Another day of seeing God work in beautifully powerful ways.

Of course, the morning started off slow and easy at the hotel. Some of the students took the opportunity to get up early and watch the sun rise over the ocean this morning. Most did not…lol. They decided it was important to catch up on sleep a bit more while they had softer beds and air conditioning (I was also one of those people). Once they were up for the day, students continued the rotation between beach, pool, drinks, and air conditioning throughout the morning. Many of the students also took the opportunity to purchase some jewelry from the vendors on the beach and had fun learning how to negotiate a bit. At one point this morning, a dance water aerobics broke out in the pool and it looked like almost everyone from our group joined in, following the moves of a very enthusiastic instructor. Checkout was at 1pm, so most of the group headed to their rooms, got in a final shower, and enjoyed their final minutes in the air conditioning. That will probably be the cleanest they will feel until we get home tomorrow night around 9pm (or so).

After check out, we at our final meal at the hotel, then took our two hour drive home on the buses. Once we got back to Hota del Yaque, many of the students took the opportunity to run to the Colmados (small stores with food and drink) for their final opportunity to buy some Kola Real, some different types of candies, and one group even found a Colmado that was selling ice cream. We also took the opportunity to create a place for all of the donated items to go. So students sorted through their clothes and placed it in the pile, then began packing their stuff up for travel tomorrow.

After supper, we helped set up for the evening church service that started around 7pm. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone setting up for the service and getting the sound system and stage ready for worship on the basketball court. They also left with buses and picked people up to bring them to join us. It was great watching the place slowly fill up with people ready to sing and hear God’s Word preached. As is typical for Dominican worship, the music was loud and lively. There’s a lot of dancing and clapping and singing. They had a few different groups help lead. One played some more traditional sounding Dominican worship songs. One played some more contemporary worship songs.

It wrapped up with Miguel (our van driver) performing a few of his rap songs for the group. I haven’t mentioned this yet, but our van driver was a professional Christian rapper in the Dominican Republic for quite a while. We were able to hear some of his songs on the radio throughout the week and had the opportunity to find his music on Spotify as well. We also asked if he would teach us how to rap. So, he taught all the boys how to sing a few of his rap songs (or at least parts of the rap songs) and then had us join him in front everyone and sing with him. It was super fun to watch all of the boys singing and dancing in front of everyone to Miguel’s music.

Once the music was over, Miguel preached God’s word to the people. His message was based off of Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” And Psalm 1:3: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” He talked to everyone about how the world will often tell you to follow your heart, but your heart is deceitful and will lead you astray. It will lead you into paths of destruction. But when we put our trust and confidence in God, we are like trees planted by streams of living water—trees that never wither or dry up, even after rivers dry up, because our roots go so deep. He called everyone to stop trusting in their own hearts and to begin trusting and putting their confidence in God. He then turned to Acts 2 and the people’s response to Peter’s message on Pentecost. It said they were cut to the heart, and their hearts were changed, and they cried out, “What must we do to be saved?” and Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38). He reminded the group that that’s how we become trees planted by living water—we repent, turn to Christ, and are baptized. He took the opportunity to ask whether anyone was being cut to the heart by God and if anyone was ready to repent, turn to Christ in faith, and be baptized. One woman walked forward and said that God had tugged at her heart and told her it was time to repent, follow him, and be baptized. So the whole group walked over to the baptismal, prayed over hear, and cheered loudly as she was baptized. Then two more ladies stepped forward and said they’ve already been baptized but wanted to re-dedicate their lives to the Lord. So, the whole group took a moment to pray over them as well. It was a special moment.

We wrapped up the evening by joining Miguel on stage one more time to sing a couple more songs with everyone. It was fun watching the whole group sing and dance. I could see the joy of the Lord on all of their faces—both Domincans and Americans.

It’s always such a beautiful experience to worship with the Body of Christ in places across the word. Every time I’m reminded of this incredible picture from Revelation where there are multitudes from every tribe, tongue, and nation worshiping before the throne of God. We got a beautiful taste of that tonight. We’re very different. We have very different cultures and languages. Yet, we worship the same glorious God who is worthy of all our praise. Such a beautiful thing.

As I’m writing this final blog post, kids are packing and getting ready for traveling tomorrow. Some are still on the basketball courts getting in some final relational time with the kids. Some are taking the opportunity to say their final goodbyes—and struggling a little with that. Soon, everyone will be in bed, trying to get some sleep before a REALLY early start tomorrow morning.

Pray over our travels tomorrow. We have to be leaving Hota del Yaque by 3:45 am. That’s really early after a long, tiring week. Pray that students are awake and functioning well enough to be helpful going through customs and security at the airport. Pray that our drive to the airport goes smoothly. Pray that our flights are on time and smooth sailing. Pray over our long layover in Miami. Pray for the drive home from Chicago. Pray for the drive home from CWC. Pray for a good night’s sleep in our own air conditioned homes and in our own beds.

More importantly than all of that, I’d ask you to Pray for the work that God has done this week to continue beyond this week. Pray that the work we’ve done in Hota del Yaque and in Santiago will spread like leaven through a batch of dough. Pray that the work God has been doing in the hearts and lives of our students will continue to spread like leaven through a batch of dough. Pray that the lives that have been changed as a result of this trip would continue to be changed after getting back into the rhythms and comforts of our typical lives—both in the Dominican Republic and in America.

I also encourage you to take plenty of time to talk to your student about the trip. They’ve been instructed to give more than one word and one phrase answers. They need to sit down and tell you about everything they did AND everything that God did throughout this week. Talk to them about it and help them process it all. By doing so, you’ll not only help the week stick with them longer, but you will also get a taste of what God has done this week.

As always, we’ve felt your prayers and support throughout the week. Thank you so much! It’s been a great week and we’re all looking forward to being back home with our families tomorrow night.

Praise God!

Jason Ruis

God continues to bless our group greatly and we are so thankful for it.

Today was an earlier start than normal so that we could get to the Go Ministries facility for some soccer and volleyball activities. I had the blessing of being able to walk back and forth between the soccer field and the volleyball courts and get a glimpse of everyone. I was so proud of all our students. I was impressed by their work ethic combined with their heart and interactions with the Dominican people once again today. We have such a good group of kids that are working hard—not just in their sport, but also in building relationships and doing the hard work of getting to know someone. It was a great way to cap off this part of our week.

From there, we took a two hour drive up to Puerta Plata to our hotel. I’m not sure what the other vehicles were like, but Hof, myself, and the boys have chosen the van with very poor A/C all week. So, our two hour van ride was very hot and very quiet. The boys are worn out from such a long, hard-working week. They just crashed and slept for most of the ride. I also slept for most of the ride :-) As we got closer to the hotel, everyone woke up and you could feel their excitement increasing. They were excited for the A/C.

After getting everyone checked in, everyone headed to their rooms, enjoyed the air conditioning for a bit, then went to get some lunch at the hotel. After that, everyone headed to either the ocean or the pool to swim for a while. As far as I could tell from watching the afternoons activities, there was a pretty solid rotation of events: 1) swim in the ocean or pool, 2) take a break to get a drink, 3) enjoy some time in the air conditioning, 4) repeat steps one through three. They were all having a great time hanging out with each other and resting and relaxing after a long, busy week.

After supper, we gathered for our evening de-brief. Really, this is our final de-brief of the week because Sunday night is the community worship service. So, Jon asked everyone in the group to come up with one word that described how God had been at work in their life this week. I heard words like: intentional, convicted, community/fellowship, omnipresent, powerful, beautiful, similarities, protected, amazing (and there were more). Then we took the opportunity to have some of the students share why they picked the word they picked. It really was powerful to hear the students explain the way in which God had been working in their lives this week. The word intentional came up a lot because the focus of the week to learn how to be intentional in the placed God has given you—intentionally being an everyday missionary. The word omnipresent came up because a student was struck by the fact that God is present here in the same way that He is present in Waupun. The word similarity came up because students realized how similar we all are, even though we live in different situations and places—we’re all children of God. The word community came up because many students were struck by the power of community in the Dominican Republic and the way it shaped the community in our group. I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it at that.

If you have a student on this trip, I would encourage you to ask them what their word was and why they chose it. Take the opportunity to hear directly from their lips how God was at work in their life this week. It will be good for both of you :-)

God has truly been at work in the lives of our students this week AND in the lives of the people we’ve been working with. We’ve heard it over and over and over again. It’s amazing the ways God can work when we pray and step out in faith—and when we step out of our comfort zones.

Like I mentioned earlier, tomorrow night is the community worship service to wrap up, celebrate, and praise God for the week. Pray that God would bring many people from the community to this service and that He would be at work in their hearts preparing them to hear the gospel, repent, and believe. Pray that God would be working in the hearts of those leading the service—giving them the words and peace and power to preach and lead well. Pray for our students as they participate in the worship service and reconnect with many of the children they’ve been interacting with all week—that God would give them words and peace and power to speak the gospel to these children. Pray also that God would continue to work in the lives of every member of our group.

Then, also pray for a good night sleep for everyone. It will be a short night. It looks like we’ll be leaving for the airport around 3:30 or 4 am. So, we’ll be praying for short, deep sleep…lol.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support throughout this trip. We could feel it every day. I could see it in the lives of everyone in this group all week long. Praise God.

Jason Ruis

God has given us another great day with a mixture of new and familiar experiences.

They day started off the same way we always do: breakfast and devotions. Devotions were focused on taking some time to read through Acts 2:42-47 and the way the early church functioned right after Pentecost. In particular, it was a focus on how the early church practiced FELLOWSHIP and showed HOSPITALITY. Then we took some time to think about ways we can show hospitality in our homes, school, church, and community. (As a little side note to this devotional, I spent last summer diving really deeply into the evangelistic strategies and tactics of the early church, trying to figure out how in the world it grew from a small group of around 100 people into a body of people so large it overtook the Roman Empire. Guess what one of the primary strategies was? Hospitality. Welcoming people into your home, giving them food, building relationships, and having good conversations that naturally lead to Jesus.)

After devotions we headed to the Go Ministries facilities for some soccer and volleyball practices, then had some really good empanadas for lunch. From there we took a couple of tours of various Go Ministry facilities in Santiago and spent some time walking around the city to get a better feel for the community and people who lived there. We toured the Go Ministries school and got to hear about the amazing work they’re doing in that community and the amazing number of students who are being equipped and discipled to glorify God in various professions. We also heard that they’re were recognized as one of the top four schools in Santiago for educational excellence—which is quite a big feat. We got to get a short glimpse at the Go Medical facility and hear about how they are able to offer extremely affordable healthcare to people in need because of the donations that come in. We spent some time walking through “Little Haiti” which is a little community in Santiago where many of the Haitians live. The students were able to get a feel of the differences between the Haitian and Dominican cultures. Then we spent some time at another Go Ministries location (I can’t remember the name) that had a church. We spent some time looking around the church and got to experience a couple new types of Dominican foods: Chicharron and Mufango. Most of the students were pretty skeptical about both of these dishes and did not think they looked appetizing. However, the majority of the group went out of their comfort zones and gave it a try. Some even liked it. I thought both were really good :-)

After all this we drove back to Hota del Yaque for our final sports camp of the week. It was really cool to feel the tone shift of the camps today. Maddie Springstroh said it best: “I noticed that the Dominicans stopped calling me ‘gringa’ today and started calling me ‘Maddie.’” That’s such a powerful statement that shows how we’ve been able to move beyond being some weird white person, but to someone they know and love. You could feel that shift throughout the whole campus today. The students are super comfortable interacting with the Dominicans and the Dominicans are comfortable interacting with our students. It’s been really beautiful.

After supper the students were given a couple hours of free time. Guess how the majority spent that time? Playing basketball and volleyball with the local kids—maybe even a game of tag. Our boys challenges some Dominicans to a game of basketball that got pretty competitive in a good way. It was the kind of competitiveness that develops between people who know and love each other, but aren’t going to take it easy on each other. It was fun to watch.

Once again, we wrapped up the evening by singing three worship songs with a student led worship team. We even had the opportunity to hear from a new drummer in our school—Jake Van Heerwarden. I was able to teach him the basics of playing the drum set this afternoon and he was already willing to dive in and give it a try tonight. It was a lot of fun. We spent some time debriefing and reflecting on the day then headed out to the basketball courts in groups of four to discuss and pray.

The main theme of the week is Everyday Missionaries. Each day the students have been asked to ask God who He is laying on their heart to reach out to back home with the gospel. Maybe it’s a single person, maybe it’s a group of people, maybe it’s a location. So we took some time to talk about what God has been placing on our hearts and then pray over each of those people or places. It was a really great time as a group and a great way to wrap up the day.

Well, everyone is excited about tomorrow. After playing some more soccer and volleyball, we are heading to the hotel and the beach. Guess what everyone is most excited about? They’re the most excited about the air conditioning…and maybe a little excited about the beach too. This will be a really great opportunity for the students to rest and recover from a very taxing and weary week. It will also be a great opportunity for them to draw closer to each other AND for them to experience the beauty of God’s creation in the Dominican Republic.

So for tomorrow, we’d ask for prayers for out drive to the hotel—that it would go smoothly without any vehicle issues. Pray that the students would have the opportunity to rest and enjoy the beauty of the place. Pray that God would use this time to draw the students closer to each other through this time as well. And pray that God would continue to speak to these students and reveal Himself to them AND that God would continue to reveal to them where he’s sending them into the world as Everyday Missionaries.

Thanks again for your support and prayers.

Jason Ruis

Yesterday, I mentioned that today was going to be a very different day—it didn’t necessarily feel like that, but in a good way.

We started the day off in our typical fashion—breakfast and devos—then got back to work painting and doing concrete work. The painting crew worked hard to finish up and touch up all of the buildings they worked on Tuesday morning. They were really close by the end of the work time, but some adults had to finish up the work later in the day during sports camp.

The boys working with concrete got to learn a few new things today. One group carried buckets of concrete up the steps to the roof and helped build up a sloped edge all around the roof to help keep water away. The other group learned how to do a Dominican cement technique called “flaca” (don’t check my spelling on that…lol). One on level, it seemed a lot like a knock down ceiling technique but on the ceiling and the walls. However, if you didn’t know what they were doing, it just looked like they were throwing cement at the walls and ceiling of the building. And yes, many of the workers ended up covered in concrete, and yes, much of that concrete was on them as a result of someone else. Either way, they got a ton of work done again this morning.

After lunch, there was some more free time to rest, recover, and reflect on the week. Many of the students took the opportunity right after lunch to take a true siesta—a nap—which was really good. Others took the opportunity to play more basketball with some of the neighborhood kids and build more relationships. Some kids went with some leaders on a long walk around the neighborhood, praying over many of the houses. Some kids went down to the soccer field and played some more matches. Some kids took the opportunity to explore the community and meet some more of the people and families these kids are coming from. It was a really great opportunity to slow down and observe—which was really good.

Then, they got back to work at the sports camps helping to teach volleyball and soccer. Today, I stayed back with the volleyball team and did my best to help organize and translate for some of the drills. I watched our younger group of volleyball players do a great job breaking down some barriers with Dominican girls who were starting to get very frustrated about their volleyball skills. All of a sudden I saw all of the girls on the volleyball court laying on the ground, rolling around, and laughing together with really big smiles. Once again, some really good relationships continue to be built and I’ve been watching them grow deeper each day.

After supper, we had more opportunities to play some basketball, baseball, and volleyball with kids from the community. Maybe you’re noticing a theme here…lol. One of the things I’ve tried to help people understand over the years is this: The easiest way to build a relationship with someone where there’s a massive language barrier is by playing some sort of game—especially if it’s a game they love. There’s a universal language that comes through games and athletics, a common knowledge of rules and expectations that easily translates across borders. Our kids are taking full advantage of this opportunity and, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s bearing a ton of fruit.

We also took the opportunity to hold a short worship service tonight, led by some of the students in our group. They did such a great job leading and stepping out of their comfort zone a bit (they didn’t get as much practice as they would like…lol).

