Highly Exalted

The Christian who tries to live out the Christian life in today’s western culture has a difficult task ahead.  Born again believers in Jesus Christ are immersed in a society and time that deny the notion of exclusivity.  For the Christian, this will present difficult waves when living out the life we are called to live.  As a Christian our exclusivity claim is found in the belief that there is no salvation or reconcilation with God outside of believing Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and repenting of sin.  However, our surroundings preach otherwise.  We are looked upon as audacious, arrogant and even ignorant.  For the culture at large, Jesus is one way among many and that a lasting state of spiritual contentment cannot be found in Christ alone.  I will argue that our reconciliation and salvation can only be achieved by God Himself through Jesus Christ just as He reveals to us in the Bible.  Those who are believers are complete in Christ.  Christians are not in need of any other savior than Christ.

  Last Sunday I began a new verse-by-verse series of Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae.  The situation described above is similar to what Paul was teaching to this church that he never visited.  The church was infected with some false teachers who taught against the exclusivity of Christ and that people needed a deeper philosophical insight in order to attain spiritual heights of glory.  Colossians is a letter that is highly Christological and points toward the sufficiency of Christ for the believer.  The language he uses to describe the person of Jesus is a stirring tribute to the magnificence of Christ’s work on the cross.  We are assured, as the Colossians were, that our identity and assurance is found in nothing more and nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

Come and be a part of this important study as we look to magnify the name of the One who saves.  This series will be recorded and posted at a future time.

As we have transitioned from history to poetry in the Old Testament, we have discovered how God uses various genres to communicate His Word.  We began our poetry section in the book of Job and covered Psalms (last week) and Proverbs (this week).  Next week we are skipping Ecclesiastes (we will study Ecclesiastes during our January Bible Study) and rounding out the poetry section with the Song of Songs.  What we have learned is that God communicates to us through the biblical authors and their various styles.  Poetry communicates a level of emotion that is often far deeper than a narrative or historical account.  God speaks in order that He might touch the human heart and leave a mark that is cross shaped. 

As we look forward to the sermon on Song of Songs (which is often called, Song of Solomon), we find a young, in love King Solomon who writes a picture of the love between a man and a wife.  The love between a man and a woman in a marital context is one of the most intimate relationships we could ever experiences; it is like a song – a song above all songs (hence the title).  Next week we will examine the implications of the marital relationship and the picture of the Gospel that it represents.  Join us Sunday at 11am.