Transcript

Put On The New Self-Part Two

Colossians 3:15-17
Sunday, February 3, 2002
Pastor Randy Smith

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This past week I had the tremendous privilege of visiting the Department of Motor Vehicles in Eatontown. I waited in the infamous "line 14." Two hours later I proceeded to complete my vision and written road test thinking my dreaded responsibilities were almost completed, until I saw the computerized examination screen, which read, "Welcome Randy E . Smith." My middle initial is "A." What should I do? Does an incorrect middle initial really make that big of a difference? I reported the mistake to the official. What I expected to be a brief correction, forced me to begin the process over from the beginning. One hour later I found myself back at the written test station where I originally departed waiting in another line. I completed the written test, passed it, and assumed my day is over, until I heard, "Mr. Smith, we have a problem. Your Illinois license was expired." I told the lady that I had just had a birthday two weeks ago and was hoping she could cut me some slack. However she replied, "No sir, it expired over a year ago." I was confused. I always renewed my license. She proceeded to tell me that this was no problem, but I would need to take the roadside test. I haven't taken one of those tests since I was 16 and first applied for my license! Unfortunately I had no other options. I agreed to take the test. Upon returning to my car I suddenly remembered that the rearview mirror is missing. The day before at the Convalescent center Hailey pulled it off. I won't be allowed to take this test without a rearview mirror! No problem, I thought to myself, I still have time to fix the mirror before the facility closes. After visiting a few stores for the supplies, I found the materials and managed to make the necessary reparations in the parking lot of Pep Boys. I returned before 4:30, but to my surprise, the roadside testing department closed early. No one told me that! I came back the next morning, took the roadside test and assumed my nightmare had been completed. That is until the man in the car with me said, "Sir, did they look at the back of your license? You have a renewal sticker. This license is good through 2005." Everything as far as the roadside test was concerned was meaningless! I returned back to line #14, waited another two hours, got the photo taken and went home… seven hours total at the DMV!

I found it interesting how the Lord enabled me to seek some immediate application based on our recent sermons… put off anger, abusive speech… put on patience, forbearance, kindness and forgiveness.

With that in mind, let me give you three guidelines for success at the DMV. Clothe yourselves with some thick garments of patience and bring some extra patience in a duffel bag. Believe all things, but kindly double-check their work before proceeding to the next line. Memorize 1 Thessalonians 5:16 before arriving, the verse is only 2 words, "Rejoice Always." Those are three guidelines for success at the DMV, but what about the Christian life in general? If someone were to ask you, what three guidelines would you give another to live a productive and victorious Christian life?

Allow me to read the three guidelines Paul gave the Colossian church. "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 richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father" (Col. 3:15-17).

The three guidelines are very clear and they are the three points of the sermon this morning. They consist of The Peace of Christ (verse 15), The Word of Christ (verse 16), and The Name of Christ (verse 17).

After already spending two chapters on theology, which describe our new life in Christ, Paul then gave us 14 verses that mention specific character traits that should characterize our new life in Christ. He closes in this section with three general guidelines that are to permeate our new life in Christ.

When Christians "put on" these three general guidelines, they are guaranteed to grow spiritually, reduce anxiety, increase their joy, strengthen relationships, overcome sin and honor God. Do you want these things in your life? If so, you need these guidelines. These three priorities are a necessary prerequisite to be clothed with Christ and to live a victorious Christian life. Therefore it is essential that we understand them, and it is essential that we clothe ourselves in them. Let's begin with the first guideline, which revolves around the "Peace of Christ."

1. THE PEACE OF CHRIST

Paul said in verse 15, "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."

Peace is something all people in the world naturally seek after, whether it is the absence of sickness, the absence of personal conflict, or the absence of global warfare. Unfortunately most people fail to realize the true biblical definition of peace. They fail to realize the true need for peace. And they fail to realize the true source of peace.

Allow me to explain. Most humans define peace as the absence of conflict, but biblically peace is defined as tranquility and solitude in the midst of conflict. From the oldest book in the Bible, Job said, "For man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7). Conflict and sorrow will always be with us; they are part of this fallen world. But the Scriptures offer an ongoing peace not dependent on circumstances. A peace where the world can be falling apart and the individual can sing, "It is well with my soul."

The faulty thinking comes from the fact that most people see the need to overcome certain elements before they can have peace. However the Bible never promises any human being a freedom from war, natural disasters, persecution, sickness, or death while on this earth. They will always be with us. They are not the ultimate problem that all humans face. The ultimate problem, and ultimate source of conflict, is the need for sinful man to be reconciled with his Creator.

