Colossians 3:12-17

Yes the Kingdom, but more than that, the direct context is all about the local church there in Colossae, Here is THIS – the physical actual believers that you assemble with and to whom you are more responsible.

HERE, the barriers that separate us in the world are abolished, social barriers, political barriers, financial barriers, racial barriers, Christ is ALL and is in ALL

Whatever our worldly background or status, we all now have our FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY determined by Christ and the people of Christ to whom we belong.

Put OFF the Old Self/ Put ONthe New Self - Clothing

PUT ON THIS NEW IDENTITY

A Pyramid of Ideas I want us to see this morning, the largest and most general first, as the basis for the rest, and then moving increasingly more specific and practical as we go

Colossians 3:12-17

(The New Identity is ) NOT SELF-FOCUSED

Compassion / Kindness Humility/Meekness Patience

ALL OF THESE are essentially about how we treat others here, all grounded by a common selflessness

“This is the willingness to forgo your own rights for the sake of others.”

C.S. Lewis said humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less

In his book the Great Divorce, which is an allegory about Heaven and Hell, there are conversations between people who have ridden a bus from hell and people from heaven who are trying to convince them to come in.

One from hell asked one from heaven that he had known on earth and knew he had sinned - Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? No, not as you mean, I don’t really look at myself, I’ve given up myself.

Another from hell is too ashamed to go close to Heaven, and the man from Heaven responds “Friend, could you only for a moment fix your mind on something not yourself”

Another from hell said, about the requirement to accept grace and not earn your way - “Don’t you have any self-respect?” – and the woman from Heaven said, “I just do not really think of my self any more, not in that way.”

(praütēta – meekness/gentleness) - “the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance”

And all of this of course is no different than telling us that since we are ONE WITH JESUS, we should ACT LIKE

(The New Identity) FIGHTS FOR PEACE

At once given application: bear with each other—i.e. restrain your natural reaction towards odd or difficult people

Wayne – you don’t have to bear with someone you like. THIS

Eph 4:1-4a Colossians 3:13-15

“bearing with one another” is a first and necessary step in establishing community. COMMAND NECESSITATES DIFFICULT PEOPLE (or as we call them in ministry… people)

There can be no real community if its members are not willing to bear with one another. The demand acknowledges that every Christian fellowship is made up of people that we will find worthy of complaining about, people that for the sake of the community, we will have to bear with. In those cases, believers are to imitate their Lord who has GRACIOUSLY forgiven them.

It is utterly inappropriate for one who knows the joy and release of being forgiven to refuse to share that blessing with another. It is ALSO highly presumptuous to refuse to forgive one whom Christ himself has already forgiven

Peace of Christhere is not referring to the sort of inner peace …

The Christians, so varied in origins and diverse in character, have been called into ‘a single body,’ what can there be but peace, will the arm punch the mouth, or the hand cut off the foot?

LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE - “Rule” translates a Greek verb that refers to the activity of the “umpire,” who renders verdicts in contested situations. Let the peace of Christ “be the decisive factor.”

(The New Identity) Teaches and Sings to One Another

3:16

Imminently practical here, we are not to read this and say, O deep deep, but read it and say, Ok I am supposed to be teaching and singing to these people.

Another problem we often have in reading the Bible, especially those of us who grew up in the churches of Christ, is we have these ticks, these triggers if you will - - instrumental music!!!! And we forget all that we were just reading or the context or point of the passage because this is some proof text for some position we were trained to argue about. Paul isn’t dealing with that at all! . . .

I beg of you, don’t starve to death while you try to win a debate. These verses in scripture can EITHER be your proof text, OR they can be your nourishment and the food for your soul that God intends for them to be.

There is good place for those sorts of discussions, but far too many are starving because their pride is making this food look instead like a weapon, one which, by the way, is best at destroying peace.

1:28 – turns out, those tasks weren’t Paul’s alone, WE ALL have been charged with the obligation to teach and admonish..

WORD OF CHRIST

Teaching and Admonishing One Another Singing to One Another and God

We know teaching and admonishing one another is our obligation, I hope you know that at least, but the second we’ve always taken as a bit more . . . voluntary, a bit less weighty . . . the Bible doesn’t

Do you see how communal this whole section is, how could you ever read the Bible and come away with an individualistic religion idea of following Christ?

One of the tragedies of modern idea of church worship is it has become a very individualized thing, I’m going to go spend my time with God, I’m going to focus only inwardly, those things are good in that worship should be no less than that. The gospel is inescapably individual in its focus: each of us, on our own, is “called” by God and responds in faith on our own. Yet, at the same time, the gospel is inescapably corporate: we are called along with other people, with whom we make up “one body.”

These verses about singing declare that we come LARGELY for EACH OTHER

Eph 5:19

We are addressing ONE ANOTHER as we sing, at least as much as we are addressing God

THIS reality is largely what drives us to sing and have worship the way that we do here at Ohatchee: for instance

Why do we keep the room well lit? Why not dark? Because we want you to see each other, to be mindful of each other. Because this is not JUST a time for you and God, this is a time for US and God. . . . – SOLDIERS àKING

Or why we sing acapella. There’s a few reasons we do so, but the primary reason, to me at least, is because the point of us singing is to hear each other and be aware of each other singing together. Singing TOGETHER is the only thing we are commanded to do in the NT when it comes to worship, the togetherness part of it is crucial, so as opposed to drowning out the voices of everyone, we want to do what we can do put the focus on the voices of all.

We don’t sing acapella because we believe it’s the only way to do it, but we sing acapella because we think it’s the best way to accomplish what singing is meant to accomplish. The voices are prominent, the words we are saying are clear, we avoid the pitfalls of performances or entertainment, it shouts the individuality of the believer with his or her voice, and the unity of the body as the voices come together.

We speak the truth about God set to singable music, we rejoice in the Gospel together, we remind each other of truth, we pray together, all in Song. And we remember these songs more than any sermon I have preached! This is also why it is so crucial that we use this opportunity to say things in our songs that are meaningful and weighty, in our singing, we are teaching one another, so there should be no less care in the teaching of the singing than there is in the teaching of the sermon.

Effect on my soul, personally, of singing, is wondrous

What I missed most during COVID

College – Full Band – came back and cried

And I am moved constantly by your singing, I remember looking over at Lacy Allison a couple of weeks after he lost his son, and hearing him sing “In Christ alone, my hope is found, he is might light, my strength, my song,” or with Horace who has been battling cancer for so long singing “It is well with my soul.” O HOW YOU ALL HAVE PREACHED TO ME over these years in your singing.

Part of the way youll get the wisdom that you need is by singing with the church.

Gives Thanks as a Son

17 You’re a Zeringue

Acting ‘in someone’s name’ means both representing him and being empowered to do so – representative of the King had the King’s power, an extension of the King, as if the King was there

Not Self Focused, Fights for Peace, Teaches and Sings to One Another, Gives Thanks as a Son

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