Posted: 11/14/03

Messengers dialogue face-to-face with BGCT officers in breakout

By Russ Dilday

Buckner News Service

LUBBOCK–Officers of the Baptist General Convention of Texas fielded an array of questions during an open forum at the BGCT annual session in Lubbock Nov. 10.

The dialogue with convention officers was one of more than 60 breakout sessions offered at this year's meeting. The forum, which attracted nearly 120 participants, included both outgoing and newly elected BGCT leadership.

One participant asked if future BGCT planning included “sending our own foreign missionaries.” BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade answered that the new missions support entity of the BGCT, WorldconneX, “does not see itself as a missions-sending agency. We have taken the position of encouraging churches to do missions and not compete with other agencies.”

Another asked why the BGCT was reaching outside Texas with missions dollars and not using SBC agencies to do missions work. Brian Harbour, outgoing chairman of the BGCT Executive Board, explained missions partnerships are facilitated at the request of churches and international entities.

One participant focused on recent disputes at Baylor University by asking, “Why are we renominating someone to the regents who, from what I've read, has caused so much trouble at Baylor?” That was a reference to regent Jaclanel McFarland of Houston, who was investigated by fellow regents after charges of misconduct surfaced although no evidence was found to substantiate those charges.

Outgoing BGCT President Bob Campbell emphasized the inherent freedom in the BGCT nominating process. “We do not stifle dissent because someone won't go along,” he said. “I know (Baylor President) Robert Sloan and I know Jaclanel McFarland, and they can settle their differences as adults.”

Two others urged the convention leaders to promote the Baptist Standard, either by providing subscriptions for every Texas Baptist household or encouraging churches to include the subscriptions in their church budgets.

Another participant asked: “How is the lowered budget affecting the BGCT?”

Newly elected BGCT President Ken Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences, said the “reality of lowered giving has been in the people not being served through BGCT ministries.”

Using Buckner as an example, Hall noted that during the peak years of BGCT Cooperative Program giving, “We were receiving about $930,000. This coming year, if the budget is met, that contribution is about $730,000. For us to take care of an abused or neglected child, the average cost is about $30,000 annually. That means fewer children cared for, and that's just one institution.

“When dollars are reduced to the BGCT, you are directly reducing value to those Texas Baptists serve,” he said.

Another question: “Will we pull out of the SBC?”

“None of the leadership is planning on withdrawing from the Southern Baptist Convention,” Campbell replied. “As long as your church sends money to the SBC to pass along through the BGCT Cooperative Program, we're going to do that.”

Another participant asked how many churches in Texas are dually aligned with the BGCT and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

“We think it's right at 300 right now,” Wade said. “The other convention has, I think, 1,300 churches. We have 5,700, and about 300 are doubly counted or dually aligned. We've lost right at 750 churches that have gone uniquely aligned (with the SBTC). Last year, we lost about 75 churches and started 264 new churches. The future is reaching out to new people who haven't been reached.”

Other questions revolved around the relationship between the BGCT and SBTC and SBC. One pastor said, “I feel like a child of a bad divorce.”

Wade responded: “I didn't ask for this fight. I didn't ask for the missionaries to be told they had to sign stuff or they would be removed from the field. I didn't ask for a new confession of faith designed to push people away. I was always happy for people to be in the SBC and BGCT who didn't agree with me.

“If you're going to use the divorce analogy,” he said, “know that we didn't want anybody to leave, but we couldn't make them stay. We had to stand up and say, 'Here is who Baptists are' or we were going to lose that.”

The dialogue with convention officers was one of more than 60 breakout sessions offered at this year's meeting.

Posted: 11/14/03

BGCT session: Parenting education bootcamp

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

LUBBOCK–Successful parenting experiences hinge primarily on several key principles, according to leaders of a “Parenting Education Bootcamp” held in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas' annual session in Lubbock.

