Sermons

In the Name of Jesus whose birth gives life, Dear Christian Friends, How long do you leave up your Christmas decorations? How long do the Christmas lights twinkle in your front picture window? How long is it before the Christmas tree finds its way onto the front terrace? As I drove through the city streets I noticed that some people have already taken down their lights and carried the Fraser Fur to the front curbside. I suppose you really can’t blame them because maybe they only have a short time between the holidays and when everyone’s busy schedule kicks in again, they want their house back to normal. While this may be true for some, I believe many people still have their Christmas decorations up at least through this weekend. Some people like to use Epiphany, January 6, the Gentile Christmas, the day that commemorates the visit of the wise men to worship Jesus, as the day after which they take down their Christmas decorations. But wouldn’t it be nice to leave our Christmas decorations up all year long? We use the live-giving picture of an evergreen tree to represent the life Jesus gives to the world through his birth. We use the twinkling lights of Christmas to shine in the darkness like Jesus the light of the world shines through the darkness of sin. We use the practice of gift giving to represent the wonderfully free gift of salvation God gives to the world through his Son born in Bethlehem. Wouldn’t it be nice if these things that represent the joy of Christmas could be used all year long? Well, the word of God before us tells us how we can indeed keep up our Christmas decorations all year long. But it doesn’t have anything to do with evergreen trees, twinkling lights or fanciful wrapped Christmas gifts. Rather, the Word of God tells us that we can be decorated for Christmas all year long by 1) wearing our Christmas clothes all year long, and by 2) sharing our Christmas heart every day of the year. Did you get clothes for Christmas? Every year the gift of new clothes at Christmas time is one of the most popular gift ideas under the tree. Everybody likes new clothes. During the weeks before Christmas retail stores have racks and racks of new clothes ready purchase and gift giving. As I look at the congregation I wonder how many of you are wearing new Christmas clothes to church today? The idea of new clothes is not something that is limited to a season of the year or a specific month or date on the calendar. In fact, the Apostle Paul in our text speaks about the clothes that God wants both the Colossian Christians of the first century as well as Christians of the twenty first century to wear. These clothes, however, are not the clothes that keep us warm in the winter and protected from the sun in the summer. They are spiritual clothes. Paul writes: THEREFORE, AS GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE, HOLY AND DEARLY LOVED, CLOTHE YOURSELVES WITH COMPASSION, KINDNESS, HUMILITY, GENTLENESS. Is there anyone in your family who has certain favorite clothes that they like to wear over and over again? You can hardly get them off long enough to wash them. Sometimes you might be tempted to throw the clothes along with the person into the washing machine. It’s not unusual for us to like certain clothes that feel comfortable to our body. Nor is it unusual for our sinful nature to like to wear spiritual clothes that are comfortable to our sinful nature. We don’t like to part with them. We like to wear them all the time. In writing to the Colossians Paul speaks about the new spiritual clothes that God wants his people to wear. But the people were not always so ready to wear these new clothes. They liked the old ones. They felt more comfortable wearing the old spiritual clothes of their sinful nature. And so Paul had to remind them of who they are and how they got that way. Paul reminded them that they were GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE, HOLY AND DEARLY LOVED. Because we too like to wear our old spiritual clothes, God needs to remind us who we are and what he has made us to be. In spite of our lingering desire to wear our old spiritual clothes of a harsh attitude, of sinful pride, of course and abusive speech and a spirit of impatience, Paul reminds us that God sent his Son to bear in his soul the sinful desires of our old spiritual clothes. Since Christ chose to wear our old spiritual clothes of sin, God was able to clothe his people in the holy new spiritual clothes of Christ. In Christ God chose his people, forgave their sins and saved them eternally. He now provides them with new spiritual clothes that they are to wear every day of their lives; clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, peace and love. These spiritual clothes are truly Christmas clothes. God wants his people to wear these clothes all year long. We can be decorated for Christmas in March, July and October by wearing our God-given Christmas clothes. But what do these Christmas clothes look like? How will we recognize them? Well, have you ever had the practice of laying out your clothes the night before so that when you get up in the morning you would know what to wear? As we enter a new year, God in his Word helps us lay out our spiritual wardrobe. God doesn’t want to have to wonder what clothes we should wear so he has laid out our year round spiritual wardrobe. Included in our God-given wardrobe is the garment of compassion. This is what Jesus felt toward the crowds who were like a sheep without a shepherd. It is what the Samaritan felt for the man who fell among thieves and was left for dead. Wearing the Christmas clothes of compassion leads us to see the hurt in others and moves us to do something about it. Our year-long Christmas wardrobe also includes a garment of kindness. This is an act of love that isn’t looking for any thanks or praise. It’s a love that moves a heart to make a casserole for a grieving family at their time of loss. Such a heart of kindness demonstrates itself in our family life, in our married lives and in our congregational life. Our year-long Christmas wardrobe also includes a garment of humility. This was demonstrated by Jesus when he became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Such a picture of our ongoing Christmas celebration was demonstrated by the repentant tax collector who couldn’t even look up to heaven but instead beat his breast and cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” Our Christmas clothes include a garment of gentleness. Jesus is gentle. It is a quality that moves people to follow him and learn from him. A person’s gentle spirit attracts them to Jesus, his love, his joy and his forgiveness. Just as every ensemble we wear has a main color, the one thing that ties our year-long Christmas wardrobe together is love. Love never thinks of itself, but always puts others ahead of itself. Love never expects anything in return but strives to do all it can for others. We can wear our Christmas garment of love all year long only because God first loved us. Sometimes the clothes we wear tell what our job is. When you see someone wearing a black and white striped shirt at a basketball game, it’s a pretty safe bet that such a person is a referee. God’s Word says let the spiritual garment of Christ’s peace rule in your hearts. The word for “rule” here literally means “to serve as an umpire or referee at a game.” When we wear our spiritual garments all year long we let Christ and his peace determine the outcome of every dispute and cultivate a peaceful relationship with one another. Such spiritual clothing is attractive. It fits our new person in Christ very well. It feels comfortable to every believer in Jesus. When by the grace of God we wear such spiritual clothing, we are keeping the Christmas decorations up all year long. But the Apostle Paul also tells us that there is another way that we can be decorated for Christmas all year long. That way is by sharing our Christmas heart. God’s Word says: 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 SPIRIUTAL SONGS WITH GRATITUDE IN YOUR HEART. We share our Christmas heart all year long by being in the Word all year long. God says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly” God wants us to feast on the Word all year long. God doesn’t want us to go on a spiritual diet from his Word during the weeks after Christmas or when the summer months roll around. Instead God wants us to be decorated for Christmas throughout the entire year as we dwell richly in the Word. Being decorated for Christmas all year long means that we use the Word of God to teach others. These words are not just spoken to pastors and teacher, but to every believer. God says, “Teach one another with all wisdom.” This wisdom isn’t worldly wisdom but it’s spiritual wisdom. It’s a wisdom God gives to every believer. Be decorated for Christmas all year long as you teach your children the love of Jesus, as you share God’s plan of salvation with the unchurched, and as you continue to be prepared to give a reason for the hope you have. You know what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. You know what Good Friday means. You know what hope the empty tomb gives. Jesus was born, Jesus died, and Jesus rose from the dead to save sinners. That’s the good news of the Gospel that needs to be shared everyday of the year. Finally being decorated for Christmas all year long means that we worship our gracious and loving God all year long. God says “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your heart.” These are all acts of worship that take place in church. This time of the year churches are full of people and that’s a wonderful thing. But it’s not that way every Sunday of the year. Our average weekly worship for 2003 was 53%. That means that 47% of our brothers and sisters in Christ were not here in church on any given weekend. We know who those people are. Maybe they are us. They are our children, our cousins, our nieces and nephews. They are our neighbors and our friends. They are the people we were confirmed with and now go to school with. And so God wants us to be decorated for Christmas all year long as we encourage others to join us for worship so that the Word of Christ and his love and forgiveness may dwell in our all of our hearts in rich measure. As the upcoming days unfold I’m sure we’ll see more and more Christmas trees be carried out to the curbside; more and more lights will come down and the aroma of a freshly cut evergreen tree will have to wait for another year. But that doesn’t mean that we as believers can’t continue to be decorated for Christmas all year long. My dear Christian friends, may God help us to wear our Christmas clothes and to share our Christmas heart every day of the year. Amen.