It was a dinky little town, and we had lost our way. We were touring a village in England, by the name of Bampton, it’s major claim to fame today is it was the home of the library, rectory and church used in the filming of Downton Abbey.
In the TV series, the church was St. Michael and All Angels Church. You know it was the church where Mary and her cousin Matthew were married. It seemed to be a fairly shallow gene pool
And after Matthew died, she married Henry Talbot in the same church. Yeah, that was kind of my reaction as well.
In real life, it is, The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, and it was kind of cool in the fact that it had been built almost a thousand years ago, I would suspect that they had to raise funds for a roofing project or two through the years.
After touring the church, we had some time to wander by ourselves, and it was when we were on our own that we got turned around and we had lost our way.
Our coach, a little learning experience here, the difference between a bus and a coach is a coach has a toilet. The coach was parked some distance away, because it was unable to navigate the narrow streets. And we couldn’t figure out where it was parked. The time was coming for the group to leave and we were getting a little panicky.
All the houses looked alike and because we have followed a tour guide to get to Saint Mary’s church, we really hadn’t been paying attention to directions for finding our way back.
I had google maps on my phone, so I knew where we were, I just didn’t know where we were supposed to be. Finally, after some collaborations, Angela and I took a guess and got back to the coach. Just before it was scheduled to leave.
Interesting sidebar here. There was another Canadian couple on the coach, who were younger than us. The lady kept looking over at us, and finally she looked at Angela and said, “Are you Angela Kelly?”
It turns out she attended Hillside Wesleyan church, in Dartmouth, with her family when she was a kid and Angela was a teenager. And she recognized Angela.
People recognize me all the time, but it’s because they think I’m somebody else. One lady actually apologized and said, “I’m sorry, I thought you were somebody important.” Which has nothing to do with the message.
It was a dinky little town, and they were losing their way. The town’s name was Colosse, and it was situated in what we now think of as Turkey.
They were kind of the middle child, and if you are a middle child then you know exactly what I mean. If you’re not a middle child, you’ve probably never even realized there were middle children.
They were situated in the Lycus valley between the more prosperous communities of Laodicea and Hierapolis.
It was Bishop J. B. Lightfoot who wrote, “Colossae was the most unimportant town to which Paul ever wrote a letter!” Ouch. It is indicative the ruins of the other two cities are still visible, while nothing remains of Colosse except ancient memories. And if it wasn’t for the fact that it is the 12th book of the New Testament, then nobody would remember it all.
Who the letter was written by and who the letter was written to is spelled out in the scripture that was read for us earlier.
Colossians 1:1–2 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.
So, in this case, we discover that it was written by Paul and his friend and protégée, Timothy. Scholars tell us it was probably written around 62 AD, and if that was the case then Paul was under house arrest in Rome, waiting for his trial in front of Nero.
And then we are told that it was written to God’s holy people, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. In the NKJV it reads this way, Colossians 1:2 NKJV To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Wesleyan Study Bible tells us, “Saints expresses their relationship with God. Faithful brethren shows their relationship with other Christians.”
So, understand, we are in effect, reading someone else’s mail. There are things in this letter that directly apply to the people who are reading it. However, the fact that is has been preserved for two thousand years, means there is a message in the letter for us as well.
This goes back to the premise that the bible was written for us and not to us.
From the letter we discover that Paul had never actually visited the church, at least not yet, but he had heard about it and apparently was asked to write them to address some issues that had cropped up.
Over the next couple of months, we are going to be diving into Colossians to see what the letter can tell us today. Because even though we know the letter wasn’t written to us, it was written for us.
So, to this church, which seems to have lost its way, Paul offers some practical suggestions. Suggestions that would have been helpful to us, when we had lost our way in Bampton, and hopefully suggestions that will help keep all of us on track spiritually.
Colossians 1:4–5 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
You Need to Know Where You’ve Come From
When we lost our way in Bampton, a big part of our problem was we weren’t sure where we had started from. We kind of knew in a vague nebulous way, but we weren’t completely sure. So, when we were trying to get back to our starting point, we didn’t actually know where our starting point was.
And yes, I know I could have dropped a pin in Google maps when we got out of the bus, but I didn’t.
So, we looked at google maps and we decided that Bampton Village Hall Square looked promising. That sounded vaguely familiar and sounded like a place you’d park a coach. But realistically it was just a guess.
Paul begins his letter by reminding the Colossians of their starting point. He was pointing to their salvation experience. He talked about the faith they had placed in Jesus, the hope they had for eternal life, and how that had expressed itself in their love for one another.
It hadn’t just been an emotional experience. It was evidenced in changed attitudes and behaviour as well.
They had experienced the reality of Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
I used to preach that you had to know when your salvation experience happened, my line was, “If you can get it and not know you got it you can lose it and not know you had it.”
And I can tell you about my salvation experience. When it happened, both time and date, it was 8:15 p.m., on September 2, 1979. Yes, I am that old.
I can tell you where it happened, it was at Saint John First Wesleyan church, in Saint John, New Brunswick.
I can tell you who was preaching that night. It was a ministerial student from Kingswood University by the name of Bob Coullette who was filling in for Pastor Jack McKenzie who was on vacation.
And I can tell you who invited me to church that evening and who prayed with me, it was my best friend Reg Thomas. And it was George Cook who gave me a big hug and welcomed me to the family.
And that evening, I had experienced the reality of 1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
And I can tell you how incredible it felt to be forgiven and to experience what Jesus had told Nicodemus in John 3:3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” I knew that evening, that I had been born again, and I was a new creation, there was no doubt in my mind.
But that’s my story, it may not be yours.
And through the years, I’ve had people tell me they can’t pinpoint the day, or place of their salvation experience. It has always been a part of who they are, but they’ve told me that shouldn’t negate the reality of their salvation.
