Okay, good morning and again thank you for being with us this morning, turning your Bibles to the epistle of Paul to the Colossians please, Colossians and chapter 3, Colossians 3 as we continue on in our verse by verse series through this tremendous epistle. And we now find ourselves in the practical section of the book practical being the natural consequence and the logical outflow of the doctrinal truth set down for us in the first two chapters. All right, our reading this morning comes from chapter 3 and verses 10 through 14. Why don't we read them all together on the count of three just to keep our attention on the Word of God this morning. One, two, three. and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Let's just pray. Father, we commit the reading of your word to you this day and Lord, we thank you again for this privilege of being able to even just read the word of God in a public manner like this, Father. Lord, we thank you that this is no religious book, it is the words of the living God written to us and Lord, as we read your word, it is as if your very voice is speaking directly to us and I pray that this day we might take to heart these important exhortations, Lord, concerning our need to put on these beautiful garments of the Christian life, Christian character, Lord. May it be true of each one of us and Lord, how important it is that we have these things in the local church particularly Lord we need it in every area of our lives but we remember this morning the context of this epistle is referring to a local church we pray that we might truly exercise these qualities of the new man one towards another and so Lord we look to you today to be our teacher Lord may I just be your vessel and may the Spirit of God be the primary instructor this day we look to you Lord not to ourselves to speak to our hearts to help us in the understanding of of this thy precious word and so we commit this time into your hands now for it's in Christ's name we do ask it amen. Okay for those of you who may be visiting with us this morning we have been going now for a number of months through the epistle of Colossians and for those who have been following this series fairly closely you will remember that the theme verses are found in chapter 2 verses 9 and 10 for in him that he's referring to Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him, verse 10, which is the head of all principality and power. And so, Colossians is the unfolding of this theme, the theme of the sufficiency of Christ. Christ is the possessor of all of the divine attributes, He is God incarnate, God in bodily form. And then we see that the truth that flows out of that, the implications of that truth for the believer is in verse 10, and ye are complete in him. The word complete means to be made full. It's the same root word as the word fullness back in verse 9. So here we have the picture. In Christ is all the fullness of God, and I as a believer have been filled with his fullness, filled with him. And so we find in chapter 1 and chapter 2 these tremendous resources concerning the wealth of the believer in Christ is unfolded for us and now chapter 3 and 4 gets us into the practical outworkings of those truths and we've mentioned a number of times over the past few weeks that the Christian life is a practical life. is not enough for us to just have head knowledge about the Word of God, knowledge of the Word of God and of God Himself is meant to impact the way we live, it's meant to translate into daily life and that is why you find in the book of Acts you find that Christianity was referred to often as a way The Christianity is not primarily a religion, it is a way, it is a way of life. It is to be a life lived in demonstration of all that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we noted in our last lesson that we had to firstly put off certain things. And the imagery we have here in this passage before us is that of changing our clothes. Okay, taking off an old set of clothes and then putting on the new set of clothes. And so the key phrase for us this morning is found in the words, put on therefore. Put on therefore. And what we see here in this passage is the very important principle of replacement. you know, sometimes as believers we try and strip off the things that are wrong in our lives and that is very necessary, that is absolutely important but we must remember the principle of replacement, that we must replace the void, we must not leave a vacuum in our lives, we must then fill our lives with that which is righteous, that which is good. So, this is the principle we see, there's the putting off, there's the casting away but then there is the putting on of these things that are so important for our lives. So, He wants us to put off unrighteousness but then God asks us then to put on holiness. All right, and so we're going to just unfold that theme of the new man this morning. I want us to look firstly this morning in verses 10 and 11 at what I've called the position of the new man. The position of the new man, here we have the new man's position, his characteristics described for us. It tells us here, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him where there is neither greek nor jew circumcision or uncircumcision barbarian scythian bond nor free but christ is all and in all and so this is a flow out a flow on from the previous teaching of last week that we are to put off all these things, not to lie one to another, verse 9. And he says, because seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, verse 10, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. So here we see a couple of important things about the new man. We see there's a past aspect, that is something which God has done in the past, and then there is a present application. Notice that, he says, you have put on the new man, that's in the past, isn't it? Okay, that's something that takes place at salvation. Again, he's reminding them of their position in Christ. Don't we see how often our position in Christ and the practice of the Christian life are just interlaced in scripture? And so he says, in God's mind, in God's eyes, you have already put on the new man. And we've been talking about that. We remember back in chapter 2, the Bible describes the fact that we have positionally put off the body of the sins of the flesh, verse 11, by the circumcision of Christ. And so we're talking here about what God has done, what God sees. God sees the end result, as it were. The salvation that Christ secured for us is a full and a complete salvation and it involves this whole matter of our sanctification, our growing in likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ and so he says it's been it's it's it's something that's been being we've already we already have put on the new man in the past and but now there is a present application of that we notice it is