The lutheransermons's Podcast

Bible Study from June 29, 2020 - Colossians 2:16-23

This study begins with a quick reminder that Chapters 1 through 2:15 of Colossians are focused primarily on Jesus - who He is, as true God and true man Who came for us and our salvation, and what that saving work has accomplished for us, forgiving every sin and giving us new and eternal life, and breaking the power of Satan and the forces of evil for us. Jesus has done everything we need.

“Therefore,” Paul says, beginning in Chapter 2, verse 16, to the Christians at Colossae, do not be distracted by the many things that the false teachers are trying to get you to focus upon, as if these things are essential for your Christian life and salvation - and that you must do things the way they tell you. Paul gives a long list of items these Christians should be concerned about, according to these false teachers.

It is vitally important what you are doing or not doing, the false teachers say, about: the food you eat, what you drink, whether you are following various religious festivals and new moon events and sabbath days, if you are being humble and hard enough on yourself (asceticism), if you are worshipping angels properly, if you are paying attention to dreams and visions that others are telling you they have had and you need to know about, if you are following their regulations about what you should not handle, taste, or touch, if you are treating your body in a severe way to control it, and on and on (v.16-23).

Paul gives this long list of what to watch out for and says to “let no one pass judgment on you in questions” about these things (v.16). He does not tell us, though, how to react to all these; but he points us back to Jesus and listening to him in His Word. Many of these things, he says, are only a shadow from the Old Testament, preparing the way for the real substance, the body, our Savior Jesus Himself and His work and teaching for us (v.17). He is the “Head” and only as we “hold fast” to Him, will we grow and be nourished as we need to be (v.19).

On many of these concerns, we find help in other Scriptures. We looked at Romans, Chapter 14, as an example. Paul deals with the the question of what we can eat or not eat and which days are most important. He says that we have much freedom about these issues, and that Christians can honestly differ and don’t need to judge each other about these. We are free from Old Testament rules about clean and unclean foods, and we are even free from the sabbath day as Saturday. We need to worship our Lord, but the day is not crucial. Christians moved to Sunday as the day of worship, because each Sunday is like a mini-Easter celebration of our new life in Christ. But we could worship at other times and even work on Sunday, if necessary. We have much freedom, within what the New Testament now tells us. We don’t need to judge one another, but should be sensitive to others and their needs. We can help others know more of what Scripture says; but we also don’t want to try to get new or“weak” Christians to do things that they really think are wrong, though they actually are not. “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)

Above all, our worship and life are now led by Christ and His Word. For our spiritual life, we have the food and drink of the Word of God and the gifts of Baptism and Christ’s presence in our life and uniquely, personally (His very Body and Blood, in and with and under the bread and wine) in the Lord’s Supper (John 6:35-51. 7:37; 1 Corinthians 11:23-31). Christ is our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) and in Him we find the Sabbath rest we need, in His peace and promises.(Hebrews 4:9-10).

(The quotation from Dr. Martin Franzmann is from the Concordia Self-Study New Testament Commentary (c) 1971,1979, p. 203.)

Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost - June 28, 2020

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Jeremiah 28:5–9

Romans 7:1–13

Matthew 10:34–42

 

Sermon originally delivered June 26, 2011

Bible Study from June 22, 2020 - Colossians 2:15 (Part 2)

This study begins with a reminder of the eternal blessings coming to us through what Jesus has done personally for us, as described in Colossians 2:13-14 and summarized in Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We then reviewed what we had heard last week, with Old Testament promises of the coming Messiah, our Lord Jesus, and the way He described His coming victory over sin and Satan and death, including a “binding”of Satan. That victory was won at the cross and in Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, and in what is described in Colossians 2:15 as a “disarming” of the Satanic “rulers and authorities.” Jesus put them to open shame, as in an ancient Roman triumph. This is also described in 1 Peter 3:18-19 and 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Then we looked at the certainty of this victory and the ultimate destruction of Satan and his forces. The decisive battle has already been won by Jesus (Hebrews 2:14-15). Satan is bound and limited, and even with the real temptations we still face and possibly even more trouble whenever the end times come, the victory is ours as we stay confident in Christ, who is already the “King of kings and Lord of lords.“ See the words in Revelations where the apostle John sees many picture images of the hope we have in Jesus, the victorious Lamb and Word of God. Satan will finally be put away entirely, and there will be perfect peace in eternal life (Revelation 1:4-5, 17:14, 19:11,13,15-16; 20:1-2,7,9-10, and 22:3-5).

