Colossians Remixed Week 8

Yesterday was our final week of our Colossians Remixed series. We were looking at Colossians 4:2-6 together and I felt that we should let the text speak for itself and decided not to do a traditional message and then follow it up with discussion. Instead we decided to walk through the Scripture using something that is called Communal Lectio Divina.

This is what our time looked like together yesterday: Lectio Divina Shared in Community

(A) Listening for the Gentle Touch of Christ the Word (The Literal Sense) 1. One person reads aloud (twice) the passage of scripture, as others are attentive to some segment that is especially meaningful to them. 2. Silence for 1-2 minutes. Each hears and silently repeats a word or phrase that attracts. 3. Sharing aloud: [A word or phrase that has attracted each person]. A simple statement of one or a few words. No elaboration.

(B) How Christ the Word speaks to ME (The Allegorical Sense) 4. Second reading of same passage by another person. 5. Silence for 2-3 minutes. Reflect on “Where does the content of this reading touch my life today?” 6. Sharing aloud: Briefly: “I hear, I see...”

(C) What Christ the Word Invites me to DO (The Moral Sense) 7. Third reading by still another person. 8. Silence for 2-3 minutes. Reflect on “I believe that God wants me to . . . . . . today/this week.” 9. Sharing aloud: at somewhat greater length the results of each one's reflection. [Be especially aware of what is shared by the person to your right.] 10. After full sharing, pray for the person to your right.

Note: Anyone may “pass” at any time. If instead of sharing with the group you prefer to pray silently , simply state this aloud and conclude your silent prayer with Amen.

Colossians Remixed Week 7

So today we come to the end of the third chapter of the New Testament book of Colossians. And next week we wrap up our 8 week series entitled Colossians Remixed.

And our text that we are looking at today is one that honestly I kinda wanted to skip over and move past. The text raises a bunch of questions. Not only for me, but I believe probably all of us. And in fact this text probably raises questions in our world. Questions like, “Does the Bible actually condone slavery?” “Why doesn’t Paul tell slave holders to get rid of their slaves, and set them free?” “Is the Bible sexist?” “Does the Bible condone a male dominated society in which women should submit”? As I looked at this text, I could see where these questions stem from. I myself have some questions about this text, and honestly not sure I have a lot of answers to those questions. But as I have read and studied this week, I have come to some ideas and thoughts about this text and how it applies to our world today and how it applies to us who want to be missional disciples of Jesus living out Kingdom lives in the world.

But before I open up the text for this morning, I need to reiterate the 2 purposes of the book of Colossians. The main thrust, if you will, of why Paul is writing to the church at Colossae. Because, as I have said, each and every week, these 2 main points are foundational to understanding everything that is written in the letter. Without an understanding of these two things, and not just a mental understanding, but an understanding that comes from applying the 2 main points to your life, than what comes out in the letter (especially in this text) doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The first purpose that Paul is writing to the church at Colossae is to share with them that Lordship of Jesus in every realm. King Jesus and his Kingdom rules and reigns and as a follower of King Jesus, we are called to live under his rule and his reign. When we live under his rule and his reign then all interactions we have are influenced by his reign in and through us. King Jesus is Lord over all other lords. King Jesus is Lord over Caesar, who was, as I mentioned before, called lord, savior, deliverer, liberator, and son of god. King Jesus is lord and king over all the other things that we seek to put in his place. In other words, he is supreme and preeminent. Knowing this will definitely come in to play in our Scripture text for today as the word Lord shows up at least 6 times in only 9 verses. So this text won’t make any sense without the understanding of the lordship of Jesus over all of life, and over all the relationships that we have.

Secondly, the other purpose of the letter is to unpack the true nature of the gospel. This purpose was because of the heresy called the Colossian heresy that was infiltrating the Colossian church. Paul, especially in chapters 1 and 2 lays out the true nature of the gospel (he doesn’t lay it out in its totality because the gospel is bigger and more expansive than mere words can contain). And then in chapters 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 begins to unpack what the gospel of Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and the Lordship of Jesus looks like lived out in relationships and in our own lives. So with that background in mind, and the questions that i asked at the beginning (that I truly believe are questions that the world is asking and if we are honest, that we ask ourselves), let’s look at Colossians 3:18-4:1.

Colossians 3:18-4:1 says, “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism. Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.”

So do these verses condone sexism? Do they actually favor a male dominated hierarchy where women are subservient and are doormats to men? Does Paul condone slavery? A simple reading of this text might seem to support these assertions. A look at some of the views that have popped up, especially around verse 18, seem to support those assertions. (men treating women as subservient, and women letting themselves be treated that way). But let’s take a deeper look into these verses to see if there isn’t more to these verses and how they are more counter cultural and subversive and radical than what we see on our first reading.

First, we need to remember to read these verses in the context of the Lordship of Jesus. Jesus is Lord over all relationships, including wives, husbands, children, slaves, masters (employer, employee), etc.. Secondly the other week we talked about the idea of things that we think we’ll liberate us actually can lead to bondage. So we talked about the idea that some people think that absolute freedom with no rules and regulations will really set us free, but we just end up in bondage to to things. Or we get bound to a set of rules and regulations and a to do list that we think leads to freedom, but these things also lead to bondage. True liberation and deliverance is from Jesus and while the gospel isn’t primarily about a list of do’s and don’ts, there are some Kingdom rules that God is calling us to live under. Paul is offering these Kingdom rules for those who live in and under the rule and reign of God. These Kingdom rules, will actually lead to a more freeing life, than all the other things that promise true freedom.

So let’s look at verse 18 which says, “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” This translation has submit. And the images of downtrodden women, the victim of her husbands every whim, unable to be herself, to think her own thoughts, to make a grown up contribution to the relationship comes to mind. But that is not what Paul means when he says submit. You need to understand why this is radical. In Paul’s day husbands and masters could rule supreme and unquestioned. Women were property. Paul’s code of Kingdom rules for household living are remarkable for several reasons. Paul’s own fellow-workers included women and married couples, where it appears the women were “people in their own right”. he doesn’t just tell wives, children and slave how to behave (as Pagan moralists of his day would) Their duties are balanced by the corresponding duties of household, parents, and masters. Verse 18 actually brings women, in that day, freedom from being seen as property.

When you put verse 19 in with verse 18, “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.”, we see that both parties have responsibilities. Men aren’t just free to treat a women however he thinks she should be treated. Men have a great responsibility of loving their wives, as Christ loves his church. Meaning giving up your life for her. Paul has not retracted his statement in Galatians 3:28 about the equality of men and women before the Lord and under the head, which is Jesus. Neither party is to be arrogant or domineering. The wife must forgo the temptation to rule her husband’s life and the husband must ensure that his love for his wife, like Christ’s love for his people, always puts her interest first. It is when husbands and wives first submit to Jesus, that this reciprocal relationship can function. It is when husbands and wives understand these kingdom rules and live by the that they are truly fee; free to mature and develop, within the creative context of mutual love and respect.

Another relationship that falls under the headship of Christ is the role of the parent (in this text Father) and child. Paul puts it this way, “ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.” Paul is no doubt referring to one of the ten commandments (“Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”) in this text. Again this text, when seen in context is radical. The Gospel is breaking new ground. Children were supposed to be not seen and not heard and they were also seen as property. Here Paul is saying that first, that children are a part of the church in their own right and that he is giving them responsibilities as well. Paul is saying children need discipline, but the parents aren’t off the hook. Parents need discipline as well. The parents role is to live out the gospel in front of their children. That is to assure their children that they are loved and accepted and valued for who they are, not for who they ought to be, should have been or might become. And obviously this all happens when both children and parents live under the Lordship and Headship of Jesus Christ.

So then Paul moves from husbands, wives, and parents to the role and relationship between Slave and Master. So the question becomes, why doesn’t Paul outright confront the institution of slavery and condemn it? And call for masters to get rid of their slaves? Also why does he include slaves in this text? The reason for including slaves is that Onesimus is the one delivering the letter. And again this statement that Paul is making is radical for it’s time. Paul never condones slavery nor sanctions revolts against masters. He calls for both slave and masters, under the headship and Lordship of Jesus to show christian principles in their relationship and thus to attempt to change the institution from the inside out. To blow it up from the inside. For masters to actually show their slaves love and respect is so upside down from what the culture told the Masters. The slaves could be killed, beaten, abused, and taken advantage of. Also slaves were unable to legally receive or pass on an inheritance and yet here slaves are equal recipients with their masters of this inheritance of eternal life. Masters and slaves are equal in the view of the Kingdom of God. And when masters view their slaves as equal in the Kingdom of God, you begin to realize that owning another person goes against the ethic of the Kingdom. And then the institution comes crashing down from the inside, and done from a heart of people committed to the King and his kingdom.

I want to end with this statement by Paul that should speak to us where we all are, in relation to our work, our schooling, or wherever we find ourselves. Paul makes this statement, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward” As a means of being about the Kingdom of God and living a gospel centered life, we need to work, we need to study, we need to engage with all of our hearts and not just for the approval of our boss’s, or the good grade on the paper, etc… But do these things because we have a higher calling, a higher master and we seek to live under the rule, and reign of the King, and under his Lordship.

So let’s talk about what this text might be saying to us in all of our relationships, whether we are married, single, an employer, an employee, a student, etc…. What might be God saying to us in our relationships that we currently have? Where do we need to submit to the headship and lordship of Jesus in our relationships and our lives? And how might this text speak to us about living a missional, Kingdom life? Let’s unpack this stuff together.

1. What insights, questions, comments, applications, struggles, push back, etc…. do you have regarding the text and/or the message?

2. Where do you need to submit to the headship and lordship of Jesus? In a relationship? In another area of your life? What does it look like for you and I to submit to the headship and Lordship of Jesus in all things?

