Maturity in Christ (Colossians 3:12-17)

Morning.

If you have your Bible, go ahead and open up to Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

We'll be looking at verses 12 through 17.

Thank you, Rick.

That was very kind of you.

And thank you, Ben and Chris, and the elders for the opportunity to be here this morning.

It's a great joy to teach God's Word.

It's something that we should not approach lightly.

We should approach this time with much reverence, but also with much joy as we come before His Word.

So if you are able, could you please stand while we read our text today?

Colossians chapter 3, verses 12 through 17.

Colossians 3:12–17

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do.

But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.

Let the word of God, the word of Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with praise in your hearts to the Lord.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through hand.

Father God, we thank you for this morning.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

Lord, that you have given us your words.

You've given us 66 books to where we can know you.

We can know how to live.

We can know our Savior Jesus Christ.

This special revelation is amazing.

And we praise and thank you that you put it in our hands.

We are undeserving of it.

But Lord, you are merciful and gracious.

You gave your word to us, you spoke it to us, and you sent your son to die for us.

And we find that in your word.

And I pray, Lord, that as we encounter your word, we'd be changed.

Lord, that that when your word goes forth, it would not return void.

And Lord, that the people here would hear your words, not mine.

That they would hear the truth you have for them, and that they could leave this place changed.

That they could be different because they encountered your word.

Not because they encountered one another, which is a great thing, not they encountered me, which isn't that great a thing, but Lord, that they encounter your word.

That's an amazing thing.

Let us be changed every time we read it, every time we come to it.

And Lord, just bless and guide our time this morning.

Give me the words to say that are yours and not my own.

And just bless this church, bless the elders, bless the leaders, and continue to grow to be a beacon in this community for the gospel, for salvation, for joy for its people, and for glory to your name.

We ask the year in Jesus.

Amen.

You can be seated.

Colossians, you guys, is a great, great book.

My favorite book in the New Testament is probably Ephesians, which is basically Colossians.

So this is great.

And I've luckily gone through this book several times, so it's awesome.

It's a great book, and there's a lot of practical wisdom for us today.

The title of the message this week is Maturity in Christ.

And I pray that we are all moving towards maturity, that we are seeking to grow.

I have this shirt that I got years ago, and it just says be better.

And I love it because it just reminds me that I should be better.

I should try.

I should grow.

I should become more and more the person that Jesus has called me to be.

And that is that's maturing.

We should all be doing that.

I pray again that even in our short time this morning, that you will change just a little bit.

As you encounter the living and active word of God, that you do not remain the same, but are changed more and more into the image of Jesus.

I think Paul this week gives us uh in this text actually, gives us, I think, five practical ways in which we can grow.

Um and they're put on.

So they're basically what he says here put on Christ, put on his attitude, put on his love, put on peace, and put on his encouragement.

So let's jump right into it in verse 12.

We're gonna go systematically through each verse and break it down.

So verse 12, just the beginning, just the first part of it, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved.

Okay, I think we all know when we see the therefore, we ask the question, what is the therefore?

Therefore, right?

I mean, we all know that pretty much so.

And it usually means to look back.

It's as if the writer is saying, in light of what I've just said, do this.

And what Paul just said in Colossians 3, 1 through 11 bears much weight in the therefore in our current text.

And I'm not going to read all of verses 1 through 11.

I'm going to read quite a bit of it though, because I want to see the context of what Paul was saying and why we have this, therefore.

So in verse 1, Paul says, If then you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

Notice that we are raised in Christ.

We're to seek those things which are above.

But then he goes on to verses 5 through 10 to tell us what not to do.

Therefore, put to death your members which are on earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry.

Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

Notice this putting to death and putting off.

Paul says that you're to put off the old, stop fornicating, uh, put off the evil desire, the covenant which produces the wrath, the anger, the malice, the blasphemy, the filthy language.

Do not lie.

Put off the old deeds.

