Colossians: Jesus Christ is our message

Uvalde

Just two weeks ago I felt compelled to address the mass shooting and racist killing of persons in Buffalo, NY. And now this in Uvalde. Too often I have struggled with that threshold to which we need to address something on a Sunday morning. I am tired of that. I grieve these things. Buffalo, Uvalde, Ukraine, etc. A few things very quickly:

Be slow to retreat to your ideological corners and make overly simplistic judgements of what went wrong and how it can be fixed. Miss me with the “guns dont kill people, people kill people” and all of the things we say on either side of this stuff.

Protect your mind and your heart in this time. Do not spend hours upon hours diving into this. Stay informed but be careful. What are your inputs?

Pray. Live your life of hope.

Introduction/Scripture

Colossians 4:2–9 NIV

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

Pray.

Finishing up dissertation there were a lot of very gracious people that said they wanted to read it. I emphasize very gracious because this is not fun reading. This is the kind of reading that you could fall asleep outside in freezing weather while walking. Listen I believe in this work but to read this thing in its entirety could be torture. Its not pastoral of me. So what I do is send it to them and suggest reading certain parts. Read the last chapter that synthesizes all the research and gets to the meat of the conclusions.

In a letter like this, you get the bottom line. The conclusions and more importantly for Paul, the final instructions. And taking in consideration, as he points out, he is writing from prison…likely settled in with the fact that he will give his life to this message to the world, these become final instructions for the church in Colossae

We to this point have travelled to the heights of heaven with Paul’s high Christology...

Christology

Mystery that Christ is in you

Christ is in us

Christ is our life now

So it shapes how we live

And finally, Paul lands with praxis. This is the bottom line. Do this, live in this way.

I love that we land here on my last Sunday here in Core Worship....this is my prayer for you too.

Devote yourself to prayer

It is not uncommon for Paul to urge praying in the closing of his letters. Paul specificity here should be noted:

Devoted “proskartereo:” which means “to continue to do something with intense effort

David Thomas is someone who has spent the last 10-15 years studying revival and specifically its connection to a special kind of prayer. He calls it travailing prayer.

“a kind of spiritual posture found among some who were the catalytic core—a spirit of urgency and audacity, an attitude of brokenness and desperation, a manner of prayer that could be daring and agonizing. These friends in the Hebrides called it travailing prayer, like the Holy Spirit groaning through them, they said, like a woman travailing in labor, like Paul in Galatians 4:19 travailing “as if in the pangs of childbirth that Christ might be formed in you.”

God is raising up people in this community to this type of prayer. Calling people to a place of desperation and wholly commitment to God knowing that only he can do what we are seeking.

Prayer is “watchful” and “thankful”

The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles Peroratio—Prayer and Wisdom—4:2–6

Gratitude prevents prayer from becoming just a shopping trip full of requests and pleas. Watchfulness suggests attentiveness rather than spiritual complacency.

Let’s unpack this.

Gratitude

Gratitude is not something we practice often. And I understand why. Life is hard. The world is sick and broken. The news cycle is only what is wrong in the world. It is easy for us to believe that God is very absent. But here is the thing, when all you do is focus on the wrong and broken, the petitions and requests, then you are conditioned to believe God isn’t active…AND THAT IS IF WE PRAY AT ALL.

I have an aunt that would thank Jesus for everything. Balonne sandwich, sun, rain, 100 degree heat, hardship...

I thought she was crazy. No what she was doing was practicing gratitude so that she would be shaped by seeing God at work in the world.

Watchful

Watchful in particular is an important theme. Disciples are told by Jesus to “keep watch” and it is a reoccurring theme in the NT.

Mark 13:35–37 NIV

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

What is going on here?

Larry Hurtado teases this out:

When the disciples are told to keep watch [Mark 13:35-37], what is meant is that they are to be on duty, doing their jobs, not that they are to watch for portents indicating when the end will come . . . The contrast is sleeping [Mark 13:36], which would be failure to do one’s duty and failure to take seriously the warning of the master’s return. Servants are not to scan the horizon for the master and then rush about in a panic when they see him coming; rather, they are to carry out their normal duties. Thus, Jesus’ words in verses 32-37 mean that his followers are to go on with their mission, preaching and living for the gospel, ready for the return of their master at anytime, so that he will find them “on the job.”7

“Be who you were called to be.” You have life now, live in it. This isnt a fear of the end....it’s living in the end reality now.

