“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.”  Colossians 2:13-14

Paul is wrestling here with a problem which often beset his Gentile converts such as the Colossians. Legalists are trying to persuade the Gentile converts that they are not proper Christians and that they have to do further things to become proper Christians – a perennial problem, which we are not free of today!

Paul does not want people saved by the Gospel to be seduced back into trying to keep the Law.  The Gentiles have not got in through the back door, or by a narrow squeak.  They have been given life and forgiveness. Their debts are not tolerated reluctantly or overlooked, but cancelled.  The Gentiles have what they need, so they must hang onto it: “Let no one disqualify you”, as Paul says a few verses later.

The legalists are trying to convince the Gentile converts that they’ve got the inferior version which they need to exchange for the real thing.  No, Paul says.  You have the real deal: keep hold of it.  It is the legalists who have the shadow.

We face constant attacks upon our Gentile faith, just as the Colossians did, and it is easy to waver and wonder whether we need to “do” more to secure our salvation.  But trying to improve what “God made” has the reverse effect, sending us away from Him. That is why Paul is so determined to have the Colossians understand the inexpressible riches of what they have been given, so they will hold fast to it and not lose confidence in their Saviour.

Keep us firm, Lord God, in the hope You have set before us, so we and all Your children shall be free.  Amen.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted;
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn…”  Isaiah 61:1-2

This is a prophecy that refers to Jesus Christ who in fact read it aloud many years later in the synagogue in Nazareth.  It also provides one of the earliest attestations of the idea of a theological exile that extended beyond that of mere Babylonian captivity.

According to Luke 4, when Jesus spoke in the synagogue, He was speaking the precise meaning of the text, applying it to Himself and His ministry, rather than applying it to a Messiah yet to come.  As God manifest in the flesh, His understanding gives us the best definition of the original words and meaning.  What is also interesting is the portion of the text that He did not read and did not say was fulfilled by His earthly ministry.  He focused His words on the immediate benefit He intended the people to receive, rather than the words of judgement also contained in the Isaiah text.

Israel was still suffering under oppression of the Roman occupation, and the people may well have been expecting a sermon about the day of vengeance of our Lord.  However, Jesus excluded this from His exposition, because the fulfilment of the judgement was not to be fulfilled in the days of His earthly life.  The Grace of Jesus Christ put the day of God’s vengeance far into the future.

Jesus Christ came to heal the broken hearted and free us from our worldly and temporal burdens. Stretch your hand to the Lord.  Go to his throne with boldness to find help in time of need.  We all need help.

We all suffer from wounds and we all need the Lord to deliver us from them.  In our mourning, we all need the promise of His salvation.

Lord Jesus, we thank You for your mercy – delaying judgement until the full number have come to repentance – and for Your compassion to us.  Please teach us always to turn to You for the help You offer.  Amen. 

“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”  John 3:18

 Does anyone know John 3:18 by heart?  It seems that everyone, even non-Christians, has at least heard of John 3:16, as it is routinely seen on signs, shirts, and other items and is probably one of the best known verses in the Bible.  I doubt too many know the verses following, though.  I suppose it is a bit like being the relative of a movie star, in that everyone might recognize the last name, but no one recognizes you. 

 However, this verse is every bit as important as its more well-known relative, and sums up the core of what we believe in very simple terms.  We are saved by believing in Jesus, not by any good intentions or good works, and there is no trick or catch involved.  The clear choice set out in John is that you believe and are saved, or don’t believe and stand condemned.  This should be of great comfort to us as it isn’t complex theology or difficult tasks that are required, but simple belief.  What a gracious God we have who makes things so clear for us!  Let us all go and make John 3:18 just as well known as its famous ‘relative’.

We praise You, Lord God, for putting no obstacle in the way of faith and pray that more and more people would come to believe Your amazing truth.  Amen. 

Our God is a loving God, a forgiving God, who listens to our prayers and watches over all that we do.  God’s love for us is unconditional and unlike any one love that we can comprehend.  A parent loves their child, a wife loves her husband, and a friend loves a friend.  All these are examples that we can relate to, understand or may have experienced.

 God’s shows His love for us through Jesus Christ.  Jesus came down to earth and died for our sins.  God then raised Him from death, to life, demonstrating His power over death and His love for us all.  This love would last eternally, as payment for our sins, through what Jesus had done.

 So when we pray sincerely, respectfully and repentantly, we acknowledge the wrong we have done.  Because God is a forgiving God, He relieves us from the burden that sin puts on us, and gives forgiveness through Jesus.

 All gifts from God are blessings bestowed on us.  They are full of God’s love, because God is Love and His mercy endures forever.

 For these many blessings we thank and praise You, Lord God.  Amen.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” Lord’s Prayer, Third Petition

 When we pray that the Father’s will be done, we ultimately pray for the complete realization of His plan, for the gift of happiness, for the gift of gifts, for God Himself, Whom we can only possess in the measure that we surrender ourselves to His will. We do not pray in order to bend God’s will to ours, nor do we even merely wish for the strength to follow His commandments, act by act.  No, we want to be conformed to His will, for we are concerned with the reign of God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven”.

 “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is in the depths of my heart“ (Ps 39:9).  The Father’s will was Jesus’ supreme happiness. Only something infinitely good could make us completely and totally happy.  God, of course, is the infinite good and the only possible source of everlasting happiness.  We should delight in doing His will, and if we are not sure at times what that will seems to be, ask Him in  prayer, read the Bible and know, that whatever is happening, it is His will.

 Heavenly and almighty Lord, we cannot understand everything that takes place around us on earth, but we know that it is Your will in Heaven that rules us, commands us and leads us.  Let anything we do be pleasing to You.  Let Thy will be done.  Amen

“For you know that it is not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” 1 Peter 1:18-19

The title “Christ” in Greek means “the anointed”. Luther’s small catechism explains that Jesus has been anointed or set apart with the Holy Spirit to be our prophet, priest and king. Peter addresses his readers as people given a new status and experience by being redeemed with the incorruptible precious blood of Christ. What Christ has done for us is of the utmost value. He paid the ransom not with worldly perishables like gold and silver. He, the perfect one, has saved us with His blood by dying in our stead.

Peter writes that we have been saved by Christ’s sacrifice, from an empty way of life. (Consequently it must now be full – full of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.) “Redeemed” in the Bible means to be freed from someone or something bad by a penalty being paid. Slaves could pay for their freedom with hard-won earnings. We can never earn enough gold and silver to pay the price of our sinfulness. Nothing less than Christ’s death could do it. Jesus paid a high price for our redemption.

Galatians 3:13 says that Jesus redeems believers from the “curse of the law”. 1 Corinthians states Christ is the Passover lamb who takes away the sin of the world. “Precious” as applied to the blood of our Lord keeps us from thinking of God’s grace as being cheap just because it is free to us. Jesus is a source of endless blessings to those who believe.

Thanks be to God for this wonderful redemption. Amen.

“God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14

This text and I have had a very strong connection for many years. I was only a boy when I was given a cross necklace with the letters “G a l” and the numbers “6 1 4” inscribed on it. It was a special friend who gave me the cross. I had memorised the verse and have never forgotten it.

It speaks so directly about who we are as Baptised children of God. As we are reminded also in Romans 6:“…all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death… For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

And though we are freed from sin because of the grace of the cross, with which Christ suffered, we continue to suffer on this earth as the world wills to crucify believers in Him. If not physically, then spiritually, mentally and emotionally. But as a Christian, by the power of the Spirit and through the love of God, I have learned to embrace this fate. For though the world would crucify me, I have seen the Spirit. Crucify my lust, destroy temptation and enlighten my life in ways that could not be without the light of the world, whom will ever remain a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son to suffer the fate we deserve, so that the crosses we bear will seem like joyful tasks, until we see You again, face to face. Amen.

“All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his on way;
and the LORD has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so He opened not His mouth.” Isaiah 53:6-7

Sheep in the field or out on the moors – a picture of bucolic delight. However for the eastern shepherd, sheep were difficult creatures. They wandered away and had to be rescued; they seemed to be unaware of the many dangers which lurked all around them. Headstrong and foolish they often were, choosing to go their own way instead of following the shepherd. Isaiah says that is what we have done. We have strayed from the ways of the Lord, the Shepherd. We have chosen to go our own way instead of listening to His voice. We have sinned, every single one of us. Yet, in His mercy and grace, He has placed all our iniquity, all our sin upon His righteous Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself all the sin of all the world. “See all your sins on Jesus laid; the Lamb of God was slain. His soul was once an offering made for every soul of man.”(Charles Wesley)

When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he recognised that here was the promised Messiah, the Servant of whom Isaiah spoke, and he cries out, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John1:29) Jesus was the only one qualified to be the Lamb, the only one who always followed His Father’s way, not His own way, the perfect, spotless, righteous One. We recall how Jesus behaved at His trial and during His torture. Before Pilate, when accused by the chief priests and elders, Jesus gave no answer . Pilate was amazed that Jesus gave no answer to a single charge.(Matt. 27:12-14) In His silence, Jesus was like a sheep before its shearers.

We know how He was led on the Calvary road. He was the innocent Lamb who became the sin-bearer. He took our place. We were the ones who deserved the punishment of death, yet He was slaughtered on the cross to take upon Himself what we deserved: death. He gives to all who believe in Him innocence and righteousness. Amazing love and grace! Our response should be thanks for all He has done for us, with deep gratitude and love.

O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God,
I love the holy Lamb of God!
O wash me in His precious blood.
My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Amen

(LSB 550 refrain)

“When all things began, the Word already was. The Word dwelt with God, and what God was, the Word was.” John 1:14

This verse reminds us that God’s Word was with the world from the beginning of time. It was there before creation and all things were made.

We are reassured that God’s Word has been and always will be with us. It tells us that the Word was with God and God and the Word are the same.

We can take comfort from this and be reassured that God’s Word is the truth and that our faith is honest and true.

May God grant us the strength to remain true to our faith and true belief in God’s Word. Amen