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Episodes
Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Sunday May 24, 2020
Sunday May 24, 2020
Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, based on:
Full Sermon Text:
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
The text for our meditation today is the Gospel lesson, along with some thoughts from the other readings for the day.
Maybe you saw, about a week ago, a report of a recent survey - a poll with the headline, “The coronavirus has prompted almost two-thirds of American believers of all faiths to feel that God is telling humanity to change, a new poll finds.”
One person is quoted, who says that he believes in God but isn’t religious (probably meaning that he is not connected to any church or organized religious group). Notice how vague his response is. He said, “It could be a sign, like 'Hey, get your act together.' I don’t know... It just seems like everything was going in an OK direction and all of a sudden you get this coronavirus thing that happens, pops out of nowhere.” (AP Story)
There is not much clarity in that response, is there? Even if we have the feeling that God wants us to change in some way. The answers are never in polls or human opinions or in human feelings or in looking at the world around us. As Christians, we know that we need always to go where we know God Himself has spoken clearly, through His prophets and apostles and through Jesus Himself - and that is in the Bible.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus is speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit, that great day we will celebrate next Sunday, on Pentecost. Jesus does say a little after our text that when the Spirit comes, “He will convict (or “convince”) the world of sin" (John 16:8). That is the reality. We are all sinful people in a sinful world (and we need to know that so that we know that we do need a Savior). Even the creation has fallen and is corrupted, too; and in a general sense, all human troubles, including illness and physical problems and even a virus that gets out of control, come because of sin and a broken world.
And sin is not a problem we can solve on our own, the Bible says, even if we feel that we ought to change. Think about all the New Years resolutions you make and so quickly fail to keep. As a sincere Christian, you have very good intentions about good things you want to do, but how many of those things do you really follow through with?
In this time of the coronavirus and social distancing, we know that we ought to call or email or send a note to check up on and encourage others, even friends in the church, but how often do we do that?
That is why, if we are honest with ourselves, we do need to admit, day after day, and week after week, as we did this morning (not just in covid time), that we are poor, miserable sinners who need forgiveness and the help of God even to try to do better.
The really Good News of our Gospel lesson is that Jesus did not say, “When the Helper comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, Who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness” (John 15:26) to you about how terrible you are and how you need to straighten up and change yourselves, and get your act together - or else! Instead, we actually hear Jesus saying, “But when the Helper comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will bear witness about Me” - about Jesus Himself (John 15:26). For Jesus had been sent into the world to do the work we could not do for ourselves and could never change enough to do. Already, Jesus was living the perfect life we ought to live, but do not and cannot do.
And in less than 24 hours after Jesus spoke these words, He would be arrested and put on trial and unjustly be condemned to die, and suffer and die on the cross for the disciples who deserted Him and for all humanity, which does not change as it should, and for us poor miserable sinners still today, too - you and me.
And as Jesus rose in victory on Easter and 40 days later ascended into heaven He gave proof that He had won the victory for us and that we have forgiveness of every sin and hope for our future always, in life and in death, in Jesus. No wonder, then, that the Holy Spirit would bear witness to Jesus. Jesus is the Savior - and the work of the Holy Spirit is now to bring people to faith in Jesus and keep them confident in Him.
Remember what was said in the Old Testament lesson for today (Ezekiel 36:22-28)? People of Israel were captives in Babylon, and they could not free themselves. Their hearts were hard, like stone. So God says, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of My holy Name, which you have profaned (despised) among the nations" (v.22). The people did not deserve it, but out of His mercy God brought His people back to the land of Israel and eventually, He sent the Savior Jesus to be one of them and do His saving work among them and for the whole world, under the New Covenant (the New Testament). And He does not first wait for people to change, and then He will help and save them. He changes them and us, through the promise of His Spirit, working through the Word of God, and through the Word connected with water, in the gift of Baptism.
Listen to this Word of God, a prophecy that describes what God does for us, too, through His Word and Baptism: “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will be put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules... You shall be My people, and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:25-28).
This is what we really are now because of the saving work of Jesus, completed for us, and the work of the Holy Spirit, Who has witnessed to us and brought us to faith and keeps us in faith, through the Word and our Baptism and the Lord's Supper, when we are able to receive it, too.
