Giving Thanks Together (Colossians 3:12-17)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:04.320 Well, if you are able to, please remain standing and let's hear God's 2 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:11.029 word from Colossians, Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter three, verses twelve 3 00:00:11.109 --> 00:00:21.980 through seventeen, Colossians three, twelve through seventeen, and Paul talks about how 4 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:25.660 we are to act, how are we to how we are to behave in 5 00:00:25.820 --> 00:00:30.140 the household of God. He talks about who we are and how we are 6 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:36.210 to treat one another. This one another aspect is very important in this passage. 7 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:41.530 Paul's not just addressing our individual lives, but our lives together as a 8 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:47.969 community, as a church. So let's hear this passage this morning and I 9 00:00:48.090 --> 00:00:52.920 want you to focus particularly on the word thankful. Kids, listen for that 10 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:59.000 word thankful, or thankfulness or Thanksgiving. All right, Colossians twelve through seventeen. 11 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:04.269 Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, 12 00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:12.150 compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another 13 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:18.579 and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As 14 00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:23.340 the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all 15 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:29.620 these, put on love, which binds everything together. They're in perfect harmony, 16 00:01:30.659 --> 00:01:34.890 and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed 17 00:01:36.370 --> 00:01:42.010 you were called, in one body, and be thankful. Let the word 18 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:47.400 of Christ dwell richly in you, or richly, teaching and admonishing one another 19 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:53.159 in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in 20 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:57.480 your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do 21 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.150 everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the 22 00:02:02.230 --> 00:02:07.590 father. Through him, may God bless his word to us. Please be 23 00:02:07.669 --> 00:02:16.699 seated. As I said, from this passage, I want to draw your 24 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:22.139 attention, to have us all focus together on God's command to us to be 25 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:27.979 thankful. It appears in the last several verses, in fact in each of 26 00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:31.530 them, in fifteen, in fifteen and sixteen, and in seventeen. I'm 27 00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:37.969 fifteen, the last part of that verse as and be thankful, and then 28 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:43.770 sixteen and seventeen. Explain what that looks like. Explain what that looks like. 29 00:02:44.250 --> 00:02:47.000 So in Verse Sixteen we have these words with thankfulness in your heart to 30 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:52.319 God, and then in verse seventeen it says whatever you do in word or 31 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:57.120 deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to 32 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:01.389 God, the father, through him. So these various ways in which we 33 00:03:01.469 --> 00:03:07.430 are of to be found together as a church on one of them is love. 34 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:12.979 We are to love one another. We are bound together in perfect harmony 35 00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:17.900 through love. We are to let peace rule in our hearts. We read, 36 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:23.419 or reread or we heard read peace, that to which we were called 37 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:29.090 together as one body. So the peace is a together kind of peace forgiving 38 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:35.090 one another. The love is a love that binds us together. And the 39 00:03:35.169 --> 00:03:38.969 same is true for thankfulness. When it says let the word of Christ dwell 40 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:45.400 in you richly, it's a plural you. It's Paul's addressing us as a 41 00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:49.439 people, chosen ones, holy, beloved, as a church, as a 42 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:55.150 community. Together we are to be thankful. So the thankfulness that is here 43 00:03:55.270 --> 00:04:00.069 is definitely demonstrated in our lives. Are should be demonstrated in our lives in 44 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:05.870 an individual way. But it's also important, and Paul has particularly in mind, 45 00:04:05.949 --> 00:04:12.659 our corporate thankfulness. So while each of us are to be thankful to 46 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:16.220 the father through the son, we never do that alone. You can put 47 00:04:16.259 --> 00:04:21.620 it this way. Christians are not just to be thankful people, but we 48 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:29.129 are to be a thankful people. We are to stir one another up in 49 00:04:29.250 --> 00:04:32.689 the Lord. Well, that's a nice thing, isn't it? If you 50 00:04:32.850 --> 00:04:36.529 think about it. Have you ever belonged to a church? Hopefully you do 51 00:04:36.689 --> 00:04:42.920 now. Have you ever belonged to a church where the body was a thankful 52 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:48.720 body? Have you ever sat around a dinner table that was thankful? Hopefully 53 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:54.430 you just did. We read a proverb in the middle of the week at 54 00:04:54.470 --> 00:04:57.750 the weekly pot luck. That said, let's see if I can remember. 