Dissident Disciples: Being Defined by Christ

Colossians 2:1-15

Colossae was under Roman jurisdiction and therefore was saturated with the messages of the Empire. Everyday they would have faced imperial images, in market squares, theatres, baths, law courts, temples, households, on coins, on triumphal arches public buildings, sacred precincts dedicated to the worship of the emperor and his family celebrating the Roman order as a divinely ordained order. Everywhere they went they would have encountered images of the Empire, reminding them of the Emperor who was held as a deity and treated accordingly. Colossae was also a place of religious diversity as well as philosophical diversity. There were a multitude of potential influences upon the Colossian Christians. It seems that this letter is written in response to some unhelpful influences affecting the Colossian church. However so far the scholars have drawn a blank on any convincing and conclusive idea of what or who was influencing the church. However not knowing this doesn’t impede us from comprehending Paul’s corrective and encouraging message.

Paul doesn’t launch into a rant, he’s not having a real go at them here; instead he is encouraging them along the right path and providing them with the directions to keep off the wrong paths. Paul knows that living within the Empire and being exposed to a mix of ideas is perilous for Christians. So Paul provides some pointers:

1) Live Alert:

Paul encourages the Colossian church to live alert, to think about what is going on around them and trying to influence them. In v.4 Paul acknowledges that there are persuasive and plausible arguments which can sound great but aren’t. In v.8 Paul highlights that there are philosophies, human traditions and those that seek to dominate or lives. Paul doesn’t want the Colossians to be “taken captive”, that is he doesn’t want them to yield their imaginations to anyone other than Christ. When imaginations are yielded, we are literally taken captive; we become enslaved to something or someone else. Our values, lifestyles, morals and motives become captive to what ever has grasped our imagination. Paul doesn’t want the Colossians to unwittingly yield their imagination.

We live in a culture that is saturated with images, messages, values and ideals that desire to capture our imaginations. We need to stop and ask ourselves, what is it that tries to define us, and what are the values, morals, ethics and ideas that they stand for. So when we look at the adverts, or the latest fad or ideas gaining popularity; don’t just soak it up sponge style. Stop for a moment; ask ourselves what is this really about? What does it lead to? What does it stand for? What values does it encourage? The aim isn’t to become neurotic and paranoid about everything and anything, but to filter through the influences upon us and live alert. Paul didn’t want the Colossians to be duped by fine arguments, persuasive rhetoric and the constant stream of images that surrounded them. Likewise we need to be alert in order to avoid falling into the same trap.

2) Knowing Christ’s Story

Paul’s desire for the Colossians is that they grasp the foundations of their faith. Paul knows that only a firm and unshakeable grasp of this can keep the Colossians from being influenced and defined by the vast number of voices that desire to capture their imaginations. Paul also knows that the Colossians are unlikely to be defined by the unfamiliar. Unless they know Christ’s story for themselves it is unlikely to be defining of their lives. Paul’s encouragement is for them to continue how they started, to ground their lives in the gospel, the basis of their salvation.

The same is true for us today, unless we clearly understand and know the significance of Christ’s story for ourselves, our imagination remains vulnerable. It’s a peculiar thing when our minds move on from the starting place of our faith. It’s almost as if we were once, a number of years ago solely reliant on Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation and we rejoiced in it. But now, it is some how less it important. It’s easy for the focus to be lost and the clarity of what Christ’s death and resurrection means for us to all get a little blurry. It’s easy for the joy and jubilation we felt when we first grasped it to wane and fade, it goes all dull and lifeless. We need to work at holding onto the foundations of our faith, keeping them central to our lives, it’s all too easy to drift.

3) Don’t be defined by what is not all defining:

In v.9-15 Paul recaps in a rather dense and involved way, the story of Christ. The story of Christ’s salvation and what it means for us. Paul reminds us that in Christ the fullness of deity dwells, Christ is fully God. Not God’s earthly stand-in, not a bit of God lacking something special, an earthly compromise, Jesus wasn’t some half-God…he was fully God.

And what’s more, he is the head of every ruler and authority, that he has triumphed over all the rulers and authorities. Everything that might try to influence, control and shape our lives, Christ is Lord over. Not some, All. Every authority, every ruler, Christ is the head of all, no one has power over him.

If we really really believe this, why would want to be defined by anyone or anything other than Christ? Paul’s encouragement is to continue in believing what you held to at the beginning, be rooted in it and hold to Christ.

This series is called Dissident Disciples, to be a dissident is to be at odds with the accepted patterns, powers and norms of our society. It’s the willingness to challenge the unchallengeable and stand against the flow of society. What is going to define us, are we ready and willing to be dissident disciples and defined by Christ?