We are continuing our series of homilies following some of the theological themes presented in the Nicene Creed. We have been lingering on what we are to learn from the phrase: We believe in the Holy Spirit. Our reflections on the Holy Spirit have, in turn, brought us back to the question of what it means to affirm our confidence in what God is doing in the community he has called to be his body on earth: the church. So, we spent a bit of time talking again this week of the importance of seeking God and his blessings within the context of Christian community. We have reiterated this point several times while reflecting on the person and work of the Holy Spirit because it is so very important to realize that God's intention for his people is that they receive grace from one another as often as we receive grace from him.
We went on to talk some about a passage of Scripture that reveals the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and encourages us to seek his presence so we might be drawn deeper into the love shared by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Colossians 3:1~4 & 12~17
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the
right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you
have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then
you also will be revealed with him in glory.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meek-
ness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each
other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Even though the Holy Spirit is not mentioned by name in this passage, he is everywhere present in what the apostle is talking about. It is the Holy Spirit who unites us to the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who brings us the blessings of grace and mercy that come to us from Jesus. This particular role of the ministry of the Spirit is spelled out in the following from Paul's letter to the Ephesians.
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:15-23
All of this talk of the Holy Spirit can seem quite ethereal; and, to some of our ears Paul's exhortation to set one's mind on the things above (see above passage) seems mushy and slippery. So, it helps to unpack what he is saying in light of our overall knowledge of the gospel. As James Dunn put it, Paul is not encouraging us here to describe the furniture of heaven when he beseeches us to set our mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. The New Testament authors regularly use the metaphors of their thought-world to describe the victory of Christ over evil and sin signified by his resurrection from the dead and this is the sort of language Paul is employing here: richly metaphorical. What Paul has in mind here is to encourage us to fix our thought patterns on what has been accomplished for us in Christ! This pattern of thinking is given to us, in turn, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us. Here I find Luke Timothy Johnson's thoughts to be a help: "We have a model for a life transformed through the Holy Spirit in Jesus.... The pattern of the human Jesus' own character.... is to be the pattern of the Spirit's transformation of human existence: 'I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God (Gal 2:20).' Paul, therefore speaks of 'putting on the Lord Jesus' (Rom 13:14) and of 'putting on the new person which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.... Christ who is all in all (Col 3:10-11). (Luke Timothy Johnson in his book, The Creed).
So, what can seem too ethereal to be of practical help is really in the end very practical advice for daily living. We are to see the events in our life according the pattern of our baptism in Christ. We have died with Christ and we are now made alive to the newness of life that is his resurrection. Our moral failures, our sins, do not determine our future because our death with Christ give us the freedom of forgiveness which is released each time we repent. Similarly, the external conditions of our life's circumstances do not have the authority to give us marching orders. What may seem to be a pattern of hopelessness (e.g. how many of us are feeling in the wake of the economic crisis) is not to be the pattern we conform our lives to. We are to live in hope and love knowing that the only death that matters is the death we have already died in Christ. So, we are to keep after the things that are good and belong to the world to come even in the midst of trying circumstances (e.g. we keep giving, loving, and working towards the future because we know the future through Jesus.
Questions for discussion:
1. Why is it important to have confidence in what God has promised to do through the Spirit in the church? Why is it important to think in this category as well as thinking in terms of what God has promised to do for each of us individually?
2. What role do you think prayer plays in helping you grasp what Paul is asking us to do in setting our mind on "things above"?
3. Setting our minds on the things above requires discipline. Do you cringe at the thought of understanding grace through the disciplines of prayer, worship, etc.? How does one approach the spiritual disciplines without being moralistic?
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