The Scriptures say that man has ignored God. "He has exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man" (Rom. 1:23). And because of his stubborn and unrepentant heart he is, "storing up wrath for (himself) in the day of…judgment" (Rom. 2:5). In order to receive true, ongoing and everlasting peace, the enmity between God and man must be overcome. But how is this done?

The answer, as you know, is Jesus Christ. He bridged the gap. The "Prince of Peace" as He is called in Isaiah 9, died on that cross to reconcile God to man and man to God. "Having made peace through the blood of His cross," Paul said in Colossians 1:20. Through faith in Christ's work on the cross, we can be forgiven. The hostility is removed, and we can be at peace with God. Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

So the peace we experience is objective . We know that our sins are forgiven and our relationship with God is restored. But the peace is also subjective . We can have a deep abiding peace in our heart knowing that God is in control and all things are working together for our good, knowing that He is a God who will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). This is the peace that dear Hannah Pegler experienced as we prayed together just before the Lord took her home. This is the peace that many persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ experience throughout the world as they face possible death for their faith. Christ brings us this peace because He is the embodiment of peace. He does not just bring us any kind of peace. He brings us His peace! Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you" (Jn. 14:27). We experience peace subjectively because we are united with Christ. We abide in His presence through the Holy Spirit who is constantly producing the fruit of peace in our lives (Gal. 5:22).

Verse 15 in Colossians 3 says that this "peace of Christ" is to rule in our hearts . This means that it is to reign. Literally, it is to "umpire." Christ's peace is to arbitrate, to help us decide, to counsel and comfort. The peace of Christ is not something we are to seek and apply occasionally; rather, we are to let it dominate, rule and take up complete residence in us so we can, as the verse continues, have peace with one another in the body and be thankful for all situations.

All of this must begin by having peace with God. It is only when we experience peace with God that we can we have relational peace with each other. And it is only when we experience ongoing, "noncircumstantial" peace with God (ongoing, unchanging, ever-present peace), that we will see Him in our trials as a loving Father always working all things for our good. When we experience this peace and come to this realization, only then can we follow the imperative closing verse 15, "be thankful." Or as Paul said it elsewhere, "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thes. 5:18). We are to be grateful for God's peace, and God's peace allows us to be grateful even during the most difficult circumstances both people and trials!

So the first guideline for victorious Christian living is to let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. This peace should be demonstrated in your relationships with other Christians (the body) and your ability to be grateful for all things. Let's look at the second guideline.

2. THE WORD OF CHRIST

Verse 16, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." The second guideline for victorious Christian living revolves around the "Word of Christ ".

Earlier we were to let the "Peace of Christ" indwell us; now in verse 16, we are to let the "Word of Christ" indwell us. The "Word of Christ" is the Christian message as it is contained in the Scriptures. It is to, verse 16, richly dwell within each believer. Literally to dwell means, "to take up residence" or "to be completely at home." Paul is basically saying that the Word of God is to have its gracious and glorious ways in our life by permeating every aspect and governing every thought. When we bleed, we are to bleed Bible, as Spurgeon once said.

How? How are we to let the "Word of Christ" dwell richly within us? We are to: hear it, read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it.

Obviously there are many benefits to a life saturated with the Scriptures (overcoming sin, evangelism, praising God, wise decisions, godly behavior, etc.), but one of those responsibilities according to verse 16 is to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. Earlier in this letter it was Paul who set himself forth as a teacher of the Gentiles, and yes, the Scriptures speak of gifted teachers and pastors who are to primarily handle the Word in the church environment. But now, Paul speaks of a corporate responsibility. Each Christian has a responsibility to teach and admonish one another. Of course this will not necessarily be a formal teaching platform, but every Christian indwelt with the Word needs an obvious outlet. As we take the Word in, our outlet is informally teaching and admonishing those whom God brings into our life such as our children, our spouse and other fellow believers. We are to instruct them with what God has taught us. All of us should be teaching and admonishing because all of us should be richly indwelt with the Word. Therefore the teaching and admonishing spoken of in this verse is simply an overflow of our personal time in the Word.

That concept is simple; however; the connection with the remainder of the verse, "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" is difficult. There are three options. Possibly these three avenues are a suggested method of biblical instruction, possibly they are a result of being filled with the Spirit (Word dwells within me, the Spirit is the author of the Word, the by-product is joyful praise) as they are in Ephesians 5, or possibly they are simply ways, as the verse concludes, to express our thankfulness to God.