3. How might this text from Colossians speak to us as individuals and as a community about living a missional Kingdom life? What are the missional implications of living this text out in the world?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Colossians Remixed: Week 6

Over the last few weeks during our Colossians Remixed series we have been talking a great deal about 2 things. First, we have been talking a great deal about the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus over all other lords, including Caesar (who was called lord, savior, son of god, redeemer and liberator). And even today Jesus is Lord over all the other Caesar’s and lords that we run into. Over all the other things that we tend to put above Jesus. Jesus is Lord and the Caesar’s in this world are not and are at best a cheap knock-off. We talked about the fact last week that these lords, if you will, won’t lead to true freedom and liberation but to captivity and bondage.

Secondly, if the other lords can only promise and never deliver true freedom and liberation, only Jesus and the gospel of the Kingdom of God can promise and deliver. Jesus the gospel of the Kingdom delivers true freedom and true liberation. We have spent almost each and every week also talking about the true nature of the gospel and what it encompasses. And how the gospel of Jesus and the Kingdom of God applied to the situation in which this young church in Colossae in the midst of the Roman Empire found itself. It found itself challenged by the images of Caesar that touted that Caesar was lord, savior, redeemer, and King. It found itself challenged by jewish religious leaders who were encouraging what we called last week Jesus +. Jesus + circumcision. Jesus + special knowledge. Jesus + following these rules and regulations (what you can’t eat, what you can’t touch, what you can’t handle). Jesus +.

So with those 2 important, overarching themes found within the New Testament book of Colossians laid out, we now turn to Colossians 3:1-17 and Paul begins to put flesh and blood on the bones. Starting to work out on the ground what it looks like to give supremacy and preeminence to Jesus and to live out the gospel of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Let’s keep these 2 themes in mind as we read the Scripture, and unpack it together.

Colossians 3:1-17 says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.  Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

One of the things Paul longs for for the Colossian believers (and also all who would come after them) is that they (and us) would realize what is already true- in Christ. Because the Messiah and his people are so closely bounded up with one another, what is true of Jesus is also true of them (and us). So what is true of Jesus? That he died and rose again. What is then true of the followers of Jesus in Colossae? That they have died with the Messiah, that they don’t belong to the old world any more, and the regulations (found in Colossians 2) aren’t relevant anymore. And that they were raised with the Messiah, so that they possess a true life in God’s new world, also known as the ‘upper’ or ‘heavenly realm’ And if those things are true of the followers of Jesus in Colossae, than they are also true of you today if you are a follower of Jesus.

And when we have died with Christ, and risen with him to new life, we are called to, as Paul puts it, “set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Now does this mean only think about “heaven” and going there when you die. Or as the old adage states, “being so heavenly minded that they aren’t any earthly good.” Paul isn’t talking about the idea of thinking and setting our minds on “heaven” but on thinking and setting your mind on the things of the Kingdom of God and not on the things of the Kingdom of this world. In fact God through Paul is calling us to learn to think about things that are above, not the things that belong to this present world of change and decay. In fact, learning to think, rather than merely going with the flow of the world on the one hand or blindly obeying what looks like stringent regulations on the other, is part of the key to living out the gospel of the Kingdom of God here and now.

All too often in our world today the view of Christians are that they are unintelligent, weary of education (ever hear someone warn you of education because it might lead you away from the faith?), and seemingly calling people to leave their brain at the door. One book that I have on my shelf deals with this struggle. It is the book “Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” by Mark Noll, and his contention is that the scandal is that there is no evangelical mind, especially in places of higher eduction. And that is a shame. Being a Christian means learning to think harder, not leaving your brain behind in the quest for new experiences. Thinking straight and knowing the truth are part of what it means to be a truly human being, the sort of human being the gospel is meant to create.

Once Paul shares the fact that what is true of Jesus is true of the Colossian believers, along with you and I, he turns to the implications that we, like Jesus have died to the old and risen with the new. What are the implications of Jesus being preeminent and supreme and the gospel of new life and liberation? For the next few verses Paul uses the metaphor of clothing to get at what followers of Jesus are to do and to be, not just individually (as if that is even truly possible) but also corporately. Paul sees clearly that if the Colossian church is to move ahead, and not fall into the Colossian Heresy, it needs to know very clearly what’s involved in putting off the old clothing and putting on new ones. As an aside, the early church used the metaphor of taking off old clothes and putting on new ones in baptism. The new believer would come to the baptism wearing old clothes, they would discard the old clothes, be baptized, and then would be given a new set of white clothes symbolizing the new life in Christ. So the question is now what are the old clothes of the old nature and what are the new clothes of the new life in Jesus?

Let’s look at verses 5-9 to see what we as individuals and as a community are supposed to take off and then verses 12-17 to see what we are supposed to put on as far as the new clothes in Christ. Verses 5-9 says this, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

The old clothes of this world, and this Kingdom are things like sexual immorality, lust, greed, anger, rage, slander, lies, and language. You could break it down into two areas of life, sex and speech. Paul is seemingly getting at the fact that these old clothes are on the same level. Paul is just as concerned with sins of the tongue as he is with sins related to sexuality. In fact, it would be good for today’s church to get that balance right, instead of focusing so much on sexual sins. These areas of sexuality and speech are two central areas of human life, both involving some amazing and great potential for good and some great potential for evil. These sins of sexuality and speech don’t just affect the individual, they affect the community as well. The result for a community that would embrace and live life in the old clothes of the Kingdom of this world would be a community that would tear itself apart.

When a community of Jesus’ followers takes off the old clothes of the flesh and self and puts on the new clothes of new life in Jesus, than we begin to see a community of love, grace, truth, the Kingdom of God and the gospel enfleshed in this world. What do these new clothes look like? First look at verse 11, “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” A Christian community that is living life in the new clothes of the Kingdom of God means that all the old divisions that our culture and the world system sets up are torn down and ripped up. Social, cultural, geographic, ethnic, political, etc.. divisions that are so prominent within the world should have no place within a Kingdom community of Jesus’ followers. People who live in the old clothes should look at a Kingdom community and go, “what in the world are they hanging out together for? They should never be getting along. But here they are loving each other, serving each other, being community together.” This is when we know that the Kingdom of God comes down and touches our earth, when people that would formerly not getting along, can love each other and be community together.

But verse 11 isn’t possible unless the new clothes of verses 12-17 are put into place in the individual follower of Jesus’ life as well as the Kingdom community. And these verses are important because we need to realize that life in the Kingdom of God is not just the negative- do not, but also the positive, here is what you are supposed to do. That it isn’t just about taking off the old clothes and standing around naked. It is about taking off the old clothes and then putting the new ones one. These Kingdom clothes should define what life is like and what our Kingdom communities should look like and function. The new Kingdom clothes are described in verses 12-17 and we’ll end with the listing of new clothes, the Kingdom clothes.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

So let’s unpack together some thoughts about applying this Scripture to our lives as individuals and as a community. Let’s talk about the old clothes that we need to talk off. Let’s talk about the new clothes and how to live as a community in our new clothes. And let’s talk about what God is saying to us as individuals and as a community.

1. What are some thoughts, questions, clarifications, insights, applications, etc.. do you have regarding the Scripture and/or message?

2. What old clothes do you need to take off? What new clothes/Kingdom clothes do you need to put on?

3. What old clothes do we as a community need to take off? What new clothes/Kingdom clothes do we as a community need to put on?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Colossians Remixed: Week 5

Today we wrap up chapter 2 of the New Testament book of Colossians in our series entitled Colossians Remixed. We are half way through the book with 2 more chapters to go (and about 3 more weeks to do it in) until we start Lent with our new series entitled Circle Maker: Praying circles around your biggest dreams and greatest fears.

So let’s jump in Colossians 2:16-23 and unpack this text, what Paul was getting at while writing it, and how it impacts the way we live our lives today two thousand years later. And remember that much of what we have been talking about over the last 4 weeks about the 2 fold purpose of the book (the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus and the true nature of the gospel) will again play itself out in Colossians 2:16-23.

Colossians 2:16-23 says, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:  “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?  These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

So Paul, in this text, is seeking to combat the Colossian heresy that cropped up in the Colossian church, and I believe that even today the Colossian heresy is alive and well in the modern church, just in different forms. Paul is getting at the difference of freedom in Christ and legalism of religion. Jesus frees us, in every sense of the word, especially from the legalism of following man-made rules and regulations that actually get in the way of following Jesus. So let’s walk through these verses some more and see how Paul is calling us to freedom in Christ, the preeminence of Jesus and the true nature of the gospel.

The first thing we see in verse 16 is Paul going straight out what people were telling the Colossian church that they had to add to the Gospel in order to truly be “saved”. To truly follow Jesus. It could best be described as Jesus +. Jesus + circumcision. Jesus+ not eating or drinking the wrong thing. Jesus + this religious observance. Not too different than today. What are those things that we add to Jesus and the gospel? Maybe it is Jesus + voting Republican. Jesus + not drinking alcohol. Jesus + this certain theological view. Jesus + this certain ritual that we need to do in addition to trusting in Jesus. Jesus + only listening to this certain kind of music and only dressing a certain way. Paul is trying to tell the Colossian church and also by definition, us sitting here 2,000 years later that is actually Jesus + nothing. That we need Jesus and only Jesus. Paul is saying that don’t let people entice you into particular styles of piety and devotion other than single-minded devotion to Jesus. Nothing can be added to Jesus and the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Religious observance will not liberate you like the gospel. Following rules and regulations of what you can’t eat or drink will not liberate you. In fact, just the opposite it will bind you and put you in chains, just chains of a religious nature. All you need is Christ the King. If you ever come under pressure from any Christian or any church to “add” to your Christian experience, walk away. It is not the gospel if it needs to be added to. A religion that focuses purely on the details of things that you are allowed or not allowed to touch or eat- obviously referring to the Jewish food regulations, is dealing with perishables and if you want to do business with God, you have to get beyond that. The things that Paul mentions in verse 16 are typical of the way Jews- no least out in the Gentile world, tried to order their life of worship: festivals, new moons and sabbaths.

Paul then in verse 17 says that the things that people are judging the believers at Colossae on (whether they follow the rules and regulations, whether they observe the religious festivals, the new moon celebration or the Sabbath Day) are what he calls shadows. They are not the reality. Just like your shadow points to you not the other way around. You are the reality, your shadow just points to you as the reality. Jesus is the reality and all these things are shadows. Don’t cling to the shadows when the reality is here now. Reminds me of Chapter 1 about the image (Eikon) of the invisible God. Why follow the “image” known as Caesar when the true Lord, redeemer, true savior, and true King is here now in the person of Jesus? Why buy the knock-off, so to speak, when you can have the real thing?

