Colossians 3:12-14 | Set Apart to Dress the Part

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

This morning, oh, by the way, guys, uh, we've got a little gift for you.

I thought of giving you roses or carnations, but um, I'll rather give you a meatstick.

So after the service, go to the info desk there.

Uh, we've got a few guys willing to uh share meat sticks with you.

This morning I wake up and my wife says, Happy Father's Day, and I said, Yes, thank you.

Where's my gift?

And she says, I've got to hear you preach, and that will determine what you get.

So the heat is on, uh, but today is Father's Day, and I want to say Happy Father's uh day today.

And uh Jason and his family is here today, even though they are on sabbatical, and I am not gonna give Jason any work today.

Uh that's part of the sabbatical, right?

But you can get a meat stick, uh Jason.

And you too, Joshua, you can get a meat stick.

Um happy Father's Day, and um, I want to especially say Happy Father's Day to my dad who is listening from South Africa.

You know, my dad and I worked in business, and he always told me dress the part.

He said, if you want to be seen as a professional person, you need to dress like a professional.

And that is just what I tried to do.

And one business trip, I'm out in Thailand, and right around the corner from the hotel was a tailor shop.

Who's being at a tailor shop?

A men's tailor.

I mean, that's like, whoa.

We've never, I've never experienced something like that.

So I go out there and the guy measures me, and and then he says, pick out a fabric for you.

And of course, I picked out nothing but the finest fabric.

Kashmir, of course.

Kashmir is the fabric that sultans wear.

Cool in the summer, warm in the winter, the guy said to me.

Three days later, I went for the final footing and I felt like a sultan walking out there.

I wore my cashmere jacket to work every day, everywhere.

And when somebody made a comment, I would say, cashmere, of course, or tailor-made, of course.

I was very uh proud of my tailor-made blazer.

But then things started going dismally wrong.

I noticed one day as I picked up my art, there was a a gaping, a gaping opening there, and I'm like, what's happening here?

Well, the stitching started unraveling.

You see, the stitches weren't made of yarn that was from cashmere.

He used some cheap old yarn to stitch together all these pieces of cashmere fabric.

It wasn't long when that thing just literally fell apart in the seams.

And it ended up in the dumpster.

I've got a plan with this silly story, but in many ways, fathers help keep things together.

Christ-like fathers have a way to keep things together.

It begins with the family and then it transitions into society at large.

It goes from family to church to culture at large.

However, we should not just leave that task up to fathers, but to individual Christians as well.

You see, Christ-like Christians really keep society from falling apart.

In fact, Christians, individual Christians who are Christ-like, have the ability to reach and influence the world for Jesus Christ.

You see, Christians, when thinking of influencing and reaching the world, they often look towards missionary organizations to do the job.

Or they want some popular, well-known, charismatic Christian leader to do that for them.

However, so many missionary organizations, so many Christian leaders today are courting the world by entertaining worldly philosophies that run contrary to Christ and Christ's likeness.

And that is what Paul warns against in Colossians 2.8.

Colossians 2.8 says, see that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human traditions, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.

You see, people are talking about influencing the world and reaching the world for Jesus Christ, but then they embrace the world and its philosophies and it hopes then to influence and reach people for Jesus Christ.

But Jesus would say that has become worthless salt because that salt has lost its preserving effects.

The reality of matters is this.

And we pray that maybe God should send us a Christian president or a more Christian congressman.

And we often put a lot of stock in things like outreach events or outreach programs or some peaceful protest march in the name of Jesus, but in all honesty, these seldom produce a durable and sustainable influence.

It might reach people, but it seldom influences people.

Let's look at God's design on how Christians can have a lasting, durable influence in the world.

Turn to Colossians 3 12, my friends.

Colossians 3 12.

Before we can get to Colossians 4 5, which is the goal, beginning actually there in earlier on, where Paul speaks about family in verse 19.

He says, husbands, love your wives.

And then children in verse 20, be obedient to your parents.

And fathers in verse 21, do not exasperate your children.

