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Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661
Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org
OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”
Nobleton Community Church
Date June 8, 2025
Text Colossians 1:1-14
Pastor Paul Lehmann
When we use Xs and Os there are three things they are used for. The first and probably the oldest is: for the game tick tack toe, where you have to put Xs or Os in a line. If both of you pay attention, it will usually end in a tie depending on who goes first. The second way that I use them and still do when I am coaching, is to diagram a play. It is used in both football and basketball. The more recent use is using the old way of closing a letter to show love, in text messages and e-mails. One of our granddaughters puts these at the end of her thank you notes to us.
Although hugs and kisses have become a standard part of e-mail and text messages,
WE HAVE DELETED THE CENTRALITY OF LOVE
IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH
In Paul and Timothy’s letter to the Christians in Colossae, they show “love” to them even though they don’t actually use Xs and Os. This church in the first century, was in a town in Asia Minor. Paul says in verse 4: “ We thank God for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.” They rejoiced that their mutual friend Epaphras “has made know to us your love in the Spirit” (verses 7-8). Love for all the saints. Love in the Spirit. A letter of love.
If Paul and Timothy were writing today, you might see a farewell using Xs and Os. Although we used to add below our signatures a few Xs and Os, it was usually for someone very close to us. But today, one never knows for sure. In recent years it is used so much, even in professional communication that it seems it has taken on a life of its own.
Paul, Timothy and the Colossians were probably better equipped to handle these public displays of affection than we are. According to his letters:
Paul is not afraid of the words “love” and “beloved,” using them over 130 times. He speaks of God’s love, the love of Christ, the love of the Spirit, beloved fellow servants. God’s beloved Son, and the need both to love one another and be united in love. Paul emphasizes love a lot except in one specific case. He warns his colleague Timothy that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10). Xs and Os, like it or not, is here to stay.
So in a world of hugs and kisses, what does it mean for us to have love “for all the saints” In what ways can we express “love in the Spirit.” And live as disciples of God’s “beloved Son?” Love is an essential quality of life in the church, and we need to understand it and practice it. Christian love is more than a hug and a kiss at the end of an e-mail, or text message, or even when we say hello and good-bye and hug each other.
We can begin with a redefinition. The use of X as a symbol for affection goes back at least the year 1763, when the Oxford English dictionary first defined X as “kiss.” But let’s go back even farther, to the Greek alphabet that was used in the New Testament. There, we find the letter chi, which looks like an X and is the first letter of the Greek word Chrstos.
We are who God says we are.
In the letter to the Colossians, love is never allowed to drift very far from faith in Jesus Christ. Paul and Timothy say, “we always thank God…for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints.” (verses 3-4)
The Colossians are showing faith in Jesus, the one who lived a life of love and then lovingly offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to bring forgiveness and new life. They have seen a perfectly clear picture of love in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and are now trusting him to lead them as they attempt to love one another.
X does not point to a romantic kind of love. It is a mark of sacrificial love—one that feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, heals the sick, welcomes strangers, and even lays down one’s life for a friend. When the Colossians put their faith in Jesus Christ, they begin to love one another with this Christlike love—Jesus asked Peter three times; “Do you love me?” (John 21: 15-17) The first two times–he said feed my lambs, then take care of my sheep, and he used a different word for LOVE—Agape love—which is a self-sacrificing true love. Then the last one he used the word -Philio which is a brotherly love, close friendship or affectionate attachment, and said feed my sheep. This word is kind of like he is asking Peter; “ are you even my friend.”
That is why Paul and Timothy say that they are thankful for “the love that you have for all the saints” (verse 4). The saints in Colossae are not perfect people—they are as flawed as any of us—but they have been made holy by the powerful love of God in Christ. They don’t have to be declared a saint by the church. They are recognized as saints, because they knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ. They are able to love one another because Jesus first loved them. The same for us. We are saints because we have been forgiven, loved and freed by our gracious Lord.
A group of Christian leaders was asked by The Christian Century magazine (September 5, 2012) to define the good news of Jesus in seven words or fewer. That’s right: Condense the Christian gospel into a handful of words. One of them, a Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, answered this question by saying. “We are who God says we are.” My seven words would be: “We are forgiven sinners saved by grace.”
That’s good news. “In the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Christ we see that God is so for us and with us that we can no longer be defined according to death,” Weber explains. “We are who God says we are: the forgiven, broken and blessed children of God, the ones to whom God draws near.
X marks the spot where we are who God says we are. The problem is that:
The transformation from a sinner that needs forgiveness, to a person who is reconciled to God is not automatic with no response on our part.
