Thursday, July 31, 2008

Catching up

The two posts below represent my attempt to get caught up with posting my sermons. With all busyness related to our move, I've just posted my study notes for the last two sermons. Hopefully next week I'll have the time to get my notes cleaned up to post, but with my ordination exam coming soon, we'll see...

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11th Sunday after Pentecost: Colossians 1:15-20 (notes)

INTRODUCTION
We’ve seen how Paul opens his letter to the Colossians by giving thanks for the fruit of the gospel in their lives and praying that they would have the knowledge to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. As I noted last week, vv. 15-20 (and 21-23) are technically still a part of this prayer, serving as a further reason for joyfully giving thanks to the Father. In light of this Paul’s message in 15-20 is that we are to joyfully give thanks to the Father because of the universal supremacy of Christ in Creation and Recreation. What we find in these verses is a striking poetic expression of this truth. There are four balanced stanzas w/ the first and the last beginning with “Who is…” and the middle two beginning with “And He is.” The first and the last tell us move from who Christ is to what He does in creation and recreation, while the middle two briefly focus upon who He is in creation and recreation. There are also a number of recurring themes and phrases:
“Firstborn” in creation/recreation. (15, 18)
“First/before” in creation/recreation. (17, 18)
Creation/recreation concern “all things.” (16 2x’s, 17 2x’s, 18, 20)
Creation/recreation both come “through him.” (16, 20)
Essentially the poem shows how the “Wisdom” (Prov. 8:22) by which God created the world (Gen. 1:1) is embodied in Jesus Christ.
I. Stanzas 1-2: The Universal Supremacy of Christ in Creation. (15-17)
A. Stanza One: Who He is and what He does in Creation. (15-16)
1. Who He is. (15)
a. In relation to God. (15a)
i. The image of the invisible God.
ii. In JC the invisible God is visible, clearly revealed.
iii. Picking up the new creation context, He is the last
Adam, who in his person/work perfectly images the Father.
iv. In 2TJ “Wisdom” was said to be the “image” of God’s
goodness – this revelation is fulfilled in JC.
v. In Paul JC as “image” is always the pattern after which
the Xtn is transformed (3:10; 2 Cor. 3:18).
vi. IOW Jesus shows us what it means to be both God and man.
b. In relation to Creation. (15b)
i. The firstborn of (not “over”) all creation.
ii. In the OT applied to Israel (Ex. 4:22) and the Messianic
King (Ps. 89:27) re: their primacy in God’s purposes.
iii. In the NT exclusively applied to Jesus re: his supremacy (see Rom. 8:29).
iv. Jesus bears a unique relation to creation as both prior to, and supreme over it. [That supremacy is now explicated…]
2. What He does. (16)
“For” – what follows proves, or demonstrates his supremacy.
a. Its nature. (16a)
i. By/in Him all things were created.
ii. Should read “in” to preserve the parallel w/ v. 19.
iii. “Were created” is the divine passive – JC is the sphere
of God’s creative activity (nothing done outside of him).
iv. The tense of the 1st stresses the historical act while the second stresses the continuing existence of creation.
v. JC is the “master workman” of God (Prov. 8:30).
b. Its scope. (16b)
i. “All things” (2x’s) emphasized by chiasmus (were created all things…all things…were created.)
ii. The whole is then further specified by two couplets.
iii. Heaven/earth, visible/invisible – i.e. EVERYTHING!
iv. Thrones/dominions, principalities/powers.
(a). Hierarchies of angels active in the government of the world.
(b). In 2:10 he is said to be their head and in 2:15 they are disarmed by his death.
(c). Thus they include those angelic powers in the service of Satan at work in the unbelieving world.
(d) JC not only created them, but:
c. Its goal. (16c)
i. For him!
ii. Everything made in and through him exists for Him, that
is for his glory.
iii. Though the principalities and powers oppose him, he is their true lord, having created and defeated them (2:15).
B. Stanza Two: Reiteration of Who He is Creation. (17)
1. His universal supremacy. (17a)
a. And He is before all things.
b. This phrase intros the two short stanzas and is emphatic!
c. The prep “before” has the senses of both time (“in the beginning
was the Word”) and rank (“he is first by virtue of his p/w”).
2. His universal power. (17b)
a. And in Him all things consist.
b. This goes beyond the preceding, but is implied by it.
c. Not only all things created “in Him,” but literally are held
together “in Him.”
d. The tense of this verb indicates that this is continuing activity of Christ that began at a point of time in the past.
e. Apart from the power and wisdom residing in Christ, the world would literally come apart.
f. And this is a truth that needs to be emphasized as much (if not more) in our day than in Paul’s.
II. Stanzas 3-4: The Universal Supremacy of Christ in Recreation. (18-20)
Who Christ is and what he does in Creation sets the stage for who he is and what he does in recreation.
A. Stanza Three: Introduction of Who He is in Recreation. (18a)
Standing at the outset of this new creation is a person, a body, a new man to carry out God’s purposes for creation.
1. His supremacy.
a. And he is the head of the body.
i. In relation to this new body, Christ is the head.
ii. That is, he is in the position of control over the body.
iii. The body sustains a vital relationship to him and is
dependent upon.
2. His people.
a. The body which is the church.
i. This new body is identified as the church.
ii. In the LXX it translates a word used to describe the
people as summoned for some special purpose.
(a). Dt. 4:10 - "On the day when you were a church before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Gather the people as a church to me..."
iii. In the NT it the term describing the people called out of the world into communion with Christ and one another.
iv. It is the visible, local, entity entrusted with the word, sacraments, and discipline of Christ and marked by unity, holiness, and apostolic faith.
Christ’s headship over the church follows from:
B. Stanza Four: Who He is and what He does in Recreation. (18b-20)
1. Who He is. (18b-19)
a. In relation to Creation. (18b)
i. Who is the beginning.
(a). Just as wisdom was in the beginning, even so
Jesus is the beginning.
(b). The term usually means source, or first principle.
(c). The next phrase explains its sense here.
ii. The firstborn from the dead
(a). Refers to his resurrection from the dead.
(b). Its uniqueness/primacy stems from its being the
beginning of God’s new creation.
(c). When he burst forth from the tomb, the new creation burst forth into the world.
(d). This act established Jesus as the founder of this new generation.
iii. Purpose: that in all things He may be first.
(a). He’s always been first by right, as Creator/Lord.
(b). But to become so in fact, required him to defeat
sin and death, which is declared in his resurrection.
(c). See Phil. 2:5-11.
(d). Note, not simply first in all things!
It is fitting that JC should be first in all things for:
b. In relation to God. (19)
i. God in all His fullness was pleased to dwell in Him.
ii. Throughout the OT is pictured as filling places with His
presence, His glory, His knowledge.
iii. In this connection the verb “pleased” is often used to indicate God’s good pleasure esp. re: his dwelling place.
(a). Ps. 68:16 – Zion is the mountain in which God is pleased to dwell forever.
iv. Jesus is now the place in which God is pleased to dwell.
v. And to dwell in the fullness of all his divine attributes.
And to what end does all the fullness of deity reside in Jesus?
2. What He does. (20)
a. Its nature: Reconciliation.
i. God by Him reconciles to Himself.
ii. The word means to bring together two parties that are
estranged, whose relationship is marked by hostility.
b. Its scope: All things.
i. Those in need of this reconciliation are “all things.”
ii. God, by Christ, has brought “all things” back into a right
relationship with God: Men, Angels, the Cosmos.
iii. In reconciliation the heavens (angelic powers) and earth (man/world) have been brought back into God’s intended order under the rule of a New Adam.
c. Its goal: Establishing peace.
i. Through this New Adam, God has made peace between Himself and all things.
ii. This peace is either freely accepted by faith or sovereignly imposed by force: every knee will bow!
d. Its ground: The blood of His cross.
i. Since sin is the reason for the estrangement and hostility, the ground of reconciliation is the blood of the cross.
ii. By the shedding of his blood atonement is made and peace is effected between God and man.
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION
So on the basis of what we’ve seen in this hymn, you are to give thanks to God because of the supremacy of Jesus Christ in creation and recreation, redemption. Just as the Colossians were tempted to seek salvation somewhere else, you’ve been reminded that salvation is found, and can only be found, in Jesus Christ. And just as many Christian’s are tempted to seek growth somewhere else, you’ve been reminded of the centrality of the church in bringing about the new creation. This new creation and rule of Christ are most clearly seen here is the assembly of His redeemed people. But this rule and new creation are to spill out from the church to the four corners of the earth. And as they do so, be reminded that Jesus is Lord of it all. As Abraham Kuyper said, there is not one square inch of the earth over which Jesus doesn’t say Mine!

