Putting on Christ- Colossians 3:12-17

night so we're doing kind of our cleanup work

there and then next Sunday we're going to jump

back into Matthew and that'll kind of lead us

into Easter. But it was interesting as I was

studying this passage preparing the sermon for

today is it's talking about clothing ourselves

in a certain type of character and what was interesting

to me about that is I'm not the type of person

who cares about clothes at all. mean at all at

all I love a pair of worn -out ripped blue jeans

to the point where my wife tries to secretly

throw them away so she's not a fan of that but

those are my favorite things to wear and my favorite

type of shirt is the five -pack at Walmart where

it's a plain shirt with a t -shirt and you get

like five different colors I mean for ten bucks

you can't beat that price so that's that's how

I how much I care about clothes just really not

at all but I did think it was interesting as

I was thinking about this passage how you can

pretty much always tell what I'm getting ready

to do based on what I'm wearing. My clothes kind

of give it away. So if you ever see me, for instance,

in a black suit with a tie, someone's getting

married or buried. Those are the only two options.

That's the only time I wear that get up. If you

see me in gym shorts, which you will probably

never see me in gym shorts, I'm either going

to bed or I'm going to the gym. It's really only

one of the two. And also since many of you know

where I live and you have passed by at this fortunate

time I have been known to rock a pair of cutoff

jean shorts with some boots Outside doing yard

work if you see me in a pair of cutoff jean shorts

wearing boots You know I'm about to do some serious

gardening or some yard work and if I'm decked

out and all orange Then you know I'm about to

watch God's favorite football team play football

But it's interesting rightly what I'm wearing

lets people know what I'm getting ready to do.

And it's interesting when you look at this passage

the Bible is going to say that Christians need

to be dressed a certain way as well. Not dressed

with fancy suits or dresses or ties or things

like that. But instead the whole point that I

think the Bible is making here is that as God's

people we must clothe ourselves with the character

of Christ. As God's people, we must clothe ourselves

with the character of Christ. If you look back

and think about this passage, even in verses

9 and 10, the Bible says that we're to put off

the old self and we're to put on the new self

that's made in the image of Jesus. In other words,

when you come to faith in Jesus, there are certain

things that no longer belong in your life. You

have to put off your old way of life, your old

habits, your old way of living, your old way

of talking, your old sins, and you have to put

on the new person that is made in the image of

Christ. And when you put on this new self, it

should let the entire world know what you're

getting ready to do. When you clothe yourself

in the character of Christ, it should let the

entire world know that you're about to live your

life for Jesus and Jesus alone. That you're going

to live your life for the glory of God and it

should be evident in your life. And the obvious

question is, well, how do we do this? Or you

can think about it, what does this look like?

What does it look like to put on the character

of Christ? What does it look like to actually

clothe ourselves to put on the character of Christ

and let the world know that we are going to live

our lives for Jesus? I want you to see what the

Bible says here as it starts in verse 12. It

says, 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 also you must forgive. Now,

I think you can tell that this whole first section,

although it mentions a number of things that

we should have in our lives as characteristics,

this whole first section is on forgiveness. And

it's important for us to take time to think about

this topic and this subject of forgiveness because

we don't really have true forgiveness that much

in the church today. For many people, forgiveness

boils down to nothing but words, right? Someone

offends us. Someone says something about us.

Someone does something to us. And what do we

say? We go, oh, well, you know, that hurt. I

didn't like it. I wish they wouldn't have done

that. But it's whatever. I forgive them. And

we kind of just dismiss it, right? We put it

to the side. We dismiss it. We overlook it. And

we try just not to pay attention. And our whole

basis for forgiveness and the way that we enact

forgiveness, it comes down to merely tolerating

people. If I see them, I'm not going to try to

talk to them. I'm going to try to avoid them.

If they say something to me, I'll be friendly,

I'll be cordial, but I'm not actually going to

forgive them from my heart. It boils down to

words. I'm going to say, it is whatever. It is

not a big deal. I forgive them. I want you to

notice something interesting about these verses

here. Did you notice that the Bible never says

anything here about saying something? It doesn't

say you should speak something, you shouldn't

just pronounce forgiveness. What does it say?

It says, forgive others. Don't just say you forgive

them, actually forgive them. What you have to

understand is that biblical forgiveness does

not come from the mouth, it comes from the heart.

