Freedom in Christ

Colossians 2:6-19

Have you ever felt inadequate? Have you ever had the experience with friends or even church people that you just didn't measure up to what they considered Holy. I have – quite regularly. I have found that there really are two parts to this. The first is listening to them in a way that you take it personally, and secondly allowing yourself to question what you know. I know Jesus came so that I can have a relationship with God. I know that I am loved just as I am, but somehow I am still trying to measure up. To what? Good question. My expectations, their expectations, what I think they are expecting, to the invisible and unspoken rules I seem to understand, or just what I think I should be doing - which usually includes a perfection I will never obtain here because it leaves no room for my humanity.

The Writer of Colossians is writing to a community of believers who are being told that they are not holy enough. They aren't doing the right things and that they will never be as Holy as them if they don't have certain experiences. This is the letter of response.

The writer of Colossians tells us to put the brakes on it. To stop trying to achieve human goals and remember who and whose we are. In verse 6 we hear “Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.” We are reminded that all we need to do is to accept Christ and then to allow him to work. How do we do that you ask? “Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught, and be filled with thanksgiving.” There is something about roots you need to know – they not only spread deep, but wide, they are bigger than the plant often and support it despite what it faces above ground. How do we do this, by building our lives after Jesus, by praying, fasting, listening, spending time in community with others, doing good to all, studying scriptures, worshiping and participating in Holy Communion as well as being Thankful.

Funny thing that thankfulness thing is. Sometimes I think that is in there not because we need to be polite and thank God, but because the very act reminds us of how blessed we are. By being thankful you give yourself time to recap the day not as what you missed, not as how inadequate you are, but completely focusing on God and his movements in our lives. Thankfulness is powerful and sometimes something we forget. When things are going well why do we need to think about it. The thing is if we practice it all the time, then we can find the blessings in our lives when things aren't going so well. This takes us out of the blame game and expectation picture and just reflects the glory of God. How often do you do this? I don't do it enough.

I love verse 8 where the author reminds us “See to it then that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by men and from the ruling spirits of the universe and not from Christ.” This is the moment when your best friend grabs you by the shoulders and gives you a reality check - “Dude don't let them tell you your worth, when you know that God finds you worthy of his love”. This is the moment when you get shaken awake from the entanglement. This is the death that is caused by the world, and how the world runs itself. Too often we forget just as the author tells us that we are baptized into Christ death and raised from that into new life. When we are baptized we no longer have to be held by those demands. We do not have to live up to anyone's expectations, just be a vessel for God to work in. We are a new being in that we no longer have to be trapped by anyone else's expectations. We are free, nothing separates us from God now but us. We are the only things that can stand between us and God. That is the beauty of Christ.

The author goes on to remind us that when someone is judging us in verse 18 then they have puffed themselves up and forgotten Christ. I think we do this when we judge ourselves at times as well. There is a difference between seeing our own flaws and asking God for help and holding ourselves up to expectations that we can't meet without Christ.

In verse 19 We hear, “Under Christ's control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.” Notice that it does not grow as the body thinks it should. It does not become with out God and so it can not evolve without God, yet this is clearly telling us that it does evolve and that God is in charge. If God is in charge do we really need to try to be in absolute control of things? What about when we forget to do those spiritual practices that give us roots? Then what - we forget to be the body and perhaps it is one of those pruning moments we face so often that has to happen.

We often sit in judgment of so many things, but in Colossians we are simply told to live into our baptism, to make space for God and watch what God can do. So how are you living into your baptism? How are you letting God help free you from the slavery of our human expectations, or the expectations the World places on you by media, social networks, and/or work? What are you doing to Grow space for God to work in your life? How do you see God growing the Body? Where are you on remembering the thanksgiving piece of this? How thankful are you?   

Need a Fill Up?

Luke 10:38-42

Colossians 1:15-28

Over the past few weeks I have been on over drive with church stuff to do. Have any of you felt like that, with some part of your life. You try to fit more and more in your day and feel like you are chasing your tail and still behind? If that pace lasts too long, and if you are anything like me, it will cue the frustration and feelings of inadequacy.

I think this is why I resonate with Martha so much and probably also why I have been confused by this passage for so long. Why is Jesus being hard on Martha? We were just told to take care of people last week with the Good Samaritan so why is Martha getting reprimanded? What does Jesus mean?

Then I hit upon the idea in one of the commentaries that perhaps it is the extreme service Jesus is warning us of. I looked up the passage in its original Greek with an English translation on a great website I have found (http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html ). When I looked at that, I realized that one of the words for what Martha was doing is business. I also found out that as a leader of the women in the early church, she was literally acting as one of the first deaconesses – connecting the world with the body of people and serving the people through her work and her hospitality. So she was busy with the business of hospitality. This is something that Jesus has praised before.

So what is different now? According to the Greek/English translation Martha is actually approaching Jesus in a state of near hysteria. She is so overwhelmed by the task at hand. She doesn't know where to start.....this sounds so much like my life at times!!!! Has anyone else felt this? So many things running down over you that you don't know where to or how to catch your breath. This was my month of June! We sold our house, found a new house, found an apartment, packed ten years of stuff, finished Kindergarten, finished youth soccer – which I was coaching, said good bye to our friends, our family and our home and headed to a whole new place. I was Martha about mid June – Jesus send me some help already. Don't you see I am drowning here? Get yourself moving and send me help!

