Hidden Treasure

Greetings from the Panhandle and your Brother in Christ. I pray this blog find all of you who log in well.  

So here we are in Chapter 2 of Colossians, verses 1-3. Have you ever struggled with some thing that caused you some inner turmoil? “Well Bro. OH that's a silly question.” I mean who hasn't right? In these verses Paul finds himself struggling, not because of external conflict, but because of spiritual worries caused by the gnostics and other false teachers. And so he let's the believers in Colosse that he is struggling for them and the believers in Laodicea. So as Pastor Ed Newton would say, “Let's drop in and see what is going on.”

Karl Valletin of Munich, Germany, was a master among that rare group of performing artists we call clowns. The scene for which he is best remembered took place on a darkened stage illumined only by a solitary circle of light thrown by a street lamp. Valletin, with long-drawn face and deeply worried expression, walks around and around this circle of light, desperately looking for something. A policeman enters the scene and asks, “What have you lost?” “The key to my house,” replies the clown. The policeman then joins the search, but they find nothing. After a while the policeman inquires, “Are you sure that you lost it here?” “No,” says the clown, pointing to a dark corner of the stage, “over there.” “Then why on earth are you looking for it here?” asks the policeman. The reply, “There is no light over there.”

Clowns are not only performers, they are educators, teaching us by their ridiculous parables, and by becoming themselves absurd expressions of our common frailty. Valletin’s parable is a picture of the snare in which we become entangled. We go to whatever promise of light is available. Like the Colossians, we respond to explanations that appeal to rational thought, to offers of salvation that put us and our efforts in the center, to any philosophy that defines clearly and closes all the gaps of mystery. So Paul warned: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” (v. 8).

In this section Paul is contending that the secret is in a person, not in philosophy. His argument is against all those who would “deceive you with persuasive words” (v. 4). The secret is in the person of Christ Jesus.

Before Paul tells the Colossians and us about the treasure he speaks of a great challenge or struggle. This struggle is so great that Paul agonized in prayer “for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh” (vs. 1). To pray for our loved ones and friends is one thing—and they are in desperate need of our prayers; but to pray for those we do not know—that is something else requiring deeper commitment than most of us have mustered.

Col 2:1-3

2:1 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. 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

1. Built Up In Christ(vs.1-2)

Paul feared that the Colossians believers would allow themselves to be caught up in a web of deception cleverly spun by those promoting false doctrine. Struggling reveals the nature of Paul's concern. The Greek word that Paul uses means “anxiety or conflict.” Paul was not struggling because he was in prison. His struggle was not external; His was an inner struggle on behalf of believers in Colosse, and Laodicea (lah-od-ik'-i-ah) and all who have not met [him] personally. 

Paul had his eyes open to the presence and the appeal of false teachings. His concern was that the Colossian believers would have their eyes closed. Like Paul you need to have a wide-eyed awareness of the appeal of false doctrine. You have no excuse for having your eyes closed to the existence of errored doctrine, because the Bible -God's Word- is full of warnings such as Romans 16:17-18: Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

Or Galatians 1:6-9: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

Paul prayed that the Colossians would be “encouraged,” that they would be “knit together in love,” that they would experience the “assurance of understanding.” Paul tells the Christians at Colosse how to avoid being deceived in verse 2. This verse contains three elements that add up to a loving, learning community. Paul's goal is that all believers be encouraged in heart which happens as they are – knit together in love – as they are established in their understanding of the truth.

Encouraged: can either mean “Comfort, cheer up” or “support, strengthen.” In this letter to the Colossian Christians, Paul uses it with idea of strengthening. They needed strength to equip themselves to stand strong against the false teaching and teachers they faced. 

Knit together in love: Strengthening takes place as believers are knit together in love. Another definition for the Greek phrase used is “united together in love.” Unity and solidarity create strength. False teaching is naturally divisive. A person left alone, with no support, is much more vulnerable than a cohesive unit. What is it that creates unity? Love! Concern for one another. Relating to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, with loyalty and support for one another. 

 

Understanding: A loving, learning community will produce believers who are established in their understanding of the truth. Believers who link themselves with fellow believers, who care for one another, and who grow in their understanding of Christ Jesus will stand a better chance of remaining stable and confident in Him.

Who needs your intercession to these ends? What an awesome source of power—people and churches in our community and around the world praying for each other, agonizing for the cause of Christ Jesus as Paul was for the Colossians.

Paul is not anti-intellectual, nor down on philosophy. He is one of the great minds of the ages. He simply knew that as important as it is, knowledge is not the answer to meaning in life. The true knowledge found in Christ Jesus is the answer.

2. True Knowledge(vs.2)

As we look at the end of verse 2, Paul writes that understanding has a definite objective: true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ Himself, The Gnostics regarded apostolic teachings as too elementary. They believed that profound insight from their own apocryphal “hidden” books were needed by the intellectually mature. They say that wisdom and knowledge are found in mystical experiences and higher knowledge. In contrast Paul says that all wisdom and knowledge are hidden or deposited, in Christ Jesus. He is all you need and will ever need. 

