Pauls Epistle to Colossians (17)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Let's turn to Colossians chapter 3 please and it was of course

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David's psalm, Psalm 51, put to music and there are a number of those of course in our hymnal based on the psalms.

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Colossians 3, this is the 18th Lord's Day that we're in this epistle.

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Last Lord's Day we had entered the second half of Paul's epistle, you'll recall, which begins with Colossians 3 verse 5.

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Everything before it up to this verse was chiefly doctrinal in content.

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There the Holy Spirit to the Apostle was instructing us what we're to believe about our God and understand about our relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

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Beginning with Colossians 3 verse 5, the whole tenor of the epistle changes and so from here verse 5 chapter 3 until the closing section of the epistle, which is a number of verses in chapter 4, in which there's a lot of personal information and personal greetings.

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The Apostle Paul put forward, but in this major section from verse 5 until the close of the epistle,

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God is instructing us how to live as Christians as we are informed by what we have learned regarding him.

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And so as Paul's common way of writing, he set forth the doctrine and then the practice that flows from that doctrine and that's what we have here.

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And so this is very practical, straightforward, and very direct as far as the instruction that we have for us.

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We propose an outline that will help us as we look at the epistle.

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We considered this last week. We have an initial greetings of course, salutation, and then the person and work of Jesus Christ is set forth.

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And then the Apostle dealt with false teaching and its antidote. And then again we are in now section

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Roman numeral 4, the Christian life in Christ, where last week we considered the matter of putting off certain sins and this week we want to consider what it is we are to put on as Christians.

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And it's the idea of putting on a garment like these qualities, these characteristics. And then not next week,

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Easter Sunday, we'll probably deal with something obviously resurrection related.

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But two weeks from today we'll begin to deal with that passage, be subject.

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That is if we get through today. Probably won't. And so we'll be here a couple weeks perhaps because there's a number of commands that we have before us.

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And so again last week we considered what it is we're to put off as Christians. Today we'll cover what we're to put on as Christians, which is contained in Colossians 3, 12 -17.

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And let's read these verses and this is of course the ESV, the English Standard Version that we've been using in this study.

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Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other.

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As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

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And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.

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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.

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And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the

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Father through Him. Now, in this paragraph that we have, verses 12 -17, there are a number of character traits that should be exemplified by us as Christians.

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There's a number of attitudes that should be manifest by us as Christians. And there are a number of actions that are to be performed by us as Christians.

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And depending on how these many words and phrases are organized, we can say there are at least 11 directives or 11 commands for us in these six verses.

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And I listed them according to my observation and assessment.

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And you have that list in your notes on the top of page two. Put on there, four is

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God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. See, there's three descriptions of these Christians. And then he begins to give the commands.

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One, compassionate hearts. Two, kindness. Three, humility. Four, meekness. Five, patience. Six is rather long, bearing with one another.

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And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

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That's one command. And then seven, above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

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And I think that's as far as we're going to get, if we get that far. And so let's first look at verse 12, which reads, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

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And so really there are five qualities that are mentioned in verse 12.

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Now I take minor issue with the manner in which the translators of the ESV, the English Standard Version, have rendered the first few words, put on then.

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See that? Verse 5. And in my opinion, for what that's worth, they soften the connection with the verses here, verses 12 and following, with what went before by the word then.

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It does follow somewhat then, put on then, but really it should be seen,

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I think, there should be a greater degree of connection between what he says in verses 12 through 17 and with what he said before.

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Therefore, in the light of what we've taught you, do these things. There's a strong cause and result here that should be reflected in this statement.

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And in fact you have in the ESV also, up in verse 5, the words, put to death therefore, and this is really in parallel with it, put on therefore.

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And again they translate it by the word then, but actually it's the same Greek word. They translate it as therefore up in verse 5, they translate it as then in verse 12.

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And I don't think that was the best way to translate this

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Greek text. It lessens, it seems to me, the connection.

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There's a vital connection. The reason we do the commands of verses 12 through 17 is because what

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God has done for us in our union with Jesus Christ. And if you lose that connection, you can very easily fall from grace into legalism.

