If you return with me once again to Colossians, we will read some verses from Colossians.
Colossians 1:19
For in Him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.
Colossians 2:9-10
For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,
and in Him ye are made full,
Who is the head of all principality and power.
This is the phrase I want us to focus on today: “And ye are complete in Him.”
Go back to Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-14.
Colossians 1:9-14
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it,
do not cease to pray and make request for you,
that ye may be filled with the knowledge of His will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing,
bearing fruit in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joy;
giving thanks unto the Father,
Who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
Who delivered us out of the power of darkness,
and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love;
in Whom we have our redemption.
Also in the same chapter, look at Colossians 1:24-29.
Colossians 1:24-29
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and fill up on my part in my flesh
that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ
for His body’s sake, which is the church;
whereof I was made a minister,
according to the dispensation of God
which was given me to you-ward,
to fulfil the word of God,
even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations:
but now hath it been manifested to His saints,
to whom God was pleased to make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Whom we proclaim,
admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom,
that we may present every man perfect in Christ;
whereunto I labor also, striving according to His working,
which worketh in me mightily.
Father, once again, we realize as we come to Your Word that Your Word is holy and inspired. It did not come from man, but somehow, in Your great wisdom, as was prayed in the meeting at the beginning, You have chosen the foolishness of preaching.
That is a mystery to us. But nevertheless, that is the way You have chosen to communicate the deep things of Jesus through Your Holy Spirit. Now we ask You, Lord, to help us. You know all of our deficiencies too well—our ability to communicate and our ability to hear.
Our single prayer this morning is that Christ would be lifted up, that Christ would be seen, and that we would have a greater understanding of Your fullness. We ask this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Well, I do not know about the Super Bowl thing. Notice, I did not make a promise. I think it was our brother who made the promise about the announcements. But you will get to the Super Bowl—I will make that promise. Or at least to your home. You will not get to the Super Bowl, but you will be able to watch it.
Last week, you noticed, we began in this book of Colossians. I do not know if you remember the overall idea that we were looking at, but it was this idea of the immeasurable fullness.
Now, brothers and sisters, I will make this a brief introduction, but nevertheless, I think it is necessary. Unless you understand that this is the whole subject of the book of Colossians, you will never understand the theme of the book.
What God was doing through the apostle in addressing the great problem they faced was simply to say, “Look at Him.” That was His one answer. That was the whole answer.
When the Lord Jesus was lifted up in all of His fullness, that was the solution to their problem. I wonder if that does not speak to us, dear ones. As we think about all the problems we might have, individually or corporately, maybe—just maybe—the answer is the same answer.
Maybe it is seeing Christ in all of His immeasurable fullness. When we see Him in His immeasurable fullness, all the other things we perceive as problems seem to be melting away.
To me, at least, that is the message in this book. It is the singular message in this book.
You will remember that we looked at three phrases, just to bring us back to our starting point. In Colossians, the apostle uses three ways to describe this immeasurable fullness.
First, we cited Colossians 1:19 and Colossians 2:9-10: “All the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily,” permanently.
All the fullness. What a huge word when you think about it. Maybe that word all did not mean too much to you in the past. But if you think about the magnitude of that word, the breadth of that word, the depth of that word, and the height of that word, it has incredible meaning.
All the fullness dwells in Him. That is the immeasurable fullness.
I took a page from Carolyn Bowles’ book. I pulled out my Amplified Bible. You remember how Carolyn used to read to us often from the Amplified Bible? It gave such meaning, depth, and reinforcement. In the Amplified Bible, that phrase is rendered, “The whole fullness dwells in Him.”
The whole fullness. The immeasurable fullness.
Then we looked at the second phrase, repeated again and again—not just in Colossians, but in other places—the phrase “all things.”
Brothers and sisters, I hope you will never forget that phrase when you read the Word again. When you read it in the New Testament, you begin to make a remarkable discovery: all things are, in fact, summed up in the Lord Jesus.
He is the Head of all things. He is before all things. It says in Colossians that by Him all things hold together. The end in view is that He might have the preeminence in all things.
That is not just some meaningless phrase. We need to pay attention to those things. All things are in the Lord Jesus.
When you read Ephesians 1:10, you see that Christ is the sum of all spiritual things. The Amplified Bible says that “all things” means He is the sum total of all things.
Oh, dear saints, that ought to liberate us. We have but one thing we need to look at, one thing we need to see, one thing we need to know in all of its depth—and that is the precious Lord Jesus.
