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Colossians chapter 3, starting at verse 10.
And have put on the Newman, 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, banned, norfree. But Christ is all and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bow the mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering for bearing 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, in which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the witch also. Ye are called in one body, and be thankful. 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. And whatsoever you do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Father, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of hard fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ.
But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done.
And there is no respect of persons.
And exhorted to put off the old, but now we're exhorted to put on the new. We spent a great deal of time, and I trust to our prophet Speaking of those things that are not to characterize the believer in a practical way, those things that are really.
Manifestations of the flesh and because the flesh in a believer doesn't change. And I would just echo, I think someone already said it, but sometimes the young people, I think look at those who are a little older and think things are going to get better as they get older.
But the flesh doesn't improve as we get older. It's like that old pile of rotten lumber, the longer you leave it there, it's just not going to improve. You don't go back. You don't have a pile of rotten lumber and expect to go back in 10 years and find it improved and maybe pull out a few boards and use them. No, in fact, it's going to get worse if any, if anything. And so, uh, the flesh and as we get older, it doesn't get any better. It's, it's still there. And we who are older have these struggles as well.
But thankfully they're we're going to go on now and speak of the positive that which we are to put on. And these things are characteristic of the new man. And these things can be manifest in the power of the Spirit of God in your life and mind. And maybe there's someone here and you say, well, I came to this conference and I really haven't been living like I should. And some of these things have characterized my life. But you know, we don't have to go back the same way.
We have the power and every one of us brethren here sitting in these chairs here this morning have the same resources at our disposal again, the resources that we have in Christ and the power of the Spirit and from the Word of God. These resources aren't just available to a few or those who are older. No, these resources are available to all of us if we are willing to by faith, take hold of these resources.
And use them for the glory of God.
Our brother Darby's translation, it seems to put a past tense on this old and on the new as well. It says umm having put off the old man with his decent sounds like it's something that has been done. Having put it off.
And sometimes we spend a lot of trying time trying to put it off.
But God really sees that it's a it's, it's, it's, it's, it's in our history.
And we need to see it that way too, having put off.
It's helpful when you see things the way God sees that, and then we can practically enjoy that position that we've been placed in.
Because we spend a lot of time and effort trying to do something.
00:05:05
That, really, God has already done.
Well, I think Brother Buchanan Buchanan made the comment at the beginning of the first reading Be What You Are.
And I think that was a very helpful comment to begin with. And so the practical exhortations that we have in these chapters, and they are very practical exhortation, they are in light of what we are, what God has done. And that's really true in all of Scripture. The practical exhortations are always in view of the truth that's given in the first part of the epistle. And you often find that in the Scripture he gives.
The truth itself and the doctrine concerning our position or what God has done for us and in US or whatever. And then he goes on to say, now in light of what God has done in the blessing you've been brought into, now you have, there are some practical exhortations and some responsibility that we are to carry out. So I think that's very helpful.
Why is it different in an Asian store 24?
And 22.
I think if you read the new translation, it is the same. Having put off, it is something that is looked at as done. As far as God is concerned, it's done and we are to look at what look at things that way as well.
Like you say it, it is something to take God's testimony as to it. So nice people say, well the scripture says we are dead, but I don't feel very dead.
When temptation comes along, there is a response in me.
We are to believe God, brethren, not to believe our feelings. Our feelings change. And I think it is helpful too. It was mentioned the other day. Maybe we could turn to it in Romans seven. I think you mentioned that, Jim, in verse 17.
In his struggle, this man in the 7th of Romans comes to this point, and I think it is.
A helpful point to get to.
He says in verse 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Verse 20 Now if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. In other words, he says there are two natures inside. There is one that wants to do right.
But has no power in itself to do that, which is right. And then there is the one that wants to do sin. That's the sin nature, that principle of sin in US. But then I think Don mentioned in chapter 8.
Verse eight it says so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh. That is a good thing to remember, we who are believers in the Lord Jesus.
Are not in the flesh the position of the believer is in the spirit, the flesh or sin is in us, but we are not in that if we were in that we would have to obey it, but we are not in that position. We are in the spirit and the spirit of God is the power now of that new life in Christ. So it's it's good to distinguish those although there's.
Differences of meaning in the old man and the flesh or sin in the flesh, Those are terms that are somewhat related. I'm not sure that I understand it very well. You mentioned a little bit Don, yesterday. I don't know if there's.
That's a very difficult distinction to make it.
We benefit by going into great, deep detail.
00:10:04
I would just say.
I feel like we spent this.
Experience, direction and time yesterday as far as we can go.
On that subject, I feel like today we should go on the 1St 10.
And not try to go over yesterday. We, it's something that we gradually, little by little learn here a little, there a little. And my own soul, I feel like the Lord would have us not try to redo yesterday. Umm.
Isn't to say we have made it all clear or we have all understood it, but may the Lord help us. We've had scripture that we can go back to as Phil mentioned yesterday.
Umm Romans gives us more detail on this subject than we have here in Colossians Romans. The difference is in flesh and in spirit.
In Colossians, it's in life.
In death and then in life, and there are two different aspects of the subject. And in Romans you get more about the conflict with the flesh and Colossians the conflict is with the world and.
Consequently, picking up verse 10, I'd like to make a few comments about it.
First, it is renewed in knowledge.