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And so, for context, we really ought to read verses 1 through 4 once again. If then you've been raised with Christ, and the implication is you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

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In other words, he's enthroned, he's king. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

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For you have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

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And then we can cut directly to verse 12, therefore put on these things. There's a vital connection between these two.

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And it's very easy to just fall into the thinking, you know, there's a bunch of commands here that I need to do.

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But if you sever those from the reality of who we are in Christ, you immediately are going off in a wrong direction.

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And it's clear that Paul is asserting this connection. And so, let's not lose sight of it.

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Now, in verse 12, Paul describes Christians with three very rich terms. First, we are

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God's chosen ones. Secondly, we are holy. And thirdly, we are beloved. And so, he's appealing to them and describing them for who they are as Christians.

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First, we are God's chosen ones. The New King James Version renders it, we are the elect of God, as the elect of God.

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Same word, same idea of chosen. We'll be choosing a president, you know, in some months.

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We'll be electing a president. It's the same idea. And God chooses people to be saved.

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He elects them to be saved. Election is a wonderful, biblical word. It's found in many contexts.

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And here, Paul describes Christians as God's chosen ones. They are the elect. Our election in Scripture, of course, speaks of God having chosen us in eternity past that we should be the recipients of the grace and salvation.

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In fact, all who are saved from sin throughout human history are saved because God had individually chose them in eternity that He would save them from their sin unto eternal life through His Son.

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Everyone who is ever redeemed through Christ is redeemed because God had chosen him or her even before creation.

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God's election of us was not because He foresaw some good in us or that He knew beforehand of what our own free will would choose, that we would choose

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Christ, therefore He chose us. No, election was before creation. And it's an act of God whereby

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He chooses the people out of fallen humanity to be the recipients of His saving grace. Not because they are better than anybody else.

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It's not because of that in any way whatsoever. Simply God purposed to choose some because He set

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His love upon them, which is a mystery. And it's a wonder. He could have just as easily, probably easier, you know, left me in my sin to my just condemnation and you too.

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And we would have got what we deserved in God's judgment. But He purposed, through the glory of His grace,

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He purposed to demonstrate who He is in His love and kindness and mercy and power and wisdom in saving your soul through Jesus Christ.

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That's a wonderful thing. And the doctrine of election should bring a great deal of comfort to the people of God.

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It brings a lot of consternation to a lot of people. They want to deny it or explain it away. But you do and you're denying biblical truth.

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And Paul wanted them to understand they were chosen ones. You are the object of God's election,

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God's choice from eternity. And the fact that you're a Christian demonstrates that, proves that. You wouldn't be a

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Christian if it were not the case. So here is the biblical doctrine of election stated,

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God has chosen certain persons from fallen humanity to be recipients of His salvation, having chosen them before creation in Christ, not based on any foreseen condition or response of them, but solely to His own good pleasure according to the purpose of His will.

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And people react to that and reject that doctrine. It's not after man. But it is a doctrine clearly taught in the scripture, taught from God.

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Because what human being would ever devise that? It goes against our nature, doesn't it?

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But this is how people are brought to salvation. God purposed that the whole human race would not perish.

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He purposed to save some through Jesus Christ. And so they are elect ones.

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For clarification, we might mention several points with respect to this doctrine. First, election follows the understanding of man's total depravity, or total inability to come to God.

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And so, left on his own, if God didn't intervene, even after fallen man is instructed, admonished, persuaded, and pleaded with, man will still choose to reject

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God's rule over him. For he is spiritually dead, both incapable and unwilling to do the things

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God has commanded him. And therefore, man's salvation must originate outside of himself.

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It's not going to come forth from me, in my heart, or you, or your heart. It's got to originate from God Himself.

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And so, divine election flows from, follows, an understanding of sin.

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Second, there is no indication in the scriptures of a reason that God chose the ones He chose, passing over others, other than it was good in His sight, and it was in accord with His purpose to glorify

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Himself in His grace. And so, again, it's not because you and I are better than anybody.

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There's no way. In fact, the scripture says just the opposite. We're commonly the worst of the lot.

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Because God wants to glorify Himself. In the past,

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I've restored cards. And I use the illustration, if I wanted to show forth my skill as a car restorer,

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I don't go out and find something with a few door dings, with a pristine interior and whatnot, low miles.

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No, you go to the wrecking yard and find a rollover, and you put that back on the street, and people look at it, wow, this guy's got some skill or talent.

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Well, this is what the Lord does. That's a crass illustration, but this is what the Lord does. Not many among you are wise.

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Not many are mighty. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world. And so we are most in that lot.

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And He did it so that no flesh may glory in His presence, is what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1 and 1

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Corinthians 2. And so it's not based in any way of who we were, what we would become.

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Other than God chose us, He said, now there is someone I can glorify myself in by saving him from his sin.

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And that's a wonderful thing. Scriptures teach, thirdly, that election is unto salvation.

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And certainly, although God's election of some means He's passing over others, hence the doctrine of reprobation, nevertheless in Scripture, election is always presented positively unto salvation.

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In other words, He chooses those He determines to save. He doesn't choose those He determines to damn.

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The Scriptures don't present it in that way. All are damned. The human race is lost, but He determined to save some.

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The First Baptist Confession of 1646 states the matter well. We affirm that as Jesus Christ never intended to give remission of sins and eternal life unto any but His sheep, and there are references, so these sheep only have their sins washed away in the blood of Christ.

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The vessels of wrath, as they are none of Christ's sheep, nor ever believe in Him, so they have not the blood of Christ sprinkled upon them, neither are partakers of Him, and therefore have all their sins remaining upon them, and are not saved by Christ from any of them under any consideration whatsoever, but must lie under the intolerable burden of them eternally.

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And the truth of this appears unto us by the light of these Scriptures compared together, and a number of them are granted, or set before us.

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And so the Lord chooses His people to be saved, and He leaves the rest to their just condemnation.

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And they don't want it any different. They don't want to have this God rule over them. If Jesus Christ came into the world today, they would crucify

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Him all over again. We do not want this man to rule over us. We want to be our own

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Lord. And then fourth, to be precise in our speaking of these matters, we should distinguish between the doctrines of election and predestination.

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And although commonly they are interchangeable in people's speech and whatnot, really predestination speaks of God's design for the ones

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He elected. He chose certain ones and He had a purpose for them. He predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son, to become adopted sons of God, all to the praise of His glory.

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And so predestination is what God destined us ahead of time that we would be and become.

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But He chose us. It speaks of His choice, His election. Now, the

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Apostle Paul was declaring, therefore, of being numbered among the elect.

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He's laying a case. This is why you should keep these commands. You have a high calling, a high privilege.

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This brings you responsibility. And so you need to order your life in this manner. Well, secondly, he addresses them not only as the elect of God, but they're described as holy.

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But on then is God's elect or chosen ones holy. And He's describing the people

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He's addressing. Most of the time when we speak of being holy, we're speaking about being morally pure and living righteously.

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But the word actually conveys the idea of being separated from or set apart. And so we're to be separated from the fallen world and our attitudes and actions.

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We're to be holy. And that is practical holiness. And that's commonly how we think of it. But the scriptures also speak of believers being positionally holy before God.

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That is set apart. Now, every one of us vary in different degrees in our practical holiness.

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Some of you are more holy than others. Some of you are younger in the

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Lord. It wouldn't be reasonable to think that you'd be as holy as someone who's been in the Lord 20, 30 years.

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However, there might be somebody here in the Lord 5 or 6 years that's more holy than somebody who's been in the Lord 20 or 30 years.

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And that shouldn't be the case. But that practical holiness varies between individuals.

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No two of us are identical. But this positional holiness is the same for each and every one of us.

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When we were saved, we were set apart by God. Positionally.

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We read in the Old Testament that everything that was dedicated to God was set apart. Whether it be the tabernacle, the articles of furniture in the tabernacle, the priests themselves.

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They were all sanctified or set apart for this purpose. They were set apart for God and His worship.

