Gospel Acceleration

You and a friend are talking.  Your friend is not really involved with Christianity in any way.  She doesn’t go to church.  As far as you know she really has no religious practice.  Faith is not something the two of you discuss, but she does know church is big part of your life.

            It is an occasion where the two of you are talking over lunch as you sometimes do.  She mentions she has wants to go to baseball game but she can’t find someone who will go with her.  She asks if you would go and you say, sure.  She pulls out her phone and pulls up the Bulls’ schedule.  She suggests a game that’s coming in the next week.  You start to say yes, but you realize that is the same day that something the church is hosting the chili cook-off.    

            In fact, you’ve want to invite this friend to this church event.  It will be fun and you hope it will be a springboard to discuss matters of faith with this friend because you are pretty sure she doesn’t really believe in anything.  You suggest that the two of you go to a game on a different day and then you ask if she would come to church to laugh and eat chili.

You’ve made the invitation and you look into her eyes.  There’s no spark.  In fact, her expression has gone blank.  You instantly know she is searching for a reason to turn down your invitation.  It is clear she wants no part of coming to church, discussing faith, or having this even come again.  Before you know it, lunch is over; you have no plans for a baseball game, you kind of feel like your friend is mad at you or at least annoyed. 

What happened?  Why is it so hard to talk about following Jesus with this friend or with a lot of people we know who are not in church?  Why does talking about our faith in the day-to-day conversations of life feel so weird? 

            This friend is interested in many things that you are also like.  There’s baseball.  You have worked together and are roughly the same age.  You have a lot of common ground and discussion with her is easy – unless it is about God or religion or faith.  Then, she slams the door shut. 

The Gospel has no ground. 

That is one example.  In countless others, we see how impossibly challenging it is to hope that we could share the news that in Jesus, God has come.  In Jesus’ death, God has taken away the sins of all who turn to him in faith.  In Jesus’ resurrection, God gives eternal life to all who give themselves to Him.  We are adopted as sons and daughters of God.  Disseminating that word, spreading that Good News, is why we are here. 

            However, in the secular workplace, coworkers, friends, bosses – they don’t want to hear us talk about Jesus, not most of the time.  Disinterest is an obstacle to the spread of the gospel. 

Our culture’s love individualism, tolerance, and relativism can be barriers.  Your religion is OK for you.  Mine is OK for me.  All religions are basically the same.  We tolerate all except for the religions that claim to be absolutely true.  If we’re all the same, there is no need for conversion.  And popular sentiment in our country is that the wrong thing is to try to say that there is anything wrong.  The Bible says the world is fallen – all have sinned.  That doesn’t really stick in today’s cultural climate.

            Another bump in evangelism road comes in our friendships with people as committed to their religious beliefs as we are to ours.  We have friends who are Muslims and Mormons, Jews and Buddhists and like in the example, we have friends who have no religion.  We love our friends.  But the differences act as obstacles.

            Make no mistake about it.  The Gospel is to be spread throughout the world.  Acts 1:8 – Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses.”  “Gospel” comes from a Greek word which means “good news.”  The only way news is actually news is if people hear it.  In our imagined encounter with friend who expresses no religion and might an atheist, is anyone hearing anything at all? 

            The first Christians did not know they were Christians.  The term had not been coined.  They knew they were followers of Jesus whom they had seen on the cross.  They saw him die and knew he was buried.  Then, they met him, resurrected.  Everything they ever knew was turned over.  Their worldviews were completely upended, but it did not stop there. 

            After the resurrection and after he ascended to the Father, they were seemingly left without much help in a world that was hostile to their cause.  The temple leaders rejected Jesus as the Messiah.  The Romans were not monotheists.  In religion, the Romans thought they were insane.  The Greeks did too.  In politics, the Romans held the power and at moment could enslave the people of Jerusalem including the original community of Jesus followers. 

How could these people, most of them poor and undereducated, obey Jesus’ command to tell of the good news of the salvation God gives in Him?  They were powerless.  They were directionless.  They were kind of in shock.

