Colossians: Alive in Christ | Colossians 1:21-23

Good evening to all of you, to the mothers here. Happy Mother's Day.

It's great to be with you tonight, and we're happy that you gave some of your cherished holiday to come and worship together with us.

We pray for our children because of your hard labors, so thank you for that.

We're still in a series in the book of Colossians, and last week we looked at a question that Dan proposed to us out of chapter 1, verses 15 through 20.

That question was, who is Jesus?

And the answer he gave us was, Jesus is God.

However, for Paul, the whole Bible, the whole of God's story is a love letter.

That's how Paul sees it, and I think he's right.

For example, we can look at John 3, 16, where it says,

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.

For God so loved the world.

His story is a love letter to us, and so for Paul, having asked the question last week of who is Jesus, there has to be a follow-up, right?

I don't know if any of you have experienced this in your own life, but if you send off a love letter and you get nothing back,

it feels pretty miserable, doesn't it?

Just kind of sent yourself out there in a thin air and nothing came back.

It means nothing.

The love letter you sent means nothing without some sort of reciprocation, right?

So this week, in chapter 1, verses 21 through 23, Paul shows us the response.

So if last week's question was, who is Christ?

And the answer is, he is God.

The question this week is, what does it mean to be a Christian?

For Paul, this is one of the most important questions we can ask.

Paul is so convicted by this question that he believes the question we looked at last week,

the reality of who is Christ, means nothing if we don't also have a personal relationship.

If we haven't asked this question, wrestled with it, dealt with it, and let it impact our lives,

this question makes that question matter that much more.

So, who is Jesus Christ?

He is God.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

How will we respond to his love letter?

If you ask this question to ten different people, you'll probably get ten different responses, right?

You ask this question to one person, they might say,

well, it means going to church on Easter and Christmas.

You ask this question to another person, they might say,

well, I was baptized once.

Which we would say, good, once is all you need.

But, that doesn't mean that you're a Christian, necessarily.

For many people, it's a Sunday requirement to check a box.

You ask somebody else, and they might say, well, you know, it's an option.

It's just an alternative option of morals and worldviews set side by side with things like Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam.

It's a choice that you get to make of what your morals will be and what your worldview will look like.

For yet others, it's a passed down tradition.

Grandma and granddad, they were Christian, so I must be too.

They went to church, so I go to church.

Mom and dad went to church, so that's what I'll do.

And yet, to some others, it's nothing more than an irrelevant, out-of-touch form of hyper-conservativism,

full of hate-mongering and indifference towards anybody who's different than you.

Or maybe, some of you in this room thought it was this at one point in your life.

I know I did.

I went off to some high school retreat, one wonderful summer,

and that Friday night, I prayed the salvation prayer.

But none of those quite hit the nail on the head, do they?

So tonight's question, what does it mean to be a Christian?

Have you spent time dwelling on the importance of this question in your life?

Have you spent time wrestling with the impact that this should have on us,

and can have in us, if we let it just sit and be with us?

This morning's text is not a theological deep dive.

It's not an intellectual exposition from Paul for us to get way off into the weeds.

It means, no, tonight's text is a pastoral invitation to you.

It's a pastoral invitation to you to ask this question of ourselves.

And unlike any other religion or worldview or moral system,

the Christian faith is honest.

It's honest about who we are and who God is and who we were made to be.

So to answer the question of what does it mean to be a Christian,

we're going to look at what Paul says are the three phases of spiritual life.

What you once were, but now you are, and how you must go on.

What you once were, but now you are, and how you must go on.

Let's pray for God's help in this.

Heavenly Father, God, we come to you tonight.

We open up your word, your story, your love letter to us.

As we do that, soften our hearts, God.

Give us eyes to see and ears to hear the things that you have prepared for us.

As we wrestle with these questions and think about what it means to be a Christian, God,

I ask that you might make it take effect in our hearts and in our lives,

tonight and leaving this place into the week ahead.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

So the first thing then Paul says is what you once were.

Why does he start there?

Because you see, for a Christian there's always a before.

