Colossians 3:12-17

Some of us have been told what we want our whole lives. We’ve been told whether we should want to go out for sports or not. We should want a college education or a graduate degree or a particular career. We should want to date this person and not the other one. None of it is mean-spirited, of course, and no one means any harm. It just doesn’t sit well with us.

It happens in our churches and schools and faith communities too. We’re told by someone what God wants us to do and not do. We’re told we shouldn’t drink or cuss or watch certain movies. We’re told we should want to have “quiet times” in the mornings and talk to strangers about “a relationship with God.” We’re told we should want to go on “mission trips” and “witness” to people, so we do it even if we don’t really know what the words mean. But often just for a while. After long enough, what looks like faith isn’t really faith anymore. It’s just compliance.

The problem with mere compliance is it turns us into posers. Rather than making decisions ourselves, we do what everyone we respect tells us we ought to do, and we sacrifice our ability to make choices of our own. The fix is as easy as the problem is hard. Instead of telling people what they want, we need to tell them who they are. This works every time. 

We’ll become in our lives whoever the people we love the most say we are.

God did this constantly in the Bible. He told Moses he was a leader and Moses became one. He told Noah he was a sailor and he became one. He told Sarah she was a mother and she became one. He told Peter he was a rock and he led the church. He told Jonah he’d be fish food and, well, he was. If we want to love people the way God loved people, let God’s Spirit do the talking when it comes to telling people what they want. 

Our first goal in ministry is to show broken people they are loved and worthy of God's grace and forgiveness.

All the directions we’re giving to each other aren’t getting people to the feet of Jesus. More often, the unintended result is they lead these people back to us. When we make ourselves the hall monitor of other people’s behavior, we risk having approval become more important than Jesus’ love.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Our Lutheran churches teach that the remembrance of saints may be commended to us so that we imitate their faith and good works according to our calling. . . . However, the Scriptures do not teach us to pray to the saints or seek their help, for the only mediator, propitiation, High Priest, and intercessor whom the Scriptures set before us is Christ.  [Jesus] is to be prayed to, and he has promised to hear our prayers. Such worship Christ especially approves, namely, that in all afflictions he be called upon. “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father,” etc. (1st John 2:1).

First, a definition of who is a saint. The apostle Paul wrote to the saints at the various Christian churches. Obviously he was not writing to those who had already died, rather he was writing to those who had been blessed with faith by the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ.

We are to honor the saints in three ways.. The first way is to thank God for saints because He has shown examples of His mercy, because He wishes to save people and because He has given teachers and other gifts to the Church. Thank God for saints!

The second way to honor those who have been blessed with faith is by being encouraged by them to believe all the more that grace truly superabounds over sin. What an encouragement to observe the faithful who attend weekly worship, who care for the sick, who open their homes and their hearts to those in need, and who keep the faith in spite of ridicule and persecution.

The third way to honor saints is through imitation, first of faith, and then of the other virtues. In other words, to heed the voice of Jesus, the good shepherd, and be like Him!

Jesus invites you to pray to Him and in His name, He is more than willing and able to intercede for you as your High Priest, seated on the right Hand of God His heavenly Father.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Our Lutheran churches are falsely accused of forbidding good works. . . Our Lutheran churches begin by teaching that our works cannot reconcile us to God or merit forgiveness of sins and grace but that we obtain forgiveness and grace only by faith when we believe that we are received into favor for Christ’s sake, who alone has been ordained to be the mediator and propitiation through whom the Father is reconciled. Consequently whoever trusts that he merits grace by works despises the merit and grace of Christ and seeks a way to God without Christ, by human strength, although Christ has said of himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). … This teaching concerning faith is everywhere treated in Paul's epistles, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.' [Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV) … Our teachers teach in addition that it is necessary to do good works, not that we should trust to merit grace by them but because it is the will of God.

Note well: There is no place for good works in one saving oneself. One is declared saved through faith in Jesus alone, however, the one who has faith will naturally bear good fruit as the Spirit of God is abiding in his/her heart. This is made clear in verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 2: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

Another key Scripture passage comes from James, the second chapter: 'What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 'James 2:14–18 (ESV) One is declared saved through faith in Jesus alone, however, the one who has faith will naturally bear good fruit as the Spirit of God is abiding in his/her heart.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Our Lutheran churches teach that although God creates and preserves nature, the cause of sin is the will of the wicked, that is, of the devil and ungodly men. If not aided by God, the will of the wicked turns away from God, as Christ says in John 8:44, “When the devil lies, he speaks according to his own nature.”

In other words, the cause of sin never had its source from God. God is holy and when the first male and the first female were created they too were holy. They were placed in a garden with all the blessings of food. They were naked and without shame.

God is not the source of evil. Nor does He have a dual personality, like yin and yang, half good and half evil. No, the cause of sin is the will of the devil, who although created as one of God's messengers or angels, turned on God in an attempt to be equal or greater than God. The Sacred Word of God labels him as the 'father of lies.'

