Rescued And Transferred (November 24, 2013).

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.