Dr. Scott McKee: Good morning everybody. Good morning. And by everybody, I mean the larger than I expected crowd at Northville. Everybody, yeah, yeah. What are you people doing here?
Good crowd at Farmington Hills as well and a larger than usual number of people watching online from home. Good morning to you as well. On these snowy weekends, always feel a bit like Father Mackenzie writing the words to a sermon that no one will hear. But you're so faithful in showing up or watching online, so I really appreciate that. Not long ago, was driving on one of those snowy days over the I-two 75 exchange and I saw a sign I hadn't really noticed before.
Sign said, Caution, bridge may be icy. And I thought what an understatement. On this particular day the bridge was a sheet of ice. Bridge may be icy, bridge is absolutely icy. I started to think about other street signs that don't make a lot of sense, like those signs you wondered about that say slow children of play and you're waiting for the slow kids to come running out of their houses.
Or the sign that says, Don't throw trash on the highway. $100? Fine! Yeah, thought it might be. But the sign that really cracks me up is not on the roads, it's in the shopping malls.
Every mall has got a kiosk in the center of the mall with a little sign that says Ears pierced while you wait. What other way is there? I'd like to pick these up in half an hour please. Thank you very much. Around our area there's a lot of signs that say no U turns.
U turns are very illegal in many parts of our city. But throughout the book of Colossians that we're about to study over the next couple of months, the sign is posted throughout the entire book to the church at Colossae that says U turns are extremely legal. In fact U turns are necessary. In fact there comes a time in life where people are able to turn around and walk a completely different direction. Which is why we're calling this series on Colossians Walk This Way.
As picked up best in the English Standard Translation that you heard read earlier, this got a theme verse for us. Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Walk in Jesus Christ the Lord, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Four chapters, 95 verses, Paul's letter to the church at Colossae, maybe the greatest writing that's ever been rendered on what it means to be spiritually formed in Christ likeness. What Paul calls in Colossians, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Now Paul is writing to a young church in the city of Colossae in Asia Minor, and today I'm going give you a little bit of background of this book, takes kind of overview, an introduction if you will, to the book of Colossians. Again, Colossians written to people who live in Colossae. Most of Paul's letters were this way. Paul wrote to the church at Rome and that is called Paul's letter to the Romans. Romans are people who live in Rome.
People who live in Corinth are Corinthians. People who live in Ephesus are Ephesians. People who in Michigan are crazy. That's right. Why don't we live where we live?
This is Paul's letter to the church at Colossae. The city of Colossae was in Asia Minor. We'll show it to you on a map here. The city of Colossae here located in Asia Minor which is now Southwest Turkey, located along a tributary of the Meander River. The Meander River is known for its curves and we get our word meander from this river.
Paul had never been to Colossae. The church there was most likely founded by a guy named Epaphras. So this is kind of Paul's first correspondence to the church at Colossae. Just on the road was another small city called Laodicea, that may sound familiar to you, and these two cities are quite related to each other. In fact, in Paul's letter to the church at Colossae, he mentions Laodicea several times.
In the scripture verse that was read today, he says, Oh, I've struggled for you and for the Laodiceans. Later he says, Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, he says to the Colossians. This letter would have been read aloud in those churches and he says, After you read the letter in Colossae, see that it's also read in Laodicea. Now I say this because we know something about the spiritual condition of the church in Laodicea and there's some indication that some of the problems in Laodicea also infected the church in Colossae. Anybody remember what the book of Revelation says to the church of Laodicea?
Remember in that book of Revelation, there's seven letters to the seven churches? And to the church of Laodicea, I reserved some of the saddest words in the whole of the New Testament. The words spoken to the church at Laodicea is, I know your works. This is Jesus speaking, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot.
I wish that you were either cold or hot. Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. That's the word to the church at Laodicea. And again there's some indication that the church at Colossae has this kind of spiritual lukewarmness syndrome as well. They're not hostile to God, but they're not wholly devoted to God either.
They're kind of middle of the road. And there's a verse at very end of the letter of the Colossians that kind of haunts me, chapter four verse 17. Paul is giving personal instructions and he says, Say to Archippus, see to it, there's this kind of command, see to it that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord. Make sure, Paul says, that you finish the task you have received in the Lord. So someone named Archippus was entrusted with some kind of ministry or task, that word task can be translated ministry, probably involved a teaching ministry of some kind.
Archippus was likely one of the teachers in this new community. And Paul needs to warn him. And I don't know, but maybe if Archippus had devoted himself to this task of called the church to full devotion, that maybe John wouldn't have to have spoken those dark words all those years later. Maybe instead of a lukewarm church, there would have been a church that was red hot on fire for God and for God's purposes. I don't know for sure about this, but I'll tell you real personally for a moment, those words have just kind of haunted me this last week as I thought about us as a church.