He is the sum of all things.
Now, you do not think looking at things can be a problem? I will tell you a quick story. If I run out of time, we just run out of time. But looking at things can be a huge problem.
I remember—I do not know if you know this—but I am a miserable golfer. I absolutely think a golf course is the most beautiful place in the world. I know I am probably the only person who ever went to Hawaii to play golf and took a video recorder onto the golf course.
The fellow they put me with must have been appalled. “Who is this guy here with a video camera? We are supposed to be playing golf.” So anyway, I think a golf course is the prettiest place in the world, but that still has not helped my game.
I decided that the way to help my game was to get lessons. Jonathan and I went to an LPGA pro, whatever that means, who helped us with our lessons.
It happened that I took this seven iron, and brothers and sisters, I want you to know that day I hit the seven iron better than it can be hit. It was unbelievable. She said to me, “Quit your day job.” Boy, my head swelled.
I never had a 79 like that before or since. But for some reason, that day was magic.
Here is what happened: she began to get me thinking about all the things I had to do. She said, “You have got to keep your head up. You have got to get your stance right. You have got to get the ball in the exact right place. You have got to pull back the club right. You have got to bring the knee in. You have got to turn your hips. You have got to keep your right arm straight. You have got to be careful not to break your wrist.”
By the third lesson, let me tell you, I was destroyed. She jerked the club out of my hand and said, “Who are you?”
I still cannot hit a golf ball very well. All I began to focus on was all those things I had to do. I had to do this thing right. I had to do that thing right. I had to look at this thing and get that thing.
All I really had to do was hit the golf ball. Do you understand? Do you get it?
That is a simple illustration, but when it comes to the Christian life, we can get so focused on Christian things, so transfixed on things, that we do not discover that all things are in the Lord Jesus. He is the only One we need to look at.
That seems to me to be the message of Colossians.
Then we ended with that phrase, “all in all,” in Colossians 3:11. I love the way Darby puts it—and, of course, that is no surprise to you. Darby says, “Christ is everything, and in all.”
How beautiful that is. I wonder if most of our problems do not arise from the fact that Christ is not everything. You know, that would solve so many problems. Oh, if Christ were everything.
I thought of something Steve Marr said. I hope he does not mind. I talked to him at the meal Sunday, and he said, “It is an astounding thing that maybe I did not make so clear. Do we really understand that when God the Father gave us the Lord Jesus, He gave us all?”
Do we really get that? Do we comprehend? He said to me, “God could have given you far less. God could have given you a little grace. God could have given you a little love. God could have given you a little patience. God could have given you far less, and we would have been happy.”
But God, in His mercy, when He gave us His only Son, gave us His all. Oh, that is profound.
That is the message of Colossians.
Now here is the second message, and the last message. The second part comes from this phrase in Colossians 2:10: “And ye are complete in Him.”
Or, if you do not like that old English: “And you are complete in Him.”
What got my attention was the contrast between these two things—that these two things were put together. First of all, the absolute fullness that is in the Lord Jesus, and then this incredible phrase: “And you.”
That is what got my attention. I thought, these two things should not be wedded together. The Lord Jesus in all of His fullness—that we can understand, or perhaps have some comprehension of—and yet God in His mercy has put together these words: “All the fullness of the Godhead is in the Lord Jesus, and you are complete in Him.”
That is incredible to me.
It seems to me that the Lord, with that thought, erases forever any doubt about His love for us. He seems to dispel forever any thought that tells us that God is not for us.
“And you are complete in Him.” How can those two things be in the same breath?
If there were ever an odd couple, that is an odd couple.
Most of you are like me—or some of you are like me. I will pray for you, by the way. You grew up in the television generation. Do you remember the show The Odd Couple?
What a mismatched pair. Remember Oscar and Felix? Felix was this guy who was impeccably all together. Felix was neat. He had manners. He said the right thing. He did the right thing. He was always right.
Then there was Oscar. Oscar always had an old sweatshirt on and a baseball cap. He said the wrong things. In gentle terms, Oscar was a slob—a complete slob.
Yet these two were brought together: the odd couple.
Here, the Lord Jesus, in all of His glory and all of His fullness, has made a decision to take you and me and join us in union with Himself.
In that union—the most odd of odd couples—He will express all of His fullness.
“And ye are made full in Him.” That is what Colossians 2:10 means.
Sometimes I think the Lord made a bad choice. The Lord could have picked better.
I remember growing up. Today, young people have so many organized sports. I remember when we were young, we did not have all these organized sports. We played sandlot baseball almost every day.
My sister says she does not remember anything I say when I tell these stories. We must have lived on different planets, but she never played baseball with me either.
We would play sandlot baseball morning and night. We would get together as many guys as we could, and we loved it. At the beginning, we would choose the teams.
We were always looking for people to play. I remember Mikey. I will not say his last name; he is still in Richmond and is a good friend. If we could tear Mikey away from his comic books and Twinkies, we could get enough people to fill the sandlot team.
When we got to the field, we always threw the bat. Have you ever done that? One guy grabs the bat, another captain puts his hand up, then another hand goes up, and finally, when you get to the end of the bat, one person is holding it and there is no bat left.
That guy gets the first choice, and he always, without exception, chooses the best.
Now, I hate to tell you this: Mikey never got chosen first.
But think of it, brothers and sisters. Think of our Lord Jesus. Do you think the Lord Jesus did that when He chose you and me? Did He choose the best?
I think He chose Mikey.
Brothers and sisters, this is the impact of Colossians 2:10: “And you.” You has He chosen. Me has He chosen. We has He chosen, that He might bring us into all of His fullness, and then express through us all of His fullness until Christ fills all things.
That is Colossians. It is overwhelming to me, but God in His mercy has done that.
These two thoughts—“In Him dwells all the fullness,” and “Ye are complete in Him”—are the whole message of Colossians.
Campbell Morgan put it this way: “Two verses taken from the Colossian letter reveal the purpose and give the summary of its content. First of all, ‘For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell.’ Secondly, from the next chapter, ‘In Him you are made full.’”
Then he said, “There can be no doubt whatever that in this chapter we have the apex of Pauline interpretation of the person of our Lord Jesus. Nevertheless”—get this point—“all the glories of Christ are set forth at the disposal of the church.”
Is that not an incredible thought? The fullness that is in the Lord Jesus is communicated to the church. It is brought into the church so that we might discover together all that He is and be an expression of all that He is.
To me, that is the message of Colossians. Can you imagine? The Lord, in all of His fullness, wants to communicate that fullness to us and through us, as Christ fills all in all.
The Amplified Version of Colossians 2:10 says, “And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life in Christ.” Then it says, “In Christ, you too are filled with the Godhead.”
Unbelievable. Be careful with that, lest you begin to think you are something. But Christ, in His fullness, comes into us to express all that He is—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—until we reach full spiritual stature.
That leads us to our first main point: fullness as purpose.
Do you know, dear saints, that it is the thought and heart of God that all that fullness would not just remain in the Lord Jesus? As the Lord Jesus fills all things and fills His people, there would be, in the church, an expression of that fullness.
Do you understand? That is our calling. What a great calling. We are the most blessed people that have ever lived—Christians—because this is our eternal calling.
To understand this fullness as purpose, you have to understand two things. You have to understand the glory of Christ in all of His fullness. This will forever remain our emphasis: it is always Christ.
He is the One we look at. He is the One we look to. He is the One we are to discover and the One we are to know. All is in Christ.
But there is another part. If you leave it out, you will never know that fullness possessed. The church, in union with a glorious Head, is to express and possess that fullness. That is our calling.
That is what this single phrase in Colossians 2:10 means: “And you are complete in Him.” All of that fullness is to be communicated.
Turn with me to Ephesians. Maybe I can drive this point home with a few very familiar verses.
I want you to see something in these verses, because I think we read over words and skip over words as though they have no meaning, just to get to the good part. It is sort of like the way I read books.
If you look at Ephesians 1:9-10, it begins with this phrase: “Having made known.” That is one of those traffic signs you need to pick up on.
Ephesians 1:9-10
Making known unto us the mystery of His will,
according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him
unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times,
to sum up all things in Christ,
the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth.
Brothers and sisters, this is the purpose of God: having made known to us His eternal purpose.
I think often we stop there, but God did not stop there. Turn to Ephesians 3:10. Those of you who know these verses, please try not to go la-di-da and miss the point.
Here is another phrase: “In order that.” I hope you are connecting these phrases I am throwing out, because they have meaning: “having made known,” “in order that.”
Ephesians 3:10
To the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places
might be made known through the church
the manifold wisdom of God.