Every one of us, when we're born, we start to acquire knowledge.
Our minds start to be filled with things.
And what we fill our minds with often produces.
The attitude, the interest, the direction of what we think about things and what's important to us. Every single magazine you open up.
Or see here on the radio or see on television. All the advertisement is to put in your mind something that will produce in you a desire to have something you don't have. That's the and when you hear somebody speak and give their quote opinion.
Starts to put in your mind thoughts of well this is right and that's wrong and something else.
The only place you can go to to get your mind straight and correct with God is the Word of God or that which helps you to understand it. That is the only solid basis to get your mind properly.
Trained, if you will.
To understand what is of God and what is of man and what is of yourself. When we go to the word of God, we learn about God, we learn about the Lord Jesus, we learn about ourselves, we learn about the world in which we live. We learn about everything we need for life and godliness. And so in Romans 12, it's speaking about people who get saved. And it says be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in other words.
Before, their minds were filled with man's thoughts. Their attitudes were formed by the thoughts of men now that they had been saved. The moment you're saved, you still have the same old mind, you have a new heart, you have a new life, but you still have the same mind. Some people, it takes them a while to get a different speech habit.
That the habit of speech which comes from the mind was born previous to salvation. And they don't always immediately drop some of the speech habits that are really not consistent with the truth of God. And so we need to, if you will, put aside the thoughts that were formed by man and his views of life and have the word of God as our food and it transforms, that is, it changes.
Our minds to think differently, to have different attitudes towards things and the ultimate. And this to me is wonderful. In uh, John 17, it says, and this is life eternal.
What is life internal?
That they may know the the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And much of the prayer that we had in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3. And here is the thought that we might have the true knowledge of God.
00:15:13
That's the ultimate thing that transforms us, that we might have the true knowledge of Christ, and God takes that true knowledge. And one thing it does, the true knowledge of God, makes us humble.
Man is proud by knowledge.
But the true knowledge that comes from God makes the man humble as as it said in Job.
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear.
But now I see.
Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. If we come to the true knowledge of God, it brings us to the true knowledge of our own selves and our own place, and that's a very humbling thing. If we come to the true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it fills the heart to overflowing.
And.
Understanding of knowledge comes, as Bob said the other day, in the heart. Ephesians, one tells us. And so he says, you need that knowledge, brethren. You need to be renewed in knowledge. And when you are, you'll find that Christ is all and in all.
Mr. Darby translates that in verse 11. At the end, Christ is everything. Everything.
Then he gives the in verse 11 here the distinctions between the Greek and the Jew. The natural man would like to have distinctions and boast in those distinctions, but God in his grace has formed the church and it's one body and every one of us is needs to be molded after the same image, the image of Christ, the one that's created us. And so there's no Greek nor Jew, there's no national distinction. And then the circumcision and the uncircumcision, why we might boast in our religion.
But he says there's no religious distinction either. And then barbarian and Scythian. And so we might say one is educated ones uneducated, we might boast in that. But he says there's no intellectual distinction either. And then he says bond are free. And so we might boast in our social standing as far as where we're at in our social standing in the in this world, but that doesn't have any place in the things of God either. And so the natural.
Man would boast in those things and God says when it comes to being conformed to the image of our Savior, the Lord Jesus or those natural things cannot enter in. They're not a part of the new life. And so we have responsibility to set those things aside and to have our occupation with that blessed one.
Knowledge without God.
Go ahead, go ahead in Philippians would help just one verse for me to live is Christ to live Christ.
That's sort of what you're saying to us, isn't it? Don live in Christ.
The only happy, satisfying.
End result and Paul earned it and he tells us and I just say may the Lord help us each one to learn the truth of it. Paul didn't say I've arrived, but he had arrived in the sense that that was the objective of his life and God would work in each one of us that it might be more 100% so and most of us would say we have a good way to go yet, but it it's still it's put before us as our pattern.
That we might find Christ.
Everything to our hearts and everything to our lives.
Eric used to put these things to us in a simple way.
If any man be in Christ, she is a new creation. We've had that verse several times quoted to us in Christ.
And we've recently lost some, but we still love and think about they departed to be with Christ.
00:20:01
But they don't like Christ yet.
When he comes, when he appears, we shall be like him. It's going to happen. We ought to make some little progress in our walk toward that place.
Well, the athlete says for me to live is is sports. The businessman says for me to live is business, but for the Christian, for me to live is Christ. Not thinking in connection with the comments that have been made that knowledge connected with this world or knowledge without God is the reference point always puts man at the center of everything. It makes everything of man. And whether it's in a national way, as you say, whether it's education.
Uh, Whether it's social standing or whatever, it makes much of man. And you only have to go to corners of the world where some of those ancient, uh, civilizations rose and fell to realize they had a lot of knowledge. You know, Egypt is a base Nation Today, but it wasn't a base nation at one time. And their understanding of the universe and all was tremendous. Those pyramids weren't just built haphazardly in the Giza desert, no.
They had understanding of things that was tremendous, but they didn't have God as the reference point.
Consequently, they made much of man and spent their whole lives exalting man and trying to prepare for the afterlife in a way that we've quickly see was not according to God's thoughts and so, but when.
We're saved and we get the knowledge of God. It's Christ centered. Man's knowledge apart from God is man centered, the knowledge of God.
Puts Christ at the center. It makes everything of Christ, and even in a religious way.
