Connect: We are offered

As we let God into our lives, we offer our lives back to God. What God gives is how we live.

What we wear determines what we do.

Because of what people do for work you can sometimes tell what they do simply by what they wear.

you can tell what a police officer looks like by what they wear

Or a nurse or doctor

You can often tell if someone has been to work recently or not by what they are wearing.

Or even if it’s not work, people dress for their hobbies.

I used to be a bike commuter when we lived in Oregon. I biked 12 months a year while we lived there, no matter the weather and I had the outfits to prove it.

Show some bike equipment.

If you were to see me in a restaurant or in a store looking like this, you may automatically think, where is his bike?

What we put on, what we wear can often determine our job, our activity or how we will act.

And while we don’t wear any specific uniform for service or small group or Foundations class or serving in the church, what we “wear” matters.

But it’s not in the physical or visible dress that matters, its what we offer to God and one another when we gather that matters.

This Sunday we are looking at the idea of Connect. That the church remains connected to God and one another. We are called to remain connected to God. We are called to be connected to one another.

This sets the church apart more than any other value. Because other organizations can be hospitable, other organizations serve, they lead, and they have vision. But it is the church that remains connected to God. It is the church that is committed to one another.

What that means is that when we come together, not just on sundays, but when we come together, we have something to offer to one another.

It is vital that you are here. Because you have something offer that the church needs.

You have something to offer the others here,

And you are called to offer back to God what He has given to us in Christ.

When we gather we are active. We are connected to God and to others through the way we offer to God and to others.

- The old self runs on putting you before every other relationship.

The new self puts God’s view and understanding of relationship first

Colossians 3:8–10 ESV

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

The author, Paul, uses the picture of the taking off clothing and putting it on.

He is showing us that what we wear is what we offer.

Let’s look at what this passage tells us to take up and what we are called to offer to God and others.

We offer lives filled with compassion as we have been offered compassion

Colossians 3:12–14 ESV

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

the passage begins as a response. We are called to be compassionate, kind, humble, meet, patient, forgiving, patient.

Its a tall order. We are called to give and receive relationships wearing these things.

We are hearing that because of who Christ is we can take off the stuff that we have used to power over people and put on the stuff that allows us to love others.

This is the uniform, so to speak, of Christianity.

to Show compassion and love, meekness and patience.

What is being said by how we act here is that we are not in the center of the universe. In acting this way we show we value others. That we value Christ.

The way that we treat one another shows what we think to be true about Christ.

To show compassion is to respond with action

We can show empathy and sympathy and not do anything

But compassion means that we act on our love for others.

Just as Christ acted with compassion for us so we act with compassion for others

We forgive as Christ forgave

We are patient with others as Christ is patient with us

We are humble toward others because we recognize our need before God.

To offer something means that we something of value to give to another. Something that person needs to flourish and survive

Our forgiveness aids the other

our patience and humility is for the other

When it comes to how we live with Christ as the center, these qualities are not just things that we do, they are what we wear, who we are.

When your neighbor or others look at us, this is what we are wearing.

We can wear it because God first showed us what wearing it looks like

God in Christ wore compassion and forgiveness.

Have you seen this story in the news about the two pitchers in minor league baseball that look alike.

Two minor league baseball players were put to the test Wednesday – a DNA test, that is.

The pitchers -- both named Brady Feigl -- are part of the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics’ organization, respectively (whichever way). They also, astonishingly, look alike. They're both 6-feet-4 and sport similar beards and eyewear, according to CBS Sports. However, they swear they are not related to each other.

They both have the same name and both look alike and they are both pitchers.

They just took a dna test and they are not actually related.

But people can’t believe it because of how similar they are. Of course they must be related.

When people see things that look alike they assume they are connected and related.

Of course the two pitchers are related.

And when we wear what Christ wears,

people make the connection

Of course that’s what God looks like.