This victory of Christ for us is beautifully described in Romans 8:34-39 - nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ. We see it also in 1 Corinthians 15:57-58: the victory of Christ is also ours and we can carry on with our own work in the Lord with confidence in the Lord’s blessings for us. The example that Larry Christiansen uses, of being “under new management“ in the Lord, can be helpful. We don’t owe anything to Satan and do not need to listen to his lies and accusations and temptations when he comes around to bother us.

The victory of Christ over Satanic supernatural powers also gives us strength to deal with superstitions and fears we may have had from childhood and false religious ideas that may trouble us. Read Deuteronomy 18:9-14, for Old Testament warnings about many ways that people can get away from the Lord and into false, misleading ways to try to get help and direction, not from God, but from other sources, where Satanic forces could be at work. Ideas about spirits of the dead and ancestors who can trouble us and ghosts and black cats and evil numbers and on and on can create fear and unrest. Christ has won victory for us. We can take our fears and superstitious ideas to the Lord for His help to overcome them and to avoid places where fears increase.

There is always hope in Christ and His strength for us. Do pray for people, too, who come from cultures or religions or families, where there are high expectations that one must do certain things to keep everyone happy, including dead relatives and spirits, etc. These are real challenges for some, who love and respect family, but have trouble meeting these expectations, when they seem to contradict what the Bible says. The perfect love we have from Christ helps cast out these sorts of fears (1 John 4:16-19) and gives us peace in our perfect Savior (John 14:25-27).

Note: The thoughts about Buddhist ritual come from an article from Pierce Salguero, from Penn State University.

Bible Study from June 15, 2020 - Colossians 2:15

We begin our study of Colossians 2:15 by reviewing what was said in Colossians 2:13-14 and the many ways that Paul describes the blessings and forgiveness that come to us by what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. We died to our old life and have a new life in Christ. We are forgiven. Though we are guilty of sin, we are pardoned of all our sins by what Jesus did. The record of the debt of sin that we owe is canceled, blotted out. It is set aside, carried away from our midst, and nailed to the cross along with Jesus who carried all of our sins in Himself. The legal demands of the Law are fulfilled by Jesus, and He pays the penalty for all our sins by His death in our place. All this was accomplished by Christ for us in His death and resurrection.

But there is more. Colossians 2:15 speaks of the fact that Jesus also won the decisive victory over Satan and his evil spirits, his evil angels, in His death and resurrection and ascension into heaven. The imagery used is that of a Roman “triumph," when a victorious general would be given a victory parade in Rome. His victory was clear and his defeated enemies would also be led in chains through the city, along with possessions that had been captured from them. It is a dramatic way of saying that the power of Satan has now been broken in Christ and what he has done.

Sometimes it seems as if the devil is still the winner in this world. There are warnings of the continuing danger we face in him. See Ephesians 6:10-13 and 1 Peter 5:8-11; but also note that we can stand firm in Christ and His armor and the certainty of victory in Him. In fact, Colossians 2:15 says that God “disarmed“ the forces of Satan, stripping away their weaponry. They are called “rulers and authorities," but Jesus has “triumphed“ over them. There is no question about the outcome of this battle against evil. Jesus is victorious, and in Him we win eternally, too.

This victory is prophesied in the Old Testament. See Genesis 3:15 for the prediction that an Offspring of Eve would crush the head of Satan, and that Offspring would be wounded in the process. See Psalm 68:18 and its quotation in Ephesians 4:8 regarding the ascension of Jesus. See the prophecy of Christ’s death in Isaiah 53, and yet His victory and “dividing the spoils with many” (v.12) and making many as “accounted righteous” (v.11). See also my sermon from this past weekend, June 14.

See in the life of Jesus how often He predicted that He was the “stronger man” who would overcome and bind up Satan, and that Satan would fall (Matthew 12:28-29, Luke 11:20-22, Luke 10:17-18, John 12:31-33, John 16:11, etc.) See also how often the New Testament speaks of the defeat of Satan through Christ and Satan ultimately being put away forever (Romans 16:20, Hebrews 2:14-15, Hebrews 4:4 and Revelation 1:5, 17:14, 19:16, 20:1-3, 7-10, etc.) Even the “binding of Satan” in Revelation 20 is understood by Lutherans and many other Christians, not as in some future millennial kingdom on earth, but in what is going on now during the spread of Christianity, with limits on what Satan can accomplish because of Jesus. In a positive way, Christians continually participate in the “triumphal procession” of Christ and in sharing His Good News of “Life” with more and more people, still today. (See 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.) Jesus is already “the Head of all rule and authority” as we already heard in Colossians 2:10.