You know, Paul as Saul of Tarsus was a religious man. He was a real, very religious man, and he had a lot of knowledge and a lot of zeal, but it caused him to do very many things contrary even to the name of Christ. But after he got saved and he got the true knowledge of God and the truth as it is in Christ, why, it changed his whole focus. It took his eyes off man. It didn't make Saul of Tarsus the center of everything now.
It made Christ the center and I believe this is what he's saying here when he says Christ is everything. The knowledge of God makes everything of Christ and nothing of man. Now brethren, if if that's our focus, if our desire is to have the knowledge of God.
Then Christ is going to be everything it's going to. It is going to humble us. As someone has said, it's not going to make anything of self or of man. The difficulty is our reference point isn't always God and Christ. Often we get back to the elements of this world.
Where the reference reference point is man.
In verse 12.
Is put on there for as the elect of God, holy and beloved.
Previously said exhortations are based on.
Position, or the place in which God puts us, or what he provides for us. So when the epistles, the first chapters give the doctrine, and the latter chapters give the exhortations. And so he's going to say something for them to do put on.
But the when he does, he reminds him of three things.
And that is what they are, if you will, a lack of God.
Holy and beloved.
Every one of us who is in this room this morning to whom this exhortation will apply.
His first told You are elect of God, you are holy, and you are beloved.
And that is the basis on which we are told or given the exhortation.
To have our lives characterized by vowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness, and so on. I want to back up because the comment was made earlier about the 10th of the verb put off and put on and so on.
The Greek calls it the errors tense and the thought in it, which the English doesn't have a direct equivalence, so there's a lot of explanation that's been given about that Greek tense of the word, but the thought is.
00:25:08
To do something once.
And then from then on maintain that which is done.
Put it in one cent. I'm saved. There was one point in my life when I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the consequence of that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ continues on.
And it stays that way. I am saved. I don't go back and get saved again. I don't have to keep redoing my salvation. I was saved once and now the result of that faith in the Lord Jesus continues on and will continue on for eternity. And so that's the sense of fear that put on it is we are to put on as holy beloved elect.
The character of what we are.
As holy, beloved and elect, and we are to put it on, so that from now on and through the rest of our existence, we are to be characterized as people of mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness and long-suffering.
We aren't to have to go back and keep becoming that. We are now to be seen as that and that is to continue with us. We're not to be humble one day and proud the next. We're not to be meek one day and overbearing the next and so on. But it is to be that which when somebody looks at our lives, they said, well, that person is a merciful.
Humble, meek person. Man would call it character.
This is the character that is to be displayed in our life. It is the character of one who is holy, beloved and elect of God.
So in verse 10 it is the heiress there.
It is, uh, having put off, put on the Newman and then verse 12 is the exhortation.
Put on, therefore, because of that put on, let it be seen in practical working it out in your lives. Vowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness.
Long-suffering.
Today's world.
Pride is exalted.
We're in the schools. They're often told to be proud of yourself. You often see the bumper sticker on a car, the proud parent of an honor student.
That's glorified in today's world, but pride is something that does not give place to God. It makes something of ourselves, as if we were the ones that were responsible for this honor.
I say sometimes, perhaps it would be cooperative with the thankful parent of an honor student.
Because that gives credit to God. But pride, brethren, is not what we are to be characterized by as believers in the Lord Jesus.
Humbleness of mind. And it has been said that humbleness is not being occupied with ourselves, even in a negative way. It is not being occupied with ourselves at all. That's true humbleness.
Someone recently told me of a couple of little acrostics. I might, I guess you would call them one. For faith is forsaking all, I take him. I as the center of that word. Faith forsaking all, I take him. That's really what we're Speaking of here. But pride is was presented as pursuing riches. I decide everything, and that's the flesh. Pursuing riches, I decide everything. I is the center of all the thoughts of the natural man.
But in faith we take, we review, we rejoice and enjoy.
The fact that we are elect of God individually, God has picked us up.
00:30:04
And we were ruined in sin and degradation, but he picked us up as individuals, and then instead of walking in the filth of this world, were holy. And that is the practical separation from evil is seen as in our lives, and we rejoice in that which is good. We didn't have the power to rejoice in that which was good before.
But we walk in practical separation from that which is evil, and then we have a sense of how He's loved us, and we walk in the sunshine of his love daily as we just seek to honor Him.
These are really attributes of Christ, aren't they? Those things that are seen in a believer. If what we have had before in the chapter is true, if Christ is our object, if we've set our minds on things above, if Christ in a practical way is everything to us, then these things that are attributes and qualities of Christ are going to be reflected and shown in a practical way in our lives.
It's already been alluded to, but that's what we have in the end of first Second Corinthians 3, where we all, with unveiled faith, beholding the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. What that verse really is saying, brethren, in the measure in which Christ is everything to us and in the measure in which we're occupied with him, there's going to be an unconscious reflection of Christ in our lives.
These things are going to be manifested in our lives and our relationships, one with another, without even trying. We're not even gonna realize that these things are characteristic of us if our focus and occupation is Christ Himself.
Might just point out that there's four times here in this chapter that it uses that term one another. In verse nine it says lie not one to another. And then in verse 13 forbearing one another and forgiving one another. And then in verse 16 partway through admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And so there is individual responsibility to manifest the spirit of Christ between one and the other.