After singing a few worship songs together, we did our debrief as usual. We ended the worship time singing the chorus: “Who the Son sets free, he is free indeed.” That led Jon to ask the question, “Who have you seen set free today? Which of you have been set free today?” And I was so proud of the way these students answered that question. Tonight’s answers were night and day from the other nights. The students were so open and honest and thoughtful and deep with their answers that I was really moved by it. I could clearly see the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of these students. I could also see that your prayers that they would be softened to hear God’s voice and would hear His voice were answered. It was a beautiful opportunity and I’m looking forward to seeing how God will continue to build on this throughout the rest of the week.

Tomorrow we’re back at the Go Ministries facility doing some more activities there. Then we’re going to get a tour of the Go Medical and Go Educational facilities in Santiago as well. We’ll be back for the sports camp again in the afternoon, and then we’ll be getting ready to head to the beach on Saturday afternoon.

Continue praying for God to be working in the lives of these students and all of the kids that we interact with throughout the week. Pray that God would continue to build on these relationships and use them to open doors for the gospel. Pray that God would continue to open our students eyes and hearts to more fully understand who God is and what He has done. Pray that the fruit of this weeks ministry would continue to grow in the Dominican Republic and would continue to grow in Waupun and throughout Wisconsin.

Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.

Jason Ruis

Lot’s of new experiences and things learned today.

We spent most of the day at the Go Sports facilities in Santiago. It’s quite an incredible facility. There are four baseball fields that are nicer than many of the fields I’ve seen in the USA. There are four basketball courts under a large roof that provides shade. Two volleyball courts that are under a roof. Two turf soccer fields—one large and one small. There are dorms for some of the players who are part of the program who live too far away to travel for practices. There’s a massive basketball court being built from donations from a pro basketball player, the DR government, and then Go Ministries. And that’s just in relation to the Go Sports ministries—on aspect of Go Ministries. On location is also Go Worship—a ministry that is focused on raising up worship leaders in the Dominican Republic. There’s also Go Plantadores—their church planting ministry, which is the ultimate goal of all these other ministries.

The goal of Go Ministries is to plant 1000 churches in the Dominican Republic. Right now they’re at 308 churches. Everything they do is focused on the mission of planting churches with a foundation of discipleship. You can see how they are using the athletic ministries to open doors and raise up future leaders in the church. Every aspect of their athletic ministry is focused on discipleship and we had the opportunity to get glimpse of that throughout the day. Then the Go Worship ministry is focused on raising up worship leaders for those churches. So, they are building up a foundation and a pipeline of leaders to continue to see the gospel spread throughout the Dominican Republic. It was a great opportunity for us to see the facility, hear about their mission and vision, and get to see it in action through all of their programs.

After our time at the Go Ministries facility, we came back to Hota de Yaque for some more afternoon sports clinics. Since I was with the volleyball teams yesterday, I went with the soccer team today. It was so much fun for me to watch our boys interacting with all of these soccer players—big and small. They were so engaged in what they were doing. They were focused not only on helping the learn good ball touches and ball control, but more importantly, they were engaged in building relationships with the kids from the community. There were jokes being told, nicknames being given, and smiles and joy all around. All of the even continued throughout a little competition between the Dominican boys and our boys. It was definitely competitive and everyone was working hard to win, but there was a lot of joy the entire time. To be honest, I’m not sure who won, because I spent the entire time playing volleyball and soccer with a bunch of community kids that were too small for the camps.

We headed back for supper to a meal that was more familiar to the students—spaghetti and meat balls. They were pretty excited. Supper also had a Dominican food that has been one of my families favorites since our time in the Dominican—fried plantains. I encouraged as many kids to try it as possible. It was fun for me to share some of these little memories with them.

After supper, we took a little excursion to a local super market. It was pretty funny to watch all of the faces as 58 white people barraged the store and wandered around looking at everything. The students were pretty excited for the opportunity to buy some Vive100 (kinda like Gatorade or Powerade), various flavors of wafers, plenty of chocolate and sugar, and a plenty of other snacks.

Once we got back from the super market, Dan led us in our nightly debrief. He asked three questions: 1) How did you see God at work in the life of someone in our group? 2) How did you see God at work in the life of someone outside our group? 3) How did you see God at work in a way you didn’t expect? It was great to see the kids so engaged in answering these questions tonight. I could have been the Buballoo gum Dan was giving out for answering OR, more likely, it was the result of God’s work in the life of our students. Their answers were deep and you could really tell they saw God working in and around our group throughout the day. We also had the opportunity to hear Keren Austin’s story and testimony —which had the kids paying attention and hanging on every word (she did such a great job!).

It get’s me excited to see the ways in which God is using us in the Dominican Republic AND the ways in which he is working in the hearts of these students. I’ve already seen some powerful fruit in the Dominican Republic as a result of the work we’ve been doing here AND I’ve already seen transformation in the hearts of our students. Praise God!

Keep on praying over this group. We can feel theme every day! Tomorrow is a little different day. We’ll be having out typical morning activities: breakfast, devos, and continuing our painting and cement work. However, after that, we’re going to have some down time in the afternoon for rest and reflection. We’ve been going hard ever since we’ve been here—without any down time—so it will be good for a little opportunity to reboot a little. However, we’re really pushing the students to use this for more than just rest—but also reflecting. Jon Martinez—our Go Ministries leader—has been encouraging the students to LISTEN to what God has to say. That’s what we want the students to do in this down time. Take the opportunity to reflect on what God has been saying to them throughout the trip, take an opportunity to listen to what God may be saying to them now, and even take time to pray and reflect on what God may be telling them about their future (What’s going to change when we get back home?). I mention all of this because we would love your prayers that God would be speaking in the lives of these students throughout the day tomorrow AND that God would be softening their hearts to hear what He has to say to them.

Thanks again for your prayer and support!

Jason Ruis

Another day of seeing God at work in and through our group in the Dominican Republic. After a good, hearty breakfast our group got right to work doing some painting and cement work around Hota de Yaque.

Of course, most of the boys wanted to focus their efforts on the cement work. So, they spent the morning shoveling sand, gravel, and concrete mix
into a mixing tub. The first project was finishing a pour on the roof of the facility we were working on—we think it will be a bathroom eventually. They filled buckets of wet cement and made a fire line up a scaffolding and onto the roof. The empty buckets were tossed back down to be refilled and passed back up to the roof. It was quite a project. Once they finished the roof pour, they helped lay down some rebar and then hauled wheelbarrows full of wet cement to help pour the floor of the facility. After a few difficulties with the engine on the cement mixer, we were able to finish the roof and half of the floor of the facility. The boys worked hard the entire time.

The rest of the group worked on painting the parsonage and the church buildings. They took time to scrape off the old paint on the building and then we painted everything a cool grey color with some sand white accents. I would guess that we got about 80% of the painting job done today. So, not too bad for how large the building are. They’re both looking nice.

After eating a traditional Dominican meal (chicken, rice, and beans), we had some down time and a siesta. None of the students took the opportunity for a nap/siesta that I know of. Some of the immediately found themselves playing a basketball game with a bunch of the local boys and building some relationships. Others took the opportunity to walk with some leaders down to one of the local Colmados (small grocery stores). They got to try out a bunch of new candies and sports drinks that they’ve never heard of. It was quite the ordeal having 20-30 students in this small store, but we made it work and they were glad for the business.

We had the opportunity to take a ride on a new cable car system in the afternoon called the Teleferico. It’s basically an enclosed ski lift that takes you above the city as a means of transportation. It’s very nice and modern and was a great way to get a view of the city and get an overall feel for what it’s like. Many of the students mentioned the contrasts in the community between fairly wealthy and poor. You can see very nice places with new cars who have next door neighbors with a home that may not even have a roof on it yet. This is very much what it’s like throughout the Dominican Republic.

From here we had our first volleyball and soccer camps with local kids from Hota de Yaque. We had some delays on the drive home from the Teleferica (you can ask more about that experience later), so the kids were lined up at the gates and filling the courts when we got they. They were so excited to be interacting and practicing with our students. The students mentioned that they were surprised how excited they were and how eager they were to have conversations with them and build relationships. I stayed with the volleyball teams and had the joy of watching all of the interactions between the teams throughout the various activities. The soccer boys came back saying, “Those guys are REALLY talented soccer players!!” It’s only been a day and I can already see many new relationships forming and foundations being laid for some good, gospel conversations later in the week.

We also were able to wrap up the evening with a trip to Helado Bon—an ice cream shop. Once again, it was a little chaotic with 58 people in a small ice cream shop, but it was worth the wait. Everyone enjoyed their ice cream after a long, hot, busy day. It was a great way to wrap up the day.

Actually, an even better end to the day was the debrief after we got back to Hota de Yaque. We took some time to talk about how we saw God at work throughout the day. Student shared storied about how they took time to pray in the middle of a difficult moment and saw God open a way and bring peace and calm and joy in difficult moment. Students shared how incredible it was to see God at work opening up doors for relationships through the sports camps. Others shared how they could clearly see God’s hand in the beautiful creation and landscape of the Dominican Republic. There were others, but this gives you a flavor of what we’re already seeing from God on this first day.

Pray for students to get a good nights sleep tonight after a long, tiring day. Pray for doors to continually be opened for relationships with the local children and athletes throughout the week. Pray that God would continue to reveal himself to our students and the people we encounter throughout the week. And as always, Pray that as a result of these relationships, and the work we’re doing, that God’s kingdom would continue to come and His will would be done. Amen.

Thank you so much for the many prayers that were prayed on our behalf in the months leading up to this trip and throughout our travel day. We felt them very much! The repeated word of the day by the leaders was SMOOTH—and that’s a good thing. Loading up at school went smooth. The drive down to the airport went smooth—relatively. Checking in at the airport went smooth. Going through security went smooth. The flights were smooth. The long layover in Miami was smooth. Going through customs in Santiago went smooth. The ride to Hota de Yaque was very bumpy, but smooth—if you get my drift. So many blessings from God and answered prayers so far. Thank you so much! Praise God!

We’ll see how it goes, but it’s my hope to provide some kind of written update each day of this trip to let people know what we’re doing and follow along on this journey. We’ll see how that goes. Last night we didn’t wrap things up until about midnight, so I decided to wait to write until this morning. As often as I can, I will try to provide some updates about the work we’re doing and the ways in which we are seeing God at work.

There’s not much to update from the travels besides how smooth everything went. We arrived at Hota de Yaque around 11pm. They had some snacks for us and took the opportunity to orient us to the place and the culture a little bit.

To be honest, this entire trip will be one long process of these students—and leaders—being oriented to the place and culture. The students already got to experience a few things that made them uncomfortable. One of them was a fairly large—some would say HUGE—Wolf Spider that made its way into the snack area. Rumor has been going around that it was a Tarantula, but we had these spiders in our apartment when we stayed in the DR and they were Wolf Spiders. They also got to meet the many Geckos that wander freely through the buildings and hang out on the walls and ceilings of every building. There was definitely some trepidation after the spider incident, but students were able to settle down and get ready for bed.

Of course the heat requires some orientation as well. To be honest, it’s way more moderate than what I was expecting and much cooler than when I was here in June/July. However, it was still pretty warm—even at midnight. So, we pulled out all of the fans, made sure plenty of air was moving, and worked on falling asleep. From what I can tell, everyone slept pretty well last night.

Today we will be eating some breakfast, then beginning our work right away afterwards. Sounds like we will be doing some painting and cement work around Hota de Yaque in the morning until lunch time. From there, we will be doing some of our first sports camps at Hota as well and getting to have some of our first interactions with the young people of the area.

Pray that the students continue to have good attitudes and orient well to all of these changes. Pray that God would be at work in their hearts to transform them. Pray that God would be working in the hearts of the athletes coming to the sports camps this afternoon and that the students would build some good relationships and have some good conversations that will produce fruit. As always, pray that God would continue to be glorified and that He would use us for His kingdom and His glory today and throughout the rest of the week.

My plan is to begin this sermon differently than normal because Nahum is an unusual book of the bible. I don’t feel like there’s another book of the bible like it. So, in order to help you better understand this book and FEEL the weight of the message in it, I want to spend some time reading the entire book. Don’t worry, it’s not that long, it’s only 47 verses long and it’s written like a narrative story. I’m also not going to have the words of the book on the screen for this portion because I want you to simply listen. I want you to try to feel what it would have felt like for Nahum to bring this message to God’s people and for you to be sitting in the room when he gave it.

[Read Nahum]

The theme of this book is, “The Lord is sovereign over all and will judge Nineveh.” It’s the direct counterpart to the book of Jonah. When Pastor Kurt preached on Jonah, he said that the main theme of Jonah was God’s compassion. When Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, God showed great compassion on that city. When we get to the book of Nahum, about a hundred years later, the time for repentance has passed. It’s been taken off the table. This book is NOT about God’s compassion, but about God’s judgment.

I kinda laughed when I first looked at the overall structure of this book. It was: 1) The Public Announcement of Judgment, 2) The Dramatic Depiction of Judgement, 3) The Surety of Judgement. So, basically the outline of the book is: God announces that Nineveh will be judged, then goes into detail describing how they will be judged and what it will look like, then ends the book by telling them not to fool themselves—it’s going to happen. Judged. Judged. Judged. Three fold.

And the depictions of the judgment coming on Nineveh don’t beat around the bush either. We read passages like, “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.” (Nahum 1:2, ESV) and “Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.” (Nahum 1:6, ESV) and “But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.” (Nahum 1:8, ESV). There’s this picture that not only is God going to destroy them and bring them into judgment, but he’s not going to stop—he’s going to continue to hunt them down and pursue them until they are completely wiped out. I couldn’t help but have the lyrics to a Johnny Cash song running through my mind the entire week, “You can run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down.”

Just about the time you get done reading these passages in chapter one, and start to get a little uncomfortable with it all, most people are expecting Nahum to lighten things up a bit. That’s not what he does. Instead he dives in deeper and basically says, “Let me show you what this destruction is going to look like.” Rather than easing off, he begins elaborating on the destruction. God describes himself as The Scatterer coming into the city. We are given a picture of the city preparing for battle, gathering all of their men and their weapons for battle, running about wildly trying to prepare for this battle. But in the end we read, “Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale!” (Nahum 2:10, ESV). Desolation. Complete Destruction.

Then God says something that should shake us to the core: “Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts...” (Nahum 2:13, ESV). He says it again in chapter 3. This is the opposite of the passage, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31, ESV). This is saying the exact opposite: If God is against you, who can be for you? What can you do? What can stop him from completely wiping you out? Nobody. Nothing.

This line kinda says it all: “The Lord has given commandment about you: “No more shall your name be perpetuated...”” (Nahum 1:14, ESV). This is not just about being destroyed and completely destroyed, this is about destroying them to the point that they aren’t even remembered. Interestingly, about two hundred years there’s this historical record about a Greek army marching over the ruins of Nineveh with NO IDEA that it even had existed in the past. It was destroyed and completely forgotten. And, as a side note, it had been destroyed EXACTLY the way Nahum prophesied it would be destroyed—there’s historical and archeological evidence that backs that up.

Now, here’s the part that may catch everyone off guard a bit. This is pretty dark and doom and gloom and Nahum bases all of this on the character of God. All throughout the first chapter of this book there are multiple statements that say, “The Lord is...” showing us that God is coming after Nineveh in this way because of who he is—it’s flowing from his character. Here’s the list we see in the book. The Lord is: jealous, avenging, wrathful, slow to anger, great in power, and good. We typically like to focus on the good and the slow to anger portions of that list (and the grace and mercy...), but God is all of these other things too. As I teach in the Doctrine course over at CWC, God is not a collection of his attributes—a little love, a little grace, a little wrath, etc. He’s all of the them all the time. So, we make a massive mistake when we try to downplay some of these other attributes of God.

