Category: Colossians

  • Sing Praises

    This morning I was reading in the Psalms. Psalms 120-134 is a group of 15 psalms, traditionally sung by the Jews when going to the temple, the Shir HaMa’alot (literally the songs of going up or the songs of ascent). I picture a crowd of worshippers climbing the road to Jerusalem, singing together, like a group of Christians might sing familiar hymns a cappella.

    There is something moving when a group of believers gathers and praises corporately. I remember a Promise Keepers rally decades ago; I can’t remember who spoke or what they spoke on, but I do remember tens of thousands of men, their voices united, singing praises to the Lord. What a moment.

    The Christian faith is both highly personal and communal. Each of us has a personal relationship with Jesus, but that relationship is designed to function in a larger body of believers. A solo Christian, outside the body, is not functioning as God designed us. 

    We serve one another, bless one another, love one another. We grow together, hold each other accountable and learn to extend and receive forgiveness and grace. We worship together, sing together and encourage each other.

    When the congregation sings a familiar tune, and every voice is lifted in praise, it moves us, and I am certain it praises the Lord. Now, certainly not all of us have great singing voices. My voice was once compared to a bear in work boots walking through a gravel pit. I don’t know exactly what that sounds like, but I know it wasn’t complimentary.

    The point isn’t how well you sing. It’s about opening your hearts and voices to the one who loved us beyond measure and deserves all honor, glory and praise. That’s what the Jewish people would do on the way up to Jerusalem.

    The Word encourages us to sing praises to God.

    Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Psalm 95:1 ESV

    And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Ephesians 5:18-19 ESV

    Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 ESV

    To borrow a line from a children’s song, ‘Don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing.” God knows your voice; He gave it to you, and He delights in hearing your song.

    Sing His praises.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    I’ve been struck by the power of believers lifting their voices together in praise. Our voices don’t have to be beautiful for God to delight in them.

    TAKEAWAY

    A solo Christian, cut off from other believers, isn’t functioning the way God designed you to.

    Your voice doesn’t need to sound good for God to delight in it.

    Scripture commands you to address other believers in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

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  • The great transfer – From Darkness into light

    A man standing in ne shadows moving from darkness to light

    Some friends shared some images of their recent Alaskan cruise on social media. That got me thinking of the Alaska Purchase – where the USA purchased Alaska from Russia. The price in 1867 was $7.2 million, a real bargain. That led me to think of other great transfer stories.

    Most North Americans are familiar with the Louisiana Purchase, in which France transferred land to the US for $15 Million. In a series of purchases, the US bought ½ of what was then Mexico.

    The buying and selling of countries and territories has been going on for centuries. It’s not just an American thing. Countries have been the subject of transfers since near the beginning of time.

    It’s certainly not an everyday occurrence, but it is far from being without precedent. There is a great transfer that is mind-boggling in scope. It’s an event that happened at a specific point in time but is still happening today.

    And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds, but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— if indeed you continue in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. Colossians 1:21-23

    By the grace of God, through what Christ accomplished, sinners are transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness to the Kingdom of Light. We go from being rebellious sinners to children of God. We are no longer slaves to sin but covered under the imputed righteousness of Jesus.

    I sometimes think we really don’t understand how powerful a transaction that was. God, the offended party, stepped in to free those who committed the offense. By His own blood, He redeems people who were His enemies. He pays our price.

    We’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve it. We can’t save up enough good deed points to pay our own way. We are lost forever, separated by nature and choice from the one who loves us.

    For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

    Inconceivable? Unbelievable? Mind blowing? Yes! Yet equally as true. It is the ultimate Great Transfer.

    That’s the reality of the gospel, the good news, the euangelion that the Scriptures proclaim and believers testify to. In one agonizing event, people from every tribe, tongue and age were transferred from darkness to light, a process that continues today.

    Praise God that you have been transferred to His family and tell others that hope is open to them as well.

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY

    The greatest “purchase” in history isn’t a territorial transaction but the redemption of sinners by Christ — who, at infinite personal cost, transferred His enemies from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light. Unlike the Louisiana or Alaska Purchases, this transaction was paid not with gold but with the blood of God Himself, and its effects continue to unfold in every generation.

    KEY POINTS

    The Price Was Staggering — While the Alaska Purchase cost $7.2 million and the Louisiana Purchase $15 million, the redemption of sinners cost the Son of God His life — paid on behalf of people who were His enemies and had done nothing to earn it. 

    The Transfer Is Total — Through Christ’s death, believers move from alienation and guilt to being presented before God as holy, blameless, and beyond reproach — a transformation no human effort or accumulated merit could ever achieve. 

    The Transaction Is Still Open — This redemption, accomplished at a specific moment in history, continues to be applied today across every tribe, tongue, and generation, making the proclamation of the gospel an urgent and ongoing mission.

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