Colossians 3:22-4:1

All right, thank you, Wes. Please take out your copy of God's Word. Turn to Paul's letter to the Colossians. Chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Our text for today is Colossians 3, verse 22 through chapter 4, verse 1.

Colossians 3:22

Before we read it together, I'm going to say to you that my comments this morning concerning this text will be brief, at least brief-ish.

If you're a guest with us, this is not the norm. The Word of God is incredibly rich.

Even if we break down each sermon as we move verse by verse, even down to just a single sermon, there's so much to be said.

There's so much layer in God's Word. And so, it's normally not the way that we handle things.

I go 45 to an hour. Hopefully 45.

The Word of God requires great care, both in its exegesis and in its application.

And this morning's text is not an exception to that rule. I'm not suggesting that we're saying,

eh, it doesn't really matter. But I'm going to be brief this morning for two reasons.

The reason of less importance is that we have a number of matters to handle at the end of our service.

And at some point, we have to wrap this up together.

And so, for the sake of time in that regard, I'm going to try to keep my comments brief.

And the second, which is of greater importance, I think of primary importance,

is that Paul's exhortations in these verses are simple.

And simple commands should be understood and obeyed simply.

This week, I just found that I didn't really need to make it too terribly complex.

That there was no real need to parse verbs for you and help you get some other depth of knowledge

that really isn't in the text.

There's a couple of simple exhortations for us.

Last week, we looked at four exhortations for the household of the new self.

To remind you where we've been in chapter 3 and to catch some of you up

who haven't been here with us this summer,

chapter 3, verse 1 reads,

If then you have been raised with Christ,

so if you are in Christ, if you are a Christian,

your heart's been made new because of the regenerating work of the power of the Spirit in your life,

then we are to seek the things that are above,

where Christ is seated.

Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

We're to set our 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.

So, we now have this reorientation because our old self is dead,

and we have a new self.

And Paul expounds upon this, verse 5,

that we should put to death, therefore, what is earthly in us.

And then picking up in verse 10,

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed.

Verse 12,

Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved.

And he begins to list these proper activities of the Christian life,

as well as telling us the things that we ought not be doing.

And I've stressed to you that he's not giving us exhaustive lists,

but he's primarily talking about sins of misplaced love or misplaced hate.

And then he's giving us the positive, how it is we should live together in community.

He's specifically speaking to the church.

But last week, we saw a bit of a shift, a little bit of a narrowing of his scope.

While he's talking about the Christian church at large,

the church here in Function Together at Colossae,

he goes a little narrower to talk about the Christian household.

So, we saw these exhortations to wives, to husbands, to children, and to parents last week.

And this week really is a continuation of these exhortations,

of exhortation for the Christian household.

The application of which is really rather simple for us.

And we'll get into that.

But let's read the text together.

Colossians 3, 22 through 4, 1.

Paul writes,

And beloved, this is God's word to us.

It's written for His glory and for our good.

We would all do well to listen to it this morning in order to believe its promises

and obey its commands.

Now, as we look at the text this morning, I've broken it down into four points for us.

The first one is,

the aim of Paul's exhortation here is not social or political commentary.

This is not the point of what he's trying to accomplish as he's speaking to the church at Colossae.

It's not social or political commentary.

He's not in this text seeking to destroy the institution of slavery.

Now, he's already commented on new spiritual realities for those who are in Christ.

Look back up in chapter 3 to verse 11, where he writes,

So he says,

All these dividing barriers, which were strong barriers in this day,

probably much stronger than anything we experience today in our particular social context,

that all of these things are torn down for those who Christ is all.

He is the great equalizer in the Christian church.

So he's already, in some sense, in the spiritual sense,

he's put away the idea of slave and free.

That a free man and a slave could come together and have unity in Christ

has already been stated in Colossians 3.11.

The gospel certainly has social and political implications.

It has come into this world and it is making the world new,

bringing about redemption for a broken place.

But it does not change those realities in a moment.