being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Okay, so here we have the new man is something that God sees as our position in Christ. That's what we are, we're a new man. Okay, new, we are distinct from the old life, as 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 says, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a what? A new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new. So through salvation we are made new, we're given a new life, a new identity. But now we see that there is a present application. There's something happening now in my life in time. This new man is being renewed constantly and progressively in knowledge. That's what the book of verses is telling us. The word renewed there means to make new again. You say, hang on, I thought I was already made new. Well, we are, we're made new in Christ, but it's practical at working in our lives in time throughout this life as a believer. God is working in my life. Aren't you thankful for that this morning? That God doesn't just save us and then leave us to just try and battle our way through life. God is actively working in my life now as a believer. I remember the recent fellowship meetings, a great session was given by Pastor Ernie Vesley and he just really shared his heart with the men and he said, he said, you know, we come to the Lord full of rubbish, you know, when we get saved, we come to the Lord full of rubbish and how God has to, just has to work on us again and again in perfecting us and making us more like Christ and turning on the heat of trial sometimes to take the dross and the rubbish out of our lives and that is what God is doing. You see, God made a perfect man in the beginning, didn't he? Man was intended of God to reflect his image, to be in some manner a testimony of God and his character and who he is. But through the fall, that image was marred. Man became a broken down creature. but through salvation, praise God, God is working in us, He's renewing us, He's making us new again and that's a process that is ongoing in our lives as believers. Okay, yes, in Christ I already possess this but now in time, in my life, God is working in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure. I'm being made new, isn't that a blessed process in our lives and it teaches us really the twofold nature of the doctrine of sanctification. Don't be scared by the big word. Salvation has to do with my acceptance of Christ and being born into God's family. Sanctification has to do with my progress in the Christian life, my growth in the Christian life. And so there is both a positional and a practical present outworking of this truth. Positionally, in Christ, I am already sanctified. God sees it as an accomplished fact. But now in the present, I am being sanctified, God is working in me and this is the genius of the Christian life that God has crafted for us. So we believe in progressive sanctification, it's something that is ongoing. So don't be discouraged this morning Christian, you say, look I just failed the Lord this week. Sometimes we can despair as a Christian Well, God is patient, God is lovingly dealing with our lives as the potter deals with the clay so gently and so tenderly there, one hand working within, one without, shaping and moulding the life and that is how it is for us, we are in God's hands. and we have the inward working of the Spirit of God and sometimes the outward hand of God in circumstances can feel rough at times, can't they? And we can feel discouraged but we need to learn to see in these things the unseen hand of God moulding us, shaping us, making us new. Don't we see a God who loves us, puts attention into His people? so we're being renewed and we notice that there's something specifically which is being used of God to bring about this newness in our lives, it is knowledge. See that? We are being renewed in the present in knowledge after the image of him that created him, knowledge. We've noticed many times there is a strong emphasis upon knowledge in this epistle. Back in chapter 1, the Apostle Paul was desirous before God in prayer that they would be filled, verse 9, with the knowledge of his will. Verse 10, that they would increase in the knowledge of God. So, the knowledge of God, it is the word of God and understanding of who God is that is the primary means that God uses to bring about the renewal in our lives. And so, Christ Himself, what did He pray to the Heavenly Father? I believe it was in John 17, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. What is the primary means that God uses for making us new, for changing our lives? Well, it's the knowledge of God, it's the scriptures, the word of God. And so, as believers, if we're going to progress in our Christian lives, We're not going to progress very far unless we have a close and intimate relationship with the knowledge of God as found in the Word of God. the goal in all this is that we might then have the image of Him that created Him, we see that in the verse. And 2 Corinthians 3 18 says, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. There we see the work of the Spirit, so the Word of God and the Spirit of God work in unison for the perfecting of the believer. so this is the position of the new man, he's been divinely created, he's been progressively perfected but then we see further detail in verse 11 because this verse follows on, says, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian-Scythian bond nor free but Christ is all and in all. We see that the new man is also humbly positioned, he's divinely created, he's progressively perfected but he's also humbly positioned. And this is so important, you know, it's hard for us sometimes to understand the deeply held prejudice in particularly the Jewish mind at that time and even to a degree to this day in their attitude towards the Gentile world. and we have to be careful of this even in churches, the gospel unites men and women of all different backgrounds and different nationalities, whatever it be, those things take a secondary place because we're all united in one family of God. so he says there's neither Greek nor Jew. In other words, there's no racial distinction. The Jews saw all of the world broken into two categories, either the Jews or the Greeks, representing the Gentile world. We see there's no racial distinction in Christ. When we have a new man, we have a new identity, we become Christians, followers of Christ, our citizenship is in heaven and a lot of these distinctions that are made much of in the world become meaningless and not important anymore. Now I'm not saying that culture is wrong, I mean we have different cultures, that sort of thing, provided the culture doesn't contradict the Word of God, that's okay, but what I'm saying is there's a removal of all these barriers when we take on, when we are made new in Christ. There's no religious distinction either, he says circumcision or uncircumcision, again that