If you didn’t notice, this list of attributes should sound pretty familiar. This list of attributes comes from the story when Moses asks to see God. God says that he will pass by him and proclaim his name to Moses—who He is. Then we read, “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”” (Exodus 34:6–7, ESV). Nahum’s point is that because God is all of these things all the time, THATS WHY he’s bringing this judgment on Nineveh.

The Apostle Paul does a good job helping us to understand the slow to anger aspect of God in Romans: “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:3–5, ESV). God isn’t slow to anger—or patient—because he doesn’t care about your sinfulness or because “it’s fine” for you to keep on rebelling against him. NO. He’s giving you the time and opportunity to repent. The longer you take to repent, the more wrath is stored up against you. If you never repent, that wrath WILL be poured out on you.

That’s the other aspect of this that comes up in Exodus 33 but also in Nahum. We read, “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.” (Nahum 1:3, ESV). The phrase “by no means” is the strongest form of saying “NO” that is possible in the Hebrew language. The is absolutely positively no way that God is going to clear the guilty. It’s not going to happen. It’s actually impossible based on what we know about God’s character. He is a JUST God. If he ignored the guilty and rebellious, that would be UNJUST and would be against his character. God cannot act against his character. So, he HAS TO bring judgment on the guilty. He’s can’t just look the other way. This is the God we worship and we must not forget it or even try to downplay this aspect of his character. Nahum is a strong reminder for us about this reality.

God’s people have been reminded of this reality as well. Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian empire—maybe I should have mentioned that sooner. By the time that Nahum comes onto the scene, the Assyrian empire has already conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and hauled them into exile—in a way. This was God’s punishment on the northern kingdom for their repeated disobedience and rebellion. God absolutely cannot clear the guilty. Once Assyria, conquered the Northern Kingdom, they made their way into the Southern Kingdom of Judah to do some damage there. One of the southern kings decided to strike a deal with them, rather than be wiped out by them. So, the southern kingdom had been afflicting them and causing them strife for quite a while by this point. So, God’s people know all about the wickedness and the brutality of the Assyrians. They’ve experienced it first hand and have dealt with their wickedness for quite some time.

That’s important to know because it helps you understand a couple confusing aspects of this book. First, this letter is actually written to Judah. It’s not written to Nineveh. It’s not an announcement to Nineveh that they will be destroyed but an announcement to Judah that Nineveh will be destroyed. Second, guess what the name Nahum means? It means “Comforter”... Does that seem right? The prophet of one of the darkest gloomiest books of the Bible’s name is “Comforter”? Then, when we get to the end of chapter one we read, “Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace!” (Nahum 1:15, ESV). What!?! We know this passage, right? Why is he talking about Good News in the midst of describing all of this judgment and destruction? Let’s read the rest of that verse to better understand what’s going on: “Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.” (Nahum 1:15, ESV). He’s telling Judah that the Good News is that their oppressors—Nineveh, the Assyrians—will be removed from them and be cut off. They will not longer restrict or prevent them from worshiping God. They will no longer afflict and oppress them. That’s good news, right?

Judgment seen as Good News. Does that make you uncomfortable? It does for most people. To be honest, this entire book makes people very uncomfortable. But judgement is good news in many ways. First, this is a beautiful message that God WILL judge all injustice and that God WILL make things right in the long run. In my previous church, I had a member who served as a prosecuting attorney for a number of years, and she dealt with a lot of rape and abuse victims. She said, THIS was good news to them. As of right now, it seems as though these people got away with injustice, and it seems like they will continue on with their wickedness without anyone knowing. BUT, sooner or later God will cut them down. Sooner or later, God WILL bring justice and will undo all of the wrongs that have happened in the world and all of the injustice.

And the point I want to make along with that is that we don’t need to be ashamed or afraid of saying these things. Sometimes we try to downplay the judgment of God, or mutter it under our breath, or just try to ignore it. Not Nahum. Nahum ELABORATES on the judgment. He paints a clear picture of the judgment so that everyone is clear about what is going on and they feel it in their bones. We can do that too. This is the God we worship. We should never be ashamed of that or try to downplay who He is.

I also this this is a warning to Judah. This is good news for Judah, but also a warning. It’s a warning that this could also happen to them if they continue in their rebellion. God IS slow to anger, but he’s slow to anger because He desires repentance. Eventually the time for repentance is over and the judgment will come. Sadly, the judgment does come for Judah too. Babylon, the same nation that destroys Nineveh and conquers the Assyrian empire, will eventually come and destroy Judah and haul their people into exile. If you choose to continue in your rebellion and sin, and refuse to repent, God WILL by no means clear the guilty. He will definitely bring judgment.

The verse that kind of sums up this entire book is: “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.” (Nahum 1:7–8, ESV). The picture here is of two different groups of people. There are those who take refuge in him and there are those who are his enemies. God will pursue his enemies into darkness and make a complete end of them—he will wipe them out. However, for those who take refuge in him, he knows you and is a stronghold in the day of trouble.

You are one or the other. There’s no middle ground. Actually, to say this even more starkly, every single person in this room—including myself—is either currently and enemy of God or once was an enemy of God. Those are the only two options. You either are currently rebelling against God and storing up wrath for yourself on the day of judgment OR you were, but Christ bore that wrath in your place when you put your faith and trust in him.

For those in this room who may be an enemy of God, this should be your wakeup call. Don’t keep dinging around. Don’t think that God is going to ignore your rebellion. Don’t think your going to “get away with it”. You can run on for a long time, sooner or later God will cut you down. Rather, turn to Christ, repent in faith, seek forgiveness and be delivered from the judgment and wrath that is being stored up for you right now. Don’t wait. Do it NOW and take refuge in Him.

For those who have taken refuge in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, I also pray that this book shakes you a little. That you get fairly uncomfortable with the judgment of God on wickedness...because that’s what you deserve. Don’t ever forget it. That’s what Christ saved you from. Ultimately, every single dark and gloomy word of judgment that is described in this book was poured out on Jesus Christ—and MORE—so that you don’t have to bear it or endure it yourself. Take a moment to thank Him for his salvation. Take a moment to praise Him for saving your from this wrath that will be poured out on his enemies.

And be reminded of the good news of this passage: God destroys his enemies. That’s good news. God will destroy Satan. He has been utterly defeated and will be destroyed and made nothing. That’s good news. God will destroy Sin. Sin has been utterly defeated and will be destroyed and made nothing. God is doing that in your life right now—destroying the enemy of sin in your life. That’s good news!

God will also destroy his enemies. For those who have found refuge in Him and become part of his family, the old part of you—your sinful nature, the enemy of God—was destroyed and you were made a new creation in Christ. That’s good news.

We can also pray that God would destroy our enemies in a similar way. We don’t want to see anyone endure the judgment we’ve read about in this book. So, we pray that our enemies would be destroyed and made new in Christ so that Christ would bear the judgment for them and they can find refuge in Him. We pray that God would do this work in them AND we go out into the world continually sharing the gospel and continually pointing people to Christ because we know that God CANNOT clear the guilty, but he CAN bear their guilt and shame, destroy their old sinful selves, and make them new creations in Christ.

I have two very distinct memories from my middle school years. There were a variety of things that defined my middle school years, but two of those things were the mountains and dirt-bikes. I lived in a valley with my house right in the foothills—most of our Minnesota family called them mountains. Between what my dad leased and my relatives and neighbors, I had ten thousand acres of land in the foothills to ride my dirt-bike. That’s basically what I did.

I also had a spot that I loved in the foothills behind my place. If I was ever having a bad day—angry about something, stressed about something, disappointed about something—I would ride my dirt-bike to the top of the hill behind my place and park it at the biggest cliff—probably about 50 or 60 feet high, then sit with my feet hanging of the cliff looking over the valley. From there, I could see everything. And it seemed like the longer I sat there, the smaller I felt, and the more my problems slowly faded away.

I also did a lot of hunting in the mountains. We would pack seven miles back into the mountains on horses and mules, set up camp, and then do day hikes further into the mountains looking for elk and mule deer. There were times when we would hike so high into the mountains when we would break the timberline. The timberline is where you get to such a high elevation that trees can no longer grow there. In the rocky mountains it’s about 2 miles above sea level. Every time we broke the timberline—without fail—my dad would stop everything we were doing, sit down, and say, “Just look at that. God spoke that all into existence” and we would just sit there and stare at it for a while.

The verse we’re looking at today is from Romans 11: ”For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36). This is a reminder that everything you see—and a bunch of things you can’t see—have come from God. Notice that it didn’t say that some things have come from God, but ALL things have come from him. That’s why the Bible begins by saying, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, NIV). There was nothing—besides God—before the beginning.

I also think it’s important to understand that when God does something he always acts in line with his character—who he is. So, when he does something it shows us who he is. That means that when God creates everything from nothing we can learn that God is creative. That’s who he is. That also means we can learn a lot about God from studying the world he created. That’s a massive part of what we do in this school. We’re not just studying history and math and welding, but we’re coming to a better understanding of the world God created. When we study history, in a simplistic way, we’re learning how God writes a story. When we study welding, we’re actually learning about the way certain metals melt and how to control that, which teaches us about how God has created metal and the various ways we can use the metals he has created. The better we understand the world God created, the better we understand the one who created it.

There are some specific things we can learn about God’s character and attributes by looking at creation. One of the things we clearly see when we look at creation is that he is a God of order not chaos. Things are designed to work together and to work in patterns and rhythms. There’s this clear order to creation which shows us that God is a God of order. We also see that God is faithful by looking at creation. Repeatedly throughout the Bible we’re told that we’re reminded of God’s faithfulness by the repeated coming and going of the seasons. God is faithful to bring rain in the spring, heat in the summer, and cold in winter. He’s faithful. We can also learn a lot about God by zooming WAY out. I’ve had both the freshman and the seniors watch this video that keeps zooming out all the way to 86 billion light-years. The universe is MASSIVE—bigger than we can even comprehend. The first question that both classes asked was, “Why did God create it so big?” There are a bunch of ways to answer that question, but one way to answer that question is that God created it so big because God is so big. He wanted us to get a glimpse of his power and might and vastness.

Ultimately, though, the answer to all of these questions is that God created it for his glory. The verse we looked at in the last chapel I spoke at said, "Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." (Isaiah 43:7). We talked about how you were formed and made for God’s glory, but that’s also true of everything that God has formed and made. He made it all for his glory. Probably my favorite verse that talks about this is Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1–4, NIV). Not only did God create everything for his glory, but every aspect of creation is worshiping God and bringing him glory.

All of those things are there for God’s glory but they’re also there to lead us to join with creation in worshiping God and bring him glory. God didn’t just create the mountains so that we would see their beauty and power and majesty and be in awe of them. That should happen. BUT, the awe we experience when we see the mountains should cause us to look beyond the mountains to the God who made them. When you see the sun setting beautifully over the lake, with all of the reds and oranges and purples, we shouldn’t just stop and be amazed by its beauty, but we should thank God for it and praise him for his beautiful creation. When you see a massive, powerful thunderstorm rolling in, with thunder so loud that it shakes the windows of your house, know that it’s there for God’s glory. It’s there to draw our eyes to the God who created the thunderstorm in worship and praise for his glory. When you use a microscope in class, and zoom way in and see the intricacy of the cell and the beautiful design of it all, that too is there to cause us to look to God and praise him and glorify Him.

Some of you know me pretty well already, others of you are going to get to know me a bit more throughout the year. However, none of you would have recognized me when I was in Middle School and my Freshman year of High School. Not that I looked that different, but my personality was very different. I was almost a different person. I was really quiet and shy and was afraid of embarrassing myself. I wasn’t a leader at all, but was more of a follower—kind of doing what everyone else was doing. I was really awkward. It was a rough few years of my life. 

Really, every season of your life is going to have some great benefits and some great struggles—some rough patches. In the Middle School and High School years, part of the struggle is trying to figure out who you are. You hit puberty, things start changing, and you start trying to figure out what type of person you’re going to become. That’s why things begin to get awkward—because everyone is trying to figure it out. And it takes a while to figure some of this out and it takes a decent amount of trial and error. You’re going to see some of your classmates who try to figure this out by just trying to fit in with everyone around them—others are going to try to figure this out by working hard NOT to fit in with those around them. Some are going to try to figure this out by playing a bunch of different types of sports. Some are going to try to do it through working hard on their school work.

It might change on a regular basis. I still remember the day when one of my best friends showed up at school very different. When we first met, he was working really hard to fit in with the sports people—he played basketball and dressed like basketball players. He was really good at golf, so he dressed like a golfer. Then, all of a sudden, one day he showed up wearing cowboy boots and wrangler jeans and an Ariat shirt. I never actually said anything to him about it. I didn’t make fun of him. We just kept hanging out and doing stuff together. He ended up starting his own business shoeing horses and was a team roper on the weekends for a while. 

Some of that is all fine and dandy. In many ways, it doesn’t really matter if you’re a sports person, a cowboy, or an artistic person. However, it’s not fine when those things begin to become too important for you. When these things begin to define who you are and what you do. When these things become the be-all-and-end-all of your life. When that begins to happen, you’ve built your life on the sand that is going to crumble the moment a storm comes because ALL of those things are temporary things that could be taken away in a moment's time. 

Let me give you one lighter example, then a much heavier example. I’ve known plenty of people over the years who have built their life around the idea of being an athlete. That’s who they ended up deciding who they are. Well, guess what? That can easily be taken away from you in the blink of an eye and you have no control over that. The other team can come in and cheap shot you and end your high school career. What will you do then, when everything you’ve built your life on is taken away from you?

I had to wrestle through this coming out of my hospitalization a few years ago. When I came out of the coma, I couldn’t talk. My vocal cords were paralyzed. And talking is what I do for a living—it’s the calling God gave me. If I had built my life around that identity—being a pastor or a speaker—it would have shattered me. Thankfully, God had worked in me over the years to make sure that wasn’t the case. Also, thankfully, God also decided that he just wanted to keep my quiet for a month or so then give me my speech back. 

If you’re going to build your life on something, it has to be built on something much more firm—something that cannot be taken away from you in a moment. That’s what this year’s theme is all about. We read this in Isaiah 43:7, “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” (Isaiah 43:7, ESV). This is a reminder that God has created us and designed us for a purpose. That purpose is to glorify Him. 

I’ve been talking about this with the Seniors a bit the last couple weeks. When we understand that God is the one who created us, we also begin to understand that God is the one who gets to tell us our meaning and purpose in life. We’re not actually the ones who get to decide that. When a potter decides to make a cup, and not a plate, the cup doesn’t get to decide that it wants to be a plate. The Creator decides our meaning and purpose. For us, our Creator has told us that he designed us and created us to bring glory and honor to Him. 

This is a firm place for us to build our life upon. Here’s why. It’s no longer about the specific things we do, but about a bigger purpose behind the things we do. So, if you’re working hard to glorify God through your athletic abilities and you get injured, life is not over. You just simply move on to the next way you will bring glory and honor to God in your new situation. When I was wrestling with the idea that I may never speak again, I remember clearly thinking, “Well, I guess God wants me to become a writer or has something else planned where I can glorify Him without being able to speak.” This is why we must build our life on the reality that we are created to bring glory and honor to God. It allows us to find purpose and meaning in whatever situation we find ourselves—even in very difficult situations. 

This is what we’re going to be focusing on throughout the year this year. We’re going to be looking at it from a variety of angles. We’re going to be looking at a bunch of different verses that point to this reality and help us understand what it looks like to glorify God at school, in our friendships, at work, in the play, on the field, in the way we talk, even in the way we eat our food. How do we live this life God has created us to live—a life that was created to glorify God in everything we do, whether big or small?

I want you to take some time this next week—or in Connections Groups on Wednesday—to think about two things: 1) What am I building my life on right now? What would devastate me if it disappeared? And 2) Stop a couple times throughout the next week and ask yourself, “How can I glorify God in this?” 

