Hearts United in Love - Colossians 2:1-15

Introduction/Seeing the Need

This passage from Colossians describes all kinds of storms, controversies, and competing voices in life that come and blow against our faith in Christ. During such times, it is critical that we have a faith that is deeply rooted in truth and built upon a solid foundation in Christ. This lesson seeks to explore how we might be better prepared for such storms.

The Struggle Is Real, and You Are Not Alone -

Colossians 2:1–2 NRSV

For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself,

Colossians 2:1-2

Church is not a building. It is a people with a specific, compelling, and action-inspiring story. It is important to remember that when we read a letter like the one addressed to “the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae.” The letter is addressed to a community of believers, not a single individual. This simple truth becomes critical in understanding the larger context. The writer, who identified himself as Paul, desired for the church to know “how much I struggle for you …and for all who haven’t known me personally.”

In this verse, the Greek word translated “you” is plural. It is easy to miss the importance of that simple detail. Christianity is not an individual affair. It never was, and any attempt to turn it into something that looks private, individual thing is distorting its very essence. We were created for community. We are social beings. Even the most introverted person in the world desires some form of occasional human contact and connection. But we are often led to believe that there is strength in doing it all on our own and that asking for help is a sign of weakness.

In such an environment, it is easy for life to move toward disconnection, isolation, and alienation - all of which are part of the sour fruit that comes from worship of the unholy trinity: me, myself, and I. The result is that we, too, often forget a simple and straightforward truth: we need one another. Paul’s words to the Christians in Colossae remind us that we are in this “struggle” together.

We are called to encourage one another in the faith, to pray for one another when we face difficulty, to even write letters of support and prayer to one another if necessary. The goal of all this mutual support and encouragement is that we might be “united together in love” and that we might be fully assured of the “riches” we share in Christ. No matter what struggles or crises we face in life or on our faith journey, let us remember to stay connected to other believers who “have our back” in mutual support, prayer, and encouragement.

Can you think of a time when encouragement or gentle exhortation from a spiritual friend or a group of fellow believers helped you on your faith journey?

Rooted, Built, Established, and Overflowing -

Colossians 2:3–10 NRSV

in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

This letter to the Christians at Colossae offers various metaphors to describe how these believers should avoid being deceived “with convincing arguments” and stay true to the original and “true message, the good news” that had been brought to them. The first uses the image of roots. A tree’s root system can often cover an area that is four to seven times larger than a tree’s canopy. Roots provide critical nutrients and water to the plant’s life. Roots also help ground a tree in the soil so that it can survive and stand firm despite the above-ground conditions that can occasionally bring storms, winds, and floods. It is a fascinating and helpful image for the spiritual life. Paul exhorted the believers there to have a faith that has deep and wide rootedness in Christ.

The next two metaphors exhort believers to be “built up in him” and to “be established in faith”. This language evokes the memory of the old nursery fable about the three little pigs. A mother pig sends her three offspring out into the world. The first one builds a house of straw, and the wolf comes to blow it down and consumes the pig. The second build a house of sticks and suffers the same fate. The third pig builds a house of bricks and is the only one able to withstand the onslaught of the wolf’s attack.

Besides being a memorable story for children, this story is also one that seeks to teach a valuable lesson. It is the same lesson that the believers in Colossae needed to remember. Perhaps first and foremost, external forces in the world around them would actively try to dismantle and destroy their new found faith in Christ, using tricks, deceit, “philosophy and foolish deception.” Second, the only way to withstand such spiritual attacks was to make sure their spiritual house was firmly built upon Christ and established in faith.

Paul then exhorted the Colossians to “overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught.” Here again, is a word that implies something deep, abiding, and below the surface. For something to overflow, there has to be an abundance of the same residing below. In this instance, what is overflowing and spilling out of every believer’s heart is gratitude.

It is not the storms, trials, and temptations of life that cause things such as fear, faithlessness, doubt, anger or sin to spill out of us. Life’s spiritual shake-ups just allow whatever we have filled our lives with to be made evident. Allow yourself to be filled with thanksgiving; and when life shakes you up a bit, gratitude will still spill out. Allow your heart to be filled with the love and life of Christ alone; and when false teaching or other outside forces blow against you, you remain able to “live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way you received him.”

What kind of things spill out of you when you face hardship, difficulty, and temptation? What concrete things might you do to better fill your life with gratitude, faith, and love?

Buried with Christ through Baptism -

Colossians 2:11–15 NRSV

In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

Colossians 2:11-15

God’s covenant with Israel, with Abraham and his descendants was sealed and symbolized by the act of circumcision. When and Israelite boy was eight days of age, the Torah instructed God’s people to have “the flesh of the boy’s foreskin” circumcised as a sign that the chid was part of God’s covenant between God and God’s people. The same was true for non-Israelite adults who desired to be part of God’s covenant people. The Book of Exodus states that non-Israelite adults were required to undergo circumcision if they desired to join the covenant community and share in observing feasts such as the Passover.

It is important to understand this covenant history when reading the letter to the Colossians. God’s covenant family welcomed native-born Israelites and foreign-born immigrants. It included babies unaware of what was happening to them first weeks of life and adults who were consciously choosing to accept the new life and covenant requirement of God’s law.

What did all of these candidates for covenant communion share? They were all welcomed into the covenant of God’s love and promises by participating in “an outward and physical sign” of an “inward and spiritual” reality. If words such as “outward sign” and “inward grace” sound familiar, it is because that is the language the church uses to describe sacraments. For most Protestant churches, that includes baptism and Holy Communion. The former represents entrance and inclusion in the covenant community of faith. The latter is the ongoing spiritual food and nourishment for the journey of discipleship.

What things or priorities in your life need to “die” in order that you might rise to new life in Jesus?

Conclusion - United in Love

This rather detailed and nuanced letter to the Colossians might cause some readers to get lost in the weeds with all the focus on circumcision, the danger of false teaching, and the meaning of baptism. If that is the case, make sure not to miss Paul’s central point and main goal in writing.

We don’t have to surmise what it might be, because Paul stated it plainly and in a matter-of-fact way: “My goal is that hearts would be encouraged and united together in love … so that they might have the knowledge of the secret plan of God, namely Christ”. Christ living in us and uniting us in love.

Through baptism, believers across the world and from every tribe, nation, and language have been made brothers and sisters in Christ. Through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, we who “once were so far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ”. We are a covenant community that has been created in love, by love, and for love. Our marching orders and purpose in the world are stated clearly in a twofold command to love God and our neighbor. May the world know we are Christians, not by our divisions and infighting, but by our love.

When non-Christians observe the way our church family lives and serves together, what do you think they see?

Prayer

Loving God, we give you thanks for Jesus, who died that we might be raised with him to a new life and a new love. Help us stay rooted and grounded in our faith, despite the challenges we face around us; in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.