was another big deal for the Jewish people and No doubt, the Gnostic teachers were pushing these types of things. You know that circumcision was important and there was this class distinction. class distinction being promoted within the Colossian church. And we need to stay away from that. There is no class distinction in the Christian family. The cross levels us all, doesn't it? And it'll save us a lot of problems in churches if we just have a humble attitude and remember that these things are really no longer a big deal anymore, our pedigree, our upbringing. But honestly, these things can become the means of strife in churches sometimes. You know, in my family, I was raised this way, as if that makes you superior to somebody else. There's just no end to it, is there? The subtlety of the flesh. There's no cultural distinction. He mentions barbarian and Scythian. And these were, again, the uncultured people of the day, people who were despised, people who didn't have maybe the advantage of learning and all of the things that were deemed important in that time. No social distinction, bond nor free. Again, in the Roman world there was a huge percentage of the population were in slavery and here again we see that the distinction between slave and free man was broken down in the gospel. Don't believe the argument out there in the media that Christianity promoted slavery. It was Christianity that brought about the end of slavery and particularly those who took seriously the teaching of scripture. All right, so we see there that the new man, we've seen some of his characteristics here. There's a past position that God has secured for us. There's the present out working. He's being renewed day by day through the word of God to conform us to the image of Christ, to make us more like him. And we see that in the new man, there is all these distinctions removed. And why? Because the end of the verse says, but Christ is all and in all. Okay? These things are meaningless. Why? Because firstly, Christ is all. He's everything. He's the one who captivates our focus and He's in all. Do you know that? We need to remember that. Every believer, whether black, white, Asian, whatever, every truly born-again believer is indwelt by Christ. Everybody's indwelt by Christ. We share a common faith, that which is shared by all, a faith that is shared by all. And so we see the removal of these things. And so there is no class distinction in the Christian family. We need to have a humble mindset, one towards another, not allow ourselves to somehow think that we are better than others because of any of these things. I remember talking to a brother in Sydney and he was not presenting this as being a good thing, he was a Lebanese guy and we're good friends and he was just telling me, I mean as a Christian he doesn't hold this perspective, but he said in the Lebanese culture they look at everybody else as scumbags, they're kind of, they are the culture of all cultures, that's their attitude, without Christ is the Lebanese, they're it man and we're all scumbags. He said it, not me, okay, so don't accuse me of racism. That's what he said, he told me that. And so, you know, we come to Christ sometimes with funny ideas, don't we? We have to remember that the new man is someone entirely new, brand new, distinct from the old, and there's a removal of these types of problems. All right, so we see the position of the new man, but now we see the main part of our message here in verses 12 through and down, the practice of the new man. the practice of the new man. Okay, we've been reminded of his position essentially in verses 10 and 11. Now we see the practice of the new man, the exercise of the new man and there are seven virtues, seven qualities of the new man that we are to seek with God's help to have in our lives. We need to put effort into the development and the cultivation of godly Christian character. Don't be afraid of that. We understand that all of these commands, again, are connected to what is preceded in chapter 1 and chapter 2. It's not just us on our own making this happen, it is us engrafting with God's grace and help these virtues into our lives. All right, and so we see there are seven of them there. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, here they are. Bows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And we'll look at charity under a separate heading in verse 14. So, we have seven qualities and an eighth in verse 14, which we'll look at in a moment. seven qualities that we are to put on, okay? We're to go to great effort, with God's help, to put off the wrong things. Now we are to work hard, with God's working in us, striving according to His working, to put on, to have these qualities on us. Now, again, we see the picture there, the imagery of clothing. When you put on a garment, what? It covers your whole person. And that is what we want with these qualities, these virtues of the new man. We want them to cover us. We want them to characterize our whole lives, the way we conduct ourselves. Very important. Notice the first one there, bowels of mercies. Bowels of mercies. Now the word bowels refers to the internal organs. It was used of the Greeks to speak of that deep sympathy and that sense of feeling which comes right from the innermost part of our being. That's what the word bows means. We would use the word heart. We understand that. I love you with all of my heart. That's an expression, in other words, it's talking about the seat of the emotions, where I feel as a human being. God has created us to be creatures of feeling. There's nothing wrong with that as long as it's in the right place. So we see bows of mercies, in other words, a heart that is merciful, a heart that is compassionate. compassionate and this is so important for us, isn't it interesting that the Word of God begins this tremendous list with this one here, that we as believers are to be characterized by a heart of mercy, that we have lives that are truly characterized by love and concern for others, this is so important. Remember, he's addressing a local church, this is important for every area of life, it's important in family life, But it's very important as well in the local church that we have these types of attitudes. And so this phrase, says one author, denotes deep feelings of concern for the need of others. It refers to the feeling part, the heart, the innermost part of our being. We are to have compassion, we're to have mercy, we're to have pity towards others. Bows of mercy is a heart of compassion. this really is in line with the very character of God Himself. We read, God says of Himself in Exodus 34, 6 through 7, as He was speaking to Moses, and the Lord passed before Him, that is Moses, and proclaimed, what did God proclaim? The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. First words out of God's lips, this is God's own revelation of Himself, God Almighty speaking