Colossians 3:14-17 - The Ways We Worship
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Introduction:
What is worship? Sometimes we have a tendency to pigeon hole our definition of worship to just singing unto the Lord. We have a worship set that we sing before the sermon. We call certain music praise and worship music. And because of this, we have neglected to see the other forms of worship that we are to lift up to the Lord.
Although worship music is most certainly worship, we can worship God in many other ways. Today we are going to learn more about how we can worship in not only singing but also in other ways.
Join me as we read God’s Word:
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Today we are going to discuss two ways that we should worship God. The first is...
I. You Should Worship God...Through the Way That You Love (14-15)
I. You Should Worship God...Through the Way That You Love (14-15)
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Put on. There is that word again. We have seen it a few times. We have seen what to put on and what to put off. Like dirty clothes we are to put off sinful things. Yet, the greatest of things to put on is love. Here Paul echos this same sentiment regarding love in his first letter to the church in Corinth:
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
This word love in both 1 Corinthians 13:13 and in Colossians 3:14 is the word agape. We have discussed this before but it is always good to remind ourselves of the true meaning of this word. It isn’t the way we use the word love in our culture today. We toss around the word love all of the time. I love pizza. I love that car. I love vacation. As my son Zane said a couple of days ago - I love gummy worms as he smears them over his face. Or as my lovely wife texted me recently, I love Goodwill. Now I’ll give her that one. She has quite the affinity for that establishment. I don’t think it quite reaches agape sacrificial love but it most certainly is stronger than brotherly love!
This Greek word for love here means sacrificial love. It is a love that only comes from Christ. And it is only something we can do if we have Christ.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
That is why Paul moves on in verse 14 to say that love binds everything together.
Three weeks ago we talked about being charged to follow Christ and forgive others. We discussed patience and dealing with strife among the church. My friends, trying to bear with one another and forgive one another is hard work. If you recall, I mentioned that patience was the fruit of the Spirit most akin to skinny jeans. Boy is it hard to put on! But what is the glue that Paul states binds us together even after we have conflict and struggles as a family of believers?
Love is the glue that binds us together. Not just any love. Our society preaches a false Gospel that love and acceptance and tolerance of every form of sin brings unity. Our culture also preaches that love is more of an emotional feeling that can change at any moment and that you can fall out of love and just walk away from relationships. Yet, the Bible teaches that those definitions fall far short of the true definition of agape love. The true love of Christ is what unifies us and is sacrificial in nature. We can be united in Christ and we can love one another because He first loved us. And we can love one another by His power who works in and through us to love our brothers and sisters.
Moving forward we see that through the love of Christ we can live in perfect harmony. Jesus mentioned this as well in John 17:23
I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Our oneness in Christ glorifies God and helps the world see their need for the Savior. Living in harmony with one another is paramount to living the Christian life.
Sadly, many churches in America have grown a reputation of being exclusive, clicky, judgmental, and unwelcoming.
How do we combat the default of human flesh which is selfishness and pride? We must put on love each and every day. The church is an interesting place with people that come from all different walks of life. We all have different backgrounds. We have different interests and hobbies. We have different preferences. But through loving one another by the power of Christ, we can maintain harmony and exude hospitality to our fellow believers and others that come visit our church. I pray that we continue to be a church that exudes hospitality and kindness. I have been blessed to see that our church is one that excels in this very well. May we continue to live in harmony through the love of Christ.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Moving forward in verse 15 we come to the peace of Christ. The peace of Christ is a glorious blessing. We have a promise from God that if we are in Christ we can have peace. It is one of the fruits of Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. It also is mentioned in Philippians 4:6-7.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We live in a world that is desperately looking for peace. Whether it is pleasure or substances - men and women daily try to find peace in all the wrong places. We also live in a world that is trying to find peace in uniting around causes. These causes are sometimes good and sometimes bad but each of them is not a cause that can ever fully unite people. Only Christ can fully unite people and give true peace. He is the only one in whom perfect peace and unity can be found.
Colossians 3:15 (ESV)
... And be thankful.
I love his short sentence at the end of verse 15. And be thankful. Thankfulness leads to joy and peace. I love how Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, adds this phrase.
Thankfulness includes both public thanks and private thanks. We can be outwardly thankful to others and we can be inwardly thankful to others. We can also be both outwardly and inwardly thankful to God. Thankfulness is the cure for jealously and coveting. When we are thankful for what the Lord has given us - love, joy, peace, salvation, our belongings, our family etc - then we are much less likely to covet other things or people or other situations.
