after pondering God's immeasurable love for you poured out in the cross of Christ. Logical question is, do you love Jesus in response? And if you are thinking, well, of course, that's not even a question. Having understood the love that God has poured out to me, yes, I love Jesus. Interesting the the connection that the authors of scripture make with that Often and they're not afraid to do it like this. Is it? Okay, if you love Jesus then love his people That's what we're going in Colossians today Now you might say well, that's not fair. That's kind of a setup. Of course. I love Jesus you know, he's the one that gave his life for me on the cross loving Jesus is is a given but Well, if you love Jesus, love his people, you know, is that a fair connection to make? And yes, it is. It was interesting to me, Colossians, this is what he's gonna talk about in here, but just as I was thinking about this, other passages came to mind where Jesus made the same connection for people. One that came to mind was Jesus to Peter, right, after his resurrection and they're sitting around and Jesus says to Peter three times, he says, Simon, do you love me? And Simon says, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And Jesus says to Peter, feed my sheep, which is calling him to love, not in those words. But three times he says, do you love me? Poor Simon there, yes, yes, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. And he says, feed my sheep, shepherd my lambs. Then turn with me to Philippians, this is close to Colossians, Philippians chapter two. Paul does the same thing. If you love Jesus, love his people, is what he's going to say. Now, Philippians 2. First one reads like this, if there's any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, if there's any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, it's kind of like this, like Paul is asking us these questions to which we quickly respond. Well, hey believers, is there any encouragement for you in Jesus Christ? And that's the kind of question we'd be like, any encouragement in Christ? What are you talking about? Of course, yes, yes. Is it any consolation to you that God loves you? Is there any fellowship that's provided by the Holy Spirit? Has God shown you any affection or compassion? And we're just answering like Peter, you know. Yes, Lord, you know we love you. You're everything to us. This is understating it. There's more than just a little bit of encouragement in Christ. Of course there's encouragement. And then look what Paul does in verse 2. Okay then, if you love Jesus, he says, Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. He says, hey, if you, if Jesus has meant anything to you, love your fellow believers. Now turn to Colossians. I had you there once already and made you leave and go to Philippians. Colossians chapter 3. I just want to spend a couple of minutes tonight along the theme of loving God's people. It's the next section in our journey through Colossians. Colossians 3, we're going to look at verses 12 through 14. I'm splitting this up into four commands if you want to follow along on your outline or just listen. I'll read the passage first just three verses Colossians 3 verse 12 now. This is the This is the second half of what he was saying right we if you were here last Sunday morning He said here's some behavior that you ought to put off as if it's dirty old stinky clothing You ought to get rid of this kind of bad behavior This is back in verse 8 right get rid of anger wrath malice slander abusive speech those kind of bitter spirits and Harsh language that we could have towards our fellow believers He says get rid of that that isn't who you are anymore and then he goes on into verse 11 He's talking about the new man that we've put on and certainly we have a new Self because we have trusted in Jesus Christ But more than that you can see it in verse 11 when he says that we put on the new man he's also saying we've been connected to a the new humanity that God is creating. We've been connected to this new people that he is calling out for himself, where the distinctions that matter everywhere else don't matter here, because for us, Christ is everything. If you love Christ and I love Christ, then it doesn't matter if I'm a slave and you're my owner. It doesn't matter if I'm a Scythian and you're a Greek. All those distinctions that matter to the world don't matter here. In here, Christ is everything, he says. He puts that right in the middle. He says, put off these bad ways of thinking and relating to other believers because we're all one in Christ. And then, now we get the second half and it's the positive. Here's what we have to put on. Here are the nice new clothes that we put on once Christ has cleansed us. So, and it's all, it's all character traits. Okay, the first command, as I break this up here, number one is just remember your position Wait, did I read verses 12 to 14 yet? I said I was going to a couple of times, but I didn't. We better read them. Okay, Colossians 3, 12, I'm sorry. So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. First command in the verse, although Paul doesn't put it as a command, but as a reminder, is this, remember your position. You have been, if you're a believer, if you've trusted in Jesus Christ, you have been chosen by God, you've been set apart by God, and you are loved by God. That's what he says here. And it's an unspeakable honor to be referred to by these words These words chosen holy and beloved there. They refer to the Israel in the Old Testament when he's talking about the people of God He says well this these are my chosen people that my set-apart ones the ones that I love And then when Christ was here, he used those same words to describe Jesus as he was walking on earth he's the chosen one the set-apart one the one that is God's beloved Son. And now, these same words Paul's saying apply to us. Because we have believed in Jesus, we've been connected to Him, we are the chosen ones, the set-apart ones, the loved ones. which fits right in with what we were pondering there, right before