Colossians 1: 9-14 "A Life Worthy"

            Colossians is a letter from a person who wants you to live into and up to the calling and love of Christ.  Like the letter the editor sent Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, Colossians is meant to encourage the Colossians not only to remain faithful to the gospel but also to remain faithful to who God has created them to be.  As such, this letter was not only good for them, but it has been good for individuals and congregations for hundreds of years.  As the saints have done through out the ages, let us listen and learn from this word of the Lord.

Colossians 1:9-14

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Parenting is journey that is lined with a series of milestones: birth, sleeping through the night, the first step, the first word, baptism, using the toilet instead of a diaper, the first day of school and of course there is the one Will experienced yesterday; the first soccer game.

Will actually has had a few milestones in the last couple of weeks.  He started 2^nd grade, he lost a front tooth and today he turns seven.  But yesterday was his first soccer game.  Over the last few years we’ve watched Janie’s team practice, play and get better to the point where her team is quite impressive.  Along the way I forgot what it is like to watch kids in their first game.  It is both comical and frustrating. 

If you’ve ever watched 1^st and 2^nd graders play anything than you know about the comical.  And if you’ve ever watched your child or relative play anything for the first time, then you know about the frustrating.  And when I say frustrating, I don’t mean disappointment, not at all.  Rather, it’s like…  Well, when I was a kid we had this video game called an Atari 2600, anyone heard of it?  We got that thing for Christmas one year and played it so often that one of the joysticks got worn out.  Though it still worked, it you had to push it really hard in a direction before the spaceship would turn to shoot the Asteroids. 

Watching your kid’s first soccer game reminds me of playing a video game with that joystick.  The whole time I’m on the sidelines I’m pushing and pulling and twirling around trying to get Will to run to the ball, get in the midst of the kids and kick the ball.  It works, sort of…  At one point right near the end of the game Will was near the goal and the ball was moving toward him and he kicked it but only got a piece of it and it sailed wide left… By the end of the series I was on my stomach on the grass having tried my best to guide the ball into the goal with my mind and body and even spirit.

Can anyone empathize with me? While this game and Janie’s were going on, in the back of my mind is this passage from Colossians and if I’m reading him correctly, then I think Paul could empathize.

Coach Paul

            Through the words of Epaphras Paul knows about Team Colossians.  He knows they are full of faith, full of love and full of hope.  He knows they’ve embraced the gospel and that it has born fruit in their midst.  He is very encouraged by them.  But, he also knows they are and will be facing challenges which he deeply wants them to overcome.  And yet, he can’t control them like a puppeteer controls the marionette or kid with a joystick.  And so what does he do?  He prays. 

            “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God…”  Unable to be fully present with the Colossians, Paul takes the joystick of pray and begins to move it.  But where does he want them to go?  What does he want them to do?  For what does he pray and ask?  It is this answer that brought me back to Will’s soccer game.  Paul, is a bit like the coach revealing his coaching philosophy and plan.  And like a good coach, he teaches in a way that his players can remember.  One such method is to put things in groupings of 3 or triads.  We’ve already had the Triad of faith, hope and love.  This morning we have three more; the truth triad, the performance triad and the trial triad.  Let’s start with the truth.

Relational Triad of the Truth

            The first thing Coach Paul prays for is what I’ll call the Truth Triad.  “…we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”   

            At one point in the game the ball went out of bounds and there was a goalie kick.  The coach of the opposing team was trying to tell his player where to stand, but the player didn’t understand.  The coach would point and the kid would move the wrong way, so the coach would yell a bit but the kid was still in the wrong spot until finally the kid just stood there because he didn’t understand what the coach wanted and it was frustrated not only for the coach, but the kid as well. 

For kids to play soccer well, they have to know the rules.  They need to know how they can kick the ball, what the lines mean and which goal is theirs.  But soccer is not just about knowing the rules, it is about understanding the nature of the game, how it flows and where you need to be on the field.   This is what Paul is praying for the Colossians, that they would be filled with this understanding of the Coach’s will.

This is what we pray every week, is it not?  “Hallowed be Thy name, thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”  In this first triad, Paul prays that the Colossians will know and understand not only the rules, but God’s will.   

