The poor situation in Christianity today is a result of many different concepts coming in to replace Christ. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” In Acts 26:19 the apostle Paul said regarding the vision he had received of Christ and the church, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” We need to be governed by the vision that the church is Christ. If we have this vision, we will not care for noise or for silence in the meetings. We will care only for Christ. We will all come to the meetings with Christ, in Christ, and for Christ. If Christ leads us to shout, we will shout. If Christ leads us to be silent, we will be silent. We are not a certain kind of church; we are only Christ. The church is only Christ.
The reason Christians have different concepts is that they are void of Christ. When we are void of Christ, we will have many preferences, but if we are full of Christ, we will bring only Christ when we come together. When the vessel of our being is filled with Christ to the brim, there will be no room for anything else. When our vessels are empty, void of Christ, all kinds of peculiar things will come in. Therefore, in order for us to have the proper church life, we must have adequate experiences of Christ so that we may be filled with Him.
Colossians unveils to us who and what Christ is. Although this book has only four chapters, the items of Christ contained in this book are profound. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” The King James Version renders allotted portion in this verse as “inheritance.” However, the Greek word here means “that which is allotted as a portion.” Christ is not only our future inheritance but also our present portion. We are partakers of the portion of the saints. Day by day we are partaking of Christ as our portion by enjoying Him and experiencing Him. Let us go on to see what is included in this portion.
According to verse 15, this portion is the image of the invisible God. God is invisible, yet He has an image. Christ our portion is the image, the very expression, of the invisible God. Verse 15 goes on to say that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation, and verse 16 says that all things were created in Him, through Him, and unto Him.
Verse 17 says, “All things cohere in Him.” This clause may also be translated “all things subsist together in Him.” To cohere in Christ is to exist by Christ as the holding center, just as the spokes of a wheel are held together by the hub. If the hub is taken away, all the spokes will fall apart. The spokes cohere in the hub. Scientists have discovered that everything in the universe is held together by some mysterious force. Colossians 1 reveals that Christ is the holding center of all things. All things were created in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ, and all things cohere in Him as the hub.
Verse 18 says, “He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.” Thus, Christ is not only the first in creation (v. 15) but also the first in resurrection. The new creation was produced in resurrection. As the first in both the old creation and the new creation, Christ has the preeminence in all things. Verse 19 goes on to say, “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Thus, Christ, who has the preeminence in all things, is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead. Verse 2 says that Christ is the mystery of God. This is the Christ whom we are experiencing day by day.