Nathan E. Lewis

(preached by Nathan E. Lewis at Chehalem Valley Presbyterian Church in Newberg and Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Beaverton- February 27, 2007)

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“The Gospel Produces Fruit Worldwide”
Colossians 1:1-8

The Apostle Paul’s letters are mostly written to individuals or congregations personally known by him. Timothy and Titus were disciples of Paul. Paul planted most of the churches, and most of the people in those churches first heard the gospel proclaimed by Paul. But as Peter O’Brien observes in his commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians, “The saints at Colossae, who are addressed as faithful brothers in Christ were not converted through the ministry of Paul himself. This Christian community had come into existence during a period of vigorous missionary and evangelistic activity associated with Paul’s Ephesian ministry recorded in Acts 19. But the apostle himself during his missionary work in Asia Minor had not reached Colossae in the upper valley of the Lycus. His daily evangelistic dialogs held in the hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus were so effective that Luke claims, ‘all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.’”
Most likely, Epaphras was the church planter in Colossae. He may have traveled the 100 miles between Colossae to Ephesus, to sit under the teaching of Paul, during the two years of instruction offered in the Hall of Tyrannus. The Church of the first century was growing rapidly. The Church was growing beyond Paul. Other leaders, missionaries, and pastors were spreading the gospel and planting the church in cities never visited by Paul.
Paul chose to personally visit the prominent cities of the Roman Empire. He strategically chose to go to the crossroads where he would impart the gospel to others who would take the good news to their hometowns. Epaphras was such a person. He was from Colossae. He heard the gospel and received his orientation to the Holy Scriptures in Ephesus, returning to impart God’s truth, the hope of the gospel to his fellow Colossians.
J.B. Lightfoot in 1876 wrote in his commentary “Colossae was the most unimportant town to which Paul ever wrote a letter.” Indeed, in the region of Phrygia, Colossae was the least prominent of three cities. Nevertheless, God sent Epaphras to proclaim the gospel to the Colossians and the Apostle Paul wrote this beautifully rich letter to the church founded in this obscure city. The gospel came to Colossae and the church was founded within her boundaries in a most timely fashion. John Calvin opened his commentary on Colossians with these historical words: “There were three neighboring cities in Phrygia, as made mention of by Paul in this Epistle — Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse which, as Orosius 1 informs us, were overthrown by an earthquake till the times of the emperor Nero. Accordingly, not long after this Epistle was written, three Churches of great renown perished by a mournful as well as horrible occurrence.”
Remarkably, Paul writes this letter before us to people whom he has never met face to face! His main purpose in writing this letter is to establish this church in the gospel so that her members may rest in the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ.
John Barclay wrote, “Colossians offers a comprehensive vision of truth – cosmic and human, spiritual and material, divine and mundane.” Paul was a master exegete of his culture – Jewish and Grecian. Throughout the letter, he uses catch phrases from popular spiritual jargon that could prove to be confusing, if not harmful to the budding church at Colossae. In this letter Paul never presents the gospel as merely an issue of faith, but he applies the gospel to the behavior of those who believe it. Marianne Meye Thompson wrote, “There is rich material on the Christian life, particularly as it relates growth and maturity to knowledge and Christian conduct.”

Paul opens his letter in the proper form of his day. Yet he adds unique phrases beyond names, titles, and greetings. The first two phrases that jump off the page are: “by the will of God,” and “in Christ.” These introduce major themes in Paul’s thinking and teaching. He unpacks these little phrases in much of his letter writing. It was Paul’s conviction that he was an apostle, “by the will of God.” The elders of the church at Antioch laid hands upon him and the elders at Jerusalem, including the venerable James, acknowledged him to be an apostle. Nevertheless, God himself ordained Paul an apostle according to his infinite will.
Paul writes the phrase “in Christ” over and over again in his letters. The Church is united to the heavenly Father through Christ. The members of the Church at Colossae are saints, the holy ones of God, through Christ, united to Christ. The faithfulness of the Colossians was a mark of their union to Christ. “In Christ,” communicates the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. In his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we have come into the loving presence of God.
Paul’s greeting joins the common Greek greeting, “Grace,” to the common Jewish greeting, “Peace.” In doing so, Paul is offering more than a well-worn greeting correlative to my saying, “How are you?” and you responding. “Fine, how are you?” These two greetings represent a rich theology. Paul uses these well-known words of greeting to connect to both Greeks and Jews, imparting to them the theology of grace and the theology of peace. Both grace and peace are foundational to the Christian worldview and life. Indeed none of us could claim to be a Christian apart from divine grace and our human expression of it to one another. Indeed none of us could claim to be a Christian apart from divine peace and our endeavors to promote that peace in every sphere of life.
The body of Paul’s letter begins with Paul telling the Colossians that he regularly prays for them. Do you pray for people whom you have never met face to face? At my blog, nathanlewis.org, I have posted weekly Bible studies corresponding with my preaching through Colossians. The suggested exercise for this coming week is for us to expand the list of people for whom we pray by adding individuals and groups of fellow Christians whom we have never met face to face. Please pray for Felipe. Many of you have met Pastor Gonzalo and his wife Celia serving in our sister congregation, Cristo Cambia la Vida in Santa Ana Tepetitlan. Celia’s entire extended family are believers but for her youngest brother-in-law, Felipe. Last year he purchased a lot within walking distance of our newest church planting site in la Floresta. He began to build a house on this lot for his wife, but he ran out of money, only half of the foundation laid. This past week a group of men from one of our sister congregations completed the foundation and two walls, hooking up the utilities. They did so at their own expense. Felipe’s attention and heart are arrested and he told me that he is overwhelmed by the generosity of these men, who are strangers to him and who continually insisted that their work is labors of love in the name of Christ. Please pray for Felipe’s conversion.
Paul’s prayers for the Colossians begin and end with gratefulness to God for the Colossians. For whom are we grateful? O that our prayers would be laced with thanksgiving! Paul’s thanksgiving focuses upon the gospel transformation of the Colossians. They have put their faith in Christ Jesus. They are expressing a love for all the saints – not just some – but all alike. The source of this widespread love is “the hope laid up for you in heaven.” Marianne Meye Thompson writes, “Hope can have either a subjective sense, referring to the act of hoping, to expectation, yearning, or desire, or it can have an objective sense, referring to what one hopes for. The descriptive phrase, “kept in heaven for you,” makes it clear that the second, or objective sense is in view here…. In this letter, Paul combats the view that there is some greater hope to be experienced through visionary experiences and observance of certain regulations than that which is offered through and in Christ Jesus.”
The Colossians discovered this certain hope by hearing the “word of truth, the gospel.” This gospel has not merely come to the Colossians is their forgotten city soon to be destroyed in an earthquake, but this gospel has spread like wildfire throughout the world. This gospel has been bearing fruit and growing worldwide, not in one culture but in many cultures.
From this one statement about the dynamic qualities of the gospel we discover that the gospel is not a static message, words on a page informing our minds, stimulating thought. Rather, the gospel produces the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All spiritual growth occurs in our lives as the Holy Spirit applies the word of truth, the gospel, to our lives.
Paul is grateful to God for the Colossians, who heard the gospel and “understood the grace of God in truth.” Do you understand the gospel? The gospel is not merely the beginning but it is also the end. Paul refers to the gospel as “the hope laid up in heaven for you.” We must not distinguish between the gospel and the rest of the Holy Scriptures, the ethical, moral meat. Paul writes, “the word of truth, the gospel.” We must read, interpret, and apply all of the Holy Scriptures through the grid of grace and peace. To get the gospel is to understand the dynamic qualities of the gospel. Once we understand the gospel, the way we think and the way we act begins to change for the good. We receive divine grace and peace. We become instruments of this grace and peace.

