Colossians 3:6 - Politically incorrect

"...through which is coming the wrath of God (upon the sons of disobedience)."

-The wrath of God.  The wrath of God.  Orgé in the Greek.  Anger.  There are two kinds of anger - one which flames up suddenly but which soon dissipates (thymos in the Greek), and this one, which rises gradually and becomes more settled.  God tells us repeatedly that He is slow to anger (Exodus 34.6 and 8 other times in the OT).  We are to be similarly slow to anger and actually to put it completely aside (James 1.19-20, Ephesains 4.31, Matthew 5.22, Titus 1.7; cf Proverbs 14.29, 16.32, 19.11, 22.24, 29.22).  Paul says so just two verses from now (Colossians 3.8).  There is, however, one clear exception, in that Scripture distinctly authorizes the dispensation of wrath specifically to punish and correct disobedience and unrighteousness.  God’s righteous wrath this, coming directly from Him (John 3.36, Romans 1.18, 2.5, 12.19), or through government leaders and parents and others  He has put in authority over us as His divine agents (Romans 13.4, Proverbs 23.13, 22.15, 13.24).  In theory these are in this life merely adminstering consequences, aka discipline, preemptive strikes whose primary intent vis a vis discipline is to correct our course and head off any experience of the full blown orgé on the day of judgment.  But make no mistake, the wrath of God is coming (Matthew 3.7, 1Thessalonians 1.10, Romans 2.5, Ephesians 5.6), a day in which He will fully and finally punish the sins of men.  On that day you and I will most certainly want to be on the Lord’s side, having been rescued from the full force of His wrath poured out on sin.  WHICH in fact He actually already did on Calvary, so in reality there is no good reason why anyone should have to face this wrath which is to come.  One might even suggest that the primary sin which will be punished at the apocalypse will be the obduracy of those who have stubbornly refused God’s offer of grace and forgiveness through Jesus.  But that day of wrath will be something great and terrible, something to definitely avoid at all costs (Revelation 6.16-17), and in fact it is completely avoidable in Jesus (Romans 5.9).  But for those who resist God’s offer of grace in this life, there will be no place they can hide, nowhere they can flee to escape God’s wrath.  

-And incidentally, is it not our failure to acknowledge and embrace the terrible reality of wrath, the certain destruction which awaits the world God so loves, which robs us of urgency and resolve as it relates to the business of heaven?  The masses do not want to hear about wrath (even as they stumble ahead on a course straight for it) - they won’t come back to our church, they won’t be our friend anymore, they will call us names like intolerant and narrow-minded - it's offensive, politically-incorrect, and so we don’t talk about it.  People prefer to consign God’s wrath to the OT, to a less-evolved antiquated deity who somehow no longer exists or has become irrelevant and who has been supplanted by a god who is somehow incapable of any negativity whatsoever.  Toothless.  Harmless.  A sage grandfatherly figure who perhaps wags his finger and winks at disobedience and sort of lets most everybody of the hook except for those who really don’t deserve it.  But this dichotomous deity is a mirage, a dreamy concoction propped up by those desperate to avoid any accountability for how they live their life.  Look through the pages of Scripture with an open mind and see that it has always been a both/and with the holy triune God Who made us in His image to be in relationship with Him and to reflect His breathtaking goodness - love and wrath, forgiveness and punishment, eternal life and eternal death (Exodus 34.6-7, Deuteronomy 7.9-10, Daniel 12.2, Matthew 25.46, John 3.36, 5.29, Romans 2.7-8, 6.23, 2Thessalonians 1.7-10, Revelation 21.7-8), and our Heavenly Father has even given us a choice as to which side of Him we get to experience (John 3.16, Ephesians 2.8-9).  Eternal life, God’s grace and forgiveness, is a free gift, but it must be received.  We must receive Jesus, put our faith and trust in Him, in His death on the Cross where He stood in our place and took on the wrath and punishment which we justly deserved for our disobedience (1John 5.11-13).  He is the Way, the only Way that we sons of disobedience can escape this coming wrath (John 14.6).  Yes, every one of our forefathers disobeyed and we were born into the same disobedience, born to sin as sparks fly upward.  Selfishness and rebellion and idolatry oozes from our pores and permeates every fiber of our being from the day we are born.  A child needs no instruction in the art of me-first, in the use of the word ‘mine’, to know how to disobey, to be unkind, to hide from consequences.  Disobedience must be painstakingly trained (and some times beaten) out of us, and even then we are unable to eradicate it on our own efforts.  Yes, we all need a Savior - thanks be to God for His indescribable gift...!

Colossians 3:5 - On killing the More monster

"Therefore put to death the members the [ones] upon the earth, sexual immorality, uncleanness, passion, lust, evil, and the greed, which is idolatry..." 

