June 29, 2025 • 30 mins
In the finale of our Colossians series, we explore Paul’s sign-off in Chapter 4—and uncover how his final greetings actually complete a sweeping movement through the letter: from the cosmic scale of Christ’s reconciliation of all things… to the gritty, intimate realities of daily life.
✨ We revisit the major themes:
• The Cosmic Opening: Why Paul starts in the stars to talk about daily ethics.
• Our Desires and Contributions: How our wants shape the world—and how to reshape them.
• Household Codes (and Their Subversion): Reading Paul’s commands through a lens of mutuality and reconciliation.
• Bringing It Home: How the grand story of the universe lands in something as ordinary as greetings and gratitude.
🔍 Along the way, Jeremy draws connections to his book Dirt and Stardust, exploring what it means to be both grounded and illuminated—salt of the earth and light of the cosmos. You’ll hear reflections on slavery, submission, justice, and the surprising relevance of Paul’s personal roll call to our lives today.
🧂 Live lives seasoned with salt.
🕊️ Be grateful. Be hopeful. Be wise.
Subscribe for more teaching rooted in Scripture, justice, and lived faith.
📖 Series Playlist: [link to playlist if available]
📚 Learn more about Dirt and Stardust: [link to book if available]
#Colossians #FaithAndJustice #ChristianTeaching #DirtAndStardust #CosmicChrist #MutualSubmission #BibleSeries #PaulineLetters #NewTestament
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeremy Duncan (00:00):
All things are being reconciled to God. All
(00:03):
things are under repair. It cansound here like Paul is saying,
well, let's just stick with thestatus quo. When the context of
Paul's larger imagination, thisconviction that all things are
on their way back to God showsus that these lines actually
become radically subversive.Today, though, it's the end of
our cosmic thoughts.
(00:25):
So let's pray, and then we'lljump in. Gracious God, as we
gather today, we come withstories still unfolding, doubts
and desires, questions andconvictions. But more than
anything, we come with longingto live lives that reflect your
grace and your love, to beshaped by something deeper than
(00:48):
the distractions that claw forour attention. As we near the
end of this journey throughColossians, help us to see once
again how big your story reallyis. Cosmic in scope and yet
personal in its call to us.
You hold all things and yetstill you make room in that
(01:08):
vastness for us. So teach uswhat it means to pray with
expectation and to speak withgrace, to live with an awareness
of the sacred that is woventhroughout the ordinary moments
of this week. In all of it,would you open us up today to
wisdom that lands in our bones,and a story that stirs our
(01:31):
imagination, to peace thatsteadies us for the work of love
ahead. In the strong name of therisen Christ we pray. Amen.
K. It's the end of our series inColossians. And today, we are
going to work toward Paul'sclosing sign off in chapter
(01:53):
four. And to be honest, that'sreally just where he name drops
a bunch of his friends. Butwe're also going to look back
across the letter and gather upeverywhere that we've been so
far in this series.
And to do that, we will coverthe cosmic opening, our
contributions and desires,household codes and their
subversion, and then finally,bringing it all home. But four
(02:17):
weeks ago, we opened with thecosmic part of Colossians, And
we spent two weeks there lookingat how Paul grounds all of his
practical teaching in the stars.And I love that idea. I spend a
lot of time with language andwords, and so first of all, I
just I love the juxtaposition ofgrounding ourself in the stars.
(02:40):
It's an idea that I played within my book, Dirt and Stardust.
That book was all about thesermon on the mount, and that
title came from Jesus' famousline in that sermon. You are the
salt of the earth. You are thelight of the world. Literally,
what he says there is that youare the salt of the land. The
dirt beneath your feet, you arepart of the flavor of the earth
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that you inhabit.
But also you are the light ofthe cosmos. It's the same
language from cautions we findthere in Matthew. And cosmos,
that context, as here, is notnecessarily talking about stars
and galaxies, solar systems theway we might imagine cosmic
scales today, but it is talkingabout the intangible. So faith
(03:27):
and politics, systems andstructures, relationships, and
even economics, all of the ideasthat shape our experience of the
land beneath our feet. So to besalt and light is to care about
all of it.
As I wrote in that book, thestory of God runs the gamut from
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the dirt we till to grow ourfood to the systems and
structures that define ourrelationships to everything and
everyone. It encompassessustainable food production and
equitable economic systems andhealthy concepts of our
neighbor. It includes moments ofkindness as well as large scale
justice initiatives. It's noteither or. The kingdom is both
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and because you are the salt ofthe ground beneath your feet,
and you are the light of thecosmos above.
You are part of what is goodabout both dirt and stardust.
And this is why I think Paul isreally onto something here by
starting in the stars. He wantsto talk about how we live
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together, but he knows that thatactually starts in how we talk
about everything. And so in theColossian hymn, the poem that
sets the stage for this letter,we hear that one, Christ is the
image of the invisible God. Two,in him all things hold together
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because three, the fullness ofGod intends to reconcile all
things through Christ.
And that sounds wonderful. Atthe same time though, maybe a
little grandiose, almostesoteric. It can be hard at
first blush to connect that toany kind of practical outworking
(05:16):
in our lives. And this is whysome people have argued it's
it's too disconnected from whatfollows. And we actually have
questioned Paul's authorship ofthis letter because of that.