Isn't that where we find ourselves living between kind of these two worlds

where Christ has ushered in the kingdom of God,

but yet it's yet to fully arrive.

He's returned to heaven.

He's seated at the right hand of the Father.

And we're eagerly awaiting His return to establish forever His reign here on earth.

It's coming to pass.

But, all the same, we ought to be, as Christians, working to change our society.

We ought to want to see things improve.

And the gospel certainly has the power to do so and has had throughout history.

I should give you a couple examples.

Some names that may be familiar to you, some that may not.

And the way in which these people were not only preachers of the gospel, missionaries,

but worked in social context to bring about change.

John Wesley and Elizabeth Fry worked very hard in their lives for prison reform,

saw some success in that.

I hope most of you are familiar with William Wilberforce,

who labored in his life and finally saw the abolition of British slavery.

Theodore Fleidner built German hospitals.

George Mueller cared for thousands of orphans.

William Carey worked to abolish and found success in abolishing widow burning and child sacrifice in India.

David Livingston and many others in Africa discouraged polygamy,

fought the slave trade, built schools, and built hospitals.

Christianity is good for the world.

Because God's ways are far more excellent than man's ways.

Man is completely corrupt by sin apart from Christ.

And at his greatest effort, fouls everything up.

Christianity comes into those social and political contexts

and brings about good and right and proper change.

But that's not what Paul's trying to do here.

Understand that the slavery of Paul's day, for the most part,

was much different than the historical slavery that we are all aware of.

The slavery that happened here in our own country.

You need to understand that in this day, in the Greco-Roman world,

more than 50% of the population was a slave population.

It was not typically ethnically driven,

although there were times that people would go and conquer another people and make them slaves.

But more often than not, it was economically driven.

Many of the people that were slaves in this day

volunteered themselves as slaves because they could not afford to live.

They did not have the means necessary,

and so they hired themselves out, essentially,

put themselves on the market,

and they were bought in this way.

Not always the case.

But generally speaking, it was a bit of a different environment.

But also, he is not endorsing slavery in this text.

The Bible certainly does not endorse slavery,

particularly in the way that we think about and understand slavery.

Just to give you a couple of examples,

Exodus 21.16 says,

Whoever steals a man and sells him,

and anyone found in possession of him,

shall be put to death.

And in 1 Timothy 1.10,

And enslavers are mentioned in a list of men

counted as lawless and disobedient.

But this is not ultimately what Paul is trying to do.

The second point, Paul's aim,

is to instruct the Christian

in whatever situation he or she may find themselves in

to live in a way that honors the Lord.

Verse 22,

Bond servants or servants, slaves,

obey in everything those who are your earthly masters,

not by way of eye service as people-pleasers,

but with sincerity of heart,

fearing the Lord.

Obey in everything.

Just as we saw was the case with wives and children

in the preceding verses,

the will of the one placed over you

should be obeyed,

provided that your obedience does not break

the command of God.

Note the phrase,

those who are your earthly masters.

Husbands,

husbands,

parents,

and masters in this context,

bosses in ours,

are instruments of God

and He ultimately rules over them.

Chapter 4, verse 1.

Masters,

treat your bond servants justly and fairly,

knowing that you also have a master in heaven.

And so if your earthly master,

if your parents,

if your husband,

if you're a wife,

asks you,

commands you to do something outside the law of God,

you have God's permission to circumnavigate in that case.

Otherwise,

you are to obey in everything.

Not simply to please on the outward appearance.

It says,

not just by way of eye service as a people-pleaser.

Not just going through the motions,

right?

Making it look good,

but with the sincerity of your heart

because you fear the Lord.

With a proper and right understanding and perspective on God,

your ultimate master,

the one whom you ultimately serve,

doing things from the heart with sincerity.

And Paul gives two proper motivations for this.

One in the positive and one in the negative.

The positive is found in verse 24.

Knowing that from the Lord,

you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ.

Again,

as I just said,

because ultimately you are serving Christ.

And if you are serving Christ,

if you have this proper and right understanding,

if you are a servant

and in everything obey your earthly master,

you're doing it because you're a Christian.