And so sometimes we get the idea that perhaps we're lost in the crowd and we don't really take these individual responsibilities seriously, but God desires that as we have the relationship and the interaction one with another, that these things would be manifest in our lives.
Get back to this question, umm, the 1St that you just mentioned, uh, they're monitoring one another in Psalm. Continued spiritual thoughts, uh, probably explain that because how do you do that?
I'll give you a thought on that till I can speak from experience, having been around some people that sing occasionally and there are things that people have ministered to me that they would have difficulty putting into words and saying directly to me, but they admonished me and they're singing their hymns. I think that's provision of God.
In that scripture, we often can impart truth and admonish one another in in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs in ways that we couldn't perhaps directly.
I think it's nice too, to be able to have those him sings together in the home sometimes. Uh, umm, you know, I was visiting in a home and we just, uh, after supper, just, uh, open up the word of God and read together and enjoyed some of the things of the Lord. And then, umm, there was a him that came to mind. And one of the sisters went over to the piano and began to play the hymn. And it was in keeping with what we had been Speaking of in, in the word. And if I could use the term that, ahem, Singh broke out.
And so there were those that those hymns that were sung together. And then the psalms really are the inspired Word of God and they really give the feelings of the Lord in as was already mentioned, we have the enjoyment of being able to sing some of the songs and the young people sing songs together and they sing of the Word of God. And some of those psalms, we can enjoy them. The hymns are those things that are for worship.
00:35:02
We can sing hymns together and they are suitable for worship. They're suitable to present Christ to us and to speak to the Lord himself in prayer, as it were, as we sing together. And then those songs, spiritual songs or songs that perhaps we wouldn't sing in an assembly meeting, but our little ones can sing and they can admonish us too. Isn't it something that a young child can walk around the house and sing something about the Lord's coming?
A young child can walk around the house and sing oh be careful, little eye is what you see and those things and God in that way can use it to admonish even those that are older.
#231 Says Lord, since we sing as pilgrims.
Oh, give us pilgrims ways, low thoughts of self, befitting Proclaimers of thy praise. That's really a word of exhortation and admonishment to us. So there's many hymns that that are that way. They it's really prophesying.
It's really.
Speaking the word of God and in a way that is very helpful at times and I think again say that in the him it is something that gets to your heart more than perhaps just the explanation of Scripture. I I'd like to give the explanation I found in a there was a sister in the Oak Park meeting years ago, Annie Laurie Jordan.
And some of you remember her, that she had a hymn book that was given to her by Mr. Potter. And in the front of the Himbach he gave the explanation of these three psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. I thought it was quite interesting. What he said was Psalms are our experiences in the wilderness. So you have a lot of that in the book of Psalms.
We have hymns that relate to that in our hymn book and then hymns like you were saying, Robert is what is directly addressed to God.
Thou art the everlasting word, the Father's only Son that's addressed to God. Isn't that wonderful, brethren? Some of our we like to sing, and I think it's nice to sing about our blessings, but it's nice to at times just directly address.
The Lord Jesus Christ in worship and in praise, not only.
In our meetings together, but in our homes as well. And then spiritual songs, according to his little definition of it, was our spiritual blessings, and we sing about those. So that was the explanation that he gave, and I've enjoyed it.
I want to just say about Psalms as a safeguard, that I don't believe these are necessarily referring to the Psalms of David or the book of Psalms. And I say that because we want to be careful that we sing that which is intelligent for a Christian to sing. And sometimes I've heard the Psalms put to music or sung, and sometimes we're singing, they're singing things that aren't really proper Christian positioner.
Experience, for instance, remember not the sins of my youth, not proper for a Christian to sing that because our sins and iniquities are gone and he'll remember them no more. And and there are we we apply the Psalms, but they really don't bring before us many of them true Christian experience. But as you say, there are I believe hymns right in the little flock hymn book that could be put under the category of really all three of these, not just him, but.
Psalms and spirit spiritual songs. And I want to just say this too about hymns that are are singing that we want to be careful we don't build doctrine on him. You know, I believe that there are many who never grow in their souls because they take their doctrine from the hymns that they sing. And many of those hymns aren't sound in their doctrine. But aren't we thankful, brethren, that we have several collections, not just the little flock, but there's a rich.
Heritage of hymns that are built on doctrine, good scriptural hymns that bring before us the truth, and perhaps the truth in a way that there's no better way to express something than has already been expressed in the words of a hymn. And so we want to be careful that when we sing, we sing those hymns that are built on doctrine because it's those things we remember. And it's good to teach our children and young people to sing because they often remember what they sing.
00:40:22
Before what? What they read A child will often remember the words of a song before they remember the words of some book. And it says here it's been pointed out, admonishing one another.
Now in in the book of Ephesians, it says speaking to yourselves. I just wanna make this little differentiation. If you, if you'll allow me a little application. I believe first of all, we learned to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. What does that mean? You ever wake up in the night and you're just struggling with something, some burden, some decision, and the Spirit of God brings before you the words of a hymn that are real comfort and you go over those in your mind.
Or you're driving your car and maybe something comes to your mind that's defiling, and then you go back to the words of some Him that brings Christ and the truth before you. I like to think of that as speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And that's why it's good to be familiar and memorize good scriptural, doctrinal hymns. But then there's admonishing one another. You know, in these meetings that we've had this weekend, there's often been in ministry.
