KEEPING YOUR FOCUS

After taking last Sunday  to comment on the failed prediction of the end of the world, I am returning to Colossians.  In this chapter, Paul begins to tell Christians how they ought to live until that end comes.

Colossians 3:1-4

Textual Introduction:  Paul is making a transition here.  It’s an important one.  He has made his argument for the superiority of Christ as Savior and the superiority of the salvation Christ offers.  Now he is opening the way to talk about the superiority of the life Christ inspires.

This passage concludes the formal doctrinal portion of the letter and marks the introduction to the practical portion of the letter.  But, of course, just as there were practical lessons in the first two chapters, there will be doctrinal truths to be discovered in the next two chapters. 

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Have you heard reference to a “paradigm shift?”  The term describes those occasions when circumstances demand we change our whole way of thinking about events or issues. 

Such a paradigm shift occurs when we receive new information which causes us to look at circumstances in a different way.  Here’s a simple example.

Let’s suppose you stop one Sunday morning for a cup of coffee at a favorite fast food restaurant.  At another table there is a father and three young children.  The children are yelling at each other, running around the table, and generally making themselves obnoxious.  All the while the father just sits there;  he doesn’t offer to correct them, nor does he seem to be aware of the chaos they are causing.   You can’t help thinking how irresponsible he is and that you would have never let your kids behave that way.

At this point one of the children knocks over a chair which clatters so loudly it brings the father out of his stupor.  He quickly urges his children to sit down and eat their breakfasts before they get cold.  Then he turns to you.

“I’m sorry,” he says, “they’re usually much better behaved but they’re tired.  We’ve spent the night in the emergency room so I thought they might be hungry.  I’m waiting for my folks to come take care of them.  You see, my wife, their mom, died suddenly this morning and I don’t think they understand what’s happened.”

Now, if you have any kind of sympathy for the human condition, your whole way of thinking about those unruly children and that distracted father will change.  That change is a paradigm shift.

When Paul wrote the Colossians about their being dead to the old ways of thinking about how one attains God’s favor, he forced them to make a paradigm shift.  

Like most of humankind, the Colossians believed that somehow their own efforts were what would win God’s favor.  So, even after they had accepted the gospel, it was difficult to give up the ways of thinking which placed such great store by what one eats, the holy days one observes, the denial one could make to show depth of devotion.  Paul wrote them to help them recall that great paradigm shift which occurred when they first grasp the concept of God’s grace.

In this passage Paul is showing them why they should never return to the old way of thinking.  To do so, he challenges them to keep focused on Christ, the Triumphant Christ who shares the highest honor of heaven.

By focusing on the triumphant Christ all our attitudes and actions should change.

I

AS WE KEEP OUR FOCUS ON THE TRIUMPHANT CHRIST

WE WILL EXHIBIT A NEW INTEGRITY IN OUR LIVES.

The last chapter ended with a discussion of “earthly things” like diet and drink.  There Paul argued that the Colossians, and all of us, are freed from the domination of any religion based on self-effort by the fact that we have died with Christ.  Now he takes the next step.

Just as Paul assumed the Colossian Christian’s were sharing in Christ’s death, he also assumes they are sharing in Christ’s resurrection.  Their death with Christ meant they were free from having to respond to the demands of the old ways of doing religion.  Their resurrection with Christ means they could respond to the wonderful potential of the life which was theirs though Christ.

So he instructs them, “Set your hearts on things above.”  Just as they once showed a preoccupation with earthly things—food and drink for instance—now they are to be focused on “heavenly” things.  The specific focus of their attention was to be the Risen, Ascended, and Triumphant Christ.

In saying that “Christ is seated at the right hand of God” Paul is not inviting us to picture Christ as simply sitting around heaven waiting for his next scene on the stage.  The “right hand” suggests a place of honor and authority.  This is Paul’s way of underscoring the power of the Triumphant Christ, not to mention his taking yet another shot at any false teachers who might have tried to demean the role of Christ.

Spiritually, Christians have a share in his life and victory.  We don’t have to live as though chained by fear, guilt, and slavish taboos.  We can live in a brand new way.

We begin to live this new way when our thinking changes.  Nineteenth century commentator J. B. Lightfoot, whom I never found to be particularly succinct, is succinct at this point.  He says, “You must not only seek heaven;  you must think heaven.”

This concept is so important that Paul essentially repeats himself in verse 2.  The language suggests that the task of keeping focused is a demanding one.  The temptation to allow our focus to wander is always there.  Like the Colossians we always face the temptation to become preoccupied with the outward trappings of religion.  Even the most ardent believer may fall prey to them.

