His Story, Our Story

His Story: Our Story Colossians 2:1-15 Me – I Am All About Stories Last week, at youth group, some new guests at youth group asked me about the peanut butter story. Now, I am not going to tell that story now, but I so enjoyed making them wait to hear it. And then, the following week, I enjoyed telling my hilarious story. It is in the anticipation of it, followed by their reaction in the moment of it, and then they go looking for new victims to hear it. It is all good. But that whole context came together with a TED talk I heard the other day and a book I have been reading to create the context in which I read and studied Colossians 2 this week. And it led me to this word “story”. Now I am going to use this word a LOT today. And I want to let you know because the word is not in our text. But I found it helpful as a lens in which to view Paul’s concern about what was happening in Colossi and how he sought to help them. If you don’t like my word, feel free to reject it. Or swap it out with “reality” or “truth bomb” or anything else you like. But I love the word “story.” I love stories. I am always reading and listening to stories. I am always telling stories. Some true, some less so. We – We Are Our Stories We, human beings, are story people. I don’t just mean that we like stories, though we generally do. I mean that who we are is a collection of stories. We are the stories we tell ourselves. We become the stories we tell ourselves. Our story about who we are, our story about how we became who we are, all the things that have shaped up to this moment, for good and bad, they are all stories. And some we embrace, and some we seek to reject. And all of them we change. I was reading about this last week. Every time we remember a memory, especially when we share that story, we pick it up out of our brain and resave it… and the memory changes. It is shaped by the emotions and context in which we are retelling the story. And so we become the stories we tell ourselves. If you’re feeling uncomfortable, if this all sounds super vague and wishy-washy, I get it. We are going to get to the heart of it here. Some stories are more important than others. Some stories we point to and say this is who I am. This is a moment that shaped me. This is the moment that shaped me. Other Story-tellers And the funny thing is that there is competition and friction and tension in our story-telling. There are people who tell me “it didn’t happen that way!” Jono and I remember some different things from our childhood. We have some competing stories. Mine are right and He is confused. But that’s okay… But there are some stories that we base our whole lives on. And those we absolutely want to get right, we want to understand and turn them over and see them from every angle. Especially, this story: In the beginning there was God, and He created the Universe. He created humanity. He created me. And I rejected Him. We rejected Him. We betrayed Him. And we broke the world. But He loved me. He, the infinite being, became a finite human being like me. And he lived in our broken world. He was killed by broken men like me. And he died… for me. But all along the way, especially towards the end, he gave hints, and slowly revealed who he really was. And he said that he would die… but that he would come back to life. And he did. He came back to life… and I was there with him. I came back to life with Him. And now I am free from the brokenness, free from the sin, free to live and to love in a whole new way… forever! This is his story. This is my story. No one gets to rewrite that story. No one gets to hijack my story and my place in His story! But they try. There are other story-tellers. Story teller, maybe maliciously, maybe with the best intentions, who would seek to hijack or corrupt His story and my place in His story. God’s Story and the Colossians This is what was happening in Colossians. There are two competing Jesus stories, and Paul writes to a church he has never met. Twice in Chapter 2, Paul contrasts these two stories, these arguments, these realities. Colossians 2:2-4 2 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. It is this glorious mystery… up against some deception. And again in the following verses Colossians 2:6-8 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8 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. This first part is such a beautiful vision of discipleship. Living our lives in Jesus as Lord, rooted… roots going down deep in… built up… strengthened and thankful. Again, contrasted against this competing story. One that is hollow and deceptive. In subsequent weeks we are going to dive into the specifics of this other story, this other gospel, that was being preached to the Colossians because it has radical application to us. In short, they were taking the story of Jesus… and shifting it. Retelling and obscuring who Jesus was, and attempting to water down what it meant for those who would follow him. You have heard the story of Jesus, they would say, but you aren’t done. Let me add to it. In order to be a part of Jesus’ story, you have to be Jewish like Jesus. You have to be circumcised. You have to eat this way and not that way. You have to look like this, walk like this, talk like this. You have to be initiated. Your story needs to look like my story. And Paul writes to them, even though he has never met them, he writes like a spiritual father to prevent someone for polluting His story and attempting to corrupt their place in His story. Colossians 2:9-15 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, Let’s not be confused about who Jesus was! All God, all the way, in human flesh. God entering into humanity. 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. And you are fully part of this story. You are in. You are filled up in Christ… and so nothing needs to be added. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Look no hands! Someone is trying to rewrite your story and say that you are not in because you haven’t been circumcised. You don’t get to be a part of the story until someone slices off an intimate part of your body. Surprise! No, it does involve losing part of yourself. An intimate part of yourself… but it is far deeper than spiritual. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 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. If you’re looking for an initiation ritual, this is the one. This is the one Jesus commanded. This is what Jesus modeled to us. And it is not accident that it retells the story, His story. You are included in his death, you are buried with him, and so you are raised with through your faith. And so you are fully in the story. You have reached fullness. His story has become your story through faith. And it is triumph and victory in every sense, Paul goes on: 13 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, 14 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. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Here is your story: You were dead in your sins… God made you alive! You were condemned for your sin… He forgave us ALL of it. You were in debt, you had legal obligations… He canceled it, nailed it to the cross. You were in slavery to spiritual beings, a spiritual world, and you were powerless against it. But he disarmed them (Huzzah, touche!) And then, I love this image, marched them through the streets like a parade. A public spectacle, triumphing over them by the cross. We have theological names for these things, and Paul hits so many of them right here. He died as a Ransom to rescue us from Satan. Substitutionary atonement: he died instead of us. Penal substitution: he died for our penalty. Christus Victor: he won the victory over the powers of darkness. Vicarious atonement: he died and we all died with him, in him. And so we rose with him. This is Your Story But this is the gospel. That God so loved the world that he gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish (for any of those reasons) but shall have everlasting life. For God didn’t send the Son to condemn but to save the world through Him. To all who believe: this is your story. His story becomes your story. Because by faith, we are included. By faith we are witnesses. By faith we were there. We died with him, we are raised with him. We are saved by him. His story becomes your story. And faith is this, making His story the central and defining story of your life. Stepping into that story, living out of that story, allowing His story to be my story and we become the stories we tell ourselves and others. And no one gets to pollute that. No one gets to change that. Why do we spend so much time obsessing over 2000 year-old documents? They are the eye-witness testimonies to the story. The story of Jesus from start to finish. The story of God working in history. They are the reliable and truthful account of my story. And His story has become my story. Ultimate Reality Now you might not like my word “story”. It could sound like I am getting a bit post-modern here. “Whatever story has power and meaning for you, embrace that story and go for it.” But maybe it isn’t “true” in any sense. You kind of create your reality through the stories you embrace. This is one possible meaning of you become the story you tell yourself. Here is the difference: There is a Storyteller. I have my story, you have yours. And we know our stories interact in surprising ways, such that you can inject elements into my story I didn’t choose. You could punch me in the face. Surprise! Now I have to include that in my story… unless you punch me so hard I don’t remember it. Why does my face hurt? Our stories interact. There is a Great Storyteller. The story He tells interacts with ours in un-resistably powerful ways. He has editorial control over your story and mine. And His story, we call History. What did we call Jesus last week? Ultimate Reality. So our stories only have lasting power as they are found in His story. In History. Everything else gets left on the cutting room floor. The movie of all Creation is the story of Jesus, the stories that aren’t about Jesus don’t even make it on the Extra Scenes on the DVD. But we are invited into His story. By faith, symbolized in baptism, His story becomes our story. And we live out His story in History for His glory. That is what we are about. That is the glorious mystery, that is Ultimate Reality, that is my story, and that can be your story. Embracing Your Story This can be your story. If you are skeptical about what I am saying here, that’s fine, I get that. I would love to follow-up and talk about questions and concerns and doubts. But if your heart responds, if you are ready to step into His story, we call that “following Jesus”, please come talk to me. If you haven’t been baptized, please come talk to me. It isn’t a magic trick, but is a powerful symbol, God’s powerful symbol, of entering into His story. Let His story be your story. For many of us in the room, this is familiar as our story. And we need to hear it over and over. And we need to check it over and over to make sure we aren’t changing it. To make sure we aren’t polluting it. We will see in Colossians next week, we can, with the best of intentions, restructure the story with our ideas, our rituals, our traditions, our assumptions. This week, we just focus on the content, the glorious mystery, Christ himself and us in Him, the Ultimate Reality. Let His story be your story. Pick up His story and hear it anew. Hear it again and again. And know that you are invited into it. It is your story. This week, I challenge you to read Luke 23 and 24. The last two chapters of Luke’s gospel. You can go back further if you want, it’s all good stuff. But at each verse, at each pause in the story, use some godly imagination. You are in the story. This is your story. You are included in his death. You are included in his resurrection. You are there in the moment. Everything he does, he does for you, with knowledge of you, on your behalf. His story is your story. We Share the Story And, this is what binds us together, see the other people in this room there too. This is our unifying story. We are a people together because His story is our story. By faith, I am a witness to Jesus life death and resurrection. And you were there, and you were there, and you were there. Like soldiers who have been in war together, this makes us brothers and sisters. This is our bond. And then we live out that story together. And so we love, and so we serve, and so we, as Paul says: 6 … just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. We live out His story in History for His glory