For every Christian there's a time before Christ.

There's a time before the Holy Spirit transformed you.

There was a way of living that wasn't so much about God and his will for your life

as it was about your own desires, your own ideas, your own fantasies.

This, what you once were, says Paul, is alienated and hostile in mind, causing us to do evil deeds.

So let's take just a little bit of time unpacking that statement together.

You once were alienated, he says.

Another way of translating this that might be helpful to some of you is estranged or isolated.

You once were alienated, estranged or isolated.

What does this mean?

I think two questions we have to ask about that is,

who are we alienated from?

And what does this alienation do to us?

Well, one quick response to the question is found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah,

Isaiah 59:2

chapter 59, verse 2, where it says,

Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear you.

So who are we alienated from?

God, our creator.

And anything that is alienated from its creator loses its true value and purpose and identity.

Diana, if you'd be willing to put the image up on the screen for us.

You see a painting here?

It's a rather unassuming piece of artwork.

It's not poorly done.

But it also doesn't strike any sort of awe in us.

In fact, when I first looked at this, I thought to myself,

Yeah, that's a pretty good piece of art.

I could see myself paying $25 for that at TJ Maxx or Target.

It looked really good above my leather chair.

That is, it's uninspiring until you find out this is actually a long-lost piece of Picasso.

It's a long-lost piece of Picasso, now valued in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This isn't Target or TJ Maxx.

This is Picasso.

Because of who the creator is, because of who the painter is,

this otherwise unassuming piece of art becomes highly valued and known by the whole world.

And just like that, us being estranged from our creator,

we lose our purpose.

We lose our value.

We lose our identity.

And so we live in this world mostly unknown,

wandering around from A to B and B to C

in a constant effort to be known, to be loved.

We are created beings out of touch with our creator,

living without a given purpose or identity.

So we wander around, like I said, seeking the answer to these two questions.

Who am I?

Or am I known?

I think two of the great 20th century philosophers say it quite beautifully

when John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney described our alienation in this way.

He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land,

making all his nowhere plans for nobody,

doesn't have a point of view,

knows not where he's going to.

Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere man, please listen.

Alienation.

It's so prevalent in our culture and in our time, isn't it?

People are alienated from family,

from parents,

from children,

from spouses,

from friends.

But most of all,

this reveals this alienation from God

that we all have felt at one time or another.

And it leads us to taking a quick fix, right?

The next thing.

A next relationship.

A different job.

A new hobby.

A new hobby.

It's an exhaustive list.

But quick fixes only lead to more and more and more pain and restlessness,

don't they?

If you've been down that road, you know full well,

every quick fix only leads to a little bit more pain

and a little bit more restlessness

and a little bit deeper search.

We find ourselves living as aimless wanderers.

And I think the great church father,

the great church father, Augustine,

says it really well when he put it this way.

You have made us for yourself, O Lord,

and our hearts are restless.

And our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

As alienated creatures,

we will forever be restless,

forever be wandering,

until we find our rest in God.

But Paul doesn't stop there at alienation, does he?

He says alienation,

its desire to be known by someone,

its desire to have purpose and identity,

leads to something.

He said it leads to a hostility of mind.

Which comes out of this longing that we have.

This longing to be loved.

And when we can't fill that,

it's frustrating, isn't it?

It's incredibly frustrating.

Paul says that alienation,

that frustration lead to hostility.

What ends up happening then

is when we're alienated from God

and continue to try to get something from creation

that creation cannot give us,

we begin to grow hostile in mind.

You could take that and put it in the dictionary

as the definition of insanity, couldn't you?

Doing something over and over again

expecting a different result.

Trying to get something from creation

that creation cannot give us.

And we do it again and again and again.

And we get hostile.

When that happens,

simply put,

somebody has to be blamed, don't they?

Somebody has to be blamed for this hostility,

for this alienation,

for this frustration,

for this cycle that we find ourselves in.

And so we begin to blame.

We begin to blame the people closest to us.

It's my wife's fault.

It's my husband's fault.

