I'm going to be preaching from Colossians 3, 12-17 this morning, and that is on page
1170 of your Bibles, but I'm going to read starting in verse 1.
So 1-17, hear the word of the Lord.
If then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is
seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is seated with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.
In these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them
all away.
Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you've put off the old self with its practices and
have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge of after the image of its creator.
Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,
free, but Christ is all and in all.
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 also must forgive.
And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body,
and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly teaching and admonishing one another in all
wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father through him.
Amen.
Sympathetic resonance.
It's an acoustical phenomenon.
It occurs when you have two or more instruments tuned together in the same room.
Let's say you have a baby grand piano up on stage.
It's tuned.
You have another baby grand piano up on stage.
It's tuned.
You hit center C in one, you're going to hear a hum of center C in the other.
That's sympathetic resonance.
There's something that happens in the church.
It's a phenomena called Christocentric resonance between spiritually tuned Christians.
It kind of happens like this.
One morning, Christ is being proclaimed from the pulpit.
A sister in the Lord is overwhelmed by the glory and goodness of Jesus towards her.
The spirit strikes center C in her heart.
Christ's central.
And her response is yes and amen.
After the service, she approaches another sister and she says,
Oh man, just the whole service.
God ministered to me.
Jesus is awesome.
And that other sister responds,
Yes, yes, yes.
Me too.
And at that moment,
there is Christocentric resonance in a church.
Savoring the Savior.
Speaking of Him.
The Spirit of God spotlighting Christ in our midst,
resulting in thanksgiving to God.
How does that happen in a church?
How does Christocentric resonance happen among us?
I believe it's happening in the midst of Christ the King Church.
How does it happen more?
How do we position ourselves for more Christocentric resonance?
Well, Colossians 3, 12 through 17 shows us three moves.
First is a reminder who you are in Christ.
Second, the need to put on Christ.
Dress accordingly, believer.
And third, how we resonate Christ together.
We each put on Christ so that we all resonate Christ together.
We each put on Christ so we all resonate Christ together.
But if we're not all resonating Christ together,
it's probably because we haven't put on Christ.
And the reason why we haven't put on Christ
is that we suffer from spiritual amnesia.
You forgot who you are.
So let me remind you from God's word of who you are in Christ.
Did you notice in verse 12?
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassionate hearts, kindness.
So Paul says, hey, you've put off these things,
now put on these.
And then he lists five virtues that we're to put on.
But in between the command to put on and those five virtues,
we've got a little reminder, a little identity reminder.
Paul is reminding these Gentile Christians living in Colossae
who they are.
He's been doing it all along.
Chapter 1, verse 13,
these Christians have been delivered from the domain of darkness
and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
We saw it in 220 where we've died with Christ.
3-1, we've been raised with Christ.
It's our new identity now.
We've been united with Christ in his death and resurrection.
The old is gone.
The new has come.
We've got a new aim, 3-2.
We seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
He's reigning on high right now.
We've got a new aim.
We've got a new time frame.
Church, what time is it?
It's Christ time.
We'll live between his first coming and his second coming.
We live in the already and not yet,
and we synchronize our watches to Christ time.
This is a whole new way of living.
This is Christ-central living.
This is normal Christianity, New Testament Christianity.
Chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, there's this before and after.
Before, when you were dead in your sins, in the domain of darkness,
you lived a certain way.
But after you became a Christian, now we live for Christ.
Then, before, was the old self.
Now, after is the new self.
The Christ-central self.
And here in verse 12, we're introduced to three words.
Chosen, holy, beloved.
You know what they're getting at?
You belong to God.
You're his, Christian.
That word chosen is referring to God's elect.
Those whom God predestined before the foundation of the world to be his.
To be chosen in Christ.
If you flip in your Bible to Ephesians chapter 1,
we have this glorious statement of this.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4,
For even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him,
in love he predestined us for adoption in himself as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will.
That chosen language is about God's sovereign, gracious act
before the foundation of the world in which he said,
You're mine!
He's the first mover in our salvation.
There's this other word, beloved.
Chosen.
Holy, beloved.
Speaking of God's love for us.
That his sovereign choice of us wasn't some cold calculated move.
It was God setting his love on you, believer.
In love he predestined us for adoption in Christ.
You're chosen in Christ.
That's who you are.
You're beloved by God.
Beloved by Christ.
He loves you.
He chose you.
You're his.
That's who you are now, believer.
Before the foundation of the world, he set his love on you.
To what end?
To be holy.
Chosen.
Beloved.
Holy.
In love God chose you before the foundation of the world to be holy.
To share in his holiness.
To be holy and blameless, according to Ephesians 1.
To the praise of God's glorious grace.
Holy.
To be holy.
To be delighting in.
To living in.
To be reflecting God's moral purity of character.
To be holy.
And do you know what's extraordinary about these three words?
If you flip back to Deuteronomy chapter 7.
These three words show up.
In verses 6, 7, and 8.
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession.
Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
It was not because of your.
You.
Hold on.
It was not because you were more in number than any other people.
That the Lord set his love on you and chose you.
For you were the fewest of all people.
But it is because the Lord loves you.
And is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers.
Chosen.
Holy.
Loved.
Do you know what's extraordinary about this?
In Deuteronomy 7, he's speaking of ethnic Israel.
His people under the old covenant.
Here in Colossians, he's using the same language to talk.
Talking to Gentiles.
In Colossians.
In Colossi.
His people of the new covenant.
His blood bought people.
His new people.
It's extraordinary.
Do you know the majority of the people in this room are Gentiles?
Gentiles.
This should sing to your soul, Gentile.
You belong to God now.
Through Christ.
Chosen in Christ.
Beloved by Christ.
To be holy like Christ.
Christ.
And this is why we put away those vices.
And this is why we put on virtues.
It's who you are.
Even if you have amnesia.
There's this guy named Clive Wearing.
He was born in 1938.
He's like the poster child of amnesia in kind of modern studies.
Apparently in 1985, he developed amnesia as a result of some kind of virus.
But he couldn't remember who he was from there on out.
His memory never returned to him.
He forgot who he was.
Christian.
Not us.
We can't forget who we are.
We can't suffer under spiritual amnesia.
Here's what happens.
People get spiritually lazy.
There's unrepentant sin.
Spiritual isolationism.
Even the kind of taking in a false teaching.
And you start thinking other things of who you are.
You forget.
That you're chosen in Christ.
Beloved by Christ.
To be holy like Christ.
The solution to spiritual amnesia is spiritual remembrance.
Remembering.
Well, you remember who your king is.
And you remember what he's done for you.
This is where Christocentric resonance starts.
Remembering who Christ is and what he's done for you.
Could you imagine?
Our church.
Living in the truth.
Of who you are in Christ.
Every day.
Every morning you leave your house.
Thinking.
Chosen.
In Christ.
Beloved by Christ.
To be holy like Christ.
Christ.
Every morning.
Jenny, Mary and I.
We'll huddle up.
In our kitchen typically.
And we will pray.
We'll commit our way to the Lord.
We will remember who we are.
This is the beginning of Christocentric resonance.
Where you remember who you are.
And when you remember who you are in Christ.
You got to dress accordingly.
You must put on Christ.
You must put on Christlikeness.
And we see this in verses 12 through 14.
Last week we looked at two admonitions.
Three actually.
Where we're to put off certain things.
To put away.
To put to death.
In verse 5 of chapter 3.
It was a list of five sexual sins.
And in verse 8.
It was a list of five sins of speech.
And here in verse 12.
We have a list of five virtues.
That we're to put on.
Because of who we are.
Now in Christ.
Let me just walk you through them.
Virtue number one.
Compassionate hearts.
You have a deep seated concern for others.
Kindness.
You do good to others.
Humility.
You consider others better than yourself.
Meekness.
You're gentle and tender towards others.
Patience.
You've got a long fuse towards others.
Ding, ding, ding, ding.
That's the one that gets me every time.
Long fuse.
Now when you're looking at these.
You can't first help notice something.
That these virtues.
Have a certain posture.
Towards other people.
If you think of 3.5 and 3.8.
Which are those sin lists.
They have a posture towards people.
And when you are the controlling center.
Of your own life.
You will see people as a means to your end.
But here.
When you put on Christ.
When you remember who you are.
You don't see people as a means to your own end.
You start seeing people as a means to Christ's glorifying end.
The second thing I want you to notice about this list is.
It's profile.
Boy this looks like somebody I know.
I know this person.
This is a profile of Jesus.
Just like the fruit of the spirit.
In Galatians 5.
22 and 23.
Compassionate hearts.
Remember Jesus looked on the crowds.
Who were harassed and helpless.
Like sheep without a shepherd.
And he had compassion on them.
Deeply moved.
Kindness.
The greatest do good.
Kindness.
The Lord Jesus did.
Was to die in our place.
How about that for do good?
Humility.
Philippians 2.
Paul uses Jesus' example.
Of becoming a servant for us.
To consider others better than ourselves.
Meekness.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11?
All you who are weary and heavy laden.
Come to me.
Remember that gives the reason why.
Because I'm gentle and lowly.
Tender.
Come to me.
And man is he patient.
He's got a long fuse.
If you're reading the gospels.
And you are seeing how Jesus responds to his disciples over and over again.
Who just don't get it.
He's patient.
Remember Exodus 34.
Slow.
To anger.
But abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
This is a Jesus profile.
And that's why I say.
We are to put on Christ.
We are to put on Christ likeness.
But in verse 14.
We have a super virtue.
Look at verse 14.
And above all these put on love.
Which binds everything together.
In perfect harmony.
Most scholars think that the apostle Paul has in mind.
Some kind of overcoat.
That this love.
It lays over.
And binds it all together.
So it is a loving compassion.
So it is a loving kindness.
It is love manifested in humility.
Love manifested in meekness.
Love for others manifested in patience.
It's a Jesus.
Love.
There's something else about this love.
That you need to understand.
And the first readers of this.
In the original language.
Would have heard it right away.
In our version.
We read this.
And above all these put on love.
In the original language.
It reads like this.
And above all these put on the love.
The love.
And when.
If you were in Colossi hearing that.
You'd be like.
What is the love?
And you're like.
Oh the love.
John 13.
Love.
John 13.
34 and 35.
Love.
The new commandment.
Love.
Where Jesus says.
To his disciples.
A new commandment.
I give to you.
That you love one another.
Just as I have loved you.
You love one another.
And by this.
All people will know.
That you are my disciples.
If you have love for one another.
It's that love.
Love.
It's a sticky love.
Not sticky gross.
Sticky good.
It's where it sticks us all together.
As one body.
Uniting us.
Joined together.
Bound up together.
Bound up together in love.
A Jesus love.
We're to remember who we are in Christ.
So that we can don.
The Christ wear.
The Christ robes.
Overcoat of love.
That's holiness.
That's Christ holiness.
It's.
Others oriented.
It comes from a changed heart.
Next month.
My family.
We're going to.
Iowa City.
Iowa.
For.
My nephew's wedding.
And the invitation says.
Business cash.
So I'm going to look smooth.
Walking into there.
But you dress.
According to the situation.
What this is saying.
Is that you do not dress.
Christian.
According to the situation.
You dress.
According to who you are.
And who you are.
Is united to Christ.
And his death.
And resurrection.
So you dress.
Accordingly.
You put Jesus on.
You wear Christ.
Now the question becomes.
How do I do that Mike?
How do I put on Jesus?
Flip in your Bible.
There are two ways.
I want to encourage you this morning.
Two ways.
First.
Look at 2 Corinthians 3.18.
Here's the first way.
You put on Christ.
You behold him.
And we all.
With unveiled face.
Beholding the glory of the Lord.
That's reference to Jesus.
Jesus.
Are being transformed.
From.
Into the same image.
From one degree of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord.
Who is the spirit.
So do you see what's going on there?
When you behold the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the pages of scripture.
And you're like.
Man he is wonderful and glorious.
The spirit is at work.
Seeking to transform you.
Into his image.
Age.
You behold him.
And become like him.
As an outworking of the spirit's ministry.
In our life.
It's beautiful.
This ends up being a case.
For morning devotions.
You don't have morning devotions.
In order to have morning devotions.
We have morning devotions.
We get our noses in our Bibles.
To behold Jesus.
And become like him.
That's why we have morning devotions.
To commune with him.
To become like him.
To be transformed into his image.
That's what I think is going on in verse 10.
And have put on the new self.
Which is being renewed.
In knowledge.
After the image.
Of its creator.
A reference to Jesus.
We are being renewed.
In the knowledge.
Of who he is.
And become like him.
Our characters.
We put on the Christ wear.
The second way.
We put on Christ.
Is to ask God.
To fill us.
With his spirit.
Daily.
The Holy Spirit.
We know this from John 16.
14.
Jesus himself said.
He will glorify me.
And so when we.
Ask the father.
To pour out his spirit.
Upon us.
We should be expecting.
Christ to be magnified.
In our midst.
To be spotlighted.
And so a prayer.
Goes like something like this.
You open up your Bible.
You turn to some kind of.
Passage in the Gospels.
And you're like.
Father would you pour out your spirit.
On me.
So that I can.
I can behold.
And become like Christ.
To put off.
The old self.
To put on.
The Christ.
Like.
Self.
New self.
And.
The old self.
You know what that is?
It's the Holy Spirit.
Tuning us.
For Christocentric resonance.
Inclining our hearts to Christ.
Conforming us to Christ.
Christ.
That Christ would resonate.
Among us.
So when each of us.
Is remembering who we are.
And each of us.
Is putting on Christ.
Dress accordingly believer.
Then we will resonate.
Christ together.
In 15.
Verses 15.
16.
And 17.
Paul.
Paul exhorts us.
To resonate Christ.
Along three lines.
The first one.
Has to do with peace.
Look at verse 15.
And he let.
And let the peace of Christ.
Rule in your hearts.
To which.
Indeed you were called.
In one body.
And be thankful.
First notice.
The plural hearts.
He's talking to the whole church.
Y'alls.
Hearts.
The peace of Christ.
Is to be resonating.
In each of our hearts.
So when we come together.
It resonates.
In all of our hearts.
We each are to be ruled.
By the peace of Christ.
Along two dimensions.
First.
It is vertical.
The peace.
Of Christ.
Which he has brought.
As a result.
Of bearing God's wrath.
For each of our sins.
And therefore.
Making.
Fully forgiving.
Us.
Peace.
With God.
No more condemnation.
For those who are in Christ Jesus.
He brings about a vertical peace.
But he also.
Has accomplished.
A horizontal peace.
Peace with each other.
Christ's death.
Purchased our peace.
Brothers and sisters.
It's already ours.
We maintain it.
He is our peace.
Regardless of your Democrat or Republican.
Regardless of your black or white.
Regardless of your educated, non-educated.
Regardless of where you're living.
Regardless of what your interests are.
We're united together in Christ.
Bound up together.
Through Christ.
At peace.
Through Christ.
And the primary way we.
Experience that peace.
Is in verse 13.
Bearing with one another.
And if one has a complaint against another.
Forgiving each other.
As the Lord has forgiven you.
So you also must forgive.
To what end?
To maintain the peace.
We don't avoid.
Sin.
In our church.
We deal with it accordingly.
Whether that means asking a brother or sister.
To forgive you.
For sin that you committed.
Or forgiving a brother or sister.
Who has sinned against you.
These are active.
Dynamic categories.
That take place within a church.
It's normal.
This is how we walk in a manner.
Worthy of the Lord.
Lord.
Just as the Lord has forgiven you.
So also you must forgive.
And when we are forgiving each other.
As Christ has forgiven us.
The peace of Christ.
Rules us.
And when the peace of Christ.
Rules us.
There will be some.
Christocentric.
Resonance.
Among us.
We're going to be on the same frequency.
We're going to be saying things like.
Isn't.
Isn't God so good.
That we can forgive each other freely.
And not hold grudges.
Unlike the rest.
Of the world.
One body gang.
One body.
United by this peace.
This.
The second line.
The second way.
We resonate Christ.
With one another.
Is in verse 16.
Let the word of Christ.
Dwell in you richly.
Teaching and admonishing one another.
In all wisdom.
Singing psalms and hymns.
And spiritual songs.
With thankfulness in your hearts.
To God.
We resonate the word of Christ together.
We resonate Christ's peace together.
We resonate the word of Christ together.
The word of Christ.
Is the truth about Christ.
It's the truth of who he is.
What he's done.
What he's doing.
What he will be doing.
It's all of that.
The word of Christ.
Another word for it.
Is the gospel.
The good news.
Of Jesus.
Who he is.
What he's doing.
It's a body of facts.
Truth.
And it's got to.
Dwell richly among us.
That word dwell.
It means to like.
Take up residence.
Jesus occupying.
All the different rooms.
Of your house.
Jesus occupying.
The truth of Jesus.
Is occupying every room.
In this building.
Of our church.
The truth about Christ.
Dwelling.
And where the.
The truth of Christ is.
Christ is.
Dwelling.
And you notice.
It dwells a certain way.
Richly.
Big payoff.
Big dividends.
Here's what I think.
Is being said there.
When the truth.
Of Christ.
And who he is.
And what he's doing.
Is dwelling among a people.
Do you know what people are doing?
Delighting in him.
Treasuring him.
Above all else.
There's no one like you.
I'll give my life for you.
You're worth it all.
And when it's just not one guy saying it.
But 200 people saying it.
You've got Christocentric resonance.
When he is.
Our all consuming passion.
Now.
How does that happen?
How does the word.
The truth of Christ.
Dwell richly among us.
Well he points to a couple things here.
Teaching and admonishing.
Teaching is simply instructing.
Like what we do here.
Who Jesus is.
Think of.
Colossians 1.
15 through 20.
The Lord Jesus.
As the firstborn of creation.
And the firstborn from the dead.
He's the king of all.
That's.
That's truth.
That's instruction about Jesus.
Admonishing.
Is corrective in nature.
That's chapter 3 verse 5.
That's chapter 3 verse 8.
Where we're told to put stuff off.
Don't do that.
That.
This shows up.
Both these words show up.
In 128.
Him we proclaim.
Warning.
Admonishing everyone.
And teaching.
Instructing everyone.
With all wisdom.
That we may present everyone.
Mature in Christ.
The goal is Christ.
To present people.
Mature in Christ.
To move people towards Christ.
To treasure Christ.
Above all else.
And we're seeking to do this.
In all the different venues.
Of our life together.
As a church.
Whether it's here.
In the sanctuary.
On a Sunday morning.
In the fellowship hall.
In our kids kings.
Our kids classrooms.
You name it.
Life groups.
Youth group.
This is the end.
This is the aim.
To lift up Christ.
We're also told that.
The word of Christ.
Was richly among us.
Through singing.
Singing.
Zach's going to come back to this.
In a couple weeks.
When he preaches a sermon.
On worship.
But we're to sing.
Psalms and hymns.
And spiritual songs.
Aren't you glad.
That we don't have to be limited.
To one way.
Of singing.
But I just want to take a moment.
And just to make one point.
What we sing about.
Matters.
The content.
Of our singing.
Matters.
We sing songs.
That are theologically rich.
Doctrinally robust.
Musically beautiful.
Godward.
Christward.
In their aim.
So that.
The truth of Christ.
Dwells richly among us.
We instruct one another.
One of the implications of that.
Is this.
This gathering.
On a Sunday morning.
This is one of the primary ways.
The truth about Christ.
Dwells richly among us.
It's why we prioritize it.
Every aspect of this service.
Whether it's from the.
The opening and closing scriptures.
To the.
The prayers we pray.
The songs we sing.
The sermons we preach.
Ultimately are to magnify Christ.
That's why we do this.
And that you walk out of here.
Resonating.
Christ.
With brothers and sisters.
Of the same mind.
Same frequency.
Strengthened.
Verse 17.
We have the last way.
It's.
We resonate the name of Christ.
We resonate the peace of Christ.
We resonate the word of Christ.
We resonate the name of Christ.
In everything that we do.
It's not about me.
Making a name for myself.
It's not about us.
Making a name for Christ.
The King Church.
It's about making much.
Of the name.
Of the Lord.
Jesus.
In everything.
Word and deed.
In everything.
He becomes our one.
Consuming passion.
He's the controlling center.
Of our life.
We're pointing people back to him.
Again.
And again.
It's all inclusive.
It's comprehensive.
Nothing is untouched.
It's all for his name.
Do you know what this does?
You've got.
A very helpful diagnostic now.
Before you say something.
Oh Lord Jesus.
Does this make much of your name?
Before you do something.
Oh Lord.
Before I click.
Would this make much of your name?
Oh Lord.
Before I post this.
About this person.
That I don't like much.
Would.
Would this bring glory to your name?
You see.
It's.
It's a life changer.
It's a paradigm shift.
For all of us.
Not for us.
For him.
Do you know what happens?
When a church is more and more.
Seeking to do everything.
In the name of the Lord Jesus.
Christocentric resonance.
Budget process.
To the name of the Lord Jesus.
Renovating our fellowship hall.
In the name of the Lord Jesus.
Marriage.
318 and 19.
In the name of the Lord Jesus.
Parenting.
Being a child.
In the name of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus.
Your life at work.
In the name of the Lord Jesus.
It's everything.
And we're going to be tackling that.
In the next several weeks.
When the peace of Christ.
Is ruling in us.
And when the word of Christ.
Is dwelling richly in us.
And when the name of Christ.
Is being magnified in all things.
By us.
We.
Will.
Experience.
Christocentric.
Resonance.
And we'll be saying things like this.
To each other.
Isn't he good?
All glory to the name of Jesus.
When you have two.
Tuned baby grands.
On a stage.
And you strike center seat.
On one.
Ding.
You're going to hear it.
Hum.
In the other.
How about five.
On a stage.
Ding.
You hear it.
Hum.
How about 50.
100.
200.
In the same room.
Bam.
Ding.
Hum.
Central.
See.
Sympathetic resonance.
And when the spirit of God.
Strikes center.
See.
Christ central.
In a Christian.
And that resonates.
With other Christians in the room.
Whether it's five.
Or whether it's 50.
Or 100.
200.
300.
In that room.
When tuned by the spirit.
And there is a yes.
And amen.
To Jesus.
You've got.
Christocentric resonance.
Through thankfulness.
And you know what?
It sounds a certain way.
Look at the end of verse 15.
And be thankful.
Look at the end of verse 16.
With thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Look at the end of verse 17.
Giving thanks to God the Father through him.
You know how this Christocentric resonance is heard?
Through thankfulness to God.
From those hearts that treasure Jesus together.
Christocentric resonance brothers and sisters.
Let's do it.
Let's ask God to do it.
Let's pray.
God in heaven.
Father we can't manufacture this stuff.
But we can walk according to your word.
And we can ask for you to do things.
Father would you pour out your spirit upon us.
Your church.
That Christ would be magnified in our lives.
Both in the changing of our lives.
Into Christlikeness.
And.
Into shared joy.
More and more.
In our life together.
As a church.
God we are thankful to you.
For what you're doing.
Bringing peace.
Causing your word of Christ to dwell.
In every aspect.
Do it all.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You are worthy Lord.
It's your name we pray.
Amen.