A long time ago, I said I would write about some of the convictions (read: rebukes) that I was experiencing as I was making my way through the book of Colossians. Well I haven’t gotten to it… (duh). Mostly because I have to find the exact… right… words… period…(or should that be… “exclamation”… maybe a dash would be better… see what I mean! Grrr!)
Anyway, Colossians, is a really great letter… and I guess they all are, but Colossians surprises me because Paul leads off with the idea of being a slave to Christ.
…just as you learned it from ?Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf (NASU Col 1:7)
That idea is an underlying theme that the Holy Spirit via Paul uses to trump and denounce the false teaching and the high status that the false teachers are lording over other believers. The spiritually elite are trumped by the ordinary slave of Jesus… no… not trumped… EXPOSED.
Paul exaults Christ as Lord, Himself as his Bond-Slave, given the responsibility of serving (not judging) the church, and the care/proclamation of the gospel. Now what I mean by judging is not the issue of calling sin, “sin”. That is part of serving the church, actually. What I gather in Colossions chapter 2 is that there were a few that were displaying their own spirituallity as superior and the spirituality of other as “weighed, measured, and found lacking. You must do more to be really close to God”.
This thread of slavery overwhelmed what my plans where for teaching Colossians. I mean I was really surprised by this element in Colossians. It is so beautifully subtle, but the theme is so strong it crushes the problem of the false teachers. I mean just crushes it! Suddenly legalism is a non-issue.
Christ is Lord
(He alone is the one who weighs and measures)
Christ has paid
(and by His Blood out of His own righteousness the charges against us are removed)
Christ our Lord
(we His bond-servants, transfered to His Kingdom)
That’s all I have for now. I’ll have to write more later. Hopefully, earlier than 6 months from now… 
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