"How many times do I have to tell you?" said every parent

What is it about cleaning a house that’s so hard? What is it about sharing your things that is so tough? What is it about forgiving people that is so challenging? From birth to death, we all struggle with these. The reality is that these aren’t difficult—as long as our pride and ego don’t get in the way

When reading the handful of letters written by the Apostles to congregations to encourage them to live more fully to the will of God, we should notice something: many churches struggled with the same problem(s). If the Apostles were still writing letters to congregations, probably most churches would receive a letter encouraging them to continue in demonstrating genuine love and respect for others.

This simple message cuts to the core, dividing the Godly from the ungodly. Yet this simple message can get cluttered by teachings that don’t highlight the Greatest Command (Matthew 22:37-39). There is a real danger of people explaining the Truth in ways that cause a person to misunderstand God’s mission.

Ironically, the seeds of false teaching impact how confident we are about sharing it with others. The incorrect teachings, plans, and theories about God’s will floating around out there can cause us to be timid about sharing our hope of eternal life!

Paul said in Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

Jesus said about the Pharisees in Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And as He continues in the Sermon on the Mount, He outlines how we should respond to others: help out, share, forgive, etc. Matthew 7:12 could serve as a summary of His sermon, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Paul said to the Corinthian congregations, “You yourselves are our letter [of recommendation], written on our hearts, known and read by everyone…” (2 Corinthians 3:2). What a tremendous goal: to be a “light on a hill,” to be a picture of Truth being lived out amongst our communities!

The Colossian Christ

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to receive an instructional letter from one of the apostles? Paul wrote a majority of the letters to the congregations included in our New Testament, many of which were addressing issues amongst the believers—especially the divisive issues between Jews and Gentiles.

Gentile just means "nations," which could refer to “other” nations not part of the Abrahamic Covenant. It was part of God’s plan from the very beginning to “save” any nation that will trust in Him by following Him. Obviously, that was best seen beginning with Jesus’ ministry. Although the official invitation for all nations to join the Jesus Movement wouldn’t be until the days of Cornelius, Acts 10, the message was already being clearly defined for anyone listening to Jesus.

This inclusion of the Gentiles, other nations, was offensive to the Jew because of how they interpreted the promise made to Abraham. In their mind, the promise we read about in Genesis 12 was an exclusive one. However, when we read what God said to Abraham, it is virtually undeniable of God’s plan. He says, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Later, God told Moses on Mt. Sinai, “Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’” (Exodus 19:5-6).

After Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension, the church would be born (Acts 2), and it was then that the true understanding of God’s kingdom began to take shape. To have a kingdom, means you have a king, a territory, and subjects to that king. But who would qualify to be part of the kingdom? Paul’s many letters to congregations helped shed some light on this issue. The kingdom wasn’t exclusive to Jews, but instead was open to all the nations—the Gentiles!

Paul’s letter to the Colossians was helping them to see the supremacy of Christ throughout the entire world. Therefore, he makes a lot of connections for these believers, both Jew and Gentiles, between God’s creation and all people’s invitation to join this wonderful kingdom. 

Crescendo

What is a crescendo? The loudest point reached in a gradually increasing sound, especially a song. It’s that point in the song that has the most powerful, emotional part. It’s not just in songs though; life has crescendo moments. You can probably hear a lot of crescendo moments when you go to a funeral, and you hear the eulogy. We highlight the greatest points in a life. 

But what if our greatest moment in life was after we die? We talk about that in worship, but sometimes it’s difficult to believe. When we read Scripture, although people saw the amazing things Jesus said and heard life-changing wisdom, they too had trouble believing that after death is where our greatest moments lie. 

At Lazarus’ funeral wake, Mary and Martha both expressed how things could have been different (better) if Jesus had been there when their brother was sick. Jesus, however, knew that it was at that particular moment when He could demonstrate the crescendo of life—resurrection! 

He said in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Paul would later say that this concept is what his entire Gospel message is built upon, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 15) “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” 

The resurrection of Lazarus was a huge turning point in Jesus’ ministry. Once people realized that He had power over death, following Him had a different appeal. Until those who were jealous of Him were able to have him killed. After all, a person can’t raise themselves from the grave! Right? 

One of the original endings to the Gospel of Mark ends like this: “Don’t be alarmed,” [the angel] said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid!” [The End] (Mark 16:6-8)

Most scholars believe this would be intended to leave the reader with a desire to know what happened next, and then go investigate. Whether that was the intent or not, we are left wondering what we do with the message of resurrection. We must decide if we believe it enough to follow Jesus or ignore it. But even a skeptic would agree that resurrection from death would truly be an amazing crescendo to this life! 

“Do you believe this?” (John 11:26).