See also 1 Peter 3:18-20, where Jesus, between His death and resurrection, descends in His “spirit” into hell to visit the “spirits in prison,” including unbelievers from the time of Noah. He does not go to hell to suffer. That was done at the cross. He does not go to give these people another chance. (See the gulf between heaven and hell in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Once one is in heaven or hell, that is where one stays. There are no second chances: Luke 16:26 and Hebrews 9:27-28.) Jesus goes to hell to proclaim His victory, as part of His “triumphing over” Satan and all who follow him in unbelief.

Next week, we will talk more about what this triumphal victory of Christ means for us in our daily life and how it can help us in practical ways, as we wait for the fullness of eternal life in heaven. (See also Romans 8:37-39 and 1 Corinthians 15:57-58.)

Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity - June 14, 2020

Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity, based on:

Genesis 15:1-6

1 John 4:16-21

Luke 16:19-31

 

Note: The song quoted was written by Grady Cole and Hazel Cole in the 1930’s, with some possible changes by Hank Williams. It is based upon a poem from the 1860’s. If I understand correctly, it is copyrighted but brief portions can be quoted for non-commercial use only, as I have done.

Bible Study from June 8, 2020 - Colossians 2:13-14

We begin our study with a brief review of Colossians 2:11-12, where we heard that Old Testament circumcision is now replaced by baptism, the “circumcision made without hands,” “the circumcision of Christ.” In baptism, God put off, stripped off our “uncircumcised flesh," our old sinful nature (v.11), and we died to our old life and were buried with Christ, and as He was raised from the dead, we too were raised to new life, through the gift of faith in Jesus. This was “the powerful working of God” through the Word and the water connected with the Word, in baptism, as we heard a lot about last week (v.12).

This had to be God’s doing and His work, Paul reminds us in v.13 because, he says, “You were dead in your trespasses”(missteps, going where we don’t belong, wandering away from what is the right way and path for our lives) and your “uncircumcised flesh,” your sinful nature, in which you and I were born. (See Ephesians 2:1-5 for a similar description.) As spiritually dead people, we could not give ourselves spiritual life; and in Ephesians 2:2-3, Paul makes it clear that this is the spiritual condition of everyone in the world at birth, including all of us. But “God made us alive, together with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (Colossians 2:13).

Our new spiritual life depends upon the death and rising of Jesus to forgive us our trespasses. The Greek word here for “forgiveness” means “to show mercy and favor and to pardon people who are definitely guilty,” as when a political figure “pardons” someone who has done wrong. We don’t deserve it, but we are pardoned too - and all of our sins are forgiven! All this was done by Christ, and we receive the personal benefit of all this, through our connection now with Christ through the Word of God and baptism and the faith we receive as a gift of God.

In verse 14 of Colossians 2, Paul continues to pile up the words describing what Christ Jesus has done for us. He “canceled the record of debt that stood against us.” The Greek word “cancel” here means “to blot out, to wipe away, to erase.” (See this word used also in Acts 3:19 and in Isaiah 43: 24-25.) Our messy sins are blotted out and remembered no more, through Christ. Those old enough to remember fountain pens and ink blotters, or typewriters and white-out, etc., can get this picture image.

And what specifically is blotted out? “The record of debt that stood against us” (v.14). This was a legal business term that was used in the ancient world. When people sometimes had debts, they had to write up in their own handwriting a list of all their debts; and this paper was kept until the debt was paid. It is similar to paperwork for a loan or mortgage today. We have to sign for the loan and are legally obligated until the debt is paid. And what joy when all the mortgage payments are finally made!

In the Bible, our sins are sometimes described as a debt we owe to God. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In both Matthew 6:12-15 and Luke 11:4, the Greek sometimes uses the word “debts” and “debtors” rather than “trespasses” - and some churches pray the Lord’s Prayer that way. We do owe a debt to God that we cannot ever pay on our own, because we fail to keep His laws and rules. His “legal demands” stand against us and condemn us, left on our own (Romans 3:19-20 and Colossians 2:14). But in Christ “the record of debt” and the “legal demands” are blotted out, wiped away, canceled for us. (See Ephesians 2:13-18, especially v. 15. Note that this is the only real way to peace with God and among people. See also Romans 7:4, along with Romans 5:1 and 8:1-4.)