55 00:04:57.750 --> 00:05:02.870 This is off the top of my head. A meal better is a dinner 56 00:05:02.910 --> 00:05:10.579 or a meal with herbs that has love, then one with a fattened ox 57 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:15.300 and hatred with it. Right, better to have just a little bit of 58 00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:18.300 food, just a few herbs, right, and to have lave around the 59 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:23.569 table, to have hearts filled with peace and with thankfulness, then to have 60 00:05:23.689 --> 00:05:30.050 a giant meal, sumptuous and well yams with the marshmallows, of course, 61 00:05:30.490 --> 00:05:36.720 to have things that good and yet have people fighting and greedy and snarling at 62 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:44.600 one another. Being thankful together is a wonderful thing. But how do we 63 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:48.680 do it? If we want to be at church that comes around the table 64 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:54.629 of the Lord that is thankful, how do we become that kind of people. 65 00:05:55.550 --> 00:06:00.230 How do we become a kind of people that God would characterize as thankful? 66 00:06:00.470 --> 00:06:05.980 How can we have a reputation for being thankful? Well, God gives 67 00:06:06.019 --> 00:06:12.060 the answer to this question in these verses. Any what he says is this, 68 00:06:13.459 --> 00:06:17.850 let the word of Christ, that let the word of Christ dwell richly 69 00:06:18.050 --> 00:06:23.970 in you. I wonder if that's the first thing you thought of when you 70 00:06:24.089 --> 00:06:28.170 are answering these questions. I was asking in your mind. When I ask 71 00:06:28.730 --> 00:06:31.209 how do we become a thankful people? Do you answer? Well, of 72 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:38.120 course we let the word of Christ dwell richly in us. My guess is 73 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:43.639 not. It's because we often don't think about the word of Christ this way. 74 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.230 We don't think about the scriptures this way, even those of us who 75 00:06:47.509 --> 00:06:51.430 hold them in high esteem, even those of us who think that they're important, 76 00:06:51.550 --> 00:06:59.870 God's own word and authoritative word, they're often relegated to sort of a 77 00:07:00.029 --> 00:07:06.459 certain part of our lives that do certain things in certain ways. But the 78 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:12.620 word of Christ here is not coming to us, as a visitor, Paul 79 00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:17.129 says, it is to dwell among us like a person who lives in our 80 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:23.129 house. And when that happens, when the word of Christ Christ dwells in 81 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:29.089 US are dwells richly in our church. Wonderful things begin to happen, including 82 00:07:29.170 --> 00:07:34.680 thankfulness. I'll think about thankfulness and I think you'll understand why this is the 83 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:41.040 case. The nature of thankfulness is such a thing that it never exists on 84 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:46.470 its own. Thankfulness is not an attitude that exists by itself. What do 85 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:51.629 I mean? When you're thankful, you're always thankful for something. Right, 86 00:07:53.189 --> 00:07:58.230 it's always in connection with something else. You're never just thankful on on its 87 00:07:58.269 --> 00:08:01.300 own. That's why it's it's not good enough to simply wag a finger at 88 00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:05.740 someone to say be thankful. That's like taking a seed packet and shaking and 89 00:08:05.860 --> 00:08:09.339 saying grow. I said row right. It just doesn't work that way. 90 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:13.610 Seeds don't grow that way. Thankfulness doesn't work that way. It doesn't grow 91 00:08:13.769 --> 00:08:18.170 that way. It has to be planted into the soil of scripture. It 92 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:26.009 has to be planted into the word of Christ. When that happens and the 93 00:08:26.089 --> 00:08:33.559 spirit waters, thankfulness does indeed grow. So let's think about the word of 94 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.399 Christ, then. What is it that we are thinking about? What is 95 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:43.789 it that produces this thankfulness? Well, the word of Christ is the message 96 00:08:43.830 --> 00:08:50.429 of God's mission to send his anointed son, the Christ, into the world 97 00:08:52.350 --> 