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10th Sunday after Pentecost: Colossians 1:9-14 (Notes)

INTRO
Last week we considered how Paul began developing his purpose of setting out the way to maturity in Christ by thanking God for the fruit of the gospel in their lives. Through the gospel, God is bringing about a new creation, a people marked by lively faith and sacrificial love. As Paul thanks God for the fruitfulness of the gospel, he is led to pray for the fruitfulness of those to whom the gospel comes. In vv. 9-14 Paul prays that they be filled with the knowledge to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. While this is a prayer, it is a prayer that teaches, just like the psalms.
I. The prayer. (9)
Paul picks up and reiterates the statement of prayer in v. 3.
Again he reiterates the constancy and regularity of his prayers for them.
And this is simple point, worth noting: Paul prays for what he works for.
Just as he is going to say in v. 28, “”, even so he prays for their maturation in Christ.
IOW there is a priority placed upon prayer in his writings.
Think how often we undertake various endeavors w/out committing them to the Lord in prayer.
A. Filled with knowledge of God’s will.
Note: Divine passive: IOW “God might fill you…”
1. God’s will.
a. As I noted in v. 1, God’s will is not simply what God…
b. It involves His will to bring about a new creation in Christ.
c. That overarching will of God, then directs our actions.
d. We are to manifest that new creation life in every area of life.
2. Knowledge.
a. Thus an insight into this new creation and its implications for us.
b. Far from the speculative and abstract knowledge promised by the false
teachers, the knowledge Paul prays for is concrete, practical and lived in…
B. In wisdom and spiritual understanding.
These three terms (K, W, U) need to be read in their OT context, where they are the fruit of God's Spirit.
For instance consider Ex. 31:3 where God says that he “filled” Bezalel “with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.”
So Bezalel engaged in his new creation work re: the Tabernacle by being filled with just these traits.
1. In the OT wisdom is the ordering of creation under God.
2. This was the test held out for Adam in TOTKOGAE: Would Adam humbly
receive wisdom from God by ordering creation according to His Word, or would he
arrogantly seize wisdom in violation of His Word?
3. The passage in Ex. 31:3 makes it clear that true knowledge, wisdom, and
understanding come from God by His Spirit.
4. So now when Paul prays that God would raise up a bunch of new Adams
"bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God," he first
prays that they be filled with the gift that will enable them to take up this calling:
the Holy Spirit wrought knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of God’s will to
play their part in this new creation.
II. The purpose. (10a)
Note here the purpose of k/w/u is not to win a theology argument, or sound important, but…
A. To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
1. “Walk” in the OT was a common image depicting the conduct of…Life then was
pictured as a “way,” a journey toward new creation.
2. One’s conduct in this “way,” is to be “worthy,” that is, in keeping with the person
and work of Jesus.
B. Fully pleasing Him.
1. This is what it means to walk worthy of Him.
2. Conducting one’s life so as to bring Jesus joy and delight.
a. We know w/out faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).
b. We know that those in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8).
c. Walking by faith according to the power of the Spirit is how to
please God.
But what does that look like? Well, Paul goes on in four participial phrases to define, our give the concrete shape of walking in this way.
III. The description. (10b-14)
A. Being fruitful in every good work. (10b)
1. Just as the gospel went throughout the world bearing fruit, even so…
2. The gospel creates new Adam’s, fruitful and productive members of…
3. Here this fruitfulness is said to be good works – those works consistent with
God’s new creation (see Col. 3:12ff: works of kindness and humility; loving your
wives and children, laboring diligently in your employments).
Note what this kind of living leads to:
B. Increasing in the knowledge of God. (10b)
1. Here we begin to see a spiraling movement.
2. As you receive the knowledge of God’s will and begin to apply that knowledge in
the ordering of your life, that leads to greater knowledge.
3. Note the importance of obedience for knowledge!
But Paul knows that this spiraling movement is itself founded upon God’s power:
C. Being strengthened for endurance. (11)
1. Lit. empowered with all power.
2. This power is in keeping with God’s glorious might.
a. The same might and power displayed in the Exodus.
b. The same might and power displayed in the Resurrection. (Eph)
3. God directs this might and power for the endurance needed to not grow weary
in well-doing.
4. This “way” is difficult and we are prone to throwing in the towel.
5. These terms are nearly synonyms.
a. Patience: Resolute endurance under difficult circumstances.
b. Long suffering: Patient endurance that does not retaliate (lit. "the
long breath"). Ex. 34:6 – “slow to anger,” Gal. 5:22 as a fruit of the Spirit.
D. Joyfully giving thanks to the Father for the New Exodus. (12a-14)
This is what sets Paul apart from the Stoics.
They could drum up resolute and patient endurance, but to do so with joy!
Think of Paul and Silas in prison in Philippi in Acts 16:25. (hymns at midnight)
1. He has made us heirs. (12b)
Here Paul uses terminology that reminds of the OC.
a. The notion of inheritance = Acov/Canaan.
b. The saints = God’s priestly people.
c. Light = Heavenly city.
d. Under the NC the promise of Canaan has been transformed into
the promise of the NH/NE to which Canaan pointed (Rom. 4:13).
e. It is for this inheritance that we have been qualified by faith/baptism into
Christ (Gal. 3:27-29).
And just as God acted in the Exodus to bring Israel into their inheritance:
2. He has delivered us from darkness into the kingdom of His Son. (13)
a. Note that power and kingdom are parallel, as are darkness and the Son.
b. In the Exodus that Christ accomplished for us on the cross (lk. 9:31), the
power and dominion of sin over us has been (past tense) broken just as
surely as the power and dominion of Pharaoh over Israel was broken when
he was cast into the sea.
c. And just as Israel was delivered out of Egypt into Canaan, even so God
has conveyed/transferred us into the kingdom of Jesus.
d. This is of course shot through with baptismal associations since Paul
elsewhere refers to the Exodus as Israel’s baptism and it was at Jesus’ own
baptism that God referred to Him as His beloved Son.
And just as God “bought” Israel in the Exodus (15:16), even so…
4. In the Son we have redemption. (14)
a. In the exodus of the cross, Jesus has bought/redeemed us just as God
bought Israel (Gen. 15:16). “You’ve been bought with a price..."
b. This redemption that is ours in union with Jesus consists of the
forgiveness of sins.
c. It was for this reason the Jesus came into the world (Mt. 1:21).
d. And beloved this is your possession (“we are having”) in Christ. e. In the
same way that God hurled Pharaoh and his armies to the bottom of the sea,
He has hurled your sins to the bottom of the sea and He remembers them no more.
f. For Christ has made atone for them and you are now clean in His sight!
CONCLUSION
So then we’ve considered this rich prayer of Paul that they be filled with the knowledge of God’s will to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. You’ve learned something of what this walk consists: being fruitful, increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened by God for endurance, and giving thanks to God for the new exodus He has accomplished in His death. In terms of Paul’s overall purpose in the book, he is saying that the way to maturity for God’s people begins in prayer. Growth to maturity in Christ is not something that you can do on your own, it is something that God gives. It begins with the gift of knowledge given by His Spirit and as this knowledge is put into practice, He gives more! But even the putting it into practice is founded upon God’s power at work in you raising you to walk in newness of life and not grow weary in well-doing. This is the way to walk worthy of the Lord, the way to maturity in Christ!

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This is why we're here!