“Gospel Driven Prayers”
Colossians 1:9-14

Paul prayed for the Colossians, most of whom he had never met face to face. Paul was imprisoned yet active in the mission of Christ. He had time to pray. Sometimes I wish that I were confined so that my time for prayer would increase. It’s not as if Paul planned to be imprisoned so that he would have more time to pray. But when his freedom was restricted, he used the time to pray. And he prayed continually, regularly, ardently.
Paul tells the Colossians that he regularly prays thanking God for the fruit of the gospel in their lives. Paul is thankful for the Colossians who have faith in Christ Jesus and a love for all the saints. They have an objective and certain hope in heaven announced to them in the gospel. This gospel is bearing fruit throughout the whole world. This gospel has even reached the obscure, soon to be destroyed city of Colossae where many people have heard and understood the grace of God in truth from the teaching of Epaphras. This obscure minister of the gospel has reported to Paul in prison the progress of the gospel in Colossae and Paul is moved to pray for these people whom he has never met.
In (9-14) Paul further describes his prayers for the Colossians and from his words we learn how better to pray for one another and for those we have never met face to face. Paul petitions God to reveal his will in such a way that the Colossians might view life spiritually and accurately. Paul asks God to fill the Colossians with knowledge. He uses the passive verb to make this point that the knowledge is a gift from God. This knowledge is qualified by the prepositional phrase, “of his will.” This phrase in no way limits the scope or field of knowledge for Paul is convinced that all truth and life are under the authority of divine will. But the phrase does qualify knowledge. Paul intends to spare the Colossians the futile experience of searching for a knowledge apart from divine will, some hidden, secret knowledge promised by the Gnostics of the first century.
Paul further qualifies the knowledge by adding another phrase, “in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” This phrase tells us that the knowledge allows us to see and to understand truth and life as God does. By the word, “spiritual,” Paul is not distinguishing between the ethereal and the material. For Paul, the material world must be viewed and engaged spiritually. The word “spiritual” should never remove us from the real world in which God has placed us, but it should give to us the mind of God concerning the world. Thus the wisdom Paul wishes for the Colossians will be a practical and fruitful knowledge applied in the city of Colossae in the material world where God has placed them. Their understanding of divine knowledge will make them useful in the kingdom of heaven in the city of Colossae where God has placed them. There are some strains of Christianity that would allow a person to say, “Joe is so spiritual that he does not care a bit about the city in which he lives. In fact, he is so spiritual that he doesn’t even know where he is. It is like he as sprouted wings and is playing a harp, floating on a cloud.” But the “knowledge with all all spiritual wisdom and understanding” Paul prays for is one concerning the will of God, which most certainly drives God’s work in all realms including the material world in which we live.
As Peter O’Brien notes in his commentary on Colossians, “The ideas of ‘fullness,’ ‘abundance,’ or ‘riches,’ feature frequently in Paul’s prayers.” Paul prays big prayers. He does not petition God for a little bit of knowledge but that God would “fill” the Colossians with the knowledge of his will. Our prayers should be as big as Paul’s prayers. At times our petitions of God may betray our minimal view of God.
Secondly, Paul prays that this knowledge of God’s will might be imparted with the purpose of producing fruitful behavior and activity in our lives pleasing to God. The Christian purpose and use of knowledge is consistently kingdom driven. Knowledge of God’s will is consistently imparted to us so that we might be spiritually productive. The Christian purpose for knowledge is ultimately the pleasure of God. Each of the parts of (10) tell us how we might “fully please God.” We “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,” to fully please him. “Walk” is a metaphor for our life’s direction and daily behavior. We bear the identity of Christ, our Lord, and so our life ought to reflect our union to him. “Bearing fruit in every good work,” describes how it is that we “fully please God.” Christians do not merely do good deeds or engage in charitable missions. We do so with the purpose of expanding and building the kingdom of God. “Bearing fruit” describes the purpose and result of our good works to be spiritual, that is, to be instrumental in the unfolding of God’s will in this world.
“Increasing in the knowledge of God,” also fully pleases God. The Christian life is one of continual learning. The knowledge of God is an inexhaustible store of truth. It encompasses every field, every realm, and every culture. Mathematicians pursue the knowledge of God. Poets pursue the knowledge of God. Artists paint and sculpt the knowledge of God. Musicians sound forth the knowledge of God. Chemists practice the knowledge of God. Surgeons cut according to the knowledge of God. Truckers haul the knowledge of God. General Contractors build according to the knowledge of God. Chip makers harness as much of God’s knowledge as they can confining it to the smallest space possible. Theologians plumb the depths of the knowledge of God. Preachers shout the knowledge of God. Christians live and breath the knowledge of God with the purpose of fully pleasing God.
Thirdly, Paul prays for the empowerment of the Colossians so that they might patiently endure with joy. Once again Paul uses the passive verb so that it might be clear that the power we possess is a gift from God. Paul does not pray for a little power or for sufficient strength. Instead he boldly prays for “all power,” directly falling from the “glorious might” of God. The Colossians should have need of nothing more. Should God answer Paul’s prayer, the Colossians would be able to thrive in any circumstance. I wonder how the Colossian Christians reacted to the devastating earthquake that hit several years after Paul wrote this letter to them? How did they respond to finding their loved ones buried in the rubble? How did they behave having lost their homes and belongings? Did they persevere in their faith and love for all the saints? Or did the earthquake shatter faith and love?
Paul prays boldly for the Colossians’ endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to God for two gifts already delivered to them. Paul is able to pray boldly because God has already made good on these two foundational gifts from which endurance and patience with joy shall surely flow into the lives of the Colossians. The first gift from the heavenly Father’s hand is qualification to share in his inheritance. God has made us his heirs. This is completed divine work. As John Chrysostom notes in his homily on this text, the results of this completed work are both present and future. As heirs of God we begin to enjoy his riches now but they unfold into the future with greater blessing and clarity. The realm in which we share in this glorious inheritance is “the kingdom of light.” This kingdom of light is the kingdom of God. It is the kingdom of heaven come to earth. It is the realm in which full knowledge of God is applied according to divine will. Since God has given so great a gift and situation to the Colossians, shall he not also give to them endurance and patience with joy?
The second gift from the heavenly Father’s hand is liberation from the kingdom of darkness, and entrance into the kingdom of his Son. Do you desire to be free from the oppressive authority of the kingdom of darkness? Everything that is wrong with this world can find its source in the evil of humanity and demonic powers. We need not remain victims of these oppressors. We need not play party to the oppression of others. God has rescued us from this dark kingdom and he has translated us into a different kingdom – a kingdom free from oppression, rebellion, and evil. John Chrysostom brings attention to the word, “translate.” What does it mean that God has “brought or translated us into the kingdom?” The word “translate” expresses the completeness of God’s work. He does not merely liberate us from the kingdom of darkness, leaving us in some neutral zone to fend for ourselves. This is what happens to many a prisoner. After serving time, an inmate is discharged left to fend for himself in a community which shames him refusing to trust him, shunning him from fellowship, gainful employment, and dignity. But God completes his work by not only liberating us, but translating us into a safe and productive environment where we live to please him fully.
Chrysostom also says that Paul uses this word “translate,” “to show also the ease with which the power of God works.” From our perspective we are brought or translated without any effort on our part. It is as if we are the princess born on the litter through the streets into the gates of the palace, into the comfort of the king.
And who is this king? Which kingdom have we entered? Paul surprisingly breaks with the biblical language of “kingdom of God,” “kingdom of heaven,” and “kingdom of light,” describing God’s realm as “the kingdom of the Son he loves.” Who is this Son beloved of the heavenly Father? He is our Redeemer, through whom we have received forgiveness of our sins. Who is he? He is none other than Jesus Christ. Why is our liberation from the kingdom of darkness and translation into the kingdom of the Son such a breeze? The Son whom the Father loves has completed all of the work of redemption. He has suffered all of the punishments. He has paid all expenses. He has born the shame, endured the cross, and survived the grave. And so, in one quick, light and free word, the word, “translate,” Paul describes our entrance into the kingdom of God.

“The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ”
Colossians 1:15-20

Paul clearly presents the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ in his letter to the Colossians. Everything that he writes, whether it be remarks about his prayer habits, the centrality of the gospel, or ethical commands about family life, is founded upon his proclamation of the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. At times he alludes to this foundational issue and at other times he refers to it in a carefully crafted phrase. In our text this morning, he clearly addresses in detail the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ.
First of all, Paul writes that this beloved Son of the heavenly Father “is the image of the invisible God.” Paul’s first point is that Jesus Christ has made visible to us in his incarnation the invisible God. John Calvin, in his commentary, makes a brilliant point. Paul is not merely describing here the essence of the Son. The early church fathers including John Chrysostom, were focused upon correcting the Arian heresies and so they reduced this one statement of Paul to prove the divine essence of Jesus Christ. However, Calvin observes that what is primarily in view here is the action of God in self-revelation. Calvin writes of Christ, the image of the invisible God is the “Father making himself known to us in Christ.” We know something about the essence of God by the actions of God.
Calvin continues to note that all of us members of the human race are made in the image of God and so Paul is saying something more than this concerning Jesus Christ. Paul chooses carefully his words “image” and “invisible,” with the purpose of communicating to us that Jesus Christ has made visible in his incarnation the invisible God. Calvin quotes from John’s Gospel (1:18). “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” Who is the only God at the Father’s side? It is the Son. The Son has revealed to us the God we have never seen apart from the Son’s incarnation. Any monotheist who is not Trinitarian must have no end of difficulty with this statement.
The apostle Paul agrees with the apostle John. Jesus Christ does not merely hold a flashlight in his hand, shining its beams into the mysterious darkness of divine essence, like a tour guide in a cavern saying to us, “Look into the dark reaches of the cavern and you will see in the beams of my flashlight the colors of the stalagmites. They are the nerve center of the invisible God.” Rather, Jesus Christ reveals to us God in his incarnation. He is indeed God come to earth, living in our midst. He is God revealing the invisible God to us.
Secondly, Paul writes that this God, the beloved Son of the Father is “the first born of all creation.” Whatever this second clause means, it does not negate or contradict what Paul has written in his first clause. Some of the postmodern writing of our present day might juxtapose contradictory statements, but this is not the style of Paul’s writing or of the authors of the first century. In the first clause, Paul has written a clear statement about the divinity of Christ and the incarnation of Christ revealing the invisible God. This second clause tells us something more about Christ without taking anything away from what we have already been told.
Peter O’Brien, in his commentary, helpfully observes that “firstborn,” means the one who has received the father’s special love and position. In ancient and first century family structures, the “firstborn” happened to be the oldest son, but the biblical narrative is full of stories where the chronology of birth is trumped by the father’s special love for a younger son. One of those younger sons was David, whose older brothers were overlooked while he, a mere youth was anointed King of Judah. In Psalm 89:27 it is said of David, “I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth…I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.” And so, the favored offspring of David’s line, Jesus Christ, ultimately fulfills this prophecy as the king who sits on David’s throne forever.
Jesus is not only the “firstborn,” the favored son in the family of David. He is as Paul writes, “the firstborn of all creation.” Jesus is the favored Son of the human race. Moreso, he occupies a most unique position in creation.
Thirdly, Paul describes this unique role of Christ in creation. This prepositional phrase, “of all creation,” in no way describes Jesus Christ as creature. The third clause describes him as Creator! The biblical writers, including Paul, consistently distinguish between Creator and creature and are careful to avoid confusing the two. As the firstborn, Christ is the favored Son, who becomes King of creation. He is Lord of creation. Then Paul tells us that this King of creation actually is the Creator himself incarnate! Other New Testament writers tell us how the Son created all things. He did so by the power of his word. The Son is the one described in Genesis1 who spoke light into existence. “And God said, ‘Let there be light and there was light.’” The voice and word belonged to the Son. He is the King of Creation and he is the Creator as well. He not only created the material but also the immaterial. He not only created all living forms and persons, but also the authority structures that govern them, so that peace, balance, and fruitfulness might adorn all nature.
Paul brings together Creator and King with a final clause: “all things were created through him and for him.” “Through him” describes Christ as Creator. “For him” describes Christ as King. He owns all nature. This world belongs to him. Thus, the supremacy of Christ is clearly presented to us. Even the angels are subject to Christ. All authorities in all realms are under the authority of Christ.
(17) further clarifies this dual role of Christ as Creator and King. Christ “before all things,” describes him as Creator. It is stating the obvious, really, but in the face of attempts to undermine Christ, Paul must state the obvious. The Son of God is infinite, existing prior to creation. In Christ “all things hold together,” describes his Kingship or Lordship of creation. Christ does not speak all things into existence and then walks away. Rather, he constantly and sufficiently manages and controls his creation.
Finally, Paul presents Christ as Redeemer of all nature, specifically humanity. John Calvin chooses to call Christ in this context “the Restorer of all things” rather than Redeemer. These are strong synonyms. The group of redeemed human beings is called “the church,” the household of faith, or as Paul writes here, “the body.” Christ is the head of the body, the church. This description of Christ presents him to be the authority in the church. As members of the church we vote and lead. As officers, elders and deacons, we lead and serve, overseeing and equipping the church to glorify God. But the true and greatest leader in the church, is Christ Jesus, endowed with all authority. Christ is not only the leader of the church, but he is the Redeemer, the divine One who has opened the way for the rest of us to enter the church.
Christ’s redemptive work is first described in this text in terms of the resurrection. Christ is “the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” Christ Jesus lay dead in the grave, having suffered death and hell in the place of sinful humanity. But God the Father raised him to new life. Jesus is not the first to rise from his grave. But he is the first one to rise from the grave and ascend into heaven to restore all creation. In doing so, he has opened the way for us to follow in our resurrection. Then Paul adds: “that in everything he might be preeminent.” This supremacy of Christ is at the heart of Paul’s teaching. Certainly the purpose of Christ’s resurrection is our redemption and new life in resurrection. But Paul reveals to us a greater purpose: the supremacy of Christ!
(19) is not redundant. Paul has presented Christ as divine in his role as Creator and as King of all nature. Now Paul claims that Christ is divine in his role as Redeemer. In his work to restore all creation, especially humanity, gathering us into the church and into resurrection life, Christ is divine. How divine? Not mostly divine. But fully divine. This divinity was not stuffed awkwardly into a human body. Rather, this fullness of divinity in a most pleasing way amalgamated with the fullness of humanity, so that the dual nature of Christ, mysterious as it is, nonetheless is a union of ease and pleasure.
Christ Jesus, fully divine, completes his work of redemption not ultimately in giving us new life or making us members of his Church, but in reconciling us to God. Indeed all members of the Church are those who have been reconciled to God. All those who follow Jesus in resurrection life are those who have been reconciled to God. Paul includes here two significant aspects of the ministry of reconciliation. Paul says that Christ reconciles us to himself. Elsewhere, Paul describes reconciliation as turning our affections toward God the Father and satisfying God’s wrath for our sin so that his favor might fall upon us. In this sense, Christ is the Mediator of our reconciliation to God the Father and he to us. But now Paul says that the ministry of reconciliation also includes the dissolving of all barriers between Christ and us. John Chrysostom makes this point beautifully hinting that Christ does not hold a grudge against us for his suffering and enduring the cross and its shame in our place. This is good news indeed. Through Christ, we have been reconciled to the Father and also to Christ. Both the Father and the Son love us with a never-ending love.
The second little significant point of Paul is that Christ has not only reconciled us, members of the human race, to himself, but he has reconciled “all things” to himself. Christ is the Redeemer of all creation, which presently groans waiting for the fullness of its restoration to occur. All things in both the realm of earth and heaven will be returned to peace, balance, order, and fruitfulness by the work of Christ, the divine Son of God.
How is it that Jesus Christ has reconciled all things to God, including us? Paul writes, by “making peace by the blood of his cross.” Reconciliation results in peace. This peace made by Christ is the created order of peace restored. This peace made by Christ is the peace of Christ’s reign as Lord of all creation. Human and demonic rebellion and destruction, including hatred and pride, have destroyed this peace. But Christ Jesus, laid down his life upon the cross to restore this peace. He is titled in the Holy Scriptures as the “Prince of Peace,” and so all of us who would follow him must experience his peace and be instruments of it.
One of the ironies of the cross is that from a human, historic perspective, prideful and hateful men crucified Jesus in a power play so typical of human affairs. But from a divine, redemptive perspective, God foreordained the death of his Son, pouring out upon him the wrath due sin, so that peace might be restored.
Has this peace been restored in you? Have you become an instrument of this peace in the world? If you answer “yes” to one or both of these questions, then the gospel has begun to take root in you and you have begun to experience the ministry of reconciliation provided for you by Christ, the divine Creator, King, and Redeemer.

