The plan was to keep the opener short and sweet this week, but there are few things to cover, so here goes.

Remember, NO ABF on Dec. 27 & Jan. 3... we'll meet back up on January 10 and begin our new series.

We at Life Answers don't want to be accussed of spamming, and we don't want to be a bother with our weekly e-mail Updates, so our e-mail address list is going to have a "winter cleaing" over the break. If you haven't attended Sunday morning ABF in the last 2 months, but would like to continue to stay in the Life Answers loop and receive the weekly Update, please e-mail me to let me know that you would like to continue to receive it. Nothing personal, just staying current.

Finally, an anonymous someone, via the prayer form, asked how they could pray for me this week. My need this week is probably similar to others of ours, and I'd like to share it publicly: I need to be focused on Christmas. I've got a lot of traveling to do, going from This Family Christmas to That Family Christmas. Sometimes my patience is tried, and I don't want it to be that way. Ask the LORD to develop and maintain a patient, humble attitude in me over the next week, and beyond. Thank you.

Last Sunday's ABF Recap

Once again a short verse led to lots of observation, discussion and leading from God.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7

The background:
The church at Colosse was not a Paul-plant. It came as a result of his plant at Ephesus and Christians there, possibly a guy named Epaphras, traveling to adjacent cities (Laodicea was another) and leading others to the LORD. Paul knew about this church by talking with other Christians, and he wrote this letter while imprisioned in Rome. More on this later. Colosse used to be an important city on an important trad route, but it's significance had diminished over the years in favor if some of the surrounding cities.

The reason Paul wrote this letter was to combat some of the things that the Christians in Colosse were dealing with. He never names them explicitely, but we can gather what was going on from the instructions and admonitions that Paul gives. He gave lots of encouragement, which is characterist of his letters. And he also goes on the warpath against a nubmer of things:

• Gnosticism -- We've touched on this in previous weeks, but to hit the high points, Gnosticism was the philosophy that said (a) there is "secret" knowledge that we understand that you don't, (b) all physical matter (creation, our bodies, etc.) is evil & (c) Christ was all human, no God. This attack on the diety of Christ was a major problem.
• Legalism -- There was a large Jewish population that had been transplanted from the days of the Babalonian empire living in and around Asia Minor, and

  Tony's Whiteboard:

  Jewish tradition was seeping into the church.
• Moral relativism and the submission to worldy wisdom -- Paul described these heretics as being "deceivers with fine-sounding arguments" (2:4) and those with "hollow and deceptive philosoph[ies]" (2:8). Some silver-tongued individuals may come to mind when thinking about prominent figures, media folks and others, who water down the Gospel.

So with specific regard to our passage for the week, Paul starts off in 2:2 with his purpose statement. He wrote to encourage, unite, provide riches of understanding and knowledge of the mystery of God (these combat the "secret knowledge" of the Gnostics), and to combat deceit. When he gets to verse 6, he begins with a Result word followed by comparison words: just as you received Christ as Lord, [then]...

• Continue - Taking on Christ isn't a one time thing. We receive salvation, but sanctification is about holy living. Further, Paul is reminding the Christians about the cross.
• be Rooted and Built Up - This brings to mind the image of a tree. There was a tree in the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve had a choice to make. Jesus died on a tree, and we have a choice to make. Paul encourages us to be Rooted in Him, and we have a choice to make. This is the same idea that Paul used when writing to the Ephesians in 3:17 when he encouraged them to be Rooted in Christ's love. And in order to have roots that will prevent a tree from blowing over in the wind, the roots must go deep, and this requires good nutrition. The application here is pretty clear.

The result of following Paul's urging is that our faith will be strengthened and we'll have reason to experience genuine thankfulness.

A few take-home lessons:

First of all, this passage illustrates the importance Paul places on sanctification, the daily process of becoming more like Jesus.

Secondly, taking a look at the bottom of Tony's Whiteboard, you can see the word "joy." This has been a recurring theme lately at Life Answers, namely, if we stay close to Jesus, proclaim Jesus, seek Jesus and root ourselves in Jesus, we can experience real joy.

Thirdly, follow this progression with me. Paul is on record as saying, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." Paul's example with regard to the Colossian church was this: Paul was in prison in Rome. He had never met any of the members of the Colossian church. He spent some of his time lovingly writing a letter to them identifying their faithfulness and encouraging them. He was simply following Christ's example: Jesus spoke lovingly to Paul on the road to Damascus at a time when Paul didn't even have a postive relationship with Jesus. Paul was persecuting Jesus, yet Jesus addressed him with love. Paul turned around and, by his actions, gave us an example (Christ's example) to follow in his interaction with the Colossians. How often do we identify faithfulness and Godliness in those around us and offer encouragement along those lines as Paul did with the church at Colosse?

Luke 2:1-20
 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiance, who was pregnant.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Enjoy your week. Send an encouraging e-mail to a friend.

RG