Living Beyond Our Divisions

August 2, 2019 Colossians 3:1-11 8th Sunday after Pentecost Year C Living Beyond our Divisions Exegetical Aim: To demonstrate that there is no partiality in Christ. Key verse: 11. Props: A bowl of plain M&M's. Lesson: Today I want to share with you some of my favorite candy. Show them the candy. What kind is it? (M&M's) Right! M&M's! Let's all say, yea! (response) I'm going to give each of you some of this, but first you have to tell me which color you like the best. (response) I personally like the brown ones. Who likes green? (response) Red? (response) Orange? (response) The new blue? (response) Well, here's what I want you to do. Each of you can get three. But when you get them, close your eyes or turn your head away and reach into the bowl and don't look at them. Keep them closed in your hand. Okay, come and get them, and remember, don't look at them. When everyone has their M&M's: Now on the count of three, without looking at your M&M's, open your mouth, and eat them. 1, 2, 3! Make sure everyone follows the instructions. After the children have eaten: What colors did you eat? Who ate a red one? (response) Who ate a green? (response) Keep asking until someone says, "We don't know," or "They all taste the same." Application: That's right. Inside the different shells they all taste the same. Did you know that in a way Christians are like those M&M's? That's what the Apostle Paul said. He said that when Christ is in you and you are in Christ, there are no differences between us. We're neither black nor white, rich nor poor, or even male nor female. It doesn't make a difference to God what kind of shell we have -- the inside is what counts to him. And it shouldn't matter to us either. We should treat everyone the same no matter what color their shell. Let's Pray: Dear God, thank you for loving us no matter the color of our shell, and thank you for Jesus Christ, who makes us all children of God. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, Children's Sermons A to Z, by Brett Blair Colossians 3:1-11 New International Version (NIV) Living as Those Made Alive in Christ 3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life,appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander,and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised,barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Footnotes: a. Colossians 3:4 Some manuscripts our b. Colossians 3:6 Some early manuscripts coming on those who are disobedient New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Three Kinds of Givers There are three kinds of givers: the flint, the sponge, and the honeycomb. Which kind are you? To get anything from the flint, you must hammer it. Yet, all you get are chips and sparks. The flint gives nothing away if it can help it, and even then only with a great display. To get anything from the sponge, you must squeeze it. It readily yields to pressure and the more it is pressed, the more it gives. Still, one has to squeeze it. To get anything from the honeycomb, however, one must only take what freely flows from it. It gives its sweetness generously, dripping on all without pressure, without begging or badgering. The honeycomb is a renewable resource. Unlike the flint or the sponge, the honeycomb is connected to life; it is the product of the ongoing work and creative energy of bees. If you share like a honeycomb giver your life will be continually replenished and grow as you give. When we share we freely give and we acknowledge that all we have is on loan and others have as much right to the things of God’s creation as we do. Keith Wagner, But, I Need It! It has been said before that we are not flesh and blood beings seeking a spiritual life, but that we are indeed spiritual beings seeking and earthly life. God made a point to come into our lives through Jesus Christ to remind us of who we really are. We are all children of God with enormous power, given an amazing gift to give to the world, and when we are done, we return to the spiritual realm. That is the point that Paul makes for us in the book of Colossians. Paul gives us two important messages in all of his writings. First there is a difference in the quality of life of those who think beyond this world and those who are convinced that this is all that there is. Paul says that when we follow Christ, we should be the first of these. Putting spiritual things before earthly things. The second message that Paul gives us is that Christ is our life. For some people their life may be baseball, or their life may be their job, or their family, or their appearance. And it is nothing wrong with being involved in any of those things – but they are not our life, being a Christian is an all encompassing life. it touches everything it affects everything, and ultimately it changes everything. Because when we follow Christ, we not act differently, we respond to life differently. It was popular in Paul’s time for teachers to give list of virtues to live by. The virtues that Paul list are carefully chosen, they are the virtues that were present in the life of Christ. He says that we shouldn’t be unfaithful to people or our task, and that we should not be greedy and think only of ourselves, how do our actions affect other people. Oh and we should not respond to people in anger, but in understanding. We should be pure, kind and true in all that we do. Sometimes it gets hard to preach on the letters of Paul. Paul has a poetic way of explaining some very lofty beliefs. He is a genius in the ways that he convinces us that Christ should consume our life. I always choose these Paul text, and then when I am writing the sermon I get stuck, because I can never find any good stories to demonstrate his points. Today was not any different. I searched all weekend, and came up with nothing. But sadly I think that the reality of our life – is the best story of Paul’s last point. The one I wanted us to focus on today. Paul says that Christ was radically inclusive – he made a point to include everyone in what started out to be an pretty exclusive circle. Paul’s last point is that the differences that we create amongst our earthly life, all disappear in the spiritual world. In our visioning session, our last conversation was about who was welcome in our church – we decided that we would welcome all races, genders, ages, sexual orientation,economic backgrounds – because these are the people who Jesus would welcome into the kingdom of God. we still have a little work to do before we can adopt that as its own, we want everyone to be aware of the statement – and to think about what it means to be an inclusive church. But I think that none of us would argue that we live in a divided world. The headlines seems to show our differences each and every day. We go to a divided church, we have divided families, we have a divided community. Divisions are every where. But Paul tells us that when we follow Christ, those divisions disappear. Christ is life for all of us. What would that world look like? Until we are all united in spirit – we pray. Amen.