Colossians 1 - Counter Cultural Christianity in a World of Empire – (part 1)

Read Colossians 1

The books of Colossians and Philemon describe the nature of the Kingdom of God manifest in a contrary culture. While the new community of Christ-Followers in Collosae sought to live the reality of a Kingdom in which they were all made equals, the empire around them continued to be patriarchal, hierarchical, and built on slavery. While women and slaves were welcomed and enabled to participate as full members of the new Jesus community, outside of these Kingdom Outposts they continued to live without the status of citizenship or even personhood.

The power of the surrounding culture would have been palpable in these tiny new-formed families. Onesimus, a former slave himself, carried these letters from their beloved brother Paul, who wrote them while in chains, a political prisoner to the same empire that had once kept Onesimus bound.

The tension between the radical truths of the gospel and the practical realities of a world still oppressed by the unjust Spirit of Empire is one still felt in the Jesus community today. These books explore with real, measurable examples how a truly counter-cultural Jesus community may practice their resistance in the world of Rome, and our world today.

Colossians 1:13-14 (ESVUK)

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God has rescued us from our previous state of darkness and death, where the only authorities are oppressive to us, and rebels against his true and just kingdom, and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, Jesus. When Jesus is our king, we are redeemed, we are bought from our previous slave owners from the old kingdom and set free. All debts and sentences from our previous state are canceled.

Colossians 1:15-20 (ESVUK)

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Jesus is exactly like God on earth, reflecting him perfectly in every way. He fulfills God's perfect plan for his creation through his life. Jesus is able to do this because he was the one to create everything in the first place. Jesus created everything natural and supernatural, everything we can see, and everything we can't. All authority and power in the world came from him first. All things were created by him and for him. He existed before any of these other things did. They could not continue to exist except that he allows it.

Jesus' church works like a body, in unity and humble cooperation. He is the head of the body. By his resurrection, all of the rest of the body can now also experience new and eternal life through him. Since he came first, creating everything, and also rose again, redeeming his church, he is the highest authority over all things and in every way.

Jesus is fully and entirely God. Everything is his. Though creation was bent by rebellion, he entered it, lived perfectly within it, and died by it. In his willing death at the hands of rebels, he reconciled all rebels and violent enemies back to himself. All oppressors and oppressed have been set free, the price paid by his blood, and peace offered in his new life.

We have been called and redeemed by the highest authority in heaven and earth, the only authority with any power to do so. We have been called and redeemed to serve the only authority in heaven and earth that represents perfect justice, perfect peace, and perfect love.

All of my life of faith is in Jesus, of Jesus, and for Jesus. Anything that is not, is not of my life of faith.

This is far from a feel good sentiment. On the contrary, it is much harder to remain humble enough to recognize Jesus in all I do. The other way is empty legalism and self-righteousness. In recognizing the headship of Jesus, I am made free through his grace. In my own self-righteousness, I will always be bound; I will become a judge of others, and I will be ever aware of how I have not measured up. In recognizing Jesus in all I do, I am reconciled.

Jesus is King. Jesus is God. He made all things. All things exist through him, by him, and for him. It is only in him and for his glory that we live our lives of truth and love. All else is unjust. All else is illegitimate. All else has been overcome.

All glory to Jesus, the one true King.

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Next - Part 2 (of 7) - Do Not Taste, Touch, or Handle - How Free May We Be? - Colossians 2

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v6 – Paul saw so much fruit in his own lifetime.

v13 – This book is all about Jesus.

v16 – He is high King before all and over all.

vv19-20 – Worth memorizing. Beautiful.

v23 – True believers will continue in their faith until the end.

v28 – It is Christ in us that we preach. He is the hope of glory.

v29 – It is Christ in us that empowers us to do his work.

We must obey God rather than men - Acts 5 - Authority, Rebellion, and Resistance

(Click here to read Acts 5)

Acts 5:27-32 (ESV)

27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30  The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

The upside-down authority of the Kingdom of God in the church has brought them before the keepers of the old way once again. The Jesus People have been radically generous with each other, holding all power and wealth loosely, and sharing everything together without coercion or law. In fact, one rich couple who came to the community tried to use their wealth to gain influence by lying about how much of their wealth they had given in the community. They are corrected, told that their contribution had been voluntary and they had no need or right to claim to have given everything when they had only given a portion. No one had demanded their wealth of them. They would not have been given special privilege for having given so much. The community does not even need to discuss recourse for their action. They fall down dead on the spot (Acts 5:1-10).

This is the power and authority of the Kingdom Community. Not one of them needs hold power over another. None manipulate. All serve. None are final judge. God is among them, and God will be their judge.

The evidence of this authority continued to be in the signs and miracles that followed the teaching of the Kingdom. The community was going out into Jerusalem and announcing the radical freedom to everyone. People were being healed and set free. The community was growing every day (Acts 5:12-16).

The keepers of the old order are confronted again when the apostles are miraculously set free from prison. They are arrested for disobeying the command to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. They are locked in prison. The next day the religious leaders are annoyed and humiliated as the apostles are seen once again free from prison and teaching publicly (vv17-25).

Enraged, they brought the apostles back in for questioning.

What a farce. These old guard have no power to do anything but threaten and question. They can lock people away, but Jesus announced the Good News in Luke 4 was for setting the prisoners free. The Jesus People community was healing the sick. They were feeding the poor. Jesus came back from the dead. In the face of an authority that can defeat death, what can the powers of the old world do?

The apostles tell the leaders that they would obey God, not men. The midwives of Egypt refuse to obey Pharaoh of the Egyptian empire when told to kill newborn Israelites (Exodus 1:15-18). Three Jewish young men oppose the King of the Babylonian empire when told to worship him as a God, even when threatened with death (Daniel 3:18).

When we follow the King of kings, no other authority can cause us to fear. The most they can ever do is take our lives, and that only according to the will of the One to whom our lives are forfeit. Our King was the suffering servant and the glorified Lord. We are honoured to follow his example. We are blessed to act in his will. We rejoice in the life of the good and just Kingdom of God.

Acts 5:40-42 (ESV)

40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

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v4 – It wasn’t because of the amount of money, but because of his lie that he was judged. By saying that this was all of it, he brought glory to himself instead of God.

v5 – Second recorded church miracle.

v13 – favour – see 2:47

v20 – set free to minister

v29 – again, their authority came from God alone. They resisted those who rebelled against God.

v31 – Even in arrests and trouble, the gospel was preached.

vv36-37 – revolutions

v41 – They’re happy in their trials – James 1:1-4

(Click here to read Acts 5)

(Next week - The Kingdom of God is Bigger Than You - Acts 6-12 - Introduction to be posted tomorrow)

Good News to the Poor. Liberty to Captives. Freedom for the Oppressed. Sight for the Blind. - Luke 4

(Click here to read Luke 4)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
     to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 
  to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
- Jesus reading from the book of Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19 (ESV)

These are the themes that have been repeated in the first three chapters of Luke so far:

1. The gospel (the Good News about the Kingdom of God) is extended to the outsiders.
2. Justice for the poor (including radical generosity from those who are not poor) is an important part of the gospel and God's New Kingdom.
3. The gospel is practiced by the Holy Spirit filling a person, which also manifests itself in prophesy and power to act according to God's good will.
4. Jesus is fully human, and the Son of God.

All of these themes continue to be vividly and explicitly portrayed in this chapter.

After establishing that Jesus is both fully OF humanity and FOR humanity in the previous chapter and its' geneology, Luke begins chapter 4 by describing Jesus as being (v1) *full* of the Holy Spirit (as Zechariah was when he prophesied in Luke 1:67), and *led* by the Holy Spirit. After being tempted by the devil (Greek for "an adversary"), Jesus returns to his home village in the power of the Holy Spirit. In verse 18, he read from a scroll in the temple that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me", and claims in v22 that this applies to himself.

In the second half of the chapter, we see the clear manifestation of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' life. In verses 32 and 36, Jesus is described by others as having power an authority as he teaches them, casts out a demon, and heals many sick people. His authority and miracles cause the word of his ministry to be passed far beyond his local neighbourhood (v37). At the end of the chapter, Jesus says that he must move on, because his good news about the Kingdom of God is to be preached further than only his hometown and his own family.

