Thank you, Jesus, for this morning.
Thank you, Lord, for coming to meet us in our worship,
whether we're harried, whether we're in a contemplative place,
because you are God.
It doesn't depend on us.
It depends on you, Lord God.
We ask that you would be present with us,
be present in the word that I'm about to speak.
May it be your word, Lord, and not my own.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
I mentioned this morning, earlier,
I have a thorn that's been put in my side to harass me this week.
I actually lost my voice earlier on this week with a cold,
so I have my water up here every now and then.
I'm going to probably have to clear my throat.
I'm going to talk about resolution to reformation this morning.
I want to talk and focus on Colossians 3,
which is a passage that is very much close to my own heart.
I'm a recent person who has moved from the Anglican Church of Canada to Anik.
I did so November the 1st, which was All Saints Day.
It also happened to be my birthday.
And so the bishop thought that was,
and I thought Archdeacon Tim was a great opportunity to make that move.
And when I first made the move to Anik and started talking about the transition,
I actually attended St. Luke's up in Pembroke with Archdeacon Tim Perron,
and there were a few things that really stood out to me as the Lord speaking.
And George and I have spoken about a few of these,
but one of them that's very interestingly that stood out to me was the name of the seminary.
And when Archdeacon Tim said to me,
oh, we have a seminary, Ryle Seminary in Ottawa,
it was like light came down from heaven and surround him.
I thought, Ryle Seminary?
Why am I not already in this denomination?
Bishop J.C. Ryle, I think he's one of my heroes.
J.C. Ryle is a hero to, I think, a lot of Anglican evangelicals.
So he's a shining example of choosing Jesus,
even though the pressures of the church around you,
the pressures of the life around you are really pressuring you to accept anything else
as the center of your spirituality, the center of your religious life, if we can call that.
He was a shining example of that.
In the 1800s, when Bishop Ryle became bishop,
the church in England was a very dry church.
The church in England was very much a stuffy religious institution
and was very much focused on the externals.
It was very much focused on, you know,
were you sitting at the right time during the service?
Were you standing?
Did you cross yourself?
Did you face the right way?
Everything was about the externals in the church at that time.
And you followed that worship life.
And you followed along with what the church was teaching,
if you were a priest, a pastor, or a bishop.
And if you didn't, it was actually very scandalous at that time
to have not followed along.
And into this situation, God provided in the 1800s
a handful of Bible-believing, biblically-minded leaders
who kind of stood against that trend, who stood against that flow.
And Bishop Ryle was really at the forefront of that.
And it was a battle, and he was at the forefront.
He wasn't made a bishop.
You can see him here with his big white beard,
one of the famous pictures of him.
He wasn't made a bishop until his 60s.
He was in his mid-60s.
He was actually made a bishop partly by the prime minister
as a political move.
So he kind of went in there.
It was a bit of a blast at the incoming government at the time.
The prime minister was on his way out.
So he said, well, I know what I'm going to do to you guys.
I'm going to make that Ryle guy bishop.
And so they made Bishop Ryle bishop.
And so he had nothing to lose.
And he really kind of became the gangster bishop of the 1800s.
And it's kind of funny the way we see it.
He quickly became known for his distaste for empty religion.
He quickly became known for his desire to renew the English church
to biblically-minded, dynamic faith.
We have this term called live orthodoxy.
That's what he wanted, affectionate relationship with God
and to move away from the dry spirituality at the time.
One of my favorite stories of Bishop Ryle, during worship,
he was a bishop at Liverpool.
This is the cathedral at Liverpool.
And during worship, like I said, you stood, you sat down,
you crossed yourself at the right time, and you faced the front.
Like during the creed and during other parts of the service,
you would face the front.
And everybody did this.
It was the rules.
You did this.
Except for Bishop Ryle.
Now to us, it seems kind of simple,
but it was scandalous back then.
And now if you were at the back corner,
just in case you couldn't see him because he was hidden away up there,
just in case you couldn't see him,
Packer said he actually was known for leaning forward.
