Sermon prepared
for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn WA
8:30
traditional & 10:30 Holden services – June 20, 2004
by Gregory S.
Kaurin, pastor
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text: Colossians 3:1-3, also Luke 12:34 &
Job 28
Sermon:
Keeping Your Head in the Clouds
Let
us pray: Heavenly Father, as we contemplate these words of your Apostle Paul,
fill us with heavenly thoughts and inspire us to heavenly actions, by the power
of your Holy Spirit and in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Son and our Savior. Amen
A
month ago we asked people for their favorite Bible passages. At least one of you answered with the first
three verses from the third chapter of Paul’s Epistle, his letter to the
churches of Colossae. Paul wrote, “Seek
the things that are above…set your mind on them”…set your sights on the rich
treasures and joys of heaven. In
Luke’s gospel we read, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also.” Again in Paul’s letter: “Set your sights, seek the things of
heaven. Set your mind on it. Let heaven fill your thoughts.”
My
mom was constantly telling me to pull my head out of the clouds. If only I had known or thought about this
passage I could have said, “But, Mom, the Bible commands us to keep our minds
in the clouds, above things.” But, this
passage from Colossians is not about daydreaming. It is not, in fact, about ignoring Life or
the world around us. This passage is
about having 1) a clear vision, 2) a better perspective, and 3) real change.
First,
a clear vision: Paul was saying that we
need to see heaven better than we do.
Paul was writing to a time and place very similar to our own. The Roman Empire, with their government,
roads and ship ports, had brought a huge variety of people together from the
East and West. The old Greek and Roman
religions and rites had broken down.
People sometimes went through the motions of honoring the gods and the
Emperor, but more for good luck than real worship. There was a lot more cynicism, doubt, even agnosticism. And with the loss of the old, people still
longed for something bigger than themselves that made sense in their big,
multi-cultural world.
With
all of these choices, some of them latched onto this clear, simple gospel of
Christ Jesus. Jesus brought God close
enough to touch. He had love and
compassion (enough to die) for his worshippers. He brought the assurance of a life outside of all this confusion,
war and oppression…for eternity, with a loving God. It was a powerful, meaningful and NEEDED message.
But
there was a strong tendency toward something called SYNCRETISM. All around the Empire, including these
cities that Paul wrote to, people were creating religions from different
combinations of the old and new teachings – and trying to mesh it all with the
language of philosophy, the sciences of the day: so take a little bit of Christianity as Paul
taught it, add a bit of old Pharisaic demands for ritual purity, dietary
restrictions, and Sabbath laws, stir in angelic visions, prophecies and
observance of new moons. SYNCRETISM: a tendency to make religion from bits and
pieces that we like. Sounds kind of
familiar, doesn’t it?
Don’t
get me wrong. It’s good to listen and
learn from each other. I had a nice
little chat with three young Mormon missionaries last night. I learned a lot in a short time and hope
they did, too. It’s fine to listen, ask
questions and learn from each other different ways to express our beliefs in
God. Truly we are all seeking the
things of heaven. It’s just that some
people are looking in the wrong places, like trying to find an elephant by
looking under rocks.
And
that is what Paul was saying – the Colossians had let their vision get
clouded. They were so busy worshiping
their ideas, their rituals, of Sabbath keeping and angels and new moons that
they were forgetting to simply trust and worship Jesus as a Living Being.
They had begun to worship their religion and rituals, instead of
worshipping God.
Our
worship is full of beautiful treasures.
Our heritage and traditions, music and creeds and many of our modern additions
are meaningful, worshipful, and valuable.
In some way they are a lot like all the treasures in our first lesson
from Job. We can dig into them, find
and make great beauty. But they in
themselves are not and can never give the true treasures of wisdom, value and
meaning until or unless we look beyond them to see heaven and God.
When
Paul wrote to seek the things of heaven, he literally wrote that we are to
always be looking for the upward things.
While on earth, look for the things that point upward to Heaven. In our worship, it’s about being aware. Not just about being moved or bored in
church. These are not just things to say
or sing for the sake of comfort or tradition or nostalgia. We say them and sing them to God because we
believe that He is real and alive and listening and talking to us – each one of
us – right now. We need to see heaven
better. We need a clear vision because,
secondly, we need a better perspective in life.
When
Paul says in this letter that we are to live with our hearts in heaven and as
though dead to the things on earth, he is talking about using our clear vision
for a better perspective on life.
One
Bible commentator said this: “The
risen life is a hidden life. Its roots
are in (Jesus Christ).” Meaning that we
do not draw our strength, our faith does not depend, on the things that come
and go in life. Our true life and
health come out of our baptism – God’s claim on us, the beginning of our
journey. So, if our roots are in the
eternal promises of Jesus Christ, and our leaves are already spread out and
reaching for the Kingdom, then here we are still in the world, living,
breathing, acting, and laughing, crying and dying. And yet we are already beyond the world – in it, not of it. We are already saved. Like
Jesus Christ from whom we now come, we live and die…but in a moment, at the
last trumpet and the twinkling of God’s eye, we will be raised
imperishable. And that gives us a wider
perspective, an ability to experience the world, with all its warts, and yet be
at peace in our minds and hearts.
Have
you ever had a heaven moment? Jesus
said, “Heaven is at hand.” Even now,
sometimes, we get glimpses. If you have
experienced God in a song, in a moment, a message, a Bible passage or a prayer,
don’t try to trap it or relive it.
Simply cherish it for what it was.
Thank God for it, learn from it and move on. There will be more times.
Expect them and be patient. You
and I have Christ’s claim. We have all
of eternity to wait and see and learn.
That is a better perspective for life.
It makes room for the third thing Paul called for -- real change.
The
change is the New Life we have been given – life in baptism, to grow up in it,
to live in it. We need to trust God
enough to let him, to let our belief, have an affect on how we feel about and
act in the world. Let me be clear. This is not to earn God’s favor or
forgiveness or salvation, but simply to live in them – to live the life and do
the tasks, which God made and freed us to do for the sake of love.
In
1903 the preacher Alexander MacLaren was commenting on this passage and said
these words, “The body may live while mind and spirit are dead. A person’s spirit is alive when s/he is
conscious of God. Without that, we are
dead even while we are alive. But with
him, we are alive even while we die.”
Do I do my best to live and allow life, the life of God, to flow through
me, through my imperfect words and actions?
Pastor MacLaren went on to say, “Stammering words and imperfection shall
vex us no more.” We shall do our best
anyway and fall back on the Grace of God that first brought us to Jesus
Christ. Diseases and death shall vex us
no more, we are destined and already reaching for a heaven without tears.
The Grace of God clears
our vision. We are lifted into God’s
arms by the Spirit’s songs. From here
we can see glimpses of heaven and eternity.
The view is astounding and we are forever changed and always changing.
Amen
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