Bible Study from September 14, 2020 - Colossians 3:12-16

Our study begins with a review of Colossians 3:12-13, where we heard of qualities our Lord wants to help us to have in a stronger way in our lives - qualities that build relationships with others. Those of you at St. James heard Sunday’s Epistle lesson, too, from Galatians 5:16-24, which is very similar to Colossians 3:5-14. The good qualities are called in Galatians “the fruit of the Spirit,” which the Holy Spirit also helps to grow in us.

We also talked about “bearing with” one another, putting up with one another in hard times, and being willing to forgive, even as the Lord has been willing to forgive us, again and again. We looked at Ephesians 4:1-3 and 30-32, as parallels to Colossians 3:13. This is very different from the current “Cancel Culture” that we see in our own country, where some people self-righteously want to point out the faults of others and only condemn them and cancel their existence out, without even the thought or possibility of forgiveness for them. If God treated us this way, we would all be wiped out, because we are all struggling, sinful people. How wonderful that John 3:17 tells us that “God did not send His Son into the world to to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”

In Colossians 3:14, Paul then talks about the importance of love, sacrificial love for others, which binds us together in the most perfect and complete way. See Romans 13:8-10 and 1 Corinthians 13, especially. This whole chapter reminds that we may be able to do many things, but they are “nothing” without the motivation of love for others. Paul describes what love is and is not and that its primary focus is not on erotic or emotional feelings or self-centeredness, but on genuine care for others, as God has first loved and cared and sacrificed for us, in Christ. Only Jesus has lived up to this standard of love. But we pray for more of such love in our hearts toward others, as Colossians 3:14 says.

Such love and others spiritual qualities, “fruit of the Spirit,” come only through God’s work in us now in the new life that is ours in Jesus. Paul calls upon us then to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. That spiritual health and wholeness and soundness come only through the saving, reconciling work of Jesus for us. See Romans 5:1-2 and Philippians 4:7. As we have peace with God, through Jesus, we pray that God’s peace would rule and be a kind of “umpire“ in our lives. Peace does not mean an absence of conflict or trouble, but strength to carry on in God’s power, whatever our troubles. We do not use the world’s flawed standards, which could easily “disqualify” us (Colossians 2:18), but the “Word of Christ” which now lives and works in us and can both instruct and admonish us (Colossians 3:16). See John 14:23-27, as the Word of Christ and the peace of Christ work together for us.

That is precisely why we are listening to the Word of God and studying it together today as people “called into one body” of believers in Jesus (Colossians 3:15). See Romans 12:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 and 12:27, and all the verses in between. We need each other and can encourage and pray for one another, too. What Paul did (see Colossians 1:28-29), we can do in our own small ways, as “imitators” of him and of God’s love. See Ephesians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 4:16-17, and Philippians 3:17, for example. We will hear more about all of this next week and the value of worship and singing and the Word of Christ in our churches and in everyday life.