Pursuing Christ-centered Community
Colossians: A Letter from Jail
Pursuing Christ-centered Community
Colossians 3:12-17
Let’s turn to Colossians 3. What’s most important this morning is what God Himself says in His Word, so it’s crucial that you have a Bible open in front of you. So if you need a Bible, raise your and one of the ushers will bring one to you. Colossians 3 is on page 984 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Let me start by describing two very different understandings of church. Lots of people see church as meetings you attend. You go to church Sundays, and maybe to a home group during the week. Church starts at 10 and stops at 11:30 Sundays; and maybe church starts at 7 and ends at 8:30 Wednesdays. Church does not happen on Mondays or Tuesday. Just Sundays or maybe Wednesdays. That’s church as a meeting.
But that’s not what the New Testament says about church. The New Testament sees church as a group of people you love. Church is a smaller group of brothers and sisters who know Jesus, and who deeply, deeply love each other. They share their lives together. Pray for each other. Serve each other. Shoot pool together. Share God’s Word together. Have each other over for meals. And they work together to help people come to know Jesus.
That’s the understanding of church life that we are seeking to pursue here at Mercy Hill. And the main way we are seeking to do that is in our home groups.
But as soon as you join a home group, as soon as you get close to this group of people, as soon as you start to share life together in Jesus, problems come up. Because this side of heaven, although we’ve been saved, we are still sinners. Saved sinners. Sinners with the dominating power of sin broken. But still sinners.
And so it’s not too long before someone
Says something hurtful to you;
Disappoints you;
Acts selfishly towards you;
Is unkind towards you;
Ignores your needs;
Disagrees with you;
Does something you don’t like.
And when that happens, it’s easy to pull back from church-as-a-group-of-people-I-love, and settle for church-as-a-meeting-I-attend. Because if I just attend meetings, I can avoid people who bug me, I can avoid people I don’t like, I can avoid problems in relationships. But if we do this, then we also avoid church as Jesus intended it to be.
So there has to be an alternative. And there is. Paul gives it to us here in Colossians 3. Let’s look at what he says in Colossians 3:12-17 –
12 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 these verses Paul gives us six main commands. And what I want to do this morning is go over them, explain them, and illustrate them – and then this week in your home groups you will be able to work on how to live these out together.
First, Paul calls us to put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Read v.12 again --
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
Let’s start with compassion and kindness. These words overlap, and have to do with feeling concern and care for all others.
For example, maybe there’s someone in your home group who has a need to be driven to pick up a prescription – and maybe this is a person you don’t have a lot in common with. Compassion and kindness would mean feeling concern and care for their need – and offering to drive them to pick up their prescription.
But now what gets in the way of that? My own agenda or desires. Preoccupation with my own problems. Insecurity. There’s lots of things that can get in the way of compassion and kindness.
But notice that Paul commands us to put on compassion and kindness. He does not say – if you are feeling compassion and kindness, go for it. No. He says – put on compassion and kindness. So how do you do that? We’ll come to that in a moment.
Next look at humility and meekness. These words also overlap, and they have to do with seeing that I am no better than anyone else, and putting others before me.
So for example, maybe someone says they want to talk with you, and they share with you a concern they have about you – maybe an area of sin they think you are blind to. Now if you have humility and meekness, how will you respond? You will listen. Give them a hearing. Thank them. And take it to God’s Word in prayer.
But what can get in the way of humility and meekness? Pride. Wanting to be right. Self-righteousness. There’s lots that keeps us from being humble and meek.
But notice that Paul commands us to put on humility and meekness. How? We’ll come back to that.
Then there’s patience. Patience means continually being compassionate and kind and humble and meek -- especially when it’s hard. So maybe there’s someone in your home group who, whenever you talk one on one with him, he talks a lot, and it’s always about himself. He never asks anything about you. And this bugs you.
So patience would mean listening to him, being interested in him, loving him. It might also mean at some point talking with him to help him grow in this area. But it’s all done with love and compassion, with humility and meekness, with patience.
That’s patience. And again, notice that Paul doesn’t make this optional. He calls us to put on patience.
But how? How do we put on patience – compassion and kindness – humility and meekness? We can just turn these on and off at will; so what can we do?
Notice what Paul does in v.12. He starts by reminding us that we are “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.” There’s no throw-away words in God’s Word. Every word is given to us by the Holy Spirit. So the way to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, is by seeing and feeling that we are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
Think about what it means that God has chosen you. My understanding is that before the foundations of the world, God looked upon me as a rebellious sinner, who had no faith and who deserved only eternal judgment. That’s who God saw. And then, for no reason in me, but just because of His grace and mercy, through Jesus’ death on the Cross, God chose to save me, give me faith, forgive me. Now what happens when we get in touch with that? Pride dissolves – I am a sinner saved by grace! I see that I have no rights – the only thing I deserve is eternal judgment! Security grows – I am chosen by a sovereign God for salvation.
