WWUTT 078 Perfect Harmony (Colossians 3:15-16)

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November 24, 2015

00:00: Did you know that the Bible is like 60 % poetry? So yeah, it should come as no surprise that the
00:06: Apostle Paul encourages us to live in harmony with one another and that we are to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
00:17: Let the very lives that we live be a beautiful song in the ears of our
00:22: Lord when we understand the text. You are listening to When We Understand the
00:35: Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
00:44: And don't forget our website, www .utt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
00:50: Thank you, Becky. Yesterday, we talked about being experts in forgiveness rather than experts in one another's weaknesses.
00:58: And this going along with Colossians 3, verse 13, where we are told to bear with one another.
01:04: And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the
01:10: Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. We are not supposed to keep a list of everyone's mistakes in our back pocket, like a registry of one another's sins.
01:24: This would go against something Paul said previously in Colossians 2, where he said that God canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
01:35: This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. So that record that was kept against us because of all the sins that we had committed,
01:45: God canceled the record of debt, nailing it to the cross of Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself in our place.
01:52: Would you want anyone bringing up a list of that record that the Bible says has been canceled by the sacrifice of Christ?
02:00: Then why would you do it to someone else? You know that you don't walk in forgiveness perfectly.
02:07: Your brother does not walk in forgiveness perfectly. So let's extend grace toward one another.
02:14: Yes, there are times when we are to admonish one another, which Paul says a little bit later on in Colossians 3, 16.
02:22: To admonish means to reprove with goodwill, to correct somebody with good intentions.
02:30: So we do this in a polite and brotherly way, not making enemies of one another, as Paul talks about in Second Thessalonians 3.
02:37: But we do this as brothers with one another. So don't become that nitpicky, constantly throwing at somebody this list of transgressions.
02:49: That's what the devil does. That is demonic work. The devil, the accuser who is constantly reminding us of our sins.
02:57: Rather, we need to be godly in extending grace and forgiveness toward one another.
03:02: Now, obviously, this is the way that we are supposed to behave toward one another in the body of Christ. But when it comes to a person who is not a
03:10: Christian, who is not walking in the grace of Christ, wouldn't we keep a record of their sins and transgressions so that we can show them how they are behaving so that they would repent of that sin and come to know
03:22: Christ? Rather, I think we need to be examples of grace, even to the lost.
03:28: Let me give you an example of this from Holly Holm. You know who Holly Holm is, right?
03:34: She beat Ronda Rousey in the big UFC fight 193 in Australia a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if you watch the fights or not.
03:40: I do. I'm a fight guy. I will admit it. But Holly Holm, who's been referred to as the preacher's daughter, that's her nickname.
03:47: I don't know if she's a Christian or not. I really have not looked into her faith. But I think that something that came about in an interview with Larry King displays the kind of grace
03:56: I think we need to show even to those who are unbelievers, as Ronda Rousey is.
04:02: So Holly Holm, perhaps a Christian. Ronda Rousey clearly is not. And here's how the interaction between these two individuals went.
04:09: There are videos and photos out there of Holm hugging Ronda Rousey and saying something to her immediately after the historic main event fight a couple of weekends ago in Australia.
04:21: But what did Holm tell the now former champ? I'm reading from an article on MMAfighting .com
04:27: and here's what Holm said. She said, I just told her, you know, I really admire you for being such a great dominant champion.
04:35: None of us would be here without you. So I appreciate you. Rousey did not touch gloves with Holm before the fight and made a scene at the weigh -ins calling
04:47: Holm fake. The two also got into a small skirmish during the faceoff. Rousey took exception to Holm, putting her fist near her jaw.
04:55: Holm, though, told Larry King that she didn't have anything against Rousey, even after that show of disrespect and after the lack of a glove touch.
05:06: No, it's a high emotion sport, Holm said. King then asked Holm if she thought Rousey was a poor sport and Holm deflected.
05:13: I think she's done great for the sport because she's so passionate about what she does and carries this confidence about her,
05:19: Holm said. Everybody has their own ways of dealing with their emotions in the sport.
05:26: Folks, there is a display of grace from Holly Holm to Ronda Rousey.
05:32: She could have sat before Larry King and said, oh, yeah, what was up with that chick? Not touching gloves with my gloves?
