Tibetan Buddhist-- I surrendered myself to false hopes that I could attain nirvana, and be liberated from the cycle of samsara; the image of Christ would occur in my thoughts when doing visualization meditations.I grew up in a Christian home, but doubted the Godhood of Christ-- my doubt wasn't able to stop Christ from saving my soul from a false hope. Even today, I still have times where I would catch myself thinking thoughts of my old self. My prayer is that Christ will exterminate my old self. I hope that this blog will be an exoteric explanation of Colossians going slowly and verse by verse.

My next blog will be about Colossians 1:1-6.   

               Colossians 1:1-6 ESV BIBLE

 "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
    To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:
    Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
    We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,"
   

Collosians and Lent

During this time of Lent, I plan to devote myself to memorizing scripture like never before. I pray that the Lord will work in my heart to make me a man after his heart. I have been a terrible sinner my whole life, but He has had mercy while even showing me His grace.-- during this time of Lent, I will be doing my best to post about Collossians, my struggles, and my victories that Christ has bestowed upon me only because of his will. If you ever read of this blog, please pray for me that I can have a deeper understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Book of Earth

As a geologist looks and thinks about the earth, he can see that geologic time is much like chapters in a book while rocks play sentences, minerals play words, and atoms play the letters. The book covers the world from its origin to where we are today, detailing only that from the lithosphere, but also from the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere; we will, for now, focus on the lithosphere. I will only briefly speak about atoms because the further you go the more I digress from minerals.

Letters Of the Earth

All things are made of atoms: they are tiny particles that constantly move around, attracting and repelling one another. The word "atom" is derived from the greek 'atomos'  meaning indivisible. We know, now, that atoms are divisible. The atom is composed primarily of protons, neutrons, and electrons; protons are positive, neutrons are neutral, and electrons are negative, yet even then the atom just like the rest of the world is composed of mainly space. If you are familiar with Chemistry then you know about the periodic table of the elements. "Elements are presented in increasing atomic number; while rectangular in general outline, gaps are included in the rows or periods to keep elements with similar properties together, such as the halogens and the noble gases, in columns or groups, forming distinct rectangular areas or blocks (Gray)". The columns represent the groups and the rows represent the periods that the elements are classified under.

Words of the Earth

Most minerals are compounds, which means that they are combinations of elements. Some minerals are elements by themselves. Chemical bonding is the process by which atoms append to form compounds yielding minerals; you see these compounds bonded together by different bonds like ionic, covalent, van der vaals, and metallic, yet we mainly see ionic and covalent bonds.

In the earth's crust you see that about 98% of  it is composed of 8 elements. They are 46.6% Oxygen (O), 27.7% Silicon (Si), 8.1% Aluminum (Al), 5.0% Iron (Fe), 3.6% Calcium (Ca), 2.8% Sodium (Na), 2.6% Potassium (K), and 2.1% Magnesium (Mg).These elements are the matter in which these minerals are composed.

What is a mineral? 

A mineral is anaturally-occurring,homogeneous solidwith a definite, butgenerally not fixed,chemical composition and an orderedatomic arrangement.It is usually formed byinorganic processes.

1. A naturally occuring synthetic compounds are not known to occur in nature and cannot have a mineral name. However, it may occur anywhere, other planets, deep in the earth, as long as there exists a natural sample to describe.

2. A homogeneous solid meaning a mineral must be chemically and physically homogeneous down to the basic repeating unit of the atoms. It will then have absolutely predictable physical properties (density, compressibility, index of refraction, etc.). This means that rocks such as granite or basalt are not minerals because they contain more than one compound.

3. Definite composition of atoms or groups of atoms must occur in specific ratios. For ionic crystals (i.e. most
minerals) ratios of cations to anions will be constrained by charge balance, however, atoms of similar charge and ionic radius may substitute freely for one another; hence definite, but not fixed.

4. Orderly atomic structure is that crystalline materials are three dimensional periodic arrays of precise geometric arrangement of atoms. Glasses such as obsidian, which are quasi-solids, liquids (e.g., water, mercury), and gases (e.g., air) are not minerals.

5. Inorganic processes mean that it was not made by life, so crystalline organic compounds formed by
organisms are generally not considered minerals. However, carbonate shells are minerals because they are identical to compounds formed by purely inorganic processes.

10 General Properties for Minerals

CLEAVAGE 

It is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite crystallographic structural planes; typically you will look at the number of cleavage directions and the shapes that it breaks into. This is one of the most used properties to identify a mineral. Cleavage describes the way a mineral breaks along its plane of weakness; the plane of weakness is based on the atomic bonding in the exact point where the bonding is at its weakest, so this happens whenever the mineral is placed under stress in whatever form this may be.

FRACTURE

Fracture is what I would say is also one of the most defining characteristics of identifying a mineral. It described the shape and the texture along the surface of the mineral where the fracture has taken place. All minerals exhibit fracture, but sometimes it can be disguised if the cleavage is most obvious. Conchoidal, Earthy, Hackly, Splintery, and Uneven are the main types of fractures.

The most common I can think of would example of conchoidal fracture in a mineral would be flint. Obsidian is the go to guy for that type of fracture, but it is not actually a mineral.

