Sermon Tone Analysis

Living the Gospel (1)

One with Christ in his death and resurrection

!!! /Lord’s Day 18 February, Evening Worship 9.00am/

!!! Announcements

!!!

The word of God in our midst

!!!

Call to worship

The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne.

He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them.

(Psalm 11:4)

!!! Blessing

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

(Galatians 1:3-5)

!!! Doxology Hymn:                       /“How shall I sing that majesty” /

!!! /(Tune: (Ellacomb, Rejoice! 451, - 3 verses) /

!!! Forgiveness

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.

(Psalm 130:3-4)

!!! Prayer of Confession of sin

!!! Hymn:                                            /“Lord of Mercy, Lord of Grace” /

!!! /(Tune Rejoice! 114, - 3 verses)/

!!! Prayer of Adoration, Thanksgiving and the Lord’s Prayer

!!! Hymn:                                            /“How good it is to praise the Lord”// /

*                                                 */Psalm 92, Tune Rejoice! 62,  6 verses)/

!!! Tithes, offering and dedication

!!! Prayer for others

!!! Scripture Readings                   /Leviticus 19:1-18,/ /Colossians 2:11-15; 3:1-4/

!!! Sermon

!!!!!! Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, I proclaim the Word of God to you from the chapter we read from Colossians.

Our topic for this morning is /Living the Gospel/: one with Christ in his death and resurrection.

This sermon is the next in a series from the letter of Paul to the church in Colossae which I have placed under the heading /The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ/.

The first in this series was about the /Effect of the Gospel/ 1:3-8); then followed the /Call of the Gospel/ (1:9-12); then the /Content of the Gospel/ (1:13-14); what followed then was the /Origin of the Gospel/ (1:15-23).

Then we moved on to the /Defence of the Gospel/ (1:24-2-23).

Sometimes the apostle Paul interrupts himself in his line of argument by introducing a new theme; he then later comes back to the original line of thinking to complete that argument, and then he moves on to the new line of thinking to elaborate on that more precisely.

This is exactly what happens in chapter 2.  He first points out the need for us all to grow in our understanding of the Gospel, and warns about those who might distort the message of the Gospel by all kinds of philosophies.

Then, beginning from verse 11, he introduces a new argument about our union with Christ.

This goes through to verse 15.

He then in verse 16 goes back to complete the original point about why we must be able to defend the Gospel against some who might try to establish certain traditions in place of or alongside the Gospel.

In chapter 3 he returns to the theme of union with Christ and elaborates on that point.

This is what we understand as the /Living of the Gospel/.

So, let’s go back to chapter 2:11-15 which deals with our union with Christ in his death and resurrection.

I call on your full attention to follow the foundations for the argument to put to death our earthly nature.

!!!!!! Association and participation

; First, an illustration.

Heila and I visited a very interesting shop not so long ago during our visit to the Blue Mountains in NSW.

This particular shop is home to the largest collection of teapots in the world.

On shelves about pelmet height, displayed right through every room of this old home which now serves as a shop, are displayed more than 4,000 teapots.

This, they say, is only half the collection; the rest is in containers stacked in the garage of the owner of the shop.

But that’s not all:  apart from this very extensive collection of teapots, you can find every conceivable piece of glassware – not only displayed on shelves out of your reach.

No, wherever to put your foot down or swing your arm or point your finger at, you bump into precious glassware.

Don’t go there with grandchildren; if you have to use a walking stick, stay away!

; Now the question, /how can the owners assure that they conduct a profitable business?/

One possible answer to this intriguing question possibly lies in the notice to be found at the entrance of this shop.

; It says /You brake it, you pay for it/.

By association and by participation you agree to the conditions of entry; and you are bound by that agreement.

Your presence in that shop binds you to that condition, but it also assures you the pleasure of enjoying the most precious and rare glassware in the world.

Entering into the shop, accepting this condition, makes you a partner of the business for the duration of the visit, sharing in the risk of running it.

The operative words here are /association/ and /participation/.

This takes us back to Colossians 2:11-15.

I will try to explain this fairly complex paragraph in the word of God by breaking it up in little bits.

May God give me the wisdom to explain and plant in your heart his Spirit of understanding!

!!!!!! ; God’s covenant with his church in Old Testament times

The background of the verses 11-14 is the Biblical doctrine of God’s Covenant with his people.

God called Israel, which is the Church in Old Testament times, to be his people.

He made an agreement with them in which He was the principle partner, and they the minor partners.

Because God was the only God who could save, provide, protect and assure safety, He by grace took Israel to be his people.

He placed upon them ; obligations stipulated in His covenant, requiring of them to live holy lives as people of God.

He also gave them ; signs as a seal of this covenant:  all male children had to be circumcised.

; This circumcision was ultimately a circumcision of the heart, something not done by hands but by the Holy Spirit of God.

This sign was a sign of God’s grace, but by this sign they would be set apart from the rest of the nations as God’s holy nation.

They had to turn from their evil practices, not live as the nations around them and worship God only as He commanded them.

The term we may use for their sanctification within this context is the term we find in our verse of Col 2:11 – they had to put to death their sinful nature.

Let’s go to one chapter in the Old Testament to illustrate.

In Leviticus 19:2 God commanded Moses to speak to the people:  /“Say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord you God am holy.’”/

They had to revere their parents, keep the Sabbaths, turn away from idols, serve God only and bring sacrifices to them in the prescribed way, love their neighbours, not steal, not cheat, do honest work, etc.

And about every time God gives them the command, He adds to it: /“I am the Lord your God.”/  Why?

Well He saved them and made a covenant with them.

That’s why.

He owns them and the stipulations of his covenant demanded it.

The sign of circumcision (as an Old Testament sacrament) was accompanied by sacrifices.

; All sacrifices had their fulfilment in the Passover Lamb (the other Old Testament sacrament).

The sacrifices they were to bring to the Lord assured that they could enjoy communion with Him because of their sins being forgiven.

They did not die for their sins, but the animals did.

Their /participation/ in the act of sacrifice and their /association/ with the blood of the animal brought to them forgiveness.

!!!!!! God’s covenant with his church in New Testament times

Let’s go back to Colossians.

God extended his covenant of mercy to all nations through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

People from all tribes and tongues and nations now become members of the household of God.

How?

The same way as the people of the Old Testament:  by grace, by agreement (covenant) and through sacrifice.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is like the animals killed for their salvation.

His death and resurrection now is just enormously more and ultimately more perfect than animal sacrifice.

God also gives to his New Covenant people a sign of his covenant.

It is the same circumcision not done by hands; it remains the mysterious and gracious work of the Holy Spirit.

He gives them a circumcision of the heart, here called the circumcision of Christ.

Now we need to take it step by step to understand the argument of the apostle Paul.

The people did not die and pay the price of sin; but by /association/ and /participation/ in the death and blood of the sacrificial animal God granted them forgiveness.

The same now applies for the New Covenant people.