Although Tertullian was one of the second century’s most ardent defenders of orthodox Christianity, he fell prey to the appeal of the heretical group known as the Montanists.  He apparently saw this group’s legalistic lifestyle as a way to forestall what he perceived to be the growing moral laxity in the church.  Because his focus changed, Tertullian became a bitter critic of those he once considered his spiritual brothers and sisters.  Because his focus changed he lost all opportunity to actually change the church for the better.

When we are faithful in keeping our focus on Christ our lives will be transformed.  Once again F. F. Bruce speaks to this.

“Don’t let your ambitions be earth-bound, set on transitory and inferior objects.  Don’t look at life and the universe from the standpoint of these lower planes;  look at them from Christ’s exalted standpoint.  Judge everything by the standards of that new creation to which you now belong, not by those of the old order to which you have said a final farewell.”

While Paul will offer details describing this new way of living in the rest of the letter, for now we can simply say that new life is truly “thoughtful.”  That is, our attitudes and actions are not shaped by prevailing moods in our culture.  They are shaped by the standards of heaven.

Paul puts it another way in the opening verses of Romans 12.  There he tells his readers, “don’t let the world force you into its mold, instead let your lifestyle be changed because your minds have been transformed.”

The Christian, who lives in a world which defines good religion as a set of culturally acceptable attitudes and tame behaviors, could choose to live in light of those expectations.   Those Christians who stay focused on the Triumphant Christ know they can’t be content with the culturally acceptable. 

II

AS WE KEEP OUR FOCUS ON THE TRIUMPHANT CHRIST

WE WILL EMBRACE A NEW VISION OF OUR FUTURE.

(3-4)

 As we keep our focus on Christ we will not only begin to think differently about the here and now, we will begin to think differently about the future.  In short, we will face the future with a sense of anticipation and security.

1.  Paul wants the Colossian believers to face the future with a sense of security as they live for Christ in their world.  He writes, “your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  There are at least two valid implications we can draw from this statement.

*                                        Paul is saying we have a resource for living which others, who aren’t “in Christ,” can’t understand.   He tells them that their “true life is a hidden one in God, through Christ.” (Phillips)  Those who took so much pride in the external elements of religion, while claiming to have exclusive access to the eternal, invisible realm, don’t even have the privilege or spiritual attainment of the humblest Christian.  That humble Christian has a living, spiritual link to Christ.

*                                        Paul is saying that we are secure, that no matter what may occur in our earthly lives, we are spiritually secure.

Inside his compound in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden believed he was safe.  After all, he had lived there for years and no one had bothered him.  No one even knocked on the door to offer a copy of The Watchtower.  This might have gone on in the next decade but one night the Navy Seals dropped in.  His hiding place wasn’t really that safe.

Yet, the believer’s true life is “hidden in Christ in God.”  There it is safe and secure, completely safe and secure. Though the believer’s physical body may experience harm or death, his soul is secure.

John Newton expressed this thought in one of his hymns:

Though many foes beset your road,

And feeble is your arm,

Your life is hid with Christ in God,

     Beyond the reach of harm.

2.  Paul wants the Colossians to face the future with a sense of anticipation.

The reference to the Second Coming is an appropriate one this month because Christians have had to deal with yet another of a long line of those who believed they had cracked the code—where no code exists—and discovered the best kept secret in history:  The secret timetable for the end of history.  Such people have apparently forgotten that, at the hour of his Ascension, Jesus Himself said, “It is not your business to learn times and dates which the Father has the right to fix.” (Williams)  It wasn’t any of the church’s business then and it isn’t the church’s business now.

Still, the excesses of some should not prevent us from looking forward, with anticipation, to all that will be accomplished on that Day.  Two aspects of the event are important to us:

1.  We are told that “Christ…shall appear…”  That is, Christ will show himself openly as who he is.  There will no longer be any doubt in the minds of anyone regarding his identity.  The troublesome teachers at Colossae had denigrated him, suggesting he was inferior to a whole host of angelic beings;  at his appearing their teachings will be shown to be utterly false.

Those who dismissed him as a neurotic fanatic will be proven wrong.  Those who dismissed him as a failure because of his crucifixion will be proven wrong.  Those who dismissed him as merely a good man who said a lot of good things will be proven wrong.

2.  We are told that “You (the Colossian believers and all believers) will appear with him in glory.”  Phillips renders this “you will all share in that magnificent denouement.” 

Elsewhere, Paul reminds us that, at the Second Coming, we shall be changed to be like Christ.  This will be through the miraculous work of God, not through our own efforts, even though Paul will call us to strive to live in the light of that vision.

This verse is one of many in the New Testament which support the sometimes forgotten doctrine of glorification.  This doctrine says, in essence, that when God’s work of redemption and salvation are completed in us, we will be like Christ. 

