31 December 2006
An
old “Calvin and Hobbes” comic goes like this:
CALVIN: OK, Hobbes, I've got a plan.
HOBBES: Yeah?
CALVIN: If I do ten spontaneous acts of good will a
day from now until Christmas, Santa will have to be lenient in judging the rest
of this last year! I can claim I've turned a new leaf!
HOBBES: Ten spontaneous acts of good will a
day? That's pretty many.
CALVIN: Don't remind me.
HOBBES: Well, here's your chance. Susie's coming this way.
CALVIN: (making a snowball) Maybe I'll start
tomorrow and do TWENTY a day.
New
Year’s resolutions, how many here have made them? How successful have you been
in keeping them? What’s the outlook on 2007? I think for most of us, our
resolve dissolves just like Calvin’s.
In today’s passage Paul reminds
the Colossian believers (and us) that in Christ they have "died" to
the present world. He encourages believers
to live the new life as though they really mean it. This is how he begins:
Since, then, you have been
raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at
the right hand of God. Set your minds
on things above, not on earthly things. For
you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then
you also will appear with him in glory.
His inspired words remind us that we are to seek a higher and better life, completely secure in Christ. And that we should live in joyful anticipation of a
glorious life with Christ hereafter.
Does setting our hearts on things above
mean that we are to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good? No, for
those who have do the most good on earth are those who have the hope of heaven.
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness . . .”, said Jesus. “Aim at heaven and
you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither,” wrote C. S. Lewis. Like the needle of a
compass that always points North, so should we always be drawn by a Heavenly
pull.
For
you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then
you also will appear with him in glory. (v.3)
Jesus is the divider of history and of
personal lives. Dying in Christ means “abandonment of evil ways,” rising in
Christ means “the acquisition of virtuous ways.” “Jesus is Lord!”—This is the
basic confession of believers. This is as radical now as it was in the days
when to declare anyone other than Caesar to be lord meant persecution, even to
the death. Witnessing with our lives is to confirm the reality of our faith.
Our life in Him is “hidden”—kept safe and perfected—now, but it will be
revealed in all fullness and glory at the coming of our Lord. The “Day of the
Lord,” His Second Coming, is described as “great and terrible.” It is to be
hoped for by Christians and dreaded by those of “contrary disposition”. ‘The coming of Jesus Christ is not a
peaceful thing,” wrote Oswald Chambers, “it is a disturbing thing, because it means the destruction
of every peace that is
not based on a personal relationship to Himself.”
There
was once a young boy named Ben who had heard more than one sermon about the
importance of surrendering his life to Christ.
For the most part, Ben seemed to exhibit the selfless and kind
tendencies that would take some a lifetime to acquire. Yet it disturbed his parents when Ben
stubbornly resisted invitations to give his life to Christ. He had no excuses or explanations—he simply
told his mom and dad, in his best pre-school English, that he wasn't ready.
This went on for several months. Then,
one morning as the family sat around the kitchen table eating their Cheerios,
little Ben announced that he was ready to give his life to Christ. He then got up from the table and went
upstairs. His parents looked at each other and then followed him. More than half-expecting to find Ben on his
knees in prayer, instead they found him folding his Star Wars pajamas into his
Sesame Street suitcase. "Ben, what are you doing?" He answered,
"Packing." "Why?" "To go to heaven," he said.
Then they understood why their child hesitated to give his life to Christ. He thought that, in so doing, he would have
to leave home and take up residence, literally, with Christ in heaven. (adapted from Wendy Murray Zoba)
Like little Ben, we should so desire the things of the Kingdom so much that the things of earth grow strangely dim in comparison to the anticipation of Christ’s appearing. For we are “aliens and strangers on earth...longing for a better country -- a heavenly one (Heb. 11:13, 14).”
‘The great creeds of the church teach that Christ is coming back. The Nicene Creed states, “He shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.” Charles Wesley wrote seven thousand hymns, and in five thousand he mentioned the Second Coming of Christ. When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, he laid the crown on her head with the sure pronouncement, “I give thee, O sovereign Lady, this crown to wear until He who reserves the right to wear it shall return.”’ {Billy Graham, “The Hope of His Coming”}
He came and will come again,
yes, but he is also here with us, in us, through the Holy Spirit. We are the
temple of the Holy Spirit. As we live in the time between times, the already
and not yet; in two worlds, the old and the new which are continually in
tension, what is to be our true motivation for living better? Earlier in his
letter, Paul wrote:
“Therefore,
as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in
him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in
thanksgiving.” {Colossians 2:6-7}
It is the fact that by His incredible and awesome act of love, the Lord has included all believers in the death and resurrection of Christ. Having been saved by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus we answer to the highest authority, above all things on earth, including ourselves. This truth, alone, ought to be enough to make the child of God live for Christ!
