Of course, that also means we’ve reached the mid-point in this summer sermon series we started about five weeks ago, you know, the one entitled Rooted in Christ: A Journey Through Colossians. You see, over the course of seven Sundays, we’re looking at Paul’s entire letter to the Christians in Colossea and considering how we might apply his suggestions within our own congregation and community. And during the first three weeks, we’ve talked about how we might become more firmly rooted prayer and in peace and in service. And as you can see in your bulletin, this morning we’re going to look at faith.
And you know, I always find it really interesting how things sort of work out. As some of y’all know, every day on Facebook, I post a lot of stuff, some of which I share on the Sligo Presbyterian Church page. For example, I post some passages so that, together, we can read the Bible in a year. And I post a joke and a quote, a prayer request and my own Thought for the Day. And then I also post something from a theologian or missionary or church leader. Now I do that every day, and if you haven’t seen them but would like to, check out the Pastor Ed Rudiger page on Facebook. Anyway, yesterday, the randomly selected theological quote came from Michael Ramsey, the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury I the Church of England. You see, he said, “
Reason is an action of the mind; knowledge is a possession of the mind; but faith is an attitude of the person. It means you are prepared to stake yourself on something being so.” Now that’s what he said and I posted it yesterday.
And as I just said, that’s what we’re looking at this morning. You see, for the next ten minutes or so, we’re going to focus on what it means to be rooted in faith, something that every Christian I know talks about all the time but doesn’t always seem to understand. In other words, we’re going to take this next section in Paul’s letter to the Colossians and we’re going to talk about three things about being rooted in faith that Paul thought the Colossians should know. Now that’s the plan.
For example, first, I think according to Paul, being rooted in faith is active. In other words, faith demands some decisions and actions on our part. You see, for him, faith is anything but passive. And I’ll tell you, I believe that’s why he wrote this to the Colossians:
You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. Now keep on following him. Plant your roots in Christ and let him be the foundation for your life. Be strong in your faith, just as you were taught. And be grateful. [Colossians 2:6-7, CEV]
Now that’s what Paul wrote. And I’ve got to tell you, I think it’s just as applicable to us as it was for them. You see, being faithful as individuals and communities is about choosing to live as Christians, you know, taking him as an example that we can use to shape our lives and our living. For example, faith is choosing to trust. It’s intentionally deciding that, “Yes, I believe that God is the creator and redeemer and sustainer. And yes, I believe that he loved us before he laid the foundation of the universe and that he loves us right now and that he’ll continue to love us long after time has lost its meaning. And yes, I believe that this same one, this same God holds our eternal destinies in his hands.” You see, faith is choosing to trust. But it’s also choosing to follow, and I’m talking about choosing to follow the one who lived and who died and who was raised and choosing to follow the one who, before he was crucified, looked at his disciples and said, “My children, I will be with you for only a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but you won’t find me. I tell you just as I told the people, ‘You cannot go where I am going.’ But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” [John 13:33-35, CEV] And faith is choosing to follow the one who also said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:18b-20, CEV] You see, faith is choosing to follow. And it’s also choosing to listen, to listen even though that may mean admitting that we don’t already have all the answers and to listen even if that involves taking the time and making the effort to put ourselves where the probability of hearing drastically increases and to listen even when that may force us to change our opinions and our assumptions and our perspectives. You see, along with trusting and following, faith is also choosing to listen. And because of all that choosing, I believe being rooted in faith is active. And that’s one.
And second, according to Paul, I also think it’s liberating. In other words, faith results in freedom, our freedom. Therefore, faithful people recognize that they’ve been set free. And I’ll tell you, I think that’s exactly what Paul was getting at when he wrote this to the Colossians:
God lives fully in Christ. And you are fully grown because you belong to Christ, who is over every power and authority. Christ has also taken away your selfish desires, just as circumcision removes flesh from the body. And when you were baptized, it was the same as being buried with Christ. Then you were raised to life because you had faith in the power of God, who raised Christ from death. You were dead, because you were sinful and were not God’s people. But God let Christ make you alive, when he forgave all our sins.
