St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI

Pastor Mark Gartner

Sermon for Christmas 1 – January 1^st, 2006

Dear children of our heavenly Father,

How many of you have ever seen the inside of a baseball? I remember when I was a kid, one of our baseballs was in use so long and as I remember it I hit the ball so often and so hard the leather cover fell off. Being like any good kid, I decided to see what was on the inside of the ball. On the particular baseball that we were using, there was this large layer of string that was wound around some sort of inner core. As we began to unravel this string we soon realized that most of this baseball was made up of this thin string wound forever and ever. It seemed like it was never going to end. But finally we reached the inner core. It was a hard rubber ball that was about the size of one of those rubber bouncy balls. It was so simple. Who ever thought about making a ball this way?

As we go through life, most people only see the outside of people. In many ways we all look the same, much like a baseball. But as we look into God’s Word we soon realize that those who are Christians are different. They are different, because of what has been placed in their heart. They are different, because the Holy Spirit has led them to believe in the peace that Jesus won on the cross. This inner core of Christ’s salvation is in us and has changed who we are and how we will act. Today on this New Year’s Day we are going to let this peace that Christ won for us on the cross motivate us and guide us as we move into this new year as we use the theme:

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." "Clothe yourselves" are the words which describe the new life in Christ that every day the believer gladly puts on -- those qualities which characterize the Christian life. But before Paul describes what those qualities are, he again provides the motivation for doing it.

The motivation for wanting to clothe oneself in godly qualities springs from the fact that believers are "God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved." Believers are "God’s chosen people". Paul wants Christians from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds to see that the one true and living God has chosen or elected them to be his own through the one and only mediator of the new covenant, Jesus Christ. This saving mediator brings sinners a new and imputed holiness, which is ours only because the Father chooses to love us dearly in Christ.

Thus motivated, the believer gladly puts on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Compassion is what the Samaritan felt toward the man who fell among thieves. It is what Jesus felt toward the crowds who "were like sheep without a shepherd". It sees the hurt of others and is moved to do something about it. "Kindness" is a goodness found in God and demonstrated by God in his saving acts. It is also a quality demonstrated by the believer as he forgives his fellowman. Wearing the clothing of these Christian virtues, it is natural for the believer to follow the specific instructions, which apply them in verse 13. "Bear with each other," in the sense of putting up with one another’s sinfulness. Graciously forgive ~ grievances, or causes for complaint, just as God in Christ has forgiven us.

Verse 14 highlights the unifying factor that makes it possible for all the other directives to come together. Love is the final piece of spiritual clothing that is put on. Love is described figuratively as "the bond (fetter) of completeness." It is the belt that coordinates the believer’s spiritual clothing. It is possible to strive to be the way Jesus was only when we live in Jesus’ love.

As we move into another year, how has our compassion and kindness been? How well have we been doing at forgiving as Christ forgave us? How have we been doing at letting Christ’s love show in our lives just as Christ’s love is on our hearts? All too often we are more worried about ourselves and how we look on the outside. That is what our world wants us to do. In fact we just went through a season where sometimes we forget about Jesus’ love and we worry about the outward. I was reading last week about Amazon.com, the online store that most people know about. They released some of their Christmas stats for last year. During the month of December they shipped out 256 tons worth of merchandise. December 12 was their busiest day when they shipped out 3.6 million items, which averages out to 41 items shipped out every second for the whole day. That is what most people think about when they think about love, but we pray that our lives are full of more than earthly love! . May Christ’s love show itself in how to treat one another on a regular basis.

Paul now moves from individual Christian virtues to collective attitudes and activities that further build up the body of Christ. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." Christ’s peace affects relationships among believers. "Rule" comes from a verb, which literally means to serve as an umpire at the games. Christ’s peace settles things. It determines and announces the outcome. Strife and competition are removed from Christian relationships because the Prince of Peace has brought mankind a peace with God that the world cannot give, for Christ has suffered the punishment that brought us peace. The believer who accepts the peace treaty signed in Jesus’ blood strives to cultivate p! eaceful relationships within the body of Christ, which has been called to peace. The unity which believers share in the body will not allow them to war against other members of the body, anymore than they would war against the body’s Head.

The Christian at peace with his God, with himself, and with other members of the body is in the right frame of mind to have a thankful attitude toward all of God’s gifts. He not only sees God’s many blessings for body and soul, but also wants God to lead him to appreciate them and receive them with thanksgiving.

As we move into the new year what is our thankful level at? How thankful are we for the fact that God has given us a peace in our heart that will last an eternity? What in our lives shows this thankfulness to God and the people in our lives? Have we truly been thankful for all that God has done to change our sinful hearts? Are our whole lives full of thanks to our God who has given us the greatest gift of all? The sad truth is that many times we are not very thankful. The sad truth is that many times we just take God for granted. The sad truth is that many times we are thinking about ourselves much more than we are thinking about thanking God with our lives and with our words. Have our offerings to our God which we give each and every week done out love and thanks to God who has given us everything? Our thank offerings which we give each week a generous portion of the many blessings that God has given to each of us? Are our thank offerings given freely and cheer! fully? The sad truth is if we many times take a look at the physical blessings that God has given to us, our offerings fall woefully short of being truly thankful to God. We all too often find ourselves thinking that God will be satisfied with whatever we are able to scrounge together for our offerings. All to often there is not too much thought given to how much we are going to give in our offerings each week. If the truth be told, we haven’t really put too much time and effort into planning out how much would be a generous and cheerful gift to God.

Paul has said so much that affects Christians in so many ways that he evidently feels compelled to wrap up his exhortations with one more all-inclusive word of encouragement before going on to specific instructions for family relationships. "And whatever 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." Whatever one does "in word or deed" includes all that we say or do. Others do not know our thoughts, nor are they affected by them. But our words and actions do touch others. Everything about the Christian that touches others is to be done "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." The name "Jesus" is the full revelation of his saving reputation as he has given it to us in Holy Scripture. Every aspect of the Christian life is to be the response of faith which rests on the solid foundation of that saving message. In his life the Christian l! ooks for opportunities to express his Christian faith. All that the believer says and does as a believer expresses that faith in the Lord Jesus.

True faith in the Lord Jesus also gives thanks to God through Jesus. Only through the agency of Jesus’ redemptive work is it possible for anyone to be in a thankful relationship of faith in God, for without Jesus’ saving work humanity remains under God’s law and deserving of God’s wrath. That Jesus put himself under the law in our place from infancy enables us to live for God in thankful faith through Christ. AS we move into another of God’s grace we certainly as k that the Lord’s peace would rule our hearts and minds. We pray that Christ’s peace would show itself in the love that we show each and every day. We pray that this new year will be another chance to be thankful for the fact that we are God’s children. Amen