Hello and welcome to Tuesdays foundations podcasts. I’m James and we’re looking at the closing chapters of Colossians this week.

Colleagues before me have done a cracking job setting the scene of this book in the Bible, which is in fact a letter letter is written by Paul, from prison, to encourage this church and to challenge them to a greater devotion to Jesus. Despite the obvious challenge of being in prison… Paul writes these optimistic verses for us to consider today.

REFLECTION:

THEREFORE! [considering all that was mentioned yesterday about putting to death the old ways and life we had before meeting God.]

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Wonderful words. Timely words for us here in the UK. If you are listening in from further afield as we know some of you do. These virtues, especially kindness and love are being discussed publicly in a big way at the moment. Last week, a well known TV presenter, Caroline Flack, took her own life. Such sad news and many people have been deeply affected by it. It is in moments like these where the phrase “our thoughts and prayers are with” get passed around or broadcast from the news stations, but my observation is the mood is slightly different this time. The main story is celebrity culture is broken and we must do better in the way we talk to one another. Some have rushed to quickly prescribe blame and fault… particularly to tabloids. But interestingly there is a small but significant repentance in a lot of the headlines captured in the phrase “we must do better”.

The collective mood is that the system is broken and it is deeply affecting people. Let me explain that and we can look again at these timely words from Paul. There is such an expectation on individuals, especially celebrities, to live the perfect life. With great influence comes great responsibility, right? True. We should hold to account those who have high levels of influence in our society. But there is a frenzy in UK celebrity culture around the “big falls”. When someone is knocked from their pedestal. The bigger the fall and the bigger the scandal… the bigger the appetite the nation has to wade in. What this tragedy, and it is a tragedy when a life is taken, has shown us, is that harsh words are easy to share and tempting to read. The harder thing is to embody compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if [someone has offended. you]. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. These things don’t often make headlines. But these are the ways of Jesus and these are the habits we are being encouraged, by Paul to grow in.

The Colossians church was started by Epaphras. It was doing well but it was being tempted by cultural pressures. They could go with the flow of (what one commentary I read put it as) “mystical polytheism” – that Jesus was one of many gods. That we are to continue with the way our lives are and just have a bit of Jesus on the side. “Jesus and” something or “Jesus plus” something. But Paul does not leave that option open to us in this letter.

The challenge he brings to these followers, and the challenge to you and I today, is that this message of Jesus, the good news of his love, is that it changes our whole lives, inside out. Yesterday we mentioned that faith in Jesus, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, there is the power to transform our internal world, to give us a new heart. That good thing God starts on the inside eventually works itself outward to our lifestyle. WE CAN START WORKING ON THAT TODAY! The challenge is to live as the new humans we ...