Here’s a four-part sermon series from Moo on the book:

1. Part One – Col 1:3-14 — Douglas Moo gives a broad overview of the book of Colossians of how they were trying to fit Christ into the worldview they’d already adopted. He homes on some key thoughts in the book, such as bearing fruit and growing and God’s rescue and redemption, like that in Exodus.



2. Part Two – Col 1:15-20 — This section of Colossians celebrates the supremacy of Christ in creation and the new creation. All you could possibly know about God is found in Christ. He is not some “blurry, impressionistic view” of God but the exact image of the Father.
3. Part Three – Col 1:21-23; 2:6-15 — The message of Colossians is that you don’t need to go running after spiritual truth in other places in the “religious marketplace” outside of Christ. What is a life lived in Christ look like? It’s rooted in Him, built up in Him, strengthened in Him, and full in Him.
4. Part Four – Col 2:6-23 — Doug tackles the difficulties surrounding the text concerning baptism and seeks to understand it in its context in the chapter. Baptism is a “last act of conversion” where it is more or less a “sealing” upon our conversion. “Your Christian life needs to be directed by the transforming work of the Spirit within,” he underscores, “creating the mind of Christ in you, leading you to live a life that pleases Him and honors Him.

I think the answer is obvious but this question begs another!

Would someone who trusts in Jesus words, the red letters, celebrate such a union?

Well the second question is kind of a trick question. If you are a real red letter Christian, I don’t think you would support such a union. However, if you are Jim Wallis (a different kind of red letter Christian), it looks like you very well might.

As it turns out, Jim Wallis has spoken several times at a church that will unite (in covenant) homosexual couples. Yet Mr. Wallis claims to be a red letter Christian.

Mr. Wallis is part of a group calling themselves “Red Letter Christians” who make the following claim:

The Red Letter Christians are a network of effective, progressive, Christian communicators urging an open, honest and public dialogue on issues of faith and politics. We believe and seek to put in to action the red letter words in the Holy Bible spoken by Jesus. The goal of the group is to advance the message that our faith cannot be reduced to only two hot button social issues – abortion and homosexuality. Fighting poverty, caring for the environment, advancing peace, promoting strong families, and supporting a consistent ethic of life are all critical moral and biblical values.

Wallis is joined by a whos who of emergent/contemplative/mystical/ecumenical/heretical types:

• Tony Campolo
• Shane Claiborne
• Tony Jones
• Brian McLaren
• Fr. Richard Rohr

So, the next time you see these names, you may want to think twice about buying their books, CDs, DVDs, etc.

Related Links:

Pomp and People Power (by Jim Wallis)

Jim Wallis to Speak at Wheaton College Feb 19

… the telltale evidence (not the cause) of one’s election is holiness. Harold Ockenga, pastor of Park Street Church and founding president of Fuller Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Seminary, put it in no uncertain terms:

If God has elected us He has not elected us to remain sinners but to become holy. It is an anomaly or an error to speak of the elect living in sin. God never chose us to continue in sin. We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Therefore, the test of our election is the holiness of our lives. Christ “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” We out not to delude ourselves into believing that we belong to the elect of God if we are not living holy lives before Him. . . . The proof of this is that we become holy, that we approximate the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus John was able to say, “Whosoever sinneth hath not see him, neither know him. . . . He that committeth sin is of the devil. . . . Wosoever is born of God doth not commit [practice] sin.”

If your life is characterized by a pattern of conscious sin, you very likely are not a Christian.