Journey to The Journey

If I mentioned the name Billy Graham to you, you'd likely be familiar with the name and the impact he had on the landscape of American Christianity (and around the world) in the 20th century. He casts a large shadow. However, if I was to ask you about the men and/or women who were influential in discipling Graham, you, like me, wouldn't likely be familiar with the names listed.

There are many ways to live out our faith boldly and many possible outcomes for doing so. Paul's instructions to the Colossians were, like Jesus before him, simple and to the point. When it comes to living out your faith, it needs to be who you are, not what you do. In other words, our boldness comes from the inside out. When you are living out your faith, when your very identity is a Christian identity, it is a natural expression of who you are. In many ways, sharing your faith isn't even a choice you consciously make...it's just an expression of who you are. Likewise, as a sinner who has been radically transformed through the power of grace, everything we say and do, especially to those who haven't experienced the power of knowing the Lord and Savior we know, is seasoned with that same grace, because we naturally exude it. Again, because it is simply an expression of who we are in Christ.

Everyone wants to leave a legacy. We all want our lives to count for something and for someone to remember us when we are gone. The legacy we leave tells a story about the life we led; what we valued, how we lived, and where we invested our energy. Let's look at two different legacies and the story they tell.

In this week's lesson, Cody talked a lot about our identity as believers; and throughout our study over Colossians, I have been directing our attention to the doctrine of the believer's union with Christ. Here in chapter 3, we witness the collision of these two ideas. For Paul, our identity is found in our union to Christ (notice the "union" language in verses 1-4 and 10-11), and that new identity distinguishes us from the world around us in the way that we live. In other words, our faith is not merely a profession of belief, but it is rather a profession of allegiance. To be a Christian is not simply to believe a certain set of principles and ideals. Instead, it is to live in devotion and obedience to Christ as your Lord and Savior.

In this week's scripture lesson, the Apostle Paul is refuting a number of false teachings and practices that had infiltrated the church at Colossae. Promoting sound doctrine and protecting God's people from erroneous and dangerous teaching is one of the most important jobs of those who are called to pastoral ministry. At the same time, it can be one of the most difficult things to do, because it puts you in direct opposition with the proponents of whatever belief or practice you are refuting. Experience has proven that people don't often like being told they are wrong.

The joy of pastoral ministry isn't simply in the sermons you get to preach, the wedding ceremonies you get to preside over, the baptisms you get to perform, or the babies you get to dedicate to the Lord; although those are all wonderful things. The true joy is found in seeing the seeds that you work so diligently to sow and care for; take root, grow to maturity, and bear good fruit. Seeing disciples formed by the power of God's word and seeing them grow in grace is the return on our investment of time and energy that we long and toil to see. It is worth more than gold.

Jesus, is one of the rare historical figures who really demands that we stop and take notice. His impact is so far reaching that even other religions outside of Christianity are forced to address him. To some he is a great moral teacher, to others he is a prophet of God. Regardless of where you land on the spectrum of beliefs in regard to Jesus, especially here in America, everyone thinks or believes something about him.

For a Christian, the "main thing" has to be the gospel. It is at the core of everything we believe. Moreover, if our beliefs determine our actions (and they should), then the gospel should form the basis for not just what we believe, but how we live our lives. Here's the problem that we often find among believers; we often speak about being "gospel-centered," but often we struggle to actually define what that means. So, we have a lot of "Christians" who are trying to follow Jesus and build their lives on a foundation of gospel truth, but they have never heard the true gospel. So, what is the gospel?

Did you know that the Apostle Paul never once uses the word "Christian" in any of his writing? In fact, the word only appears in scripture three times. When Paul, and the other New Testament writers refer to those who are followers of Jesus, they are most commonly referred to as those who are "in Christ." We see this type of language often as we study through the scriptures, yet how often do we stop to contemplate what it actually means?