But my argument, and I wouldargue Paul's argument, is that
actually it's our biggest ideasabout everything that find
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themselves played out throughour daily choices. For example,
if you believe that God isforever intangible and
invisible, inscrutable to humanimagination rather than
perfectly expressed in the lifeof Jesus, you might follow the
rules, but you might alsoeventually find yourself
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substituting your preferencesfor Jesus' ethic and calling
that holy. Or if you believe theuniverse is ultimately run by a
stingy god where some things areheld, but with only so much love
to go around that it needs to bemeted out based on merit, well,
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you might start to live as ifyou need to acquire as much of
that love, maybe as much ofanything really as you can for
yourself. If you believe thatsome people are intended to be
reconciled and others abandon toendless meaningless torture, my
concern is that you and I, wemight start to live as if some
lives really do have moreeternal value than others. And,
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again, I'm not suggesting herethat there's no such thing as
judgment.
That's not what Paul says. I'mnot suggesting for a second that
judgment is somehow going to bepleasant. What's wrong will be
made right. The bible's languagefor that transformation is hell.
What I'm suggesting alongsidePaul is that God was pleased to
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have all fullness dwell inChrist and through him to
reconcile all things, whetherthings on earth or things in
heaven by making peace throughhis sacrifice.
In God's economy, reconciliationis always the end even on the
other side of judgment. But it'sthese convictions that Jesus is
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where we see God clearly, thatChrist is what holds all things
together, that the fullness ofGod intends to reconcile all
things through the cross. Thesewill eventually shape everything
about how we treat everyone,which is precisely why Paul can
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then make the shift from thosecosmic thoughts toward our daily
lives. At the end of chapterone, he starts to make that
shift. He talks about how hissufferings are filling up what
is lacking in Christ'safflictions.
That's verse 24. And we spent alot of time there dealing with
that enigmatic line, all thetranslation options that are
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available for us. What does itmean that Paul suggests he could
complete anything that would belacking in Jesus? In the end
though, it's not really aboutchanging the translation as much
as the angle from which weapproach it. We call this the
mystical union interpretation,that we are in Christ.
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And therefore, all of ourchoices, any of the cost that we
pay to do what's right in theworld, anything we even suffer
to contribute to the bettermentof our here on earth, all of
that is now mysteriously,beautifully part of Christ's
work in the world. It's it'sactually it's a really big deal
for Paul. In fact, it's animportant part of his pivot into
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the chapters that follow becausehe's reminding us, look, we
believe big things about theuniverse and where it's headed.
But because of that, we alsobelieve that our lives, our
choices can become a very smallpart, but a part nonetheless in
that very big story. You arepart of how God heals the
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universe.
And that's why Paul knows thatrules can't contain faith. They
can point us in the rightdirection. They're even helpful
at times, but rules could neverdelineate every circumstance you
will ever find yourself in,which means they can never
replace the way that Jesus'ethic of love needs to be born
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in us and shape us and reshapeus from the inside out. That's
why Paul writes at the end ofchapter two, don't handle, don't
taste, don't touch. All theserules, they're not based on much
more than human commands andteaching.
They have an appearance ofwisdom with their self imposed
structure and their falsehumility, their harsh treatment
of the body, but they lack anyreal value. They can't actually
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save you. For that, you needcosmic convictions that play out
in your daily steps. This iswhere Paul really makes the move
to get into the implications offaith. Chapter three, he writes,
since then you've been raisedwith Christ, set your heart on
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things above.
Your real life now, that'shidden with Christ in God. So
put to death whatever belongs toyour old nature, who you used to
be. Clothe yourself now insteadwith compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, evenpatience. You you believe these
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big things, so let's see it. Andthis is where we get a bunch of
lists in this chapter.
Right? Things to lean into. Paulmight have called them fruits of
the spirit in another letter,but also vice lists, things to
avoid, things to stay away fromin our lives. Again, this has to
be read in the context of aletter where Paul has just told
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us rules aren't gonna work.They're not gonna get you there,
which means the point here isn'tjust to check boxes.
The point is to reflect on whattakes us away from love and to
shift our focus toward whatmoves us toward each other.
Paul's question in the firsthalf of chapter three is really
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this. Are your desires leadingto more goodness, more peace,
more flourishing for you and thepeople around you? If so, lean
into them. Give it more energy.
But if not, it's time torecalibrate. And, again, I think
it's really important tounderstand this moment if we
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wanna get Paul's argument inthis letter. He's not saying,
look, you're dirty littlemonkeys who do bad things, and
you need to be scolded intocompliance. He's actually
saying, you're a human personwho gets to decide where you
will point your life. And animportant part of that is asking
yourself, is what you want good?
(12:16):
Is it good for you? Is it goodfor your neighbor? Is what you
want good for the world aroundyou? And if the answer answer is
no, then the honest next step isto learn to want differently.
Now maybe you say to me, why?
I can't do that. Like, I can'tjust change my desires on a
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whim. The heart wants what itwants or else it does not care.
That's Emily Dickinson, by theway, not Selena Gomez. But my
answer to that is nonsense.
Because I think when we tellourselves that we can't change
our desires, what we reallyoften mean is that we refuse to
interrogate them properly. Forexample, I think often we think
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what we want is money, and whatwe really want is security.
Right? Or what we think we wantis pornography, but what we
really want is intimacy. What wethink we want is celebrity, but
what we really want is to beknown.
Or better said, just to havefriends. And if we could slow
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down enough to actuallyinterrogate our desires, to
decide if they're pointed atwhat is actually good for us,
and then if not, maybe evenshift them just a couple
degrees. What we might find isthat we actually want something
very different for our livesthan we thought we did than what
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we thought we had been chasing.Because what we really want is
peace. That's what Paul tellsus.
Again, probably better saidhere, shalom. That that Hebrew
sense that involves more thanjust an absence of conflict, but
it means wholeness and anintegrated sense of self, a
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thread that runs through everyfacet of our lives. And often,
that thread runs counter to alot of the surface desires we
spend a lot of our time chasing.That's what Paul's trying to
bring to the surface here. Notmore lists for you to live by,
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but an honest evaluation of whatyou want for yourself and for
those near you, given everythingyou believe about the cosmos.
