A Fingerpost for Pilgrims

By Robin G. Jordan

When we read Paul’s letters, one of the first things we notice is that Paul clearly saw a need to offer guidance and direction to those to whom he was writing. He did not appear to believe that the people to whom he wrote could live the life of a disciple of Jesus or, in Timothy’s case, pastor a local church, without guidance and direction. He saw himself as having a responsibility to provide this guidance and direction. While God may have chosen them to be holy people as he tells the members of the church at Colossae, they need guidance and direction to help form and shape them into what God has called them to be. This is an important consideration in understanding how Paul viewed God’s choosing of them as a holy people.

At times Paul appears to be saying that God has already given those to whom he is writing a new life and made them holy and therefore all they need do is to live into this new life and this holiness. At times he talks about donning the new life like a garment. What too often happens is that someone interpreting Paul’s letters will focus on what Paul says in one or more passages of his letters while ignoring what he says elsewhere in his letters.

In some passages of his letters Paul appears to be talking about the righteousness that is imputed to us when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. In others he appears to be talking about the holiness that we acquire through the process of sanctification.

Sanctification is a theological term for the process by which the power of the Holy Spirit working in us makes us holy, the process by which we acquire the qualities of character that are pleasing and acceptable to God. It is not something that happens overnight, poof and we are very kind and show a lot of sympathy for others. We are helpful, generous, thoughtful, caring, self-effacing, gentle, and patient. We do not judge other people too severely when they make mistakes. We stop blaming them or being mad at them for something they have done, or we do not punish them for something. It requires our cooperation with the Holy Spirit and guidance and direction to help us develop these qualities of character.

Every day we are faced with choices. Our desires and feelings will tempt us They will make us want to have or do things that are wrong. They may encourage us to assume the worst about someone when we could make allowances for that person’s actions or give them the benefit of the doubt.

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit will urge us to do what is right. The Holy Spirit will prompt us to think about what Jesus taught and what the apostles wrote and to consider what we are about to do in their light. They are the truths and principles by which disciples of Jesus are expected to live.

We may remember what Jesus said about forgiving other people’s failings and not holding their faults and weaknesses against them. We may recall what Paul said about sinning by letting our anger control us. This is one of the ways that we benefit from the guidance and direction that he offered to those to whom he wrote. We may decide to take a different course of action, or we may choose not to act at all.

What Paul is basically telling the members of the church at Colossae in today’s reading, Colossians 3: 12-16, is that they need to pull their socks up and to make an effort to improve their behavior, so they show by their actions, the qualities of their character, and their way of life they are indeed God’s chosen holy people. He then gives them instructions on how to go about doing that. These instructions, while written for the church at Colossae, are applicable to us. Indeed, they are applicable to all who claim to be Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ. They are consistent with what Jesus himself taught and exemplified.

Let’s go down the list.

“…you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” When Paul talking about clothing ourselves, he is not talking about temporarily adopting an attitude, feeling, or behavior and then discarding it when it proves inconvenient. He is talking about internalizing it, absorbing it so that it becomes a part of our character. We are not very kind and show a lot of sympathy for others when we feel like it or when we want to impress someone. We are very kind and show a lot of sympathy for others all of the time. We are helpful, generous, forgiving, self-effacing, gentle, and patient twenty-four seven too.

When we drop our kindness or any of these other qualities when we do not feel like it or when we are not trying to impress someone, then these qualities are not really a part of us, they are just an act, behavior that hides our real feelings or intentions. They may be a part of what psychologists call our public persona, or social image, but they are not a part of our real self. While we may be able to hide our true self from others, we cannot hide it from God.

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” When we make allowances for someone’s actions, decisions, or judgment calls which are wrong or produce a result that is not correct or not intended, we consider their intentions and any extenuating circumstances. We do not think the worst of them. We are not unkind or unsympathetic in our judgment, and we are willing to accept their mistakes or failures. We do not let any biases influence our thinking and cloud our judgment. We do not let our feelings get the better of us or our imaginations to run away with us. We try to be fair and impartial.

When we forgive someone, we let go of the anger and resentment that we may feel toward that person, and we do not hold whatever they did against them. We do not harbor a grudge against them: we do not hold onto any strong feelings of anger and dislike for that person even though they may have treated us badly. We do not bear them ill-will.

“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” Paul is not talking about having warm fuzzy feelings for each other, albeit there is nothing wrong with having feelings of affection for each other. He is talking about behaving in a kind and caring way toward each other, encouraging and supporting each other, being considerate of each other’s feelings, and that sort of thing.

The well-being of our fellow Christians is importance to us, and we show this in the way we behave toward them. Different people will do this in different ways, and we should be careful not to judge someone harshly because they are not doing it the way we think they ought to. We can also think that we are behaving in a loving manner toward someone when we really are not.

For example, accommodating someone's anxiety may not be the best way to help someone who suffers from anxiety. In fact, it can make their anxiety worse since we are lending credence to their fears.

If a particular individual is triggering their anxiety, it may be more helpful for them to talk that person than to avoid them. They may discover that they were misreading the person and do not understand them properly. They may be causing themselves emotional distress for nothing.

“And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.” When the peace that comes from Christ rules in our hearts, we pursue reconciliation with a fellow Christian from whom we have become estranged. We make peace with them.

When we are estranged from someone, we are not friendly toward them, or they are not friendly toward us. We are not communicating with each other.

When Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another, he was by inference commanding us to live peaceably with each other, quietly or peacefully without violence or anger. He was likewise commanding us to resolve any bad feelings and misunderstandings between each other. To this end we must communicate with each other and be open and honest with each other.

