Introduction: Today we are continuing our series of messages on the importance of love and unity in the Church. When we began several weeks ago we saw that the key to unity within the Body of Christ is love. That is why Paul said in Colossians 3:14—“Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity.” The key truth that is guiding our study is:
Love and Unity go “hand-in-hand” without Love there will be no Unity.
I had originally planned on this being a set of sermons that we would finish in two or three weeks, but the Lord has really been speaking to me through these verses, and I hope that He is speaking to you as well. As I was studying before leaving for vacation I realized there are two more qualities that go along with Paul’s list of “unity” builders in verses 15 and 16, so we will look at those next week.
If you’ll remember, we used the illustration of the difference between sitting in “coach” and sitting in “first class” on an airline, and we have seen that Jesus doesn’t want us to settle for “coach” or “second-class” living, but that we can live “first class” spiritual lives because we have a “first class” Savior.
Today we I want to offer you another thought from the imagery of travel as are look at two more qualities from this list of unity builders that Paul gave to the Colossian believers—“IT’S TIME TO CHANGE SEATS!”
I saw a bumper sticker one time that read: “If Jesus is you co-pilot, change seats!” That is so true! Jesus doesn’t want to be our “co-pilot” He want to be our “Pilot.” If we haven’t turned over complete control of our lives to Him, we will never be able to experience the joy that He desires for us. Not only that, we will also never find that UNITY that we are looking for within the Body of Christ.
To “change seats” when it comes to our relationship with the Lord requires us to give up trying to “fly” our own lives and allow Jesus to set our course. The qualities we are going to look at today absolutely require us to “change seats” if we want them to become reality in our daily lives.
Before we get to our next two qualities let’s review quickly what we’ve studied so far:
LOVE: Give of Yourself like Jesus Gives
BE LIKE CHRIST
COMPASSION: Feel like Jesus Feels
BE SENSITIVE
KINDNESS: Treat Others like Jesus Treats Us
BE NICE!
HUMILITY: Ourselves & Others as God Sees Us
BE HUMBLE
GENTLENESS: Surrender to Christ so You can Serve Like Christ
BE TRAINABLE
PATIENCE: Act Like Christ so You won’t React to Life’s Problems
BE PATIENT
Text: Colossians 3:12-14
Christ-like Qualities that Can Bring Unity in the Church
ACCEPTANCE
The phrase “accepting one another” is translated “forebearing” in the KJV and “bearing with” in the NASB. The idea of “acceptance” is implied within this important quality. It is a key quality because it provides a connection between the last quality we looked at—PATIENCE—and the final quality in the list—FORGIVENESS. All three of these spiritual disciplines are very closely intertwined.
One author explained it this way: To “bear with” means putting up with the “extra grace required” crowd. This is only possible for those who are clothed with patience.
The New Testament Greek scholar A.T. Robinson says that this term literally means, “holding yourselves back from one another.” John MacArthur explains it this way: Bearing with one another means “to endure, to hold out in spite of persecution, threats, injury, indifference, or complaints and not retaliate.”
This was a quality that was characterized by Paul, who told the Corinthians, “when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure” (1 Cor. 4:12). The word endure is the same word used in our text for accepting or bearing with one another.
Our key phrase for ACCEPTANCE is:
Put Up with others just like Jesus Puts Up Us
When it comes to relationships, Jesus’ own words provide a challenge for each of us. When Jesus came down off the mountain after He was transfigured before Peter, James and John, He found His other disciples arguing. When He questioned them He found out that a man had brought a demon-possessed boy to them but they hadn’t been able to cast the demon out. Listen to Jesus’ words:
“You unbelieving generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to Me.” Mark 9:19
Have you ever thought about how much Jesus had to “put up” with while He was here on earth? How about how much and who He has to “put up” with still today? But the reality is—He does! He puts up with people just like you and me, and because He does He asks us to do the same.
“Accepting” people for who they are doesn’t mean that we excuse sin, or that we don’t challenge one another to live like Christ. We must never sacrifice spiritual integrity for the sake of “keeping the peace” or “not hurting someone’s feelings.” Scripture is clear that we have a responsibility to one another to speak up about those things we see in others that don’t honor Christ:
Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you won’t be tempted also. Carry one another burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1-2
Notice the two important keys in these verses: one, we must be “spiritual” which implies being “in God’s will” or “speaking His words,” and secondly that the goal is to “restore” not to condemn or punish.
I think the reason we are not better and “putting up” with one another is because we are often to busy “putting one another down.”
So what it does mean to “accept” or “bear with” people? I believe it means that we allow people to be who God made them to be, and that we don’t expect people to be, or think just like we do. It also means that we sometimes have to allow people to make bad choices and then be there to help them find their way back to the right path God has for their life.
One of the most difficult things I’ve faced as both a parent and a Pastor is to watch my biological as well as my spiritual children make decisions that I know are not in God’s will. But that doesn’t mean that I give up on my kids or the folks in my congregation. I don’t have to “accept” the bad choices, but I do need to “accept” or “bear with” the choosers.
This is where the “changing seats” imagery comes into play. Left to myself I can become discouraged and critical with people who do things that I don’t like, or things that I know they shouldn’t. That is why I need to get out of the “captain’s” seat and let Jesus fly my plane through those situations. Jesus is an expert at “acceptance” and so He is the One that should lead in those situations.
So, who is it that God wants you to “bear with” or, learn to “accept” today? As you consider that, remember this, “You are probably on somebody else’s list!” So here is our application challenge:
BE UNDERSTANDING
Christ-like Qualities that Can Bring Unity in the Church
FORGIVENESS
In a couple of weeks when we start our new Sunday School unit we are going to be discussing the importance of forgiveness. There is simply no way that I can share with you as much as I would like in our remaining time today—so maybe that will be an incentive to be in Sunday School on September 7th.
When Paul said that believers should “forgive” he didn’t use the usual word for “forgiveness.” The word that is most often translated “forgive” in the NT means to “send away,” which is consistent with how we often view God forgiving us (to send our sins as far as the east is from the west). Paul does use this word in other places, but here he chose a different word that is translated “forgive.” The word he chose comes from the same word that we get the word “grace.”
Our key phrase is:
Give Grace like Jesus Gives Grace to You
Paul used this same word in his letter to the Ephesians where he said:
32And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Ephesians 4:32
What Paul is asking us to do is done “in Christ” not “in ourselves.” Why is this important? Because we have some pretty strange ideas sometimes about forgiveness. We say things like, “well I’ll forgive him, but I’m not going to forget what he did.” While I understand that we should be careful, and should learn from every experience in life, that doesn’t give us permission to hold onto the past waiting for someone to mess up again.
Paul said that the believers in Colossae were to “forgive if anyone has a complaint against another…and that their “forgiveness” was to be patterned after what they had received from Christ. That means they were called to be living testimonies of God’s grace with their fellow believers. If grace is God’s unmerited favor, then we as His people are called to give of ourselves without others having to “earn” it, which takes us right back to the beginning of this study—LOVE!
Why did Paul call believers to do this? The church had enough enemies and troubles dealing with the outside world; they didn’t need infighting or energy wasted on grievances or grudges that could be worked out with learning to ACCEPT and FORGIVE one another. The key is always to be reminded of how much God has “forgiven” us. It seems just a little presumptuous to think we can both “expect” and “accept” God’s “forgiveness” when we are not willing to “give” it “graciously” to others!
What we CAN’T do on our own, Christ can do IN US and THROUGH US when we are willing to change seats and let Him guide our lives! Our application challenge when it comes to forgiveness is:
BE GRACIOUS
Conclusion: As we finish this morning let me challenge you to change seats. No, I’m not expecting you to sit somewhere else in the Sanctuary (actually that might be a harder challenge than my spiritual challenge!). I want you to change seats with the One who should be the Pilot of you life. If you want to put these very practical, yet very challenging qualities of ACCEPTANCE & FORGIVENESS into practice, you need to start seeing them, and seeing others from Jesus’ perspective.
So, who are you having problems with right now? Who is it you need to ACCEPT? Who is it that needs your FORGIVENESS? What are you waiting for?
