Archive for December, 2006

Having come to the end of Advent, the Church year continues with the 1st Sunday after Christmas on 12/31/06. The three assigned readings are Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15 (consecration of firstborn); Colossians 3:12-17 (put on love) and Luke 2:22-40 (Simeon and Anna). Chosen to examine more deeply is Colossians 3:12 which reads, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.”

Perhaps at first glance, the paradox of this verse is not as obvious as it should be through eyes of faith. There are more obvious paradoxes in the Scripture such as one God yet three Persons; Jesus is divine yet human; the cross is the worst and best day of history and so forth. However, Colossians 3:12 contains a paradox that is contrary to the thinking of every other religion in the world.

The paradox is as follows: While encouraging his readers to put on tender mercies, kindness, humilty, meekness and patience, at the same time Paul refers to his readers as holy! Here is the apparent inconsistency–if believers are being encouraged to put on good works, then how can such people already be considered as holy? In every other religion of the world, first you do good works, then the god is able to consider you as holy. Christianity appears to have things backwards.

It is possible to regard a Christian as part of the elect without yet being holy and also as being beloved by God prior to doing perfect works. But the key word, which is the same in the Greek as used for the “Holy” Spirit is the word “holy” applied to individuals who are being encouraged to do good works. From the point of view of the Law we are not holy as we look at our sinful works, words and thoughts which leads us to confess that we are poor, miserable sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment!

The key to understand this passage, as always, is the distinction between Law and Gospel. For under the Law we are accused of falling short of the glory of God. However, the Gospel is quite different. It speaks of a Savior Who came and did two things for us that we were unable to do for ourselves. These two gifts we receive can be distinguished by remembering the distinction between the passive and active obedience of Jesus Christ.

The passive obedience points to Christ’s willing death on the cross. That provides us with the gift of the forgiveness of sins as He takes away the curse of the Law that was upon everyone of us. His active obedience points to Christ’s perfect obedience while on earth which is then transferred to us in baptism dressing us in His robe of righteousness.

So from God’s point of view–which is the only one that counts–believers in Christ are already considered holy. Holy, not because of their own works but because of the works, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Who died so that we will never really die and Who lives so that we live eternally. Thus, as a child can be assured that nothing she does can make her a child of her parents, at the same time her parents can encourage her to be obedient. Obedience therefore is not a cause of our being holy but a consequence of the gift of holiness given to us by grace, through faith on account of Jesus Christ!

The day before Christmas in 2006 is also the 4th Sunday in Advent with the three readings being Micah 5:2-5a (Bethlehem); Hebrews 10:5-10 (Establishes the second) and Luke 1:39-56 (Mary visits Elizabeth). Chosen to apply this Sunday is Hebrews 10:8 with special attention to, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire nor had pleasure in them.”

I’m confident that this verse would have come as quite a shock to the thousands of Israelites who regularly offered sacrifices to God prior to the time of the arrival of the Messiah. Of course, even when Jesus came to fulfill all those Messianic prophecies, there was no joy in Judea to hear that offerings and sacrifices no longer cut it with the holy God. You can only imagine the reaction of the Luke 18 Pharisee who regularly thanked God that he was not like sinful publicans as he followed the rules on fasting, Sabbath worship, tithing, etc. etc.

The writer to the Hebrews is in essence doing a Law/Gospel distinction. By the time that the new religion of Judaism had broken on to the scene after the Babylonian captivity, it was not just that the temple had been replaced with synagogues, priests with rabbis and doing sacrifices with the reading of the Law. What made matters worse was that salvation was encouraged through a keeping of the Law and specifically all those ceremonial laws as found in the books of Moses.

Jesus Himself put it this way: “You have made the temple a den of robbers!” For sure, anytime we offer to God our offerings and sacrifices as a way of earning our way into His good graces, we have added to the cross of Christ. And, of course, when you add to the cross of Christ, you subtract from it. Many Israelites had confused the Law with the Gospel in making their ceremonial obedience as a foundation for their salvation rather than as a response of a grateful heart to God for already being totally saved through the works, sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In verse 9, the taking away of the first to establish the second refers to the eradication of that old covenant swearing in ceremony of Exodus 24 which based one’s salvation upon the promise to obey all that God commanded. Of course, a few chapters later these same folks ended up creating a golden calf to worship!

The new covenant based not on the sacrifice of animals but the sacrifice of God Himself assured the believer in Christ not only of the forgivness of sins but also of the everlasting fellowship with the God Whom he had considered as an enemy just shortly before a Spirit-empowered conversion. Jesus, Who knew no sin became sin for you that you might become the righteousness of God because of Him. How sweet the sound that indeed saved a poor wretch as me and…you!

