Love Binds Us Together - Colossians 3:12-17

Introduction

Have you ever noticed how you can tell something about a person’s interests and associations by the way they dress? If a person is wearing camouflage at the bank, don’t you assume he’s either robbing the bank or a hunter? If someone is wearing boots, a leather vest, and a bandana, that’s a person who digs motorcycles. If someone is wearing Brooks shoes, short shorts with cleanly shaven arms, that’s a runner or a cyclist. I bet that for most of us, at least, if we think about the things that we wear that most of our closest friends dress similarly and that they reflect a lot about what types of things we associate with ourselves. There’s a self-imposed dress code for who we understand ourselves to be so that we become recognizable with those things and people we want to be recognized with.

What’s interesting is that Jesus says that his disciples ought to be recognizable in a similar way. In other words, our identity is to be found so solidly in him that our association with him and his kingdom becomes the most recognizable aspect of our lives. In fact, last week, we said that we could summarize up our vision as a church that way. Our vision is to make maturing and multiplying disciples to the ends of the earth, or, as we saw from Acts 4, it’s to raise up a generation of believers who the world recognizes as having been with Jesus. That means that the purpose of our discipleship process (connect/disciple/go) is to make us recognizable as Jesus’ disciples. Last week, we saw the culmination, the end goal, the mission of that process as we said that it’s when we go, it’s when we become fishers of men, it’s when we live passionately on mission that we’re recognizable as mature disciples of Jesus. But, that’s the culminating mark of a disciple of Jesus. It’s not the only one. In John 13:34-35, Jesus gave us a new command to love one another, meaning that his disciples should love deeply their fellow disciples, and then He said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This brings us to the very beginning, the first step of our discipleship process — to connect together. Until we’re connected and bound together in a real way, we are unrecognizable as disciples of Jesus. In fact, it’s the first step in our process because we’re convinced that the Bible teaches that connection in the life of Jesus’ church, deep connection with other Christians is the very foundation of a serious walk with Christ.

God’s Word

What does loving one another look like in real life? (headline)

We’ve defined connection, and I think this definition will help us as we look at this morning’s text: A connection is when a person views their local church as their family — a family they miss and who misses them when they’re away.

The church is intended to be a group of disciples living together as a committed family.

This morning’s text reminds us that nothing says family like responsibility. Many fairy tales don’t have happily ever after endings because they misunderstand the responsibility of a family. Many churches suffer the same fate. We’ll see three this morning.

We’re responsible to “show” one another “God’s love.”

Notice that verses 12-14 is framed up by God’s love.

v. 12 “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved...”

To reframe this in a way that we might understand: “as God’s adopted children, whom He decided to set apart for himself as the objects of his love.”

These were all phrases God used to refer to his love for Israel in the OT, but now through Christ that love has been aimed at you. All of the wonderful ways that we understand God to have loved Israel are now available to us in the New Covenant because of Jesus.

“AS God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassion/kindness/humility/meekness/patience” God’s love for us establishes the pattern for how we are to love one another.

God has made us a family, siblings of the Kingdom. He has connected us together by a common adoption. So, we’re supposed live that way.

v. 13 “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

Verse 13 repeats this idea by again establishing God as the pattern of our love for each other.

This time he emphasizes love in action. How did we first experience God’s love? Through his forgiveness! And, that’s the pattern of our relationships with each other.

v. 14 “And above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

You see, the goal here in “putting on” is to dress like our Father.

It’s for us to wear our Father’s clothes and emulate our Father like a young son who puts on his dad’s suit jacket and tries to be as respectable as his dad. It’s a declaration of admiration and respect and understanding of who your Father really is. It’s an expression of what He means to you.

If you want to dress like your Father, you better put on love most of all.

It’s God’s love flowing through us that binds (deeply connects) us together.

We are responsible to love/relate/treat each other as God has loved/related/treated us.