 

A personal relationship with Christ Jesus, is not based on dogma or doctrinal points, it is however; the foundation for the Christian life. This does not mean we can be sloppy in our thinking; the world demands and deserves the best thinking of which we Christians are capable. 

 

Right thinking does not make us righteous, only the Cross can do that; but right thinking—right in the sense of being strong, honest, clear, and disciplined—is essential if we are going to communicate the gospel effectively to the those around us. 

 

Paul is not demeaning philosophy, great learning or intellectual growth; he was warning against the subtle mixing of Christian thought with false philosophy, and the effort to blend and reconcile the Christian message with the vogue philosophy of the day. He was also warning the Colossians against subjecting themselves to the regulations and practices of religion, falsely thinking this might provide meaning. 

 

No generation escapes being confronted with this temptation. Our present generation is inundated, with offers to fill our emptiness—from toothpaste and deodorants to where we live and the cars we drive. All of this media manipulation is an expression of overarching philosophies offered as the key to the mystery of life: the “playboy” philosophy which glamorizes the anything that feels good must be good, so “if it feels good do it” the self-realization philosophy which says that self-expression is the only way to fulfillment and meaning, so remember “I am number one.” Or the materialist philosophy that reduces us to consumers and producers—what we are is what we acquire, our worth is in our productivity. And on it goes: astrology, scientism, scientific determinism, seculerism - ad infinitum and often ad nauseam.

You are complete in Christ Jesus. Possessing Him, or being possessed by Him, you are fulfilled, having Him you have all you need. This is the supreme reality: the complete being of God is revealed in Christ Jesus. In Him the completeness to which we all seek is an accomplished fact. You can receive that fullness for yourself by yielding yourself to the indwelling of Christ Jesus. Why not do so?

In his book Souls on Fire, Elie Wessel tells a remarkable tale. It seems that in far away Krakau, long ago there lived a man named Isaac, son of Yechel. Isaac was a poor man whose family seldom ate their fill. One night in a vivid dream, he saw the distance city of Prague. He saw a river flowing through the city, and under a particular bridge he saw a buried treasure. When he woke the next morning, the dream had not faded. Every night for two weeks he had the same dream. Finally, he decided to walk all the way to Prague to see for himself if the dream might be real. After several days he arrived in Prague, and even though he had never been there he went right to the bridge in his dreams and began to look for the treasure.

Suddenly he was grabbed firmly at the back of his neck by a soldier who dragged him away to prison for interrogation. The soldier sat him in a chair and said, “All right, Jew, what were you doing prowling around under that bridge?” Not knowing what else to say, Isaac told him, “I had a dream that there was a treasure buried under that bridge, and I was looking for it.”

The soldier burst into a mocking laughter, “You stupid Jew, don't you know that you can't believe what you see in your dreams? Why, for the last two weeks I myself have had a dream every night that far away in the city of Krakau, in a house of some Jew named Isaac, son of Yechel, there is a treasure buried beneath the sink in his house. Wouldn't it be most idiotic of me to go all the way to Krakau to look for some Jew that doesn't exist. Or maybe there are a thousand Isaacs, son of Yechel. I could waste a lifetime looking for a treasure that isn't there.” With a uproarious laughter, the soldier stood him up, opened the door, and gave him a good kick, and let him go.

Naturally, Isaac, son of Yechel, walked back to Krakau, back in his own house, where he looked beneath the sink in his own kitchen, found the treasure buried there, and lived to a ripe old age as a rich man. The treasure was in his home all along.

This truth applies to Christians as well; our treasure is in Christ Jesus, who resides in us. We don't have to look anywhere else. It doesn't matter what the world says, Christ Jesus is more than sufficient to meet your every need.

3. A Not So Hidden, Hidden Treasure(vs.3)

Once again the metaphor of wealth occurs. Christ Jesus has become to Christians all that wisdom was to Old Testament sages. He is the wisdom of God; in Him all intellectual wealth is ours. Ancient sages (especially those in the Old Testament and Jewish writers) often spoke of wisdom as the true wealth. With Christ Jesus you will never mine the full treasure found in the saving knowledge of Him.

Conclusion: When your knowledge grows to an understanding of the mystery of God the Father, and of Christ Jesus, when you come to have a more clear, distinct, knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, then your soul prospers.

This knowledge lead to the full assurance, based upon the evidence, of the great truths of the gospel, without doubting, or calling them in question, but embracing them with the highest satisfaction, as faithful sayings and worthy of all acceptation.

When it comes to a free acknowledgment, one that you not only believe with your heart, but you are ready, when called upon, to confess with your mouth Christ Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, and when you are not ashamed of Him; then you will experience great knowledge and strong faith that make a soul truly rich.

Christ Jesus is more than abundant to comfort your soul. And I believe the stronger your faith is, and the warmer your love, the greater comfort your will be. You see this is the fullness of wisdom in Him, as He has perfectly revealed the will of God to mankind.

The treasures of wisdom are hidden not from us, but for us, in Christ Jesus. Anyone who will be wise and knowing may ask Christ Jesus to come into your life and He will. Draw from the treasures which are hidden in Christ Jesus. He is the wisdom of God, God made flesh to take away your sins.