One week before Christmas, on December 17, 2006, is the 3rd Sunday in Advent with the following three assigned readings: Zephaniah 3:14-20 (Sing daughter of Zion); Philippians 4:4-7 (Rejoice in the Lord always) and Luke 7:18-35 (Is Jesus the Coming One?). Philippians 4:6 is the passage to interpret and apply which reads, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

The apostle Paul tells the Philippians not only to rejoice always in the Lord but also to be anxious for nothing. On what basis is our anxiety taken away? Perhaps the whole verse provides the answer. Is it that by our prayer and supplication in letting our requests be made known to God that He will answer our prayer and take away that which causes us anxiety?

Perhaps we are anxious about finding a job, passing a course, getting married and the list goes on and on. Then does it mean that when we pray, God will find us a job, make sure we pass the course and provide us with a spouse? Today such a theology is referred to as the “Word-Faith” movement. Such a theology teaches that if you only have sufficient faith, whatever you ask in prayer will be given. If it is not, that means that you do not have sufficient faith!

However, the king of theology–context–contradicts such a conclusion. For verse 5 reveals that “the Lord is at hand” and verse 7 reveals that not God’s answer to our prayer but His “peace” which “surpasses all understanding, will guard and keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Thus, regardless of how God answers our prayer, we are to be anxious for nothing because God is at hand and His peace guards us!

Under the Law our anxiety levels are in dependent as to how we regard the treatment we are receiving from God. If things are lousy, we are anxious; if things are turning out okay, we are no longer anxious. You see everything depends then on our perception. But the Christian’s anxiety disappears not because of the evidence that we perceive God is with us but rather because of the faith that trusts His promise that He will never forsake us and that His peace guards us through Christ Jesus.

Not by sight but by faith (trust) in the presence and promises of God results in our anxiety levels as low. For the greatest despair that could ever come upon us is being forsaken by God Himself. That will never be experienced by the believer because Jesus took upon Himself being forsaken in our place! Realizing that all the promises of God surround the believer at all times, we are moved to rejoice always not in the sense of being happy and giddy but of being content and able to cope with all that the world, the devil and our flesh throws at us. With the Lord at hand along with His peace, nothing can separate us from the love of God. We are anxious for nothing!

Moving right along to the second Sunday of Advent for Series C in the revised Lutheran lectionary (series of Bible passages), the three readings assigned for Sunday, December 10, 2006 are Malachi 3:1-7b (The messenger who will prepare the way for the Messiah); Philippians 1:2-11 (He Who began the work will complete it) and Luke 3:1-20 (John the Baptist ministry). Chosen to apply is Malachi 1:7 which reads, “‘Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

That doesn’t sound very Christian, does it? Maybe that’s why some people consider the God of the Old Testament as Law while the God of the New Testament is Gospel. However, since the true Triune God authored both testaments, such a distinction is improper. The proper distinction is definitely that between law and Gospel. But how so?

At first reading it appears that God is willing to make a deal. “You return to Me and I will return to you. Until you return, I will forgetaboutyou!” How do we get around that apparent interpretation of the text. The problem is not that the Bible is so hard to understand; it is that we are so hardened not to want to understand it as God meant it to be understood.

The text is obvious. If you don’t return to God; He won’t return to you. But is that not contrary to everything we have learned about the Christian faith? Our God is not one of justice Who will give you what you deserve. He is one of mercy and grace in that He not only does NOT give you what you deserve but also DOES give you what you do not deserve. But that makes this text even more confusing.

For on the one hand God does promise to return to us. But it appears that He will do so only after we make the effort to return to Him. And that is where the problem lies. Our old Adam interprets the text to mean that it is “I” who must make the EFFORT to return to him. However, once we understand the Law as the demands from God that we can never fulfill, our understanding of the text changes radically. If we are not the ones to fulfill the demands of the Law, how can we return to Him first?

Perhaps the following analogy is helpful. A nurse completes her hospital shift and is driving home. Her car is hit by another vehicle driven by a drunk driver. The ambulance radios the hospital that the nurse is in serious condition. The emergency room physician states that if she will return to the hospital, they will treat her. But she is not only injured; she is unconscious. How can she possibly return to the hospital since that is the demand to be met prior to being treated? Easy. The ambulance transports her to the hospital.

We are to return to God before He returns to us. How so? The ambulance is none other than our Savior, Jesus Christ. He returns us to God the Father by the words from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” But we need not even go to the New Testament books and the cross to hear that promise of the coming of the Messiah. We only need to look six verses ahead of our text of Malachi 1:7 and read of the Lord, the Messenger from God, the Christ, “Who will come to His temple and purify the sons of Levi, purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.” (verses 2 & 3).

That is why God the Father says to God the Son, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” For Jesus does for you what you were unable to do for yourself. He returns you to God through faith in His promises so that God now returns to you. And the beginning of that blessed work we celebrated this past March 25 with the conception of the Virgin Mary so that on this December 25 we celebrate His birth. For, you see, He was born to die for you!