Except this is where thingsstart to get a little sticky.
Because Paul has now made themovement from the cosmic to the
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personal to the peace that wedesire, now he shifts to the way
that lives out in yourhousehold. And so at the end of
chapter three, this is where weget some difficult lines about
husbands and wives, aboutmasters and slaves. Lines that
without that cosmic groundingcan actually really seem to go
(15:06):
off the rails a little bit intoreinforcing cultural codes that
honestly probably don't have alot of place in our modern
world. Now for example, we readthis in verse 18.
Wives, submit to your husbandsas is fitting in the Lord. And
in verse 22, we read, slaves,obey your earthly masters in
(15:29):
everything. Now, of course,those lines were nothing new for
Paul's audience. Nobody wouldhave blinked reading them. Those
lines were the cultural startingpoints within the Roman world.
They were what literallyeverybody already assumed about
their homes. But that means it'sactually in the follow-up that
Paul brings Christ to bear. Soit's husbands, love your wives
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and don't be harsh with them.It's masters, provide your
slaves with what is right andfair because you know you
actually have a master yourself.That's where Paul's focus is.
And so a couple things here.First, husbands and wives, we
hear wives submit, husbandslove, and we still think, well,
that that sounds a littlecringey. I wanna submit that's
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because we're not really awareof context here. I mean, to
submit is to do what someoneasks you to do for bare minimum.
To love is to do what someonedoesn't need to ask you to do.
And, again, that really meansthat love is the expectation
here. Now to drive this home,let's look at what Paul writes
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over in a parallel in Ephesians.I'm gonna read you Ephesians
five twenty two as it's found inmost of your bibles. It says
this, wives, submit yourselvesto your husbands as you do to
the Lord. Do you know what theverb in that verse is?
It's a trick question. Thereisn't one there. The word submit
is not anywhere in that verseactually. In English, we've
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carried it over from theprevious verse. A verse which
says, submit to one another outof reverence for Christ.
So verse 22 is an example ofthat submission, which should
say, wives to your husbands asyou do to the Lord. And verse 25
is another example of thatsubmission, which should say,
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husbands, by loving your wivesas Christ loved the church. The
point here is actually mutualsubmission one to another.
That's how the actual verbsubmit is used in Ephesians. Now
over here in Colossians, thesame word is used again, but
this time with the intent toundermine the power dynamic
within the household code.
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Love is always going to bebetter than submission. That's
the culmination of Paul'sargument here. Okay. Well, then
what about the slaves? I mean,that's still pretty problematic.
Right? Well, first off, weshould know that slavery in the
Roman Empire was evil. There'sno need to defend any of it. At
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the same time though, it wasalso very different from the
chattel slavery that waspracticed in North America. In
the Roman world, you could sellyourself into slavery to pay off
your debts, for example.
But that also meant that slaverywasn't necessarily lifelong, and
it was not irrevocable. It wasalso not based on a racial
(18:25):
identity. Now to be fair, in theRoman empire, certain ethnic
groups were disadvantagedeconomically, and that did mean
absolutely that slavery wascertainly imbalanced against
certain people groups. Therewas, of course, still very much
a marginalized element to thispractice. However, while the New
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Testament writers don't yet havean imagination for a Roman world
without this economic pillar, Wealso see pretty clearly
throughout the New Testamentthat the early church saw this
economic system as inherentlydehumanizing.
One example comes from the bookof Revelation. There's this
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really powerful image of thiswoman who represents the economy
of Rome, and she cavorts withthe beasts who represent
religion and power of empire.She's drunk on the blood of
those who suffer. But at onepoint, when Jesus' kingdom
comes, we read that thiseconomic system falls and the
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kings and the merchants of theearth weep because no one will
buy their cargo anymore. Thatcargo is delineated for us.
So we read about their gold andsilver, precious stone and
pearls, their fine linen andpurple silk, their scarlet
cloth. Every expense of wood andmarble, cinnamon and spice, wine
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and olive oil, wheat and cattle,sheep and carriages and human
bodies. It's not human beingsthere. It's soma, human bodies.
That's what the system has done.
It has turned beloved childrenof God into products to be
bought and sold like cloth. Paulis not endorsing the system in
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Colossians. The New Testament isvery aware that all of this is
wrong. Paul is saying thatwithin this broken world where
Christ's afflictions are not yetcomplete and where even your
suffering is part of moving thatstory forward toward the
reconciliation of all things,even your story can be
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transformed into the good.That's why Paul follows up here
saying, slaves, whatever you do,do it as if you're working for
the Lord, not for human masterswho misunderstand their place in
God's plan.
And masters, whenever you thinkabout yourself, you better at
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least provide what is right andwhat is fair. If the debt is
paid, you honor that. If thetime is done, you send them away
with your blessing. Becausewhile they work for you notice
Paul refuses to say while theybelong to you, while they work
for you, you are to devoteyourself to them the way that
God devotes God's self to you.And, again, without that cosmic
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understanding from the openingchapter, without Paul's
conviction that all things arebeing reconciled to God, all
things are under repair, It cansound here like Paul is saying,
well, let's just stick with thestatus quo.
When the context of Paul'slarger imagination, this
conviction that all things areon their way back to God shows
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us that these lines actuallybecome radically subversive.
They're not directed at wivesand slaves. They're directed at
husbands and masters. They'redirected at anyone who thinks
they can play along with theregime and get their little
slice of power at the expense ofthose near them. Because Paul is
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reminding them, reminding usthat the story is bigger than we
think.
And our identity can be so muchmore than just who we control,
who's under our thumb. Ouridentity can be in Christ. As a
very loyal Gen X kid, I mighteven paraphrase Paul this way.