Do you see the connection? Having made known, in order that might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose of God.
The manifold wisdom of God—does that not sound a little bit like fullness? It does to me. It means the same thing. Did you see the connection between these verses? Do not miss the connection.
I hope everybody gets it. Herb has a sign. You have to watch this rascal. He made a sign for this meeting: “I get it.” He holds it up every once in a while.
I remember when I went to take the Graduate Record Exam. Some of the words they used in the verbal portion—I do not know about you, but I had never heard some of those words. I did not know they existed. I still do not know what recondite means. Maybe you can help me afterward.
They do not teach those words in engineering school, I am telling you. But I learned the secret. The secret was to know the bridge between the two words.
If you know the bridge in the analogy, you can understand the meaning. Do you understand? If you see the connection from Ephesians 1:10 to Ephesians 3:10, you begin to see the whole purpose of God.
If you see that it was God’s eternal purpose, having made known to us the mystery of His will, to sum up all things in the Lord Jesus, and then, in order that, it might be made known through the church—the manifold wisdom, or fullness, of Christ—you see the bridge and understand the meaning.
Somehow, Colossians 2:9-10—“all the fullness of the Godhead” and “you are complete in Him”—are connected. There is a connection. There is a bridge.
The Lord Jesus and the Father, in Their wisdom, have decided that there would be a connection. How glorious. How encouraging.
You have purpose. You have, in fact, the highest purpose in the universe. You were created to be part of that full expression of the Lord Jesus. That is your calling.
You were called so that one day, it says in Ephesians, He would display in us in the coming ages the unsearchable riches of Christ.
I cannot imagine it. I think one day God the Father is going to say, “Look at that. That is My game. Look at that.”
He will display in the coming ages the unsearchable riches of Christ. That is your calling. That is the connection. Oh, we need to see it: Christ in all of His fullness joined to the church.
Turn with me to Colossians 1:12. Do not panic yet. I know I am on the first point, and the Super Bowl is coming up, and the soup is out, and everybody is getting nervous.
Jessica is very astute. She noticed that my points are diminishing in depth and length. Maybe it is because of my capacity. So, if that is any consolation to you who can think of nothing but the Super Bowl and soup, keep that in mind. This thing will go quicker as we move on.
But turn with me to Colossians 1:12. This is an incredible phrase, the second phrase of verse 12.
Colossians 1:12
Giving thanks unto the Father,
Who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
Brothers and sisters, He has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light.
All too often, I think our problem is that we say we are unfit. We are unfit. We are Mikey. Give me the comic book and the Twinkies. We are unfit.
But this is the Word of God: He has made us fit for sharing the portion with the saints in the light.
Does that not encourage you? Oh, brothers and sisters, I think sometimes we dwell too much on what we are—and please, do not throw things at me—and not enough on what He has done.
If the enemy comes to accuse us, as his job is to do, we can quote Colossians 1:12 and say, “Yes, all of that is true, but He has made us fit for sharing the portion with the saints in the light.”
Is that not good news? You have been made fit—not physically fit, you know, but spiritually fit. He did it. Fit as a fiddle, if you will.
What this says to me is that what He is after is an expression of His fullness. Somehow, in His wisdom, He has chosen the church to be the place where that fullness is ultimately and fully expressed as Christ fills all things.
I remember when Brother Stephen spoke of Brother Nee. He said something that made an incredible impact on me, and I have never forgotten it. He said Brother Nee made a discovery: “I cannot live without the Lord.”
What a discovery. Christ is everything. But he made another discovery: “I cannot live without my brothers and sisters. I cannot live without the church.”
Have you made that discovery?
I recall in Hebrews, where it says of the Lord Jesus:
Hebrews 2:11
For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one:
for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
Have you thought about that? That verse gives me the willies. The Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren. I think we are often ashamed of one another.
One day, your children will discover that they are ashamed of you. I do not know why that happens. I do not know when it happens, but it happens.
One day, Justin and I went to the mall. This is a guy who used to hug and kiss and bounce and hold on to me. We went to the mall, and he said, “Dad, would you walk on the other side?”
Now, if you go to the mall I go to, it is a freeway. He was putting me to certain death. If you walk on the left side, there is no safety. You have to stay with the flow of traffic, sort of like Interstate 95. Those ladies rushing to the latest sale—you have to stay in the flow of traffic or you are dead meat.
