Sermon Brief
Date Written: Oct 10, 2014
Date Preached: Oct 12, 2014
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: We Serve the SAME God
Sermon Title: We Serve the SAME Virtue!
Sermon Text: Colossians 3:18-21 [ESV]
Introduction:
The beginning of our message today actually starts at the ending of our message from last week. Do you remember what we spoke about last week… I spoke about how we all had the same focus!
How we were all called on the same team and had the same coach leading us and he was calling us to the same purpose and for us to accomplish that purpose we had to know what our focus was… we had to know our position… we had to know where to line up…
Knowing our focus in Christ… KNOWING where we ‘line up’ as Christians reveals Christ to the world. Paul gives us three very good examples of this in v18-21 to end this chapter.
The examples Paul give here are examples of a believer’s FOCUS on obedience and virtue! Virtue is defined as conformity to a standard of what is right. Paul described that standard in us in v17 when he says, “…whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
This means all of our actions and what we say must shine forth the ‘virtue’ of Christ! In other words, our actions should relate to the world around us OUR conformity to HIS calling… Our conformity to HIS righteousness!
This calling extends to ALL of who we are in this life… Paul gives us 3 examples of how we must reveal the VIRTUE of Christ, beginning at the most basic level… the family…first Paul says
We must show Virtue in our family – Husband/Wife (v18-19)
18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
The word ‘submit’ here is a word that engenders fear and confusion about what God is saying here… this phrase by Paul has often been misconstrued and twisted by BOTH the world and the church…
The WORLD points to this phrase and says that Christianity promotes a hatred of women by saying that they are 2nd class and must be under the ‘rule’ of a husband…
The CHURCH furthers that distortion by some preachers preaching that because Eve was the one in the Garden who was deceived that she was cursed to be UNDER the husband…
Now, while the curse for humanity does stem from the Garden, I want us ALL to be clear here that the curse covered both Adam & Eve… for they were BOTH deceived and BOTH disobeyed and BOTH sinned and fell from innocence! So when we attempt to make women the ‘bad’ guy in this situation we are distorting the truth…
Paul is not writing here that women are somehow supposed to lower themselves or surrender themselves to their husbands… not in that sense. What Paul is saying here is that the women or the wife is to surrender and subject herself to Christ… and His order!
What Paul is saying here to wives is to remember FIRST who you are in Christ… remember WHO you serve in Christ. When you know WHO you are in Christ you can emulate Him in your life. Paul is reminding the wives in this verse to shine forth their relationship in Christ by submitting to Christ in their position in the maritial relationship.
“submit yourselves… as it is fitting to the Lord” is what Paul is saying. Paul is NOT elevating the husband to a position of ruler within the family. God has placed the husband as the head of house, but it is evident THROUGHOUT God’s plan that the husband and the wife were to become ONE… not 2 with one to rule over the other!
So let’s understand just what Paul is saying here… he is calling the wife to emulate the righteousness and virtue of Christ in her relationship with her husband.
Understanding that Christ was obedient to the Father’s calling as He was willing to step OUT of His glory to complete the Father’s plan for redemption. This did not ‘lessen’ who Christ was or is… in fact His actions only elevated His status!
Ladies when you are willing to be obedient to God’ calling for you in your relationship with your husband, it is NOT going to lessen who you are, but rather it will exalt you in the eyes of God thru your obedience to His plan!
Ladies are you willing to live out the virtue of Christ by submitting to Him and His calling on your life? Are you willing to lay aside your will for the will of God?
Paul does not stop with the ladies or the wives, we also see that in v19 Paul directs his attention to the men or the husbands as well…
19Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
Men, I want us to see that Paul speaks here of ‘loving’ your wives… but what does he mean when he says to ‘love’ your wife. The Greek word he uses here is ah-gah-pah-oh which comes from agape which is an unconditional love requiring NOTHING in return. It is loving as a part of character, not in response to being loved.
This is the same love Christ had for the church… in fact in his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul instructs those men to love their wives as Christ loved the church… this is the same love he speaks of here in this passage… still what does that mean?
In Rom 5:8 we read:
8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ loved the church SO much that he was willing to step away from His glory and and give His life for our redemption. Husbands you are called to love your wife in such a way that reveals this same kind of love… to love without requirement!