And when you think about biblical forgiveness,

and you think about the way that God has forgiven

us, biblical forgiveness is always most clearly

seen in action. that is taken. I mean, if you

look at the Bible and you see how God forgave

us, God didn't just look at us and our sin and

go, yeah, you know what? It's whatever. I don't

really like the things they're doing. I don't

like the things they're saying. They're living

in a way that is really displeasing to me, but

it's no big deal. It's whatever. I forgive them.

That's not what happened. The Bible says that

when God saw us in the midst of our sin, And

in the midst of our disobedience, in the midst

of our hatred, in the midst of our hardness of

heart, the Bible says He sent His only Son to

die on the cross for us so that by His shed blood

we would have forgiveness of our sins. You see

in Ephesians 1 -7 the Bible says in Him we have

redemption through His blood, the forgiveness

of our trespasses according to the riches of

His grace. So what does that mean? It means that

when God saw me at the height of my disobedience,

He acted on my behalf. He didn't just say I forgive

them. He acted and He sent His Son to die on

the cross for my sins so that I would have forgiveness

in Him. And you know, the clearest way that we

can tell that God has truly forgiven us is by

the way He treats us now. Because God does not

merely tolerate us and God does not dismiss us.

He does not give us a cold shoulder, but instead

God embraces us and he moves closer to us and

he treats us as his own children. In fact, God

does not hold our sins over our head. You look

at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 17. It says, I will

Hebrews 10:17

remember their sins and their lawless deeds no

more. Is anyone thankful for that verse this

morning? I will remember their sins and their

lawless deeds no more." Now we should say that

obviously God does not truly forget these things

because He is God and He knows all things. It

is impossible for God to forget something because

the Bible says that God knows all things. God

knows all things actual. God knows all things

possible. That is what it means for God to be

omniscient. It means that He is all -knowing.

So He doesn't actually forget these things, but

in His mercy, He chooses not to bring them to

His remembrance. He chooses to put them to the

side and not hold them over our heads anymore,

which again is another way that we like to forgive

people, right? We say, oh, I forgive them. And

then what do we do? We keep all of their former

sins right there close at hand. And we say, oh,

if they mess up, If they say something, I'm going

to go right back over here and I'm going to tell

them all the things they've done. Do you remember

how I forgave you of this? Yeah? You remember

this big thing? And all we're doing is holding

it over their head. And that's not the way that

the Bible says that God forgave us. I think a

clear indication, if you want to know if you've

truly forgiven someone, a couple questions you

could ask yourself. If you claim that you've

forgiven someone, are you still treating them

as though they're guilty? the sins they've committed

against you. Because if you're still treating

them like they're guilty and you're still holding

them those sins over their head, it means that

you haven't actually forgiven them. Another good

question to think about, are you still bad -mouthing

them and taking every opportunity you have to

talk about them behind their back? You say, Pastor,

you're not me. I would never do that. I don't

go looking for opportunities to talk about. I

didn't say do you go looking for opportunities.

I said do you take every opportunity? If that

person's name comes up in conversation, you go,

you know what? This isn't gossip, but let me

just tell you what's going on over here and let

me tell you what they're doing. And you're taking

every opportunity you have to talk about that

person behind their back. If you're doing that,

does that really mean that you have forgiven

someone? Are you still thinking about them negatively

and constantly thinking about how they've wronged

you, what they've said, what they've done? Are

you still keeping them at arm's length and not

embracing them? Are you just tolerating them?

And I know the common response this morning,

because I get it all the time. People say to

me, well, pastor, you don't know what they did

to me. You don't know what they said about me.

You don't know how they have betrayed me, and

you don't know how badly it hurts. You don't

know what they've done. And I just want you to

hear me say this. I'm not denying any of that.

I'm not denying that they hurt you. I'm not denying

that they betrayed you, and I'm not denying that

it hurt. But I want you to notice here that the

Bible doesn't say that we're only to forgive

people when it is easy and costs us nothing.

The Bible never says forgiveness is supposed

to be easy. The Bible never says just forgive

people as long as it's convenient, as long as

it's comfortable, as long as it doesn't cost

you anything, as long as it is easy. What does

the Bible say here, folks? It says, forgive others

as God forgave you in Christ. You say, well,

why is that a big deal? Let me tell you why it's

a big deal. It's because here's how I know how

God forgave me. When God forgave me of my sins,

I know for a fact that I did not deserve it.

Did you deserve it? I can answer it for you.

I know for a fact you didn't deserve it either.