Because you're found in Him.

Don't divorce this from the rest of the chapter.

Remember what we started talking about

at the beginning of chapter 3.

He's still talking about these things

as Christian people that we should put off

and those things that we should be putting on.

So as a Christian person,

you will live in this way.

This is the positive

because there's a promise.

You'll receive the inheritance

as your reward.

And it's tempting at this point

as we look at verse 25

and then the negative motivation in,

excuse me,

in verse 24

and the negative motivation in verse 25

to kind of spin off,

maybe try to sort out

kind of what heaven's going to look like

and how we'll be rewarded

or how we may be punished

if we're found in Christ.

I don't think Paul means

it to be nearly that complex.

He simply says,

the inheritance.

And in the Greek,

the article is there.

The is actually in the original text.

And so what I think he's talking about

is that our proper and right orientation

as servants or employees in our case

should be because we are Christians

as a response to what God has done

on our behalf,

we should serve the Lord

knowing full well

that we don't live for this world,

but we live for eternity.

The inheritance of eternal life with Him.

He is our master.

He is our King.

We'll serve Him now and forevermore.

Let me give you a cross reference for this.

Romans 2, verses 6-8.

Romans 2:6–8

Paul writes there,

He will render to each one

according to His works.

To those who by patience in well-doing

seek for glory and honor and immortality,

He will give eternal life.

But for those who are self-seeking

and do not obey the truth

but obey unrighteousness,

there will be wrath.

And fury.

Because of who we are,

the right and proper good response

as Christian people,

we will obey.

Take your bulletin.

There's a quote which I didn't plan to use,

but it's just fitting.

If I spurge it on the front of it,

which says,

those whom free grace chooses,

free grace cleanses,

we are not chosen because we are holy,

but chosen to be holy.

And being chosen,

the purpose is no dead letter,

but we are made to seek after holiness.

So by the same grace that saves us,

this grace perfects us.

And therefore,

we work as we are serving the Lord Christ.

The second motivation found in verse 25

stated in the negative,

for the wrongdoer will be paid back

for the wrong he has done

and there is no partiality.

Here I believe that Paul is referring to

immediate punishment,

immediate wrongdoing.

If you choose this other path,

if you're going to not serve your master

as you should,

there will be consequences for this.

Galatians 6-7 says,

Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked.

For whatever one sows,

that will he also reap.

It will go well with you

if you walk in the ways of God.

And it will not if you do not.

So that was the second point.

Thirdly,

Paul does not neglect

God's desire for justice.

Chapter 4, verse 1.

Masters, treat your bondservants

justly and fairly,

knowing that you also have a master

in heaven.

Now I'm sure you've already noted,

seen the interesting chapter break here.

Isn't it strange

when a sermon is preached

that crosses over a chapter break?

It doesn't happen very often.

Typically,

chapters and verses

are divided up very neatly

and appropriately.

This is an interesting one.

But let me remind you,

if you don't already know,

that chapters and verses

are not inspired.

The original Greek text

did not have chapter and verse.

In fact,

had no punctuation either.

They're not inspired.

The ones we have before us today

are largely taken

from the Geneva Bible.

And there's a history

behind that as well.

Other sourcing

and historical roots

for how the Geneva

arrived at the way that it did.

This one is a bit of a mystery.

And I didn't take a ton of time

this week.

I just didn't think it was

of great value

for my week

and the effort of it

to figure out

why exactly,

possibly,

this had happened.

But I did find

an interesting quote.

Another Spurgeon quote,

of course,

and he wrote

of this text,

I sometimes think

that the good men

who chop the Bible

up into chapters

must have hoped

that we should not

read this message

to the masters

as he had put it

in another chapter.

But I never like to read

about the servants

without also reading

about the masters.

There are six for one

and half a dozen

for the other

and as is usual

in the scriptures

there are balanced duties.

If there is

an exhortation

to the children

there is generally

one to the parents

close by.

