Read Introduction to Colossians
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.
Three words in verse 16 end in “ing:” “teaching,” “admonishing” and “singing.” Some of us would not know the difference between a participle from a pickle! However, these three participles are the by-products or side-effects of the previous part of the verse. If the Word of God finds lodgment in our souls, then we will teach, admonish and sing. These three characteristics will trend in our lives and will become a pattern. It will not be sporadic or intermittent.
teaching and admonishing one another
Paul employed these verbs in 1:28 with the same meaning. Here, however, he adds that we are to do this in music.
“Teaching” has to do with the communication of truth. If we are going to teach we must learn. If we are going to talk we must listen. If we speak we must hear.
“Admonishing” has to do with showing someone else how to execute the Christian life. “Admonishing” means to place in the mind personally. Sometimes the New Testament translates it “warn” (Acts 20:31).
It is our privilege not only to teach others but to warn them. Most of us do not like to become involved in the problems of other people. All of us have a circle of Christian friends to whom we are a blessing (all things being equal). God expects us to warn them graciously when an occasion arises to do so.
Admonish has to do with application. Some people cannot apply Scripture for themselves. They need others to help them. When a person learns to fly, he needs someone there to personally show him how to turn without stalling out. If you stall out things can get quite messy! Admonishing helps another person make application. We do not teach another person how to shoot by saying, “Here is a gun go out and shoot.” He must squeeze the trigger for an accurate shot. It is in application where we hit the target.
Note some “one another” passages of Scripture: Eph 4:32; 5:21; Col. 3:13; I Thes. 5:11; Heb. 10:25; James. 5:16; I Peter. 3:8; I John. 1:7. Most of us are not aware of our responsibility to other Christians.
“One another” means mutual help in applying truth to experience. We have a responsibility to one another (Gal. 6:10; Heb. 6:10). Most of us know of our obligation to get the gospel out to the non-Christian. Few of us know of our obligation to the saint. Are you involved in encouraging a Christian? Who gave you the authority to retire from this? There is no honorable discharge in this work. God has given us a ministry to one another.
Principle:
God has designed the Christian life in a way that we need others to help us apply Scripture to our experience.
Application:
God wants us to saturate our minds with the Word of God. We have so many rough edges. Many of these areas we inherited from our parents. We cannot get rid of our sharp tongue in our own strength. We are ornery, possess a critical attitude and a bad temper. We wonder why we are not more saintly or why we have such a short fuse. Why is it that we explode so quickly? We do not avail ourselves of the Word of God. The Word of God will operate upon us (Heb. 4:12).
No wonder our minds are corrupt after watching a night of television. After an evening of T.V. we feel as if we need an internal bath. We watch ghastly murders and rapes. We wonder why our Christian lives are so ineffective. We are clean through the Word of God (John 15:3; Psalm 119:9). The Word of God is a spiritual spot remover. We become defiled by day to day life. We need the Word of God to remove the sin in our lives (I John. 2:14).
The Lord defeated Satan by the Word of God (Matt. 4:4,7,10). He did not have a scroll of Deuteronomy to read to the devil. He quoted Scripture. When the devil attacks you, you cannot say “Wait a minute, Devil till I find a verse for you. Wait till I go home for my Bible.” He will not wait; he will clobber you. You must have a verse right now. We must say like the Lord “It is written…”
We will find that when Satan tempts us we will have the right verse for the right situation. At a time when he tempts us to say something we shouldn’t, a verse comes up on the television screen of our soul and we are saved from that sin. We will find that the more of the Word of God we have in our souls the less room there is for unworthy things. Do foul birds make nests in your mind? Saturate your mind with the Word of God.
We need others to encourage us in the application of truth to experience. When I became a Christian, a Christian kept challenging me to memorize a verse a day. That did more for my spiritual life than anything else in my Christian life.
Read Introduction to Colossians
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.
richly in all wisdom
It is not enough to let the Word of God dwell in us; we must let it dwell richly, not meagerly. “Richly” is an idiom for abundantly–abundantly to the point of wealth. Many people have a poor grasp of the “word of Christ.” We are to let the Word of God dwell profusely and qualitatively in us. God wants us to fully assimilate the Word. He wants us to personally assimilate it. If we have a small tank and a big car, we have to stop at every gas station we pass. We cannot fill up our tank once and that is it for the rest of the life of the car! We will stall on the freeway.