and the first words that He utters there, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children under the third and fourth generation. Don't we see there from those verses as God reveals himself to us a picture of the heart of God, a God of mercy, a God of love, a God who is gracious, a God who has a forgiving disposition. That is our God. And as we follow Him, as we grow in Him as believers, we ought to strive after this quality in our lives. We need to have hearts of mercy and compassion. It concerns me at times when you meet believers who profess they know Christ, but they're characterized by a hardness and a callousness towards other believers. Brethren, let's just be honest, unless we put some effort into cultivating this quality of a heart of compassion, we can be very callous and hard-hearted one towards another. We can. I believe he goes through a trial and they're getting what they deserve. that's not really putting on compassion, is it? Compassion. Compassion. Think about Christ, who again is our perfect example. In Matthew 9, 36, the Bible says he was moved with compassion, wasn't he, as he saw the multitudes. This should be a normal part of the Christian life. We should be able to have a tenderness of heart, a tenderness of feeling towards others. Now, for some of us, that comes more natural than others. For some of us, we need to work real hard on that one, OK? Because we're just, well, we're just naturally rough, tough and, you know, ah, well, you know, that's the way, that's the way, that's life, you know, that's, ah, well, that's life. That may not be the most helpful thing to say to that person going through the trial at that time. In fact, very often, learn wisdom from older men who've mentioned this before, very often the best thing you can do when someone is suffering going through a trial is say nothing. Okay, just shut the mouth and listen and weep with them if necessary, pray with them if necessary, say a few words in season if necessary, but have a heart that is moved. As Christians, we want to have hearts that are tender and moved towards one another. We want to be compassionate. This is important in the home, isn't it? That fathers and mothers have that disposition towards their children. that we don't have a rough and caustic and harsh spirit in the dealings of our children. Husbands and wives, isn't that an important quality to have one towards another? But how much more also in the local church setting that we be merciful and have a tenderness of heart towards one another. Alright, so bowels of mercies, kindness. Kindness, this word is translated elsewhere as goodness and gentleness. And really it is, again, the opposite of harshness and cruelty. And somebody said that kindness is grace in action. So in a sense, the bowels of mercies represent the inner heart and the feelings. Kindness is the outward demonstration of that heart of compassion. Does that make sense? So firstly, I have compassion in my heart. My heart is moved with feeling towards a brother or sister in need. And then because of that merciful disposition, it then is manifest in acts of kindness. putting in effort and action to help that believer, help that person. Kindness one towards another, let's be kind one toward another. You say these are very basic instructions but very often as believers that's what we need because very often the basics are lacking. We need to be kind in our words, kind in our actions, one toward another. Okay, kindness, humbleness of mind is the other one, next one, humbleness of mind, humility is so important in the Christian life. we've kind of touched on that already looking at verse 11, humbleness of mind. Now this is opposite to the attitude of the false teachers isn't it? Remember that the false teachers described back in verse 18 of chapter 2 were puffed up in their fleshly minds, okay puffed up in their fleshly minds. Now it's interesting that the Bible instructs us here that we'd have humbleness specifically, humbleness of mind. The Bible focuses in on our mind. Why is that? Well, that is because pride is conceived in the mind by having a wrong opinion of ourselves, okay? Pride... where's the battle? As a Christian, very often it's in the mind, isn't it? And where does pride come from? Pride comes from wrong thought patterns by thinking thoughts about ourselves that are not humble thoughts. This is a big problem in many, very often, this is a big problem in churches. We have the Bible says only by pride cometh contention. Pride is the opposite to humility. Why is there often strife and contention amongst believers? Well because we're not thinking biblically concerning ourselves. We've allowed ourselves to become infected with pride and this pride takes many different forms. Sometimes it can be intellectual pride. knowledge puffeth up, the Bible says. Now it's not saying that we shouldn't study as Christians and be educated, there's nothing wrong with that, but there's a problem if you somehow consider yourself to be superior to another believer because you've got three degrees and they don't. I said there's a problem if you believe somehow or you have a bit of a superiority complex and you've allowed yourself to be puffed up wittingly or unwittingly because you have a degree, you've been to uni for six years and somebody else hasn't. Am I saying it's wrong to go to university? Absolutely not. Not at all. In fact, really, it's been Christianity, true Bible Christianity, that has promoted education. Most of the educational institutions in our countries, even though they wouldn't like to admit it, have their roots in the churches. It was the churches primarily that were concerned about knowledge and education. The founders of modern science, we could go on and on and on. The explosion of knowledge has actually come out of Christianity. So I'm not saying this morning that we should not be educated, but what I'm saying is we need to be careful about what we allow in our minds as far as pride is concerned, intellectual pride. Without the working of the spirit and without walking closely with God, the natural tendency of knowledge in the secular sense is to puff us up. That's what the Bible says, knowledge puffeth up. That's the natural consequence of knowledge if it's not tempered with a humble spirit. can be spiritual pride. Again, even knowledge, isn't our sinful nature so subtle? I mean, we can get puffed up in spiritual pride because we know the Word of God, for example, or we have great standards or whatever it be. But again, knowledge, whether it's secular or spiritual, needs to be tempered with humility, humbleness of mind. Bring your mind into the correct level as a believer. I mean, really, again, there is no caste system in the local church, brethren. In fact, sometimes the very simple, unnoticed person is often possessed of more wisdom than you with all of your learning, very often. In fact, the Bible says that