And if there is

a word to wives

there is one

for husbands too.

And so he postulates

that it's possible

that the people

who chopped this up

just didn't want us

to see it together.

We don't know.

But certainly

we need to take it

together.

Both the implications

for both sides

of this relationship.

So addressed here

Paul says

in this social system

that exists

masters

treat your slaves

or your bond servants

justly and fairly.

Deal with them

appropriately

as the God of heaven

because we also

have a master

in heaven

has treated you.

There's a great deal

of theme

in the scriptures

concerning justice.

Let me give you

two Old Testament

examples.

Micah 6.8

says

Proverbs 21.3

To do righteousness

and justice

is more acceptable

to the Lord

than sacrifice.

And so this is

required

in this relationship

that Paul is writing

to that masters

would treat their slaves

justly

and fairly.

And this is the way

in which the new self

affects the Christian

household.

Likely cared for

in this way.

Wives and children

with servants

in the home

doing a work there.

The servants

should obey

in everything

with a sincerity

of heart

looking to please

God ultimately

and the masters

should treat them

justly and fairly

recognizing

that they have

a master

in heaven.

I don't think

any of us

in this room

have servants

in our home.

Maybe some of you

can pay somebody

to come over

and cut your grass

or clean up

after you

but more than likely

we don't.

And so we need

to ask the question

what is the

application

for our context?

In verse 23

I think

to bring us back

to and pull that

I didn't skip it

it's here

in our preaching.

Whatever you do

children you should

know this one

we've been memorizing it

work heartily

as for the Lord

and not for men.

That's found within

this exhortation

to the slave.

I'm not ignoring that

but he says

whatever you do

whatever you're asked

to do

work heartily

as for the Lord

and not for men.

And I think rightly

we can take the principles

found here

and we can draw them

into our modern day

to speak of

any situation

that we find ourselves in

where there is an authority

figure placed

over us.

