Christ Our All

INTRODUCTION:

Before I became lead pastor of Broadview I was mentored by the previous lead pastor of Broadview David Cason (who will be preaching next week).

One of the things he taught me was how to prepare a preaching calendar. Pre-Easter we’d always preach on the cross. Post Easter it was “resurrection living!”

As a result of that mentoring Colossians 3 has been a go to passage for my personal devotional life. I revisit them almost every year after Easter.

And this year Colossians 3 just jumped out and ministered to me in a fresh way. Especially given where we are in the life of our church.

The book of Colossians summarizes the Gospel with the words, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27)

Because we’ve been united to Christ we share with him in his death, resurrection, ascended life and second coming.

Christ & Personal Change

Which means our union with Christ transforms the way we live and relate to others.

When you come to a life saving knowledge of Jesus as Lord it’s going to change everything.

The language Paul uses to describe this practical life change is that of putting of the old and putting on the new.

Just as Jesus died, rose again, lives and is going to come again; so also are we dead to sin, alive in the Spirit, live in Christ until we appear with him in glory.

In building out this template of how to put off the old man and put on the new, Paul moves to a discussion of life within the church.

A very practical and frank discussion on what congregational life ought to look like for the church in Colossae and Broadview Church on South 27th St.

Let’s begin in verse 10 and read through to verse 17.

Colossians 3:10–17 CSB

10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 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.

It’s tempting to read a passage like this and individualize it so that it takes on some kind of devotional application.

For example, you might read this list virtues and think,

I really need to be more kind and compassionate.

I wish I had better patience. I wish I was more gentle.

Or maybe you read about the peace of Christ and think,

Jesus please help me deal with my anxiety.

Jesus please let their be less chaos in my heart.

Even the exhortation to “let the Word of Christ dwell…” can be individualized where you start to feel guilty for your lack of Bible reading and desire to be more consistent.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to make personal application of these truths. But these exhortations, understood in their original context, were for a local church not an individual.

Maturity & Community

The transformation Christ brings about in our life and relationships cannot be divorced from the context in which it happens.

Christian maturity cannot be divorced from Christian community.

God has chosen the local church as the primary vehicle for cultivating change in your life.

That may sound self-serving coming from a preacher but I sincerely believe it with all my heart.

Go back and revisit the language of Colossians 3.

Col 1:1: The saints in Colossae are the recipients of the letter.

Col 3:9 doesn’t just say don’t lie. It’s “don’t lie to one another.” (in church)

Col 3:11 in the local church social distinctions crumble underneath the weight of our union with Jesus Christ.

Col 3:12-13 we are compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient so that we might “bear with one another and forgive one another as Christ forgave us.”

Col 3:15 we were called “in one body” so the Peace of Christ might rule.

Col 3:16 it’s as we “teach and admonish one another” that the Word dwells.

Christian maturity cannot be divorced from Christian community.

But what is Christian community supposed to look like?

Wouldn’t it be amazing for people to come into this place and not fundamentally encounter a church or a style or a preference or a culture but that they would come into this place and encounter the reality of Jesus Christ.

How should we structure our local church so that when people arrive they see Christ IS all and is IN all?

The three things are all listed there in verses 15-17.

Be governed by the Peace of Christ.

Be grounded in the Word of Christ.

Bring glory to the name of Christ.

Governed by the Peace of Christ

First we need to be governed by the peace of Christ.

The first thing we need to answer is “what is the peace of Christ?”

Again, it’s tempting to read a word and assume it’s lexical meaning or even the meaning you most closely identify with.

But words derive their meaning from their context. So in context, what does the “peace of Christ” really mean?

Well we see this word show up in the introduction of the book of Colossians (as Paul often opens his letters.)

But we see the verb form of this word in Colossians 1 where it describes the work of Christ on the cross making peace where there was no peace.

Colossians 1:19–22 CSB

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—

Peace = No Hostility

If we understand peace in THIS context it’s less about the absence of anxious feelings and more about the absence of hostility between two parties.

The peace of Christ results from the cross of Christ.

If we go back and understand Paul’s theology of the cross it’s not just that we have peace with God and reconciled in our relationship with him. We also have peace with one another, even with those that we previously had enmity and strife.

When we receive the love of Jesus into our hearts it breaks down any dividing wall of hostility between us and another Christian.

If you fill you heart with the love of Christ it should leave you no room to erect a wall of separation between you and another Christian.

That’s why Paul says, “In Christ there is no Greek/Jew, circumcised/uncircumcised, barbarian, sythian, slave/free. Christ IS all and is IN all.” (Col 3:11)

If you’ve been watching the news you’ve seen the wall of hostility that exists right now between Israel and some of their Arab neighbors. That political fight has implications on strong racial divisions that exists between muslims and Jews.

One of the miraculous things I saw while visiting Israel was how the Gospel of Jesus Christ broke down that dividing wall of hostility and replaced that hatred with the love of Jesus Christ.

THIS PEACE is what makes the local church so compelling and supernatural.

It’s what draws people in so that they say, “this isn’t normal… something bigger than man is going on in this church because these people genuinely love each other.”

I think we can know that’s what Paul means by peace also because of how he concludes this phrase, “to which you were called in ONE BODY.”

In the body of Christ there is all kinds of diversity and differences and that’s a great thing we should celebrate.

But what makes us the same carries way greater weight than what makes us different. Christ has only ONE body and we were called to union with THAT above and beyond how we identify with anything or anyone else.

Rule Your Hearts

Now that we understand what the word peace means, how is this peace supposed to function?

According to Paul it should “rule in our hearts.”

I made a special emphasis on how these commands were not just individual but corporate but here Paul is making it very personal and internal.

The other thing that’s interesting about this verb is that it’s a third person singular imperative.

This imperative isn’t a initially a responsibility for Christians in Colossae (2nd person plural). It’s almost as if he’s requesting this peace to be granted by the Lord.

A similar idea is if you went outside and there were all kinds of clouds in the sky and the smell of rain was on your nose you might look up at the sky and cry out “Let it rain!” (3rd person imperative)

In Paul’s sister letter in Ephesians he says it this way, “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)

In other words, that reconciliation and supernatural unity is something God creates through the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is to do everything we can to maintain it.

Which brings us to the meaning of this word “rule.”

The best analogies I’ve heard for this Greek word is a traffic cop or an umpire who’s letting certain things pass and other things not pass.

Imagine Jesus as an umpire in your heart and he’s calling balls and strikes. This is allowed, this is not allowed. This is Christ-like this isn’t Christ-like.

This needs a response, this does not need a response.

This is good and true and life giving… This is bad and deceptive.

This is going to speak life/build up… this is going to speak death/tear down.

Application

If we don’t allow the peace of Christ to act as that umpire in our heart than our church will never display the supernatural community the Gospel creates.

This ties back in with what Paul said about idolatry. Idolatry in our hearts leads to damage in our relationships.

Only when Christ is on the throne of our hearts, calling balls and strikes, will the peace of Christ rule in our congregation and point others to the supremacy of Christ and the power of his love.

So what can you do practically to help the peace of Christ rule at Broadview Baptist Church?

If possible, as far as it depends on you, to live at peace with all people. (Rom 12:18)

Where there is strife or bad spirit try and clean up your side of the street. Where there is an awkward tension be the person who leads the way in addressing it.

You can also do the continual heart work of addressing the idols in the heart that are doing damage to your relationships with other believers - especially in your home/church.

Grounded in the Word of Christ

The second command Paul gives to the local church is for the Word of Christ to DWELL RICHLY among them.

In your notes I call this being “Grounded in the Word of Christ.”

As we did with the previous verse we need to answer a few basic questions.

What does the phrase “Word of Christ” mean?

How does the word of Christ “dwell richly?”

Is the word to dwell “in you” (ESV, KJV, NASB) or “among you?” (CSB, NIV)

As we said before, the meaning of a word is derived from it’s context not the dictionary.

And when determining context the first thing you consider is the context of the immediate surroundings, then the context of the book, then the context of the author, then maybe the context of the whole Bible (in that order!)

Word = Mystery

So where else does this idea of the Word of Christ show up in Colossians? There are actually three other passages.

Colossians 4:2–3 CSB

2 Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains,

So in the immediate context Paul associates the “Word” with the “Mystery of Christ.”

That word mystery is often used as shorthand for the “Gospel” or that which was previously concealed in the OT but now revealed in the person/work of Jesus.

But that’s not the only place it shows up in Colossians. We also see it in Colossians 1:27

Colossians 1:27 CSB

27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

So here again we have the conflating of the Word of Christ and the glorious riches of the mystery of Christ which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

So the Word of Christ is the truth about Christ and our union with Christ in the Gospel.

One more in Colossians 2:2-3

Colossians 2:2–3 CSB

2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery—Christ. 3 In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Notice again the repetition of the words riches and/or treasures. Also the word “wisdom” which shows up in our passage.

If you take all this together the basic idea behind the “Word of Christ dwelling richly” is that a local church understand and continually explore the glorious truths of the Gospel that Christ died for us, was raised and we are now united to him by grace through faith and through this union everything is made new.”

I show you all of that to show you that the Word doesn’t just mean we memorize a few Bible verses or even read our Bibles every day.

Every truth of every verse in every book of the Old & New Testament point to, explain or apply the reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Dwell = Home/Filled

That word needs to dwell in you and among you. The NLT captures both, “let the message about Christ, in all it’s richness, fill your lives.”

The word “dwell” is the Greek word “en-oikei-ow”

It’s a form of the Greek word for “home.” The idea is that we are at home in the truth of the Gospel and the Gospel is at home in us.

The Word Christ becomes our place of safety.

The Word of Christ is our source of greatest joy and pleasure.

We become loyal to God’s Word. We become vulnerable to God’s Word.

We let God’s word see us in our best light and our worst light just like the people in your home.

In You/Among You

I also think it’s interesting how different translations deal with the Greek preposition “in you” (ESV, KJV, NASB) verse “among you” (NIV, CSB.)

The reason they’re struggling is because Paul keeps jumping back and forth between the importance of heart/inner person and the community/one anothers.

I think if Paul was in the room and forced him to choose between one or the other he’d say YES.

YES, the Word of Christ needs to fill your own heart individually and personally. Just like you need to sing from the heart and you need Christ’s peace in your heart!

But it can’t stop there. You’re relationship with God must overflow into the life of the local church. It must be “among you.” You must sing “to one another.” Do you see?

With All Wisdom

Paul further clarifies what he means by being grounded in the Word of Christ with the phrase “in all wisdom.”

I told you earlier that this idea would come back up. For Paul, the truth of the Gospel isn’t just something we come to know academically or intellectually.

It must begin there but it cannot stop there. The Gospel truth that truly saves a person is truth that moves from the head to the HEART. That’s TRUE knowledge.

That’s why Paul’s prayer for the Christians at Colossae is that they might be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him.” (Col 1:9-10)

This prayer should influence how we understand “in all wisdom here” with the Word of Christ dwelling in us/among us in the life of the church.

The idea is basically not just that we would know what the message about Christ IS but also how truth about Christ APPLIES to every area of our life.

In other words we want to Gospel to move from our heads to our hearts. And then from our hearts to our hands and our feet.

The way you know the Word is dwelling in the hearts and minds of people in a local church is that their lives reflect it!

Their marriages reflect it! Their families reflect it! Their workplaces reflect it!

Teaching & Admonishing

Which leads to the last part of this verse in answering HOW the Word about Christ fills our lives.

It’s through “teaching and admonishing one another through Psalms, Hymns and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your heart.” (Col 3:16)

The word translated teaching conveys the idea of conveying truth so that people can learn. The emphasis is more so on the intellect than behavior.

The word admonish conveys the idea of warning or advising with an emphasis more on behavior and actions than thinking and the intellect.

This just reinforces what Paul said earlier. The learning is for LIVING. It’s truth for LIFE.

This teaching and admonishing happens in various ways in the life of a local church.

Most people associate this role with a pastor teaching/preaching from the pulpit.

But we’re teaching and admonishing “one another” which conveys more “small group” work (or D-Group/Mentoring). One on one not one on many.

Through Singing

But Paul doesn’t even leave us to guess the primary means we teach & admonish one another. He comes right out and says it.

The primary means we teach & admonish one another is through singing!

For those who think of the music portion of a worship service as the stuff you do before the important stuff (which is the preaching) just shows we don’t understand the power and shaping influence of the songs we sing.

God created the arts so that the truth about the world might compel us to action.

There’s something about art, especially music, that wraps our heart around the truth it conveys.

It’s part of how we’re wired.

Paul is telling the church to leverage your singing time so that your heart becomes wrapped around the Gospel of Jesus!

Instead of tearing one another down through filthy language, malice or slander we build one another up through Psalms, hymns and Spiritual songs.

Congregational Singing

If I could just give a quick application here since I’ve got our band and musicians listening.

Three truths about congregational singing that applies irrespective of the genre of music.

Our songs needs to be doctrinally true.

So many modern worship songs are empty and sappy and sentimental. For men it can be painful to even utter the words because it’s so foreign to their experience.

The best songs are songs that are well crafted and dense with doctrinal truths about the supremacy of Christ, the nature of salvation, the glory of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Our songs needs to have a congregational focus.

What I mean by this is that the songs we sing we sing together! This is why anthems and hymns are so powerful. They allow us all declare in one voice the truth about God.

Songs that are individualized have their place but they should be used selectively. Because we are teaching and admonishing one another in our singing.

Our songs need to promote maximum participation.

If we’re going to “sing to one another” that means everybody ought to be able to sing it! This is probably the greatest challenge in picking good songs. I used to lead worship so I know.

The right key isn’t the one that makes your voice sound good but the one that invites maximum participation. The vast majority of Christian music on the radio is performance oriented. (one gifted vocalist doing their thing). We don’t need that in the church. We need songs we can ALL sing.

Having made application to those who lead us in worship let me also make application to those of us SINGING these songs.

Remember you are singing TO the Lord which means your singing needs to come FROM the heart. Jesus rebuked worship that was lips only and no heart.

Our singing should reflect the gratitude that’s in our heart. If you could see some of your faces when the singing is going on you’d quit the ministry. So sad! Turn your frown upside down! Sing like you’ve been saved from hell and given forgiveness!

Glory to the Name of Christ

Which leads us to the last element of today’s message. Healthy churches bring glory to the name of Christ.

Colossians 3:17 CSB

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.

We don’t have as much time to unpack this truth but I want to make few comments.

The first thing that strikes me is this universal language: “whatever you do… word or deed…do everything…”

There’s nothing you do in your life that can’t be subsumed under that umbrella.

In other words, this command doesn’t just apply to what we do in the church. It’s not just what we say. It’s what we say and what we do everywhere and in every moment.

There’s no such thing as a weekend only Christian! It’s all of Christ for ALL OF LIFE.

So the big question is what does it mean to do something “in the name” of Jesus.

Whatever it is, it’s related to the idea of giving thanks to God through Christ.

Paul has repeated this theme of thanksgiving over and over.

Verse 15 - Let the peace rule and be thankful.

Verse 16 - Sing with gratitude in your heart.

verse 17 - giving thanks to God the Father.

Paul even opened the book with the theme of thanksgiving.

Colossians 1:12-13

Colossians 1:12–13 CSB

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

Joyful Obedience to the King

The most helpful way I think I can put it is using the imagery of a kingdom.

In Christ, we are citizens of a new kingdom. Christ is king and we are his citizens.

But Christ’s kingdom has yet to swallow up this world and the kingdoms of this world.

Which means for now we are ambassadors of God.

Everything we do in this world, from our words to our work - is done on behalf of and in the name of our king Jesus.

Just as an ambassador would enter or foreign land with a message from the King or an action from the king. So also are we to do everything we do in the name of the King.

Practically speaking, the best way we can give glory to our king is to joyfully submit to his commands and design.

When the citizens of a country speak about about their king, or trash-talk their country. It diminishes it’s glory.

The best way to glorify King Jesus is to joyfully obey all he’s commanded us to do. Individually, corporately and in every way.

When people come into a local church and they see lives that’ve been visibly transformed by the Gospel of Grace and that the people who live these lives are joyful and content - that brings glory to Christ and invites others to experience the same.

If you’ve yet to bow the knee to King Jesus there’s an opportunity for you to do so this morning.

If you’re a citizen of Christ’s kingdom but have not been living in the light of his peace or been grounded in the wisdom of his Word, there’s an opportunity for repentance and faith this morning.

How might God lead you to respond?