Skip to content Embrace the Word and Live by It: Colossians 3-4 Nov 14 · 15 min ...more
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Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
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Living the New Life in Christ 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning. As we finish another book in our journey through the Bible. We're gonna be finishing Colossians as we look at chapters 3 and 40:22 today. Verse 16 of chapter 3. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing 1 another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts0:34 to the lord. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And that's the purpose, in large part of this journey through the Bible, to be in the word so that the word0:46 is in us. Paul's emphasis now shifts in this letter to the Colossians to the application of the doctrine that he was presenting in the first half of the letter. The preeminence0:58 of preeminence of Christ now moves from the theological to the daily application in the lives of those who follow Christ. Now this is so it's so rich and so very practical. Verse 1, if then1:10 you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, seating sitting at the right hand of God. So we have an if then. If you1:22 are a follower of Jesus saved by the grace of God, then seek those things that are in heaven where your savior is. Verse 2, set your mind on things1:34 above, not on things of the earth. Now this is critically important. Put your eyes on Jesus and the matters of his eternal kingdom and not the temporal things of this1:45 earth. Part of, you know, focusing on on these temporal things, the snapshot versus the, the the long view is that it becomes frustrating, and we become anxious. We need1:57 to fix our eyes upon those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Verse 2, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. Verse 3,2:09 for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. I mean, that's our2:21 hope. We know it's a hope of certainty. Therefore, put to death your members, the parts of your body, which are on this earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion,2:33 evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in2:45 them. But now but now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to 1 another2:56 since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Now3:10 my Bible, I like to underline, especially in passages like this, the action verbs because it tells us what we need to do. And there's a list here. Seek, seek, seek those we need to do. And there's a list here. Seek.3:19 Seek. Seek those things which are above. Set. Set your mind. Set your mind on the things above. Put to death the3:31 flesh. Those those desires. You know, Paul went over this in Galatians, the things of the flesh, the the list, the deeds of the flesh. Put those things to death. Put off the works of the flesh. That is3:43 the old man. Put on the new man. Put on the traits and the characteristics of this new man. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies,3:55 kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with 1 another, and forgiving 1 another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you4:06 also must do. But of all these but above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Now we've talked about this before about love. What what is4:18 that? Love is preferring others is is preferring others, and and and sometimes it's speaking the truth in love so that it benefits the hearer. Love4:31 is concerned about the well-being of others, and that's talking about the spiritual and the eternal well-being of others as well. Now these things don't just happen. Okay? It's not4:43 like, you know, you don't, you don't sit in the Sunday school class and become sanctified. This doesn't happen. We have to make this happen. We have to be intentional. Now we can't do it in our4:55 own strength. It's through the holy spirit. But how do we do it? We're in the word. Alright? We have to be intentional. Look at this list here. Tender mercies. Doesn't come natural.5:07 Kindness. Doesn't happen by itself. Humbleness of mind. Wow. That's a prayer point. Meekness, long suffering, meaning being patient with others that are5:18 growing, maybe not there yet. And then to top it off, put on love. That means a concern about others. And then look at verse 15. And let5:30 the peace of god rule in your hearts. Wow. Be anxious. Like I said, we we read this over in Philippians. Be anxious for nothing, but5:42 but by what? But by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in5:54 Christ Jesus. So he's saying something very similar. And, of course, we see these themes as these letters were written about the same time, to the churches, there that Paul was writing to from prison.6:06 And let the peace of God rule in your heart to which also you were called in 1 body and be thankful. You see this consistently. Paul's called a gratitude. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly6:18 in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing 1 another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do6:30 all in the name of the lord Jesus giving thanks to god the father through him. So be at peace. Be thankful. Be filled with the word. Be an encouragement to others, and do all things in the name6:41 of Jesus. Now we again, we have something very similar here that we read in Ephesians as Paul gives instructions for god's design on how we're to conduct ourselves in the home andGodly Conduct in Relationships and Work 6:53 in the workplace here in the in the remainder of this chapter. Verse 18, wives, submit to your own husbands as is fitting to the lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your7:05 parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Alright? We we talked about that before in Ephesians. Now on the job, verse 22,7:17 bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, meaning when they're just looking. As men pleasers, don't just, you know, do it7:29 when they're looking so that you try to get, brownie points. But in sincerity of heart, fearing god. Fearing god because you know that God sees everything, and he holds us to account. But we7:40 reverence God. It's not just a fear. You know, we we see this word of fear about God. It's not it's not a fear that he is going to somehow, you know, punish us.7:53 Although that certainly is a part of if we're disobedient, he says that he will