This morning we considered the meaning of the term “church,” particularly in light of its OT background. We learned that it described the people as summoned, or assembled for some purpose. In the example I used from Dt. 4:10, they were to assembled as a church before God in order to hear his words so as to fear Him and teach their children. And we certainly still assemble as the church for that purpose. Yet, Paul introduces another purpose for our assembling. In 1 Corinthians 11 he rebukes the Corinthians because when they “come together as a church” (v. 18) they are divided and factious, and thus he forced to conclude, “when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. (v. 20)” Underlying this negative statement stands the positive teaching of Paul that when the church comes together it is to eat the Lord’s Supper. Sharing in the body and blood of Christ constituted at least a, if not the, primary purpose of the assembling of the church. We read of them participating in this feast quite regularly in the Acts of the Apostles, at the very least on the first day of the week, if not daily. It is one of the practices to which the church was devoted along with the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, and the prayers. The breaking of the bread defined who they were as believers in Jesus Christ. This Table, then, is central to our gathering, to what it means to be the Church of Jesus Christ. As the Church of Jesus Christ, members of His body, we are utterly dependent upon our Head to give us what is needful to sustain our life in Him. And what is needful to sustain our life in Christ, is Christ Himself and all His benefits. And that is what is spread before you this morning in the bread and the wine. This is why we are we here!

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"Us" and "Them"

As God’s royal priesthood we stand between God and the world. We represent God to the world and the world to God. We bring the world to God and we, as it were, take God to the world. Our priestly calling thus defines our relationship to the world around us. We exist for the life of the world. So, fundamentally, it’s not so much, “Us versus Them,” and it is, “Us for Them.” Now that is not to say that there is no conflict between “Us” and “Them.” There is! As God’s royal priesthood we must be against the world in order properly to be for the world. As John writes we must “not love the world or the things in the world,” by which he means, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” And in this sense the world is not simply something out there, but rather is something we must begin rooting out in here. That’s of course one of the mistakes of monasticism and all other retreatist responses to the world. At the end of the day the world is in your heart. The other mistake is neglecting Jesus’ petition in John 17:15, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one.” Jesus intended for us to remain in the world in order that “the world may believe that” He was sent by the Father. Indeed in this same prayer, He says, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” And we know from His instruction to Nicodemus earlier in the Gospel that “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” And in the same way you have been sent into the world, not for its condemnation, but for its salvation. Your calling, then, is to bear witness to Jesus Christ by maintaining that unity, holiness, and faith that have marked the church universal since the days of the Apostles and by calling your friends and neighbors to join this communion of the saints.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

A Table of Thanksgiving

This morning we learned that one goal of knowing God’s will is that we may “give thanks” to the Father for the new exodus that He has accomplished for us in His beloved Son. The term translated “give thanks” is a form of the word, eucharisteo, from which we get the word “Eucharist.” The church very early on began to refer to this meal as the Eucharist, as our giving of thanks to the Father. And thus here at this Table, Paul’s prayer is answered. For the bread and the wine are the symbols of the new exodus that Jesus accomplished for us in His death. Just as Yahweh hurled Pharaoh’s chariots and armies into the sea, even so the Lord Jesus Christ has crushed the head of the one who stands in opposition to us. In His body broken, He broke the powers of darkness over us. In His blood shed, He redeemed us and qualified us for our inheritance. So as we eat the bread and drink the wine we do so joyfully giving thanks to the Father for what Jesus has done for us. And that’s why we sing during the Supper. Joyful and thankful people sing! This is the kind of fruit that God wants to see His people bear and in which He wants us to increase. This was to be one aspect of the fruitfulness of Adam, but as Paul wrote, he “would not glorify God, nor give thanks.” The giving of thanks is a vital part of what it means to be created beings. In the giving of thanks we confess our need for, and dependence upon God. We are the recipients of His bounty and we acknowledge that in the giving of thanks. To fail to give thanks, then, is to deny God’s goodness and to ascribe what we have to the strength of our own hands. The Eucharist, therefore, trains us receive God’s gifts with thanksgiving. For here we receive the gift of His Son.

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Worship Training

What we are doing in corporate worship is relearning what it means to be creatures made in the image and likeness of God. In the Fall mankind “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” In redemption we have become “a people for God’s own possession so that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light.” But, as I noted last week, this takes work! It requires a complete reorientation of the direction of our lives, which of course is the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. Furthermore, it requires an ongoing training of our minds and our hearts, our hands and our feet, to respond appropriately to God. And that is what we are “relearning” in corporate worship. We are relearning what it means to honor God and give Him thanks for His gifts in our lives so that He might receive glory. This process of “relearning” involves a death to our former way of life and a resurrection into a new way of life. That is why Paul describes it as a sacrifice, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Rom. 12:1).” We are reminded of the necessity of this sacrifice, of this death, each and every Lord’s Day as we gather here for the Lord’s Service. The call to worship is a call to die to the wrong responses to God and His Word that plagued our lives outside of Christ, and against which we continue to battle in Christ. It is not in our nature to heed this Call and most in our culture do not. But in Christ we are learning to heed this Call. And in learning to heed this call, relearning what it means to be God’s people, “to the praise of His glory.”

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A Table of Hope

In this morning’s sermon we considered how lively faith and sacrificial love spring from the hope laid up for us heaven. You’ll recall how I said that this hope doesn’t refer to our activity of hoping, but rather to the content of our hope. The hope laid up for us in heaven is the exalted Christ and the inheritance that He has secured for us: eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth. Yet, this hope is not something wholly future; it is something that we partake of in the present by faith in Christ. And beloved here, at the Lord’s Table, this hope is set before us. For here, Christ, our hope of glory, is set before us. Here at this Table we are given access to the hope laid up for us in heaven. It is for this reason that we have made our ascent into the courts of heaven. One theologian has compared this to what happens in Numbers 13 when the spies bring fruit back to the wilderness from the land of promise. They bring back grapes and pomegranates and figs so that Israel can see and taste and touch the blessings that await them. It’s as if Israel’s future was arriving in their present experience. For by tasting that fruit Israel was able to enjoy the benefits of the Promised Land while remaining in the wilderness. In the same way in the Lord’s Supper Jesus brings us the benefits of the age to come. In the words of Hebrews 6:5 we taste “the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.” In the bread and the wine we see and touch and taste the bounty that awaits us in the marriage supper of the Lamb. It’s as if that future hope is arriving in our present experience. And it is! Beloved of the Lord, feed upon this hope which is laid up for you heaven. Do so believing that one day this hope will be fulfilled in the marriage supper of Lamb. And let your participation in this hope strengthen your faith in Christ and fill your hearts with love for Him and one another!

