Colossians 3:12-15 ESV
“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; 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. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
When the Bible tells us to “put on” something or to “clothe
yourselves” with something, it generally means to apply these qualities or
these actions or these character traits to our lives, to make them part of our
lives. And this isn’t about faking it, but it is about them becoming part of
who we are, a reality in our daily lives. We become compassionate and kind and
patient, etc. Basically what we are doing is taking on the character of Christ.
And the only way we can do this is first off we must be in a
genuine relationship with Jesus Christ by God’s grace through God-given faith
in him. We must have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and then raised
with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness. And then we must be walking (in conduct, in
practice) not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For, it is the Holy Spirit living within us who empowers and
strengthens us to live holy lives pleasing to God and to be compassionate and
kind and humble and forgiving. It is only because Christ now lives within us in
the person of the Holy Spirit that we can be made righteous with God by faith
in him, and that we can live righteously, too. And only as we yield our lives
to the Lord Jesus Christ are we able to have these character traits.
Basically, because of what Jesus did for us on that cross in
delivering us from our slavery to sin and freeing us from the control of sin so
that we can now be free to live for the Lord, and because his Spirit lives
within us, we can become like Jesus because we are giving him full reign in our
lives to live his life in us and out through us. The more that we yield to the
Lord and we let him have control, the more we will be like Jesus in character.
And above all these we are to put on love, and love comes
from God and God is love, and love means to prefer what God prefers. So, if we
are putting on love, we are putting on holiness, godliness, righteousness,
moral purity, uprightness, honesty, integrity, faithfulness, repentance,
obedience to our Lord, and submission to his Lordship over our lives. For we
are now his possession, and we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works which God planned in advance that we should walk in them.
And if we are putting on love, we are thinking about what is
best for others, not from a worldly or a fleshly perspective, but from God’s
perspective, since this love comes from God. And so we are going to do for
others as Christ did for us, not in dying for their sins, but in being willing
to die sharing with them the gospel which can save their lives. For this love
is self-sacrificial that considers the legitimate needs of others in how we
treat them.
Also, if we are loving others with this kind of love, we
will not deliberately and/or habitually sin against them, especially not
against our spouses, children, other family members, close friends, and our
fellow Christians, i.e. the people who are the closest to us for whom we have
some biblical responsibility to care for and to nurture in the Lord. We shouldn’t
sin against anyone, but especially not those who are under our care.
Colossians 3:16-17 ESV
“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. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
This is how the body of Christ is to operate. We aren’t
supposed to “go to church” and just sit there and be spectators and then go
home until the next week. But sadly much of today’s market-driven churches do
not supply much opportunity for this to take place, and for many people, that
is all that they know of “church,” because that is what church has always been
for them, these institutions of men and their church denominations.
But the church is not these organizations. The church is not
a corporation under the state, although many have turned it into just that. And
the church is not a building that you go to. The church is us, the people of
God, who have died with Christ to sin and who are living to God and to his
righteousness in the power of God’s Spirit living within us. And we are to be
operating in the power of the Holy Spirit in our gatherings, too.
So, the church is everywhere that there are genuine
believers in Jesus Christ, and it doesn’t matter where they meet or how often
or on what days or at what time. And it doesn’t have to be in person if that is
not possible. We are also on the internet, and many of us operate more
biblically as the body of Christ on the internet than we ever had opportunity
to do in our gatherings with people face to face. Sadly, that is the truth.
Not many “churches” these days are truly teaching the Word
of God in truth and in righteousness. Many have adopted a diluted gospel
message in order to appease and to appeal to the world and to human flesh. And
they are relying on humans and books written by humans, not inspired of God, to
tell them what is true. And not many are students of the Scriptures who are not
only living the Scriptures but who are sharing them with others.
You see, when we gather together, we are to be teaching and
admonishing one another in all wisdom (the counsel of God). Every part is to do
its work in the spiritual growth and the maturity of the body of Christ in
Christ. Now, women are not to have authority over men. They are not to be instructors
of men with authority over them, but men should be willing to listen to women
share what God is teaching them from the word and by it to be encouraged.
If we are all one body, which we are, with equal concern,
one for the other, there ought to be these times when we can have true
spiritual fellowship with one another in the Lord where we can encourage one
another with what we are being encouraged about in our times with the Lord,
which includes singing to one another songs that will teach us biblical truths
to help us to mature and to be encouraged in our walks of faith in Christ
Jesus.
[Ac 2:42-47; Rom 6:1-23; Rom
8:1-17; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 3:9,16-17; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Co 12:1-31; 2 Co 5:1; 2 Co
6:14-16; Eph 1:22; Eph 2:19-22; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-30; Col 1:18-24;
Col 2:19; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; 1 Pet 2:4-6; Jude 1:20-21]
Songs
in the Night
An Original Work / December 18, 2013
“About
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other
prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84
Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.
I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!
Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.
I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!
Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.
Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!
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