Paul then attacks the teachers of the Colossian heresy because they were seeking to disqualify anyone who didn’t follow their belief system and their way of religious observance. Because Paul is saying, that when it is all said and done, that this belief system is not actually about God but about the person who was teaching the belief system. That these people were arrogant, puffed up, and were putting on false humility in order to be seen as most important. And if they were most important, that they had the secret knowledge (that we talked about before), than if you didn’t follow their rules, their regulations, and their way of doing religion, than you were disqualified from the race. They were playing umpire, and judge of who was in and who was out. And anytime you have someone playing judge and deciding who is really a follower of Jesus and who really isn’t there is a disconnect with Jesus, who could be the only right one to judge, but didn’t.

And Paul plays that out in verse 19. He says that those who disqualify others are themselves disconnected from the head. The head being Jesus and no doubt Paul is referring back to Chapter 1 verse 18 when he says, “He is the head of the body, the church.” And so in other words, the people who were leading the Colossian heresy were just a body without a head. Those who were propagating the teaching that Paul is opposing were Christians who had become misguided, or who never really understood their faith in the first place, or maybe they hadn’t even grasped Christ and his preeminence (and his supremacy over all things) in the first place. The central error, the major issue that Paul had with the Colossian heresy was their defective view of Christ in which he was believed to be less than God. And when you disconnect from the head, when the church doesn’t view Jesus as preeminent and supreme and doesn’t understand the gospel, the church ceases to be the body of Christ, the church ceases to grow, and it eventually dies.

And so Paul is calling the Colossian church back to the head, back to Jesus and away from all those things that attached themselves to the church and to following Jesus. He calls them to remember, in verse 20, that when they came to know Jesus that they, “died with Christ to the basic principles of this world.” Why are you submitting to the old rules and regulations and rituals when you have taken on the new life in Jesus? Why, now that you believe the gospel of Jesus, are you continuing to submit and follow the things that, while they promised life and liberation, actually promise death and bondage, Paul is asking them (and also us). Those rules and regulations (do not handle, do not taste. do not touch) are all pointing to what the belief system that was cropping into the Colossian church was teaching. Paul in mentioning these things, is focusing attention on the appeal to pagans of Judaism’s high moral codes and heavy demands, a kind of religious fundamentalism. You see, often when people are sick and tired of the murky, immoral world, they are glad to embrace a way of life which offers clear, bright, clear lines. And these rules, regulations, and rituals were what the Jewish people defined themselves by. And how they were different than the pagan neighbors.

The good news of this text is the reality that Jesus is the one who leads to freedom from bondage, liberation, and a new life. All the other beliefs, rituals, “gods”, and rules/regulations lead to bondage, and a return to the old life. And Paul is calling the Colossian church, and all followers of Jesus who have come after them that it is all about King Jesus. The Colossian Christians and all who have come after can breathe a sigh of relief that we are complete in Christ and don’t need anything else. We just need Jesus. We need to make him preeminent and supreme. We just need the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Again it is Jesus + nothing.

And so let’s unpack the Scripture and it’s implications in our world today. Let ’s talk about the idea of Jesus + and what we tend to add to Jesus and his gospel. Let’s talk about the rules, rituals, and regulations that define us and our faith. Let’s talk about how we have let external things define our relationship with the world. And let’s bring it all back to the supremacy of Jesus and his gospel.

1. What insights, questions, comments, ideas, applications, etc.. do you have in regards to the Scripture text and/or the message?

2. In your experience what things have you seen that has been added to Jesus? Jesus + what? What things have you added to Jesus and his gospel?

3. What rules, regulations, rituals do people let define their faith? How do these things get in the way of our relationship with Jesus? With other followers of Jesus? And with people who aren’t followers of Jesus?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

What to do with Hot Button Issues and the Bible (or why I'm going to the Ecclesia National Gathering)

From February 25-27 I will be attending the Ecclesia National Gathering at the National 4-H Center near Washington DC. Ecclesia is a relational network of churches, leaders and movements that seek to equip, partner and multiply missional churches and movements. Veritas is currently discerning whether or not to affiliate with the Ecclesia Network (which doesn't mean that we would be leaving the Church of the Brethren). This is my 3rd National Gathering and I am very excited to be a part of this year's gathering due to the theme of the conference which is "Bringing the Word to Life."

I was asked to write a blog piece about why I am attending the Ecclesia National Gathering. (If you want to learn more about the Ecclesia National Gathering go to: Ecclesia National Gathering and you can register for the National Gathering on their registration page)

So as I thought about the various reasons that I am taking time of our my schedule to go to this event, I realized that it comes down to 3 varying reasons.

1. Hot Button Issues and the Bible: We all struggle with parts of the Bible and understanding what they say and how to apply them to our postmodern, postChristian world in which we are now living. These are those Hot Button issues that sometimes I would rather either ignore or write off. Issues like understanding the God of the Old Testament and all the stories where it would seem that God justifies genocide. How do I as an Anabaptist committed to the Shalom of the world and following the Prince of Peace understand those war texts in the Old Testament? Do I say (like an ancient theologian..who was condemned as a heretic) that there are 2 Gods, the OT God and the NT God? No. So how do I understand those texts? That has been an area that I have struggled with a great deal and am super excited that William Webb will be doing a Focused Session entitled: Reading the War Texts- Redemptively.

Another Hot Button issue that seems like it never goes away is Homosexuality. What do you do with that Hot Button issue. It seems like the two most vocal positions are that Homosexuality is okay and not a sin, or Homosexuality is an abomination and the worst sin of all times. Neither I believe is helpful, in my opinion. How do you read the texts that speak about Homosexuality faithfully and redemptively? So I'm excited that William Webb (who by the way authors a great book entitled "Slaves, Women and Homosexuals:Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis) will be doing another Focused Session entitled: Reading the Homosexual Texts- Redemptively.

2. Kingdom of God Over the last few years my view on what the gospel is has radically changed and shifted and I am always seeking to understand the gospel more faithfully. And to understand the gospel more faithfully I believe one needs to understand what the Kingdom of God truly is. After all, the Kingdom of God is probably the most talked about and referenced topic in all of the New Testament. But we have so often gotten confused about the Kingdom of God. Either we have put the Kingdom as a future event out there for another time, or we have taken the opposite and put it for right now. I believe it is a now and not yet reality. One of the persons that has had a profound effect on my understanding of the Kingdom of God and the gospel of the Kingdom is Scot McKnight. Scot will be one of the featured speakers for the Ecclesia National Gathering and I'm excited to hear him speaking on issues like:SCRIPTURE’S GRAND NARRATIVE – KINGDOM, MISSION, & WORLD, THE (OTHER) KINGDOM OF JESUS: HOW JESUS REDEFINES KINGDOM IN SCRIPTURE and OUR CHURCHES IN GOD’S STORY: HOW THE KINGDOM “EXPANDS”. My only problem is that I know that some of Scot's Focused sessions will be at the same time as William's Focused sessions so which ones do I choose?

3. Relationship and Community This is probably one of the strongest reasons for me to be attending the National Gathering. Over the 3 years that I have been exploring Ecclesia, going to two National Gatherings, and attending the Missio Alliance Conference last year, and going to regional Ecclesia Gatherings, I have developed relationships with people who are amazing people of faith and passion. People who are committed to the Kingdom of God and the mission of God in this world. These are people who understand missional church planting (what we are seeking to do at Veritas) and have been there before. When I talk with them, ask them questions, and seek wisdom, I don't have to explain, defend, bring them up to speed (so to speak). They have been there before and can give me great advice based on their experience, not just reading. So I'm looking for some great relationship and community time with some great friends over dinner, and the after hours gatherings that always takes place.

So those are the 3 reasons that I will be attending this year's Ecclesia National Gathering from February 25-27 and hoping that it will help me Bring the Word to Life. Hope to see you there.

Colossians Remixed Week 4

Today we continue our series entitled Colossians Remixed, looking at the New Testament book of Colossians. So far we have covered the first chapter of the book, in three different weeks and now we enter the second chapter of Colossians. And we’ll walk through the rest of the book by the end of February.

Today we are looking at Colossians 2:1-15 which you’ll come to find out seeks to address or should I say readdress the two main talking points of the entire book, the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus and the true nature of what the gospel is. You see, for those who weren’t here for the beginning, you need to know the two reasons for the writing of the book of Colossians. The first one is in relation to the fact that Colossae was a city within the Roman Empire and everywhere that they looked they saw signs pointing to, what the Romans called, the true Savior, the true Lord, the true redeemer and deliverer. Signs (both literally and figuratively) and images pointing to Caesar as Lord. That is one main reason why the book of Colossians is such a profound Christ-centered and Christological text. Paul was getting the message across that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. And that this statement, while it doesn’t seem all that big of a deal to say right now, at the time was a threat to the establishment and was very countercultural and subversive and could get you killed.

The second reason is what theologians and bible scholars call the Colossian heresy that had cropped up in the Colossian church. The Colossian heresy is hard to pigeon hole but we can get some clues from the words within the book about what made up the Colossian heresy. Probably the main part of the heresy is what is called Gnosticism. Gnosticism is the belief that the spiritual world is wholly good and the material world is wholly evil. The heresy also added various other bits and pieces of other religions and philosophies including Judaism (see the discussion in chapter 2 about circumcision), and some mystery religions (connecting the idea of secret knowledge…which is also a gnostic trait). And so to combat this Paul not only keeps hammering away on this idea of the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus but also spends lots of blood, sweat, and ink on bringing the Colossian church back to what the true nature of the gospel really is. And we’ll definitely see these two main focuses of the supremacy of Christ and the true nature of the gospel in our passage that we are looking at today, Colossians 2:1-15.

Colossians 2:1-15 says, “I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,  and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.  In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

So this raises some questions that we can wrestle together with. One thought was how do you and can you live where it seems like there are no roots or the roots that once were there are now being ripped up from the base? Secondly, what do we root our lives in? To what can we put our hope, trust, and know that whatever may come, come hell or high-water, that we will be firmly rooted? And lastly how do we build a life that goes deeper than just the superficiality that we see everyday. In a world filled with images (eikons…to use Paul’s words) that point towards various Caesars, how do we live a life that is more than just image. Because, Cannon is actually wrong, image isn’t everything. So let’s unpack the text together and see if we can wrestle some of these questions to the ground. And see how Paul again focuses this part of the letter on the two essentials of the supremacy & preeminence of Jesus and the true nature of the Gospel.

So at the beginning Paul lays out the fact that he is contending hard for not only the believers at Colossae but also at Laodicea. He is writing letters, praying for them, and no doubt counseling and training Erastus to plant and pastor the infant community of followers of Jesus. After sharing the fact that he was working hard on their behalf he shares what his dream and goal for the new church at Colossae is. What he dreams at night for this small new struggling community of Jesus followers. He records his dream, goal and vision for the Colossian church in verses 2-4 when he says, “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Again Paul makes reference to the word mystery (like last week and directly from the pages of the mystery religions) and flips it on its head saying that all may know Christ. It is not only Paul’s prayer and goal for the Colossian church but for each of us and for our community as well. But that isn’t his only goal in contending for the believers in Colossae and also his goal for all Christ followers. Verses 6-7 are not only a goal for Paul, they sum up the message of the entire letter. In them Paul draws together the awesome Christology of the introduction and the practical teaching that is to be based on it throughout the rest of Colossians. Verses 6-7 says this, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

Paul is saying that you need to be rooted in Jesus, like a tree in good soil if you want to withstand the philosophies of this world. The Colossian church needed to grow deeper and root themselves in Jesus and the gospel, so that they wouldn’t be taken captive by the hollow and deceptive philosophy that we call the Colossian heresy. But to make this journey (live your life) of faith in Jesus, rooting ourselves deeper so that we can be built up, we need to live out what Paul talks about in verses 9-10 and 13-15. These verses help us get rooted in our faith so that we won’t fall prey to deceptive theology and philosophy and they focus us on what is really important, the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus over all other lords/gods including Caesar (verses 9-10) and the true nature of the gospel of Jesus and his Kingdom (verses 13-15) Let’s wrap up the message and transition into discussion by looking at these important verses.

Verses 9-10 speak of the supremacy of Jesus over all other lords and gods when Paul writes, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,  and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” These verses reiterate Chapter 1:15-20. He is saying that the image of the invisible God is Jesus. That Jesus was and is not simply a fully human being (though he is that as well. He was and is the bodily form taken by God himself. God in all his fullness. He wasn’t a demigod. He doesn’t have a human body and a divine spirit. He can only be properly understood as the human being who embodies or incarnations the fullness of divinity. And because he embodies the fullness of divinity, he is that head over every power and authority. Over Caesar. Over every empire that has ever or will ever exist. And over any lord or god that we set up in our own lives. He is above all things. He is supreme and preeminent and because of that we need to root our entire selves in him and not in anything that seeks to via for his supremacy.

And why should we give him preeminence not only in our own lives but in the world around us? Because when we fully understand the gospel, we will want to recognize his supremacy. And to combat to the philosophies of this world, it takes the gospel, truly understand and applies to our lives. And the gopsel truly understand is spelled out in verses 13-15, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

When the power and authority of the Roman empire came down on the head of Jesus, they thought they destroyed his kingdom. After all, when the Romans would attack a country, capture the king, and put him to death, it meant that they also symbolically destroyed that kingdom. Every crucifixion of a “rebel king” was another symbolic triumph of Rome. And so when the Romans crucified Jesus of Nazareth under the sign that said King of the Jews, they thought his Kingdom over which his is King is now destroyed. But nothing could be further from the truth. The Paradox of the Cross is this..God’s weakness overcome human strength, God’s folly, overcomes human wisdom. The cross means that your are forgiven of your sins and the offenses that might have been counted against you. In dying with Him, you have come out from under them all and from all the condemnation that might have pulled down on you. You are alive in Christ.

But let’s unpack this together. What does the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus looked like flushed out in the world? What are the religious and philosophical attractions in the world that are most likely to draw Christians away from the fulfillment that they already have in the King? And how does the gospel touch down in your life and in the lives of the people that God is calling you to be a blessing to? These are some of the questions that we will unpack together.

1. As you look at this text, what questions, comments, insights, observations, etc.. do you have?

2. What are the “hollow and deceptive philosophies” that can take us captive in our world today?

3. How does the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus speak to those “hollow and deceptive philosophies”? And what does it look like flushed out in our everyday life in regards to the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus?

4. How does Verses 13-15 speak to you? What doss it mean for you and I in our everyday lives? What does it mean for the people that God has called you to bless?

Colossians Remixed Week 3

Today we wrap up the first chapter in the book of Colossians so that means we are about a third of the way through our Colossians Remixed series that started two weeks ago and will run until the end of February.

Two weeks ago when we stated Colossians Remixed we looked at Colossians 1:1-14. In this text we looked at the recipients of the letter, the purpose of the letter, the heresy that has been called the Colossian heresy and we talked about two main parts of the text: Paul’s prayers for the Colossian believers and what the true nature of the gospel really is.

Last week we looked at Colossians 1:15-23 and walked through probably one of the most Christologic sections in all of Scripture. We talked about Paul basically saying in the poem that Caesar isn’t Lord, that Jesus is. That all the images that the Colossians saw each day that were pointing to Caesar being the true Lord, true Savior, true deliverer, and true redeemer, were pointing in the wrong direction. That Christ is the true Lord, true Savior, true deliverer, and true redeemer. That Christ is supreme and preeminent. And we also looked at the last part of the text and what the true nature of the gospel really is, that it is about reconciliation. You will notice a continuing theme all throughout the book of Colossians in regards to what the true nature of the gospel truly is, as Paul is combating the heresy that was cropping up in the Colossian church. And what better way of combating the false beliefs than by: 1. Lifting up and putting Christ as preeminent. and 2. unpacking the true nature of the gospel.

So let’s turn to our text this morning and see what it might say to us about Jesus, the gospel, and our role in living the gospel out in our day and in our age (which as we talked about two weeks ago, isn’t honestly that different than what the early believers at Colossae were dealing with).

This morning we are looking at Colossians 1:24-29 which says, “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.  I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.  To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”

These verses that Paul lays out at the end of Colossians 1 are all about identification. Paul is asking the believers at Colossae who they identify with. What King doe they identify with? Do they identify with King Caesar or with King Jesus? Paul is laying in out at the beginning of this section of the first chapter that he is identifying with King Jesus. How is he identifying with King Jesus? Just look at verse 24. “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, the church.” Paul is saying that just as Jesus is recognized by his suffering, his people are to be recognized by the suffering that they endure. Paul, as I mentioned, in our first week, was writing this from prison, most likely in Ephesus. In a way he is drawing the enemy fire, and suffering so that the young church can grow and develop. So Paul is suffering in some way not merely on behalf of the young church but actually instead of it. And so Paul is seeing his suffering as part of what he calls “Christ’s afflictions”. This is not to be seen as an addition to Christ’s own suffering, rather, it is to be seen as coming from his suffering. In other words, an extension of Christ’s suffering. Paul makes the crazy, amazing, upside down, radical and unbelievable statement that he was rejoicing or having a party or a celebration in his sufferings. Can you imagine someone who is in prison writing a letter and saying that he or she were rejoicing because of their imprisonment? Can you imagine writing a letter to a church, caring more about people that you have never met, more than you care about what is happening to you as you spend each and every day in prison? This is what Paul is doing. He is rejoicing in the suffering that he is enduring, all the while being a shepherd and encourager to a church that he didn’t plant, didn’t pastor, but deeply cares about. And so Paul understands that identification with his Messiah, who was a suffering Messiah, means that in some way he will suffer. And so we need to realize that when we identify with this suffering Messiah that we will also suffer in some way (internally or externally). That is what it means when Jesus himself says in Luke 9:23, “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Paul then transitions from identifying with Jesus through suffering to probably the very reason that he identifies with Jesus in the first place. Because of the call that was placed upon his life by Jesus. We read these words which spell out this calling upon Paul’s life, “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness” And so we see that Paul is a servant both to God, first and foremost, but then to the church as well. In fact, I truly believe that you can’t be one or the other. If you are a servant of God, then you need to be a servant to his body here on earth, better known as the church. If you are a follower of Jesus this morning that you can also say the exact words that Paul said. That you are a servant by the commission God gave to you to present to others the word of God in it’s fullness. Commissions, callings, vocation isn’t just big words and only reserved for those who a “full time pastors and missionaries.” In fact, all of us, have been commissioned and called as full time pastors and missionaries. You might be a full time pastor or missionary in the form of a college student, a teacher, a social worker, a stay at home mom, or fill in the blank. Whatever you do, you are called and commissioned to be a servant of God and a servant of his body. And so it is because God is at work that Paul is at work. He is at work proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so it is with us. That every Christian is to proclaim Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. That is our central calling in life, no matter what we might do as a job or vocation. What does it look like then to proclaim Jesus is Lord in the context of being a student? Being a teacher? Being a pastor/missionary? Being a graphic artist?

We need to look at that question but we also need to look at exactly what it means to proclaim the gospel and we also need to look at what the gospel message that Paul is proclaiming and that we are also called (commissioned) to proclaim as well. And now here in these next verses is where Paul shows his missiological skills, his understanding of what is taking place in the church at Colossae. Paul continues, “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.  To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The word mystery that Paul uses here twice is a word that was a popular pagan religious term used in the mystery religions. In fact the Colossian heresy featured this idea of secret knowledge and the gnostics boasted about this. The word mystery, in the pagan religions of the day, refers to secret information available only to an exclusive group of people. Paul flips this on its head and changes the meaning radically by saying that we are making it known to all people, not just an exclusive group of people. That Christianity is not just for the Jewish race, or a select group of people. Christianity should be an inclusive, for all people. Because God has chosen to make Christ known to all people. And he used Paul, and now he is using you and me to proclaim Christ, the hope of glory to a world that needs hope. He is using the church, the body of Christ to proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior and to proclaim that by definition then, that Caesar is not.

