Three Pillars of our Worship (Colossians 1:15-29)

This week I begin by reading a rather obscure verse from the Old Testament, one that describes a part of the temple built by King Solomon. It is found in 1 Kings 7:21,

“He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple.

 He set up the pillar on the south and called its name Jachin, and

 he  set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz.”

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary suggests that these names "may reflect the relationship of God and king, Jachin (Yah-keen; 'he established') referring to the initiative of God, and Boaz ('by him is he mighty') expressing the dependence of the king." These twin pillars may well have been a memorial in which David (the planner) and Solomon (the executor) give humble testimony to the grace of God in establishing for David a perpetual dynasty and an acknowledgment as well of the king's continued dependence on God for a successful reign.”

Our lives need the same kind of reminder that it is God who establishes us and we are dependent on him for any strength we may have. So I offer a stripped-down version of our study from last Sunday, containing merely the passage and the points with no elaboration, except to mention that much of what he was writing was aimed at the pre-Gnostic false teachers that were present in Colossae.

As part of our preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday let us remind ourselves of why and how we worship…

1. Our Great Lord (v. 15-19)

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, 

             the firstborn of [over] all creation. 

¹⁶    For by him        all things were created, 

                                     in heaven and on earth,

                                        visible   and invisible,

                                         whether thrones

                                                   or dominions

                                                   or rulers

                                                   or authorities—

                               all things were created 

   through him

    and for him. 

¹⁷ And he is before all things,

     and in him         all things hold together. 

¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church.

          He is the beginning, 

the firstborn from the dead,

that in everything

          he might be preeminent. 

¹⁹ For in him     all the fullness of God

                                     was pleased to dwell.

• Jesus is the image of the invisible God made visible (v.15)
• Jesus is the Creator and sustainer of the universe (v.16-17)
• Jesus is the Creator and sustainer of the church (v. 18-19)

Our Worshipful Response is Praise!

2. His Great Work (v. 20-23)

²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things,

          whether on earth or in heaven, 

                       making peace by the blood of his cross.

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, 

                                           doing evil deeds, 

²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh

                                       by his death, 

in order to present you holy

                              and blameless

                              and above reproach before him,

 ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, 

                               stable and steadfast,

                                   not shifting from the hope

                                     of the gospel that you heard,

                          which has been proclaimed

           in all creation under heaven, 

 and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

•  He reconciled all things to himself (v. 20)
•  He reconciled us though we were hostile, through his physical body (v.21-22)
•    He changed our attitude, our relationship, and our behavior
•    He did this through his actual physical death
•  He establishes us in faith and hope through the gospel (v. 23)
•  His message has been, and is now, being proclaimed widely (v.23)
•         Even Paul had responded to become a minister of the gospel (v. 23)

           Our Worshipful Response is Thanksgiving!

3. His Great and Mysterious Mission (v. 23b-29)

            ²⁴ Now I rejoice

in my sufferings for your sake,

and in my flesh 

                       I am filling up what is lacking

in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body,

                                            that is, the church, ²⁵ 

       of which I          became a minister

according to the stewardship from God

that was given to me for you,

                       to make the word of God fully known, 

²⁶ the mystery hidden for ages

                                 and generations

but now revealed to his saints. 

²⁷ To them God chose to make known

                     how great among the Gentiles

 are the riches of the glory of this mystery,

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

²⁸                 Him we proclaim,

                            warning everyone and

                           teaching everyone with all wisdom,

        that we may present everyone 

                                                mature in Christ. 

   ²⁹ For this I toil, 

         struggling with all his energy

                               that he powerfully works within me.

•   Ministry involves purposeful suffering (v.24)
•   Ministry is a stewardship, a responsibility entrusted to us. (v. 25)
•   Ministry reveals a mystery, rather than conceals it. (v.26)
•  The Kingdom is Wider than you thought = Gentiles too
•  The Kingdom is Closer than you expected = Christ in you
•  Jesus Christ is our message, not angels (v. 28)
•    Maturity in Christ is our destination, our goal.
•    Ministry is a partnership (v. 29)

Our Worshipful Response is Obedience

Many today get to enjoy turkey, mashed potatoes, and pie with thankful hearts, but they are not the real reason for our gratitude. Let us celebrate this Thanksgiving Day with all three pillars of our worship in place—

• Praise for who God is, 
• Thanksgiving for what he has done, and 
• Obedience to the mission into which he invites us today! 