Last week, we observed the anniversary of the opening of Star Wars back in 1977.  Pat and I were living in New Orleans when it opened and we took Philip who was only a few months old.  Being “impoverished” seminary students we went early for the “early bird” tickets.  The next day the movie was such a hit that there were no more reduced prices to see it anywhere in the US.  We were among the rare breed of Americans who went to the opening day of any of the Star Wars franchise and paid bargain prices.

Most of you in my generation and, I suppose, the next generation know that before there was Star Wars there was Star Trek and you will recognize the name of actor Leonard Nimoy.  Nimoy played the First Officer and Science Officer Spock on the TV series and in several of the movies derived from the series.  Spock, with his pointed ears, his incessant logic, and his love-hate relationship with human emotions (the by-product of having a Vulcan father and a human mother) was one of the series’ favorite characters.

The role was an actor’s dream and nightmare;  everywhere he went he was recognized, something any actor craves, but he was recognized as Spock.  Years ago Nimoy published a book entitled, I Am Not Spock, trying to distance himself from his best-known character’s persona.  Then, a few years ago, Nimoy published another book entitled I Am Spock, in which he claims that at least some of Spock’s qualities are part of his personality.

The Bible tells us that our innermost being will live forever. What makes you, you, and what makes me, me, will survive death and be recognizable for eternity.  At the same time, we are told that at the conclusion of God’s work of salvation we will be like Christ.  How can this be?

Leonard Nimoy’s situation is a feeble analogy.  People look at him and see both Nimoy, the actor and director, and Spock, the logical scientist and devoted friend of James T. Kirk.  In the same way, the doctrine of glorification teaches that somehow, throughout eternity, people will be able to look at you and see you and, at the same time, see Christ.  That’s the glory of glorification.

That hope is kept alive in our hearts by staying focused on the Triumphant Christ.

CONCLUSION

Does all this talk about staying focused on heavenly things not earthly things tend to create Christians who are “so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use?”  Some might think so but that is not the intent of this passage.

By focusing on Christ we have the grounds by which we may make the decisions we must make to live in our world.  It changes the way we treat one another and how we respond to the needs we see.  C. S. Lewis once wrote:

            A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

Since we’ve mentioned heaven, let me make one final point.  All the other religions in our world offer heaven to good men and women, only Christianity offers it to sinners.  That offer is at the heart of the paradigm shift inspired by the gospel.

Have you accepted the offer?

I Predicted This

I awoke this morning to the news that Harold Camping had revised his calculations to say that Christ's Return would be 22 October of this year. When William Miller's 21 March 1844 date proved wrong, one of his followers "corrected" the date for the Return to 22 October 1844. Didn't happen then either. (What is it with late October? Archbishop Ussher said Adam was created on 23 October 4004BC at about 9:00 am.) The sad thing is, there will be people who believe Camping. Miller, to his credit, stopped making predictions. Also, Miller, unlike Camping, never received millions of dollars from his followers.

Abraham Lincoln even told a story about a man who wanted to lecture in Springfield on "our Lord's Second Coming." Springfield, with it's muddy streets, wandering hogs, and outhouses that overflowed when it rained, prompted the lecture-hall manager to say, "If our Lord has been to Springfied once, he won't come again."

A Sermon I Might Have Never Preached

Once in a while circumstances demand a departure from a sermon series.  Certainly the end of the world is one of those occasions.  Frankly, I hadn't planned to talk about Harold Camping's predictions of the End on May 21 but some members asked me what I thought.  So, I decided there might be an interest and put together this sermon, using some materials I had presented in a class on American church history.    I would never predict when the Lord will return but I will predict a sermon like this will needed again--sometime.   Having said that, see my next post, "I Predicted This."

2 Peter 3:3-4

The scoffers Peter talks about were mistaken but so too are those who mark their calendars with the assurance of Christ's Return on their schedules. Things are seldom the same after such a debacle.

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When I first saw the billboard on Morse Road, I thought its message “Judgment Day May 21, 2011” was some kind of advertisement.   But I couldn’t really imagine just what it would be promoting.  Maybe some major event in the world of professional wrestling?  In time, I realized it was talking about “Judgment Day,” the one in the Bible.  I was teaching a church history class at the time and drew a comparison to events in early nineteenth century America, especially the story of William Miller.

As the nineteenth century began, Americans had a flirtation with the skepticism that was part of the European culture, especially in France.  Some Americans began to claim the church had lost its appeal, that the gospel had nothing to offer.  In Kentucky, some communities began with no intention of ever having a church.

Then, about 1801, a spiritual awakening began throughout the land.  Thousands were converted and the spiritual live of the nation was revived.  It was during this revival that the camp meeting became a feature of Christianity on the frontier.  Camp meetings drew together men and women from miles around.  They experienced powerful emotions that were manifested in unusual behavior—shouting, barking, something called “the jerks.”  In time, these excesses subsided but some at the camp meetings engaged in speculation about the future.

