Growth

Who are you looking forward to?

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16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

What are you looking forward to?

That’s a loaded question for a Christian. Its loaded with a view of history that has history moving towards a person. So our question is more appropriately framed as, “Who are you looking forward to?

I am looking forward to Jesus.

The Resurrection of Jesus marks what began with His Incarnation: The Kingdom of God is at hand and has been steadily advancing in the lives of men and women.

To be in Christ is to have a purposeful and personal destiny. When you and I anticipate the day when death is completely swallowed up in the life of Jesus we have a source for courage. Thus Paul says, “encourage one another with these words.”

Why do we need courage?

We need courage to live today as if the Lord Jesus Christ has affection and admonition for all who will enter His Kingdom eternally. We need courage today because we are surrounded by voices that compete for our affection. We need courage today because we cannot live and speak prophetically in the character of Jesus on our own strength or in our own personal visions of power. We need courage to walk “in the fear of the Lord.”

We need courage to act and move according to the commands of Jesus. Such courage can be  nurtured in our relationships with each other. “Encourage one another with these words.” But it does require a maturing capacity to give and receive questions about our attitudes and actions. And it requires humility to receive the exhortations directing us to the greatness and glory of Jesus.

Jesus revealing God fully

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8See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.  Colossians 2:9-10

I believe it would be a mistake to read this passage as if Paul was against good thinking. Christianity has a reasonable basis for faith and it has an appreciation of the stewardship of the mind for life. Much of philosophy casts a vision of living well. For some, these systems of thought cast a vision of living well does not include God and may well indeed be in opposition to Jesus.

Paul is concerned for these followers of Jesus that they be aware of the views and systems of thought aligned against the sufficiency of Jesus Christ for knowing God. So he reminds them of this magnificent declaration of the Gospel: Jesus is God and He indwells His people. Jesus is fully revealing God.

Jesus, the man — is fully indwelt with God.
Followers of Jesus — are now indwelt with Jesus who is in charge.

We are filled now in Christ Jesus with the One from whom all rule and authority flows through the His Holy Spirit. There is no secret knowledge or special rituals required to get you into the grace of God.

In the tension of troubles in life its important to remember, God is not holding out on you. As Peter writes in 2 Peter 1, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

photo credit: by Nathaniel O’Brien

The unseen strength of deep roots

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6And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.  Colossians 2:6-7

When I walk through the North Shore forests or even the Pacific Spirit Park here at UBC I am often in awe of these trees.  They are massive. They have been here longer than I have been on the earth. And they will likely be here after me.

Supporting that massive biomass is a system of roots extending deep into the ground. For the most part I cannot see these roots. But I know they are there.

So it is when we see a person who is persisting in their faith with Jesus. When you see a person who is bearing fruit in their life both in their Christian maturity and their ministry know this: they have deep roots into Christ Jesus. He is their life. He is their source of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Jesus is the source of the ministry fruit: encouraged hearts, changed lives, people coming to know Jesus, people considering the existence of God. He is the source of their wisdom in leadership at home, work, school, business, community or even their nation. He is the source of their courage. He is the source of their gratitude even when life seems to be serving up difficulty.

Get rooted into Jesus. Time. Never underestimate the power of daily driving your roots down into Him through dry times, through storms, and even in the days of plenty. Meet Jesus daily through His Word and in prayer.

The treasure shaping your life

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1I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. 2I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. 3In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. 5For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong. Colossians 2:1-5

On three occasions when Jesus wanted to describe the Kingdom of God and how people who know Him live, He used references to treasure. There was a treasure buried in a field (Matthew 13:44), a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46), and a treasure in the storeroom (Matthew 13:52).

So it is a beautiful thing when the Apostle Paul declares that in Jesus Christ lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  You and I have not exhausted the treasure that remains in Him. This treasure will shape our lives and our loves. It will shape how we think and how we live. It will bring us into the very knowledge of God. It will bring us into the fellowship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Here’s a strange thing about our treasure and the affections of our heart: they really do shape our identity. Treasure the applause of people and your character will be shaped by that pursuit. Treasure external beauty over strength of character and you will be shall like that. Treasure security through the accumulation of wealth or stuff over the wealth of relationships and friendship and your life will be empty like that. Many “treasures” disappoint, but Jesus will not.

Why is Paul agonizing for the church? Well I think he knows how easily the disciples of Jesus get drawn away from Him. Paul knows how quickly we look for bright and shiny, or simple applause over the applause of Heaven and the treasures of the narrow road with Jesus. And so, Paul’s delight in their lives and faith when its full on with Jesus is great too. Even though Paul is far from them, he delights in the news that they are walking with Jesus! That’s what disciple makers do: they agonize and they delight till we are fully valuing and treasuring Jesus.

 

 

The growing up struggle… in Christ.

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27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Colossians 1:27-29

Growing up! There is so much that goes into it growing up. In our journey to maturity most of us experience the childhood, teen, and adulthood journey to maturity. It goes like this: dependence, independence, interdependence. To be a mature adult is to be a person who is able to carry their own load and to share their load and the load of others in relationships of interdependence. Yes, maturity in Christ does that for us relationally with other people as we develop good boundaries and learn to love well.

However, maturity in Christ does NOT venture away from dependence on God. Rather,  maturity in Christ is the struggle to move by way of repentance toward God and into belief on Jesus Christ our Lord so we can be fully IN the communion of God through the grace of Jesus. Paul says he labours and agonizes for Christ-ian maturity. Disciple-makers yearn for Christ-like maturity in the lives of the people with whom God has connected them.

Our hyper-individualism in the West definitely works against us sometimes when it comes to maturing as a Christian. We act like “spirituality” is a simple individual pursuit. But that would be counter to the ways of Jesus. While there is much for the individual to do there is also much that we will never “become” in Christ if we are not sharing the venture in the community of believers called church.

I’m so glad through the years that God has blessed me with men and women who followed Jesus and invested their lives in my growth. Someday, well even today, I believe you can be this kind of person “labouring-for-maturity-in-Christ-person” to another growing follower of Jesus!