Inciting Thankfulness

After finishing our series on the Sermon on the Mount we shifted this week to a seasonally appropriate consideration of Paul’s letter to the Colossian church. While the letter was written to confront a growing heresy that sought to diminish the role and person of Jesus Christ, it is surprising to find that Colossians is a letter filled with thankfulness. Paul mentions thankfulness seven times over four short chapters. In this post, we will look at Colossians 1:1-14.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father. (v.1-2)

Despite considerable hardship and suffering St. Paul was a genuinely thankful person. I suppose it helps when you…

• Know who you are—he had an identity as an apostle of Christ Jesus.
• Know what your purpose is— he had a mission to live out the will of God.
• Want God’s best for others—his greeting was more of a blessing to convey a very real grace and peace to them.

It seems that we should be thankful as well, for pretty much the same reasons. In a world where the word “incite” not only stresses a stirring up and urging on of mostly negative things like riots, violence, fear, panic, and other chaotic acts, I would like to change things up and use incite together with “thankfulness”. In the United States, we are approaching our annual Thanksgiving holiday (the fourth Thursday in November) and I think we should begin to encourage people to be thankful.

On this particular occasion, as recorded in Colossians 1, St. Paul was incited to thankfulness by the report he had received about the spiritual growth of the Colossian believers and at the same time sought to incite the Colossians to greater thankfulness themselves. Let’s see what contributing factors to inciting thankfulness are revealed in this passage…and hopefully, we can employ them right away!

8 Ways We Can Help To Incite Thankfulness This Year

By no means is this intended to be an exhaustive list, but it is an ample one with eight suggestions from this passage alone to equip us to gratefully engage this holiday season to incite others to thankfulness as well.

1. Be consistently and sincerely thankful for others even before God. (v. 3)

 “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you”

It is one thing to thank people for what they do, but it is another to constantly thank God for them in our prayers. It is in our times of private prayer that we can lapse into complaining about others to God...unless we are really thankful. Here Paul models a different kind of prayer…one that is consistently and sincerely thankful for others.

2. Pray for them not just that God would change them (v.3)
When we pray, let's be intentional about praying positive things for others, not just corrective things. I always say that if we are praying for others to change, then to be fair we need to pray for ourselves to change. It is in prayer that we can be advocates, helping to bear one another’s burdens not add to them. This week, let’s pray heaven into the lives of many unsuspecting family and friends…and perhaps incite them to thankfulness.

3. Brag on other people’s spiritual growth (v.4-5, 8)

“…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.”

Instead of criticizing others in an effort to lift ourselves up, we should recognize and call out their spiritual growth in response to the gospel, celebrating even the small victories. Paul recognizes and gives thanks to God for the faith, love, and hope of the Colossian church.

• Faith = trusting in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection on our behalf. It is by faith that Christ dwells in our hearts (Eph. 3:17). They were living by faith in Christ not fear of the world.
• Love = Jesus taught that love for other believers was proof of discipleship for his followers. (John 13:35)
• Hope = they had a settled confidence in the promise of heaven. Hope doesn’t allow us to fall victim to discouragement or despair. Such hope will produce considerable gratitude.

4. Share what God is doing in lives today both locally and globally (v.6)

“Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth…” 

These days when we are barraged with negativity on all levels and the world seems to be in utter chaos, we tend to be thankful for good news. and growing people. God is at work, though the alphabet news stations rarely cover it. I don’t want to deny that many terrible things happen, but as we engage in working for social justice in our communities we must not lose sight of God’s victories along the way. So this Thanksgiving season, instead of letting “how bad things are” dominate our conversations, what if we were to intentionally share something positive or inspiring that God is doing? He is doing great things!

5. Live and serve faithfully (v.7)

“… just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf…”

Paul noticed Epaphras’ faith service. Paul himself served faithfully despite much opposition both within and without the church. God’s kingdom is not focused on gaining a bigger platform or trendier audience but upon faithfulness as humble servants. Humility and faithfulness have been known to incite thankfulness in those they touch. Paul also challenged the Colossians to be faithful to the gospel, keeping Jesus at the center of their life and practice, rather than following false teachings. 

6. Be persistent and particular in prayer (v.9)

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and  increasing in the knowledge of God."

We often hear that we should be persistent in prayer and some teach we need to be very specific in our requests if we are to get what we ask. I want to suggest that we should be specific in praying for others. I’m suggesting that when possible we don’t just tell people that we are praying for them, but that we actually tell them how we are praying for them. Certainly, we can do this by praying with the person when they make the request, but sometimes we hear about a request on Facebook, email, etc. In those cases, perhaps the Lord would prompt us to type out our Spirit-led prayer so that it can be an ongoing encouragement.