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9th Sunday after Pentecost: Colossians 1:3-8

Last week I introduced the book of Colossians noting that Paul’s purpose in writing is to set out a way to maturity for the people of God that is rooted in union with Christ. In the face of false teachers telling the Colossians to do this or that to progress in the Christian life, Paul tells them that they already have all they need in Christ. In his introductory greeting we saw that the Colossians have been given: 1). Access to God’s sanctuary as priests(“saints”); 2). Enduring faith to continue “in Christ” (“faithful brethren”); 3) God’s bounteous gifts and favor in Christ (“grace”); 4) Fullness of restored relations with God and one another (“peace”). As Paul begins to develop his message in the body of the letter in vv 3-8, he begins by thanking God for the fruit of the gospel in their lives. In this thanksgiving we are given a glimpse into how God’s grace works in our lives, and in the world as a whole, to bring about a new creation. Following an introductory statement of thanksgiving and prayer in v.3, Paul goes on to tell us what he thanks God for in vv. 4-5a. Then in vv 5b-8 he tells us how this things have come about.
In v. 3 we have a straightforward statement of thanksgiving and prayer to God. Paul writes that he and Timothy always thank God and pray for them. Their prayer of thanksgiving will be elaborated in vv. 4-8 and their prayer of petition will be elaborated in vv. 9-12, which we will consider next week. Before passing on to v. 4, however, note the regularity and constancy of Paul and Timothy’s prayers for them. “Always” doesn’t mean every second of the day, but it does convey the idea that Paul and Timothy prayed for the Colossians everyday and probably throughout the day. It is most likely that prayers of thanksgiving and intercession for the Colossians (and other churches) formed a fixed part of Paul’s hours of prayer in the morning, at noonday, and in the evening.
So when Paul prays for the Colossians, for what does he thank God? In vv. 4-5a we find that he thanks God for the fruit of faith, love, and hope. This triad is a fixed part of Paul’s teaching (most notably in 1 Cor. 13), but here it is developed in a different manner than elsewhere. The first thing that Paul thanks God for is their “faith in Christ.” This, of course, concerns their confession of faith, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved (Rom. 10:9.” Historically the Church has taught that there are three elements to saving faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. A confession of faith in Jesus has a definite content focused upon the person and work of Jesus, minimally that he died on the cross to atone for our sins and was raised the third day. A person must assent to this content, believing to be a true statement of the gospel. And then a person must put their trust in this gospel. It is not enough to know the message and believe it is true, the demons have that kind of faith. No, a person must believe this message is true for them, and stake their life upon it’s truth and commit themselves to it. And the Colossians had that kind of true saving faith.
Now all throughout Scripture, and especially in Paul, saving faith is always demonstrated in concrete actions (“faith working by love”). And this is the case for the Colossians as well. For the second thing that Paul thanks God for is their “love for all the saints.” Of all the demonstrations of faith the Scriptures return again and again to love. Jesus referred to this it as his new commandment, “that you love one another (Jn. 13:34).” Paul referred to love as “the fulfillment of the Law (Rom. 13:10).” In the NT love is always patterned after the sacrifice of Christ. For in this event we see the nature of true love as a sacrificial action. For the Colossians this love would have involved an active and practical concern for the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ that would have moved them to meet those needs without regard to what it would cost them. And note to whom this love is directed: “for all the saints.” This phrase means to all without exception. Their love went out to any and all of Christ’s people regardless of the factors that normally divide, factors of race, class, or gender. For these have all been overcome in union with Christ.
So Paul thanked God that the Colossians were marked by faith and love. And these two fruits function as indications of the working of God’s grace. When a person has an orthodox profession of faith in Jesus and their life demonstrates that faith in sacrificial love for God’s people, then we rightly regard that person as a Christian. And in the same way we can use these criteria to assess our faith and life. Would the Apostle Paul likewise give thanks to God for our faith and love? Does this living faith and sacrificial love characterize our relationships within our families and our church? Furthermore, this is the fruit that we pray for and work for in our children, that they would hold fast their confession firm until the end and demonstrate this confession in sacrificial love for God’s people.
As I mentioned earlier faith, love, and hope are a familiar triad in Paul’s writings. And hope is the third thing that Paul thanks God for in the beginning of v. 5: “the hope laid up for you in heaven.” But we need to note the function of the hope. Paul introduces hope in v.5 as the cause of their faith and love: “because of the hope…” Whatever this hope is it serves as the motive, or impulse for faith and love. The NIV actually captures well this function of hope when translate the verse, “the faith and love that spring from hope.” So what is this “hope laid up for you heaven.” It is not the activity, but rather the content of our hope. It is laid up for you heaven so that it is safe and secure in the place where thieves cannot break in and steal, nor moth or rust decay it. If we pay attention to the broader context of Colossians we can say that this hope refers to Christ and the life that he has secured for us. In Col. 1:27 Paul sums up the mystery of gospel as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” So in this verse Christ is associated with our hope. Furthermore in Col. 3:1-4 Paul’s us to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” This clearly a reference to heaven where our “life is hidden with Christ in God.” And Paul says that “when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Given the association between Christ and hope in 1:27 and our life hid with Christ in God in heaven in 3:1-4, we can safely conclude that the hope laid up for us in heaven is Jesus Himself and the eternal life that He has secured for us. But how does this hope cause faith and love? Well, it is as we look to Christ and consider the life that will be ours when He comes again and live that life in the present. Furthermore it is Christ at the right hand of the Father, Who has poured out His Spirit into our hearts to fill us with faith and love.
Paul isn’t content simply to tell us what he thanks God for because in vv. 5b-8 he goes on to tell us how the Colossian’s faith, love, and hope have come about. He sums it up in the end of v. 5 saying the heard about this hope in the gospel. Their faith, love, and hope have come about as a result of gospel they have heard. And Paul tells us several things about this gospel. First, the gospel is a truthful announcement (5b). We know that the gospel is an announcement because it something they heard. It is the declaration of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul sums it up as the declaration that He died on the cross for our sins and was raised up on the third day to sit at the right hand of the Father as Lord of heaven and earth (see 1:15-20). By referring to this announcement as the “word of truth,” Paul is drawing a contrast between the message they heard from Epaphras and the message they have heard from the false teachers. The former is true; the latter is false. Since they have believed the true message their hope is certain and secure.
Second, the gospel is a universal announcement (6a). The message they have heard is not something spoken in a dark corner, but has “come to you as it has also in all the world.” The gospel announced to the Colossians concerned not Colossae, but the four corners of the Empire and everywhere in between. Note how Paul personifies the gospel by speaking of it as coming. This personification of the gospel is intended to communicate God’s action in the gospel. When you think about the gospel being unleashed in the world, think about the image we’re given in Rev. 19:11ff. There, Jesus is described as “the Word of God,” leading the saints on horseback with the two edged sword proceeding out of His mouth. Through the church’s proclamation of the gospel, Jesus is conquering the world. And the Colossians have likewise been conquered by Jesus in His gospel.
Third, the gospel is an effective announcement (6b). Everywhere this gospel is announced it is pictured as “bring forth fruit.” This image of fruitfulness reminds of the calling of Adam to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28).” This calling was reiterated time and again to Noah, Abraham, and Israel. Now finally, through the gospel, this calling is being fulfilled. As one has noted, God is now doing through the gospel what He always intended to do: fill the earth with fruitful, productive, image-bearers for His glory. Paul wanted the Colossians to know that the source of this fruitfulness did not lie in them, but in God’s action in the gospel. Fourth, the gospel is a gracious announcement (6c). God’s action in the gospel was a gracious action. The gospel announced to them is described as “the grace of God in truth.” In this announcement God’s saving grace is truly revealed as the source of all fruitfulness, as the source of the faith and love that now characterize them. This fruitfulness had a beginning point in their experience: “since the day you heard and knew.” When God sent the gospel to them and opened and minds and hearts to understand it, the gospel began bearing fruit and increasing among them.
Last, the gospel is a commissioned announcement (7-8). God sent the gospel to them by one commissioned to preach, Epaphras. Paul says they “learned” this gospel from Epaphras. This truthful, universal, effective, gracious announcement must proclaimed and taught by men sent for this purpose. Epaphras is given a standing on par with Paul and Timothy as “our fellow servant.” Furthermore he “is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.” Note that the way Epaphras discharged his ministry to Christ, was on behalf of the Colossians. This is how you are to think about my ministry. That I labor before Christ in your behalf in order that you might hear and be taught this glorious gospel and that I may have occasion to declare “your love in the Spirit.”
This is first reference to the Holy Spirit in the letter, but His activity has been assumed throughout. So consider this in closing. When Paul thanked God for the fruit of the gospel in their lives, he was thanking the Holy Spirit by whose power that fruit was produced. For it is the Holy Spirit who unites you to Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who works faith in your heart and who is poured out into your heart as the love of God enabling you to love one another. It is the Holy Spirit who seals for you for the Day of Redemption that your hope may not be disappointed. And it is as the Spirit accompanies the preaching of the gospel that fruitfulness extends throughout the earth, to Greer even as it did to Colossae.