there are times when we are to set the he that is least in the church in the place of judgment, when there's a judgment that needs to be made. I can't give you the reference right now. Why? Because they're not infected with pride. And so we are to put on, it requires effort on our part, again with the resources of chapter 1 and chapter 2 at our disposal, our riches in Christ, the power of the indwelling Christ, we're indwelt by Christ, all of these commands flow out of what we have in chapter 1 and chapter 2, it's not just me on my own, it's me working with Christ, working in me. We are to put effort into putting on humbleness of mind. Think the right thing, brethren, about yourself. And I read a couple of really good definitions of this in my studies this week. One man said, having a humble opinion of oneself, a deep sense of one's moral littleness, modesty, lowliness of mind. And I really like this one. He says, the attitude of a soul which has lost its pride in the discovery of the mercy of its salvation. Doesn't that reflect the attitude of humility? He says this humbleness of mind refers to the attitude of a soul which has lost its pride. in the discovery of the mercy of its salvation. Again, what is it that brings us down to a low and humble view of ourselves? Well, if you've been saved, just meditating upon the fact of your salvation, that God would reach down and pull someone like you out of the pit and out of the horrible, you know, the clay and that God would save you by thinking about that, that'll help us with this matter of humility. attitude of a soul which has lost its pride in the discovery of the mercy of its salvation. Look, it's a phrase that's used a lot and sometimes people throw it out loosely but it's worth saying if we mean it, I'm just a sinner saved by grace, just a sinner saved by grace and you know sometimes there's nothing worse than a fake humility that says that but if you mean it, I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Listen, all of us, that's what we are if we're saved as believers. The cross levels all of us, it doesn't matter if you've got six degrees or no degrees or you're a gardener or a professional, we don't have any right as believers to be puffed up in pride because of those things. We are to have a humble attitude because we understand something of the cross. As the cross comes in focus, we're brought low, aren't we? brought low in the presence of God. Philippians 2, 3 through 8 says, ''Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves.'' Do you know what our attitude as believers is to be? This person over here, I esteem them better than myself. Now, naturally, that's not how we feel, is it? Listen, even if we don't think the actual thoughts, I'm better than them, we don't have to think it, we just know it, don't we? It's not something we have to think or say, we just know that we're better than that person. I mean, goodness, look at my house, look at my paycheck. No, no, esteem others better than yourself. In other words, get your mind off of yourself and onto others. That's a good way to live the Christian life. It goes on, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind, again see the emphasis on the mind, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. What was his mindset? Listen to this, it's hard to plumb the depths of these words. Don't we value our reputation? That's why often we won't go and apologise to a brother or sister in Christ. Why? Because of my reputation. Christ, listen, Christ was co-equal with God, we're talking about the eternal Son of God, the creator of the universe, the one who not only created everything we see, the universe and the complexity that we see all around us, but the one who holds it all together, remember the description of him in Colossians chapter 1, and all that Christ is, this Lord Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation. So why is it that we are so concerned about our reputation and getting a name for ourselves? Why is it that often believers want to put their hand for the up-the-front job but nobody wants to scrub the bathroom? Well, because they're concerned about what they are in the eyes of others. They are, very often. There's always a long list of volunteers for the up-the-front job. to be seen, to be heard, to be thought well of, to be noticed. But what about the jobs that nobody sees but God sees? What about making ourselves of no reputation? Took upon him what? The form of a servant. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister. Have an attitude of a servant. Everybody needs to just serve me. I mean, come on, get me a glass of water, will you? No, you get the glass of water and give it to somebody. have a mindset of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man. Listen to these words, he humbled himself. Don't skip over those words. It is hard for us to plumb the depth of that statement. Christ, the eternal Son of God from eternity past to eternity future, no beginning, no end, creator of the universe, humbled himself. Just the fact that he became a man, before we even get to the cross, the fact that God would come and take on human flesh, what humility! And then the fact that he would allow that body to be subjected to the agonies of the cross and the suffering of the cross, what humility! You see, if we adopt that sort of mindset, we will not have pride, we will have a humble mind. Humble mind. If Christ can humble himself that much, who are we to elevate ourselves over another brother or sister in Christ? It's convicting stuff, isn't it? It really is. Humbleness of mind. Meekness is the next one. Humbleness of mind, meekness. meekness. Now meekness, we've heard probably the phrase before, is not weakness, okay. The world often looks down on the Christian faith and they think, oh well, you know, those people, they just need a crutch, you know, that's, you know, I'm tough, I don't need God, I can battle away on my own. No, meekness is not weakness. I think the best definition I've read of meekness is this, meekness is power under control. Meekness is power under control. In other words, at times I might have even a rightful situation to exercise my authority or my power, but I keep that under control. It's very closely connected with humility. Think of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a good example of this. Was Christ weak? Watch him drive those people out of the temple with the whip. I don't think Christ was a wimp or one of these long-haired, blonde-haired, blue-eyed sissies we see in the painting. He was a strong man but he was a meek man and he knew what it was to have power under control. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, I could not on our prayer to my Heavenly Father, and He would send how many legions of angels? Twelve legions of angels. In other words, Christ had power. He could have brought destruction on His enemies. He could have unleashed His power. He had that authority, but He was meek. He went meekly to the cross. His power was held under control. Husbands, you have a position of authority in your home, and if you want to, you could make it difficult for your family because you have a position of authority, but meekness will not allow you to do that. Meekness will keep those things under control, and there will be an appropriate exercise of those things. Long-suffering is the next word. Long-suffering, and this is a compound word in the Greek language, it's makrothymian, and it's made up of two words, makros, meaning long, far away, or distance, and thumos, anger, rage, or wrath. And so what it literally means is wrath that is put far away. That's what it means. All right? You've heard of the word macro, okay? It comes from basically macro, thumos, okay? I think of maybe a long thermometer or something, I don't know. temper okay a long wick along long it basically means wrath that is put far away as one author said long-suffering speaks of the man who having to do with injury injurious persons does not suffer himself to be provoked by them or to blaze up in anger we need to put this on we need to work on this as believers of having long suffering bearing with people patiently He's speaking to a local church here, isn't he? The Colossian church, the church at Colossae, isn't that important? Isn't that important within the context of the local church? Don't we need to be long-suffering one with another? Do you know why there are some people who won't even darken the church of a door today? It's because they never learned how to be long-suffering. And they go to a church for a little while and someone accidentally ruffles their feathers and that's it, you know, I'm leaving this church as apostate and off they go. And eventually they end up at home in their Ugg boots watching something on telly, which is a despicable way and don't even call that church, please. Long suffering. anger that is put far away. Are you like that? It's really the opposite to what we read back in verse 8 about anger and wrath, where to put off those things that we talked last week about the both aspects of anger, the heart of anger, the anger that boils within us or the anger that's manifest in the quick flashes. We are... long-suffering is the complete opposite to that, we bear long. Are you that way? Are you that way in your home, in your dealings with one another, husbands, wives? Husbands and wives can get into bad habits. I've been married for eight years, I'm learning these things slowly but surely. But husbands and wives can get into bad habits and long-suffering can just go out of the window. You know each other so well and you end up snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap and the anger just flares, flares, flares, flares, flares and there's no long-suffering. We need to put on long-suffering in the home. What about with the kids? I mean, don't they wear you down at times, parents? And long-suffering can really just, well, we know about it but just to make it real is hard, isn't it, at times for the children, all right? You're all staring at me like you don't have these problems. OK, well, I'm glad. I'll just, yeah. There you go. Long suffering. Some of you are looking like, oh no, not me, Pastor. Tell the truth, okay? When prayer time comes, tell the truth to the Lord and then tell your wife later or vice versa. Sometimes it's the other way around. I mean, sometimes the man can be very, very long-wit and you know, you might be, ladies, you know, you might be in the category of just for you to just pummel him verbally is very easy. Just, poom, off you go. And he meekly takes that and goes out the back shed and whatever, I don't know. But long-suffering, long-suffering with one another. It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit, isn't it? Galatians 5.22. suffering. Back in Colossians 1, you remember we talked there about a walk that is worthy of God and it says in verse 11 that Paul's desire was that they would be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. Why? So they could work a great miracle, so they could go and preach to 5,000 people. No, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. In order for us to have long-suffering it takes supernatural glorious power. divine power in our lives and this should be something that makes us distinct from the unbelieving world. It is a great shame upon the name of Christ when unbelievers come into the church and smell the gun smoke. It is a great hindrance to the work of the gospel when believers fail to exercise long-suffering one toward another. Alright, okay, put on therefore, okay, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering and then we see verse 13, really flows out of this, carries the thought on, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. We see here the problem that we often face is this matter of quarrels. Notice the word quarrel there. The word quarrel means a cause of blame, a matter of complaint or simply refers to grievances. We can have grievances one with another, we can have a cause for blame, we can have complaints towards one another as believers. Now, you understand if you've got a family here, you understand what a delicate thing it is to maintain family unity. Now that's where you've got the closest of human ties. Isn't it hard work to maintain family, a spirit of unity? How much more in the local church where we have a whole bunch of sinners from all sorts of backgrounds, whatever, raised different ways, all thrown into the one body, quarrels are often abound in local churches. And do you know what? You may even have a rightful cause to lay blame to that person. You may have a legitimate matter of complaint or a grievance, and God tells us we'd exercise two things towards quarrels, problems that we have one with another. Forbearance. Forbearance. Forbearance, you say, what does that mean? Very simply, in plain English, it means to put up with somebody. Put up with them. Put up. You say that doesn't sound very spiritual. Well, it's what it means. Put up with. Endure. endure, you know, we naturally connect easily with certain people, you know, they complement our temperament or whatever, the way we are we can easily connect and that's why sometimes you get clicks forming in churches which we don't want to see either, but there are others that just rub us the wrong way, I mean the way they look at us makes us feel annoyed. Sometimes, look, sometimes it's not even intentional. Sometimes people do intentionally try and be wounding to other people. Very often it's not intentional. Someone just says something that's a bit blunt or, you know, and we take it the wrong way and it goes in. You say, you know, I could complain about that. I could make strife about that. I could cause division about that. But if you're seeking to put on Christian character in your life, you're