Virtues of the Believer’s Behavior

Transcript

GRM 812
10/06/2002
Virtues of the Believer's Behavior
Colossians 3:12-17
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to Colossians 3. You know a Christian can be described in two ways. He can be described what he believes and he can be described by how he behaves. Both his beliefs and his behavior are a testimony to who he is, to the fact that he belongs to the living God. The book of Colossians through the first two chapters, Paul has focused on the things that we would call doctrinal in emphasis, those things that we believe as God's children. He's talked about the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the One in whom all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. He is the One through whom God has provided redemption in His blood, the One in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.

When you come to chapter 3 of Colossians Paul turns the emphasis to the behavior of the people of God, the working out of their beliefs, if you will, in their behavior. As God's people we are not only a people who believe the truth from God but we are a people who live the truth of God. And we must believe the Gospel to be saved. The children of God and the children of the Devil are obvious by the way they live.

Paul began chapter 3 by the statement, "if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth." Because we have died with Christ, our life is hidden with Christ in God. And we are destined someday to be revealed in all the glory of Christ when He is revealed. So in light of that here is the way we ought to behave. In other words, Paul develops it, here's the way we ought to dress. The picture of what clothes, if you will, characterize the person. We sometimes say the clothes make the man. Really, the clothes that Paul is talking about are a revelation of the man. And to a certain extent the way people dress we identify them in certain ways. And there are certain characteristics of our behavior that Paul wants to deal with. Remember Jesus said it's out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And so when God judges us and holds us accountable for our words, He's really judging our hearts because our words come from what fill our hearts.

In Colossians 3:5-11 Paul gives the description of a believer and his characteristics from a negative perspective, the things that are not to be worn by a believer, those things that he is not to be practicing. Verse 5, "consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." Those are things that once characterized our lives before God's grace brought us to His salvation. Verse 7, you once walked in them, “you were living in them." But verse 8, "put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another." And the picture here. Verse 9, you've “laid aside the old self ,” which is the old man literally. Verse 10 you've “put on the new self “or the new man. And the old man, as Paul develops it in Romans 5 in a similar context as he moves into chapter 6 of Romans, was the old man died with Christ, as he said in verse 3 of Colossians 3. So all that characterizes the old man is to be done away and we have become a new creature in Christ. We've been raised with Christ to newness of life and so now we are to manifest the new man. We are in Christ. The one that “is being renewed," verse 10, "to a truth knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." So we are totally different people. And that work of God in Christ in our lives not only has dealt with the sinful practices that came from our sinful character, but it’s also dealt with the divisions that characterize fallen humanity. In verse 11 where he talks about, "there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all," barriers of all kind -- racial, religious, cultural, social -- have been removed and Christ is all that matters and He is the One who binds us together. And these others distinctions are superficial and bring about no division among us who are in Christ Jesus.

Then he picks up with verse 12, "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on" “And so…put on.” And here's a command for us in light of what he has said. He's told us about what we are to put off, what we are not to wear, what kind of conduct is not to characterize us. Now we are to talk about what we are and what is to characterize us as God's people. So put on these things. This is the balance to verse 8 where you put them all aside, the old practices. So you've put off the old garments, if you will, in the picture and you put on the new clothes. Put those things away. You have no more use for them, the sinful practices of the old man. And you put on those things that are characteristic of those that are chosen of God, the elect of God, those who have been the object of God's sovereign choice, where He has called us to Himself to be those who are holy and beloved by Him.

And in so doing we have become partakers of the divine nature as Peter wrote. And that's why, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious,” according to 1 John 3 [verse 10], you manifest the character of your father. Remember Jesus said to the Jews of His day in John 8 [verse 44], "You are of your father the devil” and you always do his work. He's a liar, you're a liar. God is our Father and so His righteousness is now to characterize us as those chosen of God. It's not that we loved God but that He loved us. That love was placed upon us before the foundation of the world according to Ephesians 1 when He chose us by His grace to come to salvation in His Son.