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The world is a vampire sent todrain. Secret destroyers hold
you up to the flames, and whatdo you get for all that pain?
Betrayed desires and a tinypiece of the game. Men,
husbands, bosses, any of us whohold power over anyone else,
those of us who think that weare succeeding on the terms that
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we've been handed, a piece ofthe game is not enough to
dedicate your life to. And thosedesires, they will only suck the
life out of you anyway. Instead,you've gotta have some kind of
conviction that's cosmic inscale, a conviction that will
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point you toward the peace thatyou actually want to see in the
world for you and for the peoplearound you. Without that, you
and I, we are just gonna findourselves chasing any little bit
of power that we can get ourgrubby little hands on, and when
we get it, we will findourselves completely empty
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anyway.
But if we can believe in ourbones that the world is on its
way home and that we get to playa part in that story, there is
so much more to live for thanjust a piece of the game. And so
now we finally hit chapter four.And if you've been reading ahead
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in Colossians this week and yougot to chapter four and you
wondered, what on earth are wegonna talk about here exactly? I
get it. Chapter four is kind ofjust a roll call.
Titus will tell you all the newsabout me. He's coming with
Onesimus, our faithful and dearbrother. Aristarchus sends you
his greetings as does Mark. Youknow his cousin Barnabas.
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Justice, whose real name isactually Jesus, but he goes by
the nickname for obviousreasons.
He sends his greetings. It'sbeen great to have him around
while I'm stuck in prison.Epaphras, remember him? I
mentioned him in chapter one. Hesays, hi, dude.
He's always praying for you. Andour dear friend Luke, the
doctor, he likes to be knownthat way, and Demas, they both
send their greetings. If youcan, tell Archippus to keep up
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the good work. And by the way,once you're done reading this
letter, send it down the road toour friends in Lodea to see us
so they can read it, and get theletter I sent to them that you
guys can read that one too. I'mactually gonna take the pen back
from Timothy here.
I'm gonna write this myself.Grace in peace, Paul out. That's
essentially chapter four. Like,that's the whole thing, but
there are a few neat ideas here.First, the letter to the
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Laodiceans.
That's cool. We don't know whathappened to it. Some of the
early church fathers do writeabout it, but they don't
actually reference any of thecontent of the letter. So we
don't know what it was about orwhat happened to it. By the way,
first Corinthians, Paulreferences an earlier letter
sent to those guys, which wealso don't have.
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So there are a few of thesemissing letters lost to history.
Interesting. I do think the roleof names here at the end is neat
too, particularly in terms ofthis unfolding progression in
the letter. We move from thiscosmic imagination of Christ
reigning in the universe to ourparticipation in that unfolding
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story, to how that story shapesour personal desires, to how
that plays out in our homes andour imaginations of what's
possible for them, and all theway down into some greetings and
thank yous and someencouragement to keep up the
good work. I kinda like that.
That is absolutely where yourbiggest convictions about the
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universe should land. Kind wordsfor the people near you.
Encouragement, telling them howmuch you love them. I think
that's actually a prettypowerful way for such an
expansive letter to land. But aswe close, I wanna draw our
attention back to the beginningof this final chapter.
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As Paul shifts into his closingthoughts, he writes this, devote
yourselves to prayer, bewatchful and thankful, And pray
for us too that God might open adoor for our message so that we
may proclaim the mystery ofChrist for which I am in chains.
Pray that I may proclaim itclearly as I should. Be wise in
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the way you act towardoutsiders. Make the most of
every opportunity. Let yourconversations always be full of
grace and seasoned with salt sothat you may know how to answer
anyone.
I love this as a way to landColossians. Think back across
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everything we've talked about inthe series, all the movement
we've explored today in thisletter, and then think about
this closing invitation. Bethankful, be hopeful, be wise.
The universe is beingreconciled. That's our starting
point.
Gratitude is where we beginevery morning. And we're
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grateful because we've beeninvited into that story. So
that's our hope that we mightfind opportunities to move the
story forward even just amillimeter, which is why we ask
for wisdom. And we pray forguidance so that in the words of
Colossians three seventeen,whatever we do, whether words or
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deed, all of it is done in thename of Jesus giving thanks to
God the father through it all.Living lives like salt that make
the world taste a little bitbetter.
In the end, even when we don'trealize it consciously, it's a
straight line from our cosmicthoughts about everything all
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the way down into our dailylives and the choices we make
with each other. Grateful andhopeful and wise about the ways
that we contribute to the repairof all things. Let's pray. God,
thank you for this invitation toplay a small part in a story
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that is so much bigger than us.In those moments where we get
focused on what's in front ofus, the thing we want to
acquire, the desire that'sdriving our emotions in that
moment, would you help us tostep back and see the big
picture, the cosmic convictionthat our life is part of your
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story, or that if we can pointit at what is good, good for us,
good for our neighbor, good foryour world, then not only can we
find our place in this story,but we can find ourselves at
peace, integrated and whole, ourdesires and our aspirations, our
talents, and our gifts, thesteps that we take aligned and
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moving back toward you.
May even a taste of that remindus of how good it is to be on
your path, following yourfootsteps. And may that motivate
us to work even harder with morecourage and more hope to move
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the world forward even just astep in our neighborhood or on
our street, in ourconversations, in the spaces
where we share the goodness youhave extended to us. In the
strong name of the risen Christwe pray. Amen. Hey Jeremy here
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and thanks for listening to ourpodcast.
