Lesson 13 August 25 th, 2018 Practicing Justice Study Scripture Colossians 3:5-17 Background Scripture Colossians 3:1-17 So, as to those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. INTRODUCTION We are now being called on to remember that the things cherished by the Almighty God are very different from the things we cherish and hence the way we are accustomed to living. We have according to Scripture been dressed in old rags and so we need to cast off the old garments and live in the understanding that we are now dressed in new finery which calls for a new style of life. We are now in a new covenant relationship. In plain words there will inevitably be an expression of this truth and a practical application of it. The lives of all those who identify with that truth and who claim that this truth applies to them must reflect a newness of life. It is one thing to study doctrine and theology but it is often quite another thing for believers to recognize that doctrine has practical applications. Doctrine and duty both go together. Belief and behavior both go together. Those who have already agreed in their hearts that Jesus is their Savior and their Lord should be able to hear and obey the Apostolic instruction in our Text. But it must be admitted that it not always easy to keep away from putting back on the old clothes which represented out former lifestyle despite the call of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our Study therefore has two elements. One is the encouragement and exhortation approach which is clearly in the Text. But there is also a command aspect which tells us that there is no option for those who are in union with Christ and who are called and chosen. We know it is not so easy to keep on rejecting the lies of the world but we are encouraged to do just that. Our focus continues to have all do righteousness, to do justice and to show the love of God to the brethren as well as to a world which is filled with rebellious persons. The Apostle shows us how to live in community and in doing so shows us the ugly things that trip us up. He then shows us how to build up the new house and care for our new clothes. We are shown two different lists of things which are really vice lists and which we have to avoid if we are to clean our lives. The Apostle Paul demonstrated that Christ is sufficient for all our needs. In Him are to be found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He addressed believers in Colosee and reminded them of their position in Christ. They died with Christ and they were raised with Him. Jesus was 49 Brydon Drive Toronto ON M9W 4N3 (416)747-7278 www.seventhdaybaptist.ca Pastor H. Condison Toronto SDB Church @TorontoSDBChurch
seated at the right hand of the Father, and believers, since they were in union with Christ were, and remain united with Him and are regarded by the Father as seated with Him at the place of supreme power. The identification with Christ, the union with Him, is a most significant and critically important doctrine. Believers have been placed in an exalted position before the Lord God of Heaven, and this truth has tremendous practical application. There must as a result of this be a visible, concrete expression of this truth in the day to day life of every believer who claim to be identified with Christ. The union with Jesus should be shown in their relationships with other believers, as well as their relationships with the world in which they live. The Apostle lays out the practical application of the doctrine of union with Christ and His saving work. He will list the ethical facts beginning with sexual sins, for this kind of sin shows man s obsession with sex and its related sins which have always plagued man from sin entered into the world. The Apostle tells believers to get rid of and demolish the practices associated with their former life; so that they can build the new man. The believer must be committed to put off the old, and in the next step put on the new. Interestingly, Paul begins the first section in our tear down Study of the vice lists with a clear discussion of sexuality which in this world of lies have been separated from spirituality. THE TEXT Verse 5. Paul exhorts the Colossians to the mortification pf putting to death or completely stopping of sin which to him is seen as a great hindrance to seeking the things that are above. Here it is clear to Paul that one will either set their sights, their entire being on achieving a life with Christ or they will live a life that demonstrates they are focused on earthly things. As Christians our duty is to set our affections on heavenly things. To that end when the Bible says to mortify our members which are upon the earth, it means we should subdue the vicious habits the mind dictated to us while in our pagan state. These bad habits are to be treated as weeds or vermin which we should seek to destroy with relentless fortitude. fornication voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons. uncleanness Having a physical or moral blemish so as to make impure according to the laws, especially the dietary or ceremonial laws, morally impure, vile. inordinate affection with respect to affection, immoderate, excessive, unrestrained in conduct. evil concupiscence sexual desire, lust readily affected through the senses. covetousness wrongly desirous of wealth or possessions, greedy. These lusts of the flesh, their various workings of the carnal appetites and fleshly impurities which ran their course in our lives before, should now be foreign to our lives as Christians, because they truly are contrary to us achieving the Christians state and the heavenly hope we desire. Note that the Apostle is dealing with relationships. Note also in the first of the two lists given by Paul there is stress on the sexual sins. It can be readily seen from television programs, the internet presentations, videos, music forms, and in newspapers, tabloids, and in novels that our society is obsessed with sex. It was similar to First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto (416)747-7278 www.seventhdaybaptist.ca 2
