Colossians 4

We have a Master in heaven. No matter how many people we may rule on earth, we are not the ruler over Jesus Christ. Having a master over us, should we consider our position to be unfortunate? That depends entirely on the one who is our ruler. There is no better master than Jesus. What kind of master is willing to give his life for someone who is his servant? This is what Jesus has done for us. Can there be any doubt of His affection for us and His commitment to us.

Not only do we have the best of all masters, but our Master is in heaven, at the center of all rule and authority, with a Name that is above every other name in heaven or on earth. When we recognize His presence with us, we are forced to consider a very mysterious fact: that Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father in a realm that is somehow beyond us, nonetheless assures us that He is with us with all His divine power and love. We acknowledge this when we pray. His ear is not too far away to hear us, and His embrace reaches us though His Word, His sacrament, and through the arms of love stretched toward us in the body of Christ.

The progress of growth is an amazing thing to consider. As with Christ, in the church we have a community that is a heavenly entity, and yet we are near it and in it on earth. For any of the nations of the world, there was once a day when the body of the Lord’s worshippers had virtually no expression within that land. Then God opened a door for the Word in that place, and those who had been sent out to preach went through that door. When men preached, people heard and believed, and they were brought into the body of Christ.

The message that the church declares is called here “the mystery of Christ.” It is a mystery not because we are unclear how it is going to end, but because something that was once hidden has now been so clearly revealed. All of the many Old Testament references to the coming Messiah and to the facts of His death and resurrection have now become wonderfully alive to so many people. It is as if the mystery was solved in the coming of Jesus and in the events of our redemption. Now we revel in the wonder of the clear revelation of our rescue from the bondage of sin.

Meanwhile, there are so many that have still not heard this message, and many more have not really embraced it. This heavenly institution, the church, is living in a world where there are many outsiders to the kingdom of heaven. We need to conduct ourselves wisely here, for we are representatives of the Messiah. That means that we have a job to do, and we cannot waste the brief years of our lives that remain. Our speech should be seasoned with the truth of God’s covenant love and grace, the salt of our sacrificial offering of our lives for God’s purposes. We undertake this mission together with others with whom we have a vital Christian connection.

There are men like Tychicus in our lives who are brothers in Christ and faithful servants in the Lord. They come bearing the news of others who preach the Word, and of many who have heard and believed that message of Christ. There are others like Onesimus who have come from our own churches and who have been sent out as the Lord’s representatives to other lands. We are always happy to hear of their progress and we pray for them in their various trials and victories.

There are even men like Paul and Aristarchus that may be detained for a season by civil authorities who have mistakenly come to the conclusion that it will be wise to stop the progress of the church through the imprisonment of the teachers of the faith. There are gospel companions like Mark, Barnabas, and Luke, who we read about in other places, as the Lord brings us through such a variety of life experiences in His service, strengthening the bonds of lasting affection among those who are committed to the Word of the Lord.

There are many whose names and stories we do not know, but we understand that they labor in prayer for us. They want to see us growing in Christ as those who would be eager to follow the Lord’s will in difficult situations. In addition to these individuals there are whole churches about which we know very little, yet we have Christ as our common bond, and we wish them well. No matter what we know or do not know about such bodies, we can rightly ask the Lord that all of the gatherings of those who worship Him would think and live more and more according to His Word.

In all of our acts of service in support of this worldwide community of the kingdom of heaven, we hope to faithfully fulfill the charge that God has given to us. The service we give to others is an expression of the divine love of the One who was utterly faithful, even to the point of His death on the cross. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. If we suffer in a heavenly cause, we will not lose. If our days end in the prisons of men, we have a home for us where Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father. The fact of a glorious eternity even now reserved for us in heaven, if embraced with the fullness of the soul, is enough to turn our chains into badges of honor that the whole church can consider together with some measure of joy. The Lord’s grace has been won for us through the cross, and that same grace will abound, and will be with us forever.