Peter Cartwright (1785-1872) was converted at the famous Cane Ridge camp meeting, August 1801, and became a Methodist evangelist.  He spent years as an itinerant evangelist at camp meetings and became something of an authority some of the strangest behaviors at the meetings.  His later years were spent as a presiding elder in Kentucky and Illinois.  He served in the state legislature in Illinois and was defeated in a bid for the US Congress by another transplanted Kentuckian, Abraham Lincoln.

The following excerpt is from Cartwright’s autobiography where he talks about some of the most disturbing things he noticed:

From these wild exercises, another great evil arose from the heated and wild imaginations of some. They professed to fall into trances and see visions… and, under the pretense of Divine inspiration, predict the time of the end of the world, and the ushering in of the great millennium.

This was the most troublesome delusion of all; it made such an appeal to the ignorance, superstition, and credulity of the people, even saint as well as sinner. I watched this matter with a vigilant eye. If I opposed it, I would have to meet the clamor of the multitude; and if anyone opposed it, these very visionists would single him out, and denounce the dreadful judgments' of God against him. They would even set the very day that God was to burn the world, like the self-deceived modern Millerites. They would prophesy, that if anyone did oppose them, God would send fire down from heaven and consume him. Such a state of things I never saw before, and I hope in God I shall never see again.

Some American Christians were already fascinated with the future when William Miller came on the scene.

After his conversion from Deism in the mid-1820s, Miller became a Baptist lay preacher in his native New England.  In 1828, Miller began studying Biblical prophecy.  A few years later, he began promoting March 21, 1844, as the time of Christ’s Second Coming.  When Christ did not come—even after the date had been revised—Miller defended himself by claiming the biblical texts had been improperly transmitted or that God was testing them.  His followers (30,000 to 100,000) had staked their future on his claims. Though they never wore ascension robes and sat on hillsides to greet Christ, some sold their businesses and gave away their money.   Many were disheartened by “the great disappointment” but others continued to follow Miller.   It seems incredible but some of his followers continued to await Christ’s coming which they believed was only weeks or months away.   Though Miller stopped making predictions, one of his followers named October 22, 1844, as the date of Christ’s Return.  When that didn’t work out, more of Miller’s followers left but some remained.  (I suspect Harold Camping will still have followers even after this weekend.)

In the eyes of most non-Christians, all Christians were seen as foolish.  Historian Ernest Sandeen wrote, “The failure of [Miller’s] predictions disillusioned most of his followers and marked the whole millenarian cause, rightly or wrongly, with the stigma of fanaticism and quackery.”

J. Edwin Orr, a student of spiritual awakenings, suggests that Miller’s folly was one of the three major reasons for the decline in American Christianity in the mid-1800s.

Interestingly, in the late 1840s American mental health specialists—yes, there were some back then—began to admit patients to asylums with conditions related what they called “Millerism.”

Christians may have stopped talking about the future for a while, but eventually it became a topic of conversation again.  The most responsible leaders did their best to prevent even the hint of date setting. 

Still, some would make the wildest predictions and once again bring embarrassment to the churches.  That should surprise no one.  It had happened before Miller and it was hardly surprising that it happened again.

There are scriptural warnings against such date-setting but ignoring scriptural warnings is hardly unprecedented.  And, of course, it is always possible to tweak the Scripture if we need to.  Take, for example, Jesus’ words, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”  That might seem to put an end to date-setting but it doesn’t.   All someone claiming to know the date has to say is, “Of course, Jesus was talking about that time and those people.  He didn’t say that later Bible students wouldn’t have clearer insights or receive special revelations.”  There have always been those willing to claim such insights or revelations.  Just as important, there have always been those willing to believe them.

The question is, why are they willing to believe such fantastic claims?  I’ll begin to answer that by pointing to some generalities.  Certainly, we have to mention ignorance of the Bible.  Some Christians have never grasped the great themes of the Bible so they can spot someone misusing the text or presenting an imbalanced perspective.  They’ve never learned even the most basic principles for interpreting the Bible.  Then, too, people are susceptible to being misled if they aren’t part of a Christian community that offers a corrective balance.    We all need to be in a place where a Christian brother or sister will hear us out and then say, “I wonder if that is true.”

With these in mind, let me offer a few more reasons why some would follow a teacher like Harold Camping.

1.        Some are tired and are yearning to escape what they perceive to be a difficult place to live.

Look at the news.  There is war in the Middle East, a seemingly endless war.  There is an uncertain economic future.  Parents are murdering children.  Children are murdering parents.  When you were a child you played out of sight of your parents until your mother called you home for the meal she had spent the day cooking.  Today, you panic if your child is out of your sight for only a moment.  It is a frightening, unforgiving world.  No wonder some people long to leave. 