Just so the people at the back could see,
I'm not facing the front.
And, you know, it was scandalous.
Sounds funny to us,
but at that time, you know, church was front page news.
These kind of things were front page news.
The papers actually cared about it.
Very much an example for our time of what Paul is talking about in Colossians 3.
Very much an example for us for choosing a dynamic relationship with Jesus over religion.
So I'm super stoked with the fact that our seminary is named Ryle.
I think it's a great example for our students who are coming through.
And yeah, it was one of those light moments that helped bring me in.
Bringing to death the ways that we have clung to religious approach to our faith.
In changing a dynamic spirituality.
So this epiphany, while we're looking at Colossians,
we want to look for our own epiphany in Jesus,
to see Jesus raised on high.
And so here's the big idea.
One of my teachers,
the people that I turn to with Haddon Robinson,
passed away recently.
He always said,
have a big idea when you preach.
If you don't leave here with anything else,
this is the big idea for the sermon.
The basic truth of what God has done for us.
The basic truth about what God has done for you in Christ
is the point from which everything in the Christian spiritual life flows.
This is really important because there are all kinds of things in the church.
There are all kinds of things in the world
that are competing to be that one thing from which our spirituality will flow.
Paul talks about that.
He says,
no,
your identity in Christ,
since you've been raised with him,
that is the point from which everything else in our spirituality flows.
I want to unpack that a little bit.
So if you want to look at...
I open your...
3, 1 to 11.
I'm fiddling with this thing.
Sorry, brother.
That's my fault.
Should I use...
All right.
Oh, I can't move around.
It'll look odd if I'm walking around with this.
All right.
We're going to open our Bibles to Colossians 3, 1 to 11.
And Paul says some serious stuff.
You know, verse 8 there,
he says some serious stuff.
If you look there,
but you must put away all anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk.
Don't lie with one another.
Lie to one another,
seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.
You know,
one of the temptations that we have when it comes to the Bible
is, you know,
often when the Bible says something that we don't like
or says something that's something that the people in the church don't like.
One of the things that I often hear,
well, you know, Padre,
I know that says that,
but you really have to look at that in context.
Right?
That's what we hear all the time.
As if looking at the Bible in context
has become kind of the trump card.
Right?
When it's a hard passage.
Well, if we just look at it in context,
we can explain that away.
One of the problems is,
if you start unpacking the context of the Bible,
oftentimes,
most times,
it will say more
rather than less.
And oftentimes,
the Bible is harder
rather than easier
because God is calling us,
in Jesus,
to give over our entire life to him.
So,
just looking at the Bible in context
isn't the get-out-of-jail-free card
that sometimes we often think that it is.
It's so important for us to learn
how to unpack God's word.
And that's why I'm glad that we're here
in this church.
We choose what's called
this big word like marmalade,
expository preaching.
And that's when we unpack
an entire book of the Bible.
Really allows George and the other preachers
to dig down
to what the Bible is saying to us.
Because when we start to look in context,
that's when the Bible becomes alive
and really starts to speak to us.
So, let's look at where we are
this morning.
We're visiting with Colossae.
It's a small town
on the south bank
of the Lycus River
in what's now Turkey.
At one point,
Colossae was a major center,
but it had been bypassed
by a highway.
Anybody that's seen that happens
knows what happens
when a small town
or a city is bypassed
by the highway.
And it actually was about
100 miles from Ephesus.
And the two cities
that were closer to it,
Laodicea being one of them,
were actually more important
than Colossae was.
So, it's kind of like,
the book of Colossians
is kind of like Paul writing
to Carleton Place.
It's an okay place.
Amy and I looked at Carleton Place
at houses when we moved here to Ottawa.
But it's not the major center.
It's kind of set off
a little bit.
And so, it's a small church
that he's writing to.
It's a fledgling church
full of new Christians.
And apparently,
they had lost
a bit of their confidence.
Colossae itself,
this is one of my favorite
contrasts that I like here.
I want to take us
to our next slide there, brother.
