He Has Delivered Us

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church.

Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota.

We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from.

Pastor Chris Roseberg.

Our scripture reading tonight is taken from the epistle to the Colossian Church, Colossians chapter 1

verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 7.

We will be working our way through the book of Colossians this Advent season.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy our brother, to the

saints and the faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae, grace to you and peace from

God our Father.

We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in

Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel which has come to you as

indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you.

Since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved

fellow servant, he is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to

us your love in the Spirit.

And so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the

knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the

Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and

patience with joy giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of

the saints in light.

He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we

have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation for by him all

things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions

or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him.

He is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is the head of

the body the church.

He is the beginning the firstborn from the dead then in everything he might be preeminent for in

Christ in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile

to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of

his cross and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing

evil deeds he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to

present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him if indeed you continue in the

faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has

been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul became a minister now

I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction

for the sake of his body that is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God

that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known the mystery hidden for ages and

generations but now revealed to his saints to them God chose to make known how great among the

Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you the hope of

glory him we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we

may present everyone mature in Christ.

For this I toil struggling with all of his energy that he powerfully works within me.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea.

And for all who have not seen me face to face that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love

to reach all the riches of the full assurance of the understanding of the knowledge of God's mystery which is Christ in whom are

hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

For though I am absent in body yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and

the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Therefore as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him rooted and built up in

him and established in the faith just as you were taught abounding in

thanksgiving in the name of Jesus.

Now for our advent meditations will be working away through the book of Colossians.

And if you've noticed this is quite a hefty passage how do you pull this apart in 10

minutes.

Well it'll take me an hour.

I'm joking to know it's really not.

But we're not going to.

We're not going to obviously work our way through all of this.

We're going to have to tear this apart a little bit.

And I chose the book of Colossians for two primary reasons.

One the book of Colossians is Christological.

In this passage of scripture that we read tonight we get what is considered one of the most magnificent Christ hymns

in all of scripture.

And when you read the commentators on it there's a lot of ink spilled as to whether or not it's a legitimate hymn

or if it just looks like one.

If it just looks like one with a difference that makes no difference is no difference at all.

But let us return back to our text and I'll read portions of it.

And I want you to pay attention to how the verbs work.

In fact let me let me work through from the beginning Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and

Timothy our brother to the Saints the faithful brothers in Christ at Colossi grace to you in

peace to God from God our Father.

Now in this section of this text I mean you could literally go on and tease out some of

these themes the fact that the Apostle Paul was an apostle by the will of God.

And as you're gonna see later in the text you are in Christ because of the will of God God willed chose you

to be saved.

And then it says to all the Saints and you'll notice that there are some well some Christian

churches and denominations and large church bodies that they talk about sainthood as something that you

aspire to.

I'm no saint but I hope to be one someday.

Well the Apostle Paul clearly missed the memo on that because he's writing to all these lowly Christians at

the Church of Colossi and he's calling them Saints.

He's not saying Saint candidates.

He's saying Saints.

You are Saints.

So grace to you and peace from God our Father.

And when we see the word peace here think of the word Shalom.

It's fascinating how Paul uses Shalom peace.

So we always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus

and of the love that you have for all the Saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of this you have heard

before in the word of the truth the gospel notice here in this text and your translations

may render this just a little bit different than what I have here is that the gospel is considered to

be the word of truth.

And what is the gospel.

If we were to have a little quiz tonight and I say all right somebody comes up to you.

They're a pagan.

They want to know what the gospel is.

What do you tell them.

Really quick.

You're on the spot.

What do you say.

Where do you go.

What do you do.

Well you would take a look at 1st Corinthians chapter 15 where Paul says.

Let me remind you let me remind you the gospel that I preach for I proclaim to you what was a first of

importance that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.

They was buried and raised again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

That's the gospel in a nutshell it has to do with the death of Christ for your sins and mine

and his resurrection from the grave.

