The Robe We Wear - Colossians 3:12-17

Good to see everybody here this morning, and we pray for, say hello to those that are watching via online for a number of reasons, but we'd love to have you here, but God is in control and we know that he will let his word go forth as he desires, so thank you for being here.

Not much in the way of announcements, I continue to encourage you to come out Sunday mornings at 9 .30, it's just a little bit earlier getting up for some of you maybe, but Pastor Elgin is just doing a marvelous job of really doing a deep dive into the Psalms, and it's very rich, it's just a handful of verses and there's just so much depth and so much background to that, and it's been a real blessing.

Speaking for me, it has been, and for my wife as well. Sorry, but we only have one overhead today, so I put a little kink in your neck and you can look that way, and I did put some hymnals in the back, I think we're going to try to do that.

If some of you just like to have a hymnal in your hand, they're in the back table there, so as you come in, feel free to just grab one and bring it up and just put it back if you could, that would be good too.

Those of you who can read, read music and so on. And men's Bible study, Saturdays at 3 .30, it's still going well, it was there yesterday, but praise God for that. Much going on, Pastor Elgin hasn't been here but a few months and let me tell you, there's no grass growing under his feet.

He's on the move, and we thank the Lord for him, and we thank you for Lauren as well. So, continue to bless you that way. I wanted to just share briefly before we go to the Lord in prayer, talking about praise, you know, we say the word praise all the time as Christians, you know, we praise God, praise, praise, praise.

Praise and worship, but we sometimes lose sight of its meaning. In Hebrew, there's actually seven root meanings for the word praise, just to name a few, halal, to boast foolishly, to make a show of it, to praise vocally in song or shouts, to praise with instruments, a shouting call for corporate praise, to lift and throw our arms upward in praise and surrender, to sing praises together as one community, reach out with affection for God, to feel his hold on us.

That's rich, and we truncate it by just saying that one word, but let's try to remember what that is. And another way of describing praise is to call, another definition for that is, it's calling attention to his glory, it's to proclaim his worth, his merit.

The Psalms, and also are really the centerpiece of what praise is. If you want to find out and understand more about what praise is, read into the Psalms. That's a great place for that study. God has formed for himself a people to praise him.

This is kind of preparation for what we're going to do when we get to heaven someday, is to praise him, with not all the encumbrances and all the baggage that we carry around with us, we just keep dragging it around, you know, and we confess it, and we drag it around some more, but we need to always, when we get to heaven, we won't have all those filters in front of us.

So I'd like to read Psalm 66, just the beginning, and you can listen. Make a joyful shout to God all the earth, sing out the honor of his name, make his praise glorious, say to God, how awesome are your works, through the greatness of your power, your enemies shall submit themselves to you, all the earth shall worship you, and sing praises to you, they shall sing praises to your name.

Let us do that this morning, think about that as we praise our Lord and we worship him, from our hearts, this is not, praise is not something on the outside, what's inside can manifest itself on the outside, but it has to start right here.

If it doesn't start here, then it's just mere show. So, let's go to the word and prayer, please. Lord God, we thank you that you have brought us here together, Father, that we might worship you in spirit and in truth, that we might not be distracted by the things of this world, that we would look to you for all wisdom and hope and truth and peace, Father, for it is only through you that we can find and have true peace, through your son, Jesus Christ.

God, we pray for those that are sick and are ill at home, that are struggling that way, Father, we pray for healing, we pray that you would give them rest, that you would bring the word of your truth before them, either in word or through the mouth of a fellow brother or sister that's visiting them, Father, but God, be with them, bless their hearts as they struggle through and rely on and rest upon you, Father.

Father, we pray for all of the, for our nation, for our local government, for our federal government, Father, that there's so much going on in our country right now, Father, that could be disconcerting, that could be challenging, that could be depressing in a way, but Father, you are in control.

You have, we have victory in you, we need not worry, we need not be, become despondent over any of that, because you love us and you have promised to care for us and to save us, Father, so may we, that be our focus, Father, as well.

