Union with Christ and Our Unity - Put On
Notes
Transcript
Intro/Review
Intro/Review
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
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.
[PRAY]
Colossians 3:12 (ESV)
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
This passage is essentially APPLICATION from the prior passage - we saw we were to put off the old self, put away sin that kept us from God, and from each other.
We alluded to this last week - but to have true unity together as a body- we need to put things off, or put them to death.
But we also need to put things ON - we need to DO things. This is rooted in our new identity in Christ - because we are dead, buried, raised, and seated with Christ, we are enabled and called to put on true Christian virtues.
Paul makes that connection here, at the beginning of verse 12: Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
We are Chosen ones, Holy and Beloved - Elect, Set apart, Cherished - Language used of Israel in the old Testament - and it is true of the people of God - the church.
In Christ we are Chosen, Holy, and Beloved
In Christ we are Chosen, Holy, and Beloved
Chosen - Elect
Chosen - Elect
Holy - Saints - Set Apart
Holy - Saints - Set Apart
Beloved - Cherished
Beloved - Cherished
The putting on, the LIVING, WALKING in our new nature comes as a result of our UNION with Christ - The union with Christ is all God’s doing - God chooses us in Christ, God makes us holy, and because of His love, God blesses us in the Beloved
Ephesians 1:3–6 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
The Father chooses us, in order that we will be holy, and adopts us into the Beloved family because of His love.
Love is an important motivator as we will see throughout this passage - and we see if connected to our response here - you are Chosen, Holy, Beloved in Christ- SO, THEREFORE, start doing Christlike things.
God has loved you, and adopted you - so live out your Christian life in LOVE for each other.
Paul does on to List just a few of the things the Chosen, Holy, Loved of God need to Put on:
Colossians 3:12 (ESV)
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
Put On
Put On
Compassionate Hearts
Kindness
Humility
Meekness
Patience
This list of 5 virtues is a clear and intentional contrast with the sins he listed in verse 8:
Anger
Wrath
Malice
Slander
Obscene Talk
Those are sins we are to put away, to put OFF - get rid of them because they are evil in the eyes of God, and they HINDER, HURT, and HAMPER our relationships with each other.
They do - sin, as we saw last week, hinders our Christian walk ------ THESE sins specifically hurt the relationship we have with each other as OTHER ADOPTED sons and daughters in Christ.
So it’s Paul argument to say:
get rid of those sins that are part of your OLD nature, your old self, the nature you got from your Father Adam - your old FEDERAL HEAD or REPRESENTATIVE
and PUT ON the virtues, the attitudes, the attitude of HEART that are part of your NEW nature, your new self, the nature you got from your new FEDERAL HEAD or REPRESENTATIVE - CHRIST.
It’s essentially what Paul was saying in Chapter 2 verses 6 and 7:
Colossians 2:6–7 (ESV)
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
So walking in Christ, as one that is Chosen, Holy, and Beloved, we are told to PUT ON compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience
Did you catch that these virtues aren’t just things we DO? What I mean is, these aren’t verbs. If we have any English teachers, or Homeschool parents, you might want to cover your ears - but can I say to my kids:
“Go Kind your brother”
“Please compassion your mom and carry the heavy laundry basket downstairs”
No - it sounds weird saying it and hearing it. But I can say:
“Go BE KIND TO your brother”
“Please SHOW COMPASSION to, or BE COMPASSIONATE TOWARD your mom and carry the basket”
The difference is: these are virtues, not discrete actions. These are ATTITUDES OF THE HEART that PRODUCE a multitude of actions.
So Paul isn’t just generically saying: “Go BE KIND”, “Go be MEEK” - he is saying put on these attitudes, these heart driven attitudes and perspectives.
We see that clearly in the very first one: PUT ON a compassionate heart - the NIV translates this verse as “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Clothe yourself with, PUT ON, ALL THESE VIRTUES - put on the things that are core to your heart, because then TWO things happen.
You interpret the way people interact with YOU differently
YOU interact with people differently.
If you change the core attributes of a persons heart away from anger, wrath, and malice, to compassion, kindness, and humility - that person will BE compassion and kind when people around them sin.
BUT they will also INTERACT with people with compassion, kindness, and patience.
These virtues we are told to put on affect our core person - these are to become our NEW passions, our NEW desires.
For the Christian, the comes as a RESULT or the FRUIT of the Spirit’s work in our life:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This is familiar passage to most of us - in fact many of you are probably singing the words to the song in your head right now.
Similar to our passage in Colossians, Paul is telling the church in Galatia - stop living the way you used to live - if you belong to Christ, your FLESH, the OLD SELF has been crucified with its passions and desires.
Your new self is united to Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit - You now need to live and out of your new SELF, your NEW passions and desires that the Holy Spirit gives you.
If you want Christian unity - true Brotherly love for the people in this room, and in the universal church world wide, we need the Fruit of the Spirit - we need the Spirit to work and empower us, but we also need to do the WORK of brotherly love:
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Paul makes the transition here in Galatians from “This is what the Fruit of the Spirit is” to “NOW Walk WITH the Spirit in ways that don’t harm our relationships with each other.”
