Love - The Christian's Overcoat

Colossians 3 Scripture Reading

Chapter 3

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. 18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Pastoral Prayer

Local Church - Hinson Baptist - Michael Lawrence Missionary

Intro — Don’t Underdress!

There was once a time when nearly every man wore a sports coat or a blazer to church. Men wore their Sunday best… and without their sports coat, they were underdressed for the occasion.

The same cannot be said for most churches today Like the sports coat that once completed a ever man’s attire on Sunday morning — every one of us should put on what I am calling the Christian’s overcoat… and that overcoat is love. As we return to Colossians, we are jumping right in the middle of a paragraph… in the middle of this letter in a section where Paul is calling us as Christinas to wear the clothes that is fitting for us to wear.

But it’s not literal clothes that he has in mind…

Paul first calls us to put off the old clothes of sin

Col 3:8-10 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.

In the place of this old clothes, Paul tells us..

Col 3:12 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

The spiritual clothes that we wear transforms how we relate to one another.

Col 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.

And this brings us to todays text, where pall describes the overcoat that completes the Christians new look

Col 3:14-15 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.

This morning, we are going to spend most of our time in v 14, considering what this overcoat is, and how we are to put it on — because love truly sums up all the virtues that that came before it in v 12 and 13— and because love it ties together the verse that comes afterwards.

Since we are called to put on this overcoat of love, let’s…

I. Consider what the overcoat of love is

Intro: We have different understandings of love, and different uses of love

Everyone, those inside the church and outside the church, has their own idea of what love is. But we are not here to learn from sinful men about love. We want make sure we have a biblical framework of love.

Now there are all kinds of loves. I can love steak, and I can love my wife. I can love my dog, and I can love my kids.

I am to love my enemies who are not lovely, and I am to love the Lord who is all together lovely.

There is plenty that can be said about love… but we at its core, we need to understand

i. Love is an affection that motivates us

Love is far more than a verb

We often think that love is merely what we do. After all, God commands us to love —

Mark 12:31 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jn 13:34 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.

But if we are going to understand what the Christian overcoat is, then we should recognize that love is far more than what we do. Love, First and foremost, is what we feel.

This is shown most clearly in 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Cor 13:3 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.

What Paul lists here are all good things — even loving things — or so we would think… but it’s possible to act out what is loving, without actually having love as an affection

1 Cor 13:3a 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned…

This is love isn’t it?

After all… the good Samaritan — The example of the one who loved his neighbor — gave us his goods for his neighbor who was in need,

And Jesus said,

Jn 15:13 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

1 Cor 13.3 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.

What’s missing here, isn’t one’s loving actions — but what’s missing is loving affections. And that is what love is… love an affection

We all know that love is far more than what we do

Imagine a husband bringing flowers home to his wife. And the wife asks him, “Aww why did you bring me flowers.” And the husband responds, well, I have to… that’s just what husbands are supposed to do. And, your mom called me and told me to buy you flowers… We all know those flowers may as well go in the trash. Because it’s not really about the flowers, is it?

Love, at its core, is an affection of the heart

Love is not necessarily virtuous

2 Tim 3:2-5 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

You can perceive even from these Scriptures — the heart’s affections for the world, for money, and the affection of yourself

We should understand, our problem isn’t that we lack love. Our problem is that we have misplaced and distorted loves.

But this isn’t the kind of love that Paul is telling us to put on — he is telling us to put on love for one another…

Understand what the genuine overcoat of love is… This kind of love is an affection for one another

If you reduce love down to our doing… you will be guilty of being a hypocrite like the scribes and the Pharisees…

They give their money away, not because they love their neighbor They give their money, because they love the praise of their neighbor If you reduce love down to an action apart from an affection, you will then be like Ananias and Sapphira

Selling their property and giving the proceeds to the church But what they truly loved was not those who were in need Rather, they loved their money and and their reputation Beware of acting!

beware of doing loving things without having the affection of love itself Beware of serving your brothers and sisters — apart from a deep rooted affections for one another. Beware of going through the motions of love— without having the affections of love.

Love is far more than what we do. But to be sure… everything we do is motivated by love. Do you have the affection of love? If so, then you will be motivated to do what love does. And when genuine godly love is shown,

ii. Love is the fulfillment of the law

But love does do something — love does many things

Gal 5:14 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

And in case you are uncomfortable by that word - law — and you think Paul putting you under a heavy yolk on your neck that you cannot bear… let’s try to understand what what is happening here in Paul’s letter to the Galatians

The whole letter of Galatians is about being free from the weight of the law… Paul is saying that we don’t need to earn a righteousness of our own through the law…

We are justified by faith and faith alone

The works of the law — even love itself — does not earn our right standing with the Lord

Gal 3:10 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Jesus did not die on the cross — so that we would need to work for our salvation

Rather, Jesus died to purchase our salvation that we could never earn on our own

Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

BUT, make no mistake about it, we are commanded to love throughout the NT… even by Paul here in Galatians. When we are called to love one another — the Lord is not putting a heavy yoke on our necks that you must carry in order to earn salvation

understand what Paul is saying here in Gal 5 as Paul shows that the whole law is fulfilled in the command to love your neighbor as yourself…

Gal 5:13-14 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

God frees us from the burden of the law… but he does not free us to be lawless… he frees from the burden of the law, AND bondage of sin — so that the law, namely love, would be fulfilled in us who have been born again because of Jesus’ work on the cross and the Sprit who has given us new life in Christ.

iii. Love is the definitive mark of faith

How do people know that you are a disciple of Christ? — how do people know that you are a Christian?

It’s not because you read your Bible every morning People don’t know you are a Christian because your theology is sound The world doesn’t know you are a Christian because you attend church

What does the Bible say?

Jn 13:35 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So, do you belong to Christ?

Then…

Col 3:14 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Some might object — saying… this just isn’t how God made me… I’m different from other Christins and love does not come naturally…

When I was young… my poor mom… I wore sweats everyday and everywhere.

And I remember one time, my mom tried reasoning with me… It was Christmas Eve, and we were getting ready for church, and my mom asked me if I wanted to wear nice clothes for church… to which I politely responded… I don’t want to wear nice clothes… to which my mom respond … I think you do.

You see… love in the christian life, is not an optional piece of clothing that we can either choose to wear or not wear

Sure, not every Christian is the same. Every Christian has received varied different gifts of grace… but every Christian will be marked by love…

Some might object… they need to be marked by faith! Or what about their understanding of the gospel! What about the gifts from the Spirit?

Am I elevating love to a place above these? Again, just let the Bible speak to these matters.

1 Cor 13:2 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.

Col 3:14 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Transition — How is it possible to put on love — this deep rooted affection of the heart?

Do we just muscle up and do it…

like a child who is told to eat his broccoli that’s gone cold on his plate…

no not at all. A kid can eat his broccoli, and not delight in it one bit But we are being commanded put on love — to put on affections… we are being told, not to simply eat the broccoli… we are being commanded to love the broccoli and delight in it Now it would be easy to love one another… if everyone was lovely…

Anyone can love those who are lovely… even the world does that

Matt 5:46-47 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

But how do we love those who are not lovely?

How is it possible to have affections for the person who gets under your skin? How are you supposed to actually love them with deep affections? How do you love your husband when he hurts you? How do you have the affection of love for an enemy — one who you feel anger, or perhaps even hatred towards? How are we to actually have proper affections for people who are not lovely to us? How do we put on the overcoat of love?

II. Put the overcoat of love on by going to the source of love

Intro: this is impossible to do

If you think this command is impossible… to love those who you don’t otherwise love… it’s because it is. But with God, all things are possible. Including having affections for those who are not lovey.

Augustine’s prayer proves helpful at a time like this.

Command what you will, and give what you command.

i. Love is impossible apart from God

Remember, we are in Colossians 3… we are in the middle of this wonderful letter

Paul doesn’t launch his letter by telling the Colossians what they must do

Love is the result of faith

Col 1:3-5 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

Moreover, their perseverance in the faith and love does not come from within the Colossians, and it doesn’t even come directly from Paul either, but it comes God… so this drive Paul to pray to God for the Colossians…

Col 1:9-11 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

So don’t hear Paul saying we must go produce love where there is otherwise no love at all — Remember… this is a work that God — we are a his workmanship! Do don’t try to muscle up and love those who are not lovely on your own… Rather, go to the one who is able to strengthen you with all power so that you would walk in a manner worthy of him.

Jesus said it this way

Jn 14:4 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Apart from God — we cannot love one another in a way that pleases the Lord

If we try to love one another without the lord’s help

We will be as successful as Abraham and Sarah having a son apart from the help of the Lord Just as God created life in the barren womb of Sarah, so too God must produce new life in our sinful hearts if we are to love one another from a pure heart To try to love apart from God — would be like the disciples trying to feed the 5,000 in the middle of the wilderness without the help of the Lord

If we are to love one another, then the Lord must do the miracle of creating fruit in the barren land of our hearts. If you are going to put on love, you must first be united to Christ through faith. Are you abiding with him and drawing from his live giving sap that produces every good fruit?

The command to put on love would be impossible to do if you do not have access to this overcoat — But God has given us this overcoat so that we would wear it

ii. Love comes from God because God is love

[Love come from God]

Recall even how this paragraph started in Colossians

Col 3:12 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,

We aren’t commanded to love from a place of deficit… we are told to love after having been filled up with the far surpassing love of God!

1 Jn 4:7-8 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Do you know God and his love? Whether you do or you don’t, let’s go to the place where God’s love was best put on display

God’s love is best displayed at the cross

Jn 3:16 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jn 15:13 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

What was the motivator for God’s affection towards us? Was it anything lovely in us? NO!

Rom 5:6-8 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The greatest love — the death of God’s only son, given to the lest lovely — sinners and rebels against God

May the Lord would give us

Eph 3:18-19 18 [the] strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

We can only love those who are unlovely, because the fountain of God’s love was poured out onto us when we were not lovely

Jn 15:12 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Since love comes from God, ask God to fill you with his love

Lk 11:13 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Gal 5:22 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love,

Col 3:14 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

So, Lord, command what you will. And give what you command.

Which leads us to our final point

III. Examine your overcoat to see if you are clothed in love

Intro: As we previously touched on, love is the definitive mark of every Christian

All people will know…

Jn 13:35 35 …. that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

But love not just for others to see… our own affection for God’s people is a proof to us that we belong to God!

1 Jn 3:14 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Look into the mirror here. You might be running a list of names through your head of people who need to put on love… but look in the mirror and examine yourself.

Do you see yourself clothed with love for God’s people? if so, you have good reason to be confident that you have passed out of death into life. Is your love missing? If so, you have good reason to be afraid, because those who do not love abide in death

If you lack love… then go to the source of love and put love on!

Col 3:14 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

There is some ambiguity as to what it is that is being bound together in harmony by this love… Perhaps Paul was intentional in this…

First, I want us to consider how the overcoat love binds up all the other virtues that we have put on

i. Love binds every Christian virtue together

Positive virtues are fulfilled by love

Col 3:12 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

12 — individual qualities of a person who is marked by love

All of these are attributes of love

1 Cor 13:4-7 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.

As you examine yourself… do you see yourself clothed with a compassionate heart? Kindness? Humility? Meekness? and Patience

Or, are you still clothed in the old garments of sin

Col 3:5 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

When you look in the mirror — do you see yourself clothed with the affection of love for your brothers and sisters?

When others look at your life — do they see you clothed in love?

What does your spouse see? What do your kids see? What do your parents see? What do your fellow Christians see? What does the world see?

Jn 4:7-12 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

1 Cor 13:1-3 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.

Love binds every Christian virtue together — for the whole law is fulfilled in one word. That you love one another.

Love binds every Christian virtue together in perfect harmony… love really does complete the look of the believer.

Love does more than this… love not only binds virtue together, but…

ii. Love binds every Christian together

Col 3:14-15 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.

Do you see how love not only holds you together… but a church that is ruled by love will be held together as well!

Love is not just an inward reality — Love also transforms our the way we relate to one another

Col 3:12-13 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.

And again, love motivates us to cast of the sinful man that was ruled by the old sinful passions

Col 3:8 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Such activities are incompatible with love… and as such, they do not rightly fit the Christian who is to be clothed in love.

Col 3:14 So above all… put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1 Jn 2:9-11 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Conclusion

If you come to church in a blazer or without a blazer — this is of eternal insignificance

But what is of eternal significance is whether or not your believe in Jesus Christ.

So believe in Jesus today.

And to every Christian… Christ has given us access this new wardrobe… so do not go about life without putting on love.

Communion