First Sunday After Christmas December 31, 2017

First Sunday after Christmas – December 31, 2017

The “Therefore” of Christmas

Colossians 3:12-17 Therefore, as God’s elect, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against anyone else. Forgive, just as Christ forgave you. 14And, in addition to all these things, put on love, which ties things together in perfect unity. 15Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, to which you were also called, in one body. And be thankful.

16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And everything you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

If you were to look up the simple word “therefore” in the dictionary, you would find definitions like these given: “for that reason, consequently, because of that.” If we wanted to use it in a sentence we might say: “Aaron Rodgers was injured, therefore he could not play.” “It is below zero outside, therefore it is cold.” What we notice is that the word “therefore” takes a truth and then connects it to the logical conclusion as the result of that truth.

Now you might wonder, why spend so much time on a word that most of us understand? Well, you may have noticed that our sermon lesson begins with the word “therefore.” That means that the Apostle Paul is taking some truth and leading us to see and understand the logical consequence of that truth. So, let us consider that truth and connect it with its logical consequence this morning under the theme: The “Therefore” of Christmas.

If you take a step back and watch the world for a few moments this time of year, you will observe that for many, thecelebration and joy of Christmas is already passing away. You see that in the way that attitudes have changed: “on to the next celebration.” The stores are replacing Christmas items for valentine ones. And people reluctantly say that it’s back to the daily grind of life.

And I suppose that if Christmas is only Christmas because of trees, presents, shopping and get togethers, its joy and celebration would be fading away. But that isn’t what Christmas is about, is it? And it is because God has chosen us to be his own that we know that! We know that Christmas is all about his grace and mercy to us. For this reason the joy of our Christmas continues.

That’s the first thing Paul wants us to see as he speaks of the “therefore” of Christmas – he wants us to remember what God’s grace has done for us. And he sums it up with the short phrase - “as God’s elect, holy and loved.”

Those words remind us that purely out of his undeserved love for us, God chose us to be his own children. He didn’t do this because of any merit or worthiness on our part. It wasn’t because we were somehow more inclined to believe than others. No, just like every other person who enters this world in the natural way, we were natural born enemies of God.

Yet think of it! Out of all the people on the face of this earth, he chose you. But now understand - the Father didn’t make that decision in an absolute manner. Rather he made it in harmony with his eternal plan for mankind’s redemption through Christ. In other words, he carried out this eternal, gracious decree in time by bringing individual sinners to faith in Christ through the Gospel. You cannot separate God electing us from Christ’s work. That’s why Christmas fits into this conversation. That’s why Christmas is so special and important to us.

At Christmas we see God the Father resolving to bring about in time what he chose in eternity. And because our souls are precious to God, he did not entrust the work of saving us from sin and damnation to just anyone. Besides, not just anyone could accomplish what needed to be accomplished for our salvation. Payment for our sins, compensation for our guilt, needed to come in the form of something precious to God.

But everything in this world is touched by sin. So God himself provided something precious in his sight as compensation. He sent his own Son to be our Savior. That’s what Christmas is all about. His blood shed on the cross was acceptable compensation because it is holy blood. Amazing grace, isn’t it? When according to God’s plan the time had fully come, he sent his own Son into this world to save us.

Now, through faith in Jesus Christ we are holy. Through the merits of Jesus’ life and death that are ours by faith, we are innocent and declared acceptable. That’s the truth that Christmas brings.

Now, Paul connects that truth to itslogical consequence. “Therefore…clothe yourselves with…compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against anyone else. Forgive, just as Christ forgave you. 14And, in addition to all these things, put on love, which ties things together in perfect unity.” The logical consequence of having been brought to faith by him who chose us to be his own is that we’ve been set apart, motivated, and empowered to imitate Christ’s holy qualities.

Now, no doubt an entire sermon could be preached on each of the qualities Paul speaks of here. We, of course, don’t have that kind of time. Yet with that said, it will be beneficial for us to look at each of these qualities because sometimes we forget that being loved, chosen, forgiven and set apart doesn’t give us a license to do whatever we want. Rather, it gives us freedom to do what God wants. He wants us to be compassionate. This is the word used to describe how the good Samaritan felt toward the man who fell among thieves in that beautiful parable (Lk 10:33). It sees the hurt of others and is moved to do something about it. You know, like the compassion of God that moved him to do something about our sinful, lost condition.

Kindness is the goodness found in God and demonstrated by God in his saving acts. Therefore, it is also the quality demonstrated by the believer as he forgives his fellowman. Paul has more to say about that when he says: “Bear with each other and forgive each other…Forgive, just as Christ forgave you.”

You see, as believers we must always remember that we are sinners living with sinners. Blemishes and faults will show. In spite of all their efforts, there will be occasions when even Christians will hurt each other and complaints against one another will rise. But day after day believers will work to overlook these slights and injuries. They will graciously forgive grievances just as God in Christ has forgiven us.

Whenever someone has wronged us let us remember how Jesus forgave his enemies from the cross, and on that cross he endured injustice that makes the injuries we may suffer at each other’s hands seem minor indeed. Even now, though we often spurn his love, he daily restores and forgives us.

Where kindness, compassion and forgiveness are present, gentleness can flourish. Now, gentleness is not a spinelessness that refuses to take a stand. Rather, gentleness is demonstrated when a Christian would rather suffer injury than afflict it. A gentle Christian is not easily provoked to anger by the carelessness of others. A gentle Christian will overlook insults in the spirit of forgiveness.

Paul goes on to speak of humility. This is a virtue that leads Christians to put the welfare of others before their own. What a happy, peaceful atmosphere exists in a Christian congregation, home, and family where each member counts the other as better than themselves and rejoices to serve others! We do that when in patience we do not bear a grudge or harbor thoughts of revenge when wronged.

Now, when you look back on this list of godly virtues, how do you feel? Because you are a sinner like me, I know that you too must admit that hard truth – much too often we fail. All too quickly your mind can recall the impatience demonstrated to a sibling, spouse or child. All too easily we can remember the gentleness and compassion we didn’t demonstrate because we were just too mad. Without delay those times come to mind when we weren’t willing to overlook those things others did to us. In the same way that we don’t have the time to talk about all the ways we could put these virtues into practice, we likewise don’t have the time to list all the ways we have failed to display them in our lives. A quick review of the past year must call to mind numerous departures from God’s holy pattern.

But don’t let that lead you to throw your hands up in despair! Don’t let it lead you to say, I just can’t do it, so why even try! And don’t snicker and make light of them either. Instead, simply be repulsed. Be filled with godly sorrow. Hang your head in true humility, beat your chest and cry out – God have mercy on me a sinner. Then having done that, seek Christ’s spiritual blessings.

That is another “therefore” of Christmas. You see, God the Father didn’t send his Son into this world because he wanted to write a touching story. No, he sent his Son into our world to win peace for us. The angels sang of that peace to the shepherds on the hillside the night of Jesus’ birth. On the evening of Jesus’ resurrection he appeared to the disciples and said: “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19)

This peace is the rest and contentment that fills the hearts of those who,by faith, know Jesus and his forgiving love. It is the calm and comforting feeling that comes from knowing our sins are forgiven and that we are God’s children; that God is our friend and all is well with us. It is the confidence that now and in the unknown future our God, who loves us, will work all things for the good of his forgiven children. It is the peace that comes from knowing that hostility between us and God has ended.

Since Jesus paid for our sins we are no longer God’s enemies. And as this peace fills our hearts it enables us to be at peace, not just with God, but also with ourselves and with one another.

But this peace is found only in Christ Jesus. He is found revealed to us only in the Word. That’s why we need to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. In order to stand firm and grow in the virtues Paul speaks of in these verses we need to maintain continual contact with the gospel of Christ. Only in this way can this peace rule in our hearts.

You know, that word rule is an interesting word. It comes from a verb that literally means to serve as an umpire. Here’s the picture that Paul is painting. Imagine what confusion there would be at a sporting event without officials. Similarly, if peace is not the referee in the heart, confusion will follow. The confusion of selfishness, me first, my way, what’s best for me, everything opposite of the godly virtues we just looked at. However, when peace is the referee, we will seek to make decisions and carry out actions that promote peace. In other words, we will seek to carry out the actions Paul listed previously because those are the ones that promote peace.

Dear friends, the truth is we are chosen by God, loved by him and forgiven. Behind all the conduct that Paul encourages in this verseslies their perfect fulfilment by the Christ Child, who came to fulfill the law in our place. Christ’s forgiveness and peace are ours. The logical consequence, then, is for us to clothe ourselves with these virtues spoken of here.

I mean could you imagine, after a man and woman are set apart for each other in a marriage ceremony; could you imagine if at the end of the wedding the groom would run off with the maid of honor? How horrible! Well we have been set apart for God through the salvation won and secured for us by Jesus Christ. How unthinkable it would be for us to go out and live life according to the ways of the world and our sinful flesh. Instead, may we follow the “therefores” of Christmas – imitating Christ’s holy qualities and seeking his spiritual gifts. The motivation to do just that is the fact that we have been chosen by God in Christ, loved by him and forgiven. That’s all the motivation we need. Amen.