Tell Out My Soul

Colossians 3:1-11

In today’s reading from Colossians, Paul is telling us that because we have been raised with Christ, then we also have a new life in Christ. We’re not to seek the things of the earth, but to set our minds on the things that are above, and we’re to put away anger, malice, and bad behaviour. Paul says, “You have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.” In Jesus not only are we renewed, we’re also transformed.There is a life that is lived before we embrace Jesus, and there is life lived after we accept Jesus, and this is the new life that Paul talks about. When we accept Jesus in faith and trust, we are changed people.

In nature, the profound change that a caterpillar undergoes when it becomes a butterfly is called metamorphosis. My all time favourite joke goes like this: two caterpillars are walking along together on the forest floor. Suddenly a big, beautiful butterfly flutters by overhead. One caterpillar turns to the other one and says, “No way, you’ll never get me up in one of those things.” A Caterpillar changes into butterfly… whether it likes it or not. And these changes are so amazing; metamorphosis is fascinating.

A butterfly is an insect, and insects are categorised by having an external skeleton, segmented bodies in three distinct parts, the head the thorax and abdomen, and they have six legs. Most of the time they have wings too. But what about the caterpillar? it’s the same creature as the butterfly, just at a different stage of its life. But anatomically it’s so very different, it breaks the rules. Okay it’s got six proper legs like an insect, but it also has all these other smaller legs, and if you look at its body it’s like a long flexible tube, it’s hard to make out the different body segments. And the big difference is that they don’t have the wings that a butterfly has. And not only does the caterpillar take on a new shape, its behaviour changes too, it’s a whole new way of being. Of course we know that caterpillars turn into butterflies but imagine if we didn’t know; if we hadn’t seen the metamorphosis happen, if we didn’t see the cocoon being made and the butterfly coming out with our own eyes, we wouldn’t believe it.

The changes are so massive. And new life in Jesus is just as massive a change as metamorphosis is for a caterpillar. The caterpillar reaches a stage where it can’t go around being caterpillar anymore, it needs to go on to the next part of its life. Being transformed in Christ means that we’re able to go on to the next stage in our lives. We strip away and shed what doesn’t work for us anymore, and we take on what does work for us, we take on the things that make it all happen for us as followers of Jesus.

The caterpillar eats eats eats, that’s its function, that’s all it does. The butterfly stage on the other hand is about creating new life, it flutters its gorgeous wings around saying, “here I am”, eventually it produces eggs and brings more butterflies into the world. Two totally different functions. And that’s not the only thing, it goes from eating plants to sipping nectar, it goes from a plant consumer to a plant pollinator. New life in Christ means that we too are changed, just like the caterpillar; we go from an unthinking stage of blind consumption to a stage of connection and growth. Being renewed in Jesus means that we are not just taking, but instead we’re giving back.

Without Christ, we’re just using things up, for material gain, for our own personal satisfaction, for pride or ego, or because that’s what society wants, or for all those reasons that we do things when God is not present in our lives. But when we belong to Jesus, it changes our nature; Paul changed, Peter and the apostles changed. It can’t be ignored, just like nature drives the caterpillar to start making that cocoon, so the reality of the Cross of Christ and his resurrection drive us to undergo that spiritual change that transforms our lives.

Paul tells the Colossians that because they are renewed in Jesus, they need to put away anger, wrath and malice. My grandmother was a very saintly woman. An abiding memory I have of my grandmother was her serenity. In all the years that I knew her, I never ever saw her angry. I never heard her say a cross word. My mum told me the story of when I was very little; she was out at work and my grandmother was taking care of me. I decided to draw all over a wardrobe, and my grandmother, true to her nature, didn’t get mad at all, she just let me go ahead and do it (I loved drawing). I figure that she thought, oh well the mess was made and why spoil my fun. When Mum saw the wardrobe she was very cross with my grandmother, and it was my grandmother who got into trouble that day.

