In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 3:15-17 and the fourth aspect of the new self in Christ that, according to the apostle Paul, believers are to put on by faith like new clothing. After some review, Pastor Babij explains the three central priorities of the new self.
The New Self Puts on New Clothing (vv. 10-17)
A. The calling of the new self (v.12a)
B. The character of the new self (v. 12b-13)
C. The cohesion of the new self (v. 14)
D. The central priorities of the new self (vv. 15-17)
D.i. Let the peace of Christ rule
D.ii. Let the word of Christ dwell
D.iii. Let the name of Christ prevail
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okay you take your Bibles and turn to Colossians hope I didn’t forget how to preach it’s been a while but thank you for being here being ready to look at the word of God and we’re going to be looking at Colossians chapter 3 specifically um verses 15 to 17 but I’ll probably have to do some review to bring you up to date let me just pray father this morning thank you for bringing us here we know Lord in our life Christ is to be exalted and Lord the spirit of God is to be obeyed as he applies the scripture to our heart and Lord every one of us are not where we ought to be spiritually we all need to grow more we all have areas that we need to defeat sin and put it to death and we need to put on righteousness all of us are there so I pray Lord that for us as a congregation our desire would always to be progressing forward not going backward and I pray as we do that we would grow in Holiness and godliness and that we would honor you in our words and our Deeds and I pray this in Christ’s name amen as we are in Colossians um Colossians really has a warning about false teachers so a person really shouldn’t carelessly follow just anybody any personable religious leader merely because they talk about Jesus or maybe they urge audiences to receive the spirit Jesus is quite popular among worldly people but not the true Jesus the popular Jesus may be the baby Jesus in the manger at Christmas time or the Buddy Jesus of Nashville gospel music or the success counseling Jesus of positive thinkers he may also be the Romantic Jesus of the Christian crooners or the rhythmic Jesus of Christian rock or even the reforming Jesus of the Liberals but none of these are the Jesus preached by the Apostle Paul and the apostles therefore not the real Jesus who saves men and women from their sins Jesus in reality is the Lord Jesus Christ the offended creator of the universe who had died for men and women on the cross to redeem them and by shedding his blood to wash away their sin and then he rose from the dead to be set far above principalities and Powers and might and Dominion in every name that is named Jesus is above all and finally it is Jesus who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom so the Lord Jesus as he really is is not the popular Jesus of shirts and bumper stickers of politicians and entertainers he is the despised one rejected of men so they crucified the Lord Of Glory and they would do the same today we would do the same today he is the Mighty God the perfect man the only savior the Eternal King the Lord of lords and all God called teachers will preach not an imaginary Jesus who appeals to the flesh but rather the true Christ of creation and salvation who appeals to the spirit the redeemed spirit of God and so if one gets Jesus right they will get the Christian Life right but if one gets Jesus wrong one also gets a distorted view of the Christian Life and I have observed many today have a distorted view of the Christian Life so when we come to Colossians we find that Colossians gives us a picture of the lifestyle that leads to Dynamic Holiness it is the picture that we are very familiar with from the scriptures because it talks about the putting off and the putting on of sins and the putting on of righteousness and every time we do put on clothes it should remind us that of our sin before a holy God that your sin has made you unrighteous and unfit for the presence of God and it should also remind us of the basic message of the Gospel that God sent Jesus to die outside the Gate of Jerusalem to take away our sins to cover us up with his perfect righteousness and to give us new clean clothes to give us New Life by his resurrection so Jesus provided the righteousness we needed and took upon himself all the Wrath that we deserved so there’s this is where the Resurrection Life the life that we have now as believers is observed by others there must be this putting off before there can be putting on we are not just putting on clean clothes but clean a clean new self and the Bible connects clothing with righteousness and the believer is clothed with the righteousness of Christ so by the transformative power of the Gospel of the Cross of Christ Jesus is making a new Humanity the community of all kinds of people groups that bear the image of God by putting off the old practices