Wednesday, November 9, 2016

God's Guardrails (RP1)


Introduction

            For those of you who are parents, you know it can be really, really hard work. My girls are both in their 20’s now and parenting seems much different now than it was when they were little girls—probably not easier but certainly different. For example, parents now have to navigate the murky waters of trying to educate their kids about why it is acceptable for a man to use the women’s bathroom simply because he happens to “feel” like a woman. We didn’t have to parent around that kind of foolishness. When my girls were little, my wife and I spent most of our time teaching them how to not destroy themselves. You see, little kids are no different than anyone else—within all of them lurks the sinful nature. We talked about the sinful nature in last week’s lesson. Let’s review what I said:

Sinful Nature

            The sinful nature is best understood when we have a clear understanding of the nature of sin. Rather than trying to enumerate all possible sins specifically, the “nature of sin” allows us to understand sin more generally. Sins can be categorized as either sins of commission—doing what we should not do and sins of omission—not doing what we should do. In order to establish a baseline for sinful behavior, there must be an objective standard against which behavior is measured. “The ultimate objective standard is God’s absolute moral perfection, and anything that falls short of it is sin…Since God’s moral nature is the standard of perfection, it follows that whatever is imperfect is sinful by nature.”[1] It is important to understand that sin was not created or planned by God. “The originally created conditions for and in humankind, designed by God, were perfect. However, by an illicit usage of free choice, sin made its entrance into the world, leaving a ghastly marring of God’s unblemished creation. The subsequent state of human sinfulness left Adam’s race humanly (but not divinely) irreparable. When this fallen condition is viewed in the light of God’s absolutely perfect nature—the ultimate standard of purity and holiness—the stark contrast reveals the horrible picture of human depravity.”[2]

Not long ago, a single mom, who happened to be an unbeliever, ask me what she could do about her young son who was giving her so much trouble. She just couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t obey her. She was only interested in doing what was best for him but he just wasn’t cooperating. She did everything for him; provided everything for him, but he kept on doing things that were so self-destructive and she wanted to know why. So I tried to explain to her the basics of humanity’s sinful nature. The minute I explained that the sinful nature within her son was no different than the sinful nature within all humanity, she looked at me with total shock and didn’t want to hear anymore. It’s hard enough to get an unbelieving parent to acknowledge the sinful nature within themselves, getting them to acknowledge the sinful nature within their children…forget it! But that’s exactly what parents are dealing with as parents—the nature within ever child that is bent on self-destruction. That’s why we all need guardrails in our lives—that’s right, guardrails!

What, you might be asking, do guardrails have to do with raising children? Let me explain: It is a parent’s solemn duty to provide parameters within which children can live, grow, and learn. Those parameters create a kind of safety zone for their children much like guardrails create a safe passage to travel along a road that can be treacherous. The guardrails we build for our children are lessons of what is right, what is wrong, how we should treat people, and how we shouldn’t treat people. Well in case you’ve forgotten, we are all children from God’s perspective. In fact, those who confess belief in Jesus can call themselves children of God (1 Jn 3:1). It is God’s will that all people will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus (2 Pet 3:9) and become redeemed children of God. Consequently, like a good and loving parent, God constructs guardrails for humanity—guardrails for the ways we should behave and guardrails for the way we shouldn’t behave. You could call them God’s Guardrails. However, like disobedient children, those who still reject Jesus see God’s Guardrails as obstacles to a life of happiness and fun. But that’s not God’s intent at all. Instead, God constructs guardrails so that we don’t wind up destroying ourselves and others. God’s Guardrails are in place so that we can live freely; so that we will not only have life but have life in all its abundance (Jn 10:10).

Subject Text

Colossians 3:1-14

            1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Context

            Although Paul is quite familiar with the church in Colosse, he did not found this particular church community. Instead, the church in Colosse was formed by Epaphras who first heard the message of the gospel from Paul, perhaps in Ephesus, and who Paul now considers a fellow servant. The impetus for this letter from Paul begins when Epaphras visits Paul in Rome to give him an update on the church in Colosse and the believers in the nearby cites of Hierapolis and Laodicea. The believing community was growing in numbers, in faith, and in love for one another—all very good news. However, there was bad news too—the Colossian church had been infiltrated by false teachers who didn’t believe that faith in Jesus alone was sufficient for salvation. These false teachers claimed that they possessed a special divine knowledge apart from Christ that was essential for salvation. This was the Gnostic heresy that affected so many of the churches in the region. The false teachers also emphasized the need for strict ritual observances, angel worship, and ascetic self-abasement. Ultimately, they were teaching many things about holy living and salvation except the sufficiency that is found in Christ alone. But Paul wasn’t having any of it so he addresses these matters in his letter to the Colossians. Although Paul makes it clear that faith in Jesus alone is sufficient for salvation, Paul explains in our Subject Text what the appropriate actions and attitudes should be for those who ultimately put their faith in Jesus.

Text Analysis

1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

            The language of vv. 1-4 does not refer to Christ’s resurrection specifically but to the believers’ resurrection to new life represented by their baptism that symbolized the death of their old lives when they entered the baptismal water and their new lives when they rose out of the baptismal waters. Paul calls them to set their minds on heavenly things because that is were Christ, with whom they are united, now resides. “Our home with Him is not simply in the region of the things above, but in the highest position there, at God’s right hand.”[3] Paul continues by calling them to set not only their hearts on the things above but their minds as well specifically because they are dead to the old lives and now live united with Christ.

Paul’s language, however, seems odd to us when he says in v.4 that our lives are hidden with Christ in God. What exactly is Paul saying here? This is the only place in the New Testament that references the hiddenness of believers. It is a motif that Paul started in chapter one when he tells them that he was commissioned by God to preach the message that was previously “hidden” to the generations but has now been “revealed” to them in the person of Christ. “This ‘hidden’ / ‘revealed’ motif is fundamental to the widespread Jewish apocalyptic worldview. According to this perspective, many things relating to God and his purposes exist in the present, but because they are in heaven, they are hidden from human sight. But the apocalyptic seer is given a vision of these things, things that will one day be revealed as they come to pass and are seen by people on earth. So, Paul suggests, at the present time our heavenly identity is real, but it is hidden. We have not been physically transported to heaven; nor do we, who belong to the heavenly realm, look any different from those around us who still belong to this world. Verse 4 affirms that this will one day change. In the meantime, our true status is veiled; and, though we may not look any different than those around us, Paul’s point in this context is that we certainly need to behave differently.”[4]

            In some of Paul’s other letters to the various churches he planted, he refers to believers either implicitly or explicitly, as having a kind of dual citizenship. Their citizenship here on earth among their respective communities and their citizenship in heaven. The former being a physical citizenship and the latter a spiritual citizenship. Ultimately, the two will one day become a combined reality. However, until that day comes, believers are called to allow their spiritual citizenship to inform their physical citizenship specifically because who they are as spiritual citizens is who they will one day be revealed to be in their physical citizenship as well. “As citizens of heaven, Christians have the responsibility to think consistently with their citizenship and live holy lives. Paul’s own idea of his heavenly citizenship allowed him to live in a way that freed him to be all things to all people…This citizenship here provides the ground for Paul’s commands to avoid thinking in an earthly way, and instead to follow his example as befits one who rejoices in God’s goodness, praying and thinking in a God-centered way.”[5]

5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

            If we are to set our minds on the things of heaven then the converse must be true that there are things of earth that could occupy our minds. Paul says we are to put these earthly things to death. There is clearly a correlation between this instruction and Paul’s teaching that we have been crucified with Christ and no longer live but that Christ lives through us (Gal 2:20). Let’s remember that Paul makes the distinction that the things of heaven are the things of the Spirit and represent our new, redeemed nature. While the things of earth are the things that still fall under influence of Satan and his demonic forces and are represented by the old, sinful nature. Paul identifies the signs of humanity’s sinful nature or earthly nature in v. 5. The list is not intended to be exhaustive but is instead intended to be like categorical headings beneath which all sinful actions and attitudes can in some way or another find a place. “While Paul opposed the false teachers’ asceticism and regulations, he still forbade certain activities that had no part in believers’ lives. If the Colossian believers were to live as examples of Christ, they had to put to death certain aspects of the sinful earthly things lurking within them—the sinful nature, the old self. Again, Paul was describing the ‘already’ and ‘not yet’ of believers’ lives. Although they had died with Christ and had been raised with him, they were still susceptible to temptation and the evils of the sinful nature.”[6]

