My focus today is on Colossians 3: 1-11, with a special
emphasis on verses 5, 9 & 10: “Put to
death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature … since you have
taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which
is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go
to the house of the Lord.’”[i] Now
that our feet are standing within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As
we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love
deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
One of Paul’s Law and Gospel tools is his lists of virtues
and vices. His most familiar is Galatians 5, where he lists the fruit of the
Spirit. We find such lists in the Old Testament and the New Testament.[ii] I
chose Virtues and Vices because we leave Colossians after today and will not have
an opportunity to examine these lists for a long time.
We define virtue as moral excellence or righteousness. The
word virtue originates from the Latin word vir,
meaning man. Most likely, to be a man meant one walked the righteous path.
A decade ago, Secretary of Education, William Bennett,
compiled stories in The Book of
Virtues, and wrote that virtue involves “the training of the heart and mind toward the good. … It involves
rules and precepts – the dos and don’ts of life with others – as well as
explicit instruction, exhortation and training in good habits.”[iii]
This is exactly what Paul is doing as he writes to the Colossians – exhorting
Christians freed from sin explicit instruction and training on how to live as
Church.
Paul’s lists may differ from the traditional list of virtues:
faith, hope, love, prudence, fortitude, justice and temperance.[iv] Modern
lists include acceptance, creativity, nonviolence, silence and humor (which is
what I always attempt).[v] … I’ll
keep practicing. … But know this: the Christian foundation for the 7
traditional virtues is the Bible.
A brief introduction to virtue. Now, meet its evil twin,
vice. Vice is defined as an immoral or evil habit or degrading behavior. Its
origin is from the Latin word vitium,
which means a fault or defect. Like virtue, we know a vice when we see it or
hear it.
George Washington knew vice when he heard it. In fact, the
Father of our Country once said, “The
foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean
and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.”[vi]
Renaissance artists depicted virtue and vice to remind
viewers what to do and what not to do.[vii] Many
artists relied upon Dante who listed 7 deadly vices that were perverted by the
Fall. Traditionally, the 7 vices include pride, greed, jealousy, anger, lust,
gluttony and laziness.
A more contemporary writer, Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, wrote that there
is only one vice or sin – theft. “Every
other sin is a variation of theft....When you kill a man, you steal a life. You
steal his wife's husband, and rob his children of a father. … When you tell a
lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal their
right to fairness.” … Whether or not you agree with Hosseini is not important.
What is important for us to remember is that God’s Law, including The Ten
Commandments, is the foundation for avoiding vice.
So far, the basics: practice virtue; avoid vice. With that in
mind, you would think that Paul would not have to remind Christians how to
live. But as a straight-forward pastor, he reminds them – that because Christ forgave
them and freed them from Satan, sin and death through His suffering, death and
resurrection, they were
to set their minds on things above. Freed Christians do not walk in the way of
vice. Freed Christians walk virtuous ways.
Luke,
like Paul, reminded Christians that God freed them from sin. Freed from sin,
Christians must imitate Christ’s walk and echo His talk.
The word
echo is the root word for catechism. Catechisms echo a teaching. And one source
for our Lutheran Catechism, The
Apology of the Augsburg Confession states, “By faith, on account of Christ, we receive the forgiveness of our
sins.”[viii]
Jesus atoned for our sins through his death and resurrection. We believe that.
And because we are freed from sin, we follow Him. Echoing Jesus’ teaching, Luke
reminds us that as Christians, we are to be on our “guard against all kinds of
greed.”
Be on guard against all kinds of greed. … How do rich
televangelists reconcile that command with “prosperity theology”? Prosperity
theology teaches that faith and commitment to a church are rewarded with
wealth. No one is a better teacher of this than the self-anointed Pentecostal
Bishop Edir Macedo of Brazil. Recently added to Forbes Billionaires List, he
owns 49% of Banco Renner, and Record, Brazil’s 2nd largest broadcast
network. Reports suggest he used church funds to amass his $1.1 billion empire.