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The Work of the People

The term liturgy is based on a Greek word, leitourgia, meaning “the work of the people.” It is used throughout the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe the sacrificial ministrations of the priests and in the New Testament to describe various sacrificial actions of believers. The church fathers used this term to describe what we do in corporate worship. The worship that we offer to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is “the work of the people.” Just a few thoughts on what this means for us. First, it means that what we we’re doing is work! It is hard and requires effort. But isn’t it the case that most things worth doing take work. If you think about it, nations of this world often require applicants for citizenship to learn a number of things before becoming citizens. Why should it be any different when we become citizens of God’s holy nation, the Church? We too must learn a new language, new rites and customs, and new songs. And that takes work! It takes practice! We shouldn’t think that we could just stroll into God’s house and know what pleases Him. There is a proper sense in which what we do in the liturgy is foreign to us and must be learned. Second, this liturgical ‘work’ is done by, “the people.” This was one of the central privileges recovered in the reformation, “the priesthood of all believers.” At that time liturgy had devolved into “the work of the priest.” And the Reformers, hearkening back to Scripture and the early church, said, “No! Worship is the work of the people!” That is why the liturgy is full of things for you to do, to say, and to sing. This is your work, our work, not mine. So give yourselves to this work! Labor in it by the power of the Spirit that we may “offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe” (Heb. 12:28).

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Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Another Beaton on the Trail

Greetings friends! Just wanted to let you know that Jennifer and I are expecting again! Please join us in giving thanks as well as praying for good health and God's grace upon mom and baby. This is just another aspect of walking in way of Jesus: learning to receive and acknowledge his blessings in our lives. We know and confess that the fruit of the womb is a reward from God (Ps. 127:4) and we are thankful that He has been pleased to bestow another arrow in our hands! Blessed be the name of the Lord!

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Sunday, July 6, 2008

A Table of Grace and Peace

We’ve noted this morning that Paul writes to the Colossians to show them the way to maturity in Christ, a way founded upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And here, spread before us this morning, are the symbols of His death and resurrection and our union with Him. This is where the people of God come to find grace and strength to grow up in all respects into Him who our Head. Access to this Table is one of chief benefits of our priestly standing as the “in Greer saints” of God. And it is at this Table that all “faithful brethren in Christ” express their active faith in Him. Furthermore, it at this Table that we receive “grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” In the bread and wine we see the symbols of God’s free grace and favor toward us in Christ. The bread and the wine train us to see that our salvation and growth in grace are to be received as a free gift, as grace from God. In the bread and wine we likewise see the symbols of God’s peace, his shalom, for Christ himself is our peace and has established peace between God and us by the blood of His cross. The bread and the wine train us to see that the peace we have with God and one another is nurtured and maintained at the Table, “For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). So then, are you in need of God’s grace and peace to strengthen you, to grant you growth to maturity in Christ? Then come, this Table is for you!

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8th Sunday after Pentecost: Colossians 1:1-2

This morning we begin a series on Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians. As one of Paul’s prison epistles, Colossians hasn’t received quite as much attention as Ephesians and Philippians, but it is well worth our attention. As I hope you’ll begin to see this morning, this letter should prove beneficial to our young church as we seek to be rooted and established in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This morning we will consider 1:1-2, but before jumping right in, I believe it will be beneficial for us to consider some introductory material.
The city of Colossae was located in the fertile Lycus Valley region of Phrygia in Asia Minor. It was situated along a major trade route running from Ephesus, 100 miles to the west, to the Euphrates, 400 miles to the east. In the centuries before Christ it was a great city. By the time Paul this letter, however, Colossae had declined in importance under the shadows of Heirapolis and Laodicea. Scholars agree that this is the least significant city to which Paul writes a letter. Yet, Colossae was something of a cosmopolitan city composed of both Jews and Gentiles. Among the Gentiles you would have some still clinging to the old gods of the classical Greek world, while others were no doubt drawn to the new knowledge found in the mystery religions. The Jews in this region had been brought from Babylon and Mesopotamia in the early 2nd century BC by Antiochus III.
The church in Colossae owed its origin to the evangelistic ministry associated with Paul’s three year stay in Ephesus from AD 52-55. According to Acts 19:10 Paul’s ministry at the school of Tyrannus resulted in all of Asia (Colossae included) hearing the word of the Lord Jesus. The church was likely founded by Epaphras, who is mentioned several times in Colossians and is described as, “our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf”(1:7). The church was likely composed of mostly Gentile converts from paganism as can be seen from various descriptions of their pre-Christian lives (1:21; 3:5-11). They were a young church, anywhere from 1-7 years old depending on when we date the letter, a church very much like our own.
So why does Paul write the letter? It appears that Epaphras has brought word to Paul that some false teachers are attempting to lead the young church away from her faith in the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. The identity of these false teachers is a matter of some dispute, but it is clear from the references to food, circumcision, and Sabbaths that they were Jews, perhaps even Jewish Christians. These false teachers were telling the Colossians that to grow to maturity in Christ they must adopt certain Jewish mystical practices. And in their youthful immaturity there was some danger of the Colossian being confused as to how to progress in their faith.
It is into this context of confusion regarding Christian growth – its basis and shape, that Paul wrote Colossians. His message in the book has been aptly summed up by one commentator as follows, “The way to maturity for the people of God does not lie in their becoming Jews, but rather in their drawing out, and applying to personal and communal life, the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” In other words, Paul sets before them (and us) the way to grow up in Christ, a way founded upon union with Christ in His death and resurrection, and a way that works itself out into every aspect of their lives as individuals, families, and a church. It should be quite clear how readily applicable and valuable this message is to us. As a young church, set in a culture at odds with the gospel, we too can become confused as to how to grow in Christ. Now, our temptation won’t be to seek maturity by becoming Jewish mystics (!), but we too hear a cacophony of voices advising us as to how to grow in Christ. So where do you go to grow in Christ? Well, Paul will tell you that you go no further than where you began with faith in Christ and union with Him in His death and resurrection. This faith in Christ and union with Christ provides you with all you need to grow to maturity.
Given this background and purpose, let us briefly consider how Paul begins this letter in his introductory greeting found in 1:1-2. As was typical in ancient letters, the opening is brief and serves to identify the sender(s), recipients, and the greeting. The way that each of these is described, however, is important and gives us insight into the purpose of his writing.
The letter is, of course, sent from “Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” In addition to the twelve, Paul was commissioned by Christ as an apostle in his vision on the Damascus road. Paul would often highlight his apostleship in contexts where he believed he might be challenged (such as Galatians). In this letter he probably simply wanted to establish his credentials at the outset. He adds that his apostleship is “by the will of God,” which not only reinforces his authority (not by the will of men), but also connects his ministry to the redemptive plan of God. Paul’s calling as an apostle, and his writing of this letter, were to be seen as a part of God’s will to bring about a new creation through His Son (see 1:25ff.). As was almost always the case, Paul also introduces a second sender, in this case “Timothy, our brother.” Timothy was, of course, Paul’s most trusted comrade and emissary in several quite difficult circumstances (to the Corinthians, the Philippians, and the Thessalonians for instance). And the title, “brother,” indicates not simply that Timothy is a part of God’s family, but that he is a trusted teacher. Perhaps Paul envisioned having to send Timothy to Colossae to assist Epaphras and Archippus.
Next, we learn something about the recipients of the letter. Following the Greek structure of the sentence, the letter is addressed to “the in Colossae saints and faithful brethren in Christ. Note how this description is balanced by the two references, “in Colossae” and “in Christ.” Paul is indicating that to be numbered among the saints in the visible church of Colossae is to be located also “in Christ.” The term “saints” means “holy ones” and is a priestly term. Just as Israel was called as God’s holy nation and royal priesthood, so also the Colossians has been set apart for priestly service in Asia Minor. And the same is true of you in Christ Jesus. As you have placed your faith in Christ and been baptized into Christ, you have been set apart as saints, priestly servants of your God and King. Furthermore, Paul describes the Colossians as “faithful brethren in Christ.” The term, “faithful,” simply means “believing.” The body (“brethren”)in Colossae were actively trusting in Jesus. But note where this ongoing faith happens: “in Christ.” The phrase “in Christ” isn’t specifying the content of their faith (they believe in Christ), but rather the means (union with Christ) of their continuing to believe. In other words, their ongoing faith in Jesus is itself rooted in their union with Jesus. And this is just what Jesus taught us in John 15 where he said, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (v.5). What Paul is telling us is that you can’t even continuing believing apart from union with Christ.
And to these believing priests of God in Colossae, with their need to grow into maturity in Christ, Paul conveys the following greeting: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The phrase “Grace to you” was similar to a traditional Greek greeting, but its meaning is transformed in Paul’s theology. “Grace” is God’s free love and favor in Christ, the riches of every spiritual blessing bestowed upon them in Him. Paul wants them to see that the Christian life and growth in it, are rooted and sustained in the gift of God’s favor. There’s nothing that they must “do” to grow, that is not already “given” to them in Christ. Furthermore, Paul greets them with, and extends to them, the “peace” of God. “Peace” is a translation of the Hebrew word, “Shalom,” which refers to wholeness and restored relations between God and man and between man and man. It is rich term signifying fullness of well-being, harmony, and life. This peace conveyed by God is Trinitarian in nature: it is established by the God the Father; it is mediated by God the Son; and it is preserved by God the Holy Spirit. It is to this Trinitarian peace that Paul commends the Colossians for their growth to maturity. And it is this Trinitarian peace that we extend to one another in the passing of the peace. Our practice of passing the peace in worship is actually training us to practice a better form of greeting one another. Paul doesn’t just say, “Hey, what’s up. My name’s Paul and I want to help you grow in Jesus.” No, Paul is concerned, even in his greetings, to define relationships by God’s grace and peace in Christ. And in so doing he actually shapes the lives of the Colossians.
So then, we’ve seen that Paul introduces this letter regarding the way to maturity in Christ by first assuring this church of their standing in Christ. We’ve seen that Paul identifies the Colossians as faithful priests who have united to Christ and commends them to the unmerited favor and shalom of God as the source for their growth in Christ. And beloved this is the source of your growth as well! All of you who put your faith in Jesus, who have baptized into Him, are reckoned saints, priests of God set apart to serve Him. You’ve united to Christ by God free gift and favor. He’s given you the gift of faith and sustains you in that faith by grace alone. He’s established peace with you and among you by the cross of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit. Look nowhere else for growth in Christ, but to Christ Himself in the company of His people. And as you seek maturity in Christ, encourage one another by practicing a better form of greeting one another by defining your relationships in terms of the grace and peace that come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

