And Brett.
Ronald Reagan was my favorite president.
Of his many strengths, he was the great communicator.
One of my favorite Reagan quotes is this.
The most terrifying words of the English language are,
I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
One of the most needed reminders in election years
was Reagan's quote of Thomas Jefferson.
Reagan said, Thomas Jefferson said,
a government big enough to give you everything you want
is strong enough to take everything you have.
And that's a socialistic government.
One of Reagan's, what I think one of his greatest quotes,
one of his most admirable quotes,
comes from his farewell address
at the end of his eight-year presidency.
He said, whatever else history may say about me
when I'm gone, I hope it will record
that I appealed to your best hopes,
not your worst fears,
to your confidence rather than your doubts.
We're going to look at a passage of Scripture this morning
where Paul appeals to our best hopes
and our confidence,
if we are Christians,
united to Jesus Christ by faith.
It's found in Colossians chapter 3.
If you've been here the last three weeks,
you know we've started this new year
with a study of Colossians 3, verses 1 through 17.
I'm calling it God's goals for you,
not just this year,
but this hour, this day, this year,
and really every year.
I want us to look at it again.
God's ultimate goal,
summarized in one verse.
For those whom he foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son.
And what that means is that God is working
in the life of every Christian
through everything that happens.
We did a study in my Sunday school class this morning
to point out God is working through your spouse,
or put it a different way.
God is using you in the life of your spouse
to help him or her grow
in the development of Christlike character.
God uses everything,
good and bad,
strengths and weaknesses,
all kinds of people.
But God's goal in your life and mine
as his children
is to shape and mold us
so that we'll be more and more like Jesus
in terms of our character.
Now Colossians 3 helps us see
some of the ways that God works to accomplish this.
We're looking at this passage
in terms of three goals that God has for us.
Number one,
be mindful of who you are in Christ.
We've got to know who we are
by virtue of our faith,
our union,
our oneness with Jesus,
what that means for us.
Goal two,
don't be who you are
apart from Christ.
Don't be who you are
according to the desires of your sinful nature.
We've looked at that for two weeks.
Let's start now looking at goal three.
Become more like Christ every day.
I want us to look this morning
just at verses 12 through 14
of Colossians 3.
Let's read it together.
Put on then,
as God's chosen ones,
holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts,
kindness,
humility,
meekness,
and patience,
bearing with one another,
and if one has a complaint against another,
forgiving each other,
as the Lord has forgiven you,
so you must also forgive.
And above all these,
put on love,
which binds everything together
in perfect harmony.
What we're going to start looking at today
is how this passage shows us
why we must cooperate with God
as He works to make us more like Jesus every day.
First, we are God's special people.
If we're Christians,
and that's a big if,
if we're Christians,
if we are trusting in Him,
united to Him,
one with Him,
by virtue of our union with Jesus,
we are God's special people.
Look at how Paul describes it in verse 12.
God's chosen ones,
holy and beloved.
This is the reason why I said this passage appeals to
our best hopes
and confidence
as Christians united to Christ.
Paul is telling us who we are in Christ
to motivate us
to put forth the effort
to cooperate with the Spirit of God
who indwells us
and actually develop Christian character.
Let's look at what he's talking about here.
We're God's special people.
Why?
Why would I say that?
Well, we're God's chosen people.
God's chosen ones in verse 12.
It's translated,
we have a lot of different translations
every time we gather.
Some of you have one that'll say,
the elect of God.
I want to take a quick look
at how Paul describes
God's gracious work of election
throughout his letters.
You know, Paul does this a lot.
Paul emphasizes how God works in us
unilaterally.
God chooses us.
He regenerates us.
He gives us the ability to believe.
Faith is a gift from God,
Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 tells us.
Well, let's think about how
God goes about this.
First, we were chosen
before we were ever born.
In Ephesians 1 and verse 4,
Paul writes,
he chose us in him
before the foundation of the world.
Before we could ever do anything
that might possibly make God
want to choose us,
he already had.
Before the foundation of the world,
before he created anything,
before we were ever even a possibility,
God chose us
in Christ
to be his children.
Charles Spurgeon described
what we all know is true.
He said,
God must have chosen me
before I came into the world.
He certainly would not
have done so afterward.
You know,
there's some of us
probably might reword that
and say
that
our spouse
chose me
before I actually lived
with him or her
because if they had to live
with me first,
they wouldn't have chosen me.