If you were to visit
Laodicea,
right now,
the ruins of Laodicea,
that's them on the left.
Kind of look like
what you'd expect
from Roman ruins.
You know,
columns everywhere.
You can actually go see
kind of what things are.
If you were to go
to the ruins of Colossae,
that's them on the right.
But,
it's more like
a sheep's field.
I mean,
I can drive an hour
from here to see
a field like that.
I don't need to go
over the ocean.
And the reason that
that is,
is that in about
61-62 AD,
an earthquake
leveled Colossae
and was never rebuilt.
And so,
we know that this letter
was written
previous to that.
A lot of people think
actually quite previous
to that.
So,
it's a very early letter
from the New Testament.
And it gives you
a sense of
biblical scholarship.
So,
if you're new
to the Bible,
and if you're new
to unpacking
the Bible
that we've had
handed out at the front here,
you know,
there's so much more
to biblical scholarship
than that broken telephone.
You know the broken telephone
they talk about
where,
oh,
the Bible's just
a translation
of a translation
and you really don't.
That couldn't be further
from what the truth is.
But the truth is
that there's so much
that goes in.
That section of history
is one of the most
researched sections
of history
that we have.
And so,
we know so much
about the Bible.
And so,
that just kind of
gives you a sense
of what we're talking
about when we talk
about digging
into the Bible.
And so,
we have this letter.
We have this letter
that's written
to this small,
it's an early letter
of Paul,
written to this
small community
kind of out of the way.
And we're really
only getting
one side
of the conversation.
I work in cubicle land
as many of you do.
I'm not going to make you
put up your hand,
but Ottawa has a few
cubicle farms
from what I understand.
And it's a new experience
for me.
I'm an army guy.
My feet have been
in the dust,
as we say,
for 10 years now.
And it's a whole new thing
to me to be in this
office setting.
And what I find
really interesting
is to be able to sit there
and hear all the conversations.
You can hear
everybody's conversations
on the phone.
But it's always just
one side of the conversation.
And it's quite entertaining
in the army.
We're not about subtlety
in the army.
Okay, so the conversations
aren't subtle back and forth.
And to hear one half,
you're just dying to know,
okay, what is the other guy
saying if he's saying this?
It's quite entertaining.
It makes the days go by fast
anyways.
But you never completely
know what the conversation
is unless you hear
from the other side
or unless you're really
paying attention.
And we run into that
with all the letters.
And we run into that
with the letter
from the Colossians.
Here we have Paul's writing.
We don't know
what the Colossians
have said to him.
We don't know
what he's heard
or what letters
they've sent back to him.
But there are a few things
we can find out
which means we have to
pay closer attention.
And so for us to pay
to know what's going on
in chapter 3,
we have to go back.
If you go back with me
to chapter 2.
What we know
about what Paul's
dealing with
is there is
some sort of philosophy.
If you look at 2.8 there,
see to it that no one
gets you captive
by a philosophy
and by empty deeds.
It's really key
to understand
that Paul is addressing
some sort of a philosophy
that is creeping in
to the Colossian church here.
And if we look deeper,
we see throughout,
if you look from 16 to 23,
this is very much
a religious philosophy
that's creeping in
and trying to grab hold
of the Colossian church.
Probably is rooted
in kind of the old
religious purity laws.
Okay, so Paul is addressing this
and the key
is that Paul is reiterating
to the Colossians
that they are complete in Christ.
That they don't need
to be performing
any sort of deed before God
to make themselves righteous.
He's trying to get it through
to them again
to say,
you are raised with Christ.
You don't need these things.
And then chapter 3
where we are,
is where he flushes out
what that means spiritually.
So he said what it isn't
and now he's talking
about what spiritual formation,
reformation is.
See, Paul is concerned
throughout the letter
of Colossians
that the moorings
of the church
have shifted
in Colossae.
Now, a mooring,
this is a picture
of the Halifax shipyard.
I was down there
for a conference
just earlier on
in November.
