Sermon 2nd July 2006
FREEDOM CALLS!
Our vicar, Cameron Barker's sermon based on the reading from Colossians 2: 6-23
‘You don’t need a telescope a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ.’ I just love the way that the Message version expresses this truth from today’s passage: ‘You don’t need a tele-scope a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ.’ That was the key message that Paul wanted to communicate to the Colossians. Above all, Paul wanted them to know who & what Christ is. They needed to know that beyond any doubt – because only then could they live securely as who and what they had become in Christ. In many ways this follows straight on from the passage we looked at here 2 weeks ago. Adrian spoke then about secrets – & how God’s big secret has been made known to all people. God’s secret is, of course, Christ – the person whose amazing true identity we looked at the week before. The Colossians – and we – can know who Christ is without needing a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope. In Christ, God isn’t so far away that we need a telescope to see him. In Christ God isn’t so small that we need a micro -scope to see him. In Christ, God isn’t so mysterious that we need a horoscope to understand him. No: in Christ, God’s secret has been made known to us in all its fullness! For Paul, those truths had huge implications for how the Colossians were to live. Again from the Message: ‘My counsel for you is simple & straightforward: Just go ahead with what you have been given. You have received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You are well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. Quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving’. These verses at the start of today’s reading really do set the agenda for the rest of Paul’s letter. Up to this point he has been doing the theory work, as it were. Now it’s time for the practicalities. What does all this mean for the Colossians in their everyday lives? How are they to live in the light of what they now know about God’s secret? How are they to go ahead from here? What are they to do? Well, it is quite simple & straightforward: they are to carry on with what they know to be true. They have received Christ, as any Christian has. Because of who Christ is, their faith has a sure foundation – as any Christian’s does. As any growing Christian has, they have put roots down in Christ. So, all the key elements are already in place. Now they, & we, are to live him – securely, certainly, & boldly. And that will begin, and continue, with thanks because of who Christ is and what he’s done for them, and us. Now it is very likely that Paul wrote this next section of his letter to help the Colossians stand firm in their faith. All the scholars are sure that the Colossians were in danger of being led astray by false teachers. In this passage Paul was exposing what these false teachers were up to. But the feature that stands out here is just how positively Paul did it. He wasn’t being defensive about the Christian faith. Quite the opposite! He urged the Colossians to stand firm by being completely sure about what they believed & why. That pattern begins from the very start of our passage. It’s because the Colossian live in union with this Christ that they can ward off all attempts to kidnap their minds! It was not that Paul was against philosophy per se. He could be quite a philosopher himself in fact, when that was needed. What he was against was any philosophy that didn’t come from Christ. In particular, Paul was against any philosophy that claimed that it had the weight of the universe behind it. If it didn’t come from Christ, it simply couldn’t have! For Paul, Christ was simply everything. And anything that didn’t come from him was worthless in comparison to him. You see, Paul knew that the fullness of God himself was & is to be found in Christ. As the one who made the whole universe and everything in it, Christ is in charge of the lot! Anything else can, by definition, only be second-best. And why settle for 2nd-best when you’ve been given the best, Christ himself? Why would we want anything less when God’s best, Christ himself, lives in us? If anyone else tells us that there’s something better – as they were trying to tell the Colossians – we can know that that’s not true! In his commentary Tom Wright says that the Colossians were under pressure from Jewish influences. Such people were saying the Colossians needed to be circumcised in order to be truly spiritual. Well, Paul was having none of that, even though he’d been born a Jew himself. That old, outward sign of God’s covenant was no longer necessary – because in Christ God had given something even better. Once again from the Message: ‘If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ.’ And we must note how positively Paul expressed all these truths. To help the Colossians stand firm against wrong teaching, Paul didn’t combat the error so much as to say again what Christ had done for them! And so he continued in that positive vein in vs. 13 of our passage. Here’s how the Message version puts it: ‘When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive – right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant cancelled and nailed to Christ’s Cross.’ Again and again, Paul stressed just what Christ had done for the Colossians – which is just what he’s done for us, of course. It was by knowing those truths that the Colossians - & we - could stand utterly sure in their faith. So, if anyone started on at them about their religious observance, they knew how to reply to that too. It wasn’t about what they did or didn’t eat or drink. It wasn’t about what festivals they did or didn’t keep. Such things had only ever existed to point forward to the reality that was to come. Now that the reality himself had come in Christ, they didn’t need the shadows any more. And anyone who said that they did was out of touch with the only one who mattered – Christ! Now it is fair to say that the Greek text is very complex as Paul wrote about these matters. If you read the different versions of the Bible you’ll see that the translations of this passage are quite different. But the fundamental points that Paul was making shine through every time – it is all about Christ! It’s about who he is; it’s about what he has done; it’s about the difference that he, & he alone, makes. And anyone who claims to have visions; or to speak with angels; or to have found a better way; can’t possibly be right if what they say is out of tune with Christ. You see, it’s only Christ who holds together his body, the church. It’s Christ who supports and nourishes his body. It’s Christ who makes his church grow in the ways that he wants and needs it to. It’s his body. He died to bring it into being as the people who love, serve and worship him. We exist for him. He’s the head; he’s in charge; he’s the one who counts. It’s to him, & to him alone, that we must look for everything we need to live and grow and develop. Of course there are other alternatives around that seem more attractive. I recently read how cool people think it is to be spiritual, in any way other than being a Christian. It’s cool to be into New Age philosophy, where we are all god. It’s cool to be a Buddhist; or into meditation; or yoga; or to follow the teachings of some far-off ashram. But, in Paul’s words, these are only human teachings. They are simply modern variations on the themes that Paul addressed in his own day. They fail to deal with the one who’s in charge of them all because the fullness of God is in him – Christ! By now it should be clear which of the mission-shaped values this passage speaks to us about. This is all about both knowing who God is, & then living it out. The person of the Trinity who’s primarily in view here obviously is God the Son. But learning about any member of the Trinity tells us more about each of them. A passage like this reminds us of who God is as Father, Son and Spirit. Knowing who God is & what he’s done for us could and should spill over into thanksgiving – which is part of a life of worship. And from our thanks our lives could and should then be shaped by the reality of Christ that has literally brought us to life. The Christian life is fundamentally like riding a bicycle – go forward or fall off! Paul urged the Colossians to move forward in their faith so they didn’t fall off. In Christ they had a secure base from which to move forward in the right direction – upwards in him. The context that Paul urged them to move forward in was in the face of false teaching. That tempted them to head in a different – and wrong – direction. He did that positively, by reminding them time & again of who Christ is and what he had done for them. As the Colossians knew that they could be secure enough to stand on what they knew to be the truth. Now I’m not particularly aware of any false teaching about, or not of the sort that the Colossians faced. Of course we face many alternatives, of the sort I’ve already mentioned. The philosophy of post-modernism tells us that there is no such thing as absolute truth. But the gospel says there is: Christ himself is the absolute truth. Anyone who calls them -selves Christian has to believe that because of what the Bible says about who God is as Father, Son and Spirit. So that’s what we’re to stand firm on, the truth that we have been taught and know. That’s what we’re to move forward in, with how we live our lives as worship of this God. The fact is that ‘You don’t need a telescope a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ.’ That truth is there for all to read and see and know and experience. Christ is simply everything. He has done everything for us by dying on the cross – which fact we’ll celebrate later at Communion. So the advice is simple: go ahead with what you’ve been given. If you are Christian you have received Christ Jesus as Master. So now live him. Be deeply rooted in him. Be well constructed on him. Live him in how you work and play. Live him no matter what fancy ideas other people may have. Live him with thanks because of what he’s done for you. And know that in Christ all the fullness of God lives in you. So let him be what he is – your head in all things. And let him grow you as he wants.