Hackly fracture is most common in native elements that are represented also as minerals. The term hackly refers to the fracture appearing torn. Below is an example in the native element mineral Gold.

Earthy fracture is also a common type of fracture that you may see, and it is most easily identifiable by the fact that it appears as though it just came out of fresh sediment. One of the best examples of earthy fracture is the mineral limonite with a picture available below.

Splintery fracture is one that is noticeable by elongation in the mineral. The one I think of first is chrysotile; it may sound familiar because it is the most common source of asbestos. It is easy to see in a mineral such as chrysotile due to its fibrous appearance.

Uneven fracture is also really common; when I work on the oil rig, pyrite is a very common mineral to see. 

COLOR

Color can be useful in identification of minerals, but not as much as one may assume. It should only be an indicator for certain minerals; the deceiving thing about minerals is that they may be a different color, yet still be the same mineral. One good reference for this would be quartz due to its occurring state, it may be pink, colorless, purple, red, and etc.
 

CRYSTAL FORM

Crystal form can play a vital role in mineral identification due to minerals usually taking the same forms. Of course, nature never likes to be pigeonholed, so we know that some minerals may occur in different crystal forms, and we call these polymorphous (meaning many-forms).

DIAPHANEITY

Diaphaneity may be a tough word to spell, but it is an easy characteristic to remember about minerals. It is pretty much the way light will interact with the mineral; minerals can be translucent and transparent. The diaphaneity can single out many minerals for identification.

HARDNESS

Hardness is also a very indicative tool to identify a mineral, but be mindful that it is possible for different cleavage planes to provide a different hardness. This goes down to a molecular level; there is a scale for hardness known as the Moh's scale of hardness. I do much better learning when I can form mnemonics for memorization.  I use the following to remember the minerals correlated with the hardness scale. 

True Geologists Climb Faults And Observe Quarries To Contemplate Deformation.

Talc, Gypsum, Calcite, Fluorite, Apatite, Orthoclase, Quartz, Topaz, Corundum, Diamond

LUSTER

When you get to an introduction to geology class you will hear the instructor ask,"if a mineral was metallic or non-metallic?" This is a great tool for a quick dismissal of minerals in steps to identify minerals. Luster can be identified in many different ways because it is multi-faceted. You can have vitreous, adamantine, metallic, dull, greasy, pearly, resinous, silky, waxy, and etc.

SPECIFIC GRAVITY


Specific gravity is a great characteristic to identify many minerals. Galena is a fairly good one because of its specific gravity. It is basically how much the mineral weighs in comparison to water. Some minerals due to composition and structure will be much heavier than others that may take up the same volume of space. 

STREAK

Streak is used while scarifying a mineral against a "streak" plate, but I have used paper before when I have been out on the rig. This can help for identification as another tool to reinforce what you may believe a mineral is, in addition, to being able to identify minerals that may be similiar in appearance, but yield a different type and color of streak.

TENACITY


This is the reaction that the mineral will yield physical when under stress. The stress can come in several different ways whether it be bending, crushing, tearing, or breaking. Most minerals are brittle that you will come to find out, but other minerals can be flexible, malleable, ductile, sectile, and sometimes even elastic.

probare...scientia... probe knowledge

We all know of the world in which we live, but we only know a certain extent scientifically speaking. We have breakthroughs since the birth of science, but we cannot explain everything. I wanted to take some time early to elaborate that I will not be taking theological topics to describe the world in its creation and how it is sustained.

There is a common misconception amongst many people science is truth, but let me encourage you that science in and of itself is not truth. We make observations of aspects of the world (watching gravity when dropping a ball), and we call these facts which contribute to our data; it is when we provide an explanation of the data that we manifest mental images that collaborate all of our data in hopes to discover why X has happened, and this is called a hypothesis. When you produce a hypothesis, you must try to disprove it, for if you are unable to disprove it then it is not science. Another term to be introduced is the scientific word "theory", yet when I say theory there are many of you who may say,"Oh.. evolution... it is just a theory". This is a huge misconception of what the scientific term theory means; many people believe the term theory to mean a guess or an imperfect fact.  It is when you try to prove your hypothesis wrong, but it stands against many tests, leaving it to be to be very credible and thoroughly tested through many rounds and multiple types of testing. After this, it may be known as a theory. Facts are the earth's data, and theories are the interpretation of those facts.

Science deals with the natural world, looking for natural causes for natural phenomenon. It's not a perfect system, yet it is the best means that we have to find the true nature of nature. In science, we like to say that we will try to prove something by running sets of tests,analyze data, so on,and so forth (you get the idea). The term prove comes from the latin "probare" meaning to probe. Thus, we probe the truth in search of truth: we are very aware of our perceptive faculties, and our flaws, so you may often see error bars in science . These bars will give an approximation to maximum error, but not the actual error. As I stated earlier, science isn't perfect, its simply the best proposed mechanism we have. The central dogma of science is that there is no central dogma, because the outcomes from scientific studies can be overturned. Uncertainty and doubt are essential to science. It accepts that we as humans have flaws and addresses it correctly. All advancements come from previous advancements.