Dynamic Faith

Colossians 2:6-19New International Version (NIV)

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Freedom From Human Rules

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Tomorrow Griffin turns 5 and we spent yesterday celebrating this milestone.  I think the age of five is perhaps the first of the milestone birthdays.  Five is significant because it is approximately the age where you start making your own friends.  Up until this stage in our lives, we pretty well only associate with those people whom are parents bring around us.  As I took a step back to look at Griffin’s interactions with his friends, I realized how innocent and precious that age is.  At that age, we haven’t developed much prejudice and our view of the world is pretty simple.  We are still learning something new each day as our age keeps us from thinking we know it all.  At the age of 5 the world is always changing.  We are still learning guidelines and boundaries which makes the world less and less simple each day.  For example, we aren’t supposed to talk to strangers and yet we are constantly urged to do so.  I realized just how confusing this was several weeks ago when we saw a sprint car driver leaving Mr. C’s one Sunday when I encourage Griffin to go talk to him.  We are always telling him not to talk to strangers and here I was encouraging it!  Think about all the things that can be confusing to a five year old.  They have to adapt, change, and evolve.  With the brain still learning so much,each day is a new adventure in trying to figure out right and wrong, what foods we like or dislike, who is stranger vs who isn’t, etc.  This stage of our lives is incredibly dynamic.

So this  got me thinking about what changes in us that we become stagnant, comfortable, and fairly unwilling to change.  Our scripture for this morning advises us against this by saying, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy...”  At some point in our lives this is exactly what happens. We allow ourselves to be taken captive through a hollow and deceptive philosophy of being stagnant and comfortable.  I will pose this question to you: in the last five years how many of you have questioned a long held foundational belief of yours?  How many of you have changed or evolved one such belief?  At some point in our lives we think we have it figured out, that we know exactly what is right and wrong.  We eventually think our way is the only correct path to take.  The great thing about Paul’s words on this deceptive and hollow philosophy that he is referring to is that biblical scholars are still arguing over which philosophy Paul is talking about.  They aren’t certain so that means there are any number of ways this applies to our lives today.  For you football fans out there, Buddy Ryan was an amazing football coach.  He had one of the best defensive minds in the game.  He is credited for creating a 4-6 defense and while I know that doesn’t make sense to some of you, it doesn’t have to.  Up until the mid 80’s, defenses had more linemen than linebackers.  For example, defenses would have five or sometimes six down linemen and only 2-4 linebackers.  Linemen aren’t as athletic as linebackers so they couldn’t pressure the quarterback as quickly or cover tight ends and receivers like linebackers could.  Buddy Ryan changed the way defense was played and the defense he coached in 1985 with the Chicago Bears is still considered by most to be the best defensive team ever.  Buddy Ryan was smart enough to realize that the current way to go about things was not necessarily the best and only way.  

However, the game of football has changed yet again and so then has the defenses.  In the NFL most teams run a defense with only 3-4 linebackers, 3-4 down lineman and 3-5 defensive backs.  If defenses today were still running the old 5-4 or 6-3 defenses they would be losing by 50 points each week.  Something had to change, something had to evolve.  Something had to become dynamic.  From the outset of prepping for this sermon I wanted it to be on the topic of comfort and leaving our comfort zone but we have all heard that song and dance before.  And yet here most of us are, the exact same way we were when we heard sermons about going above and beyond said comfort zones.  Here we are still running that figurative 6-3 defense because that is the way that we know best and therefore it has to be right.  Here we are stewing in long held beliefs unwilling for a second to even question them. Griffin turning five is not only significant for him but it is significant for me as well.  I remember where I was in my faith 5 years ago and I can see how much has changed for me theologically and philosophically.  I have grown so much and if I don’t continue that growth through the next five years and beyond then I have gone astray.  If I allow myself, not just my faith, but who I am as a person to become stagnant then I “have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, grows as God causes it to grow.”  In other words, if I choose to stay where I am today, then I have lost my connection to Christ.  Paul is telling us that our faith must never become lukewarm and stagnant.  Motivational sermons about straying outside our comfort zone are meaningless if we stick our toe in the water and don’t jump in.  The entire point of going outside our comfort zone isn’t to jump right back in, it’s meant to significantly change who we are as Christians, it’s meant to change who we are as people.  I saw this great quote the other day, “Many people are willing to die for their kids, but how many of us are willing to change for them?”  I couldn’t believe it.  Man alive it is so true.  It stirred something in me that I am ashamed that I didn’t see before.  

Our scripture for this morning warns us about human rules, alternate religions, deceptive and hollow philosophies all of which we can still point to today.  We may be thinking I don’t have any alternate religions.  Really? How many of us spend too much time on Facebook?  How many of us spent too much time watching tv or gossiping?  How many of us are the exact same person we were five years ago?  You have made an idol out of yourself and your beliefs by thinking so highly of yourself that you are unwilling to question said beliefs let alone change them.  You may not have realized that you have done this but we all do.  Idolatry is wrong and it can have the face of addiction, sin, greed, self-centeredness, and stagnation.  If you are the same person you were five years ago then you need to look into the depths of your faith, into the depths of who you are, and start looking at faith and life through the eyes of a five year old.  We are never too old to stop learning and growing.  A relationship with Christ is life altering and it’s not a one time event.  A life changing relationship with Christ is one that is always evolving and changing and growing.  It is dynamic.  When it stops being those things, then we have made a mistake.  Good thing for us that God is merciful, loving and full of a grace so overwhelming that our forgiveness alone ought to drive us to greatness.  Today is not about comfort, it is about change.  How different will you be in five years from today?  Amen.