Lane Powell, assistant chairwoman of the human development and family studies department at Texas Tech University, and her husband, Bob Powell, supervisor of the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock, presented practical tips for successful parenting using five key principles.

Parent education in churches should be an ongoing effort rather than simply an occasional weekend retreat, she said, arguing that most parenting principles can be incorporated into the church's regular programs with ease.

The first principle is to emphasize strong marital relationships. Mrs. Powell encouraged churches to make marriage enrichment activities a regular part of their scheduling to build a solid foundation for healthy parenting.

The church should help couples spend time in dialogue about issues affecting their marriage, including their own past experiences with family dynamics and their strengths and weaknesses, specifically in child rearing, she said.

“Different parents have different skills with different ages of children,” her husband added. “For many people, the only school they've received on parenting is their family of origin. That's all they know.”

Second, the Powells urged parents to focus more on affirmation and encouragement in relational interaction. “If we turn our attitude around to one that's more positive, we'll come out ahead in parenting,” Mrs. Powell said. “We often push children away from us by being too rigid in our expectations.”

Their third principle for successful parenting is to understand the developmental stages of children when responding to or guiding their behaviors. Realize the child's limitations and react accordingly, with sensitivity to the child's individual needs, they counseled.

Fourth, the Powells encouraged parents to move away from the trend in today's society to do everything for children, instead providing opportunities for everyone to take responsibility for significant tasks.

The final principle is to establish appropriate and flexible structure and boundaries in relation to the child's development stage. Although boundaries commonly manifest in punishment, the couple urged workshop participants to think of boundaries more as healthy structures in which to grow and mature into healthy adults.

Posted: 11/14/03

Assembly of God puppetmaker lends a hand at Baptist convention

By Craig Bird

Texas Baptist Communications

LUBBOCK–When it seems there is no way, God will make a way. And sometimes God will make a puppet–or at least send a puppet maker.

At least, that's the way Kelli Watson sees it.

Which is why the Plainview woman showed up at the BGCT annual session in Lubbock, even though she attends an Assembly of God church. She grew up in a Baptist church and graduated from Wayland Baptist University.

When lingering health problems prevented Watson from going on a mission trip to Haiti last summer, she sent four surrogates in her place. Unlike the rest of the volunteers, the puppets Watson handcrafted all stayed behind to continue helping Mission of Hope share the gospel with children in a town just outside Port Au Prince.

Kelli Watson and a friend from her church show off some of the puppets Watson makes for use in churches and in missions settings. The puppets feature unrealistic skin colors as a means to make them cross racial boundaries.

“I'm kind of a child of puppet ministry. My youth group really got into it … in the 1980s,” she said. “And I kept doing puppets until a few years ago when I got rheumatoid arthritis in my wrists. Even then, I really missed it.”

An article about a missionary in Vietnam who was allowed to witness in schools through puppets planted the idea that she might could buy puppets for other missionaries to use.

But she was shocked to learn how expensive puppets are. So when her daughter asked her if she would make a puppet for the trip to Haiti, inspiration matched up with motivation. “It took me about four days to work out the design and pattern for the first one. Now it takes me about three hours to make one.”

She uses donated material whenever possible–“giving new life to all those double knit scraps your grandmother has in her closet,” she said.

Those fabric scraps also impact the look of the puppets.

“I was looking for something that could be used with all cultures and ethnic groups, so my puppets don't have skin tones,” she said. “I tend to give them blue skins whenever I can.”

It was her dream to send puppets to mission fields around the world that landed her in Lubbock.

“I called, and there was no exhibit space available, but the BGCT folks said I should just come down and see who I could meet.”

She offers puppets free to missionaries upon request and will sell to churches and individuals at significantly below standard retail rates. All the proceeds from her church sales go to pay shipping costs for missionaries and to buy more supplies.

Watson may be contacted through e-mail at watsons@nts-online.net.