We just confessed moments ago the Apostles Creed; and in a certain sense, you could say that we are now living in the time of the Third Article of the Creed. We believe in God the Father, Who created all things and loved us, even after the fall into sin, and sent His Son, in Whom we also believe, into this sinful, broken world to do all the work necessary to rescue and save us.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, too, Who has been and still today is creating “the Holy Christian Church," which consists of “the communion of saints," the fellowship of all believers in Christ and the Christian faith, who are saints, not by what they have done but by what Christ and the Holy Spirit have done for them. This “communion of saints” includes each of us and those 3,000 people who were baptized and came to faith on Pentecost, as we will hear next week, and all other believers. It also includes every single baby and child and adult who is baptized and believes, in our own congregation - and anyone else in the future.
For this is Good News for all, and these are gifts available to all, and for anyone listening today who has not yet been baptized and come to faith, too; for Christ died for all, the Holy Spirit tells us in the Scriptures (1 Timothy 2:1-6). And the Holy Spirit daily and richly promises and provides for us “the forgiveness for our sins” as we continually come to Him for cleansing - and he even promises to us “the resurrection of our bodies” and “the life everlasting” with our Lord. How important and comforting these gifts of God are for us, too!
Remember the words of Peter in our Epistle Lesson for today (1 Peter 4:7-11)? “The end of all things has drawn near” (v.7). The Scriptures often remind us that Jesus will come back, any day or any year, and we need always to be prepared for that. And we are prepared, by continuing faith in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God and the Sacraments.
Our own personal end in this life may come at any time, too, as the covid pandemic reminds us. We pray that covid will not affect us; but something else will, at some point; and we will all die, unless Jesus comes back first. Jesus even predicts, in our Gospel lesson, that the hour is coming (for some) “when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God” (John 16:2). Think of all those who died on 9/11, and just a number of months ago the shootings at the Naval Air Base in Pensacola, Florida, and another shooting at another Naval Air Base, just a few days ago, when Islamic terrorists mistakenly thought they were serving God by killing Christians.
But even in the midst of covid and all these other terrible things, we have hope and confidence in Christ - and the certainty of “the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting,“ for us, too.
And in the meantime, as we wait for the end of all things, Peter says we can try to do some things that say “thank You” to God for all His gifts to us and that can help others and be a witness to them of the love of God for them, too (1 Peter 4:8-11). Jesus did say to His disciples: “You also will bear witness” about Me (John 15:27). As an example of this and to close our sermon, I’d like to speak to any children still listening - and to grown-up children, too. This is for all of us.
I brought a big rock, a stone, with me today. If I talked to this stone all day and asked it to do various things, what would it do? Absolutely nothing! It is not alive and it cannot hear or do anything. That is the way we were born, we heard earlier in our sermon - physically alive but spiritually dead, with hearts of stone. But God loved us enough to send Jesus to be our Savior, and sent the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God and our baptism, to wash away our sins and make us spiritually alive and take away our hearts of stone and give us new hearts, which can hear and say “thank You” to Jesus. Peter gives us several examples of what we could do.
Since Jesus ascended to heaven, the Bible says He has been praying for us, that we stay in faith and not fall away (John 16:1, John 17:14-15, John 22:32, Romans 8:34. etc.). We can pray for others, too, that God would help them (1 Peter 4:7). Jesus loved us, while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). So, instead of grumbling and complaining and pointing out the faults of our brothers and sisters and others, we could try to be more patient and loving and forgiving to them, as we have already been forgiven by Jesus. Everything we can do flows first from what Jesus already has done for us (1 Peter 4:8-10). As we speak to others, we can try to be a good witness for Jesus to them, as the Holy Spirit has already told us about Jesus, through His Word, and his been a good witness to us, bringing us to faith (1 Peter 4:11).
In all this, we are not trying to earn the favor of God in any way. He has already done everything we need, in Christ, and through the Holy Spirit and our baptism. Any good we can do, we do by the power of God anyway, not our own (1 Peter 4:11), as we are now alive in Christ. “We serve,” Peter says, “as one who serves by the strength God supplies.” God gets the credit, by His grace for us. And so Peter ends by saying something very similar to what we say, at the end of the Lord's Prayer: “In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11).
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep us safe, where we can be safe, now and forever, in Christ Jesus. Amen (Philippians 4:7).
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Tuesday May 19, 2020
In our study this week, we began with the warning of Paul in Colossians 2:4 that there are people wanting to “delude” us and lead us away from the truth by what seem to be “plausible arguments," using persuasive words and speech. Therefore, Paul says, stay where you always need to be, firmly connected to Christ. Because of the Greek verbs used, we could translate Colossians 2:6-7 in this way. “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to walk in Him, continually rooted and continually built up in Him and continually established In the faith, just as you were taught, continually abounding in thanksgiving.”