Worthy and Pleasing Life

            Coach Paul goes on to explain that he prays for this knowledge, wisdom and understanding so that it will help them “live a life worthy of the Lord and please God in every way.”  I think this phrase lies at the heart of Paul’s coaching manifesto so I want to hold it to the side for a minute and return to it at the end in the meantime let’s move from the triad of truth to the quad of performance

Disciples Triad of the Tree

            For Coach Paul a worthy and pleasing life is one where the team bears fruit in good work, grows in the knowledge of God, is strengthened by God’s glory.  Here Paul is describing the practice plan.  I wish I had one of the Manitou parents or kids here because over the last couple of years we’ve tried to name what being a worthy and pleasing player looks like.  We have four phrases we repeat at every practice and game.  They are: Be Safe, Play Hard, Good Sport and Have Fun.  Prompt any of the kids on our team with the first word and I’d bet you they could finish the phrase.  We name these things because we want them to get into there mind and continue to guide them not only in practice, not only in the game, but also in life.  Paul is doing a similar thing.

            If I may switch metaphors for a moment to trees.  My yard is full of trees, but few of them have all three of these attributes.  I have a plum tree that was very fruitful, but it isn’t growing anymore.  I have a cherry tree that is growing, but it isn’t very fruitful.  And I have a peach tree that is fruitful and growing, but it isn’t very strong.  But then there is the Apple Tree which is very fruitful, still growing and reasonably strong.  This is the kind of tree Paul is praying Team Colossians will become.  This is what discipleship looks like. 

He wants Team Colossians to bear the fruit for God.  He wants them to grow, to mature not just in sports, but in their knowledge and relationship with God and he wants them to get stronger.  A worthy and pleasing player looks like this. 

Persevering Triad of Trials

            Tucked into this Tree Triad is another of Paul’s triads.  Every player, no matter how good or bad will at some point encounter a challenge.  In fact, at some point every player will likely want to give up and quit.  Paul, through his own journey knew this all too well for he talks a lot about suffering.  Our tendency is to think that if we suffer, then we must have done something wrong or that we should just stop doing what we are doing.  Paul indicates the opposite in other letters saying that your suffering may just be a sign you are on the right path.  And so, when you face this suffering he offers you the Trial Triad of endurance, patience and joy. 

            I know some of you better than others, but I know that every one of us have faced trials.  All of us have suffered in some fashion.  And if we are honest, sometimes we have faced those trials well and at other times, not so well.  The people who I’ve been most challenged and encouraged by are those who encounter those trials with endurance continuing to get up day after day and move forward.  Doing so with patience that realizes that answers often don’t come in a day, a week, a year, a decade or even sometimes for centuries.  But the ones I seem in awe the most are those who face trials with joy. 

            James even makes the outlandish claim that we should, “consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of any kind because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance…”  (James 1:2)  This is one of the ways you know a player is starting to ‘get it.’  When the long runs, heavy weights and tiring practices put a smile on their face because they know it is making them a better player.  Paul prays Team Colossians will receive this joy, this patience and this endurance. 

On the team

            Paul prays with ceasing that Team Colossians will be filled with the Truth Triad of knowledge, wisdom and understanding.  He prays that they will live a life worthy and pleasing to God that looks like fruit, growth and strength.  And he prays that the struggles will be met with the Trial Triad of endurance, patience and joy.  All of these things flow into gratitude. 

            After the game yesterday I was impressed by one of the parents sent her son over to Coach Mary to say “Thanks for coaching us.”  Paul is hoping Team Colossians will do the same, but instead of thanking the coach, he hopes their gratitude will be directed to the Father.  And here’s why. 

The Father has “qualified them to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.  He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”   The way I see this, Paul is reminding the Colossians to thank God for putting them on the team.  Before being on Team Colossians, it wasn’t like they were on another team.  Rather, they were on no team.  As darkness is just the absence of light, so is being without a team.   Give thanks, Paul says, because you are a part not only of a team, but God’s team, Christ’s team. 

Coaching Philosophies

            I was talking with one of the parents on the sidelines who used to play football and whose brother is one of the coaches at Stadium.  I asked him if he would like to coach and he just sighed, “Aww man, I’d love to.”  “Yeah, but I guess it’d be tough for you right now with how busy your job is and the fact that you have four kids.”  “There’s that,” he replied, “but even more I’d want to coach with someone who had a coaching philosophy I shared.”  From there I’m going to paraphrase a bit.  Basically he said there are two kinds of coaches; those who motivate through fear and those who motivate through love. 

            Through these words, I believe God is calling us as God did the Team Colossians to ‘live lives worthy and pleasing to God.’  There is much in this ‘coaching plan’ that is challenging and difficult.  However, it is ultimately a plan laid out of love.  And now the question becomes, how will we respond?

The way out…

            My invitation for you from this passage is two-fold.  First, I invite you to consider where God might be challenging you as a member of the team.  Are you being challenged in knowledge, wisdom and understanding?  Are you being challenged to bear fruit, grow and get stronger?  Are you being challenged to endure, be patient and look for joy even in trials?  As a member of God’s team what do you need to hear?

            My second invitation is for you to put yourself in Paul’s shoes and consider who you might pray this pray for.  Who is your Team Colossians?  Who is your player?  Is it a child or grandchild?  Perhaps it is a neighbor?  Perhaps it is our congregation, Team Manitou.  Are you willing to pray?  Let us do so now.  
(Preached on September 16, 2012)

Colossians 1:1-8 "A letter to Tacoma?"

 

Intro

The place is Rome, the year is 60 AD and Nero is in the 6^th year of his reign as emperor of Rome and just four years away from the fire that destroyed most of Rome and set eventually lead to intense persecution of minority groups most notably of which were the Christians.  Into this city of cities has come an older partially blind Jewish rabbi, citizen of Rome and not too recent converted to the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was in fact the long awaited Messiah.  This man, whose name had been Saul and was now Paul, had spent the previous fifteen years traveling about the known world by foot and ship spreading the good news (gospel) of Jesus, welcoming new believers and forming them into groups of ‘called out ones’ which is ekklesia in Greek, Kirk in Scottish and church to us.

            As the saying goes ‘no good deed goes unpunished’ and perhaps the same is true for good news.  After three journey’s Paul is now imprisoned, under house arrest, in Rome awaiting trial for disrupting the Peace of Rome and subversion of the government.   While under house arrest a man named Epaphras arrives from the province of Asia Minor.  Paul was likely very encouraged to see Epaphras because they had worked together sharing the gospel and forming churches in cities such as Heiropolis, Laodicea and Colosse.  Epaphras came to support Paul and offer him an update on the churches in these cities.  After hearing of their situations, Paul, unable to write himself because of poor eyesight invites his friend and scribe Timothy to take up the pen and write what he speaks.  Listen now to what he says.  Listen now to what our brothers and sisters and we proclaim as “the word of the Lord.”  

Colossians 1:1-8

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints-- 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

The way in…

Once upon a time there was a city located upon water below a large mountain.  This city had its own arena and identity.  Many of her residents worked industrial type jobs and eventually even had a product named after her.  This city was founded and grew as a result of its location upon a significant a route that carried goods and people from the east to the west.  However as time passed, the route changed to include a city to the north.  The northern city, which was also located on the water grew by leaps and bounds while at first known for her agricultural and industrial capacity, this larger city eventually came to be known more for its culture, its technology and its medical value.  As the newer city grew, the older shrunk both in population and in significance. 

            Does anyone know the names of these two cities?  You might think I was talking about Tacoma and Seattle, but of course the cities I’m talking about are the ancient cities Colosse and Laodicea which were located in Asia Minor what is now modern day Turkey. 

            Colosse was to Laodicea as Tacoma is to Seattle.  To further the metaphor, there is a third city in the area called Hieropolis which you could think of sort of like Bellevue.  Laodicea and Hieropolis were the big cities in the region and ones that Paul himself had visited.  Though once very significant, Colosse had seen its power fade and was no longer seen as all that important.  Despite its ‘irrelevance’ people like Epaphras felt called to it where they preached to the Jews and the Gentiles which eventually led to a church forming that would meet, we will later learn, in the house a lady named Nympha.  Though Paul had never visited this church, it was to this church that he wrote the letter.  It is this letter, now called Colossians, which we are going to read over this Fall season. 

            Instead of attempting to tell you every reason Paul wrote this letter and everything about the setting, theology, etc, what I would rather do is briefly look at this opening passage as a way to whet your appetite for the rest of the letter.  What at first might seem like the ‘boring opening stuff’ that are in all letters is, upon further exploration, a rich appetizer for the meal to come.  Let’s start near the beginning.       

Grace and Peace

            “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the holy and faithful brothers (and sisters) in Christ at Colosse.  Grace and Peace to you from God our Father.”  Paul begins the letter in a fashion similar to how he begins most other letters.  He states who he is, who is his partner, Timothy, he then names the recipients, who in this case are called holy and faithful or even ‘faithful saints.’  This is an encouraging start.  Paul then goes on to greet them with his standard, “grace and peace to you…”

How many times have we heard the greeting grace and peace?  I often end my letters this way and haven’t thought much about it.  What we tend to do with these introductory formalities is to skip right on past them, but in so doing we are prone to miss some good things for even in this simple greeting Paul is not only greeting, but he is gathering. 

            In France they say Bonjour, in Hawaii it is Aloha, in England it is cheers and in America what used to be Hello, became Hey and then Sup until it is now just a little nod of the head.  In customs of Paul’s day, the greeting would have been cairein (Acts 15:23, 23:26 and James 1:1) which when translated means “greetings.”  Paul, or perhaps someone else first, perhaps recognizing the root of this word changed it slightly to the word caris which of course is translated as ‘grace.’  In so doing, Paul was carrying on a pattern of the Christians to take things common to the culture and steal them.  They did this we ekklesia, which was originally a word for public meetings and became the word for church; with the word eugangelion, which originally was a word for the edicts from the emperor and became the gospel or good news; and with the lesser used Greek word agape, which of course means love.  In a similar way, cairein became caris and greetings became grace. 

            It is only fitting that Paul leads with grace because this could be said to be the key word of his ministry.  It is the grace of God which created us, sustains us, redeems us and will resurrect us.  Grace.  Our reformed for-parents hold grace as key which we hear in the reformed motto, ‘grace alone, faith alone, scripture alone.’   Paul leads with the Greek grace but doesn’t stop there, he returns to the Jews.

            In Judges 19:20 we hear a stranger welcomed with the words, “shalom lahak” which means “Peace to you.”   Peace, shalom, is a major OT theme and an echo of the kingdom of heaven which Jesus would proclaim and embody.  And so Paul not only greets with grace, but he also greets with peace.  We hear the combination in the Levite blessing found in Numbers 6 “be gracious to you and give you peace.”  Paul takes the Greek and the Hebrew and puts them together and in some small way, he is hinting at the reconciliation which God has brought about in Christ where there is no longer ‘Jew nor Greek…”  Not only that, he is perhaps even making a theological claim that by their order saying that it is because of grace that we are able to have peace. 

Already, right here in the second verse we get a hint of the richness that is to come.

           

Eucharist and prayer

            Paul goes on to write, “We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.”  Here a couple of more tasty tidbits emerge.  The word for ‘thanks’ is eucharisto from which we get one of the words for communion, the eucharist.  Here again we hear the word charis, grace, preceeded by eu which means good.  Therefore eucharist means ‘good grace.’  This thankfulness is expressed in the great Christian practice of prayer.  Paul let’s them know, as we often do for on another, that they are praying for them.  This challenged me a bit for I have to ask, when is the last time I prayed for brothers and sisters at another church?  How often do we do this? 

Thanks for what we’ve heard (Theological Virtues)

            Paul goes on to state the reason they are so thankful for the Colossians when he says, that “we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven…”   If you’ve been at a wedding recently then three of these words might sound familiar to you for they appear in another one of Paul’s writings, 1 Corinthians 13 which is read, rightly so, at almost every wedding I go to.  At the end of the chapter Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.” 

            The philosophers of ancient Rome advocated a virtuous society that was based upon what were called the cardinal virtues.  These cardinal virtues were prudence, justice, temperance (restraint) and fortitude (courage).  The church, at some point along the way, claimed its own set of virtues which came to be known as the theological virtues and they are of course, ‘faith, hope and love.’  Right here in the opening of the letter to the Colossians we see these virtues whetting our appetite for the rest of the letter.

Thanks for what you’ve heard (The Gospel)

            The reason for Paul’s encouragement is of course another great theme of the letter and all of the New Testament.  In fact, the first four books of the New Testament bear its name.  Paul writes, “you have already heard about the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you…”  Gospel is another one of those words re-appropriated from the common culture.  From time to time the emperor would issue edicts which would be called euangallion, or a good message.  Of course most times this good news from the government was something like, “good news, you’re son has just been enscripted into the army” or “good news, you all get the privilege of paying more taxes to support the conquering of foreign lands.” 

            So the Christians take this ‘good message’ and use to describe their message.  As a little aside a study by the Barna group in 2007 revealed that only 3% of respondents aged 16-29 had a favorable opinion of evangelicals.[1]  When given a list of 10 positive and 10 negative traits to describe the church, 9 out of the top 12 were negative and the top trait? 91% of young non-Christians said that the ‘church is anti homosexual.’  Now no matter what you believe about same sex relationships you have to admit that a people whose identity is shaped around ‘good news’ have an image problem when all we are known for is ‘bad news.’ 

            To bring it back to Colossians, the author Paul is also held with some skepticism for his apparent views on the role of women and slaves in society.  My encouragement for reading Paul is the same as that for those skeptical of the church, spend time with it.  Read Paul and get to know the church and just see if perhaps there is good news there. 

God’s grace, minister of Christ, love in the Spirit (Trinity)

            Already  in the opening we have grace and peace, we have faith-hope-love, we have the eucharist and prayer, we have the gospel and of course verses 6 and 7 give us the Trinity.  “…since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.  You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.”   God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit right here in the opening of the letter, just another appetizer for the meal to come. 

Learned it from Epaphras (Imitate)

            And finally, we have what may be my favorite appetizer, that of Epaphras.  In verse seven Paul states that the Colossians learned all of this grace and peace, eucharist, prayer, faith, hope and love, the gospel and the trinity from the fellow servant, fellow slave, Epaphras.  This learning highlights another great theme of our faith and that is discipleship.  What you don’t know from the English is that when Paul says ‘you learned it’ the Greek is emaqete,  Does this word sound like an English word?  Emathete, imatete, imitate.  To learn from Epaphras, the Colossians imitated him.  This shouldn’t come as any surprise, what did Jesus say?   “Follow me.”  What is following if not imitating you leader’s path?  In school we call it education and in the church we call it discipleship.  Either way it is God’s way of welcoming humanity into his kingdom.  We live into the kingdom of heaven by imitating Jesus and we learn to imitate Jesus by imitating people who imitate Jesus.  This is what Paul did and what Epaphras did and what we are invited to do.  Which leads me to my invitation for imitation.

The invitation

            Underneath your pews you’ll find letters.  Please find one and open it.  Inside the letter you’ll find three things; a letter to the Colossians in English, a letter in Greek and a note card.  My challenge to you this week is to read this letter every day.  Highlight it, mark it up do whatever you want to it, just read it (in English or Greek).  At the end of the week take your note card and on one side write a question.  You may have many questions, but I encourage you to narrow it down to one or two, but three at the most.  The question may be specifically about something in the passage or it may be a question about life that the passage instigated.  On the other side of the card I want you to write a word or phrase.  As you read through the letter this week, which word or phrase grabbed your attention the most?  It’s okay if you don’t know why it stuck out to you, write it anyway.  Like with the questions, there may be many words or verses that stuck out to you, but I encourage you to narrow it down to one or two but three at the most. 

            Next Sunday this card will be one of your offerings.  Bring it on Sunday.  You don’t need to sign your name, but you can if you want.  Just bring it. 

            Now, why am I doing this?  Two reasons.  First, it is good for me.  Hearing your questions and connections with the passage will help me as I prepare the message each week.  If a lot of people have questions about one section, then I’ll do my best to address that section in a bit more depth.  Or, if that is not possible, we’ll talk about it in Sunday School.  And if that is not enough, I may attempt to list some of these questions and answer them on-line or in the newsletter.  In short, it helps me, help you.  The second reason I encourage you to do this is that it is good for you. 

If we really believe that this is God’s word to and for us, then we need to take time to read it.  The very reason we have these letters is because the churches to whom they were written read them in their gatherings.  And when they were done, they made a copy of the letter (not on Xerox, but by hand) and passed it on to the neighboring churches in Laodicea or Hierapolis.  Most of these letters were lost, but a few remain.  It is the ones that remain which have continued to be read in congregations for almost 2000 years.  Over and over the church has reaffirmed that these are not just the words of Paul, but God’s word through Paul to us and the world. 

The way out…        

            Scott wasn’t good at a lot of things, but he could draw.  He’d spend all his class-time doodling and sketching things.  Eventually he decided to create a comic strip.  He sent off some sketches to several publications all of which were rejected.  At least one of the editors wrote back to say they liked his stuff but it just didn’t work for them.  Scott shrugged and went back to being a bank teller and working at a low grade tech job and other basic bland business world things.  He pretty much gave up.  A year or so later he gets a letter in the mail and it is from the same editor who’d written him before.  In that letter was not an acceptance of his comic strip, rather it simply said, “Hey, I just wanted to write you to make sure that you hadn’t given up.” 

            Scott Adams decided to try again and not too long later would get published and now his comic strip is in every newspaper in the country.  Does anyone know the name? Dilbert. 

            Brothers and sisters, I hope that this book will be for you what it was to the Colossians in the first century and what that editor’s letter was to Scott Adams; encouragement on the journey to become who God wants you to be.  
(Preached on September 9, 2012) 

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[1] http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/16-teensnext-gen/94-a-new-generation-expresses-its-skepticism-and-frustration-with-christianity