Not only does the Rapture promise escape for the faithful, it promises judgment for the wrongdoers.  Injustice will be righted.  The tables will be turned.

2.  Some relish having an edge, to claim insight the rest of us don’t possess.

Remember the taunting voice of the snotty little kid you grew up with saying, “I know something you don’t know.”  If knowledge is power, special knowledge is special power.  It sets us apart, it suggests privilege, and it marks someone as being a favorite.

The false teachers we’ve been looking at in Colossae used that appeal.  They claimed special knowledge.  It’s a situation that feeds off pride.

3.  Some people want to be on the winning side.

The desire to be on the winning side is so strong that evidence saying we are wrong is ignored, denied, or explained away.  Psychologists call this “cognitive dissonance,” a symptom Marvin Pate discusses in his book Doomsday Delusions.  Some were disappointed by yesterday but will almost certainly continue to listen to Harold Camping, continue to send him support, stand willing to mark their calendars with the next date he offers.  Their hearts and minds cannot let them accept the fact they were wrong.

After being part of a group claiming to be at the forefront of prophetic insight, it would be hard to return to a sedate, ordinary church

Then, too, it might be hard to return to a church where the pastor and almost everyone else chose not to accept your take on the End, wouldn’t even adorn their cars with May 21 bumper stickers.  Even if they did not mock you, their kindness would be hard to take.

Like many of Miller’s followers, you might simply drop out of church or join some cult.

Maybe the best antidote to these ways of thinking is a balanced Christian world view.  That only comes when we are willing to acknowledge our limits, rely on the word God has given us, and rejoice in his grace that sustains us even when times are tough.

Those in Peter’s day who scoffed at the idea of the Second Coming, needed to have a correct perspective on God’s dealings with the world.  We do too.

We also need to remember that Christians have long differed in their views of the end.  The popularity of the “Left Behind” series has caused some people to believe all Christians believe the same thing about how it all will end.  We only have to go back to the beginning of the 20^th century to get a clearer picture.

Christians tended to approach the new century either with optimism or pessimism.  Some Christians argued that things would get better and better.  The church would usher in the Kingdom, an era marked by peace and justice.  This is a view called post-millennialism.  Other Christians, embracing the increasingly popular premillenialism, insisted that things would get worse and worse, only Christ’s return would make a difference.

Consider this hymn by H. Ernest Nicols, one you may have sung at a mission conference:

We’ve a story to tell to the nations,
That shall turn their hearts to the right,
A story of truth and mercy,
A story of peace and light,
A story of peace and light.

Refrain

For the darkness shall turn to dawning,
And the dawning to noonday bright;
And Christ’s great kingdom shall come on earth,
The kingdom of love and light.

Written in 1896, the hymn reflects the postmillennial idea that the preaching of the gospel and the advance of Christian ideals would transform the world to the extent that it would be ready for the arrival of Christ’s Kingdom.  It’s hard for us, still in the early years of the 21^st century, not quite a decade after 9/11, to appreciate the optimism with which many Christians greeted the 20^th century.  For most, that optimism would not be shaken until 1914 and the beginning of “the Great War,” sometimes called “the war to end all wars.”

Again, perhaps at the same mission conference, you’ve sung this little song.

Work, for the night is coming,
Work through the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling,
Work ’mid springing flowers;
Work when the day grows brighter,
Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming,
When man’s work is done.

Written a few years earlier by eighteen-year-old Anna Coghill, this hymn is also about evangelism but it clearly has a different view of the future.  The church had to get busy because the night was coming when the opportunity to win others to Christ would be no more.

One thing both perspectives held in common is the truth that God is in charge.  When the sun rose this morning, I hope those who may have been disappointed yesterday, really remember this.

Conclusion:

A couple months ago, Pat and I were eating at a Chipotle’s at Polaris.  A man walked in wearing a hat and tee-shirt with the “Judgment Day May 21, 2011” statement.  But what really got my attention was the man’s son, who couldn’t have been more than seven.  The little boy was also wearing a “Judgment Day” shirt and hat.

I remember wondering, does this little boy have any idea what his slogans mean.  Today, I am wondering what that father has told his son this morning.  Did he say, “Son, I was wrong?”  Or did he say, “Son, we’ll be getting some new hats soon.” 

I wonder if that little boy is in Sunday school this morning and a church somewhere this morning.  Somehow I doubt it.

Still, I hope that somehow, at some age, that little boy will encounter a church committed to the Bible’s message, not to the message of some guru who claims insights unavailable to us ordinary Christians.