Paul is writing to a Christian church at Colossae, and he is writing also to us, who are believers in Christ. We have “received Christ Jesus the Lord.” We believe that Jesus (the Savior) is the Christ (the Anointed One from God, the Messiah promised in the Old Testament and now sent to rescue us) and is our Lord and God. There is a lot of meaning in simply saying that Jesus is the Christ and our Lord.
Some churches and groups teach this wrongly, though, by saying that we must first, as an act of our own will, repent and accept Christ and trust in Him, and then God will forgive us and save us. They quote a passage like John 1:12, about people who receive Christ, but they ignore and omit the very next verse, which says that they “were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). People can resist Christ (John 1:11), but if they come to faith, they were born of God, by His power and grace, through the means by which the Holy Spirit works to bring new birth and faith, His Word and Baptism. None of us gave birth to ourselves, physically or spiritually. It was the miracle of God, and He alone gets the glory and thanksgiving. The means of grace are effective because God has promised to work through them, and the Spirit does work through them.
We went on, then, in the study to see how other Scriptures also help us understand the other images that Paul uses in Colossians 2:7. We are in Christ and continually walk in connection with Him, by being continually “rooted” in Him, also. See John 15:1-5 for the parable of Jesus and of the Vine and the branches. Branches cannot survive without being connected to the vine and the roots, which bring them nourishment. “Abide in Me," Jesus says, “for apart from Me, you can do nothing” (v. 4,5). Jesus gives us what we need, as we stay connected to Him. See also Mark 4, where Jesus uses several images of planted seeds and growth that then comes: The Parable of the Sower and the seeds in v.1-20; the Parable of the Seed Growing in v.26-29; and the Parable of the Mustard Seed in v.30-32. The Lord can bring great blessings from tiny beginnings, as we stay continually rooted in Christ.
Likewise, Paul says, we are continually “built up in Christ." (See Ephesians 2:13-22, as another example of this same image. As we are brought to Christ, we are also brought together with other people of different backgrounds and cultures, and grow together in the church, with Christ as the Cornerstone for us all.) We not only begin our new life in Christ, but we grow and are established and confirmed in the faith, as time goes by.
Again, this is the work of God. We do not root and build ourselves up. We are rooted and built up, by being connected to Christ, and staying with what we were taught through His Word. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 and 2 Timothy 3:14-17, for example.) When we read and study the Scriptures of the Bible, we are not hearing human ideas and traditions, but the very Word and teachings of God Himself, coming to us through these human authors. We are continually “abounding In thanksgiving," then, counting the blessings we already have received and continue to receive, in Christ.
We don’t need to keep looking for “something more” in our lives, from new and
different teachers and ideas, as Paul goes on to warn in Colossians 2:8. These philosophies and human traditions (see Matthew 15:1-9, for example, as Jesus battles against such human traditions)and elemental worldly ideas and spirits may actually “take us captive” and pull us away from the One we really need most - Christ Jesus and His Word - if they are “not according to Christ.” For again, Paul says in v. 9-10, we have fully what we need already in the God/man, Christ Jesus. We will hear more about all this next week, and the ways in which Christ already has won the very blessings and victories we all really need.
Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, based on:
Sermon originally delivered May 29, 2011
Wednesday May 13, 2020
Wednesday May 13, 2020
As we have heard in previous weeks, Paul has spent much of his time in chapter one of Colossians telling us who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us. In this way, Paul is revealing the “mystery” of God’s plan of salvation for the whole world, in Christ, with Good News of hope for everyone. Paul toils and struggles to get this message out to as many people as he can, though he is in prison in Rome for his faith, as he speaks and writes. The message centers in “Christ in you” by faith in what He has done for you. “Him we proclaim,” Paul says.
This is a mystery clearly revealed, and is for all, not something to be kept secret and only for certain elite people, as the “mystery religions” of the ancient world were. It was not like the Masonic Lodge or other such groups still today, or some fraternities and sororities or even a cultic religion like Mormonism, which have secret rites and rituals and handshakes and clothing, only for the chosen “in-crowd."