We are “holy and beloved." Naturally follows that God's children manifest God's character and we are those upon God has set His love. We've been set apart from sin for Himself. We are the saints, the holy ones, by His grace. We are the ones who have been the recipients of His love. His love has been placed upon us. We are the beloved of God.
Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:14 and following, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy…in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy for I am holy.' " Paul is repeating the same thing here. This emphasis comes up again and again in the letters of the New Testament: and in light of these truths, here are the things that are to characterize us as God's children.

And it seems that Paul is fond of collections of five here. He mentioned five vices in verse 5: immorality, impurity, evil desire, passion and greed. Greed being the same thing as idolatry. He mentioned five more in verse 8: anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech. Every time I do these I find myself counting on my finger. I think somebody's going to come up and say, you know, there weren't five in that verse. And then when we get down to verse 12 there's a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, five virtues that are to be characteristic of us as God's children.

“Put on a heart of compassion.” This is compassion that comes from the innermost parts of our being. We call it a heart of compassion. A word here that we refer to that which comes from the, you know, you might say the pit of your stomach where, you know, you get some of those feelings we express with the word ‘heart.’ This is a compassion that comes from the heart. That word ‘compassion’ means pity, mercy. In Romans 12:1 Paul beseeches the Romans, "I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God," the compassions of God, to conduct yourself in this way, to do these things. In 2 Corinthians 1:3 Paul refers to God as “the Father of mercies” or compassions. And so we manifest compassion, mercy; we are demonstrating the very character of God. He is the Father of mercies and compassions. He is the One who has dealt with us in infinite mercy or compassion. And so now “put on a heart of compassion” or mercy.

Kindness, the word means goodness, kindness, generosity. Again, we talk about the goodness of God. The Psalmist said in Psalm 34:8, "O taste and see that the Lord He is good." And that is God's very character. He is a good God. In Romans 2:4, it's the kindness of God that leads you to repentance, the kindness of God that leads you to repentance. So we are talking about that work of God in our hearts and lives, His character, now manifesting Him, His presence, His work in us. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. It is something the Spirit is producing in the lives of those that have been redeemed by God's grace and are now indwelt by the Spirit of God. You know, it's one of the characteristics of love. These characteristics become intertwined and that's why where you find one, you find the other. By the same token where one is lacking, you find others lacking. Paul wrote about love in 1 Corinthians 13:4 and he says love is kind. The characteristic of love, which is another fruit of the Spirit. Paul will mention it here as well.

We put on a heart of compassion, kindness… Humility -- lowliness of mind, modesty, being humble. Jesus invited people to come to Him in Matthew 11:29 where He said He was gentle and humble in heart. And so He is the pattern for us. Paul used Him as the pattern in that way in Philippians 2 [verse 8] where He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death of a cross. So that very character of God and of Christ is being manifest in us. One commentator had an interesting comment on this. "It is well known that in profane Greek literature the term occurs on only a few occasions,” this term for humility, “and then usually in a derogative sense of servility, weakness or shameful lowliness." Another writer says, "True humility was not esteemed as a virtue in pagan antiquity." You know what? There's nothing new, is there? You read the newspaper and news magazines, you listen to programs on television. They are talking about problems and difficulties with people. They are all talking about what? We need more self-esteem. You need to learn to think more highly of yourself. You need to learn to love yourself. You don't find anybody saying what we need today is humility. What we need today is people who think less of themselves. You know why? We live in a pagan society, too, just like they did in the days when Spirit of God directed Paul to write this. Humility was not a sought after virtue and fallen, sinful, human beings loved to promote themselves, loved to think about themselves. So here we're reminded. We don't need a christianized version of the world's emphasis on exalting yourself. What the Spirit of God does in a life is produce the character of Christ. And He is the One who is gentle and humble in heart. And so we are to put on a heart of humility.