In 2 Corinthians 5.17, Paul taught us, therefore, if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

We are a new creation in Christ.

And we're to put off the old, and we're to put on the new.

Notice at the end of verse 11 of chapter 3.

I love this last part.

It says, But Christ is all and in all.

With Christ in us, we can put off the old.

We have the ability to change.

And then we can put on the new.

And that's where we are today.

Putting on the new.

They're putting on Christ, our first point here.

And our verse 6, we're to put on Christ.

Now, do we really put on Christ?

Not really.

Really, Christ puts himself on and in us, which is good, because we probably wouldn't do it on our own.

But he does.

He puts himself in us.

He puts himself upon us and we are his.

In the beginning there, verse 12, Paul says that we are the elect of God.

Now, don't panic.

I know I said that word.

Just relax for a second, okay?

Don't panic when I say that.

But I think we can all understand that God saves.

We can all agree on that.

That God is the initiator.

The basics of salvation, I think, is the simple proof that God sent his son Jesus, Jesus' birth, his sinless life, his death, burial, and resurrection, and what saves us.

We don't save ourselves.

We don't pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

But no, God initiates.

I mean, even think about Lazarus.

Did Lazarus wake himself up from the dead?

Did Lazarus roll back the stone?

No.

Jesus said Lazarus come forth, right?

Well, people rolled back the stone.

But he came out, okay?

Because it stinketh, remember?

So he came out.

So God is the initiator.

God is the one, and we put on Christ because we are chosen by him.

John 3.16, we all know it and love it, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who should ever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

So in light of that, we're putting on Christ.

Then what are we supposed to do?

We're to be holy.

We're to be set apart.

We are different.

We are saved.

So we must live like that.

In Colossians 3, again, at the beginning of verse 5, Paul says, put to death sin.

Verse 8, he says, put off more sins.

Verse 9, put off the old.

The beggar who receives wealth does not put on old garments, nor does he go to beg anymore.

How many of us have dreamed of winning the lotto?

I don't recommend doing it.

It's not a great idea to spend your money on that.

You can.

I don't think it's a sin, but how many of you dream of winning and going into work and telling them you're not going into work anymore?

Because you have that now, right?

You don't have that.

So why in the holiness do we continue to live in the sin?

We're to put on this holiness.

We're to no longer put on the old, be poor beggars.

We no longer put on sin because our nature has been changed by the love of God, and now we're free from sin in its trap.

There's the old saying I learned long ago.

I mean, we can.

We can grow in that and strive in that, okay?

And and let's be honest, you guys, the world is telling us that sin is fun, that sin is freedom, that sin is peace.

It's not.

It's none of those things.

It's a trap.

Sin grabs you and doesn't let you go.

But because of God's love towards us, as beloved in our text, we're able to recognize the trap and run away.

2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 22, Paul says, Flee also youthful lusts.

2 Timothy 2:22

Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.

So we put off the old ways and we put on the new ways.

So we put on Christ, and now at the second part of verse 12, we put on his attitude.

Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering.

Verse 13, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ also forgave you, so you also must do.

We're gonna go through this list pretty quickly, you guys.

But so we put on Christ, we put on his attitude.

Let's go through some of those characteristics of Christ's attitude towards us.

Mercy.

It says, put on tender mercies.

It's a heart of compassion.

It's when your heart aches over the pain of others.

You grieve with those suffering.

You long for the lost to be saved.

It's the same heart Jesus showed towards us.

His heart was so compassionate towards us that he died for us.

We go on to say in verse 12 there, put on kindness.

This is the outflowing of the heart of compassion.

It's the hand that helps the knock down, the arm that hugs the hurt, the polite to the rude, the prayers that comfort the sorrowful.

You know, I think a good gauge for our kindness is how we treat people.

Especially people who serve us, waiters and waitresses and things like that.

Could you say please and thank you?

You should.

Of all people on earth, we should be the kindest because we have the greatest hope.

We should be the people that are just, I mean, I don't want to say like blubbering idiots, but we should.

