Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

THE SLAVE IS OUR BROTHER

This entry was posted on 09-01-2008 and is filed under uncategorized.

"Christ is all, and is in all" (Col. 3:11b NIV).

William Barclay said that one of the great effects of Christianity is that it destroys barriers. Look at the full text: We find Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free. Each group looked down on the other, perhaps even despising them. T. K. Abbot talks about the barriers Christianity destroyed.

1. Barriers which came from birth and nationality. "Men...who would have leaped at each other's throats, sat in peace beside each other at the Table of the Lord."
2. Barriers which came from ceremony and ritual, i.e., circumcision.
3. Barriers between the cultured and uncultured, i.e., Greeks and Scythians. "The greatest scholar in the world and the simplest son of toil can sit in perfect fellowship in the Church of Christ."
4. Barriers between the classes. Sometimes "the slave was the leader in the church and the master the humble member." This could - and does - only happen in Christ, where "Christ is all, and is in all." Social distinctions should disappear in the church. I rejoice when I see a cosmopolitan church.

Does the church where you worship reflect what the church in Colosse had and enjoyed? It should. If it does not, something is wrong. The Message reads, "From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ." If Christ dwells within a person, there I find a brother or sister in Christ.
Let us love one another.

Hymn: "Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace; Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, let all within us praise His holy name; Christ is the Lord, O, praise His name forever! His power and glory evermore proclaim!" (John S. Dwight, "O Holy Night").