Colossian culture and society, for their religion incorporated sexuality into its practices, with temple prostitution a part of their worship practices. Note that some religions continue to do the same thing today. But if you read the Bible carefully, you ll realize that our sexuality is really an integral part of our spirituality. And sexuality is not just about having sex. It applies to all of us whether we are sexually active or not. Whether you are in high school, a single adult, married, divorced, or retired. For all of us, our sexuality is linked to our spirituality. So Paul starts off telling the Colossians that their rejection of their old ways of living has to start with their sexual decisions. For us that means that we need to consider our sexual decisions as well. We may not think about it, but our sexual decisions affect our community. We might like to brush off this subject but we should remember that there is such a thing as the Justice of God. Many if not most churches have abused men, women, and children over the years, and this abuse has been ignored by the saints even though they know better. Sexual sins have been mismanaged by the church and this has damaged many followers of Christ. We therefore have to be careful in how we treat this matter for if not we will be doing contrary to what the Justice of God requires, and there will be no real safety for members of God s community. These pagan practices are to be rejected, says the Apostle, as are the old ways of living. But we should start with rejecting our old sexual decisions, which we should note affects the entire church as well as the secular community. For the Apostle walking in Christ means thinking about sexuality in a completely different way. We note that putting anything to death is not an easy or pleasant thing but the Lord God according to His will commands that we put away these sins, for they will lead us away from Him. He knows the difficulty and has provided the Holy Spirit to enable believers to do as He wills. Note that Covetousness is idolatry and as such should be avoided by Christians. Covetousness takes the love we should give solely to God and puts it towards worldly desires. Your soul was made for God and if you are restless and pursue happiness in anything outside of God you will be not only hurting yourself but hurting others around you, for you will find yourself treating others unjustly to achieve your selfish ends. Thus, covetousness carries a greater degree of malignity and is more highly provoking to God than is commonly thought. So bring your sinful, the old man nature, under control for only then will you be walking the path of justice. Verse 6. Paul s thought is that if we do not kill them, the aforementioned lusts of the flesh, then they will kill us, so fulfilling the statement, For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. We are known first as being children of disobedience, because under the power of sin we are naturally prone to disobey. Being children of disobedience we are then also children of wrath. The wrath of God comes upon all children of disobedience. Those who do not obey the precepts of the law incur its penalties. The sins Paul refers to are those that they had done while in their heathen and idolatrous state, and as such these sins brought judgments upon them, and exposed them to the wrath of God. It is these sins that we should mortify so that we can move onward towards Christ. First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto (416)747-7278 www.seventhdaybaptist.ca 3
It is important to realize that justice, including the justice of God, is not an abstract thing. Justice cannot be served without punishment for wrongs. No sensible person should want a God who does not have wrath, for that kind of God would be complacent with sin. A complacent God would not be a holy and righteous God. Verse 7. Paul asked us to remember that once we lived in sin. That is a good reason why should want to forsake it now. We could draw on our past and ask, what did it benefit us to live in that state? Now as Christians we also should be asking the same question to ensure that there has been a radical change in our lives. Verse 8. The next list of the Apostle deals with other kinds of influences over the life of the believer. There are powerful sins of temper and speech. Contrary to the design of the gospel are anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy and filthy communication. The Holy Spirit works to bring about a change in our entire being and to that end it is the soul that undergoes a radical change towards the dominion of right, reason and conscience over appetite and passion. Anger and wrath are bad, but malice is worse, because it is more rooted and deliberate; it is anger heightened and settled. Blasphemy here seems not