05:38: What in the world was up with that? I mean, what a poor sport. And then calling me fake and the whole bit while I showed her in the ring, didn't
05:44: I? Holm could have said that. And there would have been people sitting on the other side of that interview clapping, going, yeah, you go,
05:51: Holly Holm. But that's not what she did. Rather than becoming an expert in Rousey's weaknesses and listing off all of the things that Rousey did wrong,
06:01: Holly Holm became an encourager of Rousey's strengths and showed grace to her instead.
06:09: And I think that when it comes to winning the loss, that's exactly the way that we need to be. Yes, we do need to point out sin.
06:16: There are times and places where we must do that. And we do that out of grace and out of love, but not going through a whole list of sins.
06:26: It's not necessary for us to have to do that. In fact, don't let the conversation go toward a constant nitpicking of a person's faults, because what that person who is not a believer is the impression that they're going to be left with is that God keeps a list and a record of all the things that we've done wrong.
06:45: And yet we read in the scriptures, Psalm 103, that God takes our sins and throws them as far as the east is from the west.
06:52: And he remembers them no more. He does not keep these lists of sins against us when he has forgiven us our trespasses.
07:00: He remembers them no more. If we are faithful to ask forgiveness for our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of all unrighteousness.
07:09: First John one nine. He takes that record of debt and nails it to the cross.
07:15: It is paid for in Christ. So folks, let us not toward believers or unbelievers show ourselves as a kind of person that keeps this list of a record of sins.
07:27: Instead, let us forgive as we know in Christ Jesus, we have been forgiven.
07:33: Colossians chapter three, starting in verse 12 is where we are again today before opening up this text and reading this paragraph.
07:40: Again, let's go to the Lord in prayer, our wonderful and great God, our loving and benevolent heavenly father, always showing love toward us.
07:50: We were beloved before the foundation of the world. You had shown love and compassion to us before we were even born.
07:59: And so God is those who are in Christ. Let us extend the same compassion to others, kindness and humility, meekness and patience help us to bear with one another.
08:11: And instead of complaining about each other and keeping a list of all of these debts and record of wrongs.
08:17: Instead, let us forgive each other as the Lord has forgiven us. So we must also forgive, give us your spirit that we might have that kind of grace toward one another members of the body of Christ.
08:30: And even those who have not yet come to know the grace of Christ, let us be the extension of that grace to them so that they might know and experience the grace of our
08:40: Lord, repenting of sin and coming to salvation. Give us your spirit to understand the scriptures today as we come to them.
08:48: And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Colossians chapter three, starting in verse 12, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience bear with one another.
09:08: And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the
09:13: Lord has forgiven you. So you must also forgive 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.
09:35: Let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing
09:41: 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
09:52: Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the father through him. We've been through verses 12 and repeated again today already.
10:02: Verse 13, let's go to verse 14 above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
10:11: And those of you who are musically inclined, who are musically minded, you would, you would probably associate with that real well.
10:17: This, this concept of being bound together in a perfect harmony. When we are in harmony with one another, the notes aren't exactly the same.
10:27: Okay. That's the melody line when we're all singing the main line of the song.
10:32: Okay. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Okay. That's the melody line when we're all singing that way.
10:38: But when you have that interval of a third above, or maybe the interval of a fourth below, and you kind of carry that those notes that compliment the melody line, but they're not exactly the same as the melody.
10:51: That's the harmony. And so we harmonize with one another in the way that we are to compliment each other.
10:59: Now, there is a term that goes with this in the way that we are supposed to interact in the church, men and women, young and old.
11:06: The term that goes with this is complimentarian. Men are designated for certain roles as men, women in the church are designated for certain roles as women, the older are meant to be more revered than the younger.
11:21: They are supposed to mentor the younger and the younger supposed to respect their elders. Okay. And in this way, we compliment one another in the church.
11:31: There are even ways that the older can learn from the younger and the ways that we compliment one another with our strengths and our weaknesses.
11:38: This is referred to as complimentarian. Okay. As families, we encourage complimentarianism, meaning that a husband has been called according to scripture to be the head of the household described in Ephesians five and in other places, women are supposed to be submissive to their husbands.
11:56: That means that a woman realizes that the man has been created to be the head of the household as Christ is the head of the church.
12:04: And what does the head do for the body? It provides everything for the body. It's the control center for the body.
12:09: It nourishes the entire body. So that's what a husband, a father is supposed to do for his family.
