Sunday's Coming: Anticipating The Feast of Transfiguration

Attendance will be larger on Easter and emotions run deeper at Christmas, but in the past several years I have been increasingly aware that no Feast Day of the Church means more to me in celebrating the mystery of Christ and the Gospel than the Feast of Transfiguration. We come to this great day again next Sunday.

On this day, the culmination of Epiphany, the anticipatory witness and promise of the entire Old Testament, the magnificent splendor of the Holy Trinity, the incomprehensible wonder of the Incarnation, the dark battle and sacrifice of the Crucifixion, and the Soul-Saving, Cosmos-Shaking power of the Resurrection are all set before us. This year, hearing God's word from Exodus 24 (Moses on the Mount), Psalm 2 (The King on the Mount), 2 Peter 1 (The Apostles on the Mount), and supremely Matthew 17 (Jesus on the Mount) we will be summoned to the heights of revelation that thrust us down to the ground in humility. Confronted with the glory of Christ, surrounded by the glory cloud of the Spirit, we will hear the voice of the Father from glory tell us, "Listen to him!"

What is the first word the terror-stricken disciples hear from their Savior? Jesus touched them and said, "Rise up! No longer be afraid." Can we imagine a more clear and powerful Gospel message?

"And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus Himself alone." Is that not the vision that must fill the horizon of our imagination and the Church's purpose? Is this not the vision that is the only hope of a fallen, broken, bleeding race? Solus Christus indeed!

Yes, this coming Sunday is one not to be missed; better, it is one to be savored and celebrated with joyous love, and anticipated with faith-filled hearts.

This marks the 'turn' for the Cross, the entrance to Lent and its culmination in Holy Week. Here is God's confession of his Son that follows on Peter's confession of the Christ. Here is God's revelation, his epiphany, of the supremacy of Jesus, the preview of the day on which every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord.

Yes, this coming Sunday is one for which I wait all the year.

A Preview of Coming Attractions

Think that the Homosexual agenda only seeks equality before the Law? No, they seek the elimination of Christians and Christian Faith from the public square. In Britain at least they have succeeded in destroying the rights of Christians to serve as foster parents. Judges have ruled that there is 'no place for Christianity' in the Laws that govern Britain. This was preceded two years ago by the British Government requiring Christian Adoption agencies to place children with homosexual couples. Rather than do, the Roman Catholic Church's agencies closed, as have numerous other Christian placement agencies.

Welcome to the ghetto.

The persecution begins.

The absurdity of the situation would be laughable if not tragic. The injustice of the ruling is no just the beginning of many such events that will lead inevitably to the jailing of Christians, especially ministers, who refuse to cow tow to society's new idols.

Here's the story from the Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8353496/Foster-parent-ban-no-place-in-the-law-for-Christianity-High-Court-rules.html

Sermon Notes for Eighth Sunday after Epiphany

In Praise of Grey Haired Lions: The Need for Spiritual Fathers
1 Corinthians 4
Eighth Sunday after Epiphany
February 27, 2011

• “Where have all the fathers gone?”
• ‘Hey man, no one here gets married anymore.’

When Paul writes to the Corinthians his letter does not arrive with the clang of a directive from the management team, or even the detached accuracy of an ecclesiastical bureaucrat. He writes as a father to sons and daughters, taking literary liberties because he not only has the right to do so, but because love compels him to speak and act. This also provides the root system for his unflinching insistence on Church discipline that he will make in the next
chapter, telling the leaders they must not only repent of their laxity in dealing with the sin of unrepentant Christians, but actually get on with the unpleasant task and offer some tough love. He’s not afraid to say, “I love you”, but neither is he afraid to utter the other most important words any parent can say: “Knock it off!” And no wonder - that’s how one speaks to immature children, which is exactly what Paul says the Corinthians are.

Yet there is more to it than such simple imperatives. Paul speaks as a wise, older father, the persuader of older children and not simply the commander of the young. He has the example, the wounds, to match the rhetoric, the years and scars to command attention. He has the grey hair that goes with the capacity to render counsel and judgment.