We should be so joyful and happy that we should be kind to others, and it should be an outflowing of us.

Jesus showed his kindness by coming down and living amongst us, ministering healing, and eventually dying to save us.

We should show that kindness to others.

Humility, esteeming others greater than oneself.

Christ again modeled that on earth.

He did not seek his own way, he came to do the Father's will.

He humbly gave himself up to trial, to beating, to death.

Even though he could have called down legions of angels, he went humbly and submitted himself to others.

Sometimes we need to turn the other cheek.

Sometimes we need to worry less about our rights, and many times we need to think about others' rights, other others greater than ourselves.

Is it more important to be right or to have a healthy relationship?

You know, mind you, when sin gets involved, we have a we have a balance, okay?

Of course, okay?

But a lot of times we don't have to fight so hard to be right.

Many times we need to think rightly of ourselves.

Um, this might sting a little bit, but we're not all that.

We're not that great.

Sorry.

I'm saying we.

Not look after going you.

We're not that great.

We're not as smart, acute, athletic, or great as you think you are.

We think we are.

That's okay.

Have a right view of yourself.

I'm not talking about being self-deprecating, just a correct view.

You're a sinner, saved by grace through Christ.

That's what we all are.

Have that view of yourself.

Meekness is our next one here.

So we have mercies, kindness, humility, meekness.

Meekness is not spineless or weakness.

Uh one of my commentators I read said this and I loved it.

Meekness is submission under provocation, the willingness to rather suffer injury than to inflict it.

Obviously, Jesus develops this role and what he did coming down to this earth.

But I was thinking of Moses a little bit about this when I was reading that.

Uh I think about when when I'm reading through the Bible right now again.

Um, I kind of start at the beginning of the Bible, read through every year, the whole thing.

I just take a Bible.

This is a good idea for anybody if you want to.

Take your Bible, take the amount of pages, divide it by 365, read that many pages a day.

Pretty simple, okay?

So I'm just getting through, I'm doing chronological this year, so I think I'm kind of in numbers area, somewhere around there.

But if I just read this part where Moses and Miriam and Aaron come against Moses, did God only speak through you?

I didn't go too well for them, you know.

And but Moses didn't like fight back.

He didn't, he just called on the Lord.

You know, think about Korah and the sons of Korah.

Same thing.

Did Moses, did God only speak through you Moses?

He said, you know what?

I'm gonna let God take care of it.

And that's some good wisdom for us.

Romans 12, 1919 through 21.

Paul says, Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, out repace, says the Lord.

Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he is thirsty, give him a drink.

For so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head.

Do not become overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

God will take care of it.

We can be meek, we can go about our lives and do what we need to do, and we don't have to always be right, we don't have to always have our way.

God will take care of it.

And you know, we should be praying for those that come against us.

We should be lifting them up to the Lord that they would come to us saving knowledge.

Paul comes to talk about uh and and in verse 12 uh long suffering, or we might call it patience.

Christ is patient with us.

We miss the mark so often, and yet he was always there for us.

Maybe we could be a little more patient with our friends and family.

Maybe they're not as spiritual as you.

Maybe they need a little more time to get things, maybe they need your help, not your hurtful words.

You want to test your patience?

Commute.

I drive from Paso to Slow every day, and my patience is tested day in and day out.

I don't have any uh religious affiliations on my car on purpose, but I do fail.

That's just advice, too.

That's not Bible, that's just advice.

You don't want people to see Jesus and stuff coming from your car.

Have you guys ever heard that the saying called the sumicide?

It's it's like a it's a joke, okay, but it's like homicide, right?

We think of homicide, the sumicide.

Uh I just heard this not too long ago.

It's when you assume something negative of someone else, destroying them in your mind, your heart, but and so doing making yourself feel better, typically, you know.

Um, why do they do the thing they do, the way they do it?

I wouldn't do it that way.

Who taught them how to drive, how to park, how to walk through a parking lot.

That's the one that gets me.

So I I'm a I I'm gonna I I'll say it, but uh and I don't always, I normally do, but I'm a bicycle guy, and I've been it my whole life.

I'm since I was like 10, and we've always gone by the the the it's called the right of weight.

The heavier the vehicle, the more right of weight it has.

That's just practical again knowledge.

If they're bigger, you move.

And I think in parking lots, we should have that kind of wisdom.

Don't.

But uh you don't know what's going on in people's lives, though.

You know, we don't know what's what's happening.

Um they could be driving that way because they're in a hurry to get to the hospital.

Maybe they're parking lot that way because their sights going having a hard time.

Maybe they're walking that way because they just got some terrible news.

You don't know.

So we need to not go negative, and it's pretty easy in our culture today to do that.

We need to be patient and esteem them greater than ourselves and put their needs before yours.

Verse 13, Paul goes on to say, the first part of it, bearing with one another.

Along those same lines, instead of losing patience with others, why not help them?

Carry the load with someone if they're slow or not strong enough or don't understand, why don't you go and help?

Um, many years ago when I was doing youth ministry, I was at a discipleship camp.

Uh, we go to Hume Lake, this walk this camp called Wildwood.

It's like 100 kids.

It was super intense.

Like I wasn't super intense, but it was intense and and lived in tents.

It was like Hume Lake you think of, like the fun part of Hume Lake.

It was like the back part.

We lived in tents, and but it was super fun.

And we'd go and it was great, and we would just really grow, and they really pushed us to grow.

And in this one year, the second to last day, we did like a race, it was a scavenger hunt kind of race.

And so we had a map, and we had a leader, and we basically were running through the forest, and we'd get to a certain spot, and we'd stop, do it, do a task, and go to another spot, go to another task, and stuff like that.

And and we were doing pretty, and and again, I'm an athlete, and so and like I'm like, let's go, we're gonna win.

To me, it was about winning.

Winning's more fun than losing, in my opinion.

It's okay.

I'm playing the game until I get it, but it's more fun when you win.

So we're running through and we're doing stuff, but we're getting slower and slower.

And one of one of the the girls in our group had asthma, and and she was always at the back, and and and with that stirring at the Dutch, it kept getting worse and worse and worse.

So we run for a while, we get to a spot, we do a task, they blindfold us and make us do some things, or they they make us not speak, do hand signals, whatever, and she would catch up, and then we'd go to the next one, and we'd have to wait and we'd wait, and and organically, I don't know how it happened, but one of the kids like stopped and said, Hey, we need to help her because we had to finish as a teen.

You know, it's like a relay cut, and we have to help her.

So let's let her lead.

She can go first, okay, and we'll go at her pace.

And we'll just let her go.

She'll have clean air in front of her, right?

She can just go, you know, it'll be better for her.

And she started going faster, and they started encouraging.

It's like the ducks when they fly and they quack, right?

She started going faster and faster, and we kept going, and we finished.

So we won.

We were the first ones there.

At the end, they were kind of cruel.

Like, well, there really was no winner.

And I'm like, no.

We won.

They told us it was a race at the beginning with the idea just gone.

I'm like, but but it was amazing.

It was amazing seeing all of these guys, and and and they were bearing with one another, they were helping one another.

It was awesome to witness and see that.

These are students, mind you.

These are high school kids who are caring for them.

And she wasn't even in our church with us, she was from another group altogether.

It was awesome.

None of us are good enough on our own.

I mean, we know we can't save ourselves because Jesus did it for us.

But even in our spiritual walk, we need community, we need fellowship, we need one another to help us, to bear one another, to lift us up.

Galatians 6, 1 and 2 says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted, bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

If we are to recognize Christ in us and this attitude still, we must be willing to forgive as well.

The second part there, verse 13, Paul says, forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

When Jesus was on the cross, he prayed for his executioners.

Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Stephen, the first martyr in the New Testament, Lord, lay not this sin at their charge.

If those men forgave those who took their lives, we can forgive those who took our latte.

Christians are a forgiven people, and we are to put on forgiveness.

We're to forgive others.

Peter asked Jesus, how many times shall I forgive my brother?

And we know the answer is seven times.

Seven was a number of completeness.

It was a number that seemed sufficient, but Jesus said no, seven times seventy.

And we all know that Jesus wasn't saying 490 times.

He was using an exaggerated statement to mean every time.

We are to be about forgiveness because Jesus forgave us.

Matthew 6, you guys all know this.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

In the Lord's Prayer, we are to forgive our debtors as we are forgiving.

It is putting on Christ and His attitude that we can and will forgive.

Someone may have wronged you, forgive them.

Someone may have hurt you, forgive them.

Someone may have stolen from you, forgive them.

Someone may have spoken ill of you, forgive them.

Someone may have lied you, forgive them.

We are not a people who harbor unforgiveness in our hearts.

We let that go.

If we harbor it, it festers in us, it irritates, and comes back up, and in reality, it harms us more than by keeping it.

But it harms us more by keeping it than by letting it go.

When I was in high school, I was riding my bike, and again, I've been riding bikes for my whole life, and I crashed really bad.

And uh when I crashed, I I the way I slid, I uh I took uh a bunch of skin off on my knee, and there really wasn't anything, there was no skin left, there wasn't really anything to do.

So I got home and and cleaned it up as best I could.

I scrubbed it out, it was not fun, but I got as much as I could of it, put a bandage on it, let it go, and uh that was it.

It was just by crashed.

I have them all the time.

Um I'm pretty good at it anyway.

The crashing point.

But uh like 10 years later, I was like sitting, like just hanging out, and and I was like, like I was doing something like everybody, and I like what I felt something on my knee.

So I start picking at it, like just you know, like you know, when you have a something, you pick on it.

That's what we do.

So I start picking on it, picking on it, and it was a rock.

It was this teeny tiny rock that it got in that I didn't get out, and like 10 years later, it came back.

And like I don't know how to get a fetch or anything, I don't understand that kind of stuff, but it was crazy, and I'm like, wow, this little pebble was stuck there for 10 years.

Well, when we don't forgive people, that that's what happens, and we can harbor.

And you know what, too?

When you don't forgive people, they don't know.

They're not mad when you're mad at them.

You know, when you're an I can't believe that person did that to me.

They're not like, well, I guess I'm glad I did that to them.

They don't know, they have no idea that you're really hurting yourself more.

We need to let go, we need to give stuff up.

Even if you never see them again, don't contact them again, forgive them in your heart and move on in peace.

So we put on Christ, we put on his attitude, and then Paul goes on to say in verse 14, we put on his love.

But of all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

As we put on Christ, we can't not but put on love.

Remember, he came because he loved us, his love was demonstrated on the cross.

And as Christians, we have to put on love.

Love motivates to share the gospel, to forgive, to have mercy, to be compassionate, be patient, be humble.

All the things we do if not done in love are worthless.

1 Corinthians 13 is an amazing passage, and I can't not read it when I'm talking about love.

It's a huge passage, and I'm sorry, but we have to hear it.

And I'm not gonna expound on anything like that.

Really, it's expounding on verse 14.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I become a sounding brass or a clanging symbol.

And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is in kind, is kind.

Love does not envy, love does not pervate itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

But whether there are prophecies, they will fail.

Whether there are tongues, they will cease.

Whether there knowledge will vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child.

I understood as a child, I thought as a child.

But when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part, but then I shall know, but I know in part, but I shall, but then I shall know, just as I am also known.

And now abide.

Faith, hope, love.

These three.

But the greatest of these is love.

If we put on Christ, then we put on his love.

And we have love, then everything else falls into place.

Mercy, compassion, humility, forgiveness, patience, bearing with one another, all flow from love.

Let us not forget that in Christ we are a beloved people.

So why we need to be lovely to others?

So we put on Christ, we put on his attitude, we put on his love, and we put on peace.

Verse 15, let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you were also called in one body and be thankful.

One of the most marvelous aspects of salvation is peace.

Jesus said in John 14, 27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives, do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We believe in the gospel that we're sinners in need of a savior, that Jesus is that Savior who stepped down from heaven, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day.

All who put their faith in Jesus have eternal life, abundant life, Scripture says, and we have peace with God, as John 14 says.

Peace is without strife, without arguing, without war.

It's quiet, tranquil, and sure.

I love how Paul says, let the peace of God rule in your hearts.

Recognize the peace you have in Christ, that rest, that assurance, that contentment that comes only from Jesus.

In Philippians 4, uh, and I just realized this not too long ago, a couple of years ago, Philippians 4, we have this anxiety passage we probably all know, right?

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving, but a request being made unto God, and the peace of God, versus pastors all understanding what our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I said a key word there with Thanksgiving.

With thanksgiving.

And Jesus said it in John, My peace I give to you.

But then notice what else he says.

Neither let you be afraid.

Don't be afraid.

Philippians, don't be anxious.

Be thankful.

Peace comes from a thankfulness.

Don't be anxious, but it's a pray.

Ask God for help and be thankful.

Be thankful for who you are in Christ, what you have in Christ, and where you are.

Don't seek the things in this world to give you that peace.

Don't strive after earthly things that leave you wanting.

Don't engage in sin with the idea you have comfort.

You will not.

True peace, lasting peace, only comes from Jesus.

We are called into that peace by Jesus.

This is something that you this isn't something you find or make.

Jesus made it on the cross when he said it is finished.

And we're to remain in that.

You guys ever, you know, I have to do this.

And then you flip the cone over, and what's the other side of the coin say?

I get to do this.

Sometimes in our lives we get to look at the things, man, I don't have this or this and this, but I have this, this, and this.

Be thankful.

Let that peace come over you.

You guys too.

I'm not a social media guy.

I got rid of social media like six years ago.

And um, I'm not it's not it's not simple to have it, I'm not saying anything like that.

But man, I think it has a purpose, making us not thankful, making us want other things, what other people have and what they're doing.

And and sometimes I think we need to just unplug and step back and go, Lord, look what you've done in my life.

Look at my soul, and look at my family, and look at my friends, and and my job, and just things.

Look at the fact simply that I'm a saved sinner.

That's amazing.

That's peaceful.

We need that peace.

We have great peace from the creator of the universe.

Knowing Jesus.

And man, peace is a pretty amazing thing when you have it, and when you don't have it, you know it.

So we put on Christ, we put on his attitude, we put on his love, we put on peace, and then we put on his encouragement.

And man, this is my favorite one right here, you guys, because I am Mr.

Encourager.

I love to encourage people.

Verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

With that peace comes this encouragement we have about Jesus through God's Word.

He says, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you ritually.

Just as we have the peace of God rule in our hearts, so we let the word of God indwell us.

We know it, we love it, and we live it.

The Bible isn't just some good book, it isn't just a roadmap to life.

It is those things, but it's the word of God.

It's transformational.

It's a source for all wisdom and teaching.

Paul said in 2 Timothy, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.

It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

This is probably my favorite verse of the whole Bible.

I studied this and read it so many times.

God spoke his word to us.

It goes on to give us instruction, the sufficiency of scriptures.

Scripture is good for doctrine, stated principles about God.

It's good for reproof.

That's calling sinners to repentance, calling sin and turning from it.

It's good for correction to set right again.

If a sinner has fallen, we pick him back up and they repent and need to be put back upright.

Scripture is for instructing us in all righteousness that is to be and do what is right.

And finally, through that, the reader of God's word is complete.

They're given all the tools they need so they can go and serve God, equipped for every good work.

If we study and know God's word, it will fill us up.

This idea of an abundance overflowing.

We'll be satisfied in his word.

And when we know and obey God's word, this encourages us.

It encourages me.

We have that continued peace, and it should encourage you, it should encourage you and encourages others as they see we live with our holy lives.

See what we're doing with our lives.

As you go in our wisdom and teaching through God's word, we are warned of sins and called to warn others.

And this is still part of encouragement here, but this word admonish.

Now, admonish means to warn in light of teaching.

Very similar to reproof in 2 Timothy, so as we learn more and more of God's word, we're able to more and more be guided to holiness and away from sin.

That's encouraging.

God hasn't left us floating out there to try and figure it out on our own.

I mean, Ephesians talks about that, right?

We're not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

He's given us his word, and we can learn from it, and that can encourage us, and so we can encourage others.

Encourage others away from sin and away to into holiness.

Encouragement is just helping others.

Think about Paul and Barnabas.

Nobody wanted to do anything with Paul in Acts.

Nothing.

Barnabas takes him under his wing, right?

Continues to minister to him and help him.

Paul took Silas and Timothy.

We're to take others under our wings and encourage them.

And hear me real quick on this too.

This is going to be a little side note, but admonishing a reproof is guiding someone away from sin.

Like Galatians 6 says, you know, if a man has ever taken any trespass, you are spiritual restores such with spiritual gentleness.

It's not sharing your every opinion on every subject on the planet.

I know people that I like chicken McNuggets.

I hate chicken McNuggets.

I didn't ask.

So you know, like, sorry, but I probably shouldn't like them, I know.

But I fear that at times, and don't, I mean, Galatians 6 and Matthew 18 are amazing passages.

And as as fellow Christians and brothers and sister Christ, we have to take those serious.

We have to admonish people and encourage and support and lift people up.

That's our job.

Okay, but that's what it is in regards to sin.

If they want a blue car and you don't like blue, be quiet.

Just be glad for them that they get a blue car, you know, like we have to be careful about that.

And I fear that I fear that we err.

Sometimes it's like we don't say anything, right?

I'm on Galatians 6 and Matthew 18, they're sinning and we just uh overlook it.

And other times it's like everything.

And let me tell you, when you share your opinion on everything, that's not encouragement, that's discouragement.

It's okay to be quiet.

I heard our pastor not so long ago said there's a difference between having something to say and having to say something.

And I thought that was really true.

I could be that person at times, and we need to be careful about that.

But we do need to encourage people like Matthew 18 and Galatians 6, admonish them.

If they're in sin, we need to help them out of it.

You know, we need to be with them and support them and guide them and bring them through that.

Um, it's not my job to tell everybody everything.

I have two wonderful boys that I just love and adore, and I'm so proud of them, adult boys.

I'm just I couldn't be prouder of my boys.

And there are times when they made decisions I wouldn't have made.

But they weren't sinful, they were just decisions.

So it was actually kind of cool because I'm like, okay, then that's my opinion.

Get my mouth shut.

My wife will share hers not just.

I'm the good guy.

She's the bad guy.

No, not that's obviously my kids are younger, and they would be talking about doing something and not sinful, and they'd be sharing something, and I'm like, you know, I don't think that's gonna go well for them.

But you know, the world is a cruel instructor.

And sometimes I just kept my mouth shut and I looked at it and I'm like, boy, boy, that was a bummer.

You know, I mean, nothing bad, you know what I mean?

But but I wasn't the bad guy, the world was the bad guy.

But there were times when I did it, but you know what's great about it?

Because I loved them and I encouraged them, and you know what else I did?

I prayed for them.

I prayed and I prayed and I prayed they make wise decisions, and by the grace of God, they're just I'm so, again, I'm so proud of them, I can't say enough about them.

So that was a little side note, a little bit.

But the encouragement part is we should be encouraging one another, admonishing one another, helping them through that.

Um, God guides them through that.

And then I love how Paul goes on to say there in our text, I'm gonna go back over here real quick.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, and all wisdom teaching, monishing one another, and psalms and hymns and scripts on.

Man, when when when people are changed when they grow, this idea that we encourage one another with the word of God, but through song and encouragement, that's so cool.

And I'm not a good singer.

I'm not, and I'm not talented in that.

But man, thinking about what God has done in our lives makes us so joyful that we sing.

How cool is that?

You know, we can sing psalms, we can just go through the Psalms and sing those.

You got Deborah and Miriam who sing.

Think about Jesus and the disciples in the upper room after they had communion, right?

The Last Supper, right?

They sang songs.

You know, we've got you know Wesley, and you've got Luther who wrote all these songs.

Think about Newton.

What a great song and amazing grace.

And think about him and how encouraging that is to us.

This slave trader, right?

This really bad dude meets the living God and his life has changed, and he writes the song about God's grace.

That's encouraging.

We should be encouraged by that, and we should encourage one another.

And again, I'm not gonna go singing to my friends all these psalms and stuff like that.

But I might read it to them.

I might grab the text and be like, hey, I see this, I see this, I see this.

I want to encourage you in that.

We should be encouraging one another, sing praises.

It's sadden to me to know when when I go to churches and I see people not singing and and not you guys, this was amazing up here, the worship.

This was awesome.

It's always good to go to different churches sometimes, but man, a lot of times, and and I'm I'm gonna contradict myself here for a second, but understand there's a practicality to it.

If I'm speaking sometimes, a lot of times I don't sing because I'm trying to save my voice, so I don't go too crazy.

Not today.

Not today.

So, and luckily, by the grace of God, my voice is staying, but sometimes I won't.

It sings it's encouraging.

It's encouraging to stand next to your brother and sister in Christ and sing the wonderful songs of God.

Encourage one another through song, through hymns, lift one another up.

Remember, our first point was to put on Christ.

Here's our final reminder of how we should live in light of all that Christ has done for us in verse 17.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

And all we do, it should be as onto the Lord, whether it's sports, work, or relationships, our cooking, our cleaning, or walking, or talking, whatever.

Do it in the name of Jesus.

It should be in the forefront of our minds, our nature, that we speak and act as onto Jesus.

He is our motivation, our guide, the one we answer to, and with that in mind we do and speak as unto him.

This isn't guilt.

This isn't a what would Jesus do.

This is a complete transformation of our souls that Jesus performs upon salvation.

In our new nature, we can do whatever as unto Jesus.

And because of our changed nature, we can give thanks to God through Jesus.

Again, we still go back to the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus, and it's in him we give thanks, and him we have peace, and him we have his word, we have his wisdom, we have songs of praise, we have our holy deeds, but more importantly, we have Jesus.

So we put on Christ, we put on his attitude, we put on his love, we put on his peace, we put on his encouragement, for he is more than enough to help us mature.

Father God, thank you again for this morning.

Thank you for your word.

Again, I am amazed at the deep, deep well of your word.

Just reading it and knowing more and more about you and how it never tarnishes, it never grows old, it's never stale.

Um, to use your own words, it keeps its saltiness.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you that we can be there.

I I pray as a people, as a body of believers, that everybody in this congregation would be diligently getting in your word every day.

They would be eating that bread of life that they need for sustainment.

Even if it's just a paragraph, a sentence, just getting into your word daily and growing.

We can't but not grow when we're in your word.

It's not possible.

It's like the weeds in our community.

When they get water and sun, they're gonna grow.

And Lord, I want us to grow.

Help us to grow.

Get us into your word.

Again, Lord, I pray that the words were spoken here today, that nobody remembers what I said.

Remember your word.

Remember the passage, remember the text.

And remember that we are to put you on, that we are to be in you always, in all and in all, and we can do what you've asked us to do, accomplish what you've asked us to do because you are in us, and it's only through you.

So mold, change, bless God, transform us, change us for your glory and our joy.

And we ask this thing to you in Jesus' amen.