God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross. There Christ defeated all powers and forces. He let the whole world see them being led away as prisoners when he celebrated his victory. [Colossians 2:9-15, CEV]
Now that’s what Paul wrote, and just think about what it means. You see, since God was fully in Christ and since Christ was over every power and authority and since when he was buried, we were buried with him, and when he was raised, we have the possibility of new life, brothers and sisters, since all that’s happened without our help or permission, we are free. Man, we’ve been set free from those selfish desires that can distort and pervert our relationships with others. And we’ve been set free from the kind of guilt and shame that can cause us to isolate ourselves. And we’ve been set free from those impossible standards that tie us up and tie us down by whispering in our ears that we only have value because we’re perfect and pure. You see, because of what Christ did, we’ve been set free from all that garbage that binds us up and holds us back. Which also means that, through him, we’ve been freed to become the kind of people we were called and created to be. I mean, we’ve been freed to show mercy even though the world calls mercy weakness and to demonstrate compassion even when the world says compassion is stupid. As a matter of fact, we’ve been freed to be the kind of men and women Jesus had in mind when he said, “If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” [Matthew 16:24b-25, CEV] You see, not only is being rooted in faith active, I think it’s also liberating. And that’s two.
And third, I believe Paul would say it’s also challenging. In other words, choosing to follow the example of Christ and living the freedom that we now have, I’m telling you, it’s just not easy and it sure won’t make those who don’t understand happy. And you know, I think that’s why Paul also wrote this to the Colossians:
Don’t let anyone fool you by using senseless arguments. These arguments may sound wise, but they are only human teachings. They come from the powers of this world and not from Christ.
Don’t let anyone tell you what you must eat or drink. Don’t let them say you must celebrate the New Moon festival, the Sabbath, or any other festival. These things are only a shadow of what was to come. But Christ is real!
Don’t be cheated by people who make a show of acting humble and who worship angels. They brag about seeing visions. But it is all nonsense, because their minds are filled with selfish desires. They are no longer part of Christ, who is the head of the whole body. Christ gives the body its strength, and he uses its joints and muscles to hold it together, as it grows by the power of God. [Colossians 2:8, 16-19, CEV]
Now, I think Paul had a good reason for using the word “don’t” four times in this passage that was all about faith and freedom. You see, even though, through Jesus Christ, we’ve been changed, we live in a world that really hasn’t changed at all, a world that hasn’t decided to trust and to follow and to listen and that doesn’t feel free from anything at all. And you know, because of that, it’ll try its best to distract us, to suck us into senseless arguments and to convince us to believe them rather than Christ. And It’ll try its best to control us, to shape our actions and attitudes, our assumptions and values. And I’m telling you, it’ll try its best to fool us, to convince us that self-centered arrogance is somehow spiritual and to persuade us that Jesus really wants us to limit and to qualify the love we show others. Now, according to Paul that’s what the Colossians faced, and so do we. But I’ll tell you, I’ve got some good news for you. I think we can not only face but overcome these very real challenges. And we can accomplish it by simply doing the very stuff we talked about when we looked at our faith being active. In other words, if we don’t want to get distracted by senseless arguments, we can intentionally make the decision to trust God. And if we don’t want to be controlled by a bunch of silly rules, we can intentionally make the decision to follow Jesus Christ. And if we don’t want to be fooled by a lot of spiritual sounding nonsense, we can intentionally make the decision to listen to what the Word of God actually says. And you know, when we do this, I believe we’ll be facing the challenges that faith presents. And that’s three.
Of course, I doubt that this was what Archbishop Michael Ramsey had in mind when he said, “Reason is an action of the mind; knowledge is a possession of the mind; but faith is an attitude of the person. It means you are prepared to stake yourself on something being so.” Still, I also don’t think he’d disagree with what we’ve been talking about this morning. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly confident that he’d agree that faith is certainly active, with us choosing to trust and to follow and to listen. And that faith is also liberating, you know, that through Jesus Christ we’ve been set free from selfish desires and inner shame and impossible standards and freed to show mercy and to demonstrate compassion and to become the men and women we were called to be. And that faith is also challenging, because the world will try its best to distract us and to control us and to fool us with a lot of nonsense. You see, according to what Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians, I think that’s what it means to be rooted in faith.
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