Colossians: Working For God While In Prison

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3:1

If you visit Ephesus, in all likelihood you will see a small tower in town that the locals will tell you it is the prison Paul was in when he wrote Colossians. Now, nowhere in the Bible does it mention Paul was in prison in Ephesus, leading some scholars to think this is a traditional aspiration on the part of the citizens of Ephesus. Maybe it is or isn’t, but it certainly makes for an interesting discussion. 

But what we are sure of is that Paul did write some of his letters while sitting in prison, three in fact. They are Philippians, Philemon and Colossians. They are called the Prison Epistles. Whether or not they were written in a Roman prison, Ephesus or somewhere else is interesting, but not the real story. It’s more about Paul’s commitment to Christ, despite his circumstances. 

So it is easy to miss Paul’s commitment to his work, as we read his letters. But let us put ourselves in Paul’s shoes. His trials and dangers during his three missionary trips are legendary. And that is what is important. His rock steady commitment to spreading the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire is not just a fictional story, it was real life. Filled with danger, resistance, physical harm and prison stays. 

Imagine ourselves, sitting in prison, all because we preached the gospel. Would we have stopped to pursue a less turbulent life? Could we have focused on the mission, while surrounded by jail bars? Well Paul did, and not only that, some of his best writing came while sitting in a dank and dark prison. Now to me that shows exactly how much Paul trusted God. 

Saved Through Faith

For by grace you have been saved through faith,

 and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God

Ephesians 2:8

Through God’s great mercy, Jesus was given to us. A gift that, through faith, we believe. God’s great gift of grace comes first and not that which we control. We need only to believe to receive this gift. No extraordinary effort of intellect or physical labor will create this gift. No prolonged period of mediation will create this gift. It has already been given. Our only task is to turn our hearts to Jesus, and we shall we have freedom, no longer bound by the worries and troubles of this world.

Points of Reflection

·     How have you experienced grace in your life?

·     Why does grace come first and not under our efforts?

·     List three ways God has brought grace into your life.

Love: Our Greatest Gift

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end;

 as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end

1 Corinthians 13:8

The very essence of all that lies in the Gospel and Jesus’s mission on earth was to love. It is the one trait and gift from God to which we all can excel. Love is a message that Jesus not only preached but walked. He cured the sick, uplifted the poor in spirit, and gave us a new life. Simply stated, all Jesus asks of us is to “Love our God, Love our neighbor.” We may be gifted orators, have great knowledge, and able to see worldly things, but all of this is momentary and, eventually, all that will be left is our capacity to love.  Money, power, and fame are fleeting, but love is everlasting. During our barest moments, it is love that reconciles our existence. 

Points of Reflection

·     During this week, how did you show love to your neighbor?

·     Why is love the most important attribute of our Christian faith?

·     List three ways you showed love to God and your neighbor this week?

Hebrews: Jesus Our Mediator with God

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

Around 65-70AD,  Christians in the Roman Empire suffered severe persecution at the hands of Emperor Nero. Prompting some, notably Jewish Christians to want to return to Judaism to avoid persecution. Forgetting the purpose of Jesus. 

Their lives had become very uprooted and desperate. Their livelihoods and social status were threatened. Their only way out was to either follow the Roman Gods or return to Judaism.  

In response a very skilled author wrote the book of Hebrews to this group to exhort them to maintain their faith in Jesus. To not forget that Jesus had come to earth in human form to die for their sins and become their intercessor with God. 

Traditionally, this letter was assigned to Paul, but likely not. The language of the letter, while very complex, like Paul’s writing, has far less personal comments and doesn’t follow Paul’s normal style of bold assertions. Instead, it is written almost as a very logical legal defense.  Many people have been assigned the authorship; from the author of Luke, to Clement of Rome, one of Paul students or even Apollos. 

Origen, the great early Christian historian, says it best regarding the authorship, who wrote the epistle is known to God alone. I agree with Origen and find trying to figure out who wrote this masterpiece is a distraction to the wonderful message of the good news of Jesus, which is contained in Hebrews. 

But this is a very hard book to read and understand without knowing in advance what and where the author is saying and going. So let me try to help with some background information.  

Clarence Jordan And Bringing Jesus Alive

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

In 1942 Clarence Jordan and his wife, Florence, moved to a four hundred acre farm in Americus Georgia. Clarence had just received his PH.D from Southern Baptist Theological seminary and finished four years as a missionary. They called their farm Koinonia. The Greek word meaning fellowship. A name they used to identify their purpose and strongly connected to the first Christians portrayed in the Books of Acts. A Christian commune, committed to sharing their resources and money. 

To sustain their farm and community, they began raising peanuts. Clarence also had a degree in agriculture, which proved to be also valuable in creating an economically sustainable community. But Clarence did something very different than prevailing societal norms. He hired and recruited black and white to help maintain and live on the farm. Taking vastly underpaid sharecroppers and giving them a chance to earn a living wage for their efforts.  Long troubled by the racial and economic injustice of his region, he insisted in treating all people equally.

Well, this led to a substantial amount of backlash and Koinonia became viewed as a threat. There were bombings, boycotts and Clarence himself was dismissed as a Southern Baptist minister. 

The FBI investigated the farm as a communist stronghold. For a few years life was tough for those living on the farm. Cleverly, to work around the boycott, the farm shipped their peanuts to other parts of the country. And used the slogan, Help us ship the nuts out of Georgia. And it worked, the farm stayed self-sufficient. 

What Is the Value of a Homemade Cross? 

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

As I was putting on a sweater to go out recently, I accidently broke the string to my cross and it fell off. Naturally driven to overthink, I wondered what it meant? Was it a message or something else? I never take off my cross and keep it on regardless of what I do. The string has broken before, I repaired it a few times. But this time there would be no repairing, the string had been repaired to many times. 