and putting on the new Humanity that bear the image of that of the Creator so no one could break down the barriers between all kinds of people groups in the world and all the differences they bring in that’s where all the conflict is when it’s the differences in social things in the religious things and ethnic things and geographical places people live in the education that they have in the the economic situation that they’re being they’re in are all differences and distinctions and it would be impossible to conquer these distinctions and unified people into one body impossible but there is one there is one who does the impossible and that is Jesus Christ and right now all who come to Christ in Repentance of their sins and faith in Jesus as it says in Colossians 3 10 it says being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him so to be renewed in knowledge points to a reversal of the effects of the Fall through the new creation of God’s creative act in Christ Jesus that all distinctions between different people groups are null and void for those who are in Christ they mean nothing at all of course the world wants to make them something so the the divisions continue on so since Christ conquered all and removed all these distinctions All Peoples can be unified and participate together in one body achieved by Christ’s death and resurrection and where does it all lead to well Colossians 3 11 says but Christ is all and in all that’s where it leads that Christ in Christ all are one all are Unified so let me just bring you up to the speed a little bit from where we were where we’re going that there are certain distinctions of the new self that we see in scripture in verse number 12 of chapter 3 there’s the calling of the new self it says so as those who have been chosen of God holy and beloved the first thing is that there’s a calling that God calls you to Salvation and the message we receive about our identity really does shape our lives in very powerful ways who we understand ourselves to be matters how we live our lives long before Adam sinned God already decreed and determined salvation for sinners in eternity past before there was even in heaven and earth the father chose a people in Christ who would be saved from his from his Wrath and this selection was not based upon any foreseen faith in those who he chose nor was it promised by inherit goodness instead according to His Infinite love an inscrutable wisdom God said is affectionate upon his elect each one chosen was predestined by the father to be conformed to the image of his son and then to sing forth his Praises not only now but forever so your new identity shows you are in the kingdom of God or you are not in the kingdom of God it shows that you are a kingdom kid or you are not a kingdom kid and last time we stepped into God’s closed closet and we started selecting clothing that Jesus wants us to wear that reflects a kingdom kid living in this world and we see a comparison there’s two ways of life that are compared the first one in verse number five through seven is is gives a list of five vices that we are to put to death and what are those vices well in verse number five it says there immorality impurity passion evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry that all these vices are manifestations of the worship of idols and the loss of contentment in Christ the worship of gold and not God and where people are greedy in their hearts they lose sight of God with a mad desire to get things covetousness is a sin of always wanting more never being Satisfied by your circumstances or by what God has given you or by that fact anything this is idolatry and covetousness really puts things in the place of God so if someone would think at all whatsoever that God could Overlook habitual patterns of sexual Covetous idolatrous sin they would be actually believing a lie and just because our culture has subtly normalized sin and we live really in the middle of a highly charged sexually intoxicated culture that is no excuse to have the influence of the world affect how we live instead we are to put those things to death and as Christians you are now in a new position you can stop the reign of sin in your life and live a holy life see Christians have to consider that they have to get that you don’t get it right away but you get it as you’re in scripture you’re learning the word of God and there is a motive behind wanting to learn those things in verse number six it says because of these things the wrath of God will come upon the sons of Disobedience that the motive for holy living is the wrath of God God is angry against sin that’s why the father had to send the son to die in the place because his anger had to be poured out on someone and Jesus was the only one qualified willing and able to receive that anger and then take care of it and satisfy the justice of the father so this if there’s also a humility that comes when we understand holy living because such conduct