So God, today we pray that you would prepare our hearts for this service as we lift our voices to you, that we might edify the saints, that we might bring you glory, Father, and praise you honorably and in a worthy manner, and that as we prepare our hearts for communion afterwards, that we would reflect on our own lives and search our own hearts to see if there be any wicked way in that so that we can come before the throne of grace in a worthy manner.

So God, we thank you and give you praise in all things, in Christ's name, amen.

You O Lord, our God, are full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in mercy and truth, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne, mercy, truth, go before your face. And let's stand and sing, we are God's people.

Scripture reading for this morning is Galatians chapter 5, 22 -26. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against which there is no law.

And those who are in Christ have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, and harming one another.

May the Lord bless you to remain in his work.

Let's stand and sing the love of God.

Please turn with me to Colossians chapter 3, verses 12 -17. Colossians chapter 3, verses 12 -17. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. This is the word of God. Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful that you have rescued us from our sin through Jesus Christ, your Son, who bore all of our sin on the cross, and He faced your wrath, so that we may be forgiven and be united with Him in death and resurrection.

And God, we pray that your Spirit would warm our hearts and quicken our hearts to listen to your word and to be fed your word. Father, we pray that your truth would flush out the lies we've heard all this week.

In Jesus' name, amen. How we dress affects what we do. This is true in a literal sense. As some of you know, I enjoy wearing my Hawaiian shirts on any normal day. However, on Sunday mornings, when I am preaching, I dress in a nicer way because it affects my preaching and how my preaching is heard.

This is true for many jobs as well. That's why these jobs have uniform dress codes. The employers know how their workers are dressed will impact what they do at their job. How we dress impacts what we do.

Last week, Paul exhorted us to take off the clothes that are not of Christ, the former clothes, the clothes of sin, such as fornication, uncleanness, passion, etc. This week, Paul commands us to put on the things of Christ, the robe of Christ.

This, of course, is the implication. It's the result of our unity with Christ. Because we are saved, we're united with Christ, we get to put the new clothes on. Who we are affects what we wear, and what we wear affects how we live.

The main point for this sermon is because we are dressed in Christ's robe, we do everything centered on Christ. Because we're dressed with Christ's robe, we do everything centered on Christ. My first point is, after we have put off the old clothes, we put on Christ's robe.

After we put off the old clothes, we put on Christ's robe. After commanding us to put off the filthy rags of sinful old selves, Paul exhorts us to put on the qualities of the new man, the new humanity, the new Adam.

Verse 12, Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering. When we put off the sinful habits and traits, we do not remain undressed.

We have to put on the things of Christ. However, Paul reminds us again that what we put on starts with who we are. Your identity doesn't depend on what you put on, but it has to first start with your identity in Christ.

Christian living does not begin with our effort in what we put on, and our appearance, how people view us. But rather, it starts with our identity in Christ, who we are because of Christ's atoning work on the cross.

Because Christ made us into a new creation, we are able to put on these heavenly clothes. Before we take a look at the new clothes, we must examine who we are, the elect of God, holy and beloved. These three words are historically and scripturally significant, because they were the very words that God used to describe the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 7, 6 through 8.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession. The Lord did not set His affection on you and chose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your ancestors that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh the king of Egypt.

We've seen those three words in Colossians repeated in Deuteronomy. It shows that the church is the true people of God. Moreover, these words, these three words also perfectly describe who Jesus is. He's the chosen one.

He's the holy one. He's the beloved son. It would be a time well spent to go through the whole New Testament and compile a list of times when Jesus is called chosen, holy, and beloved. And astoundingly in Christ, God makes the church His people as He did for Israel in the Old Testament.

In Christ, God makes the church to reflect the characteristics of His beloved son, Jesus, chosen, holy, and beloved. Let's go over what these mean. First, the elect of God means the chosen ones of God.

This means God in His mercy and grace chose you to be His. You did not accidentally stumble into Christianity, but God desired to save you. You're not a Christian because your parents are, but you were chosen by God.

This echoes God's choice of Israel in the Old Testament. Before Christ, out of all the ethnic groups in the whole world, God chose Israel, the Jewish nation, the seeds of Abraham. Before Christ, only the Jews were the chosen people.

Before Christ, it was a matter of which family you were born into. After Christ's atoning death on the cross, God unites all peoples for Himself. Now, God's elect are not just the Jews, but the Gentiles also.

Now, Christians are the chosen people in Christ. We're grafted in. They're now God's treasured possession. What an honor. It is precisely through this new identity as the elects we put on the new cross.

Our second identity reflects our holiness. We're made holy in Christ. We're set apart from the filth of the world in Christ. We're made pure and clean because we are united with Christ, the holiest one of all, the cleanest one of all, the purest one of all.

It is not that we obey the law perfectly or abstain from all the impure things under the old covenant. No, we're made holy to reflect the holy God by Christ who took on all of our sin and all of the unholy things and nailed it to the cross.

And it is precisely in our union with Christ we're made holy. We're not holy by our own efforts, but we're made holy by our own actions. We're made holy in Christ. We're set apart first and foremost by being united with Christ, the holiest one of all.

And in our unity with his death, we're dead to the unholy, impure, unclean things. Our third identity reflects our relationship with God. When we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection, we belong to him.

We are his. He will never abandon you. He will never abuse you. He'll never be vicious toward you. You will always have access to God the Father in Christ. He will provide for you as the father, as a father would to his children.

He will lead you to his best plan for you. This is not the greatest wealth that you could possibly accumulate, but a personal transformation to become more like his beloved son, Jesus. That's your relationship with God.

God loves you. And now as a new people of God in Christ, we put on the new clothes, tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and long suffering. First, tender mercies mean compassion. If you look at Jesus' ministry, compassion or tender mercies is what drove him to the sick and sinners.

And the direct translation of compassion or tender mercies is your inner parts. It's your guts. It's from his guts he was driven to the sick and the needy, to the sinners and the prostitutes. His whole self desired, longed for them to be well and to be loved.

Look at Matthew 14, 14. And when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. Even before feeding the 5 ,000, Jesus was moved with compassion because the crowd was like sheep without a shepherd.

Before interacting with the sinners and the sick, Jesus was moved with compassion. His inside moved for the helpless. And when we put on compassion, we are putting on one of Jesus' characters, which drove him to serve and to save.

And when we put on compassion, we reflect Jesus' heart for those who are in need. And it starts with the people around us. Second, we put on kindness. This is also one of God's characteristics. It shows the abundance of God's goodness and grace towards sinners.

Paul says in Romans 2 that it is out of God's kindness that he patiently waits for sinners to repent. God is not some apathetic ruler who does not care about the world that he's created, right? The cosmic watchmaker.

Let the clock run. He is also not a petty deity who strikes with a lightning bolt anyone who opposes him. God is a merciful and kind king who desires even a little bit of mercy in his enemies to repent and to be saved.

And as a new humanity in Christ, we show this type of kindness to others. That's what we wear. We reflect our Father's kindness to those around us. Third, we put on humility. This is the true humility that contrasts with the false humility of the Colossian heresies.

While the false humility is self-centered through various ascetic practices, such as not eating certain foods, such as not drinking, such as fasting for multiple days and drawing attention to self, true humility lowers that self.

It does not draw any attention to oneself. The best example of humility is of course Jesus himself. Philippians 2 .8 says that in being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.

Jesus, although God, became man to die on the cross in obedience to his Father. And the cross, the crucifixion, the main function was an execution because execution could have been done easily with a sword, very quick.

It was to cause utter humiliation. And Jesus obediently walked that path. Jesus' heart was toward obeying his Father and saving his people. His desire was not for his own life because he gave that up.

He laid that down. It was purely other-oriented. Christians, because we are united with Christ, our postures and actions must be dressed in humility as well. We ought to reflect the humble King whom we serve, whom we're united to.

Our actions and choices are not about us but about Jesus. It is for the good of the others. Fourth, we put on meekness where some translations render gentleness. While many are passionate about the fruit of the Spirit, right, love, joy, peace, patience, patience, but many do not really get excited about gentleness.

This may be partly due to our culture's low view of meekness or gentleness, or it also could be due to our lack of understanding of the beauty and warmth of gentleness that we find in God. Gentleness is more than just opening the door for the lady behind you.

Although it includes that, it is much more than that. Gentleness is best seen in our Savior. After all, Jesus describes his heart for his people as gentle and lowly. In Matthew 11, Jesus' heart flows with gentleness.

It's saturated in gentleness. To those who come to Jesus, he will always receive them. He never rejects any of them. He never humiliates them. He never shames them. What took you so long? He never brings up your old sins.

Hey, remember that one time you did? Instead, Jesus warmly welcomes them. Jesus is utterly approachable in your deepest needs. He is prepared for you at your lowest point. This is what a 17th century English theologian says of Christ.

Jesus can no more cast off poor sinners for their ignorance and want of wonderings than a nursing father should cast away a sucking child for its crying. Jesus cannot ignore you or abandon you when you come to him in your sin and brokenness.

No more than a nursing father, a father of a newly born child, ignore his crying baby. That's his heart. That's gentleness. As the body of Christ, we exhibit that gentleness. Of our savior to the world.

Fifth, we put on long suffering, long suffering or patience is one of the attributes of God that he reveals to us many times in the Bible. Even in Exodus 34, when the Lord passes by, his name is the Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious and long suffering, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

And the reason why we don't perish the moment we sin, although we deserve to, and God is fully capable of doing that is because he is long suffering. He is patient toward not only his people, but toward even unbelievers.

The reason why the world has not ended yet. And trust me, we have the full capacity to end the world. Despite how much evil we have done, it's because God is patient. He's long suffering. That's who he is.

He patiently waits for sinners to come to him in repentance. And we put on our patience that God continuously has for us. And when we're clothed with Christ's attributes, our interactions change dramatically.

Verse 13, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. How we dress, how we behave affects how we live.

When we put on the characteristics of Christ, we naturally change how we interact with each other. We bear with one another. We endure each other. And this is necessary for the church because we are still sinners being sanctified.

But the difference between the church and the world is the world doesn't have to bear with one another. The world can cancel one another. The world can rebuke one another. The world can mock one another.

The world can cut relationships with one another. Not so the church. We bear with one another. We endure one another. We suffer with one another. Not only that, we forgive one another. This means we forfeit our right to take vengeance.

This does not mean you forget and allow people to sin against you over and over again. That is not forgiveness. It means we surrender our right to avenge ourselves to God, the true judge. What is the reason?

We forgive because Christ forgave us first. Do you remember how Paul described forgiveness in chapter 2, verse 14 of Colossians? By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. We are to forgive as Jesus has forgiven us. First, we don't partially forgive. Christ did not partially forgive you so that you can earn the rest. When he was nailed on the cross, he paid for every single sin that we are going to commit and we have committed and we are committing.

Second, when Christ forgives, he doesn't bring it up a year later. Thus, when you forgive, you don't hold it against someone later. Now, this does not mean you trust someone who has hurt you. Trust is a different matter than forgiveness.

You're not called to be a doormat and keep getting victimized, right? Keep getting abused. No, you need to seek safety and you got to stop letting the other person sin against you. But forgiveness is a complete cancellation of debt.

This person doesn't hold anything against you. You don't hold anything against this person anymore. It's done once and for all and we don't bring it up again. We leave it to God who is the ultimate judge.

Then Paul summarizes our wardrobe in verse 14. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Love is the tuxedo jacket that you put on over all the other clothing. It's the supreme virtue.

It's what makes your attire complete. It binds everything together in perfect harmony. Love is your desire for the other person to pursue God's best for them. It is purely other-centered and God-focused.

Because of love, you are able to swallow your pride and forgive. Because of love, you can be patient with your family members. Compassion is only virtuous when it's done out of love. Compassion without love is condescension.

Oh, let me help you with that. You obviously can't. That's not compassion at all. Without love, you cannot be gentle. How can you? Your desire isn't for the other person to do well, to pursue God's best.

Love gives the full force to all of these virtues. Love is the engine of a car that allows the whole vehicle to move. In the current age, love, the concept of love has been cheapened to mean doing or saying only the nice things.

Or you may have heard it this way, the 11th commandment, thou shalt always be nice. The modern definition takes the focus away from God and in the end, it does not serve nor benefit the other person at all.

