Colossians 3:16-17

You know music has a way of not only ministering to the Lord, but to each one of us in a special way. And I know that that was a sweet smelling aroma unto the Lord.

Let’s dive into Word this morning and see what the Lord has for each one of us.

My hope and prayer is that each week that we gather together that the Lord would speak to us individually as well as corporately and that what we learn if we are really listening will move from our heads, to our hearts, to our hands.

That means that we become living epistles known and read by all men church.

We become his disciples and they will know that we are His by our love for one another.

So let’s dive in and see what the Lord has for us.

Read Colossians 3:16-17

Prayer

Review

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church of Colosse from prison. He wrote Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon while he was there.

Know you are probably wondering how he knew to write Colossians and if you remember it was Epaphras who founded this church who traveled many miles in search of Paul to sahre with him what was going on in the church specifically with the false teachers.

Remember church, there were multiple groups attempting to attack the supremacy of Jesus Christ and nothing has changed today as we have multiple groups doing the same thing today.

Philosophy was coming in and Paul said BEWARE lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit

The Traditions of men- sometimes there are certain groups or even churches that place there tradition a head of the Bible and they will attempt to justify by scripture why they do this.

Legalism-It is a term Christians use to describe a doctrinal position emphasizing a system of rules and regulations for achieving both salvation and spiritual growth. Legalists believe in and demand a strict literal adherence to rules and regulations. Doctrinally, it is a position essentially opposed to grace. Those who hold a legalistic position often fail to see the real purpose for law, especially the purpose of the Old Testament law of Moses, which is to be our “schoolmaster” or “tutor” to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24).

Mysticism- Often it involves asceticism of some type and seeks union with God. It is certainly right to want to draw close to God, but mystical union with God is different from the type of intimacy with God to which Christians are called. Mysticism tends to seek out the experience and is sometimes seen as secretive or elitist.

Asceticism-asceticism is the practice of strict self-denial as a means of attaining a higher spiritual plane. Ascetics renounce worldly pleasures that distract from spiritual growth and enlightenment and live a life of abstinence, austerity, and extreme self-denial. Asceticism is common in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam.

Colossians 2:23 NKJV

These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

2. After Paul dealt with these false teaching through teaching doctrine on the the Preeminence of Jesus Christ, he moved into duty.

Paul moved from belief to behavior church because one needs to know what they believe in order to know how to act.

He taught us that we are to take off the graveclothes and put of the grace clothes and last week we learned yet another command of letting the peace of God rule in our hearts.

3. Letting the peace of God rule in our hearts means that the peace that god gives is to be an umpire church in our lives, it is to be an arbitrator.

If we have no peace about a decision or a choice we are making in our lives, we should simply say no.

God’s peace is to be the umpire of our hearts.

I think it is importnat to remember church that umpires in baseball or referees in football or basketball have authority.

This means that what they say goes. If you are out, then you are out, if you are safe, then you are safe, if you have committed a foul then you and your team will be penalized.

Note: YOUR TEAM WILL BE PENALIZED

The peace that God gives church cannot be found in any person, place, or thing, other that Jesus Christ.

John 14:27 NKJV

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

This peace does not only mean absence from war or tranquility, but also the absence of mental stress or anxiety; especially that results from a proper recognition of salvations worth.

If we have do not have a proper view or a proper recognition of salvations worth which is the gospel church, we cannot have the peace of God that surpasses all understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

4. And finally we learned that there is a false peace that comes as a result of our flesh. Jonah was sleeping in the bottom of a ship and he convinced himself that he has peace as he was running from God’s will for his life and guess what?

God sent a storm and a big ol fish to gobble Jonah up

He gave him mercy and grace of course to get his attention as the fish spit him out

But yet even then, Jonah was angry that God would save the Nineveh.

Jonah 3:4 NKJV

And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Jonah only preached a 8 word sermon and God caused all of Nineveh to repent.

When I talk about false peace church, we have all been there done that.

When we want something so bad, we will seek to justify that it is God’s will for our life.

But what I must tell you is that God cannot or will not go against his Word

It’s like having someone come to me and tell me this is the person I am to marry, but they are not a believer when the word says:

2 Corinthians 6:14 NKJV

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

This is one of many illustrations church that we could talk about because we have all talked our way into things, made decisions and choices that were not God’s will for our lives because we wanted whaat we wanted and we wanted it now!

Only to find out, it was not God’s will for us after all.

Thus storms came and we suffered, and asked the Lord to forgive us because we we wrong, it was our flesh and it was not the devil made me do it!

Colossians 3:16 NKJV

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

In verse 15 Paul instructed us to put on the bond of perfection which is love and I think it is important that we remember that the Word teaches us that loves covers a multitude of sin, this love is self-sacrificial it is not based on conditions and it totally forgiving at all times.

We cannot love the way the Word teaches us apart from having the Word in us and the indwelling Holy Spirit leading us and enabling us to do so.

Paul closes out this chapter with three imperatives church, three more commands:

We are called to let the peace of God rule in our hearts and be thankful!

We are called to let thew word of Christ dwell in us richly!

We are called to do everything in the NAME of the Lord Jesus Christ!

We have covered letting God’s peace be the umpire of our hearts and today, we are going to learn about what it means to allow the Word of Christ to dwell in us.

This means, of course, the Word of God. Some scholars teach that this means the words of Jesus which means the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

But others teach that this statement represents the revelation that Christ brought into the world which is the living Word of Scripture, the whole counsel of God that Paul speaks of in the book of Acts.

John 1:1–5 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The false teachers came to Colossae with man-made traditions, religious rules, and human philosophies. They tried to harmonize God’s Word with their teachings, but they could not succeed. God’s Word always magnifies Jesus Christ.