[Read Psalm 32]

There was a time in my life when I wondered whether I was going to be crushed by the weight of guilt and shame. I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty details of that moment—not because I’m too ashamed to talk about it, but because I don’t want to dump all of my “stuff” on the congregation. I had sinned and nobody knew about it. I was ashamed of what I had done. I felt guilty about how I allowed things to get out of control. It was also a sin that couldn’t be hidden. People were going to know what I had done and I really didn’t want anyone to know what I had done. So, I tried to hide it and cover it up myself. I tried not to talk about it. I tried to keep it a secret as long as I possibly could. But the longer I kept quiet, the longer I tried to cover it up and hide it, the heavier and heavier it weighed on my soul. As David says—my bones wasted away and I felt God’s hand heavy upon me. I worried that I was going to collapse at times. 

This is what David is experiencing in this Psalm. He says, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah” (Psalm 32:3–4, ESV). The longer David kept silent about the sin in his life, the heavier it got. He says it felt like his strength was dried up—he wasn’t sure he could go on. He says it felt like his bones were wasted away—like they no longer had any strength, he wasn’t sure he could stand anymore. He said that he groaned all day long. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt so heavy that I groaned all day long, but I have felt so heavy—a weight that sits right about here—that I find myself sighing a lot. There’s so much weight hanging on my soul, that it has to release somehow—and rather than coming out in a groan, it comes out in a sigh.

This is what happens when we try to deal with sin on our own and in our own strength. It will destroy you. 

So, if this is what sin does in our life, how should we respond? I mean, if recognizing the sin in our life can be so heavy and brutal, how should we respond? There are a variety of ways people respond to the crushing weight of sin in their life. 

Some people respond by simply ignoring it. They live by the slogan—ignorance is bliss. As long as I’m not convicted of my sin, as long as I’m not aware of the sin in my life, then I will not be guilty and will not carry such a heavy burden. So, they work very hard to pretend like the problem isn’t there, or they work really hard to drown the problem, using a variety of drugs and alcohol. That’s their solution to the problem.

Others go the opposite direction. They don’t ignore the problem, they try to outwork it. They believe that if they work harder—try harder—they will be able to outwork the guilt and shame they feel. Some try to work hard enough to do enough good things to outweigh the bad things they’ve done. Others try to work hard enough to undo the bad things they’ve done. They work, work, work, work, trying to outwork the sin in their life. That’s how they feel better about it all—at least that’s what they think. 

However, the Heidelberg Catechism takes a much different approach to this problem. It asks the question: “Since no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly?” This question answers both of those strategies. First, God does not want you to ignore the sin and guilt and shame in your life. He actually wants the Ten Commandments preached pointedly. He wants you to be very aware of the sin in your life. He does not want you to ignore it. Second, the catechism reminds us that it is impossible to outwork your sin. You can’t do it. It’s impossible. You will only dig yourself deeper and deeper into the hole you put yourself. If you try to ignore your sin—it will slowly eat at you from the inside. If you try to outwork your sin, it will wear you into the ground.

So, the catechism asks: Why does God want us to be so aware of our sin? Does God want us to feel guilty all the time? Does God want us to  beat ourselves up all the time? No. The catechism says, “First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that we may never stop striving, and never stop praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.”  God wants us to be very aware of the sin in our life because he wants us to be very aware of the forgiveness and salvation that come from Jesus Christ. He wants us to never stop praying for his grace, forgiveness, and salvation. 

This is what David does in this Psalm. After trying to keep quiet about his sin, trying to ignore it or carry it on his own, feeling the weight of sin pressing down on him, he says, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”” (Psalm 32:5, ESV). This is our proper response. It should be our immediate response when we recognize any sin in our life. We stop what we’re doing and confess our sins to God. 

What’s interesting is that we don’t naturally do this. David even calls us out and says, “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” (Psalm 32:9, ESV). There are a variety of ways to apply this statement, but it definitely applies to confessing our sin to God. Don’t be like a stubborn mule, that needs to feel the heavy hand of God upon you, before you confess your sin to him. Don’t make it necessary for God to grab hold of your lead rope and drag you to the point of repenting of your sin. Just confess it and repent of it right away. 

 Here’s why we can confess and repent of our sin right away: ““I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5, ESV). God forgave him. There was no wait. There were no stipulations and steps that David needed to take before being forgiven. He sought forgiveness and God forgave him just like that. 

It’s actually more than that. A little later in the Psalm we read this about God: “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” (Psalm 32:7, ESV). This isn’t just talking about loud shouting, it’s actually talking about shouting for joy. It’s a picture that God’s not reluctantly forgiving our sin when we come to him in confession and repentance. Rather, he is eagerly awaiting our confession and repentance. And when we come to him, he is joyfully ready—joyfully excited and eager—to forgive us and deliver us from our sins. 

This is actually the reason why we shouldn’t be hesitant to come to God in confession—why we shouldn’t be afraid to come to God in confession. Why would we? What are we afraid of? Why are we hesitant? God is joyfully ready and eager to forgive your sin, when you come to him in faith, confess your sin and repent. 

Why in the world would you hold on to it, when holding onto it means that you will continually be weighed down and crushed and weary? Why would you try to ignore it, allowing it to slowly eat away at you from the inside? Why would you try to outwork your sin, exhausting yourself and wearing yourself out, attempting the impossible? God is ready and waiting—eagerly to forgive you! Confess and Repent. 

That’s why David begins the Psalm this way: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1–2, ESV). Those who are able to live their lives with this level of freedom are blessed. Since Jesus Christ has lived and died and rose again from the dead for the forgiveness of our sins. Since he is eagerly waiting for us to come to him in confession and repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We are blessed in such a powerful way. 

Those who do not know Jesus Christ do not know this freedom and blessing. They have no place to go with their guilt and shame. They have to try to ignore it or try to cover it up or try to outwork it on their own—all of them are impossible tasks. That’s why David says, “Many are the sorrows of the wicked…” (Psalm 32:10, ESV). They are filled with sorrow because they have all of this sin and shame and guilt bearing down on them and they have no place to go with it. That’s such a sorrowful, difficult place to be. 

Rather, those who know Jesus Christ, and have put their faith and trust in him for the forgiveness of their sins, David says: “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11, ESV). We can rejoice. We can shout for joy. We can live with joy and peace and freedom BECAUSE we have a Savior who is both willing and ready to forgive us when we confess our sins to him. It’s such a beautiful, powerful truth. 

I’m belaboring the point, because I don’t think many people see the act of confessing and repenting of our sin as a joyful thing. Of course, we should not take it lightly. Of course, we should not be flippant about our sin. However, we also shouldn’t approach confession and repentance as dreadful things—things that we dread doing, things we would rather ignore. Rather, I want us to see the beauty and power of having a God who is ready and willing to joyfully take the burden and guilt and shame from us, cast it as far as the east is from the west, and send us back out into the world with freedom. Knowing that, should create and stir up joy in us. It should cause us to be quick and eager to repent. 

Here's what this looks like in everyday life. As many people know, I do all of the work on our family’s vehicles—and we have a lot of vehicles. When I was younger, I actually wanted to be a mechanic and I enjoy working on motors when I have the time and money for it. However, when you have this many vehicles to take care of, you don’t have much time nor much money—which means working on vehicles becomes much more stressful. That stress increases when something goes wrong—when you twist off a bolt, or break something. In those moments, as the stress builds up, some words typically come out of my mouth—words that should not be coming out of the mouth of a believer. There was a period of my life when this would happen, and I would spend the rest of the time working on my vehicle angry AND feeling guilty that I still haven’t learned how to control my tongue. Eventually, I realized that was not the way Christians are to handle situations like that. Rather, the moment I recognize that I said something I shouldn’t have said, I stop everything that I’m doing, come to God in prayer, and confess my sin. I say, “Lord, I’m sorry that I did that again. I wish I didn’t do it at all. Please forgive me. Please work in my heart so that these things happen less and less. Help me.” Then, I get back to work. I’m free—I don’t have to dwell on it anymore—because I know that he has forgiven me and cleansed me. It’s such a beautiful thing. 

This is also why we try to have a time of Confession, Repentance, and Pardon in every worship service. It’s a beautiful thing that should cause us to praise and worship God. Typically—like this morning—we even have a song of response right away after the time of Confession, Repentance, and Pardon. It’s there because the proper response is to praise and thank God for the beautiful gift of forgiveness and freedom from sin that he offers us. 

This should also be more than something we do once a week. This is the natural rhythm of the Christian life. The Christian life is one repetitive pattern of messing up, confessing and repenting of our sin, receiving forgiveness, and then being empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue living the Christian life. This pattern should be happening regularly throughout the day. 

It should become almost as natural as breathing. And the more natural it becomes—the more joyful it becomes. The more natural it becomes, the more we realize the truth of how David begins this Psalm: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1–2, ESV). And the more natural it becomes, the more we will begin to rejoice and praise our God and learn the truth of how David ends the Psalm: “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11, ESV). 

Sermon Outline

I. Introduction: The "Neutral Zone" of Pastoral Vacancy

• Pastoral vacancy as "liminal space" - between letting go and grabbing hold

• Natural tendency toward fear, worry, and anxiety about unknowns

• Central thesis: The church was never designed to rise and fall because of a single person

II. Continue Steadfastly in Prayer (v. 2)

• Key principle: Persistent, unflagging commitment, not sporadic prayer

• Being "watchful" = guarding against the temptation to stop praying continuously

• Hallesby's insight: "Only those who are helpless can pray"

  • We avoid prayer because we think we're in control

  • Reality: We are helpless all the time, therefore should pray all the time

• Application: Acknowledge helplessness during vacancy and turn to God in prayer

III. Pray for Gospel Doors to Open (vv. 3-4)

• Paul's example: Recognizing helplessness in changing hearts

• Prayer for God to open doors for the Word and provide clarity in presentation

• Application: Pray not just for comfort, but for gospel advance in Beaver Dam during interim

• Ministry doesn't go on hold - it continues through the congregation

IV. Walk in Wisdom Toward Outsiders (vv. 5-6)

• Shift in focus: From Paul's ministry to the congregation's ministry

• Living out faith surrounded by non-believers with wisdom, grace, and winsomeness

• Godly living as response to slander and foundation for gospel spread

• Early church model: "Christianity was supremely a lay movement, spread by informal missionaries" (Green)

V. Practical Gospel Sharing

• Method 1: Personal witness - sharing belief, reasons, and Christ's work in your life

• Method 2: Hospitality - informal home evangelism through meals and conversation

• Gospel spread through everyday Christians, not just pastors

VI. The Body of Ministry Workers (vv. 7-15)

• Paul lists eleven different people with unique ministries

• Key point: Multiple people showing pastoral concern, not just one pastor

• Encouragement through the care of many workers

VII. Connected to the Larger Body (v. 16)

• Letters shared between churches (Colossae, Laodicea, Hierapolis)

• Churches supported and encouraged one another

• Application: Faith Community Church connected to denomination, surrounding churches, and retired pastors

• Part of a body much larger than single congregation

VIII. Fulfill Your Ministry (v. 17)

• Paul's charge to Archippus: "See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord"

• Universal application: God has given every member a ministry

• Ministries vary by gifts: preaching, deaconal care, music, prayer, workplace ministry, etc.

• Challenge: What is your ministry? Are you fulfilling it?

IX. Conclusion: Christ Builds His Church

• Church doesn't rise and fall based on single person (except Jesus)

• Promise: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18)

• Final charge: Keep eyes on Christ, pray continually, fulfill your ministry

Main Theme: Ministry belongs to the entire body of Christ, not a single pastor. During pastoral vacancy, the congregation should pray steadfastly, engage in gospel ministry, and fulfill their individual callings while trusting Christ to build His church.

Sermon Audio

Sermon Manuscript

[Read Colossians 4:2-18]

Our congregation is about to enter an interesting season in the life of the church—a pastoral vacancy. Many of you have been around this congregation long enough to have experienced this a few times. However, it doesn’t matter how experienced you are with pastoral vacancies, they are still an interesting season in the life of the church. I use the word “interesting” intentionally. Some may want me to use words like difficult or anxious or unknown to describe this season, and some of those words may describe moments, but I don’t think they need to describe the entire season of pastoral vacancy. 

The official word for what many churches experience during a vacancy is “liminal space”—the awkward period of time when you’ve left something behind and have not landed in a new place—some people describe it as that place between letting go of one trapeze rope and grabbing hold of the next one, when you’re hanging in mid-air. Because I am a sports guy, I prefer to call it the Neutral Zone. It’s a time that can be categorized by fears, worries, and anxieties because it feels like there are so many unknowns. Who is going to be the next pastor? What are they going to be like? What is going to happen in between? And a whole host of other unknowns and unanswered questions. I’ll even admit that this has been a hard week for me as I’ve wondered about many of those same questions. It’s extremely difficult for me to step away from a congregation I’ve loved, who’s loved me and my family, and whom we’ve given our lives to for the past seven years.

Yet, as I’ve studied this morning’s passage, and prepared this morning’s sermon, I’ve been reminded by God and His Word that this doesn’t have to be a season—shouldn’t be a season—that is categorized by all those worries and fears. It should be an interesting season where a congregation learns a lot about itself and the ministry God has given them in the world. 

Here’s why that’s the case: the church was never designed to rise and fall because of a single person—including the pastor. One of the core focuses of my ministry in this congregation has been to work diligently to spread out the work of the church to the church—and not have it all centered on the pastor, or to have the focus on the pastor, or dependent on the pastor. I didn’t focus on this because I was lazy and didn’t want to do the work. I focused on this because a healthy church is not centered around a single pastor. A healthy church functions like the Body of Christ, each member using their unique gifts to build up and strengthen the rest of the Body of Christ. Of course, things will change in the absence of a pastor, but the ministry of this congregation will continue through the people God has placed in this congregation. That’s the way God has designed this to work. 

Now, I didn’t plan this out when choosing to preach through Colossians, but providentially, if I had chosen a passage to preach on for my final sermon, this would have been way up the list. I think there’s a lot of great wisdom for this congregation to remember during the upcoming vacancy. 

Paul begins by saying, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2, ESV). May this reminder be a central focus during the period of vacancy. One of the notes I came across in regard to this passage says, “It implies a persistent, unflagging commitment, not just sporadic prayer.” This is very close to the command to pray continuously. I actually love that it says to continue steadfastly in prayer, because it seems to add the nuance that it’s difficult to pray this way. It’s much easier to pray sporadically on and off, but it’s very hard to pray continuously. It requires a level of perseverance—steadfastness.

Notice that it says that you need to be watchful in your prayer. Most commentators believe this is talking about being watchful over the temptation to not pray continuously—not being watchful of things to pray for. It’s the idea that you need to be aware that you will not naturally pray continuously—you will naturally slide into sporadic, occasional prayer. So, you need to be on the watch for it. You need to pay attention and be diligent not to fall into this trap. Be in prayer continuously. 

One of the best books I’ve ever read on prayer is “Prayer” by Ole Hallesby and he has a powerful line where he says, “Only those who are helpless can pray.” (18). He also says, “As far as I can see, prayer has been ordained only for the helpless. It is the last resort of the helpless. Indeed, the very last way out. We try everything before we finally resort to prayer.” (18). Why this is so powerful is that it points to one of the main causes of prayerlessness in our lives: We don’t actually believe we’re helpless. We think we’ve got things under control. We can handle it on our own. So, we don’t pray, or only pray when we finally realize our helplessness. But the reality is that we are helpless all the time, which is why we should be praying all the time. 

This is also part of the uneasy feeling during a pastoral vacancy. Having a pastor helps a congregation feel like they are no longer “helpless” and when the pastor leaves, they begin to feel very helpless in a variety of ways. You can respond in two ways. You can respond to that helpless feeling by trying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do it all on your own or in your own strength OR you can respond by acknowledging your helplessness and turning to an all-powerful, all knowing God for help in prayer. I love how simply Ole Hallesby puts it, “Prayer therefore consists simply in telling God day by day in what ways we feel that we are helpless.” (26).