We were chosen
before we ever did
or thought anything
before the foundation
of the world.
Number two,
we were chosen
according to God's grace
and purpose,
not because of anything
we had
or would have done.
Why did God choose
who he chose?
Why did God choose you?
Why did he choose me?
Within him,
according to his
gracious
choice,
according to his
love,
according to his
purpose or his plan.
Look at how Paul
says this to Timothy
in 2 Timothy 1,
who saved us
and called us
to a holy
calling,
not because of
our works,
but because of
his own
purpose
and grace,
which he gave us
in Christ Jesus
before the
ages
began.
It's
just
within God
to do this
according to his
grace and his
purpose.
Now,
third thing I want
us to see,
we were chosen
and called
by God
to respond
to the gospel.
Some people
have a problem
with the
doctrine of election,
but I heard a great
theologian say
one time,
that
if you're a
Christian,
you believe the
Bible is the
word of God,
you have to
believe in election.
Rudy Gray
said that.
I'm serious.
And it's
true.
You can't
say,
I don't
believe anything
that the
Bible teaches
without saying,
I reject what
the Bible is
teaching.
Now,
you may have a
different kind
of way of
looking at it,
understanding it,
interpreting it,
but you've got to
believe it.
But some
people can go
to seed,
go too far
in dwelling on
God's sovereignty
to the neglect
of what the
Bible says
in many other
places about
we are responsible
to repent of
our sin and
put our faith
in Jesus
and call upon
Him to save
us.
God's choosing
and our
believing,
they're not
opposed to
one another.
There's a lot
of mystery in
it, but they
go hand in
hand.
There's no
stronger statement
in the Bible
than Romans
chapter 9 on
the sovereignty
of God,
predestination,
election,
and then the
next chapter,
Romans 10.
There's no
stronger statement
in the Bible
that whoever
will call upon
the name of
the Lord
will be saved.
And it goes
on to say,
we have a
responsibility to
take the gospel
to people
throughout the
world.
And if we
don't take
the gospel,
they won't
hear.
If they don't
hear, how
can they
believe?
How can
they be
saved if
they don't
hear?
So God
is sovereign
in salvation.
Election is
true.
We are
responsible
to believe
the gospel,
to turn
from our
sin,
to trust
Jesus,
to call
upon him
to save
us.
They go
together.
And what I
want to see
here, we were
chosen and
called by God
to respond to
the gospel.
Look at how
Paul says
this in 1
Thessalonians
1.
For we
know,
brothers loved
by God,
that he has
chosen you.
How do you
know that?
Here's the
answer to it.
Because our
gospel came to
you not only
in word,
but also in
power and in
the Holy Spirit
with full
conviction,
they were
changed by
the word of
God.
That's how
they knew,
Paul knew,
that they'd
been chosen
because they
believed,
they trusted.
God did this
supernatural work
in them and
they were never
the same.
I want you to
think,
we are God's
chosen people
if we're
Christians.
You are one
of God's
special people.
You are right
now.
God gracious
chose you to
be his child
before the
foundation of
the world.
It had
nothing to do
with who you
are or what
you have or
ever would do.
It was all of
God's grace and
God's love.
But then God
worked in the
people that he
put in your
life.
He worked in
all the life
circumstances to
enable you to
hear the gospel
and then
respond to the
gospel by
being convicted
of your sin,
changing your
mind about how
you're living,
turning from your
sin and trusting
Jesus and calling
on him to save
you.
We're God's
chosen special
people.
But that's not
all it says.
We're also God's
holy people.
The basic
bare bone
definition of
holiness is to
be set apart.
When God chose
us, he also set
us apart as his
special people.
You are in the
sight of God right
now.
Not because of
who you are or
what you've done,
but in spite of
who you are or
what you've done.
If you're one
with Jesus and
God looks at
you, the penalty
for your sin all
sin, past,
present, and
future has been
paid, Jesus
paid the penalty
when he died on
the cross.
When God looks
at you, the
perfect, righteous
life of Jesus is
credited to you.
You're God's
special person,
chosen by him,
set apart by him
to be his.
But, as we're
going to see in a
little bit, today
and next week,
God didn't just
set us apart to
be his special
people.
He set us apart
to live like,
act like,
his special
people.
We'll see that in a
moment.
Then look at this.
We are God's
beloved or God's
dearly loved people.
