I found the Colossians passage because it fit the theme. the Luke passage is one of the lectionary partners to the Colossians passage, so I used it as well. It fit better than I hoped when I first planned the series. In some ways, I am ready for this preaching series to end. in other ways, it has pushed me to some new insights and preaching some texts/topics I might not have gravitated to on my own, which has stretched me. I loved the C.S. Lewis qoute, although I still find it hard to make concrete the death of self!
“Giving Gifts: Dying to Self” SAPC, Denton; February 6, 2022; Colossians 3: 1-11; Luke 12: 13-21 Gift giving series
Colossians 3: 1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your[a] life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.[b] 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.[c] 8 But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive[d] language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal[e] there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
Introduction: We are still in the gift-giving mode. If you have the wise men and their gift-giving in your rearview mirror and are ready to move on, just a couple of more weeks on gifts!
This week, we recycle one of the gifts - that is, the gift of myrrh. We previously noted how it could be used for anointing, but this week reflect on how my myrrh was often used in Jesus’ time as part of the embalming process for dead bodies.
The wise men bringing to the chiidl, this king of the Jews myrrh might have been prefiguring of the death of Christ. Not just a reminder at his birth that one day like all humans he will die, but attaching some significance to his death (Why Did the Magi Bring Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh?: Medicinal uses of frankincense may help explain the gifts of the magi,” Biblical Archaeology Society Staff January 06, 2022https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/why-did-the-magi-bring-gold-frankincense-and-myrrh/)
Christ’s death that comes to us as gift;
Christ’s death that stands before as we seek to follow Christ.
let’s reflect a few minutes this morning on how Christ’s death speak to our call to discipleship.
Move 1: We begin with the reminder that as disciples we are called to focus on Jesus.
a. We read Paul’s letter to the Colossians this morning.
1. In the NRSV that I read, 3:1 “if you have been raised from the dead…”
2. sounds like a it is open to negotiation.
2. I think the NIV has a better translation when it reads, “Since you have been raised wiht Christ, seek the things that are above.”
3. Or perhaps better yet, Eugene Peterson in The Message translates it as: “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.”
4. Reminder that the early church struggled with what it meant to people of the resurrection.
5. they wanted to know - how do we live our lives now that Christ has been raised from the dead.
6. As an aside, they did not ask what do I believe about Jesus or about resurrection, but how do I act because Christ has been raised.
b. Paul begins his answer with the call to focus n Christ.
1. “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is….”
2. If they want to know how to live, look to Christ.
3. seeking the things that are above is not a “negation of earthly and material existence.”
4. paul does not say that what is happening in their real lives does not matter.
5. But, what happens in their daily lives is impacted by the God who “has already rescued us from destructive powers” and the God who calls us to pay attention to the Messiah, “through whom God reconciles all things and raises them to new life.” (Lois Malcolm, Professor and Olin and Amanda Fjelstad Registad Chair for Systematic Theology, Luther Seminary Saint Paul, Minn.; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-3/commentary-on-colossians-31-11-4)
5. Paul acknowledges that there is hiddenness - we cannot see completely or clearly in the moment; the time for full revelation is yet to come.
6. But, the meantime, look to Christ.
how do you live as people of the resurrection? Focus on Christ.
move 2: Looking to Christ leads to this image of death.
a. As Paul uses this dramatic image: Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly:
1. Death.
2. not change like a little different, but dramatic change.
3. not just transform one little bit of your life, but be transformed in a big way.
4. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: “Christ says, ‘Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you thing innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours” (167).
4. since you have been raised with Christ, means you have already died with Christ.
5. the old life is gone; the new life begun.
b. that story Jesus tells in the Gospel of Luke is about someone who is not ready to die to self and embrace the new life.
1. We often use this story as a stewardship lesson, but it is much broader than about what to do wiht an abundant crop.
2. The relentless use of the first person pronouns “I” and “my” betray a preoccupation with self.
3. The conversation he has where he addresses: “Self” (sort of interesting to read this story in our time when people speak to themselves in conversation on a regular basis!).
3. There is no thought to using the abundance to help others. others are outside of his view.
4. no expression of gratitude for his good fortune, no recognition of God at all.
5. He is living for himself and everything is about himself.
5. As David Lose comments, “The farmer has fallen prey to worshiping the most popular of gods: the Unholy Trinity of “me, myself, and I.” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-18-3/commentary-on-luke-1213-21; David Lose, Senior Pastor, Mount Olivet Lutheran Church
Minneapolis, Minn.)
6. not the example Christ sets when he dies for us.
b. Reminder that the gift of death of self grows out of gift of Christ.
1. Christ dies to self.
2. why else would the son of God, God’s very own self, submit to death at the hands of the authorities?
3. We see Jesus choosing to give himself top for us.
4. From the gift of death comes resurrection and new life.
5. AS we follow Christ, we are called to die to self so that we can have the new life to which God calls us.
Move 3: A final thought - there is a communal aspect to dying to self.
a. :communal in that sense that when we die to self we are able to connect in news ways as a community.Not just about me and my call to discipleship.
1. Notice that Paul writes about how dying to self, taking on that new life, there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
2. if we are looking outward without concern for who we are, the differences disappear and we see how we are connected in Christ.
b. Dying to self also speaks to how the church is called to live.
1. church has experienced threat during the pandemic.
2. still a time of uncertainty.
2. As we think about what we want to the church to be, are we looking to preserving the church we knew or boldly stepping forward to the new creation God is calling us to be?
3. If we choose to move boldly, it may mean letting some things die away.
4. To be the body of Christ means knowing death and resurrection.
Conclusion: Perhaps the wise men only meant the myrrh to the gift of perfume with no connection to death.
But the Christ-child becomes the one who gives the gift of his life to bring us the new life of being people of the resurrection.
No comments:
Post a Comment