Posted: 11/14/03

Texas WMU executive board reports affirm core values

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

LUBBOCK–Texas Baptists' desire for more hands-on missions opportunities is a core objective of Texas Woman's Missionary Union, according to the organization's executive director. And it's a desire the new WorldconneX network holds the promise of helping them fulfill, she added.

The Texas WMU board of directors heard reports affirming the mission organization's core objectives during its Nov. 8 meeting in Lubbock. In her report to the board, Executive Director Carolyn Porterfield shared her excitement at seeing WMU's guiding objectives being met across the state.

“We reaffirmed our core values–the lordship of Christ, the Bible, prayer, personal involvement with missions and mission education,” Porterfield said.

Four guiding objectives–providing mission opportunities, providing missions education, developing missions leadership and promoting missions support–constantly provide challenges and rewards across the state and around the world, she added.

Providing missions education through multiple methods of delivery is challenging, given the various languages needed, she reported. But technology is making those avenues easier, she added, touting four websites supported by Texas WMU that help provide missions education and resources in multiple languages.

Raising funds to support mission endeavors remains a challenge as well, she said.

The new WorldconneX missions network will help make some of these objectives easier to meet by connecting resources with needs worldwide, Porterfield predicted.

The board approved a recommendation from the Hispanic WMU Fellowship to form a partnership with Baptist women in Mexico, specifically in support of a retirement home supported solely by that country's WMU.

In other business, the WMU board approved three new area directors–Kay Stiles of Wheeler, Lois Robinette of Ennis and Yvonne Fansler of League City. A motion from the executive committee to amend the bylaws to include a board member from the Christian Women's Job Corps Advisory Council was approved as well. The board also recognized outgoing board members Earl Ann Bumpus of Mineral Wells and Deborah Henke of Fredericksburg.

Posted: 11/14/03

Worship should unite, professor says

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

LUBBOCK–Successful worship requires churches to rethink their focus, their schedule and their communities of believers, according to a Texas Baptist educator.

Clell Wright, chairman of the church music department at Hardin-Simmons University, led a workshop on “Rethinking Blended Worship” during the Baptist General Convention of Texas' annual session in Lubbock.

He encouraged participants to approach worship as an avenue to celebrate diversity in the church as a global community: “Worship, the adoration and praise of God our Father, should be the one thing in our churches that unites us, but it has been a dividing wedge.”

Hardin-Simmons professor Clell Wright discusses how to make blended worship a unifying force rather than a divisive force.

Wright advocated three areas of rethinking for churches concerning worship.

The first is in the worship focus.

“We've tried to meet everyone's needs, and we often look at whether worship is successful because of what we get out of it,” he noted. “But worship is not about us or how it makes us feel; it is entirely about honoring God.”

Churches often become bogged down in a set order of service that does not always draw the congregation into worship, he warned. A service using music and Scripture to bring worshippers into a time of increasing introspection and confession helps set the tone for the sermon and encourage a worshipful service, he suggested.

Embracing the diversity of the global community of believers means often incorporating worship songs from other countries, noting that when congregations worship, their voices are joining with those who have gone before and those who will follow in a collective worship voice, the professor said.

Using a sample worship service from Logsdon School of Theology in Abilene, Wright presented examples of blending traditional and contemporary songs together for worship segments. For example, the traditional hymn “How Great Thou Art” was paired with the more contemporary “I Exalt Thee” because the two share a similar idea and complement one another, allowing for a continuation and flow of ideas in worship.

Posted: 11/14/03

Baptist Briefs

LifeWay looks to 'Left Behind.' LifeWay Christian Resources is partnering with creators of the popular "Left Behind" series to help individuals and churches use the apocalyptic thrillers as tools to share the gospel. The evangelistic strategy, called "Share Eternity with Someone Today," is available to download for free at LifeWay.com. The website-based campaign, which runs through December, is aimed at equipping readers of the "Left Behind" fiction series to use the novels as discussion starters for sharing their faith in Christ.

