Would the Church Please Stand Up?

Introduction

November is officially here! Pumpkins. Elections. Colder weather. People setting up for Christmas… and Thanksgiving. When was the first official Thanksgiving Holiday? Believe it or not, it wasn’t 1621!

In the fall of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued two landmark statements. The first was the famous Gettysburg Address in which Lincoln commemorated the battlefield of Gettysburg. The other statement, made just weeks before, may be a bit more surprising. On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln instituted the first official Thanksgiving holiday.

Lincoln wrote, “It has seemed to me fit and proper that [the gracious gifts of the Most High God] should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.” Thus, Lincoln set apart the last Thursday of November as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father.” Apparently, in the midst of the worst war our nation had ever seen, Lincoln thought the time was ripe for gratitude.

Conflict and gratitude. Hardship and hope. Lincoln wasn’t confused. He was seeing thanksgiving through a biblical lens.

While it might not seem natural to have hope or be thankful in the middle of difficult times, this is what we see from Christians around us and this is what we see prescribed for us as followers of Christ today from the Bible! See, Christian Thanksgiving didn’t start in 1863… it didn’t start in 1621… Christian Thanksgiving has been around for 2,000 years as followers of Jesus Christ have paused at various points in time to simply give thanks to God for what Jesus has done for us. During this busy and crazy week and season of the year, let’s be sure that we pause and remember why it is that we truly give thanks today. This morning, as we continue in Colossians 3, we’re going to see that we have so many reasons to give thanks and it all starts with God’s great gift of salvation. Let’s read from God’s Word together and see what God’s Word has to say about thanksgiving

Colossians 3:12–17 CSB

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.

Is anyone else thankful for the love, peace, and forgiveness that Jesus gives to us? God is good! Let’s pray and ask Him to help us stand united as His people as we share His Word.

Christians Walk by Faith, not Feelings (12a)

Who are you? You’re probably thinking of your name. Whenever we see this question asked in a movie, the person usually responds by saying that I am so and so, who are you? But deeper than that, who are you? We might think about what we do - who are you? I am a construction worker. A doctor. A student. A mom. A husband. That might be what you do, but who are you? What is your purpose? Why are you here? These are the questions that we want to have answered as people, these questions form what is called our worldview. Think about the consequences of getting this wrong… who are you? I don’t know who I am… that leads to isolation, loneliness, and insecurity. Think about the significance of getting this right - who are you? I am a blood-bought child of the King of Kings, this leads to confidence. Security. Belonging. Hope. Peace. What happens when I don’t feel these ways, though?

Feelings do matter. God created us to feel certain ways and certain things. Suppressing all of our feelings is a bad thing! The problem comes whenever we think that our feelings determine reality. This is a Greek word called bologna. It’s not true! What determines reality? Truth does. See, our feelings change. One minute you might feel happy, the next you might feel sad. As a child you probably thought that the opposite gender was weird… I know that as a 3rd grader I came to FBC Ozark for the first time and I saw a red headed girl in my class and I thought that she and her friends were strange… but you know what happened? We got older and I married that cute read head - I am thankful that feelings change! Feelings change and this is a normal part of being a human. If we change and if our feelings change, what do we all need? We need an anchor. We need an objective standard for truth that exists outside of ourselves. We need something to look to to guide us in this thing called life, especially whenever our feelings and thoughts change a little bit. Where can we find that type of standard? As Christians we know that the solution is God’s Word! God’s Word determines what is true - we have to submit to what God’s Word says.

So, what are the facts according to God’s Word?

We are sinners who are separated from God

Jesus Christ alone saves sinners

It doesn’t matter what you or I feel, we have fallen short of God’s standard and this is bad news! Even if you feel like you’re a pretty good person, the Bible shares that we’re all sinners and that separates us from God. The solution isn’t to try harder or be a nicer person, the solution is to repent of your sins and place your faith in Jesus. Regardless of our feelings, these are the facts of God’s Word.

How do these facts help you and I throughout this life? On the one hand we don’t like receiving bad news because it might make us feel like a failure to come capacity, but on the other hand these facts and other facts in God’s Word can guide us and provide us with hope because they will never change. There will never be a person who doesn’t need Jesus and there will never be a sinner too bad for Jesus to be incapable of saving them. These are good things whenever you find yourself in a bad place! The facts from God’s Word are authoritative and they are there to encourage and challenge and convict us.