-’The greed’ is literally to have much, to have a lot, to have more.  The Greeks called it pleonexia.   It is a little monster, the ‘more’ monster, which dwells within every person.  It is the infinite abyss, the native impulse of fallen man - an insatiable appetite, craving, hunger, thirst, longing for more, for something bigger or better, for what you don’t have, and usually for something other than God, which is why it could be considered idolatry.  Indeed, greed is intense or selfiish desire for something, esp wealth, power or perhaps just something to put on or in my body, and really, ANYTHING besides God.  Thus Paul calls it idolatry, and sets it apart from the others on this list of things to kill.  The good news is that God Himself killed it - or at least paved the way for us to kill it - by first killing His own Son. 

-Pleonexia/greed has different forms.  Ours is the culture of excess, where we give ourselves to the pursuit of more when we already have plenty of it - money, cars, rooms, square footage, clothes, shoes, technology, knowledge, collectibles, consumables, comfort and fitness, pleasures and pastimes.  But we can be consumed with acquiring more of something even when we have none of it.  There is nothing inherently wrong with having money or clothes or gadgets or knowledge, but when we put the acquisition of these things before God in our hearts, it becomes idolatry.

-The antithesis of this ‘more’ monster is ‘enough’.  I have enough.  Contentment.  Learning to live with what you have and satisfied with it.  ‘Cuz the ‘more’ monster is never satisfied.  That’s why it must be killed.  Kill it with gratitude.  Kill it by saying no to things you do not need.  Kill it with kindness and generosity.  Kill it by getting a real taste of how good is the Lord.  Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5.10), focus on what He wants (Ephesians 5.17), and be filled with His Spirit (Ephesians 5.18)(cf Ephesians 5.3-5).  Pursue unfailing treasure in heaven (Luke 12.15, 12.21,  12.31-34).  And then kill it some more with more gratitude.  I already mentioned that, but gratitude is double-strength 'more' monster killing machine...

Colossians 3:4 - The end of the story

"When Christ should be revealed, the life of you, then also with Him you will be revealed in glory."

-Amazing truths in this short phrase.  He is coming, Christ, the glorious One, the life of you.  Your life - from Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.  A life of purpose and a life of promise, IF you have trusted in Him.  And life apart from Him is not life at all, a vapor, a feinting morsel of cotton candy, an unavoidable head-on collision with the law of entropy (stuff breaks down) and death.  Rather, the truth drives a decision.  Life is all about Him.  It is all from Him.  It is all in Him.  It should all be for Him.  And it is never too late to redeem our own narrative, to go all in and realign the course of our life with His, the One Who died and rose again on our behalf.  It is the story of Samson who after a lifetime of fooling around and squandering his gift manages to accomplish more for the Lord in his final act than he ever did before.  It is analogous to the story of Darth Vader who after a life of anger-inspired evil in the end saves his son and the empire by destroying the emperor Darth Sidius.  It is never too late, but it is never too early.  

-And for those who thus connect their story, their life, to His, there is now one grand final chapter, a new conclusion to the saga whose ending would have otherwise been both tragic and premature.  Now the end of the story is... glory.  Glory for all to see.  Glory in the highest.  Breathtaking goodness, forever and ever.  Jesus Christ is coming back, the curtain will be pulled back and the spotlight will shine on Him and all the earth will behold Him in all His indescribable magnificence.  Talk about shock and awe.  Greatness and majesty and power beyond comprehension, there will be but one response - to fall at His feet and then either bask in His glory or beg for mercy.  And Paul adds that those of us whose lives HAVE been hidden in Christ in this life will at that time undergo our own glorious transformation.  CS Lewis again summarizes it very well:

"It is a serious thing," says Lewis, "to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously -- no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner -- no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment."  --C. S. Lewis, From The Weight of Glory.

-Christ is our life.  or should, be, no?  Said Zinzendorf, "I have but one passion - it is He. it is He alone!"  Let this be true of me, Lord... 

Colossinas 3:3 - The great release

"...for you [all] died and the life of you has been hidden with Christ in God."

-You died.  Paul says it again.  Yes, if you are in Christ, if you have trusted in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, you are both alive and dead in a way that is out of this world.  And part of how we tap into this is by how we think, by the things on which we set our mind.  And so our higher heavenly thinking is made more doable due to this truth that we died.  Imagine with me if you will that you died - what would happen to all the things you used to want and value and pursue and care about?  All those things on which you set your mind and your heart?  Death is the great release from the ties that bind us to this earth, from the things which keep us engaged in a lifestyle of indulging our flesh, those things of earth on which we set our minds to the exclusion of the things above.  Death in this case is the way out, our ticket to freedom from the flesh.  Dead men tell no tales, but neither do they desire or think about anything.  Those things which hold me back or pull me down spiritually, those besetting sins and thoughts and cravings - I am dead to them.  I need to remind myself of this daily, if not more often, as often as needed.

-It is a spiritual death, which is exactly what we need as we are talking about both a spiritual condition and a spiritual endeavor, but in fact it is a both/and, my death (in Christ) coupled with a resurrected life (in Christ).  We have a totally new out-of-this-world life which happens to be hidden with Christ in God.  What this means is that while we will get glimpses of it in this life, this is just the tip of the iceberg, the appetizer.  The main course is yet to come...