“Wisdom” has to do with the application of truth. It is not enough to treat the Word of God theoretically. When the Word of God dwells in us it makes us wise in the way God does things. It means to move truth from the mind into experience.
Principle:
God bases the Christian life on the tandem of truth and the application of truth.
Application:
If a car is going to move it needs gas in the tank. The tank for the Christian is the human spirit. If the human spirit runs without intake of the Word of God it becomes skinny and anemic. When the tank is empty the car is not operational. If there is gas in the spiritual tank of the believer, he can pump it into his experience. The Word of God does no good if the Christian does not transfer it into his life.
We fall apart in a jam when we do not apply the Word of God. The Word of God not applied is of no practical use. If we learn the Word of God academically but do not transfer it into our human spirit, it will not do any good.
It is difficult to think in a jam. It is hard to think while we are falling apart. Some students are comatose for most of the semester and 24 hours before their exam they stay up all night drinking ammonia cokes and coffee boning up on the entire semester. They open their blue book and they wonder why their mind goes blank. We cannot learn nearly as well while we are under pressure. The only kind of learning under pressure that is of any benefit is the kind where we end up with knots on our head!
Read Introduction to Colossians
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.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you
This is the only occurrence of the phrase “the word of Christ” in the New Testament. The normal way the New Testament phrases the idea of the Bible is “the word of the Lord” or “the word of God.”
Note the word “let.” The word of Christ is ready and willing to dwell in us. The only issue that remains is our volition. The word will indwell us if we let it. God manufactures the word of Christ in our hearts.
The word “dwell” means to keep house. We should live in the Word of God like we live in our homes. We are familiar with our home where all the closets are, where we have items stored. We must thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the Word. The Word should become so familiar to us that we know it like the back of our hand. The idea is to let the Word of God dwell inside and live at home in our lives. The Word of God needs to inhabit us. This is more than just reading the Bible. God wants us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts (v. 15) and the Word of Christ dwell in our hearts.
Some treat the Word of God like a rabbit’s foot or charm. We use it like a fetish. We cannot use the Bible that way. We cannot rub the Bible on warts and they disappear. We cannot flip the pages of the Bible and blindly put our finger on a verse and claim it. The Bible is no prayer wheel or magic book. We must systematically study the Bible and memorize pertinent verses to deal with weak areas of our Christian life (Deut. 6:6; 11:18; Josh. 1:8; Job 22:21,22; 23:12: Ps. 1:2;119:9-11; Jer 15:16).
There are some believers who think that when they get into a jam all they have to do is pray “Oh Lord, help me.” Others think that all they need to do is put their finger on a Bible verse and God will lead them. They give glowing testimonies of how in a time of duress they flipped open their Bible and put their finger on a verse that helped them. The odds of doing that are about as good as loaded dice in a crap game.
Principle:
The Word of God needs to find lodgment in our souls.
Application:
If we spent as much time in the Word of God as we do in the newspaper, just think how much we would know of God’s will for our lives! We might know how many robberies and murders took place in our city for that week but what difference does that make in our lives? We might be better off if we did not know.
If we generate a serious attitude about letting the Word of God dwell in our lives, we will be richer and our character will grow stronger. Our individual lives will change and our homes will be better.
You may say, “But I do not understand what I read in the Bible.” We must work at it. Gradually we will retain more. We do not learn to ride a bicycle the first time we get on it. Neither do we learn the Bible without effort. It takes time, effort and dedication. The results will gratify our souls.
Most of us do not take the Word of God seriously. We play at it. We do not mark our Bible or memorize it. We do not make it a part of us. There are people who memorize hundreds of plays for a football game. Yet if we memorize a verse of Scripture we want a medal!
Read Introduction to Colossians
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body;and be thankful.“
and be thankful
The Greek says “become thankful.” It does not mean to “be” something; it means to become something that we were not before. “Become” indicates that the Colossians were not thankful before this challenge from Paul.Every believer should have an attitude of thanksgiving no matter what happens. Adversity is a test to see whether we are a slave to our circumstances or whether the circumstances are a slave to us. If we have inner joy where all systems are go, then there is no disaster, failure, problem or catastrophe for which we could not be thankful.
The peace of Christ enables us to be thankful for everything. The plan of God converts everything into blessing. This is the normal Christian life. It is abnormal to fall apart, to live in a state of panic, to sublimate. The plan of God stabilizes our orientation in life.
Thankfulness occurs throughout the Word of God. Why? The Christian knows that he neither earns nor deserves anything from God. Everything we have is of God’s grace. We do not deserve food on the table or the roof over our heads. They are both gifts from God.
Thankfulness relates to our capacity of soul. A person with little capacity of soul has little capacity to give God thanks. If we do not appreciate fully the work of Christ, how can we give thanks properly for it? The key to thanksgiving is the ability to understand the blessings God has bestowed upon us.
Principle:
Adversity is a test of our soul to see whether we are free from the circumstances of life.
Application:
When God asks us to give thanks he is not asking us to pray about it. He does not say “Try to be thankful.” He says, “Become thankful” (Ps. 92:1; 106:1; I Thes. 5:18). We have a solid foundation for giving thanks because he has done so much for us (Eph 5:20).
A common complaint among parents is that their children do not show appreciation for what they have been given. When we recall our childhood, we did not appreciate our parents either. Children today are no different. They are not thankful for what they have. Children have little capacity to understand what their parents have done for them. God can say, “My children do not appreciate what I have done for them. They seldom give thanks for what they have.” This is an issue of our maturity in Christ.
In your daily devotions, do you make it a practice to give thanks to God every day? God wants us to say, “Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul, for making me whole, for sustaining me every day.”
Read Introduction to Colossians
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
to which also you were called
God calls us to peace. This is our calling. This is personal peace, not peace between nations. This peace is a calmness of soul even though great trial is pressing upon us.
The peace of Christ should be the arbitrating factor in our souls because God has called us to peace. God has called us into a life of Christ whereby he blesses us by who and what Christ is.
“To which” is literally “into which.” At a point of time God called us into the body of Christ whereby he graces us with the blessings of positional truth. At the point of our salvation God provides everything we need for the Christian life.
“Called” doubles for the idea of election. At a point of time God enters us into union with Christ. Jesus Christ is the key to our election. From eternity God elected him to deal with the problems of the human race (Eph. 1:4,5). One of the things God does for us at our salvation is to place us into a status whereby we share his election.
in one body
The one body simply recognizes that all believers are in the church. They are all in the body of Christ. The body is a technical term for all believers in the church age. Here the body indicates action and service. Every believer is in full time Christian service.
PRINCIPLE: God has called us to peace.
APPLICATION: It is obvious that Christians do not possess their possessions. We do not experience the peace that God wants to give us. Yet this is our calling. It is of no use to say, “But if you knew my wife, she is so horrible.” “If you knew my boss, he is a monster.” Circumstances do not play a part in the peace of God.
In spite of obstacles, the peace of Christ is adequate. Therefore, there is no justification for statements such as “If you knew the pressure I am under at work all day” or, “If you knew the kind of relatives I have to deal with.”
Read Introduction to Colossians
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
to which also you were called
God calls us to peace. This is our calling. This is personal peace, not peace between nations. This peace is a calmness of soul even though great trial is pressing upon us.
The peace of Christ should be the arbitrating factor in our souls because God has called us to peace. God has called us into a life of Christ whereby he blesses us by who and what Christ is.
“To which” is literally “into which.” At a point of time God called us into the body of Christ whereby he graces us with the blessings of positional truth. At the point of our salvation God provides everything we need for the Christian life.
“Called” doubles for the idea of election. At a point of time God brings us into union with Christ. Jesus Christ is the key to our election. From eternity God elected him to deal with the problems of the human race (Eph. 1:4,5). One of the things God does for us at our salvation is to place us into a status whereby we share his election.
in one body
The one body simply recognizes that all believers are in the church. They are all in the body of Christ. The body is a technical term for all believers in the church age. Here the body indicates action and service. Every believer is in full time Christian service.
