Rich
Pondering Colossians Chapter Three
Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.—Colossians 3:15-17
It feels to me that Paul is making one last effort to share how important his message is before launching into some pretty specific applications. I’m not sure how it read to his audience when he wrote about the riches of Christ. Colossae was not living in its grandest moment—shifting trade routes and a significant earthquake had diminished its wealth by Paul’s day. Perhaps that would make them appreciate all the more a message that there is a wealth that cannot be gained from earthly treasure, and it is Christ within!
“…the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Colossians 1:27 (RSV)
When the message of Christ fills our lives, not just our Sundays, we can begin to see the heavenward life taking shape. But this is not a solo journey. Too often, we keep our spiritual life to ourselves. For Paul, instead, the life lived together as believers in the same Christ brings renewal and richness to our faith!
The message is heard in our songs! Sure, we can sing to ourselves. But there is virtue in joining our voices with the voices of others, lifting spiritual truths and wisdom. Even if we are just making a “joyful noise,” sing! There are three areas of interest in singing, as Paul describes them:
Singing wisdom to one another. We can teach each other in our songs, which happens as any song relates Scriptural truth.
Singing Scripture to one another. Psalms are the songbook of Israel. As you read through the Psalms, no doubt you will see segments of familiar hymns that allow us to set Scripture to musical notes, revealing the beauty of God’s Word!
Singing spiritual truths to one another. While some hymns take poetic license, we can learn to turn our hearts toward more spiritual matters when those lyrics are on our lips.
Those descriptions remind me what a rich experience it is to sing with the Family of God, gathered to worship the King! Even little children can appreciate and enjoy singing together.
But the richness of Christ is not experienced only in song. In reality, everything we do is to express faith in the risen Savior! As believers, we watch how we live because we represent the Lord Jesus. It is a privilege to wear the name of Christ, and this life reminds us to give thanks to God!
Five times in Colossians, Paul encourages us to be thankful:
Colossians 1:3 expresses Paul’s thankfulness for the Colossian believers.
Colossians 2:7 tells us that when our faith grows strong, we will overflow with thankfulness.
Colossians 3:15 reminds us to be thankful, especially in the context of peace in the congregation.
Colossians 3:16, as we just noted, sees thankfulness overflows into our singing.
Colossians 4:2, as we are about to see, tells us that prayer brings gratitude.
Are we getting the message? The richness of Christ in us draws us to sing his praises and experience gratitude for the life He gives us.
I am part of a small group that has been meeting for worship on Tuesday nights. And we plan to keep meeting. However, we no longer have a worship leader. So we're not quite sure what it will look like going forward. Although as I mentioned to my friend, God asks us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord - not necessarily a tuneful one :)
I love hearing historical context to scripture such as the earthquake that changed the areas economy.