“Dressed Like a Christian” 2012

Psalm 119:71-77 Colossians 3:1-3, 11-17

Psalm 119:71-77

It is good for me that I was humbled, so that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word. I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness you have humbled me. Let your steadfast love become my comfort according to your promise to your servant. Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.

Colossians 3:1-3, 11-17

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 11In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! 12As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Roman Empire was in decline, less unified and falling apart,

and the Emperor Diocletian

blamed Christianity for its weakness and demise.

So he resolved to stamp it out with some of the most extreme

and systematic brutality, torture and persecution

that Christians and the church have ever had to endure.

During Diocletian’s reign of terror,

in the face of threats, to torture and kill whole families,

some were driven to publically abandon their faith.

Some of the church leaders and pastors were afraid or unwilling

to risk or endure torture and death, and become martyrs,

so they submitted to the authorities,

surrendering the church’s holy books to be burned.

Later, when the Empire had failed to destroy the Church,

some who had abandoned the faith wanted to return,

and asked to be restored into Christian fellowship.

Obviously there were some hard feelings among those who had

suffered and endured, especially who had lost family members.

There were even stronger feelings against pastors and leaders

who abandoned the faith and allowed Scriptures to be burned.

First Bishop Cyprian, then Donatus Mangus went even further,

and insisted that any baptisms those pastors had done

were invalidated by their faithlessness before Rome.

The question of letting these people return back into fellowship,

and did they need to be baptized again if they did,

and what to do about the pastors and church leaders

became a huge and thorny issue for the early church.

How should the Christian church

deal with those who submitted to the Roman authorities?

Augustine was the great and respected theologian of that age,

and he wrote extensively about this difficult issue.

His reasoning and theology began by recognizing that

we are all saved by God’s grace alone, which we accept by faith …

… but even that faith comes as a gift and mercy from God.

So none of us have enough goodness or good deeds on our own

that we can say we have contributed to our faith or salvation.

Augustine pointed out that even the best of our good deeds

are insignificantly irrelevant toward our salvation,

which is truly by God’s gift of grace, alone.

Therefore, when a Christian fails to be faithful, that is also

insignificantly irrelevant against their salvation,

because we are saved, by God’s gift of grace, alone.

He concludes that it’s all God’s gift of grace for all of us,

and it is not the Church’s task to question God’s mercy

or to reject or exclude any of the children of God’s grace.

Augustine goes on to explain that baptism is how

the Church recognizes the grace that God has already given.

In baptism, the focus is on what Jesus did for us on the cross,

and even the failure or taint of a faithless pastor

does not invalidate the will and saving purpose of God.

Since it is all the gift and grace of God in baptism,

he denies any need for re-baptism because that would mean

that God didn’t get it right or do enough the first time.

Augustine concludes that those who would reject or exclude

anyone who had broken under the pressure of persecution à

à are in fact, committing the greater sin of schism,

guilty of trying to divide the body of Christ …

… which he based on the teachings of Col. 3:12-15

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.

These words were first written,

to the Christians of the Colossian church,

who were mostly recent and inexperienced converts,

and where they were struggling with various factions

bringing strife and divisiveness into the church.

The city of Colossae was along a major trade route in Asia Minor,

and was a mix of every nationality, race and culture,

with lots of religious diversity from many backgrounds,

which was reflected in that mixed congregation.

At first it was wonderful that their faith in Jesus Christ

brought them all together, unified by the gracious love of God.

But then some itinerant preachers came along

who impressed them with their religious ways and teachings,

and convinced them that God wanted them

to follow lots of religious rules and rituals.

That led to petty jealousies and their focus shifted inward,

and the church’s mission & ministry came to a standstill.

This letter was written as a corrective against all that.

The letter to the Colossian Christians is about

the power of God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ,

and what that means for us as Christians .

The reading today should have begun back in chapter 2,

where the author explained that in the waters of baptism,

symbolically, we die and are buried with Jesus ---

-- meaning that our old life

with all our sins and selfish motivations

has been drowned by the watery death of baptism.

In chapter 3 it goes on to explain

that symbolically, we are then resurrected and renewed

as we are raised from the deadly waters of baptism,

and enabled to live together as the people of God.

vs. 1, 11

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. … In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

All of the old divisions and differences

between races, nations, genders, cultures are irrelevant;

these no longer matter for they have been drowned …

… as we have been raised to share in a new life with Christ,

a unity and life together which matters far more

than any of those former differences and divisions.

The author of Colossians also describes this new life

as taking off old filthy rags

and being clothed anew in Christ.

I remember in Ghana, that when someone was baptized,

they burned their old clothes, then put on the new ---

- symbolizing a fresh start and new life, as in vs. 12-14

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. … Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Notice that the phrases in this passage are not a set of rules,

but that they describe a Christian’s attitude and values…

… qualities we put on like clothes,

so that they may grow to become who we really are.

the chosen ones

there is a strong sense of being favored and blessed,

not earned or deserved, but simply chosen to be loved,

and that we are defined by God’s grace toward us.

So in response,

we’re called to live as advertisements to the world,

declaring by the way we live and relate to others,

that God’s love can change human lives,à

for knowing that we are loved and secure in the Lord,

leads to a different perspective

and how we treat others, also loved by God.

with compassion

the life and the conditions of human beings concerns God,

and so it also concerns us – enough to respond…

… as we reach out to our community with God’s love.

with kindness

that describes our sensitivity, our awareness of others,

and that we do care about them…

… not in the abstract, but lived out in community.

with humility

we recognize other people as also being God’s children,

and as Jesus modeled,

we put the needs of others first, even before our own.

with meekness or gentleness

that is being willing to make allowances for others,

perhaps accepting that they are having a bad day,

or enduring a rough place along their journey-

- refusing to judge too quickly or too harshly.

It also means that when I correct or criticize,

I try to do it in a way that builds up and strengthens.

The point isn’t to prove that I am right,

but it’s to bring out the best in each other.

with patience

This means that I refrain from payback and revenge,

and I can endure a wrong to me, for the sake of grace…

… for if I hold onto resentments, they will work their way out.

As a farmer observed, what comes up in the bucket

is usually the same as what’s down in the well.

As we read in Colossians, vs. 16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom;

with the word of God as our guide and standard;

not as a club to whack our opponents into compliance,

but with grace, care and gentleness

we strive to bring out the best in each other

to the glory and honor of Jesus our Lord.

As we move into the New Year,

there will be many challenges, issues that could divide us;

much that could tear us and our ministry apart,

which would hold back our mission, the work of God.

Our call, as the graced, loved, precious and favored ones of God,

is to let God’s presence & gracious purpose among us define us,

and not our need to have it our own way or to show we are right-

- but by trying to live lives that declare, “Jesus is Lord.”

As we move into a new year, let us reclaim and affirm our baptism

by clothing ourselves with the love, the mercy and grace of God.