I hope that little boy learns a balanced understanding of the Christian faith.  I’m speaking of an understanding that includes the “last things,” but is not obsessed with the future, an understanding that affirms our certainties and admits the limits of our knowledge. 

I hope that little boy encounters a church that declares the good news of God’s grace.  I want him to learn to marvel at how many will be saved, not take delight in predicting how few will be saved.

I want him to enjoy fellowship with spiritual brothers and sisters who are united by a common commitment to Christ, not by a slavish surrender to some extra Biblical scheme for understanding the future.

I want him to learn that humility about our assertions is not necessarily doubt and that arrogance about our beliefs is not a sign of faith.

I want him to find real peace, real joy, real hope.

For that little boy’s sake, for the world’s sake, I’d like us to be that kind of church.

[1]  Preached 22 May 2011 following Harold Camping’s failed prediction of the end of the world on 21 May.

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Throw Away the Rule Book

 After preaching this sermon, a couple people mentioned their own experiences growing up with relatives or family friends who had their own rule books.  These folks would criticize them for breaking some unbiblical rule or criticize their parents for allowing them to break the rule.  This sparked another memory.  When I was still a teen, my Sunday school teacher told about how she would sometimes visit an out-of-state friend and attend that friend's church.  This church had strict rules about wearing jewelry--any jewelry--so my Sunday school teacher had to remove her wedding rings whenever she visited.

Colossians 2:20-23

Years ago in another state I knew a pastor named Tom.  Tom belonged to another denomination and was what we would call a church planter.

Tom’s vision was to start a church which would minister to students at the University of Missouri at Columbia.  Although his denomination had several churches in the area none of them was making a concerted effort to reach those students.

One Friday evening Tom’s fledgling church sponsored a pizza party at a local bowling alley.  Several young people who had never before visited the church came.  Tom felt it was a good experience.

The following Monday, the local presbytery of Tom’s denomination met for its monthly business session.  During that meeting Tom was confronted by a local pastor who said, “I heard your church had a party at the bowling alley last Friday and that your young women were not dressed very modestly.”

Shocked at this charge, Tom asked, “What do you mean?”

The pastor said, “Your young women were wearing pants not skirts.  We don’t think modest young women dress like that.”

Tom tried to reason with the pastor, “Well, I think our young women are very modest and when you think about it, it’s probably more modest for young women to wear slacks instead of skirts when they bowl.”

To this the angry pastor replied, “Son, I can remember when we preached against chewing gum and coffee!”

The church has more than its share of people who have rulebooks to govern every aspect of the lives their fellow Christians.   It occurred to me when I was thinking about including this story that someone, perhaps from Tom’s own group, had to have reported on the event to that irate pastor.  Maybe he had a spy in Tom’s camp.  Perhaps, among those young people there was one who shared the older pastor’s outlook.  No doubt this spy, like the pastor, could tell just how spiritual the men and women were by how they dressed, by the kind of entertainment they enjoyed, the music they listened to, and, probably, by the respective lengths of their hair.

You’ve encounters such people.  They make you feel uncomfortable, judged.

Sometimes, more than our feelings are involved.  You see, this pastor and others like him were able to persuade their denomination to withdraw support from Tom’s efforts to build a new church to reach a large, unreached group of people in that community.

Paul had heard that the Colossian Christians were succumbing to the arguments of those who carried around checklists by which they judged the spiritual lives of others.   He saw this as a major threat to their spiritual well-being and to the effectiveness of their witness. ^[1]

In response, Paul held up their demands for examination, examination in the light of what Christ had done for and in each believer.   In so doing, the apostle reminds us of a basic principle of spiritual growth:  Growth comes, not from our outward actions, but through an inward openness to Christ’s work.

 Dead with Christ

A fundamental assumption in Paul’s understanding of the Christian life says that each believer has “died with Christ to the basic principles of this world.”

You see, we are by faith spiritually linked to Christ’s death.  In this case he sees our ‘death’ as grounds for declaring ourselves free from the power of rules to control our lives or shape our hope of a healthy relationship with God. 

Maybe you’ve seen the Monty Python “dead parrot” skit.  In it an irate customer attempts to return a parrot to a pet shop.  When he purchased it he had been told that the bird was simply resting.  After he got home, he discovered the bird was dead.  No matter how much the clerk tried to coax the bird into saying or doing something, it wouldn’t respond.  It was dead.  Or as the frustrated customer put it:

'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!

What was said of that famous parrot could, according to Paul, be said of the man or woman in Christ.  We should be just as immune to the ploys and demands of any religious ideology which suggests we may please God by what we surrender.

