Col

Col. 4:18

12/9/2007

“Grace be with You”

We finally come to the end of Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. As you see, this epistle ends with a benediction. It was customary at that time to end a letter with some kind of well wishes or benediction. Paul, too, ends his letter to the Colossians with a benediction: “Grace be with you.” As you can see, it is quite brief--just four short words. Its brevity is somewhat surprising. It is usual to equate length with importance. Obviously, if you devote a lot of space on one point, it means that that point is quite significant in the paper. So, should we take this short benediction as a sign of indifference and lack of care, Paul simply fulfilling a letter-writing formality of that time? If we remember what Paul has been saying and in what manner, we won’t be able to accuse him of indifference and disregard toward the Colossians. If we keep that in mind and read this benediction, its unexpected brevity of his benediction produces an interesting effect. As our expectation for something longer is met with this brief cadence, we are forced to linger on it a little. As we do, we easily see that this benediction, though brief, has much depth in it. Paul was not following a convention for the sake of following it.

“Grace be with you.” Grace is a huge word. We can say very much about it. For grace is an important, pervasive biblical concept. But we don’t want this message to be a general study on the biblical concept of grace. So we will focus on how grace is manifested in this particular epistle and it will serve as a good way to review the epistle. This may not seem like a good idea. The word “grace” appears only four times in this epistle. However, two of those four occur at the very beginning and at the very end of the epistle: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father” (1:2); “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you” (4:18). Thus placed at the beginning and at the end, grace forms the book-ends for this epistle. We may say that, visually, the concept of grace provides the framework for all that Paul says throughout the letter. In other words, Paul’s initial greeting and his final benediction place the Colossians in the midst of God’s grace.

Don’t forget how revolutionary this was at that time! For the Colossians were Gentiles in the flesh! The Gentiles were viewed by the Jews as unclean and profane, unworthy of their friendship, deserving of God’s wrath. But this benediction extended to the Colossians showed that a new age broke through in the coming of Jesus Christ! Those, who had been under the domain of darkness, were brought into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, into the church of Jesus Christ. Those, who had been children of wrath, became beneficiaries of God’s redeeming grace! Now they are surrounded by God’s grace, covered by God’s grace, enveloped by God’s grace, protected by God’s grace. The grace of God goes before the church and the grace of God follows the church of Jesus Christ. The church of Jesus Christ is nestled secure in the grace of God.

What is grace? Grace is an undeserved favor from God. In fact, this divine favor was given to us when we deserved its polar opposite--God’s curse and wrath for our sin. Many find it offensive and insulting that God’s grace is a totally undeserved favor. To them God’s grace may be undeserved somewhat but not totally undeserved. They may readily acknowledge that they do not deserve all of God’s favor but surely they deserve at least some! To them, God’s grace is what gives them a gold medal when they deserved only a bronze medal. They fail to realize the terrible, far-reaching impact of their sin against God. They think that they can only get the bronze medal because of sin. No, sin does not just deduct some points from their technical and presentation scores, as it were. Sin disqualifies them from the competition altogether. In fact, those with sin must be arrested, charged and sentenced to eternal punishment for their crime against the most holy God, who deserves their full, unreserved and joyful allegiance and obedience.

The “good” works that they think they are doing cannot commend them to God or compensate for the wrongs that they have done. For even their good works are no more than filthy garments before the most holy God. You see, sin is more than just an isolated instance of temporary lapse in judgment or an innocent mistake. Just like everything else in life, sin comes with its consequences. As an offense against God, it brings with it guilt and punishment. But the havoc that sin wreaks is not limited to that. Sin is like the “Midas touch”, except that, instead of turning everything into gold, it infects and profanes and defiles everything it comes into contact with. A graphic picture is provided in the Levitical Law: those who came into contact with unclean things or the carcasses of unclean things were made unclean themselves. Sin is contagious. It cannot just end as an isolated incident. We cannot sin without being tainted by it: one cannot murder someone without becoming a murderer. In the same way, when a person sins, he becomes a sinner. Something happens to us in a profound way when we cross that line and decide to murder or lie or cheat or steal or slander intentionally. Something happens to our character, to our being and nature, when we cross that critical line. He, whose heart is defiled, defiles everything he touches. Even the good that he tries to do cannot escape the contamination of his sinful character. This indictment against our total depravity is so true and accurate that it is enough to thrust us into the quicksand of despair. Having everything he touched turn into gold did not make Midas happy--far from it! If so, how miserable is our life when everything we touch is defiled and destroyed and condemned by sin--our relationships, our projects and our efforts, etc.! What despair would be ours!