Then the Holy Spirit came in full force destroying every wall that would stand between the salvation God offers in Jesus and the people who need it.  They had been praying in that same upper room where Jesus shared the bread and the wine.  The Holy Spirit shook the house and they worshipped in song and prayer, prophecy and Heavenly tongues.

Jerusalem teemed with Jews who had come from all over for Passover and the Pentecost.  Many heard the commotion and rushed to the house as the disciples, now Spirit-filled, spilled out into the street.  One by one, the disciple testified.  The gathering crowd was amazed.

Everyone looked around and saw as clear day that this was a gathering of people from everywhere – yet all clearly understood.  The obstacle of language was overcome and the Gospel advanced.  They saw that these were fishermen, not educated folks.  And they came from Galilees, not a place known to produce people of sophistication or scholarship.  More obstacle are obliterated – socioeconomic divisions; education; and the Gospel moves forward from the disciples mouths into the ears, minds, and hearts of the people in the crowd. 

Some critics accused the disciples of drinking too much.  I struggle with the logic.  I never thought getting smashed would enable me to speak Amharic or Karen.  Alcohol doesn’t have affect.  And the crowd did not buy this lame explanation from those who would oppose the Gospel.  They listened as Peter spoke and the story of Jesus was proclaimed. 

He told of the crucifixion and that would be a problem.  People did not continue following a would-be Messiah after he died.  They went and found a new Messiah.  But here was Peter still holding on, claiming Jesus had been raised.  No one, I mean no one, believed the Messiah would be resurrected ahead of an end-time resurrection at which point all people would be raised for judgment.  Peter’s message that Jesus was the carrier of God’s salvation and had been raised by God was totally unexpected.  Expectations and the idea of death stood to block the advance of the Gospel.  Empowered by the Spirit, Peter preached through these blockers.

When the Spirit poured out on the community of faith in Acts 2, they shared the Gospel, spread the good news of life in Jesus in spite of insurmountable opposition.  This event launched the movement of the Christians who carried salvation throughout the world.  The rest of the book of Acts follows Peter and John, Philip, and Paul and Barnabas and then Paul, Timothy, Silas, and Luke along with Priscilla and Aquila as they tell all who will listen that Jesus is Lord.

Many, like our friend in the opening story I imagined, have no part in it.  Many do not want to hear about Jesus.  But some do.  And even when we hear, “No thanks, let’s just go to a baseball game,” we don’t give up.  We pray for that person.  Maybe our invitation planted a seed that someone else will harvest down the line. 

The Holy Spirit is as active now as was the case in Acts 2.  The Gospel accelerated across Israel, through Turkey, through Greece, to Rome.  It continues today.  We have the word.  We stand in the encouragement of the church community – praying for each other, building up each other.  We have the history of our faith and the Christians who have gone before us to inspire us.  Finally, we have God – the Holy Spirit – in us. 

Our culture shows indifference or a penchant for pluralism.  In China, there are the persistent attempts of the government to control everything.  In Western Europe, many buy into the myth that religion has died.  In parts of Africa, Christianity is so infused with traditional religions it is hardly recognizable.  In North Korea, open Christian expression can land you in jail.  In Syria and Egypt, proclaiming faith in Jesus as the Son of God can get you killed. 

Everywhere, there are challenges and it appears the easiest thing to do is go underground, worship in secret, and keep to ourselves.  But a fire burns; the fire of Holy Spirit sizzles.  We can’t put it out and we should not try.  We stand it in it so the light of Jesus shines through us.  The Gospel is going to continue to fill the world.  We play our part by worship, by prayer, and by setting ourselves so we are attuned to the Spirit. 

I have a friend.  More often than not, when we try to get together, life gets in the way.  When do find time to grab a sandwich, our conversation is mostly about our kids or college basketball or the weather – not especially deep or spiritual topics.  He knows my work and my life and I think he’s most comfortable at the surface.

