It's Harvest Time

It’s Harvest Time

Colossians 1:1-14

     Life can be filled with embarrassing moments.  I don’t need to tell you about all of the embarrassing things that can happen.  You know what they are because you have probably experienced them in your life.  There is one kind of embarrassing moment that I would like to talk about because I think that it plays a role in the response to our Epistle lesson for today.  Can you think of a time when someone complimented you for something that was well done and you realized that you had nothing to do with whatever it was they were talking about.  Maybe it was the potato salad that was brought to a dinner.  Someone came up to you and said how wonderful it tasted and you received the compliment graciously, knowing full well that, in fact, the folks at the deli counter at the grocery store did a great job with the potato salad.  All you did was take it out of the plastic container and put it in a nice glass bowl.  Did you own up to your little deception or did you just let them go on thinking that you had the magic touch in the kitchen?

     As Paul wrote to the Colossians, he began his letter with the typical greetings.  He was quite complimentary as he mentioned their faith and the love they have for the saints because of the hope laid up for them in heaven.  He praised them for the way the Gospel is bearing fruit and increasing among them since they day they heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.  A letter like this would be read to the gathered assembly of believers as they came together for their weekly worship on the Lord’s Day.  Imagine the excitement when they heard that a letter from Paul had been received and was going to be read that day.  As the leader began to read the letter, the people certainly would be on the edge of their seats as they heard his greeting.  As was the custom, he began by identifying himself along with Timothy, his coworker, as the sender.  Their hearts would be warmed as he addressed them as “the saints and faithful brothers in Colossae.”  As he often did in his letters, Paul mentions how he thanks God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he prays for them ever since he heard of their faith in Christ Jesus. 

     Here is where things start to get interesting.  He writes that he has heard about the bearing of fruit through the proclamation of the Gospel in the whole world but especially among them since the day that they heard it and understood it.  Unless this group of believers in Colossae was different from most groups of believers, there were, no doubt, many in the group who honestly had to admit that they really hadn’t done anything to proclaim the gospel in their community.  The leaders, of course, did and a few of them may have been active in sharing their faith but most of them probably just went about their business and came to the worship each week.  They may have felt a bit embarrassed by the praise that was being heaped on them for the great harvest of the fruit of the Gospel that was happening among them. 

     Paul added another line to his statement by saying that all this was happening since the day they heard the Gospel and understood the grace of God in truth.  There, I believe, lies the big difference between those who simply hear the Word and those who take it to heart and respond in a way that bears fruit and increases the harvest.  That is probably why Paul continued on the way he did by explaining just what happens when the Holy Spirit works in the heart of someone who has heard the message of the Gospel and causes them to respond in a way that demonstrates an understanding of the grace of God that has been given.  He prays that they may be filled with the knowledge  of God’s will and that they walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of the Lord. 

     The reason that Paul prays so fervently for them is that he knows what a difficult thing it is to grow in good works and increase in the knowledge of the Lord as we live in this evil and corrupt world of ours.  The devil is on the prowl seeking to influence us to do just the opposite.  It takes a real understanding of the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to fight against the temptation to either ignore the Word altogether or simply hear it and let it have no influence on the way you live your life.

     You might think that I’m reading a lot more into this text than I should be but the truth is that human nature has not changed a lot since the early days of the Christian Church.  There were probably people in that assembly at Colossae who wished they could hide under the chairs when Paul’s letter was read because they knew that their everyday lives had not changed all that much.  They were not the ones responsible for the harvest and increase in the church.  They knew that they didn’t really have a good understanding of the grace of God.  Perhaps they had gotten caught up in this new religion and didn’t really know what it was all about.  Until they did, there was not going to be much of a difference in their lives.  There would be little fruit bearing.  There would be little growth in the knowledge of the Lord and their daily walk was far from a manner worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him. 

     I feel fairly confident that this was happening in the church at Colossae because it happens all the time today in every one of us.  You are all tempted to take a very casual attitude toward the work of the church and when you give in to that temptation, there is very little fruit bearing going on in your life.  There is very little growth in the knowledge of the Lord with all wisdom and understanding.  You feel unprepared to share your faith and as a result you keep it to yourself and let someone else do what should be the joyful task of all believers who have heard the Gospel of Jesus and who understand the grace of God. 

     Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Christians helps us to see the remedy for this spiritual dilemma.  In verse 11, he says, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy.”  Later he adds in verse 13, “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.”  There is the key to our understanding of the Gospel.  By the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, you have been delivered from the power of the devil and you have been transferred to His Kingdom.  The price was paid to set you free from the power of sin, death and the devil and your sins have been forgiven, especially those sins of apathy and doubt.  He gives you the understanding of His grace through the power of the Spirit working in you through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacrament.  When you truly understand this you see how lost you would be apart from the deliverance that you have in Christ.  That understanding also fills your heart with the kind of thankfulness and joy that makes a difference in your life.

     That is the power that the Holy Spirit brings into your life that makes it possible for you to resist the temptation to just continue on with your life as if nothing had ever happened to bring about your salvation.  That is the power that makes it possible for you to bear the fruit of good works, to gather a harvest for the Lord.  That is the power that makes it possible for you to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing the knowledge of God. 

     With that power in your life you can respond when the call goes out that it is harvest time.  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church
Painesville, Ohio
July 14, 2013