In the verses above, St. Paul told the Colossians how he prayed. As I noted recently on another blog, Don’t Get Cocky, we need these same things today! If we are going to connect the dots" we need precise and correct knowledge of God's will for society not just for us as individuals. We need spiritual wisdom from above, not the "dark side" (James 3:13-18) if we are to use our knowledge fruitfully. Finally, we need understanding (Greek synesis) which enables us to put the pieces together into a cohesive whole; to treat the causes, not just the symptoms, and incite genuine thankfulness, not riots or rebellion. 

Why did Paul pray this for them? (v. 10) Note his purpose statement, “So as to…”

• Walk worthy of the Lord. This means living life his way, manifesting the kingdom values found in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12)
• Be fully pleasing to him (see Hebrews 11:6) having faith in his goodness.
• Bearing fruit in every good work not producing lousy fruit in evil works.
• Continue to increase in the knowledge of God, as life-long learners not as those who have arrived. And the more we know and understand God, the more thankful we will become.

Paul prayed for them to be strengthened in a God-kind of way.  Why? Because they would need the strength of heaven to live this way—swimming against the cultural current if you will. This second purpose statement is found in two small words, “for all…”

7. Patiently and joyfully finish what God called you to start. (v.11)

 “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy…”

Lord knows we need God’s strength if we are going to live lives not only of patience (remaining under difficulties without quitting), and endurance (a longsuffering attitude that doesn’t retaliate), but do so with joy. Wow! That is not in our human nature to do over the long haul. Thankfully,  not only do we need God to strengthen us, he wants to do it!

8. Be thankful to the Father (v. 12-13).
        “...giving thanks to the Father, 

               who has qualified you 

to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

                 He has delivered us 

                    from the domain of darkness 

                      and transferred us 

                    to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 

 in whom we have redemption,

                         the forgiveness of sins.

We should be filled with gratitude to the Father because he qualified us to inherit the kingdom of heaven when he adopted us as his own. He delivered us from being ruled by darkness and the dreads, deeds, and desires found there. He transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. We are not merely refugees living in a camp for people who don’t belong, but full and free citizens because of Christ. He has redeemed us and forgiven our sins. So are we becoming more thankful or more fearful?

One final thought, expressed by way of a question. Are we people who abound in thanksgiving, or are just thankful that we abound? (Col. 2:6-7)

As we move towards the Thanksgiving Holiday, let’s make an effort in these areas instead of inciting riots, violence, or fear/terror/anxiety, etc. 

Let us work “subversively” to incite thankfulness. Are you with me?

It looks like the Panda agrees! 

“ASK and It Will Be Given”

Bible scholar D. A. Carson and others have rightly pointed out that many people who are initially attracted to the message of the kingdom after a season of enthusiasm tend to get discouraged and fall away from the path of discipleship. Carson gives two primary reasons for this that we should take to heart.

First, those who stop following Jesus lack persistence. They quit when it gets tough and it always gets tough! We live in a world where people seek their own interests and follow after the dominant culture in an effort to find personal happiness. To follow Jesus is counter-cultural right from the start. I would suggest that if we have chosen to follow Jesus as his disciples then we need at least the persistence of a salmon swimming upstream for the current is against us.

Second, Carson suggests that the disciple who becomes discouraged and quits has forgotten the first Beatitude (Matthew 5:3). He has missed the point that God blesses the person who is “poor in spirit” and acknowledges their own spiritual bankruptcy, not the person who has it all together in their own strength and wisdom.

“Instead of seeing his own spiritual bankruptcy by the light of the Sermon on the Mount, he sees the beauty of the light itself; and therefore instead of turning to God and asking for the grace, mercy, forgiveness, acceptance, and help which his spiritually bankrupt state requires, he merely turns over a new leaf. Small wonder he is soon discouraged and defeated.”[1]

The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is filled with challenges that will overwhelm our meager ability to live out the values of the kingdom of heaven. It is designed to humble us to depend more upon Jesus to make possible in our lives what is impossible for us to perform on our own. R. Kent Hughes comments that “In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus describes the way a man or woman prays who understands what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.”[2]

ASK God for what you lack (v. 7-8)

  “Ask, and      it will be given    to you;

  seek, and you  will find;

knock, and      it will be opened to you.

  For everyone who asks receives,

    and the one who seeks finds,

and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

While asking, seeking, and knocking are used together to convey the idea of persistence in prayer, I think there is something unique that is added by each term.

• Asking for what we don’t have and can’t have on our own. (James 1:5-6) “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”  Jesus doesn’t slap us for asking him to help us. In fact, he encourages us to keep asking…being persistent in prayer. The Sermon on the Mount should humble us and this passage tells us what to do from there.