“Reconciliation in Christ”
Colossians 1:21-23

Do you have need of reconciliation? Perhaps you are divided from a family member or a friend. Perhaps you are experiencing difficulties with a spouse. Are you divided from a fellow member in the church? How would you describe your relationship with God? Do you assess our world to be in need of reconciliation? This past Sunday we focused upon Paul’s statement that Christ’s ministry of reconciliation results in peace. When I was a child we sang, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” This song reflects our longing for reconciliation. But perhaps, right now in the fires of our divisive relationships you might be thinking, “Not a sermon on reconciliation. Perhaps in a year or two I can forgive and make things right, but not right now.”
Paul presents the need for Christ to reconcile us to God. He then tells us how Christ has reconciled us to God. He tells us the purpose, the end result of this reconciliation. He concludes by describing the reconciled life.
First of all, Paul describes our great need for reconciliation. He describes a rift in relationship. A good synonym for alienation in this context may be “estrangement.” Interestingly, Paul does not add an object to his verb “alientated.” From whom are we estranged? From God? From our fellow human beings? In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, Paul writes a similar description of estrangement complete with objects. He writes in Ephesians 2:12 that the Gentiles were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.” Paul reflects the Jewish and Christian belief in a strong connection between proper relationship to God and relationship to one’s fellow human beings. The Ten Commandments are so organized. The first four tell us how to relate to God and the final six tell us how to relate to each other. Jesus summarized the entire Law by saying: “Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.” But we do so only some of the time, contributing to relational alienation. We have need of reconciliation.
Paul then describes a hostile mind. Not only do our relationships reflect our need for reconciliation, but our hostile minds betray our need for reconciliation. If you are like me, my mind is occasionally occupied with thoughts of discontent, bitterness, and hatred. Much of our thinking is dedicated to arguing against those with whom we disagree rather than hatching plans for peace. Paul’s word choice here has its source in the language of war. An ambassador reconciles two hostile parties to each other. In a time of war he brings to the peace talks the heads of both armies appealing to both of them to end the hostility and make peace. Paul applies this language to our minds, which are all too often battlefields. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
Paul describes our need for reconciliation in terms of our evil actions. Our broken relationships and hostile minds proclaim our need for reconciliation. Our actions establish our great need for reconciliation. It is clear to nearly everyone who observes us that we have serious issues. Both Jesus and his apostles consistently have taught us that our actions define our allegiances and us. “I follow Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.” “You do? Your actions would never suggest that you do.” “I admire Ghandi who modeled for us nonviolent resistance.” “You do admire him? Your actions would never suggest that you do.” As we self-assess our actions we would have to admit that we have a need for reconciliation – a reconciliation between what we desire to do and what we actually do.
Paul tells the Colossian Christians that this alienation, hostility and evil actions are part of their past. The work of Christ reconciling them to God has replaced this discord with a holy life. “Once you were alienated….but now Christ has reconciled you.” How is it that such a turnaround can happen in my life? Paul says that it will take an act of God to turn me around.
Secondly, Paul describes how Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God. “He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death.” Paul does not merely write “body,” but instead, “body of flesh.” In his terminology, he has referred to Christ’s body as the Church as well as the physical, individual body of Jesus. And so, to clarify between these two, Paul writes, “body of flesh,” meaning the actual, physical body of Jesus Christ. Our reconciliation is achieved through the work of this one Person, Jesus Christ.
And what work did Jesus complete in his body for our reconciliation? Paul mentions death. “By his death,” Jesus reconciled us to God. Why would death be the reconciling action? Why not the writing of some glorious poem or the erection of an inspiring temple with nine doors through which every kind of person is gladly welcome to enter and to pray for peace? Why death rather than a Nobel Peace Prize? How does the death of Jesus Christ reconcile us to God the Father in heaven?
As some of us know, the biblical authors speak often of the justice of God requiring that human evil, including refusal to promote peace in this world, deserves the wrath of God. The wrath of God poured out produces death. Indeed death is the penalty for destroying peace with God. In his own body, Jesus Christ, received the wrath of God. His death satisfied God’s wrath and thus has reconciled us to an infinitely and perfectly just God.
The Colossians knew the views of the first century Gnostics who made light of the actual, physical death of Christ on the cross. The Gnostic would reason that the divine would never stoop so low as to suffer in the realm of flesh and blood. Paul chooses his language carefully to combat such views.
Thirdly, Paul tells us the purpose and end of this reconciling work of Christ. The purpose and end of Christ’s death is present us in a holy and blameless condition. To whom shall Christ present us in such a glorious state? And when shall he do so? Paul uses the language of the courtroom when he writes, “to present you holy and blameless.” He thus creates a picture of Christ, our defense attorney, making our case before the Judge. He presents us to God holy and blameless. All of this metaphorical language could get confusing if we press it literally. The Scriptures present both the Father in heaven and Christ Jesus as the Judge of our lives. The Scriptures also present Christ Jesus as our defense attorney, our Advocate before the Father. These are figurative statements helping us to understand the reconciling work of Christ Jesus and the justice of God satisfied.
When shall Christ present us holy and blameless before God the Judge? The apostles have encouraged us in speaking of Christ’s ascension to the right hand of God where he presently acts as our Mediator between God and us. In this mediation, Christ presents us holy and blameless before God. The apostles also speak of the final day of judgment, which is the last word on this present sin-cursed age. On that final day, God the Judge shall put all things right. On that final day, Christ Jesus shall present us holy and blameless before God the Judge. This is the purpose and end of Christ’s work of reconciliation. On the final day of judgment, the verdict delivered upon all of us represented by Christ shall be “Not guilty!” This verdict shall endure for eternity uniting us to God’s favor forever.
Paul concludes by describing the reconciled life. Paul in no way describes in (23) the condition upon which Christ shall complete his work of reconciliation. Instead he tells us that the reconciled life is one in which we actually experience the results of reconciliation. How is it that you experience the reconciliation Christ has worked for you? What does the reconciled life look like?
First of all the reconciled life is one of continuing in the faith.
This faith is particular. The faith is not my personal belief system, what I have decided is true for me. Our “continuing in the faith” describes our following and pursuing that which is distinct from us and given to us as a focal point. We could responsibly use the word “persist” in place of “continue” and by doing so understand what Paul means by “continue” in this context. Secondly, Paul describes our continuing or persisting. As we assess our lives, would we say that we have continued in the faith or abandoned the faith? Paul uses the two words, “stable,” and “steadfast.” To get to the summit of Mt. Hood, a climber must go up and down. He must struggle, scramble, and he may fall a few times. But at the summit, as he looks down upon his route of ascent, he sees the whole past experience and he must describe it ultimately as “stable” and “steadfast,” for after all, he made it to the top. The reconciling work of Christ has made us tenacious. We do not give up as some people are accustomed to doing. If we fall, we get up and continue in the faith. As you reflect on your past, you may remember much falling and getting up, like a toddler learning to walk. But you may also be able to see that you have kept walking in the same direction, pursuing the finish line of the race.
To make this persistence in the faith all the more clearer, Paul adds, “not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.” Once again we discover that the gospel is not merely the message that introduces us to the Christian life, soon replaced with the moral meat of ethical commands and principles for wise living. The gospel is the meat – nothing meatier than the gospel. The gospel holds our attention and fuels our hope for the entirety of our lives. This is the gospel: Christ has reconciled us to God. We have begun to experience the results of this reconciliation. Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” This promise provides a strong foundation for our certain hope of the gospel.
Our hope is all the more certain as the gospel has been universally and publicly proclaimed. In contrast with the mystery religions who did not publicly or widely spread their secrets, but instead reserved them for a select few people who paid enormous amounts of money and completed a long schedule of rituals. At the end of all the midnight ceremonies and chanting, the special few discover that the central truth of the mystery religion shall never be imparted to them. But the gospel of Jesus Christ has been shouted from the mountaintops, dispensed freely to every individual and people group regardless of race, creed, gender, age, or economic status. If you do not prefer a personal presentation of the gospel, then you can Google “gospel” and read about it in the privacy of a cyber café.
This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation. The entire earth is groaning waiting for its restoration. Paul writes that heaven is witness to the gospel universally and sincerely offered. God the Father and all the angels and heavenly beings rejoice in the hope of the gospel, taking root in our lives. Paul, a minister of the gospel also testifies to this universal and sincere offer of the gospel.
The gospel tells us of the transformation God is working in our lives. It also tells us of a completed work of Christ Jesus upon which this change in us in founded. He has reconciled us to God and a profound and radical change has occurred in us. The more we pursue Christ Jesus, the more we will discover his gracious work and his free application of it to us.

