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A message by
Rev. F. David Throop, Pastor
July 6, 2008 Scripture: Colossians 3:1-11 Please pray with me: Loving and gracious God, as scripture speaks of our hearts it speaks of our passions, and as it speaks of our passions, it speaks of what interests us the very most. In every direction we turn, we know that we live in a world wanting our hearts, indeed our passions. But as those who have been raised with Christ, help us somehow every day to place our hearts, indeed our passions, with Christ Jesus, in whose strong name we pray. Amen. Supposing someone from your distant past, someone you haven’t seen and who hasn’t seen you in a very long time, suddenly shows up. You both know each other as Christians, and you both know that being a part of a Christian Church is very important. Now, because you haven’t seen each other for about fifteen years or so, what changes do you think you will notice about each other? Because you both made a commitment a long time ago to live your lives centered in Christ, what changes, if any, do you think each of you will notice about the other, especially since you haven’t been together for such a long time. Will it be immediately obvious that you and your friend have continued to keep your minds and hearts in Christ? And if this is true, what about the specifics? Will it be apparent to both of you that all of the kinds of things Paul lists here in what we have just read will still be far removed from both of your lives, such things as anger and greed and filthy talk, and other un-Christlike traits?
Recently, one of my long-time friends from many years ago suddenly showed up. We hadn’t seen each other for at least fifteen years, and so it was good to touch base once again. Any changes, you ask, from fifteen or twenty years ago? You bet! And both of us very quickly acknowledged the changes — thinner and grayer on top and a bit thicker in the middle! But beyond this, I hope what was still apparent were two Christians whose lives are still strongly rooted in Christ.
Let’s be deeply honest with ourselves in light of the scripture we have just read. We all know that each of us still do not live lives perfectly in Christ. I mean, this is simply a given, as scripture so eloquently reminds us — “All have sinned, and all have fallen short . . .” Remember?
Now, if this truth is so, what is it from each of us which should no longer have any place in our lives? What is it in our more “earthly nature,” as Paul describes it here, which needs to be “put to death?” What is it in each of us which still needs to be removed and eliminated? Let me ask it this way: if our lives required some sort of spiritual surgery, what would we ask the Chief Surgeon to remove? Anger? Fowl or slanderous talk? Sexual immoralities? Or, is it just plain greed? Just what is it that needs to be removed from our lives, thrown out, and completely discarded as we continue our walk with Christ as our Lord?
You see, when we were baptized, we were baptized into Christ Jesus, with lives made new in him. In baptism, we died to our older, more selfish earthly nature, and in baptism we became risen with Christ. In fact, in the early church, they believed so strongly in this truth that when they built their baptism fonts they built them in the shape of tombs in order to make as graphic as possible the meaning of our dying to the ways of the world. In baptism, we have died to ourselves, we have died to the ways of the world, and we have now been made new in Christ. So, once we have been made new in Christ, are we truly willing to let go of the past, or, is our past still trying to cling to us?
A number of years ago, there was an interesting news item which appeared in newspapers all around the country. The series of articles chronicled the journey of what quickly became known as the “Garbage Barge of the East.” The “Garbage Barge of the East” was an actual garbage barge hauling approximately 3,186 tons of garbage from Queens, NY, but it had no place to go, because its usual landfill at Islip, Long Island was full and could no longer accept any more garbage.
And so, beginning on March 22nd of that year and continuing all the way through to August 24th, a period of five months, this “Garbage Barge of the East” journeyed roughly 6,000 miles searching for a place to off-load its cargo of waste. Lack of proper permits kept the garbage on the barge and kept the barge on the move. And so, from New York, the garbage barge navigated down to North Carolina, and then to Florida, and then to Mississippi, and then to Alabama, and then to Louisiana, on over to Texas, down to Mexico, over to the country of Honduras, and then up to the Bahamas. Finally with no place to land, it returned to New York, its point of origin! It's waste, we were told, was examined for infectious materials, recycled and then incinerated. Finally, the 400 tons of ash residue was then moved to a landfill right there in Islip, on Long Island, right where it all had originated. Following a journey of some 6,000 miles, the garbage returned home. The garbage, once generated in the “Big Apple,” returned to the “Big Apple.” Every last piece!
It sort of raises a question about the garbage from our own lives, does it not? What about the garbage in our lives that Paul writes of here? Oh, Paul doesn’t use the word “garbage” in these verses, but that’s what he means. Garbage is the stuff we’re done with or should be done with, the waste we shouldn’t keep, the filth which simply has no place in our lives. What Paul is writing so very clearly is that because we have been raised with Christ, and because our hearts are to be on things in Christ, there are certain areas of our lives where earthly passions simply need to be removed, discarded, and eliminated — “sexual immoralities, impurities, lust, evil desires and greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying.” For we have taken off our old self with its practices and have now put on the new self, which is being renewed daily in the image of our Creator.
And so, as we now come to the Table of our Lord, let me simply ask: Have you and I finally and permanently removed the garbage from our lives? Or, like the “Garbage Barge of the East,” do we allow the garbage to keep returning? Copyright © 2008 by Rev. F. David Throop. All rights reserved. No part of this sermon may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of a very brief quotation, which will acknowledge the source. |