The quoting of the words of a hymn, because, again, there may be no better way to express something than has already been expressed in the words of a hymn. That's admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and I believe both are important and helpful in our Christian life.
Like to back up and make a comment on verse 15?
ServiceNow the new translation.
Let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts.
God this morning is on a throne of peace.
And none of the events that are gonna take place in the world today are going to disturb his peace.
The Lord Jesus, when he lived here as a man on this earth, lived every day of his life in perfect communion with the God of peace.
And the Lord Jesus went through very difficult, more difficult than any of us.
Trials and tribulations and upsetting circumstances in his life.
But they never disturb the peace of his soul.
He went through each day.
In fellowship with God.
And in the calm, peaceful.
Sense of the throne of God.
When the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and he saw his disciples for the first time in resurrection, the first words out of his Merle were Peace be unto you. And then he says, My peace I give unto you.
And the Lord Jesus knew that he was going to be leaving them and returning home to the Father's house.
But he was passing on to them.
The desire of his own heart that they too they had had himself.
To go to in every circumstance that might, you might say, have disturbed peace for them. But he was saying, My peace I give unto you with the intent that they too would from that point forward live their lives in the same spirit of peace, that it would preside in their hearts in the same way that it had in His.
We know what it is to be different than that right of.
Put it another way, so often our piece is directly connected with our circumstances. His piece was not connected with or dependent upon the circumstances of his life.
00:45:05
When it's my piece is in my circumstances, then the moment something goes wrong, that's the end of my piece. Oh no, what am I going to do? Now this is terrible or whatever, but the Lord Jesus would teach us to walk in the same spirit of peace that it might preside in our hearts so that we too might face the changing and ever.
Sometimes difficult circumstances of life.
With peace. And he extends it here one step further because he says too umm, in the end of that verse he says.
To which also ye have been called in one body.
And so that same piece that doesn't characterize the world, but it is the desire that if it presides in US individually, then it would also, because we're one body, that same spirit of peace would be with us collectively.
We kind of jumped over versus.
13 and 14 as well, rather than I just like to go back there because it's so important. Meekness, uh, we didn't speak about that in the end of verse 12 either. Meekness is not taking offense. Humbleness of mind of being, not giving offense, but meekness not taking offense.
Long-suffering, important qualities to be put on, and then, it says in 13 forbearing one another.
And forgiving one another. And as we speak about discipline in the assembly, but this is self-discipline. And if we don't have self-discipline, how can we talk about disciplining one another? There is many, there are many things that we should simply for bear. Perhaps there's things that just kind of rubbed me the wrong direction with a certain brother. Well, many things, brethren, we need to learn.
To forebear it means just putting up with it ourselves, not making a vague matter about it. And it adds this in this 13th verse that you don't have in Ephesians. It's almost the same verse in the end of Ephesians chapter 4. But it says here if any man have a quarrel against any, sometimes there are points that come up amongst brethren, and we feel like we have a point.
That we would really like to make with this brother.
Well, this is something to be considered, brother, and sometimes it's not a matter of vital importance. Let's measure things properly and if it's that way, let's just let it drop. Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And then verse 14 been talking about things to put on in verses 12 and 13. And now in verse 14 it says above all these things.
This is something extremely important.
We were in the winter time. I think we had appreciate it better. We'd call it an overcoat. Today, the heat outside, maybe we don't appreciate it so much. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Beautiful brethren, to think about love should characterize us thinking about the good of others, not thinking so much about our own profit, but on the good of others.
So Bob, I'd like to comment on these verses that you've been commenting on and say what struck me as you read that few verses is an absence of the first man, absence of the old man. If we, if we truly enter in our soul to our position of being dead to the first man, these characteristics would be on display. The 1St man won't get in the way.
Won't get offended.
Won't speak to put itself forward.
What we have in these verses is the absence of the 1St man.
And the presence of the 2nd man.
I thought on verse 14 when it refers to love being the bond of per perfectness or perfection, could we compare that perhaps to the mortar between the bricks in a building? That's the what binds it all together. Uh, I asked the question, how would we feel about going inside of a building where they been putting together just laid the bricks on top of one another without this mortar to bind them together, we wouldn't feel very safe there, would we? And it's very important.
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When a building is erected, of course that they have the architectural plans, the perfect order, where all the bricks and where everything is to go. But if you had that wonderful order and lacked the mortar, the bond of perfection, then the order would still be worthless. Sooner or later the building would collapse. And I want to stay without being too controversial, that assembly order is all important and I believe in it and I hope we all do. But as important as order is, we have to have the love also amongst ourselves for the orders going to fail, just like a building would collapse.
Without water.
There is fruit for God if this is the order that we go on in and thinking of Isaiah chapter 32 and verse 17.
It says there in Isaiah 32 and 17 that the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. And so God's going to have His way among the children of Israel. There is going to be peace in His holy habitation. But in the present day that we live in, there is a desire that the Lord has to see that His people go on in peace on a righteous basis.
And that there might be that piece of God that rules in the heart. So the assembly should be a place of peace. It should be a place.
Of harmony among God's people and in individual.
Interaction with one another, as this portion brings before us, it ought to be characterized by peace and love.