It's my boss's fault.

He doesn't treat employees well at all.

You'd probably put it a little bit differently

if you are hostile.

It's my kid's fault.

They're not living up to the expectations

that I have for them.

I didn't set the bar that high.

You see how this hostility leads to blaming.

Ultimately, though,

isn't all of this really just blaming God?

Whether or not you realize it,

every time we get to that place,

what we're doing is blaming God.

God didn't give you the right job.

He didn't give you the right boss.

He didn't make your wife love you enough

or your children smart enough

to live up to the expectations

that you think you ought to have for them.

He didn't perform a miracle

so you could afford some $1,500,

or sorry,

some half-million-dollar townhouse

in the middle of Washington, D.C.

that has 1,500 square feet.

What a gift that would be, right?

But he doesn't provide it.

So you blame him.

Do you see where this is going?

Our alienation and sin

drives us to hostility in mind,

leads us to blaming God

for the very thing that we did

in the first place.

And yet Paul says,

I'm sorry, but it doesn't even stop there.

You're alienated.

You are hostile.

And then that drives you to evil deeds.

It's easy to stand

and sort of analyze culture

and say, look at all of the bad there

and all of the bad there.

Or look at someone

who commits some egregious sin

and say, look at all of the evil there.

Paul says,

it doesn't start there.

It starts with your alienation

from your creator

that leads to hostility,

that leads to evil deeds.

What are these evil deeds?

It's been a whole sermon

or sermon series

on expounding on the evil deeds

that human nature drives out of us.

But we don't have to tonight

because if you were to flip a page

in your Bible to chapter 3,

Paul gives us a list.

In chapter 3 he says,

here's the evil deeds.

Sexual immorality,

impurity,

passion,

and covetousness,

which is idolatry.

Let me read that list one more time.

Sexual immorality,

impurity,

passion,

and covetousness,

which is idolatry.

Doesn't that pretty accurately

describe our culture?

I think so.

I think so.

And yet in that,

our culture invites us

into something,

don't they?

Culture invites you

to create your own identity,

to be the real you.

Be true to yourself.

Do what feels authentic

to you in the moment.

Right?

We hear that all over the place.

Advertising and marketing

makes billions on our desire

to be authentic

to where we are right now,

to be the real us.

But that's the problem,

isn't it?

If you're alienated

from your creator

and estranged

from his truth

and are not

the real you,

how can we possibly

do what culture

invites us to?

We can't.

Culture can't deliver

on its own invitation

and promise to us.

Culture can't.

But the good news is

the gospel can.

Jesus Christ can.

Why?

Because Jesus Christ

was the most real man.

Constantly true to himself.

He suffered alienation,

estrangement,

isolation from God.

He undeservingly died

for us

and was raised to life

so that we might be reconciled.

So that this alienation,

this long lostness

that we have

might no longer be the case.

The Bible puts it this way.

He is the way,

the truth,

and the life.

Jesus did it all.

And he was raised from death

so that what you once were,

who you once were,

no longer describes

who you now are.

So Paul starts with saying,

you once were alienated

and hostile.

But then,

I'm going to take the words

out of the NIV translation

because I think

it's powerful here.

You once were alienated

and hostile,

but now,

but now,

you are reconciled.

Do you have a but now

in your story?

Think about your life.

Do you have a but now

in your story?

You once were alienated

or estranged,

but now,

friends,

you are known by God.

What no job

or salary

or spouse

or relationship

or child

or parents

or hobby

could ever give you

and never will be able

to give you,

you have been given

in Christ

at the cross.

The chasm

that once

distanced us

from God,

that unbridgeable gap

has been bridged

by the cross.

Isolation,

alienation

from God

is over.

It's no longer

the reality

of our world.

Throughout the Bible,

we'll see

this reconciliation

language

come again

and again

and again.

Just a couple

examples of this.

You once were

but now are language.

You once were

blind

but now you see.

You once were

far off

but now are near.

You once were

lost

but now

are found.

You once were

slaves

but now

you're free.

You see that

reconciliation

language

throughout the Bible?