Principle:
God has called us to peace.
Application:
It is obvious that Christians do not possess their possessions. We do not experience the peace that God wants to give us. Yet this is our calling. It is of no use to say, “But if you knew my wife, she is so horrible.” “If you knew my boss, he is a monster.” Circumstances do not play a part in the peace of God.
In spite of obstacles, the peace of Christ is adequate. Therefore, there is no justification for statements such as “If you knew the pressure I am under at work all day” or, “If you knew the kind of relatives I have to deal with.”
Read Introduction to Colossians
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
rule in your hearts
To “rule” is an athletic term meaning to act as an umpire. In ancient Greece the umpire presided over the Olympic games and the Isthmian games. He discerned the athlete’s qualification to take part in the games. He determined whether the winner violated any rules during the contest. He enforced the rules and awarded the prizes.
The Christian is to let the peace of Christ arbitrate or decide all matters in his heart. The peace of Christ should direct, control or rule in our hearts. This peace gives us correct judgment and decision when we let God’s rule govern our lives. If we let Christ’s peace rule and govern it will produce peace in our hearts.
Baseball players are fully aware of that man in black standing behind the catcher. He rules the game; he calls the plays and presides over the game. He calls balls and strikes. He knows where the strike zone is. God wants our hearts to act like an umpire.
The human spirit that feeds upon the Word of God calls the balls and strikes of the believer’s life. The umpire is the human spirit filled with the Word of God. This allows the believer to operate with discernment. When a believer operates with discernment he has the peace of Christ.
PRINCIPLE: The peace of Christ derived from the Word of God arbitrates or decides all matters in the heart of the believer.
APPLICATION: One of the outstanding sins of the Christian is worry. We worry needlessly. Worry does no good. We know we should not worry; we know it will not help the situation yet we persist in our worry. Some of us worry about everything: big, medium or small. We apparently enjoy it. Why pray when you can worry? We worry about things that will never happen. We worry that they might happen. Some of us worry about things that never happened! We try to justify our worry with the rationalization that “Everyone does it.”
There is a divine remedy for worry (Philippians 4:6,7). This is a fringe benefit of having the “peace of Christ.” We can let the peace of Christ referee in our hearts. Who is in charge of the game? Who is in charge of our hearts? The referee of the peace of Christ.
Every time we worry, we doubt God. That is a sin. God wants to free us from carking, corroding care. He wants us to understand from the Word of God the provision God made for us in Christ.
Read Introduction to Colossians
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
And let the peace of God
The better manuscripts translate “the peace of God” with “the peace of Christ.” If we know Christ’s peace, we know that God accepts us by his grace. This knowledge gives us a disposition of peace. The more the person and work of Christ dominate our thinking, the greater peace the Christian will have in himself. Gratitude for what Christ has done produces harmony of soul.
“Peace” in the Bible has more to do with the ideas of harmony, blessing, welfare of being or inner prosperity. There is a harmony of soul that comes from Christ. The peace of Christ steels our hearts against fretfulness and anxiety (Isa 26:3).
If we worry enough we can have mental collapse, mental exhaustion, a nervous breakdown. The peace of Christ is tailor-made for our minds and hearts (John 14:17; 16:33; 20:21; Rom 14:17; 15:13; Gal 5:22,23; Phil 4:6,7). We can worry ourselves into an early grave. God’s remedy is his own peace. His peace is internal tranquility in the midst of external turbulence. God’s peace will enable us to sit down on the inside. It will enable us to come to rest. We will experience freedom from agitation and concern. We will not become exercised about everything.
Principle:
Harmony of soul comes from an understanding of the person and work of Christ.
Application:
We may say, “It is my temperament to worry; I am just made that way.” God’s peace will enable us to relax on the inside.
We fret. We let circumstances or people or both to get under our skin. “She gets into my hair.” “He gets under my skin.” When we worry, we take our case out of the hands of the Lord (Ps 37:1; Heb 13:20; II Thes. 3:16; I Thes 5:23). By that, we declare that we know better than he does how to handle our problems. We say in effect, “I am smarter than God. I know how to handle my problems better than he does. I am going to work my way out of this problem.”