Yet, this passage is speaking about more than just coming to God in prayer for our own comfort and peace, but also continuously praying that the gospel would spread. We read, “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.” (Colossians 4:3–4, ESV). On the one hand, this is deeply connected to what we were just talking about. Paul realizes that he is helpless in changing hearts and causing them to receive and believe the Gospel. So, where do you turn in your helplessness? To God. So, Paul tells the church that they need to be praying that God would open a door for the Word of God to spread and that he would be able to present the gospel clearly to his listeners. 

I think this is another important reminder for this church in the interim period.  I want you to continue steadfastly in prayer throughout the interim, not only for peace and comfort, but also that God would open wide a door for the gospel in Beaver Dam during the interim. It’s this reminder that the ministry of this congregation is not put on hold while you wait for the next pastor because the ministry of this congregation comes from the congregation. So, be praying that God would continue to open doors and continue to do a powerful work in Beaver Dam in this time. 

That’s also why our passage shifts away from Paul’s ministry to the congregation itself. We read, “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5–6, ESV). This is turning away from the focus on Paul’s ministry to the ministry of the people in Colossae. He’s telling each member of the congregation to recognize that they are living out their faith in the world, surrounded by people who do not know the gospel, and that they are to interact with these non-believers with wisdom, focus, grace, and winsomeness. Once again, this is a reminder that the ministry of the church—the evangelism of the church—is not about one, single person. It’s about the church—every member—living their faith out in the world, taking every opportunity to share the gospel, learning how to interact and respond to questions and criticisms, doing it with grace, but also in an effective way that draws people in. 

I also want to make sure we don’t miss another aspect of this. He begins this by saying, “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders…” (Colossians 4:5, ESV). This is an interesting way to word this. Some may think he’s telling Christians to be weary of “outsiders” and to make sure you’re not tempted and drawn away from the faith. While that can be a concern, that’s not exactly what he’s talking about. What he means is that we should live godly lives in the midst of the world. Especially when this was written—but no less today—there were tons of slanderous and false accusations being leveled against Christians, trying to prevent people from following Jesus. Paul is telling them that not only are they to know how to verbally respond to those slanderous attacks, but the way they live their lives should be a response to those attacks AND their lives should lay a groundwork that helps with the spread of the gospel. 

This entire conversation reminded me of a really good book I read a couple years ago. It was called Evangelism in the Early Church, by Michael Green. In the book he’s trying to figure out how in the world the gospel spread like wildfire in the first and second centuries. Unsurprisingly, he ends up saying much of what Paul is saying in this passage. I love this line from the book, “The ordinary people of the Church saw it as their job: Christianity was supremely a lay movement, spread by informal missionaries.” (Loc. 5996). To tie everything together, he also says, “It was, then, with the Scriptures and prayer as their main weapons, backed up by their love, their burning zeal to share their faith with others, and the sheer quality of their living and dying, that the early Christians set out to evangelize the world.” (Loc. 5613). The gospel spread like wildfire because everyday Christians prayed for the spread of the gospel, and then lived out that gospel in their daily lives, and took every opportunity to share that gospel with those who were not saved. The church was built, not by pastors, but by the congregations. 

I realize that people begin to hear this and get kinda nervous or begin feeling guilty. We all know that if you want to make someone feel guilty all you need to do is ask them when was the last time they shared the gospel with someone. Yet, we know feeling guilty doesn’t accomplish anything. People start to feel nervous about this because they feel like they have no idea what to do. They feel helpless…which should cause us to do what? To pray to the God who is not helpless. Our helplessness should not prevent us from doing the work God has called us to do. Rather, it should cause us to continually rely on God through prayer, as we do the work he’s called us to do. 

With that said, I do want to share a couple ways the early church shared the gospel that helps people realize that it’s not as complicated as we’ve made it over the years. We talked about this first one repeatedly as we went through the Gospel of John. Green writes, “But what could the first generation believers do to share with others who had not been present the new life they enjoyed in Christ? They could bear their witness; that is all. They had two things to say. First, that they had believed, and had found the claims of the divine Teacher to be true in their own lives and experience. Second, they could give the evidence on which they had committed themselves.” (Loc. 1665). Sharing your witness with non-believer doesn’t have to include much more than simply talking about the fact that you believe in Jesus, why you believed in Jesus, and how you’ve seen Jesus work in your life. That’s not actually that hard. It’s also not very intimidating to do because it’s not confrontational or anything like that. You’re just simply telling them about what you believe and have experienced through Christ. 

The second one is often overlooked, but is very powerful. Green writes, “Third, it is very noticeable that the home provided the most natural context for gossiping the gospel…The sheer informality and relaxed atmosphere of the home, not to mention the hospitality which must often have gone with it, all helped to make this form of evangelism particularly successful.” (Loc. 270, 5003). Hospitality was another key to sharing and spreading the gospel. Simply having people over to your house for a meal and having a conversation with them about life. As you have a conversation, you’re able to talk about a wide variety of things—including what you believe and why you believe it. It’s a powerful way to share and spread the gospel. 

The point is that ministry is not about a single person—but about a body of people working together—continues throughout the end of the book. We see Paul begin to list person after person after person at the end of the letter. He talks about eleven different people in this passage. I wish I could spend the time diving into each of them and their unique ministry and their history—or even future—but we don’t have the time for that this morning. Rather, I want to focus on the main point of this final section. GK Beale does a great job summarizing this portion by saying, “Paul emphasizes his sincere pastoral concern for the Colossians by reminding them that not only he but also his coworkers have pastoral concern for them and they should show the same concern to others.” (Beale, 349). Paul's not just giving a list of names here, but he’s showing the Colossians how much they are cared for—not only by him—but by all of these other people working on their behalf. 

It’s this powerful reminder for the Colossian church—and ours—that not only is the church not about a single person, it’s also not about a single church. In this final section Paul writes, “And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.” (Colossians 4:16, ESV). Earlier, we were also reminded that there was another church in the valley at Hierapolis. These churches weren’t disconnected from each other. Not only did they share pastors and workers between them—like Epaphras—they also shared letters between them. This letter was to be read in Laodicea and there was a letter to Laodicea that was supposed to be read by the Colossians—most likely another one written by Paul that we don’t have. These churches were connected to one another and supported one another and encouraged one another. 

I think this is another important reminder in the midst of the upcoming vacancy—and the beauty of being part of a denomination. Faith Community Church is not alone in this. Not only do we have members from the surrounding churches who are willing to fill the pulpit and bring God’s Word for us. We also have retired pastors who are interested in helping during the interim period. On top of that, we are connected to Classis Wisconsin and they are committed to caring for you and providing support in this vacancy. The surrounding churches in Randolph, Fox Lake, Waupun, and Horicon are committed to supporting you in this vacancy. There are denominational staff who have already helped provide resources and support and will continue to provide those resources and support. We’re part of a body that is much, much larger than this single congregation and we’re all in this together—which is a beautiful thing.

I want to end with what I think is the central message of this passage. It’s with Paul’s words to Archippus—poor Archippus who gets called out by name in this letter. We read, “And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”” (Colossians 4:17, ESV). We don’t know why Paul felt it necessary to call out Archippus in front of the congregation. It could have been because the congregation was undermining his ministry and he needed to be publicly lifted up by the Apostle. It could have also been because he was being lazy, and had settled, and was no longer fulfilling the ministry the Lord had given him and Paul thought it was worth a public rebuke to get him back up and going. Whatever the reason, the message is very clear. God has given you a ministry and you are to fulfill that ministry.

I think that is not just true of Archippus, but to every single member of this congregation. God has given you a ministry. That ministry looks different for every one of us and it depends on the gifts that God has given you. But either way, He has given you a ministry. That ministry may be like a pastor or elder—preaching and teaching and shepherding. It may be that of a deacon—caring for the physical needs of the congregation. It may be a ministry of musical gifting. It may be a ministry of caring for the poor in the community. It may be a ministry to children. It may be a ministry of prayer. It may be a ministry that occurs through your. Workplace. I could go on and on and on and on. The point is, God has given you a ministry. What is that ministry? Are you fulfilling it? If not, make sure you are fulfilling the ministry God has given you because the ministry of the church is the ministry of its members.

The church doesn’t rise and fall based on a single person—unless that person is Jesus Christ—and thank God he has promised, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18, ESV). Keep your eyes on Him in this interim period. Continually be in prayer to him. And fulfill the ministry he has given you. And through all of that He will build his church. 

Sermon Outline

Main Thesis

All roles in Christian life—whether in marriage, family, or work—are fundamentally about serving Christ rather than people, and this service must be done "heartily" (from the soul) with eternal perspective.

I. The Foundational Principle (3:17, 23-24)

• Connection to previous passage: "Whatever you do...do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus" (3:17)

• Key phrases throughout: "in the Lord," "pleases the Lord," "fearing the Lord," "for the Lord," "from the Lord"

• Central reality: "You are serving the Lord Christ" (3:24) applies to all roles, not just servants

II. What "Hearty" Service Means (3:23)

• Greek concept: Working "from the soul"

• Two dimensions:

  • Working hard for Christ (full effort, not half-hearted)

  • Working from the heart (genuine motivation, not external compliance)

• Contrast: Not "eye-service" or people-pleasing, but "sincerity of heart" (3:22)

III. Marriage Roles (3:18-19)

For Wives (3:18):

• Command: Submit to husbands "as is fitting in the Lord"

• Qualifier: Ultimate submission is to Christ first

• Manner: Heartily—not grudgingly or externally only

For Husbands (3:19):

• Command: Love wives, don't be harsh

• Biblical love: Laying down your life (cf. 1 John 3:16)

• Manner: Heartily—joyfully, not as victim or martyr

Core principle for both: "Get over yourself" (Philippians 2:3)

IV. Family Dynamics (3:20-21)

For Children (3:20):

• Command: "Obey your parents in everything"

• Motivation: "This pleases the Lord"

• Qualifier: In everything that pleases Jesus

For Fathers (3:21):

• Command: Don't provoke/embitter children

• Goal: Joyful obedience, not mere compliance

• Principle: Make parenting enjoyable for parents (cf. Hebrews 13:17)

V. Work Relationships (3:22-4:1)

For Servants (3:22-25):

• Serve earthly masters as serving Christ

• Work from sincere heart, not for show

• Ultimate authority is Christ, not human masters

For Masters (4:1):

• Treat servants justly and fairly

• Remember you have a Master in heaven

Historical note: Paul's approach undermined slavery by changing the dynamic rather than direct abolition

VI. Eternal Motivation (3:24-25)

Positive reward (3:24):

• Inheritance from the Lord as reward

• Changes perspective on all earthly service

Negative consequence (3:25):

• Wrongdoers will be paid back

• God shows no partiality (rich/poor, male/female)

Conclusion

Every word and deed should be done heartily for Christ, motivated by gratitude for forgiveness and anticipation of eternal inheritance. This transforms how we approach marriage, parenting, work, and all relationships.

Sermon Audio Recording

Sermon Manuscript

[Read Colossians 3:18-4:1]

Some of you know Rachel and I’s story, but I’m not sure how much I’ve talked about it since coming to Faith Community Church. We got married very young. I was twenty and Rachel was eighteen. We had no money. We had a small trailer house. We had one young daughter. We had no idea what we were doing. The first couple years of our marriage were not bad, but they were fairly rough. I kinda dove into marriage thinking I knew what it was about and what I needed to do as a husband and a father. That statement right there shows you how little I knew…lol. I had no clue. 

As I think back on some of the rough patches of those first few years—and some of the moments I’m still ashamed of—it was the result of being focused on myself. Prior to marriage, all you have to think about is yourself—what you want, when you want it. You’re so used to being able to focus on yourself that you instinctively keep doing that even when you know you have other responsibilities. But marriage doesn’t work that way. Last week I talked about how the heart of love is laying down your life—or getting over yourself. Marriage is the perfect situation to learn how to do that—to learn that you are not the center of the universe, and you can no longer focus on yourself, but need to learn how to lay down your life for your spouse and your children.

Now, this morning’s passage has a lot of content in it, but as I typically do, I want to make sure we understand how all of this connects to the broader message of Colossians, and how it all fits together in a few principles. Because unless you understand the bigger picture, you can’t fully understand the smaller details. 

Right away, I want to make sure we realize that this passage is flowing directly from the last verse of last week’s passage. That’s also why I included it in this week’s reading again. Last week’s passage ended saying, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17, ESV). It’s this broad command to all believers that since we’ve been united to Jesus Christ by faith, we need to remember that now we’re representatives of Jesus Christ wherever we go and in whatever we say. Last week that was summarizing the way people were to conduct themselves in the Christian community. Yet, Paul is also setting up this week’s passage. He’s working out this reality in all of the various details of the household—which back then contained husbands, wives, children, fathers, servants, and masters. He’s basically telling each of these groups what it looks like to represent Jesus in each of these roles on a very practical level. 

One of the ways we see that is through a few phrases throughout this morning’s passage. Phrases like, “…in the Lord…pleases the Lord…fearing the Lord…for the Lord…from the Lord…” (Colossians 3:18,20, 22, 23, 24 ESV). Basically, every single command and instruction in this passage is qualified by some phrase connecting it to the Lord Jesus Christ. All of our words and actions are “in the Lord” because we’re in the Lord and are not representing Jesus in everything we say and do—and that applies to our marriages, families, and workplaces. 

Ultimately, near the end of the passage he says it very clearly: “You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:24, ESV). Now, that statement is specifically directed at servants. However, I believe this is the point Paul is making throughout the entire passage for each and every one of these roles. Wives, be aware that you are not serving your husbands, ultimately you are serving Jesus Christ. Husbands, be reminded that you are not serving your wives, but ultimately you are serving Jesus Christ. Children, be aware that you are not serving your parents but ultimately Jesus Christ. All across the board, Paul is reminding believers that Jesus Christ is the one they serve and the one whom they represent in every aspect of their lives. 

The question is: How should that affect the way we serve in these various roles? Before diving into the specifics, I want to continue looking at the broader picture because Paul gives us a broader understanding of how this affects our day to day life. He says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…” (Colossians 3:23, ESV). Again, this is specifically addressing the servants, but I think it’s really addressing everyone, especially since it connects so clearly to verse 17. Let me show you by taking out some of the middle verses: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus…Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…” (Colossians 3:17,23 ESV). See how universal that command is? How close it is to verse 17? I think it serves as a solid underlying principle that Paul is trying to make in this passage. He’s making the point that since we’re not serving men, but serving Jesus Christ, that means we’re going to do it heartily. We’re going to heartily be a wife, husband, child, father, servant, master. 

So, what does that mean? What does it mean to do something heartily? The original Greek has this worded in an interesting way. It says that we are to “work from our soul.” There’s a lot to say on this. In some sense, to work from the soul and to work heartily means that we are going to work hard for Jesus Christ. We’re not going to do it in a half-hearted manner, only doing the basic requirements, but going full out for Jesus. So, there’s this sense in which because we’re serving Jesus Christ, and because we love and trust him and have given him our lives, we’re going to love and serve with everything we’ve got—with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

Yet, I think there’s something else here that’s really important and connects with last week’s sermon. One of the points I made in last week’s sermon is that the Christian life is not about the externals, but ultimately about heart transformation that results in changed external actions. That’s also what Paul is talking about here. If you go to the verse prior to this you read, “…not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart…” (Colossians 3:22, ESV). So, in some ways, to work heartily means to work from the heart. That as we serve our spouse, we’re not just going through the motions—doing things because we’re supposed to do them—but we’re doing it from the heart. When we’re interacting with our parent’s, we’re not just going through the motions but doing it from the heart. We’re not doing these things because we want to look like we care, but because we actually care. We’re not doing these things because we want to look like we’re obedient, but because we’re actually obedient. 

That leads us into the nitty gritty breakdown that Paul provides us with. This portion is often called a household code. These were really common back in the ancient world. They liked to create order in the household by outlining the duties of the various members of the household. Also, remember what I said earlier, that the household was bigger than just the parents and the children. In the ancient world, in many ways, the household was the family business, which included everyone who worked for the family business—including servants. So, the household could be fairly large, which required everyone to know their roles and responsibilities to help things function smoothly. Many have noted that what Paul is doing here is taking the standard household code of his day and making it Christian, infusing everything with Jesus Christ at the center of everything we say and do in our homes. 

He begins by Christianizing the marriage relationship. He says, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.” (Colossians 3:18–19, ESV). As a side note, I kinda laughed this week as I prepared my sermon because the very first sermon series I preached in this church was through the book of Ephesians, which had me preaching on this topic in the first few weeks of starting as pastor. Now, I’m preaching on it again in the last weeks of being pastor here. God has a sense of humor. 

Obviously, parts of this passage are not very popular today—and it’s not the part that tells husbands to love their wives and not be harsh with them. It’s the part that tells wives to submit to their husbands. Not only is this not popular today, but some women have a visceral reaction to this. I’ve been in churches where I’ve watched people stand up and walk out of the church simply because the pastor read this passage—not even sticking around long enough to hear what he had to say about it. 

And because it’s such an unpopular topic, whenever someone preaches on it—including myself—we often feel like we have to surround it with a bunch of nuance and caveats. I don’t want to do that this morning. It’s pretty clear. Wives, one of the ways that you serve Jesus Christ in your marriage is to submit to your husband. And to connect that to everything I’ve said so far in this sermon, that also means that you are to heartily submit to your husbands—not gritting your teeth, not doing it externally while internally hating every minute of it, not grumbling and complaining. Submit heartily to your husbands because this is how you serve Jesus Christ in your marriage. 

Now, Paul does give his own caveat in this. He says, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” (Colossians 3:18, ESV). Ultimately, this means that you are submitting to Christ first and foremost, above all things, including your husband. So, that means you must never submit to your husband in anything that would dishonor Jesus Christ or in anything that would cause you to no longer be able to represent Jesus Christ well in what you say and do. 

For husbands, the way they serve Christ in their marriages is: “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.” (Colossians 3:19, ESV). I’ve heard some people groan when saying this. Basically saying, “Ohhhh. That’s hard. Love your wife and be nice to her. Why do the guys get the easy part when the wives get the hard part.” That’s absolutely not true and shows a lack of understanding of what the Bible talks about as love. Remember what we talked about last week? “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us… (1 John 3:16, ESV). This is how husbands are called to serve Jesus Christ in their marriages—to lovingly lay down their lives for their spouse. And, husbands, you are to do that heartily—not grumbling under your breath, not gritting your teeth, not playing the victim—but laying down your life with joy and passion for your wife. 

A few weeks ago, I attended my cousin’s wedding and we were asked to give them our number one piece of marriage advice. You may be able to guess what I wrote down: Get over yourself (Phil 2:3). That’s basically what Paul is telling husbands and wives to do in their marriages. Get over yourself in your own unique way. This is no longer about you. And as you get over yourself, you don’t get to play the victim, and you don’t get to play the martyr, and you don’t get to whine and complain and be grumpy about it. Joyfully get over yourself and submit and love. 

Then Paul moves on from marriages and talks about family dynamics. He says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” (Colossians 3:20–21, ESV). Paul doesn’t beat around the bush here, does he? When should you obey your parents? In everything. Ok, so sometimes? No. In everything. Just in case you weren’t paying attention, children, he said “in everything.” You might say, “Well, that’s hard!” Join the club. It’s hard for wives to submit, it’s hard for husbands to lay down their lives, and it’s hard for children to obey in everything. But Paul says to obey in everything. 

Why should you obey your parents in everything? He tells you: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” (Colossians 3:20, ESV). It pleases Jesus Christ when children obey their parents. That’s why. It actually tells you that you are to be way more concerned about pleasing Jesus Christ than your parents, which is why you obey your parents in everything. It also means that if your parents were to ever tell you to do something that would not please Jesus, then you must not obey them in that thing. That’s the caveat in this. You must always seek to please Jesus over all things, and that means obeying your parents in all things that please Jesus. 

When talking about obeying your parents, I typically like to bring up this verse from Hebrews. It’s talking about church leaders, but it applies very well to our parents: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” (Hebrews 13:17, ESV). He’s basically telling them that it’s never a good idea to make your parents dislike parenting you. It’s actually better for you in the long run to make your parents live easy—to make it so that they enjoy parenting you. So, obey them in everything and please the Lord. 

Fathers, you need to make sure you don’t provoke and discourage your children: “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” (Colossians 3:21, ESV). We typically use the word “provoke” in a different sense, almost like picking on someone, trying to annoy them or pick a fight with them—like you’re provoking a fight. It’s a little different here. The word can mean something more like resentful and embittered. I get the image of someone who is being kind of beat down and discouraged—someone who is constantly feeling attacked and yelled at. That’s not how we are to parent our children. 

Really, the goal of parenting fits in line with what this passage is about. We don’t want our children to simply obey. We want our children to heartily obey. We don’t want them to do what we told them to do, hating it the entire time. Rather, we want them to learn how to love doing what we want them to do. When parents find themselves in a position where they are making their children resentful and embittered, it’s likely because they are no longer seeking to help their children love the command, but simply obey the command. Yes, children are commanded in this passage to heartily obey their parents—to joyful obedience—but parents are also commanded to work toward joyful obedience in their children. 

I realize I haven’t left a lot of time to deal with another fairly controversial passage in the bible—the topic of slavery. Some people have looked to passages like this to try to justify various forms of slavery or to say that Paul encouraged slavery. That’s just not true. In reality, Paul says something very counter-cultural in this passage. He actually tells slaves that they are not serving their masters—that their masters are not their ultimate authority—but Jesus Christ is not their master. Then, he reminds the masters that they are servants to a greater Master, Jesus Christ, and that they need to act accordingly. 

He says, “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ…Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” (Colossians 3:22–4:1, ESV). Of course, many people would have loved for Paul to simply tell everyone to do away with slavery because it wasn’t compatible with the Christian faith. However, many have pointed out that what Paul does in this passage was to completely undermine the reality of slavery, changing the dynamic between master and slave. He paints a picture where you have servants lovingly, joyfully serving and working for their masters and where masters are lovingly, joyfully caring for their servants fairly and justly. You can see how this would eventually lead to the point where slavery was completely done away with. 

So, Paul has already given us reason to live and act these ways—doing it from the heart. He’s told us that we do this because we realize that we’re serving someone higher than the people in front of us—we’re serving Jesus Christ. However, he gives us one other reason in two forms. He reminds everyone that there’s a reward waiting for them. It could be a negative reward or a positive reward. 

The negative reward is set before them when he says, “For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.” (Colossians 3:25, ESV). The wrong doer will receive a reward for their wrongdoing, but it won’t be a good reward. They will reap what they sow. And Paul makes sure that nobody thinks they’re getting out of it because God shows no partiality. That means that the rich are not going to buy their way out of this, but it also means that the poor aren’t off the hook either. God shows no partiality to the rich or the poor. It also means that you don’t get out of this because you’re a man or a woman. God shows no partiality. If you’re living and speaking in ways that are contrary to Jesus Christ—you will receive the negative reward. 

However, he also lays out the positive reward, saying, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23–24, ESV). There are a variety of reasons why we live and act heartily for the Lord in this life. We live and act heartily because Jesus Christ has taken our sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west and made them as white as snow. So, because we’re so grateful and thankful, we heartily serve him in everything we do. 

However, Paul also lays out this reason—there’s an inheritance waiting for us as a reward. That’s part of our motivation in everything we do. To put this in the setting of the workplace, you’re not actually working at your job for the immediate paycheck you receive. Rather, you need to be working in your job as if you’re serving Jesus Christ, who will reward you with a rich inheritance in heaven. See how that changes everything? This also applies back to everything else we said previously. Why do you submit to your husband even when it’s extremely difficult? Because you’re serving Jesus Christ, who will reward you with a rich inheritance in heaven. Why do you lay down your life for your wife, when it hurts? Because you’re serving Jesus Christ, who will reward you with a rich inheritance in heaven. Why do you obey your parents even when it’s hard? Because you’re serving Jesus Christ, who will reward you with a rich inheritance in heaven.

This is actually the motivation for everything we do. Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything heartily as if you were serving Jesus Christ, knowing that he has a reward and inheritance waiting for you in heaven. 

Sermon Outline

I. The Problem: Misunderstanding Christian Maturity

• External vs. Internal Measures

  • Common temptation to measure maturity by attendance, Bible reading, spiritual disciplines

  • The Pharisee problem: external excellence masking spiritual death

• Consequences of External Focus

  • Creates "fake it" mentality among members

  • Establishes church hierarchy (elite, middle-class, lowest rung)

  • Breeds pride and division

  • Leads to "my way or the highway" attitudes

II. Paul's Context and Purpose

• Addressing False Teaching in Colossae

  • External practices creating hierarchies

  • Division resulting from misplaced focus

• Building on Previous Passage

  • Identity as those who died to old self and were raised in Christ

III. Our New Identity: Chosen, Holy, and Beloved (v. 12a)

• Community Focus, Not Individual

  • "Put on" is second person plural ("y'all")

  • Salvation draws us into both Christ and Christian community

  • No such thing as individual Christianity

• "Holy" as Set Apart

  • Not just purity, but distinction from the world

  • Christian community as "contrast community"

IV. Living Out Our Identity: The Character List (vv. 12b-13)

• Not Legalistic but Identity-Based

  • Not earning family membership but living as family

  • "Since you are already part of the family, this is how we live"

• Forgiveness as the Center

  • All traits connect to forgiving as Christ forgave us

  • Our massive debt vs. others' minor offenses

  • Enables compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forbearance

V. Love as the Binding Force (v. 14)

• Love Summarizes Everything

  • Connects to Jesus' great commandments (love God, love neighbor)

• Love Defined Properly

  • Not just warm feelings or emotions

  • Demonstrated by laying down our lives (1 John 3:16)

  • Action-oriented, not just feeling-oriented

VI. Peace as Community Referee (v. 15)

• Community Application, Not Just Individual

  • Peace of Christ rules in the community because we're "one body"

• Peace as Umpire/Referee

  • Greek word means referee overseeing contests

  • Peace of Christ arbitrates disputes and conflicts

  • Unity isn't optional

VII. Word of Christ Dwelling Richly (v. 16)

• Abundant Saturation in Community

  • Should characterize the community, not just individuals

• Two Overflows of God's Word

  • Teaching and admonishing one another with wisdom

  • Singing psalms, hymns, spiritual songs with thankfulness

  • Word affects both intellect and heart

VIII. Everything in Jesus' Name (v. 17)

• Total Life Application

  • Every word and deed represents Christ

• Specific Community Focus

  • Governing principle for congregational decisions, disputes, conflicts

  • Test: Does this properly represent Jesus Christ?

  • Aligns with our identity as God's chosen, holy, beloved people

IX. Heart Transformation, Not External Performance

• Internal Change, Not Rule-Following

  • Being characterized by these traits, not just doing them

  • Living into new identity through Holy Spirit's power

• Result: Community That Glorifies Christ

  • Loving, forgiving, peaceful, Word-saturated people

  • Honoring Christ in everything said and done

Audio Recording

Sermon Manuscript

[Read Colossians 3:12-17]

There are many different ways to destroy Christian community. It can be destroyed through the slow slide away from doctrinal fidelity and the embrace of our own ideas and opinions. It can be destroyed by ignoring sin and looking the other way and allowing sinfulness to run rampant and destroy the church community. But there’s another way that you can destroy Christian community that is much more subtle. It can be destroyed by making a subtle shift in the way we understand Christian spiritual maturity. 

What makes someone a mature, Christian believer? How do you measure that? Is it measured by how often they attend church, or how often they read their bible, or how often they fast or have visions? There’s a temptation to say, “Yeah, that’s how we measure Christian maturity” but that’s not quite right. Of course, someone who is a mature Christian is attending church regularly, is reading their bible regularly, and is practicing various spiritual disciplines regularly. However, that’s how we measure spiritual maturity because those are all external things. 

Here’s why we don’t measure spiritual maturity this way—based on external things. I can tell you in one word—the Pharisees. The Pharisees measured spiritual maturity based on a whole host of external things—they measured it based on spiritual disciplines, attendance at the temple, and knowledge of the Bible. Based on the external markers the Pharisees would have been the maturest of the mature—the elite—yet Jesus said they were whitewashed tombs full of dead bones. They were not only immature, but they were dead. There was no spiritual life in them. 

This is what happens when churches begin to measure spiritual maturity based on external things. Not only does it cause a bunch of people to “fake it” and practice a variety of external things, but it also causes there to be a hierarchy in the church. You have the elite members of the church who do all of the things, then you have the middle-class who are pretty good, and then you have those who are the lowest rung of church society. Then, as soon as you have this sort of hierarchy formed in a church, then pride creeps in and divisions begin to happen and the community is slowly destroyed.

This can happen in a variety of more subtle ways. Let me give you one quick example. Once people begin to see themselves as the “elite” members of a congregation, they also begin to think that they are the only ones who know how a church should function or operate. I mean, nobody else really understands… So, they begin to take a “my way or the highway” approach to the church and try to shape the church in their own image—or into the image they think it should be. They stop caring about what anyone else thinks or says (because those people don’t know what they’re talking about) and keep pushing in a singular direction or pushing on a singular issue. You can see how that reveals pride, sows and causes division, and will eventually destroy a community. 

Paul is writing this morning’s passage to address those very temptations and issues. If you remember what I said a number of weeks ago, there is some false teaching happening in the Colossian church. It’s a false teaching that is focused more on external practices and measurements and is causing some problems like I mentioned. It’s causing some hierarchies in the church, which have led to some division in the church. Paul is writing this portion of the letter to address these issues. 

He begins by building on last week’s passage and pointing out the reality of the situation. He says, “…as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved…” (Colossians 3:12, ESV). This is who they are now. If you remember last week, it was about the fact that they had died to their old self and had been raised to new life in Jesus Christ and have put on that new self. Well, that new self is someone who is chosen by God, someone who is beloved by God, and who is made holy by God. That IS the new self that they’ve put on in Jesus Christ. 

Now, when people read this, they typically think about this in individualistic terms. I’m chosen, beloved, and made holy by God—which is true. However, Paul is talking about all of this in the context of the community. That’s why Paul begins by saying, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved… (Colossians 3:12, ESV). The command to “put on” is in the second person plural. So, he’s saying, “Y’all need to put these things on. Y’all are God’s chosen people, holy and loved by him.” He’s talking about this more from a community, collective standpoint. 

This is really important because when we’re drawn into Jesus Christ through faith, we’re also drawn into the Body of Jesus Christ through faith. You could also say that when we’re drawn into fellowship with Jesus Christ through faith, we’re also drawn into fellowship with other believers at the same time. We read this in Ephesians, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” (Ephesians 2:13–16, ESV). Notice that it talks about how salvation draws us into Christ AND into the Christian community. It’s a really important reminder that there is no individual Christianity—it’s always done in the midst of a community. 

I also want to point out one of the characteristics of that community. He says we’re, “…God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved…” (Colossians 3:12, ESV). I want to look at the word “holy” for a bit because it can mean a variety of things. In some ways we naturally think of “holy” referring to something that is pure and untainted by sin—which is kinda true. However, “holy” really refers to something that is set apart from everything else. We call God “holy” because he is so pure and righteous and “other” that he is completely set apart from anything in all of creation. Now, when we’re called “holy” that’s not the same with us, however, it carries a similar connotation. The connotation is that the community of Christian believers are set apart from the rest of the world. I have liked the phrasing of the Christian community being a contrast community in the midst of the world. We’re a community that does things differently because we’re God’s chosen people, holy and beloved. We don’t act the same way as other worldly communities. There’s something different here—and people should notice. 

