Colossians Series

December 18, 2021

It’s still 62 AD. Paul is still in Rome and he is still behind bars awaiting trial.

According to the book of Acts, Paul’s base of operation during his 3rd Missionary journey was Ephesus. From Ephesus the Gospel was carried far and wide including to Colossae, 100 miles east of Ephesus. Colossae was famous for its wool trade and for its fusion of religions, which included: Jewish, Gnosticism and Angel worship. At one time, Colossae was an important regional city, but by Paul’s day it was in decline, being overshadowed by the near-by cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis.

As far as we know, Paul never visited Colossae but he did seem to know some of the church members either personally or by reputation. He wrote the letter in response to a report, which included both good news regarding the believer’s faith as well as bad news regarding the heretical teachings threatening to undermine that faith.

Not long after Paul wrote the letter, the city was destroyed by an earthquake. It was rebuilt, but permanently destroyed by the Turks in the 12th century. As of 2019, all that remains of Colossae is a mound archaeologist have yet to excavate.

That brings us to My Favorite Thing About COLOSSIANS ---- “Clothe Yourself”

• Colossians 3:8-17 - Put aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him 11 -- a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Paul is talking about wardrobe.

Positively or negatively, uniforms tell us what we can expect from the people wearing them.

• You know who belongs to law enforcement because of what they wear.

• You know who the fire fighters or EMT’s are because of what they wear.

• You know who to ask for help at the Home Depot because of the uniform.

• You know someone is in the Air Force and not in the Navy because of the uniform.

Uniforms play an important role in our daily lives so much so that wearing a uniform you’re not entitled to wear can get you into deep trouble.

The assertion Paul is making in Colossians is that when we choose Jesus, the uniform of the world - anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, lying and evil practices – goes away – comes off – is removed. However, that cannot be all there is to it:

• Remember Zechariah’s vision of Joshua, the high priest and his filthy rages? An exchange had to happen. It wasn’t enough that the filthy rages were removed – Joshua was not left naked - they were replaced with clean white robes {Zechariah 3:1-5}.

• Remember the story Jesus told of the evil spirit that was driven out of a man? The spirit wandered around for a while then decided to return to the “house” he’d left, only to find it in orderly condition, yet empty. So, what does he do? He invites some friends over who are more wicked that he is. The result? The man is worse off than he was before {Matthew 12:42-45}.

It is not enough to simply take the old uniform off and throw it in the bin; a new and different uniform has to replace it: …. “And so” Paul says, “as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”