I know when God forgave me, I was not seeking

Him out. I wasn't apologizing. I wasn't feeling

guilty about what I had done. When I look at

God's forgiveness of me, I see that it was purely

unconditional and undeserved. And the Bible says

that is how you are to forgive others. When you

think about how people have hurt you and betrayed

you, And you're thinking about withholding forgiveness

from them. I want you to just remember that everything

that we have ever done to God is infinitely worse

than anything anyone has ever done to us. And

yet God still forgave us. And He moved closer

to us. You might say, well does that mean I should

forgive someone if they, yes. But what if they,

yes. Even if they, yes. The answer is always

yes, not because that person deserves it, but

because God has forgiven you in Christ of far

worse than they have ever done to you. You see,

here's the point that it's making here. Forgiveness

is never based on whether or not a person deserves

it, but on what God has done for us. Forgiveness

is never based on whether or not a person deserves

it, but on what God has done for us. You see,

forgiveness is easy as long as it's a concept.

Forgiveness is easy as long as it's nothing more

than an idea. But when you believe that God forgave

you and so you were called to forgive others,

and you're actually forced to practice that,

that's when you find out if you actually believe

what you claim to believe. There's a really famous

story of Cory Tim Boone, and many of you probably

know that name. She and her family hid Jews in

their home during the Holocaust. And when they

were discovered, Cory and her sister were sent

to a concentration camp at Ravensbrook, where

her sister eventually died due to harsh treatment

and malnourishment. And years after Corrie was

released, she was given a talk in a basement

on the topic of forgiveness. And she told the

people there, when we confess our sins, God cast

them into the deepest ocean, gone forever, and

so we must therefore forgive those who have wronged

us. And at the end of her talk, she was approached

by a man whom she immediately recognized. He

was a guard at Ravensbrook where she was held

as a prisoner with her sister. And she immediately

started panicking and she thought, there's no

way he recognizes me. I was just one of thousands

of prisoners there. There's no way he recognizes

me. The man comes up to her and he says, that

was a fine message. How good it is to know that

as you say, all of our sins are at the bottom

of the sea. You mentioned Ravensbrook in your

talk. I was a guard there. But since that time

I have become a Christian and I know that God

has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there.

But he said, I would like to hear it from your

lips as well. Will you forgive me? And here's

where the rubber met the road, right? She had

just told others, God has forgiven us, so we

must forgive others. And then immediately after

that God said, all right, here's an opportunity.

Let's see if you actually believe that. And she

said, as she looked at this man, all she could

think about was her sister and the slow agonizing

death that she experienced there under that man's

care. And she said that no part of her wanted

to forgive him. And then she had this thought.

She thought to herself, if God has cast your

sins and this man's sins into the depths of the

sea, then who are you to bring them to the surface

again? And as she thought about how God had forgiven

her, she was freed to forgive someone who had

wronged her so badly. You see, it's real easy

to talk about forgiveness. It's a lot harder

to actually practice forgiveness. And I'm saying

this from someone who's had this experience personally.

I've been hurt and betrayed by people in the

church. I know you wouldn't think that would

happen in the church. Turns out it does. I've

been hurt and betrayed by people in the church

so many times, I have lost count at this point.

And I'm telling you from personal experience,

it hurts. It is disappointing. Sometimes it is

just downright crushing when you think the people

closest to you could do something like this to

you. And every time that happens to you, church,

you have a choice. You can either dismiss that

person entirely and say, well, they're not even

really a Christian. If they were, they wouldn't

be acting this way. So clearly they're not even

a Christian. I don't want anything to do with

them anymore. I don't want to talk to them. I

don't want to see them. I don't want to interact

with them. You could do that. But does that display

God's forgiveness of us at all? I mean, wouldn't

it be more honoring to recognize that we live

in a broken world with broken people, and this

is going to be hard for you to hear, even Christians

are still going to be plagued by sin. and not

be perfect. Wouldn't it be more honoring to say,

Lord, this person has hurt me deeply. Help me

bear with them through my pain and frustration.

I mean, wouldn't it be more honoring to say,

Lord, this person really isn't acting in a Christ

-like manner right now. Help me to respond in

a way that is honoring to Christ. Help me navigate

this situation in a way that brings glory to

your name. Wouldn't it be more honoring to say,

Lord, I'm really hurt by what's happening and

my character and my actions are being misrepresented.