If you're a
Christian, you're the
object of God's
special love.
Just about every
time Paul talks
about God's
choosing or
electing us, he
attributes it to
God's love or
God's grace.
John, the apostle,
says that it's
because of God's
love that we are
children of God.
Look at how he
said this in 1 John
3.
See what kind of
love the Father
has given to us,
that we should be
called children of
God, and so we
are.
It is special.
We need to
understand this.
The God who
created all that
is, almighty God,
chose us, set us
apart, loves us.
He's made us his
children.
But God wants us
to do, now we need
to think about that
and let it sink in
and think about the
privilege that we
have.
God wants us to do
more than just sit
around and think
about it.
Don't just sit
around and think
about how special
you are.
He wants us to
live like his
special people every
day by becoming
more and more like
Christ.
He wants us to
become more and
more holy and pure
and develop the
character qualities
we're going to look
at in the rest of
this passage.
The rest of this
passage shows us
what it looks like
to become more
like Jesus every
day.
Number two, we
can live like God's
special people.
We can, as
Christians indwell by
the Spirit of God,
we can live like
God's special people.
It's a growing
process, but we
can.
Paul describes what
it means to live
like God's special
people.
And the rest of
this chapter,
really, and in on
the chapter four,
we'll look at
verses 12 through
14 now under this
heading.
Here's the heading.
Let the love of
Christ fill you.
We can live like
God's special people
in the first way.
We need to let the
love of Christ fill
us.
Look at verse 14.
And above all these,
all the things he's
been talking about,
in verse 12,
compassionate hearts,
kindness, humility,
meekness, and patience,
bearing with one
another, forgiving one
another.
And above all this,
put on love, which
binds everything
together in perfect
harmony.
All of these
character qualities,
these virtues that I
just read, verses 12
and 13, they are
demonstrations of love.
You really will think,
say, that you love
your spouse, your
child, your friend.
You'll be compassionate.
You'll bear with them
in good times and bad.
You'll forgive.
Love is what holds
them all together.
Paul says that love
binds them together in
perfect harmony.
They all go together.
You can't pick and
choose.
It's like when Paul
talks along this same
line in his letter to
the Galatians, he
describes Christian
character in terms of
the fruit of the
Spirit.
Well, fruit of the
Spirit is singular.
But he says the fruit
of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control.
They all go together.
You can't pick and choose
which one you'll focus
on, try to develop to
the neglect of the
other.
Let me give you an
example.
If Lisa is sick or
when she's sick, I do
show her compassion.
And I brought that out
in the first service when
she was sitting right
there and I asked her,
am I not compassionate
when you are sick?
She said I was.
If she's sick enough to
be in the bed, I'll get
whatever she needs to
drink, medicine, put it
on the nightstand there.
If you need anything, let
me know I am
compassionate.
But after a day or two,
I'm not very patient.
And what started off being
very kind, when are you
going to do it yourself?
You know, you got to get
stronger, you know, suck it
up, it's time, you know.
You see, honestly, you're
everybody here is like me
in your own way.
Honestly, there are times
I can pat myself on the
back about one quality,
two, some situations,
but not really care that
I'm not all that kind in
another situation.
Or not really be concerned
and work on developing
more patience.
And what Paul wants us to
understand is that is not
acceptable.
You can't be a godly person
on one hand and a jerk on
the other.
We're supposed, as Christians,
indwelled by the Spirit of
God, develop, work on,
becoming like Jesus in all of
these qualities that he
perfectly embodies, that we
see him demonstrating in his
earthly life in the Gospels.
I want us to start looking at
what it looks like for the love
of Christ to fill us.
We're not going to finish it
today, but we're talking about
we can live like God's special
people.
The first thing, we need to
let the love of Christ fill us,
which means it will control us
and have an effect in a lot of
different ways.
Here's how it's going to have an
effect in the first way.
Love will unite us with all our
brothers and sisters in Christ.
Now look at verse 11.
If you've been very careful to
follow along in this whole section
of Colossians, you've thought to
yourself, he skipped verse 11.
We're coming to it now.
Verse 11.
Here there is not Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, a lowly,
despised, godless people, slave
free, but Christ is all and in all.
The groups mentioned here, here's
the point.
They were different in race, in
class, social class, and in
culture, in nationality, in
religion.
We understand such differences,
don't we?
We live in a very diverse world,
country, community even.