But what is the hope that Paul has for the believers at Colossae when it comes to his proclamation that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not? And also looking two thousand years into the future, what is his hope for all followers of Jesus, including you and I as we sit here today? Let’s look at the rest of the text to answer that. “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Paul states it pretty clear that our proclamation is about Jesus and his Lordship over all, including Caesar. And the hope of the proclamation of Jesus as Lord is so that followers of Jesus may become fully mature in Christ. And that is why Paul worked so hard. That is why he was suffering in Jail. That is why he prayed, fasted, and contended for the young believers at Colossae. So they would grow up into mature followers of Jesus. That they wouldn’t stay as infants in the faith, and be susceptible to the heresy that was cropping up in the Colossian church. But then a question comes to my mind. What does a mature follower of Jesus look like? What does it take to grow up into maturity when it comes to following Jesus? And how do you help others grow up into maturity in the faith?

These questions that I just asked along with the question about proclamation of the gospel of Jesus are what we are going to unpack and remix together now. So let’s talk about these things and see how we might apply Colossians 1:24-29 in our day and in our age.

1. What questions, thoughts, ideas, connections, etc.. does the Scripture and the message raise in your mind?

2. What does a mature follower of Jesus look like? What does it take to grow up into maturity when it comes to following Jesus? And how do you help others grow up into maturity in the faith?

3. What does it mean, what does it look like to proclaim Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not today? What does it mean to proclaim Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not in your context (teacher, student, graphic artist, social worker, etc…)? And who might God be calling you to proclaim that Jesus is Lord to?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Colossians Remixed Week 2

Today we continue our series remixing the New Testament book of Colossians with our series Colossians Remixed. You’ll see the postcards on the table describing where we are going the next several weeks and what part of Colossians (feel free to take a postcard and give it to a friend or someone you feel might connect with what is happening here at Veritas).

Last week we started our series by looking at Colossians 1:1-14 and we looked at the recipients of the letter, the purpose that Paul had in writing the letter, and the gospel that was preached by Epaphras to the church at Colossae.

Today we are going to take a look and unpack probably one of the most amazing, poetic, radical, and truly subversive text in all of Scripture, as well as probably one of the most foundational in connection to who Jesus truly was and is. As we unpack this together we’ll see a few things: 1. How much Paul understood the culture and used words and images that connected with the context that he was writing to. 2. How much the words and the images that he was using was directly refuting the Colossian Heresy that we talked about last week. 3. How his words (especially in Verses 15-20) are all about shaping the imagination of the followers of Jesus in Colossae who were surrounded by images that pointed to other “gods” (not to different then our own culture). and 4. How much this text is about the centrality and supremacy of Jesus and his true gospel (true gospel best described in verses 21-23) over all other lords, gods, and other gospels.

So let’s took together at our text this morning and remix it together. Colossians 1:15-23 says, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”

The first thing that we notice in this text is the fact that Colossians 1:15-20 is one of the earliest Christian poems ever written. Either Paul wrote this poem or at least quoted it to show the Colossian church that the center of Christianity is Jesus. That when you boil Christianity to its root, it is Jesus. Most scholars think that this came from a poem or a hymn in the early church that described what Christians believed about Jesus. And so Paul takes a page from the ancient prophets and counters the imperial imagination of the Roman Empire (we’ll see exactly what this means when we look at verse 15) with this radical and evocative poetry. In fact someone once said that Paul’s letter to the Colossians is fundamentally about shaping the imagination of the Christian community in the midst of images and imaginations which are pointing to other gods, lords and saviors.

Verse 15 probably one of the most profound Christology t all of the New Testament. “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” What Paul is saying here is that Jesus is the mirror image of the God who is there but who we normally can’t see. Now Paul here is using some very specific language that is directly confronting the imperial worship cult. The greek word for image in verse 15 is eikon. Eikon expresses two ideas. 1. Likeness- like the image on a coin or the reflection in a mirror. 2. Manifestation. with a sense that God is fully revealed in Jesus. This word eikon was used to describe a stamp which was specifically used in displaying the image of Caesar on documents and other articles. People in the Roman Empire knew that when they saw the stamp that is was from Caesar personally from the “image stamp” Jesus is the stamp of God. The exact representation, the exact likeness of God. Again Paul is making a cultural reference that the Colossian believers would understand and he was also attacking the imperial cult of worship that said that Caesar was the image of God. Paul was making it crystal clear in this text that Caesar was an imitation and wasn’t the true Lord, God, savior, and redeemer of the world, Jesus was.

As I stated last week I took the name of this series from a book entitled Colossians Remixed (good read..recommend reading it) and quoted from it last week. Let me quote from it again as it speaks to the idea that this poem attacks the imperial cult of the Roman Empire with the truth of the gospel of Jesus. The authors say, “In a world populated by images of Caesar (think eikon), who is taken to be the son of God, a world in which the emperor’s preeminence over all things is bolstered by political structures and institutions, and empire that views Rome as the head of the body politics in which an imperial peace is imposed- mostly through punishment (ie crucifixion) the poem is nothing less than treasonous. In the space of a short, well crafted three stanza-poem, Paul subverts every major claim of the empire, turning the on their heads and proclaiming Christ to be the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord of all creation, including the empire.”

And to show the fact that Jesus was and is the true Lord, Savior, King, and redeemer, Paul continues with this subversive poem and gives reason why Jesus is the true Son of God and why Caesar is not. Paul says this about Jesus, “the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Paul is saying that Jesus is supreme in rank. The word first born is the greek word prototokos and means first or preeminent. Jesus is first and preeminent. Jesus, says the poem boldly and subversively, is the one through who and for whom the whole creation was made in the first place. Think of it like this. When the lavish and generous beauty of the world stops you in your tracks, and makes your catch your breath, and you stand amazed at the creation (maybe a beautiful sunset, maybe an amazing sunrise, maybe a beautiful mountain covered in fluffy white powder- my favorite, the beauty of the ocean, etc..) remember it is like that because of Jesus. He is the one who created all things, it was created for him, and he holds all of it together. And he, not the Roman Empire, not Caesar is the true head of the body, his body, his church planted here on earth to be physical representations of him. And he is first and preeminent. Why? Because he is and was the beginning and the firstborn of the dead. The first to beat the enemy of death, sin, and the grave. The one through whom the the world was made and created is the same one through whom the world has now been remade, recreated, and redeemed. Jesus the first born of all creation and the first born from the dead. And because of all of this, everything that Paul lays out in verses 15-20 in this radical, subversive poem, this means that Jesus has supremacy. Jesus is above all things. Above the rulers, powers, and principalities both in this world and the next. Above Caesar who tried to be the image of the invisible God. Above the devil and his angels. Above anyone who would set themselves up to be god. Jesus is the first and the last, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. Jesus is supreme and preeminent. Jesus is and was who he said he was.

So once Paul lays out the fact that Jesus is the true son of God, the true Savior, the true Lord, the true redeemer, the preeminent one. When he is done subverting the Roman Empire and Caesar he begins to take a look at what the true gospel is and what the followers of Jesus in Colossae should believe about the gospel.

In verses 20-23 we find an amazing description related to exactly what the gospel of Jesus is truly all about. Paul brings his discussion about the preeminence of Jesus home when he writes these words about what the gospel is all about. “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—  if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” God has acted to heal the world, to reconcile the world of the wickedness and corruption whig have so radically infested it. He had done so through the same one through whom it was made in the first place. The gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Paul in these verses, is all about reconciliation. Not just between God and men/women, but also between humankind, and between humankind and the creation itself. The reconciliation that was truly evident in Genesis 1 and 2 is now again available through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In Jesus we are no longer alienated from God, from each other, and from all of creation. Reconciliation was initiated by his work on the cross. This reconciliation that started and carried out through Jesus, is available for all people. And if you are a follower of Jesus today you can participate and share in this reconciliation and the work of reconciliation. You aren’t the one who started it, put it into place, or made (or makes) it happen but you can participate in it, live into it, and live it out in the world. If you aren’t following Jesus today, reconciliation is available for you as well to participate in it live into it, and then live it out in the world.

But let’s talk together about what it means in the everyday, ordinary life that we live when we say Jesus is central, supreme and preeminent. Let’s also talk about reconciliation and the gospel and just what that means to us and for our world. Let’s unpack these things together over the next several minutes.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc. do you have regarding the Scripture and/or the message?

2. What are the implications of the centrality and supremacy of Jesus for you and for us as a community? How does the centrality and supremacy of Jesus play out at home, at work, etc…?

3. If the gospel is all about reconciliation, how might you live out the gospel of reconciliation this week? What reconciliation work do you need to do this week? (With God, with others, with creation).

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it?

Colossians Remixed Week 1

Today we begin an 8 week series entitled Colossians Remixed, looking at and walking through the entire New Testament book of Colossians. Today we’ll be looking at the entire book overall, the recipients, the purpose of the letter, and what was happening in Colossae at the time of the letter that dictated the Apostle Paul writing this letter. And we’ll also spend some time looking at the first 14 verses of the first chapter of Colossians.


My hope and prayer over these next 8 weeks is that we will grow in the knowledge of his will, that we’ll walk worthy of the Lord, and that we’ll also increase in knowledge of God and in fruitfulness. My prayer also is that we’ll see that this letter (called an epistle which is just a fancy way of saying letter) to the church of Colossae will speak to our current reality. That we’ll see that this radical, subversive text written in the midst of the Roman Empire, has a lot to say to us about living a radical, subversive, Kingdom of God, missional life in the midst of our own empire.

