Out of Death and Captivity, Into Life (A sermon based on Colossians 2:13-15)

We Preach Christ Crucified
Out of Death and Captivity, Into Life
A sermon based on Colossians 2:13-15
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 - Midweek Lent 6

        How do most people define death? A flat line on a hospital monitor? A EKG that registers no heart activity or brainwaves? A lifeless body in a casket? Since the unbelieving world sees no meaning beyond their narrow existence from cradle to grave, physical death is the end of everything for which they lived. And extreme measures are taken to prolong this earthly life, which is all they know. But no amount of health care reform can prevent death. For death isn't just physical and we're all born dead. Here's what I mean:
        A man once pointed out an apparent contradiction in the Bible to his pastor: "Look," he said, "When God told Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit, he said, 'The day you eat of it you will surely die.' Adam ate from it. But he didn't die on the day he ate it. In fact, he didn't die for another 900 years! So the Bible is obviously wrong." But the pastor then pointed out that Adam did, indeed, die on the very day he took the forbidden fruit. But it was a much more horrible death than mere physical death -- just the separation of body and soul.
        As soon as Adam desired to be like God, he died to God and separated himself from him. Adam now said that what God called bad was really good and that what God called good was really bad. That inward death led to the actual sin of reaching out and taking the forbidden fruit. Adam's death was evident when he was terrified to be in the presence of God and hid in the garden. The first couple's death was evident when they covered their nakedness in shame and when they made excuses for their actions to try to cover up their sin. All of these were visible signs of inner death. And, to be sure, physical death and everlasting death in hell would follow.
        And the same death is evident in all of us, who were born in the image of our first parents -- spiritually dead in sin. But it is this downward spiral of death that our Savior suffered and died to reverse. Here's how Paul put it in Colossians 2:13-15...

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

        To appreciate our new life in Christ, we have to remember our original condition: "When you were dead in your sins." As was the case with Adam, God identifies our sins as the outward symptom of soul death. Each time we lay claim to our right to do what God forbids, we imitate Adam in his rebellion and stand with him under God's wrath. For God has given us certain commands too. He hasn't told us not to eat from a certain tree, but he has given us a "written code, with its regulations." This code is written in our hearts and even more clearly in God's Law, summarized in the Ten Commandments...

1. Have you always loved God above all else and sought to serve him only in your life? Have you always trusted in him and in his love and care for you? Even in when a rough economy tries your patience?  ...Me neither.
2. Have you always honored God's name and called upon it in daily prayer offering your praise and thanks to him? Have you always been eager to share his name with others? ... Me neither.
3. Have you always been eager and glad to hear and learn God's Word? To read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it? Do you embrace and love every teaching of God as the blessing he intends it to be? ...Me neither.
4. Have you always honored the authorities that God has established over you? Have you given our elected officials the honor and respect due them, not because of their actions or beliefs, but because of that position that God has granted them? ...Me neither.
5. Have you always honored life? Been eager to protect and defend the lives of others, giving your hard-earned dollars to help them? Have you always cared for your own body, remember that it is not yours, but is only on loan from God? ...Me neither.
6. Have you always honored God's gifts of sex and marriage and kept your thoughts and your actions pure? ...Me neither.
7. Have you always worked your hardest at your job, working 100% 100% off the time? ...Me neither.
8. Have you always sought to defend and protect and build up the reputations of others? ...Me neither.
9. Have you always been content with the showers of blessings that God daily dumps upon us? ...Me neither.
   