doesn’t belong to our past if you notice in verse number seven it says and in them you also once walked when you were living in them so we all all were there weren’t we we were all living in sin in some kind of sin we were all habitually doing something that Dishonored God and committing idolatry every day of our life doing what we wanted what we thought was right isn’t that the American way anyway and maybe there’s no better way to stay humble when dealing with our own sin and the sins of others then to know where that we are enslaved and engage in a sinful habitual lifestyle until we have made Are Made Alive and repent of our sins and Trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior see we used to walk in them we still live in those sins but these these are all in your past and don’t go back to those sins anymore and as far as Colossians concerned the false teachers which he’s exposing here spiritually they taught that any kind of spiritual fullness has to be found beyond the world of things and persons and so they concluded and reasoned that since our bodies are part of the evil universe it doesn’t matter what you do they can indulge every fleshly desire for whatever is done from their perspective cannot be contaminate the spiritual part Within they taught that spiritual reality is found through special knowledge and subjective experience and ritual religious observations totally divorced from daily life or even from reality so if we are to fix our eyes on Christ which it says right here in our text verse 2 of chapter three sets your mind on the things above not on the things of the earth if we’re to do that then the demand that we should have is not for perfection right now we should be focused and be satisfied with the progress of our spiritual maturity that’s where we look how are we progressing in Christ are we progressing in Christ how we’ve grown more this year than last year so what what should we expect fullness in Christ to be to be like should it be some Supernatural or some ascetic religious experience what are the marks of holiness we really shouldn’t expect spiritual fullness to be marked by the spectacular even though God does the spectacular but that doesn’t Mark most of our Christian Life it should be marked by the common goodness expressed in the mundane everyday life see God wants us to live right there he wants us to live right there godliness in human flesh lives a Jesus kind of life Jesus didn’t have a place to lay his head you didn’t really have an address he was almost like a nomad moving from place to place teaching living on sleeping on the ground lived a very humble low life that’s what he lived and yet God he did exactly what God wanted him to do so where is it to be found where’s fullness spiritual fullness to be found it’s to be found in our devotion and growing love to Jesus and in our loving relationships with other people in other words holy living the fullness of living our relationship with Christ is to be sought in the context in the context of living out life in this world every day such as putting off sinful patterns in verse number eight if you notice he gives us a general list of those sins put off anger wrath malice slander abuse of speech put them all off take off those dirty clothes that’s part of this existence that God’s called us to and then he says in verse number nine then then discontinue this one do not lie to one another since since you laid aside the old self and it’s easy it’s it’s evil practices so lying includes untruth part truth conveying wrong Impressions exaggeration and so on and so forth which distorts the facts God says let’s listen to if we do that with each other we will never be able to establish trust with each other or neither will be able to accomplish anything if we lie to each other but we’ve all lied we’re all guilty but it should never be our default we have to put it to death death to the old way of life should be a reality in everyday practice in fact it means to wipe out to to utterly slay not simply to suppress it or to control evil acts and desires but to put them to death in our Passage the decisive Act is to strike dead the bodily members so that being dead they shall become incapable of being used for any of the vices listed in the passage so clothes are the first things people see what do they see when they see your life do they see these old things or scripture gives us also a comparison for the second things to put on we take something off and put something on but notice the second list from verse 12 to verse number 13. here’s the designation of the new self the character of the new self Five virtues to put on so putting to death sin putting off the dirty garments of unrighteousness means as uh we as Christians cannot stay neutral but must put on clean clothes to put on the virtues that exemplify the character qualities of the Lord Jesus himself and of those who are God’s beloved elect and what are they put on verse number 12.
