Colossians 3

Rev. Brian Hawes

 

 

·      Pastor Ben Patterson wrote, Whatever we have, we have because God in his grace and generosity has given it to us. When we realize this, there comes into our lives a joyful gratitude for what we do have, and we are freed from resentment and anxiety over what we don't have (as cited on PreachingToday.com).  That’s the point of what Paul’s trying to tell us in Colossians chapter three.  Let’s read it together.

·      Colossians 3 – Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.  3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.  In light of everyone and everything trying to deceive us and get us off track spiritually, if you’ve been raised up with Christ through faith and obedience to Him, then there are some things to do.  The phrase “if you have been raised” is actually one word in the Greek “sunhgerqhte”.  It means “to be co-resurrected.”  In other words, God has resurrected those who have faith in Him and obey Him from spiritual death, even as He resurrected Christ.  And the word translated “if” in the Greek here assumes that we have been co-resurrected through faith and obedience.  So, if that’s the case, then we’ve got to do what’s next.  We’re to seek and keep on seeking those things that are of heaven. The Greek word is a command for us to make it a continual and habitual action to seek the things of heaven.  It’s not just a nice mental exercise.  It’s an active searching for the things of God and that will please God.  Then we’re commanded to set our minds, to focus our thinking, on the things of God.  So it involves both active physical searching and a refocusing of our minds.  Then a reminder that our life is hidden with Christ.  My Greek guide suggests three thoughts regarding our life being hidden with God: our life is nurtured by secret springs by God; safety, a double protection “with Christ in God”; and our identity is in the risen Lord.  Hiding our life is something God has done that we continue to benefit from as long as we walk with Him.  And our true selves will be completely revealed when Christ returns in glory.  Everything we are and everything God is will be made clear.

·      Verse five - 5 Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.  6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.  8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.  9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him – 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.  The verb “consider” in verse five is a command.  Not only are we to set our actions and our thinking on the things of God, but we are to put any thoughts of indulging our bodies or desires to death.  Paul describes some nasty stuff that we’re not to have anything to do with – immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which he equates with idolatry.  I find it more than a little interesting that the first three on the list have to do with sexual sin.  It was obviously as much of a struggle for the Colossian Christians nearly two thousand years ago as it is for us today.  The last two have to do with wanting more than we have – trying to replace God with stuff.  Consumerism was rampant in the Roman Empire  - everybody wanted to get rich and to live like they were rich.  The need to take care of ourselves physically and the need for intimacy are natural needs that Satan has perverted into something evil.  Paul tells us to avoid those perversions like the plague.  Why?  Because man’s indulgence in evil is what will cause God to eventually destroy our world.  Paul writes, For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.  We were once that way.  We who have committed our lives to Christ once did things that would cause our destruction.

·      Since we’re now alive in Christ, we’ve got to get rid of those things that kept tripping us up when we lived in disobedience.  Paul writes that it’s not enough to get rid of immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.  Verse eight - But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.  9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices.  We’re called to get rid of burning anger that is intense and flares us, wrath, any viciousness towards others, slander, filthy or abusive language, and lying to others.   That’s huge, because Satan whispers those things into our ears and helps us justify them.  But God wants us to put them off, to take them off like we do our dirty clothes.

·      And Paul follows with an even stronger admonition.  We’re called to completely strip our old nature and our old thought patterns and our old behaviors off of ourselves.  All of our evil practices have to be stripped off because of the wrath of God that is coming to punish disobedience.  But not only are we called to strip off our old evil practices, we’re called to put on something else.  Verse ten - and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him – 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.  Paul calls us to put on a new way of thinking and living – God’s way.  Our old self is dead, but our new self is being continually made new again by God.  We can choose to bring our old selves back to live, but the old self will always kill us spiritually.  Paul’s telling us to remember the new way of thinking and acting and refuse to harbor the old evil thoughts and behaviors.  Paul’s telling us to live like Christ, who showed no favorites, which is what we do when we allow the old self to live.  The Jews considered themselves, the circumcised, to be far superior to anybody else.  They considered slaves to be mere scum when compared to the freemen.  They considered uneducated barbarians and the Scythians to be the scum of the earth.  But ripping of the old filthy clothes and putting on the new self gets rid of all those prejudices and frees us to focus on the things of God instead of man’s thoughts and ways.  That’s what Paul’s getting at. 