If you're intrigued by the workthat we're doing here at
Commons, you can head to ourwebsite commons.church for more
information. You can find us onall of the socials
commonschurch. You can subscribeto our YouTube channel, where we
are posting content regularlyfor the community. You can also
join our Discord server. Head tocommons.churchdiscord for the
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invite, and there you will findthe community having all kinds
of conversations about how wecan encourage each other to
follow the way of Jesus.
We would love to hear from you.Anyway, thanks for tuning in.
Have a great week. We'll talk toyou soon.
All things are being reconciled to God. All
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things are under repair. It cansound here like Paul is saying,
well, let's just stick with thestatus quo. When the context of
Paul's larger imagination, thisconviction that all things are
on their way back to God showsus that these lines actually
become radically subversive.Today, though, it's the end of
our cosmic thoughts.
(00:25):
So let's pray, and then we'lljump in. Gracious God, as we
gather today, we come withstories still unfolding, doubts
and desires, questions andconvictions. But more than
anything, we come with longingto live lives that reflect your
grace and your love, to beshaped by something deeper than
(00:48):
the distractions that claw forour attention. As we near the
end of this journey throughColossians, help us to see once
again how big your story reallyis. Cosmic in scope and yet
personal in its call to us.
You hold all things and yetstill you make room in that
(01:08):
vastness for us. So teach uswhat it means to pray with
expectation and to speak withgrace, to live with an awareness
of the sacred that is woventhroughout the ordinary moments
of this week. In all of it,would you open us up today to
wisdom that lands in our bones,and a story that stirs our
(01:31):
imagination, to peace thatsteadies us for the work of love
ahead. In the strong name of therisen Christ we pray. Amen.
K. It's the end of our series inColossians. And today, we are
going to work toward Paul'sclosing sign off in chapter
(01:53):
four. And to be honest, that'sreally just where he name drops
a bunch of his friends. Butwe're also going to look back
across the letter and gather upeverywhere that we've been so
far in this series.
And to do that, we will coverthe cosmic opening, our
contributions and desires,household codes and their
subversion, and then finally,bringing it all home. But four
(02:17):
weeks ago, we opened with thecosmic part of Colossians, And
we spent two weeks there lookingat how Paul grounds all of his
practical teaching in the stars.And I love that idea. I spend a
lot of time with language andwords, and so first of all, I
just I love the juxtaposition ofgrounding ourself in the stars.
(02:40):
It's an idea that I played within my book, Dirt and Stardust.
That book was all about thesermon on the mount, and that
title came from Jesus' famousline in that sermon. You are the
salt of the earth. You are thelight of the world. Literally,
what he says there is that youare the salt of the land. The
dirt beneath your feet, you arepart of the flavor of the earth
(03:02):
that you inhabit.
But also you are the light ofthe cosmos. It's the same
language from cautions we findthere in Matthew. And cosmos,
that context, as here, is notnecessarily talking about stars
and galaxies, solar systems theway we might imagine cosmic
scales today, but it is talkingabout the intangible. So faith
(03:27):
and politics, systems andstructures, relationships, and
even economics, all of the ideasthat shape our experience of the
land beneath our feet. So to besalt and light is to care about
all of it.
As I wrote in that book, thestory of God runs the gamut from
(03:49):
the dirt we till to grow ourfood to the systems and
structures that define ourrelationships to everything and
everyone. It encompassessustainable food production and
equitable economic systems andhealthy concepts of our
neighbor. It includes moments ofkindness as well as large scale
justice initiatives. It's noteither or. The kingdom is both
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and because you are the salt ofthe ground beneath your feet,
and you are the light of thecosmos above.
You are part of what is goodabout both dirt and stardust.
And this is why I think Paul isreally onto something here by
starting in the stars. He wantsto talk about how we live
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together, but he knows that thatactually starts in how we talk
about everything. And so in theColossian hymn, the poem that
sets the stage for this letter,we hear that one, Christ is the
image of the invisible God. Two,in him all things hold together
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because three, the fullness ofGod intends to reconcile all
things through Christ.
And that sounds wonderful. Atthe same time though, maybe a
little grandiose, almostesoteric. It can be hard at
first blush to connect that toany kind of practical outworking
(05:16):
in our lives. And this is whysome people have argued it's
it's too disconnected from whatfollows. And we actually have
questioned Paul's authorship ofthis letter because of that.
But my argument, and I wouldargue Paul's argument, is that
actually it's our biggest ideasabout everything that find
(05:36):
themselves played out throughour daily choices. For example,
if you believe that God isforever intangible and
invisible, inscrutable to humanimagination rather than
perfectly expressed in the lifeof Jesus, you might follow the
rules, but you might alsoeventually find yourself
(05:57):
substituting your preferencesfor Jesus' ethic and calling
that holy. Or if you believe theuniverse is ultimately run by a
stingy god where some things areheld, but with only so much love
to go around that it needs to bemeted out based on merit, well,
(06:17):
you might start to live as ifyou need to acquire as much of
that love, maybe as much ofanything really as you can for
yourself. If you believe thatsome people are intended to be
reconciled and others abandon toendless meaningless torture, my
concern is that you and I, wemight start to live as if some
lives really do have moreeternal value than others. And,
(06:41):
again, I'm not suggesting herethat there's no such thing as
judgment.
That's not what Paul says. I'mnot suggesting for a second that
judgment is somehow going to bepleasant. What's wrong will be
made right. The bible's languagefor that transformation is hell.
What I'm suggesting alongsidePaul is that God was pleased to
(07:02):
have all fullness dwell inChrist and through him to
reconcile all things, whetherthings on earth or things in
heaven by making peace throughhis sacrifice.
