Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon your name and I ask that this morning you could teach us what you meant when you said, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
And I pray that we can look at life in Christ in a fresh way.
And as we see life in Christ in a fresh way, we would be inspired to live out our faith in our homes, the workplace, in our friendships.
And I ask this all through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
We're studying through the book of Colossians.
Remember, Paul wrote this letter from a prison in Rome about 63 AD and he starts his letter with the poem of Christ.
And all of the rest of the letter is an explanation of the poem or it's an application of the poem.
And that's why we're reading the poem together every week.
So here is the poem of Christ one more time.
Christ is the image of the invisible God, the prototype of all creation.
For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.
Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him. And for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the Church.
He is the beginning, the prototype of life after death.
That in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven. Making peace by the blood of the cross.
Two weeks ago we considered a first look at life in Christ Jesus.
And we thought about the idea Christ in you, the hope of glory with Christ in us.
We are destined for. For something inexplicably glorious.
Last week we thought about.
Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
This is a way of saying our soul lives in a new environment.
And the environment our soul thrives in is in the environment of Jesus Christ.
And this week we're going to.
Paul creates an image of the life in Christ as getting dressed in the morning.
Now I have simplified my life.
I wear one color of pants, I wear two colors of shirts.
All my socks are white. So they're always mates.
I have simplified the process.
But Paul is going to use this everyday activity of getting dressed as an illustration of what it's like to live Christ, to have life in Christ.
It makes a very.
It makes a very non tangible concept. Tangible.
And this is what he said in chapter three, verse 12.
Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, Patience bearing with one another.
And if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you forgive.
And above all, when you're getting dressed, don't leave the house without putting on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
So Paul says, life in Christ Jesus is about getting up every morning and getting spiritually dressed.
Don't leave the house without getting spiritually dressed.
And he said, first of all, remind yourself of who you're dressing. All right, we pick out clothes for ourselves.
Well, some of us do, I guess.
All right?
And we pick out clothes that are in some way what we like and it represents us.
I don't own a pair of shoes because they don't represent me well.
So everyone has.
Everyone has a wardrobe that in some way reflects their likes and dislikes.
Your wardrobe says something about who you are. So listen, Paul said, before you get dressed, before you start picking out clothes that remember who you are, first of all, you are the elect of God.
Brothers and sisters, you didn't wander into a life with Christ.
God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world.
I want to. I want to connect you one more time to this idea.
When God was imagining all of his creation, he imagined you.
And he said, I choose you to be my very own.
That's what election means.
Jesus said, you did not choose me, but I chose you.
You are a Christian today because in the heart of God, Christ saw you and claimed you for his own.
When you put on your spiritual clothes, remember you are elect of Christ.
Remember that you're not just another biological function roaming the streets of life. You are a chosen soul, hand picked by Jesus Christ.
The second thing is, he said, you're not only elect, but you're holy.
Christ chose us to do something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves, to make us holy, to make us morally right.
To create a moral purity in us that. That we can't create in ourselves.
And then the third characteristic that he says about you is you are beloved.
Christ didn't just elect you, he actively loves you every single day of the week.
When you put on your spiritual clothes, you are dressing for the one who passionately loves you every single day of the week.
Do you hear this?
I can remember a hundred years ago when I wanted to take Shay out for a date.
I paid attention to how I dressed.
Believe it or not, I did.
I wanted to dress nice enough that she would say, I don't mind being seen in public with that guy.
All right?
I was dressing for the approval of someone I loved and wanted them to love me.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Church.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: Can you do that in your spiritual life?
Can you get up tomorrow morning and say, I am loved by Jesus Christ and I love him, and I want to get dressed today in the kind of way that he delights being around me.
Church that's life in Christ Jesus.
Now, what are. What are the clothes.
What are the clothes options that we have? Well, there are eight.
There are eight qualities of soul mentioned here.
So when we are going to dress our souls for the approval of Jesus Christ, these are the eight qualities that we're looking for.
The first one is the. I've told you this before.
We say, I love you with all my heart.
We don't literally mean our blood pumper. It is a. It's a. It's a.
It's a tangible way of saying I. I love you a lot. All right? The Greeks didn't say I love you with all my heart. They said, I love you with all my bowels.
Okay? And if you think about really makes more sense, because you get that. You get that butterfly feeling in your stomach, huh? All right, so this is a word for tender affection.