Martha is there, panicking. There are so many needs around her and she is trying to fill them, both literally with food and figuratively with her gifts as a leader in the early church. This is when Jesus tells her to slow down. Martha, Martha is not a condescending pat on the back, it is an attention getting. He says it to slow her down. Then he tells her she is worried and troubled over so many things and only one thing is needed. When have you felt like that? So overwhelmed you can't even remember to do the one thing that is needed because it isn't a physical pressing need. Taking time to listen to someone when ten others are clamoring to you about their hunger is not easy. This is what we have to do everyday. What clamors for your attention? Smart phones, television, computers? What about meetings, groups, chores, and schedules? Appointments that seem to be more important than doing your devotions? What seems to sneak in and steal your time with God in prayer, devotion or meditation. It may be a good thing. It may be sharing your gifts and talents that God has given you, but if we never take time to refill with God like Mary then we will soon be empty. We will feel panicked like Martha because we can not fill those needs without God. We cannot use our gifts and talents without being replenished in Christ. We need to hold fast onto the center of our faith so that we may live, truly live out our faith.

Service and Word are required to live out true faith, but the service comes from the Word. We can not share with others what we do not have. We can not share the freedom from separation that God grants us if we do not take time to stay connected with God. The Word and the Spirit gives us strength to do the work in the world, without them we have no power do any lasting good.

So how are you going to refill with God? How are you going to let your Martha and Mary sides work together? What are you going to do to fill up with Jesus and then go out and serve the world in all of its neediness?

Walk this way

Today we hear many stories about people doing God's will. In 2 Kings 5:1-4 we hear about Elisha who cured an enemies lead commander because he knew God wanted him to. In Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 we hear about 70 disciples of Christ who were sent out to do God's will and their amazing testimonials upon return of what they had seen done in Jesus' name. In Galatians 6:16 we are told in a bit more detail what we are being called to do.

Paul starts out with something that is familiar to all of us – messing up. I know that I mess up – frequently. Paul reminds us that if we are to live out Jesus' message and experience the kingdom of Christ here on Earth than we need to be able to give each other a little Grace. Think about all the Grace God gives us everyday! How many times a day do we thank God for our blessings? How many times do we do things that need Grace to recover from. Paul is telling us right at the beginning of the statement, that the only way to be people of Christ is to treat each other with Grace. Not only are we to do it with Grace but we are to be aware of our own limits so that we don't begin to think that we are better than we are – so that we don't begin to think that we don't need Grace, we only have to give it out.

Then we are told to bear one another's burdens. Think about this one for a moment.... I don't know about you but it is a lot easier for me to help someone than it is to ask for help. In moving here I learned this the hard way. I did not want to ask for help packing. I did not want to burden friends and family. I did not want to bother anyone, and well part of it was probably pride. I didn't want to have to ask. I didn't want to feel inadequate, like I couldn't handle it on my own. I didn't want to admit to how overwhelmed I fetlt at having to say goodbye to the world I have come to know, to help my children navigate leaving the only home they have ever known and taking a leap of faith. Here you should probably know that until two weeks before we moved we did not have a place to live. When we did find a place to live we also found a home to buy but again had to make a leap of faith and decide on the spot if we wanted to own it. So there were a lot of things happening. Yet, my pride was still larger than ...well anything. I finally broke down and asked for help the last week as I panicked and started randomly throwing various items in random boxes trying to figure out how we were going to get anything done. This is a time that I needed to heed Paul's words. It is not my job just to help other people with their problems, worries and life situations, but I am to allow others into that uncomfortable space of helping me. I am to make room to receive help carrying my burdens. Have any of you felt that difficulty?

Paul goes on to explain this some more. If we pretend we can handle things all on our own all the time then we are deceiving ourselves because we can't. We were never meant to live in this world completely independently – we need each other and God. I want you to think now about a time that you have have needed help. Did you ask for it?

Paul continues to tell us more about how we judge. He began by telling us that if someone is making a mistake we should correct them kindly and lovingly and move on, but he also tells us that we need to look at ourselves before we look at anyone else. We have to stop and ask ourselves if we can be proud of the work we have done, the way we live, how we have treated others? We have to ask ourselves have we helped others carry their burdens, have we allowed others to help us?

Then Paul does something tricky....he tells us everyone has to carry their own load....after he told us to help each other carry their loads. What? I think Paul is trying to remind the people that we have to deal with the consequences of our own actions. If we choose to do something that is what we have to deal with, so make sure it is something we can be proud of. Make sure we are attempting to live in a Christian way and then we will have help carrying our burdens. If you choose to go against God than that you are going to have to deal with the consequences.

Paul goes a step further yet. He reminds us that our intentions are never hidden from God. That no matter what we are doing and why we are doing it God knows. If we try to deceive ourselves, we are doing just that we may be able to pretend for a while but we can never trick God. God knows the intentions of our hearts and that is what we will reap when we harvest. What seeds are you sowing? Paul even encourages us in v.9 “So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.” Sometimes it is so hard to keep working on this path towards God, but don't give up, because God is also working on us to keep us on the path towards God.

Suddenly Paul seems to switch tracks and talk about circumcision and writing in large hand writing. You see even in Paul's time if you wrote in all caps people knew you were yelling at them! He is reminding the people that there will always be someone telling you how to get to heaven, and what you should do, ought to do and what you are doing wrong. The thing is that often times they are the ones who have lost the way themselves. They have written a formula for actions when what is needed is a relationship with your heart. Paul tells us not to heed what they say and ignore them completely. What does matter “is becoming a new creature” in Christ. If you are not made new, if you nothing changes in your life because of your belief in Christ then you are not a Christian. We are made new in Christ for he is constantly perfecting us and pulling us toward him in deeper relationship so that we may live in his Kingdom, in his Glory NOW and FOREVER!!

So when we are tired, when our burdens are heavy and you are worn down. Remember it is not a formula that you need. There is no quick fix, but a relationship. You need a relationship with God and with the people God has put in your life to walk with you. We were not made to carry our burdens alone but to grow in love with one another and the community. This is Christ call for us.