Posted: 11/14/03

Buckner urgently needs help to process shoes

Officials with Buckner Orphan Care International have issued an urgent plea for volunteers to sort and prepare thousands of donated shoes for shipment to children around the world.

Boxes and boxes of donated shoes are stacked high and deep in Buckner's Dallas warehouse. Volunteers of all ages are needed to help sort and repack the shoes for shipment to children around the world.

The plea comes amid a record outpouring of shoes donated to Shoes for Orphan Souls from all 50 states. Nearly 220,000 pairs of new shoes and thousands of pairs of socks have flooded into Buckner's warehouses in Dallas, according to Jeff Jones, director of program development.

While Buckner has managed to ship shoes to places in the world where cold weather is beginning to set in, Jones said he is desperate to complete the job of sorting thousands of shoes that have arrived since July.

“We're in desperate need for volunteers to process these shoes,” he said. “We're now set up in our new warehouse, and we probably still have about 100,000 pairs of shoes needing to be processed.”

Sorting shoes is a “perfect volunteer opportunity for families, friends, Sunday School classes, church groups, civic organizations, high school groups, just about anyone,” he said.

Anyone interested in helping may contact Carla Robertson at (469) 877-4504 or Andrew Knight at (214) 914-1676.

Posted: 11/14/03

Posted: 11/14/03

ANOTHER VIEW:
Proposed amendment would 'trump' federal courts

By Tom Edwards

The U.S. Constitution says, “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress” (Article 1, Section 1).

But the Constitution has been amended to state, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (First Amendment) and, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (Tenth Amendment).

The recent Pledge of Allegiance and Ten Commandments rulings present a wonderful opportunity to turn bad into good.

Despite the public outcry, the decisions are ones that lower federal courts, following the Supreme Court–exercising legislative power–could rationally reach. The results are strained and clearly wrong, but the primary fault lies with prior irrational Supreme Court decrees fostering such aberrations.

The decisions have erupted long-simmering rational absurdities. They are logical conclusions of a host of prior illogical decisions by the Supreme Court, beginning with 1940's Cantwell vs. Connecticut. It held the First Amendment is binding upon the states, although it says, “Congress shall make no law … .”

Another was 1947's Everson vs. Board of Education. It imposed a national “wall of separation” in place of a jurisdictional federal lawmaking preclusion on matters reserved to the states.

After subjecting the states to its control, the Supreme Court created a new, substantive “wall” and absurdly mandated total state neutrality, resulting in public free-exercise prohibitions and separation of state from God!

The court has unconstitutionally amended the Constitution, usurped legislative power, rewritten history and ignored the framers' original intent and Tenth Amendment-reserved rights. The court now reads the First Amendment to say, “Congress and the states shall make no law …” and to mean “total government neutrality.”

The Alabama federal judge held that a state cannot recognize God. The Ninth Circuit Court said that “one nation under God” is an endorsement of monotheism, one God.

So what? Recognition of God is not and never has been an “establishment” of religion! That court also said that a profession that we are a nation “under God” is identical, for the Supreme Court's purposes, to a profession that we are a nation “under no God,” because neither of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion.

The false presumption is that official silence maintains neutrality. In the recent controversy over comments made by Education Secretary Rod Paige, Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said, “There's no hostility toward God in public schools–there's neutrality.” Nuts.

Secularization ignores God and breeds atheistic, anti-God secularism. Ignoring God is not being neutral. Governmental silence marginalizes and creates a bias against God, while favoring atheism by default. Accordingly, Supreme Court-mandated “complete government neutrality” is impossible!

As to God, we can't not have a state preference. We must and will be either “for” or “against.” If we are not “for,” we are “against.” Neutrality is not an available option! It is an illusive and incoherent concept (Psalms 9:17, 33:12; Matthew 12:30).

What better cases to expose 60-plus years of absurd rulings by the Supreme Court? We are facing court-ordered, state-favored theological atheism–an anti-God state.