Without a doubt, there is biblical truthfulness to all three of these options. However, I think the natural flow of the text lends one to believe that they were methods for imparting instruction. Prior to the invention of printing, hymns and songs were a necessary and invaluable means of implanting Christian teaching.

I had a good friend who is a music pastor in Texas e-mail me some lyrics this week to modern praise songs. If we had more time, I'd read them to you, but the theological depth was nothing above the capabilities of my 4-year-old daughter. An interesting activity would be to compare their words with the old hymns or better yet, the oldest hymns contained in the Scriptures (Philippians 2, Colossians 1). An author once said, "Worship should lead to greater understanding of theological truth. If we contrast the theological depth of the prose hymn in Colossians 1:15-20 with examples from modern praise choruses, we can see more clearly how trivial and insubstantial some of what we sing in our worship is."

It is our responsibility to instruct through preaching, but based on verse 16 we are also to instruct through musical worship. People ask me, why do we sing these old hymns? The reason we sing these old hymns is because they contain theological meat. They teach and admonish us in the ways of Christ. Furthermore, our goal in worship is not to make people sentimentally or mystically happy (that's man-centered worship). Rather, it is to have them, through sound biblical theology, come into the presence of the living God and then express that true adoration and true joy through worship. Remember, our goal in worship is not to entertain you for God is the audience here! We are to (verse 16) "sing with thankfulness in (our) hearts to God." And in order for our worship to go high to the throne room of God, it must first go deep to fill our hearts and minds with sound biblical theology. Therefore, we sing these songs because they go deep, they instruct and they complement the Word of Christ indwelling your heart and the Word of Christ proclaimed from this pulpit.

Guideline #2 for victorious Christian living is to let the "Word of Christ" richly indwell you and allow it to overflow as you continually teach and admonish others. Lastly, in verse 17 we find our third guideline.

3. THE NAME OF CHRIST

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father" (Col. 3:17). Guideline #3 revolves around the "Name of Christ".

Possibly this is the simplest and most basic rule for Christian living. It's almost as if Paul, in concluding this section, said, "If I left anything out, bottom line, do everything for the glory of Christ!" Guideline #3 leaves no room for exceptions or excuses. Every word that passes from your lips, every deed that your body produces, everything is to be unto the Name of Jesus!

The Name of Jesus is inclusive of all that He is, and all that He does. Paul is speaking of behavior entirely consistent with His character. We are Christians, meaning "little Christs." We identify ourselves completely with Him. We seek to be like Him. We glorify Him through our words and deeds. But also realize because of this identity that a few seconds of personal sin can disgrace the greatest of names.

A few years ago, I heard of a youth group that was nicknamed "Whatever". Though their name appears to cater to the modern dishonoring adolescent expression "whatever" (sarcastically), in reality it was the summary of 1 Corinthians 10:31 which says, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

As we consider our three guidelines, is there any more practical or comprehensive guideline than this one? Whatever we do whether it is exercising, hobbies, yard work, doing the dishes, driving, shopping, or talking it is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. There is no distinction between worship and daily living, no distinction between the sacred and the secular. All is to be done in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving. Worship is more than Sunday morning. Everything is worship! And Paul did not just say Jesus Christ, rather he said the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is also obedience!

By way of review, what are the three guidelines for victorious Christian living? One, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, which will be demonstrated in your relationships with other Christians and your ability to be grateful for everything. Two, let the Word of Christ richly indwell you and allow it to overflow as you continually teach and admonish others with thankfulness. Three, do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus with thanksgiving.

These guidelines are overarching for living a victorious Christian life. Two are passive ("let"); one is active ("do"). We cannot do everything in the Name of Jesus until we "let" the peace and Word of Christ rule and indwell our hearts. Isn't it interesting that all three of these guidelines are necessary for every decision we make? Does it produce peace? Is it in line with the Word? Does it glorify God? Isn't it interesting that all three of these guidelines are characteristic of Christ? He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Word. He lives as the second person of the Trinity to glorify the Father. And finally, isn't it interesting that all three of these guidelines each mention "thanksgiving" in their respective verse? Verse 15, "be thankful;" verse 16, "singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God;" verse 17, "giving thanks through Him to God the Father".

So as we transition to communion, are you clothed with these three priorities in your life? Do you implement them in every decision you make? Does thanksgiving permeate all aspects of your life?