That’s also why Paul gives this list of attributes that we are to put on. This isn’t a legalistic thing, but an identity thing. There’s a difference. A legalistic thing would say, “If you want to be part of this family, you need to do these things.” That’s about earning your way into the family. Yet, that’s not what Paul is doing here. Rather, he’s saying, “Since you are already part of the family—God’s chosen, holy, and loved people—this is how you live now. This is how we do things in our family.” 

So he says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:12–13, ESV). Now, in some ways, this is a list of attributes of what it looks like for us—as a community—to live as God’s people in the world. I don’t want to spend time going through each of these attributes. Instead, I want you to see how they are all connected. Some say that all of these attributes center on the idea of bearing with one another, and others say these attributes center on the idea of forgiving one another. I could go either way, but if I had to choose, I would choose forgiving one another since this is at the core of the Christian faith and we’re told that we are to forgive each other AS Jesus has forgiven us. 

This is at the core of what it means to be in Christian community—it’s at the core of what makes the Christian community a contrast community in the world. We live as people who are forgiven by Jesus Christ. And when we’re honest with ourselves, we realize that Christ didn’t just have to forgive us for a little offense, but he forgave a massive debt that hung over our head and our life. He forgave a debt that we could never pay. That leaves us no excuse to refuse to forgive someone else because their debt against you is minuscule in relation to your debt toward Christ. So, as someone who has been forgiven an unpayable debt, you willingly and joyfully forgive in this community. It’s central to everything we do. 

Notice how that is connected to the other traits. If you center your life on being someone who forgives, you can see how a compassionate heart is at the core of who you are. You can see how kindness will play a role and humility. You can see how being quick to forgive allows you to be patient and to bear with one another. They all center around this idea of being someone who forgives because they’ve been forgiven. Or, I should say, it all centers around being a community of believers who forgive because they’ve been forgiven. 

Now, the hard truth in all of this is that the opposite is also possibly true. What if you notice that you’re beginning to lack kindness and compassion in your life (or in this congregation), or that you are lacking patience with other believers, or finding it hard to bear with each other? It may mean that you are not forgiving as the Lord has forgiven you. It may mean that you’ve underestimated the level of forgiveness you’ve received from Jesus Christ and it’s infecting the community—spreading like a virus. The answer then is to do what you always do when you recognize sin in your life—Repent and Believe. 

Eventually, Paul sums this all with a familiar statement, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:14, ESV). So, he tells us that it’s all about love really. If the Christian community is going to be set apart from the rest of the world—distinct—it needs to be characterized by love. That is what will bind everything together. Love will lead to kind and compassionate hearts. Love will lead toward humility and patience. Love will free you to bear with one another and forgive one another. 

This shouldn’t surprise us because Jesus sums everything up with love. Remember Jesus’ response when the lawyer asked, “"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40). What is the summary of the whole bible? Love God and Love neighbor. Love. 

Now, of course, I always have to take a little detour and talk about what love is and what it means, because we’ve got this all messed up in our current cultural situation and it often infects the church. The vast majority of people limit love to some warm fuzzy feeling they have or to butterflies in their stomach. They limit it purely to the emotions. Yet, it’s more than that. We read this, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” (1 John 3:16, ESV). Love also requires action. We know love because Jesus laid down his life for us. And because we love our neighbors, we will also lay down our life for them. This doesn’t mean emotions are not involved, but it means that there’s much more going on here. This is why Paul says that love ties it all together. Because when we are willing to lay down our lives for the Christian community, then we are kind and compassionate and patient and forbearing and forgiving.

Then he goes on to talk about peace. He says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15, ESV). Again, this is one of those passages that is typically understood from an individualistic point of view. Most people read this and say, “Oh, the peace of Christ is supposed to rule in my heart”—which is true, however, that’s not fully the case. To think of this in the individualistic sense doesn’t make sense in the context because the reason they are supposed to let the peace of Christ rule in their hearts is because they’ve been called into one body. So, how would that apply to you as an individual? It only makes sense to understand this as being a community reality. He’s telling the Body of Christ—the Christian Community—that they need to let the peace of Christ rule in the community—and not division—because they’ve been called into one body.

There’s actually a beautiful image in this passage. The greek word for “rule” actually means something like an umpire or a referee. Even back then, they had umpires and referees overseeing their contests, making sure that people were following the rules, making sure people stayed within the bounds of the game. The image is that the peace of Christ needs to be the referee of the Christian community. The peace of Christ needs to be the umpire when disputes come up or conflict arises. It’s because they are called into one body—unity isn’t optional. 

He goes on to add another layer to all of this. He says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16, ESV). Again, this is obviously true about individuals—that individually we are to have the word of Christ dwelling in us richly. However, the point of this passage is that the word of Christ is to dwell in the community of believers richly or abundantly. As God’s people living as a contrast community in the world, we should be known for being a loving people, a peaceful people, and a people who are saturated in the word of Christ. Everyone should recognize this about us. 

He points out that the word of Christ should dwell in us so abundantly that it overflows in a couple ways. First he says that the word of Christ should overflow to the point that we’re “…teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom…” (Colossians 3:16, ESV). The Word of Christ should be such a part of this community that it naturally flows out as we talk to each other and hang out. We will be naturally teaching each other new things from the Word, or teaching each other ways to apply the word in new situations we face. The word of Christ should be so abundant in the life of this congregation that we’re naturally correcting and admonishing one another according to the word of Christ. We’re naturally saying things like, “That’s not how God’s people live and act in the world because he told us…” And we should be so filled with the word of Christ that we will do all of this with wisdom—not beating people over the head with the bible, but not ignoring things either. Because we’re so filled with the word of Christ we will know when to speak and when to listen, which means we’ll do it with wisdom.

Second he says that the word of Christ should overflow to the point that we’re “…singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16, ESV). The word of Christ should overflow from our hearts not only in conversations and teaching, but also in song. This not only means that the songs we sing in church should be the overflow of the word of Christ, but the point is that the word of Christ is not only an intellectual thing—it’s not just about teaching and correcting. It hits something else inside of us that causes us to want to sing his praises. 

Ultimately, all of this is summed up by the final verse, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17, ESV). This is his way of saying, “Since you are God’s people—chosen, holy, and loved—don’t forget that applies to every aspect of your life.” This applies to you in everything you do and in everything you say. You are a representative of him. So, keep this in mind at all times in everything you do.  

Of course this applies to what you do and say in your workplace or at the grocery store or in your home, but the very specific point he’s making here is that this also refers to the way we function as a Christian community. This needs to be the overarching, governing principle of everything we do in this congregation. It needs to be the center of every decision, every dispute, every potential conflict—are we speaking and acting in a way that properly represents Jesus Christ? Are we speaking and acting in a way that is in line with who we are now—God’s chosen people, holy and beloved?

I just want to end with the reminder not to make this about external practices—but about internal transformation or your heart. This passage is not about simply doing all of these things but it’s about your heart being changed to the point where you’re characterized by these things. It’s about living into our new identity—through the power of the Holy Spirit—as God’s people, holy and beloved. A people who love one another, forgive one another, who let the peace of Christ rule in their community, who are filled to overflowing with the word of Christ, and who honor and glorify him in everything they say and do. 

Sermon Outline

I. Introduction: The Moving Day Illustration

• Personal story of unloading the moving truck in hot, muggy weather

• Getting drenched in sweat, exhausted, and gross

• The relief of showering and putting on clean clothes

• Key Point: Once clean, you never want to put the dirty clothes back on

II. Paul's Lists of "Dirty Clothes" (vv. 5, 8-9)

A. The Sins We've Taken Off:

• Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness

• Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, lying

B. The Lack of Fruit from Sin:

• Each sin promises pleasure but delivers destruction

• Looking back at past sins reveals their emptiness

• Reference to Romans 6:21: "What fruit were you getting...?"

III. The Heart Issue: Covetousness as Idolatry (v. 5)

A. Paul's Key Insight:

• "Covetousness, which is idolatry"

• Connects the 1st and 10th commandments

B. Supporting Scripture - James 4:1-2:

• All conflict stems from coveting

• Murder, adultery, false worship - all rooted in distorted desires

C. Definition of Covetousness:

• More than wanting what we don't have

• "Consuming ambition" and "greed gone amuck"

• Never satisfied, always wanting more

IV. Remembering Our Former Life (v. 7)

A. "In these you too once walked"

• We used to live wearing these "stinky clothes"

• Importance of remembering our past lifestyle

B. The Seriousness of Sin (v. 6):

• "On account of these the wrath of God is coming"

• Sin doesn't just hurt us - it angers God

• The cross demonstrates sin's seriousness

V. The Decisive Change in Christ (vv. 9-10)

A. What Has Already Happened:

• "You have put off the old self"

• "You have put on the new self"

• We are "dead to" our former lifestyle (v. 5, NASB)

B. Connection to Last Week's Message:

• Since we're seated with Christ in heaven

• We seek heavenly things and are dead to earthly things

VI. The Ongoing Renewal Process (v. 10)

A. The Tension:

• Decisive change has occurred

• But renewal "is being renewed" - ongoing process

B. The Monastery Illustration:

• Monks with old and new robes hanging side by side

• Daily choice to put on the new robe, not the old

C. Daily Battle:

• "But now you must put them all away" (v. 8)

• Continual need to "kill" the old patterns

• John Owen's quote: "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you"

VII. The Ultimate Goal: Renewed in God's Image (v. 10)

A. Back to Genesis 1:26-27:

• Originally created in God's image

• Image distorted by sin, but not destroyed

B. Restoration Through Christ:

• Jesus IS the image of God

• We're being renewed to look like Jesus

• Living the life we were created to live

VIII. The Conclusion: Christ is All (v. 11)

A. Earthly Distinctions Don't Matter:

• Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free

• We could add many more divisions to this list

B. Central Truth:

• "Christ is all, and in all"

• He must be central to everything we do

IX. Application and Challenge

• Don't get caught up in earthly realities and ways of thinking

• Remember: you're dead to those things, alive in Christ

• Continually focus on killing what dishonors God

• Throw off the old, put on the new life in Christ

• Keep being renewed into His image

Audio Recording

Sermon Manusript

[Colossians 3:5-11]

As is typical when you’re in the midst of a transition like this, I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on the last seven years in this church. I was remembering the day we unloaded the semi trailer of our stuff at our house. It was a day full of delays. The truck had multiple issues on the way out, which meant that he didn’t get to our house until very late and the unloading process was pretty rushed so that we could get the driver back on the road. As soon as he got the truck backed up to the house he and I started unloading it right away. It was a hot, muggy day and we had been unloading for about an hour by the time the church crew showed up. I still remember Joanne Verhage making the mistake of slapping me on the back and saying, “Hey Pastor!” which was immediately followed by an “Ewwww!” because I was drenched in sweat. We kept on unloading the truck for another two to three hours. By the time we were done unloading, not only was I exhausted, but I was also really gross. I couldn’t wait to get into the shower, get cleaned up, and get some clean clothes on and relax a little bit.

Guess what didn’t go through my mind as I got out of the shower? I didn’t get out of the shower, look at that pile of nasty, sweaty clothes and think, “I should put that back on.” Even the thought of that makes me cringe. Once you finally get clean, you want to stay that way and put on some clean clothes.

That’s really what Paul is talking about in this morning’s passage. Basically, he’s reminding the Colossians that their old, sinful life is a pile of stinky, sweaty, nasty clothes that they’ve taken off and they’ve been cleaned and cleansed by Jesus Christ, why in the world would they ever want to put that nasty stuff on again?

And just to make sure the Colossians realize what he’s talking about, he gives them a couple lists of sins that represent that old life. He talks about, “…sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry…anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another…” (Colossians 3:5–10, ESV). These are the nasty, stinky old clothes from our old life.

I mean, take a look at that list of sins and tell me how any of those have resulted in any positive fruit in your life. I’ve often said that it’s really important to look back on the sins you’ve committed over the years in order to be reminded how they didn’t actually do anything for you—to be reminded of their lack of fruit. Each of these things promises a bit of pleasure or release, and you may get that for a moment, but over time they slowly kill you—like all sin. Letting your anger explode may feel good for a moment, but the damage it causes lasts much longer. Slandering someone or lying may feel good for a moment, but ultimately slowly destroys you. Sexual immorality and lust may feel good for a moment, but the negative consequences linger for much, much longer.

And the benefit of being reminded of this, and being reminded of this from real examples from your life, is that it takes away the level of temptation today. The example I give quite often is that I went through a period of my life when drinking and getting drunk was quite a temptation for me. I’d go hang out with friends and it wouldn’t take much encouragement from them for me to get drunk right along with them. Eventually, God convicted me of this sin and I haven’t been drunk since. One of the things that helped me was for me to remember all of the stupid things I did when I was drunk and how terrible I felt afterwards. Why would I want to do that again? It was dumb. The same thing applies to various other sins in our lives. It’s why Paul says, “But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.” (Romans 6:21, ESV).

In providing this list of sins, Paul is actually getting at something deeper. He’s not just helping them remember the various sins they’ve struggled with throughout their life, he’s also making a major point. He says something really important in the middle: “…covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5, ESV). He says that covetousness is idolatry. That should really stop us in our tracks. Basically, Paul is saying that the first and the tenth commandment are pointing to the same reality. There have been many theologians throughout history who have said that the Tenth Commandment, in some sense, contains all of the other commandments because it addresses the heart.

In helping us to understand this point, I typically like to take us to a passage in James: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.” (James 4:1–2, ESV). He’s saying the same thing. Why do you fight? Because you covet. Why do you murder? Because you covet. Why do you commit adultery? Because you covet. Why would you worship another god? Because you covet.

In a simple way, coveting is desiring something we don't have, but it's more than that. At its core, covetousness is about distorted desires. It's not just about desiring things we don't have, but desiring the wrong things. The definition of the Greek word says this, “…in practice it means either ‘consuming ambition’…that aims at supremacy and is linked with arrogance…; or more often ‘greed’ for wealth, covetousness gone amuck, various forms of epithymia, the desire to have what is forbidden, more than one’s due.” (TLNT). It’s this idea of never being satisfied, always looking for more, always willing to use something or someone else for your desires. Yet, those things will never satisfy you, which is why you’re never satisfied and are always looking for more, more, more—hoping it will be different this time.

Then in the midst of this, Paul reminds the Colossians of something important: “In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.” (Colossians 3:7, ESV). Just as they were getting disgusted at these long lists of sins, he reminds them that they used to live this way. They used to live life wearing these stinky, nasty, sweaty clothes all the time. They were used to wearing these clothes, so they didn’t bother them as much, but they need to remember that they used to live this way. He wants them to remember. He wants us to remember.

Not only does he want them—and us—to remember how nasty that lifestyle was, or even how lacking it was in producing fruit in our lives. He actually wants us to remember something more powerful than that. He says, “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:6, ESV). It’s not just that these sinful actions and sinful lifestyles don’t bear any good fruit, but it also dishonors and angers God. These sinful lifestyles result in the wrath of God coming. That’s how serious sin is in our lives and in the lives of other people.

I think it’s so important for us to be reminded of this on a regular basis. Sin isn’t just foolish, it angers God. Sin isn’t bad simply because it’s bad for us—which it is—it’s bad because it angers and dishonors God to the point where his wrath comes. Sin is so serious that God couldn’t just overlook it or ignore it, but he had to pour out his wrath on Jesus Christ so that our sins could be forgiven. So, if you want to see the seriousness of your sin, you can look at Jesus Christ, beaten, bruised, and hanging the cross. You can see Jesus crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, ESV). That’s how serious sin is.

He goes on to remind us that when we look to Jesus Christ in faith and we put our trust in him for the forgiveness of our sins, something happens in our life. There’s a decisive change in our life. He says, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self…” (Colossians 3:9–10, ESV). That’s one example. Basically, he’s saying don’t keep on sinning and living in sin because Christ has taken off your old, stinky life and has cleansed you and has now given you a new life. Something has changed in your life now. Now you know what it’s like to be clean and you don’t want to go back to that old lifestyle anymore. You are a new creation. You’re a new person. You don’t do those things or live that way anymore.