Look in our text this morning, Paul begins this text by talking to his brothers and sisters in Christ and he starts out with that pesky word: therefore. What has he just gotten done talking about? He’s discussed how we are united in Christ. Who is united in Christ? Those who are Christians! Those who were walking in darkness and who have been raised to walk in newness of life. Those who have put off the old self and who have put on the new self

Colossians 3:9–10 CSB

9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.

So who is Paul talking to in verse 12 and following? Christians! What does the Bible say about Christians? Verse 12 calls Christians, “God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved.” Church, here’s some good news. You might feel like an absolute failure at times, but if you’re a Christian, your failure has been forgiven. You might feel like you don’t have a home, but if you’re a Christian, you’re a dearly loved brother or sister and you have a family to call your home. One preacher traveled to Istanbul, Turkey and was talking with 3 elders at a church and they were all of different ethnicities: 1 was Turkish, 1 was Armenian, and 1 was a Kurdish. If you know those people groups at all, you know that they have some violent history and lots of bloodshed in recent years! Yet, here 3 of them are not only in the same church but they are pastoring together as equals in that church. How on earth can that happen? Because they understand that even though they might not always feel the same way and even though they might have feelings of bitterness against things that have been done against their ethnicities in the past, they have been called by God and God has brought them into the same church family! The fact of being called God’s chosen, holy, and loved people transcends our human feelings. Because of Jesus, we are set apart. Because of Jesus’ perfect righteousness, we are given His perfect standing before God. Because of God’s love, we don’t have to worry every night about our standing before God if our sin will change His mind. We have to determine our theology from the Word of God, not from what we feel.

This past week we celebrated the Protestant Reformation - as in 1517, Martin Luther called on the Roman Catholic Church to come back to the clear teaching of Scripture, especially in the area of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. People in the 16th century could never be sure of their salvation because it was based on their works. Had I done enough good things? Had I gone to church enough? Had I paid the priest enough money? Have I bought enough indulgences? Do you see the stress this would bring to each person? There was never any security because of these feelings of not measuring up. Do you know why the Reformation changed Europe and the world so quickly? Because of the Biblical truth that our works cannot save us - only the finished work of Jesus can, and that work is finished. This means that whenever your head hits the pillow at night, you don’t have to wonder if you’ve done enough or if you measure up. Friend, if you are in Christ, because of His great love and because of the blood of Jesus, God is not mad with you. Nothing you do today or tomorrow will cause Him to love you and more or any less. You are dearly loved by the Creator of the Universe… and it’s all because of Jesus! As Christians, we walk by faith in this reality… not by feelings that are prone to wander and lead us astray. This reality changes everything.

Christians Wear New Clothes (12b-15)

Look at what comes next in our text, we see that we are to put on certain things. In other words, Paul is calling on these Christians to not just realize this reality, but to walk in light of this reality. To live it out! Because of our change in identity, we have a change in clothing. Just as Paul instructed these believers to put off or literally to put to death these things in Colossians 3:5-11, we see now a list of things to put on. We see a wardrobe change. We see that sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed are to be put off and compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience are to be put on. Can you get a much more opposite list of things in these verses? This is the equivalent of going from rags to riches. Brokenness to beauty. Darkness to light. This is a massive change! Who here likes change? Many of us kind of like change… when its convenient, maybe… or when it’s change that benefits us, maybe. Think of some of the fads that we’ve seen change over the last hundred years

Did you know that in 1920 the commercial radio made its debut? By 1923, 12 million households had radios in their homes and now cars don’t even have a radio in them because people connect their smart phones to their cars. The world has changed!

1933 - drive in theaters made their debut in New Jersey and there would be over 4,000 around the United States in the late 1950s. Now, though, movie theaters are the norm and streaming services like HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Disney Plus bring many movies straight from production to your living room. The world has changed!