And then Paul in the book of Ephesians kind of ties Jesus's resurrection to our justification.

So Jesus isn't just dead he's raised from the grave.

All of this is for us.

So Paul says that the gospel the gospel itself is the word of truth

which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing

as it also does among you.

And I can say to you Saints of Kongsvinger not Saint candidates but Saints that the gospel has

come to you and it is bearing fruit even in your life.

Right now we continue a little bit ahead and so from the day that we heard we have not ceased to pray for you

asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk

in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing

in the knowledge of God.

May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy.

And so from this portion of the text we learn something kind of important and that is is that well

God wills for you to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.

He is saying because you are in Christ because you are forgiven because you have

heard the gospel the word of truth because you know with the forgiveness of your sins and you trust in him.

That now this then leads to you walking in freedom and walking in a way that is

pleasing to the Lord.

There's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't do good works that does that animal doesn't exist.

And it's like saying I've got a dog that never barks I got a cat that never meows.

In fact it moves that that animal does not exist although I've seen parrots be able to do strange things.

But that's a different story right.

So may you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to the Father

who has qualified you to share in the

inheritance of the Saints in light.

Major major idea here you do not qualify yourself for

heaven.

In fact if you are trying to do that give it up right now knock that nonsense off.

You'll never be able to do it.

Instead receive the good news that that you have been qualified

by God himself by what Christ has done for you.

And it says this he God has delivered us that's including you and me

from the domain of darkness.

And he has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption the forgiveness

of our sins.

And so God is the one who qualifies you.

God is the one who transfers you from the dominion of darkness.

God is the one who redeems you.

He is the one who forgives you.

He is the one who saves.

You do not do these things they are done for you by God they are received

as a gift.

And this is very good news.

This is very good news.

Because if you are like me well when you're out away from Kongsvinger this embassy of the

kingdom of God and you're out well in the in the world at home dealing with your sinful

flesh living with other sinners.

Right.

Okay being tempted by your own sinful flesh the devil the world and all of its temptations.

You and I both know that we don't measure up and see that's the thing you can either do something you can do this

crazy thing with the law which the Lord's Word does not allow you to do.

You can sit there and say well it doesn't really matter if I keep God's law perfectly

God knows that I'm trying.

It's the heart that matters.

Oofta.

Wrong.

That's not how that works.

Because Jesus says it's out of the heart comes all kinds of wickedness and sinful thoughts.

Murder theft adultery all of these things go and come from the heart.

And so when you sin you are demonstrating that you have an impure

and sinful heart.

And so if we if it were left up to us to save ourselves to qualify ourselves by

our good works to qualify ourselves by our effort to qualify ourselves by really giving a

good college try at the Ten Commandments.

Well understand this.

This is one of those tests.

You know you know I'm talking about this is one of those tests.

It's either pass or fail.

It's not graded on the curve.

It's either pass or fail.

You either get a hundred or you get zero.

Well we guys will leave.

I got a zero today.

How about you.

How about yesterday.

Anyone get a hundred.

Yes.

No.

No.

All.

Right for Sunday that was a holy day.

And no.

Okay.

Yep me either.

But see this text tells us something very important.

God has qualified you.

He has qualified you through what Christ has done for you.

And that's what we're really kind of celebrating here.

And if you think about it we have Christmas coming.

It's just a few weeks away.

We've got all the decorations that looks like we're ready for a party.

Right.

Break out the eggnog.

You know get out the Christmas DVDs.

It's that time of the year.

Cuddle up in front of the fire and watch the snow fall and get ready for that great day.

We all remember when our kids were really small and they would get super excited about Christmas.

Don't you kind of miss that.

I miss that.

Right.

But we really ought to be excited because we're celebrating the birth of the one

who has qualified us.

We're celebrating the birth of the one who has delivered us from the dominion of darkness.

We're celebrating the one of the birth of the one who has transferred us to the kingdom

of light.

And I love the interplay between light and darkness in this passage our sin the dominion of the

devil and a rebellion against God is all likened as darkness.

In fact you think about John chapter 1 where Jesus where it says of Jesus that

light came into the darkness but the darkness is not understood it.

Christ came to his own but his own did not receive him.

But to all who have received him who do receive him he's given the right to be sons of

God.

And so God is the one who has delivered us.

He is the one who has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness and the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of

light of his beloved Son in whom in Jesus we have redemption and the

forgiveness of our sins.

And here's the great Christological passage that will kind of end on for tonight.

He Jesus he's the image of the invisible God.

You want to know what God is like.

You look at Jesus.

He's the firstborn of all creation.

Now a lot of ink has been spilled on this passage.

Firstborn of all creation doesn't mean that Jesus was the first thing created.

The firstborn is the one who has preeminence over everything.

And when you read the the Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint you have

Moses saying to Pharaoh Yahweh says release Israel.

Israel is my firstborn.

Right.

Anything.

Israel is my firstborn.

Well same word in the Septuagint.

Firstborn doesn't mean that it's Israel was the first thing created.

No it means he's the preeminent one.

So all of you older brothers out there you've got a passage.

I just want us to make that clear.

So being firstborn I have to invoke this from time to time.

So he's the firstborn of all creation.

For by Jesus all things were created.

That's right.

It says by Jesus all things were created in heaven and on earth

visible and invisible.

Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created

through him.

And for him he is the first.

He is before all things.

And in him all things hold together.

He's the head of the body the church.

He is the beginning the firstborn from the dead.

That in everything he might be preeminent.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to

reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making

peace by the blood of his cross.

What a great great thing to consider.

Truly Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.

Truly he is the beginning of the end.

He is the one.

Now we learned from this passage when God said let there be light it was

Jesus's voice who is speaking let the earth produce plant

bearing our seed bearing vegetation.

And it was so right.

That was Jesus speaking.

All things were created by him and through him he is truly our God.

He is truly our King.

He is truly our Redeemer.

And we see this that he has come.

We know this now that his birth by the Virgin was to make

peace make peace by the blood of his cross.

Because each and every one of us we needed we needed

to be reconciled to God.

You think about family relationships.

Family relationships have a tendency to go squirrely.

And so from time to time you get family members who are kind of at each other's throats.

It always makes Christmas and Thanksgiving a little bit awkward which is one of the reasons why a lot of families have those rules that

say ah you're coming to Thanksgiving.

Here's the rules sign the card.

No politics no religion.

Right.

That's how that goes.

Because if people talk about politics and religions on Thanksgiving well what ends up happening is well there's

generally weeping and gnashing of teeth and yelling and things like that.

And that doesn't go well.

And so when that happens and things go squirrelly and family relationships you have people who are

estranged people who are in conflict people who need to be reconciled to each other

and beloved.

That was us.

We were born enemies of God we were born in the minion of darkness we were

born in league with the devil.

But this says that God has qualified us he's transferred us.

And he has reconciled us to himself by the blood

of his cross.

What a great and precious gift.

He made peace when we were at war.

What an amazing thing for us to consider.

So as we walk through now the season of Advent

let us remember these words.

And you that's you and I who were once alienated and hostile in mind we who are the

ones who were doing evil deeds.

Christ has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you

holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

And if you say me holy me blameless me.

Yes you holy you blameless because

he has reconciled us to himself he has made peace.

He clothes you in his perfect righteousness.

He forgives you he qualifies you he saves you he redeems you.

And for all of that it just seems woefully inadequate to say thank you.

Does it not.

Because in reality we owe everything to him.

We owe our life our breath our salvation and our peace with God.

What a great and amazing Jesus.

We look forward to celebrating his birth by the Virgin Mary because he is the one

who has taken us who were alienated and hostile in mind.

And he's reconciled in his body of flesh by his death.

And he now presents us holy and blameless and above reproach before

him in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

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