• Seeking the One who makes a difference and who invites us to “Follow me!” (Matthew 4:19-21). It is written, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) Seeking seems to communicate a greater level of involvement than just asking and hints at the relational aspect of prayer. So why would we seek the Lord if we are unsure about how he will treat us when we find him? Let me tease this idea out a bit. When we find God will we be found to be pleasing to him? Well, what pleases God? Hebrews 11:6 gives us a place to start. It makes it clear that “Without faith, it is impossible to please God”… but what does that mean? It means that (1) We must believe that he exists. (2) We must believe that he rewards those who seek him (i.e., trust in his goodness) or we wouldn’t be motivated to seek him. In fact, this is why many don’t seek Jesus’ help, they have been conditioned to think that he gives bad things. Cultural concepts such as the lament, “only the good die young” and insurance companies that label every natural disaster an “act of God” have taken their toll.
• Knocking with confident humility (Hebrews 4:15-16). While confident humility sounds like an oxymoron or contradiction of terms, I think that it is an important nuance to embrace. Knocking humbly recognizes that we are not God, and we cannot presume to enter his presence casually or flippantly and that we need his permission to come close. Yet, we pray with confidence because in Christ we have access to the “throne of grace”—where we receive the good that we don’t deserve—because Christ deserves it. (Hebrews 4:16).

I use the acronym ASK to remind me of all three elements of a disciple’s persistent prayer—Asking, Seeking, Knocking. We need to keep on doing these things in prayer and God will certainly answer! This passage makes it very clear that there is a response to such prayer. But this verse is often ripped from its context.

• A Caution against taking this out of context. (James 4:2b-3)

“You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” We need to remember that Matthew 7:7-8 is in the context of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and should be taken as asking for spiritual growth and the ability to live out kingdom values in the midst of a fallen world…not as a genie in a lamp. But when we ask for what we need to follow Jesus, what does our heavenly Father give us?

“How Much More?” (v. 9-11)

    Or which one of you,

 if his son asks him for bread,

                          will give him a stone?

    Or if he asks for a fish,

                          will give him a serpent?

  If you then, who are evil,

     know how to give good gifts to your children,

               how much more

                          will your Father who is in heaven

                                give good things to those

         who ask him!

This is a classic a fortiori argument, which means, “If this [small thing] is true…then how much more will this [big thing] be true?” Jesus uses the culturally acceptable First-Century metaphor of a father giving what is good and necessary to his son as the small thing that was true. “How much more” will God do, since he is wholly good? He not only gives good things (v.11) but James 1:16-17 says,

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

 Every good    gift and

 every perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of lights 

    with whom there is no variation

                                    or shadow due to change.

So God gives good things…in fact every good thing, but what is the best thing? The parallel passage in Luke 11:13 replaces “good things” with “the Holy Spirit” by whom all good things are supplied. The result is God with us and in us. In the Old Testament, the Spirit would “come upon” temporarily for a specific task or moment, but in the New Testament, the Spirit comes and indwells believers on an ongoing basis. As a result, he…

• Comforts us (Acts 9:31)
• Teaches us (John 14:26)
• Convicts us (John 16:8-11)
• Guides us (John 16:13)
• Empowers us (Micah 3:8; Acts 1:8)
• Reminds us that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. (Romans 8:16)
• Intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27)

A Fresh Glimpse of the Golden Rule (v.12)

“So whatever you wish

                                that others would do to you,

                                                            do also to them,

     for this is the Law and the Prophets.

We have all heard the “Golden Rule” at one time or another, but have we ever thought about it in its context of persistent prayer? How do we want others to pray for us? That is how we should pray for them…persistently and passionately!

We can’t live kingdom lives without being persistent in prayer for ourselves and for others. The Sermon on the Mount humbles us, and, if we understand it, find that it drives us to our knees. If we end where we started, poor in spirit and mourning over sin, then we are blessed indeed.

---

[1] D.A. Carson,  Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World: An Exposition of Matthew 5-10. [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999] 116.

[2] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom. [Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001], 233.

King of the Mountain? (Matthew 7:1-6)

In a recent sermon, Logs, Dogs, and Hogs, from Matthew 7:1-6, I referred to judgmentalism as a type of spiritual king-of-the-mountain game, where we try to climb to the top—the supposed place of God’s favor—by criticizing and judging others. At best such behavior is merely an emotional sleight-of-hand for certainly, God’s kingdom doesn’t play by such rules. I mention this here because if we are going to truly help others and work for a peace and justice that pleases God, we have to start by humbling ourselves and considering others as inferior no longer (2 Cor. 5:16) but as equals or betters (Philippians 2:3). Why can't we learn to help each other climb the sand dune of circumstances together as advocates, not adversaries?