Our vicar, Cameron Barker's sermon based on the reading from Colossians 2: 6-23
‘You don’t need a telescope a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ.’ I just love the way that the Message version expresses this truth from today’s passage: ‘You don’t need a tele-scope a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ.’ That was the key message that Paul wanted to communicate to the Colossians. Above all, Paul wanted them to know who & what Christ is. They needed to know that beyond any doubt – because only then could they live securely as who and what they had become in Christ. In many ways this follows straight on from the passage we looked at here 2 weeks ago. Adrian spoke then about secrets – & how God’s big secret has been made known to all people. God’s secret is, of course, Christ – the person whose amazing true identity we looked at the week before. The Colossians – and we – can know who Christ is without needing a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope. In Christ, God isn’t so far away that we need a telescope to see him. In Christ God isn’t so small that we need a micro -scope to see him. In Christ, God isn’t so mysterious that we need a horoscope to understand him. No: in Christ, God’s secret has been made known to us in all its fullness! For Paul, those truths had huge implications for how the Colossians were to live. Again from the Message: ‘My counsel for you is simple & straightforward: Just go ahead with what you have been given. You have received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You are well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. Quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving’. These verses at the start of today’s reading really do set the agenda for the rest of Paul’s letter. Up to this point he has been doing the theory work, as it were. Now it’s time for the practicalities. What does all this mean for the Colossians in their everyday lives? How are they to live in the light of what they now know about God’s secret? How are they to go ahead from here? What are they to do? Well, it is quite simple & straightforward: they are to carry on with what they know to be true. They have received Christ, as any Christian has. Because of who Christ is, their faith has a sure foundation – as any Christian’s does. As any growing Christian has, they have put roots down in Christ. So, all the key elements are already in place. Now they, & we, are to live him – securely, certainly, & boldly. And that will begin, and continue, with thanks because of who Christ is and what he’s done for them, and us. Now it is very likely that Paul wrote this next section of his letter to help the Colossians stand firm in their faith. All the scholars are sure that the Colossians were in danger of being led astray by false teachers. In this passage Paul was exposing what these false teachers were up to. But the feature that stands out here is just how positively Paul did it. He wasn’t being defensive about the Christian faith. Quite the opposite! He urged the Colossians to stand firm by being completely sure about what they believed & why. That pattern begins from the very start of our passage. It’s because the Colossian live in union with this Christ that they can ward off all attempts to kidnap their minds! It was not that Paul was against philosophy per se. He could be quite a philosopher himself in fact, when that was needed. What he was against was any philosophy that didn’t come from Christ. In particular, Paul was against any philosophy that claimed that it had the weight of the universe behind it. If it didn’t come from Christ, it simply couldn’t have! For Paul, Christ was simply everything. And anything that didn’t come from him was worthless in comparison to him. You see, Paul knew that the fullness of God himself was & is to be found in Christ. As the one who made the whole universe and everything in it, Christ is in charge of the lot! Anything else can, by definition, only be second-best. And why settle for 2nd-best when you’ve been given the best, Christ himself? Why would we want anything less when God’s best, Christ himself, lives in us? If anyone else tells us that there’s something better – as they were trying to tell the Colossians – we can know that that’s not true! In his commentary Tom Wright says that the Colossians were under pressure from Jewish influences. Such people were saying the Colossians needed to be circumcised in order to be truly spiritual. Well, Paul was having none of that, even though he’d been born a Jew himself. That old, outward sign of God’s covenant was no longer necessary – because in Christ God had given something even better. Once again from the Message: ‘If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ.’ And we must note how positively Paul expressed all these truths. To help the Colossians stand firm against wrong teaching, Paul didn’t combat the error so much as to say again what Christ had done for them! And so he continued in that positive vein in vs. 13 of our passage. Here’s how the Message version puts it: ‘When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive – right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant cancelled and nailed to Christ’s Cross.’ Again and again, Paul stressed just what Christ had done for the Colossians – which is just what he’s done for us, of course. It was by knowing those truths that the Colossians - & we - could stand utterly sure in their faith. So, if anyone started on at them about their religious observance, they knew how to reply to that too. It wasn’t about what they did or didn’t eat or drink. It wasn’t about what festivals they did or didn’t keep. Such things had only ever existed to point forward to the reality that was to come. Now that the reality himself had come in Christ, they didn’t need the shadows any more. And anyone who said that they did was out of touch with the only one who mattered – Christ! Now it is fair to say that the Greek text is very complex as Paul wrote about these matters. If you read the different versions of the Bible you’ll see that the translations of this passage are quite different. But the fundamental points that Paul was making shine through every time – it is all about Christ! It’s about who he is; it’s about what he has done; it’s about the difference that he, & he alone, makes. And anyone who claims to have visions; or to speak with angels; or to have found a better way; can’t possibly be right if what they say is out of tune with Christ. You see, it’s only Christ who holds together his body, the church. It’s Christ who supports and nourishes his body. It’s Christ who makes his church grow in the ways that he wants and needs it to. It’s his body. He died to bring it into being as the people who love, serve and worship him. We exist for him. He’s the head; he’s in charge; he’s the one who counts. It’s to him, & to him alone, that we must look for everything we need to live and grow and develop. Of course there are other alternatives around that seem more attractive. I recently read how cool people think it is to be spiritual, in any way other than being a Christian. It’s cool to be into New Age philosophy, where we are all god. It’s cool to be a Buddhist; or into meditation; or yoga; or to follow the teachings of some far-off ashram. But, in Paul’s words, these are only human teachings. They are simply modern variations on the themes that Paul addressed in his own day. They fail to deal with the one who’s in charge of them all because the fullness of God is in him – Christ! By now it should be clear which of the mission-shaped values this passage speaks to us about. This is all about both knowing who God is, & then living it out. The person of the Trinity who’s primarily in view here obviously is God the Son. But learning about any member of the Trinity tells us more about each of them. A passage like this reminds us of who God is as Father, Son and Spirit. Knowing who God is & what he’s done for us could and should spill over into thanksgiving – which is part of a life of worship. And from our thanks our lives could and should then be shaped by the reality of Christ that has literally brought us to life. The Christian life is fundamentally like riding a bicycle – go forward or fall off! Paul urged the Colossians to move forward in their faith so they didn’t fall off. In Christ they had a secure base from which to move forward in the right direction – upwards in him. The context that Paul urged them to move forward in was in the face of false teaching. That tempted them to head in a different – and wrong – direction. He did that positively, by reminding them time & again of who Christ is and what he had done for them. As the Colossians knew that they could be secure enough to stand on what they knew to be the truth. Now I’m not particularly aware of any false teaching about, or not of the sort that the Colossians faced. Of course we face many alternatives, of the sort I’ve already mentioned. The philosophy of post-modernism tells us that there is no such thing as absolute truth. But the gospel says there is: Christ himself is the absolute truth. Anyone who calls them -selves Christian has to believe that because of what the Bible says about who God is as Father, Son and Spirit. So that’s what we’re to stand firm on, the truth that we have been taught and know. That’s what we’re to move forward in, with how we live our lives as worship of this God. The fact is that ‘You don’t need a telescope a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ.’ That truth is there for all to read and see and know and experience. Christ is simply everything. He has done everything for us by dying on the cross – which fact we’ll celebrate later at Communion. So the advice is simple: go ahead with what you’ve been given. If you are Christian you have received Christ Jesus as Master. So now live him. Be deeply rooted in him. Be well constructed on him. Live him in how you work and play. Live him no matter what fancy ideas other people may have. Live him with thanks because of what he’s done for you. And know that in Christ all the fullness of God lives in you. So let him be what he is – your head in all things. And let him grow you as he wants.
posted by Parish Administrator at 1:14 pm
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