going to forbear. Put up with it. Endure it. Have a patient spirit towards those that irritate you. We need to do that. Have a patient spirit towards those that rub you the wrong way in the local church. Don't pretend like that doesn't happen, it does. It does, it happens to all of us and that's because we're a whole bunch of wicked sinners in one body and we need the Lord's grace, forbearance and then we exercise forgiveness. Forgiveness, now I love this word forgiveness because it comes from the same root word as the word grace in the New Testament. Forgiveness, this particular word here comes from the word grace and is not forgiveness something that flows out of grace in our lives? Forgiveness towards one another. Now we're not talking about overlooking serious matters of sin, We're not talking about having a light attitude like some, you know, try and promote towards serious problems and sin. There is other scriptures that come into play there. The whole context here is quarrels, triflings, strifes about things that really don't matter. Quarrels, complaints one with another, that's the whole context here. We'd exercise forbearance, forgiveness. By the way, even with a serious grievance, you can still have a forgiving heart towards that person. Now, for true forgiveness to actually take place, there must be repentance on the part of the one who's committed the problem, the crime. Because Jesus said, He said, if your brother trespass against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. That's a forgotten aspect of forgiveness today. We have all these people going around, oh, forgive, forgive, forgive. No, forgiveness is conditioned upon repentance. Jesus said, if the erring brother repents, then forgive. And isn't that the case with us as guilty sinners? I mean, doesn't Christ have forgiveness as his disposition, his character? He has all, I mean, what a forgiving heart God has, and God has forgiveness in his heart towards guilty mankind, but unless he repents, he will not receive the full benefit of that forgiveness. And so, when there are serious issues between brothers and sisters, it's not sometimes just a matter of just saying, oh, just forgive, forgive. No, have a forgiving heart like God, you can have a heart that's free of bitterness and you can have a forgiving disposition, but for true and full forgiveness to completely take place, there must be repentance on the part of the other person. All right, that's maybe a little bit of a side note there, but I'm just saying, don't take the instruction here in Colossians as an excuse to just overlook serious matters of sin. Oh well, this person's committed adultery or whatever, let's just forgive and move on. No, there's got to be repentance There's other scriptures that come into play there but here the context is quarrels, complaints, one with another. We understand what that means, just the foolish striving one with another of different things and things that really don't have to do with the clear instructions of the Word of God. We are to exercise forgiveness, grace towards people in those circumstances. Notice the standard of the forgiveness here, it's very high isn't it? Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Could we get a higher standard of forgiveness? Could we get a higher standard of forgiveness? You say, how am I supposed to forgive a brother in Christ over that issue, that hurt, whatever it is that I have? How am I to forgive them over that complaint that I may rightfully have against them? Will you to forgive them at the same level that Christ forgave you when he saved you? You say, I can't do that. Amen. Of course you can't, but you can with the resources of chapter 1 and 2 at your disposal, with the power of the indwelling Christ. He indwells us, doesn't he? We've learned that. But it takes effort on my part. These two things go together. God's power working in me, but then my striving, my will is involved, and I put my whole soul and might and being into obeying what God has said. The two things work hand in hand. So Christ is the model, the standard of forgiveness. Christ's forgiveness was full, it was complete, it was undeserved, wasn't it? I mean, did we deserve God's forgiveness? Did we deserve Christ's forgiveness? You say, that person doesn't deserve my forgiveness. Well, you didn't deserve forgiveness either. And Christ forgave you. You didn't deserve it. All you deserved was hell. All I deserved was hellfire without Christ. But Christ in His love came because He is forgiving and He provided a way for us to be reconciled to God and a way for us to be freely pardoned and forgiven and brought back into right relationship with God. So can't we exercise forgiveness towards a brother or sister who's maybe said something hurtful to us or done something that really is just grievous to us? Can't we forgive? We're commanded to, it's not an option, this is not optional. A refusal to forgive is disobedience. A refusal to forgive in the local church is disobedience against God and you will stop up the fountains of God's blessing if you are here today and you have an unresolved and unforgiving heart towards a brother or sister in Christ. It is very possible in a room this size, I'm not trying to be charismatic or psychogenic, it is very possible in a room this size that there is at least one person or maybe more who has an unforgiving heart towards another brother or sister in Christ. Absolutely possible if not very probable. And if you're in that situation today, then you are to put on this forgiving attitude and you are to forgive as Christ forgave you. You say, that person does not deserve my forgiveness, you did not deserve forgiveness either. You are to forgive on the same, that's the standard. Christ's forgiveness is the standard, the goal that we are to aim for as we forgive others. I mean, we could just spend a lot of time on that. Think about Christ's forgiveness. Think of the quality of His forgiveness. Think about the attributes of His forgiveness and then ask God to make that a part of your forgiveness of others. I mean, it's undeserved. When Christ forgives, does He bring the matter up again? No. Now, God has the ability to just wipe the record in such a way that he somehow forgets. I don't understand that. We can't forget, but we don't have to keep bringing the matter up, do we? Oh, I've forgiven you about this, but you know, five years ago, do you remember that? That's not forgiveness. Forgiveness, we move on. Once we've forgiven somebody, we move on in our relationship one with another. Alright, so we have the practice of the new man. Now notice please, thirdly and lastly this morning, what I call the priority of the new man in verse 14. And this really is an eighth virtue, quality that we had to put on, but I wanted to deal with it separately because the Bible seems to place special emphasis on it and in a sense separate it from the rest and elevate it