And see the progression of influence here, going from the Christian family.

Then it goes into the bigger Christian family cult, the church.

And then eventually, verse 5, he says, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity.

See, there is reaching an influencing culture.

Before we can get there, we must begin with ourselves.

We must begin with ourselves.

And the instruction there in Colossians 3:12 to 14 is getting down to those grassroots levels of influence and reach.

Colossians 3:12–14

Verse 12.

I'm reading from the English Standard Version.

But verse 12, put on then, 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 you also must forgive.

And above all, these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

The title of today's message is set apart to dress the part.

Set apart to dress the part.

Firstly, I'm going to explain to you what it means to be set apart for God's purposes, and then how to dress for that part.

Paul is describing what a Christian is.

A Christian is someone who has been chosen by God, set apart by God.

The Christian is set apart also for a purpose.

And they must clothe themselves in the proper attire to fulfill that purpose.

Think of a police officer.

He has a uniform because the uniform says something of his purpose.

If Christians indeed understand their purpose, that they have been set apart by God and they clothe themselves in proper attire, verse 5 will become a reality.

That they will walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of their time.

Making the best use of our time means to reach people and influence people for Jesus Christ.

That is the best use of your time while you are alive and kicking.

But influencing the world, everybody wants to influence the world, everybody wants to make an impact, but in all honesty, it begins with me.

It begins with you.

It does not begin with the election of Christian politicians, but the election of an individual person by God.

All the ingredients here of the cake that I'm baking or the fabric that I'm weaving today is in verse 12.

The NASV reads, so as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved.

The ESV just kind of swaps it around, but nevertheless, the principle is there.

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

Here are two things we need to understand here from this verse.

Number one, we must understand we have been set apart as Christians for a purpose.

And number two is we will need to dress the part.

As those who have been chosen.

As Christians, we must understand what it means to be set apart, what it means to be chosen, what it means to be holy, and what does it mean to be beloved.

The word chosen here is where we get the English word election from.

In one sense, God chose a specific group of people in his wisdom.

He chose them and he set them apart to be objects of his compassion and kindness.

He has also chosen them for a purpose, a holy purpose.

The word holy there is where we get the English word sanctified from or being set apart for sacred purposes.

You think of the Levitical priest, and an individual was at a certain age was set apart for service to God.

So being chosen and being holy in a religious sense means that we've been separated as Christians from mainstream population from ordinary activity now to extraordinary activity.

1 Peter 2.9 describes a little more what it means to be a chosen or set apart people.

1 Peter 2.9 reads, but you are a what?

Chosen race.

That very same word we see there in Colossians 3.9.

You were chosen race, a royal priesthood and a holy nation.

Similar vocabulary.

A people for God's own possession.

Christians belong to God.

They don't belong to themselves, but they have a purpose for which they were chosen and set apart to be holy.

What does it say there?

So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him, who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So there's something to be said for the Christian who is taken out of the world in a religious and spiritual sense to fulfill a specific task.

Christians are not only chosen and holy people, but they are also his beloved people.

Now passage speaks about the Christians, the Christian being God's beloved people.

You see, this is where Christians often go wrong.

They really, really, really want to influence people for Jesus.

They really, really want to reach the world for Jesus, but they so desire to be loved by the world.

They want to impress the world, they want to walk lockstep and sink with the world.

And therefore they embrace the philosophies of the world in order to gain the world's love and affection.

But Jesus warrants, he says, you can't do anything about it, but the world does hate you.

The world does hate you.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Because we are chosen people as Christians, lo and behold, I will give you this truth.

The world will hate you.

The world will hate you.

But it does not mean that you can't have influence in the world.

It does not mean you cannot reach the world for Jesus Christ.

But you've got to understand the world hates Jesus and the world will hate you because you are chosen and beloved.

John 17, 17 says, sanctify them in the truth.

In other words, make them holy in the truth, says Jesus.

Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Every Christian has to come to the gr uh to the understanding that they have been sent by Jesus into the world that hates them.

Just like Jesus, what are you thinking?

What were you thinking?

Why do you send us into a world that hates us?

Maybe we can do something that the world likes us.

What do you like, world?

Okay, I'm gonna like it too.

So that way, if you like me, you might like Jesus.

And that's just not the case there.

We need to know that the world will hate us because we are chosen holy and beloved people.

Yet we have a mission.

Jesus, verse 18 and John 17, says, I have sent them into the world.

So it's we are not of the world, but we are in the world, but we are also sent to the world for a purpose.

We are physically present in the world, and that does not mean that we as Christians must isolate ourselves from the world, or, but rather we are to isolate or even separate ourselves from the world in the way we think, in the way we live, and the way we act.

So we are to be set apart from the world, primarily in how we think and act.

Our conduct and character must be evident to everybody in the world, like, oh, those are Christians.

That's not a Christian.

That's a Christian, that's not a Christian.

Hate that one, don't hate that one.

He's a vess.

Do you think in our culture of today the world can see the difference, really?

Well, Malachi says something in his prophecy about a people that is very different.

Malachi 3.18 says, then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Wow.

There's something to be said that people will one day see what is the difference between the righteous and the wicked, and those who serve God and the one who does not serve God.

With the coming of Christ and the endowment of his Holy Spirit, it should be very evident who are the righteous, who are the wicked, who belongs to Jesus, who doesn't belong to Jesus, who are chosen, who are not chosen, who are beloved and who are not beloved, who is holy and who is not holy.

It must be very clear to the world.

Even though we are in the world, we are not of the world.

It's because we dressed apart.

If Christians don't wear the proper attire, it creates confusion to the world.

We may call ourselves Christian, and we might say we are chosen and set apart from the world.

We belong to Jesus.

We declare his righteousness, we declare the fact that we have put our faith in his death, burial, and resurrection.

But if we do not dress ourselves in righteous character and conduct, how will the world be able to see the difference?

Colossians 3 12 and 14.

I want you to notice two words there.

So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, set apart people, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Jump over to verse 14.

And above all, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

And that's from the NSB.

Every time in the New Testament, uh, when Paul uses the The word put on.

He is talking about getting dressed, put on the uniform, dress in proper entire.

You see, acceptance of doctrine about Christ, about his death on the cross, about the forgiveness of sins, must lead to a decisive modification in one's character and one's conduct.

And if that's not there, we are naked, or at least scantily clothed.

But Paul says, put on Christlieness.

Put on in duo, which simply translates, dress yourselves.

We are to put on this very beautiful fabric that is more precious than Kashmir.

It is like putting on a cloak or a tunic or some garment.

And one author puts it very clearly.

Eugene Peterson says the following So chose my God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you.

And then he lists compassion, kindness, etc., etc.

And verse 14, and regardless of what else you put on, wear love.

It's your basic all-purpose garment.

Never be without it.

Christians have to dress the part.

We cannot just say who we are.

We need to be very evident to the church and to the world who we are.

As one author says, creed should be followed by conduct.

Christian doctrine and Christian duty go together.

Pilots, soldiers, and athletes must rest apart.

And so to the Christian believer.

How does that Christian garment look like?

What is the Christian uniform all about?

It is there.

Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, forgiveness and love.

If we think of these Christian virtues, they make up the Christian's uniform.

The other day I'm fishing out at the pond there catching trout, and this guy comes up to me and he's like chatting with me.

He's like, How's the fishing?

I'm like, great.

Did you catch any big fish?

Oh yeah, monsters.

And he's just chit-chatting.

But at some point I look at the guy's uniform and I'm like, yeah, he's not here to chit-chat.

And he's neatly dressed, man.

He dressed the purple.

He had a command about him.

He was he was polite, courteous, but he had a command.

And guess what?

On his shoulders there were two lapels, that's his North Dakota fishing game.

And then I clicked.

You want to see my fishing license?

He's like, yeah.

So he first wanted me to admit guilt to catching all the fish, and then I luckily had my, well providentially had my fishing license with me.

