RESCUED AND TRANSFERRED
Text: Colossians 1:11 – 20
Someone (Rev. Dr. Faye E. Schott) uses the analogy of an avalanche to help explain the rescue operation that this passage of scriptures talks about. “We are helpless to save ourselves from the sinfulness around and in us as a person is caught in an avalanche. In a sense God is the rescue team that gets us out. Rescuing us involved infinitely more than any of us can imagine. It involved Jesus’s own betrayal and suffering. His crucifixion, his death, his being thrown into the depths of the dominion of darkness, totally cast out by his own Father because of the sin he took from us. It was as though a rescuer climbed into an avalanche crevasse to push up a helpless hiker, knowing that he would be buried himself. That is perhaps the closest we can come to explaining the immensity of God’s love.” (Gary W. Klingsporn. gen. ed. The Library of Distinctive Sermons. Volume 7. Rev. Dr. Faye E. Schott. “Cart and Horse.” Oregon. Multinomah Publishing, Inc. 1997, p. 116). Think about how it would be to be trapped in a hopeless situation like an avalanche or in a coal mine where it would be dark, hopeless and scary.
Jesus came to rescue us and transfer us from the realm of darkness into His kingdom. We cannot be transferred into His kingdom unless we have been rescued from the realm of darkness.
RESCUED
What does it mean to be rescued? 1) It means that whoever is in need of being rescued is in danger, had been deceived or is held captive, or as this scripture points out, is in the dark. A rescue creates a change of environment. The one(s) who are rescued go from a environment that is not safe to an environment that is safe. 2) In this passage of scripture, the rescued are enabled to go beyond just being rescued, they are enabled to be transformed. The rescued experience a change in environment from uncertainty and insecurity to being able to share in the inheritance of the saints of light. (Colossians 1:12). Consider I Peter 2:9 – 10: 9 “But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light. 10 At one time you were not God's people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy” (GNB). I Peter 2:9 -10 complements Colossians 1:11 – 20.
How do we respond to being rescued? 1) In the text for today (Colossians 1:11 -20) Paul is praying a prayer for the people of Colosse to be made strong by God’s power and prepared to handle everything with patience while joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has enabled them to share in the inheritance of the saints of light (Colossians 1:11,12). 2) Just because people are rescued does not mean that they will be grateful. How we respond depends on whether or not we have what someone (Albert Barnes) calls a “renewed heart”. A heart that is not renewed cannot be very grateful. (Barnes’ Notes On The New Testament). Remember the story of the ten lepers that Jesus healed in Luke 17:11 -19? Only one of them came back to say thank you. Being thankful is more than just expressing gratitude in words. Being thankful according to Paul being thankful is a way of life.
How often do we see ingratitude? 1) “Years ago, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois had a life-saving squad that assisted passengers on the Lake Michigan boats. On September 8, 1860, a passenger boat, the Lady Elgin, floundered near Evanston, and a ministerial student Edward Spencer personally rescued seventeen persons. The exertion of that day permanently damaged his health and he was unable to train for the ministry. When he died some years later, it was noted that not one of the seventeen persons he had saved ever came to thank him.” (Warren W. Wiersbe. Ed. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Volume 2. Wheaton Victor Books, 1989, p. 114). 2) Can you imagine that not even one said thanks?
TRANSFERRED
The people of Colosse were infiltrated with false doctrine and false teachers. 1) The false teachers were known as Gnostics. Paul refuted the ideas of Gnosticism which these false teachers endorsed as they combined ideas of Greek philosophy and Oriental mysticism with some of the ideas of Christianity and taught that salvation comes through knowledge. (Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 116). 2) Paul heavily refuted these false teachings and their slant that leaned heavily on Greek philosophy. Paul made it clear that all things were created by God and for God and that all things hold together in God who created all things before there was any “thing” (Colosse 1:16, 17). It seems that Paul is pointing out how God created the world out of nothing---what they call creation ex-nihilo.
Our modern day culture is infiltrated by things that are contrary to the Gospel. 1) Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) looks for any way he can distort the gospel. 2) Satan is always involved in what John Wesley called "mixing truth and falsehood together … " (John Wesley. Sermon 57. "On The Fall Of Man") in the hopes that he can deceive us by distorting the truth while "masquerading as an angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:14). "Satan endeavors to destroy the first work of God in the soul, or at least hinder its increase … he endeavors to damp [stifle] our joy in the Lord." (John Wesley. Sermon 42. "Satan's Devices"). "… if he can damp [stifle] our joy, he will soon attack our peace”. (John Wesley. Sermon 42. "Satan's Devices"). 3) What are the methods that Satan would try to use to distort the truth as we know it? a) One of the biggest ways that Satan tries to lead people astray is to get them to slight the consequences of sin. We cannot escape reaping what we sow! B) Another lie that Satan uses is to get people to rely on themselves more and more until they become self-reliant and powerless because they lack God’s power, strength and guidance.
It is through Jesus Christ that we are rescued from and transferred. We are rescued from the darkness and the power of darkness (Colossians 1:14). 1) Satan has his minions---his agents of deception who prefer the darkness to veil the truth. “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:20 NIV). 2) According to William Barclay, “In the ancient world, when one empire won a victory over another, it was the custom to take the population of the defeated country and transfer it lock, stock and barrel to the conqueror’s land.” (William Barclay. The Daily Bible Study Series: The Letters To The Philippians, Colossians, And Thessalonians. Revised Edition. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975, p. 111). Jesus has conquered the darkness because “He is the light of the world. Jesus said that whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). How many has He rescued who have refused to be transferred?
Sometimes it takes a threshold or foxhole experience to change people. 1) How would you like to be on the threshold between life and death or in a warzone making foxhole promises? The world is full of people who have been deceived about the darkness who need to be rescued from the darkness! 2) The story is told of a pastor who had an inactive church member who was uncertain about his future just before a kidney operation. He must have felt like he was on the threshold between life and death as he turned to God in prayer and experienced peace he had never known. Following surgery, this man became a faithful and hard-working church member. (Gary W. Klingsporn. gen. ed. The Library of Distinctive Sermons. Volume 7. Rev. Dr. Faye E. Schott. “Cart and Horse.” Oregon. Multinomah Publishing, Inc. 1997, p. 117). His crisis provoked his need for God!
If you have doubts about hell being a real place, then consider this next story. There is the story about another person---a famous person who literally found himself in the reality and darkness of literal hell. He was in a dressing room when he felt himself falling. He said that “instantly he was transported into a deep, dark void, like a bottomless pit”. “I knew I was dead and that this was not heaven. I was terrified knowing I had no way out”. Sorrow beyond description engulfed his soul. He was surrounded by total darkness. Although he could not see anyone, he could sense others there that “he could not contact because he said he was in a place where relationships did not exist.” He said this place was so frightening that he did not even want to send his enemies there. He thought he had no hope. “I truly thought that this was the end of my life, and I saw---too late---that I had missed what life was supposed to be about. As the realization dawned on me, I got mad; I mean that I was furious that I had fallen for the devil’s lies and deceptions. I screamed with every ounce of strength in me, “I don’t care if this is death. I still believe the is a God!” He said. Then “instantly he felt like a gigantic hand reached down and snatched him out of that terrifying place”. Now that is a drastic “rescue and a “transfer”! (George Foreman. God In My Corner. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 12007, pp. 26 -27, quoted and paraphrased). Who was the guy in the story? The answer is George Foreman who is now the Rev. George Foreman.
God has rescued and transferred us! 1) We have to walk with God who gives us our strength and power because by ourselves we are too weak to endure everything with patience (Colossians 1:11). 2) Only God can rescue us from the darkness and transfer us into his kingdom (Colossians 1:13 so that we can participate in doing all of the good things that He has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). 3) God has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints of light (Colossians 1:12). 4) We should make it our creed to live each and every day “giving thanks” (Colossians 1:12) and proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light ( I Peter 2: 9).
