Little flowers

Colossians 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

This morning I just want to soak in this passage from St. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians.  I looked outside this morning and saw a blanket of tiny flowers peeking up through the grass, covering it with the beauty of spring, each one beautiful individually but more beautiful in its contribution to the whole.  So it seems in this passage.

The Apostle writes to the church at Colossae.  By what I can tell from this passage, without any other scholarship to fall back on at the moment, he seems to be writing to a church that he did not know.  He has heard of their faith, but he did not plant it.  But he thanks God for these his brothers whom he has not met.  Having heard of them, he loves them, and he prays for their strengthening.  So we might pray for the church throughout the world.  So also might we know that the church throughout the world is praying for us.  And not only the church in the world, but the church throughout time.  The saints who have gone before prayed for us and even now pray for us to the Father, thanking him for us and asking that we may bear fruit in every good work and increase in the knowledge of God.

It isn’t only the adherence to Christian principles that causes the saints to rejoice.  They rejoice also at the hope that the church possesses.  The hope that is laid up for us in heaven, the reward that is promised in the word of truth, the gospel.  The word came to them and to us and we believed it, and it has borne fruit.  Among the fruit that it has borne is the love for all the saints.  This is not merely a celebration of the church working out social justice.  Good works in themselves are not the good fruit of the gospel.  What grows from the gospel is a deep love, not only for God or for those close to us, but for all the saints throughout the world.

The gospel does not fall idly.  Both then and now it is planted and bears fruit.  It grew in St. Paul’s day as believers continued to be added to the church.  It grows now and increases as the gospel is spread to those who have never heard and to those who have heard and never believed.  Even to those who have believed, it continues to increase as the saints continue in their walk with God, trusting him more fully and loving him more completely.  In each of us the hope of the gospel may grow and flourish.

Epaphras brought the gospel to the Colossians and the report of them to Paul and Timothy.  So may we preach the good news to those who have never believed it.  So may we celebrate the work that God has done through the gospel.  So may we spread a good report of the saints to our brothers.

May we be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.  Not simply through rigorous education or the application of theological principles.  Intellect is well and good, but it is spiritual wisdom and understanding that brings the true knowledge of his will.  And having grown in this knowledge, may we walk in it, in a manner worthy of the Lord.  Let us pray for the help and the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit, that we may be fully pleasing to him and bear fruit in every good work.  May our steps be his steps and our works his works.

May we be strengthened, not in manly fortitude, but in godliness according to his glorious might.  Our might is not sufficient, but the strength of God is given to us through Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit.  And this strength is not simply the strength to endure trials and temptations or the patience to wait on the Lord.  It is for endurance and patience with joy.  We might bear many burdens without God if we are given permission to wallow in self-pity now and then.  But in the Lord we are given access to joy.

This flower is inviting a closer examination.  It has caught my eye as a particularly delicate and wonderful bloom.

I am inclined in the midst of trials to turn inward.  To be certain, it is difficult to endure trials.  If it were easy, they wouldn’t be trials.  I too often look at the difficulty that surrounds me and feel overwhelmed by it.  Often I will say things like “I know God is going to do something good, but this is hard.”  Yes, it is hard.  I don’t want to diminish the difficulty.  But where do I look?  In Christ I am given the option to look either at the trial itself or at the promised end.  I can choose to be overwhelmed by the hardship of the moment or I can choose to fix my eyes on what is coming.  Too often the promised end is shrouded in uncertainty, so turning my eyes away from the struggle seems impossible.  In a dense fog I might see what is a few yards ahead, I might see the rough ground ahead of me, but I cannot see the road beyond it.  In those moments I can either focus on the ground or I can focus on the Guide who knows this path, even if it is covered in fog.  Where do I look?  Generally I look at the ground.  But if I look to Christ I can find joy.  I find endurance and patience with joy, because he is with me and leading the way.  And above all, he has promised good.  Even if this life is all trials, the end of the road is full of hope.  Eternal life with God, a blessed inheritance.  That is worth every temporary hardship.

So despite the difficulty of this life, in God’s glorious might we find endurance and patience with joy.  And we give thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints.  I generally think of the Father allowing us to share in the inheritance, or graciously permitting us to share in it.  St. Paul chose a different word, obviously more accurate and infinitely more wonderful.  I lack the vocabulary to describe it.  Qualified.  The Father has taken us and made us into something worthy of receiving the kingdom.  Thanks be to God.

We are no longer citizens of this world, but we have been given a new citizenship in the kingdom of light.  We have been transferred there already.  We await the final fulfillment, but even now it is where we belong.  We live now as sojourners, knowing that our home is elsewhere.  Like Israel during the exile, we look to the home that is prepared for us.  Our roots are not in this world, our hope is not in this kingdom.  When the exile ends, we return to our home and rejoice, even if we had been high ranking officials under the king.  No good things in a foreign land can compare to the inheritance in the land where we belong.  We belong in the kingdom of the Son.  Every road is leading us there.

Glory to God the Father, who has sanctified us and made us his own.  Glory to God the Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.  Glory to God the Holy Spirit, who dwells with us and strengthens us to endure all things with joy.  To him be all honor, power, and dominion, now and forever.  Amen.