Help me trust in you for the vindication of my

character. Help me to bear with this person in

the midst of their sin as you have with me in

the midst of mine. Wouldn't that be what it looks

like to actually clothe yourself in the character

of Christ? Wouldn't that be... an honoring way

to show what God has done for us in Christ. And

when we do this, it's not just about forgiveness,

but when we put on the character of Christ and

we truly are clothed in His character, then let

me tell you something. Something special happens

in the church. When you clothe yourselves in

the character of Christ, you're going to see

that unity prevails in the church. I want you

to notice verses 14 and 15. It says, and above

all these, put on what, church? love which binds

everything together in perfect harmony and let

the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which

you were called in one body and be thankful.

Now I've said this to you many times before but

I'm going to say it to you again because it's

still true. Nothing will tear a church apart

quicker and nothing will kill a church quicker

than disunity and division. Amen. Now again,

you might say, well pastor, isn't it doctrinal

issues? Don't doctrinal issues divide and kill

churches more quickly than disunity? Yeah, sometimes

that's the case, but I think when you look at

churches that split all throughout the years,

what you're going to find is that it's often

disunity and division that tore that church apart.

And the reason that's the case is because it's

an easy target. You see, pretty much every church

is on guard against doctrinal issues. No pastor

wants to be labeled a false teacher or a heretic.

And most churches don't want to be labeled as

progressive or liberal. Most churches. And so

very few of these churches and these pastors,

they don't have their guard up against disunity.

They have their guard up against doctrinal issues.

And they say, we're going to be staunch on doctrine,

as you should. But the problem is they stop looking

at the importance of unity. And so they let their

guard down against it. Unity is not something

we create in the church, by the way. The Bible

says in Ephesians chapter 4, there's a command

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

from God that says we are called to maintain

the unity of the church. We do not create that.

God creates that in Christ, by His Spirit, binding

us together, and then you as a Christian are

called to maintain the unity of the church. It

means that you are to strive for unity. You are

to work for unity. It is your responsibility

as a Christian. You see, here's the thing that

you need to understand. The devil doesn't need

to kill your church by getting people to talk

about doctrinal issues, as long as he can just

get them to talk about the person sitting in

the pew behind them. That'll tear a church apart

quicker, will it not? You say, oh, it's doctrinal

issues, we wanna be, yeah, but if you're just

talking about the person sitting behind you,

And then the person behind you is talking about

the person behind them, and then all these little

conversations are going on, the church is going

to split, and it's going to divide. And I think

that what you're going to find is that when this

happens, there is often a lack of love where

there's division. Where there's division, where

there's disunity, there's a lack of love. And

our problem with love is the same problem we

have with forgiveness. We want love to be easy,

just like we want forgiveness to be easy. I say,

yeah, I'll forgive someone if they come groveling

towards me. If they come to me groveling, they

say, I'm so sorry. I know I've wronged you and

they really are feeling it. And I'm like, okay,

yeah, you did wrong me. All right, this feels

good. Then I'll forgive you because it's easy.

We want the same thing with love, do we not?

I'll love people as long as it's easy to love

them. I'll love people who agree with me on everything.

I love people who will just think the way I do.

I'll love people if they act rationally. I'll

love people if we just get along and there's

harmony and everything's nice and it's all sunshine

and rainbows. Then I'll love people. But I want

you to notice something here. The Bible never

says love is supposed to be easy. If love was

easy, listen to me church, we wouldn't need a

command telling us to love people. We would just

do it. And so I'm going to tell you something

that you need to hear that you already know.

The church is messy. Amen? Christians are messy.

It's been said before that the church is not

a museum of saints. It is a hospital for the

sick. And that is true. There is no perfect church.

And there is no perfect Christian, and listen

to me say this, as your pastor, the sooner you

realize that and embrace that, the better off

you're going to be for it. It's actually good

for you to hear that your dream church and your

dream community does not exist. And the reason

it's good for you to hear that is because God

doesn't want you living in some dream world.

He wants you living in the real world with real

broken, dysfunctional, hard to love people. I

love the way the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer

said it on this subject. He said, every wish

dream that is injected into the Christian community

is a hindrance to genuine community and must

be banished if genuine community is to survive.

He who loves his dream of a community more than

the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer

of the latter. Amen and amen. You are not called

to love your dream church. You are not called

to love your dream community. You were called

to love the people that God has placed you with.

It'd be easy, of course, to love everybody who

thought like us, agreed with us, acted rationally.

But if it were easy everybody would be doing

it Jesus said in Matthew 5 44 But I say to you

love your enemies and pray for those who persecute

you and he goes on to say in verse 46 For if

you love those who love you What reward do you

have do not even the tax collectors do the same

thing? What's Jesus saying there? Of course,

it's easy to love people who love you Of course,

it's easy to love people when it doesn't cost

you anything, when it's convenient. It doesn't

take a Christian to do that. Anybody can do that.

But it does take a Christian to love people who

are hard to love, who don't think like you, who

don't act like you, and who don't agree with

you on every single point. So here's what I want

you to understand, that the point the Bible's

making here is we are called to love people as

they are, not as we desire them to be. It'd be

easier for you to say amen if this wasn't so

difficult for us. But it's true, is it not? We

are called to love people as they are, not as

we desire them to be. You might say, why do we

love people this way? Because church, this is

how God loved us. I've said it to you before,

God does not love some future version of you.

God did not look at you and say, yeah, you know

what, he's pretty rough right now, but I see

some potential in him. I see what he's gonna

be one day. I know he's gonna get it all together

and all those rough edges are gonna be smoothed

out and one day he's gonna be lovable and he's

gonna have his life together and so I'm gonna

love him now on the basis of what he one day

will be. That's not what happened. God didn't

look at you and love some future version of you.

He looked at you in the midst of your brokenness

and your disobedience and your sin, and He said,

I love them right now, right where they're at.

Now, let me say this. God loves us too much to

leave us right there. He loves us enough to make

us more and more into the image of Christ. But

the point remains the same, that God did not

love some future version of you. He loved the

messed up you, the broken you, the you that did

not have it all together. And church, listen

to me. If this is how God has loved us, this

is how we are called to love others. Not love

some future version. I'll love them when they

get it together. I'll love them when they start

acting right. I'll love them when they're a little

bit more rational. I'll love them when they treat

me a little nicer. You're not called to love

some future version of them. You are called to

love them right where they are, as they are.

You see, it's not agreement. And it's not seeing

eye to eye on every little issue that binds the

church together. It is not thinking or acting

rationally that binds the church together. It

is love that binds the church together. Not superficial

love, not lip service, not just tolerating people,

but real, sacrificial, hard, Christian love that

binds the church together in perfect harmony.

If you want to be a unified and united church,

then above all else, church, above the compassionate

hearts, above the meekness, above the humility,

above everything, you have to put on love. The

same love that God showed us in Christ. And one

of the best ways you can do this is by letting

the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Notice

what he says in verse 15. 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. 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.

He says to let the peace of Christ rule in your

hearts it means to let the peace of Christ be

your guiding and governing principle in life.

Because whatever your guiding or governing principle

is is going to determine what you say and do.

And we can show this to be the case fairly easily.

For instance, if my governing or guiding principle

in life is being right, then I'm going to do

everything I can to win every argument I can

and prove to people that I can be right in every

single situation. If my governing or guiding

principle in life is getting my way, then I'm

going to do everything I can to make sure that

I get my way no matter what it costs other people.

If my governing or guiding principle in life

is being liked, then I'm gonna do everything

I can to make sure that I please everyone and

that everyone likes me and everyone thinks well

of me all the time, which you know is impossible,

right? We get that? There are gonna be people

who don't like you. You understand this, yes?

I don't see enough nods, okay? You need to understand

this. You cannot please everyone. If you think

that you can and you want to see that you can't,

I encourage you to come shadow me for a week

and I will prove to you that you can't. That

offer is open to anyone who wants it, by the

way. But if my governing and guiding principle

in life is the peace of Christ, then I'm going

to do everything I can to make the presence of

Jesus known, the person of Jesus loved, the name

of Jesus magnified, and the glory of Jesus treasured.

If the peace of Christ is truly my governing

and guiding principle, then every single time

there is a dispute or a conflict, I'm going to

let the peace of Jesus determine the words I

speak and the actions I take. What words or actions

are most going to display the character of Christ

in this situation? What words or actions are

most going to align with Jesus' will and desire?

These are the things that you need to be asking

yourself because here's the point that these

verses are making unless we are guided by peace

We will never be guided to peace Unless we are

guided by peace. We will never be guided to peace.

I Think every single church in the world Wants

to have peace. Yes We desire peace. We want to

be at peace with one another. Let me tell you

something church. No one just stumbles into peace.