Romans gives us the power of the new man in, in umm, uh, or the energy and what produces the fruit for God is the Spirit of God. Chapter 8 of Romans brings uh, mentions the Spirit of God 18 times I believe. But here really it's the word of God in.
That gives us the power, the instruction. And so he says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
And then in singing with grace in your heart. So it's the word of God.
In our hearts, and it's the grace of God in our hearts as we are occupied with Christ.
And we reflect his, umm, holiness in our interaction with one another, and that's what produces the fruit for him.
Jimmy Smith was the one who put together the Spanish hymn book, and he used to use this verse 16 to show that the Bible and the hymn book go together. I like that.
But that's why I said earlier that hymns need to be based on the Scripture. And so it's interesting, isn't it, that he brings before us the Word of Christ. And so when the Word of Christ is enjoyed in the soul and understood, then if something that's presented in a hymn isn't doctrinally accurate, we reject it. And aren't we again, thankful for brothers of past eras like Mr. Darby, like Jimmy Smith and others who put together hymn books in other languages?
For those who had an understanding of the truth and were exercised to present hymns that were based on doctrine, and in our Little Flaw Kim book, for instance, you notice that some of the wording of the hymns is slightly different.
Than what it was written by the original hymn writer because Mr. Darby and others were exercised to make sure that they were scripturally, uh, scripturally sound and accurate. Just like to point out, it's interesting. We mentioned how that Christ is everything in verse 11. And then he brings before us three things in connection with Christ in the 13th verse, the forgiveness of Christ even as Christ forgave you. Then there's the peace of Christ as Dawn pointed out the new translation.
And then there's the word of Christ and brethren, when Christ is the focus of everyth of, of everything, then all these things fall into place, don't they? There's going to be love manifested. There's going to be peace. Uh, there's going to be forgiveness. There's going to be sound doctrine and teaching even in the hymns that we sing and admonish one another with. But it's Christ as the center. So it's like the, the hub of the, the wheel, the old fashioned wheel with carriage wheel with the folks.
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You know, the hub is the center and the hub of that wheel is what holds the spokes together. And someone has said the closer the spokes are to that wheel, the closer they are to one another as well. And so again, it goes back to this statement. This this statement that he makes is really the center of everything. Christ is everything. So we have the forgiveness of Christ, the peace of Christ, the word of Christ. And he's gonna go on in the end of the chapter and the exhortations become more specific.
We've had some, we have some general exhortations in these verses that we're considering, but these, the exhortations are gonna become very, very specific now. But if Christ isn't everything, if Christ isn't the focus and center of our thoughts and our lives, these exhortations mean nothing. These, these relationships in our lives are going to be out of whack as they are in the world today. And why are they sometimes out of whack amongst the people of God? It's because Christ isn't everything.
Verse 17.
The translation says everything you do.
Everything you do to all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord brings in His authority.
And consequently, if there's anything that I would contemplate saying or doing that his name could not be associated with, it's not to be said or done.
That that. Excuse me, go ahead.
It first goes with Matthew 1820, gathering together in the name of the Lord.
Excuse me, if I could do it in his name, then it's not to be done, No, but because it is to be done in his name, then it's done in his name and so everything. Someone once commented I remember years ago and said, well, you mean you even eat your food?
And aren't there some everyday things that we just do?
I remember a brother being recounted to me about a brother in the Lord my wife's grandfather.
Who traveled among the Lord's people? And he was at a home one day and he was being encouraged to have another piece of pie, I think it was at the end of his meal.
And his response to a sister, I have eaten all I can eat to the glory of God. And that was the end of pushing the next piece of pie on him. He said it and he was, if you knew him, he was a man there. It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a light statement. He meant it totally seriously as an answer. I have eaten all I can eat for the glory of God. And so it was even in that, in doing it in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And if it couldn't be done, it wasn't to be done.
So there are really no exclusions, exclusions to this comment. It's not most things you do or this and that you do. But we can stop ourselves and ask ourselves sometimes the question, can I do this to the honor and in the name of the Lord Jesus? Can I say this to someone in the spirit of Christ and in his name? Or is it me, my flesh?
That is, wants to say it or do it.
We've had before us.
Putting our mind on things above we've had before us.
Looking at the unseen, the things that are eternal.
But there's a lot in this world that's rather mundane or.
You know, what about sewing on a button or changing a diaper or doing dishes or a lot of things? How do you connect?
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The mundane things with.
The unseen world. This is the verse that does it.
Whatsoever we do in Word or deed, you all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. I remember an old brother years ago that.
He smoked. He had trouble with that habit.
And one day he was driving down the road, about to light up another cigarette.
I can't give thanks for this.
And he threw him out the window and never smoked again.
Well, I was thinking of the little.
Remark, uh, heavenly motives.
In little things.
List the meanest drudgery to the highest form of service.
And with his commendation rather than review.
Martha had to be reviewed when she wanted her sister to help serve.
But later he served without that.
And this verse helps us attach.
A heavenly motive.
It's a very ordinary thing.
In connection with what you said there, Lemoyne, there's one other verse later in the chapter. We may not get down to it natural course of things at the rate we're going, but just to connect it, uh, there's one other verse that attaches mundane things with heavenly things in verse 23. Whatsoever you do, do it hardly as to the Lord and not unto men. Verse 17 gives us the authority, heavenly authority for what we do.
Verse 23 is a heavenly attitude.