You are called to love your wife regardless of how she feels about you… Just as Christ loved you regardless of your sinful nature and disobedience… he loved you enough to give His life for you!
My brothers this is the virtue of Christ being revealed through you to a world that NEEDS to see His redemptive love. This means that we to LOVE our wives above and beyond anything this world calls us to do… it means that our love for our wives must exceed anything this world requires!
When Christ gave his life for the church, it was MUCH more than just his physical life and breath, Christ was willing to lay aside WHO He was as Creator and God… to humble himself in service so that the church would know His love!
Husbands, are you willing to reveal the virtue of Christ in you by laying aside who YOU are and humbling yourself in service to your wife, as God has called you to do? Are you willing to do so that the world can see the love of Christ flowing THRU your life?
Wives you are called by God to submit and surrender as unto the Lord to your husbands to reveal the virtue of Christ in YOUR life…
Husbands you are called by God to LOVE your wife as Christ has loved the church so that you can reveal the virtue of Christ in YOUR life…
Revealing the virtue of Christ in our Christian walk begins with our relationship with our spouse but it continues as we grow in Him and as we grow as a family… Paul states in v20-21
We must show Virtue in the home – Parent/Child (v20-21)
20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
For those of you here that are still living with your parents… this verse is directly pointed toward you! When we are still under our parent’s authority, as Christians, we are called to be obedient to them. The Greek word Paul uses here is the word to listen closely to… to focus in on and to follow their instruction!
So often, especially when children get into their teens, they think that listening to their parents is something ONLY for children. But God expect us to first and foremost we are to always HONOR our mother and father. This is a command we find in Exodus 20 and it is a command with a promise.
God tells us that if we will honor our Father and Mother that LONG will be our days on this earth…
However, many simply stop listening to their parents when they reach their mid teens. I want to give ALL you children and young adults some very godly and sound advice… You are ALWAYS called to honor your mother and father and part of giving them honor is to listen to them, hear out their wisdom… They only want what is good for you!
Many want ignore their parents because their parents keep them from doing what they WANT to do… their parents want to protect them and keep them from harm but they don’t understand it.
There is a spiritual parallel for this and it is our relationship with God. He calls for us to listen to Him and to follow His instruction, but how often do we look at God and tell Him that we can handle this on our own… When we do this we risk falling flat on our faces (spiritually speaking)
You see spiritually speaking God is calling on US to listen to Him but we often find ourselves not listening to Him and wanting to listen to our own heart OR our own feelings. God’s desire is like that of a loving parent, all He wants for us is to prosper as His child, but so often we rebel and find ourselves listening to others instead of God and we end up in trouble…
Children are you listening to your parents… if you are not God is calling you to start listening to them today. But once again we don’t find Paul focusing in on just one thing, but we also see him focusing in on the parents of children. Now understand he uses the term ‘Fathers’ here because of the context of his living situation.
He says in v21: 21Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
Now here the comment is directed toward the Fathers, but I can guarantee you that this principle applies to both fathers and mothers.
It could just as well read, “Parents, do not provoke your children…” however it was written that Fathers are not supposed to do this… what Paul was saying was that the parents were called to give their children clear and focused instruction so that they could and would learn how to live a godly life and not be confused, with mixed signals and inconsistent teaching.
Parents our role is to paint a clear and consistent picture of Christ to our children. A picture they will grow to love and see how wonderful He truly is… We are NOT to confuse them or exasperate them with misleading or inconsistent teachings!
As the parent we are called to reveal the love and redemption of Christ…Parents this is what I would call, revealing the true virtue of Christ in our lives to our children…
Children you are called to show His true virtue in your life by submitting to the authority of your parents and being obedient. True virtue is truly listening to what your parents are saying and heeding their words…
Spiritually speaking this applies to ALL of us as believers as we are called to obey our Heavenly Father… to heed His voice and submit to His calling… are you submitting to His voice today?
Wives are called to submit in their lives as to the Lord to their husbands…
Husbands are called to love and give up their lives, position and rank for their wives…
Children are called to give honor to their parents by truly listening to their teaching and being obedient…
Parents you are called by God to reveal HIS virtue through NOT exasperating your children… they need clear and focused instruction!
