The Family of God: Accept One Another
Introduction:
READ: Colossians 3:12-17
I’m sure many of you have watched the television show, “Cheers”? For eleven seasons, from 1982 to 1993, Cheers was one of the highest-rated shows on television, and since 1993 its spinoff, Frasier, has also consistently been at the top of the ratings. What accounts for this popularity? Inspired writing, well-drawn characters, talented actors, all played a part. But I think there’s something more. I think that shows like Cheers, or Friends, or even ER or West Wing, tap into a deep human longing for community. They all show us people who care about each other, who accept one another in spite of their many failings and frailties and idiosyncrasies, people who share an emotional bond, who are committed to one another. Just listen to the theme songs:
Cheers
Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you’ve got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.
Friends
I’ll be there for you (when the rain starts to pour)
I’ll be there for you (like I’ve been there before)
I’ll be there for you (’cause you’re there for me too)
Isn’t that what we all want? People who care about us? People who are glad when we show up? People who will support us and stand by us in the bad times, People who will accept us instead of criticizing and judging us? People we can just be ourselves around? I want that. I need that. And so do you. So do we all.
Well, I’ve got good news for you. Good news and bad news. The bad news is that Cheers, and Friends, Little House on the Prairie and all the other TV versions of community, are pretend. They exist only on a Hollywod sound stage. People love those shows, they tune in very week by the millions, because they desperately want to be a part of that kind of community. They see something in those characters’ relationships with one another that they want. But it’s not real. The good news is that it can be real. The good news is that there is a place where that kind of community can and does exist. And that place is the church.
Or at least it should be. Let me put it another way. That’s the kind of place that the church should be, the kind of place the church can be, the kind of place that Jesus Christ intended His church to be. You and I know that too often, it’s just the opposite. We have to recognize that when many people think of an accepting, loving, supportive, place to be real, to just be themselves, they are more likely to think of a support group or a bar than a church. What a sad state of affairs when a moral black hole such as a bar can be more of the model Christ had in mind that the church.
Last week we studied how to be the Family of God by encouraging one another. First we learned we should ENCOURAGE one another, whether through giving compliments, saying good things about another, or something simple like a card, call or small gift. Today we are studying Colossians 3:12-17 where we find a commandment to ACCEPT ONE ANOTHER to be the Family of God. Look again at the text in verses 12-14.
I. Forgive & Love (Colossians 3:12-14)
The most powerful argument for the truth of the gospel is not the sophistication of our theological statements; it’s not the historical evidence for the fact of the resurrection. The most powerful argument for the truth of the gospel is not our good works, or even our changed lives. The most powerful argument for the truth of the gospel is our love for one another. That is what Jesus said would distinguish us, among all the people on the earth, as His disciples.
Parable: Blind Leading the Blind - Luke 6:39-42
And He spoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ’Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if you were to go into someone else’s workplace and start walking around criticizing people and giving them directions. What would happen? You’d get thrown out, that’s what. Why? Because they don’t work for you. They aren’t accountable to you. They are responsible to their employer, not me. In the same way, we are each accountable to God for how we live our lives.
REAL LIFE: EXAMPLE Phil/John Fidler/John Carrol
II. Peace & Singing (Colossians 3:15-16)
First we are told to have peace! This word here in Greek refers to both a sense of salvation peace and also a continuing peace throughout your life because of the grace of Christ Jesus in your life. When we accept others and show our love towards them we can have peace.
"God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
--C. S. Lewis
No, there is not peace outside of God. But sadly the Cheers example comes true here. So many people are seeking peace and happiness in other things of this world. I hope we can be bold and share the real peace, the real happiness that is in Christ Jesus. Friend if you don’t know Christ today as your Lord and savior, if you seek after everything the world has to offer and still find something missing from life, the answer is before you today – Jesus Christ Is peace. Jesus Christ is happiness. Jesus Christ is what you are seeking after.
But secondly, look also at what it calls us. It says you were called in one body. As believers we are called to be one body. As a body of believers we must be accepting of one another.
What if walking down the street one day my left foot got upset with something my hand did or said and just decided to stop walking. Obviously with my forward momentum I would fall. In the same illustration what if my heart got flustered because my liver didn’t agree with a decision my heart made. So my heart decides to SHOW that liver and stop beating. Who dies though? All organs.
This is the same as when believers in God’s church become hardened against their own body. When one member is so hard because of a rivalry or jealousy against another. Or perhaps when one member doesn’t agree with another and so they stop or move on or whatever and this is what happens: The church begins to die.
In Colossians the call is for us to let God’s peace rule and exist as one body in Christ.
Then in verse 16, it talks about letting the word of Christ (the Bible) dwell in us in all wisdom and teaching. We are told to admonish (reprove, warn about, rebuke, reprimand) one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And SING with the grace in our hearts to the Lord!
We are to let Christ Dwell or live in our hearts.
We are told to sing to one another with psalms which usually meant turning OT psalms into short songs with music. Hymns, which were songs of praise that focused on Jesus Christ. And finally spiritual songs, these are more songs of personal testimony that express the truths of grace. IN YOUR HEARTS means also not just public but do so with sincerity in your own time.
III. Do ALL For Christ (Colossians 3:17)
Be consistent. In whatever you are doing, work, play, rest, etc – make sure that the Lord Jesus is the focus of it. Give thanks to God the Father through Him.
So wherever you are, whatever you are doing Give thanks to God for allowing you to do that. If its being at church, do it for Christ, if it’s working at a job, do that too for Christ. Do all things do it in the name of the Lord. Never forget to give thanks to God the Father through Christ.
CONCLUSION
Colossians helps us to see that as believers that come together we are one body. We are to accept one another in that body. We are to sing psalms, songs, spiritual songs with one another. We are to do all things in the name of Christ, giving thanks always to God the Father through Christ.
These are not simply words on a page to make us think today. They are a call to action, that once you have read them and had them impact your heart, you are compelled to act upon. Accept one Another. Do not be a place where judgement and cliques exist. Be a group of people that meet together to love one another despite their differences. Be Christ’s Church.
And you be a disciple of Christ.