1979 - the Walkman cassette player debuted and people could suddenly listen to music anywhere they walked. Hundreds of millions of these were wold worldwide but if you asked anyone under 20 they likely have no idea what you’re talking about because their music is on their phone and they have bluetooth headphones that they use

Technology is a wonderful thing and it’s led to some cool inventions and fads… but in time those things change. You might think that you’ve finally found the thing that is going to change everything, but history tells us that those things aren’t quite as big as we often make them out to be. Fads come and go. Styles are here for a year and gone the next. Clothes are in fashion and then they’re not. Some things make us smile one day and then they make us frown the next. This is true for 1 year olds and if we’re being honest it’s true for us as adults too - things change! But the finished work of Jesus doesn’t change. John 19:30

John 19:30 CSB

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

The new clothes that He gives to Believers does not change! Because of the finished work of Jesus and because His Spirit lives inside of us, we put on these things like compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We don’t do these things because they are necessarily easy, but we do them because we have been changed. These fruit of the Spirit are the natural overflow that comes out of our lives because we are connected to Jesus Christ.

John 15:5 CSB

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

If you are connected to Jesus, you will produce fruit that looks like Jesus. Let’s think through this together this morning: If you have an apple tree, what fruit do you reasonably expect that tree to produce? Apples. If you have a banana tree, what fruit do you reasonably expect that tree to produce? Bananas! Here’s our problem: So many people claim to be apart of Jesus’ tree, but they don’t produce Jesus’ fruit. This is the Fruit of the Spirit. As we put to death the desires of our flesh, we put on the character of Christ as He lives in us through His Spirit.

In a world that is merciless to those in need, we are called to be compassionate, or merciful. In a world that is bitter, we are called to be kind. In a world that celebrates pride, we are called to be humble. In a world that loves to prove our rightness, we are to be gentle. In a world where even the microwave is too slow, we are called to be patient… why? Because these are attributes that our Savior embodied. These are the clothes that Jesus wore and they are the clothes that Jesus clothes us with as His people for His glory and our ultimate good!

This includes not only how we act outside of Church, but also inside of church. We are to bear with one another and forgive one another. Have you ever said something that you instantly regretted saying and you wish that you could walk it back and go back in time 10 seconds before and not say that thing? I’ve been there before too! We’ve all been on the receiving end of something that was harsh. Something that was mean. Something that hurt us deeply… What do we do in the body of Christ whenever someone wrongs us? Are you ready? You don’t fight them, you forgive them. Forgiveness doesn’t come naturally, but the Christian community is a place that only thrives if the community is marked by forgiveness because we all are in need of forgiveness. How are we able to do this? Or maybe better… why do we do this? Why forgive others? Because it’s an application of the Gospel. The Gospel reminds us that we were dead in our sins, but God made us alive by sending Jesus to take our sin upon Himself. He frees us from our debt. He forgives us! Forgiven people forgive people. This doesn’t mean that you have to let the person who wronged you back into your life just as they were before hand… but because the Gospel is true, we must be a forgiving people.

We must be a loving people! South Gate, what is our hope to love one another? To remember how deep the Father’s Love is for us. How we are a dearly loved people. How lost we used to be, and how much God sacrificed in order to get us back. Whenever we remember that Jesus loved me enough to die for me… and that He loved you enough to die for you, guess what? That means that He loves us the same… and we should love one another as well because we’re apart of the same family! God’s love for us is what holds us together and creates peace in our body. As we forgive, and as we love in this body, we find true peace in Christ!

Friends, our world is searching for love and peace and all of these things… but apart from Christ, we will fail to find it. Even in the church, we might think that our ministry is the most important one. My gift is the best one. My teaching is the best. It’s easy for our hearts to get full of tension, frustration, and complication… and before we know it, guess what? We have no peace. Yet His peace is to rule our hearts - how can this happen? Whenever we are dressed in His clothes. Whenever we remember that we are a body and we all have an important role to play. As a T1D, my favorite body part to talk about is the pancreas. An adult’s pancreas is about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. That’s just a little bigger than an Expo marker. That’s a lot smaller than your head or your heart or your foot. You can’t even see it! You might not even know that you have it! Yet, if it stops working, you get deathly sick… friends, we all have different gifts. Some of us use those gifts in front of our congregation as we teach or as we sing and that’s kind of like a hand or a foot, it’s out in front. But others of us have gifts that are more behind the scenes, like a heart or a pancreas. Hear me today loud and clear: Out in front is not more important than behind the scenes. Whenever we are dressed in our new clothes, our desire isn’t to be the most important or the leader… our chief desire is to be obedient, forgiving, unifying, loving, and full of thanksgiving.