a heart of compassion that’s to be like Jesus put on kindness that’s to be like Jesus put on humility that’s to be like Jesus put on gentleness that’s to be like Jesus put on patience that’s to be like Jesus and then two ways to carry out those five virtues verse number 13 what do you do it where do you carry them out bearing with one another write it amongst each other that’s how you carry where we carry them out see that’s where we have to see the progress and then notice in verse 13 not only do we bear with one another that means bearing long with and putting up with a great deal of injustices and even unpleasant circumstances without retaliation or Revenge that’s how Jesus dealt with us and so the second thing he says there and forgiving each other in verse number 13 He says and forgiving each other Whoever has a complaint against anyone just as the Lord forgave you so also should you so has the Lord forgiven you has the Lord dealt along with you and been long suffering and patient with you yes so see we have we have really no wiggle room that when it comes to other people that we can dig in against them if we’re going to be like Christ if we want to go back to the old flesh that’s what we’ll do we’ll say no I have my rights you know what for a Christian you have no rights the only right I have is to live like Jesus right that’s the only right I have and that’s the only right that will give me fullness of life and that’s what I want I want fullness of life I want to enjoy what God has given me not keeping digging in against him and of course there’s a third distinction he mentions in verse number 14 what holds it all together look what it says in verse 14. beyond all these things put on love which is the perfect Bond of unity some have referred to love as I mentioned already as relational glue it’s the it’s like the outer garment that goes over all the other clothing and it holds it all together that’s what love is all right and loving others is to be like Jesus so then the new self is the born-again self it is the new creature in Christ and only the Christian has the capacity to consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God with the ability and the will to serve and please God we never had that ability before now we have it by the spirit of God and by the word of God that loving God’s word and loving God’s son includes hating sin with the desire to pursue righteousness there’s never this vacuum that’s nothing there’s nothing in that space there’s always something in that space always something in that space that means that salvation is not a matter of improvement or Perfection of what had had previously existed it is a matter of comprehensive transformation or progress in Christ like this that’s where we all need to look are we making progress so when you put on the new clothes you don’t want to take well when you put on the new clothes you really don’t want to take them off because they will only begin to stink if you do not keep them on you’ll begin to experience the fullness of the Christian Life when you keep these clean clothes on you and when you put on these new clothes you won’t want to take them off and what do you what does that mean what will it make it look you look like well you’ll look like Christ you’ll act like Christ that the Christian first undresses himself of the old clothing he disposes the stench riddled sin contaminated clothing in order to address himself suitably the Christian is now ready for his journey through this life so here in this passage there’s really a threefold need to prod along successfully to even gauge your project progress this section of early Colossians refers to living together with God’s people within the gathered Community of Christ Church and two words are used again that are imperatives and these means that they’re they’re just not things to consider lightly they’re actually we are to given we are to give them serious thought and and practice that these commands now apply more specifically to the inner disposition of the believer the inner disposition to be a regular and to have a regular pattern of putting off the old and putting on the new in our daily life and this inner disposition is to be regular it’s to be actually habitual it is to outflow it’s the outflow of one’s calling that leads to putting off putting on demands of the Gospel that leads to peace which brings uh that Christ brings and gives to us so now this morning let’s look at verse number 15 because now we look at the central priorities of the new self and there are at least for this morning three of them Central priorities of the new self in verse number 15 it says this Let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts so what is the central priority the first one is let the peace of God rule the phrase in your hearts shows the hiddenness of the CR of Christian growth and maturity not everybody sees what’s going on in your heart but God sees and you often know what’s going on in your heart so here this ruling Christ’s ruling is going on inside of you and this growth is seen in the peace loving temper which governs our words and our actions someone said it like this it’s the calm mind which is not ruffled by adversity or clouded by sin or a remorseful conscience or a disturb disturbed by any fear it’s a piece that rules in the heart and the term the very Greek word for this term rule means to judge or to be in a position to decide to decide something or to control that Christ’s peace must be the final decision it is the Umpire over our Wills over our passions and over our our emotions and only a real born-again Christian can have this peace now how is that that Christians are at peace with God well if you notice in our passage in if you go to chapter one verse number two it says to the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are classified Grace to you and peace from God the Father and then in Colossians chapter 1 verse number 19 and 20 for it was the father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile all things to himself having made peace through the blood of his cross and through him I say well the things on earth or things in heaven so when we are at peace with God the Christians have something what do they have they have