Colossians 2:6-19
“Living Graciously”
by: Rev. Kenneth E. Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
During World War 2 a Christian young man was drafted off a farm in South Georgia and sent into the army, and he took his Christian faith with him….
…which meant that he continued to practice things like reading his Bible and kneeling by his bed to pray at night.
This infuriated the young man’s sergeant, who began to harass him at every turn…trying to make him over into his image of hostility.
Yet at no point did the young Christian resort to returning evil for evil.
He endured all the abuse without a word of complaint and again and again went out of his way to do nice things for the sergeant.
Late one Saturday night the sergeant came through the barracks drunk and exploded when he saw this young man kneeling in prayer by his bunk.
He started to make fun of him loudly before the others who were there and tried everything he could to distract the boy.
When at last nothing else had succeeded, the sergeant took off one of his muddy, heavy boots and threw it at the boy from clear across the room.
It hit him in the back of the head and so stunned him that he fell to the floor, but in a moment he regained his composure and without a word—began to pray again.
Even more upset, the sergeant took off the other boot and threw it and it too hit the lad in the head, but he didn’t retaliate.
In complete disgust the sergeant reeled off a string of oaths and stumbled into his own quarters and went to bed.
The next morning when the sergeant awoke and began to rub his eyes and shake off his hangover, the first thing he saw were his boots, cleaned and polished, sitting neatly under his bunk.
This was more than he could take.
With tears streaming down his face he walked into the barracks and found the young man and said, “What is it with you?
I have done everything in my power to break you down and make you over in my image, but instead you have broken me.
What do you know that I don’t know?
What is the secret of your incredible power?
I want to know!”
Brothers and sisters, in our Epistle Lesson for this morning the Apostle Paul addresses the Colossian Church:
“just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith…”
And this is what the Word of God is telling the church at Parkview this morning as well.
Because the world will do everything in its power to break us down and make us over into its image…
…but, instead, we are to break the world, causing people to ask us:
“What do you know that I don’t know?”
“What is the secret to your incredible power?”
“I want to know!”
And the only secret power that we possess is the power of Christ living in us!
…but then, this is all we need…all anyone needs!!!
In the chapter before this one in Colossians Paul writes: “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”
The key here is the word “continue”.
Paul is speaking to people like us; our brothers and sisters in Christ…
…people who have already accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
And he is telling them and us to continue the great work that was started in us…
…Continue to live in Christ—and do not allow anything or anyone to get in the way of the Great Journey upon which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus!
Become like a tree that continues to grow deeper and deeper roots in Christ.
Allow Christ to be your ground, your soil, your foundation.
Find your nourishment in Christ.
Draw your strength from Christ.
And the longer you continue to do this, the deeper your roots will grow, and the stronger you will be in Christ—to have the strength to stand up against the winds of the world, the storms, the strong gusts of evil.
They will not break you.
As a matter of fact, you, through Christ will become a wind breaker, or an evil breaker…
…overcoming “evil with good.”
The Christian life is an on-going, life-long-journey of gracious living.
Those who live in Christ have been forgiven, and therefore are to be forgiving people… “overflowing with thankfulness.”
Parkview Saints: “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”
Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross…
…so that you and I could be forgiven our sins and made alive in God…
…to live gracious lives in service to the world…
…so that others might come to know the love of God which is found in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Therefore, where ever we are called to go, we, like that young boy from Georgia who was drafted into the military…are to take our faith with us.
Do we do this?
Let’s face it, some of the places we are called to go are not very friendly.
There is a hostility in this world.
There is a coldness.
There is an absence of love.
Because there is an absence of God in the lives of people.
And because of the Holy Spirit Who comes to live inside of us when we allow Christ to be Lord of our lives—we are no longer part of this often hostile, cold and cruel world.
This is not our home!
This is not where we have our residence.
Because of Christ, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life…
…we have become children of God…
…and heirs of His kingdom!
So.
If you feel out of place in the world of evil…
…do not be dismayed…
…instead, rejoice!!!
Live a life overflowing with thanksgiving for the most awesome gift possible!!!
And live in such a way that this thankfulness, this joy, this hope, this assurance will not be taken away, but instead, will continue to grow and grow and grow!!!
Praise God, you who have been born again through grace…
…you are no longer children of the devil!
Praise God, you who have been born again through grace…
…your end is no longer the fires of hell!
Praise God, you who have been born again through grace…
…you have a story to tell to the nations!
You have a reason to live, a real reason.
And this reason is altruistic…it is for God and others.
How freeing is that?
Praise God, you who have been born again through grace…
…God has great plans for you, plans to use you to save others from the flames of hell, and the evil deceit of the devil!
In Matthew chapter 13 Jesus tells a parable:
“The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that all the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
God has planted His Seed, that is the gift of faith in the hearts of those of us who are saved…
…and if we allow God to cultivate that Seed…
…our faith will grow until we are big and strong Christians to whom others come and perch in our branches in order to find the word of salvation.
So we must be firmly “rooted” in Christ if we are going to be effective Christians in a hostile world.
How do we do this?
For one thing, we must come to terms with…well…If Jesus is Lord, I am not!
That means Jesus is to be the manager of our lives, not us.
Jesus is the One Whom we consult before we make decisions, which means that we must know His Word, we must learn how to pray without ceasing, and learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit.
The late Harry Denman used to copy the Scripture down with pen and paper. It helped him to concentrate on it more…and caused it to become more ingrained into who he was.
As, Christians, we cannot grow without knowing God’s Word and thus living according to it.
God’s Word should be the sweetest sound to our ears.
It should be like listening to a favorite song that we’ve heard over and over again…
…is it that way for us?
It should also be more than this.
Because it is Living and Active…
…it contains Life…
…Salvation…
…how to love…
…and how to come to know God’s love.
I love to read God’s Word and do it daily, but I also listen to it on c-d in my car as I’m driving.
This helps to keep my life focused…it helps me to grow.
Are you growing in your knowledge of and love for God’s Word?
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus talks to us about prayer.
He tells us: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
What will we be given, what door will be opened to us if we ask?
Why the Kingdom of God!!!
The very Kingdom that Jesus came, and died so that He could offer it to us!
And the moment we accept God’s gift, we enter His Kingdom right here, right now while we are still on earth.
And we are given God’s Holy Spirit without limit!!!
Jesus goes on to say in Luke Chapter 11: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
That is what we are to pray for!
The Holy Spirit.
This is what God longs to give to us!
And this is what God will give us if we ask.
And through the power of the Holy Spirit we are to learn to walk in step with the Spirit…
…allowing God to guide us in our choices and in our desires and in our attitudes toward life and others!!!
This is how we grow.
Are we asking God for the power of His Holy Spirit?
For we are to do what the Holy Spirit would have us do, and think the way the Holy Spirit wants us to think.
His thoughts are to be our thoughts, His ways our ways!
We are called to be people who have graciously accepted God’s forgiveness and thus graciously extend that forgiveness to others.
We are to graciously give the grace we have received and continue to receive to others.
We are to touch others with such grace as we have been touched.
God’s great work in us is to make us gracious people…
…people who are walking in Christ forgiven and forgiving.
People who live in honesty, with integrity of speech, and a simplistic lifestyle.
This life is not to be measured by the world’s standards, but by the One Who set the standards.
We are to will one thing, and that one thing is to please God.
We are to have no hidden agendas, no deceitful talk or need to control or manipulate.
Our word is to be our bond.
We are to live in a simplicity that seeks the sacred in the ordinary.
If we have Christ, we have all we need.
He is our strength.
He is our victory.
We can wake up every new day with the full awareness and assurance that the day will bring nothing that we and Christ cannot handle.
It is the simple truth.
We can make it with Jesus!!!
Let us pray: O Father, we thank You for the gift of Jesus. Continue to make us aware of how needful we are of Him, how dependent we are on Him, and how imperfect we are. May we continually by in awe of the astounding grace we receive from You, and enable us to share Your grace with others. May we be gracious Christians who attain honor for Your Kingdom. We love You Lord. Amen.
