On New Year’s Eve on the stroke of the 21st century the word Eternity lit up on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The back story is the personal story of Arthur Stace. Born in poverty to alcoholic parents, he had little education and became a petty criminal, an alcoholic and homeless. In the aftermath of World War II, he joined the lines outside St Barnabas’ Broadway, an Anglican Church in Sydney that provided food and shelter for the homeless. However to get a meal involved first hearing a sermon! Stace turned to Jesus Christ.

One night he heard a sermon on the text of Isaiah 57:15 which reads: For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits Eternity, whose name is Holy; “I dwell in the high and holy place, with also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

The preacher stressed the point: “Eternity, Eternity, I wish that I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. We’ve got to meet it. Where will you spend Eternity?”

Challenged by these words, Stace, though almost illiterate, started chalking, in the early hours of the morning, the one word Eternity in a distinctive copperplate script on the streets of Downtown Sydney. It appeared over 500,000 times. I remember often seeing it myself. Eternity became the mystery and the fascination of Sydney.

Yet how important is this word for our world today – a world challenged by a novel coronavirus pandemic. Deep down most people hope there is life beyond the grave. But what will eternity look like?

A key to the answer is found in what the New Testament speaks about as the day when Jesus Christ will be revealed or, to use JRR Tolkein’s phrase, the day of ‘The Return of the King’. In Colossians 3:4 we read: When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

In today’s world of scientific progressivism God’s people are often mocked because they believe that Jesus of Nazareth not only died and rose again but that he will return one day as God’s king. Two millennia have ticked by and nothing has happened.

Certainly, the idea of Christ bursting through the skies in a blazing display of power and glory, is not an idea that anyone can easily accept. Jesus’ return isn’t just unlikely, people reckon, it is pure science fiction.

The Return of the King. But the Bible leaves us in no doubt about its reality. From cover to cover it tells us that the world is going somewhere and that the final outcome will be the return of God’s king in great power and glory. He will reveal God’s kingdom in all its fullness.

Furthermore, Jesus spoke very decidedly about a day of his return. For example, in Luke 17:26-30 we read his words: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them … It will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed” (17:26-30).

In using the examples of eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, Jesus is telling us of a final day coming unexpectedly in the midst of everyday life. People of Noah’s time were so taken up with their own lives that they ignored God. And because they reckoned that Noah was naive, they took no notice – until the day when they were overtaken by an enormous flood.

Furthermore, it is only some twenty-eight life spans ago (a life span being 70 years) that the events of the death and resurrection of God’s Son occurred. Jesus had clearly predicted them in the course of his public life. As these predictions were fulfilled, is it not conceivable that his third prediction – about his return – will also take place?

And when he returns what a day that will be! As Paul tells us in Colossians 3:4 with the return of the King in a blaze of awesome glory and power, God’s people will be vindicated. And, because Christ is not only the source of our spiritual life but also the dynamic presence in our life through his Spirit, the true nature of God’s people will be seen by everyone.

This present age will be seen for what it is – passing. But the pure joy and glory of God’s people will be manifest for what it is – an experience of life in all its fullness for all eternity.

Eternity awakens our minds to a larger picture of life and meaning – to ‘a time without end’; to ‘another world’; to ‘perfection’; to ‘God’s Country’.

It is nothing short of a miracle that Arthur Stace’s one word sermon on New Year’s Eve at the beginning of the new millennium was seen by an estimated four billion people around the world. How important it is that we heed what Colossians 3:4 tells us about the return of God’s King. Don’t miss out!

Reflect: So if you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are in earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).

Prayer: O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: do not leave us desolate, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to where our Savior Christ has gone before, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for evermore.  Amen.  (BCP, Sunday after Ascension – adapted)

‘Expect the unexpected, for it (truth) is hard to discover and hard to attain’, is a good translation of Heraclitus’ (the Greek philosopher) enigmatic words.

Over the centuries so many scientific and other areas have advanced through unexpected discoveries – moving unexpectedly from the known to a new realm of knowledge. Isn’t the world today awaiting the unexpected discovery of a solution to the rampant and deadly coronavirus?

Who would have thought at the beginning of a new decade on January 1 this year that we would be experiencing such catastrophic global challenges – a subtle, hidden and deadly pandemic sweeping the planet, bringing cities and nations into lock-down mode?

Up until the last fifty years or so, the Western world relied on the effectiveness of governments and with that the belief that God exists and has our best interests at heart.

In the light of today’s unexpected developments Bernard Salt (The Weekend Australian Magazine, March 21-22, 2020) makes some interesting observations. ‘Australians’, he says, ‘are not so much fickle as different. On social media we happily question and mock authority… but it remains to be seen how a generation of dismantling religious faith has prepared Australia for managing genuine adversity’.

‘Navigating the current crisis’, he continues, ‘could prompt people to rethink their godlessness. It could create heroes of those who show strength and selflessness, and trigger the downfall of others… … Somehow I think that we will see all of these outcomes in the coming months’.

What if… So, let me ask, what if the generally agreed notion up until the last fifty years, was correct in that there is a God who delights to hear and answer our prayers? And to go back in history, what if the man Jesus is demonstrably the eternal Son of God who took on human form? What if he truly was raised from the dead? Has anyone who has carefully considered these matters disproved once and for all the existence of Jesus and his physical resurrection from the dead?

What if these most unexpected historical events did happen? In the light of Heraclitus’ words should we not pay all the more attention to the four narratives about Jesus – found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?

These unexpected times provide a wonderful opportunity to read for ourselves at least one of the primary documents about Jesus. Many are finding the ‘Word One-to-One’, an annotated version of the Gospel of John very useful – for themselves and as something to walk through with others. In these days when cities are locked down it could be done via ‘WhatsApp’ or similar connecter.  Check it out at: https://www.theword121.com/order.

A further what if… And as we trace key elements of Paul’s Letter to the Colossians over these weeks, what if Paul’s words in Colossians 3:3 are true? He writes there: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Paul is telling us that from God’s perspective, everyone who lives without him is dead. We may be healthy and wealthy, seemingly enjoying life to the full, but as far as God is concerned we are dead. We are living in a world that is passing away. But, as we have been seeing over the last two weeks, when we turn to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God declares us to be his sons and daughters. We now have a vital relationship with God. We will never be alone.

For the present others can see our physical bodies, but the reality of our new and eternal life is hidden. Indeed, because those around us cannot see, let alone understand the life we now have, there will be misunderstanding, mockery and even anger at the changes they will see. But, because our faith is grounded in the God who keeps his promises, as the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ reveal, what is now hidden will one day be disclosed. Everyone will see it.

For the present our lives are known in the secret counsels of God. He has not only done all that is needed to open the way into this new age with him, but continues to be with us and committed to supply our every need.

In these unexpected times, will you join with me in praying to our God whose nature, as The Prayer of Humble Access puts it, is ‘always to have mercy’? It’s important that we pray for one another – especially for wisdom and grace, courage and strength, health and safety. We should also pray for leaders and for health care workers and for a cure to the virus. But, perhaps most of all in these days of the unexpected, pray that God will act with mercy and open the eyes of many, turning their hearts towards their true home in him.

Suggested Reflection – So if you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are in earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God … (Colossians 3:1-3).

A prayer for God’s good news. Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth so that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity. Amen.

With the social distancing and other measures that governments the world over are putting in place with the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, is there anything that God’s people can be doing?

At an important transition in his Letter to the Colossians Paul the Apostle provides God’s people with a new framework for living. In the opening lines of the Letter we read: So if you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are in earth…

This does not mean that God’s people are to be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly use.

Rather, Paul wants us to appreciate the radical life-change that our relationship with Jesus Christ brings. Before we turned to Christ as our Lord our way of life was focused on this world. There was nothing more. This is one reason we are seeing panic buying in the supermarkets.

What a world of difference there is when we have a vital relationship with the risen Christ who now reigns as the Lord of the universe. Our perspective on life changes for we now begin to see life from God’s perspective. We also have the assurance that there is a God who is not only there and in control, but that he loves us.

Hearts. We are to set our hearts on a pattern of life that honors Christ the King in his glory. For Christ to be seated at the right hand of God means that he is enthroned in a position of awesome majesty and holiness, dominion and power. From there he not only rules all things, but he also uses his position to intercede for everyone who turns to him.

To set our hearts on where Christ is,… speaks to our deep inner self. It’s an exhortation to have a heart-felt longing to live as Christ wants us to live – in an ever-deepening love for God and an increasing love for our neighbour. This means we will long to enrich our relationship with God through prayer and Bible-reading. It means desiring to honor Christ in godly living and in our relationships – which people around us will discern.

Minds. Furthermore, Paul’s exhortation: set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are in earth… speaks of our mindset. We all battle with temptations within, which Paul references in the following section – fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed. These days we can also be tempted to fear, to wonder if the Lord is in control and whether he truly does care for us.