A few years ago Jeannene and I attended a Lutheran Church with her brother and sister-in-law before she died. It is a Missouri Synod church which is known as the evangelical branch of the Lutheran Church. It was so, in the preaching of the Word. The gospel was clear and only the Word of God was used. And yet in that church and in many other denominations where God’s word is believed and preached, not everyone “gets it.” I have thought about that a lot and I have shared with you many times some things about that. Too often people think like our sister-in-law did , when her daughter Linda came home one day from attending another evangelical church, and told her that she had received Christ into her heart and life, her mother responded with; “but you have always been a Christian Linda.” Seriously? We are born a Christian, or at least after our infant baptism? No—You see what was missing for Linda, was the realization of a time in her life when she confessed her sins, asked for forgiveness, and for Jesus Christ to come into her life.
There needs to be a time when we personally receive Him. Not just say things in church about Him.
The Colossians are also becoming known for their “love in the Spirit” (vs.8) Here, love is singled out as an important fruit of the Holy spirit, and we know from First Corinthians that Paul considers it to be the foundation of the spiritual gifts—-“now these three remain, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is “love” (13:13)
We should never underestimate the power of Christ-shaped love. “Love your neighbor as yourself” Jesus tells us quoting what we read in Leviticus 19:18.
The importance of loving our neighbors is; “Loving mainly ourselves—which is the definition of the high consumer society we inhabit. But when we are just looking out for ourselves it means creating a world that stinks, where selfishness is our way of life, while so much of the world lives in poverty, both physically and spiritually. Jesus tells us;” it only works when we’re in it together.” When we realize that we are our brother’s keeper. When we realize that we have a calling to take the Good News of the Gospel to the whole world. A wholistic approach that doesn’t ignore the physical needs of people too.
The world only works when you love your neighbor as yourself. When you, as is said to the Colossians, “lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work” (vs. 10). That means fruitful productive living that benefits ourselves and our neighbors, as well as the planet entrusted to our care.
Paul and Timothy go on to remind the Colossians that God “has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (vs 13-14). If there was any doubt about the raw power of God’s love, this line should eliminate it.
Far from being a set of Os and Xs, hugs and kisses, God’s love creates an entirely new reality for those who become disciples of his Son. Through our faith in Christ, we are now rescued from the power of darkness, transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, redeemed from death and offered forgiveness of our sins. That’s the power of X—That’s the power of CHRIST, the world-changing power of the love of God.
So don’t forget that:
X means that you are who God says you are; A forgiven, broken and blessed child of God, saved by grace
. X means that you want to love your neighbor as yourself, knowing that our world works best when we are in it together with him.
X means that you are moving a little closer to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, and that you want your loved ones to join you there. X and O is a nice message of hugs and kisses. But a single X (CHRIST) is what love is all about.
The first mention in literature of XXX for kisses at the bottom of a letter was in 1901, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The X itself is very old. The custom goes back to the early Christian era, when a cross mark or X was the same as a sworn oath. Even as little as a hundred and fifty years ago, not many people could read or write. The X at the bottom of a document took the place of a signature. They would kiss the X as a crucifix or Bible was kissed to emphasize the importance of the mark, it was this practice that led to the X representing a kiss. O is an American thing and represents the arms wrapping around someone with a hug.
The late Tony Campolo ( a pastor, professor and speaker from PA) tells about growing up in his neighborhood. One friend was Jewish. He comments on how wonderful Jewish mothers are. They believe their children are geniuses. If their child gets a bad grade they conclude that the teacher just can’t relate to a genius. Campolo says in his good Italian family when he left home for school mom always asked, “Tony, do you have your lunch?” In his friend’s family as he was leaving home his mom always asked, “Sydney, do you have your books?” It was a difference in perspective. The one was looking at a lifetime of learning the other was looking at lunchtime.
We need to be more like Jewish mothers in our relationship to each other. We need to see the genius, the beauty, the potential in those around us. We need to remember that each person is created in the image of God. Each one has been made for a particular purpose. Learning to love means learning to spotlight potential and strengths rather than problems. Love demands we learn to build up, rather than tear down. As we relate to people we must see them as God sees them. As God loves them, and communicate that love, and what the Lord wants to do in their life if they will just let Him.
The Bible doesn’t spend too much time explaining how to love or how to be kind. We are asked to love God, to love our neighbors, to be kind one to another. There’s something hard-wired in us that is able to translate intuitively just what that means, when we have Christ in our lives, and have been filled by the Holy spirit. It is His Spirit that will let us know, and guide us.
Paul says that God has transferred the Christian into His Kingdom from the place in which they used to live.
A transference from darkness to light—
From slavery to freedom —-
From condemnation to forgiveness——-
From the power of Satin to the power of God