communion, that we have been loved by God. And we don't deserve it. It isn't because of something we've done. God's just chosen us for this out of his grace. So if that's who we are, and it is, if we've trusted in Jesus Christ, we are these people, then how ought we to behave? Second thing he says is, in my words, dress to fit the part. Dress to fit the part. That's gonna come in the second half of verse 12, Let's look at that. You have been chosen of God, holy and beloved. Therefore, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We've already taken off the old ways of behaving. And here he's talking about how we're to treat each other, specifically. And we'll see it as we go through there. If we were to finish the paragraph, it becomes very clear that he's talking about how we ought to behave to other believers, to the rest of our church that we're in. And the first thing he says, we're supposed to put on a heart of compassion. We are to have a deep, Gut-level feeling of compassion for the other believers in the church Just this afternoon. I was in my office, and I thought you know what I need in the situation I need a heart of compassion And then there was a magazine open in front of me and the article, seriously, it said, put on a heart of compassion. I'm like, what? Okay, you're right, Lord, I need a heart of compassion. And that, this is what it's saying, it's from our innards we are to love and care for the people around us. The next thing that it says, we're to put on kindness. This refers to a grace that runs through our whole person and it mellows those things that might be harsh Paul earlier talked about you want to put off the kind of angry bitterness that causes little things to make you snap into wrathful outbursts. Put off those kinds of things. But here, this is the opposite of that kind of seething, raging bitterness. It's an attitude of heart that's gentle towards others, that thinks well of them, that's kind. It's not just how we act, but a spirit of kindness. Jesus used the word to describe himself. In Matthew 11, you know this, you don't have to turn there, but Matthew 11, 29 and 30 is that passage where he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. And then he says there, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The word easy there is our word kindness. My yoke is easy. It's kind, it's good, it's gentle, it's soft. It's the opposite of harshness. It's the opposite of bitterness. And this is the kind of heart that we're called to put on towards each other in the church. Third thing he says, we're to put on humility. Humble person is one who does not view himself too highly, one who understands that Christ is the one who deserves to be exalted, not me. And really, I think if we did not have the influence of the Bible, this wouldn't be viewed as a virtue. Even in our culture, a lot of times, I see pride exalted as the virtue. Do you know? If you're watching basketball on TV, and these guys are trash talking, and the announcer say, oh, I love to see that, that's the spirit we need in this level of competition. And I think, they're just being rude to each other. We don't need that spirit. I don't want my kids to watch that and have them say that that's the way you ought to behave. So what if he wins a basketball game? That's not what we need. We need the spirit of humility. Now, I'm not saying you can't compete hard, right? Throw that in there. Humility is a virtue that came about being referred to in a positive way when Christ came around because Christ showed us how it's supposed to work, right? God The second person from the Trinity comes and washes his disciples' feet and gives his life for us sinners, showing us the way of humility. So we have the pattern of Christ to follow. This is how we're to act toward one another. Even if we think we are exalted above someone else, Christ was exalted above us, and look at the humble way that he dealt with us. Put on gentleness is the next thing he says. Key elements of gentleness include a consideration of others and a willingness to waive one's rights. It's not something that comes easily, this choosing to waive one's rights. It's included in this idea of gentleness. He also says we have to put on patience. Patience, this word here describes long suffering in the face of insult or injury. Here's a quote from William Barclay. I like this, how he described what this word patience means. He says, this is the spirit which never loses its patience with his fellow men. Their foolishness and their unteachability never drive it to cynicism or despair. Their insults and their ill treatment never drive it to bitterness and wrath. We, are to have this heart of patience towards one another that continues to extend kindness and love and goodness, though they don't deserve it and keep not deserving it. Okay, so commands, we're supposed to remember our identity, we're supposed to dress to fit the part, and that is, because we're believers, we act a certain way. The third thing he's going to say is, don't change clothes when you get spilled on. I used to sell pop at Nebraska football games. I guess I'm a sports theme tonight. But it was back in the day, you know, because I'm getting really old now. When I was selling pop, I was 14 and I've never been buff, but even less buff than I am now. So to be able to carry these trays of pop was not an easy thing for me. I was just totally wiped out at the end of the day, but I got to go to the football game and I made a lot of money, so it was worth it. And now, when they sell pop at the games, it's bottles. They have it so easy. Back in my day, we used to have cups, and then they would, like, slap some saran wrap on the top. Do you remember that? Old school? I mean, they still do that some places. But so, as I'm walking it, I'm spilling pop everywhere I go, because I'm not strong enough to hold this, and it's... It's not covered very well. And this is old school Nebraska games. And so you had these 80 year old people that have been sitting in the same seat every year since Bob Devaney started in 1964 or