Colossians 1:1-14
Christianity ’Lite’?
As a building surveyor, one of the services that I offer is the preparation of building drawings. Being a thoroughly modern surveyor, I do this on my computer with a computer aided design software package. The industry standard for computer-aided design or CAD software is something called AutoCAD. The standard software package is very expensive, at about £4,000. So in order to make the product more available and widely used, the company have produced a slimline or economy version called AutoCAD ‘Lite’. This sells for about a tenth of the cost, and needless to say this is the version that I have. It doesn’t have all the features and capabilities of the full version, but it is a good deal less demanding on the pocket. Part of the idea of course is that the manufacturers hope that you will upgrade to the full version in due course. Indeed, if you want the full capabilities, and manufacturer support, very often the only way to achieve it is by upgrading. Those of you are familiar with your computers will know that this isn’t limited to AutoCAD. There are all sorts of software packages that have a ‘Lite’ version.
The idea of AutoCAD ‘Lite’ can be just as well applied to matters of faith. There is absolutely nothing to stop you having Christianity ‘Lite’. And indeed there are many aspects of current religious thought that promote the idea of spirituality ’Lite’. What do I mean by this? The sort of thing I have in mind is the kind of faith which relatively simple, relatively undeveloped, certainly fairly undemanding, and still gives you a warm glow inside. That there is of course absolutely nothing wrong with a simple faith. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the undeveloped ness of the faith of somebody who has only just come into a relationship with God. But just as AutoCAD Lite has certain drawbacks, Christianity ‘Lite’ is also liable to a number of weaknesses.
The dangers of Christianity ‘Lite’
You see, the expectation, as with computer software, is that Christian faith will be continuously upgraded. That is to say, there is an expectation that the Christian life will be a life of growth. You will remember in Hebrews, where Paul writes about the need for progression from spiritual food like milk to spiritual food like meat. ‘ Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity’ Heb 6:1. Just as children need a changing and developing diet to enable them to grow properly, Christians need a changing and developing diet in order to reach maturity. For without maturity, our children will be weak both physically and in character. They will be easily pushed over physically, and easily pushed about emotionally. And this is the danger with Christianity ‘Lite’. Christians who are undeveloped are at risk. Paul, in Ephesians 4, talks about ‘children being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.’
This is something of the situation to which Paul was writing his letter to the Colossians. Colossae was a bit like the Ribble Valley. It was a prosperous place, in a prosperous area. It was close to Laodicea, which you will recall had a Christian community which was rebuked for the lukewarm nature of its faith. One of the problems at Colossae was members of the Christian community were being drawn away from the faith by heretical doctrine. We see this in chapter 2:8 where Paul says ’ see to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit’. We don’t know exactly what this heresy was. We get pointers to it in the letter but it isn’t clearly stated. In a sense it doesn’t matter. Because what to matters is Paul’s approach to dealing with it.
The antidote to Christianity ‘Lite’
So what is Paul’s antidote to the dangers of Christianity ‘Lite’? First of all, we see that Paul has been praying for the Colossians to have Fullness of knowledge. One of the reasons that many Christians have difficulties in dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses when they come to the door is that their knowledge of the faith is poor. So they are easily confused. Just as our children have to go to school to learn fairly basic knowledge about the world in which we live, so there is the need for Christians to spend time in learning the facts of the faith.
However, facts and knowledge by themselves are not enough. And so Paul prays for the Colossians to have Fullness of wisdom. He prays for wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is insight, and discernment, whereas understanding is about the practical application of that discernment. So what Paul is praying for is that the Christians may understand the great truths of Christianity and may be able to apply them to the tasks the troubles and the decisions that face them in everyday life.
Knowledge of God, and wisdom and understanding to go with it should not exist in a vacuum. It needs to result in Fullness of living. Paul’s prayer in V10is that this should enable the Colossians ‘ to lead a life of worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work. ‘ In James 3:13 we see a similar expression. ‘ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.’ The reality of our Christian faith is shown in the way we live. But the interesting thing is that in the process of living the Christian life, we increase in our knowledge of God. Fruitfulness is part of growing. Fruitfulness is part of the growing Christian life. I am reading a book by man called Richard Thomas. In it he says’ many of the growing churches are growing not because they present a simplistic theology, but because they engage with the social and practical concerns of their members and the communities within which they worship. Such engagement does not allow any false simplicity; the complexities of faith in action quickly move people forward, and at the same time provide a framework of action that creates a secure environment for growth.’ And indeed, Paul makes it clear that such living is true worship, for it is the fully pleasing to God.
In case all this seems like too much to ask Paul’s prayer is also for us to have fullness of power. In v11 he prays that the Colossians ‘may be strengthened with all power’. Many of our problems in life are not about knowing what to do, but actually rather more about the power and resources to do it. The problem is putting the knowledge that we have into action. We need power and resources to achieve it. And that power is available to us. It is God’s power, available to us in his holy spirit. In Ephesians 3:20 Paul makes it clear that Gods ‘power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly that all we ask or think…’
The fullness of God’s power is available to us in prayer. The fullness of God’s power guides us into fullness of knowledge and fullness of wisdom. The fullness of God’s power aids as we seek to express our faith in fullness of living and fruitfulness.
Such a life and faith of fullness is true worship is fully pleasing to God. And such a life is the real antidote to the dangers of Christianity ‘Lite’. Let us today seek God’s power to live such a life of fullness.
