Colossians 3:12-17 What did you get for Christmas?
Many gifts that are given is clothes, so we try them on. Hopefully they fit, look good, etc…People ask what did you get for Christmas and we share what we got. In today text Paul wants us to be wearing certain clothes that fits a Christian.
1. Colossians was written while he was in prison
• Colossians is one of the prison epistles
• Paul was in prison because of his preaching activity,
• But he had a pastoral interest in them and wanted them to get a firm grasp on what it means to live a Christian life.
2. Paul tells us how to relate with each other
• He is telling these folks to get rid of some of them rags He tells them to “get rid of all such things [as] anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language” (Colossians 3:8).
• And he added: “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self” (3:9-10).
• Paul was clearly using the idea of changing one’s clothes as a metaphor for gaining the attributes of Christian conduct.
3. Paul tells us to put on some new clothes
• He said, God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (3:12).
• The image, the idea of getting dressed for the day
• This day I will live with generosity, kindness, gentleness, love and so on.
4. Clothes can wear out get stains, and they need replaced
• Life wears clothes out, and so does the pressures of life and the culture around us yield plenty of opportunities to shred the garments of righteousness —or at least wear holes in the knees and elbows.
• We can all think of times when we have lost our temper or behaved in ways that don’t reflect who we want to be and are not considered good examples of Christian conduct.
• We know that God extends grace and mercy to us and that nobody is perfect. But it is also true that our words and conduct are the most visible expressions of the faith we profess. They are the things that other people view as evidence that we really do try to follow Christ.
• So, lets “clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,”
5. Finally, what did you get for Christmas?
• Paul seems to think the most important things we can get, do, be is to clothe ourselves with
• compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord[a] has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
• 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ[b] rule in your hearts, And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ[c] dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.[d]
• We have heard that when were defeated, put in proper place, whining happens someone would say put on your big boy pants or a girl put on your big girl pants, well Paul may say put on your Christian Pants.
When we’re younger, … [w]e think we have all the time in the world. Our life is often filled with, “I’ll get to that later” or “I have plenty of time.” Let me tell you, we don’t have nearly as much as we think. Time slides by ridiculously fast as you age. So, let be us be sure were clothed in Gods clothes.