00:08:56.100 to save people from sin, to save people from death, to save people 98 00:08:56.139 --> 00:09:01.340 from judgment. It's not just a message of a mission planned, but it's 99 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:09.019 also a message of a mission accomplished. The word of Christ is God's gracious 100 00:09:09.139 --> 00:09:15.769 gift to an undeserving world. Now, thankfulness wouldn't make much sense if you 101 00:09:15.850 --> 00:09:20.169 didn't owe anything to God or if he hadn't given anything to you. But 102 00:09:20.090 --> 00:09:24.519 we do owe a lot to God and God has given us something, and 103 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:31.320 so that means that there is all kinds of room for thankfulness. If the 104 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:35.679 Christian message is new to you, I can explain it in this way. 105 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:41.789 Consider a time in your life where you have been given something you didn't deserve. 106 00:09:43.110 --> 00:09:48.110 Maybe a second chance, maybe a second chance on a job after a 107 00:09:48.190 --> 00:09:52.860 bad performance review, or maybe a second chance on a marriage, or maybe 108 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:58.779 an inheritance from someone you had dishonored or a friendship from someone you were mean 109 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:03.940 to. It's one thing to receive a gift and be thankful for it, 110 00:10:05.019 --> 00:10:09.970 but it's a double thankfulness. It's an overflowing thankfulness that a bounds when you've 111 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:15.529 been given the opposite of what you deserve particularly well, and only in the 112 00:10:15.610 --> 00:10:20.919 case when you don't deserve a good thing. God's grace to us in Christ 113 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:28.799 dislike this, only it's bigger and richer and deeper in every way. Why? 114 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:35.629 Well, because we never deserved less from any other person and no one 115 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:41.429 has ever given more to us than God has. There's no one that we've 116 00:10:41.710 --> 00:10:48.070 sinned against or been mean to, or failed to perform our duties, any 117 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:52.700 one as much as God. When God, when we approach the all holy 118 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:58.899 God, who is perfectly good in every way, perfectly beautiful and wonderful, 119 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:03.100 and we come to him who knows all things and knows our hearts, knows 120 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:07.090 our minds and every aspect of our lives, everything we've said, everything that 121 00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:16.529 we've done, we find ourselves standing before a judge, deserving not just a 122 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:22.799 little bit of good, the all of God's wrath. That's why Paul says 123 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:28.080 that the wages of sin it's death. When we sin in our lives, 124 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:33.309 it's no small thing, when our hearts are twisted and corrupt, when we 125 00:11:33.190 --> 00:11:37.669 approach a meal that is supposed to be filled with Thanksgiving and instead we're filled 126 00:11:37.750 --> 00:11:43.470 with pride and covetousness and all kinds of other things. We begin to see, 127 00:11:43.669 --> 00:11:48.259 when we really look in the mirror, how sinful we really are. 128 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:54.740 But when we have that perspective of our sins and we're really honest with ourselves, 129 00:11:56.580 --> 00:12:00.740 but then we see the Great Gift of God's grace and he says I 130 00:12:00.860 --> 00:12:05.169 forgive all your sins. You don't have to pay for them, and more 131 00:12:05.330 --> 00:12:09.850 than that, I will raise you up, even as I've raised my son 132 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:16.759 from the dead, and you will dwell with him forever and ever, without 133 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:24.399 sin and enjoy and in pleasure. We never deserved less from anyone and no 134 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:31.230 one has ever given us more. This is, in a nutshell, the 135 00:12:31.350 --> 00:12:35.190 word of Christ. Do you see why it would produce thankfulness? If your 136 00:12:35.230 --> 00:12:39.029 job, if your boss gave you a second chance on your job, would 137 00:12:39.029 --> 00:12:43.299 you say yeah, I know, of course not. Of course you wouldn't. 138 00:12:43.779 --> 00:12:48.220 You would say thank you, I really appreciate this. I won't fail 139 00:12:48.299 --> 00:12:54.460 you. If your spouse gives you a second chance on your marriage, you 140 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:56.539 don't say well, thanks, of course, and you've done your fair share 141 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:01.769 of wrong too. No, you fall down at their knees and you say 142 00:13:01.889 --> 00:13:05.850 thank you, thank you for what you've done, thank you for loving me 143 00:13:05.970 --> 00:13:13.919 when I didn't deserve it. When God gives us not just an extended period 144 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:18.519 on our job or a few more years is together with him, but he 145 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:24.840 gives us eternal life, joy in the