Establishing no theocracy, the bedrock civil solution is to permanently trump the federal courts by adopting state and federal constitutional amendments that simply say: "This (nation) (state) affirms the existence and sovereignty of God." For the sake of our nation and posterity, let's do it.

Tom Edwards is an attorney and member of First Baptist Church in Montgomery

Posted: 11/14/03

DOWN HOME:
Affirming words bless the family

We didn't eat any pot-luck dinners, but this year's Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session in Lubbock felt a lot like a family reunion.

If your extended family is like ours, you usually only get together for weddings and funerals. We had neither in Lubbock. But the vote to affirm the BGCT's partnership with Mexican Baptists felt a lot like a wedding. And the memorials committee's lovely report helped us give thanks for the lives of dear sisters and brothers who went home to be with the Lord this past year.

MARV KNOX Editor

A change in format set the tone for this year's BGCT get-together. The planning committee replaced hours and hours and hours of business sessions with four workshop sessions, where participants learned more about missions, ministries and issues facing Baptists in Texas. Of course, we still conducted business, but we had time to learn from each other.

One of the side benefits of the change was it pushed us out of the huge meeting hall into the hallways and smaller rooms. Instead of sitting in a mass of 3,000, we bumped into each other (sometimes literally) in the exhibit areas and meeting rooms. We had much more time to get acquainted or reacquainted.

But what most reminded me of family reunions was that I kept hearing phrases I've heard at family reunions all my life. These were words said to me but also words I overheard said to others:

“I love you.”

“I'm praying for you.”

“You're doing a great job.”

These are heart-healing words, soul-strengthening words, God-given words.

Everybody needs to know they're loved. Some folks might think you can say, “I love you” too much, but I don't see how. I want my wife and kids and family and friends to know the one thing about me that will endure to the end is my love for them. My life has been enriched by friends who call to catch up and remind me they love me.

Everybody needs prayer. God the Father planned it, Jesus promoted it and we're supposed to practice it. One of the great constants of my life has been the daily prayer of my parents. Just knowing Mother and Daddy have prayed for me has pulled me through many days. And when Texas Baptists, some I've never even met, stop to say they're praying for me –well, that's an indescribable blessing.

Everybody needs encouragement. It's almost like a parallel prayer. Instead of talking to God about each other, we talk in the same way to each other. Words of affirmation bind up emotional wounds and lift the spirit.

Do your family, friends and Christian sisters and brothers know you love them, pray for them, believe in them? What you say can bless their lives.

Posted: 11/14/03

EDITORIAL:
BGCT's 2004 challenge: Align budget with priorities

Missions and ministries muscled their way to the forefront of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' consciousness Nov. 10-11 in Lubbock.

In a time when the BGCT doesn't have nearly enough funds to accomplish all it needs to do, that development must make an impact on how the convention spends its money. The next logical step is a serious study of the budgeting process in light of our priorities.

Messengers to the BGCT annual session took several steps themselves, solidifying the convention's priority on missions and ministries. They:

Got their first close-up look at WorldconneX, the BGCT's missions network that was launched last month. WorldconneX should enable all BGCT Baptists–churches, associations and institutions–to engage directly in missions all across the planet.

Now is the time for BGCT President Ken Hall and the vice presidents to appoint a blue-ribbon panel that will evaluate the convention's budget in light of its priorities and suggest new ways of budgeting and working to accomplish our purposes.

Agreed to work on missions and evangelism ventures with the National Baptist Convention of Mexico. The BGCT has partnered with Baptists in other countries, but this is our most strategic alliance. Migration trends and a fluid border make this partnership mandatory. It will be a true partnership, in which Mexican and Texas Baptists both provide and receive resources and share the gospel equally. The partnership's impact will spread far beyond the borders of Mexico and Texas.