So he said, “Would you go to the other side?” It shocked me. He was ashamed of me. Well, Justin, I am your dad. You go to the other side.
The good news is, I think they grow out of it. One day they discover you are not all wet. The tragedy is that one day they discover they are a lot like you. That is the greatest revenge. I discovered I am just like my mother.
But He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Do you understand? It is profound.
We should not make too much of the church. There are those who have, and it can turn into a cult. But we should not make too little of the church, because God in His wisdom has chosen the church to be the place of the expression of His fullness.
Otherwise, we should all just go home.
That is the first point. Here is the second point: fullness is provided for in Christ Jesus.
Do you know, brothers and sisters, that out of His abundant resources and all of His fullness, He has provided everything we need to enter into that fullness?
There are a couple of marvelous things in Colossians, and they go throughout the New Testament. First of all, He has put us in Christ.
He has taken you out of where you were, and He has put you in Christ. It says in the first chapter that He has translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
He has translated us. Do you understand what translation means? I am just trying to talk clearly.
He has taken you from one place—dead in trespasses and sins—and taken you out, and put you in another place: in Christ Jesus.
Now, all day long, translation is what I deal with: translation of structures. Some people think of the Christian life as rotation. You know the difference? The Lord meets me, and I turn around. I am in the same place, but I turned around.
No, the Christian life is translation. It is taking you out of one thing and putting you into another.
It just so happens that the other thing you are put into is all the fullness of the Godhead. You are put in the ocean of fullness, the unlimited, fathomless sea, as one brother put it, and the infinite sky.
You are put in the Lord Jesus. You have been translated from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. That is the first thing He does in making provision for this fullness.
The second thing He does seems even more remarkable to me. Look at Colossians 1:27.
Colossians 1:27
To whom God was pleased to make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Do you understand the difference? First, you are translated and put in the Lord Jesus. But this says something more—something even more incredible—that God has put Christ in you.
Do you see the difference? There is a huge difference. Not only are we in that fullness, in Christ, in all the fullness of the Godhead, but somehow, in the greatest mystery, Christ in all of His fullness has been put in us.
It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
When you read the New Testament, you begin to understand that over three hundred times there is this phrase: “in Christ,” “in Christ Jesus,” or “in Him.” It is a key to understanding the Christian life.
But here it tells us an even more remarkable thing: Christ has been put in us. Unbelievable. This is why we can enter into fullness.
Not only do you have a new address—in Him—start putting that on all your junk mail and send it back. “You sent it to the wrong address. My address is in Him.”
But He is in us. How marvelous.
When you read some of the words in Ephesians and Colossians, you see how abundantly He has provided. Let me give you a few phrases, since we are running out of time.
Look at John 1:16. Everyone knows that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. But think of this verse in the light of what we are sharing.
John 1:16
For of His fulness we all received,
and grace for grace.
Is that not a powerful verse? This is the abundance we have received: of His fullness, not of a portion of His fullness. You have all received grace upon grace—grace stacked upon grace.
Not a little bit of grace. Sometimes, when we are in a desperate situation, we pray, “Lord, give me a little bit of grace.” The Lord says, “You have received grace upon grace.”
Abundance.
It says in Ephesians 1:3 that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Think of the magnitude of that: every spiritual blessing.
It says in Ephesians 3 that He may give unto us according to the riches of His glory. I hope you follow the emphasis: the riches of His glory. Later, Ephesians speaks of the surpassing riches of His grace.
The infinite fullness, brothers and sisters, is what He has given us of—all of the fullness, out of His abundance. That is the reason we can enter in.
It was not a meager thing.
Ephesians 3:16-19
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man;
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be strong to apprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,
that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.
That is our calling. How glorious. How marvelous. The surpassing riches of His grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ—this is what we are called to, saints.
Here is the third point. Not only has He made every provision for us, but we are able to fully enter in and possess that provision. Do you know that?
Half the problem is that everything has been provided, but we never seem to get there. We never seem to fully enter in.
There is a marvelous illustration in the Old Testament about this fullness. Write these verses down and look at them later: Deuteronomy 8:7-10.
It is about Canaan land. When I was first saved, I thought Canaan land was heaven. One day, in the sweet by and by, we would be in Canaan. But Stephen spoke as a prophet that Canaan land was Christ.
That is Who we are to possess. We are to enter into the fullness of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is our Canaan land. It just so happens that one day we will be appreciating that in a different place.
