There is a place on the Earth where Christ can be expressed. Yes, your individual life can have an expression, but we alone are not His full expression. He is the Head, and just like your head needs a full expression so does He. It’s the Body! A head without a body would not just be lacking, it would be monstrous!. The body is the completion, expression and the fullness of a person.
The church (the body) is the full expression of Christ (the Head) on the Earth today (1:19). This is quite a revelation of the church. This alone should stir us to examine what is it that we call the church, what are we bringing into it, what do we expect from it, and to what degree do we live in it. Instead we have seen the church simply become a part of our culture and community life.
Paul’s urgency is for the saints to see that Christ has a Location on the Earth, and it is in the town of Colossae. They are his body, his expression, his fullness, and they all are to be cohesively joined together in him (1:17).
Today, Christ has such an expression where you live. Where saints are gathered together in His name there is an expression of his body. Do not just doctrinally check this off and toss it into the “OK I know that” box in your brain. This is the ongoing life of the church. The hope of the gospel is that he would be fully expressed and known in Colossae. Where? His body, the church, where His body is living and gathering to display the riches of Christ to one another and the world.
This is what your individual enjoyment of Christ and all your life is all about. We come together and we enjoy and share this life in Christ. This then becomes his fullness in whatever city, town, village you live in.
There is a place on earth today where Christ can be exalted and expressed. Where Him practically having first place in all things (1:18) in our daily practical life is shared, testified, sung about, praised, preached etc. This is the church! Not a preacher , group of elders, or a worship team. The Body is meant to bring and be the full expression of the Head. Anything else becomes a monstrosity.
