Message from Rev. Danny Morgan on August 24, 2025

In our fragmented cultural moment, we don’t need more power struggles; we need a new cultural vision for the world altogether. The emphasis on individual autonomy and political idealism promises healing, but is only driving wounds deeper. The backdrop of the New Testament is no different. In a fragmented and wounded world, it was the counter-cultural way of Christianity that not only began to heal the world but also drove the early church’s influence and growth. Against the conventional way of classism, personal retributive justice, and dominance, Christians lived in the way of compassion, gentleness, and lowliness. This week, we’ll look at Colossians 3 and the antithesis of Paul’s “put off” and turn to what Christians are commanded to “put on.” We’ll see the counter-cultural way of the Christian community as the healing of the world.

As Christians we share in the resurrection of Jesus Christ through our union with him by faith. This reality is a profound mystery, but it is the source of our hope and joy, that shifts our perspective from earth to the throne room of God. It movitages the mortification of our sin and results in the production of a new unified community no longer marked by race, economic class or gender but marked by Christ Alone.

This Sunday we will explore the implications of our union with Christ in His resurrection while pausing to wonder at his glory and discovering our shared identity as members of the glorious resurrected body of Christ.

We are by nature beings looking for validation. We were created for God, and despite his glory, we seek our validation in other people, in false ideas, and in circumstances that are apart from Christ. Like us, the church in Colossae wrestled with this reality as false teachers enticed the congregation to find validation in their relationships, in their past, in their present culture and in a life of ease withdrawn from the calling of Christ. This Sunday we will explore the Christian's validation by looking to Paul’s words in Colossians 2:16-23 as we seek to discover our validation in Christ our head, who nourishes, knits and grows the church for his glory and our eternal joy.

Have you ever been in a situation that felt like you lived between two different realities? Think of the summer after you graduated from high school—you lived an in-between life, no longer a child and yet not quite on your own at college. Or that period of time after the proposal but before the wedding—no longer single, but not yet married. In a similar fashion, Paul teaches the Colossians how to live in-between the victory over sin and death that Jesus has accomplished for them and the final reconciling work that is yet in the future when all things will be made new. You and I live in this same in-between time! What should life look like, how should you live, where can we place our hope and confidence? Join us this Sunday to find out.

Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae is a letter to a people he doesn’t know, except by reputation and the ministry of their beloved pastor Epaphras. This Sunday, we’ll see how Paul explains that even though he has not been with them in person, he struggles on their behalf to fulfill the work God has given him so that they might benefit from it. Paul’s explanation of his ministry is a helpful reminder of the purpose of the church: why do we gather week-in and week-out? How should we evaluate our effectiveness? What is the point of it all? Join us this Sunday as we take up Paul’s apostolic ministry and apply it to our life together as a church today.

Paul writes to the Colossians to show that Christ is preeminent over all so that they may know their new standing before him and new life in him and so be unshakable in their faith. Christ is the image of the invisible God and is unmatched in his work of creation and redemption. To exchange him for another would be to exchange the blazing sun for a nightlight.

In the opening of Colossians, the Holy Spirit through Paul, communicates three qualities that God delights in when he looks upon the church: a church that delights in discipleship (v. 3-6), a church with faithful ministers of the gospel (v.7-8, 1 & 2), and a church praying for Christ to actively work in their midst according to his will (v. 9-14). While these qualities invite us to evaluate our expectations of the church, we hope they will inspire us to delight in Christ's will and shape our hearts and habits as a congregation as we strive to grow in Christ this summer.

At the end of the beatitudes, Jesus pronounces perhaps the most paradoxical of all the beatitudes, “Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 2000 years later, Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. Persecution doesn’t seem like a blessing. Furthermore, Christ tells us to “rejoice and be glad,” likely the last thing on the mind of those who face regular persecution. This Sunday, as we wrap up our study of the Beatitudes, we will discover how persecution is a kingdom blessing, and how we are to respond.

As we near the end of our series in the Beatitudes, we turn to Jesus’ blessing on those who make peace. They shall be called “sons of God,” the Son of God assures us. In a world filled with war and turmoil, the prospect of peace seems like a distant dream. In a church that has recently undergone conflict, the pursuit of peace may seem hopeless. So, how do we live into this Beatitude? What must be true of us to be peacemakers? And how do we live, as far as it is possible, at peace with all men? This Sunday will be a personal and vulnerable exploration of a Beatitude that may seem out of reach for many of us today but is a blessing Jesus has bestowed on his church.