Seek What Is Above
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sunday Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:1-11 (NRSV)
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Read more…
Looking to Sunday: Preparing to Hear From God
by Elaine Poproski
Last week’s sermon from the end of Colossians 2 was all about being careful that we don’t allow those with strict religious legal codes to condemn us or disqualify us from life in Christ and in the church. We were reminded that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law, which means that everything the pre-Christian, Jewish legal codes (the Law) were designed to create is fulfilled in Christ and therefore no longer mandatory.
This week we’re moving into Colossians 3, which serves as something of a balance to chapter 2’s message. Yes, Paul writes, we are free from the Law. However, he also writes, having been metaphorically put to death and raised to new life with Christ (symbolized by baptism in Colossians 2:12), everything about how we live will be impacted. There are ways we’ve lived that are contrary to who Christ is, and if our whole orientation to life is now rooted in Christ – the definition of what it means to be a Christian – then everything that’s contrary to Him must have been put to death when we died with Christ.
On Sunday we’ll be considering what it is we’re called to put to death. You’ll find a couple comprehensive lists in Colossians 3:5, 8, and 9. As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to take some time thinking about what the difference might be between these things we’re called to abstain from or put to death, and those prescribed by the Law which we were told we’d been freed from. Why is it that some rules for Christians don’t apply while others do?
At the same time, on Sunday, we’ll be marking the first week of Lent – a period of about 6 weeks leading up to Good Friday and Easter, when we’re invited into intentional self-reflection for the purpose of confession and reorientation to the cross and everything it means. We’ll be invited weekly to consider if there are things in our lives right now that need to be put to death. We’ll be invited to consider if and how we need to reorient our lives to the cross and the cost of our forgiveness. As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time asking God to reveal to you how and in what ways your life may need to shift so that it more closely reveals the gift of the cross.