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And in the same way, God sanctifies every Christian. In fact, all Christians. Each and every believer is one who's been singled out by God from the human race.

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All who belong to Jesus Christ have been sanctified. And if you're a Christian, you're sanctified. You're a holy one.

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Another word for a holy one is saint. I know Rome declares certain ones who have achieved a high degree of what they regard as holiness in this life as being saints.

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But the Scriptures say if you're a Christian, you're a saint. You're a holy one positionally.

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Because of who you are in Christ. We who are in Christ stand in a covenant relationship with God.

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Having been chosen and set apart from the world as a unique people. And so in the mind and purpose of God, we are separate or sanctified from the fallen world.

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And God has gloriously, vastly different designs between the world and us.

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Between we who are sanctified and those who are not. We might describe this as positional sanctification rather than practical sanctification.

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We're sanctified in the sense that we've been singled out, set apart, because God has designs for us that are different from all others.

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You're holy. Again, positional sanctification was a work of grace on our behalf.

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And it occurred once for all time when you were converted. You were set apart. And you became a holy one.

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Actually, this was secured when Christ died upon the cross. We were purchased by the blood of Jesus and set apart as a unique people of God.

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Hebrews 10 .14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

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This work of grace that was accomplished on our behalf, apart from us, was apart from our work or effort.

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It was a work of God's grace. And so God regards us as holy.

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Whether or not you are practically holy, if you're a Christian, you are a holy person. And therefore, you ought to obey these commands.

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Because of the privilege and person that God has set you apart to be, is how he's reasoning.

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And so again, put on, therefore, as elect of God and as God's holy ones.

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You need to do these things, is what Paul is saying. But then thirdly,

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Paul describes true believers as beloved of God. You're elect of God, you're holy, and you're beloved of God.

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We are beloved of God. I know

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I always quote my old friend Doug Moore, who's with the Lord now. But he had a way of saying things. He just got to the point.

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Arkansas. Simple fellow. Knew the scriptures though. And in Sunday school, he was explaining one day, somebody asked him, what does beloved mean?

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And he said very simply, it means you be loved of God. Well, that makes sense.

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You be loved of God. That's what it means to be beloved. And Christians are beloved of God.

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Non -Christians are not beloved of God in the same way. And it's very important, because in evangelical world, you know, everybody is presented as the objects of God's fuzzy teddy bear love.

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He just wants to cuddle you close to Him. But there's a vast difference between the one who is in Christ and the one who is outside of Christ.

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And the one who is in Christ is beloved of God. In fact, the scripture says that God loves the

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Christian with the same love that he loves his son. Which is one of the most profound truths,

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I think, in scripture. God loves you as a Christian as much as He loves Jesus Christ.

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Because you're in union with Jesus Christ. Not because you're as lovely as He is, because He sees you in union with Christ.

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And He loves Him. He loves you, therefore, with the same love. And that's why

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Paul says, we're accepted in the beloved one, Jesus Christ. He is beloved of the Father, and we are too.

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And so, not all people are beloved of God. Oh yes, God is loving to all people, but you must see the distinction.

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God is loving to all people, in that He does loving things for them and to them, because God is love.

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That's His nature. But it's not because He loves them as His own. However, there's a distinction, again, between His people and all others.

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He loves His own with an everlasting love. They are His beloved. God loves His people who are in Jesus Christ with an everlasting covenant love.

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Again, the same love that God the Father has for His Son, according to John 17, 26.

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And Jesus was praying to the Father, Father, I want You to reveal to them that You love them with the same love that You've loved

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Me from eternity. That itself ought to be a life -changing truth, right?

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Doctrine that has implications for us. We might look at Romans 9, in which we read of God's covenantal love for His people.

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There's a small reason there. And what if God wanted to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

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What if God wants to do that? They deserve destruction. And what if God puts up with them for a while, for a long while, to show

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His patience and His mercy? And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which

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He had prepared beforehand for glory. That prepared beforehand, that would be election and predestination together, wouldn't it?