And a mooring
is anywhere
where a ship
is anchored to.
It was very interesting
or is tied to.
It's very interesting
to be,
this Halifax shipyard,
that's just been built.
Up over the top there
is where the Halifax base is.
That's where our retreat was
or our conference was.
The shipyard
has just recently been built.
And that's where
the new coastal ships
that the government
has purchased
are being built
within that.
And it's very interesting,
though,
along while those ships
are being built,
the whole,
this whole coastline there,
right up,
you can kind of see
right up at the top,
right up at the top there,
a bit of construction
that's happening
where it's kind of
cordoned off.
That whole pier
is being completely rebuilt
to suit these new ships
that have been built.
And it's taking as long
to redo the moorings,
to redo the shipyard,
as it is to actually
build the ships themselves.
And to great expense.
Because if the moorings shift,
if where you tie your boat to shifts,
we're talking about
billions of dollars
of new procurement
for the government.
They want to make sure
that those moorings
are going to hold.
Because if your moorings
don't hold,
you are in a heap of trouble.
And if we return
to our passage,
Paul is concerned
about a shift
in the moorings
of the church.
This is a church,
again,
that was in a very small town.
It's a small church.
Lots of new believers.
And it was very,
the church at that time
was very outside
the mainstream.
There was a lot of pressure
both outside of the church,
apparently with this new philosophy.
Inside the church,
religious criticism
is just coming
at all sides
of this new baby church
that Paul is writing to.
And this philosophy
is seeking to get them
simply to become
more religious
so that they can be
as proud
as everybody else
around them.
You can be as proud
as your pagan neighbor,
as proud as your
traditional religious neighbor.
You need to get
more religious
like they are.
And that's what
the philosophy
is trying to get them
to take pride
in themselves
and who they are
as religious people
and to earn
their spiritual growth,
to earn their adoption
from God
through effort.
But the Christian life,
we know nothing stalls
the Christian life
and our walk with God
more than pride does.
Nothing stalls
the Christian life
more than pride does.
And so after framing
this issue,
Paul sets off
with his correction,
which we've read
this morning
in chapter 3.
And he starts
with,
I actually have a key
written in my book.
I'm one of those weird people
who actually writes
in his Bible.
I have a key written
beside this verse
because to me
this is a key verse
for Colossians.
Everything else hinges on
if then you've been
raised with Christ.
If then you have been
raised with Christ.
Other translations say
since.
And I would say
that could just be
all being capitalized.
Since you have been
raised with Christ.
It all starts there.
Everything in the
Christian life
starts with that
since or that
if then.
Being raised with Christ.
And everything else
flows from that.
3.2 flows from that.
Then because you've been
raised with Christ,
you set your minds
and your hearts.
You're able to set
your mind and heart
on God and on Christ.
Because you're able
to do that
from 3.6 to 11
we see the process
of stripping off
the old rags
of our old self.
The old rags of sin
and putting on
the new heavenly clothes
because we've been
saved and raised
with Christ.
It all flows
from 3.1.
Christian growth
flows
from looking at Jesus.
Period.
End.
Full stop.
The Christian life
flows
and grows
from looking at Jesus.
Hebrews 12.1-2
Let us also
lay aside
every weight
and sin
which clings
so closely
and let us
run with endurance
the race
that's set before us
looking to Jesus
the founder
and perfecter
of our faith.
We look to Jesus
and that vision
of God's glory
is found in Jesus
that is what
changes us.
That's Christian
spiritual formation.
That's Christian
spiritual reformation.
The basic truth
of what God
has done for us
is the point
from which
everything else
in our spiritual life
flows.
Now this matters
for a couple
of big reasons.
This lesson
that Paul is teaching
to this
in this letter
to kind of a
small little church
about 2,000 years ago
it matters to us
for two reasons.
First
we're very much
similar I think
to the Colossian church.
We fall into
uncertainty.
The church now
is out of the mainstream.
The Christian church
is very much
out of the mainstream.
I happen to think
in some ways
that's a very good thing
but it holds
its challenges.
There's a lot
of pressures
from the outside
to just go along
and to get along.
We're surrounded
by constant criticism.
I mean we are not
unlike the Colossian church
that Paul's writing to.
So it causes
two problems.
That pressure
is the root
of two problems.
First
when we stay infants
in our spiritual life
we can be pulled
to water down
or to fashion
our faith
to the age.
If you haven't
accepted the Lord
or if you find yourself
now watering down
and just accepting
the spirit
of the age.
The question
I have for you
this morning
is are you tired
of just floating
along with this culture?
Are you getting tired
of just floating along?
I'm convinced
that we live
very much
in a fear
based society.
There is a lot
of fear
and a lot of pressure
based on fear
out there
to just go along
and get along.
You know some people
one tweet
one wrong tweet
that's the end
of their career.
We live
very much
in a society
that has a lot
of pressure
for us just
to float along
but also
it's a very
confused society.
And we're
told to talk
a certain way
to dress
a certain way
to eat
a certain way
certain foods
are about to be
outlawed
apparently.
And God
offers
here
a new start
for us
and to be
rooted in Christ
and not just
to be going along
a confidence
to no longer
just go along
with whatever
fear today
is telling me
to do
but instead
the confidence
of following
God
and following
Christ.
So that's
the first
reason it
matters.
The second
I think
is more
for those
of us
who are
within the
church now
as followers
of Jesus
we can get
pulled
into this
same
religious
mindset.
We can get
pulled into
the same
religious
mindset
towards the
faith.
The area
of study
that I
follow
is called
spiritual
formation.
It's on the
side.
I'm doing
some studies
in that.
And there's
actually a
great example
of this
pressure
to go along
with a
religious
mindset
is within
the spiritual
formation
world
there is a
model which
has become
very popular
and it's
called the
traditional
triple way
of classical
mysticism.
And if I
was to chart
it out
it would
chart like
this.
Take us
to the
next.
This is
classical
mysticism.
And I'm
not getting
down on
Catholicism
here.
This is
true if
you were
to look
in Eastern
religions,
if you were
to look
at Sufism,
all kinds
of the
different
mystical
religions
that are
out there.
They pretty
much follow
the same
threefold
path to
illumination,
to union
with the
divine or
the spark
or whatever
you want
to call
God
within those
contexts.
It starts
with cleansing.
You cleanse
your life
by becoming
better.
Just become
a better
person.
From there
it moves
on to
illumination.
Of some
kind,
you gain
some sort
of special
knowledge.
And then
through that
cleansing and
through that
special knowledge,
you achieve
union with
God.
You can be
proud of
yourself.
You are at
the pinnacle.
You are a
spiritual person.
And everybody
will clap for
you.
That is the
triple way of
classical
mysticism.
But the
problem is
that is the
reverse of
what the
Bible says
is spiritual
formation.
The Bible
starts with
union with
God through
faith in
Christ.
Since you
have been
raised,
everything
else,
everything
else flows
from there.
Since you've
been raised,
everything.
The Bible
starts with
the vision
of union
with God
in 3.1,
then moves
on to
illumination
by the
Holy Spirit.
We can see
it there.
Set your
minds on
things.
Holy Spirit
will illumine
us.
Ephesians
4.23,
renewed in
the spirit
of your
mind.
Then it
moves on
to
illumination
and then
it finally
lands on
spiritual
growth or
sanctification,
which is the
big theological
term we use
for that.
I don't like
the term
cleansing.
I'd rather
use
sanctification.
Biblically,
there's no
hard process
for spiritual
growth.
There's more
of a
framework.
There's a
theology of
change that
we keep our
minds on and
we keep in
mind while
we follow
Jesus.
The problem
is the
tendency we
have and
how very
easy it is
to try to
cut the
corners and
slip back
down into
the classical
model.
It happens
all the time.
I see it
all the time
where I'm
trying to
earn God's
favor.
We start
relating then
in the bottom
part here
as wage
earners
from God
rather than
people who
have received
a great
gift.