That’s what Paul does back in Colossians 3 - we go from:
Here is the virtues, heart attitudes, FRUIT of the SPIRIT we are to PUT ON
TO
Here are the actual THINGS, the actual WORK you do when living out of those fruits.
Do
Do
BEAR WITH one another
Forgive one another
Put on Love
Let Peace of Christ Rule in your heart
Be Thankful
Let the work of Christ Dwell richly
Teach
Admonish in Wisdom
SING to each other in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs with thankfulness
DO EVERYTHING in the name of Jesus
Give Thanks
Maybe you noticed, these ARE things we Do, they are verbs - and for the most part, they are interpersonal - they are actual commands to DO something.
They follow the command to PUT on the positive virtues because these actions FLOW OUT OF a heart affected by the Word of God.
The right heart attitudes, the fruit of the Spirit’s Work, leads us into Right Actions - A good heart produces good fruit.
Paul’s listing of things can be broken into two lists:
Ways we should interact with each other individually
Responsibilities for corporate church life
Interactions with each other
Interactions with each other
BEAR WITH one another - Colossians 3:13 “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.”
Forgive one another - if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive
Put on Love - Colossians 3:14 “14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Let Peace of Christ Rule in your heart - Colossians 3:15 “15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Be Thankful
If you wanted a manual for how to interact with other people in your life, but especially other Christians, people in this room this is it.
Got a complaint - forgive.
Did someone say the wrong thing, or take take our favorite pew, or eat all dessert at Potluck? - Bear with them
Feeling stressed by the people around you that just urke you? Let Christ peace be what rules and drives your life.
But at the CORE, at the ABSOLUTE CENTER of this is LOVE - Paul even says, ABOVE ALL THESE - Put on Love.
Put on Love - Because LOVE will allow you to forgive, and to bear with difficult people. True love overlooks an offense.
Remember what Paul said of these Christians? They Were ELECT, HOLY, and LOVED. And SO OUT OF THAT LOVE, we LOVE others.
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Christ himself, right before his own death - COMMANDS his disciples to LOVE EACH OTHER and CHRIST HIMSELF loved them.... HOW MUCH? TO THE DEATH.
Brothers and sisters - do we have that LOVE? Do you LOVE the OTHER members of Christ’s Church he bought with His own Blood?!
Do you LOVE the people in this room?
Do you put on love as you walk into this door? Are you happy to serve , happy to be here, happy to worship God with other redeemed saints?
Our testimony to the community is BASED in out own UNITY - Christ says people will know we are Christians for our LOVE FOR EACH OTHER!
Is that your testimony to the community around here, in your neighborhood, in your home, at work? Do people KNOW you love these people? DO THESE PEOPLE know that you love them?
Do they know your aren’t ashamed of them, or given to slander them?
Do you live out the ways that Love is shown to us?
We can be the smartest people, an be able to hold our own when it comes to discussions and debates theology, ecclesiology, soteriology, eschatology, bible translations, means and modes of baptism, and on and on......but without love - without love, it’s just NOISE:
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
You can be the most educated, smart, generous person - but lacking love - you are nothing - you GAIN NOTHING.
My hearts deep desire for our church is that we aren’t first and foremost know as a church that has the right theology, the right confession - we should, and I believe we do - BUT my hearts desire is that we be known as a church that LOVES! Loves Christ, and Loves each other, and Loves the sinner that NEEDS Christ.
I want Grace Fellowship church - YOU - and ME - to be a light to the community and surrounding area for the Love we have for each other - a supernatural, Christ Powered, Holy Spirit inspired LOVE that marks our interactions and relationships.
Paul shows us ways to show that love here in our text, but Paul continues in Chapter 13:
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
These aren’t just verses we say at weddings to show what love is - sure - do that - It’s true.
BUT Paul is saying AS IS REGARDS each other - LOVE EACH OTHER! Be patient and Kind, Don’t boast, don’t arrogant of rude. Defer to others - don’t insist on your own way. Don’t be irritable to each other, don’t be resentful, don’t be rejoice and be happy when someone messes up, rejoice in the truth.
If you want to show love, bear all Things, like Christ did, believes all things - trust each other, have hope for each other - endure the mess that comes from living alongside other sinners.
That bring us to Paul’s second grouping of commands - the commands that deal with our interactions and responsibilities in the gathered body - really the church service.
Responsibilities in the Body
Responsibilities in the Body
Let the word of Christ Dwell in you richly
Teach
Admonish in Wisdom
SING to each other in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs with thankfulness
These responsibilities show the WEIGHT of belonging to a body - the work required to make this local church function.
We are called to let the Word a Christ well in us richly - and that comes from hearing it read and preaching on Sunday, AND from reading it yourself. But it needs to be heard and absorbed - it needs to DWELL within us - deeply, richly.
The word of Christ dwelling in our hearts leads us to teaching, and admonishing in wisdom. Sharing the word of God with each other - encouraging each other. It’s not JUST the elders that are called to encourage and strengthen and teach - if Christ’s word dwells in you richly, you are able to teach and encourage others in the body.
We are also called to Sing - “singing Psalms, and Hymns, and Spiritual Songs with thankfulness in your heart.”
Paul makes a similar command in Ephesians 5, and he ties the singing on songs in church with walking in Love:
Starting in verse 1: Ephesians 5:1–2 “1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Then verse 18-20:
Ephesians 5:18–20 “18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
So, your singing, your worship of God, IS TO GOD, but it also addresses and encourages those around you. Let me encourage you - this command is not conditioned on your musical ability - if you can’t sing in tune, or in parts, or at all - you are still commanded to sing! It may sound terrible, it may be off pitch, or in a different key - but don’t neglect the blessing of singing in thankfulness to the Lord, and encouraging those around you.
If you sit by someone that can’t sing well - or sings off key, or in a different time signature - bear with one another - be encouraged by their desire to use their voice to praise God.
Which of us sings perfectly - I know I don’t - but even the best musician, the best vocalist cannot offer the praise that God deserves - our good deeds of WORSHIP are still tainted by the fall.
The corporate body is filled with sinners with differing levels of sanctification - different levels of Christlikenss - and it also filled with sinners with differing abilities to sing. But God has redeemed those sinners regardless of their musical ability - so let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
Worship with joy and thanksgiving, the one that saved you, and seated you with Christ in the Heavenly places!
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Now, its important to call out - these thing all happen in the gathered body. We have commands here to Love each other, to HEAR the word of God, to Teach and admonish one another, to SING to one another.
That happens here - every Sunday at 10:00am in English, and then again at 1:00pm in Spanish - if you come in at 10:30,or 11:00 you’ve MISSED most of the singing, the corporate prayer, the reading of God’s word, and some of the sermon - and if the benediction is given at 11:20, and you are in your car at 11:22 you’ve missed the ability to talk to other people.
Christian, HOW CAN YOU DO THESE THINGS GOD CALLS US TO IF WE DON’T VALUE HIS CHURCH, HIS WORD, OR HIS PEOPLE?
This isn’t legalism - there is no earning of your salvation or justification by attending and participating in Church - you won’t get to heaven BECAUSE you made church attendance, and fellowship with God, and his people a priority
It doesn’t get you to heaven - We should make church attendance, and fellowship with God, and his people a priority because WE’VE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN HEAVEN - we’ve been joined with Christ so that when Christ who is our life appears, we TOO - all of those trusting in Christ - will appear with him in glory - these people are the people you will spend eternity with - they shouldn’t be strangers when you get to heaven.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly - Teach, Admonish, Sing - make the time to make gathering with God’s people, and participating with them in the ordinary means of Grace God provides.
Let love for God, and love for your brothers and sisters be what drives your decisions, schedule, and free time, not the other way around.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Walk in Love
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Do the HARD Work of Brotherly Love
Hospitality - spend time with other Christians
Confront Sin with Humility
Confess Sin with Humility
Let God’s word dwell in you richly - read, listen to, absorb the work of God
Don’t live in fear, or be afraid of other Christians -1 John 4:17–19 “17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.”
Worship & Sing together
In a few minutes, at 11:45 we will have a short Lord’s Supper service - the ability to take and hold in your hand physical, tangible reminders of Christ’s death - we will sing songs telling of Christ’s love and Sacrifice for us - we proclaim the Lord’s death until he returns. After that, we will go downstairs, eat together, and talk together. What do you have to do today that is MORE IMPORTANT than observing the Lord’s supper, hearing his word, singing, and fellowshipping together - what better time and way to apply the things we’ve seen today.
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I want to again point out that The Core element to all of this is Love - we love each other because of Christ’s love for us.
We live OUT that love - our individual self has been reconciled, we have a new man that is able to love - but we have been shown the true meaning of love by God and Christ - and we live out that love by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We can only do the hard work of true brotherly love by reminding ourselves of our true state - and fixing our heart, mind, and eyes on Christ:
Fix your eyes on Christ
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
We can’t do these things perfectly - we often struggle to do them at all - which is why we NEEDED Jesus -why we need his Spirit working us. And it’s why the person you struggle with, or have a grudge against need Jesus too!
If you want grace, mercy and forgiveness shown to you - and you are over joyed to receive it from God, and your heart is moved with JOY when you see Christ bearing your sin away - remember that he bore the sin of EVERY Christian, even those that sin against you, and those that you sin against.
We can’t do these things perfectly - But Jesus Does - Fix your EYES on the one that had no sin
Compassion - Jesus is compassionate - Matthew 11:28 “28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Kindness - Jesus is perfectly Kind - Luke 22:50–51 “50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.”
Humility - Jesus humbled himself - Philippians 2:5–7 “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Meekness - Christ was meek - even to death Isaiah 53:7 “7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”
Patience - 2 Peter 3:9 “9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Christ bore our sins and provides the righteousness - as if WE were people that were compassionate, kind, Humble, meek, Patient, AND THEN turns around and GIVES us HIS SPIRIT that teaches and sanctifies us to become MORE LIKE CHRIST!
Let THAT Savior’s word dwell in you richly - teach and admonish each other about THAT Christ - Sing to the Lord with a joyful and thankful heart.
[PRAY]