Colossians 3:12-14
We’ve been talking about the practical application of the basic prinicpals of Christian living.
Last week we talked about sin and things not to do in putting on a new self.
Today we are going to have a lesson in Grace, and being that we have received this abundant grace things that we are to do.
Read Colossians 3:12-14
“as those who have been chosen of God, Holy and beloved put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone just as the Lord forgave you. So, also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love. Which is the perfect bond of unity.
^^^^^^^^
This was read out of the NASV.
NLT ‘SINCE GOD CHOSE YOU TO BE THE HOLY PEOPLE HE LOVES’
Vs 12 - CHOSEN. Has anyone here read or heard that they have been chosen? What does it mean to be chosen?
The definition of chosen, haven been selected as the best or most appropriate.
KJV OF VERSE 12 IS – ‘PUT ON THEREFORE AS THE ELECT OF GOD, HOLY AND
BELOVED BOWELS OF MERCIES, KINDNESS, HUMBLENESS OF MIND, MEEKNESS,LONGSUFFERING’
Notice the wording in KJV is ‘elect’, the definition of elect is chosen.
ELECTION, CHOSEN CAN COMMONLY BE MISCONSTRUDED OR DEBATED. WE ARENT GOING TO ENTER IN TO ANYTHING ACCEPT FOR WHAT THE WORD SAYS ABOUT IT.
ELECTION, OR BEING CHOSEN IS A DIVINE MIRACLE. JUST LIKE THE HOLY TRINITY, A MYSTERY SOMEWHAT IN ITSELF TO US THAT WE CANNOT FULLY COMPREHEND, AND GOD DOESN’T INTEND FOR US TO FULLY COMPREHEND.
BEING CHOSEN DIDN’T DEPEND ON ANYTHING WE ARE, OR WHAT WE HAVE DONE. GOD CHOSE US IN CHRIST.
I WANT TO DISCUSS ONE OF THE FIRST EXAMPLES OF BEING CHOSEN, IN SCRIPTURE GOING WAY BACK TO GENESIS. JACOB AND ESAU.
POOR EVE, HAD A STRUGGLE WHILE SHE WAS EXPECTING JACOB AND ESAU, THEY LITERALLY WERE FIGHTING IN THE WOMB.
GENESIS 25:23 THE LORD SAID TO HER, EVE, ‘TWO NATIONS ARE IN YOUR WOMB, AND TWO PEOPLES WILL BE SEPERATED FROM YOUR BODY AND ONE PEOPLE SHALL BE STRONGER THAN THE OTHER AND THE OLDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER’
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO ROMANS 9:13----
ROMANS 9:13 GOD SAID ‘ JACOB I LOVED BUT ESAU I HATED’
WHY DID GOD LOVE JACOB BUT NOT ESAU? THIS IS A MYSTERY. NOT MENT FOR US TO UNDERSTAND. WE HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT GOD IS GOD. ALMIGHTY, ALL POWERFUL, UNATTAINABLE, BEGIN AND END, HE IS NOT HUMAN BUT GOD. WE AS HUMAN BEINGS BEING CREATED BY HE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE VAST KNOWLEDGE A POWER OF HE.
WHEN WERE YOU CHOSEN?
EPHESIANS 1:4 ‘JUST AS HE CHOSE US IN HIM, BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE WOULD BE HOLY AND BLAMELESS BEFORE HIM IN LOVE’
Remember that the cardinal point of the Reformed doctrine of predestination rests on the biblical teaching of man’s spiritual death. Natural man does not want Christ. He will only want Christ if God plants a desire for Christ in his heart. Once that desire is planted, those who come to Christ do not come kicking and screaming against their wills. They come because they want to come. They now desire Jesus. They rush to the Saviour. The whole point of irresistible grace is that rebirth quickens someone to spiritual life in such a way that Jesus is now seen in his irresistible sweetness. Jesus is irresistible to those who have been made alive to the things of God. Every soul whose heart beats with the life of God within it longs for the living Christ. All whom the Father gives to Christ come to Christ (John 6:37).”
—R.C. Sproul
2 TIMOTHY 2:10 ‘ for this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory’
HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE HAD A PET? HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE HAD A PET RUN OFF, GET LOST? DID IT HURT? WERE YOU IN A SENSE OF SUFFERING? GRIEF?