And it doesn’t. But I would say that it does highlight why believer’s baptism is so important. It gives you that milestone marker of the day when you publicly state that you are a Christ follower, a new creation.
And so, for the Colossians, it was important to know where they had come from.
But where they had come from, wasn’t where they were now.
Let’ keep reading, Colossians 2:4 I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments.
So, the second thing, is You Need to Know Where You Are.
That day in Bampton, Angela and I knew exactly where we were. We were standing on the street just outside of The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. That wasn’t the problem. There was no doubt about our location.
We may not have known where we had come from, but we certainly knew where we were. (Picture)
The reason Paul was writing to his brothers and sisters in Colosse was spelled out in Colossians 2:8–9 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.
The church was no longer where they had been, but they didn’t realize how far they had drifted, from where they should have been to where they now were.
Some scholars have identified the reason for Paul writing the letter as his attempt to address the “The Colossian Heresy.” But the Colossian Heresy isn’t a term that Paul used.
The website Bible Hub tells us, “The term ‘Colossian Heresy’ refers to the specific false teaching addressed by the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Colossians.”
Well, that’s clear as mud. According to the website, Got Questions, “Drawing primarily on the information in the first part of Colossians, we surmise that the Colossian heresy diminished the pre-eminence of Christ and the sufficiency of His sacrifice on the cross to forgive sins. Instead, this false teaching emphasized adherence to rules and regulations that are powerless to truly change lives.”
So, it would appear that Paul was concerned that where the Colossians had started from, wasn’t where they ended up. They just didn’t realize how far they had drifted off course.
When I was a teenager, by dad was a tugboat captain, sailing around the Maritimes, often towing oil barges. And from the time I was 14 he would often take me with him, if I didn’t have school.
When we started our trip, Dad would take out a chart, which is the nautical term for a map, and he would plot the course from where we were to where we were going. And that is the direction we would steer.
That seems simple enough. But at various points along the way, Dad would use the Loran-C, to determine where we actually were in relation to our course, and whether we needed to make corrections to arrive at where we were going. The Loran-C was a radio direction finder that pre-dated GPS. I told you I was that old.,
Now, I could take the next little while and expand on the various aspects of the Colossian Heresy, what they are and how they might relate to how we can drift from our faith today.
But if I did that, the preaching team would have to come up with a new series to take us until the end of June.
Drifting off course is something that can happen to each one of us in our Christian experience. We can drift from where we started from, and instead of being where we ought to be, we are somewhere else, and we don’t even know it.
Suffice to say, that there are errors and heresies that can creep into our Christian lives, if we aren’t careful. Things that creep in from culture, and social media. Trust me when I tell you that Facebook is not a reputable source for spiritual enlightenment.
And those things can take us from where we should be to where we are, and if we aren’t careful we won’t even know.
Let’s keep reading.
Colossians 3:1–2 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
You Need a Plan to Get to Where You Ought to Be.
When we were lost in Bampton, we needed to find our way from where we were, to where we had begun. We had to find our way back to the coach. And we did, with the help of google maps and some healthy discussion between us.
In the book of Revelation Jesus admonishes the church in Ephesus with these words, Revelation 2:4–5 Jesus said, “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first . . .”
It’s a little more poetic in the New Kings James Version, where we read, Revelation 2:4–5 NKJV Jesus said, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works. . .”
The church in Ephesus was told that they needed to remember where they had started, and they needed to return to their first love.
Our trip that day, didn’t end at the Bampton Village Hall Square. We then went from there to where we were ultimately going, which was back to London.
There are times, that we need to do a spiritual reset, and remember where it was that we started our relationship with Jesus, in effect to return to our first love.
To remember, what brought us to that place. A realization that we couldn’t do it on our own. How we accepted the forgiveness that was offered to us through Christ. And then how we let Him have control of our lives.
But that isn’t where we are supposed to stay. The author of the book of Hebrews urged their readers in Hebrews 6:1–3 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely, we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.
Throughout the New Testament, our Christian experience is quantified as a journey. The bible talks about us growing in our Christian faith and maturing as Christians, running the race, fighting the good fight and walking the walk. All verbs, action words.
But sometimes we get stuck at the beginning, reliving our spiritual birth, over and over again.
I love the story about the old farmer who used to stand up in church every Sunday and testify saying “I’m not making much progress, but I’m firmly established.”
One day a couple of young fellows from the youth group were passing the old guy’s farm and saw him sitting on his tractor completely bogged down in the mud. And one of them yelled, “Hey Brother Smith, you’re not making much progress, but you are firmly established.”
He had been stuck in the mud for years and didn’t know it.
It was A.W. Tozer who wrote, “Complacency is easy...and it is a deadly foe of spiritual growth.”
Paul challenges the believers in the Corinthian church with these words, 1 Corinthians 3:1 Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ.
Paul wasn’t questioning the salvation experience of the early believers. He was just telling them they needed to grow up. Part of what we will be looking at over the next 10 weeks will be what it meant for the Colossians to experience spiritual growth.
Here’s a little spoiler, if you aren’t sure what that spiritual growth is supposed to be like, or what we are supposed to be growing toward, Billy Graham said, “Do you want to know what God's will is for you? It is for you to become more and more like Christ. This is spiritual maturity, and if you make this your goal, it will change your life.”
So Paul addresses this in Colossians 2:6–7 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Do you see the action words there? Follow him. Let your roots grow down into him. Let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught.
Pastor Mark Batterson said, “Half of spiritual growth is learning what we don't know. The other half is unlearning what we do know.”
We are really looking forward to unpacking those truths over the next couple of months, learning some things and unlearning other things.
Powerpoint might be available for this message, email me at denn@cornerstonehfx.ca