But the grace of God changes all that! In fact, the grace of God reverses everything in a most spectacular way! If God’s grace extends only to help those who help themselves, how much do we have to do to qualify for His grace? How much is enough? Praise God that His grace is totally gracious! If the Bible speaks of the total depravity of man, it is because it is true and it is for the purpose of showing how the fallen man needs the total grace of God. God extends His grace to us precisely because we are in total need of it! This grace flows out of God’s perfect knowledge of our desperate condition. I am certain that, even in the lowest point of our self-loathing, even in the nadir of our low self-esteem, we are still thinking too highly of ourselves. But God knows exactly how deep and low our wickedness runs--not only how wicked we are and have been but how evil and cruel we can be. Our smiles and good manners cannot hide our true condition before the all-seeing God. He knew exactly what kind of people He was dealing with when He decided to extend His grace. Do you know anyone who knows all the dirty, despicable secrets of your heart, all the evil you are capable of, and still loves you completely and all the way? That is God’s grace for you! There is no need to hide. No need to fake before God.

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound!” sang John Newton. Indeed how sweet is the sound of amazing grace! What do we need to fear when grace is with us! What greater comfort and joy can we have than those afforded by grace? What greater blessing is there than grace? For this grace is the grace of God (1:2)! As God is perfect, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, so is His grace perfect, infinite, eternal and unchangeable. As God is wise, His grace is all wisdom. His grace doesn’t get puzzled and confused. As God is almighty, so is His grace all-powerful to accomplish all of God’s gracious will. As God is holy and just, so is His grace--though still gracious, His grace does not compromise His holiness and justice. As God is good and true, so is His grace. If one finds himself in the grip of God’s grace, no one can snatch him out of it. Waters will not overwhelm him; burning flames will not consume Him. Those who curse him will be cursed by God and those who bless him will be blessed. God’s goodness and mercy will follow him all the days of his life and through all eternity. There can be no blessing more wonderful and greater than to be an object of grace, God’s grace! And our life is lived out in the midst of this marvelous grace of God!

But God’s grace is not merely God’s inner disposition toward us. God does not just have a favorable attitude toward us inside of Himself. This inner disposition is expressed and manifested to us in tangible ways. After all, what is the use of His inner disposition, however favorable it may be toward us, if it is not carried into tangible actions? Can such a thing be called real grace? Praise God that His grace is true and real and efficacious. How, then, is God’s grace revealed to us? Paul makes it very clear that God’s grace is manifested in Jesus Christ! But why? Why is it necessary for His grace to be shown in and through Jesus Christ and not directly? Because His grace cannot be arbitrary and capricious. God cannot deny Himself and, therefore, His grace cannot, and must not, violate His righteousness. God’s grace, while gracious, must be righteous at the same time. This dilemma, this tension, is resolved in Jesus Christ. He came into this world in the frailty of human flesh to bear the punishment of our sins. Because He paid the penalty of our sins, God’s justice is satisfied. And because He paid the penalty of our sins, God’s grace is established.

Paul reiterates this fact again and again throughout this epistle. We read in 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Do you see? We have been delivered from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. How? Through the redemption, through the forgiveness of sins, we have in Jesus Christ. What was the price He had to pay to purchase our pardon? His own precious life--“by the blood of His cross” (1:20), “in His body of flesh by His death” (1:22). In fact, His death was our circumcision, Paul declares: “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ” (2:11). What did the foreskin, which was cut off at the circumcision, symbolize? Our sinful nature and our sin. So he, who was not circumcised and therefore was still unclean ceremonially, [he] was to be cut off from the covenant community of Israel. Do you see the parallel? The foreskin was to the man what the uncircumcised man was to the covenant community. Paul refers to the death of Jesus Christ as the circumcision of Christ. What a powerful picture of what Christ had to undergo on our behalf! When He went to the cross, bearing the guilt and curse of our sin, He became the foreskin, as it were. All of our sins and all our punishment and all of our curse were transferred to Christ. So when He was cut off in the (eschatological,) ultimate circumcision and died on the cross, so were all our sins and all our guilt cut off from us, once for all, never to be charged against us, ever! That is what happened on the cross when Jesus died on our behalf as the foreskin of our sin.

To this Paul adds yet another imagery to drive home the point. We read in 2:13-14, “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, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” What a dramatic and marvelous picture of our forgiveness! In today’s terms, it is like our loan papers shredded to pieces, or the record of our loans deleted permanently from the computer. Imagine that! All your student loans cancelled for good! All your home and credit and auto loans paid for fully and completely! But the debt we owed to God was infinite in amount, condemning us to eternal damnation. When Jesus went to the cross, He did it to pay for our debt to God! When Jesus our Savior was nailed to the cross, so was our certificate of debt nailed to the cross, made null and void forever--better yet, paid in full!

Do you see why God’s grace is shown to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Because His grace had to be completely righteous as well as completely gracious. It had to be completely gracious because we were completely unworthy of His favor. But it also had to be completely righteous because God is righteous and He cannot deny Himself. What is more, grace that is not righteous cannot grant us a full pardon from our sin. It may spare us from the punishment as the presidential pardon does. But it cannot remove from us the stigma of our sin and guilt. But God’s grace is a righteous grace. He did not cancel our debt arbitrarily. He had His beloved Son pay for the penalty of our sin fully and completely through His suffering and death. Thus the righteous demands of God’s law were fully satisfied. Therefore, no one, not even Satan, can bring any charge against God’s elect, even our conscciende, against those, whose debt has been paid for, whose punishment was borne, by their Substitute and Savior!

Jesus was able to do what He did because of who He is. We are told in 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Here an obvious allusion is made to Adam, who was created in the image of God. But the difference between Christ and Adam is equally obvious. In fact, the allusion to Adam is made to show the surpassing greatness of Christ over Adam. Adam was made, he was created, in the image of God. Christ is the image of the invisible God--that is, He is the eternal image of God as the eternally begotten Son of God. Adam was made last. Christ is the firstborn of all creation--not in the sense that He was the first to be created but in the sense that He is the preeminent One over all creation. For Paul goes on to say, “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” (1:16). This doesn’t mean that, as Jehovah’s Witnesses say, God created Christ first and Christ created everything else in turn. This ignores the Old Testament theology and terminology, which is the background to Paul’s expression. According to the Old Testament theology, there is only one Person through whom and for whom everything was created: God. Jesus Christ, through whom and for whom all things were created, could not be anything less than the true God. Besides, our Savior could not be anything less than the infinite God because the price that had to be paid for our sin against the infinite honor of God had to be infinite in value. Only the one and only true God is infinite, thus alone capable of bearing the infinite weight of our sin. Whereas the first Adam was defeated by Adam’s deception and attack, Christ the last Adam triumphed over all evil forces through His perfect obedience.

For what purpose is God’s grace given to us? As we read through the epistle, we see that forgiveness of sin is not the only purpose. God’s grace is complete and perfect in its scope and purpose and effect. It does not simply take care of our deficit (by pardoning of our sin) and thereby helpping us to break it even, as it were. It has as its final goal nothing less than our perfection. This goal is manifested in many ways throughout this letter. Let us briefly list them.

The first we see is that God’s grace makes us bear fruit and grow. In 1:6 the gospel is specifically defined as “the grace of God in truth” and it is described as bearing fruit and growing throughout the world and among the Colossians. What kind of fruit is the grace of God bearing among them? Their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for all the saints (1:4). See how Paul connects our faith in Jesus Christ and our love for all the saints. If God’s grace saves us from our sin, it must save us from all of its devastating and destructive effects. Sin by nature disrupts man’s relationship with God and with one another. God’s grace in Jesus Christ reverses these broken relationships, restores them and perfects them. God’s grace brings God and man together. God’s grace brings man and man together, even former enemies, in mutual love for one another. Those, whose relationship with God has been restored by God’s grace in Christ, cannot harbor hatred, bitterness and anger against those who are objects of God’s grace.

God’s grace has as its goal our completion and perfection. Listen to Paul’s prayer for the Colossians in 1:9-12. Pay attention to the comprehensive language that Paul employs.

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 in 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 (1:9-12)

He also says in 1:28, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature [complete] in Christ.” Everyone needs to be warned and taught with all wisdom. Christian ministry is to present everyone mature in Christ--not just a few, select members but every member! You, all of you, who have been touched by the grace of God, called to full maturity in Jesus Christ.