For the grace of
God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say
"No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for
the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for
himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus
2:11-14)
In a sermon entitled, "Christmas 365 Days a Year," Stuart Briscoe gave the following challenge:
‘"The Bible says we're being changed from glory to glory even by the
Spirit of the Lord. Do you know what you ought to be able to do at the end of a
year? You ought to be able to look back
and see some specific ways in which you have grown spiritually. There ought to be evidence of new habits,
new attitudes, and new abilities relating directly to the fact that you're
being changed by the Spirit of the Lord. Can you think of one overwhelming
weakness that had you by the throat at the beginning of this year? Do you
honestly believe that if Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, came into your
life, he could release you from it, and you could live in newness of life? You
say, 'I don't know about that.' Nothing is impossible with God. If it is part of the divine will, it rests
well within the divine capability."
And as we
affirmed together today,
Our faith and its assurance do not proceed from flesh and blood, that is
to say, from natural powers within us, but are the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost . . . who sanctifies us, and brings us into all truth by his own working,
without whom we should remain forever enemies to God and ignorant of his Son,
Christ Jesus. . . . {The Scots Confession}
It is never out of place, and never too
often, to be reminded that our standards must come from Christ, not from our
preconceived notions or the philosophies of the world in which we must live for
now. “When Jesus is revealed we shall be like Him. And
everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John
3:2-3).” And so Paul writes,
Put to
death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality,
impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath
of God is coming. You used to walk in
these ways, in the life you once lived.
But now you must rid yourselves of all such thing as these: anger, rage,
malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to one another,
since you taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new
self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. Here
there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,
slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe
yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love,
which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of
one body you were called to peace. And
be thankful. (vv. 5-15)
The Lord is very direct—one could say
ruthless—in His commands and directives regarding the behaviour of His people.
There is no equivocation with regards to ethics or morals or patterns of
thought when the Christ-life is ours. Evil and good are clearly set before us
throughout the Scriptures, leaving no grey areas, no “wiggle-room”. We are called to cast off
vices of the pre-Christ life as one would worn-out, filthy, even infected,
clothing, even as the Spirit clothes us in the new, pure robes of Christ’s
righteousness and holiness. “Christ is not
valued at all unless he is valued above all.” {Augustine}
Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another in
all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in
your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (vv.
16-17)
J. B. Phillips put it this
way,
Let Christ's teaching live in your hearts, making
you rich in the true wisdom. Teach and help one another along the right road
with your psalms and hymns and Christian songs, singing God's praises with
joyful hearts. (v16)
In order to carry out the Lord’s desires for our
lives and this world, we need to make the effort to get into the Word of God,
the Bible, and let it get into—“dwell”—in us. That is why we encourage you to
bring your Bibles to Church, to join a study or small group during the week.
You may be able to “get by” in your walk without these things, but God is
calling you to persevere and overcome—and this is made so much easier by being
strengthened in Christ by feasting the whole counsel of His Word.
A couple of weeks ago the choir sang a
great gospel song, “Soon and Very Soon,” and many of us were resistant to the
idea of standing and clapping, even dancing, as they sang—though some of us did
so. Eventually most of the congregation was at least on its feet and a few were
clapping. Why the resistance? Because we’re Presbyterians, the “frozen chosen”?
As we heard from Isaiah,
In
that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and
you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be
afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is
my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: “Give thanks to
the Lord, call on his name; make
known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is
exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Shout, and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of
Israel among you.”
Joy exhibited by shouts, singing, raising
hands, clapping, and, yes, even dancing, ought to be natural if we are in Christ.
Thankfulness, joy, singing and the proclamation: When I was under the wrath of
the Lord, He redeemed me.
As he concludes this part of his letter to the
Colossians, Paul gives a basic rule that ought to be our daily resolution for
life. It is this that should be adopted as our primary New Year’s resolution.
“Whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him.”
Since, then .
. . whatever you do . . .
Whatever you do in the
coming year: Don’t forget the price Jesus paid.
Whatever you do: Don’t
misuse the life you’ve been given.
Whatever you do: Forget
those things that are behind and press ahead.
Whatever you do:
Keep your mind on the things of heaven.
Whatever you do: Remember,
Christ shall come again.
As we seek to
rededicate our lives and work to you, Lord God, grant us purity of heart and
strength of purpose, that no selfish passion may hinder us from knowing your
will, no weakness from doing it, but that in your light we may see clearly, and
in your service find our perfect freedom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
{Adapted from Saint Augustine}