Sermon Tone Analysis

Develop the idea that God has chosen his people in love.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget when my children were born.

It is really interesting, you don’t know really know this tiny person, they really look like every other baby out there just a wrinkly old man, yet you love them with the deepest love.

It’s a pretty one sided relationship.

Yet when each of my kids was born, there I was holding this helpless little thing absolutely in love.

It is hard to say why you love them, other than their yours, you just do.

Like when your child is born.

You don’t know this person, they really look like every other baby out there just a wrinkly old man, yet you love them with the deepest love.

The relationship is really pretty one sided.

Yet when each of my kids was born, there I was holding this helpless little thing absolutely in love.

Or when you first fall in love, you love this person, all you can do is think about this person, you enjoy everything about the person.

How do I love you let me count the ways.

But it is interesting, when you love someone, truly love someone it is hard to really know why.

Because they are smart, or funny, rich or beautiful, well no really because if they lost their intelligence or humor if you truly loved them you would not stop loving them.

Why do I love the other person, it is hard to come up with a real good answer other than “Because I do”, because your you.

Ready

And God’s love

In a similar way, God’s loves his people not because they are good or beautiful or worthy, but because he does, he chooses to.

He chooses to love his people.

The Bible describes his people as once being his enemies, and he sill loved them enough to die in their place.

And when we see and know this kind of love from God, loving gratitude is the natural response, but when we lose sight of the truth that God’s love is based on his choice, and not something in us what happens is we begin to think that God’s love is in somehow dependent on us.

And if we think that God’s love for us is something in our control and not rooted in his choice then a life of gratitude is out the window.

And we can become cynical thinking that what I do does not matter, or fearful that if I don’t measure up God will not love me.

Or even pride because maybe you think you deserve God’s love.

FCF: But if we don’t know or if we lose sight of the truth that God’s love is based on his choice, and not something in us what happens is we begin to think that God’s love is in somehow dependent on us.

And this leads to pride thinking that you have somehow earned God’s love.

Or it can lead to fear because you know your not lovely and fear that God will not love you.

and not something in us what happens is we begin to think that God’s love is in somehow dependent on us.

And this leads to pride thinking that you have somehow earned God’s love.

Or it can lead to fear because you know your not lovely and fear that God will not love you.

But if God’s love is not dependent on us, but based solely in him and his choice, there is no room for cynicism, or fear, or pride.

In our passage this morning we will see that God’s love is based in his choice.

That God chooses to love his people

And if this is true, what does this mean for his people?

What is the consequences of this kind of love rooted in God’s choice?

It means that we should live gratefully personally and corporately.

So first individual

First

So first we should live gratefully personally.

We should live gratef

Look with me at verse 12

Gr

And then at verse 17

Paul appeals to the Colossian Christians to put on these personal virtues because they have been chosen by God, they are holy and beloved.

And this is important.

He does not say put on these virtues SO THAT you will be chosen, SO That you will be loved.

It is because they are chosen, they are loved that they are to put on the individual virtues.

It is because God already has chosen and loved them that then in grateful response each person should cultivate a grateful life by putting on virtuous character traits.

Paul encourages the Colossians to actively put on these virtuous character the way that you would put on clothes when you get dressed in the morning.

To put on these virtuous character like clothes when you get dressed in the morning.

So let’s look at the Christians dress code.

to put on compassionate hearts, which in the Greek literally means bowels of mercy.

That is this gut wrenching desire for mercy.

It is something like empathy, feeling for another person in need

to put on kindness, that is a disposition that is ready to be helpful and generous, beneficial to another

to put on humility that is to to consider others more significant than yourself.

to put on meekness: This means to not be overly impressed with yourself.

Not to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less.

to put on patience: that is the ability to bear up under the pressure when provoked

And then in verse 14 Paul tells us to over all these things, like a big overcoat, put on love.

which hold all the virtues together.

For without love these other virtues will fall apart.

To live a life of gratitude means they are to do the work of putting on these virtues.

There is an effort, an intentionality that is required to cultivate the virtues.

Illustration:

Illustration:

Have you ever tried to break a bad habit, or start a new habit?

Maybe you are feeling the difficulty of it right now right, we are almost one month into the new year, and the new years resolution you made is a lot harder to keep than maybe you thought.

I remember when I was playing baseball in little league and I developed a bad swing habit.

When I started swinging the bat I would drop my shoulder and swing up at the ball.

Then a coach told me to change my swing.

He told me to swing like I was chopping a tree down.

Well, changing swings was not easy, to unlearn a habit and lean a new one was a challenge.

And as I would walk up to the plate, I’d hear the coach yell, chop wood from the dugout.

It took a while but after enough repetition I learned a new habit to chop wood when I would swing.

The repeated action gave me a new habit.

Application:

The same is true when it comes to puting on personal virtues.

There is this old saying: “Sow an action reap a habit, sow a habit, reap a character.”

If we want to live grateful lives by putting on these personal virtues then first we must be moved by the reality that God has chosen to love you, not because of anything you bring to the table, but it is because of him.

Because gratitude for God’s must be the soil for the seeds virtuous character grows.

it is then we can put on these virtues is through developing habits.

And this takes some bit of intentionality, but the Holy Spirit uses habits to form our character.

How do you do it?

We can’t go through this whole list, but we can briefly look at one virtue in this list.

Let’s look at humility as an example.

Maybe you want to grow in humility, maybe your spouse has told you you are arrogant on more than one occasion, or maybe you got your work evaluation back and you get feedback that says you don’t take instruction well.

Well let’s take one virtue, humility as an example.

Maybe you want to grow in humility, maybe your spouse has exposed your arrogance on more than one occasion.

And your like well okay I don’t see myself as arrogant, but I know humility is a good thing, remember because if you have a strand of arrogance you probably will not be able to see your arrogance very well right.

But you have received this feedback, so you set out to develop humility.

So first you memorize a scripture passage and meditate throughout the day.

Let’s say you memorize where it talks about how Jesus humbled himself and gave his life for you.

And how we should in humility count others more significant than yourself.

where it talks about how Jesus humbled himself and gave his life for you.

And how we should in humility count others more significant than yourself.

Then every morning you pray and ask God to make you grateful for the humility that Jesus showed and make that real in your life.

Then let’s say every day at work you make a point to learn one new thing about someone else.

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Then maybe in the evening you make a habit of asking your spouse about their day before you start talking about your day.

And you do these things even when you don’t feel like doing it.