Lord, sinlessness, peace and all 146 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:35.149 the blessings of Heaven, we have a lot of room for thankfulness. Some 147 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:41.940 New Testament commentators have called Colossians the most Christological book in the Bible, and 148 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:46.460 the reason they say that is not because the other books of the Bible don't 149 00:13:46.500 --> 00:13:50.779 point to Christ, but Colossians is so overtly so, on the face of 150 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:56.649 it, talking about Jesus in such explicit ways, about who he is and 151 00:13:56.809 --> 00:14:03.330 what he's done, that they call it this sometimes is a way to describe 152 00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:09.519 how much of the word of Christ is in here, specifically talking about Jesus 153 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:15.320 in this way. So when Paul says at the end of this book and 154 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:18.559 and kind of the Pivo, a pivotal turning point in the book, he 155 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:24.309 started summing up his argument and putting an exclamation point on the whole thing and 156 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:30.389 he says let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, he has at 157 00:14:30.470 --> 00:14:35.269 least first in mind the things that he's just written in chapters one and chapters 158 00:14:35.350 --> 00:14:37.899 two and the rest of chapter three. He means, of course, all 159 00:14:37.940 --> 00:14:41.740 of scripture, but Colossians is a great place to start. Is what I'm 160 00:14:41.779 --> 00:14:48.500 saying, and I want you to consider just some of these things, just 161 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:52.929 here and just this one book, in just these three chapters which Paul has 162 00:14:52.970 --> 00:14:58.049 mentioned. In Chapter One, he talked about the hope laid up for us 163 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:01.730 in heaven. He talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is growing 164 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:07.759 and bearing grid of fruit in all the world. He wrote about how God 165 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.000 has delivered us up from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom 166 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:18.559 of his beloved son, a mighty rescue effort. He talked about the redemption 167 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:24.590 that we have in Christ through the forgiveness of sins. He tells us that 168 00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:28.309 Jesus is the Christ, he is the Supreme Creator and Ruler over Heaven and 169 00:15:28.509 --> 00:15:33.830 earth, and in all of this power, he canceled the record of our 170 00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:39.059 debt became victorious over Satan through it, and all this for people who were, 171 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:45.539 quote, hostile in mind and doing evil deeds. God didn't save the 172 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:50.690 good people, he saved the sinners. He saved us, and he did 173 00:15:50.769 --> 00:15:56.009 so for the purpose of presenting us before God, Holly and blameless. That's 174 00:15:56.009 --> 00:16:02.049 all in chapter one, and there's more than we could have said. Chapter 175 00:16:02.210 --> 00:16:06.799 two has yet more treasures of the word of Christ. Paul says that we 176 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:11.840 are knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance, of 177 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:17.200 understanding and the knowledge of God, which is Christ. Let me read that 178 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:22.789 backwards. What is Christ answer? Being knit together in love to reach all 179 00:16:22.870 --> 00:16:30.629 the riches of full assurance, of understanding and the knowledge of God. Christ 180 00:16:30.710 --> 00:16:34.379 is the one in whom, quote, all the hidden treasures of wisdom and 181 00:16:34.580 --> 00:16:40.500 knowledge are found. Jesus is the one who it quote, in whom the 182 00:16:40.659 --> 00:16:45.100 fullness of Deity dwells. bodily, we were buried with him in baptism and 183 00:16:45.460 --> 00:16:51.769 raised by faith, we who were hostile, as I said earlier, doing 184 00:16:51.889 --> 00:16:55.250 evil deeds, but also, as he says in chapter two, dead in 185 00:16:55.370 --> 00:17:00.919 our trestpasses and in the uncircumcisions of our flesh. In that state, God 186 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:07.359 made us alive, together with Christ, having forgiven us all of our trespasses, 187 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:11.480 canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands. 188 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:15.670 Do you see why Paul says let the word of Christ dwell and you richly. 