Well, even Samuel as a boy ministered to the Lord, didn't he? And you say, well, what did he do in the temple? That was ministry to the Lord. Well, one thing it tells us he did, he opened the doors of the temple in the morning. You remember, after the Lord had spoken to him, he got up and he opened the doors. And then Eli called him and asked what had what he had heard from from the Lord. And I suppose he carried out very many mundane tasks. Eli was getting older. He needed help.
It's an interesting comment. Another place too, about the wood offering. Interesting, isn't it? The person who brought in the wood to keep the fire going for the offerings probably never thought it'd be recorded in God's eternal word as encouragement for others seem no doubt like a very insignificant and mundane task. But you know, it's not the greatness of what we do, or it's not what we do itself, so much it's doing it us unto the Lord, and that's.
That that's what we're to do, as Brother Dawn has said, to be in the name of the Lord, and it's to be with Thanksgiving. Maybe sometimes we feel the Lord's given us something to do that's not very pleasant. I can't say I ever thank the Lord for changing diapers. But as Lemoyne said, but if we can do those things with Thanksgiving and realize that this is what God has given us to do and to do it for Him in His name with Thanksgiving.
Than he values and appreciates it. And I think we need to be careful what we what we think of as maintain. Maintain mundane mundane umm.
What sister in this room would call mundane if the Lord had a garment here and yet needed a button?
Who would say, well, let somebody else do it, That's a pretty low job.
One sister here, if the Lord Jesus as a child was among us and needed his diaper changed, would say, well, that's kind of a low deal. I don't know, I'll let somebody else change the diaper before that child is precious to God.
And it is an honor in many respects to be able to do that which.
Is in His name. I want to go back. There was something that was on my heart and it's an appropriate moment to bring it back because of the thought of mundane and that is in scripture.
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We know the Lord was a Carpenter.
We know Peter was a fisherman. We know Paul was a tent maker, and in the world today, many men are known by their occupation. He's an electrician or a farmer or a computer programmer or whatever.
In Scripture, you seldom find the woman.
Occupation I.
Identify and what she's doing. But I believe in my heart, brethren, that.
When you look at things from an eternal perspective, the sister generally has the greater opportunity in everyday life to do that which counts for eternity because her place.
Especially in the home with children is dealing with a child who has an eternal future. The man, when he plows his fields or when he programs his computer or so on, is not directly dealing with anything that is going to last for eternity and consequently she has an incredibly before God important responsibility.
In the care of that which is in its nature and being.
And so I say that because man has totally set upside down what's important and encourage people to think of their self importance as related to this life alone, when in the reality of things from God's perspective, what is truly important are those things.
Which will last for eternity, but at the same time God wants us to honor him in every single detail of our lives as we've just had to do all heartily as unto the Lord. And that's the idea in that verse that John said do it heartily is unto the Lord.
And that's why I use the illustration. If the Lord had a button on a garment that needed it, I think it would be easy to do it heartily.
As unto himself. But when it's some other thing, we don't identify it with Him, and therefore it becomes.
Monday, but it would be elevated to its true place if we did it as unto him, as if the Lord himself had said to us, I have a button for you to repair or replace on this garden. Or the Lord came to us and said, this child needs its diaper change.
Would you do it for me? And then it takes on its character?
So everything is to be done that way. It's interesting. And the the word in verse 22 is really servants, it says, but it's really slaves. In that time it talked about a person who is never really free to do anything apart from the service to his master. And yet it says in verse 24 at the end.
Ye serve the Lord Christ, so whatever is done.
Programming the computer or.
Brick Lane.
Or farming. It's to be done.
For the Lord and I must say, brethren, the idea that there are certain brethren that are in the Lord's service and others aren't is not a scriptural idea. We are all servants of the Lord. True, different capacities and different activities. But where the Lord has placed you, do it hardly.
As unto the Lord, ye serve the Lord Christ.
It's all the service of the Lord. And I sometimes say to the brethren in South America, many of them are bricklayers because they, they, uh, construct buildings with bricks more than they do with wood like we do up here. But I say, if you would lay those bricks and realize you're doing it for the Lord, you're not gonna do it in a sloppy way. You're not gonna cut the cement content of the mortar.
You use just to save some money. You're not gonna do it that way. And people are going to learn in time that you do a good job. Then comes the time to open your mouth to say a word for the Lord. They're going to listen to you more than somebody that is supposedly a preacher. And I find, brethren, if I say I'm a preacher or a missionary, it is a definite hindrance to people listen to.
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To me, I find that sometimes when I say that, if I say that, it's just like they reach up and turn off their radio, they're not listening any longer.
Because they've been fed up with people that have a bad testimony that are preachers.
Do your work well, whatever it is, you are serving the Lord in the job you have right now. We have the idea that sometimes to serve the Lord you have to leave your secular work and take up your Bible and go out and preach and visit. That may be one way of serving the Lord, but you are serving the Lord in your secular work right now. Do it heartily for Him, the testimony that results.
Will be tremendous.
I was reading in the news of a monarch of a certain country that the story is that in order to relate to the common man and to see what's going on in his country, he actually is said to leave his bodyguards behind, disguise himself somewhat, and then drive a taxi cab just to be out there with the common people and know what's going on. And I read that of course I can relate to that, had to do the fact that I do the same occupation from time to time. But I thought to myself, isn't that really an example of what every Christian is even?