The but now

moment

of our existence?

This is a

powerful statement.

This is a

powerful statement

because

by nature

a slave

cannot free

themselves.

Slaves

can't get up

one morning

and go to the

master and say,

alright,

today's the day.

we're free.

It doesn't work

that way.

A slave

cannot by nature

get themselves

out of their

own situation.

Someone outside

of slavery

has to break

in

and free

the slaves.

And it's

only Jesus,

the God

man,

the one who

is outside

of our human

condition

that could

break in

and free

us.

He's the only

one who can

give us a

butt now.

Do you see

how last

week's

question

has to

impact

the rest

of our

lives?

Who is

Jesus?

He is

God.

What does

it mean to

be a

Christian?

You were

once alienated,

but now.

But now.

And it's

not our own

efforts.

It's not our

own efforts

to achieve

this.

It isn't

living well

enough.

It isn't

serving often

enough,

even though

we love

you to

serve here.

Because we

were enslaved

and alienated.

It can't

be our

efforts,

right?

That's the

good news.

That's the

good news

of grace.

The good

news of

grace of

the Christian

faith.

That though

we could

not get

out of

our own

situation,

Jesus,

who is

God,

broke in.

Remember

what we

read in

Isaiah 52,

a little

while ago?

Your

iniquities

have made

a separation

between you

and your

God,

and your

sins have

hidden his

face from

you,

so that he

does not

hear you,

what you

once were.

Isaiah 53,

just one

chapter later,

gives us

the correction.

Isaiah 53,

6 says this,

all we like

sheep have

gone astray,

we have

turned everyone

to his

own way,

and the

Lord has

laid on

him,

Jesus,

the iniquity

of us

all.

Let this

hit you

afresh

this evening.

Jesus,

God,

entered in

to rescue

you,

to reconcile

you,

to offer

you the

but now

that you've

been searching

for,

to give

you the

purpose,

the identity,

the

knownness

that you

have always

longed for.

And having

received this,

it's the only

way that we

friends can go

into a hopeless

world as

hopeful people.

It's the only

way that we

can bring joy

into the world

because we

are known

by our

creator.

We have

a purpose

now.

Just like

the painting

being known

as a

Picasso

now has

value,

so you

being known

by God

have immense,

undeniable,

unchangeable

value in

the but now

life.

Because there's

a way out.

There's an

old wonderful

hymn that I

think says

this better

than I

could.

It says

this,

there's a

way back

to God

from the

dark paths

of sin.

There's a

door that

is open

and you

may go

in.

At

Calvary's

cross is

where you

begin when

you come as

a sinner to

Jesus.

You once

were alienated,

but now,

but now you

are reconciled.

And then Paul

continues on and

he says,

and reconciliation

doesn't stop

there, it

comes with a

purpose,

right?

He says,

it's for

something.

That

for

something that

Paul tells

us is this,

to present

you holy

and blameless

for the

glory of

God.

And so the

whole world

can know.

You see,

you are the

proof to the

world of who

Christ is.

And you are a

presentation to

God of

Christ's work

here on

earth.

Both ways.

both ways.

But

reconciliation

isn't just a

moment either.

It's not just

a moment

somewhere back

in time.

Because we

arrive at

verse 23,

and it says

this,

if you

continue on

in your

faith,

Paul adds

a last layer

here that's

not the easiest

one to unpack

together.

What is he

saying here?

What is he

saying?

Is he

saying that we

could lose

our salvation?

No,

that's not

Paul's point

right here.

The point

is that the

confidence of

the but now,

of your

reconciliation

secured in

Christ,

cannot and

must not

lull you to

laziness.

There is no

having arrived

in the Christian

faith.

Christianity

isn't a

retirement

lifestyle.

exile.

There's no

end to the

work here.

It's

ongoing.

It's

continuing

on.

And this

continuing

on is the

proof that

you have

really

understood

and been

reconciled to

Jesus Christ.

It's the

proof that

your life

has been

changed.

Because you

see, the

statement tells

us this

very plainly.

you once

were

alienated,

but now

are

reconciled.