whatever. And so and their way of dressing, they felt like the appropriate way to dress when they came to a football game was a red blazer or shirt and white pants. I think that's a good idea. If you imagine the mixture of a weak, spilling, 14-year-old pop seller and someone wearing white pants trying to buy the poppet, it wasn't always pretty. Sometimes there was some yelling, some dripping. And this is how it happens for us as believers. We want to have these spirits of kindness and goodness and love toward all. I mean, when we go out in the morning, this is my attitude. Lord, use me as a blessing to all of these people that I'm going to come across this day. Until somebody comes and spills on me a little bit. They don't respond to my obvious kindness in kind. And all of a sudden now, my emotional temperature kind of goes up a little bit and I start thinking thoughts that are less than all the things that I've just put on, right? I'm supposed to be putting on these attitudes. Well, That's how it is in the church. We rub up against each other and spill coke on other people's white pants And that's when what the choice is gonna come now Do I keep on these spirit the spirit that I put on earlier on and and this is a very real verse in verse 13 He's supposed to put on these five traits and then look what he says in verse 13 that we're supposed to do first thing he's is bearing with one another and forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone and Do you have a complaint against someone? Have they done something to offend you? Caused some kind of misery in your life? Have you been spilled on recently in the church? Paul gives us three things in the verse we're supposed to do. The first thing is to bear with them. I love this word because it's so realistic. In other places, this word is translated put up with them. Jesus said, once of the unbelieving and perverse generation that he was ministering to, he said, how long shall I put up with you? And that's the word here. So when other people spill on you, the first thing we're commanded to do is to put up with them, to bear with them. Paul exemplified this when he wrote to the Corinthians. He said, when we are reviled, we bless. When we're persecuted, we endure. But the Corinthians themselves were not so good at that. They were going against the clear word of God. They were taking each other to court over their squabbles that they were having in the church. And Paul wrote to them and he said, why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded than to take each other to court and shame Christ's name and go against all that we're supposed to be as believers. So publicly, we are to bear with one another. Sometimes that's what it takes. You know, we're sinned against and we need to endure. one another. But that isn't the pinnacle of true Christian love there, bearing with one another, gritting your teeth and saying, okay, I'm going to keep going there, I'm going to be nice to these people. You know, that isn't as far as it goes, right? Because the Lord's looking at our heart. And so the next thing that he says, the second thing we're to do when we're spilled on is to forgive one another. It's interesting to me this forgiving one another it's in the present tense, which means that it happens over and over again. We're to keep forgiving Implying that I'm gonna be there's gonna be a continual need for forgiveness. People are gonna keep bothering me And so I'm going to need to keep forgiving them It's true in our marriages. It's true with our friends. It's true in our church and This word for forgiveness, too, it's not the most common word for forgiveness that's used in the Bible in terms of the Greek background behind it. It's a strong word. It emphasizes how gracious it is, that this forgiveness that I'm giving is undeserved. Often used of God's gracious Forgiveness that he's given to us or just even without forgiveness in the context just that God gives us grace Undeserved and that's what we're to do to these people who are spilling on us. Yeah, okay He doesn't deserve forgiveness right now, but I'm to give it to him and then he tells us why doesn't he? It's because of what Lord Jesus has done for us. We're forgiving each other It says whoever has a complaint against anyone just as the Lord forgave you so also should you I don't know of any other motivation to forgiveness that competes with this one, just to think of the cross. Because whoever it is that I think of that's hurt me, yes, they've sinned against me, they may have repeatedly sinned against me, may have hurt me deeply, but every sin I've ever committed is against God. everything that i've done to my wife to my kids to you guys all the things that i've done wrong it's not only a sin against you but it's a sin against god and plus things that i've done just personally where only the lord would know how i rebelled against him add up all of those sins and christ has forgiven me all of those things he's forgiven Whoever it is, and whatever it is that they've done to me, my forgiving them is paltry in comparison. It's just, it doesn't compare. So, forgive, he says, because Christ has forgiven you. Colossians 2 turn back there with me Colossians 2 verses 13 and 14 just love how he describes our forgiveness here that we were given in Christ Colossians 2 13 when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh He made you alive together with him having forgiven us all our transgressions having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us and he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross and Christ has forgiven all of our sins, and we are called to that same kind of forgiveness towards everyone else here, to the other believers in the church. That's what he's calling us to. So, what should we do towards these other believers? What kind of things should we put on? He says we should remember our position. You need to dress to fit the part. Don't change your clothes when you get spilled on. And the fourth thing he says is this. Above all, put on love. Above all, put on love. Two things he's