Text: Col.3:1-11
3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Jesus says in our gospel reading for today:
“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15
In a sense Jesus is asking, “What is your focus, hope or trust?”
Paul in our epistle reading for today is asking his Colossian hearers their focus, hope, or trust and to put on the new self, to live in the new hope which is their life in Christ - to set their minds on things above and not on things that are on the earth.
Perspective is a wonderful thing. The further you get away from something the smaller the object appears. The view from above can make the enticements vanish and problems seem not as consuming. But, perspective can also be viewed from below, in the midst of turmoil and through the coveting of the flesh where the joy of Christ can be so far away and hidden from view that you can't see Jesus. The Colossians, were losing their focus on Christ. They were being pulled in different directions.
Some wanted to pull them back to the Law and its requirements. Col 2:4
Some wanted them captive to philosophy, empty deceit, and human tradition, according to the world. Col 2:8
Some wanted to pass judgment with questions of food and drink, a festival, new moon or a Sabbath. Col. 2:16
And some were feeling disqualified for not measuring up by those who were puffed up and self righteous. Col 2:18
You might know how this might feel.
Death though is the universal equalizer.
Satan stamps us at birth as his children, Dead to God, as we discussed last weekend. He is our father and we are his offspring as Jesus reminded the unbelieving Pharisees in John Chapter 8 saying:
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
But for the Colossian believers and you and me we are now marked, Alive in Christ in baptism, by the working of the Holy Spirit for all who believe, as we have died to self and have now been buried in baptism and raised to newness of life by faith in Jesus.
Where is your focus and perspective?
Are you looking at self and the things of this life or are you looking to our hope in Christ? We like the Colossians can all fall victim to our sinful flesh and the working of the devil and have our perspective turned inward.
In this life - that which looks bad [loss of loved ones, jobs and the like] God can use for good and that which looks good [earthly pleasures] the devil can use for bad.
Paul says:
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:
That maybe easier said than done in this world where we live daily.
I’ve shared in the past some of my own failing in sermons – guitars and banjos, bikes – both the pedaled and motorized verities. Even riding mowers once captivated my focus. When you have to cut the grass a riding mower can become an idol too.
For some maybe it’s the cottage, the 401K, the good
life in retirement, sports, reunions, favorite restaurants, music and clubs, life on your terms and your way each and every day.
For others it’s the phrase: “I’m spiritual not religious.”
“I believe,” they say, “I just don’t go to church.” Or, maybe it’s we who say for them, “They believe, they just don’t come to church.”
Let me put it another way by analogy.
If I said, “I love baseball.”
But, I don’t like watching it. I don’t like going to a game. I don’t like playing it. I don’t like participating in it. I don’t like reading about it. But I say, “I love baseball.” You might question my love for the game.
Can God bring you to faith on your road to Damascus? Absolutely!
Can God open the eyes of the blind like he did with Paul by the sending of an Ananias to restore sight? Certainly!
Can God promise that thief on the cross – being close to death - that today you will be with me in paradise! We know he can!
But God also desires to work through the means he has provided, of word and sacrament, and he has promised to be where they are rightly preached and rightly administered. Where Jesus is, his gifts are delivered to those in attendance and his gifts bring hope, forgiveness and life. That is his church gathered in worship.
Paul calls everything - apart from Christ - idolatry.
Name your poison he says, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire or coveting. We are victims of it all, you and me, our children and grandchildren, friends and foes alike.
We all look to remove the spec from our brother’s eye while not seeing the log in our own eye. All earthly passions can point us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
6 On account of these Paul says, the wrath of God is coming.
If Christ is not your leader certainly another god / idol will fill his place and the wrath of God awaits all not covered in his righteousness.
7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
In the world, but not of the world we might say.
I myself feel like Paul - Chief of sinners though I be - I have been given so much in Christ and yet I stumble and fall daily. Sin covers even my good works so that my own pride can negate the work of God.
Forgive me and all Lord, who in anger speak evil of a fellow believer.
Forgive me and all Lord, and help me pray that your wrath be lifted off those who think wrongfully of your church, so that they may also receive the full blessing of your care.
Forgive me and all Lord, so that the malice of thought and the slander of speech may be buried from our lives, and may you by your Spirit turn our coarse and obscene talk into voices of praise.
Let this life of faith become a new life in Christ daily, as we die to self and live to Christ remembering his work, restored in the image of the creator who desires all to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Remember this, God has many children but no grandchildren. All who come to faith become his child. We therefore must pray, witness, and encourage those in our life to desire and cherish what God has done for them and in them by his Spirit.
11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, [or] free; but Christ is all, and in all.
And I might add for all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
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