When Paul speaks of  “basic principles of the world,” he may be speaking of actual spiritual entities.   More likely, he is using the false teachers own terminology to make clear the freedom enjoyed by the simplest believer.  The God’s Word translation takes this approach:  “If you have died with Christ to the world’s way of doing things, why do you let others tell you how to live?”   The Message puts his challenge this way:   “if with Christ you’ve put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? ”  Paul knew the Colossians had a lot more freedom they should have been enjoying.

The Appeal of the Rule Book

The great Scottish preacher Alexander Maclaren said:

“It is strange, and yet not strange, that people should think that, somehow or other, they recommend themselves to God by making themselves uncomfortable, but so it is that religion presents itself to many minds mainly as a system of restrictions and injunctions which forbid the agreeable and command the unpleasant.  So does our poor human nature vulgarise and travesty Christ’s solemn command to deny ourselves and take up our cross after Him.”

Paul would agree because, although he portrays the lifestyle which makes so much of rules and taboos as a kind of servitude, it is a lifestyle which has perennial appeal.

Its appeal is rooted in the fact that it dupes us into believing that our own actions can somehow contribute to our salvation, that we can achieve a spiritual status which allows us to appeal to Christ’s sacrifice as a supplement to our efforts, not our only hope for salvation.

The names of the teachers and their followers have changed but their techniques have remained the same.

Had the false teachers at Colossae merely been repackaging the Ten Commandments to fit contemporary moral challenges, Paul would not have been distressed;  he was outraged because they were attempting to make their rules do what even the Law was never intended to do.

In Galatians Paul tells us that the Law was designed to bring us to Christ.  That is, the Law shows us how far we are from God’s ideal and the impossibility of our securing God’s favor through our own efforts.

The rules and taboos being taught by the interlopers in Colossae actually tended to point a person away from Christ. 

Paul hints at the lengths to which the purveyors of these taboos would go in their attempt to micromanage the lives of others.

“Touch not, taste not, handle not” mimics the scolding voices of the legalists as they followed one another around during the day.^[2] 

They seemed to think that ordinary life is rife with exposure to sin and corruption.  It’s the attitude that would create hermits or religious recluses in the centuries to come

Sadly, those who place themselves under such rules can make themselves sound so spiritual that unwary Christians are tempted to join them.  Once they join these rule-makers, they quickly discover that they have placed themselves under true control-freaks.  Freedom becomes a memory as they pursue a course laid down by others.  No wonder Paul expresses surprise at the Colossians actions.  Paul’s passion was rooted for freedom was so great he couldn’t understand anyone being willing to be enslaved.  Behind this passion was his understanding of the truth about Christian growth and maturity.

The Truth of the Matter  (v. 22-23)

The truth of the matter is that what appeared to be spiritual maturity was actually spiritual immaturity.

It was spiritual immaturity because it focused so much energy on what was really unimportant.  The legalists had their priorities all wrong. 

Look at verse 22:

Paul is saying that the matters treated with such regard will ultimately perish, so the implied question is:  How can you make such a fuss over temporary things?

Paul could be saying that the things referred to in the prohibitions are intended for human use, intended to be consumed by men and women freely and without guilt.  This is the more important point. 
       Jesus said something similar in Mark 7:18, “…Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him `unclean'? [19] For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body."  Jesus literally is saying, What you eat isn’t important because it’s into the stomach then into the latrine.  Mark then adds, “In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’” 

All the fuss over things like food, drink, clothing, and so on is a waste of time.  These things have nothing to do with spirituality.

When we put so much emphasis upon externals we begin to judge others.  More importantly, we begin to judge ourselves by faulty standards.  We may begin to see others, who don’t share our taboos, as spiritually deficient, while we see ourselves a spiritually accomplished.  And, most dangerous of all, we begin to see ourselves as having attained this lofty status through our own efforts.

We need to pay attention to Paul’s warning because this tendency to maximize the trivial may grip any of us.  A few years ago a well-known evangelical writer spoke at a national WMU meeting.  This man is known for his challenging messages calling Christians to a higher level of social responsibility.  That’s an important challenge for all of us to hear, but when he spoke to the WMU this man said, in essence, that any Christian who drives a large, expensive car is failing to follow Christ’s example.

Frankly, I find it hard to see how this is much different from saying that coeds who wear pants are obviously immodest, yet this man’s speech won national acclaim for its unvarnished call to discipleship.    We can only wonder what this author of several dozen books would say to a speaker who said, “Anyone who wants to be like Christ will give his books away.”  The point is, the man probably doesn’t drive a big, expensive car, so it’s easy to decide that driving one shouldn’t be something any Christian should do.

You and I have to be continually vigilant lest we fall prey to the legalism in any of its forms.

Then, the legalist’s way to spiritual maturity was actually the way to spiritual immaturity because it betrayed an ignorance of the dynamics of spiritual growth.