This very same filling and demonstration of the Holy Spirit is exactly what happens with Jesus' followers at the beginning of Acts, Luke's second book. Jesus says to his disciples in Acts 1:8,

"...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Just as Jesus walked in the power of the Holy Spirit, and was enabled therefore to act in power and authority, and to spread good news of a new Kingdom to his own town and beyond, so too do the disciples receive authority beyond themselves to demonstrate the Kingdom in the book of Acts.

Immediately after receiving the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, Peter begins boldly preaching about Jesus, just as Jesus begins by preaching in Luke 4 when being full, led, and walking in the Spirit. In Acts chapter 3, the disciples heal a man who cannot walk, just as Jesus heals the sick in Luke 4. In Acts 4:8, Peter speaks boldly to the authorities who arrest and question him for his teaching about Jesus and the Kingdom of God. The passage says that Peter does this "filled with the Holy Spirit". Just as Jesus refuses to be tempted by the worldly power and authority in Luke 4:6-7, the disciples resist the earthly authorities in submission to the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven. Acts 4:13 says that the leaders were amazed at the disciple's boldness, and remarked about their simplicity and lack of education. In Luke 4, people are astonished at Jesus' authority, and remark about his commonness. They know his family. Just as Jesus' message travels far beyond his neighbourhood in his lifetime, the disciples boldly take the message of the Kingdom of God to the heart of the empire. Just as John the Baptist and Jesus before them, they are murdered by the empire for their resistance.

The Holy Spirit inside a person is the seed of the Kingdom of God, this new order that is good news for the poor and the outsider. With it, earthly power and authority are no longer a temptation, and true authority to act according to true life, justice, and wholeness become ours. It is the Holy Spirit that carries the message of the gospel and changes hearts toward the truth.

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Human Jesus in Weakness and Temptation

Before the demonstration of Holy Spirit power at the end of Luke 4, we see Jesus at his weakest as he is tempted by the adversary.

Compare these two verses:

Luke 4:1-4
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were over, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

Deuteronomy 8:2-3
² And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.


Jesus was tempted and tested in exactly the same way as his people, the Israelites, were before him. As Luke has been keen to point out, Jesus was raised a proper Jewish man (example v16 "as was his custom) so he would have known the Torah well. In these temptations, we see that his understanding of and submission to the Hebrew scriptures is exactly how he is able to overcome his temptations.

Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus was hungry. Jesus was tempted to take the controlling and corrupt authority of this world instead of submitting to the just and whole authority of the Kingdom.

Jesus experienced weakness, but he walked in the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Jesus escaped temptation by knowing and speaking the Word of God. We are also able to escape temptation by applying and speaking Truth to our adversary.

Psalm 119:9,11

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure?
    By guarding it according to your word^.
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
    that I might not sin against you.

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After Jesus' bold resistance, he proclaims his intentions and purpose for ministry in Luke 4:18-19, possibly the thesis for Luke's first book.

Jesus reads from a scroll in the temple, and claims it refers to himself.

Luke 4:18-19

¹⁸  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
     to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹  to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”

The gospel is good news for the poor, oppressed, and in prison. God's favour is upon a humanity he is calling back from its corruption toward his Kingdom of Justice and Peace.

The people are amazed. They are his family and neighbours. They watched him grow up. Jesus responds to his people by challenging them that the truth of this gospel for the poor is not for them alone, he reminds them that God is for all people, not just religious insiders. They become so angry that they try to kill him. Jesus does not respond with force, and escapes without violence.

The chapter ends with the first explicit mention of the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus calls his Good News, and he claims that it is for the purpose of sharing this news beyond his inner circle that he was sent.

The Good News is for the poor, for the outsider. The Kingdom of God is a new order, under a new authority that dwells within an individual in the personal presence of the divine Holy Spirit. Jesus shared his life with outsiders and strangers, even at the expense of being rejected by family and religious insiders.

In the Spirit of the Lord, we are able to be as free to do the same. The truth sets us free.

(All verses ESV UK version)