peace of conscience there’s there’s nothing to condemn you anymore because there’s no Compton condemnation to those who are in Christ it also means that you’re free from the bondage of your own sin and you can now serve Christ without guilt and get up every day and say Lord I’m your servant take care of me today as I go out into this hostile world I’m going out in your name make me an instrument in your hand give me victory over my remaining sin over my enemies and the allormen and temptations that are going to be presented to me in the world almost every day without fail I have peace of conscience though I know who I am I know what God wants me to do I know what dirty clothes look like and how they smell and I now starting to know what new clean clothes look like and I’m starting to do that every day and then what else do I have I have access to God there is nothing to prevent from enjoying God’s present there is there is freedom to go into the Lord with holy boldness in prayer and to speak the Lord as a member of his family to have regular and deep fellowship with the Lord Jesus I have access to God also I have no fear of hell there is nothing not one thing that can send you there if you know Christ because Christ have has been punished in your place and therefore Justice his Justice cannot touch you again because the justice has already been satisfied and then what do I have I have expectation of Heaven that’s what I do I have an expectation of Heaven look at chapter 3 verse number one therefore if you have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God see I’m looking forward to heaven sudden death means sudden Glory there’s also peace in Providence every day there is a potential to have my peace robbed from me and I want to take care of that too and then of course it leads to peace with people like Romans says if possible so far it depends on you be at peace with all men so how does this piece ruling in your heart work here’s an example suppose a person has been unjustly insulted two thoughts maybe presented to his mind the one urging him to retaliation and vengeance and the other two patience and restraint these wrestle with one of one another in his mind so if the Peace of Christ stands as an Umpire over your emotions and your will and your passions you’ll receive a prize and the prize will be you’ll lean towards patience and restraint see the proof the pr the the Peace of Christ prevails so you see this piece is not simply to be present but it is to be exercised it’s to have Supreme control within us this is all happening in our heart right we can fake it on the outside but in the heart you can’t each individual believer is responsible to make certain that Christ reign Christ Reigns in the heart and from his heart in his relationship with others see this is how you begin to gauge your progress this is what the child of God looks like when they are putting into practice the word of God and walking in the spirit as it says in Matthew blessed are the peacemakers how will they look they will be called sons of God don’t you want to be called the son of God but this also brings us to another place in in our verse in chapter 3 verse 15 it says notice this it says to which indeed you were called in one body it helps you keep the unity that God has given to us the Oneness of the body is this fear in which the Peace of Christ is to be carried out and actually realized you see when God summons us and transforms us from the realm of sin and death to the realm of righteousness and life he calls us and chooses us not simply to be his people that’s part of it of sure but to live a certain kind of life a different kind of life we have been called together as one unit and the peace of God gives us or Aids us to help us keep that unified body all we have to do is step into the Flesh and we already are causing divisions right like it says in Philippians these two women are are not getting together there’s the vision among you there’s Strife among you take care of that that’s what Paul tells the Philippians right take care of that little bit of strife there because that little bit of stripe ends up being a big ordeal and then notice the next thing he says in verse number 15 and be thankful now Brethren I don’t know about you but believers who are full of gratitude to God for his gracious calling of them will find it much easier to extend to fellow Believers and other people the grace of love and the forgiveness that God gives to us and to put aside Petty issues that might inhabit the expression or destroy the expression of Peace in the community it’s easy to do when you understand who you are what God’s done for you see so so I don’t go back to that old way no this is this is what pleases God but that’s what brings fullness spiritual fullness to my life that’s that’s what we maintains the peace in my heart that maintains the unity in the body when I’m like that and you know in this short uh short section of scripture three times he mentions thankfulness here in verse 15 then notice in verse number 16 he says let the word of Christ dwell on you richly with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms hymns and spiritual songs singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God and then in verse number 17 whatever you do in the word indeed do all the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through him to God the father so it’s all about Jesus Christ all of it’s about Jesus Christ the lord loves to see people who serve in his church to maintain a cheerful and a thankful heart both are the will of God even though oh preacher and Pastor CH Spurgeon in the 1800s said when joy and prayer are married their firstborn child is gratitude it seems very you know what when I say this is a command this is an imperative seems when I read it it seems an easy command to follow it does be thankful and I’m sure if I were to personally ask you are you thankful You would reply of course pastor if I rephrased the question and asked you have you honestly given thanks to God in everything well now now you’re meddling now you’re stepping on toes so have you given heartfelt thanks in other words to your poor health or your unrewarding job or lack of work for less than an ideal marriage or