It was hard for me this week to leave behind the Sermon on the Mount. Couldn’t I just keep preaching that series over and over again until we’re all perfectly living out what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount? I didn’t think so. Our Scripture passage for today is from Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae. Perhaps it’s because I’m having a hard time pulling away from the Sermon on the Mount, but I was hearing some similar themes in this passage from Colossians. The "narrow way" vs. the "broad way" in the Sermon on the Mount, deceptive philosophies in Colossians. "Put into practice what I say," in the Sermon on the Mount, "continue to live in Christ" in Colossians. Listen to today’s Scripture reading from Colossians 2:6-15 and see if you’re hearing similar themes as well. (Read)

If you could ask God a question, what would that question be? That always sparks a lot of interesting discussion. A colleague of mine is preaching a series on "Questions for God" and he’s surveyed his congregation and some people in the community for some questions they’d like to ask God. That would be an interesting exercise to do here some time. I don’t know all of the questions people have raised, but I’ve yet to hear my question brought up. My question is, "Why mosquitoes?" I get the "food for birds" thing, but there’s lots of other food for birds that aren’t nearly as nasty as mosquitoes. I don’t think the birds would starve if mosquitoes weren’t around and I don’t know of any other remotely positive thing about mosquitoes, so, "Why mosquitoes?" Seems to me we could get along just fine without them.

My colleague did acknowledge receiving several responses for another question I might want to ask God, "What’s the deal with weeds?" Why is it that the things we don’t want to grow, weeds, grow without any encouragement at all? Meanwhile, the things we do want to grow—my zinnias, for example—require all kinds of nurturing and care in order to barely survive! I spent the better part of the morning last Monday pulling the weeds out of the gaps in my driveway! I don’t water my driveway. I don’t fertilize or "Miracle-gro" my driveway. In fact what I do with my driveway is drive on it! Several times throughout the week…two cars…sometimes more…sometimes a car parks on my driveway, on top of the gaps where the weeds are growing—and still the weeds grow. In fact, the weeds are downright flourishing there! Or were until last Monday morning. But, I know they’ll be back! Meanwhile, my zinnias are daily teetering on the brink of death. I tenderly planted my zinnias in good potting soil. I mixed in some root stimulator with their first watering. I regularly water my zinnias. I’ve mixed in plant food for my zinnias. I speak tenderly to my zinnias. I read Scripture to my zinnias. Yet daily, my zinnias teeter on the brink of death. Maybe I’ll try driving over them!

Why is that? Why do weeds grow like crazy in the strangest, most unnourished of places, while the things we want to grow struggle to survive in the best of environments? I don’t know the answer to that. It’s a question for God.

Except to say, maybe it’s because life is like that. Maybe it’s a nature lesson for us on what life looks like in a broken, fallen world. The things we want to grow in our lives have to be carefully nurtured and cared for, while the things we don’t want to grow in our lives seem to sprout up everywhere, in the most unlikely of places, with little or no nurturing.

It should come as no surprise, then, that faith is like that too. Our faith must be nurtured and cared for. Life is full of weeds looking to choke our faith. There are "hollow and deceptive philosophies" out there that seek to pull us away from our roots in Jesus Christ. There are philosophies out there based in "elemental spiritual forces"—which, by the way, is probably a reference to astrology—that seek to pull us away from Jesus. What’s the plan for today? Don’t consult with that Jesus guy, consult the stars and your astrological sign. There are all kinds of hollow and deceptive philosophies out there that seek to pull us away from our roots in Jesus Christ. They’re everywhere! They’re like weeds! We have to spend time cultivating our spiritual garden to remain rooted, and to grow in Jesus Christ.

When our first child, Megan, was getting ready to leave for her first year of college, I felt the parental need to talk with her about some of my concerns. She had decided to attend a really great school, but one I was concerned about regarding the maze of hollow and deceptive philosophies she would encounter there. She had decided to attend Colorado College. Or, as its official name is, I suppose, The Colorado College. Or, as I call it, Berkeley Rocky Mountain. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think CC is a great school. Any Colorado College alums here? I was thrilled with her decision to attend there, thought it was a great school for Megan. Really! In fact, I was very sad when she transferred to another school after two years at CC, transferring only because CC didn’t offer the major she’d finally decided on—graphic design. Just an aside here, she transferred to Baylor University. I like to say she went from Berkeley Rocky Mountain to Baptist Baylor! Quite a shift in environmental soil! But, getting back to her getting ready for her first year at Colorado College and my concerns about hollow and deceptive philosophies. I told Megan I had one major requirement for her. That was for her to find a church with a good college program so that she had a place to go to and process some of the wacko philosophies she’d run into at CC. I told her it didn’t have to be Presbyterian, it just needed to be a solid, Christ-loving church with a good college program so she could talk with someone about anything she’d heard at school. It turned out First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs fit the bill and that’s where she landed. They were very helpful during Megan’s time at Colorado College.

And the truth is, it’s not just Colorado College. Our two other children went to good ol’ Presbyterian schools—Lindsay to the University of Tulsa and Jay to Hastings College—and they needed the same requirement there as well. It’s not just Colorado College. Truth be told, it’s not just the atmosphere of college life. It’s life! There are weeds everywhere! And unless we take care to cultivate our spiritual gardens, we are at great risk of falling captive to hollow, deceptive philosophies.