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He prepared them beforehand for glory. Even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the

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Gentiles. And then Paul quotes Hosea to prove his point. As he also says in Hosea, I will call them

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My people who were not My people, and her beloved, now notice, and her beloved who was not beloved.

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There you can clearly see there are some that are loved, beloved of God, and there are some who are not beloved of God.

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God doesn't love everybody the same. He loves His people that are in Christ, with an everlasting love, a covenant love.

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And so in verses 23 and 24 of Romans 9, the apostle wrote of God's elect as vessels of mercy.

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Again, not only from Jews, but Gentiles as well. And then he describes the

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Gentiles who believe on Christ as there was a time when those Gentiles outside of Christ were not beloved, but now that they came into a position of being beloved of God through Christ.

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And so again, when Paul describes these Colossian Christians, you're God's chosen ones, you're the elect, you're holy ones,

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God sets you apart, and you're God's beloved ones. He wasn't talking about everybody indiscriminately in the world, he was talking about those in Christ.

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And again, he's laying the foundation in the light of who you are in Christ, therefore, do this.

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And then he begins to issue the commands. First, put on compassionate hearts.

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We're at the top of page 5 now if you're following your notes. Again, Paul gives the command, put on.

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Interestingly, and I assumed that this would be in the present tense in the Greek, but it wasn't.

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Because I was assuming that he was probably saying be continually putting on compassionate hearts, but that's not what he was saying.

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You know, just like you put on clothing every morning, so you put on compassionate hearts repeatedly. But rather, he's saying that we should put these graces on and we should wear them continually.

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We never take them off. We should dress ourselves with these qualities as we live in the world in which our

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Lord has placed us. We should always be characterized by these traits. Compassionate hearts.

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Put on compassionate hearts. Now in verse 8, Paul had written, but now you yourself put off all these, anger, wrath, and malice.

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And now he's saying that you need to put on the opposite. Compassionate hearts. We're not only to put off that which is wrong or negative, but in our sanctification, we're to put in its place that which is right and positive.

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That's important. A lot of Christians think, hey, I'm pretty holy because I don't do those things.

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Well, that's only half the equation. What are you doing? Matthew Henry wrote it.

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We must not only put off anger and wrath, as in verse 8, but we must put on compassion and kindness.

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Not only cease to do evil, but to do well. And not only do not hurt to any, but to do what good we can to all.

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I think that's a very important point, isn't it? And so the

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Lord tells us through the hand of Paul that we Christians should be clothed or characterized as characterized by or with compassionate hearts.

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And this speaks of the deep feeling or concern that we should have for others. God has a general benevolence towards humanity.

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He doesn't delight in the overthrow of the wicked. He doesn't apologize for it. But that doesn't delight

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Him. But rather, He desires people's well -being.

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He has a benevolence toward people in general. And you and I as Christians ought to have a general benevolence for everyone.

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We should desire people's well -being. Not only to those who have the same regard for us or kind regard for us, but this should be our general regard for all people everywhere, regardless of how they regard us or how they treat us.

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We ought to have a general benevolence for all people everywhere. I want radical

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Islamists to be converted to Christ when I'm thinking rightly. Don't you? I know we commonly think, let's just nuke them all.

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But if we truly have compassionate hearts, we should be concerned about their crass ignorance and the wrath of God that's upon them that awaits them on the

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Day of Judgment. And that we can see Christ glorified in converting them.

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And that's happening, by the way, all over the world. In the Far and Near East and what have you.

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There's great numbers of Islamic people being converted to Christ. We should desire the well -being of people if we're thinking rightly.

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Did not our Lord teach His very thing in His parable of the Good Samaritan? He told of the Samaritan who was despised by the

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Jews. Nevertheless, when he saw the man who had fell among thieves, who had stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and had departed, leaving him half dead, the

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Lord said the Samaritan had compassion when he saw him. And this word compassion is the same word we have here in Colossians 3 .12.

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We are to put on, that is, we are to be characterized as having hearts of compassion for others.

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It's very easy, however, to become very hardened toward others. And tender toward those who think like us, and believe like us, and walk like us.