For example, imagine a doctor who does not tell his patient that the patient has cancer because it's not a nice thing to share. How loving is that? Imagine a father who lets his son keep playing video games all night despite his character suffering, his skill suffering.

He's not having any good relationship with anyone around because he thinks it's not nice to take it away. Love, that love, the cheapened love, in the end does not care about the other person. It leaves the person in the horrible situation and in the end, it actually only cares about you because you actually seem nice, right?

It's about your appearance, how you're viewed rather than the greater good of the other person's life. The most serious consequence of niceness in the culture is that the whole counsel of God is not preached.

The whole Bible is not preached because there are some offensive things in the Bible to the culture and there have always been offensive things in the Bible to any culture. There are pastors who will never preach on sin or hell, exclusivity of Christ for salvation because they think it's unloving to offend people's feelings.

However, it is the most hateful thing to leave a sinner thinking that he is all good with God. These pastors will gladly speak of God's blessings, God is your father, God gives you peace during a hard time, all of them, they're true.

But if the reality of sin is not preached, then no one will know their dire need for the good news of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. We know and experience God's great love for us precisely because he loves us despite our sins.

He loves us so much that he sent his son to take care of sin for us dying on the cross. God is our father because we are adopted after he forgave us of our sin. And God gives you peace because that peace was purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

You and God are only good because Jesus took care of the biggest problem between you and God, sin. And for Christians, the most loving thing to do is to forgive is to share the bad news of sin and the good news of Christ to all of our unbelieving family and friends.

Will you get passive responses? Yeah. Will they get offended? Yeah, possibly. But if you have been rescued from sin by the loving and gracious savior, why would we not proclaim the most loving act done by any human being, which is to die for his enemies?

If not, we're just leaving them under the wrath of God knowingly. And how loving is that? What does the church look like when it is clothed with Christ? When you're clothed with Christ, you're completely Christ centered.

When you're clothed with Christ, you're completely Christ centered. After sharing the things of Christ that we must put on, Paul shares what that looks like. First, again, what we wear affects our hearts.

Verse 15, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in to one body and be thankful. In the ancient Jewish context, and Paul was a Jewish writer, the heart was the seed of your desires, your will, your intentions, your motivations.

For Christians who have put on Christ, our hearts are completely changed. Note that it is not just individualistic, but as the church we are changed. Our hearts are being transformed when we put on Christ together as a body.

Our hearts are no longer fixated on the instability and chaos of life. Right? There's no peace in that, but the peace of God rules our hearts. The peace of God is based on the objective truth that we have peace with God through Christ.

Because Jesus carried our sin and faced the wrath of God that we deserved for our sake, we have peace with God. God no longer has anything against you because Christ dealt with all of it on the cross.

God is not against you when you're in Christ. When bad things happen to you in life, this is not because God is trying to be petty and trying to punish you for your sin. The punishment has been served on the cross.

There is no leftover wrath for you just doesn't exist. This objective truth is the source of our peace that rules our hearts. The permanent peace purchased by Christ on the cross. This is why Paul mentions we ought to be thankful.

If God has peace with us because of what Christ has accomplished, in the eternal perspective, can anything in our lives be that big to rob us of that peace? Our peace does not depend on circumstances because it is founded on Christ.

So it's the solid rock. It does not depend on who's ruling the government because it is founded on the eternal King who's enthroned, who's still in charge. When the peace of God is ruling in your heart, your emotions are not ruling in your heart.

It does not mean you turn off your emotions. Emotions are real, but they don't get to rule your heart. They don't get to drive your life. You don't make decisions based upon feelings. You make decisions based upon objectives.

Objective truth. When the peace of God is ruling in your hearts, your circumstances are not. You're not tossed around by the waves of life. That is beyond our control. But the peace of God is the one that rules your life.

When the peace of God is ruling in your hearts, the nightly news is not. The bad news from all these news sources better not be making you anxious because the peace of God rules in your heart. Next, what we wear affects our worship.

Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

When we put on these attributes of Christ, we fill our minds with different materials than before, and it changes how we worship. It changes our posture before God. First, we saturate our minds with the word of Christ.

The action of dwell here, the word of Christ dwell, is very intimate and enduring. The same word is to describe God dwelling in Christians because they're the temple of God. It's connected. You can't even disconnect God from you anymore.

And what Paul is saying, let the word of Christ dwell in you. Dwelling is personal. Dwelling is personal. Let the word of Christ dwell is relational. And dwelling is crucial. And how much does the word of Christ dwell in us?

Did Paul say, let the word of God dwell in you on Sunday mornings only? No. Let the word of God dwell in you when you read the verse of the day? No. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

Richly. Richly means not occasionally. Richly means not half full. Richly means overflowingly, abundantly. Picture in your mind trying to get a fire hydrant. The water is gushing out at you. That's what it looks like for the word of Christ to dwell in you richly.

It gushes out. Anywhere you go, anyone you talk to, oh, you want to only talk about the word of Christ. The moment you open your mouth, psalms and praises and hymns. You're humming hymns in your free time.

That's what it means for the word of Christ to dwell in you richly. The constant overflow of God's truth. And when God's truth renews our minds, we worship differently. First, we teach and admonish one another.

We teach things of Christ. We teach what is godly. What God commands us to. Not only that, we correct any false views of God. We all have some false views of God. That's because we're still tainted with sin until we have our glorified bodies.

But when the word of Christ dwells in us richly, scripture kicks out, flushes out the old lies that we have held about God and about ourselves. And we use scripture to correct each other. Not our preferences, right?

If the Bible doesn't say anything, I have no authority, no business correcting you how you ought to live your life. I'm not going to comment on where you send your kids to school. I'm not going to comment on where you go buy your groceries.

That's just not my business. Right? Correction is centered on Christ's word, not mine, not the pastor's. Next, we do it in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. It's hard to draw out, okay, that's a psalm and that's a spiritual song, right?

There's no way of defining which is which, especially in this ancient context. I don't know any of ancient hymns versus ancient spiritual songs. However, we know that it is based upon scripture, right?

And when our worship changes, everything we do changes. In fact, Paul summarizes that for us in verse 17. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all, not some, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

We do not choose songs to entertain ourselves, right? We do not listen to teaching that are hip and modern, popular to stay relevant, right? Whatever the Ivy leagues come out with. And we do not spend money on what people might be attracted to, right?

We don't have the lightings. We don't have the fog machine. We don't make it a concert because it's not about us. We don't have a cafe selling organic latte, right? Sounds great, but that's not the church.

Everything we do together as the body of Christ is to the Lord Jesus. The question we ought to ask when we make any changes in the church is how does this honor Christ? How does this represent Christ?

Well, the songs we sing, the lessons we learn, the groups we start in the end have to be done in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. They have to reflect Jesus. Well, not in an arrogant posture or snooty attitude, right?

That can be done too. People can do the right things with the arrogant attitude. We only sing hymns here, right? Any other church that sings hymns before the 18th centuries, you know, that's the snooty attitude.

Those hymns are great, but we have to do it in thanksgiving. It is done in humility and knowing that it is only because God the Father richly lavished on us all the spiritual blessings in Christ that we are able to worship him that way in thanksgiving.

And this is crucial today as the temptation to focus on anything other than Christ and his word arises over and over again. That's the constant temptation in the history of the church. There are churches that focus more on the gifts of the Holy Spirit rather than the giver, God, which is tragic because the Holy Spirit gives us gifts to edify the body, to learn more about Jesus, to learn more from scripture.

He's the author of scripture. Yet the word of Christ gets passed over because it's not flashy enough. Then there are churches that preach from the most recent academic journals and it becomes a self-help guide.

Well, the study shows that if you do this, this to your kids at age three and above, then they will turn out good. And it keeps on changing because academic journals keep on, they have to produce new things.

But we know that the living word of God is what changes us by renewing our minds and changing our desires because the Holy Spirit works through scripture that he wrote. Imagine that. He uses what he wrote.

And there are churches that focus more on the political affiliation rather than the union with Christ. It is the party or the policy that unites them. And this goes both ways, liberals and conservatives, right?

Rather than Christ and his atoning work on the cross, that we're all blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. That's got to be the one that unites us all. None of these things are inherently bad in their own context.