Colossians 1:3-14 * July 26, 2009 * Summer Mission Festival * Missionary Rob Wendland

Enlighten the eyes of our hearts, Lord, that we may know the hope to which you have called us, the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints. Amen. The text for our consideration today is Colossians 1:3-14:

A baby lies dying on the ground of its hut, its cry barely audible in the African night. The sing’anga, the witchdoctor, enters with his medicine gourds and charms, full of prayers to the spirits and ancestors that they give back this dying son his life. The baby’s parents look on with expectation…but also with fear in their hearts. In the darkness the sing’anga’s power seems absolute…

A BBC report says that experts have proven there really is no such thing as a soul. “We can’t find a place in the brain where one would exist…or even how there could be a concept of self…so they must not really be….” says the expert in all seriousness…

Millions march in a circle underneath the desert sun. They are wearing white and a large black stone is the center of their attention. Chanting fills the air and at certain times the great throng kneels down toward the stone and says in unison with the chanter, “Allahu akbar.” God / Allah is great…

On the other side of the ocean a wise fool makes his movie Religulous which pokes fun at every faith in general, Christianity in particular…Others look up into the night sky, studying the stars intently to learn of quarks and blazars, and dark matter. For them all these are evidence that there is no God; the universe seems too vast, too random, too amazing…rather than doing just the opposite as it was intended to do – proving how awesome God is that He should make, rule, and control it all…

Meanwhile, in so many lands across the globe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is treated as a commodity – people shop around to try to find the message they like to hear, in the style they like to hear it, at the time that’s most convenient (not any longer than an hour, mind you)…as if their stamp of validity – their freedom of choice – makes truth true…

And yet, in the middle of it all, there are a faithful few who see, for whom Christ is the key – the Savior, forgiveness before God Almighty, life everlasting. And His mission is their Call – to spread the news of His salvation to every land, nation and people because, even among the groups that I just mentioned, there are millions who are lost and confused and hurting – lonely; longing for something that can heal the ache of their hearts, soothe the guilt of their consciences, give purpose and direction for their lives – an eternity of joy their hope, and give their heart a home.

Today the Apostle Paul encourages us in this mission – we celebrate the incredible gift we have to be family in Christ even as we look to include others in it.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters, I Thank God for You!

I. For your faith in Christ Jesus.

II. For the love you have for all the saints.

Colossians 1:3-14:

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— ⁵ the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel ⁶ that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Martin Luther once wrote, “I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and preserved me in the one true faith…”

What he is saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that you are a miracle. Your faith, your hope in Jesus – they’re supernatural. Once dead, blind enemies of God, on our way to hell because of our own disobedience and rebellion against a holy God and with no power whatever of our own to change the situation, God Himself intervened on our behalf because of His great love for us. God working out our forgiveness in Jesus is the greatest miracle of all time – the Father, Son, and Spirit conferring in eternity to determine the one and only way to win forgiveness of sins for humanity; the Son becoming incarnate – true God now also true man – living, dying, and rising from the dead; the Holy Spirit working through the Word to create and preserve faith in the Savior Jesus – these are the greatest miracles of all time. And now, because this work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; we live with a great hope and a foundational knowledge – that this world is not our home. Glory is our inheritance, heaven with the Lord our final destination. In fact, we’re just passing through here; we’re just her for a short time and while we are we’ve got work to do.

This hope and faith in Jesus unites us as one family. Have you ever met a perfect stranger only to find out that they’re a Christian…and all of a sudden your relationship with that person feels more familiar, closer. It’s because you’re talking to a heavenly brother or sister. In Christ we have the privilege to enjoy this same relationship with believers throughout the world – from Malawi to India to Sri Lanka, to China – all united in Jesus, forgiven in Christ, united in faith. This is certainly something to thank and praise God for – that a believer can come from the other side of the world – 10,000 miles away – and find believers, family in Christ, here in Wauwatosa, WI…absolutely amazing.

And it all starts with just one witness to the Word of truth, to the Gospel, to the forgiveness of sins in Jesus. For the Colossians it was a man named Epiphras. Think back through your own history and your mind will recall faithful missionaries who’ve served here – the first pastor called to form what would become this congregation, the pastors who followed him, other faithful congregation leaders and teachers. All of them served as faithful witnesses. Under their care this congregation was formed and grew by the power of the Spirit as they used the Word, as they called to Christ and the Spirit created faith in Jesus. Yes indeed, you are a miracle and I thank God for you.

And as has been happening in this congregation through God’s Word has also been happening throughout the world. Through your support and your offerings missionaries have been able to go out with this powerful Gospel to change hearts and lives and eternities – to win souls for Christ, our whole purpose for existence in this world.