going to say that love does for us, but let's look at verse 14 of Colossians 3. Beyond all these things, he says, put on love. And if we're continuing on with our picture, and I think this may be what he's doing, we're putting on clothes, right? We're putting on these other virtues, and so we have these clothes. And then here he says, over everything else, put on love. Almost like you've got love as this trench coat, this outer garment that covers everything else and holds everything else together and is the, the supreme of these virtues, above everything else, on top of all those other things that we're to put on. Put on love, he says. And then he describes love. This is interesting to me, just to kind of think about this. Put on love, and then he says, this love is the perfect bond of unity. For me, as I read that phrase, the perfect bond of unity, there's two questions that come up. What exactly does he mean that love is the perfect bond of unity? The first question is, what is it that love is binding together? He says love is the perfect bond of unity. There's a couple of different ways that people take this. One view is that love binds together the virtues. Like, love is a belt that holds these other things together. So, you can't really be kind as you ought to unless you have love. You can't really be as patient as you ought to unless you have love. And there's truth there. Think of 1 Corinthians 13. But I think in the context, I don't think that that's what he's... Emphasizing that needs to be bound together by love that the other virtues are tied together by love, but that it's us We need to be tied together He's just talked about us being the new man and as he goes in the next verse He's gonna say we are the body of Christ. We need to be tied together. And what is it that holds us together? What is the bind that holds us together? It's love love is meant to bind us to one another so if you're taking notes two things love does it binds us together the believers in the church and And the second question that I have about that phrase is I'm thinking about what it means to be, what is the perfect bond of unity is this. What's the word perfect describing in this verse? Love is this perfect bond of unity. What is it that's perfect? In the original, the verse reads kind of like this. Overall, these put on love, which is the bond of perfection. You can take it a couple of different ways. In the New American Standard, it kind of seems like it's saying that love is a perfect bond. It's not a weak bond that's going to break, but it's a perfect bond. That's one way to take it. But I think what he's saying, more likely, is that perfection is the goal we're striving for. So as we love one another, that moves us towards the goal of perfection. Originally, he says, over all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection, the thing that moves us as a body towards maturity. Now, turn back with me to Colossians 1, because he said something similar to this just a little bit earlier in the book. Colossians 1.28, he was talking about he lives to preach the word of God, the gospel he spreads, and this is his goal in this. This is the goal of his ministry, Colossians 1.28. He says, we proclaim him admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. That word complete, the same word that we have here when it says perfection. So Paul says, here's what I do with my life. I want to take every person and give them the gospel and teach them about God, teach the word of God to them so that they can become mature, so they can become complete And now here in Colossians 3, I think he's filling out for us. How does this work? How is it that we come to this maturity? And he's saying, well, here's how it is. It isn't something we just do as individuals, but we do it together. We, as the new people of God, are bound together in love, and that love, as we love each other, and we rub up against each other, and we need to forgive, and we rub up against each other, and we need to show patience, and we grow Together and love holds us together through all of this this brings us to maturity So that the Lord could look at our church and say they're growing They're growing they're becoming mature. This is what I want them to be but we don't get there and we just go off and live by ourselves we get there when we come together and bump up against each other and have to Forgive and love and grow and so love becomes the thing that holds us together while we're struggling and and it and it's the thing that That brings us to as we love one another it brings us to the maturity the perfection the completion That God desires for us. I think it's a beautiful picture Through this fire God is shaping his church into his own perfect image so love and the command for us, love. Love because Jesus loves you. Love because you love Jesus. Love because Jesus loves these people that are his church. And love because it's through loving that we all will, as a group, come to the maturity that's honoring to God. I'm gonna pray and then Fred will come up and we'll have a time of prayer also. Lord, thank you for this passage of scripture and it's so beautiful and it's easy for us to read it and think, yeah, that's great. But it's hard, you know, Lord, you know our weakness and our We struggle to live up to our intentions. We can't do it without your grace. So we pray. Help us, Lord, as a body, to be more and more, and as individuals, to be more and more marked by these things. That we would really care for one another, that we would be kind, humble, gentle, patient, we'd bear with one another, forgive one another, and above all, God, may we be known by love. So that when people coming in, they see, yeah, okay, these people don't always see eye to eye on everything, but they love one another. Because you've poured your love into our hearts and so it's possible for us through your spirit may we be marked by love And ultimately not to impress the people around us, but to bring glory to you to please you who've called us to this love I'm pretty things in Jesus name. Amen