Matthew 7:1-6 

                                     “Judge not,

             that you be not  judged.

2                 For with the judgment you pronounce

                    you will be  judged,

                  and  with the measure  you use

                        it will be   measured to you.

3                                     Why do you see the speck

                                that is in  your brother's eye,

                          but do not notice the log

                                that is in  your own       eye?

4                            Or how can you say

                                          to  your brother,

                                             ‘Let me take the speck

                                     out of your                eye,’

                               when there is the log in

                                               your own        eye?

5 You hypocrite,

                                       first take the log

                                    out of  your own        eye,

                    and then you will see clearly

                                          to take the speck

                                    out of  your brother's eye.

Mature disciples are not judgmental towards others (v.1-2)

Matthew 7:1 is one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible. If you google it you will find that it makes most of the top-whatever lists. It is thrown at us anytime we address personal or systemic sin in our communities. “Don’t judge!” Yet the context of the passage says something very different.  Several verses in this chapter require a discerning judgement—v. 5, 6, 15, and 20. This makes it clear that contrary to popular opinion, this passage does not forbid confronting sin.

Proverbs 26 contains the classic case of a contextual paradox that will help us here.

Answer not a fool according to his folly,
    lest you be like him yourself.
Answer       a fool according to his folly,
    lest he be wise in his own eyes. (Prov. 26:4-5)

There are times when you shouldn’t answer a fool and other times when you should. This kind of instruction frustrates us because we want clear guidelines and policies but that is not the way of the mature disciple. We actually have to discern the difference.

In the Hobbit Trilogy, the dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield, when told he has no right to enter the Lonely Mountain and disturb the dragon and possibly bring ruin on many, answered, “I have the only right!” Just because we have a log in our eye doesn't mean that we don't try to use it as a shield as well. We too think we have the only right to decide our own fate and destiny. Even if we acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the Righteous Judge, in a practical sense we set ourselves up in that high position to judge all around us: “He is stupid, she is rude, and they are crooks…” it goes on and on. And we will find ourselves held to the same standard by the One who alone sees clearly. Mature disciples are able to make clear judgments but are not judgmental.

Judgment comes with a warning label. There is reciprocity to judgment, for “with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (A proverb Jesus used in three different contexts, v. 2; Mark 4:24; Luke 6:38). This means that,

• In condemning others we bring condemnation on ourselves (Romans 2:1-8)
• In judging others we can forget that we will be judged (Romans 14:10-12)
• In judging, we may be usurping God’s position (James 4:11-12)

Mature disciples are not hypercritical (v. 3-4)

We all know the devastation that is brought to many families by drunk drivers. Those who are caught as charged with DUII (Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants). I think Jesus was getting at something similar here in this passage. That something I am calling “JUII” or  Judging Under the Influence of Intoxicants. We think we judge others fairly, but we don’t. We have a judgment that is impaired by the intoxicants of pride (self), prejudice (social biases), and perversion (sin). Right now I have to confess to being proud of that double alliteration. Please forgive me!

One of the best ways to keep from being hypercritical is by doing what Jesus said in verse 5, “First take the log out of your own eye.”  We must learn to judge ourselves first (v. 5, 1 Peter 4:17). Yet even as we seek to remove our own logs, we must have a right view of God. While being the Righteous Judge, that is not the primary way in which he relates to his children. Primarily he is the Lover of our Soul who seeks to redeem and heal his children. We must learn to respond to his love in kind. When we are confident in Christ’s love for us, we become more generous in sharing love and mercy with others. We relate lovingly as brothers and sisters in the family of God, not as competitors trying to climb and keep or place on some sandy mountain.

Mature disciples are discerning (v.6)

        “Do not give dogs what is holy,                          A

   and do not throw your pearls before pigs,                   B

                 lest they trample them underfoot                   B’

                         and turn to attack you.                       A’

This last verse involves judgment…but not one aimed at tearing down another but on survival and stewardship. In Jesus’ day dogs were unclean and vicious. Dogs rarely come across that way in our culture, so think more along the lines of the hyenas in The Lion King or red-eyed wolves in some fairy tale. They represent those who are treacherous, unclean, just want to feed their ego by tearing you apart. 

Hogs were also unclean, and also insensitive to the value of the message. Pearls are of no value to a pig who just wants something to eat. They serve only their appetites and have no spiritual aptitude.

So, how do we know who is a “dog” or a “hog”? It is usually apparent if we engage them in polite conversation, but if you really want to know… you will have to read the rest of the chapter (Matthew 7:7-29). Enjoy!