Deuteronomy 8:7-10
For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land,
a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths,
springing forth in valleys and hills;
a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates;
a land of olive-trees and honey;
a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness,
thou shalt not lack anything in it;
a land whose stones are iron,
and out of whose hills thou mayest dig copper.
And thou shalt eat and be full,
and thou shalt bless the Lord thy God
for the good land which He hath given thee.
Dear saints, that good land is Christ. Oh, we need to make that discovery. It is a land where you will eat and be filled.
It is a land where all of your needs will be met. It is a land where, in His fullness, Christ can be discovered and possessed.
You remember the charge to Joshua: “Go into the good land that I give you.” Notice that it says, “that I give you.” If you ever think you have done it, you have missed it.
“Go into the good land that I give you, and wherever the sole of your foot shall tread, that land I will give you.”
We have to enter in. Have you ever noticed? That is why Colossians ends on such a practical note. We need to go in and possess.
Starting in chapter 3, there is some serious practical stuff. That is because we are to enter in, in our circumstances and in our situations, and possess Christ where we live.
Where we live—in our circumstances.
Colossians 3:1
If then ye were raised together with Christ,
seek the things that are above.
Do you think maybe, just maybe, at least partly, the problem is what we are seeking? Very practical.
The Lord said to those who came to Him, “What seek ye?” What do you seek?
Colossians 3:5
Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth.
You need to take up your cross daily.
Here is a verse that ought to hang you up—Colossians 3:12.
Colossians 3:12-13
Put on therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved,
a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering;
forbearing one another,
and forgiving each other,
if any man have a complaint against any;
even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye.
I believe sometimes we read that verse as though it says, “Grin and bear it with one another.” It does not say that. It says, “Forbearing one another.”
I will tell you a secret: there are things about me you do not like. That is a secret between us. I know because you tell me.
And there are things about you that people do not like. I know because they tell me. Do you understand?
Forbearing one another. Oh, how that is needed in the church—to enter into practical fullness, to possess our possession.
But listen to this. This is a heart-stopper: “Forgiving one another.” I wish the apostle had not said, “If any should have a complaint against any.”
That begins to sound like that word all again, does it not? What is left out? I often hear brothers and sisters say, “You do not know what they said to me.”
Well, I have an idea. If any should have a complaint against any, forgiving one another.
Do you think we will enter in and possess this fullness if we can forgive one another?
Let me assure you: if you are living and breathing, you may be the sweetest, most docile, charming person in the world. I know a few people like that. But given the right circumstances and the right opportunity, they just might say something that will send you.
The sweetest little thing—you would be shocked. “I cannot believe she would say that.”
Forgiving one another, if any has a complaint against any.
Brothers and sisters, the church can be destroyed—or an attempt can be made to destroy it—by bitterness.
As I have meditated and prayed about that, I have said, “Lord, do I have a complaint against any?”
Forgiving one another, even as Christ has forgiven you.
Roy Lauren, in his explanation of Colossians, said this about all the fullness: “This meant that every member of this body has available to him the unlimited power of the Head.”
“It meant a complete fitness for life. It meant a practical union of life in which man’s needs could be met by God’s power.”
In which man’s needs could be met by God’s power.
I thought about that hymn last night. I called Ken; we could not find it. Linda found it for me. It is called “There Is Always Something Over.” Do you know that hymn? A precious hymn. We used to sing it; I wish we would sing it again.
It speaks of the fullness and abundance of His provision:
There is always something over
When we taste our gracious Lord;
Every cup He fills o’erfloweth,
Rich supply He doth afford.
This is the phrase that kept reeling in my mind last night as I was preparing:
Nothing narrow, nothing stinted,
Ever issue from His store;
To His own He gives full measure,
Running over evermore.
Lord, we come to You as those in great need. We thank You so much that in You is all the fullness, and we have but One to come to.
We thank You, Lord Jesus, that somehow, in the great mercy of God, You have determined that You will communicate to us, Your own, that fullness. Oh, what a blessing, this verse: “And ye are complete in Him.”
Lord, we want to enter into a practical expression of that where we live—in our homes, with the ones we love, with the ones we work with, and in the assembly.
How weighty are these words: “If any has a complaint against any.” We come to You. You are the fullness. We pray that You would meet us.
We thank You for that verse Peter gave us: that You provide out of Your divine nature everything we need for life and godliness.
Meet us, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.