ongoing family struggle for an unstable financial situation for not having your prayers answered just quite the way you would like for unfulfilled dreams and unreached goals for broken and difficult relationships for lost opportunities Brethren I do not need to remind you to give thanks when all is well I have to remind myself I need to give thanks when all is not well because you know what that’s where I grow in spiritual maturity when I know that what’s going on in my life God knows all about it it’s no mistake no mistake at all anyone can say and give thanks when they have good health and abundant food and a secure and rewarding job it’s easy then thank you so we may may need to conclude that there is much more ingratitude in our life than genuine gratitude but the scriptures are teaching us that should not be normal it should not be normal or the default conduct of the genuine believer who is growing in their knowledge and understanding of the word of God see we must be thankful it is a command to do it and when I obey when I love Jesus I do what he says and he says to me be thankful so let the peace of God rule in your heart is the first priority of the new self the second one in verse number 16 is this let the word of Christ richly dwell within you you notice how it’s using the within here so this is going on inside of person so let the word of Christ dwell the better rendering of this phrase Let the the word of Christ richly dwell within you is let the message that proclaims Christ dwell in you in fact Paul uses it in a different way in chapter 1 verse number five where he says because of the Hope laid up for you in heaven of which you previously heard the word of Truth The Gospel see the word of Truth the word the gospel or the message that proclaims Christ it’s always the centrality of Christ in Colossians in other words put the message about Christ at the center of your corporate worship experience and let this message about Christ take up permanent resonance in you and among you so the message has a transforming power in the life of the community so how how does the message have a transforming powering the life of a community will notice in verse number 16. it says there’s two things it tells us there as you teach as you teach well you know what what is teaching teaching is really the the positive presentation of Christian truth teaching plants the truth in the mind so it gets hold of the conscience and it transforms the will so you go from understanding or listening to something to actually doing something now that that shift doesn’t happen right away that takes a constant word of God being taught to you personal opinions must bow to Christ’s word personal feelings must yield to what Christ says and personal individual ideas must be adjusted by God’s word so that’s one way this transforming power comes from most of a second way is really kind of like goes along with teaching but it’s the word in our text as you teach and admonish one another now what is an admonition as compared to teaching admonishing really digs error out it gives warning about the dangers of straying away from the truth it’s the word nephetic new fetic counseling instruction put into the Mind regarding belief and behavior so there is belief but how is belief affecting my behavior and many times when anybody counsels Pastor Dave council’s what he’s doing actually is really showing where error has gotten in there a misunderstanding about how you live the Christian life has gotten in there takes the word of God and what does he do he reminds you of what belief is and what your behavior ought to be as far as that belief and then when you put it into practice he can’t make you do that when you put it into practice you know what happens spiritual transformation spiritual fulfillment happens but until you don’t put into practice you don’t get there so the you wanted to get down in our gathered worship we must be teaching and admonishing one another so the word of Christ has central place in our worship and is made to dwell richly in our hearts that the central core of our being our intellect our emotion our volition is being repeatedly drenched with the word of Christ until it takes residence in your heart until it lavishly fills every nook and cranny and corner of your being and controls your thinkings and your actions and it says there in our texts and how do we how do we do this with all wisdom well what’s wisdom it’s the ability to use knowledge in the right way the Wise Way for what reason so you can do the right thing and then you could help other people do the right thing because if you notice in our text we’re to teach and admonish one another so sometimes we have to come alongside each other and say you know what you say you believe this but you’re not doing it this is what you need to do now if they have the receptive spirit and if they have the peace of God and they’re really a Believer and they want to keep the unity know what they’re going to say let’s talk about that because I want to correct my behavior that’s what a Believer does foreign but you know how he does it from our passage of scripture it looks like he does it also through music music is a great means of teaching however it must be real music and not just a sensual beat with the psychic psychedelic sound spiritual songs are based on biblical Doctrine and consist of words and sounds that represent and honor the Lord what did Jesus say you know what Jesus said to those disciples walking on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection this is what he said to them these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled so what happens is that if you look at Colossians chapter 3 verse number 16 it says let the word of Christ dwell richly dwell within you with all wisdom teaching and admonishing another one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs now let me just say that being word filled and being Spirit-filled is something by quite very practical it first comes when someone has realized what God has done for them in Christ and with us understanding they feel they no longer belong to themselves they have a new purpose in this world to show the world that the Lord Jesus has delivered them from sin and that they have