The Powerful Peace of Christ (Colossians 3:12-17)
Text:
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-17)
In the verses previous to these, we’re encouraged to put off the old man. And these verses encourage us to put on the new man. All of this is building on the argument given in v. 1-4.
As God’s chosen ones, we are holy and beloved. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” (John 15:16). We should never be proud that we accepted Christ. We are saved by the grace of God. Because God chose us, we are now holy. God sees us through the cross of Christ. Because God saved us, we are beloved of God. It’s not something we have to wonder about. God loves us.
Paul names several characteristics of the Christian life (v. 12-13). Putting on a compassionate heart means that we are to help those who need help. We weep with those who weep. We give to those who are in need of assistance. Putting on kindness means simply treating others with respect and being nice to others. Putting on humility means realizing our position before God, and therefore others. Putting on meekness means being gentle and peaceful. Putting on patience means trusting God through adversity, especially in dealing with others. Bearing with one another is about putting up with each other’s annoying habits. We do it as families. We do it as couples. We must do it in the church as well. Forgiving one another is exactly what it sounds like. It’s realizing that we’ve offended God far more than anyone on this earth can offend us, and showing them forgiveness.
Paul names love as the heading for all of these (v. 14). In all of these, we are to do them in love, not reluctant obedience. Love binds the Christian life together. It ought to be evident in every act we do.
After reflecting on love as the summary of those characteristics, Paul took a step back to summarize the Christian life even more. He wanted to make sure that we went about those actions with the right foundation. Anybody can show love, but in order for it to glorify God it has to be done through Christ.
The peace of Christ is kind of the top heading (v. 15). We have a judicial peace with God. We have a relational peace with God, which causes us to also have a peace in life. We ought to always have this subjective peace, but sin gets in the way. Letting the peace of Christ rule your heart means to always remember what Christ has done for you, giving you this peace with God. This peace causes us to have love for people and thankfulness toward God.
We show thankfulness to God in word and deed (v. 17). We read the Word of God and allow its words to dwell in us (v. 16a). We meditate upon it. We memorize it. We share it with others and encourage them with it (v. 16b). We sing it back to God, praising Him through it (v. 16c). We live our lives in such a way as to say “thank you” to God. When we live that way, we find there’s no room for hatred towards others, or any of the things we read about in verses 5-11.
We cannot live this way if it were not for Christ’s payment for us on the cross. That’s why we do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. We’re admitting, “God, I cannot serve you by my strength. But you’ve accepted the death of Your Son to take my place, so that I can glorify You with my life.” So all of my life is not to my credit, but lived through Christ. Apart from Christ’s work, we couldn’t possibly put on the new self. So we simply thank Him for what He’s done. And this thankfulness, due completely to the peace of Christ in us, prompts us to love as we ought to love.
Pastor Chris Huff has been with us since July 2009. He and his wife, Abby, have four children. Chris is originally from St. Louis, MO and even though he was raised as a city boy, he has a small town heart. Chris is all over the internet, so you can find him on Facebook, Twitter,… (read more)