It's by
a realization
that we've
received a
great gift
that we
learn humility
in the
spiritual life.
We start
with the
free gift
of God
in Christ,
moves on
to
illumination,
and then
we're
sanctified.
Living out
of our
created
purpose,
both now
and to
eternity.
That's what
God's
looking for
and that's
what Paul's
talking about.
It's more
than what
we're talking
about here
than a
spiritual
renovation.
Paul is
definitely not
talking about
just, you
know,
renovating
your life
by yourself.
It's not
like home
improvements
for your
life.
Amy and
I, we
moved to
Pembroke.
Take us to
the next
slide there,
brother.
In the
military, when
you move,
you get what's
called a
house hunting
trip.
They give
you two
weeks to
go to your
new destination
and find
a house
and buy
that house.
We had a
pretty good
house hunting
trip here
to Ottawa.
Amy and
I found
a house
in Richmond,
lost that
house but
found a
better house
in Stittsville.
Very happy
with that.
Our trip
to Pembroke,
to Petawawa,
what,
nine years
ago,
was not
so good.
And what
had happened
was people
came back
from Afghanistan
and when
you go to
Afghanistan,
when we
went to
Afghanistan,
the government
actually gave
us a nice
bag of money
to go to
Afghanistan.
There's a pot
of money that's
called hardship,
a pot of
money that's
called danger
pay.
You maxed out
on that and
you didn't pay
taxes.
So these guys
that were coming
back from
Afghanistan came
back with a
big bag of
money, or
guys and
girls, and
gals, and when
they came back
they went on the
economy and they
bought themselves
houses.
They didn't want
to live in the
military shacks
anymore.
We literally
call them the
shacks.
They wanted to
buy their own
house.
So they went and
bought up on the
economy.
Amy and I
received our
posting message
late in the
year.
So we were
there after
pretty much
everybody else
who was getting
posted in.
They picked over
everything that
was left.
So when Amy and
I went for our
house hunting trip
in Petawawa, we
went on a one
week tour across
the bottom of the
barrel of what was
left over on the
housing market and
we saw some
doozies.
There are some
interesting homes
an hour and a
half for sale, an
hour and a half
north of here if
you're interested.
We saw most of
them.
One of the ones
that we found, Amy
talks about it all
the time, and this
was just kind of
an image of our
whole time.
Amy went into
this one room, and
she couldn't tell
what was wrong with
this house, but
something was wrong
until I came in and
stepped on, I came
in on the other
side of the room,
came through the
door, and when I
stepped into the
room, the floor
tilted and she
raised up in the
air, and I went
down.
Now, we were
looking for a
fixer-upper, but we
weren't exactly
looking for that.
I can put some
veneer down, maybe
some window dressings,
paint, but that
needed, I mean, that
was a knock it
down and start
all over again.
It's not even
worth it because
something's going on
there that you
can't fix.
And so Paul is
talking about so
much more than
just adding the
veneer of Christian
values to us this
morning.
He's talking about
more than just,
when he says, you
know, put on the
new clothes, he's
talking about so
much more than
just putting on
new spiritual
clothes over the
old one.
He's talking about
being raised again
by God, starting
anew and then
moving on from
there.
It's a complete
rebuilding project.
It's not just
adding some window
dressings to the
spirituality of our
lives, to the
religion of our
lives.
When it comes to
spiritual growth as
Christians, this
realization is the
mooring for us.
This was the
mooring that he
wanted the Colossians
to hold on to.
Helps anchor our
spiritual life in
humility, and that
real humility is a
response to what
God has done for
us.
Spiritual
reformation is
rooted in our
identity as the
risen children of
God.
You're risen and
adopted.
That's the starting
point.
The basic truth of
what God has done
for us is the
point from everything
else in our
spiritual life
flows.
And so this
leaves us with
something to do.
Talk about what
the Bible says,
why it matters.
Now I think we
have something to
do just like the
Colossians had
something to do.