There are even weeds in the church! Jesus made that clear in the conclusion of his Sermon on the Mount—the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the ministers of the spectacular, the hearers but not doers of the word. Paul, in this passage from Colossians, identifies some other, similar weeds. There are certainly the weeds of "hollow and deceptive philosophies" in the church. Anything that diminishes Christ, anything that pulls us away from Christ is such a weed. The "fullness of the Deity" lives in Christ, Paul tells us. Anything that diminishes the nature of Christ, anything that diminishes the saving work of Christ is hollow and deceptive philosophy.

Paul also identifies a more subtle weed in the life of a Christian, the weed of outward blooming but inward drought—sticking with a garden metaphor. All of the language in this passage about circumcision speaks of such weeds. The issue in Paul’s time is that false teachers were demanding circumcision, the mark of the covenant for the Jews, as a required ritual for all followers of Christ. This issue was a major cause of tension in the early church because it meant a (gasp!) change in the understanding of who could be included in the covenant promise—from the exclusive privilege of the Jews to the inclusive invitation to everyone. The point is—and certainly the point for us today is—sincerity of the heart. Not outward appearances or rituals, but the heart. And the ritual replacing circumcision in the discussion for today would be baptism. Paul points out some wonderful images of baptism—the sinful nature being buried with Christ through baptism, the new nature rising to new life with Christ. Yet, there is also caution here. "Don’t take your baptism for granted." Where there is baptism, but no growing in the faith, there are weeds taking over—a hollow kind of Christianity that claims to be Christian, perhaps citing a long ago baptism, but has no depth to it, no deep growing roots to it.

In response, Paul would take us back to the beginning of today’s passage: "Just as you received Christ," perhaps one might also say, "were baptized in Christ," our starting place with Christ, "continue to live your lives in him, rooted in Christ, built up in Christ, strengthened by faith in Christ and overflowing with thankfulness." Cultivating the garden of our faith requires some work—nourishing what has been planted through the daily watering of communion with God, fertilizing the soil with the nutrients of God’s Word, getting rid of the weeds of hollow and deceptive philosophies that diminish the nature and work of Jesus Christ, never taking our baptism for granted, constant vigilance over the weeds that threaten to invade our faith.

One result of such gardening, Paul tells us, is a life overflowing with thankfulness." The cultivation of faith brings to our awareness the many blessings we have received from God and our response is thankfulness. It’s like sitting on the patio in the cool of a summer evening and enjoying the beauty of a carefully tendered garden. And Paul gives us one reason for such thankfulness—one reason among many, but the primary reason for our thankfulness. God has made us alive in Jesus Christ. "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross." There’s something to be thankful for!

Have you ever had a debt wiped clean, the "charge of legal indebtedness" canceled? Were you grateful for that? No doubt you were. When I was in seminary, I became aware of a wonderful thing called the Omaha Seminary Foundation. Omaha once had a Presbyterian seminary but they had closed their doors in the late 1940’s. However, they still had some money and now no overhead—no buildings and no faculty! So, the Board of Directors, seeking to be faithful stewards, sought a way to honor Christ with their resources. They established the Omaha Seminary Foundation which had two purposes. One was to conduct an annual School for Pastors consisting of one week of classes with a "faculty" of some of the best speakers and teachers in the Presbyterian Church. Wanting to make it possible for all pastors to attend, the cost for the School is underwritten by the Foundation. The only expense for pastors is their travel to and from the School. The School takes place every summer on the campus of Hastings College and it’s a great event. They just finished up this year’s School this past week. The other purpose for the Foundation was to establish a loan program for seminary students from an eight state region surrounding Omaha. Colorado was included in that region so I was eligible to apply for the loan. I applied and was approved. One aspect of the loan program, however, was it became a grant and not a loan if the student met a particular set of requirements upon graduation. Those requirements were if a recipient’s first church was located within that same eight state region and was in a city of less than 10,000 in population, then the loan became a grant. The first church I served, First Presbyterian Church in Hastings, Nebraska, came close to meeting those terms. However, Hastings had a population then of 24,000. They don’t teach math at seminary but even I knew 24,000 is more than 10,000! Upon completing my seminary studies, I had to fill out a form for the Foundation informing them of the location and community size of the church I was serving. Everything fit their requirements except for the size of the city. In the space asking for the population of the city in which the church was located, I wrote "24,000 (close!)" and sent in the form. A few weeks later I received a reply from the Foundation informing me they had converted my loan into a grant! I didn’t have to pay it back! The "charge of my legal indebtedness" had been canceled! Do you think I was grateful? Do you think I was "overflowing with thankfulness?" You better believe I was! And still am! To this day I am a passionate advocate for the Foundation and the work they are doing. I’ve attended the School three times. I encourage other pastors to do the same. I encourage students who qualify for the loan program to apply. In fact, I now serve on a Board of Advisors for the Foundation which may lead to one day serving on the Board of Directors. Their generosity has led to a lifetime of overflowing thankfulness. It is the largest indebtedness ever canceled in my life…except for this one, "God forgave us all our sins…canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness [by] nailing it to the cross."

Do our lives reflect an overflowing thankfulness to God for His canceling of our legal indebtedness by nailing it to the cross? Does the garden of our faith reveal the careful cultivation of a gardener grateful for the beauty he receives in return? Or is the garden of our faith overrun with weeds? Hear again this "gardening tip" from the apostle Paul: "so then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."