Let’s start with a word of prayer. Father, what a miracle that sinners like us could be saved. That Jesus, you would come and save us and hide us in you and live in us. We’re sinners, deserving hell and eternal separation. But you’re so kind to us, so gentle, and Lord, you want us to walk close to you and learn from you and become like you over time.
So, Lord, we just ask that you would be present amongst us and you would speak your word. I surrender this message to you. Have your way, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
The verses that stood out to me when I read this chapter last night and this morning, the first one, verse 17. 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.
17 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 3:17, ESV)
And then a similar verse, verse 23. Whatever you do, work heartily. Ask for the Lord and not for men.
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (Colossians 3:23, ESV)
I believe we’re going to talk today about Christian character and Christian motivation. Christian character and Christian motivation.
It starts out this chapter with the first verses that were read. If then you have been raised with Christ. Verse 1. Seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on earthly things. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ, in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4, ESV)
And this is a reference to baptism. Like if hopefully you got baptized in the past or at some point you will be baptized. And that ceremony, that act was you going underwater, symbolizing a death to your old self.
And then when you came out of the water dripping wet, you’re announcing to the world, I am now new in Christ. And that is what is being referenced here.
And then he says now that this is the reality. Verse 5. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5, ESV)
So although it’s a reality that in Christ we’ve been born anew and the old is dead in the water, and then when you came out of the water, you are a new person. Although that is true, it is now up to us to now live it out and to practice it, and to, in this case, put to death the things that used to control you. And in this case, the evil desire. It’s around this category of evil desire, especially sexual immorality.
And this used to characterize your life before you met Jesus. But now that you’ve met Jesus, now this thing that is still, there’s some remnants and some residue in you.
Now we put to death these things that were of the old life before we went into the water. And then it says in verse seven, in these too, you once walked when you were living in them. But of course now we are striving to not live in them anymore. And so we put to death.
And then he says, now there’s another list that he gives, but now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with his practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge.
7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:7-10, ESV)
And so, keep a mental note of that list of anger, wrath, malice, and now the speech that spews forth: the slander, the obscene talk from the mouth, the lying. Keep those things in mind.
These are also things we are to put away, put to death. And it says in verse 11 here, there is not Greek and Jew, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all in all.
11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11, ESV)
So when we come into a church of believers who have died to the old self and been raised to the newness of life, as we are striving each day on our own, and sometimes when we gather corporately, we’re striving to put to death the things that used to take hold of us and control us and dominate us.
And when we gather, we have this mindset that I see you different. I don’t see you based on your past. I don’t see you based on the way that you look. I don’t see you based on ethnicity.
There in Christ, we’re just brothers and sisters. It’s not Korean and non-Korean. I don’t see ethnicity. I don’t see age, I don’t see culture. You are my brother, you are my sister.
As long as we believe what we believe in Scripture, that the old has gone, the new has come. I’m putting to death continuously my old life. And I am being renewed day by day in this new life. And so we put those things off, the things of the old self, the old nature.
And now verse 12, it says we put these on, 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 must also forgive.
And above all these things, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are 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 thanksgiving 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 and the Father through him.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 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. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 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. 17 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, ESV)
Now that we see each other the way we see each other, which is, you’re my brother, you’re my sister, we don’t see Jew or non-Jew, Korean, non-Korean. We don’t see those kinds of things when we gather in God’s church.
There’s bound to be people you just don’t click with. There’s bound to be personality clashes, oil and vinegar. There’s bound to be somebody that just annoys you to no end. And in modern society, because there are so many churches, when you have a problem with somebody, all you have to do is pick up and leave.
Problem solved. But did it solve a problem just because you changed the circumstance? The thing that’s in you that you are unable to love that person, you’re unable to bear with that person, you’re unable to forgive that person. Is this solved just because you left or that person left? Is it solved?
Chances are you are who you are. And then you walk into another church, I guarantee it’s going to happen again. Somebody is going to drive you crazy, somebody is going to bother you, and you’re going to say, I’m going to pick up and leave.
Can we actually deal with the people in our lives that are difficult? And let’s limit it right now to church. Can we, can we deal with them in a way that we can bear with them?
