Colossians and The Compartmentalizing of Faith

My favorite book in the New Testament besides the Gospels is Colossians. It may be a little letter compared to a Romans or the Corinthian correspondence, but I have turned to Colossians and let those rich expositions of Jesus sink deep into my heart. It certainly seems that most of Paul's letters, not all, were motivated by some sort of church problem. We aren't told exactly what the church problem is outright in Colossians but we do see a picture of the Apostle who is working hard for this church. Colossians 2:1, says that Paul was struggling for the church in Laodicea as well as the Colossian church. If you go back to the first chapter and look at what Paul writes about the importance of Jesus, a picture emerges if you will of a church struggling with a Jesus problem. A problem not so much that they didn't like Jesus, but they seemed to want like a lot of us do, a little bit of Jesus and whatever we want. I think the problem in Colossians is really a problem of "me." Don't misuderstand, not me personally, but as in all ages, the real problem in the churches in Colosse was a problem with self. They had embraced the gospel, had put Christ in baptism, and were walking in the newness of life, but the earthly nature still haunted them (3:1-17). Paul calls this self-absorbiton idolatry. Usually when there is a "me" problem in a church, it is idolatrous. Idolatry is a harsh word. True, but it's what we do when put other things before Jesus. The image were presented with in Col. chapter 1 is one of Christ being first place in our lives. The problem at Colosse is really our problem too. Let's renew our minds and put Christ where he belongs, in the driver's seat of our lives. 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:15-20)

It seems that the Church there struggled with a Jesus problem. They struggled putting Jesus first in their lives. Paul reminds the church not to live like they once they did, so evidently some of the brethren were turning back to their former life. Paul spends a lot of time in his Colossian letter talking about the newness of life. We need a letter like this one. A letter to remind us of our priorities. A letter that paints a grand and elaborate picture of Jesus as supreme. A letter to encourage us to "put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature" (Col. 3:5). At the beginning of chapter 3 Paul mentions the importance of setting our hearts and minds on things above, not on earthly things. When we think of earthly things we get weighed down with the things of the world. I think this is some of the Colossian problem. They had Jesus, and were doing okay, then they took their focus off of Christ. And once they were focus was on "self" they were right back in their old rut of sin. I get the hint from the letter of Colossians that maybe these believers after having messed up might of wondered whether or not there was any hope for them. We have wondered they same question? We don't like to admit it, but we have at times wondered there was any grace left on our spiritual credit card. In Colossians several times, Paul mentions that they were saints, redeemed, made alive in Christ. In Col. 3:3, Paul writes, "for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." When we wonder whether or not there is any grace left for us in our desperate moments, may we be reminded of the security of Savior's love. His grip on us is held securely by his grace. The cross is our greatest comfort. "13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Col. 2:13-15). Despite the problems at a church like Colosse, they were given a message of hope, one that Paul reminded them existed in the gospel. When we ponder the mystery of the hope of glory, Christ in us, we ought to renew our sense of awe that is found in the truth of the gospel. The Colossians may have struggled with security, and to counter this buckling of their knees, Paul reminds them of spiritual identiy in Christ. I wonder why Paul would point to a believers baptism in a letter like this to encourage them in their journey? I think because Paul knew that in a believers baptism we reenact the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This is a life changing event, that connects us with the story of Jesus. And while points them to this key event in their life, we are also aware that what baptism assures us is a process of daily becoming like him. Paul puts it this way, we "have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ isall, and is in all" (Col. 3:10-11).

They at one time had no doubt had a personal faith in a very real Jesus, but things changed as an element of a contingent of false teachers who were successful in their endeavor to derail the Colossians. But it seems one of the contemporary similiarites that we share with our brothers of yester-year is the compartmentalizing of our faith. We neatly divide our lives into spiritual, work, family, financial aspects of our lives and we try to keep things this way. In chapter one of Colossians Paul paints a picture of Jesus that is larger than our attempts to divide our lives into neat little categories. The Jesus we encounter in the letter of Colossians, and the one that emerges throughout the story of the New Testament is that Jesus is supreme. Those that follow Him, must rid themselves of everything else that hinders us in the journey. Christianity isn't about our likes and dislikes, but about becoming like Christ. I came across this qoute today in Soul Seaching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers on page 148. The following exerpt is from Sociologist Nicholas Townsend. He is commenting on predominate view of religion in America. His claim is that most Americans have an instrumental view of religion: "Many men hold an ... instrumental view of religion. Particularly when talking about the role of religion in their children's lives, the men I talked to emphasized its practical or behavioral aspects and never mentioned transcendence or fulfillment. For many people in the United States, religious observance is imposed on them as children, dropped when they are yound adults, and resumed once they become parents. Parents of young children enlist religion as a source of values with their view of children as malleable...Given this image of children as sponges, and a sense of the world as full of bad influences, it is hardly suprising that many parents turn to the churches as allies in their struggle to protect their children...The men I talked to... equated "high morals" with not using drugs and with wearing a seatbelt, rather than with a thirsting after righteousness, sacrificing for their common good, or speaking truth to power." This same book makes the assertion the majority of U.S. teens have been taught or have embraced this instrumental view of religion. So, one of the problem that youth workers face, as well as preachers, and ministers in general of every tribe is portraying the importance of a faith that has as its center Jesus Christ and not the individual. When we take Jesus out of the center of things, when we are more concerned with what God can do for "me", when we aren't concerned with the process of discipleship, when we divide our lives into neat categories, we are left with a less than Biblical idea of faith, one that misses the mark of what the Gospel of Jesus intends for all who embrace such truth.

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