In my own life, I can attest that some of the most peaceful and worshipful times I have had with the Lord have been in times of thankfulness. When walking in the dark and looking up at the sky with the stars and moon - I sometimes spend time in praise and worship of God in regards to His creation. I express thankfulness for making things so beautiful and making things to magnify His glory. Also in times of reflection of thankfulness for my wife and children - I am reminded of how great God is and worship Him for that.
If we want to have love, unity, and peace, we must be thankful to the Lord first and foremost - for His great love for us. And because of is great love for us we should worship Him through the way that we love. You should also:
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 13:13, John 17:23, Galatians 5:22-23, Philippians 4:6-7
II. You Should Worship God...Through the Way That You Live (16-17)
II. You Should Worship God...Through the Way That You Live (16-17)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This Word of Christ is both the Gospel and the Word of God written as the Scripture. We should proclaim it with our mouths and with our lives.
We are told that the Word should dwell in us richly - meaning that it should should not only make its home in us - it should be profitable in our lives. Others should see that this dwelling of the Word is changing us.
As this Word dwells us in us richly, we are to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Teaching is transferring information in an instructive way while admonishing is normally seen as a warning or passionate encouragement. We should do both. We need to teach one another but sometimes we need admonished. Sometimes we need encouraged with more than just a soft word. Sometimes we need a passionate encouragement to step up and serve the Lord or to flee from a certain sin in our lives. We are called to hold one another accountable and encourage and admonish one another as we walk this life. Obviously this is to be done in gentleness and humility. But we all need encouragement in that way throughout our Christian walk. And this admonishing and teaching needs to be done with all wisdom. Godly wisdom is being able to use knowledge rightly. It is knowing the right thing at the right time. And it comes only from the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
But how are we do this admonishing and teaching as a believer?
If we seek to be able to put on the good things and put off the sinful things then we need to be growing in the knowledge of God through His Word - namely the Bible. We are commanded to teach and admonish one another in the wisdom of the Scriptures. We don’t need to be offering our own opinions to our family and friends. We need to be telling others what God says through the Scriptures. Don’t instruct based on the principles of this world or based on your own experience or biases. Instruct others with the Word of God and what He has to say about it. Any advice that we give should be firmly rooted in God’s Word. Anytime you start a sentence of advice off with “I think” - take a step back and measure what you are thinking by the Word of God. Sometimes we can have some awfully ‘stinkin thinkin.’
Teaching and admonishing Biblically is another way that we worship God. God is glorified and worshiped through our Biblical instruction to others.
Moving forward we see that we are also commanded to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. There is something about lifting up worship to God as a body of believers that is special. It is probably because we are all the temple of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:19
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
So when we gather we have multiple people who have God Himself dwelling in them and are lifting our voices up to God. This is such a special blessing.
Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
...singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Let’s approach these three ways we are commanded to sing unto the Lord.
1. We Should Sing Psalms
This first is probably the most simple to understand. This likely refers to the Old Testament Psalms. Israel sang these Psalms at different times. There were songs of ascent that they sang each time they went to Jerusalem. They were called songs of ascent because no matter what direction you were coming, you were always going uphill to get to Jerusalem! Sounds a little like your parents or grandparents songs to school? They walked uphill both ways! There are multiple other genres of Psalms as well including lamentation, royal, thanksgiving, among others. Today, many of our worship songs include the Psalms or portions of the Psalms as well.
2. We Should Sing Hymns
Next we come to hymns. Hymns are expressions of praise to God. There is some thinking that certain sections of the New Testament were actually hymns of the early church. (See Colossians 1:15-20 and Philippians 2:6-11 - Referred to as the ‘Christ Hymn’).
3. We Should Sing Spiritual Songs
John MacArthur says in his commentary on Colossians that spiritual songs express what God has done for us. A Biblical example of this would be Revelation 5:9-10
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
This is one of the reasons that we try our best to pick Christ exalting songs at CrossPointe. We want our music to be Christ-centered and not man-centered. What we do for God is not what should be exalted. What God has done and continues to do for us is what is to be praised. Because everything good that we do is Christ working in us anyway! You may see us start the service off with a call to worship song that may be about us bringing praise to God which is perfectly fine. We do need to be reminded why we are gathered together - to praise our wonderful Creator. But we try to keep our next songs focused on the Person of Christ and exalting God. We are here to magnify God and not ourselves.
