Above All, Put on Love
The Book of Colossians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to church.
Franklin Graham God Loves You Frontera Tour in February of next year.
We have a special opportunity as a church coming in just a few weeks. We will host the Christian Life and Witness training in English and Spanish that will happen several places here in the Valley. We are hosting on Nov 9 from 6-9pm. We want to be good hosts by providing a place for the community to train and prepare for the upcoming event. We will need greeters and hospitality workers to support the event along with Audio/Visual support in two rooms. Mark your calendars and reach out to me or Brother Joe if you are able to help us with this event.
We are continuing our study on the book of Colossians this morning. I told you last week that I ran out of time to finish our text. We’ll pick that back up this morning.
In previous weeks we have looked at the things that we must take off if we are to live the Christian life. Paul reminded us to take off our earthly nature and the things that come naturally to us: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, among other things. He reminded us to put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language. He told us not to lie to one another.
These are all things that we begin to learn how to put behind us as we begin to take on the characteristics of Christ. Or maybe I should say, “these are things that we SHOULD put behind us.” Some of you all are still learning how to put some of these things away. And that’s okay as long as you continue working on it.
The work of our lifetime is putting off these habits of the old self and taking on the new habits of our Christian walk with the Spirit.
Paul reminded us to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.
How many of you need to learn how to bear with someone in your life?
These are good habits, but incidentally, they are also the hallmark characteristics of the Christian’s life. This is because they spring from the character of Christ.
I have also told you in recent weeks that we get these characteristics from his Spirit when we believe in him and accept his gift of salvation. Yet we spend the remainder of our lives figuring out how to do this better.
Here’s a little thing I picked up a few years ago.
When you are working on getting better at something like these characteristics. Have a little bit of grace with yourself and with others. Use this saying to remind yourself how to get better:
Principle: Action. Reflection. Better Action
The key to this is the reflection part. As long as we’re able to assess and evaluate our actions, we can make choices in the future to take better action.
Let’s turn to our text for this morning...
14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
[pray]
Paul completes this section on putting on the characteristics of Christ by summing it up with this statement...
Above All, Put on Love
Above All, Put on Love
The answer to the world’s problems today can be found in Christ’s love...
14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
I like the way Dr. Todd Still of Truett Seminary puts it. He says that we can put on the clothing of “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” But We still need to put on the crowning virtue of love.
Love is much more than simple romance. In the Greek it is ἀγάπη (agapē), which is a strong emotion of regard and affection.
Even as God is love, we are to be loving. 1 John 4 says that we must test the spirits to see if they are from God so that we can know that false profits. It also says that we are from God and we have God is us who is greater than the world.
If we are from God and God is in us, should we not also be tested so that others can see the Spirit within us?
6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
Do you know how we can see if the Spirit is in us? By our Love!
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Can people look at you and see God in you? Can they see Christ in you?
9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
John makes it absolutely clear that we should be known by our love...
11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.
I’m reminded of that old hymn we used to sing when I was growing up at Central Baptist Church in Magnolia, Arkansas...
They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord;
We are one int he Spirit, we are one in the Lord;
And we pray that all unity will one day be restored.
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.
Jesus gave us a command to love one another...
34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We often think of love as an emotion. But love is not an emotion. It is not some response to our mood, our relationship, our circumstances. It is not instinctual nor is it reactionary in nature.
At its best, love is a loyal and steadfast commitment towards another and a dogged determination to seek the well-being of the other.
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. While Pastor Joe and I appreciate the kind words and gifts and the accolades. This is not why we do what we do. If we only cared for you because you bought us a cake and showered us with kindness during the month of October, that would be a pretty thin response wouldn’t it?
We do what we do and we pour ourselves out for this church because we love you and we want the best for you.
We also see and recognize the love that you have for us. There are some of you who are loyal and steadfast in your commitment. We can see that some of you have a dogged determination to care for us and provide for us as we serve you and your families.
This is love!
Paul is reminding the Colossian church the same thing that he told other churches. Love should be at the core of everything that we do. If we cannot have love for each other then all that we do here is no better than banging on a noisy cymbal, as it says in 1 Corinthians 13.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.
Love never ends…
13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.
In all of these things, we must practice love with each other. How do we do that?
Paul gives us some good instructions here in verses 15-17. He says...
1. Practice the Peace of Christ
1. Practice the Peace of Christ
After calling Christian believers in Jesus Christ to love, he calls them to practice the peace of Christ...
15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.
Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts!
The Greek word for peace is εἰρήνη (eirēnē), which means “the absence of mental stress or anxiety.” This word is where we get the names Irene. So if you someone named Irene, they should be particularly peaceful. Not really! I’m just kidding.