The slave that is mentioned in this passage, we have this wonderful position where children of the monarch, where kings and priests that are heavily calling, and yet God would have us here in the humblest of positions, even the slave. And there the world considers this a slave, but yet we're doing something for the Lord Jesus as a member of his body. We're still kings and priests even in that most state.
God doesn't lift us out of our natural relationships when we become believers in the Lord Jesus. So you have in these verses 18 wives, 19 husbands, 20 children, 21 fathers, 22 servants, and chapter 4 verse 1 masters. All those relationships are in place and to be.
Fulfilled properly in our Christian relationships now. And the responsibility is on me wherever I am as far as the relationship goes. And I say that because so often we hear people say, well, he's not doing his part or she's not doing her part. And so a wife might say, well, me submit to him. He doesn't love me the way he should. He sometimes acts in a bitter way. He holds bitterness against me.
Might say, Well, she she should, she should submit. If she submitted more, I'd love her more, and I wouldn't hold bitterness. A child might say, Well, obey my father when he makes me angry, and so on. A father might say, well, if they'd obey me, I wouldn't be so angry with the servants too, or the slaves. Well, if I had a decent master. But no. And Peter were the servants are slaves. They're to do their work properly and submit not just to the good and gentle, but to the forward.
And so God always places the responsibility on me. If it's the wife, she's responsible. If it's the husband, he's responsible.
The parents are responsible, the children are responsible, the employers responsible, the employees responsible.
I can't rather look at somebody else and say, well I can't do that because the other party isn't holding up their end or doing their part. No God requires of me when it's a little different, I know. But when the Lord was telling Peter something of the path that Peter was going to have in following the Lord, he saw John standing there and he said, but Lord, what will this man do? He said, well, what about John and his responsibility? The Lord said, no Peter, if I will that he tarry till I come.
What is that to thee? Follow thou me, he said. Peter.
I've got a path for John and I'll take care of John, but I'm bringing before you your responsibility and what you're going to have in following me now, you make sure you carry that out. Let me give you a little illustration that perhaps illustrates this. When we were children, particularly my sister and I, we would be given a task to do. Maybe it was to clean off the dinner table and do the dishes after the evening meal. And mother would leave us to the task and after a while she'd come back in the room and she usually say.
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Jim, you're not doing what I asked you to do. And I would usually point at my sister and say, well, Jennifer's not doing her part.
And my mother would always say, Jim, you do what I've asked you to do, and I'll take care of your sister. Now that's what he's saying to us here. If we're wives, do what he's asked us to do. If we're husbands, do what he's asked us to do. If we're children, parents, servants, whatever, carry out before the Lord with Thanksgiving and do it heartily as unto the Lord. He says, thus where the reward is going to come, you're serving the Lord Christ, and that's where the reward and the blessing is going to be.
Just want to point out that in verse UH-17, we have that wonderful, uh, admonition given, but then the very first thing in verse 18 brings before a submission or being subject. And I believe the thought there is just as you are saying is being subject to the place that God has put us in. And Brother Dawn brought that out very beautifully in connection with the woman in the home. Just submit to that order that God has placed in your life and mine. Not all of us are.
Can be occupied the position of each one of these things that are is mentioned, you know, servants and masters and so on and and fathers. The the wife isn't to want the husbands place and the husband isn't to want to, you know, some other place. He's to fulfill the responsibility that God has placed him in that position. He's to submit to that order. And so it really begins with submission. What a happy state there would be in our homes.
In our assemblies, in the workplace of those that belong to the Lord Jesus, if we just submit it.
To the order that God has placed for our blessing.
So there's a reward at the end of the chapter for those that do these carry out these things for the Lord. There's a reward. He doesn't, uh, lose track of that. Everything's written down and he'll reward. And then he says don't seek retribution on the other person. Maybe there are those who haven't carried things out the way they should. Maybe the husband hasn't been what he should. Maybe the wife hasn't been what she should. Maybe the children haven't obeyed. Maybe the father has anger the children. Whatever he says, just leave that.
You know, brethren, we sow in our society today, we want to justify ourselves, We want everything straightened out and we want it straightened out now. He says, no, you serve the Lord, you go on in the relationship as God has established it, do it a service unto the Lord, and leave everything else with him. Now I often think of that verse in First Corinthians that says judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, make manifest the counsels of the heart, and then shall every man have praise of God.
And brethren, are we willing to just go on with Christ as our center and our focus, seeking to live for His glory, to serve him, to manifest Christ in our lives and to leave everything else with him, Not to assert ourselves, not to look for retribution, not to look for justification here? You know the Lord Jesus did that, didn't He who was more misunderstood than the Lord Jesus, who when he reviled was revolved, revolved not again when he suffered, He threatened not. You say, how could he do such a thing?
He committed himself to him, the judgeth righteously. Paul was misunderstood, but he said we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. He didn't try to justify himself or get things straightened out here. He said, I just leave those things and brethren, there's a day coming when it's all going to be straightened out for the glory of God and the glory of Christ. And what a day that's going to be. Well, are you and I until that day willing to just practically live Christ in our lives?
An expectation of this, uh, the 1St 21 and I believe we should at least mention it because of its importance.
Have the greatest responsibility, uh, within the family unit and, umm, there are times as far as when we see.