In 1 Peter 5:5 Peter wrote, "And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." We need to be careful we don't get caught up in the world's way of thinking which then translates into the world's way of behaving, and we try to raise children who have such confidence in themselves, think highly of themselves, and we wonder why as they get older they can't tolerate anyone around them who doesn't honor them and exalt them and give them the kind of attention that they've been taught they deserve.

Next word here… You'll note there is overlap in these words, as you would expect, they bleed into one another. Gentleness, a word that means humility, meekness, courtesy, gentleness. It's the opposite of harshness and arrogance. We get a grasp of a word by seeing its opposite. The opposite of this word "gentleness" would be harshness, arrogance, that sense of asserting self. Again, it's a fruit of the Spirit. You know, this is something the Spirit produces in a life, it's not something we look for in the world. But it is something that is to be found in the children of God who are manifesting the character of their Savior. In 2 Corinthians 10:1 Paul says that he entreats the Corinthians by the gentleness and forbearance of Christ, and then he proceeds to rebuke them strongly. So we ought not to misunderstand and develop the world's view. Remember, when we talked about humility, one writer noted that in secular Greek when this word was used on rare occasions, it was used of shameful lowliness or weakness. We oughtn't get the idea that when you are humble, when you have gentleness, you're a wimp. You can read what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10 when he begins by beseeching them by the gentleness and forbearance of Christ and then proceeds to address them very firmly.

The next word is patience, patience -- long suffering, forbearance, patient endurance; it's the opposite of resentment, revenge, wrath. It denotes that long suffering which endures wrong and puts up with the exasperating conduct of others rather than flying into a rage or desiring vengeance. Patience, that ability to put up with people. It's also a fruit of the Spirit. It's also a manifestation of genuine love in 1 Corinthians 13 where love is patient. You know, you see a parent with a child and, you know, you look and you say, my, how patient they are, look at them, they just work with them, spend time with them, bring them along. You say, I don't know if I can have that kind of patience. You know why? You don't love them, you say I couldn't put up with it, probably because you don't love them. But when we love someone we are patient with them. When the Spirit of God is working in our lives, there is a patience, an enduring, it endures the wrong and exasperating conduct of others. It doesn't mean it tolerates sin and doesn't deal with it; it means there's a patience that continues. First Timothy 1:16, Paul gives his testimony and says, "Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost [of sinners], Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience for those who would believe in Him for eternal life." Just look at me, Paul says, look at the patience of Christ, look how He put up with me, endured with me and ultimately brought me to Himself. So that patience is to be manifest in us as God's children.

"Bearing with one another," [verse 13]. This really continues the idea of the patience that he has talked about. Bearing with one another means putting up with. That gives you the flavor of the word, bearing with someone, putting up with someone. What they do gets on your nerves, it's wearisome, it's tiresome. But you bear with them, you endure with them. You know, there are people that just get on your nerves. It does happen, doesn't it? It's not that they’re sinful, they just drive me crazy. Now, I remember talking to a well-known Bible teacher, we were talking about another Bible teacher that we knew. This well-known Bible teacher said to me, if I was married to his wife I'd kill her. Well, he wasn't literally saying that, I don't think. But it does express an idea we have, doesn't it? It's hard to put up with some people, I mean, even in this church. You know, we all have our places we sit and we're comfortable, that's fine. I always have my place where I stand, so if you have your place where you sit, that's fine. But you know, sometimes someone will change seats and you look over and you say, oh no, it's so- and-so, I'm going to leave on the last stanza. But I know I just can't put up with them. You know, they are nice people, I know they love the Lord, but they get on my nerves. Well, I'm glad the scripture is realistic. The Lord brings them into my life because I need to learn to bear with them, to put up with them, to mature and grow.

And you know what he says, “bearing with one another,” I take it in the context here when he says, “bearing with one another,” he's talking about putting up with other believers. Can you imagine? Lord tells us we got to learn to put up with one another. That's good. And we learn to grow and mature and develop the character of Christ in these kind of contexts. So it shouldn't surprise us that there are people even in the fellowship of the church that God has placed us, you know, try our patience, get on our nerves, sort of weary us. But by God's grace we learn to bear with one another.

And in this context, verse 13, "And forgiving each other," “forgiving each other.” And just note here, this is not the common word for forgiveness in the New Testament. This is the word built on the Greek word for “grace," this has the word "grace" in it. So it emphasizes a gracious forgiveness, we are forgiving freely and graciously. So emphasizes here we have a forgiveness, if you will, going the extra mile. We are forgiving one another, graciously forgiving whoever has a complaint against anyone, a ground for complaint, a cause to complain, whoever has a complaint. The idea here would be you might have a legitimate complaint, you might have grounds for your complaint. We not only put up with each other but we graciously forgive each other as well. Even when I have a reason to complain about what someone has done, we graciously forgive. I wouldn't have to graciously forgive if it wasn't a case where, you know, I have a ground for complaint or a grievance. But we are to be forgiving each other, “whoever has a complaint against anyone.” So the argument here is not whether I have grounds for my complaint, whether I'm justified in blaming you for something. The issue is I am forgiving you just as the Lord forgave me, so also should I forgive you. So the foundation for the forgiveness is rooted in what Christ has done, not what this person has done to me, but what Christ has done for me. He has so graciously and abundantly forgiven me. Yeah, but I'm justified in my complaint. Well, do you understand the forgiveness of Christ? I mean, what could you do to me compared to my offense and offenses against the living God. And they're all wiped out, all forgiven.

And just so you see, the harmony of the Body and our fellowship together as God's people is a result of a transformation brought about in our lives. I don't have to have that justice, vengeance, but I am privileged to manifest the character of Christ and so it becomes an opportunity. When someone does something offensive to you, you have an opportunity to manifest the character of Christ in a way you wouldn't have if that offense hadn't occurred. So that can become its own kind of blessing. The foundation for it is Christ has forgiven us.

"Beyond all these things put on love." And it's like this is the distinctive characteristic of the believer. This is the article of clothing that marks us off. You know, it's like maybe a well-known person, and someone will say, “Well, you know, they were always known for wearing a yellow sweater.” You know, that just sort of marks them off. Here is the distinctive piece of clothes that characterizes the child of God. “Beyond all these things put on love.” That's the dominant characteristic of a believer, is it not? "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another," in John 13:35. Isn't it interesting the love as it's dealt with here and in other places is referring to the love we have for one another as God's people. We go [we say] that's just natural. You know, the love we have for one another, that comes out of the fact that we have the same Father, the same Savior. We have been brought together in a relationship of family as the children of God. And so love is to be the dominate characteristic. And I need to be reminded that characteristic is to characterize me. Put it on, wear it, practice it, if you will. Love, the fruit of the Spirit is love, the first in the list there. In 1 Corinthians 13 it is marked out as the outstanding Christian virtue, so that marks us off. It's the perfect bond of unity. Or as one commentator said, "It's the bond which produces perfection." It is that which enables us to mature and manifest the character of our loving God most fully and most completely.

Verse 15, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." The peace of Christ is to rule in your hearts. It's given as a command, a present tense command. The peace of Christ must be ruling in our hearts. And I take it the idea is the peace of Christ is to serve as an arbitrator in our conduct in making our decisions. In making decisions I have to consider how will this affect and impact the peace of the Body of Christ. I cannot be focused on myself. The first consideration is not would I like it, would it give me pleasure, would I enjoy it -- those kinds of thoughts. But I have to give consideration, what will be the impact of this on the peace of the Body of Christ? But that act as an arbitrator, a judge, let it preside, if you will, in your hearts.

Because you were indeed called to this in one Body. To peace. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body." I mean, the Body is to function, isn't it, in a unified harmonious way? When you have a problem in your body and the parts do not function in peace with one another, you have a problem. The harmony is lost and so the body is no longer functioning with the unity, the coordination, that makes it so beautiful as a body. And what do you do? You’re immediately going to the doctor. They’re trying to find out why this part of the body is not functioning as it should in harmony with the body, in peace with the body, if you will. You understand, this is a serious matter because we are the Body of Christ and that peace that He produced in our hearts and lives starting with peace with Him, His peace in our hearts, as it spreads out to the peace that we have in our relationship with one another. Another fruit of the Spirit, His peace in Galatians 5.

In Romans 14:19 Paul has been talking to the Romans about what we call gray areas, things that are not forbidden by God, things that are not commanded by God, areas where we have liberty. What does he say? “So then let us pursue the things which make for peace.” So I have freedom, I have liberty. Doesn't mean then I can do what I want. I have to consider how this will impact the peace of the Body of Christ. Will this stir up problems? Will this create trouble? Will this be unsettling? Then I can use my liberty not to do it. It's repeated in a number of other passages as well in the New Testament.

“And be thankful,” at the end of verse 15. And these last three verses, each one of them is going to end with an emphasis on being thankful. "Be thankful,” the end of verse 16, “singing with thankfulness in your hearts." The end of verse 17, "Giving thanks." You know, we are to observe with gratitude as God's people for all that God has done for us. You know, it's like someone makes a great sacrifice for us, at great cost to themselves, and then they say, “Would you mind? Could I borrow your pen.” You say, “No, get your own pen.” I'd say that's absurd. You'd say, “You can not only borrow the pen, take it, you can have it.” Why? Because you're absorbed with gratitude for what they have done. We have Christians running around failing to be forgiving, failing to be loving, to show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and so on. Have we forgotten what God has done for us? So he says in verse 15, "be thankful," have your life shaped with gratitude. "Always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God," Ephesians 5:20.

Verse 16, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you." That's the truth, both, that we have received from Christ, which is the truth about Christ, back in chapter 1 verse 5. The word of Christ richly dwells within us. This is another command, present tense command. The word of Christ is to be richly dwelling within us. And the idea that the word of Christ richly dwells within us is that it fills our lives, it permeates our thinking and our behavior, it controls us. Basically, it's the same thing as being filled with the Spirit. We noted that many of these qualities are mentioned directly as the fruit of the Spirit in the life of the believer. They are a result of living under the control of the Spirit of God. And when the word of Christ richly dwells within you, the Spirit of God is in control of your life. The truth of God is shaping your conduct, if you will. And Ephesians 5:18 where the command is given to be filled with the Spirit, you note you have the same result there as you have here in those who are letting the word of Christ richly dwell within them, within you.

What does that involve us doing? "With all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another." So we are to be teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Go back in chapter 1 verse 28, "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom." And Paul said that's what my ministry is all about: admonishing and teaching with all wisdom. So here we are to let the word of Christ richly dwell within us with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. And really we have the positive and the negative here, teaching would be the positive instruction, admonishing would be the correcting that goes on. Admonishing is usually carrying that connotation of something being corrected, set right.

And with this, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, we are singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God. And these words "with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" I think go better with singing. We are singing with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God. So we are teaching and admonishing one another. We are singing with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God. And I'm not going to try to distinguish between these different kind of psalms, spiritual songs, hymns here. You ought to note that the word for psalms’ though is used in the worship of heaven in the book of Revelation. We won't turn there right now, but in Revelation 5:9, 14:3; 15:3 this word for ‘psalms,’ is sung in association with the worship that takes place in heaven.

You note, we are doing this singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God. You note what God is concerned with here. Back to verse 12, we put on a heart of compassion; we are singing with thankfulness in our hearts. This all goes back to what we are in our very nature and being, as a result of being made new in Christ. This is not just coming to church and going through the motions. This is something that comes from hearts that have been transformed and made new, that are overflowing with gratitude and appreciation, thankfulness to God for all He has done for us in Christ.

Verse 17, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." That sums up what he has said in verses 12-16. Our entire lives are lived within the will of God. All we do, all we say, is in the context of our relationship with Him, because we belong to Him. We do it in the name of the Lord in light of who He is. And thus who we are in Him. First Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Nothing in my life is to fall outside these bounds. It's all done for the glory of God. If I can't do it for the glory of God, then it has to go. There is no place in my life. "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." It's the realm in which my life is lived every moment of every day.

"Giving thanks through Him,” through Christ, “to God the Father." Third time we've had that emphasis: verse 15, verse 16, and verse 17. Our whole life is an expression of gratitude. No room for mumbling, grumbling Christians. That's why we are to do all things without murmuring and complaining. We are not dragging around, we're not miserable, we're not unhappy. We're not discontent with what God has done in our lives. I don't understand it all. Some of it is a great weight and a great burden. I don't want to minimize the things that God takes us through. But in it all we can do it in gratitude to Him.

We need to take these verses more seriously. It's so easy to slide in the pattern of discontent. We can find fault with anything and everything. If God gave us a million dollars tomorrow, we'd be complaining about the tax burdens. You know, God gives us good health and here we are this evening and we are complaining about what? Oh, you know, cold weather is coming. I don't like cold weather. Oh, you know, we always find something. Say, “Lord, thank you for the breath that I take today and I'm here with God's people. How good You are to me.” “Lord, I can't get out of bed today, but thank you, You're here with me and I can talk to You.” “Lord, I've lost my job. I don't know what I'm going to do, but Lord, I thank you that you are a God who knows what you have for me.” And on it goes. And again, I'm not saying that there aren't times when the pressures that God brings into our lives threaten to crush us, but I say, “Lord, thank you, You’re in control. I won't be crushed. Thank you, Lord, when all's said and done I'm destined for the glory of Your presence and I will be presented in your presence as holy, without blame, without spot. Lord, thank you for Your goodness to me. Why should I a wretched sinner be destined to eternal glory? No good human explanation. Thank you, Lord.” I mean, we are to be a people overflowing with gratitude. And it just becomes the characteristic of our lives and enables us then when situations call for patience, calls for putting up with other people. Well, that's not difficult. I've been thinking how grateful I am to God for all He's done for me, all He's forgiven me. I didn't even give a thought to what you've done, that's nothing major, that's nothing big. You know, when we forget our thankfulness than other things begin to unravel in our lives.

Praise God, He's made us know one another after our conversion and I think if we knew one another more thoroughly before God got a hold of us, we'd have a lot more to be thankful about even in our relationships. I was talking with someone, and they're not part of this church, and the person who we’re talking about is not part of it, but we both know this person in their ministry. You know what he shared with me? That if you knew… when I knew them when they were growing up, you would appreciate a lot more the grace of God and what they are today. We said we would have never in a million years dreamed that they would be used of the Lord in that way. You know, he was right. I look at them now as God's grace has done a work on them. So we need to back up and look around and say, “My, they get on my nerves, but Lord, I can't imagine what they would have been like apart from Your grace. So Lord, I have something to be thankful for there. I know they'd drive me crazy if it wasn't for Your grace and thank you, Lord.” And in every area of life He is a good God, a gracious God and a God of infinite blessings and we are privileged to belong to Him.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together as a fellowship of believers. And Lord, may our fellowship together be a testimony of Your grace. You've dealt with us not according to our sins, but according to Your mercy and kindness, Your grace, Your forgiveness. And Lord, in that marvelous work of redemption You've made us new. You've put to death the old man. You've made us new in Christ. You've made us partakers of the divine nature. You've blessed us with the indwelling Spirit who's producing Your character. Lord, may we be a people filled with gratitude every moment of every day. Lord, may we manifest this newness of life even in the daily grind of relationships with one another, thank you.