But if you know an Irene who is not peaceful, if they are riddled with anxiety, you should just tell them to be more like their name. Not really! I’m just kidding…again! Don’t do that or you’ll get in trouble and then I’ll be in trouble. In fact, I may already be in trouble. Someone is going to come up to me after the service saying “My mother’s name is Irene!”
Seriously now. We take names from other languages all the time. This doesn’t mean that we are branding people of that they are really going to be like their name. That’s superstitious.
But if we have taken the name of Christ, we should be eirene, we should be at peace. Honestly, we should be at peace with the world, with each other and with ourselves. But mostly we need to be at peace with God.
A. Be At Peace With the World
A. Be At Peace With the World
I recall making visits to a few non-believing patients in the hospital as a chaplain. Only on a handful of occasions I might show up and find that the patient was not only unbelieving, but hostile to a visit from a minister. When I first started making hospital visits, something like this might have offended me. But after hundreds of visits (and even thousands) I learned to be at peace with these people.
I met people who had been hurt by the church and situations in the church.
I met people that used to be close to God but were at a point where they were far from him and facing a difficult diagnosis.
I met people who kicked me out of their room once they learned that I was a chaplain.
I met people who never, ever thought about God but they thought they were okay just the way they were.
I met a devout Hindu couple who had just had a baby. They believed in so many gods that they gladly accepted a prayer and a blessing for their baby from a Christian minister, because one more god was just as good as another in their eyes.
I met people who introduced me to their “partner.”
I also met some dear and beloved saints who loved God and had served his kingdom and their local church for many long years. (Those were some of my favorite visits).
I met all kinds of people and I offered them all the same thing. I saw my job as a minister in the hospital to offer people to connect with God, even if only just a little bit.
Those that didn’t want me there, I offered them the sign of peace and left without being offended or hurt. At least I had made an effort to let them know that someone cared enough to show up and offer to pray for them.
Do I wish that they had responded differently or had a positive response to my efforts? Certainly! But it wasn’t up to me. It was 100% completely and absolutely up to them to respond or not respond.
This is what it means to be at peace with those around you.
B. Be At Peace With Each Other
B. Be At Peace With Each Other
It is a lesson that I’m still learning in life. Especially in the church. As a minister I sometimes want more for the people in our church spiritually than they want or can do for themselves.
I am learning to be at peace with that. Though it can be difficult at times. I sometimes mistake my calling for one that I want to impose on others. And the way I respond to my own calling is very different to the way that others respond to their calling.
I have to remind myself to be okay with that.
C. Be At Peace With Yourself
C. Be At Peace With Yourself
One of the hardest lessons that we can learn in life and one of the easiest lessons to lose sight of once we think we’ve learned it is to be at peace with ourselves.
I know so many people that at one point in their lives were happy, loving, and well-adjusted people. But some…thing, some tragedy, entered their life and they lost their peace.
This is some of the hardest work that we have to do in our lives. It is the work that we do on ourselves.
D. Be At Peace With God
D. Be At Peace With God
While all these other kinds of peace are important, we also must seek peace with God if we expect to enter heaven.
In our natural state, we are born into a condition of sin, which makes us an enemy of God. Not because he hates us, but because of our sin nature.
However, because God loved us, he provided a way for us to resolve this enemy status through his son, who died on the cross.
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
It is this salvation that gives us peace with God and opens the doors of heaven to us that we might enter into God’s presence.
I could probably do an entire series on Peace, but I want you to know this:
If having peace is a struggle for you. You should know that there is a formula for peace in the believer’s life. Paul shared
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Rejoicing in the Lord can bring us peace.
Showing the grace of Christ to others can help us to be at peace.
Handing our worry and anxiety over to God through prayer can help us to be at peace.
The promise is this: the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
2. Practice the Word of Christ
2. Practice the Word of Christ
Not only should we practice the peace of Christ, we should also practice his word...
16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
This verse could very well be a core verse for our church. It literally speaks to everything that we are about as a church.
We truly want for “the word of Christ [to] dwell richly among you.”
This is why we make the Bible the main thing here at FBC Pharr.
It is the core of our preaching. It is the purpose of our classes and curriculum. It informs the songs that we sing together. And it is our main thing.
3. Wear the Name of Christ
3. Wear the Name of Christ
Finally, Paul tells the Colossians to do everything in the name of Jesus...
17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
When we live our lives for Christ, we can do it with grateful hearts, with gracious actions, and with peace and love for our fellow man. When we do this we are showing the world that there is a better way.
We do this best when we love each other and love those around us.
I’m reminded of yet another hymn, this one written by Isaac Watts, titled, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, the final two lines read:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Conclusion
Conclusion
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