In God's economy, reconciliationis always the end even on the
other side of judgment. But it'sthese convictions that Jesus is
(07:25):
where we see God clearly, thatChrist is what holds all things
together, that the fullness ofGod intends to reconcile all
things through the cross. Thesewill eventually shape everything
about how we treat everyone,which is precisely why Paul can
(07:46):
then make the shift from thosecosmic thoughts toward our daily
lives. At the end of chapterone, he starts to make that
shift. He talks about how hissufferings are filling up what
is lacking in Christ'safflictions.
That's verse 24. And we spent alot of time there dealing with
that enigmatic line, all thetranslation options that are
(08:09):
available for us. What does itmean that Paul suggests he could
complete anything that would belacking in Jesus? In the end
though, it's not really aboutchanging the translation as much
as the angle from which weapproach it. We call this the
mystical union interpretation,that we are in Christ.
(08:32):
And therefore, all of ourchoices, any of the cost that we
pay to do what's right in theworld, anything we even suffer
to contribute to the bettermentof our here on earth, all of
that is now mysteriously,beautifully part of Christ's
work in the world. It's it'sactually it's a really big deal
for Paul. In fact, it's animportant part of his pivot into
(08:56):
the chapters that follow becausehe's reminding us, look, we
believe big things about theuniverse and where it's headed.
But because of that, we alsobelieve that our lives, our
choices can become a very smallpart, but a part nonetheless in
that very big story. You arepart of how God heals the
(09:18):
universe.
And that's why Paul knows thatrules can't contain faith. They
can point us in the rightdirection. They're even helpful
at times, but rules could neverdelineate every circumstance you
will ever find yourself in,which means they can never
replace the way that Jesus'ethic of love needs to be born
(09:42):
in us and shape us and reshapeus from the inside out. That's
why Paul writes at the end ofchapter two, don't handle, don't
taste, don't touch. All theserules, they're not based on much
more than human commands andteaching.
They have an appearance ofwisdom with their self imposed
structure and their falsehumility, their harsh treatment
of the body, but they lack anyreal value. They can't actually
(10:05):
save you. For that, you needcosmic convictions that play out
in your daily steps. This iswhere Paul really makes the move
to get into the implications offaith. Chapter three, he writes,
since then you've been raisedwith Christ, set your heart on
(10:27):
things above.
Your real life now, that'shidden with Christ in God. So
put to death whatever belongs toyour old nature, who you used to
be. Clothe yourself now insteadwith compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, evenpatience. You you believe these
(10:47):
big things, so let's see it. Andthis is where we get a bunch of
lists in this chapter.
Right? Things to lean into. Paulmight have called them fruits of
the spirit in another letter,but also vice lists, things to
avoid, things to stay away fromin our lives. Again, this has to
be read in the context of aletter where Paul has just told
(11:09):
us rules aren't gonna work.They're not gonna get you there,
which means the point here isn'tjust to check boxes.
The point is to reflect on whattakes us away from love and to
shift our focus toward whatmoves us toward each other.
Paul's question in the firsthalf of chapter three is really
(11:30):
this. Are your desires leadingto more goodness, more peace,
more flourishing for you and thepeople around you? If so, lean
into them. Give it more energy.
But if not, it's time torecalibrate. And, again, I think
it's really important tounderstand this moment if we
(11:52):
wanna get Paul's argument inthis letter. He's not saying,
look, you're dirty littlemonkeys who do bad things, and
you need to be scolded intocompliance. He's actually
saying, you're a human personwho gets to decide where you
will point your life. And animportant part of that is asking
yourself, is what you want good?
(12:16):
Is it good for you? Is it goodfor your neighbor? Is what you
want good for the world aroundyou? And if the answer answer is
no, then the honest next step isto learn to want differently.
Now maybe you say to me, why?
I can't do that. Like, I can'tjust change my desires on a
(12:37):
whim. The heart wants what itwants or else it does not care.
That's Emily Dickinson, by theway, not Selena Gomez. But my
answer to that is nonsense.
Because I think when we tellourselves that we can't change
our desires, what we reallyoften mean is that we refuse to
interrogate them properly. Forexample, I think often we think
(13:00):
what we want is money, and whatwe really want is security.
Right? Or what we think we wantis pornography, but what we
really want is intimacy. What wethink we want is celebrity, but
what we really want is to beknown.
Or better said, just to havefriends. And if we could slow
(13:22):
down enough to actuallyinterrogate our desires, to
decide if they're pointed atwhat is actually good for us,
and then if not, maybe evenshift them just a couple
degrees. What we might find isthat we actually want something
very different for our livesthan we thought we did than what
(13:42):
we thought we had been chasing.Because what we really want is
peace. That's what Paul tellsus.
Again, probably better saidhere, shalom. That that Hebrew
sense that involves more thanjust an absence of conflict, but
it means wholeness and anintegrated sense of self, a
(14:02):
thread that runs through everyfacet of our lives. And often,
that thread runs counter to alot of the surface desires we
spend a lot of our time chasing.That's what Paul's trying to
bring to the surface here. Notmore lists for you to live by,
(14:24):
but an honest evaluation of whatyou want for yourself and for
those near you, given everythingyou believe about the cosmos.
Except this is where thingsstart to get a little sticky.
Because Paul has now made themovement from the cosmic to the
(14:45):
personal to the peace that wedesire, now he shifts to the way
that lives out in yourhousehold. And so at the end of
chapter three, this is where weget some difficult lines about
husbands and wives, aboutmasters and slaves. Lines that
without that cosmic groundingcan actually really seem to go
(15:06):
off the rails a little bit intoreinforcing cultural codes that
honestly probably don't have alot of place in our modern
world. Now for example, we readthis in verse 18.
Wives, submit to your husbandsas is fitting in the Lord. And
in verse 22, we read, slaves,obey your earthly masters in
(15:29):
everything. Now, of course,those lines were nothing new for
Paul's audience. Nobody wouldhave blinked reading them. Those
lines were the cultural startingpoints within the Roman world.
