United in Love

You probably know the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. In the story, the emperor’s passion is fashion, so he is an easy mark for 2 con-men who promise him the finest of clothes made from the finest of threads, with only one catch – those who are not competent or wise cannot see them. And so, even though he sees nothing, and his officials see nothing, he parades through the streets in his new finery with everyone in town affirming its splendor because no one wanted to admit they were not seeing the cloth until one child innocently says what everyone has known, “He doesn’t have any clothes on!”

The story was published by Hans Christian Andersen in a collection of folk tales for children in 1837, but the story is much older. It was published in a Spanish collection of folktales 500 years earlier in 1335, but it predates even that. The version that Hans Christian Andersen knew was the German story “So ist der Lauf der Welt” – “So Is the running of the world.” This is what Paul is warning the Colossian believers – so is the way the world runs.

Sometimes we put on clothes that we have been told to believe are the finest ever…and we don’t believe it…we just act like we do.

When Paul’s letter reached Colossae, word went out to gather for it to be read aloud. The whole letter takes about 15 minutes to read. Paul begins with greetings, affirmation of the teaching of Epaphras who founded the church at Colossae, and then Paul lifts up the supremacy of Christ, quoting one of the hymns that the church sang regularly in worship and emphasizing that the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in the person of Jesus.

The reason Paul is writing is that Epaphras has come to Paul in prison in Rome for help. Remember Colossae is a city of trade, and as people come from all over the world, so do ideas. One of those ideas that has taken hold is the dualistic idea that the body and spirit belong to two different realms. The body is tied to a particular time and place and so it belongs to a lower realm than the spirit. This false teaching has caused the believers to question whether Jesus really was human or was God putting on flesh like a costume, and not really feeling pain or suffering. And, as we continue to read the letter, we find out that the false teaching is encouraging the Christian’s at Colossae to deny their own bodies and focus on escaping to a spiritual realm. They are being encouraged to ignore and deny the physical needs of their bodies for food, water, shelter…and being told that unless they are having ecstatic experiences and mystical hallucinations, they are not spiritual enough, they are not in communion with God. And some are saying they are having spiritual experiences – oooo, look at my fancy new clothes – and feeling guilty about not having spiritual experiences – can’t believe I can’t see these new clothes – to keep from having to admit that they aren’t experiencing anything.

Paul says, take off the clothes of falsehood. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the nature of this world rather than on Christ.” Having hallucinations because you are dehydrated or starving or sleep deprived is not spiritual. Furthermore, there is nothing you can do to save yourself. You are already fully forgiven, fully reconciled, fully united in love with God because of what God has done…not what you have done. There is no comparing who is more spiritual or less spiritual in the body of believers because we are all part of the body, and Christ is the head.

The clothes they need to remove are not the clothes of having a body, or of taking care of their bodies…in fact, Paul told them that God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in Jesus, and he wrote to the church at Corinth that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. The clothes they needed to remove and the Word we need to hear is that we need to remove are the clothes of comparison and pretending. These clothes focus us on others and on ourselves rather than on Christ Jesus.

What we strip off (clothes) is not our body, but our false selves – the fake we live! We like to think we have it all together, under control – but we don’t. That’s why at VBS this week, we talked about trusting God. We act like we aren’t afraid, but Psalm 56:3 tells us “Whenever I’m afraid, I put my trust in you.” We pretend we can go it alone, but then we realize, like Jacob learned in his dream, that we can trust God to go with us. We pretend we know where we are going, but then we realize, like Ruth and Naomi, that we can trust God to lead us. We pretend like we know all we need to know, but then we learn that the leaders of the Temple were learning from Jesus and that we can trust God to share wisdom. We pretend that we live in a world of law and order, and that we are doing everything that can be done because peace isn’t really possible in the kinds of storms we have going on in the world, but then we realize that with just a word, God controlled the chaos of the waters at creation, and Jesus calmed the storm, and we can trust God to give us peace. We pretend that happiness can satisfy our hearts’ need for joy, but like the traveler from Africa who was reading the prophet Isaiah and trying to understand what it meant, when we are seeking to understand, we can trust God to spark joy, that deep abiding hope that comes with knowing that we are united with God in love. What a gift!

Paul is asking the Colossians and us to accept it. Where will you place your allegiance? Paul takes a shot across the bow here when he tells them that Christ is the head and the unifying reality. Roman emperors claimed that they were the head and unifying reality of the world, that the gods made them the rulers of the world.

Instead, Paul says it is Christ. To have anything else as the fundamental principle that organizes our lives is idolatry.

Rules about what to eat and drink, about observing high holy days and Sabbath, seem wise. But, Paul calls them shadow, empty deceit, without substance, a human tradition, and a human way of thinking. They depend on us. Self-imposed discipline and harsh treatment, false humility – they can puff somebody up, but they won’t bring them closer to God. So, Paul writes, “Don’t let anyone judge you or disqualify you.” Don’t let anyone think less of you or make you feel less, don’t let anyone tell you that you are not saved. These things are shadow, Christ is reality. Chapter 2, verses 13 and 14: “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Live your lives rooted in Christ, like a tree is rooted so that it has nutrients and water to live even in harsh conditions. Live your lives built up in Christ, like a home has its foundation that is not moved when the winds blow and the rains come.

And instead of wearing the clothes of shadow, the clothes of comparing your faith to other people’s faith, your goodness to other people’s goodness, the clothes of pretending “I am not a sinner, my thoughts aren’t corrupt, I don’t have troubles or problems or needs.” Put on Christ. Walk in Christ. Incarnate anew the image of God.

What does that look like?

What would change if Christ was the governing influence in your life? How you spend your time, your focus, your involvement in church, how you allocate your resources?

Paul goes on to write, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Next week, we’ll take a closer look at these new clothes.