for us. It says, verse 14, sorry, and above all these things, see there's a there's a priority, the priority of the new man. Above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness. Alright, so we have the first seven qualities, this one here is separated out and elevated above all the others as being of utmost importance, there is a statement of priority here and it is this matter of charity. What is charity please, somebody tell me? Love, thank you, it's divine love. Is it just human feelings or is it more than that? It's much more, isn't it? It is much more than natural love. Today, in the world, love equals feelings but in the Bible, love equals action, okay? Feelings are a secondary thing, the feelings follow, the feelings are the accompaniment of love. But love in scripture is an action word, not a feeling. It's not, oh, I just don't know if I can exercise love for that believer, I don't feel like it. Well, God didn't ask you to feel, he asked you to go and obey and do. Okay? So, we are to put on charity. This is the love of which God is the source. God is love, 1 John 4, 16. God is the source of this love. And somebody's defined this love in this way, love is that which seeks its joy in the good of another. Isn't that a good definition? Love is that which seeks its joy in the good of another. It's others focused. God so what? Love, same word, the world that He what? Gave His only begotten Son. It's a giving love, it is a love that is demonstrated in action and that is the type of love that we need in the local church. Never mind how you feel on a Sunday morning, never mind how you feel from the week you've had or whatever, go and greet that brother or sister, say hello, be kind, be courteous, be other-centered. Don't go and hide in your own little hidey hole after the service and use a little cup of tea and let everybody walk past or you walk straight past them and just ignore them. Love is an action, put it into action. Now we see something very interesting about this love as it relates to all the other things that we've just covered. It tells us that this love is the bond of perfectness. So what does the word bond mean? Well the word bond there has the idea of a girdle, a belt or a sash. Remember, the imagery that we're looking at here is clothing, isn't it? So we put on the first seven virtues, like a garment, kindness, humbleness, meekness, all of those things, and we are then to give special attention to love, because love is the belt, the sash, the girdle that holds all of those virtues together. Do you see that? If you can imagine putting on a dressing gown, maybe, and you put the tie on the outside, what does it do? It holds the dressing gown in place. That's the picture we have here. This is why love is so important. In the absence of love, all of these other things lack meaning. Humbleness of mind, meekness, kindness, long-suffering, forbearance and forgiveness all find their meaning in a spirit of love. Love is what holds all of these qualities together, gives them unity, gives them their meaning. Can you see that? to put on charity which is the bond of perfectness or maturity. All right, so love holds it all together and binds it together. So, You say, Pastor, there's a lot of things to work on here. I mean, we've gone through seven things in total. Bows of mercies, kindness, humbleness. Where do I start? Where do I start? I mean, do I start with meekness or humbleness? I mean, I just feel a little bit overwhelmed. Well, we could really summarize this whole list of virtues in the phrase, love one another. The Bible elevates love. He says, give special attention to that. Why? Because when we give attention to love, these other things naturally find their place. So, you say, what's one thing I can take home today to work with? I mean, there's so much here. We'll take this home. Work on love, okay? Work on love. Above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond, the belt, the sash, the girdle of perfectness. All of these things we've looked at this morning describe a perfect or mature life. Kindness, all those things. Love will hold it all together, give it meaning, and really all of these things are an actual consequence and an outflow of love. So, the priority of the new man is love. The position, the practice with the exercise of the new man, the priority is love. We need to work on our love, one for another. We need love, one for another. Jesus said, didn't he, if by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one toward another. We know that's been misused and abused and we have all the, you know, people uniting all the religions in the world under that banner, that's not what it's talking about, but in a genuine context here of a local church that is endeavouring to be faithful to the Word of God, it is a huge part of our testimony to the unsaved world, a huge part that we exercise love one toward another. All right, let's pray this morning. The question this morning is, are we dedicating time, energy and attention to the development of these godly traits in our lives? That's the question we need to ask ourselves this morning. Maybe the Spirit of God has touched your heart about one of these aspects. Maybe for you it's humbleness of mind that you need to address, you've been puffed up over your pride, you've been prideful, allowing yourself to think thoughts about yourself and your status that you ought not to do, you ought not to think. Maybe it's kindness and having a heart of compassion. Maybe you're just, as a general rule, a hard and calloused person to deal with and hard-hearted towards others in need rather than being a soft and tender-hearted individual. I mean, we need all of these things but maybe there's one particular thing this morning that the Spirit of God would drive home to your heart. Maybe it's love. Whatever it be, would you just say, yes Lord, with your help I'm going to give attention to putting on these virtues. I'm going to work hard with your help, your assistance, your indwelling power in my life. I'm going to give attention to putting on, like a garment, these things in my life. Father, we thank you this morning for the Word of God. Lord, truly it is a challenge to each of us And Lord, really we could summarize all of these by just looking at the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly he is our perfect example of all of these qualities we've looked at this morning. And so we just pray, our simple prayer might be this morning, Lord, would you make us like Christ. Make us like the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that your character would be engrafted into our lives, that we would truly demonstrate Christ's likeness, not only to the unsaved, but one toward another, in our families, marriages, local church, that we might be truly characterized by these precious truths. We ask these things now in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.