You see, Christians have to dress themselves in the proper uniform.

That uniform consists of a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, forgiveness and love, and then everybody will see okay, this is what you are about.

This is who you are, this is your uniform, this is what your labels are saying, chosen and holy and beloved by God.

But this is how we dress.

If you think about these attributes of a Christian, they are attributes of Christ.

They are encapsulated in the gospel.

Christ had a heart of compassion.

Christ does show himself kind, humble, gentle, patient, forgiving, and loving.

If we wear this uniform, what do people see?

They see the attributes of the Lord and the Savior.

But let me tell you, the world does not see these things.

The world is void of compassion and kindness and humility, gentleness and patience and forgiveness and love.

You see, people will appear very nice, they will be very polite, but they seldom go any further than that.

We don't see people often have a heart of compassion consistently.

And if they consistently compassionate, are they really kind to people?

And do they do that in a very gentle and patient way?

And even forgiving people.

You just don't see it.

You see these virtues here.

I picked them out.

I'm gonna pick out two, which I think is very important for the Christian church, to have an influence and culture and to reach people, and that is compassion, a heart of compassion, and kindness.

Those two are scarcer than gold and infinitely valuable.

It impacts people in a great way simply because it is so rare.

Humility, or rather compassion and kindness.

Those two virtues are worth the weight in gold.

But something I learned this week, there is something more valuable than gold.

Do you know what that is?

Rhodium.

Rhodium.

Rhodium is a very rare element, and it comes in at a mere fifteen thousand dollars an ounce.

It's incredibly valuable and very short sought after because in every motor vehicle built today that has a catalytic converter contains some rhodium.

The world seeks after Christian rhodium, which is compassion and kindness.

When people visit a Christian church, they have, as unbelievers, a little notepad in their mind and they want to check off these boxes.

Do I see people with a heart of compassion and do I see kindness?

And if that's not there, they couldn't care less about the doctrine.

They will just draw a line through that congregation.

People grade the church based on its heart of compassion and kindness.

Let's unpack this word, heart of kindness.

What does it mean to have a heart of compassion, rather?

What does it mean to have a heart of compassion?

The idea here is very much about feelings and emotions.

But as it practically works out, is very relational and caring about others, not oneself.

It's not about being in touch with one's own feelings, but rather be in touch with others and how they are doing and a concern for someone else's well-being.

Put on a heart of compassion.

Paul is saying, put on this tunic that is called a heart of compassion.

There is this thing called the super tunica that Prince Charles III wore at his coronation on May 6, 2023.

That super tunica had threads of gold woven in it.

It's been used in Great Britain for centuries at coronation ceremonies, and it weighs a whopping four pounds.

You see, Christians are to clothe themselves in something far more valuable than the super tunica.

They have to wear something that is even rarer than gold, something made of rhodium threads, if there's something like that.

And that is called a heart of compassion.

A heart of compassion has nothing to do with the heart.

Let me just break that news to you.

The Greek word cardia or cardiaa is not in the text.

It doesn't speak of a heart.

It actually speaks of your bowels, your intestines, maybe even the spleen, the stomach, which makes it very visceral.

Have you ever seen something and your stomach churns?

You've got a knot in your stomach.

You see somebody just suffering, and you're like, oh, that's gut-wrenching.

That's what Paul is talking about.

That's when we see somebody and we go, oh, I'm always sick to my stomach to see you suffer like this.

My stomach is churning.

That is the idea here.

It's more than just being sensitive to somebody's physical, spiritual, and emotional needs.

It's actually the beginning, the primer for involvement.

Let me give you an example there.

Luke 10, 33.

Of the Good Samaritan, it is said that he was on a journey and he came upon this guy and he saw him in his deplorable state.

And what does he say there?

He felt compassion.

It's the same word.

The same word.

He felt it was gut-wrenching seeing that guy.

His stomach was in a knot just seeing that guy suffering there.

In fact, one author says there the call for compassion is more than an appeal for us to feel with or for and for the needy.

It is a call to care enough to become involved and to help by taking some action that will set others' lives on a fresh new course.

Do you want to tell me the Samaritan just went, oh dude, I feel terrible for you?

And then he walks up.

He set that guy's the course of his life on a fresh new direction.

The world has a lot to say about compassion.

We hear it all over.

We've got to be more compassionate.

Hey, dude, you should have a heart on people.

You should support our cause.

But you know, Proverbs 28:5 says, evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all things.

Proverbs 28:5

The world will say something like, well, justice is compassion, and compassion is justice, and you gotta do the Christian thing.

But who are these evil people to tell us what this is all about?

But they want compassion.

The world craves compassion.

And as we hear the word, the world call for compassion, at the same time, they embrace philosophies that go in the opposite direction.

They embrace Freud, Nietzsche, Marx, and Darwin, but they reject Jesus and his followers.

You know, Nietzsche once said, compassion on the whole thwarts the law of evolution, which is the law of natural selection.

Compassion is for the weak.

While the world really craves compassion, it's really confused as to how that's supposed to work.

They want it, they desire it, but they are naturals.

They are naturals.

They are not twice-born set-apart people, new creations in Christ.

They do not understand compassion.

We need to show them what it looks like.

We know how it looks like because we have Jesus who has exemplified it for us.

Matthew 9 36.

Seeing the people, he felt compassion for them.

Same thing, same word.

Was gut-wrenching on Jesus.

When he saw the people, distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

Luke 7, 13.

When Jesus saw her, he felt compassion for her.

Same concept as in Colossians 3, 12.

And he said to her, Do not weep.

Compassion in action leads to kindness.

Kindness begins with a heart of compassion.

Or as one author says, kindness is compassion in action.

Alexander Strauk says, kindness is love and work clothes.

Kindness is the readiness to do good, to help, to relieve burdens, and to serve, to be tender and to be sympathetic to others.

My dear friends, if we don't have a heart of compassion, we will be very unlikely to show kindness to people.

There is this song by a well-known rock band.

Imagine dragons.

Who's heard them?

They've got a song, natural.

And the lyrics go as follows.

He says, In order to make it in this world, you have to be the hunter rather than the prey.

Because you are a natural.

A beating heart of stone.

You've got to be so cold to make it in the world.

Yeah, you're a natural.

That's what the world knows.

The world knows Marx, Nietzsche, Darwin, and Freud, but it does not know Jesus and his people.

David's version of Imagine Dragon's Song is Psalm 1710.

They have closed their unfeeling heart with their mouths.

They speak proudly.

The world is generally characterized by its unfeeling heart.

Lots of talk, very little action.

They do not have hearts of flesh like we do as Christians.

Let us look at what happens when there is a heart of compassion.

When compassion is part of the Christian attire and when it's worn properly, it does influence and reach people for Christ in the form of kindness.

Kindness.

That's the second thing I want to highlight.

And just to put you at ease, I'm not going to work through all these virtues.

Okay?

You've got to be able to go home, enjoy Father's Day, and play with the toys that your wife and kids have given you.

But dignity health's motto is the following Everything we do starts with the proven idea that human connection leads to better health.

Okay.

That is why human kindness is at the heart of everything we do.

That's why human kindness is at the heart of everything we do.

They've got a blurp.

Dignity Health, I don't think it's around here, but Dignity Health is a huge healthcare organization, and they're one of their blurps is hello human kindness.

Hello, human kindness.

No, humans are not kind.

Naturally born people are not kind.

They can be nice, they can be polite, they can be friendly, but they are not kind.

Naturally.

Human kindness is oxymoron.

Human kindness.

This Christian kindness.

Because remember, Proverbs says, evil men do not understand these things.

It's natural for natural-born people to be unkind.

You put kids into a room, you actually have to teach them to be kind to each other.

I mean, you put something in the room there, you put one cookie in there and put three kids.

I mean, they will throttle each other to just have that.

I'm shocked to see how unkind children can be, which once again brings it into the importance of fathers and mothers, Christians, to teach people about kindness.