        
        Stand before the mirror of God's commands and we see all the evidence of how spiritually dead we are by nature. And even if we do a good job of hiding the evidence of our spiritual death, we're still no less dead. Like the bodies on display in the funeral home, we may look nice on the outside, but appearances are deceiving. We're still dead.
        Even infants with the appearance of innocence are born spiritually dead. Church fatehr, St. Augustine said that such innocence of infancy is 
"more a matter of weakness of limb than purity of heart." Just because a baby cannot clench his fist or hasn't mastered speech to the point where he can speak defiantly to parents or siblings doesn't mean he is not self-absorbed and spiritually lifeless by nature before God. You see, our sin isn't just what we do or don't do. It's who we are. Just as the David confessed in Psalm 51:5, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." That's why we begin our confession of sin, not with what we have done wrong (as damnable as our sins are), but with who we are: "Merciful Father in heaven, I am sinful from birth..." Born spiritually dead, each of us is bound to die a physical death, which was sure to be followed by an eternal death and separation from God for eternity.
        But, "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ." It is futile for us to plead with a deceased loved one to rise from their coffin. But God, who breathed into lifeless clay and brought it to life, has breathed into the "walking dead" with the same result. How did he do that? With a defibrillatior? No. "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us."  The "written code, with its regulations," those ten commandments that once stood against us in the court of a holy, all-knowing and just God, that pointed at us crying, "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty of all charges!" ...has been canceled. How can that be? "He took it away, nailing it to the cross." Jesus took the our guilt on himself. Jesus took our punishment on himself. And there on the cross hung  not only the Son of God, but every sin of all time! Every sin of yours and mine! So now, the breath that gives us spiritual life is the gospel of Christ crucified! So we preach Christ crucified! 

        And Christ crucified not only gives us life out of death, but life out of captivity, out of the grasp of our enemies! 
        There's a man in our synod who most know only as Jacob. No last name is ever given. The reason is because he used to be a Muslim. But by God's grace, he's come to faith in Jesus and through his studies, has learned that our synod preaches the truth in accord with God's Word. But if his old friends or his family knew where he was they would surely kill him for turning his back on the Muslim faith. Another man I recently heard of came to faith in Jesus and left his affiliation with a crime syndicate. He is pressured to return to his life of crime and his life is threated on a regular basis. 
        These men, have been given life, but at the same time, they live in fear of their enemies, who ironically, were once their best of friends. Yet, even though they might fear for their physical safety, spiritually speaking, they need not fear any enemy -- Satan or his legions or even death itself. And neither do we. Why not? Because of Christ crucified: "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he [Christ] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
        In ancient Rome, when a conquering general would return from battle victorious he would lead a triumphant parade. Taking some of the spoils of war he would toss them to the crowds. And to their delight he would take the conquered general, strip him of all his dignity, and lead him down Main Street in a cage or prodded on by sears for all the people to see his humiliated enemy. The defeated enemy was a public laughingstock. Finally, at the end of the march, the enemy was put to death.
        And that's exactly what Christ has done to Satan and his demons. Though they were once our best friends, they have now become our enemies as we turn our backs on our our old way of life to live the new life won for us by Christ crucified. And yet, even though they would seek to kill us still, and drag us back to hell with them, "[They] can harm us none. [They're] judged. The deed is done. One little word can fell [them]."
        Christ crucified stripped Satan of his power and his dignity when he brought us from death to life. With the power of the law to condemn us now nailed to the cross, Satan has lost his greatest weapon. He accuse you all he wants, but your every sin has been removed. The accusations can't stick. For Jesus disarmed the powers of darkness when he paid for every sin on the cross. 
        Christ crucified stripped Death of its power and dignity when he brought us from death to life. Yes, we will still die, but death, like Satan, has been defeated. At the hour of his death, Jesus made a spectacle of Death itself when the earth shook and the graves of many saints opened up that they might come out alive -- a prelude to Easter! 
        And on the Last Day, we will see the end of the parade when our enemies are forever destroyed. Then Satan will lose any influence he still has and will be banished forever. Then Death will be undone, when all who have been brought to spiritual life will rise to a new and eternal life in paradise! 

        And finally, this new life in Christ, this life out of death, this life out of captivity, is not an inert thing. Life never is. Christ made us alive so that we could be living sacrifices to him. To the apostles, this new life meant spending themselves in God's service, even to the point of shedding their blood. In the same way, it is natural for us to live out our calling in meaningful activity for his kingdom. When we open our mouths, we strive to have the world hear Jesus' voice as we preach Christ crucified. Our hands are used for works of service to those who live around us that they might see the loving acts of Christ in our works. And even if our finances aren't where we would have them be, we don't consider it a burden to dedicate  portions of our God-given blessings to spread the message of Christ crucified far beyond our community and country. 
        All of this in thanks to our Savior, Christ crucified, who has taken us out of death and out of captivity into life! In Jesus' name, dear friends, amen.