Hope of Glory....
I taught on this verse a couple of weeks ago at the extreme (http://www.theextre.me/) and thought I would share my notes from it.
At certain times in my life, there has been a verse that has always kept me going... It is Col. 1:27... The verses surrounding it give its context...
Colossians 1:24-29
24Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
Paul... = legit...
The glorious riches of the mystery of Christ is that He is in us and is our hope of glory.
Let's really dig into verse 27 and get as much meat out of it as possible.
Ask these questions:
Who is Christ?
Who are you?
What is hope?
What is glory?
Who is Christ?: Lets talk about who Christ is.
Volumes upon volumes upon discertation upon story upon book upon journal etc. has been written to answer this question. You can search your whole life and still learn more. You can come at this question from every angle imaginable. I googled this question... and could not find an answer that took less than 45 minutes to read. Everyone has an opinion about who he was, who he is, and how he is to come.
But let's just touch on the basics of what we know about this man, this Godman... And in even in just those basics, we will see mystery and miracle. Supernatural truly unbelievably believable things.
Jesus... Yeshua... He is real and He is alive. It is not some story that we just tell so that we can have something to talk about. But He truly IS. He really was born of a virgin. He really is God. He lived life as God and as man. He left the luxury of Heaven because He loves us. Lets really think about Him and who He is. Just the thought of a human being born the way that He was. And to have given his life... not just in death, but in the way He lived, so that WE could have life more abundantly and eternally. What an amazing Christ!
And to think that He is still alive, the only living God, ever pleading for us before the throne of God. Moved with compassion he is ever interceding on our behalf for mercy and grace. And to think that we can have communication with Him through Holy Spirit and that He communicates back. He is not some distant far off God. He is CHRIST IN US! He was, He is, and He is to come.
It is one thing to know these things... but to believe. "Whosoever BELIEVES IN ME shall have eternal life." The beautiful thing is that there is an opportunity to not just believe in Him... and not just know who He is... but to KNOW Him. We can give text book answers all day long as to who Christ is. But the bottom line is DO YOU KNOW HIM? If we don't then we are only doing Christian living, not living IN Christ.
This goes back to what Mark spoke on a couple weeks ago. He spoke about knowing our God and in turn knowing our destiny... knowing who we are.
So question number 2: Who ARE YOU?
This stage of life, that seems to be the major question. We wonder what life looks like and where we are going and what we're going to do, and who we are going to be. We analyze our every motive and action and wonder what kind of people we are and what is our purpose? You can often get into a rut and miss so many things worrying about who you are and not focusing on who He is.
Truly.. what Mark spoke about was spot on. When you know Him and know who He is and know that He is in you... who you are becomes purposeful. Full of purpose. You are in possession of the greatest power ever! Who you are is no longer just some Joe Schmo. You are not just some schlub who has to figure out life on your own, running around trying to make things work out for yourself, working your butt off just to get ahead and keep up with the Jones'. YOU HAVE CHRIST IN YOU! You are a SON! You have inherited more than you could possibly imagine!
In essence, the first question, "Who is Christ?" dominates the second question, "Who are you?" When you know who your God is... you are charged and responsible to have everything you are line up with who He is... the answer is. I am Christ's. I belong to question number 1. I am His bond servant.
Question #3: What is HOPE?
Dictionary.com says that hope is this: HOPE –noun
1. the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best:
2. a person or thing in which expectations are centered:
3.To have confidence; trust
4.To look forward to with confidence or expectation:
5.To expect and desire.
6.A wish or desire accompanied by confident
expectation of its fulfillment.
7. to look forward to with desire and reasonable
confidence.
8.to believe, desire, or trust:
This talks about EXPECTING WITH CONFIDENCE. Faith and hope are so deeply interconnected. To KNOW that something is going to happen. Hope is not a 'maybe' but it is a 'knowing' an anticipation, an expectation of what is to come.
PSALM 62:5-8 talks about expectation.....
5 My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be moved.
7 In God is my salvation and my glory;
The rock of my strength,
And my refuge, is in God.
8 Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Another definition of hope I read is:
THE COURSE WHICH ONE TAKES WHICH LEADS TO OBTAINING A DESIRE...... Hope is a course... a way.. It is a journey...
It is hope that is in front of us that keeps us running after that which we desire. If you are hopeless... you have nothing in front of you to run after. You don't see what is ahead. You have nothing to look forward to.... Who is the prize in this race? He IS THE HOPE IN US. HE IS THE WAY IN US... HE IS THE WAY TO THE FATHER... THE WAY TO GLORY.
Question #4: What is GLORY?
I've searched for days and days for this answer... And so I broadened my search and began to ask others what they thought. I found out that:
--the word glory shows up 402 times in 371 verses in the KJV.
--12 Hebrew translations of this word
--8 Greek translations of the word
Verses about glory that I found I love:
Romans 5:2
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. | ||||
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, | ||||
I had just not been satisfied with any answer I'd heard. I asked on facebook and got good answers that made since and were even the answers that I expected... I called and bugged Greg and texted and bugged Marc Ross...
Let me read some of the other answers I received to this question.
1. Something that is present when there is a high level of his presence.
2. Perhaps it is clothing. Adam was clothed in glory. We shall have robes put on us. A return to Eden?
3. A weighty presence--almost tangible, sometimes tangible. a deep feeling, that you know supercedes your feelings with a deep grace to do deep work. typically resulting from a time of true honor and praise towards the King who in turn delights in His children by "pouring out" glory.
3. His presence on a different level than what we have with us on a moment by moment basis but something heavier.
4. God's goodness, or everything that he is and all that he does. The essence of who God is.
The word translated in the Greek is "doxa" : which means a lot of things.. it had a definition a mile long... but I found this interesting:.
1.) His opinion of a thing belonging to Him. Referring to a good opinion of one belonging to Him. His goodness toward one belonging to Him.
1) a thing belonging to God
a) the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity
2) a thing belonging to Christ
a) the kingly majesty of the Messiah
b) the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ; the majesty
Christ in us... the hope that we belong to this kingly majesty and that He has a good opinion of us..... hmmm... this screams inheritance.
I called a good friend of mine who shared this with me and our conversation about glory left me seeking for more than just an answer to my question...
He said, "The glory of God is the goodness of God. All the good things of God are His glory. It is a word that holds a collection of His attributes. Just like 'Holy' sums up many attributes of Him... Glory in the same way, sums up all that is good about Him. SO that when you say "hope of glory" you are saying "hope of goodness, hope of righteousness, hope of sanity, hope of love'.... You cannot separate the Lord and His glory. But truly His glory can not fully be explained because it is the fullness of His goodness. "Joy unspeakable and FULL of glory.'.... No man shall glory in His presence... No man has the fullness of his goodness and cannot receive to himself the honor that is due the one who IS full of goodness."
He asked me if that answer was good enough....
I said... "Man, that's a really amazing answer. The best one that I've heard today. I really appreciate it."
He said, "But is it good enough?"
I said, "Well... I mean. It was a good answer."
"But are you satisfied with my answer?"
I had to say,"Well....... no."
"You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because you will never be satisfied with something you only know about... You must know His glory to be satisfied. Taste and see that He is good. You are obviously hungry for it because you cannot be satisfied with anything else. So go after it."
So here's the conclusion I have come to...
Living God in me = the way to all things good.
I am after this... I am after Him.
I pray you go after Him too.
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