Tomorrow, when I prepare for my day, I want to close my soul with tender affection.
I want to have the same affection for the people around me that Christ has for them.
Can you hear this?
In the very same way that Christ is affectionate for the people in my life, I want to be affectionate to them.
The second word is merciful compassion.
This is something that our culture has lost and that only the church can lead us back from the brink. We are not a merciful or a compassionate culture.
We permit ourselves to treat people in ways that are just not right.
We permit ourselves.
We harden our hearts toward people. We cancel people. And.
And if the world is going to be better, it's not going to happen because somebody on the news gets it right. It's going to happen because people like you and I, we start getting up and we start dressing ourselves in merciful compassion. And we can be merciful and compassionate to people that we disagree with.
We have to stop blaming the condition of the world on others. And we need to look in the mirror and we need to say, because I am elect of God, because I am holy, because I am beloved of God, I'm going to treat people around me differently than the culture has normalized.
The third characteristic is a goodness or kindness.
I associate kindness, which is a very nebulous word, with the idea of being useful.
Do you make yourself useful to the people? Around you?
Or do you expect the people around you to make themself useful to you?
Do you hear me, Church?
I want to close myself in goodness, kindness, usefulness. I want to get up every day and say, I have a contribution for good to make today, and I'm going to look for every opportunity I have to make that contribution for good.
The fourth word is the idea of having a humble attitude.
Do you know that God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble?
When you close yourself in pride, God resists you.
When you clothe yourself in humility, God raises you up every morning. I want to close my soul with. With a humble spirit. I don't want arrogance. I don't want haughtiness. I don't want pride to characterize my life.
The.
The next characteristic is gentleness or courtesy.
Oh, what a beautiful thing courtesy is.
A guy held the door open. We were leaving somewhere and a guy held the door open for my wife. And I said, your mother raised a good man.
Just a simple courtesy.
Just a simple courtesy.
When we clothe ourselves spiritually, can we say, I'm going to be a courteous person today?
I'm going to show courtesy to people I encounter.
People are not going to experience a harsh, I'm too busy for you attitude. People are going to experience something courteous when they meet me today.
We are clothing our souls.
We are dressing our souls for the approval of God.
And courtesy is something that God approves of.
The next one, as I have told before, I have no credibility on, but I'm going to tell you anyway.
We have to dress ourselves in patience.
God delights in seeing his people and being patient.
God is fond of seeing us being patient.
He takes pride in us when we are patient.
The seventh characteristic.
Endure one another, forgiving each other.
Do you know healthy souls are able to put up with more than unhealthy souls?
Unhealthy souls cannot put up with stuff. They just have to. They have to. They have to lash back.
They have to return evil for evil. They have to return insult for insult. That is an unhealthy soul.
A healthy soul says, that's that person's issue, and I'm not going to make it mine.
I'm not going to respond to this in a way that ruins my day.
I'm not dressing my soul for this person's approval. I'm dressing my soul for the approval of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And, and so for Christ's sake, I'm just going to. I'm just going to put up with this.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Church.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: You know, we don't have to argue with everybody we don't agree with.
Could I have an amen on that?
Because you don't agree doesn't mean you have to argue with them. It doesn't mean you have to prove them wrong.
Can we understand that there is a quality of soul that simply says, I don't agree with this, I don't like it, but I'm going to let it go.
I'm going to let it pass. It's just a better approach than me responding in an ugly way.
I want to dress my soul with the ability to have moments in life that I don't like without responding in an unpleasant way.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: Church.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: And then the final quality is if you have a complaint against anyone, forgive them even as the Lord forgave you.
Do you have to voice every complaint?
Is it absolutely necessary to voice every complaint?
Is it possible sometimes to have the feeling without expressing the complaint?
That's what Jesus is saying, let it go.
You don't have to complain.
You don't have to set the agenda with your whiny spirit.
All right.
Now Paul says if you want to live life in Christ Jesus, it matters the qualities of soul that you're trying to live.
And then he gives us a short list of things that we can think about and work on.
I want to live a healthy life in Christ Jesus. I want to have a healthy soul.
What does that look like?
Looks like tender affection. It looks like merciful compassion.
It looks like goodness and kindness.
It looks like a humble attitude.
It looks like gentleness and courtesy. It looks like patience.
It looks like endurance and forgiveness. And it looks like letting go of complaints.
I that's a pretty good looking list.
