Raised with Christ and Seeking Things From Above

Raised with Christ and Seeking Things From Above

Colossians 3:1-17

August 1, 2004

The New Life in Christ

Colossians 3

¹So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). ⁶On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. ⁷These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. ⁸But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. ¹¹In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

¹²As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord^£ has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ^£ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.^£ ¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We’ve all been to baptisms. There’s a good chance that every last person here has actually been baptized. In a few weeks, we’ll celebrate the baptism of another beautiful child into this church and into the household of God.

On such occasions, a family often comes with a little baby dressed in white. Extended family too will gather, and the church will probably be quite full. Despite struggling all morning to get their child and any other children that may be trailing along, cleaned and properly attired, despite fretting over the directions they’ve handed out and fear over extended family and friends not finding their way to their church for the first time, despite worries over whether the arrangements they have made will result in enough food, a presentable and impressive enough home and a memorable enough day for their guests, perhaps these parents have been able to focus for just a moment or two on the truly momentous significance this day has in relating their child to God, to eternal life and to the church.

A few questions are asked, a few promises made by parents, and congregation, a child is made wet and then paraded down a church aisle for the adulation of a gathered congregation.

But what does it all mean? Those parents, if they are able to focus on the momentous significance of the day, may still not be sure what exactly is happening for their child. What is baptism anyway?

There is a story about the early days of Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company. It concerns a machinist with Ford Motor Company who had borrowed, over a period of years, tools and other automobile parts. Although it was against company policy, everybody did it, and management did nothing about it.

One day, however, the machinist was converted late in life. He was baptized and became a believer who took his baptism seriously. The day after his baptism, he gathered up all the tools he had collected over the years, loaded them into his pickup, took them to the plant and presented them to the foreman with his confession and request for forgiveness.

The foreman was so overcome by his honesty that he cabled Henry Ford himself, who was visiting a European plant. After explaining the entire event in detail, Ford immediately cabled back this response: “Dam up the Detroit River, and baptize the entire plant.”

http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?keywords=baptism .

What effect is baptism meant to bring? What is being accomplished? Despite the story of this Ford employee, so often, and even more often when the baptism is for an infant, there is very little immediate effect that emerges after a baptism. Tragically, very little happens differently afterward. After the party, after the spectacle and the reception, often the family goes home, never to return to church or to religious or faith life.

Three priests were at a retreat and after talking to each other, they started to talk of a common problem. Nuisance bats that were on the rafters on their churches.

The first priest, a young brash charismatic explained how he had attempted to get rid of the bats. " I go get my shotgun a fire it into the air, Whoosh! the bats leave. The only problem is that once I leave, they quickly come back to roost."

The second priest, a kindly Franciscan said " I find a large bag and gently pluck each bat from the rafters, place them in the bag, go to the river and release them. They too, however, inevitably return to the Church."

Finally the last priest, much older and aparently wiser than the rest said, "I have no problem at all, I sprinkle them with holy water, Baptize them, and never hear from them again."

http://www.cin.org/archives/cinfun/200201/0005.html

Certainly, baptism is not meant to be this way. Among many other things, baptism is actually a symbolic enactment of what we read about here in the third chapter of Colossians.

Earlier in this letter of Paul, in the second chapter, we find these words “you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” (2:12)

In the early church this symbolism was much more emphasized as individuals were actually immersed in a body of water and pushed underwater for a few moments in a lake or river or sea side, to remind them that through their baptism, they are symbolically dying to their old way of life and as they come up out of the water, they’re being reborn, to a new life in Christ.

So it is with all of this symbolism in mind that we look again at the words from Colossians 3:1-2 “¹So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above… ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly.” The great Protestant church father, Martin Luther used to call this “remembering your baptism” That is remembering that your old self has died and living out the reality of having a new chance, and a renewed soul in Christ. “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly,” says the Apostle Paul.

And this is when he gets into that list of awful earthly stuff we’re supposed to get rid of:

Before we get into this list, we’ve got to realize a few things. We cannot get into this list, putting to death all this stuff, unless first there is repentance. Repentance, is that aspect of life which says, we’re sorry for what has happened, we’re sorry for what we are, and we hope for a change. It is what is hoped for in that little infant by parent and pastor and congregation as a baptism takes place. It is something that is essential and mandatory for the adult coming to be baptized.

An act of repentance must be grounded in reality, sincere and infused with the profound gift of God’s mercy and grace.

Garrison Keillor tells a story of a Christmas Eve service in his legendary small town of Lake Wobegon.

He says: Larry the Sad Boy was there, who was saved twelve times in the Lutheran Church, an all-time record. Between 1953 and 1961, he threw himself weeping and contrite on God's throne of grace on twelve separate occasions - and this in a Lutheran church that wasn't evangelical, had no altar call, no organist playing 'Just As I Am Without One Plea' while a choir hummed and a guy with shiny hair took hold of your heartstrings and played you like a cheap guitar - this is the Lutheran Church, where they repent in the same way that they sin: discreetly, tastefully, at the proper time, and bring a Jell-O salad for afterward.

Larry Sorenson came forward weeping buckets and crumpled up at the communion rail, to the amazement of the minister, who had delivered a dry sermon about stewardship, and who now had to put his arm around this limp, soggy individual and pray with him and see if he had a ride home. Twelve times. Even we fundamentalists got tired of him. Granted, we're born in original sin and are worthless and vile, but twelve conversions is too many. God didn't mean us to feel guilt all our lives. There comes a point when you should dry your tears and join the building committee and start grappling with the problems of the church furnace and the church roof and make church coffee and be of use, but Larry kept on repenting and repenting.
--Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home (New York: Viking, 1987), 181-82.

Repentance is true if we realize that its not really anything we’re doing, but that its really God who does all the work, lifting us up out of that sin, out of that water, out of that grave that is the old life.

The realization that God is the only one who is capable of lifting us up out of impurity, greed, anger, slander, lying and all the rest, and can’t wait to do it for us, makes repentance possible, sincere and effective, That realization, regardless of what age it comes to us, regardless of wether or not it comes chronologically before or after baptism, also completes our baptism and ushers us into the kingdom of God once and for all.

And once we experience that realization, we’re free, free from the endless, impossible, and inconceivable task of actually putting to death all those awful things that the apostle tells us to put to death.

Repentance frees us to do the other part of what Paul commands in this Colossian letter, to “seek the things that are above,” to “clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,” to bear with one another, forgive each other, let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, be thankful, Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teach and admonish one another, sing with gratitude and do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

It’s repentance that clears the decks of our soul, that frees our hearts and minds from guilt and other encumbrances and prepares us to do what’s right.

Sir William Osler is among the most highly esteemed physicians in modern medical history. (http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~terning/bios/Osler.html, http://www.bartleby.com/65/os/Osler-Si.html) It is said that one day he entered the pediatric ward of a London hospital and noted with delight the children who were playing at one end of the room. Then his gaze was drawn to one small girl who sat off to one side alone on her bed, a doll in her arms. She was clearly oppressed by feelings of loneliness.

A question about her to the head nurse brought the response that she was ostracized by the other children. Her mother was dead, Osler was told; her father had paid but one visit, bringing at that time the doll which she now tightly clutched. Apart from that one visit, no one had ever come to see her again. Maybe because of that, the other children, somehow concluding that she was unimportant, had treated her with disdain.

Sir William was at his best in moments like that, and he immediately walked to the child's bed. May I sit down, please? he asked in a voice loud enough to carry to where the other children were at play. I can't stay long on this visit, but I have wanted to see you badly. Those describing the moment say that the girl's eyes became electric with joy.

For several minutes the physician conversed with her, now in quiet, almost secretive tones. He inquired about her doll's health and appeared to be carefully listening to its heart with his stethoscope. And then as he rose to leave, his voice lifted again so that everyone heard, You won't forget our secret, will you? And mind you, don't tell anyone. As Osler left the room, he turned to see the once-ignored youngster now the center of attention of every other child on the ward.
--Gordon MacDonald, Restoring Your Spiritual Passion (Nashville: Oliver Nelson, 1986), 137-38.

In this one little story we find, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. But such actions, such looking to the things from above, is only available to us as a lifestyle, as a true, new life, if we recognize, that we not only must be raised from the death of our old sinful life, but that through Christ, we already have been raised. That through God’s mercy and grace, we have been lifted up out of our sin, our repentance has been accepted and we are free from the fear, anxiety and shackles of sin.

“Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly, Set your minds on things that are above,” being “clothed…with the new self,” says the Apostle Paul.

May God give us the courage to repent, the wisdom to accept God’s grace and the freedom to look to the things from above in loving and thankful service to God.

Amen.

http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?keywords=sin+lift