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Better than the 4th

Two days ago our nation celebrated, “Independence Day,” a holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. This is always a festive day, marked by parades, feasting, and fireworks. It is a time when families, communities, and our nation as a whole, come together to celebrate our independence. Even so, as God’s holy nation, the nation of His choosing, the Church of Jesus Christ has a Day to celebrate our independence from the Kingdom of Satan and citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Our Independence Day occurs on the first day of every week and is likewise to be a festive day marked by our own parade into the courts of heaven, feasting in God’s presence, and songs of deliverance and joy. This Day is likewise to be a day when families, communities, and nations, come together to celebrate our redemption. Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, citizens of His of heavenly kingdom, be sure that you enter into the celebration of this Day with joy and gladness far surpassing any this-worldly holiday. The holidays of this world are but parodies of the true holy days that mark the Church’s calendar. Whereas the holidays of this world tend to celebrate what one describes as, “the claim that man, especially in the exercise of political power, is able to bring about his own salvation as well as that of the world.” Our holy days celebrate the exercise of God’s sovereign power to bring about our salvation and that of the world through the person and work of His Son. In light of the surpassing greatness of what God has done for us, let us mark this Day with joy and gladness far surpassing that of the 4th of July! Amen.

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Thursday, July 3, 2008

Welcome

Greetings! Welcome to "The Beaton Trail" where you'll find my thoughts on what it means to walk in the Way. The Way, of course, is the Way of Jesus; the Way that He has established through the wilderness of sin and death and into the new creation of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Is. 40-55). The Way was also, however, an early name applied to the Christian Church (Acts. 9:2). Walking in the Way of Jesus is something done in the context of the Way, which is the Church of Jesus. I'll regularly be posting my sermons and other material from our services in addition to other thoughts on what it means to walk in, and among, this Way.

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