made they have been made holy and God is preparing them for heaven so being word filled and being Spirit-filled is related not to the realm of the euphoric experience but to the ethical rigors of the Christian Life The Putting on the putting off the putting off the putting on that both Ephesians and Colossians the Believers have already received the Holy Spirit and the New Testament knows nothing of a Believer who has not received the word and the Holy Spirit been baptized in the spirit and been filled with the spirit as our life becomes more like Christ we find ourselves constantly repeating and rejoicing over the truths of scripture that’s what we do we go over them over them all the time and songs help us to do that we end up singing and even whistling songs we capture biblical Concepts and teachings and principles in the songs and that means the object in focus of a word filled person is the Lord not themselves not others not their problems they are occupied with spiral spiritual things and meditating upon the enjoyment of them they have Joy inside that is expressed outwardly in the fellowship to their family and to their Brethren and when the focus of the believer’s heart is the Lord Jesus Christ then Christian Joy is present in spiritual Fellowship we address one another not with worldly chatter but as it says in scripture which Psalms hymns and spiritual songs well let’s just take our Bibles for a moment and just look at a few passages that mention actually the word Psalms the word hymns and of course the word sing or things pertaining to the Holy Spirit just to give you a sense that when somebody is singing this what does come out of it what is the what’s the context of what they say look at psalm 95.
just a few verses there verse number one through six I’m not going to read the whole thing but I want you to notice in Psalm 95 verse number 1 this is a Psalm spoken of really about the nature and the work of God the father and of course other Psalms God the son it says in verse number one O Come let us sing for Joy to the Lord let us shout joyfully to the rock of our Salvation let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving let us shout joyfully to him with what with Psalms right but notice in verse number three for the Lord is great A great God and a great king above all gods in whose hand are the depths of the earth and the peaks of the mountain are his also the sea is his for it is it was he who made it and His Hands formed the the dry ground come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our makers you see that a person is filled with the character of God and what do they do they sang these songs on the way to Jerusalem usually on the high holy days and they would sing them over and over again repetition is so important in the Christian life especially when it comes to theology about who God is so we sing psalms about who God is and then another one you have to turn there but in Acts chapter 16 and verse 25 to 31 remember Paul and Silas are in jail and what are they doing the Bible says in verse number 25 and about midnight Paul science were praying and singing hymns to the praise of God they’re singing they’re in jail they’re in stocks they’re in and jails or not nothing like they have today they weren’t getting three squares a day and they didn’t have climate control they were in stocks it was damp it was a dungeon what it was and they’re there what they’re singing why they singing they’re singing about the so great of Salvation it doesn’t give us all the context of what they’re saying but if you notice in verse 31 they said the the jailers are listening to them and they’re saying these guys are singing and they’re in this position in their life how this is crazy this is nuts but what they have I want and what does it say it says Paul said don’t do harm to yourselves for all here and he called for lights and rushed in trembling with fear and fell down before Paul and Silas and after he brought them out he said sirs what must I do to be saved and they says believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved in your household you’ll see you’ll be saved so obviously they were singing about salvation they were singing about salvation in Christ Jesus that’s what they were singing about and these soldiers wanted it now I don’t know about you that’s about the worst situation you could be in to be singing uh hymns and yet look at the outcome is the results God wants to bring but spiritual fullness to Paul and Silas and of course other places in scripture spiritual songs usually directed at the holy spirit of God and pertaining to the spirit like in Revelation where it says and they sang a new song and what are they saying worthy are you to take the book and break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and Nations you see how they understood the gospel they understood what Jesus did they understood the purchase that God had to make for that person to be saved see that just brings to us joy and then in Revelation 15 they sang the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb these are like two bookends and what do they sing this is what they sang grade and marvelous are your work so Lord the Mighty the righteous and true are your ways King of the Nations who will not fear O Lord the glory of her name for you alone Are Holy all the nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed see their writing and singing about what God has done who God is what God has accomplished so the word filled believer joyfully exhorts and admonishes their Brethren to worship their lord and practice Christ’s a christ-conscious life and all the music comes out of a transformed heart when a person is at peace with God and the Heart indicates not so much the place but the manner the attitude in which they are to sing so teaching christological Doctrine naturally leads to doxological response everything’s focused on Christ he is the center of all Theology and if anyone diminishes or minimum minimizes who Christ is and what he has done they are in Jeopardy of being a heretic and that is who the false teachers were doing they were minimizing who Christ was and then how is all this thing to take place notice in version back to Colossians chapter 3 verse 16.