As Colossians 2:14 ends, Paul says that all this record of the debts of sin and the Law’s legal demands are “set aside” by Christ. Literally, this means that all that condemns us has been picked up and taken away “from the midst” of us and “nailed to the cross“ along with Jesus, as he was nailed to the cross, carrying and paying the penalty for all our sins. (See more Scriptures, including 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13, and 1 Peter 2:24.)

This is the miracle of all that God did for us through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross and then His mighty resurrection - eternal blessings received by faith in Jesus as a gift, through the Word and baptism. And there is still more that is very helpful and comforting for us that we will hear about next week in Colossians 2:15. Why then, Paul is saying, should the Colossians or any of us listen to false teachers who tell us that Jesus did not do enough and that we need to be doing more that they tell us to do?

Sermon for Trinity Sunday - June 7, 2020

Sermon for Trinity Sunday, based on:

Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Acts 2:14a, 22–36

Matthew 28:16–20

 

Sermon originally delivered June 19, 2011

Bible Study from June 1, 2020 - Colossians 2:10-13

We begin our study with reviewing Colossians 2:10. How are we “filled” up, in connection with Christ? In Him, we receive the many blessings, earned for us through Christ (all that we need), in the beautiful way Paul describes them. Paul begins with a way we are no longer “filled” up - and that is by Old Testament circumcision, “made with human hands” (v.11). Jesus was circumcised, as a Jew (Luke 2:21), and as part of His perfectly fulfilling the will of God in our place. (We saw passages last week, in Genesis 17 and Deuteronomy 10:14-16, on the need for Old Testament Jewish baby boys to be circumcised at 8 days old, to be brought into covenant relationship with God and to continue in that relationship with circumcised hearts.) With the New Covenant, brought to and fulfilled for us by Jesus, we are freed from the Jewish ceremonial laws, including circumcision. Circumcision is replaced by a “circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of our flesh” (our sinful nature, with which we were born) “by the circumcision of Christ” through, Paul explains, the gift of baptism (v.11-12).

Some Jews who said they believed in Jesus, however, were also saying that only by undergoing the Old Testament circumcision could people really be saved. They wanted people to follow these and other Old Covenant ceremonies. See Acts 15:1ff. Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus and what He had done for us was not enough, they said. Paul strongly opposed this false teaching. We looked at his words in his letter to the Galatians, where that church was struggling with the same problem. Paul says,”neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of faith and baptism. (See his arguments in Galatians 6:13-15, 3:23-29, and 2:3-5, in connection with the Acts 15 passage.) Circumcision is no longer necessary. If we are circumcised, though, thinking we must do so to be saved, then we are severing ourselves from Christ, thinking He has not done enough to save us and we must do something more, on our own. (See Galatians 5:1-6.)

In baptism, in contrast, Paul says, we have been buried with Jesus and died to our old life, and have also been raised with Him to a new life with God, even as Jesus was raised from the dead after His own death for us. This is “the powerful working of God,” Paul says, and is received “through faith,” which is also a gift of God, connected with baptism (v.12 and Ephesians 2:9). This is God’s doing, not ours.

We also looked at many Bible passages that emphasize that God works through His Word connected with water in baptism to bring us what we need. We cannot give birth to ourselves, but are “born again” “through water and the Spirit“ (John 3:1-6). In baptism we die to our old life and rise to a new life in Christ, Paul says in Romans 6:3-6, just as he says in Colossians 2:12. We are cleansed by “the washing of water with the Word,“ in Ephesians 5:25-27. God saved us by “the washing of regeneration and renewal, by the Holy Spirit.” Even the Old Testament predicts that God will sprinkle water on people to cleanse them from sin and give them a new heart and a new spirit, by means of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:25-26). There is no water-related activity in the New Testament other than baptism, through which God works. All this is not work made by human hands, but by God. We can baptize, but God is bringing all the gifts. We can share the Word, but God brings people to new life with Him, through the Word and baptism.

God also works through His Word to bring people to faith, through the Holy Spirit. (See 1 Peter 1:23.) We just heard about that on Pentecost, last Sunday. Peter preached the Word about Jesus as Messiah and Savior; but he also called people to repent and be baptized, for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. He also said, “This promise, this gift from God, is for you and for your children and for all who are far off.” The Word of Christ and baptism are for anyone and everyone; and that day, 3,000 people were baptized (Acts 2:1-41).

