Letting Jesus Live Through Us
(Colossians 3:14-17)
1. It was a bad week for criminals, based on a couple of UPI stories:
“A Texas fugitive who was wanted on bank fraud charges was captured in Denver after he plummeted 17 stories down a trash chute while trying to evade police.”
2. And then, “A Dallas teenager was arrested for burglary after he allegedly broke into a police officer's home and dropped his wallet as he fled the scene, officials said.”
3. Whether our motives are good or evil, we humans are good at messing things up.
4. I have known Christians who have been saved for decades but finally become serious in their old age, after years and years of doing things their own way.
5. We believers also botch up our lives, miss God’s direction, or trade the most important for good things that are important, but not most important.
Main Idea: Jesus would love for us to be his servants, to do his will above our own, and to direct the steps of our lives. But we must allow him to do so by surrendering our lives to him.
Paul urges us in this same direction in many ways. In today’s text, he asks us to get out of the way and let the Lord take charge in two ways.
I. Let Messiah's PEACE Umpire Your Mind (15)
In Ephesians and other passages, Paul attributes to the Holy Spirit what he here attributes to Jesus Christ and his Word. Why? Because the Colossian heresy undervalued Jesus and said he was not enough. Since the persons of the Trinity work together in the entire process of salvation and sanctification, it is not crucial to know which Person of the Trinity does what. Jesus rules us by his Spirit, but what matters most is that Jesus rules; once we understand that, we are ready for details.
A. This is something we must both nurture and ALLOW
Nurturing peace takes effort, and one powerful resource is prayer.
When Herod Agrippa had James killed and put Peter in prison, the church met at the home of John Mark’s family and prayed and prayed. When an angel released Peter from prison and he showed up, they marveled. They found not only peace, but an answer to prayer (Acts 12); Phil. 4:4-8
B. The word “rule” really means to umpire or JUDGE
1. We must think and decide from a position of peace, not panic nor pressure
2. Some see this as a way God leads, a sense of peace; this can be dangerous
3. There is a peace, however, we experience, when we live in accord with God’s Word
4. We want to continuously be at peace with God, not turning away to the right or left
C. This rule of peace is to be extended to our conduct within the BODY
• We must place a high premium on peace and be hesitant to break the peace (not lightly)
• As we saw last week, we have to learn how to put up with others and to confront when needed
D. This peace is AMPLIFIED by thankfulness
Paul literally harps (runs into the ground) the subject of thankfulness; it is a primary, central way to worship God. The holiday of Thanksgiving can do us a dis-service; we seasonalize thankfulness!
II. Let Messiah's WORD Overflow Within You (16-17)
A. This is something we must both nurture and ALLOW
B. TEACHING and ADMONISHING one another in wisdom (godly)
The Jewish people had been taken captive to Babylon because of their compromises with paganism. About 50,000 Jews returned after the 70 years were up to rebuild the Temple. When Ezra the godly priest arrives 80 years later, he finds that many of the Jews had intermarried with pagans again. He and Nehemiah confronted the people and Ezra read & taught the Torah. The people needed the Word. (Nehemiah 8); then, after a long dose of the word, they praised and sang (Nehemiah 9)
C. By means of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual SONGS
1. Christians have joy, and joy and music go together. There is no music is an Islamic service.
2. This is the premiere passage on church music, yet it is often ignored completely.
3. Music can be a means to worship, clearly, by any definition. But that is not the only purpose of Christian music; here, we see, it is to teach and admonish.
4. Peter O’Brien, whose commentary on Colossians is considered the best modern conservative commentary by many, including myself, comments, “Recent study … has shown that within early Christian hymns both didactic and hortatory elements [are] featured.” P. 209
5. Didactic means teaching, hortatory means admonishing and encouraging.
6. So when we sing, “His eye is on the sparrow,” some people would say that isn’t worship. But it is admonishing us to stay strong in trials, and it is in line with what Paul says we should sing.
7. Open hymnals to 288, One Day. Notice the teaching.
Colossians 3:16, NASB, “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.”
NKJV, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Ephesians 5:18-21, ESV, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
1. Please notice that music used in a gathering is to be both vertical and horizontal in nature
2. We sing TO one another and we sing TO God in our hearts.
3. We can sing to God alone, but we cannot sing to others alone and the dynamic is different
D. This is amplified by THANKFULNESS to God
The repeated emphasis on thanksgiving means that we should expend conscious effort to nurture our thanksgiving to God! I personally believe I need to get better at this. Evaluate yourself.
E. Extending the Body Life principle to ALL of life (17)
1. Craig Keener writes: “Ancient culture was pervasively religious, but most pagan religious practices were ritual observances that did not cast moral influence over one’s daily life and ethics. For Paul, in contrast, every aspect of life must be determined by Christ’s lordship.” Craig Keener
2. We have no option to be religious and unethical, self-centered, and live contrary to God’s Word. Our faith is a package deal. We cannot control God thru rituals.
When I worked at Alden’s, met a man who claimed to be a believer, active in church… heard him talking on phone and flirting with woman not his wife. God tells us how to live. He interferes and meddles. We cannot claim to serve him and then not allow him to tell us how to live.