They were what literallyeverybody already assumed about
their homes. But that means it'sactually in the follow-up that
Paul brings Christ to bear. Soit's husbands, love your wives
(15:55):
and don't be harsh with them.It's masters, provide your
slaves with what is right andfair because you know you
actually have a master yourself.That's where Paul's focus is.
And so a couple things here.First, husbands and wives, we
hear wives submit, husbandslove, and we still think, well,
that that sounds a littlecringey. I wanna submit that's
(16:16):
because we're not really awareof context here. I mean, to
submit is to do what someoneasks you to do for bare minimum.
To love is to do what someonedoesn't need to ask you to do.
And, again, that really meansthat love is the expectation
here. Now to drive this home,let's look at what Paul writes
(16:36):
over in a parallel in Ephesians.I'm gonna read you Ephesians
five twenty two as it's found inmost of your bibles. It says
this, wives, submit yourselvesto your husbands as you do to
the Lord. Do you know what theverb in that verse is?
It's a trick question. Thereisn't one there. The word submit
is not anywhere in that verseactually. In English, we've
(16:59):
carried it over from theprevious verse. A verse which
says, submit to one another outof reverence for Christ.
So verse 22 is an example ofthat submission, which should
say, wives to your husbands asyou do to the Lord. And verse 25
is another example of thatsubmission, which should say,
(17:21):
husbands, by loving your wivesas Christ loved the church. The
point here is actually mutualsubmission one to another.
That's how the actual verbsubmit is used in Ephesians. Now
over here in Colossians, thesame word is used again, but
this time with the intent toundermine the power dynamic
within the household code.
(17:43):
Love is always going to bebetter than submission. That's
the culmination of Paul'sargument here. Okay. Well, then
what about the slaves? I mean,that's still pretty problematic.
Right? Well, first off, weshould know that slavery in the
Roman Empire was evil. There'sno need to defend any of it. At
(18:04):
the same time though, it wasalso very different from the
chattel slavery that waspracticed in North America. In
the Roman world, you could sellyourself into slavery to pay off
your debts, for example.
But that also meant that slaverywasn't necessarily lifelong, and
it was not irrevocable. It wasalso not based on a racial
(18:25):
identity. Now to be fair, in theRoman empire, certain ethnic
groups were disadvantagedeconomically, and that did mean
absolutely that slavery wascertainly imbalanced against
certain people groups. Therewas, of course, still very much
a marginalized element to thispractice. However, while the New
(18:46):
Testament writers don't yet havean imagination for a Roman world
without this economic pillar, Wealso see pretty clearly
throughout the New Testamentthat the early church saw this
economic system as inherentlydehumanizing.
One example comes from the bookof Revelation. There's this
(19:08):
really powerful image of thiswoman who represents the economy
of Rome, and she cavorts withthe beasts who represent
religion and power of empire.She's drunk on the blood of
those who suffer. But at onepoint, when Jesus' kingdom
comes, we read that thiseconomic system falls and the
(19:28):
kings and the merchants of theearth weep because no one will
buy their cargo anymore. Thatcargo is delineated for us.
So we read about their gold andsilver, precious stone and
pearls, their fine linen andpurple silk, their scarlet
cloth. Every expense of wood andmarble, cinnamon and spice, wine
(19:50):
and olive oil, wheat and cattle,sheep and carriages and human
bodies. It's not human beingsthere. It's soma, human bodies.
That's what the system has done.
It has turned beloved childrenof God into products to be
bought and sold like cloth. Paulis not endorsing the system in
(20:15):
Colossians. The New Testament isvery aware that all of this is
wrong. Paul is saying thatwithin this broken world where
Christ's afflictions are not yetcomplete and where even your
suffering is part of moving thatstory forward toward the
reconciliation of all things,even your story can be
(20:37):
transformed into the good.That's why Paul follows up here
saying, slaves, whatever you do,do it as if you're working for
the Lord, not for human masterswho misunderstand their place in
God's plan.
And masters, whenever you thinkabout yourself, you better at
(21:00):
least provide what is right andwhat is fair. If the debt is
paid, you honor that. If thetime is done, you send them away
with your blessing. Becausewhile they work for you notice
Paul refuses to say while theybelong to you, while they work
for you, you are to devoteyourself to them the way that
God devotes God's self to you.And, again, without that cosmic
(21:28):
understanding from the openingchapter, without Paul's
conviction that all things arebeing reconciled to God, all
things are under repair, It cansound here like Paul is saying,
well, let's just stick with thestatus quo.
When the context of Paul'slarger imagination, this
conviction that all things areon their way back to God shows
(21:50):
us that these lines actuallybecome radically subversive.
They're not directed at wivesand slaves. They're directed at
husbands and masters. They'redirected at anyone who thinks
they can play along with theregime and get their little
slice of power at the expense ofthose near them. Because Paul is
(22:13):
reminding them, reminding usthat the story is bigger than we
think.
And our identity can be so muchmore than just who we control,
who's under our thumb. Ouridentity can be in Christ. As a
very loyal Gen X kid, I mighteven paraphrase Paul this way.
(22:33):
The world is a vampire sent todrain. Secret destroyers hold
you up to the flames, and whatdo you get for all that pain?
Betrayed desires and a tinypiece of the game. Men,
husbands, bosses, any of us whohold power over anyone else,
those of us who think that weare succeeding on the terms that
(22:56):
we've been handed, a piece ofthe game is not enough to
dedicate your life to. And thosedesires, they will only suck the
life out of you anyway. Instead,you've gotta have some kind of
conviction that's cosmic inscale, a conviction that will
(23:18):
point you toward the peace thatyou actually want to see in the
world for you and for the peoplearound you. Without that, you
and I, we are just gonna findourselves chasing any little bit
of power that we can get ourgrubby little hands on, and when
we get it, we will findourselves completely empty
(23:38):
anyway.