It’s actually stronger than that. The ESV translates verse 5 as saying, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you…” (Colossians 3:5, ESV) but I think the NASB gets it closer. It translates verse 5 as: “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality…” (Colossians 3:5, NASB95). It’s basically saying that once you’re in Christ, you look at your old lifestyle and say, “You’re dead to me.” In Christ, you are now dead to all of the sexual immorality of your past, to all of the substance abuse of your past, to all of the anger and malice and lying of your past. That life is now dead and gone. You can honestly say, “That’s not who I am anymore!”

I want to take a moment to make sure you see how this is connected with last week’s passage. If you remember, the point of last week’s passage is that since you’ve been united with Christ and are seated in heaven with him, you are to seek and set your mind in heavenly things. That was the point of last week’s message. This week’s passage is building on that by saying that not only are we to seek and set our minds on heavenly things, but we are to consider ourselves dead to all of those earthly things—earthly ways of living and thinking. We’re dead to those things because we’ve been raised to new life and made new creations in Jesus Christ.

So, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, there’s this decisive change in our lives. However, there is also an ongoing renewal that happens in our life. It’s the tension in this passage. On the one hand Paul says, “…you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self…” (Colossians 3:9–10, ESV). That’s talking about something that has already happened. However, he immediately goes from talking about something that has already happened to saying, “…you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed…” (Colossians 3:9–10, ESV). Being renewed is an ongoing process. It carries this idea of something that is continually happening throughout the rest of your life. So, yes, there is a decisive change in our lives when we first put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, however, we’re not fully renewed in that moment. The rest of our lives will be this process of living into the reality that we’ve died to that old life and been given new life in Jesus Christ.

One of the best illustrations of this comes from a practice in the monastery. I can’t remember which order of monks does this practice, but it’s good nonetheless. When they join the monastery, they enter the monastery with an old, tattered, worn-out robe. In the process of being welcomed into the monastery and becoming part of the fellowship, they are given a clean, new robe. However, they don’t get rid of the old, dirty robe. Instead, when they wake up each morning, both robes are hanging next to each other—the old and new—and the monk has to make a choice not to put on the old robe, but to put on the new robe each morning.

That’s kind of what Paul is talking about in this morning’s passage. In Christ we have this new identity and are new creations with a new life, but we continually struggle with the temptation to fall back into all of our old sins—to fall back into our old lifestyles and habits and sins. That’s why he says, “But now you must put them all away…” (Colossians 3:8, ESV). He’s talking about your sinful lifestyle and actions. Not only do you need to consider that life dead to you, but then throughout the day you need to continually kill it—put it to death. Or to use his other analogy, you have taken off that old lifestyle and thrown it to the side, but throughout the day you will be continually tempted to put it back on and you will need to continually fight that temptation and continually throw that old lifestyle off over and over and over again. As we’re all very aware, the old man dies, but he doesn’t die quickly or easily.

All of this reminded me of a famous quote by a Puritan named John Owen. He famously said, "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” It’s this powerful reminder that sin isn’t neutral in our lives. It’s not okay for us to simply try on some sinful behavior and wear it around for a while—or to be aware of some sinful actions in our life and simply try not to think about them or ignore them. Those sinful actions and desires are literally trying to kill you. That’s their only goal in your life. So, you need to be actively seeking to kill them in your life or you will be killed by them. You need to be actively seeking to throw off any sinful actions that are hindering you from following Christ and becoming more like him.

That’s the ultimate goal. Paul says, “…you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:9–10, ESV). This is really powerful in so many ways. This brings us all the way back to the beginning of the bible, to the very first chapter. When God creates man and woman we read, “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26–27, ESV). There’s a lot I could say here, but I’ll keep it basic for now. Humanity was created in the image and likeness of God. It’s the epitome of how we were created to live and function in the world. Yet, when Adam and Eve sinned, that image was distorted and messed up. It didn’t disappear, but it was messed up. So, what we’re being told here is that through Jesus Christ—who IS the image of God (if you remember that from a few weeks ago)—we are not only forgiven, but we’re also being renewed into the image of God. We’re being renewed and restored to live the life we’ve been created to live. And, since Jesus IS the image of God, our lives are being renewed to look more like Jesus Christ.

This is the goal of our salvation—that we would be forgiven and set free so that we can be renewed into the image of Jesus Christ. That’s why we put to death everything that is earthly in our lives, because we want to become more like Jesus Christ and live the life we’ve been created to live. That’s why we put away all of our sinful actions and desires, because we no longer want to anger and dishonor our God and Savior, and because we want to put on our new life—which is Christ.

That’s also why Paul ends with this beautiful statement: “Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11, ESV). Christ is everything for us, which means he must be central to everything we do—he is in all that we do—because we are being renewed to become like him. That’s also why Paul connects this to the fact that, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11, ESV). His point is that those are all earthly distinctions that don’t matter anymore. We could keep adding to that list for sure, couldn’t we? We come up with so many different ways to divide ourselves up. But Paul says that those are all earthly things that don’t matter any more. Christ is all and in all and we are in Christ. Keep your eyes on him and follow him.

Don’t get so caught up in all of these earthly realities and lifestyles and ways of thinking. Rather, you’re now dead to those things and are alive in Christ. Don’t forget that you’re dead to those things. And continually focus on killing those aspects of your life that dishonor God and destroy you. Continually focus on throwing them off and putting on the new life you have in Christ as you are slowly and steadily renewed to become more like him.

[Read Colossians 3:1-4]

This morning’s passage asks a difficult question, one that most people don’t really think about often. Most people just go through life from one thing to the next just doing the next thing. That’s not actually a bad thing, but it’s also helpful to take a step back sometimes and ask some important questions. This morning’s passage is forcing us to ask the question, “What is the central ,driving motivation for everything I do?” Why do I get up in the morning? Why do I go to work each day? Why do I do my job the way I do? Why do I go to church on a Sunday morning? Why do I spend my money the way I do? I could keep going on because this question is about what is central to everything you do—everything. 

Even if you’ve never really thought about that question, you still have a central, driving motivation—it’s just what has come natural to you. Most likely you picked it up from your parents because it was their central motivation and so it became yours. Sometimes it’s because of the people you hang around with often, they’ve rubbed off on you so that their driving motivation has become your driving motivation. Maybe you’ve found your driving motivation from someone you look up to or respect—you want to be like them, so you try to live and act like them. 

Everyone has to have a reason to get up in the morning. For many it’s because they want to care for and provide for their family. For some it’s because they want to climb the social and economic ladder. For some they get up and go to work everyday because they want to have the weekends off—they’re working for the weekend. For some their central motivating reality is the approval of those around them. For some it’s trying to prove something to themselves. There are a ton of different options for a central, driving motivation in life. 

This morning’s passage encourages us to dive a little deeper than any of the options I’ve already given. Actually, our passage tells us to look a little higher. We’re told, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above…Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2, ESV). It’s calling us to seek things that are higher than this earth and to set our minds on things that are higher than this earth. All of the central motivations I’ve mentioned would be considered earthly realities—not necessarily bad, but earthly. This passage is telling us that we need to have central, driving motivations that look higher than these things.

Just to take a step back for a moment, I want to make sure that we see the connection to last week’s message because this is simply building on that reality. Remember last week’s message was all about these false teachers who were leading people astray by giving them all of these practices that would make them super-Christians. Paul reminded them that all of those practices actually had no value in drawing them nearer to Christ and killing sin in their life. They only resulted in puffed up, prideful people. Now, this week, he’s building on that and saying, “All of those things—all of those practices—are earthly. I want you to seek things that are higher than that.” 

So he tells the church to do two things. First, he says “…seek the things that are above…” (Colossians 3:1, ESV). The word “seek” has some urgency and intentionality to it. It doesn’t portray an image of someone aimlessly wandering down a path and accidentally stumbling upon something cool. No, in order to seek something you know what you’re going after, you create a plan to find it, then you begin intentionally seeking that thing. It’s not passive, but very active. So, he tells the church that they need to actively pursue things that are above—heavenly things, not earthly things. 

Second, he says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2, ESV). That’s different than seeking. This is about your mind, what you think. Actually, back when Paul wrote this, the mind referred to more than our brain or what we think, it also included our affections and desires and priorities. So they’re told to set their affections and desires and thoughts and priorities on things that are above—heavenly things, not earthly things. Again, this is something that is active, isn’t it? If you are going to set your mind on something, it’s an active task. It involves wrangling all of your wandering thoughts in a particular direction. It takes intentional action on your part.

So, the image that we’re given here is that as Christians we’re to actively set our minds on heavenly things, then pursue those things with intentionality and purpose and focus. 

Paul gives us a few reasons why we’re to do this. He says, “…your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3, ESV). There are a few possibilities of what this could mean, but everyone agrees that this is referencing our union with Jesus Christ. As we’ve been talking about throughout this series, one of the major themes of Colossians is being IN Christ—being united to him, which means we’re united to everything he’s done and to where he is right now. The image here is that we’re so united to Christ that we’re enfolded into him and hidden in him.

So because we’ve been united with Christ, we experience what he experiences. That’s why Paul also says, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3, ESV). Since Christ died, and you are united to Jesus Christ, you also have died. Again, this flows from last week’s passage, with an additional nuance. Last week he reminded them that they had died to all of those old practices and the old way of things, which is why they don’t need to follow them anymore. This time he’s saying that they need to stop seeking and setting their mind on earthly things because they’ve died to those things in Christ. 

Not only did we die in Christ, but we’ve also been resurrected in Christ and ascended into heaven in Christ. That’s how he starts this passage off: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1, ESV). Christ rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Since we’re united to him, we’re also united to him in his resurrection and ascension. That means, in Christ, we too are seated in heaven at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And Paul says that’s one of the reasons why we’re not to set our minds on or seek earthly things—because we’re in heaven with Christ. 

Now, I wanna take a moment to help us understand what this means because it’s hard for us to get our minds around, isn’t it? What does it actually mean that I’ve died with Christ? What does it actually mean that I’ve been raised with Christ and ascended into heaven with him? It shouldn’t surprise you that I think the Heidelberg Catechism does a really good job of helping us understand what this means on a daily, practical level. It asks the question, “Q89. What is the dying-away of the old self? A. To be genuinely sorry for sin and more and more to hate and run away from it.” So, what does it mean that we’ve died with Christ? It means that our old, sinful nature has died with Christ, and needs to keep dying every single day of our lives until it’s completely dead, which will happen when we die or when Christ comes again. Then it asks, “Q90. What is the rising-to-life of the new self? A. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work.” So, rising with Christ means that our new life is springing up and growing and slowly taking over our life, and that too will keep happening over and over again, every day of our life until we die or Christ comes. This is what the Christian life looks like. It’s a daily process of the old self dying away and the new self rising to new life. 

Now, here’s how all of this connects together. I want to spend quite a bit of time looking at what this means and looks like on a practical level. What does it mean that you are not to seek or set your minds on earthly things because you’ve been united to Christ in his death, resurrection, and ascension? There are a lot of thoughts and opinions on this. There are people who would say that this means you shouldn’t really focus on your job or food or money—any of these “earthly” things—we should transcend these things and think only of heavenly realities. There are some who would get really frustrated about this kind of language and say that there are too many Christians who are too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good. They go through life with their head in the clouds and ignore all of the suffering and pain and hurt on this earth. So, what does all of this mean?

I think we can understand much of what Paul means by looking at something he says in this passage. He uses this little phrase, “…Christ who is your life…” (Colossians 3:4, ESV). Christ IS our life. Now, there’s a few ways to understand what he means by this. I think it means two things at the same time. On the one hand, it means that we find life in Jesus Christ—resurrection life in him. That’s a result of being united to him in his resurrection. This is the reason why we’re able to die to our old selves and rise again to new life. We can do this because Christ IS our life. 

However, I think Paul is getting at something more than that in this passage, especially when you consider the context. When he says that Christ IS your life, it also makes sense to understand that this means your life now revolves around him. He is your life. Another way of saying this, to connect it back to what I was saying at the beginning of the sermon, is that Christ is now your central, driving motivation of your life. That’s true because you are united to him. That’s true because you’re dying to your old self and rising to life in him. And because Christ is now the central, driving motivation of your life, you set your mind on him and you seek him with all of your might in everything you do. 

Think about how Paul talks about this in his own personal life. He famously says this in Philippians: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21, ESV). That sounds a lot like someone saying that Christ is now the central, driving motivation of their life. If they are going to live, their life is going to be focused on Christ. He set his mind on these things and he sought them.

To understand how this connects to the contrast of not setting our minds on earthly things, Paul also helps us out later on in Philippians. It’s a longer passage, but I think it’s really helpful in understanding what it means not to seek and set our minds on earthly things, but to seek and set our minds on heavenly things. Here’s what Paul says about himself: “I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:4–11, ESV). This is what Paul is talking about in this morning’s passage. Setting our minds on and seeking heavenly things over earthly things means looking higher. It means not taking all of these earthly realities so seriously. Paul says that he did all of the earthly things and would throw them all away to grow closer to Jesus Christ. Knowing Christ is greater than all of these earthly things. 

Now, does that mean we don’t focus on these things? Is someone more spiritual if they ignore all earthly things and only focus on spiritual things? That’s a trap. That’s the trap of last week’s passage. The trap is to be soooo spiritual that you neglect your body and all of the earthly things—that’s how you become a super-Christian. That’s not what Paul is saying here. Remember, the man who just told us that we set our mind on and seek heavenly things did many earthly things. He continued to make tents throughout his ministry. While on a ship that was going to sink, he did pray, but he also told everyone that they needed to eat. So, by following these commands, we are not to neglect or ignore earthly things. 

So, what are we to do? We’re to make Christ—who is our life—the central, driving motivation in all of these earthly endeavors. The idea is that as you go about your earthly life—doing earthly things—you are continually setting your mind on and seeking heavenly things. The answer to all of those questions I asked at the beginning is Christ. Why do you get up and go to work every day? Ultimately, the answer needs to be Christ. You go to work every day because you want to honor Christ in everything you do. You do a good job at work because you want to honor Christ in everything you do. You spend your money in certain ways, ultimately, because you want to honor Christ with the resources He’s given you. Why do you want to care for and provide for your family? Because you want to honor Christ. Why do you come to Sunday and worship? Because you want to honor Christ. His IS your life. And because that is true, you set your mind on him in everything you do, you meditate on his Word day and night, you pray as you work, and you seek him in everything you do at all times. Jesus said something very similar when he said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, ESV). Seek the heavenly things first, above all else, and all those other earthly things will fall into their proper place and position. 

This is what I’m talking about when I talk about worshiping Christ in all of life. I end every service reminding us that we leave worship and head out into the world to continue worshiping Jesus Christ wherever we go—whether at the grocery store or the pickleball court or in the home of our friends. How do we worship him in all of these places? By keeping Jesus Christ as the central, driving motivation in each of them. As we hang out with our friends, we’re going to enjoy time with them, recognizing they are gifts from Christ to us. As we play on the pickleball court, we’re going to thank Jesus Christ for giving us bodies that can move and opportunities to use them and opportunities to fellowship with other people. As we buy groceries we’re going to be thanking Jesus for the abundance he’s provided and the variety of tastes and flavors and textures. When we make Christ the central, driving motivation for everything we do, we bring glory and honor and praise to him in everything we do. 

This is what it means to set our minds on and seek the things that are above. Ultimately, it’s being reminded of “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8, ESV). That reality not only helps us to lose all of these earthly realities with joy, but it also enables us to properly and rightly enjoy these earthly realities, knowing that Christ is worth so much more than any of them. That’s why we want him at the center. 

So, leave this morning setting your minds on the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord and seek—with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength—to know these things and to live out this reality in everything you say and do.