189 00:17:17.549 --> 00:17:22.150 When we consider these things, and just this from these couple of chapters, 190 00:17:22.390 --> 00:17:26.829 not to mention all of the Bible and, of course, the work 191 00:17:26.950 --> 00:17:33.819 of God in our particular lives, you can see why we should be a 192 00:17:33.980 --> 00:17:41.500 thankful people. The word of Christ is the Great Gift of God for Our 193 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:45.569 Eternal Nal Salvation, both body and soul, and when this message is truly 194 00:17:45.650 --> 00:17:53.329 among us, dwelling in us, it springs forth in thankfulness. Remember what 195 00:17:53.369 --> 00:18:00.440 I said about the visitor and the one who lives with you. When a 196 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:04.240 visitor comes, they might have their own schedule right they had a rental car, 197 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:07.279 they're going to go see some other people. Maybe you'll have a meal 198 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:11.200 together. You know you show some hospitality, but you know they're only there 199 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:18.470 for a portion of your life. But when somebody comes and lives in your 200 00:18:18.630 --> 00:18:22.190 house, it has an effect on everything that you do, your schedule, 201 00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:29.900 your meals, your priorities, your money. And that's to be true of 202 00:18:29.940 --> 00:18:33.259 the word of Christ. It's not merely present with us, but Jesus, 203 00:18:33.619 --> 00:18:37.859 through his word and by his spirit, is to dwell richly in us. 204 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:44.569 If we sideline, down, played or de emphasize the word of Christ, 205 00:18:45.289 --> 00:18:51.490 then what do you think is going to happen to faith and thankfulness? Little 206 00:18:51.569 --> 00:18:56.839 shrivel and die. So what Paul is saying here is that if we want 207 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:00.279 to be a thankful people, not to mention a peaceful people, in a 208 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.359 loving people, the Gospel must be at the center of us as a church, 209 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.440 the foundation of who we are and what we do. Not Our ambitions, 210 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:14.549 not our preferences, not even our love for our neighbor, not even 211 00:19:14.789 --> 00:19:18.869 our thankfulness to God can be at the center of who we are. It 212 00:19:19.069 --> 00:19:26.900 must be Jesus. The core of who we are must be found in him. 213 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:33.940 And why is that? What's because only he is truly good and truly 214 00:19:34.099 --> 00:19:41.329 perfect in every way. We might find thankfulness for a friend WHO's given us 215 00:19:41.329 --> 00:19:45.210 a second chance at a friendship, let's say, but it doesn't mean we're 216 00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:48.289 never going to have an argument with them again. It doesn't mean that friend 217 00:19:48.289 --> 00:19:53.200 might hurt us. We can be thankful for a House that we've received or 218 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.960 a job that we've had a second chance on, but these things go away. 219 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:03.240 Only Jesus doesn't go away. Only Jesus, only through Jesus, do 220 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:11.269 we have the steadfast love of God which endures forever. When that kind of 221 00:20:11.430 --> 00:20:19.029 foundation, the very godhead himself coming to us in the person of the son 222 00:20:19.190 --> 00:20:25.420 and by the power of the spirit. When that is our core, when 223 00:20:25.619 --> 00:20:30.539 that is in whom we are found and what we know, then thankfulness will 224 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:37.170 not die. You can even be a job and have all your things taken 225 00:20:37.210 --> 00:20:44.970 away, have all kind of trials and struggles and still be thankful to know 226 00:20:45.170 --> 00:20:52.880 that you belong to God and he has promised himself to you. We might 227 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:56.400 say that when the word of Christ dwells richly in it, in us, 228 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:03.549 we dwell richly in it and in him. I want to conclude just saying 229 00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:07.990 in a few practical things. Practically, what does this look like in the 230 00:21:07.029 --> 00:21:11.230 church? How do we let the word of Christ dwell richly in us? 231 00:21:11.869 --> 00:21:17.190 Will Paul gives us three things and I'll just touch on them briefly. They 232 00:21:17.190 --> 00:21:23.220 each deserve probably their own sermon. But he talks about teaching, admonishing and 233 00:21:23.539 --> 00:21:29.660 singing. He says, and be thankful. Let the word of quiet Christ 234 00:21:29.700 --> 00:21:34.089 dwell richly in you, or dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another 235 00:21:34.329 --> 00:21:38.769 in all wisdom. Those are the first two. Teaching and admonishing one another 236 00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:45.609 in all wisdom. If you have to breathe air in your house and there's 237 00:21:45.609 --> 00:21:49.319 a let's say, and you have an air purifier that purifies that air and 238 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:55.240 pushes it throughout the house, these things are kind of what that purifier is. 239 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.839 There the system which moves the air, we might say. Teaching and 240 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:04.309 moonishing and singing with thankfulness and wisdom. These are the ways in which we 241 00:22:04.470 --> 00:22:10.190 come to know the word of Christ, the first two in particular. Teaching 242 00:22:10.390 --> 00:22:17.259 has a particular meaning of giving instruction. Simple enough, right. You teach 243 