“The Mystery Hidden for Ages”
Colossians 1:24-29

Paul was in prison as he wrote this letter to the Colossians. His sufferings were at least loss of freedom. Paul refuses to waste his time in confinement. He is praying for the church and he is communicating with the church through out his world, instructing and encouraging her to live by the gospel. As he works in prison, he is suffering but he is able to rejoice as he focuses upon his connection to the Colossians and to Christ. When we focus upon the pain and injustice of our sufferings, we can be given over to rage, bitterness and despair. But if we are able to focus upon our gospel mission connecting us to others, even Christ, then we might experience joy in the midst of suffering.
How is it that Paul is suffering for the sake of the Colossians. He has never met the Colossians face to face. What is his connection to them through his suffering? Paul was imprisoned for spreading the gospel. His gospel ministry reached Colossae even though he never personally reached this city and church. The Church is one through out the world. Our union is expressed through relationships but the web of relationships rapidly builds as people embrace the gospel and begin to apply within their relationships. Paul taught for two years in the Hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus and through his teaching in this one location, all the region of Asia heard the gospel. Ephapras took the gospel to his home city Colossae. He planted the church in that city, thus connecting Colossian Christians to each other and also to Paul and Christians throughout the world. Such a vision causes Paul to rejoice while he is in prison. The bars and locks, the dank conditions cannot separate him from the blessed union of the Church in Christ Jesus.
Paul writes, “and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church….” Paul’s main message and theme in this letter is the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. In this statement, Paul is not saying that Christ’s afflictions were insufficient or that the person and work of Christ is less than supreme. Paul has clearly and consistently taught that the work of Jesus Christ in his death upon the cross is complete. His death has completely satisfied the justice of God. Paul writes to the church at Rome, “for the death Jesus died he died to sin, once for all.” His death, a one-time event is perfectly sufficient for all of us. This “once for all” language teaches us that there is no additional work that any of us, including Paul, must do, to complete the work of justifying us before a holy God. We read in Hebrews 10:14, “for by a single offering Christ has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” If this is so, what does Paul mean by writing, “I am filling what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”
John Davenant, bishop of Salisbury from 1621-1641, wrote in his exposition of this text: “Any Christian, therefore, may be said ‘to fill up that which remains of the sufferings of Christ,’ when he takes up the cross of Christ and bears patiently those afflictions, which God has allotted to be borne by him after the pattern of Christ, though for another purpose.” And so, the sufferings of Christ for our salvation are sufficient. Now, we who have received so great a salvation follow in the sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow as the apostle Peter has told us.
Paul rejoices as he realizes that his sufferings are connected to the sufficient sufferings of Christ. He rejoices all the more as he realizes that God has connected him to the Colossians whom he has never met face to face. God is the perfect steward, perfectly providing for his Church. His stewardship includes the ministry of Paul for the Colossians. Paul’s ministry is “to make the word of God fully known.” Paul connects the revelation of God’s word to the mystery of God. While there are aspects of God’s nature and work that we will never comprehend, one part of divine mystery has been fully revealed to us. This part was “hidden for ages and generations,” but now it has been revealed to the Church. In every age from the very beginning of redemptive history, God has revealed sufficiently everything necessary for his people to possess faith and to enter into an eternal relationship with the God of the covenant. This gospel has been unfolding and comes to clarity and fullness in the coming of the Son of God, the incarnate Christ Jesus. Now, in these last days following the earthly mission of Christ, this divine mystery has been revealed to the saints.
John Davenant makes an important little point: “This mystery was manifested not discovered.” Today, adherants of the Gnostic mystery religions are digging up stone coffins, claiming that the bones of Jesus and his family can be verified by DNA testing. They are telling the world that their discovery is the key to unveiling a mystery – the mystery that Jesus was married and sired a child. This mystery is of no use to the reconciling work of Christ and his gospel. It is not a central plank in a platform for peace. It is not an earthshaking message necessary to make humanity right with God and all creation. The mystery that does make a difference is fully revealed by God and thus in no need of archaeologists and bounty hunters. What is this mystery fully revealed that makes an earth shattering difference in our lives?
Paul describes this mystery in three parts: First of all, the mystery fully revealed is that the gospel transforms the lives of the people groups of this world, not merely one nation, or select group. This is what Paul is saying in the words, “God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery.” Paul uses the term “Gentiles” to refer to all of the many people groups surrounding the Jews, of which he is a member. By virtue of revealing this mystery in its fullness and glory to the Gentiles, part of the fully revealed mystery becomes the inclusion of all people groups! This same transforming and gracious work that God has been working in his chosen people, Israel, God is also working in all people groups. All of the promises of redemption, reconciliation, and peace made to Israel for centuries are being fulfilled for the restoration of all groups, and as Paul has said, for all creation.
Secondly, Paul says that the “riches of the glory of this mystery is Christ in you.” Christ in the Colossians! Christ dwelling in his people! “Christ in you” describes the indwelling Spirit of Christ in each of us who are united to Christ. This is the mystery fully revealed. The Holy Spirit dwelt in Oholiab and Bezalel, the artists who built the tabernacle in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit fell upon the tabernacle and dwelt in the midst of Israel. The Holy Spirit rushed upon Samson empowering him to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The Holy Spirit rushed upon David, the anointed King of Judah. The Holy Spirit entered the prophet Ezekiel speaking to him so that he might speak to Israel and all the nations of the earth. The Holy Spirit transported Ezekiel to the valley of dead bones where Ezekiel saw with his own eyes the resurrection power of God. The Holy Spirit rested upon the Servant of the Lord, the incarnate Son of God. The Spirit dwelt within Jesus Christ, not only the true Son of David, but the second Adam, the representative of humanity. The Holy Spirit is then poured out upon the disciples of Jesus, upon the Roman Centurian’s family, upon numerous churches springing up in Gentile communities. Stephen, a Gentile, “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, becomes a deacon in the Church, a powerful preacher, and a martyr to the glory of Christ. Men, women and children of every tongue, tribe and nation are filled with the Spirit of Christ, united to Christ forever. The mystery fully revealed transforms the lives of millions of people, each and every one of them temples of the Spirit of Christ.
Thirdly, Paul describes the mystery fully revealed as “Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul has already said that he rejoices in knowing that his sufferings connect him to the suffering Christ. Now he tells us that we are all connected to the glory into which Christ has entered. Just as Christ suffered then entered into glory, so we, who share in his sufferings, shall enter into his glory. This mystery has been fully revealed.
Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. He writes to the church at Thessalonica, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” And so I offer to you the invitation of the apostle Peter, “Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Paul claims that this revelation has come. He proclaims it so that we might be mature in Christ. All of his work, his suffering, all of his energy is dedicated to applying this revelation to our maturity in Christ. God has given Paul this energy so that he might deliver this transforming revelation to the world.
Paul writes that this mystery has been fully revealed to the saints, the holy ones of God. While the gospel is proclaimed from the mountain tops to all creation and to all people groups, it is fully revealed in the hearts and experience of those who embrace it. The gospel is universally and freely dispensed through out the world. But who receives the full revelation of its mystery? Those who gladly and freely receive it. As we embrace the gospel and apply it to our lives, we become the holy ones of God. Then we come to know it richer and deeper. It is not merely the best news we have ever heard, it is the message that changes our lives for the better. It is to the saints that this mystery has been fully revealed.