Whether they ask, they say sorry or not, in our hearts, we can forgive them. We can put on love toward them, we can have a compassionate heart toward them, we can embrace them as the body of member of the body of Christ.
My brother, my sister, I can love you. I can bear with you. you’re not perfect, I’m not perfect. That whole exchange, like, can I be thankful for that person? Can I still have joy and express joy in my heart when I’m when I’m talking about that person? Or is it all negative? Is it all complaining? Is it all slander, is all anger, it’s all irritation?
That means there’s things in us that haven’t been put to death, things that we haven’t put off, things that we haven’t put on. And it’s the end of the year.
And I think the reason why the Lord is highlighting this text is at the end of every year, I do inventory and I give myself a grade. How was I this year as a Christian, as a Christ follower? How was I? How was I as a father?
And we’re going to get into that, how was I as a husband? And just go down the line. We assume we’re all Christian, but God gives us a very easy way to test ourselves. It’s like this is the examination. Colossians 3 is the exam.
Now fill in the blank. How did you do with the brothers and sisters in church? 99% lovely people, wonderful people. You can love them. The 1%. How did you do with that person? God is going to ask you on the exam, how did you do with that one person, that 1%? Did you bear with them?
Did you give thanksgiving for them? Did you love them? Did you forgive them in your heart? Can you express thanksgiving for them? Were you kind to them? Or did another speech, another pattern come out? And then you give yourself a grade? It’s the difficult people that really bring out what deep.
When you have a difficult person, you have a really good assessment of yourself. When everybody around you is godly and sanctified and like Jesus, you’re at peace because they never trigger you, they never provoke you. Everything’s good.
If your children are super mature for their age and they listen right away, everything is smooth and you think, well, I’m really patient. Until the immaturity flares up in teenage years, or one of the spouses is having a bad week or a bad year, and what comes out in response to that immaturity, that lack of sanctification in them, that is your grade. So that’s just something you want to take to the Lord.
When it comes to the people that you interacted with on a Sunday, grade yourself. How did you do? How did you do? Maybe you didn’t know people well, and so therefore everyone’s good.
But if you really tried to get to know people and really try to love people and really interacted with that person, and then there was a friction and a clash, how did you deal with that and give yourself a grade?
Then we get into the more practical things, the people right around you in your life, your family. That is where the rubber meets the road. That is where the true you comes out.
And it starts with wives. Submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord.
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Colossians 3:18, ESV)
That’s not easy. I’m not a wife, but I know that’s not easy. It’s not easy for Jackie to submit to Ray. It’s not easy. It’s not easy for Jackie to be a pastor’s wife because she’s stuck. She’s stuck. She can’t go to another church because we are the church. And so if she doesn’t like people, then I don’t know what to say. I just feel sorry I can’t help you. But she submits to the best of her ability. And it’s not easy, not easy to submit under an unsanctified husband and as a wife.
And so this is now talking about authority. This last section is talking about authority. Like children and parents, there’s an authority structure. you’re not equal children to your parents. There is an authority structure.
I think Blake understands there’s an authority structure. I think Tim and Sophia understand there’s an authority structure in the home. It’s not democracy. It is a monarchy in the home, in a sense, spiritually, it’s an authority structure.
Husbands and wife, there’s an authority structure. Not like saying, I’m better than Jackie, but in terms of leadership, in terms of, like, when we are at a standstill and we may need to make a decision, who’s going to break the tie, who’s going to take the lead?
Those are the cases where leadership is exercised. And so there’s an authority structure in marriage, the authority structure in parenting.
And so I want to speak to the person who is under the authority. So the wives and the children, you’re under the authority.
You look back on the verses that were mentioned, the verses that apply to you as a wife and a child: humility, meekness. I think those are the big ones, humility and meekness.
If you look at society, I see a lot of women that do not care, cannot be characterized as humble and meek. I see quite the opposite. I see a challenging of spiritual authority and it’s not even equal in society today. It’s the woman saying, I’m above you, man. Man, you have toxic masculinity. Man, you’re a problem in society. We need to put you in your place and let’s not live with this patriarchy of the past.
There’s a unique thing that the Lord does in a Christian household, in a Christian church. It is not a tyranny. It is not domineering. It is not oppressive. But there is an authority structure. There is a leadership.
And for the wife and the children, you’re supposed to embrace the patience of the Lord and the meekness and the humility of the Lord. And that’s why it says, children, obey your parents in everything.
It’s not easy. It’s not like the parents are perfect in everything. Like was Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ parents, perfect in everything? Jesus was perfect even as a 12-year-old boy. And yet Jesus, the perfect 12-year-old boy who never sinned, submitted in everything to a sinful father, Joseph, a sinful Mary, Mother Mary. And now he’s asking children in Christian homes to obey parents in everything.
It is impossible to do for a wife to submit to an unsanctified husband. It is impossible to do for a child to submit to unsanctified parents. But the key here is first we put to death certain things and then we put on certain things. That’s Christian character. That’s what you do in your prayer closet.
But now we transition to the motivation. Like why as a wife should you submit? Why as a child should you obey and honor? Why should you submit under authority? The key verse is verse 17.
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.
17 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 3:17, ESV)
Or verse 23: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (Colossians 3:23, ESV)
So wives, submit with thanksgiving heartily, not because of your husband, but because of Jesus. Do it unto Jesus. That is the motivation.
This is not just relationship. This is everything. Not just church. Let’s love each other to the best of our ability. Not because the other person deserves it, but because Jesus is your master.
That’s what he’s saying here. Jesus is our master. So why do we submit to one another in God’s church? Out of reverence. For who? For Christ? Yes.
Why does a wife submit under an unsanctified and immature husband? It’s not because of the husband. It’s because her eyes are on Jesus, the perfect husband.
Child, why do you submit and obey your parents in everything? Why do you honor them even if they don’t seem like in your eyes they deserve it? Why do you do it? Because your eyes are not on your parents. Your eyes are on Jesus.
You see the motivation. This spills over into everything. Why in school do we strive to be excellent? Is it for straight A’s? Is it so that we can go to the school of our dreams? Is it so that we can be famous in this world and have a great job?
Is that the motivation for a Christian to work hard academically? No. You’re doing it because you’re doing it not for your parents, not even for yourself, not for the audience of this world. You’re doing it unto Jesus. That’s why you’re an excellent student.
That doesn’t mean you’re getting straight A’s, but in terms of your mindset, your effort, the best of your ability, you’re giving your best in your studies.
And again, it’s like the world has their reasons for wanting to be the best. It’s so that they can be worldly and people respect them. No, for the Christian, we’re doing it for an audience of one, Jesus. Our eyes are on him and not man.
So the wife, submit not because of your husband. Submit because of Jesus. Children, obey your parents. Honor them in everything, whether they deserve it or not. Why? Because of your parents? No, because of Jesus.
Now, on the flip side, those in authority, this is the pastor, the elder, the deacon. This is the father, the husband, the person that God has placed in authority. This is the Christian employer. And how you treat the employee.
The Christian worker, I forgot to mention, that’s also somebody under authority. If you have a boss, then you’re under authority. Unless you’re the CEO of your own company, still you’re under authority.
I’ll explain that in a second. But there’s at least two levels of authority for you. You have an earthly authority and then you have a heavenly authority. So for a Christian worker, in everything, you work heartily, like you’re the best employee of the month every month.
Why? Because you want promotion? Because you want money? Because you want your human boss to think you’re great? No, it’s because of Jesus. You’re looking to Jesus. And because of Jesus, you’re excellent. This is Christian motivation.
This is why I try my best, as best I can, every single day in my work, in my spiritual disciplines, in my sermon prep. I try the best, not because I’m trying to impress anybody, but because I’m doing it unto the Lord. I’m doing everything as unto the Lord.
This is what a Christian is. Your eyes are not here. You’re not looking at your wife, you’re not looking at your husband. Child, you’re not looking at your parent. Employee, you’re not looking at your employer. Worker, you’re not looking at your boss.
There are human authorities, but you’re looking past all of them and you’re looking at Jesus, who is your master and Lord.