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:22.099 something, you give instruction and something in monishing has a sense of teaching, 244 00:22:22.259 --> 00:22:27.740 but with an aim to correct. So we might say that between one another, 245 00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:33.730 if we want the word of Christ to dwell richly in us, then 246 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:38.009 we must show the path to one another and also help keep one another on 247 00:22:38.130 --> 00:22:44.009 it. Teaching and monishing, instructing. This is the way, and correcting 248 00:22:44.089 --> 00:22:48.079 when we get off of it. Now, of course, within the Church, 249 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.759 God has given particular people to do and be ordained even to this kind 250 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:59.230 of work. Pastors and elders are called to teach, are called to admonish, 251 00:22:59.710 --> 00:23:03.109 they are called to lead the way and be models of this and examples 252 00:23:03.150 --> 00:23:08.789 of this and and even a judicate things when necessary, to correct doctrine when 253 00:23:08.829 --> 00:23:14.180 there are troubles. But just because there are particular officers in the church, 254 00:23:14.980 --> 00:23:18.900 it doesn't mean we all all have some obligation to do this. When Paul 255 00:23:19.059 --> 00:23:23.220 says to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, he's talking to 256 00:23:23.299 --> 00:23:30.170 the whole Colossian Church. Is talking to us at all as well. That 257 00:23:30.369 --> 00:23:37.890 means that we need to take time to learn, learn to know the word 258 00:23:37.930 --> 00:23:41.559 of Christ, to show people the Path and help them stay on. It's 259 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:47.039 not an easy thing, might even be a little sort of heartbeating, terrifying 260 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:51.440 thing in your heart. Notice what he says, though. He says teaching 261 00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:56.869 one another in all wisdom right. It doesn't mean just throwing open your Bible 262 00:23:56.910 --> 00:24:00.390 and starting to yell at people. That's not wisdom. It means knowing the 263 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:07.710 content, knowing the modes of instruction. What does it mean to speak the 264 00:24:07.789 --> 00:24:11.579 truth and love? What does it mean to bear with weakness, to give 265 00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:17.259 people time and patience, to correct with gentleness? As I said, these 266 00:24:17.339 --> 00:24:21.460 things take more time to explain, but the point is is that there are 267 00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:23.890 these things that God has given to us. How will we know the word 268 00:24:23.970 --> 00:24:29.970 of Christ unless it's taught to us. We don't get it by looking up 269 00:24:30.009 --> 00:24:33.089 at the stars, as beautiful as they are. We have to hear the 270 00:24:33.130 --> 00:24:37.930 word of God and when we stray from the path, we need the teaching 271 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:41.519 that corrects and brings us back. We shouldn't be afraid of these things, 272 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:45.640 we should embrace them, because this is how the word of Christ dwells richly 273 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:52.000 in us and it is how we become a thankful, loving, peaceful people. 274 00:24:53.430 --> 00:24:57.589 Well, when we come to know the word of Christ, it has 275 00:24:57.829 --> 00:25:03.190 this way of getting into not only our minds but our hearts. And so 276 00:25:03.670 --> 00:25:10.059 Paul adds something that I think many people today would never think to say when 277 00:25:10.339 --> 00:25:15.619 sort of expositing Christian doctrine, and that is, in letting the word of 278 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:21.420 Christ well richly in us, to be a thankful people, we should sing, 279 00:25:22.690 --> 00:25:27.809 he says. We should sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness 280 00:25:29.289 --> 00:25:34.250 in our hearts to God. There's much that we could say about this, 281 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:40.079 but let me say just a couple things. First of all, notice that 282 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:45.400 Paul is that's remember that singing has an effect in our emotions. It changes 283 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:51.029 US and expresses our emotions Christianity is not just a religion of the mind, 284 00:25:51.990 --> 00:25:55.150 it is a religion of our hearts. It is a feeling of our hearts. 285 00:25:55.430 --> 00:25:59.750 Is the piety that is inside of us. Would we come to know 286 00:25:59.910 --> 00:26:04.539 the word of Christ? We express it. Singing has a way of functioning 287 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:11.099 both in sort of getting it in and getting it out. It helps us 288 00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:15.740 feel it more deeply, know it more deeply remember it, but it also 289 00:26:15.779 --> 00:26:19.930 has a way of helping us express it in ways that are maybe hard otherwise. 