Colossians: Alive In Christ Ihe Atụ

What a vision this verse gives us of the local church! Paul has been helping the Colossians to see what it means to be people in Christ and the impact that has on their lives. Yesterday in verses 9–10 we thought about the new self we have ‘put on’ as believers. Here in verse 11, though, we see that this new self isn’t just something that happens to individuals, but it’s something that applies to the whole church. We’re a new people in Jesus Christ. 

All of us come into the local church with different backgrounds, experiences and gifts. Some are rich, others are poor; some are black, others are Asian; some are university-educated, others left school at sixteen. Yet, Paul says, none of these backgrounds define us when we’re gathered as church. The huge religious, cultural and social differences of that time (for example between Jew and Gentile, or slaves and free men) were no longer to mean anything for the Colossians, and the same applies to us today. The local church is a community that makes every man-made difference unimportant.

The local church is like this, not because we’re simply ‘into equality’, but because we’re Christ’s people. He’s absolute and what he has done at the cross is final, and so every other marker of who we are has been made, relative to him, unimportant. The one thing that truly matters in the local church is Christ. He ‘is all, and is in all’ (v. 11). And we show that we take this seriously by minimising every other kind of man-made division and difference. Ultimately, Christ is glorified and honoured by our unity in the middle of many differences – because we define ourselves by him alone. This is a powerful vision for every local church community. 

Reflection

1. Through which categories do you view the people in your local church? What's the most significant for you in the way you view them?

2. How can we promote this 'Christ is all, and is in all' thinking in our local churches?