Church who doesn't really want to be around people like that?
Can you hear me?
Those are qualities that we would all enjoy seeing in other people.
And if we say these are qualities that I find delightful in other people, then the opposite is true. If I develop these qualities as part of my life in Christ Jesus, going to be having a very different influence and a very different effect on the people around me.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Church.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: What a shock if you were the only one in your department at work who didn't complain.
What a shock if you were known as the one they never complained.
Huh?
What a shock if you had a reputation of, ah, this person is always helpful. If you need help, they've, they'll do, they'll in some way they'll find a way to help you.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: Church.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: This person is patient.
This person is courteous.
If we start dressing our souls with healthy spiritual qualities that are pleasing to the God who loves us. We're going to have a radical, a radically different influence on the people around us.
And then Paul says he wants to make an emphasis, and more important than all of these, you put on love, which is the bond of completion.
The supreme quality of life in Christ Jesus is love.
CHURCH Ah, again, what kind of love?
Jesus said, if you love those who love you, you are no different than pagans because pagans love people who love them.
This kind of love is not reciprocal love. This kind of love is unselfish love.
This kind of love is the very love that Jesus Christ has for us.
I read this week when I was studying this passage that the author of the commentary I was reading believes that Paul, using this clothing image in the Roman world, people wore like a shirt, garment, garment, like a tunic, and then they wore a longer robe over that.
And the, the tunic was usually stitched and you pulled it over your head. The longer robe had an opening in the front and you overlapped it and you would put a clasp or a brooch to hold the outer robe closed.
And the author was saying Paul was envisioning you.
You are clothing yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the last thing you do when you get dressed is you put the brooch on to hold your clothes together. And, and that broach is love.
Love is the quality of soul that holds everything else together.
If we're going to, if we're going to be living life in Christ Jesus, we have to find ways to show love to the people God puts in our hearts.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: Church.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Let me, let me remind you there are love languages and we have to learn how to love people in their love language.
And I don't have time to go into that or the sermon will go way over. All right.
But part of being a healthy soul is I take the initiative to figure out what love feels like to the people that God puts in my life.
I don't just love them the way I want them to be. I don't just love them the way I want to love them and say that should be good enough for them. I love them the way God wants them to be loved, the way he hardwired them to be loved.
And when I do that, I'm living life in Christ Jesus.
And then Paul kind of changed the, the imagery.
And he says in verse 15, the peace of Christ must rule in your heart, to which you were called in one body, and you must be thankful or grateful.
I want to look for just A moment at the phrase the peace of Christ.
What Paul is saying is life in Christ Jesus offers a different kind of peace than you can get anywhere else.
Do you remember in John's gospel, Jesus said, my peace I give to you.
You know what Jesus said? I have a peace that is different than. Than the peace that life on planet Earth creates. I have a peace that is better than life on earth creates. And it's a peace that he gives us. It's not a peace that we generate for ourselves.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Church.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: It's not a white knuckle piece where we're holding on and saying, I'm going to control myself for two more minutes. It's not that kind of thing.
In fact, it is.
It is a peace that becomes a guiding principle in our inner self.
There. This word that is used, let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. The word that's translated rule. It's only used one time in the whole Greek New Testament, and it's right here.
And I did a little more research on it.
And the word actually means the idea of being an umpire or an arbitrator.
So the umpire controls the game, the flow of the game. The. The umpire makes the calls out safe. All right, that's the idea here.
When you have to make a call in your life, what is the ruling principle to make that call?
And Paul is saying, if you're living life in Christ Jesus, it's the peace of Christ.
Let the peace of Christ make the calls in your life.
What would that look like tomorrow? You have an unpleasant experience.
Un. Ah, you have an unpleasant experience with somebody. It's not uncommon to have an unpleasant experience with.
All right, you have a habit of responding in a certain way, but you're thinking differently because you're thinking about life in Christ Jesus.
And so you say to yourself, I'm not going to respond the way I normally do.
I'm going to let the peace of Christ make the call here.
What will that look like?
What do I need to do to facilitate the peace of Christ in this moment?
And what might I do to lose the peace of Christ in this moment?
I'm going to have to make a choice. I'm going to have to. I'm going to have to respond in some way.
And the way I respond can either facilitate the peace of Christ or it can cancel the peace of Christ.
I can have either one, but I can't have both.
And so Paul is saying, when you have moments that somebody, something has to make the call, let the peace of Christ make the call.
What will facilitate the peace of Christ.
This is what Jesus said.
Blessed are the peacemakers because they will be called the children of God.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: Church.
[00:29:20] Speaker A: Let the peace of Christ make the call in your heart.
And when you respond in the way that the peace of Christ is empowered, you're going to be a peacemaker and you're going to be living out your faith as a child of God. Isn't that beautiful?
And then Paul says, let the peace of Christ make the calls in your heart, because that's the kind of life you are called to.
God invited you into life in Christ Jesus, and when he invited you into life in Christ Jesus, he intended it to be a life that the peace of Christ dominated and the peace of Christ flowed through you. That's the life he called you to.
The Christian ought to live a more peaceful life than the people around us, because the God who chose us and loved us, he is the one giving us his peace. We experience that peace, we let that peace make the final call, and then we're treating people around us altogether differently than we would have treated them.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Church.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: And then Paul said, when you do all of this, your attitude, you do it with matters.
Ah, oh, brother, I have to be peaceful.
I really want to tell them a thing or two.
They really need to hear it.
I guess I'm not allowed.
Or me.
That's not the attitude he's talking about.
You see, he says, let peace make the call and do it with a grateful attitude.
Why?
Brothers and sisters, it is an incredible gift of God that we get to be the people that the Holy Spirit is saying, ah, you have the peace of Christ. Just use it.
Church because there are people out there who don't know anything of the peace of Christ and they don't have a chance of using it. And so Paul says, because you are blessed to be the people who have received the peace of Christ, use that peace and do it with a grateful spirit.
It would sound something like this. Dear God, thank you that you've worked in my soul.
Thank you that the life of Christ is as vibrant enough in me that I sense you calling me to peace and you calling me to be a peacemaker.
Isn't that a beautiful prayer?
Thank you for the peace that you shared with me and, and thank you that I have the possibility of being your partner and sharing that peace in this moment, in this issue, in this. In this challenge.
Is that beautiful?
And then Paul says, Verse 16, the word of Christ. This is an imperative.
The word of Christ must dwell in you richly, in all wisdom and in Instruction and in admonition, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratitude in your heart to God.
He uses this phrase, the word of Christ.
What was Paul thinking when he said, the word of Christ must dwell in you richly?
Well, he's thinking about our ability to think about what Jesus did and said.
May you have a growing ability to think about what Jesus did and said.
When you're living life in Christ Jesus, there ought to be an expanding ability in you to think about what Jesus did and said.
How do you get that ability? You read the Gospels.
You read the Gospels and then you tell yourself throughout the day, okay? You read the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 throughout the day. You tell yourself the story of Jesus reading 5,5000.
And you say, that's an expression of the love of God.
That's an expression of the courtesy of God.
That's a. That's an expression of the goodness of God.
That's his mercy. Okay? I start seeing the qualities of soul in the stories of Christ that I want in my own life.
And so as I think about the stories of and the teaching of Jesus Christ, I'm reminded of the qualities that make me a healthy Christian soul.
Let this thinking about Christ dwell in you richly.
What does the word of Christ dwelling in us look like?
All right.
This. This would be a good conversation for your life groups. 1.
Self talk.
Thinking about the life of Christ affects my self talk.
We are all talking to ourself all day long. I don't know if you are aware of that, but everybody talks to themselves, all right?
And that conversation I have with myself matters.
What I am saying to myself matters.
And so if I let the teaching of Jesus Christ influence my self talk, I'm going to live a different kind of life.
Instead of my self talk being angry or resentful or victimized, my self talk becomes an expression of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Do you get it?
If.
If Christ said, I forgive your sin, then in my self talk, I ought to be saying, this sin is forgiven, right?
If Christ said, be kind to one another, then my self talk ought to be, I'm gonna have to be kind to this person whether I want to or not.
See what happens. My self talk starts reflecting the teaching of Jesus Christ. And his word is dwelling in me richly. 2.
Meditation.
I want to. Here we go again. I'm going to. I'm going to. I'm going to run this past you again.
I think everyone ought to have moments throughout the day where they pause.
Doesn't have to be for hours and Hours they pause and take a moment for meditation.
I want to live a self aware life.
I don't want to get up in the morning and run all day long and not be self aware at all.
Church I want to be more than self aware. I want to be God aware.
And so I like to throughout the day.
It doesn't have to, it doesn't take long. I just quiet myself on the inside and I say, dear God, I'm here, I know you're there.
Have a good influence on me.
I try to sense God.
Meditation.
When I meditate, I need to meditate on who Jesus is and what he taught.
I can say something very simple.
When the Pharisees put pressure on you, you didn't respond in an ugly way.
And I'm asking to be more like you in this situation. I'm in meditation.
All right, three decisions.
Do you include the teaching of Christ in your daily decisions?
Do you invite Christ into the process of making a decision?
If I'm going to live a good life, what do I need to decide right now?
If Christ is going to be. If Christ is going to be influential in me, what do I need to decide right now?
4.
You'll like this one. Worship.
Worship that is focused on Christ.
A music. I'm talking about music. Worship. Listening to Christian music. All right, when you listen to Christian music and it is exalting Jesus Christ, the word of Christ is dwelling in you richly.
And then the last one I want to suggest is conversations.
Does the word of Christ dwell richly in your conversations?
When was the last time you said something nice about Jesus Christ to somebody?
When was the last time you told anybody something beautiful about Jesus Christ?
When was the last time you just told somebody a story about Christ that you read in the Gospels and said, I find that interesting? What do you think?
Do you see what I'm saying? Church I need to let the thinking and the teaching of Jesus Christ to be part of my inner life in my self talk, my meditation, my decisions, my worship, my music worship and my conversations.
When that happens, we're able to teach and admonish each other better.
You know what the word teaching means? Admonishing means to gently warn somebody.
Admonishing doesn't mean scolding.
But we do each other a favor. If from time to time we say, you know, I think twice about that.
We do. We do each other a favor. If we say, ah, I sense you're pretty angry about that. Maybe now is not the time to make a decision.
An admonishment is a gentle warning. And if the word of Christ is dwelling in me richly, I'm able to give a gentle warning. But better than if it isn't.
Finally, verse 17, it's like Paul says. I'm going to sum this all up in an easy way. Make it easy for everybody to remember.
In whatever you do, in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
When you live life in Christ Jesus, whatever you do in word or in work, you do it as a representative of Jesus Christ.
When I'm living life in Christ Jesus, When I'm. When. When the idea that Christ in you is the hope of a glorious future, when you're living in the idea that your life is hidden in Christ, with Christ in God, when you're living the idea of the word of Christ dwelling in you richly and you clothing your soul in these good qualities, when you're living that idea, then the overarching principle is whatever you do in what you say or do, you're representing Christ because you're living life in Christ Jesus.
Ah, the word all is in here.
That puts pressure on me.
In absolutely everything you do, do it as a representative Jesus Christ.
Well, it's pretty hard for me to yell at people on the highway.
As a representative of Jesus Christ.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: Church.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: It'S pretty hard for me to be obnoxious to somebody because they were obnoxious to me. As a representative of Jesus Christ, it's pretty hard for me to be hateful.
See what happens when I'm living life in Christ Jesus?
I'm thinking, today I'm dressing my soul to be pleasing to Christ.
Today, I'm letting the teachings of Jesus Christ dwell in me richly.
And today in everything I do, I'm gonna try to make Christ look good in some way.
[00:43:37] Speaker B: Church.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: That's life in Christ Jesus.
That is a life that's worth living.
That is a life that will have influence on people.
All right, this is it, and I'm close. I'll quit.
In this paragraph, thankfulness is mentioned three times.
Verse 15, Be thankful.
Verse 16 with thankfulness in your heart to God.
Verse 17, Giving thanks to God the Father.
Life in Christ Jesus is a life that leads to thanksgiving, not regret.
Life in Christ Jesus is a life that leads to gratitude, not misery.
Life in Christ Jesus.
We start seeing the wonder, the beauty, the good, the blessedness. And we hear ourselves saying thank you as opposed to seeing the ugly, the. The. The.
The fallen, the broken and being disillusioned.
Life in Christ Jesus is a life that enriches us and we see life differently and we find ourselves saying, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
Our dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this incredible letter that Paul wrote.
Thank you for these awesome ideas.
Now I pray for myself and I pray for everyone who is here.
I pray that we would clothe ourself in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that the word of Christ would dwell in us richly.
I pray, Heavenly Father, that we would grow to be people of incredible gratitude because the goodness we experience from you and grant this through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