290 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:25.529 The second thing to you I want you to notice is the way Paul 291 00:26:25.650 --> 00:26:30.930 is concluding here. He concludes, we might say, with a bang. 292 00:26:32.730 --> 00:26:37.519 So sometimes Paul speaks in a way that is meant to give very careful divisions 293 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:44.359 two things. So, for example, in verse twelve he says we are 294 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:48.589 to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patients, and 295 00:26:49.430 --> 00:26:53.549 in a longer way he says forgiveness. Each of these are sort of their 296 00:26:53.589 --> 00:26:57.630 own distinct category and we can think about each of those. How do we 297 00:26:57.710 --> 00:27:02.539 put on kindness? How do we put on meekness? But there's other ways 298 00:27:02.579 --> 00:27:07.380 in which Paul speaks and where he's not intending to make distinct classifications. But 299 00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:11.099 instead he's giving to us sort of a great summary of a whole, or 300 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:15.970 rather he's piling up synonyms. So, for example, if I say to 301 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:23.369 you I want to build a chicken coop, is something I've been working on 302 00:27:23.450 --> 00:27:26.690 at home. I want to build a chicken coop and it's going to be 303 00:27:26.849 --> 00:27:30.839 big, it's going to be huge, it's going to be tremendous. Right, 304 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:33.960 I don't want you to Parse each of one of those out right. 305 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:38.319 I'm just sort of amplifying how big this thing is going to be, right, 306 00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:41.640 I'm not saying what's going to be. In some ways big and in 307 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:45.190 some ways tremendous, in some ways huge. Paul uses the same kind of 308 00:27:45.230 --> 00:27:56.829 rhetoricals and technique. In believe it's Verse Fifteen of Chapter Two. Right, 309 00:27:56.589 --> 00:28:00.299 he in Christ and going to the Cross. He disarmed the rulers and authority 310 00:28:00.460 --> 00:28:04.940 peace. He put them to open shame. He talks about this another places 311 00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:11.819 in chapter one. He talks about rulers and authorities and powers. He is 312 00:28:12.170 --> 00:28:17.569 in Verse Sixteen, for by him all things were created in heaven and earth, 313 00:28:17.930 --> 00:28:22.490 whether visible and invisible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or 314 00:28:22.529 --> 00:28:26.799 authorities, you hear him building and building and building. He wants Christ to 315 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:30.839 supreme over it all and where everything. And he's doing a similar thing when 316 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:34.480 he comes to the end of this, all this exhortation, right before he 317 00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:40.640 moves into some household rules and then finishes his letter off. He's been talking 318 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:45.509 about Jesus, talking about Jesus, Chapter One, Chapter two, singing about 319 00:28:45.549 --> 00:28:48.069 Jesus even and then he gets to chapter three and he says let the word 320 00:28:48.109 --> 00:28:52.869 of Christ dwell in you richly, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 321 00:28:53.390 --> 00:28:59.019 When he says these things, Paul uses every single Greek word there is for 322 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:06.140 a kind of song except one, a dirge. He does and of course 323 00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:10.170 he doesn't. He doesn't use the word dirge because it doesn't think here, 324 00:29:10.329 --> 00:29:12.970 but he get takes all of the others, every single Greek word that is 325 00:29:14.009 --> 00:29:18.690 available to him. He's essentially saying sing, sing, sing, be a 326 00:29:18.970 --> 00:29:25.960 thankful singing people. That's why we sing a lot of covenant, that's why 327 00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:29.079 we have him sings and that's why when we get together you find us singing, 328 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:33.920 because the word of God, if it's going to dwell richly in us, 329 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:40.390 it should be read and it should be Sung. And when it is, 330 00:29:40.509 --> 00:29:48.710 we find that our hearts are stirred and notice how it's together when we 331 00:29:48.910 --> 00:29:51.630 do our singing, and I encourage you to sing on your own, please 332 00:29:51.710 --> 00:29:59.220 do, but we sing together and there's something powerful about that, something wonderful 333 00:29:59.220 --> 00:30:03.660 about that. When we come together, it's a similar thing when we pray 334 00:30:03.779 --> 00:30:11.130 together, these corporate prayers. We find our JOWL, our voices joined together. 335 00:30:11.650 --> 00:30:18.490 In knowing Jesus, in having him, in dwell among us, in 336 00:30:18.769 --> 00:30:26.000 praising him together and repenting together, we are the body of Christ and because 337 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:29.759 what of Jesus, because of what Jesus has done, we can be a 338 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:37.670 very thankful people. So let's pray and ask that God would help us with 339 00:30:37.829 --> 00:30:41.990 these things, to help us to know him, that he would live among 340 00:30:41.069 --> 00:30:47.430 us, live in us and do so richly and by his spirit, and 341 00:30:47.549 --> 00:30:52.140 that in return we might give him thanks and praise and he would be glorified 342 00:30:52.180 --> 00:30:56.220 by it. So let's do that now. Let us pray together.