Colossians 3:12-13 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.”
Put on Kindness and Compassion
When we look at these qualities mentioned here, we need to
measure them by the word of God and not by the measurements of humans. For
humans may regard it kindness to lie to people or to not say anything to offend
anyone and thus to not share the gospel with anyone. They may consider it kind
to never talk about sin or repentance or obedience to God and to keep all
conversations on more of a friendly socially acceptable level.
They may consider it compassionate to not ever talk with
anyone about their sins and to just accept sin in sinful human beings as being
a part of who we are as humans. They may consider it compassionate to never
address any topics that might be considered controversial or that might make
anyone uncomfortable, and so they may keep their conversations only to socially
acceptable standards of what they may consider to be “polite.”
And bearing with one another in love does not mean accepting
habitual and deliberate sin in the lives of those professing faith in Jesus
Christ. It doesn’t mean allowing people to do evil things to other people while
we just stand by and watch and do nothing, or while we pacify the habitual and
deliberate sinner via support groups which often only extend the sinful
behavior without making an exerted effort to put the sinful behavior to death.
As well, forgiving one another does not mean we give carte
blanche to professing Christians to continue in deliberate and habitual sin.
Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” His word teaches that we must no longer live
as slaves to sin and that sin is to no longer have mastery over our lives. God
doesn’t look the other way while we continue in deliberate disobedience to him,
and neither should we. We should be moving people to repentance and to changed
lives to where they don’t keep repeating the same sins.
So, if we are going to be kind and compassionate like Jesus
was, we are going to speak the truth in love to others for their good, and we
are going to tell them that God requires death to sin and living to him and to
his righteousness. And we are going to let them know that forgiveness of sins is
not permission then to keep on living in sin guilt free. For Jesus died to free
us from our addiction to sin so we will now live holy lives pleasing to Him.
Colossians 3:14-15 ESV
“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.”
Put On Love
As well, this word “love” is not based in our emotions. It
is based in God who is love. And God is holy, morally pure, righteous,
truthful, trustworthy, faithful, kind, and upright, and so this love shares
those same characteristic traits. For this love is based in moral preference,
and it prefers what God prefers, and so it does no harm to another. When we
love with this kind of love we will not habitually and deliberately sin against
other humans.
And when we love with this kind of love we are going to
consider what are people’s true needs, which is how God loves. And we are going
to want to do for others what will be for their good (as God defines good), and
so we will do nothing to contribute to their lives anything that is evil. We
will not encourage them towards anything evil nor will we join in with them in
their evil deeds. And evil is anything that is contrary to the will of God.
And regarding the word “peace,” this is not like the world
defines peace, for it is not absence of conflict. It is not everyone agreeing
on everything and the whole world uniting together as one mind and as one
heart, which is what some people are pushing. We are not going to be at peace
with others who are not at peace with God and who oppose God and his word and
the gospel of Christ, because we stand on the truths of God’s Word.
So, the peace of Christ ruling our hearts has to do with us
being at peace with God, which means that we are no longer living as his
enemies, but we are submitting to Christ as Lord, and daily we are dying to sin
and living to God and to his righteousness, and we are walking in obedience to
our Lord and no longer in sin. For to this we were called, and this is the
peace that we should be sharing with other people, too, not world peace.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1
Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
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.”
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
When the Scriptures teach us Christians that we are to speak
to ONE ANOTHER in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, it is not talking about
the songs needing to sound professional by man's standards. It is speaking
about the need for us to encourage (exhort, urge) one another toward walks of
holiness and righteousness and away from living in sin and for self. We should
all be doing this for the encouragement of one another.
Over a course of nine years the Lord Jesus gave me 185 songs
to write for the encouragement of the body of Christ, not for entertainment
purposes and not because I have a great voice. I don't anymore. I know that
full well. But it is the only voice I have, and God knew that. And these songs
are directly from the Scriptures or they are based in the Scriptures and they
are exactly what Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 encourage us to do.
In sharing these songs with y'all, I have no other goal
other than to encourage you my fellow Christians. I don't need pats on the
back. I am not looking for the praise of man. And so I would encourage you to
listen to some of these, not with critical ears but with spiritual ears
listening for the messages being conveyed, letting the Lord use these songs, as
simple and as unprofessional by man's standards as they are, to encourage you
in your walks of faith.
If you are reading this on my blog, there should be
somewhere on there with a link to “Songs on Vimeo” where you can listen to the
songs. The videos with my face are mostly talks, though, not songs. And at
least on one of my blogs there should be a section with links to various
topics, and one of those should be “Original Works Songs” where you can also
read the lyrics. If you are on CF, you can use the link after the following
song to get to the other songs. Or, if you are on Facebook, I have created a
public page where I am sharing the songs and the lyrics. https://www.facebook.com/SjlCfs04
So, be encouraging one another with the word of God, and
with biblical songs and poems, to walk in holiness and in faithful obedience to
the Lord.
Courageous!
An
Original Work / December 24, 2013
Based
off Various Scriptures
The Word of God throughout taught.
Some people heard but did doubt.
Still others had faith in Christ.
By grace He purified them.
They turned from sin
And they obeyed Christ.
He opened up their blinded eyesight;
Turned them from darkness
To the true Light;
Forgave their sin by His might.
He strengthened them in their faith.
He said, “Remain my faithful.”
He called them to obedience.
By faith, they were so grateful.
By faith, they were to follow Jesus;
To daily sit and listen to Him;
To have such faith
That mountains could move;
To love those whom He gave them.
Be on your guard; courageous.
Stand firm in faith. Be thankful.
Take up the shield of your faith;
Protect against all evil.
Do not move from
The hope that you have.
Your faith in Jesus let it endure.
Hold to the truth;
Your conscience be clear.
Endure with perseverance.
No comments:
Post a Comment