1.
In the name of our
incarnated Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. Dear friends, Advent
prepared us for our Lord’s arrival by calling us to a penitential season of
meditation. We’re humbled and yet resound in joyful chorus as we contemplate
our Lord Jesus leaving the glory of heaven to take on our flesh and the
wretched filth of our sin on the cross. Now Christmas allows us to reflect upon
the salvation our Lord freely gives us as a gift as he comes to us in his
incarnation and in his Word and Sacrament. Truly it is a “marvelous
thing.” At Christmas we’re reminded of
how God our Maker and Redeemer created, restored, and made us new creatures
through his Son, “who made himself to be like us” in his incarnation. It
is this “makeover” the incarnation has worked in us that Paul explores
in the sermon text from Colossians 3:12-17 and it’s entitled, “Clothe
Yourselves in Christ,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
They’re everybody’s beloved
grandparents—kind, humble, patient (especially patient!), compassionate, meek. Going
to the temple every day, waiting for, looking forward to, the coming of the
Lord’s Christ: Simeon and Anna—showing to us Christian virtue. And in our
Gospel lesson this morning, God honored their virtue—especially their
patience—by letting them see and even letting Simeon hold, the baby they’d been
waiting for.
3.
We know that the story
wasn’t really about Simeon and Anna. It was about the baby, Jesus. But we might
forget that their virtues also weren’t really about Anna and Simeon. It’s not
that these dear, elderly saints were particularly virtuous and then the newborn
Messiah came to them as a reward. On the contrary, their virtues were born in
them by and through that little baby. In the same way, in our text today, from
St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, Paul tells us about the Christian virtues
that we are clothed in through baptism into Christ’s holy name.
4.
We are called to “put
on” a list of virtues. Paul writes in
Colossians 3:12-13, “12Put
on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience, 13bearing 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.” The phrase Paul uses here of “put on” refers
to your baptism into Christ. Through the
Sacrament of Holy Baptism you died and were risen from the dead with
Christ. Your old sinful nature died and
you have been raised to newness of life in Him. Isaiah 61:10 says, “I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord … for he has clothed me with the garments of
salvation.” And Job 29:14 says, “I
put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a
turban.” Putting on, then, has to do with a deep and transforming inner
experience which reflects itself outwardly. Again, it is not simply a matter of
having a new lifestyle; it is being a new person.
5.
It’s a beautiful illustration Paul gives us
here in verses 12-13. Picture your dearest grandparent or some other precious,
elderly Christian. “Compassionate
hearts” are gracious to all people, just as God in Christ
manifested his grace and peace to all sinners through his incarnation, death,
and resurrection. “Kindness” gives
to our neighbor in need without merit or compulsion, just as Christ gave
himself into death for us with no merit on our part. “Humility” places
us below others as servants of God who are not prideful or dominating. In his
humiliation, Christ took the form of a servant and humbled himself to the point
of death on the cross (Is 53:3; Mt 8:20; 27:46; Jn 8:40; 19:1–3, 30; 2 Cor 8:9;
Phil 2:5–8). “Meekness” lets us
confess that we are saint and sinner and among sinners who also sin against us,
just as Christ was betrayed into the hands of sinners and put to death for
their iniquity. “Patience” perseveres under injustices without vengeance. Our Lord
certainly did this in his first advent (Is 53:4–5; Rom 5:19; 2 Cor 5:19). By “bearing with one another,” the Christian by faith holds on when burdens pierce
us forcefully. Jesus bore our sins in his body, and by his wounds we are
healed. To “forgive” is to release one of debt, past or present, real or
imaginary. The forgiveness of Christ is boundless (Ps 130:3–4; Lk 18:13; Rom
3:22–24; 8:38–39; 2 Cor 5:19; Eph 1:7; 1 Jn 2:2).
6.
Is this your grandma,
your grandpa, or some other dear Christian you know? How would you summarize
what you see in them? St. Paul says in Colossians 3:14 that these virtues are
bound together in love and perfect harmony (vs. 14). Love empowers the virtues. Sacrificial love comes from Christ’s gifts of
saving faith and grace. Without these, love is a clanging cymbal. Christ’s love for undeserving sinners was
manifested through his perfect love (1 Cor 13:1–8). Perfect harmony is the foundation of the
virtues. The virtues unite Christians as
Christ’s Body in perfect spiritual unity.
This is the end goal of love.
7.
Beautiful! But that
could never be me! Anna or Simeon or my grandma maybe, but not me. But
remember, the point is it’s not them either.
We do—we have!—clothe yourselves in theses virtues since Jesus has been
born in us through your baptism. The key verse is the very first. We are “God’s chosen ones, holy and
beloved” (v 12). “Chosen”
means God has loved and saved us in Christ by grace through faith (Eph 1:3–8). In
his holy incarnation, Jesus has come into our midst to rescue all people from
sin and eternal death (Rom 4:25; 5:1–11).
And when we were baptized, he was born in us. As Anna and Simeon were
chosen to receive Christ, so were we.
8.
Now Christ’s peace
rules our new hearts (v 15). Being at
peace with God frees us from living for self, because if we are reconciled to
him, we already will receive from him all things. Thus his peace frees us to live the virtues
in love and harmony toward others.
9.
All this continues as
the Word of Christ continues to give birth to Christ in our lives (v 16–17). Dwelling in the Word is our way of life. That Word includes psalms and spiritual songs
sung as his corporate Body and individually in our hearts as his children. It is the Word by which Christ dwells in
us. In word and deed, then, we live the
virtues in light of the revelation of Christ.
10. Anna and Simeon were blessed to see Jesus born in
the flesh. We see him born in us in his Word. And that’s how virtue happens.
Patience and kindness and meekness and all the rest. As we remain in Christ’s
Word, he makes you more and more like Himself.
So remember you are clothed in Christ through your baptism, live in this
new life He has given to you as Paul tells us here in Colossians 3. Amen.
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