12:16: That's what a husband does for his wife. And the wife is supposed to be submissive to her husband and allow him to have that role.
12:23: But the wife in this way also shows she displays in her actions, how everyone in the church is supposed to be submissive to one another's callings and respective spiritual gifts, but also how each person is supposed to be submissive to Christ himself.
12:40: So the woman is the model of submissive behavior in this way.
12:45: The wife is the model of submissive behavior. This is complimentarianism and we are meant to compliment one another in the body of Christ, harmonizing with each other, giving strength to one another's musical notes, musical calling, the song that each person sings.
13:04: We would compliment their song with our song. And this is how we harmonize with each other.
13:10: We bind everything together in perfect harmony. Above all these, verse 14, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
13:21: I love the description of putting on love. Notice that when we go back to verse 12, the start of the paragraph, this started with put on, put on then as God's chosen ones, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
13:37: These are things that we put on. They are things that we wear. And then as we go on and above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
13:50: We have this in 1 Thessalonians 5, 8, since we belong to the day. In other words, since we are children of the day of the
13:57: Lord, and that is where our hope is. We are looking forward to that day when Christ returns and ushers in his peaceful kingdom.
14:04: Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
14:14: Now we've talked about three essential Christian virtues before faith, hope, and love.
14:20: And Paul puts all three of those in that one verse there. 1 Thessalonians 5, 8, we put on the breastplate of faith and love.
14:27: Now that's interesting because in Ephesians 6, we have the breastplate described as the breastplate of righteousness.
14:34: Well, isn't faith and love executed in righteousness? If we are to be loving toward one another, isn't that the righteousness of Christ that we are displaying to one another?
14:45: Let us put on love and wear it like an armor. It is protecting.
14:50: It protects us. It protects one another. It's also our jersey, by the way. You notice that breastplates often have kind of the logo of the army that particular soldier is fighting for.
15:03: Well, as you put on your breastplate, center mass, it also displays the logo of the team that you fight for.
15:09: And so if we are in Christ, we put on a breastplate of faith and love showing that Christ is our savior and it is his kingdom that we belong to.
15:19: These are our weapons. Our weapons, our protection of warfare are not flesh and blood, but rather they are of the spirit.
15:27: The sword of the spirit, as it's described in Ephesians chapter 6, is the very word of God. So let us hold to these things and these instructions as we are soldiers fighting in the army of Christ Jesus.
15:41: Above all these things, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Verse 15.
15:47: Yeah, I'm going to do more than one verse today and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
15:53: Rule. Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Let it be dominant in your heart.
16:01: Let everything that you do flow from that peace that you have in your heart, as is described in Philippians 4, 7, a peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
16:15: It's beyond all understanding because it is a peace we have with God. It is not merely a relaxation of the body.
16:22: As Jesus said to his disciples, peace, I give you not as the world gives, but as I give, because the peace that we have in Christ is the forgiveness of sins.
16:33: And it is a very peace that we have with God, the record of debt being canceled, right?
16:38: So when we stand before the throne of judgment, we do not stand in fear because we know that our record of debt was paid by Christ and it is his name that we wear.
16:49: And he is the one who steps forward on our behalf and says, he is mine. She is mine.
16:56: Well done, good and faithful servant. Now great is your reward because of what
17:02: Christ has done for us. So let that peace that we have with God through our savior,
17:09: Jesus Christ, let it rule in your hearts. Everything that you do flows from that peace, knowing that there is nothing held against you, that you are forgiven and guaranteed eternity because of the love and grace, the compassion, the kindness, humility, the patience that has been displayed toward you in our savior
17:28: Christ. Because of those things, you have peace with God. Let that peace rule in your heart and let everything that you do flow from that to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful in one body.
17:45: Ephesians four one through six. I therefore the apostle Paul, a prisoner for the
17:50: Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
18:07: You get that eager to maintain unity, not causing division, but encouraging unity.
18:13: There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.
18:19: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
18:28: Boy, that sounds real familiar to this section, doesn't it? Here there is not Greek and Jews circumcised and uncircumcised barbarians get enslaved free, but Christ is all and in all.
18:39: Colossians 3 11 and closing with this passage, Romans 15 five and six. May the
18:44: God of endurance and encouragement, the God of endurance and encouragement.
18:50: So shouldn't we be that way? Grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the
19:02: God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ and all God's people said, amen.
19:09: This has been when we understand the text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt
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