But before we unpack the setting, recipients, purpose and what the first 14 verses might be saying to us today, let’s read Colossians 1:1-14. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—  the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 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. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

So the first thing that we need to look at to understand this text is to understand to whom this letter is being written. The city of Colossae was 100 miles inland on the banks of the Lycus river in the southeast of what is now Turkey. Historically Colossae was a prosperous city and famous for it’s fabric dyes. But by the time of this letter the city was on the decline. In fact, Colossae was probably the smallest and least important city that Paul ever wrote to. And it is quite likely that Paul never visited the city himself. And more than likely Paul was writing this letter to the church at Colossae from prison, most likely in Ephesus.

The letter was written to the church at Colossae which was a very young church discovering what it was like to believe in Jesus and to follow him. To believe in Jesus and to follow him in the midst of the Roman Empire, in which everything (money, society, life, etc..) is telling them that the real Lord and Savior, the real prince of Peace, the real son of God is the Roman emperor and not Jesus. So why are we taking 8 weeks to study a 2,000 year old letter to a new church in a seemingly insignificant small town in the corner of the Roman Empire? I believe there are 2 reasons. One..the first century religious environment was much like our own. It was a time of religious mixing and borrowing from a little bit of this religion and a little bit of this other religion. The big difference is that then the mixing was done by groups and you found a group that mixed religions and beliefs that you liked and joined it. Today the individual is the one doing the mixing. Secondly, the book Colossians Remixed (which I highly recommend) says this, “The epistle to the Colossians, we are arguing, was an explosive and subversive tract in the context of the Roman Empire and it can and ought to function in an analogous way in the imperial realities of our time. This letter proclaimed an alternative vision of reality, animating a way of life that was subversive to the ethos of the Roman Empire. We believe that Paul’s letter to the Colossians will only be read with integrity in our time when the radical vision of Christian faith encountered in this text engenders a similarly alternative way of life in our midst.”

So let’s jump into this text a little bit and see what we might learn about following Christ in our own pluralistic and empirical world and culture.

The first thing we see in Colossians 1 is the introduction to the epistle. Unlike in our time when the writer ends the letter by signing it, ancient writers of letters would basically sign it at the beginning of the letter. And this is what Paul is doing in verse 1. Signing his letter to the church at Colossae. And then after signing the letter, he addresses the letter by saying, “To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.”

This addressing the letter brings up a few things. Obviously he is addressing the letter to the church at Colossae. But what he says right after that is very interesting. He addresses the letter to the faithful brothers and sisters. One of the things that you need to know, as far as the reason for the letter, is that scholars have long held that Colossians was written to combat a particular danger within the young church. This danger, what some call, the Colossian Heresy, is difficult to precisely describe. But from what scholars have found and from reading the letter we can derive that probably it was a corruption of Christianity with elements of mystical and legalistic Judaism combined with early Gnosticism. And so when Paul addresses his letter to the church at Colossae, to the faithful brothers and sisters he is possibly referring to those who haven’t embraced the false teaching that concerned Paul so much in this letter.

After signing the letter and then addressing it, he begins the introduction of the letter. His introduction starts off with these words, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people” Now we see the Apostle Paul’s pastoral heart for the young church. He always prayed for them and he thanked God for the faith in Jesus Christ as well as their love for all of God’s people that he has heard about. And we remember that Paul most likely never stepped foot in the city, so everything that he was writing about was based on what he had heard and the reports that came back to him from the city.

So which brings me to a question or more likely two questions. If Paul didn’t plant the church in Colossae, who did? And who was sharing reports about the infant church with the Apostle Paul? Both of these questions are addressed in the next section of the letter. The Apostle Paul says this, “the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 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. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you.” Here we see Paul again referring to the idea that the true gospel was preached to the Colossian church and that is what they had heard and believed. The gospel that had come to them, and they learned it from Epaphras, who was the one who planted the church in Colossae when people heard the gospel and understood God’s grace. And what was the true gospel that was preached and heard by the Colossian Church and shared by Epaphras? Verse 13-14 spells that out, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The Gospel, that Paul preached and that Epaphras passed on to the Colossians is about liberation, light, redemption, rescue, forgiveness from sin, peace, and life in the Kingdom of God and not in the empire.

So we see in the introduction to the Christians at Colossae that Paul was fervent in his prayers, and that the gospel was faithfully preached to them by Epaphras. But what was the content of his prayers? What did he desire for the followers of Jesus in the Colossian church? That can be found in verses 9-12. “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” To summarize his prayers of the Colossian church there are 4 distinct things he prayed for. 1. That they would have the Knowledge of God’s will. 2. That they would walk worthy of the Lord. 3. That they would bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God. and 4. that God would strengthen them with his power so that they could endure and be patient.

There are lots of things that we could unpack together in relation to Colossians 1:1-14 as we talk about how this text connects with our everyday lives. But I have chosen two different parts of my message to dialogue around. First, we’ll talk about the purpose of the letter that I talked about and the issue that the Colossian church was facing and how we see that today, and how we engage with those philosophies today. And secondly we’ll spend some time unpacking what it looks like to faithfully live out the prayers that Paul prayed for the Colossian church. So let’s unpack these things together.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, etc.. do you have regarding the Scripture and/or the message?

2. Where have you experienced the same philosophy that was at work in Colossae? (what I call Mix and Match Religion)? Share a story when you dialogued with a person who lived this type of philosophy. What might the Scripture that we looked at today seek to address those people who live a mix and match philosophy of life?

3. What part of Paul’s prayer for the Christ followers at Colossae do you need prayer for? How might you begin to work towards putting that into practice in your life? How can other Christ followers in Veritas help you with that?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Veritas Newsletter- December 2013

Advent(ure) Week 4: Adventure of Jesus

So today we wrap up our series entitled advent(ure) looking at the principal characters within the traditional Christmas stories within Matthew and Luke. Looking at the adventure(s) that God took each principal character on all those years ago, and what those adventures might say to us 2,000 years later on our own adventures in following the Christ child born in Bethlehem.

We’ve covered the adventures of the Shepherds, the Wise Men, and Mary & Joseph. Today we cover the main character not only in the Christmas narratives found in Matthew and Luke, but the main character in all of Scripture and also in all of history. Jesus Christ, the baby born in the manger that all of history hinges on.

Today we are going to move beyond the Hallmark portraits and the sentimentality that has crept into this story. Because unfortunately this radical, upside-down, empire confronting, Kingdom of God crashing into earth moment, when the God of the universe takes on flesh and blood, and moves into our neighborhood has become a symbol of status quo. A safe, sanitized, 21st century savior and a great bedtime story complete with a sanitized birth with no blood and yelling, a baby that doesn’t cry (ala Away in the Manger…one of the worst Christmas carols in my opinion which attacks the idea of incarnation), and no smell or animal dung. Today we are going to look at just how subversive and radical this story truly is and how this story sets the stage for the entire narrative of Jesus, and ultimately his death on the cross. We will see that right from the start, in this birth narrative, that the Kingdom of God is in direct contrast to the Kingdom of the world. That the Kingdom of Jesu s subverts and overthrows the Kingdom of Rome.

To look at this radical, subversive birth narrative, let’s turn to Luke 2:1-7, a narrative that will sound so familiar to us. But a narrative that when seen through different lens, will open up a whole new understanding not only of Jesus, but his mission in the world, why he was executed at the end of his life, and how much the Kingdom of God is in direct opposition to the Kingdom of the world.

Luke 2:1-7 says, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”

So the first thing we see in Luke 2 is a detail that I believe we far to often overlook as just a historical detail that isn’t really important or just a way for Luke to time stamp the event, if you will. But Luke is not only giving us a historical detail or time stamping the event, when he mentions Caesar Augustus he is introducing us to the inevitable clash between Kingdoms. To truly understand this let’s take a look at just who Caesar Augustus was.

Caesar Augustus was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. Augustus turned the Roman republic into an empire. He proclaimed that he brought justice, peace, freedom, and salvation to the whole world. He also declared that his adoptive father Julius Caesar was actually divine which therefore meant that he was the “son of god.” He also was in power, and put into place the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. A time of what was considered a long time of relative peace in the Roman empire (but peace derived from a threat of violence and pain if you got out of line.) And so Augustus, people said was the ‘savior” of the world, that he was King, and Lord. And increasingly, in the eastern part of the empire, people worshipped him. He also had a gospel, the good news of his empire. This gospel went something like this, “Divine Augustus, Caesar, son of god, imperator of land and sea, the benefactor and Savior of the whole world has brought you peace.”

And so with this background we begin to see just how political, subversive, and upside down this story that is being told in Luke. In fact, Luke’s birth narrative is perhaps the text that is most blatantly related to the Roman empire.

And so Augustus, the “son of god” calls for a census to be taken. The purpose of this census was so that the empire could tax people with greater accuracy. And it seems like Israel was one of the most taxed places in the empire, which caused widespread poverty, into which Jesus is born. And so the emperor of the Roman empire, decides to take a census of his whole domain and this census brings Jesus to be born in the town which was linked to King David, and fulfills the prophecy that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem. But you see this census was more than just an irritation. It was an assault on ancestral right, the holy land, and in keeping the poor poor and the rich in power and in the money. The fact that Jesus birth was linked to the census perhaps is what also contributed to the view that he might be the expected Messiah, that in Israel’s darkest hour, in the midst of a “savior” that wasn’t saving them, that God would send the true “savior” and deliverer.

And so in the midst of this census where Mary and Joseph went back to their ancestral hometown, the time came for Jesus to be born. And so he was born and laid in a manger because their was no room for them in a guest room. It is at this point that we need to look back at a statement made in Luke 1:35 to give us context of what I am about to say next. Luke 1:35 says this, “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” What Augustus says of himself, or what others call him (son of God) is turned upside down by a baby born into a system of oppression created by Rome. What was supposed to be true of Caesar, it turns out is actually true of Jesus. Caesar claims that he was the one to bring freedom, peace, justice and salvation, but Jesus is the one that brings true freedom, true peace, true justice, and true salvation. And these 4 themes show up in the birth narrative that we are dialoguing around today. It is a total status reversal, which is a central aspect of the Kingdom of God.