April 8, 2007
Resurrection Sunday
“God’s Mystery”
Colossians 2:1-5

This past Sunday, we considered Paul’s description at Colossians 1: 24-29 of “the mystery hidden for ages.” Paul tells us that this mystery includes God pouring out his riches upon all people groups of the world. He tells us that the mystery includes our union with Christ who dwells in us by his Spirit. He then describes this mystery as the hope we have of sharing in God’s glory.
Paul tells us that his calling in life is to “make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.” John Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury from 1621 to 1641 wrote, “This mystery was manifested not discovered.” This little observation is significant. God has revealed to us the mystery. Recently the makers of a Discovery Channel movie have presented the limestone boxes inscribed with the names of Jesus, of two Mary’s, and of “Judah, the son of Jesus.” They claim that DNA testing proves that the remains in these coffins belong to Jesus and his family. The great mystery they have recently discovered is that Jesus was a family man, a husband and a father. Is this the mystery God has revealed to us?
The difference between the Discovery Channel movie and the claims of the apostles is the observation of John Davenant: the mysteries of God are revealed to us not discovered by us. Why is this significant? Our view of God is impacted by this difference. The God of the Bible has made himself known to us. God is a revealing and giving Person, initiating a relationship with us. The God of the Discovery Channel hides details about the incarnation allowing his followers to believe a lie, only to be exposed by a group of slick 21st century marketers.
For Paul, another significant aspect of the mystery revealed is the encouragement of all who receive it. Paul is so committed to this encouragement that he does everything he can from his prison cell through prayer and through correspondence to encourage people whom he has never met face to face! He writes in (1) “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged.” His struggle is at least two-fold: He is imprisoned and thus frustrated. He desires to minister to these people face to face but he is unable to do so. But he will not allow mere men, bars and locks to prevent him from encouraging these people and so he struggles in prayer and through correspondence. His desired goal for these new Christians is that they might be “knit together in love.” He may not be able to be physically present with them, but he labors so that they might express love to one another in Christian fellowship.
Paul struggles in prison, to communicate God’s mystery to these new Christians. Paul’s desire is that they would know God’s mystery fully. Paul writes, “to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery.” Paul’s desire is that Christians would know, understand, and be fully assured of the truth of the mystery revealed. This is indeed encouraging: We may know, understand, and be fully assured of the mystery of God. Anyone who has read the Bible discovers that God is beyond our complete comprehension. We read of divine mysteries that shall remain clouded for all eternity. Nevertheless, God has revealed this particular mystery to us and it is the center of our faith.
In (2) Paul simply and clearly describes God’s revealed mystery as “Christ.” God, who is a Spirit, who dwells in unapproachable light, who operates infinitely apart from time and space, has created time and space, created all things, and then sent his Son, the Christ, so that we might see and hear God personally. The mystery is clearly revealed yet every aspect of it reminds us that we are mere creatures and that the divine is otherworldly and infinitely holy. The Son of God takes on flesh and lives among us. The incarnation is clearly revealed to us, yet who can understand it fully? One Person, fully divine yet fully human. One person, yet two complete natures. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has been clearly revealed to us, yet who can understand it fully? Would you be comfortable with a religion that sufficiently explains every detail of its claims and historic events? Do you desire a religion that reduces all its parts to normalcy and rational presentation? If this is what you desire, then you do not desire the divine. By very definition God is unexplainable and unapproachable. The gospel of the Bible is that God has clearly revealed to us what is sufficient for us to be united to him forever. Paul writes that this mystery revealed to us is “Christ.”
While the science of resurrection may be a puzzle for us, the purpose of resurrection is clearly revealed. The purpose of the resurrection is to destroy our enemy Death once for all. Christ’s resurrection frees us from sin and Death and freely gives to us new and eternal life. This is the mystery revealed: In Christ, we have freedom from sin and Death and we enter a new and eternal life. Christ’s resurrection benefiting us is but one of many treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Paul writes, “God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Once again Paul presents the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ, the main theme of his letter to the Colossians.
As Paul uses the word, “hidden,” he does not mean that God is concealing wisdom and knowledge in Christ, hiding the truth from us. Rather he means that wisdom and knowledge are deposited in Christ. Think of Christ as the safe and wisdom and knowledge as precious gems stored in the safe. As you enter Christ, you are able to see the gems in all their glory. Paul has welcomed the Colossians and all of us to enter into the riches of Christ, who is God’s mystery revealed to us. Resurrection Sunday is a perfect time for each of us to come to Christ and to see in him the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Today, the Discovery Channel offers you the treasure of what is presented as Jesus’ dirty little secret – he had a wife and sired a child. In making this offer to us, the marketers not only give the apostles of Jesus a bad reputation, but they also give Science a bad name. These kinds of people and presentations were alive and well at the time of Paul’s writing. This is the reason for his warning in (4): “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.” This past Sunday I tried to communicate that these claims and discoveries of Jesus’ bones in a sandstone coffin are flimsy and fallacious and that we need not bring much attention or apologetic heat to answer them. However, in our day, whatever makes it to the big screen does have a significant impact and it may be that some people may consider these claims to be plausible arguments. These men showcasing sandstone coffins are fighting against the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If the bodily remains of Jesus are actually in the sandstone coffin uncovered in 1980, then he has not been raised from the dead, body and soul in heaven preparing a place for us.
According to Joseph Zias, an Israeli archeologist, within a two mile radius of the tomb from which these stone coffins were discovered in Talpiyot, there are 70 graves/ossuaries with the name Jesus inscribed upon them and two with the name, “Jesus, son of Joseph.” 48% of women in Israel in the first century had the name Mary/Miriam. (Go to Mexico today and every other kid you meet on the street is either Jesus or Maria.)
The DNA analysis applied to the remains in these stone coffins has identified that tissues from the ossuaries inscribed “Jesua” and “Mariamene e Mara” were not related, raising the possibility that they may have been married and possibly had a child. When these marketers conclude from this analysis that Jesus of Nazareth was a husband and father, they misapply scientific practice. According to Dr. Craig Evans PhD, author of Jesus and the Ossuaries, the tomb in which these coffins were uncovered, housed the bones of about 35 different individuals and about half of these 35 were mixed in these ossuaries of Jesus, Mary, and Judas. It was common to place more than one set of remains into one coffin. And so, the DNA sampling becomes quite difficult. Paul writes to the Colossians, “I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”
Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain…but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.” Legitimate science would not categorically discount this claim but instead would take it as a challenge of its finest research and its greatest scientists. Which laws of science would completely shut the door on the resurrection? But the mysteries of the divine have never truly been a battlefield where Science and Faith have clashed. Rather, when it comes to the mystery of God, the war has been fought between conflicting faiths.
The Discovery Channel guys have told us that the mystery is that Jesus was a family man. The Apostle Paul has told us that the mystery of God fully revealed is “Christ,” that is Jesus, who has freed all people groups to be united to him and to possess a sure hope of glory. The apostles have announced the mystery to be Christ crucified, not as a failure, but as atonement for the sins of the world. The apostles have announced the mystery of God to be the resurrection of Jesus from the dead so that we might have life abundantly and eternally. But then, the Discovery Channel guys have recently told us that the mystery discovered is that Jesus was actually the lover of Mary Magdalene and together they raised a son, Judas. The Da Vinci Code guys have reminded us that most historical accounts report that Mary Magdalene eventually made France her home and that she was buried there. The Gnostics have claimed that Mary’s son, sired by Jesus was also whisked away to France and perhaps as far north as Scotland. But now the Discovery Channel guys have told us that Jesus, Mary and Judas were a wealthy family buried in the suburbs of Jerusalem.
Paul’s concern was to protect the new Christians in Colossae from such nonsense. He concludes his paragraph with these kind words, “For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” This is Christ’s desire for all of us. Paul mirrors the desire of Christ. Each of us in the Church ought to mirror this desire, encouraging one another with the mystery fully revealed. We knit together in love as we protect each other from plausible arguments and rest in the mystery fully revealed, Christ, our Redeemer.
As we cling to the gospel and marvel at the mystery fully revealed to us, we may live in good order and enjoy a firm faith in Christ.

“Our Identity and Union in Christ”
Colossians 2:6-10

Along with the Colossian Christians, our identity is inseparable from Jesus Christ. We are united to Christ. This union is mysterious but it also manifests itself in daily living. Paul first describes this identity and union in Christ as our reception of Christ: “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord.” Have you received Christ Jesus the Lord? What does it mean to receive Christ Jesus the Lord? Paul tells us in (2): “to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.” Have you heard the divine mystery revealed as Christ? If so, you have knowledge of it. Do you understand Christ? Perhaps you do not have full understanding but do you have sufficient understanding? Do you understand the historic narrative of the life of Jesus? Do you understand the mission of his incarnation? Do you understand his teaching? Do you understand his gospel? It may take some time for you to grow in your understanding of Christ. It may take some time for you to reach full assurance of understanding and knowledge. Receiving Christ takes time – a lifetime. Yet Paul writes, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord.” There must be a sufficient degree of reception of Christ that would make Paul write in the past tense as if these new Christians in Colossae had indeed received Christ.
How do you know if you have sufficiently received Christ? The key is in the title “Lord.” “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord.” The amount of knowledge, understanding, and assurance may vary from person to person. But any of us who would submit to Christ as Lord, have sufficiently received Christ Jesus. When you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, you become identified with him, united to him.
Secondly, Paul describes this identification and union, using three metaphors describing a strong faith. The first metaphor compares strong faith to walking. The picture is not of us walking with Christ, but of us walking in him. We are so identified with Christ that it is as if one Person were walking along the path. His steps are our steps. His direction is our direction. John Calvin, who organized his comments according to what he called the “three metaphors,” writes, “Paul compares the pure doctrine of the gospel, as the Colossians had learned it, to a path that is sure, so that if any one will but keep it he will be beyond all danger of mistake. Paul exhorts them, accordingly, if they would not go astray, not to turn aside from the course on which they have entered.”
The second metaphor compares a strong faith to well-rooted trees. Calvin writes, “For as a tree that has struck its roots deep has a sufficiency of support for withstanding all the assaults of winds and storms, so, if any one is deeply and thoroughly fixed in Christ, as in a firm root, it will not be possible for him to be thrown down from his proper position by any machinations of Satan. On the other hand, if any one has not fixed his roots in Christ, he will easily be ‘carried about with every wind of doctrine,’ just as a tree that is not supported by any root.”
The third metaphor compares a firm faith to a foundation of a house. Once again Calvin expounds the metaphor: “…A house that is not supported by a foundation quickly falls to ruins. The case is the same with those who lean on any other foundation than Christ, or at least are not securely founded on him, but have the building of their faith suspended, as it were, in the air, in consequence of their weakness and levity. These two things are to be observed in the Apostle’s words — that the stability of those who rely upon Christ is immovable, and their course is not at all wavering, or liable to error, (and this is an admirable commendation of faith from its effect.” And so, these three metaphors describe for us a firm faith in Jesus Christ. Each metaphor speaks of our union to Christ. The walking, rooting, and founding are all “in him.” The object of our faith is Christ and our union with Christ is the location at which we express this faith.
Christians can barely describe their union with Christ apart from these three metaphors. How often do we hear a Christian speak of his/her life as “My walk with Christ?” Do not Christians identify with the tree of Psalm 1, rooted by streams of water yielding fruit in its season? Do we not speak of Christ as our cornerstone, the very foundation of our faith and life?
Epaphras, the church planter and Pastor at Colossae, had taught this gospel to the Colossians and they received it gratefully. This is Paul’s third point: One who is identified with Christ, united to him, overflows with thanksgiving. This is one mark of a true Christian.
Fourthly, Paul returns to his warning of these new Christians. He is concerned that they would lose their freedom in Christ. Paul writes, “See to it that no one takes you captive.” The word in our text translated “captive,” is used only in this one place in all of the New Testament. It is a word that describes the plunder and enslavement of war. Some translators have emphasized the picture of plunder while others have chosen the picture of slavery. This word certainly communicates both. Paul lists several enemies who may plunder and enslave us.
The first enemy uses philosophy. Paul is not prohibiting the study of philosophy or the making of it. As you know, Philosophy is the branch of knowledge or academic study devoted to the systematic examination of basic concepts such as truth, existence, reality, causality, and freedom. A Christian may study the philosophies of this world and assess them according to a biblical worldview of truth, existence, reality, causality and freedom. A Christian may attempt to write a Christian Philosophy. Paul’s concern is that a Christian would espouse a non-Christian philosophy becoming enslaved once again to the hopeless and godless conclusions of this world. A person who is identified with Christ, united to him, would be free of such bondage.
The second enemy who may plunder and enslave us uses empty deceit. Philosophies are usually well thought out and carefully presented after years of grueling refinement. Nietzsche painfully worked upon his godless philosophy for years employing the brilliance of his mind and the careful research of the stream of Philosophy as far back as Plato and Aristotle. Many people have followed his philosophy and have become enslaved by it precisely because it is so well thought out and cogent at many points. However, most of us fall prey to a more flimsy enemy – the one who uses empty deceit. This enemy shows up on the New York Times Best Sellers list, on the speech circuit, and in popular magazines, not to mention all over the world wide web and in many informal conversations. This enemy using empty deceit often shows up in programs and conferences marketed for the Church. Empty deceit is usually packaged – and I mean slickly packaged. We latch onto it as if this new information is the key to all of our present problems. We forget Christ and his holy gospel and begin pursuing with a passion this new program that makes everything clear. The Philosopher labors for 40 years and gains a following of ten. The Marketer of empty deceit throws together a slick presentation in two weeks and gains a following of 5,000. Both have the potential of enslaving us and plundering our freedom in Christ.
The third enemy uses human tradition. Once again we can become enslaved to something good. How do we become enslaved by human traditions? It happens when someone comes along and says, “This is the only way to do it.” How does this plunder us? Such a view and practice robs us of our freedom of creativity and expression in the Church. We should be able to say on hundreds of points of practice, “We prefer to do it this way.” But then someone comes along and says, “There is only one way to do it and I will establish that one way for you.”
The fourth enemy uses the elemental spirits of the world to plunder and enslave us. In Paul’s world and in our world, people are attracted to the stars and the planets. They seek to find order and meaning for life in the movement of these bodies. People are attracted to the four elements: air, fire, water, and earth. These comprise a foundation of energy, power and purpose for members of Wicca. The earth becomes a living female organism, the trees house spirits, water and wind deliver the sacred voice. The Winter and Spring Solstice become the high holy days of the religious calendar. These elemental spirits of the world may distract us but they can also enslave us and plunder our freedom in Christ. Christians are to be responsible stewards of nature but we are freed of the bondage of worshipping the creature rather than the Creator. Those of us who are united to Christ are free from offering libations at midnight and sacrificing chickens to appease a thirsty mother earth.
Paul returns to his theme of the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” This is an amazing statement of Paul. First he says that Christ is filled with divinity. Then Paul says that Christ, our sole ruler and authority fills us. Christ Jesus is supreme in his divinity and in his rule and authority. Christ Jesus is sufficient in his filling of us. This filling is nothing less than the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us – enlightening us, empowering us, teaching and comforting us. The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ and to our heavenly Father. The filling of the Holy Spirit marks us so that others observe that we are identified with Christ. The Holy Spirit works righteousness in us to the extent that others see Christ-like behavior when they observe us. The fruit of the Spirit filling us is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” As we are filled in Christ, these fruit of the Spirit will begin to show in our behavior. Our reception of Christ Jesus the Lord, shall begin to inform our behavior and make our lives pleasantly good for others around us.