• No Powdered Wigs
• No Grizzled Grouches, No Grumpy Old Men



I. Corinthian Adolescence - 1 Corinthians 4:6-13, 18-20
A. Arrogant Judgment Masquerading as Discernment
B. Confusing an Inheritance to be Treasured with a Treasure Gained to be Boasted of.

* The Look of Love
* You’ll know when you’re older


II. Pauline Parenting - 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, 8-17
A. The Correct View: Stewards and Servants not Idols or Employees
* First Apostles, Last Apostles
* Ways and Doctrines: True Spiritual Sons
- “Follow me!”
- “He who has seen me...” - Jesus, John 14

III. Embraced by the Father’s Love
A. Revealing the Life of the Trinity
B. Called to be sons and fathers
C. Called to be sons through the Son by whose Spirit we cry out, “Abba”

Memoirs

I just started reading Eugene Peterson's much anticipated (and judging from the first several pages, much to be enjoyed!) memoir 'The Pastor'. Peterson has so often provided me with counsel and caution, wise reflection and revealing rebuke, that I never miss the opportunity to open the pages he pens and drink deeply. More on this work as I make some further progress.

He is not alone as master of memory and instruction. Last week I read 'The Memory Chalet' by the late postwar historian Tony Judt. His naked, honest recollections of life in London and as a Holocaust era Jewish intellectual is one of the finest books I've ever read. Judt was struck down by Lou Gherig's disease and succumbed last August. With his passing we lost a master historian and teacher. This can be seen not only in the magnitude and scope of his published work on history, but, in this final collection of essays, his assessment of the advancing disease robbing him of his physical capabilities while leaving his mind perfectly intact. It is gripping. More than anything, Judt is a wonderful writer, his deployment of the written English language exact and a generous service to a generation whose capacity to write is degraded not only by inattention to the written word but by its addiction to texting. In fact, Judt's remarks on the use and abuse of language are some of the finest counsel he offers.

This book was preceded in my reading by a new biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written by Eric Mataxas. Bonhoeffer, had he lived, might well have provided us with a much needed memoir of courage in the face of tyranny and a theology of Church and State which might yet inspire and inform. His martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis remains an ample testimony, together with his incisive and essential books, 'The Cost of Discipleship' and 'Life Together'. Metaxas' account of Bonhoeffer's life is compelling, matching well the adventurous and principled faith of the book's subject.

In the memory of others we can be encouraged to more carefully treasure the people we know and have known, the experiences we have been given, and see these all, both hard and tender, as mercies all, entrusted to us as a stewardship to conform us to Christ and call others to him. The One who said, "Do this in remembrance of Me" calls us to be a people who 'Never forget'.

These three books appear to be great aids to obeying that summons.

Pictured from top to bottom: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Tony Judt, and Eugene Peterson

Obama Administration Decides to No Longer Uphold the Defense of Marriage Act

In a move that is as tragic as it is unsurprising the Administration of President Obama has finally caught up with the Liberal and compromised evangelical Church(es) and will no longer work to uphold a creation-based view of marriage.

There are lots of news links on this story; here's one:http://www.christianpost.com/news/obama-ceases-defending-federal-marriage-law-49137/

Further notes on the story, and its implications for this culture, can be found in Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 1.

Oh, and while they were at it, the Administration has also undertaken to make sure that Doctors whose conscience won't allow them to perform abortions can no loner appeal to conscience clauses in the Law to escape murdering pre-born babies. Its all about 'choice' you see. Oh, wait...except for the doctors.

Here you go: www.worldmag.com/webextra/17672

Its one thing to have a President - or a Governor, Legislature, and Judiciary for that matter - that ignores or despises the Laws of God. Its quite another thing to have one that openly opposes the same and does everything in their power to overthrow those Laws and make Law violators of those who would uphold them. That's a 'change' alright.

