Sunday Morning July 14th, 2013 Dr. Foster C. Dryden, Jr. 7: Life in Christ: the Source and Muscle we have not ceased praying that you may be filled with the knowledge of God s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power. Colossians 1:9, 11 For the last six Sundays we have been doing a series of sermons on Life in Christ as revealed by the Apostle Paul in the letter he wrote to the Galatians. This week we are in the seventh of this series but switching gears from Galatians to Colossians where Paul reveals the source and muscle of life in Christ in his prayer for the believers. In the opening sentences of the letter he prayed that they may be filled with the knowledge of God s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The source of life in Christ, was, is and always will be knowledge of God, right knowledge of God. Crooked thinking always leads to crooked living! However, the church is up against the culture when it comes to the question of knowledge. There are two basic fronts when it comes to knowledge. One is the level of particular facts and circumstances, such as course of treatment when one is ill. The other is of a general outlook on life, the lens through which we perceive, interpret and understand the world. The first is practical for everyday living. If we are going to have surgery we want a doctor who has the right knowledge and skills suited to our particular need. If I have a problem with my car then I want a mechanic who has the knowledge to diagnose and repair it. The second is what we know as worldview and includes moral knowledge. Our worldview is formed by the knowledge we have, whether it is right or wrong knowledge. For instance, in regard to wrong knowledge, the culture of the antebellum south supported slavery with the belief that people of color were inferior. There was a crash of two worldviews that resulted in a civil war and the eventual emancipation of the slaves, but not without great cost. So you can see clearly how knowledge, right knowledge is important to right living in all spheres of life. Whether it is everyday living or worldview, it is absolutely essential that the knowledge we have is right knowledge, that is, knowledge grounded in reality. In short, reality is something we can
count on. I know if I step off the roof of a seven story building there is only one option, gravity. So, I don t do it, at least, not without some aide, a ladder or scaffolding! I also know that God is my light and salvation, my fortress, one on whom I can call in time of need. I know that! However, God s steadfast love and faithfulness are a fact of life whether I know it or not! The Bible speaks of a double-minded person. A double-minded person is some one who has a reality problem. When it comes to matters of life and faith a double-minded person is unreliable. While professing Christ the double-minded person clings to a worldview that is at odds with life in the kingdom of God. James, the brother of Jesus, says such persons are unstable in all they do. This is what happens to us when we have wrong knowledge informing our worldview. The prophet Hosea, speaking on behalf of God said: My people perish for lack of knowledge (4:6). As followers of Jesus Christ we are at odds with Post-modern culture. Post-modern culture takes issue with questions of faith being regarded as knowledge. This thinking has its roots in the 18 th century Enlightenment! Thinkers such as Emmanuel Kant made a division between facts and feelings. Facts for them are varifiable by observation, feelings are not. Facts are true for everyone and feelings are true only for me. We have in this way of thinking the introduction of relative truth. Relative truth speaks in terms of my truth not absolute truth. This worldview has come into full fruition in Post-modern culture. Included in the category of feelings, or my truth, are matters of faith and even morals. Now, in our cultural worldview, faith is no longer considered a source of knowledge, having been relegated to personal opinion. In my formative years this worldview was found in the halls of academia, but today it has made its way into the living rooms of every western household through the media, particularly television. If you want to have insight into the worldview of Post-modern culture watch TV. The feel good mentality of our culture emerged from the 18 th century idealization of happiness, remember our Declaration of Independence and its inclusion of the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right of humanity. Our feel good mentality also has roots in the 19 th century English idealization of pleasure as the good for people. This is the worldview the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is challenging. Sadly, many parts of the church itself have embraced the cultural worldview. Knowledge, right knowledge, is absolutely essential to life and right living! Wrong thinking always leads to wrong living! Would you want a doctor to perform surgery who does not have the right knowledge? It is the same in matters of the spirit. Believers through the ages have understood that the God revealed in Jesus Christ is our light and our salvation. Jesus said of
