Good morning. It’s so good to be here this morning. I always feel privileged and honored to be given the opportunity to share God’s message with the body of Christ wherever they may be. The message that I am sharing this morning has been brought to me while thinking of a few different things that I have read or seen lately. For the past couple of months, Kathryn and I have been studying several things together. In one of these studies, we had to go back and think about our life. We had to examine our past to see the ways God has injected himself into our own stories. For me, this has been an interesting process. Though this process, I have reconnected with several people who were important in different periods in my life, from childhood/adolescence to adulthood. Not only has reconnecting with these people got me thinking, but also the fact that 2011 will be my 20th year high school reunion. How many of you have had one of these? We went to Kathryn’s last year. It’s funny, because things are never the way we remember them to be. I have caught myself lately remembering the way it used to be. I remember high school. I remember college. I remember dating and marrying Kathryn. I remember when our kids were young. They aren’t so young anymore. In fact in 3 years, all our kids will be off to college and beyond. Do you ever think back to things used to be? I do and I believe most of you do at some time in your life also. Since this is our last year in Thailand, I’ve spent a lot of time remembering the first couple of years we were here. I remember all the people and all the good times. I remember the times that we didn’t have any idea what people are saying to us. I remember the times that we had no idea what we were doing, we just trusted God and did.
Sometimes this remembering can be a good thing, but sometimes it can be bad. We can start remembering the past though tainted lens and think that the past was so much better than the present. But, it is good to remember where we came from to see how far we have traveled. When we went back to America for our long trip, we drove a crazy 2 month road trip. There were many great times and some not so great times. It wasn’t until we stopped and looked at the map that we really appreciated the distance that we had traveled. This is how life is. Turn to Colossians 3
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
In this passage, Paul is taking his audience on a trip back to the past. He reminds them where they came from. In verse 7, he says, “7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” He reminds them that they too have lived lives far away from God. There are some very bad things in this list and he reminds them that they used to live this way. The good news is that now they are raised with Christ to walk a different direction. He tells them to throw away the bad and replace them with the good that comes from God. Paul shares with us the alternative to these very physical sins that we once practiced. He tells us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience, bearing with each other, forgiving as God forgives us. These are very real things that we should have in our life. I know for me personally, I have struggled with some of the bad list because I never made these good list things real. Sure I thought about love and compassion and kindness, but never made them real in my life. To many times as Christians, we internalize Christianity. We make all of this an intellectual thing or that we say these things deal with the “spirit” but not the physical. But when we look at Matthew 25, we see a different picture.
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
In both this story of the sheep and goats and the parable of the talents before this one, Jesus shows us that being a disciple of him being part of God’s kingdom is a very physical task. It requires us to take action in this physical world. So, going back to Colossians 3, “in everything you do, in word or deed, do it in the name of the Lord” God calls us to truly live a life worthy of the calling. We look back at our lives and see where God has taken us from to what He calls us to be and what He calls us to do.
I challenge to you today is to live these things that Paul talks about show compassion to someone in need, show kindness to someone at work who is mean to you, show humility towards other especially to those you think our not as important as you in the church or in the world, be gentle towards your wife or your children, forgive those who have sinned against you as God continues to forgive the sins that you sin against Him, and in all things show love to others for God is love.