Our Union in Christ: The Reality of Baptism
Colossians 2:9-15

In (9) Paul presents Christ as a man, truly and fully human. This full humanity was obvious to all who had met Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the radically popular rabbi from Galilee who was crucified on the day that the earth shook and the sky darkened. Everyone present at the crucifixion would say without hesitation, “Jesus was fully human.” The surprise and main point of (9) is that this fully human Christ is also fully divine. Moreso, the divinity of Christ is divine Personhood. We are not to think that the man Christ Jesus swallowed some divinely mysterious elixir, which permeated his human personhood perfecting every faculty. Paul’s language is quite precise. This fully human person, Christ, is also a fully divine Person, Christ. He has a dual nature. He is fully human and fully divine.
In (10) Paul presents Christ as the preeminent and supreme ruler and authority of all creation. This preeminent Christ has united himself to his Church. Paul now describes for us the work Christ has completed to unite us to himself and to his Father in heaven.
The first description of Christ’s work to secure our union with him concerns circumcision. The circumcision performed by hands was a sign pointing to the reality of God cleansing and warming the heart toward union with him. Abraham with his own hands circumcised himself and his sons in obedience to God’s commands. But Abraham also possessed the reality to which the sign pointed. His heart was cleansed and warmed by God united to him so that it could be said that Abraham was a “man of faith.” Jesus was also circumcised on the eight day by the hands of the priest and this sign pointed to his union with God even though he had no sin to cleanse from his heart which was never stony but perfectly warmed toward his heavenly Father. And so, for millennia, the sign and reality of circumcision served the community of faith. The Law and the Prophets governing these ancient epochs of the Old Covenant called people to faith, to the circumcision of the heart to which the outward sign performed by hands could only point.
Paul says that this work of Christ to unite us to him is the removal of our sins. The sign of circumcision cut away some literal flesh of the body and so Paul uses the sign as a metaphor for the removal of our sins. And so as Paul writes, “a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh,” he is describing this removal of all our sins. This work of removing all our sins is further described by Paul as “the circumcision of Christ,” as opposed to the “circumcision by the hands of an Old Covenant priest. The circumcision that Christ performs upon us is the removal of our sins.
The second description of Christ’s work to secure our union with him concerns baptism. Paul writes, “by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism.” And so the phrase, “circumcision of Christ,” also describes the reality of baptism. The grammar of Paul’s sentence connects circumcision to baptism and his word choice relates the two as well. You may be thinking, “But the signs of circumcision and baptism are so different from each other. The sign of circumcision is of blood but the sign of baptism is of water. How can Paul connect one with the other?” It is the reality of circumcision that is connected to the reality of baptism. In fact, the realities are the same: the removal of sins, warming hearts toward union with God.
Paul says that this work of Christ to unite us to God is our death and resurrection with him through faith. We are united to Christ in his death as he has taken upon himself our sins. He has identified with us to such a deep extent that upon the cross, in his death, he became sin for us. As the sin bearer, Christ represented us fully upon the cross. At the cross, Christ removed our sins from us and God the Father poured out his wrath for our sin upon Christ. And so, the reality of baptism is identical to the reality of circumcision. Both are about the removal of our sins toward our union with God.
Paul continues to describe the reality of baptism by writing, “in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith.” The reality of baptism is that we share in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Our new life in Christ is one in which we are free from the bondage of sin and death. With much more flare, Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth: “Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” The reality of baptism is the removal of the power of sin and death so that we might be freely united to God in Christ.
Paul is speaking about the reality of baptism and circumcision. He does not have the sign, especially the mode of the sign in mind. Christians all united to one another in Christ have historically argued about the mode of baptism. Some Christians have insisted upon sprinkling while others prefer pouring. Still another group claims that the only acceptable mode is immersion. Colossians 2:12 is the proof text for this insistence upon immersion. A person of this persuasion will say, “Paul is instructing us concerning the sign and mode of baptism as he writes, ‘having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God.’ As the person is lowered beneath the water line, we see the sign of burial with Christ. As the person is lifted above the water line we see the sign of his resurrection in Christ. This is the only proper mode.” But Paul is not addressing the mode or the sign of baptism and circumcision. He is showing us that the reality of both is our union in Christ through the removal of our sins.
This becomes all the more clear in the following words of Paul. This baptism is “through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Paul is presenting the reality of Christ’s work in death and resurrection applied to us by faith. Christ has completed a real work for us and our lives have been in reality transformed!
Paul now describes in detail this real and completed work of God to unite us to himself. Paul describes our original condition and state: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh….” Apart from this work of Christ we are incapable of any action toward uniting ourselves to God. Our spiritual death has rendered powerless and ineffective our minds, wills, hearts, soul, emotions, body, every faculty and aspect of us. “The uncircumcision of your flesh,” describes our complete and dire separation from God. It describes our stony hearts and our sinful minds and behavior. It is while we are found in this despicable and hopeless condition that God completes his work to unite us to himself.
“God made us alive together with Christ.” Spiritually each one of us was a corpse. But God has revived us, giving us new life with Christ, his Son whom he raised from the dead. How has God brought us back to life? Paul uncharacteristically writes, “having forgiven us all our trespasses.” Paul usually speaks about Christ atoning for our sins. But in his letter to the Colossians, he uses little to no specific language of the atonement. Instead he speaks of forgiveness. Several weeks ago I observed that Jesus dying on the cross did not hold any grudge against us for his suffering and agony, but instead he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Now, we learn from Paul that God in heaven holds no grudges against us! He has forgiven our sins! God alone can atone for our sins. This means that Christ, the one who perfectly obeyed God’s law is the only one who can thus become the perfect sacrifice, the spotless Lamb, acceptable in the sight of a Holy God who in his justice must punish sin. The Father in heaven in all his holy justice pours out his wrath for sin upon the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Only God can atone for sins. But when Paul says that God “forgives us our trespasses,” he assigns an action to God, which we can mimic, namely forgiveness. And so, Jesus teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
What exactly has God done to forgive us our sins? Paul explains God’s action of forgiveness in (14): “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.” God holds no grudge against us and he legally removes all record of our infractions against his holy law and removes all divine rights of recourse! It is popular today among biblical scholars to relieve the doctrine and language of atonement from its legal context and meaning. Such a presentation requires a bit of hermeneutical gymnastics. But now Paul is speaking about the related action of forgiveness and he choose language and context that is legal once again! Why does Paul do this? Can’t he choose another context other than the courtroom? Doesn’t he know how much we hate the courtroom? Paul is preaching the gospel to us, which is the story of our being freed from the courtroom. It is the story of circumcision and baptism – the removal of our sins! But we must go to court first, guilty as we are. We must enter the courtroom without any hope of acquittal. We must meet Christ Jesus our Advocate, our defense attorney. His expert representation renders a most surprising verdict: Not guilty. We leave the courtroom and in the streets in the shadow of the halls of justice, we see a man in the crowd who owes us a small sum. We chase him down, grab him by the collar and yell in his face: “Pay us back right now or we will haul you into court!” He doesn’t have the small sum on him and so, we who have been forgiven a great debt haul this man into court so that justice can be served on his petty infraction. Paul uses the real, legal context so that we might live according to the forgiveness we have received from God.
God set aside the legal demands of our record of debt by nailing it to the cross. Jesus Christ became sin for us. He was nailed to the cross and there God punished our sin once for all that we might walk out of court free and clear of any punishment, guilt, and shame. We walk forth free to forgive others. The context of our forgiving one another is God forgiving us.
Paul concludes his paragraph with what may seem at first glance to be a misplaced sentence and thought: “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.” First of all, this sentence is a well-placed conclusion reprising Paul’s main theme, namely the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. He is the victor over all rulers, authorities who would seek to destroy the work of Christ, even his glorious kingdom and Church. How has God disarmed these principalities and warmongers who seek to harm God’s people? He has done so by sending Christ to the cross to cancel the debt of sin. He has done so by forgiving the sins of these people. The enemies of God and his people have no case to bring to court. They have no record of sin with which to shame us. They have nothing to throw in our face and to imprison us. They have nothing against us in the end for Christ has won the victory in a most peculiar way: He has laid down his life a ransom for many. At the cross, Jesus disarmed these enemies, stealing their thunder, knocking the wind out of their sails, anticipating their arguments concerning our guilt and sin. None of these enemies had ever dreamed that Christ would win the victory by forfeiting his own life. None of them had anticipated the holy and just God of the universe forgiving the whole lot turning his wrath aside.
God forgave us all our sins and in that one act of divine kindness, he won the whole war against the formidable foes of darkness. The spiritual powers of heaven fell to hell and the demons who slink along the alleys of this world slithered into hades. Christ delivered the deathblow to the accuser of God’s elect. Those who scoff at the Church have been drowned out by the thundering voice of God who has said, “I forgive you all your sins.”

