07.14.2013 Colossians 1 - Are We a Consumer-Oriented Church?

20130714 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

20130714 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

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Lord, thank You so much for the opportunity to worship You – to proclaim Your name – the name above every other name – every knee will bow and every tongue confess that You are Lord. We have bowed our knee to You and we are not waiting for that day. What awaits us is hope of a life eternal with You. We submit ourselves to You in every way – for Your will for our lives – knowing that You will take care of us. Help us to be removed from all distraction that we might be at attention to Your word. Thank You for Your Word – that You might meet us in every season of our lives. In Your Name we pray.
A little background – Colossians is a letter written by Paul to real people with real issues. It is not some- out-there thing – it is personal with real concerns and problems. The churches of the New Testament – we often think – it is the Bible, but they were people just like us – and all the churches written to in the NT had major struggles and concerns – many times larger than anything we will face. I think God does this to show us that others have gone through the same struggles. As we begin this passage – there are two primary concerns.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Epaphras – is the one who came to Colossae – and informed Paul. There was false teaching – coming from two places – the Jews who would go into the church and try to get the Christians to go back to following the Law – to practice elements about the Jewish Law, the Sabbath, Circumcision, dietary rules, etc. – because, in the first century – the Jewish faith and Christian faith were together, meeting and mixing for about 100 years – it was not an immediate separation. That is the first false teaching Paul is dealing with.
That is false teaching from the Right.
On the Left, are paganism, philosophy, superstition, and the religion of the day... False teaching from both sides. Those trying to draw them back into Judaism and those trying to draw them away to paganism and the like.
Paul’s concern is that the church is compromised with and adapted to the surrounding culture.
The church and the believers in Colossae are being influenced by the surrounding culture. They are allowing culture to dictate how they act and what they believe. It is almost exactly what is happening today in the church – from both sides – on the right and on the left, we are conforming to the culture around us in the way we believe and the way we act – Syncretism is what scholars call this.
The solution to the Left and the Right is not the Middle – we think that – but the solution, is Jesus.
It is happening philosophically – in their thinking – Religiously, in their practice – and conforming in their morality. We will look at how we are doing the same thing. Practicing things the Bible never asks us to do – things Jesus never did – and of course, morality.
Let me summarize some of the things we will look at –
Philosophically, Religiously, and Morally
First – as it relates to religious practices – in the Church and in America – it is a bigger list than this – in religious practices, we are a consumer-oriented society. We live to consume! To get things! To buy! We have holidays built upon consumerism – Black Friday, Christmas (for many) – Halloween! Second most spent on holiday. It is just the way we are.
What has happened, it has filtered into our religious practice. We have become Christian consumers – we pick and choose that which best meets our needs – ministry shopping – church shopping – the worship we like best – the programs that work in our situation – we go out and consume it. We have brought our culture into the church. People choose church like they do cars and washing machines – they go online and see how many stars this place has! We go on Tripadvisor – Best Ice Cream in Estes Park! – best church in Cuyahoga Falls!
There is the one person who hates everything and always gives one star. My wife always goes to that review first. I go to the five stars – it shows personalities. And the church has reacted to this – it has become a business – it has become entertainment – catering to consumers. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have contemporary worship and programs that meet needs – but if the goal is to cater to the consumer, there is a problem. Consumerism is not what church is about – it is about worshiping God.
Money is another problem in our culture. Money dominates so many ministry decisions in so many places. It is just the way of the church – acquiescent to the culture. Sometimes we have to stop and say, what is it really being used for? Is it being used for what God calls us to use it for?
Second – and there are many more – how the church, religion and culture are intertwined. Thinking. Dr. Phil and Oprah – I encourage you to watch Rayfield’s message last week – he was talking about this – we adapt this philosophy of television – taking the advice of people who might be nice people, but they don’t have biblical thinking. We are to conform to the thought processes of the Bible – not culture. And in many ways, we have conformed. There are the positive feel-good folks (and yes, we should be positive, but like Rayfield shared last week – sometimes, life is hard!) – and on the other side – the doomsday preppers and conspiracy theorists! There is the Politically Correct thinking – and we in the church are afraid to speak the truth in love – we stop talking about real things.
The other side – those who speak their own version of the truth, but not in love – The answer is not found in the middle – being a moderate, the answer is found in Christ. And there are those who believe God is going to judge America for everything we’ve done. Here is the truth – God will judge every country – and will judge the America of the 50s as much as the Judge of today.
God is the judge of the world. God will judge us. And the only solution is Jesus Christ. There is only one solution. Colossians is about the supremacy of Christ – all about Jesus – Jesus is Lord and everything else is not. Jesus is the answer and solution – and all the other answers and solutions are not really answers and solutions. Jesus – the Gospel – the story of Christ – IS the solution.
Morality – third area of compromise. The church has compromised sexual morality. The studies show - when it comes to sexual morality – pornography, premarital sex, affairs, or broken marriages – there is very little difference in the church. It is beyond sexual immorality - in the business world – relational integrity (gossip in the church) – talk radio – just as much slander and back-stabbing – we have conformed to our culture. Paul is calling them to a much higher standard. Colossians will open this up to us.
You might think the church has, but not you. This is opened up in Colossians.
Paul does not start off by condemning them – he starts off encouragingly – always giving thanks – giving grace. He doesn’t tell them to retreat or escape from culture. There is a way to live in culture. We were out in the mountains – I’ll be honest – Estes Park is a small town – it probably has about 12 locals – who are there are year round – but it explodes in summer. We didn’t watch television or know all the news of the day. God has called us into the world – to be salt – like Rayfield talked about last week. It doesn’t work unless it is mixed in.
Paul will show them how to live within their culture – which was just as bad as ours – maybe more, maybe less. There is a way to live within the culture and yet not conform to it – to not let it conform our thinking.
Here is Paul’s answer – the emphasis is relational –
Colossians 1: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
Timothy is a brother – like family. He is changing the way they think about church. Church is relational. It is family. When Rayfield talked about loving Jesus as a priority over family – he discussed – even with this – Jesus was teaching who is the priority – who comes first – and that influenced the way we see family. For the Jews – it was being Jewish – and then it was family. Jesus changed that – first there is God – and then there is a new family – the church. That is a hard concept to hold onto. That church is family. We see that throughout the Bible and New Testament.
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Family in Christ!
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
In a culture of rugged individualism, Paul is suggesting that we get significantly connected with other

