In the first two chapters Paul
is dealing with many problems in the Colossian Church including
Legalism, Mysticism and Asceticism. Paul instructs the Colossians that
Christ is Preeminent in all things and because of our identification
with Christ’s Death, Burial and Resurrection we are to live Resurrection
lives.
1. The Resurrection Life Desires Heaven
2. The Resurrection Life Is Dead to the Flesh
3. The Resurrection Life Is a New Life
4. The Resurrection Life Can Only Be Lived in the Spirit
A Sack Full of Sparrows
Paul Harvey once
told of a little boy, whom doting parents had spoiled into a brat. The
boy carried with him a sack, and in the sack there was a most pitiful
kind of stirring. He had captured some tiny birds. The sound of
imprisoned wing-beats slapped hopelessly at the heavy manila walls. A
pitiful chirping now and then issued from the little paper prison that
he swung at his side. He met an old man as he walked along.
“Whatcha got in that sack?” asked the old man.
“I got a sack full of sparrows!” said the little boy.
“What are you going to do with them?” asked the old man.
“I’m
going to take them out of the sack, one by one, and tease them—pull a
feather out now and then, and then I’ll release them to the cat for his
dinner.”
“How much would you sell the whole sack for?” asked the old man.
The
little boy thought a moment and decided that he should put a lot of
capital on the venture and dicker down if he had to, so he threw out the
figure: “I’ll take two dollars for the sack!”
“Done,” said the
old man; and he reached in his pocket, pulled out the two dollars, and
gave them to the lad. The lad then handed him the sack. The old man held
it far more kindly than the reckless youngster had.
In a moment
he untwisted the coiled paper neck of the bag and pulled it open. In but
a little bit, the sky connected brilliantly with the open inside of the
bag and the birds were gone.
And so it happened one day that God
met Lucifer with a huge bag. Inside the bag were the most hopeless
sounds of life struggling to be free—the sounds of young and old alike
wailing in pain.
“What have you got in the bag?” asked the Father.
“People,” smirked Lucifer.
“And what will you do with them?”
“I will torment them one by one, and when they are all worn out with trials, I will throw them into hell.”
“And what will you take for all of them?”
“Your only Beloved.”
“Done!” said the Father. And He reached down to earth and gave us the gift of His Son.
And in such a happy trade-off we come to hold the key to the resurrection and the life.