himself, I am the way, the truth and the life. With these facts in hand, believers through the ages have called upon this God in the circumstances of life and looked for God s saving acts. Of this, Charles Malik, a Greek Orthodox philosopher, theologian, and diplomat, described the spirit of the Enlightenment, and now the spirit of Post-modern culture with these words: Nothing can be farther from and more foreign to the whole temper of modern man than the anguished cry of David: From the end of the earth will I cry unto You, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. Mr. Malik concludes: Modern man recognizes no such rock, and that is the source of all estrangement and tragedy. Dallas Willard observed: The philosopher Jacob Needleman points out that there is an innate element in human nature that can grow and develop through the impressions of truth received in the organism like a special nourishing energy. Of this Willard concludes: In other words, robbed of a vital nutrient, the whole plant sickens. Robbed of spiritual truth and reality of right relationship to the kingdom of God the social, psychological, and even physical life of humankind is disordered and, in strictly descriptive sense, corrupt. Post-modern culture demotes truth to my truth and this puts the church at odds with the culture. I would be remiss, however, not to recognize the part the church has played in forfeiting its role as the dispenser of right knowledge about God given our history. This is not about pointing fingers, but coming to terms with the manner in which we have discredited our witness for Christ and opening our minds and hearts to the Word and Spirit so that we can be a creditable witness to Christ today. We don t want to repeat yesterday s mistakes, errors and sins. How do we do that? Trusting God with all our hearts not leaning to our own understanding, and obedience to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Like the old hymn, trust and obey! That is, we are to love God and our neighbor as ourselves in all the particulars that God has revealed in his Word. The only way we can do that is to have right knowledge about God, ourselves, and the world around us. It s a daunting task, but not an impossible task. It s not impossible because nothing is impossible for God. We only need open minds and hearts for the Spirit and Word to work in and through us.
So, the source of life in Christ is knowledge, right knowledge. Paul correctly prayed for the Colossian church that they may be filled with the knowledge of God s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. We know, however, from the history of the church that having right knowledge is not enough. We have creeds, dogmas and doctrines about God that are theologically correct, but something is still missing as witnessed by the lifestyles lived by people who profess faith in Christ! The sociological studies indicate this also. In an article entitled Do Non-Christians and Christians Live Different Lifestyles? (February 7, 2007, Christian Today), Audrey Barrick reports on a Barna Group Study that found no difference in lifestyle between those who profess faith in Christ and those who do not whether it is in matters of service to the community, sexual practice or patterns of giving. We act the same because we think the same even though we profess faith in Christ. In other words, we have been formed more by culture then by God s Word and Spirit. Of this, Paul wrote to Timothy: You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power (3:1, 5). Paul attributes the problem to a denial of the power of Christ in our lives. The denial may be nothing more then a lack of awareness that the power of Christ is available to heal, deliver and empower us to live the Christ-like life. We know what God has already said about that: My people perish for lack of knowledge. Even so, it is not enough to have right knowledge, we must have the power of Christ s resurrection. This why Paul also prayed that the believers be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power. This is not power as we know it in the world today. This is God s power, the same power that raised Jesus dead body from the grave and now is available to raise us to new life in Christ. When we are open to God s Word and Spirit there is nothing that is impossible for God, absolutely nothing. I believe the Spirit is building a bulkhead for the kingdom of God right here in this congregation. It is going to require that we be open to the Word and the Spirit which is the source and muscle of life in Christ. Jovetta had a recent encounter with Christ through knowledge of the Word and the power of the Spirit that has been life transforming for her. She is going to share it with us now! Jovetta
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! The kiss raised the question in Jovetta s heart, Why can t I love her? The Spirit raised that question, for a few days later the Spirit answered the question. Jovetta condemned herself and therefore condemned any who offended her. When I quoted this verse to Jovetta, the words were not yet out of my mouth and she finished it for me. She already knew the verse. But now she knows it with a difference. Now, the power of the Holy Spirit has given life to those words in her life. Our stories are really no different from Jovetta s. I ve come to believe we all share the same story, the hold sin has on our lives through our formative experiences with culture, family, even the church. Our stories are the same, the details are different, that s all. The cross levels the playing for all of us through the forgiveness of sin, and the resurrection offers life in Christ to all of us through the power of the Holy Spirit. God is establishing a bulkhead for his kingdom here in this congregation, a people who are filled with the knowledge of God s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding and who are strengthened in the power of his Holy Spirit. It only takes open minds and hearts to allow the Spirit to work in and through us so that we can live in the knowledge of God s will and in the power of his Spirit. Knowledge of God is the source of life in Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit is the muscle. There is nothing more important in this life then to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness through Jesus Christ for he is the wisdom and the power of God! Seek Christ and he will reveal himself to you!