Sometimes we stay in the cocoon for a long time before emerging and then we regret the fact that we just didn’t bust out sooner, because life as a butterfly is so much more beautiful, enchanting, exhilarating even. Now we’re flying, not earthbound anymore, not heads down munching our way through life doing stuff just because we don’t know any better, or because we don’t know the wonder, awe and majesty of letting that old self go.
And there’s satisfaction in this renewed state of being. The word satisfy comes from the Latin word satis which means enough. If you’ve ever watched a caterpillar chewing on a leaf, it’s like an eating machine, and we see the damage they can do to a plant in such a short time. In the caterpillar stage of a person’s life there’s never enough, not enough food, not enough possessions, not enough friends or social life, people just want more more more. It is difficult to be satisfied, to say enough is enough. We find that when we have Jesus though, it’s a different story; we have all we need. I’m totally dumbfounded when I read about the huge wealth accumulated by some people. According to Forbes magazine, the richest man in the world right now has 5.8 billion dollars. I can’t even get my head around that number. At which point does someone say, well, I think that’s enough? I read a quote not that long ago that said:
If you chase Jesus as hard as you chase the things you think you want, you will end up with more than you’ll ever need.
So many people are hankering after false idols, earthly wealth and prestige, and all their time and effort goes into acquiring these things; it consumes them, sometimes it obsesses them. Paul says that greed is a form of idolatry, and Psalm 134 comes down hard on idols, it says:
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not,they have eyes but they see not, they have ears but they hear not, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Like them be those who make them! Yea every one who trusts in them!
In the Gospels Jesus warns us against storing up our treasures on earth; he said, “for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” Our hearts belong to God.
There will never be enough, unless we have our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. Then we can rest with what we have, and each day in which we can worship him is a blessing. That’s all we need, and that’s all he wants. He wants our hearts and souls, and in return, he gives us his whole self. Jesus said to the disciples, “Ask whatever you want in my name, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.” But the disciples didn’t ask for wealth, or property or anything like that, I’m sure that all they would have asked for was to serve the Lord. In God’s love lies total satisfaction, total fulfillment, total joy. Paul tells us in Colossians 2:10 that “In Christ you have been brought to fullness.”

We’ve been told, not to sweat the small stuff. Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow, because every single day has its challenges. He said to seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness. How does an overdue phone bill or a flat tire, weigh up against eternity, the kingdom of God, or Jesus’ great love. When we dwell on these wondrous things, it’s amazing how quickly everything gets put into perspective. When we’re deep in prayer we’re not thinking of other things, we are so caught up in our relationship with Jesus that everything else just melts away. This is what Jesus reminded us of when he talked about the lillies of the field, or when he told the rich young man to sell everything and follow him. It’s a new perspective and a new life, all one’s priorities take a major shift.

Everything, not just our attitude to money or possessions, changes; a new life in Christ involves every single waking minute of our lives. What if you’re running late for an appointment, but you encounter a friend who wants to get something of their chest, something that’s burdening them, do you say, “Sorry can’t stay” and rush off to the appointment? No, you stop and chat, these other things can wait, because you’re a friend, because you see Jesus in your friend… Christ is in all, as Paul says.

Another way that Christians are similar to butterflies is that when a caterpillar changes to a butterfly it suddenly becomes noticeable. Caterpillars blend into the background, they don’t want to be eaten, often their colours match their surroundings. But then when they pop out of the cocoon, they’re dazzling, they’re bright and beautiful, the colours and patterns on their gorgeous wings makes them stand out. Of course this makes them vulnerable to predators, but it’s what they’re meant to be. It’s the price that they pay. And it’s the same with the renewal we experience as Christians. People notice this difference. We don’t feel the same, we don’t act the same, our motivations aren’t the same. Sometimes we don’t even look the same. When people give themselves to Jesus, they don’t have that stressed look on their faces, there’s a calmness there, a peace that comes from Jesus, there’s also a light, a joyfulness that radiates out to others. And when a person is like this, it’s impossible to blend into the crowd, they’re not invisible anymore. Suddenly they’re attractive to others, their calm, their faith, their gentleness, their caring, all of this cannot be hidden and it draws people to them. People around take notice, just like they are amazed and attracted by the beauty of a butterfly’s wings.

In the last issue of New Times, Rev Phil Gardner’s message talked about Jesus breathing on the disciples saying, receive the Holy Spirit, and that the spirit of new life breathed into our lives is the spirit of Jesus. Rev Phil echoes Paul when he writes, “The spirit is at work in our lives forming, conforming and transforming us into the likeness of Jesus: growing in us love and joy, peace and patience, calling us into the way of Jesus.” May we all continue to live the renewed life, as we walk in the way of our Lord.

Amen