Finally this morning, we leave the family unit and we venture off into the world we are connected with…
We must show Virtue in the Workplace – Worker/Boss – v22-23; 4:1
22Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord
In v22 Paul speaks to the slave… the one who has NO power in the workplace. For us today that would be the worker bee, the everyday joe or jane who goes to work and works for a company and puts in their time working for that company.
Paul tells us that we are called to be obedient in our role as a worker bee… as a workman who has a job to do! He tells us our obedience is to be genuine and not simply lip service to our boss’ orders.
Here Paul relates that it is our duty to please our bosses, but we don’t do it for our bosses sake (although this will please him or her greatly) we are to do it because of who we are…
Now understand that Paul was speaking TO slaves who had NO other options. Today this applies to us and we have other options, even though there are many who may feel they don’t have other options in life…
We are called to submit to the authority God has placed over us in the workplace and to reveal HIS virtue in how we do our jobs… it does NOT matter what job we have, or what kind of boss we have, we are called to reveal the virtue and righteousness of Christ in how we relate to our bosses and how we accomplish our tasks on the job.
Now I am the FIRST to stand up for the working man when the boss is being unreasonable, but I want us to understand that this is NOT about being ‘fair’… remember Paul was speaking to slaves! Nothing about their life was ‘fair’… but he called them to reveal Christ’s virtue in their interaction with their masters…
We are ALSO called to do the same thing…the Christian worker is called to do their job, just like they are doing it for Jesus Himself! They cannot say, well my boss is a bad boss and so I won’t do a good job…rather we are called by Paul in this next verse (v23)…
23Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men...
It doesn’t matter WHO you are or WHERE you work, God expects us to ALL work hard and do our job to the best of our abilities… regardless of who is our boss! In fact, it does NOT matter who our boss is, our focus is to work for Jesus and NOT focus on our bosses.
This type of focus from the believer in the workplace reveals the true VIRTUE of Christ… that we are honest, hard working and focused on the task, but also that our goal is to share Christ, even through our actions!
We are called to work heartily for whomever is our boss, so that it will bring glory to God, but what if we are on the opposite side of this situation… what if we are the boss, with others working FOR us? What then? Paul addresses that as well…
1Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
In fact Paul places more responsibility on those who are in charge. Paul tells them to treat their workers justly and fairly, in other words, no partiality or prejudice in their actions.
Paul then points out that they need to do this KNOWING that God is watching them… God is looking in on our lives and regardless of our position in this world His desire is that we reveal His virtue to the world around us…
FIRST we reveal the virtue of Christ in us to our spouse…
SECOND we reveal the virture of Christ to our children and expect our children to do the same…
FINALLY, we reveal the virtue of Christ within our workplace, and it does NOT matter how the boss treats you or how ‘bad’ you think the workplace is… it is about YOUR attitude and desire to reveal the virtue of Christ to the world around you!
To reveal the virtue of Chrsit to our spouse we must trust in them, love them as Christ loved the church, and to respect and honor them for their role in our lives.
To reveal the virtue of Christ to our families, we must be parents that hold our children accountable, but we do so in a loving manner. We are not to teach them things inconsistent with Scripture and confuse them with our own faulty actions and words! We must be a godly example for them everyday!
Why do we do this? Well first of all it is an obedience thing, but Paul gives us a reason for why we should obey here: 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
Paul states here that in revealing the virtue of Christ we store up for our eternal reward and that in obedience we are serving Jesus.
For those of us who do NOT want to work for Christ, Paul tells us that it will come back and bite us as a believer… when we as believers are disobedient and dishonor Christ we will be punished just like the unrepentant, at least until we confess our sin and move forward.
We are called by God to be one the same team…
We are led by God in that Jesus is our Savior… and Lord…
We are given purpose by Jesus in that the Good News needs to be taken to the world…
We are shown focus with Jesus pointing the way for where we need to line up for Him and what we are called to do FOR Him…
Finally we are called to show Christ’s great virtue in our lives… to let the world know our gameplan!
Just as the football team has a gameplan and they put it into practice…so too should we submit to the gameplan of God and put it into practice within our own lives.
Are you revealing the virtue of Christ in your marriage?
Are you revealing the virtue of Christ as a parent?
Are you revealing the virtue of Christ in your life in this world?
Give believer invitation…
Give evangelistic invitation…
