Pentecost 9, Proper 14, Yr C, 7/25/2010

Colossians Series #3, Col. 1:21-23; Ps. 85; Luke 11:1-13

We’re continuing in our series on the book of Colossians.

Last Sunday we talked about the first part of the passage we heard again today from chapter one.

The cosmic hymn part where Paul writes to the church about who Jesus is in the big picture.

The image of God, the firstborn of all creation, the head of the church.

The fullness of God’s love and the source of all reconciliation.

Paul is writing to a group of Christians, probably a small number of people.

And in this letter we get the impression that something is not quite right there with them.

That there is some kind of teaching going on that doesn’t quite square up with the gospel teaching that was originally brought to them as a new church.

It helps to know that the city of Colossae is a kind of melting pot of cultures.

It’s a place where the influences of all kinds of religions and Greek thinking and Jewish traditions are all swirling around.

Paul has heard about some kind of teaching that he’s not happy about and so he is presenting his case to the people there.

The thing is that this letter doesn’t spell out exactly what the problem is and then give Paul’s solutions.

It’s murkier than that, more subtle, more elusive.

We definitely know there’s a problem but we’re just not sure what it is.

Which is what we often run into with the Bible.

On the one hand we hear that we should read the Bible to get answers from God about our lives.

But on the other hand the Bible can seem so unclear, so not really answering our questions.

The Bible can seem so awkward, so random… two words used very frequently by middle and high schoolers.

Did I mention that I spent last week up at Camp Noel Porter with 53 middle and high school aged kids?

It might have an influence on what I say today.

Anyway to get back to the Bible being awkward and random.

Take today’s verses from Colossians.

Last week we talked about the supremacy of Jesus and about him making peace through the blood of the cross.

Today we move from that poetic description of Jesus to the Colossian Christians actual situation.

As NT Wright put it in the commentary we’ve recommended…

Today’s verses move us from the big picture of Jesus to the question…

“So what does that mean to me?”

This is what Paul writes to the people…

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds…

That seems harsh, doesn’t it?

Estranged, hostile, and doing evil.

We thought that Paul liked the people in Colossae but he’s painting a pretty bleak picture of them here.

And this is where we can get hung up.

When we randomly read the Bible…a chapter here, a chapter there…

We’re always running across these kinds of harsh sounding things.

Paul in particular gets picked on for this.

Our modern day MO is to affirm people, build them up, say positive things.

The Bible can seem to be all about painting a picture of people as evil and basically bad.

So let me clear up something.

God created us and declared that creation to be good.

The problem is not that we are created as evil and bad.

The problem is that we have a brokenness that is inherent in us.

And that brokenness is made right by the divine plan that Jesus is at the center of.

Paul is using this really negative language…

Estranged, hostile in mind, doing evil deeds…

To make a two sided point.

One is that all those people who were considered to be outside of God’s love…

The Gentiles and all those other people... are now included in God’s love.

Jesus changed everything and nobody is excluded based on the past…

Either their own past or the past rules that people have made to tell us who is in and who is out.

Second, Paul is making a point about kind of following Jesus.

In this community that is a melting pot of cultures and religions and ideas…

Some new Christians are picking and choosing from all of that.

Paul is not simply upset because people aren’t following Jesus.

Paul is upset because people are saying that they are following Jesus but they are doing it in a watered down way.

They’re taking some of the Jewish laws and rituals, some worship of other gods and angels, just a dash of this and that.

But Paul is arguing against making anything but the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the center of God’s plan of the reconciling of all of creation.

Paul is arguing against religions and philosophies that make people the center of God’s plan for reconciling all of creation.

The kind of thinking and behavior that Paul would describe as estranging or hostile or evil would be anything that focuses on us doing things to make us good enough to have access to God’s love.

That is what other people were trying to do then.

And for that matter what people do now.

We take a little bit of the gospel of Jesus…

Maybe the free gift of forgiveness part…

And then we mix in a little Jesus is a great teacher…

A little everything happens for a reason…

A little God is in everything so nature is my church…

And even a little bit of teaching that doing certain things will get us in better with God…

Or suffering will get us closer to God.