Now the person in authority, human authority, the verses that we need to particularly struggle with is kindness, patience, bearing with one another. And then all the preceding verses, the opposite of that, which is anger and wrath.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think men, we’re just wired a certain way and when we are not doing well or we had a bad week or things just kind of pile up, the emotion that is most dominant and prevalent in men, I think, is anger. I think it’s anger.
I still wrestle with it. I still see it in me. I grew up holding it in. So I’m not a short fuse. I was taught respect, and I didn’t let it come out often. I have a very long fuse, but it doesn’t mean there’s something not in there. And when that long fuse runs to the end, there’s an explosion.
And so for those in authority, there’s a different set of things that we have to struggle with. Pastors, bosses, husbands, and fathers. We have a different thing that the Lord has tasked us to struggle with so that in our position, we can do it with the right heart, like the child and the wife and the employee.
The right heart is humility. The right heart is humility and meekness. And you do it unto the Lord. And it’s expressed for the child to the parent, the wife to the husband, the employee to the employer.
But on the flip side, if you are the one in authority, spiritual authority in a church setting, in a home setting, or authority in a human sense, because you have people who report to you in a workplace, the struggle for us is we need to deal with this anger which comes out.
It says in verse 19, husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Harshness can be tone, it can be volume, it can be content.
There’s no verse about prayers of the wives being hindered because you were harsh with your husband. But there is a verse about husbands. If you’re harsh with your wife, your prayers are hindered.
Maybe that’s why I struggled this week. My prayers were hindered. I couldn’t quite hear from the Lord. I struggled. So the husband, the person in authority, has to struggle with harshness. Where does it come from? It comes from a deep anger that we did not quite put to death. And we did not put on completely the kindness and the bearing with one another and the love that he asks of us. And there’s a Christian character.
We put off a whole lot of things. It starts with a spiritual reality. It happened at baptism. Now we live it out step by step. As you see things coming out, you repent. You repent of those things.
And so if you give yourself a failing grade this year in your interactions with family, in your actions with church brothers and sisters, today is a new day.
Let’s repent today, and let’s start new today. Let’s put off things we need to put off, and let’s put on what we need to put on. And let’s do everything heartily unto the Lord Jesus.
Husbands to wives, wives to husbands, church member to church member, children to parents, parents to children. I forgot to mention fathers, the way we are harsh is we can exasperate the children. Doesn’t mean the children are off the hook.
Maybe they legitimately annoyed you, but still there’s an expectation for the Christian father to deal with an immature child in a way that doesn’t discourage them. And so let’s just start anew today. Let’s start anew today. Every day is new. His mercies are new every day.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, we come before you as sinners. When we assess ourselves relationally, at the end of a year, as we hold up the mirror of your word, we see that in many, many specific and maybe small areas, we are still getting a failing grade.
We see it in our attitudes toward people in authority. We see it in our attitudes to people who we’re supposed to be in authority over. We see how we speak to them. We see how we treat them. We see how we think about them. We see how we talk about them.
Lord, you see all the hidden things that are not even expressed. Lord, you see it all. So, Lord, we lay our hearts bare before you. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Forgive us, Lord. We don’t want to be like this.
We don’t want to be like the old nature anymore. We put that to death. We do this each day. We put to death our old nature. We put on the new. Lord, give us a clear motivation for life, not just relationally, but in terms of our vocation, in terms of our schooling. Give us a proper Christian motivation. We’re doing it unto the Lord Jesus.
Even under a terrible boss, even under a terrible father, even under terrible circumstances, you expect us to look past the people and the circumstances to fix our gaze upon you and do everything heartily with a good heart, with thanksgiving, with a good attitude. That is what you want from us because it shows our faith.
Lord, we want a faith and we want to live a life that is pleasing in your sight, being thankful always in everything, giving our best always in everything, no matter what kind of terrible circumstance we may be in.
Lord, that is a Christian motivation for life. And so thank you, Lord, for teaching us character and motivation. Lord, we embrace this truth, and we pray that starting today we’d begin anew with you.
Thank you, Lord, for Your Body that was broken for us and your blood that was shed. Please meet us as we close out this service. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