Peace doesn't just happen. You're never just

gonna be going about your daily life and end

up at peace. You have to have peace as your guiding

principle, your governing principle. It has got

to be your compass that directs your actions

and the words and what you do. Because we're

very bad at ending up where we want to go if

we're left to ourselves and if we don't have

some sort of guiding principle. And it's actually

been proven. Some researchers did a very fun

study where they took some participants and they

put them in a desert and then they put them in

an open field and they put a destination about

a hundred yards across from them and they said,

here's what we want you to do. We want you to

walk just to the other side. Go to that destination

a hundred yards away. and just walk in a straight

line to that destination. Everybody was able

to do it. It's not that hard, right? But then

they put blindfolds on them. And they said, all

right, same exact thing. All we want you to do

is walk 100 yards in a straight line to that

destination. We've already done it. You know

how easy it is? Go for it. And what they found

is pretty much every single participant ended

up walking in circles. Even though they thought

they were walking in a straight line, they ended

up walking in circles around and around because

it turns out that when you don't have a reference

point, it's very hard to get to where you want

to go. And in the same way, church, without the

peace of Christ as our guide, we're going to

drift off course. If we rely solely on our own

feelings, Our circumstances, or even our own

reasoning, we may think that we're headed in

the right direction, but inevitably we're going

to get off track. Are we not? We'll never find

true and lasting peace by following our own instincts.

It is only when we let the peace of Christ act

as our compass, our guiding and governing principle,

that we will be guided towards true biblical

peace. You have to have that peace as a reference

point. And you have to say, I'm going to do everything

I can under the power of the Holy Spirit to get

to where we want to go. I'm going to let every

single word I say, every action I take be with

that peace as my end goal. I'm going to keep

it in mind at all times. Because I want to just

encourage you and let you know that Jesus wants

His church to have peace. Amen? He wants his

church to be unified. He wants us to be united.

The devil will do his part to tear us apart.

We don't need to make his job any easier, church.

Jesus wants his church to live in this way. I

think every person in here this morning needs

to ask themselves, am I going to continue to

wear the old clothes that belong to the old self

or am I going to clothe myself in the character

of Christ? Am I going to forgive others who have

hurt me and wronged me? Because I realize that

everything I've ever done to God is infinitely

worse than anything anyone could ever do to me.

Am I going to love people who are hard to love

because I realize that God loved me at my absolute

worst. So who am I not to love people who don't

quite measure up to where I'd like them to be

at this point? Am I going to strive for unity

and let the peace of Christ determine the words

and the actions that I take? I want everybody

in here this morning, ask God's people to commit

to clothe ourselves in the character of Christ

in such a way that we let the entire world know

that when they see us and they see the way that

we live, we are determining we are living for

Jesus and Jesus alone. Amen? Let's pray. Our

Father, this is what we desire, and we know that

it is not possible in and of ourselves. Lord,

we want so desperately to be a people who are

pleasing in your sight. We want to be a people

who forgive others the way that you have forgiven

us. We want to be a people who love others the

way that you have loved us, and we want to be

a church, Lord, that is unified and united and

strives to have that peace. But God, we can't

do this on our own. Lord, if we're left to ourselves,

we will never forgive people unless it is very

convenient and easy. And we will not love people

who are hard to love. We will only love those

who are easy to love. We'll never arrive at true

biblical peace. We might have agreement and we

might have an absence of conflict for a little

bit, Lord, but we will never have that true peace

that we desire. And so, Father, what we are asking

in this moment is that you would help us, that

you would give us the type of hearts that desire

these things that you desire for us. God, I pray

for everybody in here this morning. I pray for

everyone who's watching online and everyone who

will listen to this later, God, that you would

help us strive To be the type of people who clothe

ourselves in the character of Christ Lord I pray

if there's anyone in our lives right now that

we're struggling to forgive That you would remind

us of how much you have forgiven us in Christ

And that you would free us up To forgive them

God and not hold on to that burden anymore not

not be under the weight of that anymore But to

be freed to offer them the same forgiveness you

gave us Lord if there are any people in our lives

this morning that we are struggling to love because

frankly they're hard to love and they have irritated

us and they have wronged us and they are still

acting in a way that we don't like I pray God

that you would remind us of how much you have

loved us in Christ and how we didn't deserve

it and we didn't measure up and that once again

you would free us to be able to live in a way

that reflects the character of Christ And Lord,

more than anything this morning, I pray that

You would unite us in peace, that we would be

a church that is guided by the peace of Christ,

that does everything that we do with that peace

in mind, and that we will be directed by it,

so that when the world sees us, they will see

what You have done for us in Christ. Help us

to live in that way God. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen Christian and Mark and I will be down front

if you'd like to come pray with us at this time