How we respond will often depend on whether we truly see that life now is passing – that God is not only true but that he is passionately committed to rolling out his eternal plan for his people. This understanding in turn is dependent on how much we are growing in the riches of God’s love through an ever-increasing understanding of the Scriptures.

When you pass through the waters. Let me identify a principle that we find in the context of God’s judgement on his ancient people in Isaiah 43:2: When you pass through the waters I will be with you (Isaiah 43:2). While the events of today are not God’s ‘judgement’ in the way that they were in Isaiah’s time, they are certainly his wake-up call. How we respond to the events around will be a good measure of our confidence in the Lord and his ways.

That said, the principle of God being with his people still applies today: When you pass through the waters I will be with you. Notice Isaiah says, when not if you pass through the waters. God does not promise that his people will be immune from tough times. But he does promise to be with us.

For the people of Isaiah’s day, it meant that God would be with them in the land of exile. For us who live on the other side of Jesus’ cross and resurrection, it’s an even richer statement – God is about incarnation and resurrection.

This is the significance of Bethlehem’s manger and the cross on Calvary’s hill. God doesn’t shout condolences from the skies or email sympathy notes. In Christ he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. No other religion even dreams of this – a God who comes into a suffering world and suffers with us; a God who comes into the world and is cursed in our place as he dies on a cross.

And, to assure us of this truth we have the evidence that Christ not only died but was physically raised from the dead. We have a reality to live and a truth to tell our family and friends about.

Prayer. Teach us, gracious Lord, to begin our works with reverence, to go on in obedience, and finish them with love; and then to wait patiently in hope, and with cheerful countenance to look up to you, whose promises are faithful and rewards infinite; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (A prayer of dedication)

Worth memorizing – Colossians 3:1-4

Introduction. With concerns over the rapid spread of the coronavirus, the panic-buying of toilet paper that seems to have started in Australia, has now gone global. Apparently this panic buying signifies a human desire to be in control. The reality of course, is that no one, for the present at least, seems to be truly able to control the spread of this virus. It is infectious and potentially deadly – especially for the older generation. The reality is that it points us to something that we generally don’t want to discuss – the transient nature and fragility of life.

In an article, ‘Coronavirus: Doctor’s honest post about coronavirus goes viral’ (www.news.com.au), Shireen Kahlil writes of a Toronto disease specialist, Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, who says he is more concerned that the mass panic caused by the virus could do more damage than the virus itself.  Shireen Kahlil points out that while Dr. Sharkawy is ‘concerned about the “implications of a novel infectious agent” that continues to find new footholds in different soil – it’s more the world’s reaction that has him worried’.

Given the concerns that everyone rightly has about COVID-19, how should God’s people respond? It’s essential that we keep God’s truth at the forefront of our thinking and emotions.

Minds & Hearts. In Colossians 3:1 Paul the Apostle writes: So if you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

These words form the turning point of Paul’s Letter as he moves from his foundational words about the truth and the nature of the faith (Colossians 1 & 2) to the implications of the faith for living now.

In the first two chapters of his Letter he paints the picture of Jesus’ person and work and the implications for us. Indeed, Paul tells us that with the coming of Jesus Christ the new age of God’s kingdom has dawned. This new age co-exists with the old which the New Testament speaks of as ‘the world’. For the present a door is open, allowing people to pass from the old age to the new. In Colossians 1:13 he puts it this way: God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves… (Colossians 1:13).

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the foundational pillars of the new age. When we turn to Jesus, recognizing that he is truly God incarnate, and acknowledging that we have not honored him as we should, he is willing to forgive us.

The imagery Paul uses of our relationship with Christ is being buried (2:12) and dying with him (2:20). Now in Colossians 3:1 he says: So if you have been raised with Christ… The critical word is if… If we have turned to Christ in heart-felt repentance and faith so we will be raised with him.

In other words when we turn to Jesus Christ our relationship with God changes. Because God now declares us to be his sons and daughters, we have a new way of looking at the world and our own lives. Physically we are still in the old world, but our names are registered in the new.  Paul wants the light of this new status to fall on everything we say and do.  ‘Live,’ Paul is saying, ‘as though you belong, not to the earth, but in heaven.’

Hearts. This means that we need no longer feel that we are helpless victims of a world with all its faults and failures, disease and death.

Although his readers lived in Colossae, they also lived in Christ. In one sense for these people both Colossae and Christ were ’home’.

In the midst of the uncertainties of life, what is your anchor throughout the day? Indeed, what is your waking thought? Apparently John Stott, the greatly esteemed English preacher and writer had the practice of saying, “Good morning God the Father; good morning Jesus; and good morning Holy Spirit”. All very English and very formal, you might say, but how different this is from those whose first waking thought is an irreverent, “Good Lord, it’s morning”.

None of us can escape the uncertainties of life. None of us is secure. Yet how easy it is for the things and the concerns of this world to dominate our hearts.

Yes, there is every reason to be concerned about the coronavirus, but God’s people should not panic. Let me repeat Paul’s words: So if you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Prayer. Almighty God, you have conquered death through your dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ and have opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant us by your grace to set our mind on things above, so that by your continual help our whole life may be transformed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit in everlasting glory.  Amen. (BCP, Easter Day)

Suggested reading – Colossians 3:1-4

Introduction. There are times when we feel we are not spiritual enough. God seems distant. Our faith feels cold. We go to church, but we don’t read the Bible or pray from one week to the next. What’s to be done?

Some of us set ourselves a rigorous program – perhaps rising at 5.00AM, fasting on Fridays and following a strict code of rules. Others feel we need new spiritual experiences. And still others insist we need spiritual exercises. But in Colossians 2:16-23 Paul the Apostle makes some salutary observations about legalism, mysticism, and ascetism. ‘You haven’t understood who Jesus Christ really is and what he has done for you’, he is saying.

In Colossians 2:16-17 he writes: Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Legalism. ‘A rigorous calendar of saints days and food ritual will get you nowhere’, he states. ‘Sure, the Old Testament had a whole bundle of laws concerning sacrifices and sabbaths, fasting and washing, but that’s all over now. Going back to that type of religious legalism is like people in the 21st century going back to the horse and buggy days of the 19th century. The Old Testament rules and regulations were shadows of the reality that was to come.’

Yes, as we all know, there is wisdom in washing before meals – especially at this time when the coronavirus (COVID-19) is rampant. There is also wisdom in having a regular break from work. But, Paul is saying, ‘don’t think that by observing this kind of legalistic ritual that you are going to be more spiritual or more godly. Spiritual legalism received its death knell when Jesus nailed it to his cross’ (Colossians 2:14).

In 2:18-19 he continues: Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

Mysticism. Oriental religions have always thought that people can penetrate the cloud that veils our view of God by participating in occult practices. But Paul says otherwise. ‘Reciting mantras, going to yoga or looking for mystical experiences, won’t work. You lose contact with the real source of life.’ Mysticism – the occult, drug induced experiences will not help us find God.

Consider what Paul says in verses 20 – 23: If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigour of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.

Asceticism. This third group tries to be more spiritual through a program of self-discipline and self-denial. They fast and will eat only certain foods. Diet and physical discipline can become an obsession.

But says Paul, severe self-discipline isn’t going to help you live morally or spiritually better lives. For starters, it’s all man-made. We may give the impression of being pious or wise, but it’s nothing more that a self-imposed religious asceticism.

So, if legalism, mysticism and asceticism won’t help us live better moral or spiritual lives, what will? Paul is telling us that we need to go back to the one who truly liberates – Jesus Christ. He is the solution to our longing for deeper spiritual experience.

Paul was convinced the Colossian people needed to focus their thinking on Jesus. They needed to ask again: Who is he? What has he done? Back in Colossians 2:9, Paul writes: For in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness of life in him,…

Most people find this hard to believe. Yet the evidence of Jesus’ life was that he is both man and truly God. Think of the miracles he performed— his ability to control nature, his ability to heal the sick, his ability to feed thousands, his ability to raise even the dead. He didn’t do these things because he was a man of great faith. He did them because he was both one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man.

If the fullness of God dwelt in Jesus, then he is all we need. ‘To know Jesus,’ says Paul, ‘is to have God: one hundred percent of God; the fullness of God through his Spirit in your life.’ When we grasp this, then all the pseudo-ideas of a spiritual life that might seem attractive, will lose their appeal. When people turn away from a professed Christian faith, their decision often begins with their denial of the incarnation and their denial of the deity of Christ.

You, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having cancelled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14).

Prayer. Almighty God, you wonderfully created men and women in your own image and have now more wonderfully rescued and restored them. Grant us, we pray, that as your Son our Lord Jesus Christ was made in our likeness, so may we share his divine nature; we ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (AAPB: 1978, Second Sunday after Christmas – adapted)

Suggested reading – Colossians 2:8-23