Don't be shifty!

As I mentioned a couple of days back, I've been immersing myself lately in Paul's little epistle to the saints at Colossae. And one of the things that has intrigued me is how Paul describes the past, present, and future aspects of faith. In a nutshell:

• The Past Aspect: Christ's redemptive suffering, accomplishing for believers the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God (see 1:13, 20, 22, and 2:13). The key word for our understanding here is "accomplished" or perhaps "completed."
• The Future Aspect: Wrapped up in the phrase "the hope of glory." At 1:12 Paul uses the phrase "inheritance of the saints in light." At 1:23 he speaks of believers being presented before Christ "holy and blameless and above reproach." But the key word here might be "certain" or "assured." A future of glory is assured to the believer.
  

Keep in mind that the "past aspect," as I speak of it here, secures the future aspect. You can't have the one without the other. Both of these are very important to a full-fledged faith. The redemptive work of Christ is of course foundational, but the assurance of future glory seems to be a matter for growth or maturity in the faith. Which brings us to:

• The Present Aspect: the key words here might be growth or increase in knowledge of God, endurance, patience, and continuing in the faith without shifting.

Now, it is the "present aspect" that intrigues me most just now, because after all the present is where I happen to live. The following passage describes all three of these "aspects" of life in Christ, but I want to pay special attention to the implications for the present. This is Colossians 1:22-23:

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

You see the accomplished work of Christ here, and you see the future glory in which the believers are "presented" to Christ in the very "image" of Christ ("holy and blameless and above reproach"). But note what Paul says about the present, the time between our regeneration and our presentation. It all hangs on that little (yet very big) word, "if."

...if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard...

What's the implication here? Though the redemptive work of Christ is accomplished and the hope of the gospel is assured, we can nevertheless shift. We shift from that hope all the time. Circumstances shift us. "Winds of doctrine" shift us. Sinful desires shift us. We are, in fact, by nature shifting and erratic. This is our condition, the condition of our culture (even our church culture), and it is the straw at which the enemy desperately grasps in order to waylay the redemptive plan of God in our lives.

And here's where Paul comes in. Paul's ministry, given him by God to exercise on the behalf of His church, was to teach, encourage, and admonish believers so that they would mature in the faith and not shift from the hope of the gospel. That's his purpose. It's implied everywhere, but look at 1:28 for his boldest statement of this:

To [the saints] God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

It's interesting how much ownership Paul takes in the faith of the Colossians. He sees himself presenting them to Jesus on the great day. He struggles on their behalf. He suffers for them, and rejoices to do so if it means they will mature in their faith. Note also the means by which Paul works out this ministry. "Him we proclaim." The proclamation of Jesus is clearly then not only a tool to bring people to faith, but it is the very heart of pastoral ministry, bringing the faithful to maturity.

The question I pose to myself is simply this: What makes me shift? When do I lose my assurance in the hope of glory and put my hope instead in lesser things? I need to know this because I want to grow up as a Christian. I want to be solid. And I even want my assurance to rub off on others, as Paul's did.

How do I get to that place? The answers are right there in the Epistle to the Colossians, but I'll get to that in a future post (unless I receive my inheritance first!).