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But that should not be the way we are. Put on compassionate hearts.

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And then secondly, put on kindness. And these are not independent from one another. They really flow from one another.

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They're interrelated. One could say this second quality flows from the first. We should put on a compassionate heart toward people, but it ought to move us to show kindness to them.

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And this too characterized a good Samaritan. Our Lord said of him, He set him, this battered guy, on his own animal, brought him to an inn, took care of him.

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On the next day when he departed, he took out two denarii, that was a couple hundred bucks by today's standard, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, take care of him.

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Whatever more you spend, when I come again I will repay you. This is a Samaritan taking care of a

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Jew. And this was a strange thing. John wrote,

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Whoever has his world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

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My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Let's not just claim we have acts of kindness.

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And so a man who says he has put on a compassionate heart but is devoid of kindness, his claim is a sham, isn't it?

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And then thirdly, put on humility. And one might say that this quality is joined with the two that preceded it.

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To condescend to one in need commonly requires an act of humility or humbling oneself in order to help another.

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Again, as Matthew Henry wrote, humbleness of mind should not only be a humbleness of demeanor but of a mind.

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Our Lord Jesus taught us, learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart. And he was so, and should we not also have this quality of humility?

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And then fourthly, put on meekness. Meekness is when a person denies himself of what he perceives to be his right, his right to expect or demand from another or others.

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I've got a certain right to be treated. Respect and dignity.

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Suppose I walked around with that kind of attitude. Where would we be? Somebody told me about a church in New Hampshire last week.

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The pastor's that way. And he wonders why he's had trouble for years and years.

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That's a sad thing. Meekness. Now meekness is someone who denies his rights.

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He's content or resolved to be content with what the Lord has in store for him.

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In the image of God, we do not possess rights. I know we talk about certain inalienable rights in our

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Declaration of Independence, but biblically that is really not the fact. Liberty is a grace that God gives a people who use responsibility.

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He takes away that liberty and freedom and brings them into bondage when they abuse that liberty.

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And that's what's happening in our world today. And yes, we should desire freedom and liberty in order to live rightly and free in our world.

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But to claim that you have certain rights is really to set yourself in the place of the throne of God.

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I deserve to be served. That's who I am. I've got certain rights and privileges and you're not meeting them.

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That's what I think. The Christian is to be meek. The Lord Jesus was meek.

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Moses was described as the meekest man in all the world, of course, until the Lord Jesus was born. Why? Well, he had the riches of Egypt.

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He had the power of the throne of Egypt at his disposal, but he denied himself of those in order to suffer the affliction with the people of God.

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He had certain privileges and rights in being willing to serve. That's how our Lord Jesus is set forth in Philippians 2, who did not see equality with God, something to be grasped, but he took the form of a servant.

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He became a man, took upon himself human nature, and then a free man, and not a free man, but a servant.

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And not a servant who demanded his right to suffer the death of the cross.

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Jesus denied every right, and he had right to everything, and he denied them all.

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We don't have right to anything, but we claim them all, don't we? And if you think that you don't, the real indicator of a person who thinks that he has rights, it will be manifest in anger.

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That is commonly the key. Yes, there's a righteous anger, but most of the time when we get angry, it's because we think that someone is not serving us in the way that he or she should.

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Look out. Well, that's not meekness. We're to put on meekness. Fifth, put on patience.

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Patience is a sense of quiet serenity while waiting either for an end of difficulty or the anticipation of a delayed blessing.

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Patience. A patient man does not feel circumstances without anxiety or anger.

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Patience is seen when one is steadfast and unshaken through prolonged difficulty. One describes patience as steadfastness.

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This quality of patience, of course, would be in contrast to that of impatience. An impatient man is a troubled man.

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He is angered easily. He is discontent. He'll always be complaining. Contentment will be elusive to him, for he will not be contented with what he does not have.

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And so he'll not be easily pleased or satisfied except with perhaps quick sensual pleasure or due to an external stimulant which is short -lived.

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We won't take the time to read Psalm 37, but you have admonition there to trust in the

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Lord. And if you trust in the Lord, all kinds of blessings of peace will come with you.

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But then he begins to contrast the man who is impatient and he's very, very agent of impatience.

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This should characterize you and me. You wait on the Lord and in His own timing, in His own way, to bring about a resolution to whatever it is you are dealing with.

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Now let us look at verse 13, which is really a continuation of the sentence that began in verse 12, bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the

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Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Now as we look at that and read that, verse 13, it might appear, rather than this being one quality that characterizes us, that these phrases should be divided up and considered as individual matters, each being a separate command of God.

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But actually, I believe verse 13 ought to be seen as a single word of instruction. We may know this by recognizing that the words bearing with one another and forgiving each other are linked together.

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There is a conjunction in the Greek, the Greek word kai, or and, and the verb bearing and forgiving is linked with the conjunction and.

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We are to be ones who forbear with one another and quick to forgive one another. And I think the New King James Version renders it much better than the

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ESV in my opinion. The New King James, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

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But if you look at the ESV again that we have in our text, bearing with one another and then they put that clause in there, if one has a complaint against another, and then they put forgiving one another after that clause, they are really separating those two verbs that are closely linked to one another in the text.

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Now we have a conditional clause in this sentence, if one has a complaint against another. You remember last week when we said conditional clauses in the

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Greek language are very precise in their meaning. Depending on the words used and the tense of the verb used, various degrees of certainty are conveyed.

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And so a clause that begins in say in English with the word if, depending on which

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Greek word is used to translate that word if, conveys the likely certainty or uncertainty of the proposition or whether the statement is likely to be true or not true.

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And knowing this is helpful in understanding precisely what the Apostle is saying here in verse 13. If I can paraphrase what

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Paul is saying, bearing with one another and forgiving each other if one has a complaint against another, which will commonly be the case.

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He's assuming this is going to happen all the time. In fact, this is what always happens when you put two people in the same room together and when you put a bunch of people in the same church together.

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We're going to have complaints against one another. This is life, isn't it? You've got complaints against me.

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I'm not the perfect pastor or man. And I've probably got a few complaints against you, right?

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That's what Paul is saying here. All these commands should be understood to be in the context of life of Christians within their community at Colossae and principally within their church.

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And Paul is telling them that they would have to act and react with them.

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And again, it was true not only of them, but true to our experience. We're flawed, fallen people. Yes, we're redeemed.

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Hopefully we're governed by the nature our Lord has given us. But the fact is that each of us has issues with others and will commonly have issues with one another.

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And so if one has a complaint against another, and you will commonly have complaints regarding the people around you, but they're going to have so with you as well.

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Forbear with them and forgive them is the command of the Lord. The fact is you will not live up to my unrealistic expectations, and I'm going to fail to rise to yours.

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I'm sure that will be the case if we're around one another long enough. We will all have just cause of complaint against each other.

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For this is the condition of fallen men and women in a fallen world, and it's true among the redeemed also in a church.

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But we are commanded to act and react in a different manner than the world reacts.

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We're to forbear with that one with whom you have a complaint, a legitimate complaint.

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And you are to forgive that one who has not risen to your expectations. If we all lived this way, it would be a beautiful place, wouldn't it?

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Environment in which we live. And then the standard and example that we're to follow is the way our

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Lord has dealt and continues to deal with us. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

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He says this forbearing and forgiving spirit and activity must be among us or it will not go well for us.

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And again, the Lord says you also must forgive. We have every reason to do so as well. God's commanded us to do so.

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God himself has demonstrated the manner that he did so as a pattern for us.

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Would it not be most reasonable that we seek God's grace? The grace needful from our God so that we might live in this manner.

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Let it go. Forbear with people. You know, 1

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Corinthians 13, you know, love gives the benefit of the doubt. Love hopes all things.

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You know, well, she must be having a rough day or she wouldn't have spoken to me in that way.

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I'm going to pray for her or encourage her. You see, that's the kind of attitude we have rather than chalking it up as one more mark against her.

