Do You Love A Mystery?

By Mac 11 June 2001

The purpose of this study is to help new Christians fall in love with the Bible. It may also prove helpful in assisting ‘older’ Christians in the same way, who have lost their zeal and desire to daily search out God’s words.

Turn to and read Colossians 4, verses 2 through 6.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

DEVOTE=Dedicate, give over, apply

Most people in the 1^st Century Churches of Christ did not own scriptures, the bible was read to most of them aloud. That’s how they learned. In acts 2:46, it was said that they met every day to hear the word of God. They had an eagerness for learning. IN Acts 17:11, you see how they loved to be in the word. (Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.) They were EAGER to find out all they could.

How about you? How much are you in the Bible every day? Are you tithing? Spending at least 2.4 hours a day for God, either in Prayer, Bible Study, or evangelism.

Read Psalm 119:97-104 How excited do you get about reading the Bible?

I Corinthians 3:1-3 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

Colossians 4:2----Are you being watchful and thankful? If you don’t know what to watch out for, you really can’t be watchful. You have to read Colossians 3:5-10, Ephesians 5, and my favorite, Galatians 5. Get to know what sin is, but more importantly, get to know how to overcome it. Don’t be like a sluggard. Read and learn. (proverbs 6:9) How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? Learn to recognize and avoid sin. Spiritual laziness and idleness can lead to falling away. You have probably heard the old adage that “Idle hands are the work of the devil.” Most of your ‘free’ time should be devoted to God. If you don’t HAVE free time, you need to make it, because you are then showing traits of spiritual laziness.

Mystery! I love a great Alfred Hitchcock mystery. I get eager when mysteries come out in the theaters; I want to go see them. Colossians 4 mentioned the mystery of Christ. Paul also talked about this mystery in Romans 11:25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And again in 16:25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,…

1 Cor 15:51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—

Eph 1:9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

Eph 3:3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

Eph 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

Eph 6:19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,

Col 1:26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.

Col 2:2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

1 Tim 3:16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

ITS A MYSTERY!!! READ IT!!! Get excited about the outcome. Your salvation.

Col 4:5…be wise. There are just too many scriptures about being wise to cover in this study. I suggest you do a study on wisdom, just in the book of proverbs alone. It could take a while. The last half of this verse: make the most of every opportunity. What is he talking about? Not only in evangelism, but also make every opportunity to get into your Bible. Be like the Bereans. Jesus made the most of every opportunity to preach on God’s word. Talking to someone at a well, walking on water, healing blind and crippled, correcting the Pharisees….over and over, he made the most of every opportunity. Even when he was attempting to be alone and mourn over John the Baptist’s death, (Matthew 14:13) the people (numbering over 5000) came to him. He made the most of that opportunity to show the love of God for them. The taught his disciples valuable lessons with that act. How do YOU make the most of every opportunity. Do you work on cars, stay way too long at work because you may be inefficient in the normal 8-hour work day? What keeps YOU from reading the Bible and studying it’s contents? When is the last time you put together a formal sermon?

The last verse (col 4:6) This is really talking about evangalism. But you really can’t do well at telling others about the word of God unless you are knowledgeable yourself. Romans 15:14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Paul say we have to be complete in knowledge in order to be competent to instruct others. Can you instruct others? Do YOU know the First Principle studies? Do you KNOW your Bible? Do you know the great stories in the Old Testament? Do you know the truth about salvation as described in the New Testament? You can only become competent by continual study. Become “seasoned with salt”. Learn the Bible. Learn to use the Bible as a teaching tool for others. Learn the Bible so you can learn what sin is and how to avoid it. Read and learn.

And lastly, I want to leave you with this thought. I feel about the people in my Bible Talk the same way Paul felt about the people in the church at Colosse.

Colossians 2:1-3 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

To God be the glory, Amen.