Namely

for our church

your job

and schooling

your classroom

as well

that you recognize

while we do so

voluntarily

you don't have to

work at your job

you don't have to

be a student

at the University of

North Georgia

or at one of the other

schools in our area

you can sign up

for a class

and you can drop

the class

you can say

I really don't like

the professor

already in this first week

I can tell

I'm not going to

enjoy this class

and you can get

out of the class

we voluntarily

submit ourselves

to the authority

but once we are

submitted to that authority

while we are

under their

guidance

we should do this

in the same way

heartily

we should throw

our very being

into the work

that we're doing

because we're not

ultimately working

for them

ultimately we're

working for God

God has put us

in this world

to work and to keep

to produce

and we ought to

do that well

beloved Christians

should be the very

very best

of students

and the very

very best

of employees

not that we're

necessarily the

smartest

or the most

talented

but we ought to

be the hardest

workers

we should be

the ones that

are showing up

early and leaving

late

we should be

the ones that

work through

the lunch break

we should be

the ones that

leverage all

that we have

for the sake

of our

employer

or for the sake

of your

professor

people should

be impressed

by the way

in which

we work

a great deal

of devotion

on our part

because we're

not doing it

for them

we're doing it

for God

God has placed

tasks ahead

of us

and we ought

to do them

heartily

throw your energy

into the things

that you have

going on

and if you can't

rightly work

for a boss

or for

being a class

and being

underneath

a professor

then stop

but until

you do

be obedient

to the thing

that God

has asked

of you

a note

in our

employment

especially for

you young

people who

are looking

toward that

so many

of us

enslave

ourselves

to our

employers

by the

lifestyle

that we

choose

to live

we get

ourselves

in a

living

situation

where we

couldn't

possibly

lose

the job

or quit

the job

because we're

so financially

strapped

we're so

tight

we're living

right up

to our

limit

paycheck

to paycheck

is often

the phrase

being used

that if you

were to

come out

from underneath

the authority

of that

individual

you couldn't

possibly

survive

Proverbs 22

7 says

the rich

rules over

the poor

and the

borrower

is the

slave

of the

lender

so this

is an

aside

to that

be careful

how you

spend

your

money

and who

you get

involved

with

because

once you

are

God

says

be obedient

in everything

provided that

you don't

break the

commandment

of God

now in

closing

I want you

guys to

turn to

Romans chapter

Romans 6 · chapter mention

6 with

me

if you're

a regular

with us

you are

shocked

that I

just said

in closing

we've got

a little

ways to

go

I want

to pause

it to

you

I want

you to

stop

and think

about

this

phrase

that I'm

about

saying

that I'm

going to

give you

some

biblical

proof

of it

but that

is

that we

are all

every

one of

us

right

in

Christ

not in

Christ

all of

humanity

all of

us

are

slaves

to

something

we

are

all

slaves

to

something

you

are

a

slave

to

whatever

it

is

that

you

worship

and I

want to

show you

that

in

Romans

Romans 6 · chapter mention

chapter

6

beginning

in

verse

15

we're

picking

up

in

the

middle

of

his

argument

so

you

see

that

you

may

be

a

little

confused

but

we're

picking

up

at

verse

15

what

then

are

we

to

sin

because

we

are

not

under

law

but

under

grace

by

no

means

do

you

not

know

that

if

you

present

yourselves

!

to

anyone

as

obedient

slaves

you

are

slaves

to

the

one

whom

you

obey

so

you

get

the

logic

there

right

if

you

are

a

slave

if

you

present

yourself

to

a

slave

someone

you're

a

slave

of

them

that's

exactly

what

he's

saying

you

are

obligated

to

obey

that

authority

then

he

goes

on

to

say

in

the

last

part

of

16

either

of

sin

which

leads

to

death

or

of

obedience

which

leads

to

righteousness

but

thanks

be

to

God

that

you

who

were

once

slaves

of

sin

have

become

obedient

from

the

heart

to

the

standard

of

teaching

to

which

you

were

committed

and

having

been

set

free

from

sin

have

become

slaves

of

righteousness

so

having

been

set

free

from

being

a

slave

of

sin

you've

just

transitioned

now

old

self

you've

transitioned

new

self

to

being

a

slave

of

righteousness

verse

19

Paul

says

I

am

speaking

in

human

terms

because

of

your

natural

limitations

he's

saying

I'm

using

an

analogy

that

you

will

understand

for

just

as

you

once

presented

your

members

as

slaves

to

impurity

and

to

lawlessness

leading

to

more

lawlessness

so

now

present

your

members

as

slaves

to

righteousness

leading

to

sanctification

for

when

you

were

slaves

of

sin

you

were

free

in

regard

to

righteousness

you

didn't

have

to

be

righteous

is

what

he's

saying

when

you

were

a

slave

to

sin

but

what

fruit

were

you

getting

at

that

time

from

the

things

of

which

you

were

now

ashamed

for

the

end

of

those

things

is

death

but

now

that

you

have

been

set

free

from

sin

and

have

become

slaves

of

God

the

fruit

you

get

leads

to

sanctification

and

its

end

eternal

life

for

the

wages

of

sin

is

death

but

the

free

gift

of

God

is

eternal

life

in

Christ

Jesus

our

Lord

now

he

comes

at

it

in

Romans

6

from

the

opposite

side

he's

saying

here is

the

just

and

due

consequence

for

the

way

in

which

you

live

your

life

this

is

the

way

he's

tracking

our

logic

through

you

can

flip

the

entire

thing

over

to

say

that

if

we

are

slaves

of

sin

our

end

is

destruction

right

a certain

way

we're

not

going

to

be

able

to

put

off

the

old

self

because

we

still

are

the

old

self

but

if

you

are

in

Christ

you've

changed

positionally

no longer

a slave

of

sin

but

now

a slave

of

something

else

he

actually

gives

us

three

things

kind

of

in

progression

here

in

verse

16

slaves

of

obedience

verses

18

and 19

of

righteousness

and

verse

22

of

God

that

we

will

in

fact

live

underneath

our

master

this

is

the

great

proof

of

who

we

are

we

are

all

slaves

to

something

and

you

have

to

ask

yourself

that

question

this

morning

this

is

a

good

and

right

thing

to

ask

yourself

on

a

continual

basis

what

am

I

a

slave

of

what

do

I

ultimately

worship

how

does

my

life

reflect

who

I

am

I

hope

with

a

great

deal

of

longing

that

everyone

who

can

hear

me

this

morning

can

say

with

confidence

I

am

a

slave

of

Christ

I'm

a

slave

of

God

I'm

a

slave

of

righteousness

I'm

a

slave

of

obedience

I

find

at

work

within

me

the

spirit

of

God

moving

me

in

that

way

not

perfect

not

made

perfect

!

I'm

certainly

not

but

I'm

being

moved

in

that

direction

I

recognize

that

I

no

longer

have

to

sin

I

don't

love

sin

the way

I

used

to

love

sin

I

love

righteousness

I

find

that

things

go

well

with

me

I

find

that

my

eyes

are

listed

towards

heaven

as

I

live

in

the

ways

of

God

it's

the

great

desire

of

my

life

to

honor

him

with

all

that

I

do

!

There

should

be

the

!

your

heart

if

you

are

you

have

gone

through

some

kind

of

rote

process

that

somebody

has

presented

to

you

you

have

raised

a

hand

you

have

walked

an

aisle

you

have

repeated

a

prayer

and

there

has

never

been

a

change

in

your

life

God

has

never

entered

into

you

and

regenerated

you

made

you

new

you

are

still

old

self

you

haven't

been

changed

positionally

this

is

a

possibility

!

for

you

the

other

is

that

you

are

just

so

cold

and

callous

to

the

gospel

that

God

has

changed

your

heart

but

you

have

just

walked

away

from

the

glorious

truth

of

it

maybe

for

some

of

you

your

sin

wasn't

so

great

in

your

mind

you

were

generally

a

good

person

I

can't

tell

you

how

many

testimonies

I've

heard

that

opened

up

I

wasn't

really

a

bad

person

you

know

partying

and

smoking

and

drinking

and

we'll

list

off

a

couple

of

other

kind

of

nominal

sins

or

not

at

all

sins

even

in

some

cases

you

were

a

wretched

horrible

enemy

of

God

everything

you

did

no

matter

how

minor

in

your

mind

screamed

at

him

I

hate

you

but

he

loved

you

and

he

sent

Christ

to

bear

the

wrath

of

all

that

sin

that

you've

committed

up

to

this

day

!

all

commit

you

were

his

enemy

and

he

made

you

his

friend

you

have

to

have

your

heart

warmed

back

up

by

the

truth

of

the

gospel

many

of

you

may

not

ever

spend

any

time

in

the

scripture

and

this

is

the

tool

that

the

spirit

uses

to

bring

about

change

in

us

this

is

the

great

thing

that

reminds

us

again

and

again

and

again

of

God's

great

love

for

us

in

Christ

keeps

me

warm

because

I

grow

cold

I

drift

away

from

this

I

get

away

from

reading

the

scripture

and

being

engaged

in it

and

meditating

on it

and

suddenly

I

forget

the

gospel

I

know

what up

here

but

my

heart

fails

to

believe

it

and

my

life

begins

to

look

more

like

my

old

self

and

less

like

my

new

self

I

forget

who

I

am

in

Christ

I

long

for

everyone

here

to

be

able

to

say

with

Paul

as

he

said

in

Galatians

2

20

I

have

been

crucified

with

Christ

it

is

no

longer

I

who

live

but

Christ

who

lives

in

me

and

the

life

I

now

live

in

the

flesh

I

live

by

faith

in

the

Son

of

God

who

loved

me

and

gave

himself

for

me

my

old

self

has

died

and

now

this

life

that

I

still

live

I

live

in

Christ

and

this

is

why

Paul

repeatedly

calls

himself

a

slave

of

Christ

in

salutations

Romans

1

1

Philippians

1

1

Titus

1

1