[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Colossians 3, beginning in verse 11: “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (ESV).

       Being new creatures in Christ is where we left off the last time, new creations, and Paul expands on that for us today. In this verse, he is telling us something revolutionary. Not so revolutionary to us, here in twenty-first century America, but a line of logic definitely new to the Colossians believers. People were used to being divided up in society. The Jews versus the Gentiles, which is the same as the circumcised versus the uncircumcised. And then there were the other groups among the Gentiles, all the way to those who were free versus those who were under the bondage of slavery. It is in that context that Paul says that, within Christ, all are equal, all are seen as the same. Christ doesn’t differentiate based on worldly conditions and circumstances, upon the makeup of one’s flesh, the flesh that he or she resides in as a spirit. Within the church, all have the same status as a new creation in Christ. We are used to this language nowadays, and this is how we practice. But back then, in the time of the Colossians, it would have been unheard of.

       While in the Old Testament times God dealt with the Jewish people, the Nation of Israel, those who were of the Jewish race, during Paul’s time, and now during our time, God offers the free gift of salvation to all. Everyone is included. Christ died for everyone, and everyone who believes in his death on the cross and rising from the dead can have salvation. No one, or group of people, is seen as special as far as salvation goes, as far as the ability to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Within spiritual status, then, there is no separation. God deals with all the same. Paul brings up the “barbarian” in the verse, which seems to denote a group of individuals of which the Greeks saw as uneducated. It would be similar in the United States today to calling someone a hick, or a hillbilly. The “Scythian” was a person who was part of a tribe of people who often engaged in warfare, those of which resided in the wilderness. What would likely come to our minds, in thinking of American history, would be the Native Americans of old. They were a group of individuals who did things their own way. The Colossian mind wouldn’t even think of those in these other groups as being included with them, but Paul says all are included.

       Verse 12: “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (ESV).

       Within the diversity of believers within in the church, Paul then tells them how they need to act toward one another. It’s a very fitting moment, a fitting time for this statement to be put forth. Paul had just demonstrated how all are included, and therefore, how each should relate to the other (and this despite any prevailing societal prejudices) is laid out. Each of these groups is chosen of God, as all who believe are then chosen of God. That’s important because it shows that no one is included as a second class citizen, but all are noted as “chosen” on an equal plane. And those whom are chosen, are said to be “holy and beloved.” Everyone who believes is made holy in God’s sight, whether they are acting holy in this life or not. That born-again spirit makes them holy, and one day their flesh will become holy. The flesh becomes holy when we are Raptured out of this life, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in the sky to receive those of us who are his, or when we die, when we perish on the earth. Nonetheless, whatever the case, we are “beloved,” that is, we are loved by God. No matter what state we find ourselves in, we are surrounded by God’s love. For Paul says in Romans, “For I am sure that neither death nor life… will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39, ESV).

       The first thing that Paul mentions, the first thing he lists for us, is that of having “compassionate hearts.” What is compassion exactly? In the most basic sense, it is practicing that which Jesus taught us, right? It is loving our neighbors are ourselves because when we show compassion, we are showing that we care about the well-being of our fellow person. We are showing that it’s not just our own interests that matter to us, but we have concern for the interests of others within the body of Christ in that we want to help them where they struggle, or where they might have misfortune. We aren’t just there to judge, as might be a more common attribute among some, but we are there to provide comfort. Just as God comforts us in our affliction, as Paul told the Corinthians, so we comfort others. He would finish up that section to the Corinthians by saying, “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:5, ESV). Everyone suffers at one point or another; it’s just the way life works, even for the Christian. There’s no escape from suffering, so there is always the opportunity to provide comfort for someone.

       Next on the list is kindness. Along with having a compassionate heart is naturally going to come the kindness. It can be supposed that the kindness of which Paul is discussing is a different form of kindness versus the general kindness that is seen in everyday life. Even the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about that general kindness when he discussed greeting others, noting that even non-believers in God also have the good habit of greeting their friends. Not only does kindness naturally support our friends, as we are all probably good at at least in some way, it more so supports those we don’t really have a close relationship with. It is through kindness that we begin new relationships, like in the instance of striking up that conversation with another while getting a cup of coffee or tea. Naturally then, if it is allowed to, it can flow out of our happy spirit, that underlying joy, which should be present in our lives because we are in relationship with God. That’s really at the heart of what Jesus talked about in the Gospels. In essence, there should be a difference with the Christian’s kindness and the world’s kindness. It should expand to everyone, regardless of external appearances. We show love toward others because we know, internally, that we are greatly loved.

