Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
2/6/11
Colossians 3:12-17
Bror Erickson
[12] Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, [13] bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. [14] And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. [15] And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. [16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. [17] And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col. 3:12-17 (ESV)
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion kindness humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another,… forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you. … and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
It is such a beautiful passage of scripture admonishing God’s elect, his holy and beloved chosen ones, to live a Christian life, one we too often fail to live. There is gospel woven in between the lines, printed almost as if in invisible ink, perhaps backhanded gospel, meant maybe to inspire to this Christian life rather than nag, harp, or even admonish the people into doing these things. This because Paul knows the limitation of law. The law can gain outward conformity, it can get someone to do or not to do particular things at times. Even at this it often fails and the only recourse left to it is to punish those who fail obey it. But it can’t change attitudes, it can’t change a heart. And what Paul is asking for here is the most impossible a change of heart that can only be wrought by the work of the Holy Spirit who works through the word of Christ, and manifests itself in prayer and singing of Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs and thankfulness to God. Humility, meekness and patience are not the product of the law but of forgiveness.
Law so rarely pays off for anyone. It has its uses and needs. Don’t get me wrong there. But where it demands outward obedience, it can’t make the heart like it. Most often it has the opposite effect. Children will often obey their parents and inwardly despise them for what they are asked to do. Husbands and wives can chafe at the demands one or the other puts on them.
But then the law also serves it’s purpose in the Christian proclamation. The law destroys and puts to death, it crushes and prepares fro the gospel and new life. In the end this is the best it can do. It can convict one of sin, show him the sin, and show his need for mercy and forgiveness. This is the laws chief work.
When the law has been broken and the sinner is faced with punishment then one asks for mercy, for forgiveness. No one wants to suffer the consequences, or live in the shame. And it is here that the gospel rings so sweet, the Lord has forgiven you.
That is what our text says. The Lord has forgiven you. And here is what is behind all the admonishment to the Christian life in this text. The Lord has forgiven you. And yes you needed to be forgiven. All of us need it. We need it more than we ever realize. More than we may ever think, because we are all sinners. We are guilty of sin, and death is the penalty God’s law demands. The world might demand jail time. It might require you to hang your head in shame. It may require you to pay a fine. It may in the form of friends and family just look the other way. But God’s law demands death for sin. Death for gossip, death for slander, death for drunkenness, death for infidelity or fornication, death for impatience, for arrogance, for strictness and judgementalism. And who here has not been guilty of these things at work, at home, with your spouse or children?
And yet despite it all God has chosen you. You are God’s elect. You are holy and beloved. Yes you! How do I know? The same way Paul could so confidently write to the Colossians and tell them so. People make it so hard to know if you are elect or not. They want to see your holiness by the way you live in order to see if you are elect or not. But a person’s holieness, their sanctification, is as invisible as faith. But Paul writes to this congregation full of sinners. Paul writes to this congregation full of gossipers, consumed with arrogance. Paul writes to this congregation that is just like ours, full of men and women guilty of sin, guilty of fornication, infidelity, impatience, sensuality, self-hate, and hate for others, who would be nothing else if Christ had not forgiven them. But Christ has, and therefore they are elect. How does Paul know? Because they are listening to him right then and there. That is how Paul knows. They are hearing the gospel. Jesus Christ didn’t just die for you. He died for the whole world. How does Paul know they are elect, because God was electing them even then as they heard the gospel, heard that Jesus died for them. Even as he elects us each and everyone even now as we hear this wonderful gospel that allows the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts, and his Word to dwell in us richly. The election isn’t a one time past event, but the election happens in this world in time and space whereever the Gospel is being proclaimed, where ever sinners are being baptized and made saints, where ever the Body and Blood of Christ are being given fort he forgiveness of sins. Because that is how Christ rules. He rules over our hearts with peace forgiving our sins, loving us despite our sins, and inspiring us to love him in return and loving him to love our neighbor. To Love our neighbor, to love our children, to love our spouse and family, to love with Christ’s love that is forgiveness, that shows itself in humility, meekness compassion and patience, because even when we fail in these things Jesus if faithful to forgive, because he did not see equality with God and all its glory a thing to be grasped, but in humility gave it up so that he could die in our place showing meekness unto death, and in compassion for you and I giving us life, patiently forgiving the world that showed him no mercy.
Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment