In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij finishes looking at Colossians 3:1-14 and the new life of a believer in Christ. In part 3, Pastor Babij examines the third characteristic of the new self as explained in Colossians 3:10-14: the new self puts on new clothing.
Three Characteristics of the New Self in Christ
1. The New Self Has New Pursuits (vv. 1-4)
2. The New Self Deals Decisively with the Old Man (vv. 5-9)
3. The New Self Puts on New Clothing (vv. 10-14)
3a. The calling of the new self (v.12a)
3b. The character of the new self (v. 12b-13)
3c. The cohesion of the new self (v. 14)
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Summary
We are reminded that fullness of life is not found in spectacular experiences, special knowledge, or rigid rule-keeping, but in putting on Christ daily through the virtues He modeled. Colossians 3:9-14 calls us to discard the old self and clothe ourselves with the character of Jesus—compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and love—as those chosen, holy, and beloved by God.
Key Lessons:
- False teachings throughout history and today rob Christ of His preeminence and replace transformation with rule-keeping, asceticism, or mystical experience—none of which produce true fullness of life.
- The clothing metaphor rooted in Genesis reminds us that sin left us spiritually naked, but God provided covering through Christ’s righteousness, and we are now called to wear that new identity every day.
- Our election by God before the foundation of the world is not a doctrine to fear but to rejoice in—it humbles us and shapes every thought and action of our new identity as children of the King.
- The five virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience—carried out through forbearance and forgiveness—are the spiritual clothing that makes us look like Christ to the world around us.
Application: We are called to examine ourselves daily, asking whether we have put on the right spiritual clothing. When we respond in anger, impatience, or unkindness, we have reached into the wrong pile. We must ask God each day to help us clothe ourselves in Christ’s character so that our ordinary interactions become the place where fullness of life is experienced and Christ is seen.
Discussion Questions:
- Where in your daily life are you most tempted to reach for the ‘old clothing’—anger, impatience, or unkindness—instead of putting on the virtues of Christ?
- How does understanding that God chose you before the foundation of the world change the way you see yourself and treat others?
- Is there someone in your life you have felt justified not forgiving? How does the truth that God no longer holds your sins against you challenge that position?
Scripture Focus: Colossians 3:9-14 is the central passage, teaching that believers are to put off the old self and put on the new self—characterized by compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. Genesis 3:7, 21 provides the clothing metaphor’s root, and Romans 13:14 calls us to ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ.’
Outline
- Introduction
- False Paths to Fullness of Life
- True Fullness of Life: Putting On Christ
- The New Self Puts On New Clothing
- The Calling of the New Self: Chosen, Holy, and Beloved
- The Character of the New Self: Five Virtues
- The Cohesion of the New Self: Love
- Putting On the Right Clothing Every Day
Introduction
Okay, let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Colossians 3.
We’ll be looking at verses 9 through 14 this morning. Let me read that. Colossians 3:9-14: “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and having put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew and circumcised and uncircumcised and Barbarian, Scythian, slave and free man, but Christ is all and in all.
So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
Let’s pray. Father, this morning as we come before you and we use the very word from heaven, I pray, Lord, we would receive it like the Thessalonians, as the word of God and the power of the word of God, to be used in our mind, in our heart, by the Holy Spirit of God, to actually transform us into the image of Christ, making us ready and prepared to be revealed with you in glory someday.
Let us give ourselves over to that wholeheartedly today and every day. I pray, Lord, that our life would reflect your life in Christ. Amen.
As I’ve been saying, the Christian, once they become a believer, everything is really new in their life. It should be. Things should be changing like never before, because you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is indwelling you, and the word of God is transforming you, as it says in verse 11: a renewal in which there is no distinction.
In the beginning of preaching Colossians, I mentioned a quote, and I’d like to mention that again. It says: “In the society of Christians a new type of humanity is being formed, that Christ’s life flows out of his people and is reproduced in their midst.”
One proof of this new life was seen in the canceling of the restrictions and inhibitions which made the ancient world so socially stratified and class conscious. The Apostle Paul had shown how the church barriers of race, social distinction, and sex were being broken down as Christians acted upon their profession of faith and their initiation into the body of Christ.
In other words, have you seen a change in your life, and do you continue to see that change in your life? I pray that you do, because that is part of how you’re a Christian.
