Sermon Tone Analysis
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-17PRAY
PRAY
Do you remember the old commercial where an actor would step in front of the camera with a white lab coat on and say, “I am not a doctor, but I play one on TV”?
Well, I think if any of you took a good look at my construction projects at my house you would say, “He’s not a carpenter, but he plays one at home.”
Building
For instance, some years ago, I put up some walls in our home.
With the exception of the first wall I framed in, they looked pretty good, even if I do say so myself.
The first one, however, showed my lack of carpentry skills vividly.
The studs all were plumb from the floor to the ceiling, but instead of being parallel to the back exterior wall of the house, the wall angled back.
From one end to the other there is a four-inch difference when measured from the exterior wall.
What in the world did I do?
I measured all of the timbers correctly.
I hammered the right nails into the wood.
I even stood the wall up in approximately the right place.
What I failed to do was put a straight line on the floor to show me where the wall was supposed to go.
I didn’t follow the plan I had drawn up.
I just guessed at the right placement and it shows.
I learned a valuable lesson that day.
In commercial building ventures, the first person hired is the architect.
It is the architect that decides the right plan for the needs before it.
The architect decides on the sizes of rooms.
He determines the best place to put walls so the structure of the building is sound.
He even determines what type of materials should be used.
In short, the workers implement the architect’s plan.
They just put the plans into action.
The architect, however, has done all the planning.
Our passage today, verses 12-17, contains a similar instruction to the church at Colosse.
Paul has written what some have said is the greatest study of Jesus Christ in the Bible in his letter to the Colossians.
In verse 1-11, he has argued that the Christians in that church needed to shed their garments of earthly desires and put on new bodies, bodies that are conformed to Jesus Christ.
In verses 12-17, I want us to see four architectural features of the church.
These features are the very thing the great Architect, Jesus, has planned for His church.
He has determined the materials, the layout, and even the function of His church.
Before we go too much further, I want you to understand that I am not talking about this building when I talk about the great Architect’s plan for His church.
Throughout Scripture, the term church is rarely used in reference to a building.
It is always a reference to those who are followers of Christ.
As we look today at these four architectural features of Christ’s church, let’s remember that if you are a believer, it is about you.
In , Paul shows us four features of the architecture of a church.
I. Bricks
The first architectural feature Paul shows us of a church is the bricks of the fruits of the Spirit.
A. Verses 12 – 13
B. Let’s begin by the basic material.
According to the Bible, the church should be made up of those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved.
We are not talking about a social club.
We are not talking about the community gathering place.
We are talking about people who have come to know Jesus in a very real and personal way coming together to worship Holy God and work for His kingdom.
Paul here is reminding the church at Colosse of their beginnings.
They should begin their thinking as someone who is different because they have been saved by Jesus.
That must be our first thought when we think of the church.
It is comprised of those who have been saved.
C.
But how do we know if a church is filled with saved folks or just folks putting on faces?
Paul goes on to describe how those who are saved should act.
Let’s look at the terms Paul lists here of how a Christian should act.
He likens the Christian life to a wardrobe and he says, Put on
1. Compassionate hearts – This is the idea that a Christian should have pity and tenderness toward the suffering and miserable.
We don’t kick a man when he is down.
We want to help him when he is in pain.
2. Kindness – has been described as sweetness of disposition.
It combines the ideas of goodness, kindliness, and graciousness.
3. Humility – Not very high on a list of virtues from the ancient pagan world.
It is, as one commentator put it, “the thinking lowly of ourselves because we are so.”
It is a recognition of our position before Holy God.
When you think about yourself in relation to God, it should humble you.
It should make you realize how low you really are.
4. Meekness – the opposite of arrogance and self-assertiveness.
This is tied closely with humility that we just touched on.
It is the idea that you will work for the benefit of others before your own benefit.
You have the desire to see others succeed more than yourself.
A meek person is one who is willing to make concessions.
5. Patience – also called longsuffering.
It is the idea of self-restraint that enables one to bear injury and insult without resorting to hasty retaliation.
It is keeping a lid on our anger.
It is maintaining our composure even when some would say we were justified in losing our cool.
D. And then, in case you don’t quite get how the members of the church should act based on those five virtues, Paul gives some situational pictures of how these should work out in the life of a body of believers.
1. Bearing with one another – This is loving the unlovable.
This is about bearing with faults we see in others.
Sometimes there are people that it is just hard to hang around.
We may not like them for whatever reason.
It could be they remind us of someone we have a bad memory of.
Or it could be that they have said things that have angered us.
In any case, we, as believers, are to bear with one another.
Spend time together even when it is not on our top list.
I’ll tell you the lesson I learned about loving the difficult to love.
There is really nothing in me that is special.
I had a pastor tell me once to pray for the one that I was having difficulty with.
Now, I honestly don’t remember the other person changing as a result of my prayers, but I no longer had the problem.
God used my prayers to change me.
2. Forgiving one another whoever has a complaint against anyone – Paul is saying we should not hold any grudges.
Someone may have wronged you once, but don’t hold a grudge.
They may have said some awful things about you, but don’t bear a grudge.
I have heard sermons that say to forgive means to forget.
And I have also seen Christians beat themselves up because they couldn’t forget the pain that had been put on them.
Listen carefully to what I am saying.
Forgiveness is not forgetting.
It is not acting as though nothing ever happened.
It is saying that you will not hold the hurt against the person any longer.
It is thinking and saying that the other person does not owe you for the pain they caused.
In the business world the term forgive means to release someone from their obligation.
If you have a loan, the bank can decide to forgive your loan which means you do not have to pay them.
Now, I know that scenario is highly unlikely, but think about it.
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