Right?

There's a

shift there

that disallows

you from

returning back

to the

once were.

It's in

the past.

It's behind

you.

Something else

is before

you.

There's a

different way

forward.

The but now

of reconciliation

means for

each one of

us that

there's a

real and

noticeably

different

aspect to

our lives

when we're

reconciled by

Jesus.

So how you

must go on

here, the

if you

continue on

that Paul

gives us

is nothing

more and

nothing less

than living

the reconciled

life.

It's an

encouragement

and a

challenge for

us.

The

reconciled

life I

think is

two primary

things.

It's being

a herald

and it's

being a

harbinger.

Let me

explain in

case you

have negative

connotations

about either

of those.

Being a

herald, you're

called to

announce the

but now of

Christ.

The message

of the

opportunity to

be known,

to have

purpose,

to have an

identity, the

freedom to

no longer have

to fight tooth

and nail and

claw your way

through life

seeking to be

valued by

somebody or

someone out

there.

you're called

to announce

this.

And you

see here at

Advent, if

you're a

member, you

know this and

if you're not,

hopefully one

day soon you'll

learn this.

When you become a

member, you

receive a bell,

right?

We ring them

loud and proud

all Easter,

that's the second

half of Easter

vigil I should

say, and

then all

throughout the

Easter season.

But why the

bell?

Why the

bell?

Well, because

the bell was

the tool of an

ancient herald who

would walk into a

community, he

would stand in the

city square and he

would ring the

bell as loud as he

could until people

came from the hedges

and the edges of the

city, from every

building and every

direction to gather

to listen to the

good news that he

had to bring.

That is what Paul

calls us to be.

It's heralds.

Wherever you go,

you can bring your

bell if you want to

literally, but more

importantly, walk in

because you're the

one whose job it is

to share the good

news wherever you're

at, wherever you

work, wherever you

live, wherever you

play, wherever your

kids are in school,

wherever life takes

you, you're a

herald.

And secondly, you're a

harbinger.

What do I mean when

I say harbinger?

Harbinger is

primarily the one

who shows the

first fruits of

something to come,

the first fruits of

something soon on

the horizon.

You might consider

the cherry blossoms

down around the

tidal basin to be

some sort of

harbinger of spring

in Washington, D.C.

That's your job.

Be a living example.

Bodily proof.

Of the new life

that's coming and

has come in Christ

through his death

and resurrection.

And as you live the

reconciled life, you

also find those people

that you used to

blame, the hostility

you had, the evil

deeds that came out

of that.

Little by little,

they'll start to be

washed away.

Because something else

is swept up inside of

you in this but now

life in Christ.

Jesus says in the

gospel of John, if you

abide in my word, you

are truly my disciples

and you will know the

truth and the truth

will set you free.

So what does it mean to

be a Christian?

It's none of those

one line answers that we

listed off the beginning.

It's this.

It's the recognition that

you have a transformation

story in Jesus Christ.

You once were alienated

but now you are reconciled

that you might go on

being a herald and a

harbinger so that a

hopeless world can find

hope.

So that a world without

purpose can find purpose.

So that a world without

value can find value in

their creator.

Like you have.

If you're here this

evening and you don't

yet know Jesus, if you

hear this and you're

like, I really feel like

I'm still in the once

were.

I feel like I'm spinning

my wheels.

Trying to fit in.

Trying to be valued.

Trying to create an

identity.

And I want you to

hear this.

This offer.

Of your but now

moment.

Is here tonight.

It's always available

to you.

In the death and

resurrection of Jesus.

And if you're willing

to, I would invite you

to pray tonight if this

is you.

Pray tonight that Christ

would break into your

life and your heart.

And start to let you

know that you are

known.

That you are loved.

That you have value in

him that the world can't

dream of giving.

And that you have

purpose that's unmatched

by anything this place

has to offer.

This is the good news,

friends.

Christ Jesus came into

the world to save

sinners.

You who once were

alienated from God

are now reconciled to

him through Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray.