START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Colossians 3:12-17
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OBSERVE:
Paul describes the character that a Christian cultivates, using clothing as a metaphor.
He begins upon the premise that Christians have been chosen by God, therefore they must in turn choose behavior that is consistent with God’s character. This is grounded in what God has done for his people through the resurrection and ascension of Jesus:
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1).
Paul has already outlined the behaviors that a Christian must reject in the passage just prior to our Scripture for today:
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry) (Colossians 3:5).
These, and other negative behaviors, are to be put to death. Paul’s call here is to self-denial and self-control.
In contrast, in Colossians 3:12-17, Paul focuses on the kind of behavior that is consistent with the life of a child of God. They have:
stripped off the old self with its practices (Colossians 3:9).
and are to be clothed:
with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator (Colossians 3:10).
The characteristics with which:
God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved
are to be clothed are essentially relational, social virtues:
compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
This relational list is made more specific, as they are to:
Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Note that the issue of forgiveness is an echo of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels concerning forgiveness, as we see in the Lord’s Prayer, and his comment following the teaching of the prayer:
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15).
The forgiveness received from God is a transferable principle, which means that as God forgives us, we must also forgive others.
The pinnacle of Christian virtue is, of course, love:
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Paul stays with the metaphor of clothing, describing what the Christian is to put on. He uses a Greek word for bind that suggests a fetter or a strong bundle that encompasses all the garments a person might wear, and holds them all together. Love is that strong fetter, or binding garment.
The consequence of all of these characteristics is that deep sense of shalom that Paul references throughout his epistles:
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
Shalom, peace, is the deep sense of well-being and wholeness that comes from a relationship with God.
Paul then turns to how Christians are to worship and how they are to live. Paul seems to be describing the experience of worship, that the teachings of Christ are to be internalized individually and as the community of faith:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom.
Again, we see the focus of teaching and worship in the corporate life of the church, as Christians gather. Worship is essentially a response of thanksgiving for the blessings of God:
with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.
Finally, Paul offers a kind of all-inclusive word to the Colossians about all that they do, and how they live:
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.
Note that Christ is always the touchstone for their understanding of God, and the example for how they are to live as God’s children.
APPLY:
In the early Methodist Classmeetings founded by John Wesley, the members were required to abide by three General Rules:
Do no harm
Do all the good you can
Use the means of grace
The means of grace to which Wesley refers are:
- Prayer
- Public and private reading of Scripture
- The Lord’s Supper
- Fasting
- Christian fellowship
This has been called the Christian negative, the Christian positive, and the Christian dynamic.
These “rules” seem to reflect Colossians. (They aren’t so much rules as they are principles for living.)
And let’s be clear, the Christian life begins and ends with the grace of God in Christ:
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Colossians 3:2-4).
But the Christian life, which is defined as following Christ, involves saying no to those things that take us away from God and one another, and saying yes to those things that bring us closer to God and one another.
RESPOND:
The worst thing I could imagine receiving for Christmas as a kid was clothes. Especially underwear. But as I grew older, clothes actually became a preferred gift. A warm pair of woolen socks for winter hiking. A sweater.
The very best gift that I can imagine receiving is the kind of clothing that Paul describes:
….compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Forgiving each other. Love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. The peace of Christ.
I hope to strip off the old self as I grow closer to Christ, and put on:
the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.
Lord, I am saved by your grace. By your grace, please finish what you have started in me. Take off the filthy clothing of sin, and clothe me in your righteousness. Amen.
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