It was not the word of false teachers that brought salvation to the Colossians; it was the Word of the truth of the Gospel (Col. 1:5). This same Word gives us life and sustains and strengthens us (1 Peter 1:22–2:3).

But what does it mean to dwell in us richly? How do we do this? Are we currently doing this in our lives?

Dwell- enoikeo-(en-oy-keh'-o) v. — to inhabit or live in; , to occupy, to reside in, it can even mean to marry. metaphor: to dwell in one and influence him (for good).

The word dwell could literally mean “to feel at home or to be at home.

Paul calls upon believers to let the Word take up residence and be at home in their lives. Plousiōs (richly) could also be translated “abundantly or extravagantly rich.”

The truths of Scripture should permeate every aspect of the believer’s life and govern every thought, word, and deed.

Does the Word feel at home in your heart? Is your heart Christ home? Does he dwell in every room of your home on everyday or are you a Sunday only Christian?

George Mueller said this about God’s word: “The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts. I solemnly state this from the experience of 54 years. The first 3 years after conversion I neglected the word of God. Since I began to search it diligently the blessing has been wonderful. Great has been the blessing from consecutive, diligent, daily study. I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the word of God.”

The Word will transform our lives if we will but permit it to “dwell” in us richly.

If we have experienced the grace and the peace of Christ, then the Word of Christ will feel at home in our hearts. We will discover how rich the Word is with spiritual treasures that give value to our lives.

Church, we must not think that Paul wrote this only to individual Christians; for he directed it to the entire church body.

Another translation could be:“Let the Word of Christ dwell among you”.

As it dwells richly in each member of the church, it will dwell richly in the church fellowship.

If the Word does not dwell within each member of FCC, it will not dwell within the church.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Nine: All Dressed up and Someplace to Go (Colossians 3:12–17)

There is a danger today, as there was in Paul’s day, that local churches minimize the Word of God. There seems to be a lack of simple Bible teaching in Sunday School classes and pulpits. Far more interest is shown in movies, musical performances, and various entertainments than in God’s Word. Many saved people cannot honestly say that God’s Word dwells in their hearts richly because they do not take time to read, study, and memorize it.

The Word dwells in us when we hear it and do what it says:

James 1:21–25 NKJV

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

2. The Word dwells in us when we handle it:

2 Timothy 2:15–16 NKJV

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.

3. It dwells in us church when we hide it in our hearts and when we do this guess what? It can keep us from sin if we heed it:

Psalm 119:11 NKJV

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

4. It will dwell is us church, if we hold fast to it, cling to it, immerse our selves in it:

Philippians 2:16 NKJV

holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

In order for us to do these things church, we must read, study, memorize, and live the Word.

Michael Billester once gave a Bible to a humble villager in eastern Poland. Returning a few years later, he learned that 200 people had become believers through using it. When the group gathered to hear him preach, he suggested that before he spoke he would like each person to quote some verses of Scripture. One man rose and said, "Perhaps, Brother, we've misunderstood you. Did you mean verses or chapters?" Billester was astonished. "Are you saying there are people here who could recite complete chapters of the Bible?" That was precisely the case. In fact, 13 of them knew half of Genesis and the books of Matthew and Luke. Another had committed all the psalms to memory. Combined, the 200 knew virtually the entire Bible.

To let the word of Christ richly dwell is identical to being filled with the Spirit:

Ephesians 5:18 NKJV

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

The Word in the heart and mind is the handle by which the Spirit turns the will. It is clear that these two concepts are identical because the passages that follow each are so similar.

Colossians 3:18–4:1 is parallel to Ephesians 5:19–6:9.

The result of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same as the result of letting the Word dwell in one’s life richly.

Therefore, the two are the same spiritual reality viewed from two sides.

To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by His Word. To have the Word dwelling richly is to be controlled by His Spirit.

Paul then mentions two specific results of the Word of Christ dwelling in the believer, one positive and the other negative: with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another.

Teaching is the impartation of positive truth.

Admonishing is the negative side of teaching. It means to warn people of the consequences of their behavior. Both are the result of a life overflowing with the Word of Christ

John 17:17 NKJV

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

If you want to be made holy, if you want to become like Jesus church, we must allow the Word of God to dwell in us richly.

Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Note: The Word is sharper than church any two-edged sword, it not only cuts but discerns our thoughts and motives.

If you want to grow in your walk with the Lord church, you must spend time in his Word.

Show me a church that knows there Bible and the God of the Bible and I will show you a church full of disciples.

The seed is the Word of God church and without the seed being sown into our hearts, there can be NO FRUIT! NO SEED< NO FRUIT!!!

I close with an illustration that is meant to challenge us aand cause us to dig deep into God’s Word:

H. A. Ironside told of visiting a godly Irishman, Andrew Frazer, who had come to southern California to recover from a serious illness. Though quite weak, he opened his worn Bible and began expounding the deep truths of God in a way that Ironside had never heard before. Ironside was so moved by Frazer’s words that he asked him, “Where did you get these things? Could you tell me where I could find a book that would open them up to me? Did you learn them in some seminary or college?” The sickly man gave an answer that Ironside said he would never forget. “My dear young man, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There with my open Bible before me I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart. He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.”

Is the Word dwelling in you Or is the world?

Do you wonder why you cannot get free of this or that?

Psalm 119:105 NKJV

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

Without the Word in our lives church, we are walking in darkness.

Should we have the Word of God dwelling in us richly, next week we will learn about the over flow that is teaching and admonishing each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs church, and then and only then what we do in word or deed will be done to the Lord.

Prayer

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Benediction

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Acts 17:11 NKJV

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

The Lord Bless You!

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