4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven
3 Characteristics Paul wants in the church – They were not known for their great worship, preaching, ministry, or mission! They were known for their faith, love, and hope! Those three will produce all the others! When we zero-in and focus on those qualities, everything else springs and flows from that. You don’t develop ministries that produce these three – faith hope, and love – it starts inside of us.
Your faith in Christ Jesus – and the Love – Faith is put first – when we start with faith in Christ – then out of that we are transformed – and out comes love for others. True faith in Christ produces true transformation – and that results in love for others. How much we love people demonstrates how much the gospel is influencing our lives. Measure it – how much do you love? How much are you connecting with people?
Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven. The gospel is the power – the message of truth – Christ died on the cross and gives us new life. They need to live future oriented – as we bring in the Kingdom of God – and into this world –
Paul is saying – take your focus off this world – and we need to do the same thing –remove our focus from all the STUFF and turn to the eternal – the heavenly kingdom – and as we do that – in this world – living for that kingdom – bringing it into our world – then – this faith and love will flow from that.
He goes on and closes with his -
and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
This GOSPEL grows - bears fruit – the story – the good news – the good story – bears fruit. That story – Romans – I am not ashamed of the gospel – it is the power of God. It is not us, the church, the programs, the ministries – it is the story – the message – the person of Jesus Christ – that is where Paul will go. We have been encouraging people to JUST SOW IT – it has power to transform lives – it wants to grow.
When we hike in the mountains – you see plants growing – there are tiny flowers growing above the tree line – and you think – how could anything grow up here? In the visitors’ center – they have this tiny flower – the root is about 5-6 feet long and thick! They dug it out and had a picture of it – that is a picture of the gospel – it just wants to grow – regardless of the difficulties – it grows and bears fruit. Let’s pray.