From: Steve Berkowitz
To:      heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Morning Meditations


This is a devotion called Morning Meditations written daily
by my former pastor, Bro. Earl White. He has been ministering over 43
years. He resigned as pastor of Shady Grove Baptist Church Jan. 1, 1997
to enter the promotion of missions in local churches through Mission
Conferences. He had pastored Shady Grove Baptist Church for 27 years. He
has a Masters Degree in Bible languages, and a Doctorate in Psychology
beyond his BA degree.


        AN INSPIRED DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST
        Col. 1:18-20

Morning Meditation 7-8-98

Verse 18-20 says, "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have
the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to
reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in
earth, or things in heaven."

I fear when I attempt to comment on this passage. I am dealing with truth
so holy and exalted that I fear my unworthy comments may contaminate it. I
pray that they will not.

The first thing we will look at is...

JESUS IS DESCRIBED AS HEAD

It pleased the Father to make Him head. Most preachers and people I know
believe this. Our problem is a matter of practice. It is the PRACTICE of
most to serve Him as best one can according to His revealed will (the Word
of God) and think that He simply rubber stamps every thing one does. This
leads us to ask, "What does the Headship of Christ mean?"

1.  It means that He has exclusive authority. The local Church
(remember Paul is talking to a local church) is called a body, and a graphic
description is found in 1 Cor. 12 where the individual members are compared
to body parts and represent individuals making up that local assembly. The
idea is that no member is independent of another member or of the HEAD. The
Head has exclusive authority over the members.

We need to ask ourselves if we are recognizing Him as Head? It is
not enough for us to assume that we are operating under His authority just
because we are operating Scripturally. If we are under His Headship, the
Scripture will be our unqualified source of instruction. But the Bible says
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Should
everyone just pick up and go to some part of the world and begin to preach
without a divine call and specific guidance from the Head? We make a
mistake when we do not see that His Headship involves immediate and
continuous control of every member of the body right now in this life.

Jesus is outside the church at Laodicea. Do you have any idea why?
I believe it was because they were not allowing Him to be Head (read Rev.
3:14-22 with this in mind). Jesus is not going to be pushed over to the
side and ignored in a local church. When the pastor assumes the head of the
church, or a board (deacons or otherwise), or a democracy where the people
rule, Jesus is pushed right out the door. Decisions of purpose and
direction should always be decided on our knees. There are too many
assumptions made that He will just rubber stamp what we do if it is a good
cause and does not contradict the Scripture. He is the Head, He is alive,
and He has not given His Headship to another.

2.  It also speaks of life as well as law. He is my personal life. He
is not just the Head of the church, He is the Head of each individual. He
indwells us to live His life in and through us as we allow Him to be
Sovereign. It is no longer our life, it is His (Gal. 2:20) Do we have to
yield Him absolute control? No, we do not. Here is where many miss it in
their Christian lives. To many, Jesus is simply a fire escape from hell.
They think He is their servant whom they can call on in emergencies.

Jesus is the Power to do His will. Bishop H.C.G. Moule wrote:

To know, to do the Head's commands.
For this the Body lives and grows;
All speed of feet, all skill of hands,
Is for Him spent and from Him flows.

3.  There is one other thing I want to mention before I pass to the
next thought. Paul says, "And he is the head . . ." The word "is" is in the
present tense. This speaks of resurrection, exaltation and His present
SESSION as Lord of the Church. Jesus IS HEAD whether He is recognized as it
or not. It is not a matter of us "making Him Head." The Father has already
done that, and He (the Son) assumed that position upon His return to the
Father as our ONE MEDIATOR. The reason? "That in all things he might have
the preeminence." Jesus is the One and ONLY One who should have preeminence
in our worship services, our church business meetings, and our personal
lives. To Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen!

The second thing we look at is that...

JESUS IS DESCRIBED AS THE ONE IN WHOM ALL FULNESS DWELLS

This is definitely the choice of the Father. Paul says, "For it pleased the
Father that in him should all fulness dwell." The word "pleased" translates
"eudokeo" and means, "good pleasure." It is an aorist active indicative
verb which refers to a once-for-all act in the past wherein the Father made
this choice.

The word "fulness" translates "pleroma" and means, "that which is (has
been) filled, a ship inasmuch as it is filled (i.e., manned) with sailors,
rowers, and soldiers." Wuest quotes Vincent: "The fulness denotes the
sum-total of the divine powers and attributes. In Christ dwelt all the
fulness of God as deity. There must also be taken into account the
selection of this word fulness with reference to false teaching in the
Colossian Church, the errors which afterward were developed more distinctly
in Gnostic schools. Pleroma (fulness) was used by the Gnostic teachers in a
technical sense, to express the sum-total of the divine powers and
attributes. From the pleroma they supposed that all those agencies issued
through which God has at any time exerted His power in creation, or
manifested His will through revelation. These mediatorial beings would
retain more or less of its influence, according as they claimed direct
parentage from it, or traced their descent through successive evolutions.
But in all cases this pleroma was distributed, diluted, transformed, and
darkened by foreign admixture. There were only partial and blurred images,
often deceptive caricatures of their original, broken lights of the great
Central Light." Paul counters their false belief system by the use of their
favorite word and says that the "pleroma" dwells in Jesus.

The word "dwell" translates "katoikeo" and means, "to dwell, settle down."
It is aorist tense and means to settle down permanently or to be a home." Paul
is saying that the fulness has its permanent home in Jesus. Jesus is the
residence of the fulness of God. It is vain to go beyond Him in one's search
for anything.

The third thing we look at is that...

JESUS IS THE ONE THROUGH WHOM ALL THINGS ARE RECONCILED
TO GOD

Paul says, "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things
in earth, or things in heaven."

The words "having made peace" translate "eirenopoieo" and mean, "to make
peace, establish harmony." It is an aorist active participle. The aorist
tense means that He did it once-for-all. It is history. The peace a
believer experiences at salvation and throughout his Christian life is a
peace already obtained. We only experience it when we believe, but it is
there for the taking. Note the following:

1.  It is through the "blood of His cross" that this peace was
obtained. Don't ever let anyone tell you that the blood is not important.
Don't neglect to use a word that the Bible uses to describe the price of
one's redemption and the basis for forgiveness. And don't make the mistake
of defining it in a way that takes away from its obvious meaning and use.


2.  It is by Him that reconciliation takes place. The word "reconcile"
translates "apokatallasso" and means, "to bring back a former state of
harmony." This is speaking of the restoration of all things to complete
harmony with God. It is through HIM and "the blood of His cross" where this is
done.  A man is a fool to think he can bypass Jesus and ever be reconciled
to God (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). What Adam lost is regained (and more) in
Jesus FOR THE BELIEVER.

3.  It is by Him that all things will be reconciled to God. This is
what Paul means when he says, "all things unto himself; by him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or in heaven." This just shot right over my
head (as does a lot of Scripture) and applies to the realm of the unknown.
I can safely say that it does mean that everything that is out of harmony
with God (unbelievers and fallen angels excepted), no matter where it is,
or how deeply it is affected, will ultimately be restored to harmony with
God, and the cross of Christ is the means God uses to do this. You say,
"That is what Paul believed." What Paul said is what the Holy Spirit
inspired Him to say. If Jesus were to walk into your presence in person, He
would say exactly what this verse says. This is the Word of God.

So we have in our text an inspired description of Christ. He is the
Head, He is the One in whom the fulness of God dwells, and the One through
whom believers and all things in heaven and earth will ultimately be
restored to harmony with Him. This is not universal salvation. In the case
of man, there must be repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ (Acts
20:21). Bishop Hadley Moule says, "Let us not read into this passage what
is not here, and is not anywhere in Scripture, an absolute universalism, a
larger hope' which is ultimately to neutralize the most formidable
warnings. Let us be sure that God will be for ever and everywhere HIMSELF
in His whole character; that He will never and nowhere be inequitable and
unmerciful. But let us pray for a holy fear, deep and awful; let us
flee from the wrath to come.'"

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ,

Bro. Earl White

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