PRAYING FOR WISDOM
While we did this prayer exercise in week 1, it’s important to come back to it periodically as we read and are read by Colossians; especially since it will require spiritual wisdom and understanding to both process and live out what we are reading. Pray this prayer 3xs. 1x for you and your GC, 1x for our faith family, and 1x for another faith family you know of whether here in Dallas or around the globe…
Father, will you fill ________ with the knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that women and men of ________ might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Jesus, bearing fruit in every one of their good works and increasing in the knowledge of you, Father. May _______ be strengthened with all power, according to your glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, always giving thanks to your Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Thank your Father for delivering the men and women of ________ from the domain of darkness and transferring us into the kingdom of your beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Amen.
GETTING INTO COLOSSIANS
Most weeks, this resource is not dependent on the sermon from the preceding Sunday, but if you missed the sermon from our last Gathering, it might be helpful to give it a listen before working through the Reflecting section. You can listen to the sermon here.
If time permits, watch The Bible Project’s video overview of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, at least to the 3:35 mark(!), which you can find here.
Now read Colossians 1:21-29 then work through the section below.
REFLECTING ON TRUTH
Paul writes this letter to the Jesus followers in Colossae and Laodicea, as well as his letter to Philemon, from his imprisonment in Rome. Most likely Paul was under house arrest as Acts 28 notes, but tradition has it that he was at least at some point imprisoned in a Roman cell, incidentally, a cell you can visit to this very day. How did Paul get there? How did he find himself bound by governmental authorities, and, unbeknown to him at the moment, in the last place he would have the opportunity to proclaim the good news that had spurred him to trek across Asia Minor? (According to church history, Paul was beheaded in Rome within a few years of writing these letters.)
Many of us assume that Paul’s imprisonment is simply the natural outcome of a life lived on the edge of premodern society. He was an extremely devoted man to say the least, so it is little surprise he ended up where he did. Perhaps we think, like missionaries today in particular places in Asia and the Middle East, that simply being a Christian and inviting others to follow Jesus with you was enough to get Paul throne in prison, but we’d be wrong.
Certainly, in the not-to-distant future, Rome’s persecution of those known as “the way”, would escalate in horrific viciousness with the intent to stamp out this growing “cult”; yet, at the time of Paul’s writings, Jesus followers were little more than a subset of the long-standing, but no more respected, Jewish faith. An annoyance and a scapegoat for the Roman Empire, but hardly a group to single out and hunt down, just yet. No, the primary hostility that Paul faced was from leaders of the Jewish parties, temple authorities, pious fundamentalists, those who saw the way of Jesus as an afront to their historical faith and/or momentary comforts and aspirations.
So, we ask again, how did Paul end up here? Simply put, he made a choice based on hope.
Acts 20-28 tell us the story of Paul’s choices that led him to Rome. In chapter 20, Paul calls the Ephesian elders to him to in Miletus, and shares with them his intent,
“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trails that happened to me through the plot of the Jews…And now…I am to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.”
And so, Paul choses, without nativity to the outcome of his choice, to go to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, but a choice he makes nonetheless. But before he can get there, the disciples in Tyre, “through the Spirit…were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem” knowing that no apparent good would be found by him in that city. They confirmed what Paul already new, that his choice would be costly, yet Paul chose to continue on, arriving in Caesarea and staying with one of the seven chosen in Acts 6 to serve, Philip the evangelist. Here, in Philips house, a prophet named Agabus from Judea confronts Paul,
“…he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’’ When we [Luke and those traveling with Paul] heard this, we and the people there [the other Jesus followers in Caesarea] urged him [Paul] not to go up to Jerusalem.”