I want so much to call you and to call me to full devotion, to be on fire for God. And to think of what can happen when somebody, me or anybody else, fails to do the task that was given to them. I want to complete the task that was given to me, the ministry that was given to me. That's really been kind of a personal thing between me and God this week. I don't want to have God to have to have those kind of words spoken to me.
In contrast to Archippus is the Apostle Paul. Look back at chapter one verse twenty eight and twenty nine, this is Paul. Paul wants to present everyone mature in Christ. To this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. To present people mature in Christ to this end, I don't just contend, he strenuously contends.
He doesn't just strenuously contend, he strenuously contends with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. He desperately wants it, he's passionate about presenting people mature. Again, Paul has not been to the church at Colossians, this is kind of his first correspondence with the Colossians. He desperately wants them to be presented mature in Christ and he's got the energy behind it to do it. As we set out on this journey through the book of Colossians, we're inviting everyone to consider their next step in Jesus, Their next step toward full maturity in Jesus.
And on your way in you were handed a sticker, you were wondering what it was, it's a footstep. This is a footstep and there's a sharpie marker in the pew container in front of you. It's not directly in front of you, it's down the road from you. There aren't enough sharpies for everyone you might need to share. But we're asking you to write on your footstep what you think your next step might be.
What's your next step in Jesus? Might be joining a small group, might be going through a financial peace university, might be volunteering in a ministry that uses my gifts, might be pray with somebody, pray for somebody, extend forgiveness to somebody. So write your next step on your footstep as an act of faith and we'll collect these from you on your way out today and our staff will lay these down as a pathway through our hallway Next week when you come back you'll be able to see pray for not only your next step, but the next step of your friends and neighbors. What's your next step? Now the time that remains today, I'd like to highlight a few of the key themes of the book of Colossians.
Today we're going to overview what I think could happen in us if we give ourselves fully to the study of this New Testament letter. And the first thing I think is going to happen in us over the next two months is we will get a new sense of awe over who Christ is. A sense of awe. This is one of the key themes of the book of Colossians is about who Jesus really is. Look at these words: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For in Him all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together, and He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.
There may not be another book in the New Testament that gives such a powerful picture of the exalted nature of Christ. We'll get into this more later on in our series, but there was a heresy apparently at that time, a false teaching going on in the church that Jesus wasn't fully enough. As they were getting into angel worship or other intermediaries in order to try to access God. But Paul makes it very clear in this book that when we come into the presence of Christ, we are coming into the Creator of the Universe and the Conqueror of every rival power, the source of all holiness and justice and the one that holds life and death in His hands. You're going to have an exalted understanding of Christ by the time we're through studying this book of the Bible.
Paul says, All creation is from Him, through Him, held together in Him, exists for Him. And so to follow Him, to follow the exalted Christ will be an adventure and trust and faith that will change your life. I think that's gonna happen in the next couple months. When I was youth pastor, we would take kids down to Appalachian Mountains for service projects and we'd always tap on a rock climbing adventure or rock rappelling adventure for fun. Rock climbing is when you go up, rock rappelling is when you go down, and rock rappelling off the edge of a cliff involves, you've seen it, ropes and pulleys and these little carabiners that you trust your life to.
It felt like when I'm going off the edge that I'm trusting my life to dental floss and paper clips. But the system really works, the pulleys really work and you can walk right off the edge of a cliff down safely. And I never would have known that if I hadn't taken those first terrifying steps off the edge of the cliff. It can be trusted. And one of the things that's going to happen is we immerse ourselves in Paul's writing in the book of Colossians.
We're going to study this book together, I'm going ask you to read it on your own. You'll discover an exalted Christ beyond your wildest dreams and when you begin to see Him brightly, the rest of your world, the rest of your life, you're going begin to see as He sees it. Fear is not going to hold you back from trusting Christ anymore. Fear doesn't hold back people who see the Christ that Paul saw. We're going to do that together.
We're going to have a sense of awe, I believe, as we work our way through the pages of Paul's letter to the church at Colossae. Another sense I think we're going pick up in the next two months as we work our way through this letter, and this one so desperately needed, is a sense of forgiveness. A sense of forgiveness. How do you live as a forgiven people? Not just how do we adopt the doctrine of forgiveness, but how do you live as one that's free from guilt?
And the Colossians had a problem with this. So Paul writes to them in the letter, For Jesus has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And again, the Colossians really wrestled with this feeling totally free from sin. So Paul goes on, When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ, He forgave us all our sins. When When He forgave us all our sins, He erased all of our debt, removed the mountain of moral debt that's in between you and a moral God, and now you stand free.
But do you ever feel guilty anyway? You ever torn between feeling guilty when you don't need to? Paul's trying to free them up from guilt. One time I was driving very near my house and I drove past a police car that was sitting in waiting. You know when a police car's there ready, just waiting to nab people.
And I drove past them, saw them a little too late. And when you drive past the police car, do you look at the police car or do you pretend like you were minding your own business? I looked but I pretended like I was just minding my own business and I could feel my heart rate start to increase and sure enough the police car pulls out, pulls in, pulls behind me and I'm driving. I already started to fabricate my excuses. Officer, I'm very sorry, I'm just leaving the church where I serve as the pastor.
Officer, I'm very sorry, I've been distracted ever since I was diagnosed with cancer, getting home to my poor wife. And then I realized, wait a minute, I'm not speeding. I'm not breaking any laws. I have no reason to feel guilty. The fact this police guy pulled up behind me was sheer coincidence.
He wasn't after me at all. Except you probably wonder why I was driving 10 miles an hour now. Do you ever feel guilty when there's no reason for you to feel guilty? The Colossians did. They couldn't feel free of the sin that Paul reminds them again and again, You have been forgiven.
And Paul's going to remind us as well. And we're going to see together the totality of God's forgiveness and how we can begin to live in it because what Paul's going after again is not just a statement of forgiveness, but an experience of freedom. This may involve some confession and repentance on our part, but that's for our healing. God's done the forgiving part already. He's done the time, He's paid the price, the tickets have been canceled, it's not on your record, Paul says.
We're going to experience a sense of forgiveness as we work our way through the book of Colossians. The third thing we're going to experience is a sense of freedom. A sense of freedom. Again, look at what Paul writes here. Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.
These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality however is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they've seen. They are all puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual minds.
Right, there's a lot of things they're being puffed up about that aren't really spiritual at all. Because Colossians struggle with this, Paul goes on, he says more. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belong to the world, do you submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgences. In other words, there's this kind of legalism that has crept into the church at Colossae that we're going look at more closely throughout this series. And I know people that go back and forth, they get very legalistic and very performance oriented but then they realize, But I'm not really connected to God. I'm not feeling any closer to God. I'm not feeling like I'm growing spiritually.
Throughout the book of Colossians, Paul is writing to a church that deals with exactly this kind of stuff and he says, look, we're going to pursue Christ with all energy, but we're not going to give an ounce of ground to legalism. There's no value in it, it creates very impressive appearances, but it does nothing to bring about transformation. I think in the book of Colossians we're going experience this new sense of freedom. And the last one I'll talk about this morning, again this is an overview of the book of Colossians, last one we'll talk about is a passionate sense of purpose. We're going to regain a passionate sense of purpose.
God does have a plan for your life. God does have a mission for you. And once you get clear on it, nothing else really matters that much. We getting very clear over the next two months of what the goal of discipleship is. This is a great question in spiritual life.
How do I know if I'm making progress spiritually? You know the Pharisees thought they were doing great spiritually and they were way off track. So how do we really know? And I want to take you now to the heart of Colossians, to a key verse that we'll come back to again and again. This would be great one to memorize, it's one of my favorites in the whole Bible.
Colossians three seventeen And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. What should we do in the name of the Lord Jesus? Whatever you do, what's included in whatever you do? Whatever you do.
And if that wasn't clear enough for the apostle Paul, he adds, whether in word or deed. Just to specify word or deed covers everything. And if you're still looking for loopholes, he says, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Names you know are really important in biblical times. What's important today, people choose names they like.
My family was terrible at names, my family named me Scott which means a Scottish person. That's what it means, a cheap Scottish person. They named my twin sister Sheila and they confessed the reason they wanted us both to have names starting with the same first letter so they could label all of our toys and equipment S. McKee so we could share them. So my sister could take all the camping equipment to Girl Scout camp.
Two weeks later I could take the same equipment to Boy Scout camp, S. McKee. I had the only sleeping bag at Boy Scout Camp that was pink because of my cheap Scottish heritage. In biblical times, may know that names had meaning and names were a way of expressing the essential character of that which was named. Names expressed the character of that which was named.
So Paul says, want you to do things in the name of Jesus, he said, I want you to do things in the character of Do what in the character of Jesus? Everything. Word or deed, do it all in the name and the character of Jesus. Paul is really serious about this, and I hope we'll get serious about this as well. Over the next few months, I want you to think about that all the time.
How would Jesus leave this building today? He might say hello to people. He probably wouldn't fight with people in the parking lot. He might help somebody out of the snowbank. What would Jesus do in your place as you're getting ready for bed tonight?
What would it mean to go to bed in Jesus name? Maybe Jesus would say, Thanks. Maybe He'd reflect on the worship. Maybe say, Father, I give you my life tonight as a gift. I give you my day tomorrow.
Or what I mean for you to go to work in Jesus' name, to greet people in your life in Jesus' name, to pray in Jesus' name, to play in Jesus' name, to spend money in Jesus' name, to shop in Jesus' name, to do recreation in Jesus' name. Well that's the core of what we're going to talk about over these next few months. Whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. And we start mastering that, we'll know we're getting somewhere. Let's pray together.
O God, thank you for this journey that we are on together. We pray for strength to take next steps and new steps in our faith. Teach us to walk in Christ, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, abounding in thanksgiving. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. In Christ alone, we pray.
Amen.