Letters
1 John 2:1-17
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Getting Real about the Christian Life audio (6MB)
John is writing to his followers in the final years of his life. You get the feeling that he thinks he’s running out of time because there’s a certain urgency to the way he writes. He doesn’t waste words. There’s no polite greeting at the start of the letter. He just gets straight to the point. This is how it is. Jesus is real. The Lord who made the universe has appeared in human flesh. God is pure light. His perfect righteousness allows for no compromise. Truth matters. All in the first few verses. Then he begins to develop his themes.
If God is light, if God is perfect righteousness, then we’d better get real about our own righteousness.
Get Real About Righteousness
So he says “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” He’ll finish this first part of ch2 with these words: “Whoever says, "I abide in him," ought to walk just as he walked.” It should be obvious shouldn’t it? If we claim to follow the perfect Son of God, if we claim to be the children of God, as John will remind us we are in the next chapter, then we should be living the same perfect life that Jesus lived. There’s no room in our life for sinful thoughts or words or actions. In fact that sort of behaviour denies our real status as God’s children.
But of course it’s not as easy as that is it? If we’re going to get real about our own righteousness then we’ll quickly acknowledge that we’ve got a lot to learn. Some may be better at not sinning than others but all of us are still on the path to righteousness. None of us have got there yet.
1 John 1
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Walking in the light audio (6MB)
John is a passionate writer. Maybe he realises that he’s coming to the end of his life and he doesn’t have much time left to get his message across. Maybe he looks around at the church and realises that the inexorable drift from the gospel to religion is impacting on those he’s spent his life pastoring.
It seems that at the time John was writing this letter there were some in the church who were suggesting that there were other ways of seeing things than the way the apostles had taught them. These people were saying let’s not worry about all that gospel stuff, let’s just get on with our spiritual life. They were looking for deeper spiritual experiences. They wanted to be transported into the seventh heaven, removed from these earthly realities, set free to worship and enjoy God.
But it wasn’t as simple as that. Sadly, the result of their false teaching was that people were confused. They began to question whether they were really saved. Was this new spirituality right? Were they missing out on something extra? Nothing’s changed in 2000 years has it? What’s more, this false teaching affected their evangelism. Why tell people about the cross of Christ, if there were other ways of coming to God that were just as effective, if not more so? Why worry about moral behaviour if all that matters is what we experience on the spiritual plane?
Colossians 3.18-4.18
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- Written by: Heather Cetrangolo
A Model of Christian Ministry audio (4MB)
Paul began his letter to the Colossians emphasising the supremacy of Christ. In chapter 1 he told us that in him all things were created, “in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers.” (1:16)
All authority comes from Jesus. This is why Jesus stood silently before Pilate who said, “Why won’t you answer me? Don’t you know that I have the power to have you crucified?” And Jesus says, “You would have no power over me, unless it had been given you from above.” It means, you know, Pilate, “you do have the power to crucify me, but only because I gave it to you.”
We know where the rulers and powers of our world get their authority, because all authority comes from God.
So before concluding his letter, Paul is turning our attention to the deeper question, of how power and authority should be exercised and approached as a Christian.
Col 3:1-17
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- Written by: Chris Appleby
Seek The Things That Are Above audio (4MB)
Paul has just finished telling the Colossians to stay away from those who want to tie them down to human rules and regulations. He says these rules are of no use to you in controlling your human desires. He says “Why would you want to subject yourself to human regulations when Christ has died to set you free?”
But does that mean that you can forget about how you behave. No, it doesn’t mean that there are no longer any constraints on us. That’s the mistake that so many people make when they find themselves liberated from what was perhaps significant bondage. It’s what we saw with the liberation movements of the 60s and 70s. Sexual liberation led to sexual licence, removing all moral boundaries. Women’s liberation led to women seeking to dominate men the way they’d always felt dominated. Even in the political arena you see examples like Zimbabwe where the liberation of the native population has led to retaliation by the new government out of all proportion to what was suffered. No, liberation doesn’t mean licence. Some of the rules and regulations those people at Colossae had set up may have been a good thing. It was just that the way they were being applied negated the truth of the gospel.
So what we need to think about is how are we to live out the freedom of the gospel while at the same time ensuring that our behaviour doesn’t put the gospel to shame.
Colossians 2.6-23
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- Written by: Heather Cetrangelo
Life in Christ audio (4MB)
We are now half way though our teaching series on Paul’s letter to the Colossians. This is exciting because we’re about to get into the very heart of what it’s all about – but first, let’s recap on how far we’ve come …
1.1-14 – Chris introduced us to the church in Colossae which was surrounded by a culture very much like ours of pick and mix religion – and Paul opens by saying that he is constantly praying for the new believers that they may lead lives worthy of Christ
1.15-23 – We went back to basics as Paul sets out the fundamentals about who Jesus is – the Son of God, supreme in all things
1.24-2.5 – We were encouraged to persevere – as Paul tells the Colossians of his sufferings for the gospel and of the energy that Christ continually inspires in him to persist against adversity
And now, from 2.6 Paul’s going to spell out the very adversity that the church is facing that he urges the Colossians to resist.