Paul speaks often of this “mystery disclosed” in Christ Jesus; and we looked at just two of many passages listed in last week’s study. In Romans 16:25-27, Paul points us to “the prophetic writings made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith” in “the preaching of Jesus Christ.” In Ephesians 3:1-8, Paul tells how this was revealed to him and to all “His holy prophets and apostles by the Spirit” in Old Testament prophecy and in clear New Testament fulfillment - that “the Gentiles” (non-Jews) “are also fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”
In chapter two of Colossians, verses 1-5, then, Paul writes very personally of how this Good News of Christ is also for the people of Colossae and Laodicea, a town about 11 miles from Colossae (v.1). He wishes he could be with them in person, but cannot be, because of his imprisonment in Rome (v.1,5). (Remember that this is a real letter to real people, and did not originally have all the chapter and verse divisions we are used to seeing. Paul writes this heartfelt letter to help Christian people in real danger.) He assures them that in Christ they have “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and understanding," and they can be “encouraged and knit together in love” in Christ (v.2,3). They have everything they need in Christ, and Paul rejoices to see their “good order” and “the firmness of (their) faith in Christ” (v.5). (These are “military" terms and speak of their strength in fighting to keep their simple faith in Jesus, through the Lord working in them, too. See Colossians 1:29.)
Paul keeps their faith focused where it must always be, on Jesus their Savior, in Colossians 2:6-7, “rooted and built up in Him," “just as (they) were taught.” (We will look more closely at these two verses next week, too.) For Paul has also just introduced in Colossians 2:4 his concern for the people at Colossae, from what he has heard from Epaphras, the pastor in Colossae, who has come to visit him in Rome. Paul warns, “I say this in order that no one may delude (deceive, mislead) you with plausible arguments” - words that may sound very persuasive, but can actually lead people away from Christ.
Paul knows that the people in Colossae do not need new knowledge and ideas, which can be so appealing; but they must stick with “the word of the cross” and “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” and “boasting” in Jesus Christ alone, Who is for us “wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (See Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, and 2:6-12.) This message may seem like foolishness to an unbelieving world, but is exactly what we all need, for real and eternal hope, in Jesus who lived and died and rose again for us.
Monday May 11, 2020
Monday May 11, 2020
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, based on:
Sermon originally delivered May 22, 2011
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Last week, we heard Paul talking about his calling from God “to make the Word of God fully known.” He was called to be a “minister," a servant of God, a “steward” or manager from God for the sake of the church, the saints of God. (We get the English word “economy” from the Greek word for stewardship.) Paul was to be a manager of God’s strategic plan for getting the Word of Christ out to people, even though it meant suffering and trouble for him (Paul) to be on the front line of that work (Colossians 1:24-25).
Paul’s job was to reveal, to uncover, for His saints “the mystery hidden for ages and generations” in the past. It was in the Old Testament, but not fully clear even to the OT prophets or the angels who served God. See Ephesians 3:8-11 and 1 Peter 1:10-12 and 1 Corinthians 4:9, for example. God’s full plan was a mystery to be revealed only by God, at the right time. (See the first use of the word “mystery” in Daniel 2:27-28, as Daniel tells the meaning of the mystery of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, which only God could reveal.)
The word “mystery," hidden but now revealed or uncovered, is used often by Paul. “God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles (all those not Jews) are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. "Him we proclaim," says Paul. Everything centers in Jesus and what He has done for us and how He now lives with and in us, as our Lord and Savior.
This was a mystery to Jews who thought they alone were God’s chosen people and that people had to become Jews in order to have hope. (See John 8:31ff and Romans 10:1-4, for example.) This was a mystery to the “mystery religions” of the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds, who thought they had secrets and powers that could only be revealed to a select, elite group. This was a mystery to ancient philosophers, who had very complicated, hard to understand ideas, but were always looking for some new ideas to tickle their ears. (See Acts 17:18-21.)
We simply proclaim Christ, Paul says, a mystery meant to be clearly revealed now to everyone, not just for certain select people or groups. It was actually “God’s open secret” in the Old Testament, says Martin Franzmann, beginning with the promise in Genesis 3:15 that Satan would be defeated and his head crushed by a descendant of Eve. This descendant would be from the line of Abraham, but “all families on earth would be blessed through Him” (Genesis 12:1-3), not just the Jews.
This Descendant was Jesus Christ, and Paul openly proclaims Him, as Good News for everyone (Colossians 1:28). Paul is “warning” everyone of the reality of sin and their need for a Savior. He is “instructing everyone” about what Jesus has done to rescue them, with all the wisdom of God’s Word. And the goal is to”present everyone mature in Christ." (The word “mature” could also be translated “complete” or “filled up” or “perfect” in Christ [Colossians 1:28].) And being “in Christ” means trusting in Christ by faith, as the miracle of God through His Word and Baptism, as we will hear more of later on in Colossians.
