Festival of St. Andrew, Apostle
Posted on November 30, 2021 by under
Scripture: Colossians 1:12-23 (NKJV)
1:12 …giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness band conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Devotion
Each of the Ten Commandments includes both what we are to do and not do. For example, if you fail to help and support your neighbor in his body, you have committed a sin of omission. If you hurt or harm (even murder) his body, you have committed a sin of commission against the Fifth Commandment.
In Colossians we see that our Savior’s work of redemption includes both a negative and a positive. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. That negative power of sin had “alienated” you from Him, so that you were “enemies in your mind by wicked works.” Jesus removed that negative by His suffering and death that we might be reconciled.
Christ has also “conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Positively, we have been granted entrance into the kingdom. Yet, we need to remember that the kingdom is not so much a place, as it is the status of being a member of Christ’s Church. How does the kingdom of God come to us? It comes when we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives, here in time and there in eternity. It comes within us by faith in Christ, so “that in all things He may have the preeminence.” As a minister, St. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is that these Christians, who are saved from the negative afflictions of sin and bestowed with the positive blessings, would “continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast.”
Prayer: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Festival of St. Andrew, Apostle
O Lord, we humbly implore Thee that as Thine Apostle Saint Andrew did heed the call of Thy Son Jesus Christ, Thou wouldst grant us Thy grace to serve Thee faithfully in our various vocations; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