As compassionate/kind/humble/patient/enduring/forgiving toward one another as God has been toward us. (We’re to wear our daddy’s clothes.)

Think through that for a second. What does it mean to take up the responsibility to love each other as God has loved us? How has and does God love us?

God has loved us painfully. Painfully. It is only God’s love for us that has caused Him suffering. It is only God’s love for us that has caused him to forsake his Son. It is only God’s love for us that has the Son of God to a splintered cross.

God equips us for connection with each other by exemplifying for us the nature of deep, meaningful connections with sinners.

Think of the clothes we are called to put on: patience/bearing with one another/forgiving each other. All of those reflect relational pain.

Sinners are dramatic/offensive/messy/hurtful/hypocritical/unfair, and that doesn’t change in the church. What changes in the church is forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation that emulates our Father.

These are written primarily to the person who has been hurt and offended. It’s to respond with patience, long-suffering, and forgiveness.

We want the benefits of connection without the pain of connection.

But, you can’t put sinners close to each other without them stepping all over one another.

ILL. Marriage and the Hollywood fairy tale. We want romance but no conflict. We want to be shown forgiveness but not required to forgive. We want to someone to laugh with, but we won’t tolerate a person who ever makes us cry. But, pain and disappointment is the way of love for sinners.

Let’s get close to each other. Close enough to hurt one another. And, when that happens, let’s put on our Father’s clothes, and let’s love one another as He has loved us.

We’re responsible to “contribute” to one another’s “peace”.

v. 15 “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body.”

Two things stand out: 1) peace is supposed to rule and dominate our hearts, and 2) peace is supposed to collective in the church.

It’s important that we understand how these two things relate to our connection with one another.

What does it mean for peace to rule our hearts?

“Peace” = “treaty” AND “emotional rest and security”

“of Christ” Our treaty: We’re at peace with God through Jesus.

The idea is for our peace and security with God to permeate the rest of our lives. It’s for peace with God to lead to peace in your spirit. It’s to allow what God has said about you to inform how you feel about you and your circumstances.

“rule” = “umpire” Peace makes our decisions for us.

We should make every decision that we face based on two questions:

Does this compliment or contradict the peace that I have with God?

Obedience is a decision for peace. Disobedience is a denial of peace.

Does this allow my conscience to be at peace?

Romans 14:23 “23But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

It’s either the peace of Christ ruling us or it’s the chaos of the times.

So, how does this relate to our connection with one another?

“to which indeed you were called in one body” We all have the same call of peace on our lives, and our responsibility is for us to contribute our peace with God and peace in conscience to the rest of the family.

Each person is depositing their peace as a contribution to the peace of everyone else.

The peace or the chaos of a church is the sum of the peace or the chaos in the lives of her members.

Family analogy:

When all the members of the family are at peace, the family flourishes.

When a member of the family is struggling, the others are able to rally around them so as to help them, support them, and care for them until they’re better.

When everyone in the family lives in chaos, there’s no one to help in a crisis as everyone is wrapped up in themselves. There’s resentment between each other because of frustration that no one will help them.

We have a responsibility to be ruled by peace in our lives that we might contribute to the peace of others.

We ought to connect to others so that we can help them experience deeper peace and so that we might also.

Groups/proximity: We have to be close enough to one another to help each other. If you keep your struggles to yourself, you actually undermine the very instrument of peace that God has given to you and you short-circuit the process of the church contributing peace to one another.

We’re responsible to “strengthen” one another’s “faith.”

“dwell in you richly” Live among you in abundance.

“Let the gospel be everywhere”

The gospel brought us together, and the gospel holds us together.

Emphasizes word-based connections:

“word of Christ” “word about Christ” Our connection has rooted upon our confession.

If we root our connections outside of the gospel, we’re trying to find bonds the way the world does.

Preferences/personalities verses salvation by Jesus Christ

Dilutes and splits the church.

“teaching and admonishing”

Education

“singing hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs”

Celebration

“do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”

Application