Christians Worship Jesus, not Self (16)

As we put on these virtues and we find our place to serve, we worship Jesus. Think about what we do whenever we gather for church. We fellowship with one another, we read Scripture, we sing songs, we pray with one another, we sit under the preaching and teaching of Scripture. Why do we do these things? Why do we gather to worship? Why do you get up early on a Sunday morning when you could be sleeping in? The answer as believers is because Jesus is worthy and we are needy. Jesus doesn’t need us… we desperately need Him. So we gather, and when we gather one of the things that we do is we sing!

Who sings? Who speaks to one another in verse 16? First, those spiritually awakened, second, those spiritually assisted (filled by Spirit), thirdly those spiritually active

Why do we sing? Not necessarily because we’re good at singing. Not necessarily because we always feel like singing. We sing because Jesus is worthy and we are needy.

What do we sing? Not necessarily what we like to sing. Not necessarily what we have sang before. We sing what is true. Look at John 4:24

John 4:24 CSB

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

We are called to worship God in both spirit and in truth. Lots of people talk about worship in terms of spirit… Here are phrases I’ve heard before, “Lose yourself in the music” “Close your eyes and go with the flow” - that’s not John 4:24. Losing yourself is New Age at best. Going with the flow is following a spirit but not the Holy Spirit. Churches talk a lot about being “Spirit led” but the Spirit will never lead you against what the Word says. This is why we not only worship in Spirit as we genuinely do seek to submit to the Holy Spirit and do what He would have us do, but we worship in truth as well. What does this mean? It means we worship in accordance with God’s Word, which is truth. Whenever we sing, we teach one another. Singing is teaching! This means that the singing ministry of the church must be pastor led because the pastor/elder/overseer called by God to oversee the teaching ministry of the church.

I remember being at SBU and for the first time I heard this statement, “I just didn’t get much out of worship tonight.” If you’ve never thought this, you’ve probably heard it before. That always stuck with me as a teenager… that didn’t sound right… but I didn’t know what to say back when I first heard it. After reading Scripture, I came to this realization - worship isn’t about us. Friends, we are not the point of worship. Worship is not about you, and that is good for you! Worship is about Jesus! Whenever we sing at South Gate, we sing songs that glorify Jesus Christ. Songs saturated with Scripture. If that song is a hymn and you don’t like hymns, you still sing the hymn because we’re here to worship Jesus and we do this with thankfulness and gratitude in our heart.

It is a gift to “get” to worship Jesus. We structure our worship services around Jesus. Not us. Not what will draw people in. Not what sounds good. We structure everything around the Word of God and we prioritize glorifying Jesus as His Word instructs us to do. It’s all about Jesus and we see in Scripture that Jesus deserves our praise and Jesus desires our praise. This is the vertical aspect of worship… but whenever we sing songs that glorify Jesus, we also encourage one another. It is such a blessing to gather and hear one another sing. Worship isn’t a performance where only the professionals on stage do something… no, worship is something that we do together as we worship in Spirit and in Truth as a body of born again believers.

Christians Work to Glorify God (17)

Words have different meanings and they can be said in different ways. Take the word “whatever.” How might a teenager use the word whatever? Mom or Dad says something needs to happen and the teenager says “whatever” in a dismissive tone. Now imagine going on vacation as a family and again you hear the word whatever but now it’s in the context of being able to go and do whatever you want to do that night - that’s freeing!

In Colossians 3:17 we see that word “whatever” but it is incredibly open-ended in this context. Paul is telling these Christians that every single thing that they do, wherever they are, however they are around, is to be done for the glory of God and with thanksgiving in their hearts. Does anyone else find this exhortation difficult?

Are you ready for the reality of the situation? Worship is more than 1-2 hours on a Sunday… our entire lives are worship to our God

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

This is a command to treat our entire lives as worship. AW Tozer once shared it like this, “If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it is not very likely that you were worshiping on Sunday!”

Following Christ carries with it a cost. There is no cost to go with the flow in our current cultural moment… there is great cost to say something that glorifies Jesus and goes against our society. In the Roman world the cost of saying that Jesus is Lord was potentially your life! Conviction is Costly. What do we have to remember in these moments where the cost is great? Our lives are not our own. We have surrendered our lives to Christ whenever we were saved by His grace! We have put off the old self as Colossians 3:5-11 told us last week. We are raised in Christ. We are a new person. Therefore, because of Jesus, the purpose of our life is to exalt and lift high the name of Jesus, regardless of the cost that brings to us! This means that the things that we say and the things that we do are to be done in a way that glorifies Jesus. This means that there is nothing neutral - we can’t order our lives into boxes and say that this box is our church square and in this box we glorify Jesus and live for Him, but in this other box, we get to do things the way that we want to do them. It doesn’t work this way, friends. Jesus is either Lord of all, or He’s not Lord at all.

Students, whatever you do at school, at work, with your friends, at home, on the bus, in extracurriculars, wherever you are, do everything for the glory of Jesus Christ. The way you speak about that person that other people don’t like. The way that you act around a friend who doesn’t believe in Jesus. The things you do that no one else sees. Students, Colossians 3:17 reminds us that everything we do is to be for the glory of Jesus because in glorifying Jesus, we find what is truly good for us as His people.

Adults, whatever you do at work, on your business trip, behind closed doors, at the ball field, at the grocery store, wherever you are, do everything for the glory of Jesus Christ. The way that you speak about people who think differently than you. The way that you act around people who are not believers. The things that you do that you think no one else sees… Colossians 3:17 reminds us that as believers, everything we do in life is to be for the glory of Jesus because when we glorify Jesus, we do what is good for us as His people.

Church, Jesus wants you as His adoptive brother or sister flourish in this life. He comes to give life and life in abundance. He is the Good Shepherd who gave His life for His sheep and helps us grow to become more like Him. How does this take place in our lives? By putting on these virtues of Christ. By realizing that as a Christian we aren’t saved to sit… we are saved to serve. We aren’t saved to groan… we are saved to grow!

In a crazy world, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, we must stand up. We must put off our old clothes and exchange them in for the new clothes that Jesus alone can provide us with - compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Forgiveness. Love. Peace. Thanksgiving. How can we do this? How can we wear these new clothes?

You Must Be Born Again

These are instructions to believers (v. 12) and in order to be a believer in Christ, you must be born again. Every single one of us are born separated from God because of our sins… but the Gospel calls on us to repent of our sins and trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior. Whenever we are born again, our sin is transferred to Christ and His perfect righteousness is given to us. We all must be born again.

You Must Be in the Word

As those who are saved, we must be people of the Book! If we want to look more like Jesus, which every Christian does, we have to know what Jesus is like, and what He expects of us and we find this in His Word. So many want a “word” from the Lord - and He gave us exactly that in Scripture as it is God-breathed. Inspired. Authoritative. Sufficient. According to a 2019 study by Barna Research, only 5% of respondents said that they are “Bible-Centered” which means they engage with the Bible frequently and allow the Bible to shape their decisions and views and actions. South Gate, we must be in that 5% and be in the Word because the Word changes us!

We Must Be Laser Focused on Jesus

There are so many distractions in this life. Some things that are seemingly good things… but anything that takes our focus off of Jesus can quickly turn into an idol and become a bad thing. We must be laser focused on King Jesus as individuals and as a congregation. We don’t give into fads and feelings, we stand on the facts found in Scripture. We life for an audience of 1 - we live to hear “Well Done!”

Maybe you are here and you haven’t responded to the Gospel. You’re still dressed in those “old clothes” of our earthly nature. Searching for answers and purpose. Friend, purpose is found in a person whose name is Jesus! As we get ready to pray and as our praise team comes up to lead us in a song of response, I’d love to pray with you. Maybe though you’ve responded to Jesus but your focus is on anything other than Jesus today. Friend, lay that thing down at the altar this morning. Pray for Jesus to help you set your mind on Him and what He would have you do, as that is what is best for us! South Gate, we are saved in order to glorify our Savior and we do this by living this Christian Life. Let’s ask Jesus to help us and let’s respond in faith!