It seems the Holy Spirit was going to be explicitly clear that what Paul was choosing was not going to be easy. There would be a cost, and one that should be counted. So, Paul counted it, weighed the reality of what he was choosing to walk into, and then kept moving towards Jerusalem. Certainly, this was not an easy decision. Knowing that his efforts would end in being bound, immediate and apparent success all but certainly removed, and then to having his friends’ counsel him to turn around; what sort of emotions can you imagine Paul experienced in this time? What could possibly compel him to choose, over and over again, to continue move forward?
Finally, Paul arrives in Jerusalem, and sure enough he is arrested in the temple. The Jewish leaders and crowds desire to put him to death, but Paul appeals to his Roman citizenship. A centurion solider, there for crowd control, overhears Paul’s appeal and stops his would-be execution. The Jews judging Paul were afraid of the backlash of stoning a Roman, and so Paul’s journey from imprisonment in Jerusalem to imprisonment in Rome began. Along the way he would be brought before the Roman rulers, Felix and Agrippa (along with his wife Bernice), and here Paul answers the question of why he chose to be bound,
“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation in Jerusalem…that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trail because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews…Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them…
In this connection I journeyed to Damascus…At midday…I say on the way a light from heaven, brighter then the sun…I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?...’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand to your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and form the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me and tried to kill me. To this day I have had the help that comes form God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to ass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles [i.e. everyone else!].”
Paul would later say that “it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain”, as he asks the Jews in Rome to come see him while under house arrest, hoping that his “testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and form the Prophets” would be effective and fruitful. For at least two more years, Paul would continue to expound on this hope, “with all boldness and without hinderance” to any and all who came to him.
For Paul, hope was more than a mere wish or a goal that he set out to achieve. Hope was a demonstrable characteristic; an expectant surety that the arc of history is bending towards peace (shalom[1]) through the blood of Jesus’ cross. And, that our choices contribute to history’s trajectory, that we can be a part of the re-creating of the community of shalom; even though there was certainty of opposition. Paul lived into his hope, will we?
USE THESE QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU PRAYERFULLY REFLECT INDIVIDUALLY AND/OR DISCUSS AS A DNA GROUP.
Living into our hope, requires that we hope for something surer than a fleeting desire, and more universal than an individualized aspiration. Spend a few minutes and articulate what you hope for. Be honest. We have to know what to let go of before we can grab hold of something better.
How does what you hope in compare and contrast with the hope Paul articulates?
In what ways are temporal and individualized hopes unable to help us make choices about following Jesus in what he continues doing?
In Colossians 1, Paul says that it is the Colossians “hope laid up for them in heaven [i.e. the completed work of Jesus’ re-creation]”, the “hope of the gospel”, and the “hope of glory” that will keep them stable, steadfast and not shifting from their faith amidst the pressures of their day. In other words, it will be their living into this particular hope that will allow them to experience the riches of Christ in them.
In what ways is the Spirit leading you to be a part of re-creating the community of shalom here and now?
(Consider this question for your household, your GC, your work place, neighborhood, and friendships)
What is keeping you from living into your hope?
(What pressures do you feel to do otherwise, what fears, what practices are you doing or not doing that keep you from being led by the Spirit, etc.?)
What choices can you make this week to be a part of Jesus’ re-creating community?
BE ZEALOUS & REPENT
Repenting is one of the most ordinary and extraordinary practices of our faith heritage. The stories and letters that ground our faith are replete with exhortation to and examples of repentance. In a nutshell, repentance is the turning away from one thing and grabbing hold of something different. It is not merely the ceasing of action or attitude, but the replacement of what is let go with something completely other than what is released.
In Hebrews 6, the author reminds us just how flimsy and/or circumstantial our human intentions are, but how solid and unwavering God’s intentions are. Read Hebrews 6:11-20 from The Message translation below, and grab hold of the promised hope by “performing deeds in keeping with…repentance.”
And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them. When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, "I promise that I'll bless you with everything I have - bless and bless and bless!" Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they'll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee - God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us,
[1] Eugene Peterson describes the image captured by the word shalom or peace this way, “[Shalom] gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God’s will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates eternal life.”