so much speaking ill of God, as speaking bad of men, or raising negative reports of them, and hurting their good name by any slander. Filthy communication is represented by all lewd and wanton discourse, which comes from a polluted mind and the speaker and propagates the same defilements in the hearers. The seriousness of these sins is stressed by one writer: As the Psalmist said, Set a watch, oh lord, upon my mouth. How decisively we need that. We say so many things that are offensive to the Lord and offensive to our fellow Christians and offensive to our fellow men. So put off all of these: anger, wrath, malice (which is the source of anger and wrath), slander, filthy communication out of your mouth. These things destroy the harmony of believers and their relationship with another. They destroy the harmony of families and their relationships with one another. They destroy the harmony that may exist among men in the world. Filthy communication well may not be precisely the sense. Shameful speech is really the Greek term. But it surely includes this, foul language, off-color stories. Verse 9. The command not to lie is extremely strong. We are told, never lie. Lack of truth characterizes the world. This is the epitome of the old man and his deeds. It is a sign of the unregenerate. It brings disrespect and shames our men of industry, our political leaders and our religious leaders, Lying to one another is contrary to the law of truth and the law of love, it is also unjust and unkind, and naturally tends to destroy all faith and friendship among mankind. Lying moves us further from the image of God and closer to the image of the devil, the father of lies. The devil s likeness is imprinted on our souls the greater acts of sin and telling of lies. When we stop lying to one another then healing in the body of Christ will begin; for good relationships, there must be truth. Verse 10. Those who have put off the old man have put it off with its deeds, and those who put on the new man must put on all its deeds, not only support good principles but act them out in a good lifestyle. The grace of God works upon the will and affections by renewing the understanding. First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto (416)747-7278 www.seventhdaybaptist.ca 4
Verse 11. What Christ has done for all men is to reduce the divisions that exist between us all to nothing. Christ came to take down all partition walls, that all might stand on the same level before God, both in duty and privilege. There is now no difference arising from national, racial distinctions, other conditions, and circumstances of life. Social distinctions, cultural background, ethnic backgrounds, or salary levels are not the criteria to determine status in Christ. There is a oneness in the body of Christ. It is as much the duty of the one as of the other to be holy, and as much the privilege of the one as of the other to receive from God the grace to be so. Verse 12. We are now looking at the life of the new man and the Apostle stresses the positives. It is important to get rid of the old inappropriate behavior and the old clothing as to now put on or to clothe oneself with God pleasing attitudes and behavior. The stress in these verses begins with the description of the believers as the elect of God and this is placed exactly after the description of sundry nationalities and those in varying states of freedom and lack of freedom, states pleasant and unpleasant. The use of this term elect means that God has chosen the believer and has something special for the believer in His plan. It is definitely not the believer that has chosen God and thus responsible for his or her elevated status and special position, but it is God who has chosen the believer. God has specially selected them and set them apart, making them the special people whom He loves. They are beloved of God and holy, cut out from the rest of humanity. This is a very comforting position to be in, and since the believer is beloved, there is absolutely no need for being frightened to have been placed in that exalted position. It is most important to understand what Paul meant when he said that believers are dearly loved by God. He is really saying that believers are in the heart of God, or in other words, God loves us deeply despite who we were and are. This is a powerfully motivating force. It is a most amazing thing that God loves us and we should always be working and doing His will, showing our gratitude and appreciation and displaying His justice. Given the privilege accorded to them, it is only reasonable that the believer display certain characteristics or qualities. It is to be noted that each of the qualities spoken of by the Apostle in the passage are qualities shown in relationships, that is, the qualities are manifested in how the believer treats people. Note the emphasis on community. It refers to the community of believers in Colossae seeing their position in the Lord, concentrating their attention on heavenly things, and putting to death the earthly things. They are to put on, or to clothe themselves with these qualities. On a practical level this tells us that just as how you put on your clothes every morning, when you get up, you are to deliberately put on those qualities of life. You commit yourself each morning to living that way, and you can do it in the power of the Spirit, for you are a new man or a new woman in Christ. This list obviously describes the nature of Jesus. One writer describes the list of virtues as follows: Compassion shows a sensitivity to those suffering and in need. Another writer tells us: bowels of mercy, the tenderest mercies. Those who owe so much to mercy ought to be merciful to all who are proper objects of mercy. Be you merciful, as your Father is merciful, Luke 6:36. Second, kindness, which manifests itself in a sweet disposition and thoughtful interpersonal dealings. First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto (416)747-7278 www.seventhdaybaptist.ca 5
