Colossians 3:1-11; The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost; August 3, 2025;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:1–11, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I blame the refrigerator. I put stuff in, and it goes bad. It’s supposed to keep it for later, but later never seems to come. When I finally get around to wanting it, it’s bad. The drawer in there that’s called the vegetable crisper, is really a vegetable rotter. The mold in some of the containers has become self-aware. I moved a container of milk to get a Dr. Pepper, and it said “Excuuuse me!” I’ve taken to asking some of the containers questions, like I ask Alexa. In some cases, they know more. Last night, I was awakened from sleep by a racket in the fridge, like the mold and rotten milk heard it was Fisherman’s Picnic and were partying like tourists.

If you want a clean refrigerator, you must clean it out. You must get rid of the old stuff, either by keeping up with eating leftovers, or you’ve got to throw it out, you’ve got to put the rotten stuff “to death”.

It is true in your Christian life. That’s what Paul is talking about here. He is talking about living a baptismal life.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (v3)

He’s building on what he said in Chapter 2.

…having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him… (Col 2:12-13, ESV)

And in Romans,

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (Romans 6:3, ESV)

Being baptized into Christ, means that that Old Adam, your sinful nature, has been killed, drowned to death. You have been crucified with Christ.

He gives an example in himself,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

If Paul is correct (and he is!), he is telling us what it means to live a baptismal life, a Christian life. “Put on the new self!”, Live life as a Baptized child of God. Being a Christian means that Christ on the cross is the power and pattern for transformation from the old self, to the new one.

It’s a bit like cleaning out my fridge. It’s not hard to tell what needs to go. God’s law, his Word, identifies what is sinful. You’ve heard that before. The law shows us our sin, like looking in a mirror, when you look into it you see your zits, blemishes and bad hair. When you open a container in the fridge, if a bad smell fills the kitchen, you know it’s bad.

Paul makes a list;

sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry

Christians recognize all these as works of Satan and his worldly forces. But the sins of the flesh are not always so big. From CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters.

“You will say that these are very small sins … But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from [the Enemy] God. … Murder is no better than cards … Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope…”

Paul is warning that unchecked sins, small and great, are a pathway away from the Christian life toward God’s just judgement. It is a fair warning, because we are all still living in our sin.

The cross shows us just how serious sin in our lives is. Our sinful nature can’t be defeated without a death. The Old Adam deserves death. He deserves hell. He deserves the wrath of God.

But there is more to the cross than only punishment. It is that surely. Christ is punished for the sins of our Old Adam. The cross is also our only means of salvation. On the cross Jesus takes our punishment. All of them, both small and great. Daily repentance is our means of returning to the cross. It is the reason why we begin most of our worship services with it. Listen to our confession again, listen for how broad it is, it covers sin that lives in our Old Adam, the Absolution points to the only means of his death.

Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.

Pastor: Almighty God, in His mercy, has given His Son to die for you and, for His sake, forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

It harkens back to your Baptism. We plead to God for forgiveness, because we have been baptized. And he answers, “you are forgiven.” It is exactly what Paul means when he says,

Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (v. 11).

The death of the self, the Old Adam, is spiritually real. It is based on God’s promises that are given to you in Holy Baptism.

Paul uses very specific language in our text. “put to death” νεκρώσατε (nekrōsate). It means to kill it dead, completely. He is talking about an active murder. He doesn’t say, manage it, or compromise with it. We see this in Christians who protect their pet sin by saying things like, “I know it’s wrong, but I also know God wants me to be happy.” The truth is you can’t do the killing. It isn’t something human beings can’t accomplish. It is accomplished by God through Holy Baptism and daily repentance. It happens daily through the work of the Holy Spirit’s work in the Word of God. From Romans 8(:13).

…if by the Spirit you put to death (θανατοῦτε) the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13, ESV)

And in Galatians

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24, ESV)

The putting to death, the murder of the Old Adam happens at the cross and is propelled to Christians through our connection to Christ in Holy Baptism. And activated by daily repentance.