There is an area at the southern tip of the country of Malawi, a low-lying area part of the Rift Valley system, where the Ruo and Shire Rivers converge. Their convergence has caused a large swampy area hundreds of square miles. When David Livingstone went through in the 1850’s he called the area the Elephant Marsh. You won’t’ find many elephants there any more…but there still are the crocodiles. At the edge of that swampy area the LCCA has established a congregation called Galagala. It has about 80 communicant members and used to have an old man called Dickson Nzeru as faithful elder. ‘Nzeru’ in Chichewa means ‘wisdom.’ Mr. Nzeru was an active member of the congregation, walking 5 miles one way through the marsh to get to church to worship Jesus and when he’d come he’d bring his wife and children and grandchildren. In his personal life Mr. Nzeru was a fisherman. One day in May of last year, when Mr. Nzeru was casting his nets from shore, a crocodile shot from the murky waters and latched onto his thigh. A local cowherd helped Mr. Nzeru beat the crocodile off…but the damage was too great. Mr. Nzeru died minutes later from loss of blood.

When I went to Galagala later on that month we had a special service at the house of Mr. Nzeru. While it was sad to lose a friend and faithful member, what a relief and joy it was to be able to encourage his family in Jesus, especially as the non believers in the area were saying that the crocodile was sent by witchcraft to kill Mr. Nzeru. They were saying that a witchdoctor had sent the crocodile to kill Mr. Wisdom and if his family loved him they’d hire their own witchdoctor to curse those who had sent the crocodile. In fact if the family failed to do this, Mr. Wisdom’s spirit would haunt his family until they got his revenge. In the face of this how wonderful it was to gather under the shield of God’s Word and say, “No way! Jesus is in control, Jesus has taken Mr. Nzeru home and one day, thanks to Jesus, we will see Mr. Wisdom again face to face, even as we will see all believers of all time face to face…even as we will see our Redeemer face to face.” With Job we can say, “How my heart yearns within me.”

You see, that’s what it’s about and I’m so thankful to God for your love shown in prayers and offerings that have enabled missionaries to go to places like Malawi with the death defeating message of Jesus – He lives; in Him we shall as well. Through your faithfulness other people with names like Taipi Khalani, Masire Zuwawo, Dadawa Kanjunjunju, Fragrace Diamond, Stella Thonje, and thousands others have been brought to know Jesus as Savior. Through your faithfulness men like Rifat Matope, Eleson Kambalame, and Wisik Jefry have been fully trained as Malawian pastors. You have enabled that and I also thank God for this – your love and gifts and faithfulness – your faith in action so that Jesus is proclaimed.

It’s no secret. We’ve heard of the difficult times facing our Synod right now. The challenges are real – already this year 19 world missionaries, have been recalled; ministry is being cut back, congregations are losing workers and believers their shepherds. During challenging times Satan comes at us just as hard as ever, whispering in our ears, tempting us to take our eyes off of Jesus. And when eyes are on me and not Christ then lives of faith and faithfulness decrease and other symptoms follow – a focus more on myself, my wants and cares, what I think I need and less time and effort and participation and offerings for the Name and ministry of Christ.

Yet, my dear brothers and sisters, there is reason for great hope. As I’ve been saying, Satan has already bee defeated and Jesus is in control. Already this furlough I’ve heard a number of pastors encouraging and calling and teaching their congregations toward renewed faithfulness and commitment. The same message has been heard at District conventions. I know it will be heard again at the upcoming Synod Convention. The Apostle Paul calls here us to “great endurance.”

And there is so much joy ahead. Even as I thank God for you – for your faith and your faithful service that has taken His name into this community and to the ends of the world I pray for you and our WELS as Paul prayed, that “God…fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” It is a simple prayer that God continue to fill you with awe and wonder at what He has done for you in Jesus – you once were condemned to eternal death but now you are children of God, forgiven in Christ, heaven your home. It is a prayer that the Lord fan into flame the faith He has given you and you always recall your first love – the One who loved you first that He died for you. And that that wonder always fill you with a great hunger to always be growing in the study of God’s Word, closely examining the things He’s called believers to do and be. To serve as His witnesses. And where you have faith in Christ strong and growing you will also have love for His church and love for His work strong and growing. The two go hand in hand.

It’s 4:30 in the morning and I’ve woken up before my alarm clock –the roosters are crowing again. It’s a new day, the Lord’s day. I get ready and drive to my congregation for the day – Bangwe LCCA. The ladies of the congregation are singing as I pull my vehicle up to their church building, “Abusa, takulandirani ndi manja awiri. Khalani omasuka inu ndi manja awiri.” Smiles greet me everywhere I look, even from those I’ve never seen before – the people are very friendly in Malawi. People come over to carry my katundu, my things – my bag, the items for communion, my Bible and hymnal from the truck – out of respect for me and my office they won’t let me carry a thing. The service must be conducted in Chichewa because the people don’t understand English. In many ways I feel I’m still a child in my language ability…but the people are so kind and receive the message with respect, honor, and joy. In this service alone 52 are communed, 12 children baptized, 9 adults are confirmed. And I can expect much the same from this and my other congregations in the months ahead – the fields are ripe for harvest indeed in Malawi, Africa.

My dear brothers and sisters, I thank God for you – for this faith in the risen Jesus that unites us as family and for your support that enables Jesus to be proclaimed here and to other peoples and cultures around the earth. May God always fill you with the honor and the privilege of serving as His witnesses here and abroad. As Paul encourages later in Colossians I pray for you:

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen.