The Four Pillars and the Seven Churches

The Four Pillars and the Seven Churches of Revelation 2-3

Key to Chart

ü  Commended

v  Rebuked

 ?    Unclear

Church                                  Doctrine                    Devotion                        Relationships                     Practices

Ephesus (2:1-7)	ü	v	?	ü
Smyrna (2:8-11)	ü	ü	ü	ü
Pergamum  (2:12-17)	ü  ?	ü	v	v
Thyatira (2: 18-29	v	ü	?	v
Sardis (3:1-6)	?	v	?	?
Philadelphia (3:7-13)	ü	ü	ü  ?	ü
Laodicea (3:14-22)	?	v	v  ?	v  ?

Ephesus: the cold but orthodox church

Smyrna: the suffering scrapper church

Pergamum: the church relationships are ruining doctrine

Thyatira: the church with good deeds, but hollow doctrine

Sardis: the mostly dead church

Philadelphia:  the obedient church

Laodicea: the unredeemed church 

Christ Alone at Home

“Christ Alone” at Home

Colossians 3:18-4:18

Onesimus—well, his life was a mess.  His story is told in the little letter that Paul sent alone with the letter to the church of the Colossians.  He had lived with the raw end of the deal his whole life.  He was born a slave, and was given a demeaning slave name: “Onesimus” means “Useful”, as if he was expected to be a tool like a hammer or a saw or a plow for his whole life.

His master was Philemon, a modestly successful man of Colossae.  As Onesimus served there, something new came into the lives of Philemon, his wife Apphia and some of the other people living in the little backwater town of Colossae.  That something new was the message about a risen teacher, a man-god named Jesus: a Jew who’d been crucified by the Romans in Judea, but who appeared to witnesses alive three days later. 

Onesimus saw people come to his master’s house he’d not known before: there was Epaphras, who’d first brought the message about Jesus; there was Archippus, who became the leading elder and shepherd of the group, as well as other relatives and townspeople.  They’d gather early on the first day of the week at the house of Philemon.  They would sing, listen to the reading of some ancient Jewish scrolls.  Most Sundays Archippus would have a message about this Jesus, who was also called the Christ.

Onesimus listened half-heartedly.  But his mind wasn’t on tales from the east, from the land of the Jews; his mind was on tales from the west, from Rome.  He daydreamed of escaping life as the slave of Philemon, of going far away from Colossae, to Rome—a city so vast that escaped slaves could easily disappear into it to make new lives for themselves.

And one day, he did it.  With a bag of Philemon’s gold, he left.   Christian or not, no doubt the master fumed at this evil, useless slave named Useful.

Time passed, and an amazing report came to Philemon’s ears.  Onesimus had been found, in Rome, by no less than Paul, a man famed as an apostle of the Lord Jesus.  Even more: Onesimus now had placed his faith in Jesus.  Even more: an associate of Paul named Tychicus was on his way; he bore not one but two letters for the church—and one was addressed to him, as the master of Onesimus—for Onesimus himself was coming back to Colossae, and back to the household of Philemon.

Now you’ll have to read the fascinating little letter of Paul called Philemon for more of the story; but that is the background that will help us as we finish this letter, Colossians, today.  In the latter part of chapter three and then through chapter four, Paul continues and completes the theme of “Christ Alone”—Christ alone, as Master, now as master in the home.

In Jesus Christ, we have a new life.  When He reigns in a life, the richness of His presence changes us; in Him we willingly put aside anything that comes between us and Jesus, and become thankful, worshipping people.  Life becomes the way it’s supposed to be.

But a faith that does not reach into our homes, including how we conduct ourselves as a family, how we speak, how we pray, how we treat one another, isn’t much of a faith.  When the full reality of “Christ alone” comes home, it changes all those relationships as well.

Greco-Roman families did not just consist of mom and dad and kids; a full household—a full Oikos—started with the father, the paterfamilias, who was all-powerful.  He was the kurios, the lord, of the home.  Under Roman law, he had the power of life and death in the home.  That meant that he could literally slay his wife, a son or daughter or a slave if he so choose, if they had done wrong in his sight.  That was very rare, but it was actually allowed under the law.  Next came his wife, the lady—the kuria, of the home.  Together that acted as pateres, parents of the children.  Attached to the household may be other relatives—widows were the most common—and at the very bottom of the Oikos were slaves.

What happened when the message of Jesus came into homes like that?  Many people read the household instructions in the New Testament and think that Paul and Peter just rubber-stamped the rules of the culture of the time: men dominant, women treated like dirt and—to top it off—approving of slavery.  How backwards can you be?

That is a complete misreading and misunderstanding of the words of instruction that Paul gives here.  All relationships are recast in terms of adding a new Master—the Lord Jesus.  He now rules over the home.  The paterfamilias has been dethroned and only Jesus is crowned as Lord.  Let’s read this…

“Christ Alone”—in the Household (3:18-4:1)

 ¹⁸ Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.  ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. ²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. ²¹ Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. ²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ²⁵ Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.  ¹ Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

There are some dramatic changes that happen when Christ becomes Lord of the home.  The first is, now everyone bows before the Lordship of Jesus.

Wives render respect to husbands, not because he owns her, but because “it is fitting in the Lord.”  Children obey parents in everything “for this pleases the Lord.”  Slaves obey with sincerity of heart “and reverence for the Lord.”  They are called to work “for the Lord.”  And masters are reminded “you also have a master in heaven.” 

The second big change is this: every time someone is told to live under the authority of another, the one in authority is called to limit the reach of their authority out of reverence for the Lord.

So husbands are told to love their wives, and not to treat them harshly.  “Parents” (which is probably a better translation than “fathers” in 3:21) are told not to aggravate their children.  Masters are told “be just and fair” to their slaves, because they are answerable to the Master in heaven.

Does this change the way you hear this passage?  I hope so.  Maybe you wish that Paul didn’t tell wives to “submit to husbands.”  OK, but can I mention that the word “submit” (hypotasso) is actually a far gentler word in Greek than in English, meaning, “follower the leadership of”, or “respect” the husband—it does not mean to grovel at his feet.

Maybe you wish that Paul had taken aim at slavery as an evil institution.  OK; point taken.  Does it mean anything that in Philemon, the master is told to accept the escaped slave back as a brother?  (Philemon 1:16)  The Christian faith had no political clout in Paul’s time to overturn slavery—but the faith had the spiritual clout to begin to undermine it.

Along those lines, I am reminded of the old story where a communist says to a Christian, “Do you what really bugs me about Christianity?  It took you 1,900 years to get rid of slavery!”  The Christian replied, “Do you what really bugs me about communism?  It only took you one generation to bring slavery back—for everybody!”  

So when the Christ alone faith “comes home”, it transforms all relationships.  But Paul takes it further in 4:2-6.

“Christ Alone”—in Prayer and Witness (4:2-6)

 ² Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. ³ And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴ Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. ⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

In these words, Paul urges all believers to direct their words—upward to God in prayer, and outward to non-believers. 

Upward, Paul says, pray.  Pray for yourselves “being watchful” (that’s defensive—“deliver us from evil”) and thankful (that’s offensive—“give us today our daily bread”).  And pray for us too, says Paul.  The “us” would be Paul and Timothy (go back to 1:1 to see that).

What does he ask for prayer for?  It’s all about Christ—he asks them to pray for open doors, he asks them to pray that they’ll boldly and clearly proclaim the Jesus message.  Paul does not lord it over the Colossians.  He’s clear that he’s just another man like them, a redeemed sinner who doesn’t have it all together, who sometimes needs prodding to open his mouth on behalf of Jesus, who needs help saying it right.  He needs their prayers.

Does that encourage you?  I know that when most believers are urged to bear witness to Jesus, the duh-duh-duh syndrome sets in.  “I don’t know what to say.” 

That’s OK, and that’s where tools like the Four Spiritual Laws can come in handy (you can even get it as an app for smart phones and tablets now).  My friend Tom Mercer says that his church has heard him do the ABC invitation (Admit/Believe/Commit) so long now that they all have it memorized.

Now, asking then to pray for his witness triggers Paul to urge them to be good witnesses too—these are the outward words:

⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Paul says that in a positive manner—can I turn it around and say the same thing in a negative manner?  Listen:

Don’t act like a nut around non-believers.  Don’t waste good opportunities to tell people about Jesus.  Don’t talk like some uppity holier-than-thou dweeb.  And don’t talk about God without being mindful how it sounds to people. 

Look here’s the temptation: to be all hot for Jesus on Sunday and around other Christians, and then not to let that show around non-believers.  That’s just not an option for us if Christ really is Lord—if we really have made Him the real Master of our lives and our homes. 

Boy, we have a lot to learn about witness from our brothers and sisters in the third world.  They don’t hold back.  Angola has suffered under a left-wing communist regime for decades.  Back in the early 90s, Methodist Bishop Emilio de Carvalho spoke at a church in Illinois, and said,

Jail is a wonderful place for evangelism…in jail, you have everyone there, in one place.  You have time to teach and preach.  Sure, 20,000 of our Methodist pastors were killed during the revolution, but we came out of jail a much larger and stronger church. 

Don’t worry about the church in Angola; God is doing fine by us.  Frankly, I would find it much more difficult to be a pastor in Evanston, Illinois.  So many things.  It must be hard to be the church here.[1]

Wow.  What can you say after that?

Christ Alone—Living examples (4:7-18)

Now in the last verses of Colossians, 4:7-18, it’s tempting to just see this as the meaningless fine print at the end of the letter.  But as I read this, I want you to just consider two things.  First, Paul mentions a lot of people—by my count, eleven by name.  Paul is no loner.  He is part of a team.  You can’t do the Jesus-following life on your own.  That’s why you need to be connected to other Jesus-followers on an on-going basis.  The model was set for us with Jesus and the twelve.  We live by that model when we study, pray and work in small groups.

The second thing is this: the people he mentions are all examples of people who were living the Christ Alone, the Jesus-centered life.  One of the eleven here—Demas—later bailed, and you can read about that in 2 Timothy 4:10.  But the rest are people living the life that God’s called us to.  It’s a reminder to us that, yes, you can really do this.  Look, these weren’t people living in monasteries.  These were people who worked, had families, had problems—like us all.  And they lived the life, they lived the Jesus-filled life.

OK, here’s the passage:

⁷ Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. ⁸ I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. ⁹ He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

 ¹⁰ My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.) [That’s the Mark who would write the gospel that goes by his name.]  ¹¹ Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. ¹² Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. ¹³ I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings. ¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

 ¹⁶ After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. [That’s probably the letter to Ephesians]

 ¹⁷ Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.”

 ¹⁸ I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

We can live the life described here.  God’s grace—as the old song says—will lead us home.  Let me close with a quote from a letter that C.S. Lewis never intended to publish in which he describes this perfectly:

No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time.  We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home.  But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard.  The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up.  It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.[2]

Church, may God’s grace be with you, with all of us, as well.

END/PRAYER

        

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[1] Cited in David Garland, The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), p. 290.

[2] Letters of CS Lewis, 1966, p. 199.

Spidy-Sense and Evidence for a Creator

 

Spider-Man is back.  Just ten years after the Toby Maguire Spider-Man movie started its run, Spidy is back, this time incarnated in Andrew Garfield.  The Spider-Man myth depends on one of the power of mutation: that an encounter with an irradiated spider transferred some arachnid DNA to Peter Parker.

He’s not alone.  Bruce Banner’s DNA got scrambled by gamma rays, and when he’s mad, he’s the Hulk.  The Fantastic Four got zapped in space and each got their own designer mutations (stretching, invisibility, flaming/flying and poor Ben Grimm who just turns into a rock-like “Thing”). 

The whole X-Men saga also depends—in its entirety—on beneficial mutations.  Get the right mutation, you can control the weather, read minds, move metal, and maybe even grow wings.

But the reality is that mutations are overwhelmingly bad news.  Generally, if you bitten by a nasty spider, you’ll get sick and even die long before you get Spidy-powers.  Mutations are bad!  The most likely outcome of mutated cells isn’t the ability to become invisible or climb walls; it’s cancer.

A mutation is an alteration of data, of information.  We used to speak of “simple, one celled organisms.”  We don’t anymore.  The more we learn about cells, the more we learn that they have more in common with a city full of activity than they do a lab experiment.  They are full of complex data just in order to run right.  Cells are not only complex, they are “irreducibly complex.”  That is, take one component of cell activity away, you don’t get a dumbed-down cell—you get a dead cell.         

Each cell is crammed with vast amounts of information.  But the fact that they are so is in some ways a violation of the rules of science—if indeed you believe that life on earth arose by the combination of time, matter, chance and absolutely no intelligence.  This speaks to the fundamental question: is there a Designer/Creator behind the creation, or are we just lucky animals on a lucky planet?

To illustrate this, imagine a small cylinder filled half with salt (on the bottom) and half with pepper (on the top).  By filling it that way, we put data there (salt on bottom, pepper on top, separated).  Cork the cylinder, and shake vigorously.  In a few moments, you’ll have a mix of salt and pepper, an inchoate gray mass.  Question: if you were to shake that cylinder for a while (say 10 million years), would you ever have the original information restored (that is, salt on the bottom, pepper on the top)?  Mathematicians say (and I’ll have to trust them on this—the calculations are way beyond me) that the answer is no.

What we’ve observed from nature is that information and order naturally dissipate.  It’s called the law of entropy: all things tend to decay and move toward disorder.  For example, say a plane crashed on an island in the Pacific in the last days of the Second World War.  If we arrived three days later, we could easily identify human remains, aircraft parts, paperwork and so forth.  But say we just found the crash last week.  Sixty-seven years of decay would make human remains scare and hard to identify; all paper would have dissolved; rust would even make identifying aircraft parts difficult.

So whether we’re talking about a cylinder of salt and pepper or an old crash—entropy says that disorder sets in—that information degrades.  But postulating the origin of life without a Designer/Creator says that somehow incredible amounts of information arose spontaneously—all you need is enough time plus chance plus matter.

Give me a break.  I’m smarter than that.  To believe that life, with all of its complexity and variety arose spontaneously is a leap of faith no sane person should be asked to make.

I saw an interview with Richard Dawkins, evolutionary scientist and “new atheist”, who in response to the kind of problems I’ve brought up suggested that perhaps life was planted here by aliens (as in this summer’s film “Prometheus”).  That’s no solution—you still have to explain how it arose spontaneously on some other planet.  For a smart guy, that seemed like a pretty dense answer.

Years ago I saw a poster with these words:  “There are two fundamental facts of the universe: 1. There is a God.  2. You are not God.”  My Spidy-sense tells me that correct.  But so also does some sober thinking on mutations, cells and entropy.               

Living "Christ Alone"

This was the message today at FBC Sunnyside, WA.

Living “Christ Alone” (Colossians 3:1-17)

Two weeks ago I shared a message I called “Christ Alone” drawn from Colossians 1:13-23.  The simple point I was making is this: the apostle Paul sees the Colossians being swayed away from the simplicity of Christ.  He hammers away at this: it’s not Christ plus law, or Christ plus ritual, or Christ plus secret knowledge, or Christ plus rules and regulations.  It’s just Christ.  He’s enough.  He’s enough for two reasons: because of who He is (fully God, and with full authority over all things) and what He’s done (gone to the cross and burst the bonds of death by His resurrection).  He’s brought us over from the realm of darkness to the realm of light. 

Last week, we looked at Colossians 1:24-2:23, where we saw the amazing truth of Christ living in us, while we fight off the persistent blasphemy of religion—the blasphemy that you need more than Jesus to know God.

Religion is all that junk that gets in the way between us and the simplicity of the good news of Jesus.  Paul calls us to change the way we think and the way we live.  First, think this way: Jesus is enough.  I don’t need to add anything to Jesus to know God, to be forgiven, to be happy and fulfilled.  He’s enough.

Do you know how our faith, the Christ-centered faith, is different from every other faith on earth?  The theme of every other faith—all those religions—is this DO: do good works, do the ritual, do the requirements, and then, maybe, God will hear you and bless you.  That’s do, and that’s religion.

The theme of the gospel is this: not DO, but DONE.  Jesus paid it all.  He went to the cross.  He did the good work we could not do, and it’s DONE now.  That’s why Paul could speak of all the things that he does with such absolute certainty.  And that’s what was behind what Jesus said just before He died there: “It is finished” (John 19:30). 

Colossians 1-2 is all about Paul reminding believers that because of Christ’s total triumph on the cross and by resurrection, He is all we need.  Don’t turn back, says Paul—don’t turn back either to Jewish law or to pagan practices.

Now, the second half of the book, chapters 3-4, paints for us just what Christ-centered living looks like.  In chapter 3:1-17, he gives general principles which he then gives some specific applications about in 3:18-4:6 to believing households and to prayer.

It’s a big chunk, but today let’s look at 3:1-17.  It’s the heart of Paul’s teaching on—what does it mean to live a Christ centered life?  What does living “Christ alone” look like?

The basic truth: look to Christ, the Center (3:1-4)

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Twice Paul says “set”: set your hearts on things above and then set your minds on things about.  These are simple commands with profound meanings.  If Christ is Lord, if eternity is real, then live it in terms of your priorities, affections and interests.  We are wrapped up in Him; we have been raised with Him; we even died with Him; He is our life, and when He appears in His glory, we will also appear with His glory.

We are “Christ people”—that’s what “Christian” means.  All the wonderful things He’s done for us—what does He want in return?  Gold?  Animal sacrifices?  Rituals?  All that “religious” stuff?  Nope.

So what does He want?

In a word: He wants adoration.  A heart set on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  A mind set on things above, not on earthly things.

That doesn’t mean we can’t be interested in the San Diego Chargers or in home decorating or in getting a job promotion.  It just means that all these things take a far back seat to this: loving God: loving the Jesus who died for us; loving Him for His own sake. 

It means that every believer will see everything in the light of and against the background of eternity. He will no longer live as if this world was all that mattered; he will see this world against the background of the larger world of eternity.

Every believer will set giving above getting, serving above ruling, forgiving above avenging. The believer will see things, not as they appear to men, but as they appear to God.

In some ways, it’s as simple as Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” 

Now, why does God want us to live this way?  Is there any sense that He wants this in order to restrict or to frustrate or to limit us by these directions?  No, not at all; this is how we come to maximum joy in life.  Sin is a prison, not an amusement park.  Whether it’s the sin of a life without God, or the sin of misplaced religion, it’s all a prison.  Here’s how we get free, and Paul gives us specific directions in the following verses.  

We’ve all heard, “Out with the bad air, in with the good”, right?  Well, v. 5-11 is bad air and v. 12-17 is good air.

So, get rid of… (3:5-11)

 ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Get rid of these things: Paul expresses that in two ways in this passage: “Put to death” (v. 5), “You must rid yourselves of all such things” (v. 9) based on the fact that “You have taken off your old self” (v. 9). 

There are certain things that just aren’t compatible with the Christ-centered life.  That’s our motive: they just get in the way of a life centered on Him.

Ever have some kid you because you don’t drink alcohol, or don’t use swear words, or are embarrassed by a dirty joke?  They know that you’re a Christian, so they say, “So what?  You think you’ll go to hell if you have a Budweiser?”  That’s not the issue for believers—the issue is—what’s compatible with the Christ-centered life, and what’s not? 

There are two “vice lists” in this passage.  Vs. 5 says:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

“Put to death”: that’s kind of violent!  Paul’s urging us to take no prisoners here.  This vice list is about sexual purity, and I think it’s so interesting that Paul follows this upstream.  That is, he works from the outcome back to source.  Behind sexual immorality are sexually impure ways of thinking (impurity, list, evil desires and greed), but Paul doesn’t stop there.  He goes all the way back to the headwaters:  “evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

Follow the stream up to the source far enough, you’ll find idolatry: putting the god of sexual pleasure ahead of the God who gives all pleasures, including sexual pleasure in marriage.  It’s sexual pleasure running a life, and Paul says, “Get out a axe, and put immorality to death.”  This isn’t “let go and let God”: this is war. 

This was so counter-cultural for the people of Colossae.  All kinds of sexual behavior were tolerated in their culture (like it is today).  Paul’s concern was that lifestyle would suck them back into pagan living.

The other vice list has to do with the way we talk:

⁸ But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Unlike the first list, here Paul starts upstream and works his way down: from anger on one end (an attitude) to filthy language (an action) on the other.  Get rid of it, he says.  This is the bad air.  This is the junk that just has to go—to make room for good things.  The reason is the change of clothes we’ve made—that’s the analogy in v. 9-10: when you came to Jesus, the old self when off and you put on the new self—a new self that bit by bit is being renewed in the image of its Creator.  Before he moves on, he makes one more point: it doesn’t matter who you are or what your ethnic background is, or what your status in life is, this is what God is doing in our lives, and this is the call God’s made on our lives (v. 11):

Here [in the realm of the new self] there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.       

Now it’s time to look at the “good air”, the things to add to our lives:     

And add this to your life (3:12-17)

Christ-like love (v. 12-14)

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Love is the idea that holds these verses together.  Love produces the compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Love moves me to forgive in imitation of the way I’ve been forgiven.  Love is what unites all these things.  Love is the new set of clothes that came with the life in Christ.  Love makes a new person.  And love “binds them [these virtues] together in perfect unity.”

It’s Christ-like love. Over and over again, in Colossians and elsewhere in his letters, Paul tells us that while love is something we strive for, it’s also something that’s been placed in our hearts—supernaturally placed by the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Jesus.  What the Holy Spirit does is to set about reproducing the character of Jesus in our lives.  That’s part of what v. 3 means: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  This is the new person God made us to be, and yes we strive to make it so, but we’re not striving on our own.  The Spirit is striving in us to bring forth the life and character of Jesus in us.  Now we can resist the Spirit, we can grieve the Spirit and we can quench the Spirit, but He desires to make us like Jesus. 

So, the Christ-centered life adds His love; it also adds His peace.  Look at v. 15-17.

Christ-made peace (vs. 15-17)

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The final part we look at today says—let the peace, won by Jesus on the cross, rule both in our hearts and in our fellowship together. 

Do you see how Paul unites together these four ideas?  Peace, thankfulness, the word of Christ and doing all in the name of Jesus—all four.  All four are set up as commands: “Let the peace…be thankful…let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”  It’s not a set of disconnected commands: it’s all of one piece.

It’s one piece with two sides: it’s peace within and peace between—peace within your life and peace between followers of Jesus (“as members of one body you were called to peace”). 

It may be two-sided in its effect, but it’s all one in terms of its origin: it’s the peace of Christ.  Jesus spoke of this in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 

That peace is expressed in thankfulness, in devotion to the word of Christ, and in doing all in His name.  If I have His peace, then I am thankful.  If I have His peace, then I seek out His word to dwell in me; if I have His peace, then I invite Him into every aspect of my life, doing all—word or deed—in the name of Jesus.

Don’t you find how it is that you let the word of Christ dwell in us interesting?  It’s “as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”  Worship and singing especially has a powerful role in making the word “dwell” in us. 

Living Christ Alone

So now, what do we do?  Well, the real bottom line of living “Christ alone” is set up for us by Paul in 3:1:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

This is not some weird, monastic, other-worldly, kind of thing we’re called to.  We are called to be people whose feet are firmly planted on earth, with all its needs and problems and yes, all its possibilities, but to do so not only with eternity in mind, but with a sense that God has called me, and you, to be conduits bringing a little of heaven to earth, right here and right now. 

Remember that Paul wrote to people who were a lot like us: people who worked hard all day, who were raising families and trying to make the money stretch, and who fell asleep exhausted each night.  And he said to them, set your heart on things above.

Living “Christ alone” means that you believe and act on the reality that worship isn’t just something you do for an hour or two a week: you’re engaged in worship all the time—or at least that’s the idea. 

Imagine someone saying, I love my wife.  Come rain or shine, I make sure I pay attention to her for a whole hour each week. 

That’s not only not love; it sounds an awful lot like--religion. 

But the way we have for us here is different.  It moves from the heart on things above in v. 1 to the hands engaged in worshipful deeds in vs. 17:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all 

in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

It starts with a heart and a mind captured by the greatness of Jesus; it finishes with that great Jesus working and doing and loving through you.  This is Christ-centered living.

So where are you?  Is He at the center of your life, or at the edge?  Do you invite Him into your life daily, or just from time to time?  Is He working in your life to move you closer to the center—are you allowing Him to do that?

I want to pray now for all of us, that we would turn our hearts toward Him, and ask the Spirit of God to do some spiritual surgery on us.  Maybe you’ve gotten caught up in sexual sin.  Or maybe in angry language.  Maybe we’re being impatient with people, or we’re harboring unforgiveness.  Maybe we’re just not letting the word of Christ dwell within us.  Come back to Him today.  Set your hearts on things above.  Let’s live the Christ-centered life.