MLA (Modern Language Assoc.) Gupta, Nijay K. Colossians. Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2013.

A Final Charge: Be seasoned with salt

A final charge is to be seasoned with salt. This is Paul’s charge for how they are to be in the world.

Colossians 4:5–6 NIV

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

From Ben Witherington

The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles Peroratio—Prayer and Wisdom—4:2–6

Paul is speaking about rhetorically effective speech. “Gracious and seasoned with salt” “captures the wisdom of ancient rhetoric: ideological substance without personal style fails to convince people.” It also makes clear that Christians must engage in friendly conversation with nonbelievers and must be prepared to know how to respond to each and every outsider, regardless of their remarks or questions (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15). “This paragraph is a reminder of how much was done by word of mouth.

Seasoned with salt is about rhetorical and loving conversations with non-believers.

Ideological substance without personal style fails,

friendly conversation with measured response

This is evangelism to the world around them.

I have spent a lot of time in bars recently. Dont look at me like that, it’s above reproach. Restaurant bars and it is because I have been travelling a lot and dont like sitting at a table by myself. Some incredible ministry opportunities reveal themselves in that space…I know, I started into ministry when I was a bartender. These opportunities are usually when I am trying to watch the golf tournament or playoff game. The last couple weeks this took place.

Last night, I was grabbing dinner here and connected with someone over aggie baseball. Didn’t take long until they asked what I did. And then they gave me their history with the church.

His mother was murdered, very broken childhood, even as he was saved and they were married, they lost their first child at a young age. Two things subtlety came to the surface: 1) The churches lack of pastoral engagement with their suffering 2) their big questions about a God who seems to allow terrible things to happen

As they asked me questions, this was not the time for overly simplistic statements of faith. Nuance, hope, empathy, space for the unknown and the mysterious was necessary.

Second conversation:

Graduation weekend, mom is taking a nap in the hotel and I am trying to watch the golf tournament. A woman shares that her teenager has decided he wants to transition to be a woman. This mom is devastated and does not know what to do: a couple things rise to the surface...

Her background in the church has convinced her that the wrong decision here on her part means hell fire and judgement.

I have an opinion about transgender sexuality and especially about minors…this was not the place for me to offer that opinion.

I listened, asked questions, and prayed for her. First time a pastor or a Christian for that matter had probably given her space for that pain.

But the point is different responses to both. My response was filtered through my life and my pain and what God had done in my life…not a script. Not Romans Road quoting bible scriptures at them like that is compelling.

Can I challenge the room on something real quick though...

Fortress, versus frontier.

Last point:

I appreciate something Gupta draws out of Paul’s conception of the spreading of the gospel. He sees 4 parties involved in the spreading of the gospel. First, we have the “word,” the logos of God....Jesus. Passing through the door that God has opened. God who is sovereign and has the power and desire to move obstacles for the word. Third, Paul is the agent God is using to speak, finally Colossians are called to support this work through prayer.

All are involved with urgency in Paul’s mind.

Marc and Transition

The end of Colossians has Paul commending to the church of Colossae leaders he trusts and respects.

Friends, I commend to you Marc Donaldson. I have trusted him with everything that I am in my time here. This man knows every struggle of mine, ever quirk. And I the same about him. We have not only been colleagues but in accountability band together. He is one to be trusted and he is one to follow.

His gifts go far beyond what you see on Sunday morning. Gifted visionary, organizer of people, team builder, strategic, and integrity/humility.

Closing Remarks:

The community, right here. Let’s lead the way of change. Lead the way of revival. Look around, this room is changing. And it is good.

Let’s devote ourselves to prayer. Travailling for God’s revival. Let’s lead with gratitude and expectation that God is in our midst. Let’s be watchful, busy with the right things…namely living in life. Let’s be on the frontier, never waisting an opportunity to be hopeful and gracious with people around us.

Let’s be the church of Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.