In every problem we have ever had the Lord has been faithful (I Cor. 10:13). In every dilemma, in every problem that we have faced, he has been faithful. After the problem we say, “What a fool I was for worrying.” We waste so much time worrying when we could put it in the hands of God. Yet it takes a toll on our nervous system.
An understanding of the sovereignty of God in our problem brings harmony of soul.
Read Introduction to Colossians
“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
which is the bond of perfection
The word “bond” means to bind together, to unite. In this context, “bond” means a girdle. This is not the kind of girdle that redesigns the individual that wears it!! In the first century both men and women wore girdles. Among people of the Near East the final piece of dress was the girdle or sash. This was a universal piece of clothing. This garment held together all other pieces of clothing.
The “bond” was a broad belt that held all clothes in place. Every soldier wore this broad belt to hold his clothes together and a scabbard to hold his sword and other things. There he carried his rations and breastplate. The “bond” or girdle was a foundational garment that holds all garments together. Love holds everything together. Love binds all the graces together and holds them in their proper place as a girdle. Love ties the other graces together like a broad belt or girdle.
Love is unconditional acceptance of others. The Christian is “dearly beloved” (v.12). As people loved by God, we love others. Since we are dear to the heart of God our hearts should be dear toward others. We should love like he loves. We are never more like God than when we forgive out of love someone who trespasses against us.
A person who loves combines all characteristics of the Christian life together. Without love, the characteristics of verses 12 and 13 cannot hold in place. The girdle gave beauty and composure to all the graces. It also gave ease of movement to perform necessary tasks of life.
“Perfection” is the state of perfection implying the process of maturity. It denotes a fulfillment, completion, perfection, an end accomplished as the effect of that process (Heb. 7:11; Lk. 1:45). This word for perfection stresses the actual accomplishment of the end in view (here; Heb. 6:1; Judges 9:16,19; Prov. 11:3; Jer. 2:2). This is maturity in thoughts and behavior (Heb. 6:1). Love binds the characteristics of maturity together in harmony. Love is the perfecting quality. It makes for maturity. It integrates it altogether into a harmonious whole.
Principle:
Love gives unity to all characteristics of the Christian life and is therefore the mark of maturity.
Application:
How does love tie together such a grace as forgiveness? As long as we have a bitter spirit, an unforgiving spirit, we are out of harmony with God. God will disqualify us from spiritual work. God cannot do spiritual work with unspiritual people. If a grudge, grievance or rankling feeling lurks in our hearts, we do not love (James 3:14).
We cannot nurse a grudge and love at the same time. That is why love ties forgiveness into our lives. Granted, someone snubbed you. Sure, someone hurt you. We are still at fault because forgiveness is not forthcoming. Love will cause us to forgive.
God does not call upon us to love with our own anemic, synthetic, saccharine, imitation love. He calls upon us to love with his love, out of his love. Inevitably we will not approve of other people. If we love with the love God has given us, a love based on the Word of God, we can love unlovely people. This is a love formed by God’s Word. It will help us love others who do not see things the way we do.
Read Introduction to Colossians
“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
Love is the eighth, final and ultimate grace of the Christian life.
But above all these things
God’s first priority for us is to put on love. Besides the other virtues, put on love which is the last and best virtue. “Love” is the garment that is to be “above all.” This means over all. This is the most important characteristic quality for the Christian. Let this be the mark of distinction for the believer. This is the final garment the believer is to put on. It binds all other garments together.
put on love
The translators supply “put on” from the previous verse. The emphasis is placed on the word “love.” Literally it reads, “And above all these things, love.” Love is the priority of all the graces in this list. Love ties all other virtues together and is therefore the most important grace (I Cor 13:13).
Principle:
Love is the outstanding mark of the Christian (John 13:34,35).
Application:
If we do not love one another no one will know that we belong to Jesus. An outstanding shortcoming of the saints is lack of love. Do you have lack of love for fellow Christians? Why are you so critical of others?
God does not ask us to agree with every other Christian but he does as us to love them. We must learn to lovingly disagree. We can disagree without becoming disagreeable. If we disagree without love then we project ourselves out of the will of God. The price is too high. God will not use us.
Is love the priority grace of your life?