False Paths to Fullness of Life
But many in the ancient world struggled against the new idea. They were attracted to the church but tried to adjust Christ to fit their old categories, kind of like Christ was an add-on. It was good to believe in Christ, but it was added on to everything else with no change, no transformation.
They tried to define Christianity in terms of their human philosophers rather than letting Christ define them and the new humanity. We have the same problem today.
“They tried to define Christianity in terms of their human philosophers rather than letting Christ define them and the new humanity.”
For example, two characteristic marks of the church: number one, it is a living organism in which everyone is to be interacting and involved with one another. Yet often we treat the church like a business, like a democracy, rather than all people with their God-given spiritual gifts functioning together as a living organism as God designed it.
A second characteristic is a dynamic holiness which is to mark the character of believers and the believing community as a whole. Yet we persist in trying to define our righteousness by lists of things we do and things we don’t.
We are tempted to put new wine into old wineskins. What happens when that occurs? It bursts and then explodes.
The two greatest failures of the teachers in Colossians, the false teachers, is that they were disparaging Christ and actually distorting what it really meant to live the Christian life. Nobody really knew. They just thought if we do these things you’re a Christian, if you don’t do those things you’re a Christian.
If teaching dethrones Christ, it not only robs him of his rightful place of preeminence, but it distorts all the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. The Christian life becomes a set of man-made rules and regulations with no spiritual power, no ability to deal with the sin nature, and no capacity to put sins to death.
The false teachers failed to teach what is Godlike and what is his relationship to the world. They failed to teach how a human being gains access to God through his true presence, where they have fellowship with God. And they failed to teach how a human being gains fullness of life.
How did the false teachers actually handle the matter of gaining fullness of life? Well, believers should practice the way of life laid out by the false teachers with this special knowledge. They thought there is something more, more than the simple message of Christ. That’s a very dangerous thought.
Once somebody believed, they had to have special knowledge and they had a special experience in their Christian walk. How did that look when the false teachers thought that?
Ascetic, Legalistic, and Antinomian Lifestyles
Well, then you would live in an ascetic lifestyle. That means the way of life stressed rigid regulations of abstinence and self-punishment, that fullness of life is obtained by pursuing or pushing down desires, controlling the body by severe fasting and punishment, and being suspicious of anything associated with the material world.
This has a strange appeal to people still today. It seems spiritual, but it really is an escape from regular life that we all have to deal with every single day. It tries to transport people to some otherworldly plane, but there’s no such thing.
Also, it looked like a legalistic lifestyle. Here, fullness of life is obtained by carefully keeping prescribed rules and rituals and taboos, by refraining from eating meat, keeping the Sabbath in a special way, by keeping lists and traditions and maintaining everything within a prescribed set of rules.
Spirituality had to be found beyond this world of things and people. Or it could look like the antinomian lifestyle, liberation from evil by indulging the flesh, and this is how fullness of life was obtained for them.
“It seems spiritual, but it really is an escape from regular life that we all have to deal with every single day.”
Some have reasoned that since our bodies are part of the evil material universe, it doesn’t matter what you do. They can indulge every fleshly desire, for whatever is done cannot be contaminated by the spiritual, the spiritual part of man.
Or it led to an idolatrous lifestyle, the worship of angels, and this is the mystical part of it. Every false teaching has a mystical element to it. That means it’s an element you cannot just define, you cannot categorize, it’s an experience you have.
Many people, and I talk to Christians too, want something more than what God gave them and found in the word of God, and that is a very dangerous place to be. They go seeking for it, they seek for an experience, they seek for a special event that happens, and for them that would be fullness of life.
So that means that the false teachers, for them, fullness of life and spiritual reality is found through some special knowledge or some subjective experience or some ritual observation. This is the way fullness may be found.
However, this old idea of spirituality drastically distorts true biblical doctrine and the Christian way of living. Specifically, it is rooted in the doctrine that robs Jesus Christ of his central place.
That was the essence of their teaching, that they were confusing the believers with their novel ideas and their false gospel. These teachers sounded so amazing and knowledgeable, they sounded so contemporary and up-to-date, but they were wrong, as they are wrong today.
All you have to do is go to scripture and find out they’re wrong, just by going verse by verse, book by book. You find out what God really wants us to do and really where fullness of life and spiritual reality is actually found.
True Fullness of Life: Putting On Christ
And where is it found anyway? It’s found by putting on Christ, that’s where it’s found. In fact, the Apostle Paul said in Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
Now what does it mean? Being the loving person Jesus was, that’s what it means, part of it. True holiness is hidden pretty much in daily life but seen in our loving relationship with other people.
The fullness of living our relationship with Christ is to be sought in the context of our life as God gave it to you, in the world where you’re at. That’s where you find it every day, in your interaction life.
What set Jesus apart? Well, he was a man among men. He enjoyed companionship, he ate and drank with other people, he prayed, he showed us the Father by the way he responded to people and taught with authority. He claimed to be the Son of God.
He didn’t fit his own people’s image of the Divine, so they rejected him. And yet God walked on Earth in the man Jesus. Now that seems like too simple—God could have done better than that—and yet that’s exactly what God has done.
In his life we see God unveiled. We discover holiness in the love and the compassion of the one whose company was sought by prostitutes and sinners of all types. The godliness in human flesh lives a Jesus kind of life.
When you live a Jesus kind of life, that is where fullness of life is found, and that’s where spiritual reality is found, and that’s where you learn to rest and enjoy life as God wants us to, even with all the problems and circumstances that surround us every single day.
“When you live a Jesus kind of life, that is where fullness of life is found, and that’s where spiritual reality is found.”
It is not found in the spectacular, even though God does spectacular things with people at times. It’s not his regular way of doing things, so don’t look there. Don’t look at the spectacular, don’t look for a lightning bolt, don’t look for a grand thing to happen in your life, don’t even look for a miracle in that sense, because that’s where it’s not.
God does those things, but not on a regular basis. It is found in everyday life, where we are living out the reality of this new self, this new transformation.
The book of Colossians has already begun to answer the question: how do we gain fullness of life? I often say to people when they ask me how I’m doing, I say to them, I am breathing in and out, I’m putting one foot in front of the other, and I’m doing the next thing that pleases the Lord. That’s how I’m doing.
If you live like that, I’ve learned to live like that, because you have to live in reality. Things go wrong in reality, but see, Christ doesn’t change. He’s with me, he’ll never leave me or forsake me. That’s true, that’s always true, no matter what’s going on, no matter how dark it gets in my life. That’s what reality is.
I must live there, and when I live there, I receive the blessing of God. I receive the fullness of what God wants in my life, and I minister to other people. I become the light and salt God wants me to be, and you to be. That’s where it’s found.
“Christ doesn’t change. He’s with me, he’ll never leave me or forsake me—no matter how dark it gets in my life.”
In Colossians 3:1-4, the Apostle Paul immediately stresses that we have been raised with Christ. Earthly regulations and principles are to be set aside, and our attention is to be fixed on things above.
In Colossians 3:5-11, two ways of life are compared. Immorality, malice, lust, anger, greed—these passions are to be rejected. These are to be put to death and put off like an old soiled garment.
To experience life’s fullness, these old ways must be replaced by the new ways, which we’ll look at this morning. In Colossians 3:12-15, fullness of life is experienced by putting on the new way of life.
The picture is put on, the image is putting on clothes. You take off clothes and you put clothes on all the time. Some people do it two or three times a day, some people don’t do it that often at all.
I have already said in Colossians 3:1 all the way over to Colossians 4:6, the applications are given to us who can live the true life that we have in Christ and practice biblical imperatives. Because there are many imperatives in these sections—these are commands for Christians.
Do these, and if God gives us a command, he will give us the power to carry out that command and institute it in our life. Then we receive the blessing by doing it.
The New Self Puts On New Clothing
There are at least three things that are realized very quickly about the actual life of a Christian. The scriptures before us in Colossians 3 help us to identify some characteristics of the new self.
The first and the second have already been covered. Today we will look at the third. The first was the new self has new pursuits, the second is the new self deals decisively with the old self, and today the new self puts on new clothing.
What does the scripture actually do? It brings us right down to earth where we live, and we are given the power of God to deal with the inner man by the metaphor of putting off clothes and putting on clothes.
It is a fact that it has been estimated that if a person lives to 70 or 80, they will spend five years dressing and about one and a half years to two years in church. That’s not a good ratio, but that’s the truth. In some people I’m sure that’s more.
“Scripture brings us right down to earth where we live, and we are given the power of God to deal with the inner man.”
But let’s look at the first one, and the third of our category in chapter 3, verses 9 through 14. The new self puts on new clothing. Look what it says in verse 11: a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, Barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.
The Clothing Metaphor: Adam, Genesis, and the Gospel
Now the clothing metaphor alludes to Adam, the account of Adam in Genesis 3:7 and 3:21. What does it say there? It says, “Then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”
Something happened that made Adam and Eve realize that they did not have any clothes on. They sensed immediately that they could no longer stand in the presence of God, so they tried to remedy their own situation, to cover their own nakedness, with establishing their own plan of their own righteousness.
They sinned, they knew they had to cover themselves. Adam and Eve were no longer innocent because of their sin of disobedience. Their nakedness before God was a symbol of their innocence; now because of sin they were not innocent.
The fig leaves became their own inadequate attempt to cover their sins and their disobedience. They felt afraid, they felt guilty, they felt ashamed before God, where they didn’t feel that way before.
In the rags of their own self-righteousness they ran and hid and covered their naked bodies. That’s what we always do when we sin—we want to hide, we want to hide from God and people when we do that, we want to cover it, we don’t want people to really know what’s going on in our life.
But God sees. Every time you and I put on clothes, it should remind you and me that sin before God has made you unrighteous and unfit for the presence of God.
The very message of the Gospel is that God sent Jesus to die outside the gate of Jerusalem to take away our sin, to cover us with his perfect righteousness, to give us new clean clothes, and to give us new life by his resurrection.
Jesus provided to us the righteousness that we needed and took on himself all the wrath that we deserve. He did that when we were helpless, when we were ungodly, when we were sinners, and when we were enemies.
This is where the resurrection life is observed by others. There must be putting off before there can be putting on. We are not just putting on clean clothes, but we are putting on a clean new self.
The Bible connects clothing with righteousness and nakedness with depravity. The believer is clothed with Christ’s righteousness. The Bible even tells us in the mindset of the Hebrew, from Isaiah, it says:
“I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul exalt in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in the robe of righteousness.”
How has he done that? Like a bridegroom decks himself with garland, and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels. That’s what God does in his righteousness when he clothes us with it—we look beautiful and ready for a wedding ceremony.
Back in Genesis, the Lord made garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothed them. This is God’s remedy, and it is the picture that we receive: God provides new clothing for fallen humanity. The change of clothing signifies the believer’s new creation and relationship with God.
“God provides new clothing for fallen humanity—the change of clothing signifies the believer’s new creation and relationship with God.”
An animal had to die and shed blood to get garments of skin to cover people’s sin. Right in Genesis we get the picture of the cross.
Unity in Christ: No More Distinctions
And if we look back at Colossians 3:10, it says: “and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.” By the transformative power of the Gospel of the Cross of Christ, Jesus is making a new community of believers, a community of all kinds of people groups that bear the image of God, by putting off the old practices and by putting on the new humanity that bears the image of its creator.
The renewal here is that in verse 11, a distinction between groups that is gone. No one could break down the barriers between different people groups, with the differences they have in their social, religious, ethnic, geographic, educational, and economic distinctions and their class divisions. It would be impossible to conquer these distinctions and unify people into one body.
Nobody can do that. Even in our government today, in our world today, they’re keeping these distinctions so vivid that people are actually against each other and they remain that way so they can control them. That’s what they do.
But when you come to Christ, all that’s gone. There’s no more distinctions, there’s no more division between you and me. It’s not about skin color, it’s not about where you grew up, it’s not about how wealthy or poor you are. It’s about you and me being in Christ and we’re being made new together.
“When you come to Christ, all that’s gone. It’s not about skin color or wealth—it’s about you and I being in Christ and being made new together.”
There is one who has done the impossible, and that’s Jesus Christ. Right now, all who come to Christ in repentance of their sins and faith in Jesus are being renewed, as the Bible says, to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.
To be renewed in knowledge points to a reversal of the effects of the fall through God’s new creative act in Christ. Where’s that seen? It’s seen in daily life, it’s seen in our daily direction of our lifestyle.
For example, a young woman who was renewed after the image of the one who created her is not going to mold herself in the pattern of Hollywood or some YouTube personality or the different trends offered by a godless world. But she will be willing to be modest and feminine, and she’ll know who a woman is and enjoy her identity as a child of God with a submissive heart to serve Christ.
A young man who was renewed after the image of Christ is not going to indulge in a habitual practice of sin, or sins that he knows offends the Lord. But he will be masculine and strong and yet gentle, and enjoy his identity as a child of God with a submissive heart. He will know that he is in control because the spirit of God is growing and leading him, and he’ll wait on God for the desires of his heart, and so shall she.
Since Christ conquered all and removed all these distinctions in verse 11, all peoples can be unified and participate together in one body, achieved by Christ’s death and resurrection. Where does all this lead?
Look at the end of verse 11, it says: “but Christ is all and in all.” That’s where it leads—to that we’re all one in Christ. In Christ all are one, and that’s what makes Christianity so completely different than anything else. God unifies us no matter who we are, where we came from, what our experiences are, and he brings us together and makes us one body.
In the midst of diversity there is unity, and there’s real genuine love. Christ engulfs all radical racial, religious, and cultural differences with his indiscriminate grace. Christ is all, and anyone really needs is Christ, and that’s it. There’s nothing to be added, there’s nothing to be taken away. Christ is all and in all.
“Christ is all, and anyone really needs is Christ—there’s nothing to be added, there’s nothing to be taken away.”
With that in mind, I want you to consider with me this morning three designations of the new self. Verse 12, here’s the first one.
The Calling of the New Self: Chosen, Holy, and Beloved
The first designation is in verse 12, and it says this: as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved. Here’s the first one, the calling of the new self.
In other words, the message we receive about our identity shapes our lives in a very powerful way. Who we understand ourselves to be matters, how we live our lives. The worst thing for a person to experience is not knowing who they are, why they’re here, what they’re supposed to do.
Well, the Bible tells us why we’re here. We’re called and we’re chosen. Now this word chosen is the word elected. Long before Adam sinned, God already decreed and determined salvation for sinners in eternity past.
The father chose a people in Christ who would be saved, and they would be saved from his wrath. This selection process was not based on any foreseen faith in those who he chose, nor was it prompted by inherent goodness in a person.
Instead, it was according to his infinite love and inscrutable wisdom that God set his affection upon his elect. And when did he do that? According to Ephesians 1, he did it before the foundation of the world.
He did it not only that he would elect us and choose us in Christ, but he also elected us to be not only saved but holy and blameless. They all go together. You can’t separate them.
So a person who says, “Well yeah I’m saved”—well where’s your holiness? Where’s the change in your life? “Well I don’t really have any change in my life.” Well you’re not a Christian then, because the Bible says you were elected to be changed by God by his power. That’s what he’s done.
So each one chosen was predestined by the father to be conformed to the image of a son and to sing his praises forever. I love to sing this morning. Thank you for all our praise team groups who put the work in to bring it to us on Sunday.
It is really a blessing to sing, and then to hear you sing is a blessing. Everybody’s singing from their heart, and singing not because they want to get worked up, but because they love Christ and they know what Christ has done for them. That’s the only way to sing right. And that’s what we want to do.
The Doctrine of Election
You may not realize it, but divine election is the grandest, most joy-producing doctrine in all scripture. But it’s also the most hated doctrine. In one Sunday school we’re going to have to teach again on the doctrines of grace, because they are probably the most convicting and humbling doctrines that we could ever learn as believers, and they really change your life.
The doctrine of election is never presented in scripture as something to be afraid of, but always as something for believers to rejoice in. God elected you before the foundation of the world. You really had nothing to do with your salvation—God had everything to do with it.
You may not fully understand that truth, but you must come to terms with this doctrine one way or another. Don’t fight it. Instead, submit to the wisdom of God, because the judge of all the earth shall do what is right.
You and I may not be able to fully explain the doctrine of election. If somebody asks you why God chose you and loves you, I don’t know—because of God’s nature, because of who God is. That’s all I can say. But that’s all right, that’s all scripture says.
I pray that everyone here would come to understand and love this doctrine. When you do, it will inform every thought and shape everything you do. Your new identity shows up every day of your life.
“When you come to understand and love this doctrine, it will inform every thought and shape everything you do.”
Your new identity also shows that you live in the kingdom of God and that you are a king’s kid. A king’s kid must dress with appropriate clothing.
Let’s step into God’s closet this morning and select some clothing that Jesus wants us to wear. Clothes are the first thing people see when they see you. They can tell if you are a blue collar worker or a white collar worker, whether you are stylish or not. Clothes can communicate social status, destination, and nationality. In short, clothing gives us much information about a person.
The clothing that I speak of this morning is not physical clothing but spiritual clothing. The clothing you and I are to put on is the same clothing Jesus wore. This is how we put on Christ. Jesus is the model upon which we are to fashion our daily lives.
Here is clothing that is fashionable in the kingdom of God and never goes out of style. First, we are reminded of our calling and identity—that we have been elected by God as his children. We are kingdom children, not just children of a king, but children of the King of Kings. We are his kids. When we go out in the world, we’ve got to live like that, because that’s your new identity.
“We are kingdom children—not just children of a king, but children of the King of Kings. When we go out in the world, we’ve got to live like that.”
The Character of the New Self: Five Virtues
The second designation of the new self is this, in verse 12 and 13: the character of the new self. Notice what it says in verse 12. It begins to give us a list of things.
The first thing it says in verse 12 is this: once you’re chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on. See, we’re to put something on. It’s again a command here for us. And what are we going to put on? We’re to put on five virtues. Last time we looked at five vices, but now five virtues.
Compassion and Kindness
What’s the first virtue? A heart of compassion. Some have translated it a tender-hearted mercy, the Old King James says the bowels of mercy. Now I like that in a way, because it’s talking about the inner side of you, the inside of you.
In fact, there are two words used to translate this phrase. One refers to the inner seat of one’s deepest emotion, and the other a motivating outward emotion that moves toward meeting a need. So in other words, a biblical compassion is a compassion that you feel it in your gut, and then it moves to your will and you do something about it.
That’s how you see Christ. In fact, Christ is the epitome of this particular attribute. When Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd and he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to do something.
How did he meet their need? How did he move toward them? He began to teach them with authority, he began to lead them like a shepherd. That’s how he met their need.
And then also in Mark 8, it says: “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” So what does Jesus do? He feeds them.
So you say, well that’s very basic stuff. Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. Fullness of life comes in the very basics of life. That’s how we bless other people and we are used of God to be a blessing and get blessed ourselves. Putting on a heart of compassion is to be like Jesus.
“Fullness of life comes in the very basics of life. Putting on a heart of compassion is to be like Jesus.”
Look at the next one in Colossians 3:12: kindness. Kindness is the sympathetic expression of love shown to another human being whether they deserve it or not.
You ever heard the expression kill them with kindness? Actually there’s truth to that, a lot of truth to that. Why? Because someone yelling at you and you’re kind to them, they don’t know what to do. Someone coming against you and you’re actually kind to them, with a good attitude, a smile on your face, and you want to be helpful, they just don’t know what to do. They either stop talking or they’ll walk away. You just stopped them in their path.
Kindness is an incredible characteristic that God wants us to put on every single day. Kindness shows up in action. When we think of David in the Old Testament, when Saul was dead and Jonathan was dead, David went and he was saying, “Listen, is there anybody I can show kindness to?”
And so there was a guy named Zeba, and he says, “Yeah, I know somebody.” And David says, “Can I show them, can I show this person the kindness of God?” And he says, “Yes, who is it?” Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, son of Saul.
And this is what David says to him when he comes in before him: “Don’t fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you shall eat at my table regularly.” That’s kindness.
Now when somebody’s kind like that, how do you respond? There’s only one way to respond: humbly, right? It humbles you, it puts you kind of in your place, no argument, no quarreling, none of that kind of stuff going on. Kindness is what God wants us to put on in this world.
Kindness also shows up in words, where it says in Proverbs 31: “She opens up her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” It comes out of your mouth.
Kindness shows up in spiritual life, in Galatians 5: “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness.” And kindness is an instrument in salvation. What do I mean by that?
Romans 2:4 says by way of a question: “Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” It’s the kindness of God that brings us to a place where we receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Putting kindness on is to be like Jesus.
“It is the kindness of God that brings us to a place where we receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Humility and Gentleness
And then what’s the next one? Humility. It’s the inward virtue of voluntary submission, unselfishness, and a lowliness of thinking, like it says in Ephesians: with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.
See, humility is needed in a loving relationship. It also tells us in Philippians: do not do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another more important than yourself. So humility is shown in an attitude of the mind where others’ interests are more important than your own.
And then even Peter uses the word for clothing when it comes to humility, where it says in 1 Peter 5: you young men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility, toward one another. It’s always the toward one another thing.
See, it’s the daily life, living, interacting with people, that’s where you get blessed and that’s where the fullness of life is.
So those who walk with God must be humble. In the Old Testament the prophet Micah said: he has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
What is that? That’s daily living. Just go, walk your life, live your life for Christ, and show these, put these things on every day, and you will find fullness of life.
“Walk your life, live your life for Christ, show these things, put them on every day, and you will find fullness of life.”
What’s the next one in our passage? Gentleness, recognizing one’s own weakness yet God’s power. It’s often referred to as power under control, this is gentleness.
And who exemplifies that more than anybody? When Jesus says in Matthew 11:29: take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.
See, you don’t run away from people who are gentle yet strong, you run towards them, because they’re going to help you. It’s like what Paul says about gentleness in Thessalonians: but we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.
And then the wisdom that comes from above, it says in James, is gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits. See, gentleness is the opposite of quarreling, it’s the opposite of quarreling.
Paul writing Titus says to the people: malign no one, that means speak no evil of anyone, but be peaceful, not quarreling, gentle, showing every consideration of all men. Man, if we did that, we wouldn’t have the issues and problems we have.
In fact, Titus says in the next verse: and we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. See, it has to be put off, that’s not Christ. Putting on gentleness is to be like Christ.
Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. — Matthew 11:29”
Patience, Forbearance, and Forgiveness
And then he says this: patience is the next one in our passage, and that’s just simply long suffering, holding out long with someone. In fact, holding out of your mind before it gives room to action or passion, especially in the face of indignities and injuries by others.
What a person is in his character will also show up in his relationship with others. That is, looking at people and dealing with them as God would look at them and deal with them. Aren’t you glad Jesus bore along with you, and still does?
When Jesus even said in Peter, and while being reviled he did not revile in return, while suffering he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. That’s patience in the midst of injustice, it’s patience.
Now, if you go back to Colossians, there are really two ways to carry out the five virtues, and he gives just two. Notice what he says in verse 13: bearing with one another.
That’s the word forbearance, to bear long with and to put up with a great deal of even injustice and unpleasant circumstances without retaliation or revenge. Are we doing that, do we do that? Or do we always feel like we have to defend ourselves, always feel like we have to put ourselves up in front and give always a reason why everything happens, we’re always being confrontational?
I’m glad Jesus bears along with us. He will never desert you, he will never forsake you, that’s what the scripture says.
And then notice again the next one in verse 13: forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone. These are basic things, these are relational things. It may take a long time for people to come around, so you’ll have to forgive people more often than you probably calculate.
Like it says in scripture: and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, for if you forgive others for their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.
Mark it down: if you feel justified not to forgive, I’m always amazed when I have to, not argue with somebody, or convince them that they ought to forgive somebody. I’m always a little bit amazed at that, especially when they’re claiming to be a Christian.
Because when you look at scripture, when you look at this scripture right here, you see that God’s forgiveness is really incomparable, because he forgives us in Christ without compromise of his holy justice.
The prophet Micah in chapter 7, verse 19, shows us that God casts our sins into the depth of the sea. When he forgives us, he puts them so far out of his sight that he never sees them again.
The Lord does not actually forget our sins. Micah only means that God no longer holds our sin against us when he forgives us. In other words, he won’t bring it up anymore, it’s a done deal.
And in fact Paul says this in Romans, where he says: blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered, blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.
Isn’t it great to know that the Lord’s not going to take something into account that you did, because Jesus Christ took care of it? When he sees your account, I don’t see anything there, Jesus already took care of that.
If he’s done that for you, you ought to forgive people no matter what. We have no justification at all whatsoever to not forgive anybody, because look at the end of verse 13.
Why should you and I want to forgive all the time? Verse 13 says: just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. In other words, being forbearing with people, suffering along with them, and forgiving others is being like Jesus, that’s how you put on Jesus.