All kinds of different people we
rub shoulders with, work with,
live near all the time.
There's much racial tension in
this country today.
We're aware of it.
I sometimes think, and others do,
who comment on this kind of stuff,
that there's even more tension
between social classes in this
country.
Now, during election years,
many politicians seem to try to
make these tensions worse by
focusing on every single thing that
divides us to the neglect of any
good thing that unites us.
But among God's people, we are called to
focus on, major on things that unite us
with the different kinds of races,
cultures, and social classes of people
that are around us.
We as Christians, we have two major points
of unity that we need to understand,
be aware of, and then live out.
Number one, we are really all members of
one race, the human race.
We are all people, red, yellow, black, and
white.
We are all created in the image of God.
And we are all descendants of the
original couple, Adam and Eve.
That makes us not so different in the
big scheme of things.
And then that's just general.
That's just living life in this world.
Everybody you see, we're a part of one
big race, the human race.
We are all, every one, created in the
image of God, which makes us of all
equal worth and value and so forth.
We all descend from the same original
couple, Adam and Eve.
There is a basic human unifying factor
that we ought to understand, embrace, and
make as much of as we can in the world
in general.
But in the church, among God's people,
as Christians, we're all members of one
family, God's family.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we, with
every other Christian, we became brothers
and sisters, spiritually speaking.
God is our Father.
We are His children.
All Christians in this world.
Now, let's try to think about a unifying factor or force.
One of the most unifying forces in this world today
is sports.
I am amazed at the power of sports teams,
what it does to bring diverse people together.
I often read about college football, my favorite sport to watch and read about and know something
about.
I read a lot of things, articles and so forth that talks about the inner workings of teams,
not just Clemson.
We'll talk about Clemson.
What amazes me is all that different group of guys,
different races, different socioeconomic backgrounds,
different cultural stuff they bring.
But when they come to that team and they become one,
they become a Clemson Tiger,
everything that you read and observe,
they talk about being brothers.
These grown, athletic men talk about loving one another.
They talk about having one another's back.
If you look at that whole team,
they're just so different.
They look, think, different.
They come from different backgrounds.
But they are a great example,
models of unity in diversity.
diversity.
If that could happen in a sport,
on a team,
shouldn't we as Christians in the church,
shouldn't we be able to do better
with the Spirit of God indwelling all of us?
The church should be the greatest model
of unity and diversity in the world,
in the country.
But it is not.
And there's a lot of differences,
a lot of reasons why,
not all of them bad.
But we're not.
Let's just look at who we are right now.
If you look around this room,
just this particular room,
we're very different.
Education, wealth, job type,
personal interests, family backgrounds.
We're different.
But our common commitment to Christ,
our common faith in Him,
should bring us together as
brothers and sisters
who embrace one another as brothers and sisters.
Now, I don't want you to think
I'm talking about some kind of
pie in the sky type stuff.
Paul understood that this list of people,
they were very different.
And as in the church, as Christians,
they embraced one another.
They loved one another.
They were united.
He's talking about it in Christ.
But they were still different.
Even in your family.
If you've got more than one sibling,
you are probably closer to one
than the other.
You love them both.
If you've got a whole bunch of them,
you probably don't even like one of them.
I mean, you think about it.
When you get together at Christmas,
Thanksgiving, you've got a bunch of people there,
you know, aunts, uncles, all these cousins.
And you really do love one another.
You go to war with one another.
But there's some of them you really love.
And there's some of them you like.
And there's some of them,
I don't care if I ever see them.
In this church,
being who we're supposed to be,
there's going to be some people,
your brother and sister,
that you love,
you're super close to.
There's going to be some
that you like to see and speak to
and, you know,
talk a little bit to.
There's some,
if your path never crossed,
no big deal.
That's the reality of being different.
But as Christians in the church,
in the kingdom of God,
while we're not as close to everybody,
you can't be.
While we do recognize differences
and we do some things differently,
there should be this common bond
of love,
of common faith in Christ
that enables us to truly look at one another
and love,
care,
hope,
seek the best for.
Embrace one another.
Look out for one another.
Now,
is that true for you?
For some people,
it certainly is.
For some people,
your church family
is truly
your Christian,
spiritual family,
and you look around
and these are my brothers and sisters.
I know some of them better
than I know others,
but
I'm here
and I'm a part of it.
But everybody's not.