Colossians 3:2 - A healthy obsession?

"The [things] above be thinking not the [things] upon the earth."  

-Paul says to be presently, constantly thinkng about the things above, the things of heaven.  AND he adds to NOT be thinking about the things on earth.  It is said that some people are so ‘heavenly-minded’ that they are of no earthly good.  Can’t have that, can we?  But what that statement actually is, is a copout, an excuse to rationalize away and lower the bar which God has set for us.  We could say that Paul set the bar high, but we all know it is the Lord speaking thru him.  And the Lord is saying, seek Him first.  Seek the Kingdom of Heaven first.  Be thinking about the things of Heaven first and foremost - not in a monastic reclusive withdrawing-from-the-world kind of way, but rather in a salt-of-the-earth light-of-the-world kind of way.  Become obsessed with them.  Yes, the things of Heaven are to intrude on our lives and into our consciousness in a pervasive way and to a troubling extent.  They can and will upset the proverbial oxcart, both for us and for those around us.  Yes, they will trouble and transform our ordinary worldly grounded lives, but with other-worldly priorities, with heavenly values.  And that’s the whole idea - we embrace and develop a whole new set of values.  God, His glory, His Word, all the things that God wants, the kingdom of heaven, the souls of men and women and children who would populate its golden streets - these become more important to us than all the other things on earth which may concern or otherwise interest us.  And so we still have family, but our love for the Lord becomes so great that it makes our love for even our immediate family pale and look like hate in comparison (cf Luke 14.26).  Our devotion to the Kingdom of Heaven becomes the One (appropriate and healthy) Obsession, so great that it permeates everything we do.  We still have neighbors, who we love and serve, but we grow to want nothing more than to love them into the kingdom of heaven.  We still have a job and friends and pasttimes, but Heaven invades all of that and takes over.  Will we ever get to 100% things above and 0% things on earth?  Probably not this side of heaven.  But neither is that an excuse for business/thinking as usual.  We must be pressing on, ever growing in our capacity for and habit of focusing on the things of Heaven.  

Colossians 3:1 - Location, location, location...

"Therefore if you [all] were raised up with Christ, the [things] above be seeking, where Christ is, being seated in [the] right hand of God."  

-Therefore... Always we must consider, what is it there for, this therefore?  These believers in Colossae were hearing all these commands which were supposed to help them be more successful in spiritual endeavors, perhaps even for following Christ and living more fully into what God wanted, but these commands were ultimately going to be of no value, no value against the lusts and evil desires of the flesh.  Which begs the question, what then is of value against the undying propensity of my flesh to want what it does not or cannot have, to want what it wants when it wants it and to do its level best to avoid what it does not want (even when that is something necessary or good).

-This battle against my flesh begins with the resurrection - my resurrection.  Paul just mentioned this 11 verses prior (Colossians 2.13), an event which for me has not actually taken place (yet) in a physical sense, but when I connected with Christ by putting my trust in Him for eternal life, I did at that time become entirely associated with both His death and resurrection.  And so in this case it is not so much about what I have left behind, it is about where I am headed.  Yes, here (as is also true in matters of real estate) it is all about location, location, location.  As a bona-fide born-again follower of Christ I have been raised with Christ, I am located in Him, IN Christ.  In other words, my life is now located in Him WHERE HE IS, in heaven.  Thus we come to the life-changing principle Paul is unpacking for us in this passage: if you want to gain victory over unhealthy or evil desires, the best way to do so is to replace them with a desire for and a focus on something else, something better, something loftier, on the things of heaven.  Lesser base desires will always triumph over and trump higher ones while those are under-developed and uncultivated.  All men seek happiness (Pascal), but neither riches nor huge tracts of land nor baubles and trinkets and the like which thieves steal and moths and rust destroy, neither earthly status nor worldly accomplishments, not the pursuit of exotic locales nor gourmet delicacies nor various forms of fleeting physical pleasure and exhiliration - all these things which men seek, NONE can satisfy.  These and the like always fail to fill the infinite abyss, and do nothing to develop a taste for the heavenly.  No, I must begin by seeking Jesus, and on finding Him, I must continue to strive to see and experience and acquire more of Him and the things of heaven where He is, devoting myself to this pursuit above all others.  We develop desire for the heavenly by seeking after it, an active exercise of the will, exerting ourselves to find and obtain that which is out of this world.  This in fact is the quintessential mandate of the Kingdom of Heaven - Matthew 6.33, 13.45, Luke 15.8, Matthew 7.7.  AND, it is a mandate tied to a promise!  SEEK, and you WILL find...

-Let us not miss this mention of precisely where Christ happens to be seated - at the right hand of God the Father.  This is always the position of power and authority, which in the case of the sovereign omnipotent King of the universe is yet another assertion by Paul of the supremacy of Christ over and above any and all other things.  fill in the blank - He is able (to do _____), He is higher (than _____), He is better (than _____). He is worth (of _____).