For 13 years Larry Bird played for the Boston Celtics.
During his professional career he was a 12-time NBA All-Star. Three times he
won the league’s Most Valuable Player award. Twice he won the NBA Finals MVP
award. And three times in 13 years the Celtics won the World Championship.
Fellow NBA great and fierce competitor, Irving “Magic” Johnson, said of Bird,
“In all of my playing career there was only one player I feared, and that was
Larry Bird.”
One of the reasons Magic feared Bird was because Bird had a
total command of the basketball court. Larry Bird always knew where everybody
was on the court regardless of the speed of the game. The truth is, like all
great athletes, the game “slowed down” for Bird. It was as if he could see
everything moving in slow motion; thus his ability to always be at the right
spot at the right time.
If you remember watching Larry Bird play basketball you will
recall the blind passes he was able to make to open teammates. You may recall
how in a championship game he caught a ball that was headed out of bounds under
the basket with his right hand and then transitioned it to his left hand; and while
he was still in the air he made the shot! It seemed like no game was too far
out of reach for the Celtics when Bird was on the court.
Do you know one of the reasons Larry Bird was such a
dominating force on the basketball court? It was because he was as equally good
with his right hand as his left. Though he was right-handed, he could go left
or right with equal prowess. And the reason for that was when he was young,
junior high school age, he tied his right arm behind his back for months at a
time. Think of it. Though he was born right-handed he made himself
ambidextrous! In every way he could use his left hand as well as his right.
Remember “Sweetness” Walter Payton? Like Larry Bird, Payton’s
professional career spanned 13 years. For 13 years he played as a premier
running back for the Chicago Bears. Payton was one of the greatest players in
NFL history. He was selected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. He was an
All-Star 9 times. For a time he gained the most yards of any running back in
history. He was poetry in motion.
You know how he got that way? The hill! There was a hill he
would run over and over again during the off season. He described it as
“killing himself”. In the history of professional athletes no one out-trained
Walter Payton.
Why do I bring all of this up? It’s simple. In the case of
Bird and Payton what made them so accomplished on the court or the field was
their ability to transfer their respective training regimens to the situations
they faced every time they played their game. In other words, their practice perfectly
prepared them for the game.
It's called “praxis”. It’s the ability to bring knowledge
and theory to bear on practical life situations. And that’s exactly what Paul
is saying at the end of Colossians 3. He’s talking about praxis.
For the past 2 weeks Henry has been bringing to light what
Paul has been saying to the Colossians about their identity in Christ. In
Colossians 3:1 he says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the
things that are above…” And for 17 verses he shows us what that looks like. He
tells us what the Holy Spirit can enable us to take off, as in our old
pre-Christ selves, and put on, as in our new selves in Christ.
But when we come to 3:18-4:1 Paul shifts the focus from
practice to the game. Here in 9 verses Paul talks about three different
relationships in which our “raised with Christ nature” can and should be seen.
What’s it mean to “put on love” and live a “raised” life as a husband or a
wife? What’s it mean to put on love and live a raised life as a child or a
parent? What’s it mean to put on love and live a raised life as a servant or a
master?
Over the history of the church there are many who have
railed against Paul as a slavery justifier or a complementarian or an
equalitarian, etc. But all of that misses the mark. All such criticism
discounts the things Paul says in the verses that precede verse 18; “the
practice”.
This Sunday we will pick up where Henry left off in verse 14
and read down through 4:1. In a message entitled “Rich Living”, we will seek to
discover all that Paul is saying about how we are to play the game.
In preparation for Sunday’s message, you may wish to
consider the following:
1. What does Jesus mean in Mark 12:17 when He says, “Render to
Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”?
2. How does Jesus equate that coin to our lives?
3. How is the image of God recaptured by the resurrection of
Jesus?
4. What is Paul’s definition of love in verse 14?
5. How does he apply it to his command to wives and husbands?
6. How do Paul’s commands in verses 18 & 19 differ from the
extent Jewish household code?
7. What does Genesis 3:16(b) mean?
8. What is shocking about Paul’s admonition in verse 20?
9. Why single out fathers in verse 21?
10. Why doesn’t Paul rail against slavery in 3:22 through 4:1?
See you Sunday!
