Colossians 2. The Good Fight. Second of Four Sermons on Colossians. Dr. Greg Anderson. June 8, 2014

Transcription

1 Colossians 2 The Good Fight Second of Four Sermons on Colossians Dr. Greg Anderson June 8, 2014 Riverdale Baptist Church Whitehorse, Yukon

2 Introduction The American monthly, Harper s Magazine, includes a regular index of statistics, they are always interesting but I am never sure how accurate. This caught my eye in the latest issue: Percentage of Egyptians who say it is necessary to believe in God to be a moral person: 95 Percentage of Americans who do: 53 Of Chinese: 14 (Canadians in between!) Wow! So when our neighbors, fellow-workers, community leaders, the helping profession, teachers, cultural and economic trendsetters, political policy-makers strive to make good moral decisions, strive to achieve the good life, on what basis are they working? Well, I would suggest the basis mentioned in verse 8 and 20 of our scripture passage: the NIV puts it this way the elemental spiritual forces now that conjures up images of angels and devils which I think is misleading - so you will see in the footnote a different translation the basic principles and I think this is more accurate. The KJV puts it this way: the rudiments of the world However, it is the Christian contention, The word rudiment means the first principles or elements of a subject and in Western culture I believe this is the foundation for discovering the moral life. How do we know the good? We apply the scientific principle through disciplines such as economics, sociology and psychology to examine and determine the laws of how things work and on the wisest course of action. And reference to God is not necessary. that only actions of Jesus Christ can satisfactorily and decisively achieve the good life. We do not ignore the rudiments of the world, how the scientific disciplines of psychology, sociology, economics and so on can teach and guide us - God created the rudiments! But here is the point, all of us individually and as societies - constantly fail to perfectly reach the moral life, the good life, what our passage calls sins or the better translation trespasses in the sense of going where we should not go, transgressing laws of the moral life, the good life, the point is only Jesus perfectly achieves the moral life, the good life. That is the Christian contention! And this includes all individual and global behaviors. In fact, when we hear such passages as Colossians 2 I think our minds go first to the dynamics of individual life, but the claim is actually much more universal, as said in verse 10 and 15:

3 Christ is head over every power and authority Again, do not think primarily of angels and devils but of the truths, principles and laws, laid bare by our scientific disciplines. Christian contention is that without the intervention of Jesus Christ all other action to correct trespasses can only be temporary, superficial, inadequate, even misleading and harmful. Text But how do we while living in Western culture, being educated and molded in Western culture, making our living in Western culture, practically and faithfully live out our Christian convictions? How do we move from believing certain truths about Jesus Christ to experiencing Jesus Christ, in saving power day to day in personal and global life? This is what Colossians 2 is about. Verse 6/7 is the theme, not only of the chapter but the letter: Here is a literal translation: As therefore you received the tradition of Christ Jesus as Lord, walk in him, rooted and being built up in him and confirmed in faith, just as you were taught, overflowing in thanksgiving. As therefore you received the tradition of Christ Jesus as Lord... Do we remember personally receiving this? I think the testimony given by Harrison Kwok at the Arts Center on Good Friday, typifies it it was typical of me: After some months of struggling with belief in what Christians teach concerning the tradition of Christ Jesus as Lord one night Harrison knelt by his bedside and prayed to God: Dear God, if this is all real help me to believe! He got up from kneeling, believing. Believing not only did Jesus Christ heal him from his personal trespasses but in response to the claims of Christ, Jesus is indeed Lord. That is not some medieval portrait of the prince in his castle, but the truth claim Jesus Christ makes following his resurrection as recorded in Matthew s Gospel, he says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Try living in the Roman Empire with that as your guiding light, and increasingly, try living in 21 st century Western culture with that as your guiding light.) So, As therefore you received the tradition of Christ Jesus as Lord, walk in him, rooted and being built up in him and confirmed in faith. Christian life begins with faith and Christian life continues with faith. The very same kneeling down experience, crying out to God: help me to believe Goes on every day right until the last day you and I experience this life.

4 Now let s turn to the core of the chapter that explains the practical daily focus of faith. Verse 8 responds to the trouble that gave rise to Paul s letter in the first place Most likely in the church at Colossae there was a group of Jewish Christians whose fundamental relationship with God and Christ was a guiding structure of law. (OT) This is turn created an environment where rational inquiry (philosophy) into the rudiments of personal, social and creational life for the purpose of how to live was the order of the day. What tempted the Colossians and tempts us is to see the moral life, the good life, as something achieved by following the rules, by keeping the laws. Verse 9/10 declares who Christ is and then beginning with verse 11 through 15 we have a description of what Jesus Christ has accomplished at the pinnacle of his life on the Cross. There are five powerful aspects to Christ on the Cross (1-11) In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh (human drives gone astray: we have good economic drives but they constantly go astray to greed) was put off. Vividly, from the stripping of the flesh of Christ, the Holy Spirit, in the life of the follower of Jesus, strips away the corruption otherwise prevalent in our human condition. Sometimes we think of the Holy Spirit in relationship to charismatic gifts, but the prime work of the Spirit is to disarm the power residing in us that drives us astray from the good life of Christ. (2) Buried with Christ in baptism and raised from the dead with Christ, In the New Testament, baptism is the initiating mark that I belong to Jesus Christ. How do we identify ourselves? How do we portray ourselves to the world around us? Christ s death and resurrection as appropriated in Christian baptism is the prism through which the Christian s life is portrayed. (3) being made alive with Christ from a state of death Christ s death and resurrection powerfully enables the Christian to actually live out baptism, to improve our identification of baptism all the way through (4) a wiping out and destruction of the record of transgressions The legacy of trespassing, of going where we should not go is guilt. Guilt arises from justice thwarted and the innate knowledge that justice comes from God and perfect justice demands a record and a reckoning and this cripples us in the moral life, the good life.

5 Application In novels and biography and personal testimony, a person s trespasses against the good and right legal/moral code against God and man and creation - are often summed up in the memory of our lives in one major incident Think of David and Bathsheba; Peter in the courtyard of the high priest; Paul at the stoning of Stephen Lets think of our own experience. Often there is one miserable experience that sums up all the lesser ones and perhaps due to the consequences continues to cry out at us as if the record was just waiting for judgment day. It cripples us. Now think of that record being erased and destroyed how? because all that is represented there is nailed to the cross. There is not a greater power in the universe. (5) This final one is more vivid than all: a stripping off of the rulers and authorities as discarded rags, putting them to public shame and triumphing over them. Christ on the Cross is not just about personal salvation, even more so it is about the correction of universal wrongs. Once again the theme verse: As therefore you received the tradition of Christ Jesus as Lord, walk in him, rooted and being built up in him and confirmed in faith, just as you were taught, overflowing in thanksgiving. The very same kneeling down experience, crying out to God: help me to believe, in the first instance Goes on every day right until the very last day you and I experience this life. The source and power of faith to change our life is focused on Christ in his death and resurrection. This power is what is brought to bear when we walk by faith in the midst of a culture that does not rely on God for an explanation to anything. What will it look like this week? In the nuts and bolts of life where there may be a readily apparent direction to take (according to the rudiments ) - but faith in Christ may take a different direction. What it means is the aged Apostle Paul s counsel to his apprentice, Timothy: Fight, the good fight of faith. To be a Christian means there will be a wrestling match, a boxing match this week. How will I contend? With the rudiments of the world? Or on my knees, crying out to God to help me believe! Amen.