That is not all. God’s grace has as its goal making us holy and blameless and beyond reproach (1:22), who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds (1:21).

Other goals of God’s grace are mentioned throughout:

· To set us free from elementary principles of the world (2:20), which have “an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (2:23);

· To make us turn our minds away from the things that are on earth--such as sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness (3:5), anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk (3:8) and lies (3:9)--and to make us set our minds on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God;

· To make us put off the old self with all of its practices (3:9) and to help us put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (3:10);

· To bring unity among the members of the body of Christ through compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience (3:12), forgiveness (3:13) and love (3:14), by making the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts (3:15), by making the word of Christ dwell in us richly (3:16) and by making us do all things, whether in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus (3:17);

· To restore our broken and ruptured and distorted relationships--between wives and husbands, between children and parents and between slaves and masters (3:18-4:1);

· To make us pray, particularly for the ministry of the Word and missions (4:2-4);

· To make us speak and behave wisely to the outsiders (4:5-6).

This is what Christian life looks like as it is caught up in the grace of God in the front and back, above and beneath, to the left and to the right--all around in every direction! When the grace of God grabs a hold of us and surrounds us, it does not leave us merely as forgiven sinners. It heals us, it restores us, it renews us and it completes us with the life and power of heaven in Jesus Christ!

So then, how appropriate it was for Paul to end his epistle this way! After all is said and done, where could he anchor his hope and confidence? How could he hope that all his prayers and instructions would bear their fruit in the lives of those who read his words? In his own strength? He was still chained in prison. In his charisma? What use was his charisma when he was still in prison and could not make a visit to the Colossians in person? Sending a letter was the best he could do at this time. Could he put his confidence in the force of the logic and rhetoric of his words? He knew full well that knowing the right thing was not enough to change people as long as their hearts were bent toward evil. So he ends his letter with a brief yet poignant benediction: “Grace be with you!” For grace, God’s grace alone, could accomplish what is impossible with men.

But look at also what Paul has done throughout the letter. He begins and ends his letter with a mention of God’s grace. Thus he places our life squarely in between God’s grace. Throughout the letter he shows what this life in God’s grace looks like. And he does so in many different ways. In certain places he simples states or describes what that life in grace looks like. But in other places he prays for it (1:9-12) or asks Christians to pray for it (4:2-4). He even rebukes them for flirting with false teachers (2:20) and solemnly charges them to continue in their faith until the end (1:23). Still in many other places, Paul gives commands, which, by the kind of life they call Christians to live out, describe what living in God’s grace looks like and what living outside God’s grace looks like as well.

Then what about all the things that Paul did in the letter--instructing, commanding, rebuking, warning and praying? What did they have to do with the grace of God? Did they have anything to do with God’s grace? It is telling that Paul did not just talk about grace and assure the Colossians that grace will get everything done. The letter abounds with specific in his commands and Paul was quite intentional in giving them. But why give commands if God’s grace alone can bring about what God intends? Not because God’s grace and our efforts must cooperate as equal partners and contributors. It must be affirmed in no uncertain terms that grace alone is the effective cause and energy necessary for our salvation from beginning to end. But, as we have seen, our salvation does not just consist in the pardoning of our sins; it also consists in the transformation of our character. The former Christ accomplished outside of us through His death and resurrection. The latter Christ accomplishes inside of us by teaching, reproving, correcting and training us through His Word and Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16). Through the Word, the Spirit appeals to our intellect and emotion and will, for it is through the proper exercise of these faculties that our character is changed and cultivated. So then, we are to respond actively and vigorously to the Word of God as well as to the other means of grace (e.g. the Sacraments, prayer, etc.).

But it will still be grace in the end. For a sinner can neither be forgiven nor transformed into a saint apart from God’s free, undeserved favor called grace, every step of the way. So Paul ends his letter with this short yet profound benediction, “Grace be with you!” There lay all of his hopes of seeing all the glorious plan of God coming to fruition. Brothers and sisters, as Paul’s letter is framed by grace, so is our life. This grace that surrounds us in all direction will carry us in the end to our heavenly home. And even when we get to heaven, the theme of our praise will be this amazing grace of God, which saved wretches like us. May that grace bear its abundant fruit in our lives as we journey toward our heavenly home!