When we are kind to men we soften the hearts of men, and encourage them. Promoting friendship among men by a sweet disposition will help to reconcile them with God, as well as make our relationships with the friends and relatives that we have nicer. Third, humility means having a realistic view of oneself, thinking lowly of our selves because we are so. Fourth, gentleness or meekness, means not behaving harshly, arrogantly, or self-assertively but with consideration for others Fifth, patience is the quality of being long-suffering, self- restraining. Verses 13-14. The next two qualities elaborates on the meaning of patience. Sixth, forbearing means putting up with others and enduring discomfort. Seventh, forgiving involves not holding a grudge or grievance. Forgiveness speaks to a practical level: We are not to keep on reminding the person we forgave of the offence we forgave. We treat the person as if the offence never happened. One writer says we are not to get historical. We are not to tell anyone else about the matter that we have forgiven. We are not to remind ourselves of what we have forgiven. It should not come up in our minds and influence our attitudes toward the one who did us wrong. When it comes up in our minds we must put it away and remember that we too have a need to be forgiven. Then the Apostle tells us to clothe ourselves with love (agape), which means doing what is best for another person. Love is the Christian virtue par excellence that holds every other virtue together in place. Love is what God requires from us. Remember, love means actively becoming a blessing to others. Verse 15. The alternative to bitterness, resentment, malice and abuse of all kinds is to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. We can and should make that positive choice, since we are now new people. We can and should do the things that result in peace between us and God, and what will promote peace between us and each other. The peace of God should characterize the community of the people of God. This should be the determining factor. The Apostle also calls on us to be thankful, expressing and having an attitude of gratitude about everything. We know that everything that comes to us is a gift of God's love. We know that we were born rebellious, and in enmity against the things of God; self-centered, and never having the interest of others in mind. We deserved to be wiped out, but instead God so loved us that He sent His only Son so that we would believe in Him and have everlasting life. This tremendous gift should awaken gratitude in our hearts. We are to be thankful for every single thing that we have. Verse 16. Instead of thinking immoral thoughts and indulging in the consideration of evil passions, we are to focus on the great and rich truths to be found in the riches embedded in the word of God. There are enormous riches in the word of Christ which will help us every day, and will fill the longings that we feel when we left the deeds of the flesh. The word of God should be well known to us and should be the thing that we will follow and always look to, to teach us how to live. The word of God teaches us reality. We are commanded to let dwell the word of First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto (416)747-7278 www.seventhdaybaptist.ca 6
Christ, all Scripture, so that, it so fills us that every decision and plan we make is determined by the word. The writer explains the next section as follows: Teaching is the imparting of truth, and admonition is warning against error. We should perform these activities joyfully and with song. Psalms probably refers to the inspired Old Testament Psalms. The word Psalms implies that the believers sang them with musical accompaniment. Hymns are songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. Spiritual songs probably refer to expressions of Christian experience set to music. Thankfulness to God is to mark our singing too. Verse 17. Here we have the basic principle on which all the specific rules rest. Everything we say and do must be in harmony with what Jesus Christ has revealed and told to us by His inspired prophets and the Apostles. We can test ourselves on what we do and say and so ascertain whether or not we are in conformity with the revelation of Christ. This is most important when we are dealing with society and the world. Even the simple and routine things are to be treated as an offering to Christ, done in the name of the Lord, and so carried out to bring glory to His name. CONCLUSION God loves His creation and He treated all fairly. He had made all possible resources available to all men. Unfortunately some choose darkness rather than light. But his just and merciful God has been patient and longsuffering with us. We who are His now have His nature and we are to strive to behave accordingly. First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto (416)747-7278 www.seventhdaybaptist.ca 7