Colossians 3:12-17
Notes
Transcript
Colossians 3:12-17
7-22-2018
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put-on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
In the Christian Classic, Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, Bunyan describes a man named Christian on his pilgrimage to get rid of his burden and find the celestial city. Christian travels through many trials, some that led him astray from the path but looking out for Christian, the King sends him help along the way. In the third stage of Christians Pilgrimage, Christian comes along to highway that is fenced on either side with a wall. Bunyan notes that this wall is called the wall of Salvation. Christian seeing this highway, he started to run, and running was hard for Christian because of the burden on his back. Running as hard as he could, he came to a cross, and below the cross was a was a small room, cut into rock, where people would lay their dead called a sepulchre. Christian running up to the cross, his burden loosened its grip from his back and began to tumble into the sepulchre and it fell in. Christian was glad and lightsome, and he said with a merry heart, “he hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death. Christian wondered at the cross, because looking to the cross Christians burden was lifted, and this was something he couldn’t do on his own.
As he was standing there three Shining ones appeared. The first one said to him, that his sins have been forgiven. The second one stripped him of his rags and clothed him with new clothes that had jewels all over it. The third shining one placed a mark upon his forehead and gave him a scroll, which he would have to present to enter the celestial city.
This is the same that has happened to those in Christ. WE had a burden upon us, this burden that we have sinned, we were not able to remove this burden from any good that we could attempt to do or following any religious rules. Running to the cross our burden is lifted, we have seen the gloriousness of the savior, the one who has came died for our sins, who has provided for us justification and righteousness to the father, We have seen the gloriousness of the Risen Christ, our sins have been forgiven, we have been sealed to him with the Holy Spirit. Our rags have been taken off and we are now clothed in Christ.
Bunyan throughout pilgrim’s progress gives scripture references to further illustrate the allegory he is presenting. When one of the Shining one’s clothes him in these new clothes, Bunyan writes in Zechariah 3:4, you don’t have to turn there, it says, “And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”
Praise the Lord that those who are in Christ, that he has forgiven our sin and has clothe us in new clothing, he has removed our filthy rags and now we are clothed new in Him!
Since we have been forgiven in Christ, our faith is in Christ and we have put to death all former things, we have been buried with him and we are now raised with Christ. We are now to seek the things that are of Christ. These things that Paul describes in Chapter three of Colossians is the way to Christian Living. It is not a list of rules that grant us righteousness to the father but is a response to being now in Christ. For we have died, and our lives are now hidden in Christ.
We are to put to death earthly things, Paul describes these in the previous verses, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lying.
We are now being renewed in the image of the creator. We no longer look as this world looks we are to look like Christ. We have been regenerated into a new creation, a new people in Christ.
This brings us to Verse 12, Paul tells us the church of Colossae and we put on then, We have taken these former things of the world off and we are now putting on the things that separates us from the world. This is putting on of new virtues is in response to what God has provided for us, salvation and reconciliation to him.
Paul makes the attributes, that we will see in a minuet, a response to being Gods Chosen ones. This doctrine of election that Paul reminds us of here is one that marvels us but yet excites us with thankfulness to Him. That before formation of the world, God predestined us to salvation. He chose us to be set apart from the world. He has loved us before he uttered let there be light. That in his sovereign plan, we would have salvation through Christ.
This election was not because God looked down the corridors of time and saw that we will chose to have faith in Christ, it was not based on God seeing that you walked 12 old ladies across the street, it was not based on anything about you, but all on his wonderous Grace and mercy! That he chose you, if you are in Christ, before the foundation of the world.
HE chose us to be holy and beloved. He chose us to be set apart from the world and to be set in Him, this is what the word holy means. This language of God’s Chosen ones to be holy in the old testament, that God provided himself a people, the Israelites through the old covenant, to reflect Him and be his treasured possession, Deuteronomy 7: 6-7, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
We can see also in 1 Peter 2:9-10, “but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.”
In Christ we are his people, set apart, and loved by the Father.
Because you have been set apart and loved by the father, in verse 12 Paul continues giving us some ways of Christian Living that reflects our calling in Christ.
First, we see compassionate hearts. This phrase literally translates bowels of mercy. In the Jewish ideology they would characterize different psychological attributes with biological aspects of the human body. Here bowels is associated with the seat of emotions deep in the gut. It’s like when you look at your husband or your wife and get butterflies. You feel it in your bowels area. This “bowels of mercy” means love characterized by mercy or heartfelt compassion. God had the same love for us, we can see his love clearly in his mercy, by sending his Son for us. Our ways should reflect the mercy and compassion that God has had for us.