But if we can believe in ourbones that the world is on its
way home and that we get to playa part in that story, there is
so much more to live for thanjust a piece of the game. And so
now we finally hit chapter four.And if you've been reading ahead
(24:02):
in Colossians this week and yougot to chapter four and you
wondered, what on earth are wegonna talk about here exactly? I
get it. Chapter four is kind ofjust a roll call.
Titus will tell you all the newsabout me. He's coming with
Onesimus, our faithful and dearbrother. Aristarchus sends you
his greetings as does Mark. Youknow his cousin Barnabas.
(24:24):
Justice, whose real name isactually Jesus, but he goes by
the nickname for obviousreasons.
He sends his greetings. It'sbeen great to have him around
while I'm stuck in prison.Epaphras, remember him? I
mentioned him in chapter one. Hesays, hi, dude.
He's always praying for you. Andour dear friend Luke, the
doctor, he likes to be knownthat way, and Demas, they both
send their greetings. If youcan, tell Archippus to keep up
(24:44):
the good work. And by the way,once you're done reading this
letter, send it down the road toour friends in Lodea to see us
so they can read it, and get theletter I sent to them that you
guys can read that one too. I'mactually gonna take the pen back
from Timothy here.
I'm gonna write this myself.Grace in peace, Paul out. That's
essentially chapter four. Like,that's the whole thing, but
there are a few neat ideas here.First, the letter to the
(25:07):
Laodiceans.
That's cool. We don't know whathappened to it. Some of the
early church fathers do writeabout it, but they don't
actually reference any of thecontent of the letter. So we
don't know what it was about orwhat happened to it. By the way,
first Corinthians, Paulreferences an earlier letter
sent to those guys, which wealso don't have.
(25:29):
So there are a few of thesemissing letters lost to history.
Interesting. I do think the roleof names here at the end is neat
too, particularly in terms ofthis unfolding progression in
the letter. We move from thiscosmic imagination of Christ
reigning in the universe to ourparticipation in that unfolding
(25:51):
story, to how that story shapesour personal desires, to how
that plays out in our homes andour imaginations of what's
possible for them, and all theway down into some greetings and
thank yous and someencouragement to keep up the
good work. I kinda like that.
That is absolutely where yourbiggest convictions about the
(26:11):
universe should land. Kind wordsfor the people near you.
Encouragement, telling them howmuch you love them. I think
that's actually a prettypowerful way for such an
expansive letter to land. But aswe close, I wanna draw our
attention back to the beginningof this final chapter.
(26:33):
As Paul shifts into his closingthoughts, he writes this, devote
yourselves to prayer, bewatchful and thankful, And pray
for us too that God might open adoor for our message so that we
may proclaim the mystery ofChrist for which I am in chains.
Pray that I may proclaim itclearly as I should. Be wise in
(26:55):
the way you act towardoutsiders. Make the most of
every opportunity. Let yourconversations always be full of
grace and seasoned with salt sothat you may know how to answer
anyone.
I love this as a way to landColossians. Think back across
(27:17):
everything we've talked about inthe series, all the movement
we've explored today in thisletter, and then think about
this closing invitation. Bethankful, be hopeful, be wise.
The universe is beingreconciled. That's our starting
point.
Gratitude is where we beginevery morning. And we're
(27:40):
grateful because we've beeninvited into that story. So
that's our hope that we mightfind opportunities to move the
story forward even just amillimeter, which is why we ask
for wisdom. And we pray forguidance so that in the words of
Colossians three seventeen,whatever we do, whether words or
(28:00):
deed, all of it is done in thename of Jesus giving thanks to
God the father through it all.Living lives like salt that make
the world taste a little bitbetter.
In the end, even when we don'trealize it consciously, it's a
straight line from our cosmicthoughts about everything all
(28:25):
the way down into our dailylives and the choices we make
with each other. Grateful andhopeful and wise about the ways
that we contribute to the repairof all things. Let's pray. God,
thank you for this invitation toplay a small part in a story
(28:49):
that is so much bigger than us.In those moments where we get
focused on what's in front ofus, the thing we want to
acquire, the desire that'sdriving our emotions in that
moment, would you help us tostep back and see the big
picture, the cosmic convictionthat our life is part of your
(29:11):
story, or that if we can pointit at what is good, good for us,
good for our neighbor, good foryour world, then not only can we
find our place in this story,but we can find ourselves at
peace, integrated and whole, ourdesires and our aspirations, our
talents, and our gifts, thesteps that we take aligned and
(29:35):
moving back toward you.
May even a taste of that remindus of how good it is to be on
your path, following yourfootsteps. And may that motivate
us to work even harder with morecourage and more hope to move
(29:57):
the world forward even just astep in our neighborhood or on
our street, in ourconversations, in the spaces
where we share the goodness youhave extended to us. In the
strong name of the risen Christwe pray. Amen. Hey Jeremy here
(30:21):
and thanks for listening to ourpodcast.
If you're intrigued by the workthat we're doing here at
Commons, you can head to ourwebsite commons.church for more
information. You can find us onall of the socials
commonschurch. You can subscribeto our YouTube channel, where we
are posting content regularlyfor the community. You can also
join our Discord server. Head tocommons.churchdiscord for the
(30:43):
invite, and there you will findthe community having all kinds
of conversations about how wecan encourage each other to
follow the way of Jesus.
We would love to hear from you.Anyway, thanks for tuning in.
Have a great week. We'll talk toyou soon.
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