Paul was dealing with all those kinds of ways of thinking and more.

But he was trying to be clear.

Jesus and the cross are the center of the divine plan.

And we cannot add fine tune the plan…

And we can’t exclude certain people from the effectiveness of Jesus and the cross.

You know, the people that we don’t think are worthy.

Paul is not arguing that all people are evil.

He is arguing that when we try to improve on God’s plan we get ourselves in trouble.

God is God and we are not.

Basic principle.

So in these 3 verses Paul is starting out by saying that we can’t improve on God’s plan.

That when we think that we can we will run into trouble and we will build our own walls between us and God.

Then Paul tells us whatever the past was, now we can be reconciled because of Jesus.

We are blameless and holy before God.

And then comes another confusing and murky statement.

We are holy and blameless before God IF we remain steadfast in our faith.

Never shifting from the hope promised by the gospel.

OK, so is forgiveness and reconciliation a free gift or not?

Do we get it free but run the risk of losing it if we don’t toe the line on being steadfast?

And being steadfast and not shifting from the hope of the gospel…how exactly?

Is there a secret set of rules?

Paul has beautifully laid out in this letter the reality of Jesus at the center of God’s reconciling, forgiving, and healing of all of creation.

The divine plan is laid out there for everyone.

That is a done deal and that is the very hope of the gospel.

But there is that paradoxical, God logic that the gift is free AND

That we can choose to cooperate with God in living out the free gift of the hope of the gospel.

Or we can choose not to cooperate with God by shifting our hope back to ourselves, back to our self-reliance.

Basically picking the apple from the tree in the Garden of Eden one more time.

Jesus is the center of the plan that sets us free and makes us whole.

And God is asking us to become servants to that divine plan.

That’s what Paul writes…

I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

The love of God in Jesus is not to be taken for granted, to be accepted and then taken seriously when it’s convenient.

The love of God in Jesus is what we are being transformed by.

And with that transformation opens up a path for us to be servants to the good news of Jesus and the cross.

What are these 3 little verses saying to us?

A quick or random reading might lead some to conclude that the Bible says people are evil…

And that the Jesus reconciliation thing works if you can figure out how to not ever, ever mess up or ever waver in your faith or ever question what’s up with the whole God and Jesus thing.

And who wouldn’t want to read less of the Bible if that’s what it’s saying.

But it’s not saying that.

The Bible is not meant to be used like a Magic Eight Ball.

Does God love me?

Ask again later…it is certain…cannot predict now.

And the Bible won’t answer questions for us when we aren’t asking the same questions that are in the Bible.

And I guess that may make the Bible seem random and awkward at times.

But don’t give up…keep at it.

Keep reading and studying a little bit at a time like we’re doing here.

It is worth it.

Hear what Paul is saying.

That all of creation is of God’s goodness.

That the divine plan to make things holy is centered in the love and self-offering of God in Jesus.

That God’s hope for us is that we are being transformed by the love of Jesus in this moment and in each moment to come.

That we are becoming servants to that divine love.

Loving God and loving our neighbor.

No matter how long it takes to get back around to it…

The word is telling us that we are loved.

That Jesus is the sign of divine love.

That we can be transformed, holy, healed, reconciled.

I know how much I need to be reminded of all of that.

Everyday life can make it hard to remember with all of the pressures of health and money and families and overbooked schedules.

With a little reading and a little study…

Using a simple commentary like we’ve recommended for Colossians.

Or by using an understandable study bible with notes to explain things…

The bible can be more than a random and awkward thing to set aside.

It can be a teacher and reminder of all that God wants to offer us….

Love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, hope…

And all that God wants from us…

The bible isn’t a Magic Eight Ball.

But it is the solid foundation for hope and for living life with the peace that passes all understanding.

Next week we’ll continue on in Colossians.

Take some time and read…you have the pamphlet or get out a good study bible.

Until then…

Remember that we are God’s creation, good and loved, rooted in the hope of the gospel.

And ask yourself...

How am I becoming a servant to the good news of the Gospel?