“And always be thankful.” An attitude of gratitude toward God, of thankfulness, is an attitude that all Christians need to cultivate. It is an attitude that psychologists tell us is a very healthy attitude to have.

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.” The late Queen Elizabeth, the United Kingdom's longest reigning monarch, let the message and teachings of Christ guide her life and encouraged others to do the same. She took Paul’s words to heart. We can learn from her example.

“Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.” God gives each of us a measure of wisdom--the ability to use our experience, knowledge, and understanding in order to make sensible decisions or judgments. Here Paul is telling us that we should use this wisdom to help each other learn to think, feel, or act in new or different ways and to give advice to each other.

“Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” When we sing, Paul is telling us, we should sing with hearts that are filled with thanksgiving. The words of the song should flow from our hearts, from our deepest feelings and beliefs. This has implications for the kind of songs that we sing to God. They should be songs that give expression to these feelings and beliefs.

“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” This final verse, the last on the list of instructions in today’s reading, brings to mind the last verse of James Quinn’s hymn, “Christ Be Beside Me,” which he adapted from the eighth century St. Patrick’s Breastplate:

“Christ be in all hearts thinking about me,
Christ be on all tongues telling of me.
Christ be the vision in eyes that see me,
in ears that hear me Christ ever be.”

Our actions and our words should so closely reflect our Lord’s that people do not see us or hear us. They see and hear him.

Paul goes on to tell us that whenever we give thanks to God, we should give thanks to the Father through the Son, through Jesus. He is the only Mediator we need with God. He intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. While we represent Jesus to other people, Jesus represents us to the Father.

In giving these instructions to the church at Colossae and to us, Paul is not only offering guidance and direction to a group of believers but also to the individual believers who form that group. If local churches, the whole congregation and individual members, took Paul’s words in today’s reading with more seriousness, I believe that they would be in better shape than they are. They would have more influence in their community. The “world outside” as Anglican priest, author, and hymn writer Percy Dearmer described the people who do not attend a church, is not blind to the difference between what we profess to believe and what we actually do.

One of the reasons that young people are leaving our churches and joining the ranks of the Nones, those who have no religious affiliation, is our failure to practice what we profess to believe.

I also believe that if we took Paul’s words more seriously, fewer people would be wounded by the church. People would receive better treatment than they have and their stories and not the stories of having met with coldness, disapproval, and unkindness would be stories the world outside would be hearing. It only takes a few of the stories of how a church mistreats people to circulate and the church will acquire a bad reputation. People who do attend church will shy away from the church and seek a friendlier, more welcoming, kinder church. The church itself may never realize or understand what is happening. Sadly, it may not care.
When we accept the Lord Jesus’ call to become his disciple, we begin a new life, the life of a follower of Jesus. It will be a life that is different from one that we have been leading. We adopt new attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. Through them we show that we are indeed one of his people, a sheep of his flock.

Beginning this new life can be compared to starting out on a journey. There will be fingerposts along the way to show us the right path. For those who are not familiar with old-fashioned fingerposts, they are posts with a sign, often shaped like a finger or hand, indicating a direction. The fingerposts that guide disciples of Jesus are the truths and principles which are found in Scripture, or which can be proved from Scripture. Today’s reading is one such fingerpost. It points us in the direction that we need to go and not lose our way.

We can dawdle or we can stride boldly forward. Dragging our feet may be an old habit of which we need to rid ourselves on this journey. It can arrest our development as a follower of Jesus.

We may discover additional obstacles on the journey. These obstacles may hinder us and make it difficult for us to move forward. They may impede our growth in the qualities of character which are a must for a disciple of Jesus. They may keep us from living in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to God.

We may be quick to find fault with others and to form a negative opinion of them. When a problem arises or a mistake is made, it is always someone else’ fault and never ours. We do not take ownership of our part in the problem or mistake. We may not honest with others or ourselves. We may have little or no control over our feelings and do the things that our feelings make us want to do. We may have too cynical view of other people and the world and question people’s motives. These are just a few of the obstacles that we may encounter on the journey.

To overcome such obstacles requires that we understand not only ourselves but also others. It requires a willingness to communicate with others and to be honest and open with them. It requires listening to them, not dismissing what they say, and putting ourselves in their shoes. It requires letting go of our biases, the negative feelings and opinions that we have acquired.

We do not undertake this journey alone. God has not only given us companions for the journey in the form of our fellow Christians, but God also accompanies us on the journey in the person of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s grace, the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, that enables us to make the journey. It is God’s grace that enables us to complete it.

We cannot complete the journey in our own strength no matter how independent and self-sufficient we see ourselves. We are a part of a company of pilgrims and the Holy Spirit not only works in us but also through the members of that company. This is one of the reasons why Paul stresses the importance of good relations between the members of the local church in today’s reading as well as the use of the wisdom God has given us in teaching and counseling each other. As he wrote the church in Corinth, one organ of the human body cannot say to another, “I don’t need you,” and likewise one part of the body of Christ cannot say to another part of that body, “I don’t need you.” We need each other. We may not think we do but we do. It may be tempting to let our negative feelings and opinions come between us and our fellow pilgrims and ascribe the blame for any difficulties to them. Both Jesus and Paul, however, tell us that is not the right path to take. If we do, we are ignoring the fingerposts and straying from the way. The right path to take is the path of reconciliation and peace.

“Always be thankful,” Paul tells us in today’s reading. And so we should: thankful for the fingerposts that God has given us to guide us on our way; thankful for our companions on the journey; thankful for every blessing God has bestowed upon us, great and small; thankful most of all for the love that he has shown us in his Son, Jesus, the shepherd and keeper of our souls. To him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light to make known his goodness, to him be all glory and honor for ever and ever. Amen.