“Our Freedom in Christ: Part One”
Colossians 2:16-19

Much of 20th Century scholarship concerning Paul’s Letter to the Colossians attempts to establish a formal heretical movement in the new church planted in the city of Colossae. This is known as “The Colossian Heresy.” Paul never mentions “The Colossian Heresy” and so we can’t be sure of its formal existence. First century congregations in Asia Minor were plagued with the popular Gnosticism of the day. From extra-biblical, historical literature we know of this Gnosticism and its infiltration of the Church at large. Gnosticism is founded on two basic assumptions:
1) Spirit alone is good while all matter is evil; and 2) Matter is infinite and eternal. These two foundational assumptions were used by first century Gnostics to erode biblical doctrines of the Church. Gnostics in the Church community would deny that God is Creator of the world, since matter is evil. They would also argue, “If matter has always existed, then God did not create all things out of nothing.”
The Gnostics also argued against the incarnation of the Son of God. Since matter is evil, God would not join himself to human flesh. Gnosticism, though highly intellectual, providing a complex philosophy, is also practical and ethical as a system. Gnostics of the first century applying their foundational assumption that matter is evil, divided into two ethical practices. The first was an asceticism developing a long list of rules and restrictions denying the body necessities and desires. The second was a hedonism reasoning that since matter is evil, then matter doesn’t matter and so, we can do whatever we desire with it, including our bodies.
The Colossian Church undoubtedly encountered Gnosticism in her city and within her fellowship. How formally organized the Gnostics in Colossae were in the first century is not yet known. In Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians we read statements concerning God, even Christ, as Creator of the world. Paul clearly presents the Christ, the divine Son of God as Jesus, the man, fully divine yet fully human. And now, we are reading Paul’s ethical instructions protecting the Church from what appears to be Gnostic asceticism.
Whether or not there was an organized Gnostic invasion of the Church at Colossae we cannot be sure at this time. But what we can be sure of from reading Paul and from our own experience is that Gnostic themes and practices regularly and informally plague the Church, not to mention the larger community located anywhere in this world. Gnosticism is spiritual and religious and thrives mostly as a parasite on other religious systems.
Religion in any form eventually manifests itself in three ways identified by Paul in our paragraph. Religion by its very design works its way down into the basic activities of our daily lives, including our diet and behavioral habits. Secondly, Religion develops holy days and events, which become the fabric of tradition. Thirdly, Religion develops rites of passage including distinctive doctrines, which must be espoused by anyone who would formally enter its membership. Paul does not abolish practical application, tradition or rites of passage. Instead he issues a strong warning against any of these robbing Christ of his supremacy and sufficiency, robbing the followers of Christ of their freedom.
Firstly, Paul issues a warning against Religion working its way down into the basic activities of our daily lives. Our Christian faith and practice ought to influence our behavior, even the basic activities of daily life. But with a Gnostic flare, Christians can go too far with this practical religion movement. How far is too far? Paul writes, “Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink.” When we listen to ourselves and discover that we are not founded and focused upon the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ, but instead we are making rules about food and drink, we have gone too far down the path of practical religion. Have you seen the film, “Over the Hedge?” The animals are obsessed with raiding the pantry and the picnic cooler of a particular family. The raccoon says, “It’s all about the food.”
What defines our freedom in Christ? What we eat and drink? Paul told the Church at Corinth that his freedom in Christ allowed him to eat and to drink whatever he desired. To the Church at Rome Paul wrote, “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” By its design Religion will encourage us to make rules by which we can pass judgment on each other concerning what we eat and drink. When we make these rules, we have gone to far, making practical religion the object of our faith instead of Christ, who is sufficient and supreme.
Secondly, Paul issues a warning against Religion establishing holy days and events. Once again, Paul is not prohibiting a Church calendar. Paul is not anti-tradition. Paul is vehemently opposed to our replacing Christ with holidays. Paul is opposed to our judging one another in the Church concerning traditional observances. Paul writes, “let no one pass judgment on you with regard to a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath.” All three of these were part of the Jewish calendar. The Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, outline the festivals for us. Moses repeats God’s command concerning Passover observance and other festivals: “You shall keep it throughout your generations.” This perpetual observance served the worshipping community until the fulfillment of these festivals arrived in the Person and work of Christ. Now, in these last days, we are no longer required to celebrate the festivals.
We know less about the new moons, and so I visited Mordechai Housman’s instructively deep website explaining how to become a religious Jew. He is a Hasidic, Orthodox Jew living in New York City. He explains: “The New Moon (the start of every Jewish month) is the most pivotal date in the Jewish Calendar. Without the New Moon, we could not have any of the Jewish Holidays. All the Jewish Holidays revolve around the date of the New Moon. The New Moon tells us which day is the first of the month. Nowadays we use a set calendar to tell us when the New Moon is celebrated, and thus when all the other days of that month will occur. It was not always like that, and it will not always be like that. In order for the new month to begin, the Sanhedrin (highest Jewish Court) must declare “Rosh Chodesh.” (The Sanhedrin does not exist today, for technical reasons, but someday it will be reinstated, either after the Messiah comes, or just before the Messiah comes.) Rosh Chodesh literally means “Head of the Month.” This refers to the minor holiday of the first day (or the first two days, depending) of the new month. When the Sanhedrin declared the new month, that day was Rosh Chodesh, and it was therefore a minor Holiday, with specific levels of holiness attached to it. The Talmud therefore refers to that process as “Sanctifying the New Moon.” There is nothing wrong with setting our monthly calendar according to the new moon. But this is certainly not an obligation of the most holy faith.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead on the first day of the week has altered significantly the Sabbath observance of God’s people. The disciples of Jesus began to meet for worship and fellowship on Sundays. However, they continued to frequent Sabbath day worship in the synagogues and temple. Certain Christian Churches insist on Sabbath, seventh day, worship. But the resurrection of Jesus from the dead has produced a freedom that we enjoy in the Church.
In (17) Paul writes about these festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths: “These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” These days have served the glorious purpose of foretelling the coming of Christ. They have preached the gospel to the Old Covenant worshipping community and these days still stand as a testimony to the coming of Christ and his fulfillment of the entire Law and Promise of God. But now the reality has come. The substance to which the shadows have pointed is Christ.
Thirdly, Paul issues a warning against Religion developing rites of passage including distinctive doctrines, which must be espoused by anyone who would formally enter its membership. We are a confessional church. We invite people to enter formal membership based upon profession of faith. Our ministers and officers adhere to the system of doctrine contained in our constitutional confession. Have we gone too far down the path of ritualistic Religion? In our confessional system, we allow officers to take exception with points of doctrine. We do not bind the conscience or convictions of our members on all points of doctrine. Paul is not against doctrinal foundations for the Church. Members of the Church must hold fast to the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures. However, by design Religion adds doctrine and rites that go beyond the doctrines and rites of God’s word.
In (18) Paul refers to a list of qualifications that go beyond the word of God. Many religions have a lengthy and rigorous process of initiation and qualification. The more challenging the process, the more respect the religion gains for being a serious and true religion. Indeed Christianity is often accused of being too easy, too free. We don’t expect enough of our members and so Christianity must not be a true religion. Paul’s main theme in this Epistle is that Christ is supreme and sufficient. Jesus said, “I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” But we have turned the gate into a long, dark 10-mile tunnel. Through it a candidate for membership must walk chained and chanting. He must deny himself and drag a literal cross. He must study for three years and write a thesis on how much he knows about the Religion. Just before the light at the end of the tunnel, he must stand before a panel of judges who examine him and approve his entrance into the Religion.
Paul now offers two examples of rites that go beyond the word of God and both seem extreme. The first is the worship of angels. How can the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ ever fall into the worship of angels? As extreme as it sounds, this has happened in the past and it is happening right now in our community. One way it happens is when a congregation starts shouting at the devil, thus talking to him and about him more than talking to Christ and about him.
The second rite that goes beyond the word of God is too much talk about visions. How can the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ ever fall into “going on in detail about visions?” Believe me, it is easily done. To escape this pitfall we must remember that prophecy is always, “Thus saith the Lord.” It is never “This is what I have to share.” Visions are direct from God. They are never “My personal, fanciful notions.” Paul warns us against people who would appeal to reason in support of these practices.
Could it be that a congregation somewhere in the heartland of America would say, “You must have received a vision from God before you can join our church.” Is not Christ sufficient? Is not our profession of faith in him alone sufficient to make us members of his church? He is the gate that swings open granting us access to the Father’s love. Christ is supreme. No other voice or vision is necessary. No rite of passage is required be it an encounter with an angel or a three-year self-denial. We are free from such rites of passage. The rite of passage was walked and completed by Jesus Christ. He walked to the hill of the skull. He was crucified. He died and was buried. He suffered hell. He was raised to new life on the third day and ascended into heaven. He has blazed the trail and the rest of us freely run up that trail following him.
We are united to Christ, unlike the person who would seek to enslave us. This person, Paul describes in (19). He does not hold fast to Christ, the Head of the body. He is not a member of this body connected to Christ the Head. He is not united to Christ and thus he does not grow spiritually as God causes growth. But those of us who are freely united to Christ shall experience this growth.
God shall cause us to grow in Christ. The head of the body, Jesus Christ is supreme and he is sufficient. Let us put our trust in him and worship him in Spirit and in truth. Amen.

