Being Perfect In Christ

-September 7, 2022-

Good morning, happy Wednesday,

“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

(Colossians 1:28).

Paul had a very ambitious goal for every believer in Christ: to present everyone perfect in Christ. Three times he uses the phrase, “every man.” The word perfect means complete, mature, and like Christ. It does not mean sinless perfection. That will not take place until we get to heaven.

In order for Paul and his co-laborers to achieve this goal they had to warn and teach each believer in Christ. Warnings tell us what to avoid doing and teaching tells what we should do. The Bible is full of both the negative and the positive. Preaching the Word should always include both.

• Warning every man – Warnings are imperatives and can save your life. There are warning labels on products, warning signs on roadways, and a host of others in various places. We can choose to ignore them, but at our own peril. Spiritual warnings are even more important than earthly ones. Nine times the word warning or warnings is used in the Scriptures.

Before God took drastic action to take Israel and Judah into captivity, He sent many warnings to His people through the prophets, but they would not heed them. 2 Chronicles 36:15 says, “And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.” If one takes heed to warnings, he is blessed and safe; if however one rejects or neglect them, it is his or her own fault. In Scripture, we have such warnings against sin, temptation, evil, the attacks of the devil, wickedness, pride, laziness, complacency, and a host of others. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak of warnings.

• Teaching every man – Teaching helps us know what God’s Word means and how to apply it to our lives. The teacher is responsible for giving the Word, we are responsible for taking heed to it. James 3:1 says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” Ezra was an excellent example of a teacher, it says of him in Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

Jesus told us in the Great Commission, “teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20a). We learn and as we learn we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As a result of warnings and teachings, we become perfect or as we said complete in Christ. One day we shall see Him face to face and be like Him. The hymn writer J. N. Darby wrote, “And is it so—I shall be like Thy Son? Is this the grace which He for me has won? Father of glory, (thought beyond all thought!) —In glory, to His own blessed likeness brought! Nor I alone; Thy loved ones all, complete in glory, round Thee there with joy shall meet,—All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord, object supreme of all, by all adored.”

Have a blessed day in Jesus, becoming more like Him. Stay safe and healthy.

In His Word and His will,

Dean