LadiesBible Study Tomorrow: Make Up Study from Cancellation

We lost a day to weather a few weeks ago, and I'll be making up that lesson tomorrow. I hope many of you can attend at 10.


Colossians Study
The Sufficiency and Supremacy of Christ in Salvation – Victory over the Dark Powers
Colossians 1:16-20; 2:13-15

Daniel 7:27 – “And the basilea (kingdom) and the dominion (exousia) and their greatness and authority (arche) over all the kingdoms under heaven he shall give to the holy people of the Most High. They shall reign in their kingdom (basilea) forever, and all dominions (exousiai) shall submit to and obey them.

Colossians 1 – “who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered is from the dominion (exousia) of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom (basilea) of his beloved Son…’

Colossians 2 – “…he disarmed rulers (archas) and the powers (exousias)…”

I. In Hoc Signo Vinces: The Missing Model of Cross Communication – Victory: Colossians 2:15
Warfare as Spiritual Reality
Warfare of the Lamb – Complimentary Images and Insights
Conquering by Love and sacrifice
Lamb-Lion-Sword-Fire
Revelation 1; 4-5; 19-20
The Triumphal Procession – Plutarch’s Description

II. The Reality of the Invisible Realm: Colossians 1:16-20
“Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven…”
Angels, Principalities, and Powers
All are Created by Christ and for Christ
Whatever these may be, they are meant to serve Christ and his redemptive purposes
Angels as servants – Hebrews 1-2 (1:14 – ‘liturgical deacons’); think ‘pages’ of royal courts in the ancient near east.
Mediators
Governance
Communications
Messengers: Note Gabriel
Warriors: Note Michael, and Psalm 68; the “Lord of Hosts”/’Sabaoth’; Revelation 12:7-9
Executioners: genesis 19; 2 Kings 19
Guardians – Matthew 18:5-6 (note Acts 12)
Angelic Ranks – Archangels, Seraphs, Cherubim
Lucifer – satan (‘adversary’)

Angels and the Second Coming; 1 Thessalonians 4; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Mark 13:27
Angels and Nations/Peoples: Deuteronomy 32:8-9
Becoming demonic: Isaiah 13-24; Psalm 96:5
Watchers and Warriors – Daniel 4, 7, 9-11

III. Jesus and the Powers
The Coming of Christ and the Enemy’s Response
Instant and Murderous – Herod (Matthew 1)
Delayed and Insidious – Temptation (Matthew 4; Luke 4)
Continuous and Blasphemous – Luke 11
Ultimately Ignorant of God’s Wisdom and Doomed to Failure: 1 Corinthians 2:6
Christ’s Victory: Exorcism
Personal
Cosmic
Heavenly (Restoring the Palace Order after the Revolution’s defeat)
Eternal/Immortal: Hebrews 2:14
His Victory is Our Victory – Luke 10:1-22

IV. Christian Cosmology: Psalm 110; Psalm 2; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14; Acts 7:56; Ephesians 3:10; 6:10-18

Christ is King and Reigns Now
Christ has Conquered and Now Extends that Victory via his Church
Christ’s Church Faces the Warfare with his Strength, Conquering as he Conquered
The Ultimate Outcome is Certain and Secured

Sermon Notes for Seventh Sunday after Epiphany

God’s Holy Temple
1 Corinthians 3:10-23
Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
February 20, 2011

We’ve heard today in Leviticus and Matthew the Lord’s claim upon us as his ‘holy people’, a summons we cannot ignore. Grace, rightly viewed, does not lead us away from holiness but rather towards its pursuit, gratefully acknowledging that we have not only been bought by Christ but for Christ. We are his people, or, in the one of the most radical statements in the entire writings of Paul, we are ‘God’s Temple’.

The Temple’s History and Significance
There is a New Temple? Yes!

The Temple’s Foundation: The Christ of God
Christ Crucified
Christ the Wisdom of God
There will be always be new ‘builders’, but no new architects
There will never be another foundation though there will always be clamoring for new wings to modernize the look
It is true that ‘God does not dwell in temples made by hands’, but he does dwell in a Temple built by crucified hands. Those hands know how to build in such a way that the Powers of Hell cannot prevail against it.

The Temple’s Testing: The Fire of God
Fire and Holiness
Judge me now or Judge me Later
God meets with us in both mercy and judgment
Both for our Growth in Grace, conforming us to Christ

The Temple’s Destiny: The City of God
Gold and Precious Stones – Revelation 21-22
“Lord, send the fire!”

Toni Times 2-17-11: The Recovery Roller Coaster

Its been a while since the last update, and several people have asked me to post a little something on how Toni is doing in her struggle to overcome Transverse Myelitis. I know those requests come from people who are praying and for those prayers and the encouragement you have brought to her in so many ways, we express our continued and deepest thanks. My delay is due to waiting for test results and for some kind of sense of what we face now in terms of everyday life. Things have been unpredictable. That uncertainty is, at least for now, the new normal.

We received good news with regard to the lesions that had appeared in her spinal cord. According the the most recent MRI results, these have now completely cleared. Scar tissue remains, but the chief culprits wrecking havoc on her nervous system have been banished.

Perhaps it is because of the scar tissue, or perhaps it is simply because of the damage done by the disease, but the lasting impact is still hard to gauge as symptoms of varying strength continue to be present. Most days Toni endures a lot of pain in her neck, hands, and arms, with related numbness in hands and/or finger tips. Some days see her deeply fatigued, or suffering from impaired speech, and eyesight. There was one week when all of these symptoms showed up together, forcing her to bed for as many eighteen hours a day and leaving her in tremendous pain. She was very close to heading back to the hospital. That cloud lifted about as quickly and mysteriously as it arrived.

On the other hand, she enjoyed a two week period of relative strength, able to work around the house, drive to church, enjoy the company of friends, and rest without too much difficulty. Tuesday through Wednesday afternoon witnessed a return to the bad stuff, but then things cleared up last night.

On good days, she can set out to accomplish 'one thing' - laundry, go to church, see someone for coffee, and so on, and then rest; more than this invites a fresh attack of whatever symptoms decide its their turn to come out and play. On bad days, stillness is the only prescription, together with pain medication to soften the impact of the attacks. Thankfully, the bad days appear to be fewer in number now.

With no further treatments scheduled, we are cautiously optimistic that we're pointed in the right direction. We know there will be bad days, and I have to be flexible with my schedule as a result. She's been able to be back in church most Sundays, and together with Anna, she was able to get to the hospital to see little Paisley Barsotti; I know that was the trip she treasured most. Pray for that little girl's full recovery! Toni makes the most of the bad days, allowing her great weakness to be an opportunity for God's power, a new devotion to contemplative and intercessory prayer now her chief activity. We both hope and pray she will be able to take up her work again soon, but we will entrust such things to the Sovereign Savior to whom we belong, body and soul, our only comfort in life and in death.

Thank you again for your ongoing prayers; we need these as the challenges of this recovery roller coaster remain our inheritance.

What a Win for the Gunners! Arsenal 2, Barcelona 1

It was an epic, come from behind victory; one for the ages.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/champions-league/8328888/Arsenal-2-Barcelona-1-match-report.html

Cyril and Methodius; Prayer for the Lundgaards

This week mark's the annual Feast Days of Cyril and Methodius, the pioneer missionaries who carried the Gospel to the Slavic lands and peoples. Their immense courage, humility, and scholarship left an eternal legacy of hope and they are rightly honored as two of the greatest men in Church history. After Cyril died on February 14, 869 in Rome, Methodius was consecrated as Bishop and carried forward their work in the face of great opposition, dying in 885 in the region we now think of as Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Recalling the faithfulness of these men should not only inspire us with missionary zeal, but remind us to pray continually for the re-evangelization of an increasingly secularized Europe, especially lifting before the throne of Grace our dear friends Kris and Paula Lundgaard as they labor in the Gospel in Slovakia. May their tribe increase and the seeds they sow bear fruit for centuries to come.

Joke of the Day

I couldn't help it:

A Texan farmer goes to Australia for a vacation. There he meets an Aussie farmer and gets talking.

The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, "Oh, we have wheat fields that are at least twice as large."

Then they walk around the ranch a little and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle. The Texan immediately says, "We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as these."

The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a mob of kangaroos hopping through the field. He asks, "And what are those?"

The Aussie asks with an incredulous look,

"Don't you have any grasshoppers in Texas?"

Sermon Notes for Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

Together for the Kingdom: Unified Pastors and Unified People
1 Corinthians 3:1-12
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
February 13, 2011


I. Are You Talking to Me? 1 Cor 3:1-4
A. The Real Situation in Corinth vs Delusions of Grandeur
1. Not 'spiritual' (pneumatikon), and not 'mature'
* Paul's ironic use of 'mature' in 2:6
2. In fact, 'carnal' and 'infantile'

B. True Carnality: Factiousness


II. Pull Yourself Together! 1 Cor 3:5-9
* The 'synergoi' of God: not 'working together with God' but 'together workers
of God' (v.9)
A. Servants and Stewards - 3:5; 4:1-2

B. According to Sphere - 3:5; 2 Cor 10:13ff
* Diversity of gift, unity of purpose

C. Plant, Water, and Harvest: One Field, One Owner, Many Laborers - 3:6-9
* All Rewarded According to Fidelity in Vocation
- Honoring the Tapestry
* Your Ministers and Officers: the Joy of their Communion


III. Who's in Charge Around Here? 1 Cor 3:10-12
A. Author and Finisher, Foundation and Capstone

B. The Cross of Christ and the Headship of Christ
* The Bride belongs to the Bridegroom

And Kim Kardashian's Backside was What?

Fox refused to broadcast a Christian commercial during the Super Bowl. Fox claimed that the content of the proposed commercial was deemed to be too offensive. Wow, there's a telling comment.

I saw most of the commercials during the Super Bowl, including incredibly provocative displays of sexually suggestive material. So John 3:16 is offensive and the other stuff isn't. Nothing like the idols of modern America, sports fans.

Here's the story: www.christianpost.com/article/20110131/fox-sports-rejects-super-bowl-ad-featuring-john-316/

A Super Night!

What I liked:

1. Winning

2. Bill Russell's Super Bowl party - thanks Bill and Jean for a GREAT evening! Thanks to the Lowenbergs, Paffords, Sue and Preston, and other poor souls who had to tolerate my complete loss of anything resembling Christianity for a brief three or so hours. You are saints; I am not. But then you knew that already.

3. My beer cheese soup and Bill's burgers and brats, combined with your super night text messages: the first kept me full, the second kept me sane.

4. Aaron Rodger's poise.

5. Green Bay's defensive secondary making HUGE plays, even when decimated by injuries.

6. Two commercials: the Beaver rescue-payback for the driver, and the Darth Vader five year old. Nothing all that memorable.

7. The Pre-game E-Trade babies edition of the Fox NFL analysts.

8. Green and Gold confetti with men in green and gold holding the Lombardi trophy.

9. Seeing Mr and Mrs Bart Starr at the game. Not seeing Mr and Mrs Brett Favre at the game.

10. That pick 6, the fumble and the recovery, the incomplete that wrapped it up; my wife's patience with her wacky husband.

It may be another 15 years (or more) before we get another night like this, and I'll savor it for a long, long time. My mom would've been even crazier than me. My sister sent me a GB NFC championship shirt for the game, and my brother's wife Dana flew from Nashville to Seattle, where he's working for a few months, to be with him to watch the game. Yes, we like our football. We especially like our Green Bay Super Bowl football.

What I didn't like:

1. Christina Aguleira singing - and messing up - the national anthem. Are you kidding me? Mess up the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl? That was the first fumble of the game, and means she isn't likely to get that gig again.

2. Officiating didn't decide the game, but the invisible face mask penalty on GB that led to a Steeler TD almost did so.

3. The Black Eyed Peas. Very boring. The Usher appearance and dancing was very cool though.

4. Green Bay receivers going ATT: they dropped passes like my IPhone drops calls. GB should've been up by 21 with a comfortable fourth quarter rather than a nail biter.

5. Green Bay's run defense: surprisingly sieve-like.

6. The eye candy hand-feeding ARod in the luxury box. Dude, that's embarrassing.

7. Peter King writing in MMQB that this was a B+ Super Bowl. Not for the Cheeseheads.

8. The commercials seemed very lame, except for the sex factor, which entered, it seemed to me, new levels of bawdiness. There was an 'avert your gaze' thing going on all night. Maybe it was to make up for the fact that the Steelers and Packers are the only two NFL teams that don't employ cheerleaders, clothed or otherwise.

9. GB failing to punch it in from the four to seal the deal and depending on the D one last time.

10. Injuries. Enough already. And we want 18 games? That's crazy. GB's season, not counting pre-season, was 20 games and they needed a MASH unit to get through the gauntlet.

Lets hope the CBA the players and the League need will be settled quickly. We all love our football, and it would be a disaster for both sides if there's a lockout.

Its been a super season. Lets get some rest.

PACKERS ARE SUPER CHAMPS!

I was a nervous wreck throughout, but it was delirious joy around here when the Packers sealed the deal against the Steelers with an amazing performance from QB Aaron Rodgers and spectacular, game-changing defensive play. We wore the Cheesehead with pride.

The Lombardi Trophy returns to Green Bay.

The Packers are the fifth different champion in the past five years, so the chances of a repeat don't look promising. BUT, this is a very good, very young team. Even if they don't win it again next year, they won't be going away and will be contending for several seasons to come.

But for tonight, I'm just going to enjoy feeling super.

Nothing Like Tolerance

According to a CNN report, radical gay rights organizations are targeting Chick-Fil-A for abuse because the company donated food to a Christian organization that supports traditional marriage structures. See, one's beliefs and kindness cannot be anything other than expressions of hatred if those are rooted in something others find displeasing.

Maybe some Muslims can surround Chick-Fil-A stores to protect them from the intoleristas.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/04/chick-fil-a-controversy-shines-light-on-restaurants-christian-dna/?hpt=C2

Quotable - GK Chesterton

"At least five times with the Arian and the Albigensian, with the Humanist skeptic, after Voltaire and after Darwin, the Faith has to all appearances gone to the dogs. In each of these five cases it was the dog that died." ~G.K. Chesterton

"...and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)

Sermon Notes for Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

The Day God Died: Paul's Theology of the Cross
1 Corinthians 2:1-10
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 6, 2011


Epiphany is all about seeing the reality of Jesus, of having our blind eyes
healed and opened to his majesty. Yet I wonder if we might yet be as ignorant of
his identity as the rulers of the age who condemned and crucified him. I wonder
if we might be just like the Corinthians. Do we recognize him? Do we seek to say
of him something other than who he is, curtailing the scandal and folly of his
saving person and work? Paul's very approach to his work revealed his commitment
to the authentic message - 'we preach Christ and him crucified', he wrote. But
who is Christ and why must his crucifixion be our message to all, while
remaining the central message continually set before us, and the chief
characteristic of our testimony? 'Eye has not seen nor ear heard', Paul writes,
but the Spirit comes to make known the revelation which was hidden for so long.
Has he done this for you?

I. Who Christ Is - 1 Corinthians 2:8
A. The Mystery of the Person: Incarnation
- Fully God and Fully Man, United in a Single Person, God the Son
- Behold the Lamb: Wounds still visible above; from Jordan's Banks to Heaven's
Courts.
B. The Mystery of the Crucifixion: Atonement
1. Propitiation - the 'blood of God';
- The sacrifice God commands is the sacrifice God will provide: Abraham to Isaac
2. Reconciliation
- The gift offered will establish peace and bring us face to face: Jacob and
Esau
3. Rescue - like us, he aids us in our temptations
- Hebrews 2 and 4

II. What He Makes of Us - 1 Corinthians 2:1-7; Matthew 5:13ff
A. The Strange Wisdom of Weakness
1. The 'weak' Pastor
2. The 'weaker' brother
3. The 'weak' church
- the servant of all, tender and approachable
- is this our identity?

B. The Strange Message of the Cross
1. Rescue
2. Redemption
3. Reconciliation

We are people of the Cross. This is must be our message in word and deed. To the
degree that we seek to be revealed as strong, to advertise ourselves as the
answer, or point to a God other than the God revealed in Jesus Christ and his
Cross, we deny the Savior who bought us with his blood and rob ourselves of the
true power of the Holy Spirit. We do not simply begin life at the Cross; we live
continually from the cross and proclaim faithfully the Crucified One, dying in
weakness, raised in power, ever living to intercede.

Notes for Colossians Study this Thursday

Colossians Study
Part Four: The Sufficiency and Supremacy of Christ in Salvation – Victory over the Dark Powers
Colossians 1:16-20; 2:13-15

Daniel 7:27 – “And the basilea (kingdom) and the dominion (exousia) and their greatness and authority (arche) over all the kingdoms under heaven he shall give to the holy people of the Most High. They shall reign in their kingdom (basilea) forever, and all dominions (exousiai) shall submit to and obey them.

Colossians 1 – “who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered is from the dominion (exousia) of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom (basilea) of his beloved Son…’

Colossians 2 – “…he disarmed rulers (archas) and the powers (exousias)…”

I. In Hoc Signo Vinces: The Missing Model of Cross Communication – Victory: Colossians 2:15
Warfare as Spiritual Reality
Warfare of the Lamb – Complimentary Images and Insights
Conquering by Love and sacrifice
Lamb-Lion-Sword-Fire
Revelation 1; 4-5; 19-20
The Triumphal Procession – Plutarch’s Description

II. The Reality of the Invisible Realm: Colossians 1:16-20
“Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven…”
Angels, Principalities, and Powers
All are Created by Christ and for Christ
Whatever these may be, they are meant to serve Christ and his redemptive purposes
Angels as servants – Hebrews 1-2 (1:14 – ‘liturgical deacons’); think ‘pages’ of royal courts in the ancient near east.
Mediators
Governance
Communications
Messengers: Note Gabriel
Warriors: Note Michael, and Psalm 68; the “Lord of Hosts”/’Sabaoth’; Revelation 12:7-9
Executioners: genesis 19; 2 Kings 19
Guardians – Matthew 18:5-6 (note Acts 12)
Angelic Ranks – Archangels, Seraphs, Cherubim
Lucifer – satan (‘adversary’)

Angels and the Second Coming; 1 Thessalonians 4; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Mark 13:27
Angels and Nations/Peoples: Deuteronomy 32:8-9
Becoming demonic: Isaiah 13-24; Psalm 96:5
Watchers and Warriors – Daniel 4, 7, 9-11

III. Jesus and the Powers
The Coming of Christ and the Enemy’s Response
Instant and Murderous – Herod (Matthew 1)
Delayed and Insidious – Temptation (Matthew 4; Luke 4)
Continuous and Blasphemous – Luke 11
Ultimately Ignorant of God’s Wisdom and Doomed to Failure: 1 Corinthians 2:6
Christ’s Victory: Exorcism
Personal
Cosmic
Heavenly (Restoring the Palace Order after the Revolution’s defeat)
Eternal/Immortal: Hebrews 2:14
His Victory is Our Victory – Luke 10:1-22

IV. Christian Cosmology: Psalm 110; Psalm 2; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14; Acts 7:56; Ephesians 3:10; 6:10-18

Christ is King and Reigns Now
Christ has Conquered and Now Extends that Victory via his Church
Christ’s Church Faces the Warfare with his Strength, Conquering as he Conquered
The Ultimate Outcome is Certain and Secured