“Our Freedom in Christ: Part Two”
Colossians 2:20-23

In Colossians 2:16-19 Paul frees the Christian from man-made qualifications for entrance into the Church. Practical application of the Holy Scriptures does not qualify us. Good traditions and rites of passage, even our embracing of doctrinal distinctions does not qualify us. Christ Jesus alone qualifies us.
The Colossians would have known the ancient folklore emphasized by the first century Gnostics. One such tale, by Apuleius, is known by the titles, “Metamorphoses,” and “The Golden Ass.” As the adventures of Lucius unfold, his pride and lust contort him into an ass. The goddess Isis restores him to human form. This restoration, or metamorphosis, is an involved initiation into the cult of Isis. Lucius must abstain from certain foods and strong drink. He must ritually wash himself and purchase new garments at a great expense. Lucius is sworn to secrecy concerning the rites he experiences. However, he leaks the information that he stared for hours at a golden statue of Isis until he reached a state of devotion then ecstasy. At the culmination of this initiation, Lucius receives a vision that he must undergo a second initiation, a passage into the cult of Osiris. Fasting and hefty fees are again part of the metamorphosis. He is told that entering into the the cult of the goddess Isis is not enough. Osiris, the great god, the father of the gods, offers greater enlightenment. Upon completion, he discovers that he must undergo yet a third initiation. This third rite of passage is in no way a reflection of his failure or inability to please the gods. Rather, it is an indicator that the gods are pleased with him and deem him worthy of the third initiation.
Paul says, “Enough already!” None of these initiations are necessary or effective in achieving a higher plane of spirituality. Christ has done the work and freely offers the reward to us who are united to him by faith. Those of us who are sincere Christians, desiring a holy behavior and a God-centered life respond by praising God. But we also think, “Now that we have freely received entrance into God’s loving favor, we must get down to practical application, good traditions, and rituals of holiness.” At this point in our thought process Paul issues a second warning found in Colossians 2: 20-23. At this point Paul is concerned that well-meaning Christians desiring a life of spiritual discipline would adopt and practice the ineffective and destructive disciplines of this world rather than following Christ and his apostles.
The first part of Paul’s warning in (20) is based upon our union with Christ in his death. In his death, Christ destroyed the bondage of sin and death. We are free from all the entanglements of this world. These “elemental spirits of the world,” include natural human devotions to the base elements of earth, wind, and fire. We should keep the waters of this world pure but we should not worship water. We should care for the trees but we should not worship them in a sacred grove. We are free from the supposed control the planetary and stellar bodies have over us. We are dead to the world, which assigns divinity to the sun, moon, stars, trees, mountains, and rivers. Those who are alive to this world worship the bear, the coyote, and the stork. But we who are dead to the world and alive in Christ worship the Creator rather than the creature. We protect endangered species, not because they are divine and our protection of them is worship, but rather, we protect them because we serve the Creator who made them all very good and appointed us stewards for their protection and multiplication.
Paul warns us against human regulations governing our daily experience. If we are united to Christ in his death, thus truly free from the entanglements of this world, then we are free to enjoy the world around us, to discover the world in all of its pleasant detail.
Self-made religion prohibits such discovery and enjoyment of the world. Paul warns, “Do not submit to regulations – ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, do not touch.’” Many, many Christians do not hear Paul at this point. Perhaps some of us are deaf and blind to Paul’s warning. Instead of hearing Paul’s complete warning, we listen to the first part and then jump to our own conclusions. For example, many Christians hear Paul say, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why as if you were still alive in the world…” but they don’t hear his conclusion. These Christians stop Paul in mid-sentence adding their own conclusion: Therefore, we will withdraw from this world, never discovering its detail, never enjoying its goodness, never managing its environment, never caring for it. They go even further concluding that the world is evil and that good Christians will deny its pleasures and its beauty. Ironically, Paul’s conclusion is the exact opposite of this prevailing Christian conclusion. Paul concludes, “Do not submit to regulations that prevent your experience of the world around you.”
My younger sister, Debbie, often says to me when my children visit in her home, “Your children are so tactile.” My children handle, taste, and touch everything. Those of us who have toddlers in our homes place anything of value five feet or higher so that these little human beings who must discover and experience everything they can get their hands and tongues on, will not destroy our precious trinkets. In the religious realm we do the same. We prohibit individual discovery of the good, the wise, and the glorious. We prohibit for the sake of control. Self-made religion cloaks the good removing it from its members until they have paid and earned the right to nibble at it. Man-made religion removes wisdom from daily light placing it in the clouded realm of mystery. Only the priests may receive the wisdom and impart it to the members a very little at a time. Self-made religion replaces the raw glory of God with pageantry and sensational rites so that the masses will be deluded and thus controlled.
But David sings, “O taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed in the one who takes refuge in him!” Paul writes, “Why, as if you are still alive in this world, do you submit to regulations – ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch.’” In (22) Paul observes that these rules concern perishable items of this world – food, drink, and trinkets. Why would Christians focus their faith and practice on what is perishable? Have we not been given the imperishable? Is not Christ supreme and sufficient? Is he not the object of our faith? Are we not to handle, taste, and touch him? In 1150 Bernard of Clairvaux wrote of Christ Jesus, “We taste thee, O thou living bread, and long to feast upon thee still. We drink of thee, the fountain head and thirst our souls from thee to fill.”
Secondly, Paul warns us that Self-made religion does not deliver its promised results. The regulations prohibiting the discovery and enjoyment of this world appear to be wisdom, but Paul insists that they are not the wisdom of God. Indeed some of us listening today to Paul’s words disagree with him. We believe and practice the opposite. Some of us actually believe that Christianity is fundamentally about prohibition. But Paul says that Christianity is fundamentally about freedom. Do we worship Christ, the Redeemer? If we do, then our worship and the gospel we embrace is foolishness to the world. The wisdom of this world is prohibition, secrecy, and self-made, rigorous religion.
The serpent in the garden of Eden said to Eve, “’You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” The promised wisdom of the serpent and of this world is bondage and destruction. But some of you are thinking, “You see, Eve fell into trouble by touching, handling, and tasting. Christianity is about prohibition. After all, God prohibited the eating of the fruit.” Yes, God’s prohibition is part of a rule which also includes these words of license: “You may surely eat of all of the trees of the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” God’s prohibition frees us from death! But Self-made religion with all of its many regulations does not deliver wisdom but instead drags us down into death.
Paul also tells us how Self-made religion is made. It is made by the crafting of regulations. As a group of people submit themselves to these regulations as new religion is born. The same is true for asceticism and any severity to the body. The difference between a masochist and an ascetic who flagellates his body is that the masochist without a system of rules destroys his body. But the ascetic flagellates his body according to the rules of a system to which he has submitted.
This submission creates a self-made religion, which does not deliver its promised results. Paul writes, “But they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” Do you desire to be free from the indulgence of the flesh? How can I be free from my lust and my habitual sins? What methods will elevate me above the carnal drives of my body? Can I purchase a mind-cleanser? Where can I secure a tongue tamer? Who will deliver me from this body of death? Enter Self-made religion: Our system will deliver you from your bondage; Our method will purify you; Our 8-fold steps will elevate you above the baseness of this world.
Paul insists emphatically that Self-made religion cannot deliver its promise to stop your self-indulgence. Then, tell me what does work? If you are eager for an answer from Paul, then you must read the rest of his letter to the Colossians. Chapters 3 and 4 offer to you the only answer, the only solution that really works. Paul’s answer applies the gospel to your personal behavior and to your relationships. In Chapter 2, Paul’s purpose is to present Christ Jesus as supreme and sufficient for all of life, for all of us. Paul is concerned to protect us from all other solutions and devotions of Self-made religion, none of which can deliver what we so desperately need and desire. Then, Paul will again present the supreme and sufficient Christ to whom we are united as the foundation for all gospel-driven behavior and rightly ordered relationships. Read ahead. You don’t have to wait for me to preach it. The gospel will leap off the page and endear you to Christ.

“Home”
Colossians 3: 1-4

In the first two chapters of his letter to the Colossians, Paul has presented the supreme and sufficient Christ, who alone qualifies us as members of the Church. Paul has exposed those who would seduce us with self-made qualifications, which do not produce their promised results in ridding our lives of the indulgences of the flesh. In Chapters 3 and 4 Paul tells the Colossians how their behavior and relationships might be holy. Paul includes his well-known instruction governed by his “Put off…put on…” language. If we are to live holy lives, we must “put off” the deeds of the flesh and “put on” the new self, renewed in God’s image. Paul gives us something to do. But these actions steps of putting off and putting on are not the first steps in Paul’s instruction to anyone who wishes to be free from the indulgence of the flesh. He supplies a set of primary steps in Chapter 3:1-4.
The first step toward a holy life is rooted in our union to Christ. In (2:20) Paul writes, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of this world…” and then in (3:1) he writes, “If then you have been raised with Christ….” We are united to Christ in his death and resurrection. Our union to Christ means our death to our sinful nature and our resurrection to new life, renewed in God’s image. Before we begin to take actions steps, we must know who we are in Christ. Who am I? Am I a hopelessly lost sinner with no interest in God, with no desire for righteousness, replacing all love with lust, all peace with strife, and all truth with lies? Who am I? Am I not a follower of Christ Jesus, united to him in his death and resurrection? Have I not been freed from sin and death? Is not the Holy Spirit renewing me in the image of God? The indulgence of the flesh is mortified as I remember that I am a person united to Christ. All of my actions toward holiness are rooted in my union to Christ.
The Psalmist, David, came to a proper view of himself. He wrote in Psalm 40, “I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” David’s not only sings of God alone rescuing him from the pit of destruction, but he prophecies that he is merely one among many who will enjoy this great and free salvation.
In view of our union to Christ, Paul commands us to pursue the realm from which Christ rules. Once again Paul establishes for us our best starting point. Who are we? We are the people united to Christ. Therefore, our pursuits are directed toward heaven. The direction of our lives is heaven. It is not as if heaven is merely our final destination to which we give no thought until we arrive. Rather, our pursuit of heaven informs every step we take in this life and influences every thought, word, and deed.
Everything we seek above, in the heavenly realm is connected to “Christ, seated at the right hand of God.” Christ, at the right hand of God is a powerful image of the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ over the entire world. His domain includes our present world. Such a connection erases the false distinction between heaven and earth as if we must abandon one realm for another. What does Paul mean by saying, “Seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God?” He is instructing us to live in this present world in obedience to the rule of Christ. Heaven is headquarters; it is the center of power and authority. God is present everywhere. In heaven, God rules over the affairs of his creation. Jesus Christ, the God-Man, has ascended to heaven to rule over all the world. He is physically present in heaven yet he is powerfully active throughout the whole world.
Marianne Meye Thompson includes these helpful words in her commentary on Colossians: “Such a contrast between ‘above’ and ‘below’ in no way denies the significance of life lived below; rather, it brings to bear upon earthly realities the ‘pressure’ of the heavenly realm. The contrast serves to counter the false teaching by denying the possibility of attaining to the heavenly realm through visions and practices of self-denial. Indeed, the attempt is superfluous and wrong-headed, for if the life of the believer is already joined to the risen Christ, then no further initiation into the heavenly realm is either required or available.”

With the false distinction dismantled, Paul writes in (2), “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Left to ourselves, we may think that the best way to live in this world is to think entirely within the context of this earthly realm. But Paul tells us that our minds fixed upon heaven rather than upon earth will help us toward holy living in this world.
John Davenant, bishop of Salisbury from 1621-1641 offers a helpful outline showing us how this mental priority given to the heavenly realm is the best guide for life in this earthly realm. Davenant writes, “Hence we learn: 1) That it is the duty of a pious and Christian man, always to have in mind that heavenly kingdom, and those heavenly good things which relate to the attainment of it; 2) It is also their duty who hope they shall obtain eternal blessedness, to order the course of their life according to heavenly considerations; and to judge of all matters with a constant reference to these supernatural things: for this is effectually to savour the things above.”
If our desires are daily and ultimately set upon the kingdom of heaven, then our behavior will change. What is truly important to us? If the rule of Christ in our lives and in this world is paramount, then our behavior will change. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” All these things are the material necessities we need in this life. We are not to worry about food and clothing. Our end goal is not the American dream, but the heavenly one – a new heavens and a new earth, all made new! Our eyes are fixed upon the heavenly city, Jerusalem, whose builder and architect is God. Our home is in heaven, the headquarters of God’s kingdom, the city-center of the universe.
Our choices and decisions in this life are not entirely moved by our material needs and desires for the enjoyment of our lives in this present age and realm. As Christians, we make choices and decisions in light of the kingdom of heaven. What is best for the advancing kingdom of heaven on earth? What would result in my heavenly reward? What would honor the name of Christ and promote his purposes in this world? Correct answers to these questions advance the business of heaven.
The reason we “seek the things that are above…and set our minds on things above, not on things that are on earth,” is that we are united to Christ. Paul’s reason supplied in (3) has at least three truths about our new reality. The first is that our old and sinful nature is dead. Paul writes, “For you have died.” This is reality for every Christian, for every person who has put his/her faith in Christ, united to him in his death. Apart from Christ, controlled by our sin nature, our old self acts consistently with every sin. Selfishness is consistent behavior flowing from the sin nature. Pride is the crowning glory of those who live apart from Christ. But we have died to this sinful nature. When we sin, we act inconsistently with who we are in Christ. Our sins are willful acts of defiance against the Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed us from the power of sin and death. In order for us to sin, we m