Colossians

Goodbye to the Colossians

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When I write a letter or newsy email to a friend or family member, I often spend more time at the beginning of the letter with lengthy highlights and then at the end scramble to include all the little tidbits of news. At some point I realize that if I keep going, the missive will be too long to digest in one sitting! I get the feeling that Paul was in that mode with this last passage of his letter to the Colossians: 12Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling […]

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Colossians 4:12-18: Real People, Real Time, Real Places

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12Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills. 13For I testify for him that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. 14Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. 15Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church

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Colossians 4:7-11 Staying in Touch

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One of the frustrations of international travel for me is the unreliability or unavailability of Internet access. It was clear from my arrival in Istanbul, a population center of 17 million, that Internet usage was prevalent (just like home, everybody walking down the street looking down at his or her iPhone). My hopes were dashed, however. When you get to a hotel touting Internet access, you deal with slow speeds, lock-outs due to overloads (experienced when all 30 of us disgorged from our bus and tried in the hotel lobby to get online at the same time), or outrageous charges

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Colossians 4:5-6: Make the Most of Every Opportunity!

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5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. I have just spent two weeks immersed in the culture of “outsiders,” that is, those people who are not (yet) included in the household of faith in Jesus Christ. Turkey is, they say, 98% Muslim. Though it has a secular government, its red flag features a crescent and star. It straddles both Asia and Europe, ancient and modern, calm (in the west) and chaotic (in

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Colossians 4: A Little Field Trip to Turkey

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Tomorrow morning I am heading to Istanbul to begin a two week tour of western Turkey and Greece with Fuller Seminary alumni and professors. I have been focused on preparation of mind, body, and spirit as well as packing. As of today, my body is on Istanbul time so that I can “hit the ground running” upon arrival in that great city first thing in the morning Friday.  Now that the packing is all done, I turn to Colossians 4 and realize I can do a much better job of bringing it to life it after my trip! So I

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Good Friday: The News Business vs. the Gospel Project

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Today is Good Friday, the most solemn day of remembrance in the entire church year. On this day we recall the aftermath of Jesus’ betrayal by one of the twelve, his sham of a trial, his suffering, and his crucifixion in public view just outside the walls of Jerusalem. For secular types in-the-know, Jesus’ appearance for judgment was an uncomfortable intrusion on their “live and let live” policy toward the Jews. For the Jewish elite in Jerusalem, Jesus’ latest offenses—including the raising of Lazarus (John 11) and his claim to deity at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7-8) for instance—were

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Colossians 4:3-4: Pray That I May Speak Clearly!

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You might call me a news junkie. In a day’s time, I hear four radio newscasts, read the morning newspaper, catch a few articles from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or something else linked by the daily Church and the World news compendium. I read TIME Magazine cover-to-cover every week, watch the Nightly News on TV, 60 Minutes on Sunday night, and occasionally while I am sewing turn on BBC World News or the PBS News Hour. I am now sick of it. I am sick of the repetition of news stories, looking for new angles, new sensations,

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Colossians 4:2-6: Stay Awake! Keep Praying!

2 Comments / Colossians, Current Events, Leadership and Spirituality, Lung Cancer, Marriage Definition, Personal, Spiritual Disciplines, The Church in Exile, Uncategorized / By /

2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone. I have been a morning person my whole life. In the evenings we have a family rule, “No

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Colossians 1–3: Apprenticeship to Jesus

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Colossians 4:1 is a good place to pause for a bit of a review in our study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. After a splendid introduction to Jesus Christ— his primacy, his deity, and his presence—Paul makes the case in chapter 2 that Christians enjoy a particular freedom. This liberty is not license to do whatever one pleases, but practical freedom from human regulations (like the Jewish Law) and secular humanistic philosophies. Life in Christ gives a person the opportunity to enjoy the freedom to do good without the lead weight of counterfeit wisdom or spiritual OCD (2:23). A

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Colossians 3:22–4:1: Lessons for Workers and Employers

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A few years ago, in response to the drought conditions then (a chronic problem in California), we re-landscaped our front yard. It involved replacing our driveway and putting in a new walkway directly from the street to our front door. Things were torn up for weeks, but on concrete pouring day everybody’s spirits lifted. A crew of skilled laborers congregated in the middle of the now excavated dirt pathway for the 7 a.m. briefing. With water and tools at the ready, the team turned to welcome the big cement truck of your dreams, and an amazing procedure unfolded. Given wet

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