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 2nd 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 1st and 2nd 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)
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