Sermon for
Trinity 19, October 4, 2026
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort. Amen.
Colossians 3:12-21 12Therefore,
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. 18Wives,
submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and do
not treat them harshly. 20Children,
obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord. 21Fathers, do not embitter your
children, so that they do not become discouraged. (EHV)
Clothe
yourselves in the peace Christ won for you.
Dear beloved children of the Lord,
It
is quite common in families for parents to expect their children to hold
themselves to certain standards when out in public. This is perhaps especially true among the
wealthy, the politically elite, and royalty.
For example, the British Royal Family has very strict protocols that
every member of the family is expected to uphold at all times.
Of course, in those cases,
the family expectations are primarily focused on preventing embarrassment to
the family. In contrast, our Lord is not
concerned with embarrassment. Rather,
out of love for us and for all people God gives instruction for living to those
He has made His own children, so that we live in the gentleness and humble
nature of His Son, Who, “Though he was by nature God, … humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8) Thus, it is to express His tender love for us
that the Spirit says, Clothe yourselves in the peace Christ won for you.
The first thing we must
realize is that these instructions are for Christians, for those whom God has
already made His own. Notice with joy
that Paul wrote this to “God’s elect, holy and loved.” Out of all the teaming hordes of humanity
afflicted with the sinful nature inherited from Adam, and deserving nothing but
His rejection, God chose us to be His own “dearly
loved” children. We are so dearly
loved that God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, into suffering and death on
our behalf. By Christ’s righteous living
and perfect obedience to His Father in heaven, holiness was established for
those who would believe in Jesus.
Then, through the faith
worked in us by His Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament, God has counted us forgiven
and cleansed of all sin. By the powerful
washing of Baptism, God washed away the stench of all our guilt then dressed us
in the perfect righteousness that Jesus lived for us. Furthermore, Jesus promised, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my
teaching. My Father will love him, and
we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) So, to faithful Christians, with Jesus and
the Father dwelling in us, the
Spirit says, Clothe yourselves in the peace Christ won for you.
Now, we know that no one
is able to make himself a Christian by following these commands, for as long as
we walk the troubled soil of earth, we remain in the condition of sin, so our
works can never earn God’s mercy. Consequently,
those who try to use instructions like this to gain, by their own works, a
place in God’s heaven earn only condemnation for their faults.
Instead of telling the troubled soul how to please God and be saved,
Paul’s instructions, here, tell us how to live as part of Jesus’ sanctified
bride, His holy Church. Consequently
with the Holy Spirit working in us, we do not want to dress in the shameful
rags of our own efforts, but we put on the pure white clothes that Christ has
woven for us in Himself. It is Jesus put
on us that leads to pleasing God. We
thereby become His representatives here on earth. We do this by confessing our unworthiness and
guilt, and trusting in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, and in that state
of grace striving to live as He would live.
Paul wrote, “Clothe
yourselves with heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and
patience.” What greater
heartfelt compassion could be shown than what Jesus showed as He entered our
world to live with the rabble of humanity?
Not willing to sentence the whole human race to hell, Jesus entered our
world—this world so troubled by our sinful ways—just so that He could eliminate
our rift with God and heal our souls to live with Him forever.
Jesus demonstrated
kindness to those who needed His help, who indeed had nothing to offer Him but
more sin, when He healed the sick, the lame, and the blind while He forgave the
sins of all who came to Him for help and healing. Jesus lived humility in not demanding our
obeisance before saving us but taking on complete servitude to rescue the
unworthy from eternal death. The very
Son of God, and true King of heaven and earth, was willing to live as one of us
in order to rescue the wretched refuse of humanity from sin, death, and the
devil’s control.
Jesus’ gentleness was
evident to all in that rather than demand obedience to more and more laws, He
declared, “Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls.” (Matthew 11:29)
In
consideration of all that Jesus has done for us, Paul writes, “Bear with one
another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against anyone
else. Forgive, just as Christ forgave
you. And, in addition to all these
things, put on love, which ties things together in perfect unity.” Remember that through the adoption of
Baptism, we each have God dwelling with us and empowering us to live as Jesus
lived for us with unconditional love devoted to bringing forgiveness to others. Jesus said, “God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John
3:17)
If
we pause for a moment and remember all the times we have been unwilling to
forgive someone else, or even those times when perhaps we punished one of our
own children for their misdeeds but then forgot to tell them that they are
truly forgiven for Jesus’ sake, it is easy to be stricken in the heart for our
unloving, unforgiving attitudes. It is
for just such times that the Spirit caused Paul to write, “Let the peace of
Christ control your hearts, to which you were also called, in one body. And be thankful.” Be thankful that Jesus has already forgiven
you. Be thankful that He has won
complete and everlasting peace between you and God. No, we don’t deserve that mercy and
kindness. No one does for we all fall
short of the glory of God, but that is the richness of God’s love for us and
for all—that Jesus came to save sinners.
Be thankful, for He came into this world to make us right with His
Father in heaven so that we may Clothe ourselves in the peace Christ won for
you.
Sometimes, we find it hard
to forgive, and even harder to forget; we want the offending party to make up
to us for whatever the fault, but is that how Jesus forgave us? Did He not rather suffer and die for all the
sinners of the world regardless of whether we believed? Therefore, put on love. Put on that determination to do for the other
person what he, like us, doesn’t deserve and cannot earn.
At the same time, we dare
not pretend that any sin is something good.
We are often surrounded by unbelievers who demand that Christians
condone what God calls sin. To condone
sin is not love but pure hatred driven by the evil one. Instead, “Let 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.” God’s Word does not change, nor should we
want it to, for it is life and hope and salvation to the believer. So, we are to teach it faithfully, and use it
wisely in all we do, and our response to God’s Word should always be praise and
thanksgiving. We, of course, do this in
our weekly church services, yet it is for the good of our neighbor that the
Lord encourages this to be evident in every part of daily living.
When feelings of
worthlessness come upon us, we can look to the love God demonstrated for us on
the cross, where because He loves us, Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we would
be rich in righteousness and dearly loved by His Father in heaven. If we ever feel gloomy or worried, we can
take heart in the fact that God has redeemed us from evil and condemnation—that
He has opened the gates of heaven for all who believe in His Son. Living with gratitude to God can be
contagious. It is hard to stay focused
on gloom when your associates are singing praise to God even in the hard times.
It is perhaps in our own
families that we have the greatest difficulty staying true to God’s
directives. Husbands and wives struggle
to balance power, needs, and desires. It
is easy to let the sinful nature control our reactions to the little hurts of
life. Children may sometimes rebel
against parents’ authority even while needing that guidance to have happy,
contented lives. Therefore, we again are
reminded to focus on what Jesus has done for us; “And 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.”
In the day-to-day struggle
of life in this sin-broken world, there is much that causes hurt and
consternation even among people who love each other. It is therefore wise to keep our eyes looking
always toward the One Savior who never stops loving us. So, the Spirit reminds us that our salvation
and forgiveness comes only through Christ, and our sanctified service is the
same. Through faith, Christ puts Himself
on us, around us, and in us. Through the
gift of Baptism and the life-giving food of His Holy Supper, Jesus works in us,
making the Spirit’s witness come true when He caused Paul to write: “For we are God's workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would
walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
Dear
friends, may God’s workmanship, and the merciful love of Christ Jesus shine on
and around you continually, as you Clothe yourselves in the peace Christ won
for you. Amen.
May
the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers. May he never leave us or abandon us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all
his ways. Amen.