It's natural to be cruel and unkind.

Christ-like kindness is very hard to find in the workplace, in the classroom, even on the playground.

I often hear kids.

How's it at school?

Oh, the kids are so unkind.

I mean, that that little phrase is like, what's happening?

Oh, the kids are just not very kind to me.

I mean, that's kindness is rarer than rhodium.

Yet it is part of the Christian supertunica.

Soldiers, law enforcement, athletes, and even King Charles had a dress for the part, and we as Christians cannot even imagine influencing the world or reaching people for Jesus Christ without kindness in the fabric.

You see, Christians often have a powerful and punchy message, but kindness is lacking.

Christians who lack kindness in their very fabric are like the Robio cowboy who shows up at the Calvary stampede dressed in a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, wearing yoga pants.

It's just plain weird, and it sends mixed messages, right?

And that's a church that lacks compassion, is a church that will lack kindness, is a church that's confusing to people.

I don't see the fish and game guy, the North Dakota fish and game guy, or the wildlife guy, game warden, whatever he's called, he did not wear flip-flops.

I mean, if he wore flip-flops, I'm like, dude, stop bugging me.

I'm trying to fish here, you're interrupting me.

We got to dress in proper attire.

And when that attire is sending a message of I love Jesus, I've been saved by Jesus, Jesus wants to save you too.

Jesus is nice, but I'm unkind and incompassionate, or not compassionate, that sends a mixed message.

A failure to show kindness.

Practically is the ultimate failure in the church's mission, I believe, because kindness is an attribute of God and his son Jesus Christ.

Look there is Luke 6.35.

But love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return.

And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.

For He Himself is kind.

To who?

Ungratefully evil men.

Ungrateful and evil men.

A failure to demonstrate kindness will mean an ultimate failure to demonstrate Christ's general disposition towards even ungrateful and evil men.

Compromising on kindness, my friends, is a compromise in the Christian message.

Peter mentions that in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 3, where Peter asks the people, Have you indeed tasted the kindness of the Lord?

1 Peter 2:3

If you tasted kindness, you will be able to show it.

But if you can't have kindness, you've not tasted it.

You can't give something that you don't have.

Here's something that struck me this week, Matthew 11, 30.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Now that word easy, my yoke is easy, that's not a good translation.

Not that I'm a scholar, but somebody told me it's a bad translation.

The Greek word prestos is the same word for kindness in Colossians 3.12.

But it does make sense.

What is the nature of the yoke that Jesus lays on people who desire to follow him?

It is a yoke of kindness.

What Jesus lays upon people is not this crushing burden of rather be the hunter than the prey.

The yoke that he lays upon people who wants to follow him is a yoke of kindness, so representative of his tender nature and his kind disposition to all people, especially those who follow him.

The world only knows one yoke and one burden.

It is a cruel and harsh burden and yoke.

The world really desires kindness.

They find it refreshing, attractive, and distinctively different.

I'll tell you a little story here quickly, and then we gotta wrap it up.

Augustine, the year 387.

The church is not in good shape at that point.

You can't find truth anywhere, good preaching anywhere.

And here's this man by the name of Augustine.

He's living a reprobate life in debauchery, drunken revelry.

And then one day in a dark cathedral in Milan, he met this bishop by the name of Ambrose.

And he was immediately moved by this man's kindness.

And then his excellent preaching.

This is what Augustine said.

He twittered it.

Well, Twitter in those days it was whatever.

But he says, I began, this is what Augustine says of Ambrose, I began to love him.

Not at first as a teacher of the truth, but as a fellow creature who was kind to me.

Kindness moved this man, Augustine, away from his debauchery and sin and drew him to the gospel.

Augustine further says, that man of God received me like a father and expressed pleasure at my coming with kindness.

Most fitting for an elder of the church.

Kindness goes a long way in influencing, leading, and reaching people.

The world does not need more of its own medicine.

And what it needs is Christians clothed in a tunic of Christ-likeness.

You see, today's time you can find a doctrinally sound church.

