Anglican Devotional 19 October 2023 – Complete In Him

 

The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 19 October 2023 – Complete In Him

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TOPIC: Complete In Him

READ: Colossians 2:9-23 (NKJV)

9. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10. and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12. buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with [Him] through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14. having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16. So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,
17. which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
18. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in [false] humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19. and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase [that is] from God.
20. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as [though] living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations —
21. “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”
22. which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
23. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, [false] humility, and neglect of the body, [but are] of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

THE MESSAGE:

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. “He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:2). He was the word that became “Flesh” (John 1:14) and the “Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven… remained upon Him (John 1:32). As believers in the Lord Jesus, we are made perfect and complete in Him for God’s eternal purpose. Believers are complete because of the grace of God. Paul itemises our process of completion in Christ through

1. Circumcision (verse 11; Jesus death paved the way for our spiritual circumcision).
2. Buried and raised with Him (verse 12; Our old life of sin has been buried in baptism and we are raised up to live a new life in Christ).
3. Deleting contrary handwriting (verse 14). Through the shed blood of Christ on the cross of Calvary, we are cleansed of all sins).
4. Let no one judge you (verse 16; since we have been pronounced free (Galatians 5:1) through the merits of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, no person has any right to judge us.

However, Christ has done all the above and more for believers, we can only experience them by submitting ourselves to the Lordship of the Master. There is no other route through which we can be made complete except through the means of grace given by the Lord Jesus Christ. All other ways will lead to destruction (Proverbs 14:12)

SONG: Complete, Complete, Complete in Him
We are complete in Him
Complete, Complete, Complete in Him
We are Complete in Him.