City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

Colossians 1:21-23

Commentary

I know we are supposed to write about hope this week, but I feel compelled to write about fear instead. I fear if I write about hope, you will leave this blog with no fear, and hope without fear is only fantasy, a dangerous fantasy. 

Jesus said to fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. Matthew 10:28. The “Him” would be God, the same God in whom I am supposed to hope for my salvation. If I don’t believe Him when He tells me I should fear Him, why should I believe Him when He tells me to hope in Him? To hope in Him without fearing Him is fantasy because I have not placed my hope in Him but another god I have created in my mind.

The apostle Paul, writing above to the Colossians, says that we will see our hope fulfilled if we continue in the faith. The if is a big deal. In contract law the “if” signals what lawyers call a condition precedent. It means the other party only has to perform if what follows the “if” actually occurs. Conditions precedent are disfavored in the law because when the condition doesn’t occur, it renders the contract unenforceable, and the law prefers to enforce contracts. But conditions precedent do occur in contracts, and when they do, lawyers rightly take careful notice of them. 

I don’t know if conditions precedent are disfavored in theology because I am not a theologian, but when one appears in the Bible, and the result of the condition not occurring is that we will appear before our Creator without the cleansing blood of Jesus, I’m pretty sure we should take notice; in fact, it should scare the “hell” out of us.

This not a works mentality. This does not mean you will be saved by your works; it means you will be saved by your faith in Jesus, but to be saved by your faith you have to continue in your faith, which means not falling away from your faith, or walking away from your faith, or leaving in any of the other number of ways that people depart from their faith. 

Application

I hope this healthy dose of fear motivates you to continue in your faith. I hope it gives you the proper perspective to hear from my other CLC Starter brothers and sisters as they preach hope to you throughout the week.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for being trustworthy of my hope in You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.