Put yourself in the place of someone standing on the sidelines of the church in Colossae, someone with little insight into spiritual issues.  A new Christian, perhaps. 

Arrayed before you are two kinds of Christians:  Over here are those who enjoy eating a bacon, cheeseburger or maybe a good medium, rare steak with a few shrimp on the side (a meal which break more kosher rules than you can keep track of).  You never see these Christians praying or talking about visions they’ve had;  and, while they’re faithful in coming on the Lord’s Day, they seem to ignore the other holy days. 

At the same time, you see another band of Christians and they are a real contrast to the first group.  You know they are so scrupulous about their diet that they don’t even partake of some food and drink which you thought a kosher diet allowed.  You’ve heard they follow a stricter diet because it allows them to have a deeper experience with God during their meditation.  Whatever may be the explanation for their diet, it’s clear they are committed because they observe all the holy days without fail.

Still imagining yourself a new Christian, now that you’ve seen these two groups of Christians, which one is obviously the more spiritual?   Of course, the second group.

Paul would understand your mistake.  He seems to understand how appearances can be deceiving.   Such a legalistic lifestyle seems to reflect an inherent wisdom and suggest spiritual depth. 

                But, ultimately, all such practices have no value in controlling the impulses which give birth to sin. 

While this lifestyle might beguile some into following it in an effort to become more spiritual, it could easily repulse others.  Some would look at these rule-bound Christians and say, “How pious they are.”  Others would look at them and say, “How silly they are.”

One year, while I was still serving a church in Texas, I flew to Houston to attend a meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.  I flew with a fellow pastor named Sam.  Sam served in a community that was even more remote and smaller than Dawn where I served.  No kidding, a sign near his church said “Earth 15 miles.”

Since I had once lived in Houston, Sam thought he should stick with me.  So he did.  During a lunch break, Sam and I set out to find something to eat.  We found a small restaurant near the convention center.  A sign said it served “the best hamburgers in Houston,” a claim verified by several reviews posted on the window.  We went in and got in line, a long line.  The place’s popularity boded well for our meal.

We’d been in line quite a while when Sam grabbed my arm and said, “We got to get out of here.”  As he pulled me to the door, he said, “They serve beer in here.”  I hadn’t been planning on having a beer, but I had been planning on having one of “the best hamburgers in Houston.”   Instead, I had a fast food burger that I could have bought in almost any town in America.  Sam not only intended to “touch not, taste not, handle not,” he decided he would not sit near someone touching, tasting, handling.  Anyone seeing us run from the restaurant probably wouldn’t be inclined to hear us witness about the freedom we have in Christ.

In verse 22, Paul is implying how real and abiding spiritual growth comes.  It comes as God works in our inner being to transform us.  The outward sacrifices we make don’t matter if the inner person hasn’t been changed.  And, often, if the inner person has changed—by the power of the Spirit—the outward sacrifices may be unnecessary.

This is the great lesson Paul wants to teach:   Growth comes, not from our outward actions, but through an inward openness to Christ’s work. 

Knowing When to Toss the Rule Book

Have you composed your own rule book to help shape your pilgrimage?  Are you wrong?  Not necessarily. 

We always have to be aware of the danger of becoming legalistic.  In light of this we must always be ready to evaluate our personal rules and if necessary abandon them.  

These are some guidelines to help you know when to toss the rule book.

1.       Beware of any rule which cannot be rooted in the clear and consistent teachings of Scripture.

2.       Beware of any rule which is not open to modification in the face of changing circumstances.

                3.    Beware of any rule which exacts demands more severe than those of the Scripture.

                4.    Beware of taking rules which might help you and imposing them on everyone.

                5.     Beware of rules which confound the message of grace.

6.     Beware of rules which cause you to judge others in light of how they subscribe to those rules.

CONCLUSION

The rule book gives us the illusion of control.  With it we can manage our spiritual growth, with it we can control the frightening prospect of our brother and sister’s living freer lives than we do, with it we can control God by establishing the circumstances in which he must bless us. 

When we throw out the rule book we surrender control to God, the one who is rightfully in control.  With God in control our freedom becomes a joy, not a nightmare.  With God in control our potential becomes reality.  With God in control we can rest.

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[1] Where did these teachers come from?  James Dunn suggests they may have been Jewish onlookers who were jealous of Christians, especially those from Gentile backgrounds.  “Christians had taken over Jewish claims and privileges for themselves, and this would have roused their ire.  The could not tolerate their claims to be redeemed by the God of Israel when they rejected the identity markers that set God’s people apart from the unwashed hordes.”  Whether they were Jews or not, they had a scheme for do-it-yourself spirituality.

[2] Some believe the list hints that even sexual relations between married persons were forbidden by these legalists.  Since special holidays or feasts were mentioned the prohibition may have applied only during those times.