chasten us. But that's not the fear. It's it's a reverence that we don't wanna disappoint god. We don't wanna disappoint8:05 him. Alright. I lost my place here. Here we go. And whatever you do, do it hardly as to the lord and not to men, knowing that from the lord, you8:17 will receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the lord Jesus, you serve the lord Christ, but he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. Now we we we've seen8:29 this before. In fact, I mean, we read it in Ephesians, but but I'm convinced that many Christians don't truly grasp this transformative8:41 truth. Now when I was a boy growing up in in in Ohio, I moved when I was a a teenager. But I I lived there as a kid, and I and I loved it when it snowed. I I don't like snow now. But8:53 I I loved it back then, and I and I looked for a reason to go outside. And what I would do, I would clean the windshield, especially at church. I would try to get out early, go out and clean the the, windshields off of9:04 the elderly people. At least they seemed elderly at the time. They're probably my age now. But, what the age I am now. But I I didn't do it expecting anything in return. I just wanted to help, and I wanted to9:16 be outside. But often, they would hand me a quarter or 2. Not my motivation, but I was certainly happy to receive it. So in the same way, when we do our work as unto the lord, we look beyond the circumstances, sometimes9:27 the circumstances, sometimes the difficult people that we have to to work with, the imperfect bosses in front of us, and we focus on the 1 above, the 1 who sees9:39 and rewards because he's sitting next to the father, interceding for us. When we serve him, next to the father interceding for us. When we serve him faithfully, guess what? The scripture says here, he takes care9:51 of his servants. Now the reward may not be immediate nor may it be10:05 unto him. Do all things unto the lord. Now chapter 4 is, mostly concluding remarks and, various greetings that he gives, but there are some some really good nuggets.Prayer, Evangelism, and Spiritual Growth 10:17 But sometimes we tend we tend to skip over those salutations and, these greetings, but there's some nuggets here. Look at verse 2. Continue earnestly in prayer being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.10:30 Alright? Be in prayer. Be vigilant, meaning be watchful with thanksgiving. Now remember where he's writing this from. He's writing it from prison. Meanwhile, praying also for10:42 us. I mean, this man believed in prayer. Paul believed in prayer. He was an intercessor, but he wanted people praying for him. Praying also for us that god would open to us a door for the word10:54 to speak the mystery of Christ. Now he he talks previously about a an effective door being opened and with it, great opposition. Usually, when god opens a door,11:07 there's opposition that follows. That we might speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in chains. The mystery being the salvation that came through Jesus Christ.11:19 That, the redemption for man mankind that god had planned from the beginning, from the foundation of the world. That I may make it manifest or declare it as I ought to speak. Pray for me that I would11:31 have these open doors and that I would be able to speak as I ought to speak effectively, boldly, courageously. Walk in wisdom toward those who are the outside, redeeming the11:43 time. So walk in wisdom. Remember, you're being watched. People are watching. They're assessing the Christ who is in you. Let your speech always be with grace seasoned with salt that you11:54 may know how you ought to answer each 1. Such great stuff. And and I would encourage I would ask you as Paul did. I'm not ashamed to, I I think those of you who were praying12:06 for me while I was on the planning retreat, made some progress, continue, gonna be fine tuning that as we move toward the end of the year. But pray for for me and for stand on the word that we would12:18 have that opportunity. Lord, would open that door that we can reach more people because I I've heard many of you have, done the surveys. And I wish you could see the stories of12:30 the lives that have been transformed just by reading the word of god. It's amazing, but that's the power of god's word. So just think if we could double the number of12:42 people. And I'm gonna ask you to help me here in the next couple of weeks. I'm gonna encourage you to start thinking about other people that you could invite. We're gonna give you the tools to invite others to join us on12:52 this journey next year beginning in January as we start again with our chronological reading through the Bible in Genesis. And by the way, we do have, many have been asking for stand on the13:04 word items. We do have a stand on the word store now, vest like this and shirts, hats, and some other things, cups, different things. You can check it out. Text the word store13:16 to 6 7 7 4 2. Store to 6 7 7 4 2. And we'll send you a link, and, you can check it out. And, if you order before November the 20 fourth, you'll have13:28 those in time for Christmas. Father, we thank you for your word. And, lord, this instruction is so practical, so rich. But as as as Paul said, we have to do13:40 these things. It doesn't just happen. Now we have the power of the holy spirit dwelling in us, and Paul says that be strong in the lord and the power of your might. And and so, lord, we know it's in your power, but we13:52 have to choose. We have to choose to put off the old man and to put off the the the characteristics of that old man and the the the the issues of the flesh, this human nature, this14:04 fallen nature, and put on the new man in the traits of righteousness. And so we ask for help in doing that through the indwelling power of the holy spirit and through your word. So, father,14:16 continue to guide us and direct us on this journey, and we thank you and we praise you, and we ask all this and lift it up before you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Alright. Thanks for being with me this morning, and14:28 until next time. Keep standing on the word.Standing on the Word and Practical Tools 14:34 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:45 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Living the New Life in Christ6:43 Godly Conduct in Relationships and Work10:17 Prayer, Evangelism, and Spiritual Growth14:30 Standing on the Word and Practical Tools
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