Pete Scazzaro, who
we were actually
talking about this
morning, George and
I, is a great author
when it comes to
spiritual formation.
And he points out
that when Jesus
describes becoming a
Christian, he talks
about new birth.
If you look at
John 3, chapter 3,
3 to 5, he's
talking about new
birth when Jesus
talks about becoming
a Christian.
Amy and I have an
apple tree in our
backyard.
Now apparently this
was a selling point
for Amy when we
bought the house.
I had no idea it
was an apple tree.
I just thought it
was a nice big tree
in the backyard,
going to give it
some shade.
It comes out with
flowers that look
like that.
I don't know if
those are the right
flowers.
It kind of look like
it.
Is that the right
kind of flower?
I don't even know.
Who knows?
I'm not a tree
person.
But let's say
however that the
apple tree wasn't a
selling point for us
and we decided
instead that we
wanted to have
peaches on our
tree.
There's no way to
get that apple tree
to grow peaches.
You can't trim it
back and wire on
peaches.
You can't even
graft a good old
fashioned peach tree
to an apple tree.
I actually had to
Google that to make
sure I wasn't telling
you a lie.
You can't.
You can't actually
graft an old
fashioned peach tree
to an apple tree.
No matter what you
do, only apples are
going to grow on
that tree.
If you want peach
tree, you've got to
take it up, roots and
all, and plant a
peach tree.
If we want new
fruit, we have to
dig up the roots.
New roots equals
new fruit.
If all we do is
modify, and all we
do is we kind of
modify in the same
way when all we're
doing is making up
resolutions.
You know, I'm
going to pray more.
I'm going to go to
church more.
I'm going to stop
being bad and be
more Christian, and
God's going to see
how good I am.
I feel for some of
the soldiers who
come into my office,
and they're like, I
can't go to church, I'm
not good enough.
If you only knew.
First of all, about me
and the people who
are there, no
offense, but we're all
just sinners in need
of grace here.
Amen?
Amen.
And so, Christ
announced that it's
only by the direct
intervention of God
can you or I be
changed.
And that's the
starting point.
Colossians 2 told us
how not to approach
spiritual formation,
much like that old
classical model.
Colossians 3 shows us
how to approach
spirituality.
Setting our eyes on
the things above, the
passage says.
Set your minds on
things that are above,
not on things that
are on earth.
We're raised with
Christ, then we set
our minds.
That means to be
taken up with.
When you look at the
passage and translate
the passage, it could
be taken up with the
things of God.
It could be devoted to
the things that are
above.
Allowing God, through a
vision of his glory, to
strip off the old and
put on the new.
I love Isaiah 6, 3,
where it talks about
the garment of praise.
We put on the
garment of praise.
I think that applies
here.
When God strips off
the old clothes and
he reclothes us, we
in a sense do that as
well along with him.
We put on the
garment of praise, all
the means of grace.
We have this term
called biblical means
of grace, which
includes reading our
Bibles, it includes
the Lord's Supper, the
wonderful worship we
had this morning.
These are the ways that
God allows us to
interact with him, to
set our minds.
But these things have
no power in
themselves unless
they're infused by
the Holy Spirit.
And through the
Holy Spirit, we get,
they become ways to
look to Jesus.
And it's through
looking to Jesus that
we become saved.
I have to stop there
with that point because
I could preach a whole
other sermon just on
that.
If Paul still uses
active terms and
those images are
active on our mark,
you take off then,
put on then, he's
always talking about
active, but we have
to keep that mooring
in sight.
We have been raised
already.
It's not about earning
God's favor.
It's about looking to
God and allowing him
to change us.
These are ways that we
relate to God as his
children.
They are not ways that
we earn his favor or
build our own
spiritual growth.
Spiritual
reformation is rooted
in our identity as
risen and adopted
children of God.
The basic truth about
what Christ has done
for us, that's the
point from which
everything else in
the spiritual life
flows.
And that's important
for us to remember
because there's a lot
of things out there
that want us basically
to say, no, you
know, our money or
our pride in ourselves,
that's going to be the
point from which my
spirituality is going to
flow.
No, it's what God has
done for us in Christ.
And so our to-do, if we
don't know Jesus and
you're tired of just
floating along in this
fear-based society, is to
accept Jesus' promise of
a new and risen life.
His forgiveness of your
sins and rising us from
the death that we live
now.
And to begin our
journey.
Or, if we're in the
church and we think
we're just humming
along, the beginning of
this year is a perfect
time to examine ourselves
and ask ourselves, in
what way have we
bought into that old
model of spiritual
formation?
The religious model
that apparently this
philosophy was trying to
get the Colossians.
In what ways at the
beginning of this year
am I buying into that
mindset?
And start again to
offer our old rags of
sin to him, commit to
his means of grace, and
to allow him to make us
into who he wants us to
be.
Not the other way
around.
All right, it's time for
the big finish.
This is my favorite
part of the sermon.
I think it's everybody's
favorite part.
One of the great parts
about joining the
military is when you
first get your uniform.
It's been a while for me,
but, you know, you get
this wonderful new
uniform that you've been
itching to put on.
And, you know, in
Petawawa, we always got
the new chaplains to
train.
I have a feeling now
that that's because they
could never convince any
of the experienced
chaplains to come there.
So we always got the new
chaplains to train.
And clothing stores where
in the military you
actually get your uniform
had this thing that they
seemed to like to do
with chaplains, and that
is give them a uniform,
smile, and send them on
their way.
Everybody else gets shown
how to wear the uniform.
For some reason, maybe
it's because we're
officers or chaplains,
they think, you know,
the Lord's going to show
us how to put this thing
on.
I don't know.
But they, so I remember
one fellow, great guy,
fantastic chaplain, but
when he showed up, they
gave him his uniform.
He went on his way, and
God bless him, he went
home and he put on his
uniform himself.
And then, well, he put
on his uniform himself.
And then he showed up
at our chaplain offices,
and the office was
locked, and Padre
Lara, who I worked
with for a number of
years, she came around
the door, and there
were a couple of
people there, and all
they remember is Lara
coming around and
looking out the front
door and going, oh
my goodness, and seeing
him there standing in
his uniform all proud of
himself.
And she went, she
opened the door, and
she just like dragged
him in, and her
question was like, how
many people saw you?
He had a pizza box, his
beret looked like a
pizza box on his head,
his legs were on
blouse.
Like, to a civilian, he
might look military, but
if you're in the army, I
mean, he was just
embarrassing himself.
And credibility is
everything with the
army guys.
You don't want to, or
army folks, you know,
you don't want to
embarrass yourself like
that.
And really kind of
embarrassing the
chaplains as well.
And he's so terribly
put together.
You know, even though
the membership and the
rank were his, he
needed to grow into
the uniform.
You learn to grow into
the uniform, how to
talk, how to be within
the military.
And he had that
confidence now while
growing.
We actually just
deployed him recently.
We had the community
that came around him to
help, the chaplains,
kind of showing him how
to put on his beret,
you know, what right
boots to wear.
I'm surprised he had
his boots on the right
feet.
This life after being
raised is about
growing in to our
new identity.
It's about letting
God put on our new
uniform for us, rooted
in who we've been made
to be, empowered by the
Holy Spirit to take
off the old and to
put on the new.
And so my challenge
this morning is for us
to make a resolution,
not just to change,
but a resolution to
spend my year looking
to Jesus.
Let him grow you
into the new
spiritual being that
he raised you to be.
Let's pray.
Loving God, what a
wonderful gift.
An unbelievable gift
you've given to us
in Christ.
We give you thanks,
Lord God, for our
salvation.
We give you thanks,
Lord God, for the new
way you close us in the
close of heaven now as a
taste of what's to come.
We pray for our
community that we would
be a place that would
help each other along
to grow into our new
uniform.
We pray, Lord God,
that this would be a
year where we look to
you and let you change
us through that vision
of your glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.