Dear Saints of Valley Church,
Over the past few weeks, we have been climbing what Pastor Glen rightly described as the Mount Everest of Christianity by beholding the supremacy of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:15-20) and its implications for our lives (Colossians 1:21-23). This week, in Colossians 1:24-2:5, we will see that none of us will make it to the top of this summit alone. Three people may have soloed Everest, but no one can solo to maturity in Christ; we need the church. Author and counselor Paul David Tripp rightly says, “Sanctification is a community project.”
We can read our Bible alone, we can pray alone, and we make use of many of God’s means of grace alone. However, there are at least 59 needs that we cannot fulfill alone, the 59 “one another’s” of the New Testament. For example: love one another (John 15:12), show honor to one another (Rom. 12:10), welcome one another (Rom. 15:7), care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25), comfort one another (2 Cor. 13:11), serve one another (Gal. 5:13), bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), bear with one another (Eph. 4:2), sing to one another (Eph. 5:19), admonish one another (Col. 3:16), encourage one another (1 Thess. 4:18), build one another up (1 Thess. 5:11), stir one another up to love and good works (Heb. 10:24), confess to and pray for one another (James 5:16), show hospitality to one another (1 Pet. 4:9), and use your gifts to serve one another (1 Pet. 4:10).
Just as people need guides and support to climb to the top of Everest, we need one another in Valley Church as we seek to follow Jesus together. Additionally, as most of those guides and support will suffer frostbite and other injuries to get their team to the top of the summit, we will struggle to fulfill these “one another’s.” But just as the glorious view from the top of the world is worth the struggle of the climb, so is experiencing the glorious Savior and the experience of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” worth the struggle of following Jesus together so that we may “present every person complete in Christ.”
By His strength and for His glory,
Craig Shigyo