singing to God that’s who you sing to and then what you sing with gratitude in your hearts so where does this un inner singing and gratitude show up if we have been living filled with the message that proclaims Christ it will show up in conduct of everyday living or it will expose you that you have not been singing to the Lord or been truly thankful in your heart that’s will it’ll show for example if somebody’s always worried worried is a killjoy it kills a genuine attitude of thankfulness were we really really reflects doubt upon God and makes really us miserable it makes us grumbling and complaining as we Mumble under our breath I don’t think God you know what I’m really going through or maybe God you made a mistake in regard to my situation but a defeated and unhappy Christian is no example of the message that proclaims Christ who would want that I’m trying to get delivered from that Brethren if you are in that condition today bring it all to the Lord cast your care on him trust in him he will give you the peace of God that guards your heart and mind so you don’t get caught in that vicious cycle of worry like a broken a tape going on uh so scripture concludes these exhortations with a touchstone of Christian conduct and makes the test of what right what is right and what is wrong very clear to the child of God we we this is not something that you can’t figure out this is something that we know very clearly so we’re to live so that the name of Christ prevails so what do we do let the name of Christ Prevail look at verse number 17 and I’m coming to a close here look at verse 17.
it says whatever you do whatever you do in word and D or D do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through him to God the Father so do all in the name of the Lord Jesus means that we act with his approval and we show him to others in everything including what we say and what we do and this shows up this really shows what it means to to Bear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and remember the name of the Lord stands for his person and his character and his will so we Christians should act in concert with the nature and the character of the Lord this is the third time it tells us to give thanks and notice we give thanks through him through Christ however we we really can’t be honestly thankful if we don’t honor him by our words and our Deeds one one best way to test action is really can I ask the question can I do it calling on the name of the Lord can I do this thing I’m going to do calling on the name of the Lord or does it disrupt peace or does it violate the word of God or does it bring dishonor to his name and then another test as far as the a word is concerned can I speak it and in the same breath name the name of Jesus can I speak this thing to this person and at the same breath name the name of Jesus so remember if we are to fix our eyes on Christ it is not the Perfection of your life but it should that we really should demand upon it will Thou come when we appear with Jesus in glory right now we should focus and be satisfied with the progress of our spiritual maturity again are you progressing in these things are you satisfied are you satisfied so I say May the spirit of the Lord bring conviction so he the Holy Spirit and you can make adjustments in your life so that you will make progress and in making progress you will experience spiritual fulfillment so that’s where he comes in fact when I bring pick this up this passage up next time notice where it it actually shows up in verse number 18.
wives 19 husbands 20 children 21 fathers 22 slaves bosses employees that’s where it shows up so that’s where the Lord wants us to live right there and all of us live there no but none of us can get out of there but what’s the point in Colossians in chapter 1 verse 28 this is what Paul says we Proclaim him admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that here is the the conclusion the results so that we may present every man complete in Christ that’s the goal of the holy spirit of God to present us completing Christ how far are you from that goal I pray that you see progress and I pray that that progress would be enjoyed by you as God is working in your life and it gives evidence to your own salvation and makes you a Christian that could actually be used in the body amen