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The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, 2019
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn #461 Hark! the Church Proclaims Her Honor
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Colossians 3:12-17
The Gospel Matthew 13:24-30
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #341 Crown Him with Many Crowns
Sermon - The Word Dwelling Richly
The Hymn #311 Huss - Jesus Christ Our Blessed Savior
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #50 Lord Dismiss Us
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Matthew 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank Thee, that Thou hast sown the good seed, Thy holy word, in our hearts: We pray Thee that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou wilt cause this seed to grow and bring forth fruit, and defend us from the enemy, that he may not sow tares therein. Keep us from carnal security, help us in all temptations, and give us at last eternal salvation; through Thy beloved Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Sermon - The Word Dwelling Richly
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
In this lesson, Paul began with advice about harmony in the Christian community and home, just as he did with the great confessional statement in
Philippians 2.In the Colossians letter, Paul offers spiritual advice that is good for everyone. Nothing creates conflict more than the lack of humility, mercy, and kindness. The length of this list suggests every possible way we can exhibit the grace of Christ in dealing with others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
That is why we see so much political conflict in various synods, because this advice is not followed when people seek power, prestige, honors, and luxuries.
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
This advice builds to the center or foundation - forgiveness. Forbearance comes from the realization of the Gospel. If someone has sinned, then we should be as forgiving toward others as Christ is toward us. Some would like to short-circuit this by forgiving those who have committed terrible crimes but are unrepentant. That harmonizes with God absolving the whole world - without the Gospel or faith in Him. To the foolish, that sounds like grace, but it is not the Gospel and is not grace.
The conflict and retribution in our society comes from a complete lack of the Gospel, seldom taught and therefore lacking the influence that would transform society otherwise.
Naturally, the true state of affairs comes from the Gospel, not our feelings. When we judge by feelings, our decisions are bound to be wrong. The foundation is what God did in Christ. Forgiveness begins with the Atonement, designated by God for the payment of all sins.
Mankind has always asked, "What can we do to pay for our sins?" God's message is that the payment has been made by His Son. That is the great treasure of the Gospel, because no human could imagine or ask for such an event. Every pagan religion wants to pay God, not to be given a treasure graciously, freely, mercifully.
Therefore, quarrels stop when we recognize the extent and grace of Christ's forgiveness.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Luther:
8. But tender mercy is to be shown only to Christians and only among Christians. With the rejecters and persecutors of the Gospel we must deal differently. It is not right that my charity be liberal enough to tolerate unsound doctrine. In the case of false faith and doctrine there is neither love nor patience. Against these it is my duty earnestly to contend and not to yield a hair’s breadth. Otherwise — when faith is not imperiled — I must be unfailingly kind and merciful to all notwithstanding the infirmities of their lives. I may not censure, oppress nor drive; I must persuade, entreat and tolerate. A defective life does not destroy Christianity; it exercises it. But defective doctrine — false belief — destroys all good. So, then, toleration and mercy are not permissible in the case of unsound doctrine; only anger, opposition and death are in order, yet always in accordance with the Word of God.
This is another error, an error thrown at me in many meetings. "It is unloving to call someone a false teacher." This hypersensitivity, which is doubted feigned and oh so clever, has been the doom of denominations and congregations seeking to make everyone happy. The genius of the singular Book of the Holy Spirit is to have one judge of doctrine and practice, one consistent witness to the truth, a measuring stick to measure whether an idea is in harmony with God or their Father Below.
Naturally, the error favors the false teachers, who throw group hissy fits over "make disciples of all nations" being described as wrong and derived from Fuller Seminary's Pietistic cell groups.
The error favors those who deny the Real Presence and make baptism and communion ordinances without effect.
The error favors those who want to have women teaching men and usurping authority from men (the actual language of Paul's letter 1 Timothy 2).
Plus many more examples - all requiring a new translation in English (a new one every week, all of them changing more often than their editors change oil in their cars). One good translation united all English-speaking people. Now they are divided in the name of a more understandable Bible.
As Luther always taught, following Paul, there must be division among Christians because the foul doctrine (cancer, gangrene) must be separated from the healthy doctrine. When that divine guidance is ignored, false doctrine and conflict grow exponentially. That is why it is so astounding that a district president would take people to a gathering of all denominations about "how to do evangelism" - fittingly called Exponential. (For exponential growth of false doctrine.)
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
"I hate to say this" as our neighbor Mike often declared, but people get peace wrong. It is not peace from Yoga or having pleasant thoughts. Biblical peace (with certain obvious exceptions, such as talking about war) always means the peace that comes from the forgiveness of sin.
There is only one true Church, where forgiveness dominates. That is the basis for unity - the truth of the Scriptures. We should always be thankful for that.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
The teaching of Jesus is consistently visual. We can picture each lesson, each parable, because we learn best that way. Paul does that in this verse by portraying actions:
Teaching and admonishing each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. "Singing with grace" - worthwhile religious hymns and songs are carefully crafted to represent a portion of the Word, and we remember it better that way. Singing is a way to keep those thoughts in our minds, to be peaceful and thankful.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Luther:
33. The expression “in the name of God,” or “Go in the name of Jesus,” is frequently uttered falsely and in sheer hypocrisy. The saying is, “All misfortunes rise in the name of God.” For teachers of false doctrines habitually offer their commodities in the name of God. They even come in the name of Christ, as he himself foretells. Matthew 24:24. To sincerely and earnestly speak and work in Jesus’ name, necessarily the heart must accord with the utterances of the mouth. As the lips declare in the name of God, so must the heart confidently, with firm faith, hold that God directs and performs the work. Peter teaches the same ( 1 Peter 4:11): “If any man ministereth [perform anything], ministering as of the strength which God supplieth.” Then will the venture prosper. No Christian should undertake to do any deed in his own ability and directed by his own judgment. Rather let him be assured that God works with and through him.
The closing does not mean to us the Name of God in a hypocritical and evil way, which is why Luther cited its misuse. Luther did not distinguish between faith and action. The two go together.
Likewise, the Church is a mouth church - where most of the work is done by preaching, teaching, discussing - and an ear church, where faith comes from hearing the Gospel Word.