The origin of my cross is that it was homemade and created for me by a good friend, Key, who lives in North Carolina. Connie and I had helped her with a few things. So she made the cross out of bronze and green wire. And then used string in place of a chain. 

I was delighted when she gave it to me and promptly put around my neck. Putting my old cross of the corner of my desk. Key is a sweet woman, with a rough exterior at times. What she has in life, she has fought hard to achieve. Not always understood by her neighbors, but once you get to know her and she trusts you, she becomes very open and kind. 

She knew the cross would be very important to me, and with her limited resources this was what she could do for me in repayment. 

So there I was, frustrated that this treasured item, that was symbolic of my faith and a dear friendship, was beyond repair. Connie, my wife, as always knew what to do. Go to Hobby Lobby and find a similar piece of string, but perhaps a little sturdier. 

A Reflection on the Risen Christ. 

 Fishing Boats and Trusting God

 Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

A few years back, I had just gotten a new boat in which to fish. And I really didn’t know much about boats or fishing from a boat. I mean virtually nothing. So a friend of mine invited me to go out fishing with his friend, Art. I accepted the invite, knowing this would be a great opportunity to learn about boating and fishing.

The appointed time to meet was 5:30AM. When I arrived at the dock to meet Art and Mike, the wind was blowing pretty hard. The lake we were going out on was big and wide, which meant the waves would be high. 

Art was a fisherman and guide by trade, so the wind didn’t bother him. But it sure bothered me. In the boat we went and as soon as got in, I put on my life jacket! Once we got out of the harbor, the waves really picked up. The boat would rise up and then crash down, splashing all of us in the boat. 

I noticed Art was unconcerned, but kept making small adjustments to the steering wheel. I went up front to ask him how things were going. His answer, as typical of a native Mainer, was fine. 

After a few minutes I asked him if the lake was rough. Again he answered with one word, yes.

So I finally asked the question I silently had been wondering; are we okay out here? 

This time I got more than a one word answer; Yes, I am steering into each wave, I have slowed the boat and put the prop way down. 

Jorrel “Joey” Diaz, A Different Way to Serve America

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Matthew 20:28

Jorrel or known as Joey, had skipped school and was with his foster brother. He was a freshman in high school and considering dropping out of high school. As they were roaming the streets of the South Bronx a nearby gun fight broke out. Unfortunately, his foster brother was accidently hit and killed. For a person so young, he witnessed the death of his only real friend and family member. But it was also a moment that Joey chose to change the direction of his life. 

 Joey was born into an unstable household and was sent to live with his grandparents. At the age of eight, both his grandparents died, and Joey was placed in foster care, joining a house of eight children. School was hard and life was tough, leading up to the day of fatal shooting of his foster brother. Prior to this he had stopped going to school and was ready to drop out and pursue a life on the streets. 

The death caused him to rethink his life’s journey and he rededicated his efforts in school. Becoming a model student, he was able to enter a very prestigious college; Trinity in Hartford Connecticut. In 2013 he earned his degree, with a major in Education and Urban Studies. 

After school he entered AmeriCorps and  was assigned to the East Harlem school district. His job was to help students stay in school and stay on track. After his first year he agreed to stay on and became a Senior Member and today still serves in the same school district. 

Jesus and the Cross

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:28-30

For Christians, the most important historical event is the death of Jesus. So, we may ask the question, Did it really happen? Well, the answer is a very strong yes! Of all the events that are portrayed in the four Gospels; Jesus’s baptism and crucifixion, according to historians are the two most certain events that occurred. 

There has been extensive research done by both Biblical and non-Biblical scholars around Jesus and His death. All have come to the conclusion that it happened. Famed Biblical scholar and historian John Dominic Crossan, states; The crucifixion of Jesus is as certain as any historical fact can be. 

But is this the right way to approach this central event of Jesus’s life. It is a nice to know. And we certainly can start our own process of discovery of the Risen Christ knowing this is certain. But Jesus and his death is far more than a checking of the facts. Jesus’s death isn’t just a one dimensional historical exercise. For me, it’s more about knowing the purpose of the crucifixion and how it relates to the 21st century believer. 

Likewise, we can turn to the meta-physical aspect of His death as something we may also try to understand. He did die to save us from sin. In this death, Jesus erased of all aspects of our failings. Jesus also created Himself as our mediator with God. Because Jesus died to absorb our sins, we are freed. Released to be able to speak to and receive the grace of God through Jesus. 

And how exactly does this work? God is pure and untarnished and while most of our acts as humans are to do good. Not all are. Which means that if we go directly to God, meta-physically we tarnish God. Hence, the need for Jesus as our go between, and the value of the cross. This is why when we pray, we say, In Jesus’s name. 

The Apostle Paul explains this in Romans 3:24, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Now that’s the meta-physical argument and explanation of the value of the crucifixion. But even knowing this doesn’t fully explain how we experience and know the value of the crucifixion. 

Both knowing history and the meta-physical justification won’t get us there. If we stay just with this knowledge, we become passive Christians. 

Now earlier I mentioned that most acts of humanity are good. There are very many who would and always do disagree with me. Some say, that humanity is totally depraved. Some will say, I have a very rose colored lens about the state of the human condition. But total depravity is not what I have seen or experienced. I have seen far more good than bad. I believe there is good in all people. But even the resolution of this argument is a dead ended path to the purpose of the cross. For even if there is one act of evil in a lifetime, it still requires the cross. 

Which means that now philosophy can’t assure us of purpose of Jesus and the cross.

Knowing the history, meta-physics nor philosophy will fully get us to have faith in Jesus and the cross. It might get us close, but not over the line.