·      Verse twelve - 12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  In light of all this, of the freedom we have in Christ to take off the old self and put on the new self, Paul gives us further instructions on how to do it.  He says that we are chosen of God.  God has chosen that those who receive His gift of eternal life will be saved.  By faith we are chosen.  And one interesting point is that I believe the Greek word for “chosen” is the root of our English word “eclectic.”  We don’t have to be any different than He created us to be in order to be His.  That’s great, because it takes a lot of performance pressure off, doesn’t it?  Paul also calls us holy and beloved.  The word translated “beloved” is a great one.  The literal translation is “having been loved” and points to a past action with continuing results.  Isn’t that awesome?!  God, through His sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, loved us and we’re still reaping the benefits of that love.

·      In light of all this, Paul calls us to put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  We see the heart as the seat of emotions, while the Greeks believed it to be the spleen.  Remember when we were kids and somebody said, “I hate your guts”?  Well, Paul’s telling us to do all these things from the depths of our being.  He said to put on, like clothing, compassion, kindness expressed in attitude and deed, humility in recognizing our own weakness and God’s power, an obedient submissiveness to God and His will, a long holding out of our mind before acting, a putting up with one another, and a continual gracious forgiveness of one another.  Why?  Because God forgave us.  In fact, Jesus, in Matthew 6:14-15, said, “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”  That’s hard!  How do we do that?  Go back to chapters one and two of Colossians.  We put on all these things by the power of the Holy Spirit working within us.  When we are willing, He works them into our character so that we reflect God’s character.  That’s why Paul adds verse 14 - Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  Agape’ love, the sacrificial love, that binds us together in unity and in spiritual maturity.  There is a sense of completeness when we love with God’s love, as our own love is always incomplete.  Praise God for His ability to fill us with His love by the power of the Holy Spirit! 

·      Verse fifteen - 15 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 richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  It’s significant that these commands come after the verses we’ve just looked at.  If we put on all that Paul has commanded us, and if we love with God’s love by the power of the Holy Spirit, then the peace of God is able to rule our hearts.  The Greek word for “rule” actually means control, much like a referee or umpire controls a ball game.  It means “to decide between” meaning that we have a choice between peace and unrest in our hearts.  Peace is a choice.  Paul indicates that allowing peace to rule our hearts is necessary because we all belong to the body of Christ and we need each other. 

·      Then he says again, as he has earlier in the letter, for us to be thankful for what Christ has done for us.  Peace, love, thankfulness - all are interrelated.  We need them all.  And we’ve got to have peace and gratitude if we’re going to be able to allow the word of Christ to dwell within us.  We’re called to make the choice to allow the word of Christ, who is the living Word of God, to take up residence within us.  And not just kind of live there, but God’s word should live within us richly, extravagantly.  I tend too much to settle for it living within me meagerly, shabbily, like the house we used to have in Maupin.  Structurally it was very sound, but inside it was a dump.  We bought it because it was cheap, because we could afford the low payments.  But since God paid a very high price when He sacrificed Jesus on the cross, we can afford to have His word live within us richly, extravagantly, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  That’s good news, isn’t it? 

·      Then Paul adds, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  Paul calls us to use God’s wisdom to teach and encourage one another to grow in the faith with thankfulness and praise.  There’s that “thankful” word again!  We can help one another grow up together in Christ with thankful hearts, which then makes verse seventeen that much easier.  Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  There’s that thankfulness again.  When we’re thankful, we can do everything and say everything according to the character of Christ.  We can grow up together to do this.

·      Verse eighteen - 18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.  20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.  21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.  22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.  It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.  25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.  How do we live out thankfulness in daily life?  That’s what Paul is addressing in these verses.  If we’re thankful and growing to become more like Jesus, then wives will voluntarily live lives of submission, because husbands will actively and sacrificially love them.  Children will obey their parents and parents will love their children because we’re thankful and becoming more like Jesus.  Since we’ve put on the new self and gotten rid of the old self, we’ll do our jobs just like we’re working directly for Jesus, because we are.  God will reward us as we work for Him.  Thankful hearts that are becoming more like Jesus will help us keep on the new self and live it out.  As Oswald Chambers wrote, There are no such things as prominent service and obscure service; it is all the same with God (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

·      There’s an old Petra song called “Thankful Heart.”  Let me read the words to you.  I have a thankful heart that You have given me and it can only come from You.  There is no way to begin to tell You how I feel.  There are no words to express how You’ve become so real.  Jesus, You’ve given me so much I can’t repay.  I have no offering, but I have a thankful heart that You have given me and it can only come from You.  There is no way to begin to tell You how I feel.  There’s nothing more I can say and no way to repay Your warming touch that melts my heart of stone; Your steadfast love – I’ll never be alone.  I have a thankful heart.  Words don’t come easily, but I am sure You can see my thankful heart.  Help me be a man of God, a man who’s after Your own heart.  Help me show my gratitude and keep in me a thankful heart. 

·      May God build thankful hearts into all of us so that we can put on our new self by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Let’s pray.