The Lutheran Hour
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"Rooted in Christ"
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Text: Colossians 2:6-8
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PRAYER: O gracious Father in heaven, in every generation the devil has tempted people not to believe the truth of Your Gospel. Father, root us deeply in the truth of the forgiveness of sins that comes through the all-availing death and resurrection of Your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. By Your Spirit’s guidance, help us believe in this Good News and show the fruits of repentance in our lives. We ask this through the power and in the name of Your only-begotten Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
A few weeks ago, I received a telephone call at 3 a.m. When the telephone rings at that hour in a pastor’s home, it is usually because someone is critically ill at the hospital, or a loved one has died and the family is in need of immediate comfort. On this occasion, though, it was neither of these cases. It was a young man who wanted to ask questions about God.
He mentioned he was an atheist. He told me he did not believe God created the world. He did not believe in a physical heaven or hell. I listened and talked with him for a little while. Finally, we came to the whole concept of sin. He understood what it means to do things wrong-there is a difference between right and wrong. Now, a little more awake, I told him God set up what it means to do right and wrong. He did that in the Ten Commandments. That’s the Law of God. I also told him the only way to have the forgiveness of “wrongs” of our sins is found in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. He asked, “Can you point me to this understanding of God?” I said, “Yes, but let’s do it at a little more reasonable hour, and I invited him to come to my office!”
As you can understand, having been awakened at that hour in such a way, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I decided to take a shower and head to the office. It would provide a little quiet time for study. As I was driving to the church, there was a discussion taking place on one of the St. Louis radio stations. The topic of discussion was life after death.
One man called in and said he did not believe people had to die. All they really needed was a real will to live and they could live forever.
Another lady called and said she believed in life after death. She said when she was at the hospital the evening her father died, she sang the song, “My Grandfather’s Clock” to her dad. In the middle of the night, when her brother called informing her of her father’s death, she noticed her grandfather clock stopped preciously at the moment her father died. She felt this was her father speaking to her and he was OK, even though her father was not a religious man.
One man called in from Kentucky. He quoted John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” The host of the show said he didn’t want the Bible quoted, but wanted to know what the fellow believed. The man said, “I believe what the Bible says!” That man from Kentucky was rooted in Christ!
In the Bible, St. Paul wrote this to the Christians at Colosse: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
St. Paul knew what he was talking about. He was rooted in Christ! He shared this truth of the Gospel with the Colossian Christians.
From the opening verses of this letter we learn that Christianity came to Colosse through the work and ministry of Epaphras. Epaphras, himself, was converted and grounded in the faith by Paul during his long stay in Ephesus. It seems a heretical movement had recently started in Colosse. Epaphras hastened to Paul in Rome, where he was imprisoned. Much of the news Epaphras brought Paul was good. Paul was grateful for the news of their faith in Christ and their love of the saints. He rejoiced at the Christian fruit they were producing. Epaphras brought him news of their love in the Spirit and Paul was glad when he heard of their order and steadfastness in the faith.
Yet, there was trouble at Colosse. But it had not yet become an epidemic. Hence, this is the occasion for the letter to the Christians at Colosse. This was not just a letter, though. This was God using St. Paul through His divine inspiration to bring the people at Colosse, as well as to you and me, His very Word-His truth. That’s what God’s Word does. God’s Word brings His truth to light.
What the heresy was exactly, which threatened the life of the Church at Colosse, no one can tell for sure. From the very letter, we know there were those attacking the total adequacy and unique supremacy of Christ. There were those who did not want to see Jesus as God in the flesh, as the Bible rightly teaches; but wanted to see Him as a mere man. There were some that did not want to see Him as a man, but only as a deity who came to people for a short time, and then left again. While there were other false teachings that slipped into the church, there was a basic misunderstanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
In this letter St. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, crushes the false teaching that had arisen in Colosse. He tells them Jesus is the great God-Man who came to this world. He tells the Son was the Father’s instrument in the creation of the universe, as John reminds us in the great Prologue of his Gospel. Paul tells them the Good News.
They needed the encouragement found only in the Gospel. They needed to hear the truth found in the Gospel. They needed to know they were sinners and had broken God’s Law. But God’s grace for them was in Christ and while they were still sinners Christ died for them. By the power of God’s Spirit, knowing they had been put right with God through Jesus’ death and resurrection, they had peace. It was not the peace the world gave. Not the peace the false teachers in Colosse could give, nor the peace the government could give; only the peace that comes in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That’s the Good News the Christians in Colosse needed to know, and that’s the Good News they heard from St. Paul.
That Good News was not only for the Colossian Christians so long ago. That Good News is for you and me, too! Jesus is the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me” (John 14:6). That’s not a closed door to keep people out; that’s an open door of invitation to believe the truth of the Good News.
It’s not enough just to have a head-knowledge of Jesus Christ. You must believe with your heart the truth of the forgiveness that comes by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is believing in Jesus Christ. St. Peter said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Lots of people know something about Jesus, but do not believe the Good News of forgiveness that comes in His death and resurrection. God wants you to believe Jesus Christ is His Son, and by believing you may have life in His name. God wants you to believe in His grace. God wants you to receive His forgiveness. Only by having life in His name are you rooted in the truth of the Good News of the Gospel!