Affirmed a new name for Hispanic Baptist Theological School–Baptist University of the Americas–and celebrated the school's accreditation to grant bachelor's degrees. The San Antonio school will play the pivotal role in training church leaders who minister to the majority of Texans in the coming decades and train missionaries who will serve worldwide.

Ratified a BGCT budget that channels $31.9 million to a myriad of missions ministries. These include such longstanding endeavors as the Texas Partnerships Resource Center, River Ministry, Mission Service Corps, the Church Multiplication Center and Texas Baptist Men. The budget supports educational and human welfare ministries all over the state; ministerial training; African-American, Hispanic and intercultural initiatives; and the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention. The budget also funds new ventures, such as the Mexico endeavor and WorldconneX.

Emphasized missions like never before. This year's convention schedule moved “missions night” to the middle meeting of the session. Historically, it occurred during the closing session, after many messengers headed for home. This year, almost all participants attended a celebration and declaration of Texas Baptists' missions mandate.

Made a move that received slight debate and few negative votes but sends a signal about Texas Baptists' priorities. Messengers passed a motion–introduced from the floor, not from any board, commission or committee–that “strongly encouraged” the BGCT Administrative Committee to secure $250,000 for restorative justice ministries next year. The messengers asked that an already-tight budget be tapped for a quarter-million dollars in order to supply more money for much-needed ministries.

The budget request highlights Texas Baptists' passionate commitment to missions and ministry–spreading the gospel and meeting the needs of people. It demonstrates Texas Baptists don't care if they take an eraser and pencil to the budget as long as their convention responds to spiritual and physical needs. It illustrates they affirm BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade's admonition to “be the presence of Christ” to people, even if they have to sacrifice to do it.

When you evaluate this budget “encouragement” beside missions and ministries developments in Lubbock, you get a clear picture of BGCT Baptists' priorities: Missions. Direct ministries. Church-starting. Training ministers.

This takes place within a frustrating financial context. Next year's $45.8 million BGCT total budget is a 10 percent decrease. The 2004 Cooperative Program portion of that budget, $39.8 million, reflects a 14 percent drop.

Two primary factors account for the budget decrease. The recent economic slump smacked Texas Baptists, their churches and, consequently, the BGCT. The departure of churches to a competing convention also took its toll, although not in proportion to the number of churches that defected. Economic analysts predict the worst of the recession is behind us. And observers note the loss of churches has slowed to a trickle.

However, the BGCT's compelling commitment to missions and ministries–highlighted by messengers' spontaneous desire to amend the budget to fund a response to a spiritual and physical need–should prompt convention leaders to evaluate the budget. The context created by tight finances also should encourage them to open the process and think creatively about the entire approach to funding what we value.

In his report to the convention, Wade lauded Texas Baptists' desire to “do missions and develop strategies in fresh ways.” Affirming a creative approach to the future, he added: “Nothing has to be done just because it is what we have always done. We should ask questions about how what we do relates to our priorities and our passion.”

Shortly after his election, new BGCT President Ken Hall noted: “I think we're a work in progress as Texas Baptists. We need to look at all the possibilities for growth.”

The BGCT's budget is a key ingredient in the formula for growth. Now is the time for Hall and the vice presidents to appoint a blue-ribbon panel that will evaluate the convention's budget in light of its priorities and suggest new ways of budgeting and working to accomplish our purposes.

–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 11/14/03

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 23

God's peace can rule, judge and regulate life

Colossians 3:1-17

By John Duncan

Lakeside Baptist Church, Granbury

Colossians 3 gives the impression the church is forcing its way rather than following God's way. Paul may be losing patience.

The Colossian community searched for meaning to life. The church and community fought to understand earthly ways and spiritual ways or, in simple terms, Paul's longstanding discussion between the flesh and the Spirit (see Romans 7). Paul felt the frustration of the church trying to force its own way. He experienced impatience that the church was not becoming all God desired. Consequently, Paul invited the church to return to do one simple thing–seek Christ in the things above. Paul sounds like Jesus (Matthew 6:33).