SO A SHEPARD LOSES ONE OF HIS SHEEP, HOW IS HE GOING TO FEEL? THIS SHEPARD GOES OUT AND PICKS EXACTLY WHICH SHEEP HE WANTS TO BUY TO HAVE IN HIS FLOCK, AND ONE IS LOST…HOW IS HE GOING TO FEEL? ALL THE EXCITEMENT AND ANTICIPATION OF A NEW PET AND ITS LOST… It is your duty, your responsibility, you have been chosen to go and get, go and find HIS lost sheep.
OUR GREAT SHEPARD, JESUS, YOU SEE .. HE LOVES US MORE INTIMATELY MORE THROUGHLY THAN WE COULD EVER LOVE A PET BUT IMAGINE HOW HE FEELS THAT SOME OF HIS SHEEP ARE OUT WONDERING NOT EVEN KNOWING THAT THEY HAVE BEEN PURCHASED. WE HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO GO FIND THEM.
2 Timothy 2:19 tells us that GOD KNOWS WHOSE ARE HIS, NOT US WE HAVE NO IDEA WHO GOD HAS CHOSEN WE HAVE TO LEAVE THE WORKING OUT OF HIS ETERNAL PURPOSE WITH HIM. THE FACT IS THERE ARE MANY CHOSEN THAT DON’T REALIZE THEY HAVE BEEN, ITS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND THEM .. GO GET YOUR LOST SISTERS AND BROTHERS!
1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 WE ARE NOT OUR OWN, WE BELONG COMPLETELY TO HIM.
WE TRUSTED HIM, RECEIVED HIM, ACCEPTED HIS GRACE SO WE ARE SET APART TO THE WORLD, UNTO HIM.
YOU SEE, TO KNOW THAT GOD HAND SELECTED YOU, HAND PICKED YOU BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, YOU ARE AN HEIR, A PRINCESS, ROYALTY, HE PUT SOMETHING IN YOU NOONE ELSE EVER WILL, EVER CAN. TO BE CHOSEN BY THE HIGHEST POWER.. BLESSING IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT. THIS IS A PICTURE OF GRACE. TO BE SELECTED BY THE UTMOST; THE HIGHEST.
So you were chosen by God, set apart for God, loved by God (as it says in vs 12 holy and beloved) so loved that your debt was cancelled out, and forgiven by God (2:13-14) This all adds up to Grace.
Because of these gracious blessings, we as Christians have responsibilities before God. We have to put on the beautiful graces of the Christian life. Paul named the eight graces.
‘Put on’==if you put something on, what do you do with it? You wear it, everyone sees it, you feel it, you know its there.
1. Put on tender mercies: (vs. 12) we need to display tender feelings of compassion toward one another. This is not something we turn on and off, like we do a TV. It’s a constant attitude of heart that makes us easy to live with.
Philippians 2:1 “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation in love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete by being of the same mind maintaining the same love united in Spirit intent on one purpose”
2. Put on kindness. (vs. 12) We have been saved because of Gods kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. We in turn ought to show kindness toward others.
Ephesians 2:7 “So that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”
Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another”
3. Put on humbleness of mind..(vs. 12) Jesus is the greatest example of humbleness. Humbleness is not thinking poorly of yourself, its having the proper estimate of yourself, in the will of God. The person with humbleness of mind thinks of others first not of himself.
Romans 12:3 “for through the grace given to me I say to everyone amoung you not to thing more highly of himself than he ought to think, to think so as to have sound judgement as God has allotted to each a measure of faith”
4. Put on meekness..meekness is not weakness, its power under control. Meekness is not flying off the handle because he has everything under control.
5. Put on longsuffering..literally means long temper. Don’t act impulsively, use self control. Don’t get angry quickly at the wrong things for the wrong reasons
6. Put on forbearance..(vs 13).. this means to hold back. God holds back judgement on us as sinners. Meekness, longsuffering, and forebearance go hand in hand.
7. Put on forgiveness..we as Christians have to endure grief and provocation, and refuse to retaliate we also have to forgive the one who makes the trouble. If we don’t forgive, the feelings of malice develop and can lead to greater sins.
8. Put on love..this is the most important of the Christian virtues, and its like the tie that binds the other virtues together, or holds them in. Love is the first fruit of the Spirit, when love rules in our lives, it unites all these spiritual virtues—it keeps our lives balanced and growing.
No comments:
Post a Comment