Lesson Vc4: Let The Word Of Christ Dwell In You Richly Series

6/23/19

Tom Lowe

Lesson VC4: LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY (Colossians 3:16)

Scripture: Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach{1] and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.

Introduction:

It is interesting to note that from the beginning the Church was a singing Church, and when it cannot sing, the marks of decay are on it. It inherited that from the Jews, for Philo tells us that often they would spend the whole night singing hymns and songs. One of the earliest descriptions of a church service we possess is reported by Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia, who sent a report of the activities of the Christians to Trajan, the Roman Emperor, in which he said, “They meet at dawn to sing a hymn to Christ as God.” The gratitude of the Church has always gone up to God in praise and song.

Some fragments of early Christian hymns have survived in the New Testament (See the canticles of Luke 1-2, the hypnotic chants of praise in Revelation (5:9-10, 12-13; 11:17-18; 15:3-4; 19:6-8) leap to mind. Ephesians 5:14 is a stanza of a baptismal hymn, and 1 Timothy 3:16 sounds like a fragment of an early Christian creed designed to be chanted. It may well be that Philippians 2:6-11 is also an early Christian hymn.

Lesson VC4

(Col. 3:16) Let the message about Christ, in all its richness (abundance), fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns (songs of Praise) and spiritual songs (an ode or song that is spiritual in nature) to God with thankful hearts.

The Word of Christ{2] is to be the central focus of the church. Is this the Word revealed by Christ or the word revealed about Christ? Probably both. Jesus is both author and subject of divine revelation: “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe” (Heb. 1:2). God breathed out all of scripture, so that His Church may be “thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:17). It is all profitable, and it all points to Christ: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39). His life, His mission, His death and resurrection, His reign and His will are the foundation of the church (1 Tim. 3:16).

Paul exhorts us to make this message centered on Christ feel at home. God’s people, both individually and collectively, must give the word of Christ ample room and free reign in the homes of our hearts. The revelation of Jesus Christ must inhabit every square inch of our lives.

How does this take place in the life of a church? Pastors are to supply the church with an abundant supply of Christ-centered messages and teaching. The man called the “Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, stated it so well: “Let your sermons be full of Christ, from beginning to end crammed full of the Gospel.” Preaching Christ is totally sufficient for the spiritual growth of the church. Paul has given us an example of this Christ-exalting approach in the first two chapters of Colossians. As the Word of Christ is preeminent in the ministry of the church, it becomes a mutual source of joy for the church and the glue that holds the community together. By growing in the knowledge of Christ and being faithfully warned about false teaching, we will develop a spirit of discernment. God’s Word enables us to detect teaching that is infiltrating and disrupting the congregation: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (Col. 2:8).

Apart from the Word of God, there is no spiritual life, nor spiritual growth; apart from the Word of God it is impossible to fulfill the duties of a believer. That is why Paul said to the Colossians, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.” Praise, like the word, must move the individual heart. But again the distinction of three types; sacred song, festal praise, solemn ode; and the setting of singing alongside mutual exhortation point unmistakably to worship meetings.

Surely, someone will ask, “What is the Word?” The Apostle John knew the answer to that very important question: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 2, 14).