But last year, he showed up here at church – just once.  I’ve known him for almost 9 years and he finally came.  The Gospel is on the move around the world and into my friends’ heart.  To me what happened at Pentecost was a miracle.  When the Spirit filled those first disciples, it was amazing.  To me, when my friend comes back to church and when our conversation moves from debates about who should start at Small Forward to questions about what it really means to be a follower of Jesus that will be a miracle too.  They will be as important an advance of God’s Kingdom as any I can imagine. 

Evangelism and the work of the Holy Spirit are interchangeable.  I am sure this is true in your life and your friendships too.  The gospel is rushing forward.  Pray that you as an individual and we as church can be part of it.

AMEN

By the Name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:5-14)

Sunday, April 26, 2015

            Who are we?

            On the trips our church takes to Ethiopia, people from there see our group.  They hear us speak English.  They see us emerge from a guest house that is foreigners.  They watch us buy things designed to be sold to tourists.  They may not know our affiliation or that we are there to work with poor children.  But one thing is clear.  We are Americans.

            I travel back to Roanoke and spend time with old high school friends.  We reminisce about good times we spent as kids and a lot of those memories happened in the home where my parents still live.  Whatever else I am, in those moments, I am of the Tennant family.

            Who are we?

            Heather and I and other pastors gather, and it is clear, we are of HillSong Church.  Sometimes in an ecumenical gathering, I am the Baptist in the group.

            American; Tennant; HillSong; Baptist; who am I?  Who are you?  On what do we stand?  What is it that undergirds who we are, how we think and act, and all that we do? 

            It was a key moment for the apostles John and Peter.  Just before they entered the temple, a handicapped man asked for a hand-out.  He had been disabled from birth.  His entire life’s identity was built upon begging.  On what did he stand?  Nothing.  His role in society, his very identity, was that of one who could not stand and could only survive by the generosity of others. 

            Then Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk.”  In the name of Jesus Christ; and this man who have never walked, stood and jumped and leaped and praised God.  Heather discussed this last week in her sermon from Acts 3.  Right there in the temple, Peter preached an impromptu sermon in which he accused the leaders of killing Jesus (3:15) and then invited them to come to faith (3:19, 26).

            On what do we stand?  What authority authorizes the way we live our lives? 

            The leaders in Jerusalem stood on shaky ground according to Peter.  They heard him clearly affix responsibility for the death of Jesus to them.  They saw clearly that Peter and John healed a man everyone knew – a full-grown adult who have never in his life walked.  They felt the movement of history as the crowds flocked to the disciples to hear them talk about salvation in Jesus.  The leaders in the temple needed to cut this off, before it got away from them. 

            The priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them “much annoyed” says Acts 4:2.  These officials of government and religion did not like the claim that in Jesus we have resurrection – his and ours when we put our trust in him.  No, they did not like any of this.  These officials stood on their own unique understanding of scripture, a perspective that assured them of power. 

            Do we dare confess a faith that upsets the conventions of our time?  Tolerance of all religions, which means saying all religions are okay and basically teach the same thing; this sentiment rules in our time.  Do we dare oppose this by saying Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him? 

An individual person’s individual rights are sacred and not to be threatened in our culture.  We believe in the autonomy of the individual.  At least, that is what we claim to live by.  Do followers of Jesus dare say, no, my rights are not as important fully submitting myself to Jesus as my Lord and my King?

The priests and Sadducees stood on their privilege as leaders.  They expected all in Jerusalem to live by this foundation, so they were furious that the disciples of an already crucified man would continue defying their authority.  But they could not deny what everyone witnessed.  The man with useless legs was now completely healed and jumping around praising God.   

How could they maintain power?  Who were they?  Those in leadership positions in the temple may not have consciously wondered that, but the actions of Peter and John created a crisis for them.  They who understood themselves to be the ones in control now had to face forces beyond their reach.  Verses 14-15 say, “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that [these] were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.  When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them [Peter and John], they [the officials] had nothing to say in opposition.”