Singleness of heart

Paul asked the church to possess a singleness of heart by fearing God (Colossians 3:22). Paul begged the church to keep on seeking the “upward things,” that is, the virtues and knowledge of Christ and heaven where Christ reigned (3:1).

D.A. Carson says the Christian life requires “radical change,” and Abbott says the Christian life is a pursuit for spiritual things that involves Christ-honoring “moral conduct.” For Paul, right belief in Christ equaled right doctrine that produced right virtue and moral conduct. Paul's belief determined his conduct.

Think! Paul commands Christians to think constantly of Christ and allow such thinking to influence life, thought and action (v. 2). A.T. Robertson says, “The Christian has to keep his feet on earth, but his head in the heavens.” Christ makes the Christian alive, purifies from sin and equals eternal and abundant life (vv. 3-4). The word for “life” (v. 4) is not “bios,” or biology, like a heart pumping blood or a back aching in the morning or even a headache in mid-afternoon. The word “life” is “zoe,” an abundant, vibrant, eternal life on earth as we move toward heaven.

Earth and heaven: Put off versus put on

Paul recognizes, however, the challenges of living and the reality of pressures that pull the heart toward “downward things.” He lists the negatives– impure sexual activity, uncleanness, greed, idolatry, anger, malice, nasty language and dishonesty, to name a few (v. 9).

Paul preaches with passion the message of “putting off” ungodly, earthly things that represent the old way of life (vv. 8-9). Paul yearns passionately for the church to “put on” the new man, while allowing Christ to refresh the soul with God's upward and new heavenly things (v. 10). “Put off” and “put on” refer to doing so just as if you would remove a dirty T-shirt or put on a clean dress. The image of Christ's work when we seek him is vivid and clear.

What happens when Christ's new is put on the soul like a shirt? Your knowledge of God increases (v. 10). Also, God unites people of different backgrounds and expectations and brings them together under the banner of the cross (v. 11). Likewise, the virtue of Christ clothes the Christian, and virtuous conduct is displayed in daily life.

What virtue does the Christian demonstrate? Paul lists the virtue in Colossians 3:12-14–mercies, kindness, humility, patience (longsuffering, “slow to pay back a wrong”), forgiveness, edifying speech and the sacrificial love of Christ that knots relationships in acts of service (v. 14). The bond of Roman society was law and obligation. The bond of the church is God's grace and sacrificial love. When the bond of Christ's love encircles the Christian, mature service results. According to William Barclay, “Love is the binding power.”

Peace at Thanksgiving

How does the Christian seek Christ and his upward things while living in the world with its pull toward downward things? The Christian allows God's peace to rule, judge, regulate and umpire life (v. 15). God's peace becomes the framework for evaluating your own life and conduct. The peace possesses a quality of Christ-like grace that in turn, produces gratitude (“thankfulness,” v. 15). Paul never strays far from the cross of grace (doctrine) that supplies peace for living (ethics, hence, right conduct, specifically, the giving of thanks). How does peace rule in the heart in conjunction with the Holy Spirit?

When you allow God's peace to rule, then his word builds a permanent dwelling in the soul (v. 16). God's word “tabernacles” in the heart to bring peace through God's wisdom and teaching, joy through God's warnings and odes of praise, and an extravagant grace through union with him. Again, God's word as doctrine and encouragement gives impetus in daily conduct to please Christ by living for one reason: to seek him which means to honor his name (vv. 1 and 17).

Grace supplies gratitude and a spirit of Christ-like service (vv. 17-25). Paul follows with everyday relationships and the importance of four things for their health–the love of Christ (v. 14), mutual service in the Spirit of the cross, respect for people (v. 25) and a willingness to do all things “heartily” (literally, “energetically,” meaning a spiritual energy supplied by God's grace). Seek the risen Christ and his virtue!

Questions for discussion

How can personal demonstration of Christian values make Thanksgiving a more meaningful holiday?