Augustus brought the Pax Romana (peace of Rome) through force, violence, oppression and shedding the blood of others. Jesus would bring the Pax Christi by love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and then through the shedding of, not his enemies blood, but by the shedding of his own blood. In Jesus, the good news of the Kingdom of God, which is set over against the Kingdom of the world, and in this case the Kingdom/Empire of Rome, is finally here. The shalom (peace) of God has finally come into the world. The peace, freedom, justice and salvation comes into the world in the form of a helpless baby boy born to poor parents, in an out of the way village, in a manger, and in an oppressed land. In this, the incarnation of Jesus, we have God entering human life, and it shows us who God is and how God works.

There are 2 points that I would like us to think about and talk about in our unpacking together. First of all the life and mission of the Messiah was not what anyone in Israel had expected. Rather than coming in power, riches, honor and glory, Jesus arrived in obscurity, poverty and humility. And secondly, the Kingdom of the Messiah (The Kingdom of God) is and will be exactly opposite of the Kingdom of this world and all it’s various empires (including Rome, the United States, etc..)

This baby born 2,000 years ago in the midst of the Roman Empire and an emperor who called himself Lord, Savior, King, and son of God, was and is the true Lord, Savior, King of the World and Son of God.

So let’s unpack together the Scripture, the message, and some of the points that I made and let’s flesh out what this upside down, subversive, radical Christmas story might say to us living in the midst of our own empire and our own Kingdoms that we establish with ourselves on the throne.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the Scripture text and/or the message?

2. Share a story or a time when Jesus showed up in your life in a way that was totally unexpected. Share a story or a time when Jesus showed up and you missed it because it was different that you expectations. What might this say about our discipleship?

3. How does knowing all this information about Augustus, and the birth of Jesus impact the way we live out lives out in our world everyday? How should the incarnation of Jesus affect the way we incarnate the good news of Jesus in the world today?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

Advent(ure) Week 3: Adventure of Mary and Joseph

Today we are on the third Sunday of Advent. At Veritas we have been looking at this series entitled Advent(ure) looking at the principal characters within the traditional Christmas stories found in the Gospels of Mathew and Luke.

Two weeks ago we covered the advent(ure) of the shepherds. We talked about the idea that we have nothing to fear, because God is with us, that Jesus is for all people, and we talked about the idea that Jesus came to bring shalom, or wholeness to the entire world.

Last week we talked about the advent(ure) of the wise men. We talked about the idea that they were following a star that didn’t mislead them, that we are all following a star, and we also asked the question which King is on your throne.

And next week we cover the principal character in the Christmas story. The principal character in all the bible. The principal character in Christianity. And I believe the principal character in the entire story of the world and it’s history. Obviously I am talking about the adventure of Jesus, from being with his Father to taking on flesh and incarnating into the world, as a baby born in a manger.

But today we are talking about two other character within the story of that first Christmas, none other than Mary and Joseph. To do that we’ll be looking at Matthew 1:18-25. But you also must know that we’ll primarily be looking at Joseph and his advent(ure). You see Luke tells the Christmas narrative from the perspective of Mary while our Scripture today tells the story from Joseph’s perspective.

So let’s see what we might learn about this advent(ure) of following Jesus through the earthly, adopted Father of Jesus, Joseph. Let’s see what his advent(ure) that first Christmas might say to us following Jesus some 2,000 years later. What might we learn about being a family of missional disciples from Joseph.

As I mentioned we’ll be looking at and unpacking Matthew 1:18-25 to look at Joseph’s advent(ure). Matthew 1:18-25 says, “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means ‘God with us.’). When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

So there is so much in this story that we could look at and ink has been spilt for years on this story but we, as I said before, will be focusing on Joseph and his advent(ure)

So the first thing we need to look at is something that we see before our text that we are focusing on this morning. In the previous verses we see the lineage of Jesus through the line of Joseph. Now in verse 16 we find a switch on the lineage taking place. Verse 16 reads like this, “and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.” We see the switch from Joseph to Mary. Normally the lineage would have read, Joseph the father of Jesus called Messiah. But the switch happened because Jesus isn’t the father of Jesus, his is the earthly adopted Father, which we’ll see later more about this idea of adoption coming into play.

So with that background we begin the story of Joseph and his experience, his advent(ure) if you will. So Mary is pledged to be married to Joseph. Now Joseph is probably a lot older than Mary. Joseph probably late 20’s and Mary being 13-14. And so they are engaged to be married, or betrothed. This was binding in the Jewish culture and could only be broken through divorce. This betrothal would have lasted a year and at the end of the year their would be a “coming together” ceremony. And this is what they were working towards and moving towards when the word got out that Mary was pregnant. It seems like Mary had not told Joseph that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. So Joseph probably learned about it along with the rest of their families, and the townspeople. And so they Joseph had to decide what to do.

He could have done any numerous things. In that day and age he could have divorced her which would set her up for never being married and never having anyone to take care of her, leaving her destitute. He could have followed the mosaic law which commanded people to stone women who have children out of wedlock. Or he could have divorced her quietly, keeping her dignity and future intact.

So he wrestled with this decision about what to do. And that is when a description in the text comes into play. He is called a just man, or faithful to the law. So he decided to divorce her quietly. You see he considered it impossible to go through with marriage to someone who had been unfaithful to him. He made the “logical” decision to seek a quiet divorce. And with that huge weight off this shoulders, he went to bed and hoped to put the whole sorry mess behind him. In the middle of the night an Angel came to him and spoke these words, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Now a couple things need to be mentioned about the angel and what he shares with Joseph. The first thing we need to notice is the way that the angel addresses Joseph. He says, Joseph son of David.” Now if we look at verse 16, like before, we see that Joseph’s father was Jacob not David. This title of Son of David is filled with Messianic implications. Jesus is referred 17 times in the New Testament as the son of David. The implication then is that the child growing inside Mary will be the long awaited Messiah.

The second thing we notice is that the angel tells Joseph to not be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. Joseph would need courage to take Mary home as his wife. His family, her family, the town in which they lived, I’m sure the rumor mill would be flying. The tongues would be wagging. In fact one of the rumors that circulated was that Jesus father was actually an unknown Roman soldier. Joseph would need a steel spine to take her as his wife, defend her from the barbs that would come their way, and to also try to explain what had really happen. “No seriously Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. No really I saw an angel.” I can almost hear the “Yeah right. Pregnant. Holy Spirit. Angel.” He would have to not be afraid and to have courage to stand up to all the people, his friends, etc.. who would be telling him to divorce her, get rid of her, and move on with his life.

During Joseph’s dream the angel gives him two things to do. Two decisions that he was supposed to make and follow. He was supposed to take Mary home as his wife. And he was supposed to give the baby boy in Mary’s womb the name Jesus. And there was a third thing that he did that he had not been requested to do. He didn’t consummate the wedding. Presumably it was to remove any doubt of the supernatural birth of Jesus.

We see a few things here that we can apply to our advent(ure) in following Jesus. First of all the simple (but not easy) obedience that Joseph had. He woke up and did as the angel commanded him. Both Joseph and Mary showed obedience in the midst of great difficulty. They didn’t think of themselves, what others thought of them, or what the rumor mill was going to do in their town. They both knew that this advent(ure) was from God and they were willing to follow and obey God’s call on their lives even in the midst of a difficult “assignment”

Secondly there is something amazing about a little detail in Joseph’s obedience. What we don’t understand is that by Joseph obeying the angel and naming the baby boy born to Mary, he was legally adopting Jesus. You see naming a child was the responsibility of the legal father and it ensured the official status of the son and heir. And so through this act of Joseph, that of naming and adopting, Jesus also becomes “son of David.”

It isn’t too different with us in our advent(ure) like we talked about a few weeks ago. We have been named and officially adopted by God the Father and given our place and role in the family of God. In the lineage of Jesus.

But what does this all mean for you and I today? What might we apply to life in Lancaster, PA 2,000 years later? Let’s unpack together some questions about obedience, tough decisions, and doing the will of God in the midst of hard situations.

1. What thoughts, questions, comments, insights, etc.. do you have regarding the Scripture text and the message?

2. Share a time where you knew that obeying God was going to be difficult for you. What was the end result? Did you obey God or not? And if you did obey God what did you learn, etc..?

3. Is there something that God might be calling you to right now that might be difficult, hard to obey, and challenging? If so (and you feel like sharing it) what is it and how can the Veritas community help you obey God?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

NuDunkers planting NuChurches (in the Church of the Brethren)

The other day I was invited to be a part of a live Google Hang out with others in the NuDunkers "movement". I was glad to be a part of it. Learning about what others are doing. Hopefully sharing some wisdom that I have gained in the 4 plus years of planting this missional community called Veritas. And getting to know, on a small scale, some new people. So if you are interested in watching the whole Google Hang out, I've put the video at the bottom of this blog. Enjoy it and I hope you learn some things about Church Planting.

Advent(ure) Week 2: Advent(ure) of the Wise Men

Today is what the Christian calendar calls the second Sunday of Advent. Throughout this Advent season we have been and will be looking at the advent(ure)s of people in the Scriptures that first and second “Advent”.

Last week we looked at the advent(ure) of the Shepherds. The idea that God uses those who are on the margins to further his kingdom, that God calls us to not be afraid in this advent(ure) and that this advent(ure) of following Jesus is open for all.

Next week we’ll be looking at the advent(ure) of Mary and Joseph and then the following week, the last Sunday in Advent we’ll be looking at the principal character within the Advent story (and I believe the entire story of God) that of the advent(ure) of Jesus when he came to this world, took on flesh and blood and moved into our neighborhood, so to speak.

But this week we’ll be looking at the advent(ure) of the Wise Men. We’ll be talking about what their journey following the star to Bethlehem and their worship of Jesus can teach us 2,000 years ago in our advent(ure) of following Jesus.

So let’s begin to look at this text together and see what it an say to us. The story of the Magi is found in Matthew 2:1-12. Matthew 2:1-12 says, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”

So before we totally dive into the text for the morning we need to look at three misconceptions that have cropped up concerning the Magi. The first misconception that you need to know about is the fact that the Magi weren’t there that first Christmas night when Jesus was born. It isn’t like the pictures of the manger with the Shepherds and the Magi coming to the manger. In fact it could have been anywhere up to 2 years later that the Magi showed up. And if you look at verse 11 you see that they showed up at the house of Jesus.