The church is wearing what Christ wears

We are called to it because Christ is in the middle

We are able to do it because He wore it first.

He wears it best

We offer lives filled with gratitude and worship as we are offered the very peace of God

Colossians 3:15–17 ESV

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Look at how these statements are made

- “let” v 16

- “let” v 15

Allow the peace of Christ. Allow the word of Christ.

This is good news for us.

It means we don’t have to make or manufacture peace.

It means we don’t have to make or manufacture meaning and hope

It means they are offered.

If the passage says the phrase, “let the peace of Christ.” “let the word of Christ.” then we can assume those things already exist.

That may sound obvious but hear me out for a second

We spend a lot of time manufacturing peace and meaning for us.

But the Scripture is telling us that We don’t have to make them for us. We just have to allow them in.

Imagine you were at my house for a party and there was a knock at the door. I knew that there was someone else coming and we both heard a knock. You were closer to the door and I said to you, “hey can you let them in?”

I would be saying that to you because they had knocked and were there at the door. Let them in.

I wouldn’t say, “hey can you let them in,” if they weren’t there

I wouldn’t say, “hey can you go find them?” if they weren’t there.

for me to use the word, “let” means that whatever I am asking you to let in exists already and is close by.

When we hear let the peace of Christ rule and let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, it means these things exist and that they are something we can let into our lives.

To let assumes they exist and they are close.

The peace of Christ is close to you

The word of Christ is close to you

What you do with that is up to you

Revelation 3:20 ESV

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

We are called to let these two things in to accomplish two tasks

To allow the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts

To allow the word of Christ to dwell richly.

Think about all the things that rule in your hearts. and all the things that dwell richly in your life.

Think about the things you use to get through the day.

Are they sources for peace?

Are they searches for peace?

I love this passage because it is an ongoing invitation to allow the very things we search for to get through the day be the right and sustainable things to get us through the day.

We are invited to let the peace of Christ in. And when it comes in to rule. When we let the peace of Christ in, it means that the peace of Christ calls the shots. He rules.

You may think thats a tall order but I’d love to ask about anything else that’s ruling in your life.

How is that working out?

We have an incredible invitation to allow the very thing we have been hoping for to actually have control in our lives.

It’s easy to pass this up.

It’s easy to invite all sorts of things into our lives.

But we have the great opportunity to allow the very One that can offer us lasting peace to actually find peace

And not only peace but also that we would have rich inner life. A life that offers back.

The passage states that if we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly,

We will be able to give back

We are promised a rich life with the Scriptures if we internalize them, make them ours.

As we do so we have something to give back, something to offer others

When the word of Christ dwells in us and when the peace of Christ dwells with us

We have lives that offer back to God and others

We can live lives of gratitude for what God has done in us

We have an everlasting source of life and peace that we draw from.

We can trust God’s peace and Gods word to take us farther and longer than we can go on ourselves.

But we need to turn to God for His peace. We need to know God in His word

He is trustworthy but we need to let Him into our lives.

Oftentimes we live like we are making our own burgers in the drivethrough lane.

Imagine going to mcdonalds or taco bell after church and you are in line and you order what you want.

And then while you are waiting in line for your food, you begin to cook up some burgers and put them together in the car so that by the time you get to the front of the line at the window and they are offering the food you wanted, you say, “no thanks. I got my own.”

We are given incredible peace and meaning and we often, like waiting in line at a drivethrough, just try and construct something ourselves. We make our own burgers while in line at a drivethrough.

If we are going to be the church then Christ’s peace must rule in our hearts. There is no other way. Christs word must dwell in us richly. There is no other way.

And it isn’t just my peace or God’s word in my life. This passage is communal. It is about us as a church.

You are here because you have something incredible to offer to God and to others.

We as the church have something incredible to offer to God and to others

But God first has offered something even better to us.

As we let Him into our lives, we offer our lives back to Him.

As we let God into our lives, we offer our lives back to God. What God gives is how we live.