Colossians 3:12-17
First Sunday after Christmas - 31 December 2017
Rev. John Derme
As we prepare to embark on a new year tomorrow, many of us and many of the people we know are planning to make some serious improvements in our lives. We are going to put an end to bad habits. This is the year to stop smoking. We are going to start some good habits. This is the year to start exercising every day. Although it is true that we can make improvements in our lives no matter what the calendar says, many people find it helpful to use the new year as motivation to make these changes. The phrase that people sometimes use to capture the spirit of these changes is "New year, new you."
What do you think God would say about making changes for the new year? In our Second Lesson, he tells us about changes he has made in our lives. And he invites us to live as new people. On this last day of 2017, as we prepare for 2018, what do you think? New year, new you?
Before you make changes in your life, you have to think about what you are changing from. I know that none of us likes to think about the mistakes we've made in the past; we'd rather think about how we are going to do better in the future. But if we are going to live as the new people God wants us to be, we have to repent of our sins in the past and receive his forgiveness. In the past we have disregarded God's desires and have lived according to our earthly desires. St. Paul points it out in the verses just before our Second Lesson begins: the wrath of God comes on those who live like this. This is a far greater problem than not taking care of our bodies like we should. We need forgiveness so that the wrath of God will not come on us.
The first and most important change that has taken place in our lives is that God has forgiven us our sins. Paul addressed the Colossians, and he also addresses us: "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."
Before we can make any improvements in our lives, we need to understand what God has done with our lives. Though we once lived in such a way that showed we were on the path to suffering God's wrath, God has chosen us to receive his mercy. Although we didn't deserve anything good from him, he has shown us his undeserved love. Although we were sinful, he has washed our sins away and made us holy.
Jesus was born to be your Savior! You are baptized! You have heard his promise for you! Regardless of how good or bad you look or how healthy or unhealthy your body is, no matter how messed up your life has been in the past and no matter how messed up you feel right now, God has chosen you to be his own. He has made you holy. He loves you dearly. You do not need to fear his wrath. You have his forgiveness.
God himself has brought about this change in your life. And now he invites you to show these changes in the life you live right now. He tells us to clothe ourselves with several Christian virtues. He doesn't mention every possible virtue that God would want you to display in your life, but the ones he does describe – compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love – these revolutionize the way we treat other people. We no longer seek what is best for ourselves. We serve our neighbors.
Notice that God doesn't tell us to do these things, but instead to clothe ourselves with these virtues. It is as if he has given us new clothes for Christmas. We open his presents, and see that they are the most beautiful clothes we have ever owned. God says, "Go ahead, put them on. Don't wear those ratty old sins anymore. Walk in these good works."
The change that God has worked in our lives wasn't just a one-time event. God continues to work in us, and his work continues to overflow into our relationships with others. "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. 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."
Jesus Christ has won peace between God and us. He has brought peace to our lives through his gospel message. Therefore, there will be peace between us and our fellow Christians. We don't fight each other. We give thanks for each other. We give thanks together to the God who has saved us all. We speak God's Word to each other, correcting each other when we have made mistakes, restoring each other with the gospel of Christ's forgiveness, and teaching each other how God wants us to live. We sing the gospel to each other and join our voices together in praise. Everything we do, we do in Jesus' name: according to his will and depending on his power.
These instructions and encouragements that St. Paul delivers to us are very important changes that God wants us to make in our lives. He wants us to display our identity with him in how we live toward others. But if we treat them like New Year's resolutions, as though I'm going to have to try really hard to be a new person, then we will fail. If living in these Christian virtues depends on our will power, then it won't take very long to go back to the old me. We'll go back to our sinful lives, and we'll lose all these blessings that God has given us.
No, your new life does not depend on you. God has made you a new person, and he has given you a new life to live. He has chosen, forgiven, and loved you, and he is the one who gives you the power to live according to his will.
People know that they are supposed to be nice to others at Christmas time. Unfortunately, that shallow niceness passes so quickly, and so many of the people in the world around us have gone back to normal, back to thinking about and taking care of themselves. You see it in so many of the changes that people promise to make at the beginning of the new year. They don't promise to be more loving toward others. The changes that they want to make are for themselves.
But the blessings of Christmas will not wear off of you and me. Like the shepherds, continue to look into the manger and see your Savior! Like Simeon, take Jesus into your arms. Meeting the Son of God is a life-changing experience. More than a new year, new you resolution, this is an eternal transformation. You are a chosen, holy, and dearly loved child of God. You live a life that shows the new identity that God has given you. This is true for 2018, it will be true of you for the rest of your life, and it will be true of you for eternity. God has made you a new you now and forever.