The second misconception surrounding the Magi is the idea that they were Kings. Maybe this misconception is based on the song We Three Kings. The Magi weren’t Kings but wise men which means that they were astronomers. Jewish legend says that that Daniel was the founder of the order of the Magi. And that these Magi, who were ancient scientists from Persia, were alerted to the prophetic significance of their time by the prophecies of Daniel and other Old Testament prophets.

And finally the third misconception is that there were only three wise men. This is no doubt connected to the fact that there were three gifts. Tradition even gives these Wise Men names (Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar) and supposedly their bones are housed in the cathedral in Cologne, Germany. But there were probably more than three Magi.

And so let’s dive a little bit more into the advent(ure) of the Wise Men and see what we might be able to apply to our advent(ure) 2000 years later

And so when the curtain comes up on this story in Matthew 2 we see the wise men coming to Jerusalem, during the time of Herod, and asking about the ones that was born the King of the Jews. And that what led them to seek out the newborn King of the Jews is what they call “his star”. Now there has been considerable speculation surrounding the star and what it was exactly. Some say it was a curious coming together of planets, others a comet, and some say that it is possible that God provided a completely unique phenomenon for them to see and to follow. But whatever this was, planets, comets, something unique (never seen before, never seen after), we see that it continually led them as they sought the Christ Child. We see in verse 2 that it came up when Jesus was born. We see in verses 9-10 that the saw guided them, that they were overjoyed when they saw it, and that it eventually led them, and that it stopped right over the place where Jesus was. On their advent(ure) Jesus used a medium that would connect with the Magi in order to get the Kingdom message about the Christ Child out into the world. God meets the Magi in their own medium so to speak. God guides astronomers by a star. I believe that is so brilliant of God. He speaks their language. He after all is a missionary God and understands the cultures of the world, and what would be considered good news and how best to share the good news (in this occurrence the good news of the birth of the Christ Child) with that culture.

In this advent(ure) of following Jesus we need to follow our missionary God out into the world, and seek to know and to use those things that will connect with the people and the culture(s) that we are trying to reach. It is no different than what the Apostle Paul said in 1st Corinthians 9:19-23, “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” Also in this advent(ure) God has used things that have spoken to us. Things that He knew would connect with us. Maybe it’s been a relationship with just the right person. Maybe it’s been a word spoken at just the right moment. Maybe it’s been a trip or mission experience. Or maybe it’s been a song, a poem, a piece of art, or something related to the arts. But whatever it was or is for us, know that God, this missionary God, if he is able to speak to Astronomers by the use of a star, than he is more than able to speak to us through his word, each other, the world around us, etc….

Also in the advent(ure) of the Wise Men something stood out to me. In a world devoid of GPS, map quest, and google maps, here you see the Magi being led by the star. The are getting their navigation and direction from the star. They were trusting that star would lead them to the place where the King of the Jews was born. They didn’t have to listen for the women’s voice to say, “Turn right in 1/2 mile.” The only time they stopped and asked for directions was in Jerusalem. But as soon as they left Herod and Jerusalem the star came out again and led them right to the place where Jesus was.

So that got me thinking and wondering about what “star” are we following on this advent(ure) of life? Are we following the North Star (Jesus) or one that we put up in the sky? Is Jesus setting the trajectory of our life or do we want to? Are we following Him or do we want him to follow us? To make our own decisions and ask God to bless them instead of asking him first? In this advent(ure) of life and also in the advent(ure) of following Jesus, we must put him as the North Star of our life, and then leave the directions up to him. The magi didn’t have to decide which way to go, they just needed to follow the star. We don’t need to decide which way to go, we just need to trust and follow the great North Star Jesus and he will lead us to the right place.

And lastly, I want to look at the reaction of Herod to the news that a King of Jews was born. Look at verse 3, “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” Why was Herod and Jerusalem disturbed? Herod was disturbed because he was concerned about his own position as ruler of Israel. He saw wise men who traveled thousands of miles that were guided by a star looking for one called “the new born King” as a hugely provocative “political” event. He had to know that if this baby, was truly the King of the Jews, then his days were numbered. He was disturbed and if he was disturbed, he was the kind of person who would act out on that fact, and Jerusalem would suffer. That is why Jerusalem was disturbed with him.

And so we all know that you can’t have two royal houses, whether in Israel, in Rome, or even today and so Herod would do all that he could to resist the charm of the christ Child. And we see later on in the Scriptures the effort to rid Israel of the Christ child by killing all male babies that were 2 and under in Bethlehem so that he could again have the title King of the Jews.

In this advent(ure) of life that we live we are in much the same place. We have to decide which King we are going to have on our throne of our lives. There can’t be two Kings ruling in my life. It either has to be the King of Me or the true King of Kings Jesus.

And so these are probably the most poignant questions that we need to wrestle with today. Which King are you living for? What star are you following? Are you following the North Star Jesus? Are you living for the King of Kings? Or are you following your own star and living for your own Kingdom? Let’s unpack the Scripture that we just looked out together and also talked about the questions that I just raised in our discussion time.

1. What thoughts, comments, insights, questions, push back, etc.. do you have regarding the Scripture and the message?

2. What “Kings” do people put on the thrones of their lives? What “stars” do people follow? What about you? What “King” do you put on your throne and what “star” do you follow?

3. God “spoke” in the language of the Magi (the Star). How might you and I be called to speak the “language” of people we meet each day? In what ways can we follow the model of our Missionary God and the Apostle Paul to “speak” the language of our culture(s)?

4. What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to us and what should we do about it?

If you aren't falling, you aren't skiing

This post is part of a larger NuDunker conversation, “NuDunekrs, nu churches: Planting the Church of the Brethren” including a series of blog posts and a live Google+ hangout Friday, 12/6 at 10 AM eastern. You can find other blogs and comments on the event page above. We would love for you to add your voice to the discussion!

For those who know me they know that one of my favorite activities and hobbies, if you will, is snowboarding. I have been snowboarding for 18 seasons and I fall more in love with boarding each and every season. There is nothing like flying down the mountain on your board, wind wiping by your face, hitting jumps (and preferably landing them), and carving into great turns.

Now my family is a skiing family. My wife, son, and daughter are all skiers. My brother, his wife, their kids, my sister and her oldest daughter are also a skiers. My father is a skier. My sister-in-law and her oldest two daughters are also skiers. The only other two boarders in the family are my 2 brother-in-laws. Going to the mountain is definitely a family affair in our family. Some of my best memories occurred on the mountain, as well as the many ski trips, and ski vacations that we have taken over the years. I have boarded in Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Colorado. And this coming April I will cross off one of my "bucket list" when we go and ski/board the Alps (French and most likely Swiss).

So right now you might be saying what in the world does skiing and snowboarding have to do with church planting and specifically church planting in the Church of the Brethren. I believe there are many things that I have learned over the 18 seasons of snowboarding that directly applies to the last 4 years of planting Veritas, a missional church plant in Lancaster. But probably the biggest connection between the two is a statement that I have heard my brother say as well as other people. The statement that stuck in my head in relation to boarding and skiing is "if you aren't falling, you aren't skiing (or boarding)" What this statement gets at is the fact that if you want to improve on your ability (in this instance..skiing and boarding) you need to push yourself, not always play it safe, and take risks. When you fall, you learn. You learn what to do better next time. You learn what not to do next time. You learn the context of the mountain (the pitch of the slope, the bumps on the slope, where the good snow is, etc..)

And so I would rephrase this statement in terms of its connection with church planting, and especially in missional church planting. I would say it this way, "If you aren't falling, you aren't planting a church." If you aren't willing to fail, then don't get into church planting in the first place. I remember one of the biggest things that I had to wrestle to the ground when we decided to plant this missional church (and need to continue to wrestle to the ground) is the fear of failure. What if? What if we fail? What if we run out of money? What if God doesn't come through? What if? What if's can keep you stuck and stop you from strapping on the board and sailing down the mountain. I remember what finally pushed me over the edge and down onto the trail of missional church planting is this thought that I would rather try and fail, then get to be 75 years old and played it safe my entire life. To me that would be true failure.

I think one of the struggles many in denominations (the Church of the Brethren as well as others) have is this mentality that we've planted churches before, we've spent lots of time and especially money, and what do we have to show for it? I remember hearing someone say that a church was planted, they spent 200,000 dollars over the course of a few years, and the church is no more. And so why do that again?

And I would say don't do the same thing again (the huge outlay of money, etc..) but see how you might learn from the past "failure" (not sure that was a failure in the long run) for a new venture. I remember two years ago I went boarding with a group of teenagers at Jack Frost in the Poconos. Around 3 PM I was going down the slope with my son, and decided to hit a small jump. Well I went head first into the ground and came up and got a concussion. I can't remember about 30 minutes of what happened after that. A month later our family was taking our normal winter/ski vacation and it happened to be in the Poconos and we ended up back at Jack Frost. Now I could have played it safe, avoided that slope, avoided that jump and refused to every hit another jump ever or I could take a risk, hit the same jump, and slay the demon (if you will). What did I do? I went down the same slope and hit the same jump and landed it.

So the thing that I have leaned while snowboarding and planting a missional church is to take the risk. If you strap on the board you will more than likely fall especially at the beginning. If you plant a church you will fall. But if you don't strap on the board (or skis..my wife would want me to add that) you will never experience the rush of adrenaline when you fly through powder, when you make that amazing carve turn, when you hit that jump and land it, and when you race your family down the slope. If you never take the risk of church planting, you might never experience the rush of seeing God provide for you in amazing ways (I know that I have seen it more times during the last 4 years than probably all my years previously), seeing God use your gifts and passions to further his kingdom, hearing the amazing stories of people, and seeing a community of Christ followers spring out of the soil of the local community.

So if you aren't falling what are you waiting for? Strap on the board, push off the ground, and fly down the mountain. Carve that turn. Look for powder. And hit that jump that scares you. And then do it again. Take the risk.