However, one can not simply blame the devil for his or her rebelling against God as Eve did. Or like the excuse that 'the devil made me do it.' People have the free will to turn away from God. This is the nature of mankind since Adam and Eve's fall into sin. At times it is referred to as original sin. A sinful man who fathers a child through the union with a sinful woman is not able to produce innocent or sinless offspring.

This doctrine of the Cause of Sin underlines the need for a Savior. Thank God for Jesus who was not conceived in the natural manner, but the Holy Spirit came upon virgin Mary and was born sin-free.

You do not need to look any farther than the one you see in the mirror for the cause of sin. You do not need to look any farther than in Jesus as the full payment for the forgiveness of your sin! 

-Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Our Lutheran churches teach that man’s will has some liberty for the attainment of civil righteousness and for the choice of things subject to reason. However, it does not have the power, without the Holy Spirit, to attain the righteousness of God — that is, spiritual righteousness — because natural man does not perceive the gifts of the Spirit of God (1st Corinthians. 2:14); 3 but this righteousness is wrought in the heart when the Holy Spirit is received through the Word.. . . Our Lutheran churches condemn those who teach that without the Holy Spirit, by the power of nature alone, we are able to love God above all things, and can also keep the commandments of God in so far as the substance of the acts is concerned. Although nature is able in some measure to perform the outward works for it can keep the hands from theft and murder, yet it cannot produce the inward motions, such as the fear of God, trust in God, chastity, patience, and so on.

Mankind has the free will in earthly matter, but not in spiritual matters. We are able to apply ourselves to temporal concerns, but not matters of divine revelation. Free will was lost in the fall into sin. Now our nature is totally deprived of even taking the first step to faith. The wages of sin is death [period]. We are like Jesus' friend Lazarus who died and was in the grave for four days prior to Jesus' coming. Lazarus’ dead body was totally helpless. Jesus spoke the words "Lazarus, come out!" Then Lazarus came out.

The apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV) Whenever one thinks or believers that he or she can and must do something to merit salvation then first one is in doubt, that leads to despair as one wonders did I do enough. This is especially troubling when one realizes that he has once again sinned.

The second consequence of thinking that must do his or her part is to deny Jesus of His saving work. In other words, it is to call Jesus a liar when he said: "It is finished!" Jesus was proclaiming the good news that the sin of all mankind had been paid in full by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Our Lutheran churches also teach that at the consummation [or final end] of the world Christ will appear for judgment and will raise up all the dead. To the godly and elect he will give eternal life and endless joy, but ungodly men and devils he will condemn to be tormented without end. Our Lutheran churches condemn those who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils. They also condemn others who are now spreading opinions to the effect that before the resurrection of the dead the godly will take possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being suppressed everywhere.

The writer of the book of Hebrews began with these words: 'Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world' (Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV). The last days according to God's Sacred Word began in the first coming of Jesus. Jesus began His reign when He rose victoriously from the dead. Forty days later He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of His Father. The reference of 1,000 years reign symbolizes that Jesus reigns now until His one and only second coming.

When we pray in the Lord's Prayer these words: "Thy kingdom come." We are asking that God's kingdom would come to us, to others, to others through us. It comes to us, solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

This petition "Thy kingdom come" has a fourth request: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

For the believer in Jesus, we can hardly wait for His glorious return. I pray that you are ready and waiting as well, you are when you believe in Jesus as your Savior!

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Our Lutheran]churches teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God and that it is right for Christians to hold civil office, to sit as judges, to decide matters by the federal, state or local government and other existing laws, to award just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers, to make legal contracts, to hold property, to swear oaths when required by elected officials, to marry, to be given in marriage. Our Lutheran churches condemn those who forbid Christians to engage in these civil functions. They also condemn those who place the perfection of the Gospel not in the fear of God and in faith but in forsaking civil duties. The Gospel teaches an eternal righteousness of the heart, but it does not destroy the state government or the family. On the contrary, it especially requires their preservation as an ordinance of God and the exercise of love in these ordinances. Therefore Christians are necessarily bound to obey their elected officials and laws except when commanded to sin, 7 for then they ought to obey God rather than men.

One insight of the Lutheran Reformation was to understand that there are two kingdoms or realms. There is the Spiritual kingdom of which Jesus is the Head of the church. And then there is the Realm of Government. God has established governments in order that you and I could live in peace and safety. Elected officials are placed in their position in order to ultimately serve God and the people under their authority. There are also times that one may serve his or her country in the armed forces in just wars.

A third state that is not addressed in this chief article would be that of family. Marriage is not listed as one of the first twenty-one chief articles of faith. Marriage was instituted by Creator God from the very beginning as He created a male and then a female in His image and united them as husband and wife for life.

Please pray for devout and faithful rulers, good government as we do in the Lord's Prayer as we petition God to 'Give us this day our daily bread.'

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,