Well, probably not in every block, but you can find a doctrinally sound church.

They are few and far between.

But it's often harder to find a doctrinally sound church that is both compassionate and kind to the people they seek to reach and influence for Jesus.

As Alexander Strauk said in his excellent book, 15 Descriptions of Love.

Get this sweet, sweet book.

15 Descriptions of Love.

Oops.

He said, we must cultivate a kind disposition to reach and influence people for Jesus Christ.

Acts of kindness impact people in a big way and capture the attention.

A card sent to a sick one, a concerned phone call, a dinner invitation, a readiness to help, relieve a burden, a caring voice, a gentle touch, a thoughtful gesture, a simple expression of another's concern.

A quick and unplanned visit.

This way is the way of kindness.

This is the more excellent way.

A call for dinner, a readiness to help, relieve a burden is not always easy, my friends, to practice kindness.

It's hard to practice.

It's even more hard to practice it if you love somebody, but you don't particularly like them.

I hear it so often.

Well, you know, it's not that I don't love them.

I just don't care much for them.

Or I I I just don't like them.

My dear friends, kindness, kindness impact people in a big way.

Especially when we show kindness to the unlovable.

And what did God show us?

Have we forgotten that the kindness of the Lord is what led us to repentance?

Romans 2.14.

There's one more clothing item in the Christian's wardrobe, which I will just quickly go over.

And that is in Colossians 3.14.

Paul reminds of the super tunica there that makes everything stay together.

Ephesians, uh Colossians 3.14.

And above all, these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

I like that.

That which puts everything, binds everything together in perfect harmony.

I wish, I wish my tailor did not gip me on the urn, the threads that he used to stitch my blazer together.

Otherwise, I would have worn it today.

I would have told you it's cashmere, dude.

It's cashmere.

Tailor-made, of course.

But instead, I would rather show you love.

Because love is this perfect fabric that weeds the garment of church, family, and society together.

It is like cashmere.

It's cool in the summer, warm in the winter.

It would be pleasant for every season.

You see, churches go through cool seasons and cold seasons, winter seasons, summer seasons, very hot seasons, unpleasant seasons.

But what keeps everything together is what?

Love.

Love makes church harmonious.

And let me tell you, there's so much disharmony in the world, and the world is maybe hypocritical in admitting it.

But when somebody walks into harmonious church, they go, What's going on here?

This is so different.

Work is disharmonious, school is disharmonious, politics is disharmonious, it's just chaos out there.

And now I walk into a church, and the very fabric of the church is like cashmere.

Joyful, and no matter the season, pleasant to wear.

Now, my friends, do I need to review to convince you that you have been set apart for this very purpose of reaching and influencing people for Jesus?

Do I need to convince you anymore that if you dress the part and you wear that super tunica made of threads of rhodium or rather compassion and kindness, that you will actually have a huge influence in society and culture.

Nobody's interested in a cowboy dressed in spandex.

Nobody's interested in a Christian that is not properly dressed in Christ's likeness.

We must cultivate a kind disposition to reach and influence the people for Jesus Christ.

So let's reread this passage.

In the words of Eugene Peterson, so chosen by God for this new life of love, dressed in the wardrobe that God picked out for you.

Compassion, kindness, etc.

And regardless of what else you put on, make sure that you wear love.

It's your basic all-purpose garment.

Never be without it.

Let us pray and ask God to give us the grace to be properly dressed as people who are set apart for his purposes.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have given us a heart that is not of stone, but of flesh.

Help us, O Heavenly Father, to become evermore what we are declared to be.

We are declared righteous.

Let us conduct ourselves in righteousness in all our behavior.

May our character become more in line with what we are created to be.

We are new creatures in Christ.

The old man is dead.

There's a new man and a new suit.

Let us wear this beautiful new tailor-made suit that is so more precious than gold.

This is how, Lord, we will use the time wisely, and that we will conduct ourselves in a way that is winsome to unbelievers.

May we never leave church.

Without being compassionate and kind.

I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.