As we move forward we also see that these words in context carry the idea of teaching and admonishing. Our songs should not only be Christ-exalting and full of praise to God - they should be instructive about who Christ is and theologically sound. Too many contemporary Christian songs miss the mark on having proper theology. There is some really good stuff out there but you need to make sure you listen well to the words that you sing. You might just catch yourself singing some bad theology and I don’t think any of us want that!
Paul reiterates his command to be thankful again at the end of verse 16. As we have already discussed - our thankfulness leads to contentment.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Moving on to our last verse for today we get to an amazingly powerful statement.
Ultimately our entire life is to do the will of God and glorify Christ. Everything that we do or say should seek to honor and glorify Christ. If you can’t do something and feel like you are glorifying Christ - you shouldn’t do it.
Understanding this verse isn’t terribly difficult. It seems very straightforward that we are to glorify God in everything we say and do. Yet applying this verse has endless possibilities.
In order to understand how we should apply this verse in our lives, I think we need to break it down by both qualifiers we see here. First we see that we should glorify God by:
Whatever We Say (Word)
We discussed our need for gracious speech not too long ago. However, taming the tongue and controlling our words is one of the hardest things to do according to James.
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Our speech is so important because it reflects our heart as Jesus said that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34).
Everything we say should glorify God. As we have seen already alluded to by James, no one can control their tongue. We just don’t have the ability to do it.
But God does. He can help us to glorify God with our speech. We only must allow Him to work in our hearts and minds and change us from the inside out.
If you are someone who struggles with what you say then you really need to take Jesus’ words seriously. It is not a mouth problem - it is a heart problem. And when you use your mouth to curse others or put others down and then praise God later it does not bring God glory.
My friends, I pray that you repent and turn away from sinful talk and allow God to cleanse you from the inside out. May we glorify God and worship Him with our words.
2. Whatever We Do (Deed)
Finally we see that we should glorify God in all that we do. This is endlessly applicable command for us in our lives.
My friends - can you say that you glorify God in all that you do? I think we all would have to say no to that. But that doesn’t mean that we should not strive for that and allow God to help us in all areas.
Here are a few areas that we can consider in applying this command.
Do you glorify God with your job?
Are you a hard worker? Would you hire yourself to do a job? Do you bring glory to God or reproach to God by the way that you treat your fellow employees and boss?
Do you glorify God with your family?
If you are a child - do you obey your parents quickly and with a good attitude? Are you a joy to parent or do you cause strife and bring difficulty?
If you are a parent - are you overly harsh with your children? Or do you not discipline or direct your children at all and are more distant? Do you point your children to Christ and lead them in prayers and Bible reading?
In a couple of weeks we are going to have a sermon that really hits hard on the family. The family is being attacked in our culture from many angles and we need to be intentional about how we do family life.
Do you glorify God with your hobbies? Are they holy hobbies or are they not? Do they take you places that you shouldn’t go?
Moving forward we can apply this to anything else as well. Our main goal in life should be to glorify God and enjoy Him always as the old catechism stated. My friends, the Christian life is a gloriously rewarding life. It most certainly is difficult and has challenge after challenge. But we are called to worship in the midst of the storms and the beautiful skies. And we are called to worship in many ways.
Colossians 3:14–17 (ESV)
...... And be thankful. ...... with thankfulness in your hearts to God. .....giving thanks to God the Father through him.
And finally, we come to the end where Paul gives his third admonition to be thankful in 3 verses (154,16,17)! I think Paul ends this section noting that thankfulness is the key to worshiping God. Thankfulness to God removes all other idols from our lives and keeps our focus on Christ.
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 6:19, Colossians 1:15-20, Philippians 2:6-11, Revelation 5:9-10, James 3:7-8, Matthew 12:34
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, we have seen some different ways we can worship God.
We can worship God by loving others and loving Him.
We can worship God by living in peace and unity.
We can worship God by being thankful.
We can worship God by teaching and admonishing each other in the wisdom of the Word.
We can worship God by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
We can worship God by bringing Him glory in all that we say.
We can worship God by bringing Him glory in all that we do.
I pray that as you live your life, you see the different ways you can worship God and bring Him glory. And I pray that you are willing to step aside and let Him do a mighty work in you and through you in order to bring Him glory.
Our God never fails to use a willing vessel. Step aside, humble yourself before Him, and watch Him work through you. And then stand in awe and worship.
Let us pray.
Prayer
If you would like to learn more about salvation through Jesus Christ or want to obey Jesus by obeying the first commandment of a believer in going through the waters of baptism - please let me know.
Have a blessed week.