Denver Community Church

June 7, 2009: Legalism – Jon Gettings

May 31, 2009: Finding a Metaphor – Michael Hidalgo

So often we want to draw a line between sacred and secular, between the world and the church, between evil and good. The list could go on. Paul wrote about the danger of the hollow and deceptive philosophy that was plaguing the church in Colossae. He reminds them that it is in Christ, that we find the fullness of God … rather than the gaping holes of human tradition. 

 

Then Paul tells the church – “and you can partake in the presence of God in this world.” He is using the picture of embodiment as an alternative to the prevailing deceptive philosophies that are all around. He is telling them that they must live rooted in a biblical vision of life as we attempt to discern a path forward. 

This is easier said than done. We are to live out Christ in our contemporary world in a way that makes sense to our culture. This calls for “double immersion.” Being immersed in our culture and in the text so that we can find analogies and current images and ideas that reflect Christ’s death in a compelling way. 

May 24, 2009: Flexible and Firm – Michael Hidalgo

Paul employs two complimentary images here. He speaks of something firm – rooted and established. And then speaks about something messy – overflowing. I have the picture of milk being dumped out of a pitcher, or water pouring over the top of a tub. One is steady the other is unpredictable. One is stable the other is adaptable. This is the beauty of the Christian life. We are called to be a people who are rooted in Christ. Yet we are also encouraged to be people who overflow with thankfulness. 

Paul is in the midst of an argument on behalf of truth – and he introduces these images. This is the joy of the Christian life. Is continually renewing what it looks like in our day. Reimagining this in our time. Rooted in the past (Christ) and expressing him in the present.

May 17, 2009: Living the Truth – Michael Hidalgo

There are significant questions being asked in our world today about “absolute truth.” Some would say that there is no absolute truth – to which others ask, “Can I believe this absolutely?” What is interesting is that Paul moves toward the idea of truth in a unique way that speaks volumes toward a truth-starved world. In response to “fine sounding arguments” Paul’s hope is that the church would “they may be encouraged in heart and united in love.” This is so they would gain understanding. He does not want them to learn counter fine sounding arguments – he simply wants them to live out the truth, which in many ways calls for a deeper understanding.

May 10, 2009: Immigration – Danny Carroll

God instructs his people to always welcome the stranger, the alien, and the foreigner. He never specifies what kind of process these people would have to go through for this to happen. He simply says that this is what is supposed to happen. What does it mean for the church to welcome the “stranger in our gate.”

May 3, 2009: All Grown Up – Michael Hidalgo

Why does Paul want people to become mature in Christ? What does this mean exactly. So often we see people who are “all grown up” and let’s just be honest, it looks boring, tiring, and much too routine to be something, that as Paul says, “I strenuously contend.” Besides, does Paul really think that there is an end in sight? When is someone “mature”? It seems as if he is speaking of a destination, a final point, not a journey.

April 26, 2009: Peace Through Pain – Michael Hidalgo

Paul begins to speak about the suffering that he is enduring on behalf of the church. He then says that he is rejoicing in it. Which raises a lot of questions. Why is he happy to be hurting so much? He seems to point to the fact that the pain is worth the mystery of the church. This causes us to ask a follow up question. Just what is the mystery of the church and why is it great enough to suffer for it? (p 227 CRmxed)

April 19, 2009: Rebuild, Restore, Renew – Michael Hidalgo

In the words preceding this passage Paul speaks about the Church being “Christ’s Body.” Here he speaks about reconciliation happening through the physical body of Christ. This reconciliation is about the suffering that Jesus went through on the cross to present us free from accusation. What role then is the church to play in this? Surely we cannot, like Christ, “die for the sins of the world,” for we know this happened once for all time. 

But the link cannot be missed. Reconciliation comes through Christ’s body – and we are the body of Christ. We will raise the question then – “What role do we, the Church, play in leading others toward reconciliation?” Paul speaks about this being a “hope held out in the gospel.” He has even become a slave to this. 

April 12, 2009: All Things New – Michael Hidalgo

Easter is a big deal in most places. But why? Why is it important that Jesus rose from the dead? There are a lot of spiritual leaders who are dead that people still follow. This sounds cynical – and it is – but for many we celebrate the empty tomb and are happy that death has been defeated. But what sucks about this is that funeral homes are still a booming business. People are still dying – so if Jesus defeated death why are good people still dying? We talk about the promise of living after death which is an odd thing – one must die to get a promise?

The viewpoint of the Gospel writers seems a lot more hopeful. Their focus is about what is new. They reveal – as does Paul – the new creation, the new world, the new reality, the new gospel that Jesus brings. That his resurrection is a joy because all that was is no longer for those in his Kingdom. We can face down sin and death and all their friends with the hope of an empty tomb – not because we will one day escape it all – but because we have been empowered to bring it here now.

April 5, 2009: This is Yours, But I'll Take It; Give It Up, Part 6 – Michael Hidalgo

When Jesus went to the cross he was indeed acting as a sacrifice for the world. However, in this death there was a symbolic act that he underwent for the people of Israel. “On the cross it becomes clear that Israel’s real problem is not external merely, but internal also; he shares the ultimate form of her political and social predicament and hence reveals, in his last great symbolic act, that the nationalist rebellion whose bloody logical outcome he now shared was something for which Israel was being judged by God, and from which she needed to be saved—by him.

Hence, the irony; claiming to represent Israel, he is cast out by those who themselves claim to represent Israel; in urging Israel to forswear rebellion, he is himself executed as a rebel by the Romans. The death he dies is Israel’s death, and the pattern of healings and welcomes which make up so much of the gospel narratives indicates the motive: he dies Israel’s death in order that Israel may not die it. He takes the wrath of Rome upon himself so that, in his vindication, Israel may find herself brought through the judgment and into the true Kingdom, may see at last the way to life and follow it while there is yet time.”

The focus at the end of this series :: In every act then – when we give/sacrifice we look like Jesus.