Luke reminds us also that even repentance is not something we do in our own power, but God “gives repentance” to people of Israel (Acts 5:31) and to Gentiles (Acts 11:15-18). God gets the credit, when people come to faith, through the Word and through baptism. And we are called to use both of these gifts of God in reaching out to people. See Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:18-20, and read through the Book of Acts. You will see the Word and the water with the Word, baptism, used constantly together for people. See Acts 16:13-15, as just one of many examples. In the case of infants and small children, we use baptism first to bring people to faith, and then strengthen that faith through teaching the Word. In the case of older children, we use the Word first to teach about Jesus, and then baptize, and then use more of the word with people, all their lives. In it all, it is God’s doing, from beginning to end since, as Paul will go on to say in Colossians 2:13, we were dead in our sins and sinful nature. We could not do anything to make ourselves alive. God made us alive. We will hear more about how He did that next week.

Bible Study from May 27, 2020 - Colossians 2:8-11

We begin our study with a review of Colossians 2:8 and the warning of Paul about the dangers of philosophy and deceitful ideas that are empty of real value and human traditions and other ideas that conflict with the Christian faith and pull us away from Christ our Savior.

This does not mean that we cannot read philosophy or study various moral and cultural ideas. I used the example of an ancient Chinese proverb that warns of the danger of pride and the value of modesty and humility. There are many such good ideas in many cultures. The problem is that we do not do well living up to these good ideas, whatever they are (because, Christians say, of our sinfulness and our sinful nature). All of us have trouble at times with pride and with being humble, for example. As a result, various people have come up with ideas of what we need to do. We need to try harder to live a higher level of life. We need to focus on spiritual life and get away from the physical and deny physical pleasures to ourselves. We need lots of reincarnations - living a lot of different lives where we hopefully work our way up to being the right person (sort of like the weatherman in Groundhog Day, if you have ever seen that movie). We need to be humanists - forget God and just focus on human beings and human progress and improving our personal lives. And on and on.

All of these ideas are wrong ideas because they contradict Scripture and because they focus on us and our efforts to be the perfect person who always does the right thing. We can and should try to do better in our lives. But because of sin and our sinful nature and the sinful world we live in, with other sinful people all around us, we can never measure up no matter what the standard is - even the standard of God. If we want to be acceptable to God by our own efforts, we have to be perfect (Matthew 5:48, Galatians 3:10, James 2:10, etc.) None of us can do that.

Our Christian hope is not in ourselves, but in God and His mercy and grace for us, in sending His only Son to do in our place what we cannot do. That is why Paul keeps pointing us to Christ Jesus. Three times in Colossians 2:9-11, Paul says that our hope is “in Him” - in Jesus. As Paul had said in Colossians 1:19 and here, “in Him the whole fullness of Deity dwells” - and “dwells bodily.” Jesus was truly and fully God, capable of helping us as only God can, and yet also a true man with a real body, who could live as we do, and yet do it without the sins we commit. The Son of God, “the Word, became flesh“ (John 1:1-14). “He was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:15). He lived in that flesh from conception and birth through His whole life and death on the cross and the resurrection of His body and His bodily ascension into heaven and still today. “In Him the fullness of Deity dwells (present tense ) bodily.” “And you have been filled in Him," Paul says (v.10).

Everything we really need we receive in Him, the God-man Who came for us. We don’t need to look for anything more, for real spiritual fulfillment. Our whole person is important to God. Even though we die, we look forward to being with Christ in heaven and even for the resurrection of our body when Jesus returns on the last day. This is very different from so many human philosophies and ideas, that the soul is good, but the physical body is evil. Even now, Jesus is described as “the Head” (v.10) and we are connected to Him, members of His body of believers, the church, by faith in Him. See Ephesians 4:10-16. Jesus Christ is our “Head," and he is the “Head" (Ruler) of all rule and authority” (v.10) - both human and supernatural, as we shall hear more of in the verses that follow.

In v.11, then, Paul begins to talk about a “circumcision” we have all received “in Him” - in Christ, “made without hands” - and ties it in with our baptism, as we shall see next week in verses 12 and 13. For now, just look at Genesis 17:10-14, for God instituting circumcision for all Jewish males, at 8 days of age, to be part of His chosen people. If they are not circumcised they are not part of the people of God (v.14). See also Deuteronomy 10:14-16. Many of the circumcised people rebelled against God and began to worship a “golden calf” (chapter 9), instead of worshipping only the one true God. They have shattered God's First Commandment and are called to repentance. They need a “circumcised heart," God says (Deuteronomy 10:16).

We need a new heart and new spirit, too, through Baptism, as we will hear next week. 

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter - May 24, 2020 (2)

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, based on:

Acts 1:12–26

1 Peter 4:12–19; 5:6–11

John 17:1–11

 

Sermon originally delivered June 5, 2011