Then think about what it means that God has chosen you to be holy. My purpose is to live for His glory, for His praise. When I get in touch with that, I see that it’s not all about me. It’s about Him.
And then think about what it means that God has chosen you to be beloved. This means at every moment of every day, God is looking upon you, feeling towards you, acting towards you with passionate love, rejoicing love, holy love. And when I get in touch with that, I feel security, peace, joy.
So when we see and feel that we are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, we will be humbled, at peace, secure, filled with God’s love; and as a result we will feel compassion and kindness towards all others, we will feel humble and meek towards all others, we will feel patient towards all others. That’s how it works.
Then second, Paul calls us to bear with and forgive each other. You can see that in v.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.
Notice that we will have complaints against each other. When complaints come, that’s not a reason to find a new home group – or a new church. God can lead you to leave a home group or church, but not for this reason. When complaints come, we need to bear with another, and forgive each other.
For example, let’s say that your home group leader asks someone else to plan your home group Christmas party. But he knew that you loved parties, that you loved to plan parties, and besides, you’ve got lots better ideas than that other person. So what would we tend to do at that point? Hold it against the home group leader. Harbor ill-will against him. Maybe not go to the party.
But that’s not what Paul says. Paul says we should bear with one another, and forgive each other. How? By seeing and feeling how Jesus has forgiven you. When you see that you are a sinner who has received infinite gain at his infinite loss – you will be humble -- and happy. And your joy will not depend on being the Christmas-party planner. So you will be able to let it go.
Then third, Paul calls us to put on love for all others. You can see that in v.14 --
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Now Paul is not saying that vv.12-14 have not been about love. Love is compassion and kindness, humility and meekness, patience and forgiveness.
What Paul is saying is that we should put love on over all of these, motivating all these, guiding all of these, because love binds all these traits together in perfect harmony. So put on love.
Then fourth, Paul calls us to pursue what brings peace. You can see that in v.15 --
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which [peace] indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
What does this mean? Notice that as the body of Christ, we are called to peace – peaceful, harmonious, loving relationships. So therefore we should let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts – we let the call to peace be a determining factor in how we relate to each other. We ask – what will bring peace? What will bring harmony?
Now you might think – wouldn’t it bring peace if the religions got together and set aside their differences? But notice in v.16 that we are also to let the word of Christ dwell richly in our midst. So we are to pursue both the Word of God, and peace. We pursue peace in a way that upholds God’s Word, and we pursue God’s Word in the way that brings the most peace.
So let’s say that after home group everyone wants to go get ice cream – but you really, really like frozen yogurt. What Paul is saying is that you should let the peace of Christ rule – be the determining factor. So you ask – what can I do to pursue peace here? And the answer is – settle for ice cream. Let your preferences go for the sake of others.
Now sure, this is not easy. Which is why ends with “and be thankful.” For what? I’m missing frozen yogurt! Yes, you are. But be thankful for what Paul has said in v.12 – that you are chosen of God, holy and beloved.
Then fifth, Paul calls us to let Christ’s word dwell richly amongst us. You can see that in v.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.
Here at Mercy Hill we are passionately committed to teaching and preaching God’s Word. But that’s not what Paul is talking about here. Here Paul is talking about two ways we can have Christ’s Word dwell richly among us.
One is by each of us sharing God’s Word with others. Think about it. When was the last time you were so excited about a verse that you shared it with someone in your home group? That’s what Paul is talking about.
The other is by you singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. That’s what we do when we worship Sundays and in home groups. Your singing praise to Jesus exalts Jesus, fills your heart – and – and – it encourages those around you as they hear you singing the word of Christ.
Then sixth, Paul calls us to do everything in the name of Christ. You can see that in v.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.
We are here in San Jose, naming the name of Jesus Christ. So when people see us, they see something about Jesus Christ. When people see our relationships, they see something about Jesus Christ.
And Paul calls us to do everything in the name of Jesus Christ – to show the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ.
When, for Jesus’ sake, you take time to pick up someone’s prescription, you glorify the name of Jesus.
When, for Jesus’ sake, you forgive someone, you glorify the name of Jesus.
When, for Jesus’ sake, you spend time with someone who bugs you, you glorify the name of Jesus.
When, for Jesus’ sake, you are humble before someone who hurts you, you glorify the name of Jesus.
That’s what Paul means. Do everything in the name of Christ.