All they could do was pose the question.  Their last gasp, their final lurch for control was to name this thing that was happening.  “By what power or by what name did you do this” (4:7)?

On what do we stand? 

What authority authorizes the way we live our lives?

Who are we?  Americans?  Tennants or Asbills, Johnsons or Bakers, Folliards or Sits?  Baptists?  Who or what makes us, drives and defines our actions and attitude, our thoughts, deeds, and words?

All the priests and Sadducees could do was throw the question out into the crowd, into the air, out where all gathered would hear and consider.  All Peter and John could do was give one answer – the only answer they had, the only answer that is true.  “Let it be known that this man is standing in good health by the name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified, whom God raised from the Dead” (4:10).

A few years ago I watched a film produced by an independent Christian film maker.[i]  It was about a couple professors at a Christian college in the late 1800’s.  They were debating morals.  Is it enough to speak and truth and do good works or must our truth and our deed of help and benevolence be done in Jesus’ name.  One professor said as long as good is done; it does not matter if it is in Jesus’ name or simply in the cause of doing what’s right.  His colleague disagreed.  He insisted that unless deeds were done in Jesus’ name, they could not be considered really true or truly good.

The film involves a time machine and caricatures that lack verisimilitude.  I found it silly.  But the debate between these fictional Christian college professors from the 19^th century is fascinating and is timeless.  In any context, we could ask, is a deed good in and of itself?  Simply speaking, yes.  It is good to give food to hungry people.  It is good to provide education to impoverished students so they can develop their minds, reach their potential, get good jobs and climb out of poverty.  These are a few of thousands of examples in which I see non-Christians contributing.  I have seen people who say, “I am not Christian,” contributing to the good of humanity.  Sometimes non-Christians outdo Christ-followers in generosity. 

Yet at a much deeper level, I side with the view that it is not enough to simply do good things.  At some point, after people have been healed, fed, clothed, educated, and given shelter, they gain power.  When they gain power, those who had been holding all of it will feel threatened and a confrontation occurs. 

“By what power or by what name are you doing this?”  The question is inevitable.  When it comes, we need more than groundless claims that love is self-evident and charity is self-evident and compassion is self-evident.  Where do these values come from?  Who are we that we dare stand on these things, and standing on these values, what gives us the gumption to help people? 

Unless we are in Christ, we are speechless.  If we are in Christ, our lives have purpose and we do not lack for words.  His Holy Spirit provides them.  “By what power?”  We answer, “We heal and we feed and we travel and we work and we love and we help in the name of Jesus.  He was crucified by sin, yours and ours.  He was raised by God.”  And we say as Peter said, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under given among human beings by which we might be saved” (4:12). 

I do not say any of this to reject the good things unbelievers do to help people in the world.  We have sponsors who support children in Kombolcha, Ethiopia who are not Christian.  We gladly receive their non-Christian sponsorship dollars and I affirm that what they do is helpful and is good. 

I find here in this story, in Peter’s word when the question is put to him that the intent of the Holy Spirit of God and the driving force in Peter’s actions not only heals crippled men at the temple gate and feeds hungry Ethiopian kids.  The driving force also transforms the giver of the gift.  The temple leaders, the Sadducees, some of the most lettered intellectuals of the day were silenced by uneducated fishermen from backwater Galilee.

How could that be?  Peter and John and everyone who acts in the name of Jesus by the name of Jesus speaks and works with power that is beyond what any human possesses. 

On what do we stand?  We stand on the name of Jesus. 

Who are we?  We are a community of followers of the risen, Jesus Christ, the King.  He is our testimony.  He gives meaning to what we do – transcendent, eternal meaning.  He binds us together as a family with God as our Father.  Under His banner, our acts, both the work in our day-to-day lives and the works we do that are explicitly Christian are part of a greater story – the story of the emergence of God’s eternal kingdom.  This included the work of home, vocation (our jobs), and the work of relationships, family, friendships, acquaintances, neighbors, and unexpected encounters.  In all works in every part of life, He is Lord and we speak, act, and think by His name. 

This week, you and I won’t be dragged before officials who want to know why we performed as miracle healing on a handicapped man who has never walked.  The world is different.  We will have opportunities to help people and do good things.  Right now we as a church body are invited to pray that God would ready us, so when those opportunities come, we’ll respond by His name in His power sharing His love.  Fueled by the Holy Spirit we will not only be inclined to do good and helpful things; we will also be ready to respond to anyone who wonders about us by pointing them to Jesus.

Please join me in silent prayer as we, the church, join our hearts together in asking God to fill us, empower us, and ready us to be His witnesses.

Now please join me in this responsive prayer.

Leader: Lord Jesus.

Congregation: You are the risen one.

Leader: Fill us with the hope and the power of the resurrection

Congregation: Help us to speak and act in Your Name.

Leader: Lead us, Lord Jesus.

Congregation: We commit ourselves to you.

AMEN

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[i] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295725/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_9

The Life Hope Creates (Colossians 1:1-8)

Sunday, May 4, 2014

            Imagine a series of events that might happen in life, any scenario that comes to mind.  A trip to Food Lion because we’re out of eggs; a 50^th birthday party; the sinking feeling of the flashing lights in the rearview mirror and knowing you were going 50 in a 25 zone; finding a $20 bill on the sidewalk; reading your emails and coming across one that is surprisingly and extraordinarily negative; eating with your best friend at your favorite burger place; now, here is the question.  What difference does it make for you or anyone going through that situation, however important or banal, to go through it as one who is in Christ?

            This is not a suggestion that we ask, what difference does it make that I am a Christian? I have not forfeited the title ‘Christian,’ but it has been severely diluted by overuse.  Militants kill 100’s of Muslims and because they wear crosses, they are called ‘Christian.’  Christ did not endorse mass violence.  When they came for him, he rebuked his followers for resorting to violence (Matthew 26:52-54).  The term ‘Christian’ fits, but is unhelpful because it lacks descriptive power.

            Today we intensify a journey we’ve already been on, a quest to discover what it means for an individual and for a congregation to be “In Christ.”  As we discover this and grow in understanding of it, we live it.  We live in Christ.  Jesus not only influences, but is in everything.  So something as simple as going to the store or as weighty as deciding upon a major move doesn’t just involve our relationship with Jesus; it is determined by it.  Furthermore, Jesus does not just help us with decisions or ethics, “should’s” and “should nots;” Jesus defines who we are.  We cannot understand ourselves apart from Him. 

            Does it sound unrealistic?  Seriously, who thinks about Jesus all the time?  Maybe God is a part of my life, maybe even the biggest part.  Maybe church is very important to me.   Maybe I feel tremendous happiness in Bible reading and in worship.  Maybe I am proud to be a Christian.  But it is extreme to say, I cannot understand anything, not even myself, apart from God as I know God in Jesus Christ.  As right sounding as that maybe, it will never realistically be true.  Well, together, I want us to explore this.  Is it possible to be “in Christ” to the extent that Christ really, truly is in everything, every thought? 

            I am watching the Detroit Tigers.  Miguel Cabrera, the best player in baseball, is up to bat.  The Tigers are down 3-2 in the bottom of the 9^th.  So Jesus, what do think, will Miggy win the game for the Tigers with a big hit?  I do not say that.  I do not pray for Jesus to help the Tigers win.  That’s not what I mean.  No, I mean, Jesus is there, with me, and I know it.  How specifically does this affect me?  Any number of ways.

            Cabrera strikes out and the Tigers lose.  I do not fly into a cursing rage because Jesus would not approve.  But really, it is not about Jesus’ approval.  This is way beyond sin avoidance.  I do not fly into a cursing rage because that is not something someone ‘in Christ’ would ever do.  Because I am ‘in Christ’ and I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I just don’t do it and wouldn’t.  I am different – a new creation.

            And this “new me” or “new you” way of seeing and being is lived in all situations of life.  Of course the case of me watching my favorite baseball team is an example.  I am not holding myself up as a perfect example of what it is to be ‘in Christ.’  There are people in this church who model it better than me, but it is not really about “better.”  The beautiful thing about us all joining hands and together exploring life “in Christ” is no matter where or who we are we can enter the quest.  No previous qualifications are needed and it is not a continuum.  Your friend is not “more in Christ” than you, or less. 

Today, he might help you tremendously, and you may think, I can’t repay this.  The answer to your frustration would be of course you can’t repay it.  In Christ, there is no repayment.  There is generosity, there is peace, there is love; there is no debt; there is no hatred; there is no slavery.  There is joy and grace, mercy and faith.  Today, your friend in Christ helps you.  Tomorrow, you help another.  And that whole idea is just one way of countless ways of seeing, understanding, and living in Christ.

Just as living in Christ is fleshed out in more ways than we could possibly name, there are any number of places to begin looking for help as we strive to live in Christ.  We will begin in Colossians.  I don’t think of this as a sermon series in Colossians but rather, this New Testament epistle in tandem with the Holy Spirit will be our initial guide into life in Christ.  If you like reading ahead, read three short New Testament letters – Colossians, 1 John, and Ephesians.[i] 

This is not a four-part series in Colossians followed by a four-part in 1 John followed by four in Ephesians.  This is a journey.  As thoroughly unpredictable as it is, the journey itself will be part of the goal.  As we go, we discover what it means when we say we are disciples of Jesus.  As we discover, we live out discoveries realizing that everything changes from going on a simple errand to major decisions.  Nothing is ever the same once we give ourselves to Jesus and are filled with the Spirit. 

 “From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and from Timothy who is also a follower” (1:1).  The letter comes not from one, but from a group because when we are Christ, we are joined to one another; Paul and Timothy.  As we proceed, we will see many more than just these two in Paul’s work.  Epaphras, Tychicus, Luke; a few of the names sound funny to us.  These funny-sounding names and the more familiar ones were life for Paul.  His heart is joined to the disciples who walk with him.  In Christ, we are in a community, a family of believers.  We are connected to each other.  We belong to each other.

The different English renderings of Colossians1:3 show how deliciously deep is the meaning of what Paul wants to convey.  I am convinced that each of these renderings is near the mark on getting this verse right. 

Here is verse three in the New Living Translation: “We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Here is the same verse in the New Revised Standard Version: “In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Finally, the verse in the Common English Version.  “Each time we pray for you, we thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Greek grammar indicates an action – the prayer of thanks that happened and keeps on happening.  Paul and Timothy do not spend every moment of every day praying for the Colossian Christians, people they have never met.  Prayer is a constant in life, so when Paul and Timothy are doing other things- making tents, traveling, preaching – they are mindful of prayer and mindful of churches, those they know, and like the Colossian congregation, those they do not know.  Prayer and thanks are constant components of life for Paul and Timothy.  Neither man would be who he was without prayer and thanks.

The verb used might strike recognition, depending on your church background.  In Greek it is ‘eucharistio,’ a form of the noun ‘eucharistia.’  In English the word is Eucharist.  In many traditions this word refers to what we call communion or the Lord’s Supper.  Thus from Paul’s opening and from the prayer, we see that to be ‘in Christ’ is to be in a community where His followers are connected to each other, always praying for one another, thanking God each time. 

Faith and love: Paul delights in writing how the faith and love of the Colossians Christ followers sets them apart.  By love, he means that agape love, the love that is selfless, altruistic.  Someone in Colossae had done something so remarkable; Epraphas was moved to make a point of talking about it.  He did this so effectively that Paul makes a special effort to affirm the church as a faithful church willing to demonstrate Christ in her midst by acts of sacrificial love.

When we are in Christ, we love.  The fuzzy picture is coming into focus in just the opening verses of Colossians.  In Christ, we belong to one another.  We are in community.  In Christ, prayer is a constant; we could not imagine a life where prayer was not a core practice.  Furthermore, our prayer always involves thanksgiving.  In Christ, we have faith and it is a marker others see, something that distinguishes us.  Surely this comes through in our prayer life, in our conversations, in our ethical choices, in the tone of our speech, and in many other ways.  Finally, in Christ, we love with a self-giving, put-others-first kind of love.

Where does this come from?  Paul writes – “because what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope when you believed the true message, which is the good news” (v.5).  Note, he does not say it is saved “up in Heaven” as if Heaven were some place out beyond our galaxy.  It is not so much “up” as on an entirely different yet not necessarily distant plane.

Heaven is real and is a normal part of Paul’s conversation.  In Christ, we know about Heaven.  Moreover, we know the influence of Heaven.  The hope that is kept safe there is the hope of future resurrection after our deaths.  Just as Jesus rose so too Easter will come to us after we die, at the final judgment, when Jesus returns to unite forever earth made new and heaven made new.  While we wait for that consummation, Jesus is bodily in Heaven keeping the promised hope safe. 

What does that mean for us living here as we wait?  If we are in Christ, according to Colossians 1:3-5, our future hope creates for us here and now a life of faith and agape love.  Eternal life is not simply a promise that makes the present reality endurable.  Eternal life is something we live into; the values of God’s eternal kingdom are our values in our daily lives.  Colossians 1:5 is a clause in the midst of a long Greek sentence.  We could easily skim it without paying closer attention.  This might cause us to miss something profound.

Like us, those Colossian Christ followers wanted a blessed, pain-free eternity in the presence of God and the people they loved.  That is universal human desire – the longing to be free of fear and free to live in peace, prosperity, and happiness.  Everyone wants that.  Most religions have some version of an afterlife promise.  Epaphras has reported to Paul that the hope of resurrection, currently held in Heaven with Jesus but sure to come to all who follow him, has created a way of living for the Colossians: the way of faith and love, agape love.

In verses 9-14, Paul prays that God will guide the Colossians in their actions and in their thoughts.  “We always pray that God will show you … the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives” (v.9).  The reading closes with Paul reminding the Colossians that God has rescued them from Satan, freed them from sin, and brought them into the Kingdom.  They are already part of the Kingdom of God.    

This letter has been preserved by the Holy Spirit so churches like ours remember.  In Christ, God has rescued us from Satan, freed us from sin, and brought us into the Kingdom.  We are already part of the Kingdom even as we wait for its final consummation.    Our future eternal hope is held secure in Heaven.  And this brings us back around to the opening question.

What difference does it make in situations that come up in our lives, however important or banal, that we go through these situations are people who are ‘in Christ?’  Hope creates in us faith and love. 

I remember a church-going family, people who knew Jesus.  Because of their hope, they noticed the best friend of their 10-year-old son.  The boy’s parents were divorcing.  Mom was gone.  Dad worked nights.  Often the 10-year-old child had to fix meals for himself and his younger brother and sister.  These church goers, people ‘in Christ,’ did what they always did.  They went to church.  And they brought the boy and his younger siblings along.  Every Sunday.  For years. 

Now decades have passed.  The boy is an adult and he doesn’t often see that family that brought him to church, sometimes fed him supper, and had him over for sleep-overs.  When he does see them, there is joy and love, a family reunion for one not quite family but every bit family because he knows they made space in their lives for him.    They could not do otherwise.  They are in Christ.  Their hope made faith and love their life.   And so it is with us as Paul’s pray goes up for us.

“May [we] be made strong with all the strength that comes from [God’s] glorious power, and may [we] be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled [us] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light” (1:11-12).

AMEN

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[i] As an aside, I acknowledge that many scholars doubt that Paul wrote Colossians & Ephesians just as they doubt that someone named John wrote the letter we refer to as 1^st John.  These scholars have good reasons for their doubts, but I will nonetheless refer to Paul and John as I go through these books.  I believe the ideas originated with these two even if others ended up writing them in the form we now have the letters.