I want to ask you,
do you have the kind of love
that allows you to look beyond
the differences you see in this room
and truly embrace
everybody you see
as a brother or sister?
Or,
do you look around
and see all the differences
and you really only embrace
those who
think
and look
like you?
the love of Christ.
When He
fills us,
He will help us
to work on
truly
being
a family
with our
Christian
brothers and sisters.
But let's think about
outside the church
for a moment.
Do you really believe
that people
of different races,
classes,
and cultures
are created
in the image of God
just like you?
Do you ask God,
at least ask Him,
to help you to treat
all the different kinds
of people in your life
with worth,
with value,
with a certain amount
of dignity
because they are
a fellow human being,
your equal
human being?
Let's go one step further.
You look at these
different type of people
around you
in this community.
It's not only being
created in the image
of God,
but being loved
by God.
Do you ever even
think about
some of these people
as someone
for whom
Christ
died?
And
do you ever think
that some of the people
who are different,
who are odd,
who are difficult,
but they're in your life,
they're
in some of your worlds,
do you ever think
maybe God put them there
for you
to embrace
and share the gospel
with
and show them
love?
When the love of God
is active in our lives,
we will be able,
it may be hard,
but we'll be able
to find common ground
with people
who are different
from us,
especially
when they are our
brothers and sisters
in Christ.
We won't let
racial and cultural
and class
differences
be barriers
to our
developing relationships
with them.
Now next week
we're going to
look at how
Christian love
will enable us
to live like
God's people
with those
who are closer
to us,
how love
will enable us
to bear
with our brothers
and sisters
in Christ,
be compassionate,
show kindness,
these kind of things.
And we're going to
also look how
Christian love
will enable us
to forgive people,
not to hold grudges,
not to be bitter,
but to forgive people
just as
God has forgiven us.
But I want to conclude
this morning
by looking at the
first phrase
of verse 12.
He says,
put on.
Verse 12,
put on then
as God's chosen
and so forth
and so on.
Put on.
Some translations
say clothe yourselves.
What he wants to see
is this is a present
tense command.
It means to put on
and keep on
putting on
these character
qualities.
Our developing
humility
and kindness
is something
we're supposed
to work at
every day
in just an
ongoing effort.
spirit.
It's not,
it's a mindset.
It's a lifestyle.
And we can live
and love people
this way
because we are
God's chosen,
holy,
and beloved people.
God has put
his spirit
in us
to give us
the desire
and the ability
to live like
his people.
So here's how
I want to end it.
Do you see
signs
that God
is working
in you
this way?
Do you see
signs
that the love
of God
is at work
in you
toward people
as we're
talking about?
If we're
truly Christians
we should
see some
signs.
If you don't
see any,
if you basically
just do not
care about
anybody that's
different from
you,
you can't be
a Christian.
You can't have
the spirit
of God
in you,
the spirit
of love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
you can't
have his
spirit
dwell in
you and
just not
care about
anybody who
looks,
thinks,
or acts
different
than you
do.
So if
that's the
case,
what you
need to
do this
morning
is admit
that and
if it
bothers you,
turn to
Christ in
real faith
and commitment.
But it
could be that
you are a
Christian.
It could be
that you know
very well
what I'm
talking about,
how the
spirit of
God gives
you the
desire and
the ability
to show
this kind
love but
you've just
not been
doing it
lately.
Maybe you
have quenched
the spirit
of God.
Maybe you've
developed a
hard heart
towards certain
kinds of
people or
certain
individuals.
If that's
the case,
I want to
encourage you
to do some
serious soul
searching.
That's not
who you are
in Christ.
That's not
how God
calls you
to be.
And it
may be
there needs
to be
some
confession
made,
changing
minds,
turning from
sin,
coming back
to the Lord
in a new
commitment,
asking him
to help
you to
love this
way.
And you
can do
it if
you're united
to Christ,
filled with
the spirit
of Christ.
That's just
who we are
as Christians.
let's pray
together.
Father,
show each
one of us
just where
we are
in our
relationship
with you
and help
us to
draw
closer.
Give us
the desire
to put
forth the
effort
to put
on
the love
of Christ
in these
specific
ways
that we've
seen
and do
it in our
relationships
with all
kinds of
people.
Let's just
now listen
to the Lord
and respond
to him.
I'd be
happy to
pray with
you here
at the
front
during this
time.
Just
the main
thing is to
obey the
Lord.
What a
man