Three times Paul says this is Good News for everyone, in Christ. Literally, the message is for “every man” (meaning not every male, but every human being). This is the amazing Good News revealed. Jesus came to be the Savior of all. ”God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). People can resist and reject this Good News, but it is to be proclaimed to everyone.
Paul also concludes this chapter, knowing that as he ”toils” and ”struggles” (the Greek suggests hardships and agony) to share this Good New of Christ, it is really God Who is working within him, with His energy and power, to bring people to faith (Colossians 1:29). “To God alone be the glory,” Paul would say. The power is in God and His Word, at work in us and others (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
If you would like to read more about this mystery hidden, but now revealed for all in Christ, you could look at Romans 5:1-2, Romans 8:7-8, 10-11, Romans 9:23-27, Romans 16:25-27, 1 Corinthians 2:7-10, 12-14, Ephesians 3:1-6, 8-9, and 1 Peter 1:20-21, for example.
Sunday May 03, 2020
Sunday May 03, 2020
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, based on:
Sermon originally delivered May 15, 2011
Tuesday Apr 28, 2020
Tuesday Apr 28, 2020
Someone reminded me of a book study I had done years ago on Just Words by Dr. J.A.O. Preus III, from Concordia Publishing House. That book covered many important Biblical terms that speak of the Good News of what Jesus has done for us, in a rich variety of ways. Paul has already used a number of those Gospel words in what we have already studied in Colossians 1. You might go back and see how many of those Gospel words you can identify in Colossians 1:1-22, and what they tell you about what Jesus has done for you personally.
Last week, we heard Paul speaking what Lutherans call both Law and Gospel. Paul spoke in Colossians 1:21 of our sinful human nature and how we are alienated, other than and away from God, (separated from Him and even enemies of Him and His will) on our own. Then Paul speaks the gospel in verse 22, telling how we have been “reconciled” (another of those big Gospel words) to God through the bodily death of Jesus on the cross. We have peace with God and are counted as “holy and blameless and above reproach” through Christ and “before Him." This same message is given by Paul in Ephesians 5:26-27, where He emphasizes the blessing of Baptism, “the washing of water with the Word," and how we are now “holy and without blemish" before Him. (Remember that Paul likely wrote both Ephesians and Colossians while he was in prison in Rome, and the two letters have many similarities.)
As we are brought to faith by our Lord through Baptism and the Word of God, Paul calls us in verse 23 to “continue in the faith, stable and steadfast” in the Gospel we have in Jesus and His Word “that you have heard.” The Greek words here emphasize that this faith is on a solid foundation, built by God as we came to faith, and with ongoing value for us, so that we can be “grounded” and “immovable," not shifting, not moving away from “the hope of the Gospel. (Other Scriptures that use the same and similar words are Ephesians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 15:58, based also on the certainty of Christ’s resurrection described earlier in 1 Corinthians 15.)
This Good News in Jesus is exactly what Epaphras had preached to the church at Colossae and exactly what was being proclaimed wherever Paul and others have been able to bring it. It is meant for the whole world, for it is Good News for everyone, as Paul will go on to say in Colossians 1 verses 24-28, which follow. (See Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:13-18, 1 Timothy 2:3-6, and on and on. Note also Romans 8:18-23, where the whole creation is affected by Christ’s saving work.) Paul is in effect saying to the people at Colossae: if this message of Christ is being proclaimed everywhere by Paul and many others, don’t be led astray from this solid foundation to some new and different teachings being pushed by false teachers who have come to you.
Paul is a “minister” of the Gospel of Jesus (v.23) and rejoices to serve others in this way, even if it means suffering for himself, on the front lines of sharing and defending the Good News of Jesus (v.24), as front-line medical people face danger and suffering in the battle against Covid-19 today to help protect the rest of us. When Paul speaks of suffering for Christ, he does not means that Christ’s sufferings for us for our salvation were not enough or were incomplete. Christ suffered “once for all," and when He said from the cross, “It is finished,” He had done all that was needed. Every one of our sins is paid for, by His sacrifice for us. There is no “purgatory” ahead for us after death, and we cannot and do not have to pay for the sins of others somehow in this life.
Jesus does predict, however, that we all will face some trouble and tribulation from our sinful, unbelieving world, just by being believers in Christ. (See John 15:18-21, John 16:33, and the story in Acts 14:19-22, for example.) Paul tells how Jesus had told him, at his conversion to Christianity, that he would suffer much as a Christian leader (Acts 9:16) and Paul tells the Ephesians “not to lose heart” over his being in prison in Rome (Ephesians 3:13).
God can bring good out of our troubles, as Paul will talk about later in Colossians. Paul will keep serving the church, the body of Christ, no matter what, for God made him a “steward," a manager of the church, especially “to make the Word of God fully known” (Colossians 1:25). That involves revealing the “mystery“ hidden before but now clearly revealed - that Jesus is the Savior for all people, Jews and non-Jews (v.26-28).
We will hear much more about that in next week’s lesson. May the Lord enable us all to stay in the faith, on the firm foundation of Jesus and His Word, as we keep listening to it and studying that Word!
Saturday Apr 25, 2020
Saturday Apr 25, 2020
Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter, based on:
Sermon originally delivered May 8, 2011
Tuesday Apr 21, 2020
Tuesday Apr 21, 2020
The study begins with a review of Colossians 1:11-20. Paul is certain about all that he writes, because he has been brought to faith by the resurrected Lord Jesus Himself.
Look at this, as recorded in Acts 26:9-18. Paul (called Saul, before his conversion to Christianity) tells about how anti-Christian he was and how much he did against Christianity (v. 9-11) until Jesus Himself appeared to him to bring him to faith, while he journeyed to Damascus, and promised to continue to appear to him to teach him the truth of God’s Word (v. 12-18). Notice that Paul uses some of the same words that Jesus used with him in his letter to the Colossians (1:12-14).
Paul also knows that the way that he describes Jesus in Colossians 1:15-20 is absolutely true. He has seen Jesus and been taught by Him and could no longer look at Him in the old, false ways, as simply a man who led people astray. Paul describes this in a passage we closed with last week: 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2. Paul knew better than to regard Christ Jesus “according to the flesh” (v.16-17). He is the Son of God, Creator of all things and of the “new creation” that we are, through faith in Him. Jesus forgives and “reconciles” us to Himself and to the Heavenly Father and brings us “grace” and ”salvation” (v.18-6:2). Paul describes all this and so much more in Colossians 1:15-20.
He says, “In Him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.”
It is now Paul’s calling to share this news with everyone he could, including the church at Colossae. In verse 21, he begins with the bad news of the natural sinful condition of all human beings, apart from the Lord. Even the Colossians were “alienated” (separated from God) and “hostile” (enemies of God) in their understanding and ”doing evil deeds." (See Ephesians 2:12 and 4:17-19, and Romans 5:6ff and especially verse 10 and Romans 8:7, and Peter’s description in 1 Peter 2:9-10, etc.)
The good news is that in spite of our human condition, Jesus loved us and has now “reconciled” us, made peace between us and God, “in His body of flesh by His death” on the cross (v.19,22). He was God become man, with a real human body, being sacrificed, once for all, for us and our forgiveness. (See Hebrews 10:5-10, 14 as a description of Jesus coming to do God’s will and making us “perfected” and ”sanctified” through His bodily death for us.)
In Colossians 1:22, Paul says that we are presented to God as “holy” (separated out for God, as His people) and “blameless” (spiritually without spot or wrinkle or blemish) and “above reproach” (Lenski: “no one can accuse us in any way”). This is the way God looks at us, through Christ and His sacrifice for us, that washes every sin away. Jesus has done enough to make us acceptable to God. The people at Colossae and we, too, do not need new and different knowledge or to do other things to make ourselves pleasing to God. Jesus is enough, provided that we continue in the faith in Jesus, “stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel" (v.23).
We don’t just begin in the faith, but are called to continue in the faith, to the end of our life or the return of Jesus, whichever comes first. (See also Matthew 24:12-13, Revelation 2:10, John 8:31-36, etc.) We can remain on the firm foundation of the faith through God’s strength and power. (See Colossians 1:11, 28-29 and Hebrews 12:2, where Jesus is “the Founder and Perfecter” of our faith.) See 1 Corinthians 1:7-9, where Jesus “will sustain us to the end, guiltless (holy and blameless and without reproach) in the day of our Lord Jesus," as we continue in Him and His Word and “do not shift from the hope of the Gospel we have heard” from Paul and the other Biblical writers (v.23). That is our eternal hope in Christ.