6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

            Paul reminds them in v. 6 that it is because of humanity’s continued sin that God’s righteous anger; His wrath, will one day necessitate His judgment on those who continue to reject his love revealed through Jesus Christ and His prescribed way of living. “The wrath of God is not to be set in sharp contrast with the love and mercy of God. It is often asserted that if God is truly love he cannot be angry. But wrath and love are not mutually exclusive. In the NT as well as in the Old, in Jesus as in the prophets and apostles the proclamation of God’s mercy is accompanied by the preaching of his wrath. A holy God does not stand idly by when men act unrighteously, transgress the law, show disdain to him as creator or spurn his love and mercy. He acts in a righteous manner punishing sin in the present and especially on the final day. Yet God also acquits the guilty, and only the person who understands something of the greatness of his wrath will be mastered by the greatness of his mercy. The converse is also true: only he who has experienced the greatness of God’s mercy can understand something of how great that wrath must be.”[7]

7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

            It’s safe to assume that most of the Colossian believers were first generation Christians since this letter was written less than 30 years after the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Consequently, they would be well aware of what life was like before they became Christians. Paul makes reference to the sinful way they once lived in v. 7 and insists, in v. 8, that they rid their lives of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. I’m guessing that some, maybe most, of you felt pretty comfortable after the first list of don’ts in v. 5: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. But this list in v. 8 hits closer to home, at least for me—especially that last one. Do you notice something interesting about these two lists? It’s a subtle distinction but the sins from the first list serve to destroy ourselves primarily while the sins from the second list serve to destroy others. Of course sin is destructive for all people involved, the perpetrator of the sin and the victim of the sin, but some are particularly destructive for the perpetrator while others are particularly destructive to the victim.

Paul has now covered both dimensions of sin, those we commit that serve do destroy ourselves and those we commit that serve to destroy others. Paul says believers should engage in none of them. You know what? I have been, and still am to a certain degree, guilty of all of them. That last one, “filthy language,” was a particularly troublesome one for me many years ago. When I was younger, profanity was a significant part of my every day vocabulary. It was one of the many things that plagued my character and was prominently displayed for all to hear—believers and unbelievers. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve made a concerted effort to purge profanity from my vocabulary specifically because of this verse. I can already imagine people rolling their eyes at me about this muttering something like: “What’s the big deal? They’re just words!” And to a certain degree, that’s true. But before you dismiss the profanity that passes your lips as being just harmless words, think about something Jesus once said, “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them (Mt. 15:11).”

It is interesting to note how many pastors now find it fashionable to use profanity from the pulpit. They justify it because Jesus, and sometimes Paul, could be very graphic in their language at times. But this served the specific purpose of making a specific ministerial point. Pastors use it today as a way to connect to their audiences; to give the impression that they’re no different than the people they are preaching to. Think about how odd this is—pastors are supposed to be an example for their congregation to follow not the other way around. Instead of showing the people a different behavioral pattern they become like those given to their care for fear of being labeled irrelevant. Honestly, this just doesn’t make sense to me. Here’s what I find interesting and something I want you to experiment with—can you engage in anger, rage, malice, or slander without some form of filthy language? Go ahead; see how far you get engaged in any one of these before filthy language flows from mouth or your thoughts. Not as easy as you thought is it? “Christian speech is not determined solely by whether it is true or false [right or wrong] but by whether it helps or harms another.”[8]