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That is not, you know, those accrue over time, don't they? And it becomes a real problem.

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Let's not be that way. Let's forbear one another. Forbear with me. I'll forbear with you.

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Okay. And forgive me and I'll forgive you too or try with the

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Lord's help. But again, the Lord says you must also forgive. This is not an option.

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This is a command. In fact, this is an act of mercy, isn't it? It's not because you and I deserve to be forgiven.

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That's never the case. Forgiveness truly is an act of mercy. You extend it to someone who doesn't deserve it.

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And that's how we're forgiven. God extends to us mercy. He doesn't give us what we deserve.

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And we ought to be merciful to others. We don't give them what they deserve. We attempt to be gracious toward them as God is gracious toward us.

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We attempt to be merciful toward them as God is merciful toward us. Forgiving one another just as God in Christ Jesus forgave you.

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And again, this is not an option. This is not, these are not just advisory things. Hey, life will go better for you if you do.

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This is essential to being a Christian. The Lord Jesus said, if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly

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Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

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Matthew 6, verse 14. And our dispensational friends, classic dispensationalists say, oh, that was under the law, but we're under grace now.

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Now we're only to forgive because we've been forgiven. No, no. The Lord Jesus was telling his disciples, if you don't show mercy, if you don't forgive others,

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God's not going to forgive you. See, Christians forgive others. This is what we do.

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Sometimes it takes grace to do so. We don't have time to go through the nature of mercy, but I set that for us somewhat if you want to read that at a later time.

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But lastly, and we'll conclude with this, the seventh, and then there are within a couple of weeks. Above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

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These are not, you know, separate commands that somehow, you know, you give attention to. I'll put this on today.

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Tomorrow I'll put on the next one. You know, they're all tied up in this matter of love. If we really love as God would have us love, these things would come, you know, they would flow from us naturally, supernaturally, because God's given us this grace of love.

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And so love is the grace that beautifies all of these actions that we take in our relations with people about us.

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It provides us with motivation. It renders our actions as attractive to observers.

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Love motivates us and shapes our attitudes and actions, or should, and commends us before others, but most importantly before God.

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Love is central and essential. And again, as Paul wrote in 1

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Corinthians 13, if you take love out of the equation, you're nothing. Nothing you do, nothing you are, is of any value whatsoever, nothing.

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You go out and sell everything you have and give all that you have to the poor, it accounts for nothing if it's not motivated out of love, is what

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Paul reasoned. Love binds everything together in perfect harmony. Above all, these put on love.

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And so these are commands. But again, they are not just ten commandments set on two stones before us, you know.

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They are commandments that flow from our relationship with our God through Christ. So very important.

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And so, you know, we could spend a lot of time going through each of these commands and going into great detail, but really the way these things are fulfilled or realized in our life is when we focus on Jesus Christ and our relationship with God and Him.

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And then we will find the work of the Spirit working in us, and we'll find ourselves doing these things and being characterized by these things as we focus upon the

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Lord. We look upon the Lord, you know, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, and we look as in a mirror and we see the glory of the

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Lord Jesus. That is His authority to teach us, command us, instruct us. And to the degree we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the

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Spirit of God transforms us into that very image. We see Jesus Christ in a mirror and then we become more like Jesus Christ, even by the

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Spirit of God. Our emphasis and focus is to look upon Christ. And yes, these commands are for us, and they're authoritative, but they flow from Christ.

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The law that we live is under Christ, and it cannot be disconnected from Him.

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Amen? It all falls apart there, and we get ourselves into a whole lot of trouble. Let's pray.

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Thank You, Father, for Your Word and for the wisdom that we see reflected in it.

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And we pray that You would help us, Lord, to take these truths to heart and live accordingly. And we pray,

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Lord, that You would forgive us of our sins. Even as we set forth these qualities, these traits, these attitudes, we know that only the

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Lord Jesus manifested these completely and perfectly, and we fall short in many ways.

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But may You help each of us who truly know the Lord Jesus to be conformed to His image. May the blessed

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Holy Spirit, Lord, work in us the grace that helps us to be like Him.