When Paul says, “put on” ἐνδύσασθε (endýsasthe) he is showing us the way. A literal definition is “sink into the garment”. You could say “sink into the water of Holy Baptism and the garment given”. He is suggesting a change of clothes. You have already been given the garment in your conversion to Christ, put it on every day!

Luther often describes the Christian life as wearing a Christ-like garment, a robe of righteousness. That is Jesus’ righteousness. And just like you put on clean cloths every day (or you should anyway), you do put on Christs’ robe of righteousness by returning to your Baptism every day.

The bad stuff in my fridge is my fault. There is no way around it. If you want a clean refrigerator, you must get rid of what’s bad. You must make room for more stuff to save for later. That’s the Christian life also. It’s your fault that sin lives in you. You can’t move forward toward a better life with all that bad stuff there. But there is a difference. I can clean out my fridge, it just takes stopping the procrastination. But you can’t remove the sin in your life. The Old Adam will be with you until you die. He will always push you away from God. But there is something you can do. You are doing it right now, right here. Open your ears and hear God’s Word of law and gospel. Listen when the law convicts you. Repent when you recognize the sin described as yours. Return to your baptism daily. Plead to God for forgiveness, he is faithful he will forgive.

And don’t forget. There is more you can do. When God makes his altar call, “This is my body… This is my blood….” Come to his supper and receive forgiveness, life and salvation. There is no better way to be sure that Jesus Christ died for you than to receive him through the bread and wine of Holy Communion.

The Word, the Water and the Bread and Wine are the Holy Spirit at work. He is removing your sin. He is prompting you to be better in your life. He cleans out your rottenness, your spoiled food. He is at work every day calling you to live in your Baptism. He is showing you, prompting you to serve your neighbor. And when you fail, he is there, not to condemn but to forgive, encourage and live in your Baptismal, Christian life. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Colossians 3:12-17; The First Sunday after Christmas; December 30, 2012;

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Creston, Iowa;

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Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12–17, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This whole text sounds great. I think we should do it. Listen again: be compassionate, kind, humble, patient, bearing with one another. And don't forget forgive. Just think how great things would be around here if we all did all of these things and put them on just like we would our coat to go outside in the chilly air. And oh, not just do them, but do them all, all the time, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is this mean? It means not dividing what we do at church, whether it's here in the sanctuary or in the fellowship hall, from what we do outside of the church. You know, where you live, where you work, where you eat, where you play, everywhere, always. It means to everyone, too. That is, be kind, compassionate, humble, patient all the time with everyone you meet and know. Now look around you. Certainly there's someone here who puts at least one of those things to the test for you. And you can put on a happy face, but inside, your patience, your ability to bear, your kindness, is stretched to the limit. And that's here in the church where everything is supposed to be "nice". What about outside these brick walls? There's that neighbor who just won't cooperate for "neighbor's" sake. Or the person you work with who undermines everything you do, or sits waiting for you to make a mistake and pounce. Or even more now days the people who disagree with you on politics, social issues, and even religious issues. These days there just is no polite political, social or religious discourse. People now seem to think that you think like they do or you are evil. Out there where the world is not always "nice" it's even harder, isn't it?

And we are to do all of this, "in the name of Jesus". That means, we are to do it like Jesus did or how he wants us to do it. Well we know he was perfect, did everything perfectly, but does that mean he expects us to do it that way? Well I'm afraid so. The gospel writer Matthew tells us that Jesus says exactly that. In the sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5 verse 48 Jesus requires us to be perfect.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48, ESV)

and right after that he says

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1, ESV)

So not only does he require you to be perfect, it's not just on the outside to be seen by other people. Jesus wants you to be perfect in your heart. That means not just acting compassionate, kind, humble, patient, and bearing but feeling it in here (in your heart). You have to be motivated to do it with a pure heart, a perfect heart, one that thinks more of your neighbor than yourself.