“Being forbearing with people, suffering along with them, and forgiving others is being like Jesus—that’s how you put on Jesus.”
The Cohesion of the New Self: Love
And then one last thing in verse 14: the cohesion of the new self. Notice what it says in verse 14: “Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
It gives us harmony. Some have referred to love that God works in our life as relational glue. The existence of love in the body of believers keeps it held together. That’s why Jesus says you will know them by their love. That’s all he said in that. Why? Because that’s what keeps us together.
All the distinctions that we have, the different backgrounds we have, the different skin colors we have, the different cultures we have, the different things we are—we’re so different. God gives us unity and gives us love for each other, so those distinctions mean nothing. They don’t cause division; they cause unity, so we can do the work of God.
Now just think with me for a moment about this grand subject. As you experience the love of the Father in heaven and ponder how he treats you, you will come to realize God’s love is the most wonderful thing in the world. It is at the center of what makes life vivid and hopeful and worth living and fulfilled.
“God’s love is the most wonderful thing in the world. It is at the center of what makes life vivid and hopeful and worth living and fulfilled.”
You and I are called to put on these virtues because we present God in the world as his children of the king. Loving others is being like Jesus.
Putting On the Right Clothing Every Day
See, this is the kind of clothing we have to wear. When you go through your daily life and your clothing starts stinking, it’s because you have not put on the right garment. You have put on the old flesh, you reached in the wrong pile of dirty clothes and you put that on, not even thinking about it.
You go out in your world, and before long you’re like a bull in a china closet. Wherever you go you’re fighting with people, you’re arguing, you’re complaining. You come home and then you realize your day didn’t go well, and you realize you put on the wrong clothing that day, you stunk, and you did not look like a child of the king.
I pray this morning that we all would want to be a person that’s controlled by the love of God, who walks in the spirit of God, no longer by the intentions of the flesh. When we do that, that’s when we experience the fulfilled life.
You must discard and be done with the old life, and you must put on the new life. If you don’t, you will be a miserable Christian, you will.
God may allow you to go along like that for a while. He may allow you to leave the house with really stinky, messy clothing, and he may allow you to do that for a while. But you’re going to find out you’re not fulfilled, you’re actually discouraged, you’re depressed, you’re going to your medicine cabinet for help and you’re not coming to God for help.
Why? Because you haven’t been putting on the right clothing, you’ve been dealing with this situation all wrong. Right here in this text, all I have to do is put this on.
You have to ask God every day to help you put these clothes on and help you pick from the right pile. The new self is the born-again self, it is the new creation in Christ. Only the Christian has the capacity to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God, with the ability and will to serve and please God and know how to do that.
Loving God’s word and loving God’s son includes hating sin with the desire to pursue righteousness. Therefore, salvation is not a matter of improvement, it is not a matter of perfection, it is a matter of comprehensive transformation that the spirit of God is doing on you and me every single day.
I don’t know about you, but to me this is pretty simple. I can pretty much evaluate my life every day to see how I’m doing. If I dealt with somebody in anger that day, I have not put on the right clothing. If I wasn’t patient with somebody, I did not put on the right clothing. If I didn’t love the person or had compassion on them and tried to meet their need, I did not have the right clothing on, and I was not representing Christ.
“Salvation is not a matter of improvement, it is not a matter of perfection—it is a matter of comprehensive transformation that the Spirit of God is doing every single day.”
I was representing the old kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, where Satan thinks he reigns. When you put on these new clothes this morning, you won’t want to take them off, because you will begin to experience the fullness of the Christian life. What is that? To be like Christ.
Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, for your word being so clear. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure these things out, and Lord, you didn’t write it that way. You wrote it so the simplest person on this planet can get it, and I thank you, Lord, that you’ve done that.
Every day when we get up and we walk outside the door of our home, I pray, Lord, that we would have the right clothing on. So anything that’s thrown at us that day, any person that comes across our path, anything that a husband and wife can deal with, or a parent and children can deal with, or people that we deal with on our job, I pray, Lord, that you would give us the power of the spirit of God to put on the clothing that can show someone Christ by just the way we act.
That may open up the door to share the gospel of Christ with them. Lord, use us in that way. Lord, we know you have a lot of work to do on us, but I pray, Lord, we would give ourselves to that, so we can experience what you want us to. I pray this in Christ’s name, amen.