Next, Paul says to put on kindness. God shows us his kindness to bring us to repentance, instead of giving us the wrath that we deserve, he provides for us a way to salvation, and even before that he shows his grace upon us when we rebel against him. He does good to us, Ephesians 2:4-7, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. We should show that same kindness to others.
Paul then adds Humility. Humility was seen negative in the ancient world. In a pride and shame culture, humility was not desirable character trait for the culture. But Christ taking on human form and going to death on our behalf is a true act od humility. He valued others instead of himself. This humility was different than that what we see in Chapter 2 of Colossians, there the false teachers were showing humility in an act of pride rather than a reverence for God. When the disciples came to Jesus asking who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus brought forth a child in their mist and told them Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. See the disciples were being prideful in their lives, but in humbling themselves to one who isn’t dependent on anything in their lives besides God, this is where humility is shown. Knowing that God is in control and letting him take the forefront of the life, this can be shown in the way we treat others also. By releasing our pride, we can let God be shown rather than ourselves.
Next, Paul says put on meekness or gentleness. we can see this attribute in Christ self-giving or in his willingness to suffer injury or insult rather than to inflict hurt on another. Christ took the wrath of God upon himself so that we would not feel the pain or wrath from God that we deserve.
Finally, we can see in this list we can see patience. As southerners we sometime hear that we shouldn’t pray for patience. But this is something that we are to put on. Patience is again a virtue that we can see in the way God treats us. He is patient with us. Enduring our sin knowing the plan that he has brought forth in Christ. We should also show patience with others. Knowing that they are indeed, like us, sinners in need of Grace.
All these virtues together, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, can be shown by, see this in verse 13, bearing with one another and if once has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.
This first action that we see is bearing with one another or Put up with someone. Paul is reminding the church that to be a community of believers we should bear with each other. There are a lot of different people and personalities in the gathering body that we fellowship with on a weekly basis. Most people are very different than we are, from different walks of life. Things that are said or done can upset us but in the context of things we are all united in Christ. Thus, in Christ we all are one, so for the sake of maintaining biblical community we must put up with people that we wouldn’t normally associate with.
In this biblical community, as a gathering of people from different walks of life, it could cause us to become harden to other or draw some sort of complaint against another, but we must forgive. Forgiveness is an act of grace, that is often not deserved. In the moment we have been wronged and, in our flesh, we could want revenge, but look at what Paul adds on, he says to forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. God has forgiven much for us. He has forgiven our sin, no matter how severe, because of his Love toward us. Think about this as Todd Friel puts it “does the sin that the person of whom you are unwilling to forgive out way the sin that you have committed against a Holy and Righteous God? Remember what Paul writes in Colossians chapter 1 That because of Christ we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his beloved son, and in Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Remember the parable in Matthew 18, where Jesus says, Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents and since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So, the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, pay what you owe. So, his fellow servant fell and pledged with him, have patience with me and I will pay you. He refused and went to put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me and should not you have mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also, my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Forgiveness is what has been given to us through Christ, so we must also forgive others.
Now verse 14 Paul presents an action that is greater than all the actions and virtues that we have looked over in the previous verses. Paul says above all these put-on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Just as the law is summed up in love, love the lord your God with all your heart soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself, so should our lives reflect this Love. See how Paul reiterates to put on love. We should put love above or over, all these different attributes. Its like the previous attributes are your under garments and Love is your outer cloak or shirt and pants, holding together the other virtues and actions displayed in response to what Christ has done. We can see also that Love is the force that binds everything together. Love for God and Love for neighbor is shown in all these attributes and it reflects the Love that God has had for us.
Verse 15 Paul gives us two more actions, he says to let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Through God’s love for us in his Son he has given us forgiveness from our sins. WE have peace that through Christ’s work that we are reconciled to the father, Christ has provided us Shalom or eternal peace. We should let that peace rule us and everything that we do. This peace supplements our love and forgiveness, we have been granted all grace and mercy, no longer are we burdened by our sin. We are now in a state pf peace in Christ. Because of this peace, and through God’s election of us we are called in one body. Unified in Christ. This is what Christ Prayed for in his high priestly prayer in John 17, after Jesus prays for us to separate from the world and also be sanctified in the truth. He says I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Jesus prayed that the gathering body of believers were to be one. Unified in their lives and relationships because of Him. This is what we all have in common, we all have been forgiven because of Jesus’s work on the cross. This unity is why we should forgive each other, bear with one another, and be thankful. The commentator Douglas Moo writes believers who are full of gratitude to God for his gracious calling will find it easier to extend to fellow believers the grace of love and forgiveness and to put aside petty issues that might inhibit the expression of peace in the community.” We should be thankful to God for everything that he has given us. Things we don’t deserve. The mundane daily things that we take for granted in life. Food on our tables, vehicles, jobs, a house. These are gifts that he has given to us. Evermore the ability to be able to gather without fear of condemnation, we have God’s scriptures in our hands, yet we take it for granted. We should be thankful for the local body of believers that we can worship with. Most of all, we should be thankful for what God is doing in our lives and in others. Be thankful for the salvation that has came to you. Not only to you but be thankful for the salvation of others and rejoice in what God is doing in the church and in our lives.
Look now in verse 16: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your heart to God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. The dwelling of the word of the gospel, of who Christ is and what he has done, should seat deep inside of you. Scripture should permeate your life. Scripture is God breathed, from God and it is means that we know our God. It has been preserved and provided for us to reflect and rest on God’s goodness and to praise him because of his mighty works. Psalm 119:1-8 says blessed are those who way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh, that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statures! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.” God has provided for us his revelation so that it will dwell in us, and we will praise him.
Scripture is also provided for teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. We can look to scripture for teaching about Christ, teaching his commandments, teaching the gospel to others. Scripture is to be used in evangelism and in everyday study. Scripture is also to be used in warning about the dangers of straying from the truth. While in biblical community, close and nit together, living life together we can see when one is straying from the truth of the gospel. We are to use scripture in wisdom to promote those in the body of Christ to repent and reconcile themselves in Christ. This is not to be done out of anger, but out of refection and thanksgiving to God because of the forgiveness that he has given us in Christ.
His word should excite us through what God is doing and his gloriousness it should promote us to sing with joy to him. Corporately we are to sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs but also individually. These psalms can be seen in the book of psalms in the old testament. Hymns are songs of praise that exalt God and focus on Jesus, we can see a type of this hymn in Colossians 1:15-20. If you remember it says, “he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And his is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Another hymn is seen in Philippians 2:6-11, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Spiritual songs are probably songs of personal testimony that express the truth of the grace of salvation in Christ. Take for example Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song saying Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
All of these types of singing are done in thankfulness in worship to God because of his mercy and grace. Thankful because he has provided for us reconciliation to himself through the forgiveness of sins in Christ. WE should be singing these songs joyfully in praise and adoration to the one who has given us so much. Not in a ritual Sunday morning monotony. These songs and singing are seen in worshiping corporately as well as individually, in personal worship. Joseph Carroll if you haven’t read it I recommend it. but in his book, How to worship Jesus Christ, reminds us that when we worship God we are crediting God with worth. This is what worship is. This can be done by praising his name through songs corporately in worship or even when we gather for biblical community. I remember one night I brought my guitar to Roberts and Vicky’s bible study, before and after we sang praises to God together, united in Christ. That was the reason we were there. To praise God, this is also why we gather on Sundays and throughout the week, to worship God.
Paul finishes this section of exhortations with a command, verse 17, whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Jesus should be the center of everything that we do. Our lives are now in him, We were once sinners separated from a Holy God, because of our sins, Jesus the second person of the trinity humbled himself and came upon the earth. He fulfilled the requirement for salvation through his holding to the law of God perfectly. He lived his life to the absolute requirement of God, then he was crucified. Upon his death, Christ took the wrath of God, the wrath that we deserve upon himself. After three day he rose from the dead, to be the firstborn of the new creation. He provided payment to the father and canceled the record of debt that stood against us, nailing it to the cross. Then he ascended into heaven where he is seated on the right hand of the father, All dominion and rule has been given to him. Through faith in Christ we are raised with him, looking for the day that he will come again, to wipe ever tear from our eyes. He has chosen us to be his people holy and beloved. To reflect him in his viriues, we are to put off the old man and adorn ourselves with a new garment. One that is filled with the radiant of Christ. He has made us alive in him, and our response our lives to be centered on him. Praising him in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, thankful for what God the father has provided for us through Christ. The exaltation to God for what he has done should be shown in our lives by forgoing former ways of life, by taking off the old things, and putting on these virtues that can be summed up in one thing, We are to put on Christ. We are to be consistent with him and what he wants. We are to live a heartfelt relationship with him. No longer should the world see our filthy garments but now they should see Christ.
After Christian received his new garments, he gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing. This is what he sang.
Thus far did I come laden with my sin, nor could aught ease the grief that I was in, till I came hither. What a place is this! Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must here the burden fall from off my back? Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? Blest cross! Blest sepulchre! Blest rather be the man that there was put to shame for me!
Let us be thankful for the Grace and Mercy that he has given us and let us praise his name!