Well, you know what the problem with that is? Have you ever tried to make yourself humble? You start by making yourself look humble. And then you try to make your heart itself humble. And as soon as you see someone looking at you, you start to feel pride welling up at how humble you're looking. And have you ever tried to make yourself thankful? The problem is in order to be thankful, you have to have something happen to be thankful for. That's just the way it is with humbleness and thankfulness. In fact that's the way it is with all of these things, kindness, humbleness, patients, and even forgiveness. These things must come to you from outside of you. You do not have them in you. And Jesus says this too:

And [Jesus]said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” (Mark 7:20–22, ESV)

Actually, this is the whole point of the text. St. Paul is not telling you to gin up some motivation within yourself to get these things going. He says "put them on." Just like you will put on your coat to go back outside today. You have your coat, you put it on, and you stay warm. So St. Paul says just like your coat, put on these things. Well actually, he says "Put on then…" The "then" is the thing that happens that enables you to put them on. He doesn't leave you guessing he tells you exactly what the "then" is. Back in Chapter 2 of this letter:

having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 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,” (Colossians 2:12–13, ESV)

This is your connection to Jesus, his life death and resurrection. This is what makes the things that he did yours. In Holy Baptism your old sinful nature was crucified to death. And then you were made alive by God together with Christ. You have the forgiveness of sins in Holy Baptism. Jesus' death on the cross satisfies God's anger, pays the punishment you deserve, for the sinfulness that is in your heart; for your inability to do anything with a pure motivation; for your hypocritical "looking good on the outside" but being corrupt and self-motivated on the inside. This forgiveness is the "then" that comes to you from outside of yourself. It's the thing that gives you all of what God would have you do. Martin Luther said it like this:

What does such baptizing with water indicate?

It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

St. Paul says it like this:

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.

The peace of Christ is the peace proclaimed by the Christmas angels to the shepherds. It is the peace brought by Jesus in his birth, life, death and resurrection. It is the peace Jesus gave to his disciples on the first Easter Sunday when he appeared to them behind locked doors. They were hiding out, guilty of betraying him. And he appears not bringing punishment and anger but says instead "Peace be with you." In other words, "I know your sin, I know your heart, and I forgive you." Jesus put on them forgiveness and peace. When St. Paul says let this peace rule in your hearts he is saying nothing less than focusing on the gifts given in the water and the Word that were poured and spoken over you that made you a forgiven child of God. And then St. Paul says:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And now because you have the peace of God, that is the forgiveness of sins, you can let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And you can put on kindness, compassion, humility, patience and forgiveness. This is the new man that daily emerges through the hearing of God's word, confession of one's sins, and the receiving of forgiveness. Which is nothing less than living in your baptism every day. You can be compassionate because you know God was compassionate to you in forgiving the sin that comes with your internal motivation. And your neighbor benefits from your compassion. You can be kind because you know that God was kind to you in forgiving your sin that comes from your internal motivation. And your neighbor benefits from your kindness. You can be humble because you know God forgives you your hypocritical humbleness. You can bear with other people because you know God bears with you and your sin through the forgiveness won by Christ. And your neighbor benefits. And you can forgive. In fact St. Paul gives special attention to forgiveness. He says to forgive each other "as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Your inability and unwillingness to forgive is a sin also forgiven by Christ on the cross. When your neighbor comes to you and asks for forgiveness you must tell them they are forgiven. You cannot withhold Jesus' forgiveness from your Christian brothers and sisters as if your unwillingness to forgive them somehow made Jesus' forgiveness invalid. It is theirs because God gives it for the sake of his son's death on the cross. You can't change that by your sin, that is your unwillingness or inability to forgive. This is exactly why we used the confession and absolution this morning from Compline. We stand and face each other across the aisle, confess our sins to one another, and pronounce the forgiveness that is ours through Jesus Christ. And living in that forgiveness, you know that your sins are forgiven, as great as they are, you are able to forgive. You announce the grace of God to those who sin against you knowing that your sins are forgiven. And your neighbor benefits.

So put them on, all of them. Practice compassion, kindness, humbleness, patience, bearing with one another, oh and don't forget forgiveness. These are all yours given to you by God through faith in Jesus Christ who gives you forgiveness above all. You can put them on and do them for the benefit of your neighbor knowing that even though your motivation is not always right God forgives your sin and your neighbor benefits. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen