The Art of Seeking, Part 3
Notes
Transcript
Handout
How many of you got up and got dressed this morning?
Paul commands us to be dressed in the five virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. These are embodied in the actions of bearing with, forgiving, and loving each other.
We all get dressed each day. Use that as a prompter to dress in the identity God has given you.
Let’s learn how to get dressed as children of God.
Colossians 3:12 .
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
Paul commands us to act in our God-given identity. In the text, this identity is three-fold.
First, we are chosen by God. The result of our relationship with God is not of our own doing, but of God’s gracious choosing for the praise of his glorious grace shown to us in Jesus (Ephesians 1:3-6).
We approach this reality of being God’s chosen ones with wonder and awe, full of gratitude that he would choose us, as wretched as we were.
This is captured in verse one of the hymn “Amazing Grace”.
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
Second, we are holy.
We may not feel very holy if we have not been putting off the earthly. There is good news. This status in not based on our feelings.
It is based on the work of Christ’s death and resurrection. Therefore, you are holy despite how you feel.
What does holy mean?
It means we are set apart for relationship with God. That relationship changes our actions, which sets us apart from the earthly.
When we wake in the morning and are getting dressed, we embrace the holiness that God has imparted to us. We, in gratitude and wonder, recognize that the Creator of the universe has set us apart for a relationship with him. This relationship is available to us at all times, just like our clothes will be with us throughout the day.
Third, we are beloved of God.
God loves you! God loves you! This is true despite what we might be feeling.
Much of our earthly behaviour is rooted in our insecurity of not feeling loved.
God is enough, but so often he does not feel enough. Thus we turn to the earthly to fulfill the longings he alone can satisfy.
We know Romans 5:8 in our minds.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This truth however does not penetrate into our emotions. If it has not penetrated our emotions then it will not be embodied as our identity.
God’s love is foundational to who we are, and thus how we act (1 John 4:19).
19 We love because he first loved us.
How, then, do we experience God’s love?
First, we unpack our preconceptions of what we think God’s love is.
Second, we meditate on what God says his love is.
Third, we receive God’s love through the body of Christ.
In our identity of chosen, holy and beloved children of God, we put on five virtues which are acted out in bearing with, forgiving, and loving one another.
As children of God, we put on compassionate hearts.
The term “heart” speaks to the core of the person. We are to be compassionate to the core.
The Greek word οἰκτιρμός (oiktirmos) is translated as “compassion”. It means to show care and concern toward others.
How do we put on compassion?
We put on compassion first by asking the Holy Spirit to help. We can do nothing in our own strength and it is the Spirit of God who is at work in us. So we go to him for the empowerment (John 16).
We put on compassion by choosing to see the situation from the perspective of the one that needs compassion. In seeing it from their perspective, we are able to feel what they are feeling and thus gain understanding. This understanding then enables us to show compassion to them. This is all in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Showing compassion for someone who is hurting is not nearly as hard as showing compassion to some one who has hurt you. The ability to do that is only the work of the Spirit.
Holy Spirit, help us put on compassion towards everyone.
As children of God, we put on kindness.
The Greek word χρηστότης (chrēstotēs) is translated as “kindness”. It has the sense that we are to have a quality of conduct that is being helpful or beneficial to the given situation.
How do we put on kindness?
We put on kindness first by asking the Holy Spirit to help.
Putting on kindness is somewhat captured in the saying of my mom and most parents: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.”
As children of God, we are called to more than just silence. We are called to act in a manner that is beneficial to the body of Christ.
Holy Spirit, help us put on kindness towards everyone.
As children of God, we put on humility.
The Greek word ταπεινοφροσύνη (tapeinophrosunē) is translated as “humility”. It should be understood as “having a proper regard for ourselves, neither being haughty nor depreciating ourselves” (Ralph P. Martin, M.A., Ph.D.). We should see ourselves as God sees us. We are not to practice the false humility that Paul talks about in Colossians 2.
How do we put on humility?
We put on humility first by asking the Holy Spirit to help.
We put on humility by being willing to listen to opinions that are in conflict with our own without attacking our fellow brother or sister for differing opinions.
We put on humility by not elevating ourselves or our desires over the needs of the body of Christ.
We put on humility by seeing ourselves as God see us ( Romans 12:3).
Holy Spirit, help us put on humility towards everyone.
As children of God, we put on meekness.
The Greek word πραΰτης (prautēs) is translated as “meekness”. It means to have a gentle response. My pastor, Rich Hay, would define meekness as “power under control”.
How do we put on meekness?
We put on meekness first by asking the Holy Spirit to help.
We put on meekness by resting in God’s view of us and allowing him to defend us rather than responding to the need to defend ourselves. This is the example Jesus left for us in 1 Peter 2:23.
23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
We put on meekness by speaking kindly and softly, according to the advice of Proverbs 15:1.
1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Holy Spirit, help us put on meekness towards everyone.
As children of God, we put on patience.
The Greek word μακροθυμία (makrothumia) is translated as “patience”. It could also be translated as long-suffering, forbearance. Patience is to wait without complaint or losing self-control.
How do we put on patience?
We put on patience first by asking the Holy Spirit to help.
We put on patience by releasing control of the situation to God who is ultimately in control of it.
We choose to trust him in the work that he is doing. This is what Paul is commanding us to do in Philippians 4:6-7.
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Holy Spirit, help us put on patience towards everyone.
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.
Children of God who wear the five virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience by the power of the Holy Spirit are able to bear with one another.
“Bear” speaks of tolerance and endurance, which is required for a bunch of people of different backgrounds living in a broken world. We all have sin and quirks that the Holy Spirit is working out. Bear with each other through the process. Do not jump ship.
Children of God who wear the five virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience by the power of the Holy Spirit are able to forgive one another.
The Greek word χαρίζομαι (charizomai) is translated as “forgiveness”. It means to show favour freely. Its usage in Scripture is to freely release one from the debt or offense made. We are called to forgive as God has forgiven us through the work of Jesus’ death on the cross.
As a child of God, forgiveness is not an option. It is what we do.
Forgiveness does not equal restoration. Restoration requires repentance which brings about change. God desires this in his church. Sadly, often we are either unwilling to forgive or unwilling to repent. This grieves the Holy Spirit who is working in our lives.
Holy Spirit, help us forgive each other and repent.
Colossians 3:14 .
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
As children of God, we put on love.
God’s love is the virtue that binds all of this together in the unity of the body. It is a sacrificial love that does not seek its own. Think of 1 Corinthians 13.
How do we put on God’s love?
We put on love first by asking the Holy Spirit to help.
We put on love by embracing God’s love for us in confessing Jesus is the Son of God who died for us. When we are able to fathom the extent of God’s love in the cross, then we are able to love because he first loved us.
We put on love for others because we view them through God’s love demonstrated through the cross.
It is on this love that we unify - the love shown in the cross - the beautiful news that God saved us all, as wretched as we were.
Go, be clothed in your identity as children of God by the power of the Holy Spirit manifesting his fruit in your life.