Dr. Walter A Maier, the first Lutheran Hour speaker, during the sixth broadcast season, in his sermon, “God Give Us a New Heart!” wrote: “The old, sinful fleshly spirit, the heart of stone, must die, and it its place there must come forth a new spirit, a new heart, a new life. Few tendencies are more dangerous and destructive in modernist churches than the program of coaxing people into the church without insisting upon a real change in their being, of keeping people in churches, especially those who pay well, even though their glaringly sin-marked lives show they have never known the rebirth without which no man can see God.” Dr. Maier spoke those words so long ago, but they are true today. You must be born again and know Christ as Lord and Savior of your life.
Maybe you’re asking, “How can I be pointed to God in Christ Jesus?” The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). You need to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior in your mind and in your heart. For “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Just as a plant is rooted in the ground, it is there to produce fruit! Just as a house is built on a firm foundation, it is there to be strong. A deep-rooted tree will draw nourishment from the soil. So it is with Christians rooted in Christ-they will draw their nourishment from Him in the Word and the Sacraments. A house stands fast because it is built on a firm foundation. So, too, the Christian life will be resistant to any storm, because it is founded on the strength of Christ.
You can produce the fruit of repentance in your life. You can live for Jesus Christ and be built up in Him. St. Paul says we are buried and raised with Christ in baptism. We die to ourselves and rise new creations. This new creation is now a process of being raised even higher into the fullness of Christ. By the power of God’s Holy Spirit which brings you to faith, you can live in the power of the resurrected Savior. You can do good works, because your faith is in Christ. You do not do good works to gain His approval because you have been approved by God through Him in the forgiveness of your sins.
Charlotte Elliott was living at Westfield Lodge, Brighton in 1834. Her brother, the Rev. H. V. Elliott, was arranging a bazaar in order to raise funds to assist in the building of a college where the daughters of poor clergymen might be educated at low expense. Because of Miss Elliott’s long standing illness, she was unable to participate in this worthy cause. While the family attended the bazaar, she spent hours writing a hymn.
Of this hymn, her brother wrote, “In the course of a long ministry I hope to have been permitted to see some fruit of my labor, but I feel far more has been done by a single hymn of my sister’s.”
“‘Just as I am without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me And that Thou biddst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am; Thy love unknown Has broken every barrier down. Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone. O Lamb of God, I come, I come.'”
Charlotte Elliott knew the saving love of God by His grace in the forgiveness that comes to all of us in Christ Jesus.
How about you? Do you know the peace of God that comes through the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus? Do you know Him as your Lord and Savior? Turn to God, repent of your sins, be rooted in Christ, and produce the fruits of repentance in your daily living! Receive that Gospel, my friends, and you will be saved. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for August 12, 2001 “ROOTED IN CHRIST” 68-49
ANNOUNCER: I’m Mark Eischer. We’re talking with Pastor James Gullen of Centralia, Ill. In the book of Genesis, chapter 18 we read, “The Lord said the outcry against Sodom and Gomorra is so great and their sins so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” Does this suggest that God is not all-knowing, that he didn’t already understand what was happening?
GULLEN: Mark, you use the word all-knowing. When we talk in theology about all-knowing, we are discussing the omniscience of God. So I think it’s necessary to define omniscience. The Bible teaches the omniscience of God means He has a perfect knowledge of all things. I Samuel 2:3 states, “The Lord is a God of knowledge.” And in 1 John 3:20, the author wrote, “God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” I think the fact that God is omniscient reminds us of two things. First, it’s a warning for us to realize we cannot hide anything from Him. Secondly, I think it also reminds us He knows our sorrows and difficulties and is always ready to help.
ANNOUNCER: But why did He have to come down and see the situation for Himself?
GULLEN: When we deal with that passage, we must remember it involves a mere descent from a higher spot to where these words were spoken to the low-lying cities. In all reality, only two angels go directly to the city. The statements of the verse in no way imply God’s omniscience is curtailed or that He is under the necessity of securing information as men do. I think God chooses this procedure to make apparent the fact that He, as just judge of all the earth, does nothing without first being in full possession of all the facts. I think the experience of the angels in Sodom displays the moral state of Sodom, and how bad it was, far more effectual than any explanation. So I think what God is doing is giving us an example of justice that we should pursue.
ANNOUNCER: But when you say God sees all things and nothing is hidden from Him, that’s not good news!
GULLEN: Well, one of the great symbols in the 1943 Small Catechism of Martin Luther published by Concordia Publishing House is found on page 47. It’s a picture of an eye inside a triangle with a circle around it. And the caption of the diagram is “The All-Seeing Eye.” I think the circle reminds us that God is one. The triangle reminds us of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Holy Trinity. It illustrates God knows and sees all things! So is that good news? Yes! It is good news.
ANNOUNCER: Why?
GULLEN: Well, it’s good news because I think we have to remember God not only sees all things we can’t hide, but He also knows our sorrows. He knows our difficulties and He sees us as we are. I always like to think of God as a cross-eyed God. You know, not a God with an eye problem, like we might think; but a God who sees you and me through the cross of His Son, Jesus Christ. And we have been brought into this relationship by the work of the Spirit and we can experience the joy of knowing him. Christ experienced every temptation just as we are experiencing them. He knows, He cares and He’s involved. And He is with us. Emmanuel, so shall we say, God with us. And He is in us. As Martin Luther once said, we’re “little Christs.” The Spirit is in us and the Gospel message dwells in us and we’re in Christ. So when we look at this omniscience, we know God is with us, cares for us and deals with our hurts and our sorrows.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Gullen.