9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

            Paul continues to denounce destructive behavior by forbidding them to lie to one another in vv. 9-10. Paul uses the language of removing and putting on clothing to describe their lives.  Like an old, shabby piece of clothing, they have taken off their old lives; the “old self” and put on a new, finely tailored piece of clothing; their new lives; the “new self.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read these verses and just realized something that I missed before. Our old self only got older. In other words, before we were saved, our sinful lives only got more sinful. However, when we took off our old selves and put on our new selves something changed—unlike the old that gets older, those who have put on the new self are continually being “renewed!” The new are constantly being renewed. Odd enough but Paul then adds a twist of confusion when he says that believers are renewed in the knowledge of the image of their Creator. What does Paul mean by this in v. 10? Let me see if I can give you the short version: You have to go all the way back to the very beginning of creation. In Genesis 1:27, we are told that God created humanity in His image. Each of us has been imprinted with God’s image. You may have heard it referred to in Latin as the Imago Dei. Don’t think of “Image” as an outward physical appearance. Instead, think of it as a characteristic—we have been created with divine characteristics! That can be a hard thing to believe in our world today can’t it?

My girls both work in hospitals and they tell me heart-breaking stories of sickness, addiction, abuse, broken homes, and death. Throughout the world, hatred, destruction, and death are on display for all to see. It hardly seems like a world filled with people bearing God’s image. Well I can assure you the divine image is still there even though it has been grossly distorted by sin. Not long after God created humanity in His image, humanity sinned and that pristine, divine image became tarnished. Over time, humanity’s sinful nature became more and more distorted with no way of correcting that distortion. However, all that changed when Jesus was crucified and gave us the opportunity to crucify our sinful nature by believing in Him. Once we make the decision to believe in Jesus, the divine image within us becomes a little clearer and thereafter becomes less and less distorted every day as we adjust our lives to the teachings of God’s Word. What Paul is saying is that every day we learn, or perhaps more accurately, re-learn what we were created to be from the start; what it means to be created in God’s image. “Christ is said to be the image or likeness of God. There is no difference here between the image and essence of the invisible God. In Christ we see God. By participating in Christ man has once more gained the image of God which man was intended to be. Christ realized man’s destiny to be God’s image which was marred by sin. In communion with Christ we are transformed into his image.”[9]

11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

            Remember I just said that all humanity has been created with God’s imprint; His image. That means all humanity not just some of humanity. When people become believers and continue to live in faithfulness and obedience, God’s image becomes clearer in each of their lives. God’s image is equally divine and valuable in each and every person even though it may be all but invisible in some. That’s why Paul says in v. 11 that there is no difference between those who have been redeemed by Christ because Christ died the same way for all people; He did not die more for those who believe their sin is greater than others. There is a popular Christian idiom that goes something like this: It is not possible to look down on the sins of another while we kneel together in the shadow of the cross looking up at the One who died on the cross for each of our sins. When Paul says that “Christ is all, and is in all” he is saying that all of creation is sustained in and through Christ. Because Christ’s work on the cross has the same power to save all of us equally, there can no longer be a distinction of value between people who differ socially, politically, ethnically, economically, physically, or genetically. “It is precisely because of the cosmic scope of Christ’s work, including above all his act of reconciliation, that such internal divisions and ways of categorizing peoples and individuals have ceased to have meaning as determinants of Christian self-perception, conduct, and relationships…Anyone who recognizes God in Christ to that extent will find such human distinctions and boundaries relatively trivial and unimportant. If ‘Christ is everything and in everything,’ then nothing can diminish or disparage the standing of any one human in relation to another or to God.”[10]

12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

            Paul first spent considerable time telling the church of Colosse the things they shouldn’t be doing, in the earlier verses, he now tells them how they should behave in vv. 12-14. Does the list identified by Paul sound familiar; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, forgiveness, and love? This is the other principle I told you about last week: Life according to the Spirit. Let’s review that briefly as well.

Spirit Life

            Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we receive His promise of the Holy Spirit who resides within each believer. Additionally, the sinful nature has been crucified so we are to rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “The Spirit is given in the place of Christ’s bodily presence. Before the pivot of history, the Spirit was not yet unreservedly self-offered as indwelling. Afterward, when the risen Lord ascended, he promised that the Spirit would come as helper and abiding companion of the people of God, and that the Spirit would accompany the witnessing community until he personally returned. The Spirit reproves and challenges the faithful to accountability to the holy God…the Spirit’s work of grace is amid the most inward dimensions of human consciousness. There is nothing too subtle or dense for the Spirit to penetrate or too sinful for the Spirit to cleanse or too weary for the Spirit to refresh or too dark for the Spirit to understand or too dead for the Spirit to breathe life into again.”[11]

Technically, the fruits of the Spirit are usually formally recognized in Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Gal 5:22-23). However the list in our Subject Text is not very different from the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians. Considering both lists were compiled by Paul, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that Paul understood both to be the fruits of the Spirit since all the characteristics listed are essential qualities found in God—compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. These form the elements of the wardrobe of the new self to be worn by those who have been washed clean by the blood of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 6:11; 1 Jn 1:7) and whose distorted imprint of God’s image is constantly being renewed. The garments of the old self, by comparison, are mere torn and filthy rags that no longer have a place in the wardrobe of any believer. Once the believer has been purified; washed clean through the forgiveness of their sins, the new self must only wear new garments. “The first piece in the believer’s fashionable wardrobe is compassion, which refers to ‘heartfelt sympathy for those suffering or in need.’ The next item in the believer’s wardrobe is kindness, the friendly and helpful spirit which meets needs through good deeds. This is the concrete action of compassion…The believer is to be clothed with humility, which is a proper estimation of oneself. Humility is not a self-abasing attitude but an attitude that is free from pride and self assertion. The believer is to be clothed in gentleness, sometimes translated ‘meekness.’ Gentleness has been described as ‘power under control’; the picture of a powerful horse under the control of its master is a helpful image. The attitude behind gentleness is an attitude of refusing to demand one’s rights. The believer is to be clothed with patience which is the capacity to bear injustice or injury without revenge or retaliation…Believers are to go beyond quiet resignation positively to forgive whatever grievance [they] may have against one another. Believers have been fully forgiven by Christ, and the forgiven are obliged to become forgivers…Paul saves the most important item of clothing for last. Without love, all the other virtues may amount to mere moralism and little else. When love is present, there is harmony and unity in the community.”[12]

Application

            You’ve possibly heard God referred to, usually by unbelievers, as a “cosmic kill-joy” because the Bible contains so many lists of things we’re no supposed to do. And while the Bible as a whole certainly contains universal truths for the benefit of all humanity, our Subject Text speaks specifically to those who call themselves children of God through their belief in Jesus Christ. Let me get back to parenting for a minute. When my girls were young, we never let them play in the front yard unless either me or my wife was with them because there is a street right in front of our house that is well travelled—it presented an unacceptable danger. However, they were free to play in the backyard by themselves because it is fenced in all sides. So I ask you, where were they more free to be little kids—in the front yard within just a few feet from the threat of grave injury and even death or in the backyard where the possibility of scraping an elbow or stubbing a toe was the most imminent threat? God is like any other loving parent who wants the best for their child. What seems like rules to keep us from having fun are really more like guardrails along a winding road lined with treachery, death, and destruction. Along one side of the road are the cliffs of sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. Along the other side of the road are the jagged rocks of anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lies. God’s Guardrails keep us from plunging our lives into an abyss on one side or from smashing our lives against the rocks on the other side. God’s Guardrails allow us to travel unimpeded along the admittedly narrow road that is paved with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. Once we realize that God’s Guardrails are there for our benefit; for our safety, we can be free—free to be renewed into the people God created us to be; people created in His image—“God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.”




[1] Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2004), pp. 106; 110.
[2] Ibid., p. 120.
[3] W. Robertson Nicoll, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. III, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983), p. 537.
[4] Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon—The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008), p. 250.
[5] Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, Daniel G. Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 141.
[6] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 882.
[7] Peter T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon—Word Biblical Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2000), p. 185.
[8] David E. Garland, Colossians/Philemon—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998), p. 205.
[9] Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), p.
[10] James D. G. Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and the Philemon—The New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), p. 227.
[11] Thomas C. Oden, Life in the Spirit, (New York, NY: Harper SanFrancisco, 1992), pp. 49-50; 55.
[12] Max Anders, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), p. 331.







(Audio version; Music: "Crucified With Christ" by: Phillips, Craig, and Dean and "I Surrender" by: Hillsong)

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