During a recent sermon, he requested his followers to pray for his network. “There are many enemies who want us to fail.
But with everybody’s prayers and help, Record will slaughter the infidels.”[ix]
How would Jesus react if He knew someone used His name to get
on the Forbes Billionaires List? Is Macedo the person you want to imitate when
living the Gospel? Or is there someone else?
The last time I preached, I invoked Dr. Joel Biermann, echoed
Paul’s words, and asked you to “imitate me.” Today, I ask you to imitate the
person who taught me about avoiding vice and embracing virtue as the Christian way
of life.
10 years ago, on Wednesday of Holy Week, April 16, 2003, my
father dropped dead of a massive heart attack. The medical examiner said he was
dead before he hit the floor. That very night God demanded his life from him.
Fortunately, my father did not spend his life chasing after
the wind or storing up an abundance of possessions. In fact, it was almost as
if he prepared for that moment. On Tuesday evening, he and my mother attended a
reconciliation service at a local church. On Wednesday morning, they drove to
their home church where he received communion. He spent the day with my mother,
took her grocery shopping and hung out at home. … Unusual for my 77-year old
father who spent most days working outside, in the garage or at a local machine
shop. … That evening my parents ate dinner with my dad’s only surviving brother.
They returned home, he went into his room, and prayed. His virtuous life came
to a sudden end.
His last two days were no anomaly. My father, married for 53
years and the father of 3 sons, was a veteran of the Second World War and the
Korean War. Like St. Paul, he too labored, not as a tentmaker but as a
machinist in an Aliquippa steel mill for 46 years. He didn’t smoke or drink. He
didn’t swear or trash talk our mother. He did not tolerate such talk among men.
In fact, when we were visiting an uncle, who did all of those things, my dad
said, “Szwagier (Polish for
brother-in-law). Szwagier, if you’re going to talk like that, we’re leaving.”
Our uncle responded in words that were not socially acceptable, and we left. Like
the father of our country, my father detested swearing.
He talked the good talk, and he walked the good walk. He
evangelized as a catechist, but his medium for teaching children and teens how
to avoid vice and embrace virtue extended beyond the classroom onto the baseball
field.
He evangelized on baseball fields throughout Beaver County,
Pennsylvania, and his “Pep” Young glove was his instrument of communicating Law
and Gospel, vices to avoid and virtues to embrace.
I tell you about my father not to aggrandize him, but to offer
some advice for virtuous living today. Take time today (12 minutes – the time
it took to listen to this sermon) and reflect upon today’s Gospel and Colossians
3.
Our Lutheran Tradition reminds us that we teach the Bible
truth that by faith alone we obtain the forgiveness of sins. Ask yourself, is
that teaching rooted deeply in my heart? Christ’s resurrection proves all His
promises will be fulfilled. Think about this – Do I sincerely trust that God indeed
fulfills all His promises? Or like the greedy man, do I ensure for my own
security by building up riches on earth?
Do I trust that God will forgive me of my sins … my vices? Do
I trust that God’s Holy Spirit will guide me to live as a Christian …
virtuously? Will someone be citing me as a Christian example ten years after I
am dead? If so, or if not, we should ask ourselves as we listen to Jesus if we are
ready to walk the walk? As we walk with our Savior, may the peace of God which
surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil
4:7). Amen.
[i]
Psalm 122
[ii]
Exodus 34:6; Isaiah 11:1-3; Hosea 2:19-20; Micah 6:8. See http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Epistles-VirtuesVices.htm
[iii]
William Bennett, The Book of Virtues, 11.
[iv] The cardinal virtues (prudence, fortitude,
justice, and temperance) are the foundation of morality as a whole. The word
"cardinal" comes from the Latin word "cardo" which means
"hinge". These are foundational virtues since morality hinges on them.
See P.J. Kreeft, Virtues in Dictionary of Christianity in America,
1226f. For the Lutheran understanding of virtues, see http://cyclopedia.lcms.org/display.asp?t1=c&word=CARDINALVIRTUES
[viii]
Kolb and Wengert, Book of Concord, 134.
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