A New Nature Shaped for Shared Life

Sir Alex Ferguson: “The work of a team should always embrace a great player but the great player must always work.”

Sir Alex, who built many great teams, knew that having a great player could damage a team if that player cared only about personal press clippings—or could elevate a team to greater success if the great player worked with and for the whole team. The apostle Paul made clear in his letter to the Colossian Christians that following Jesus wasn’t merely an individual challenge but became truly meaningful as a team, a community. The qualities he listed—compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness—weren’t what a hermit would need in isolation. They were about loving and living well with others. As scholar N. T. Wright asked, “Supposing there was a town in which everybody behaved in the way described in [Colossians 3:5–9]. And supposing, a few miles down the road, there was a town where everybody behaved in the way described in verses 12–15. Which town would you rather live in?” *

• Colossians used a very challenging example: take off the “old human nature,” put on a “new nature.” We sometimes cite our human nature as a reason not to change (e.g. “I’ve always been impatient,” “I was just born with a hot temper”). The apostle Paul knew that it’s not our unaided willpower that changes things. He spoke to the readers as “God’s choice, holy and loved,” said “Christ is all things and in all people,” and said God’s nature is the model for the new nature we’re called to put on: “As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other.” How can you surrender your inner struggles, asking God to grow more compassion, kindness, patience, or forgiveness in you over the next six months?
• Verse 11 was sweepingly inclusive, including even “Scythians.” “The nomadic Scythians lived in much of what is today Russia, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and other parts of central Asia. Greeks often deemed Scythians the most cruel and anti-Greek people.” ** Christ offered salvation to everyone in the human family. How does this make it vital that our church live out the message that “everyone is welcome” in Christ’s team, God’s community?