Glorious Mystery, Ultimate Reality

Glorious Mystery: Ultimate Reality Colossians 1. Focus: 27; 15-20; 9-12 Summary: There are many good and great things in life that we balance. We "manage" our time between all these competing responsibilities and desires. What if Christ is really the ultimate reality? What if we could live in that reality, literally pleasing him in every way. Instead of balancing, we dive in. Instead of "managing", we surge forward. Christianity isn't about doing more, doing less or doing different. It is about living in Ultimate Reality, Glorious Mystery, which is Christ in us. That changes what we do, it changes how and why we do everything, and makes us strong, glorious, and joyful. Me – Time Management, Balancing Life I have a lot going on. At the Pastor’s Conference, people looked at the list of things that I was doing, and I could see them doing the calculations… and then they would ask: “how do you do all the things?” And they have that tone, like I am going to give them wisdom or excellent guidance. The real answer is “I can’t do all the things well.” We – Busy People, Afraid to Do More I am not the only busy person in the room, and I doubt I am the busiest person in the room. We are busy people, we live in a fast-paced world where all the pressure is on filling up our lives with more busy-ness. When we don’t have things to do, we are bored, because you are used to the pace, so we fill up all the space with pocket-sized busy-ness. There is pressure, there is stress. And then there is the pressure to come to church… and do church stuff. And then Dusty won’t shut-up about this Surge thing because he is excited about it. But maybe… and I get this… maybe all you hear is more stuff to add to my busy-ness. I either get one more things to squeeze into my day… or I get one more thing to feel guilty about because I didn’t get to it. How do we balance church-stuff with job-stuff with kid-stuff with family-stuff with friend-stuff with things-I-do-to-keep-my-sanity stuff. How do we manage all of that, juggle it, squeeze it all in. What if Christian discipleship isn’t about doing more? What if the Surge isn’t about doing more? What if we don’t balance… we dive in. God – Glorious Mystery, Ultimate Reality Paul builds up in Colossians chapter 1… I want to walk in reverse order. Colossians 1:26-27 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 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. What is this great mystery of the ages? This glorious mystery? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:15-20 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 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. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 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. This makes some ridiculous claims about Jesus! Jesus was a guy walking around and talking and doing stuff. The apostles knew him, walked with him, and they did not start out believing all of this. But there is this great rule of thumb. If someone predicts their own death and their own resurrection, and then comes back from the dead, we just believe whatever they tell us. He is the image of the invisible God, so when we see Jesus we see God. I get that, I learn about who God is by seeing who Jesus is. He was the firstborn? Weird, but okay. In him all things were created? Like he was the agency by which everything is? God spoke… that word, that logos, that was Jesus? If it was a big Bang, it was a Jesus Bang. And all that was created through him… was created for him. He isn’t just the Agency, he is the point, the purpose of Creation. In him all things hold together. Physics speak of the 4 fundamental forces, gravity, electro-magnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. They’ve been struggling for nearly 100 years to bring all those theories together into a Unified Field Theory of Physics. Paul solved it. Jesus? Really? He holds all things together? Paul makes this radical claim: Jesus is Ultimate Reality. At the beginning, at the root of Creation, the purpose of Creation, and the glue that holds it all together, the moment by moment creative force… at the very foundation of Reality and Universe or Multi-verse or any Verse, the fundamental reality is Person and that Person’s name is Jesus! That is heavy. That is significant. Jesus, then, is not a part of our worldview or a piece of our belief system. He is not someone we occasionally hang out with at church. He is holding the Universe together, including the atoms and energy that make up you, and He is doing so right now, and right now, and all of that for a purpose. He is holding together your chair so you can sit and hear this. Jesus is the Glorious Mystery. Jesus is Ultimate Reality. Living in Ultimate Reality So what led to all of this? Why is Paul getting so carried away by who Jesus is? And what does this have to do with the Surge? Why is Paul so concerned that the Colossians know this? It is the same reason why we are turning now to the book of Colossians. People were coming to the Colossians and saying, “look, you have to do more. You have to stop eating this or that. You have to start keeping this tradition. You simply have to do way more if you want to please God!” Jesus is okay as a start, but you need to add in all this other stuff. And Paul, says, No. Jesus is the Glorious Mystery. Jesus is Ultimate Reality. Jesus is the point and the purpose. We are about to identify our Next Steps into Christian discipleship. What is that going to boil down to for many of us? Doing something. Taking on an action or activity that we weren’t doing previously. Reading a book, taking a class, teaching a class, serving in a ministry, setting aside time for devotion or worship or study. And this idea is incredibly dangerous. We don’t ever move past the gospel and on to more advanced things. We only dive further into the gospel. We don’t start with Jesus and then start adding all the extras. Jesus is Ultimate Reality… and the purpose of Reality. So we can’t add more God-stuff to please God. If Jesus is Ultimate Reality everything you do is already in him and for him. It may not be worthy of Him, in fact, it certainly isn’t most of the time. It may not bear fruit, because we aren’t even aware of the Reality or the Potential or the Purpose of what we are doing. We may not be aware of God, and often are not growing in our knowledge of God. And we don’t feel strong. We certainly don’t feel strong, enduring and patient. And we don’t feel joy. So I love what Paul says… this is how he really gets his letter started, this is the concern on his heart, the reason why he is writing, the reason why he explains Jesus as the Ultimate Reality. This is hope and prayer for the people in Colossi… this is my hope and prayer for you and I. Colossians 1:9-14 9 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, 10 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, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 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. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Fill you with knowledge… with understanding, through the Spirit. Maybe that we would see that everything is in Him, Jesus, and for Him… and so everything that we do can and must be for Him. That you may live a life worthy of Jesus, please him in EVERY WAY! In every way? Is that possible? In the way that I use an Excel document at work? In the way that I make a sandwich? In the way that I change a poopy diaper? In every way. I believe this. In every way, pleasing Jesus in every way, in every aspect, in every thing for all of those things are in him and for him. Jesus is the Ultimate Reality. Live in Reality. Live for real. And then, every good work can bear fruit. Then you can constantly grow in the knowledge of God, because you are living in Him and seeing Him everywhere. Strengthened with all power, great endurance and patience, giving joyful thanks.