‘How can we help our broken and divided postmodern world find hope and peace?’

In his Letter to God’s People in Colossae, Paul the Apostle writes of the hope that has awakened their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for one another. He reminds them that this hope is found in God’s good news which is itself gounded on the truth.

What is more, Paul observes that not only were God’s people in Colossae growing in their faith, love and hope, but God’s good news was bearing fruit and growing in the whole world.

These words are very encouraging for us today.

Let’s consider the flow of Paul’s thought: He begins by thanking God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ for their faith in Christ Jesus and the love they have for all the saints,… because of the hope laid up for them in heaven (1:3-5). There is a causal link between hope and faith and love. Hope is not the consequence of faith and love. Rather, hope has awakened them.

This is so important. The hope that God’s people have is the motivation for their faith and love.

Let’s consider this. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes of the reality and the significance of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead. He points out there that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, our own future resurrection from the dead is negated. Our professed faith would be meaningless and the associated Christian morality a joke. As he says in 1 Corinthians 15:32, if the dead do not rise, we may as well ‘eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’.

But the hope of which Paul speaks in Colossians 1:6 is not simply optimism.

Certain hope. In verses 5b – 6 Paul writes: Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing – as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, …

It’s important to notice the emphasis Paul puts on the word truth. The gospel, he says is literally, the word of the truth. He could have left out any reference to the words the truth, but he doesn’t. He wants to stress that the essence of the Christian message is true.

Reflecting on this, we can see that God’s good news is beyond human invention and imagination. No one of us would have invented a God who was prepared to forgive a self-preoccupied and faithless world by such a costly and humiliating death as occurred at Calvary.

The gospel is also true, historically. Paul implies that that the accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are no invention. The records are true and trustworthy, supported by eyewitnesses.

Furthermore, the gospel is true experientially. By this I mean that when people put their trust in Jesus Christ who is at the center of the gospel, they discover that their faith is not a hoax.

Response? It is so important we are assured that our own faith and our love for one another as God’s people are grounded in the hope that is laid up for us in heaven. We need to ask ourselves, “Is my faith, love and hope in response to God’s good news?” Paul assures us it is the truth and nothing but the truth.

Indeed, we need to pray that God’s Spirit will awaken within us, as he did in the Colossian Christians, an ever-deepening love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and for his people across social, cultural, and racial divides.

In the 2nd century, God’s people in the Roman world were under great suspicion. Tertullian, one of the church leaders at the time, responded by contrasting Christians with the Roman society: ‘Look, they say, ‘How they (the Christians) love one another; and how they are ready to die for each other’ (for they themselves are readier to kill each other).’

 Furthermore, it’s worth praying for opportunities to talk with others about the inconsistencies and unworkable nature of the diversity that postmodernism is imposing on the western world.

Robert Letham, for example, observes that ‘the world of postmodernism is entirely arbitrary. If the emotions trump reason, we have no rational grounds for anything… Postmodernism cannot stand the test of everyday life’, he says. ‘It does not work, and will not work. It fails the test of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who insisted that language and philosophy must have “cash value” in terms of the real world in which we go about our business from day to day. To do that, we assume that there is an objective world and act accordingly. If there is not, life could not go on’ (Letham, The Holy Trinity, pp.452f).

Because God’s good news is based on the initiative, action and promises of the living God, we can be assured that his word and work will continue in today’s world. God’s passion is to rescue the lost. But we too, have a part to play: the testimony of our faith, the example of our love – which includes forgiving those whom we believe have wronged us – and the reality of the hope we have, will all bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. But, above all, we need to pray that God in his mercy will send his Spirit into the world, opening blind eyes to the truth of the hope, the joy, and the peace that God holds out to us.

Back in 2004 Robert Letham in The Holy Trinity commented on the impact of postmodernism on society: ‘In terms of instability and diversity, he said, ‘the postmodern world of constant flux is seeing insecurity, breakdown, and the rise of various forms of terrorism… As diversity rules, subgroups are divided against each other… A cult of the victim develops, and responsibility declines. This is a recipe for social breakdown, instability, and the unravelling of any cohesion that once existed’, he said (p.453).

In our troubled world, how important it is that we bring back into our own lives and into our conversations, the reality of the God who is not only there, but who is a God of love.

Let me touch on some key words in Paul the Apostle’s prayer of thanksgiving for the church in Colossae. In Colossians 1:3 we read: In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…

These days the idea of God has been largely dismissed from the public arena. This is why on the rare occasions of conversation about Jesus of Nazareth, the focus is more on his teaching and exemplary life.

Now it is true to say that if the world practised what Jesus taught – in his parable of the Good Samaritan, for example – the world would be a far happier place. But as humanity has never followed the moral advice of philosophers such as Plato or Aristotle, why would it follow the advice of Jesus of Nazareth?

However, when we look past the view that Jesus was just another great teacher, we find there is something very different about him.

And that is what Paul the Apostle says when, in thanking God for the Colossian church, he directs his thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sentence construction tells us that Jesus Christ is just as much God as God the Father.

Let’s think about this: The essential nature of a perfect father is to love and give life. Paul’s understanding is that God the Father delights to love and give life. From eternity God the Father has given life to a Son.

Think for a moment of a water fountain. Its essential nature is to pour out water.

Paul’s words are consistent with what we read in the opening line of John’s Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in Jeremiah 2:13, the Lord says of himself that he is the ‘spring of living water’. From eternity, before the creation of the universe, God the Father was loving and begetting his Son. God did not become a father at some point.

In the same way that a fountain is not a fountain if it does not pour out water, so God the Father would not be who he is, unless he was giving life to his Son. God the Father and God the Son are distinct persons, but they are inseparable from one another. They always love one another, and they always work together in perfect harmony.

This is so important, for it tells us that Paul is giving thanks to the God whose existence is not simply as a powerful intelligence behind the observable universe. Paul’s prayer is personal – to God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul also tells us the faith of the Colossians in Christ Jesus was personal. Furthermore, their faith expressed itself in their love and care for one another. The Colossian church was a place where there was genuine community. People accepted one another, treated one another as equals across the social divide. Their love for one another led to compassion and practical care for those in need.

Significantly, Paul goes on to tell us that the faith and love the Colossians enjoyed, was inspired by a third Person of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit. In verse 8 he writes that Epaphras had told him of the Colossians’ love in the Spirit.

In John 14 we learn that Jesus had promised his disciples on the eve of his arrest that he would send the Holy Spirit – to comfort and equip them. And in John 16:8 we learn that the Holy Spirit would also convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment:…

An important part of the Spirit’s work is to convict our consciences of our failure to honor and love Jesus as Lord. One day God will ask us all: ‘What did you do with my Son?’

How is it that someone who has lived a life of indifference or even hostility towards God can suddenly be aware of their sin and their need for personal salvation? It is the Spirit of God at work.

In his prayer of thanksgiving to God for the Colossian Church, Paul alerts us to the reality of the One God who exists in Three Persons.

Our broken world needs to hear afresh the good news of this Triune God, whose very nature is to love and to give new life. If we grieve for our world, we need to pray that God will act with compassion and send his Spirit to open blind eyes, turning hearts back to Jesus Christ as Lord.

Let me conclude with the last verse of the Getty Hymn, ‘Holy Spirit Living Breath of God’:

‘Holy Spirit, from creation’s birth, giving life to all that God has made.

Show your power once again on earth, cause your church to hunger for your ways.

Let the fragrance of our prayers arise, Lead us on the road of sacrifice,

That in unity the face of Christ, May be clear for all the world to see.’

In this very changed world is there anything that can shake us out of our fears and anxieties, and inject freedom and joy into our hearts?

Let me identify three questions that emerge from Acts chapter 2.

What happened?  When the day of Pentecost came, the eleven disciples were all together …  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven …  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them… All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Pentecost is the Jewish festival that celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments. Now, some twelve hundred years later, God was coming again with wind and fire. This time, not to impart his law, but to impart his Spirit. It was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to his disciples and was the final part of the sequence of events that form the hinge of history.

As we read on we learn: Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. … And everyone was bewildered because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each (2:5).

The cynics in the crowd mocked, and said it was because the disciples were drunk. But Peter was not to be silenced: ‘The bars aren’t open yet. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning’. Rather, it was the ultimate Author of speech who was reversing Babel so that everyone could understand.

What did it mean? Dr. Luke goes on to record Peter’s speech in Jerusalem that day: “You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. …And you, …put him to death …but God raised him from the dead” (Acts 2:22-24).

Here was Peter, who had previously vehemently denied that he even knew Jesus, now, in the face of potential arrest and death, courageously speaking out about Jesus. It was God’s Spirit at work.

It’s important to notice that Peter’s focus was not on rules and ritual, but rather on Jesus. He drew attention to Jesus’ divinely empowered works when he healed the sick, overcame the forces of evil, stilled a storm, and raised the dead to life. When people today question Jesus’ miracles, we need to remember that Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, speaks of him as a miracle-worker.

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this,” Peter concluded, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (2:36).

Peter’s speech was a logically developed argument and a careful progression of ideas, moving to the climax of the Jesus story – his crucifixion and resurrection. The Roman and Jewish authorities had judged Jesus guilty and nailed him to a cross. God, however, from his supreme court, had overturned the judgement and had raised Jesus to life.

Does all this matter? It happened so long ago. Peter’s hearers were cut to the heart…, we read (Acts 2:37). “Brothers, what should we do?” they asked. Their eyes had been closed, but now suddenly they really understood who Jesus was. They were utterly ashamed. Previously they had mocked the dying Jesus. Now they saw the truth. The Spirit of God was at work.

Peter’s response is one we all need to hear: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven (Acts 2:38). He didn’t tell his hearers that they should turn over a new leaf and start living more moral lives. Rather, he focused on their relationship with Jesus.

Repent. Come to your senses about Jesus. Turn to Messiah Jesus as your Lord and ask for his forgiveness for not honoring him. Because the Messiah died in your place, God holds out his full and free forgiveness to you.

That day three thousand responded to Peter’s call to repent and be baptised. It was the birth of the church. The Spirit of God was taking up the work of Jesus Christ in the world.

Significantly, Peter went on to say: And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him (Acts 2:38f). From now on God’s Spirit, as foreshadowed by prophets such as Jeremiah, would come into the lives of all God’s people. Paul echoes this in Romans 8:9.

What God did that day, and what he has been doing ever since, really matters. For God’s delight is to draw men and women from all over the world, from every walk of life – people like you and me – into a personal, living relationship with himself. Because God is the majestic, all-powerful Lord over everything, his love awakens within us a deep joy and a true delight in him – come what may.

Over this last week various news outlets have reported an observation of historian and  biographer, Robert Lacey, about the Queen. He comments: ‘She feels the poignancy (of the times) but that does not turn into depression or defeat. She sees it in the bigger context of her religious faith and of a God who holds her and her family in his hands. It is the solid and simple faith that sustains her.’

Sadly, many today who profess to know Jesus Christ have accepted the secular world’s verdict that God’s people have nothing of importance to live for or delight in. ‘Fill our lives Lord with your Spirit,’ we need to pray, ‘so that we may delight in you and experience the deep joy of knowing you.’

Talk shows, or the program, ‘Who do you think you are?’ are popular because most people are interested in other people’s life stories. And the interest is not limited to the present. Biographies of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, for example, continue to sell in the thousands.

However, sometimes people of the past fall out of favour, because their lives are not in sync with current opinion. Ironically, this is true of one man who not only made a significant impact during the course of his three years of public life in the Middle-East, but who continues to influence an ever-increasing number of lives all over the world.

When we turn to the four best and authentic records of the life of Jesus Christ, we find that by the closing chapters it appeared that the Roman and Jewish authorities had won the day. They had felt threatened by this outsider who wielded superhuman powers and who had attracted vast crowds. Then there came the day when they put him to death, by crucifixion.

But the Jesus story didn’t end there. All four records tell us that the seemingly impossible happened. He was seen alive again by more than 500 of his followers.

Authentic. You may have difficulty grasping the notion of Jesus’ resurrection, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, or couldn’t happen. We need to ask, for example, ‘How would those first followers of Jesus have gotten away with telling the people of Jerusalem that they’d seen him alive and well, if it wasn’t true?’ The first sermons they preached about Jesus being raised from the dead, were preached only six weeks after the crucifixion, and less than three miles from the tomb.

Suppose I’d said to people when I was living in New York, that the Statue of Liberty had come to life and that I had seen Lady Liberty walking in Battery Park. I might just get away with the claim somewhere without connectivity. But I certainly wouldn’t get away with it in New York City. New Yorkers would be down at Battery Park in a moment to check it out. The example is not perfect, but it illustrates my point that there is excellent reason to be confident that Jesus’ tomb was empty on the first Easter Day. When Peter preached the first recorded sermon, there weren’t 3,000 cynics, but rather 3,000 converts.

To return to the Jesus story. We might think that his victorious resurrection and his physical departure marked the end, but we find that this was just the beginning. Dr. Luke wrote two volumes about Jesus. In the opening lines of his second volume, The Acts of the Apostles, we read: In my first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning…

A future? As we press on in Acts 1, we read in verse 6:  So when the disciples had come together, they asked Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”  Jesus had been telling them that the new age of God’s messiah had dawned, and clearly the disciples were excited. But the questions they put to Jesus reveal that their thinking was political, nationalistic, and immediate.

Jesus however, had a very different agenda: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. His agenda is spiritual in its focus, global in its scope, and timeless in its outcome.

With his words, “You shall be my witnesses …,” he was commissioning the disciples to tell the world what they had seen and what they had heard him teach. Indeed, Jesus wants you and me to know that what his followers preached is the truth. This is so important because Christianity is about relationships – with God, and with one another, through Jesus Christ. Without truth in relationships there can be no trust.

Hope. One of the frightening realities of the global coronavirus today is that it is highly infectious and deadly. It is snuffing out the lives of hundreds of thousands. Where do we turn for hope? Jesus Christ offers us a future, and with it he gives our life meaning and hope.

The Bible reveals that God is not only good and just but is also amazingly compassionate. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection God himself has removed the sting of death. So, when we turn to Jesus in genuine repentance and heartfelt faith, our mortal death will open the door to life with God and his people, forever.

Our broken relationship with God can be healed – God holds out to us the offer of complete forgiveness and hope, new life and deep joy. This is the truth that needs to reach the ends of the earth.

Following his words commissioning his disciples, Jesus was taken up into the clouds. As those disciples watched his departure, two supernatural figures spoke: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” The disciples were right in thinking that the reign of Jesus would now begin, but they were mistaken in thinking that his reign would be from earth. Jesus would reign over all things from heaven, until his physical return and the establishment of the new heaven and the new earth.

In the meantime there is work to be done by God’s people – taking the good news of the living God to the world, calling on everyone to turn back to him. Isn’t this the news our fretful and anxious world needs to hear?