       If we look at humility, for some of us, that’s going to be an issue right from the get-go. Pride is interesting as it has its own way of seeping out of our characters, making itself manifest in our speech without us often even being aware of it. Yet, as Christians, we are called to be humble—to display a humble spirit. There is nothing that will turn folks off more than perhaps that of pride—when we give the impression that we are somehow ‘better’ than others. That never goes over well, and if we stop and think about it, we know this truth from conversations that haven’t turned out how we’ve wanted them to in the end. If we brag as pertains to this and that, people are going to be turned off, and we are going to be basing our value toward others by referencing the externals—things we have obtained in the world. Certainly, we have more to give to our fellow bystander than bragging. The truth is, people take further notice of us when we display openness and honesty with them. One would think it would be the opposite, that if we try to impress others, that they in turn will in fact be impressed and truly turn out liking us. But we find this is not the case. All we really have to do to understand this better is to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. What do we like to hear from others when we are conversing with them? It will be found that what is truly valued is that sense of humility, not pride.

       And so, how is meekness different from humility, as meekness is next on Paul’s list for us? It appears that meekness is found further in how we actually deal with others, how we relate to them, versus that actual humble state of our being which we call humility. It is the idea of having good-will toward others, being ready to help. It brings to mind when Paul said to Timothy, “be ready in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2, ESV). It can also be an attitude of submissiveness, of showing proper respect to authority. That can be God, in that we show proper response to him when he wants us to do something. It can be to the boss at work, in that we respect his or her authority, and try to make the person happy. It can be the wife having the meek attitude in the marriage relationship, in submitting to her husband, as Paul is going to discuss later in this chapter in Colossians.

       So what about patience? Patience is a character trait of which, unfortunately, isn’t much valued anymore in our modern times. It seems there are a few individuals still left who like patience and actually practice it, but it would seem that there is more on the non-practicing side of this, preferring to obtain what they want immediately, to obtain it right now. It is often referred to as an attitude of entitlement, and even the younger generations are thought of to have more of an entitled mindset. Yet, Paul tells us we are to “Put on… patience” (ESV). Thus, it’s fair to say that patience wont come naturally for anybody. It was something the speaker had to learn over time, even over the Christian journey. When becoming a Christian, it wasn’t that patience automatically came into play. Maybe in small ways, but with the bigger things in life, patience had to be learned over time. But, we need to remember that patience is our friend because by being patient we usually get what we want in the end. It is when we are impatient, when we have to have whatever it is right now, when the flow of life isn’t correct, the timing isn’t correct, that we often find ourselves in trouble.

       There have been so many times in the personal experience, when, and many of you who practice patience as a habit will know what is being said is true, where, in waiting something out, what has been desired has been obtained. Just think about shopping. Many times, in waiting and waiting, sometimes for weeks on end, the correct price for something is found. There is something we want, and initially it’s not on sale, but if we wait for that sale to come (of which it appears it almost always does), we get the same product for twenty or thirty percent less, whatever it is. It feels good when we are able to obtain the same product and at the same time save that money. To take another occurrence, it is good when we are able to apply patience to driving down the roadway. Let’s say, for instance, that someone in front of us is going at a slower pace than we would prefer. A person can ride the other person’s bumper, but what good does that really do? What good does this impatient attitude truly accomplish? It’s just a display of a poor attitude on the part of the impatient person, and it is probably making the other driver nervous. But, what would happen instead if the person just took a deep breath, backed off the car a little bit, and just enjoyed the drive? Why is there the need to get to the next place in the quickest manner possibly anyway? If we are always rushing from point A to point B, we will miss out on that part of life, that commuting time.

       Moving along. Verse 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” (ESV).

       “Bearing with one another,” “Bearing with one another.” Ah, a practice we probably aren’t too fond of. But, we know, if we really consider it, that it is necessary. Why? Well, not everyone is going to pleasurable to get along with. There will also be a few individuals that find us un-pleasurable. Since God has made us all as unique individuals, individuals with custom characteristics, we aren’t all going to act the same, or see eye to eye. Some of us are going to be more compatible with others, more comfortable around certain others. Unfortunately, and this has been the common experience, some people are set in their ways, and they aren’t willing to grow in their characters. They aren’t willing to identify areas where they can improve in how they act. Generally, these kinds of persons will not take responsibility for their incorrect behavior. And so, if the person identifies as Christian, this is a kind of person we are going to have to “bear” with. It could also be an unsaved family member or friend who acts like this, and if we have to keep the person in our life, we are just going to have to “bear” with them. Ideally, it seems best to distance oneself from those who refuse, whether realizing it or not, to take responsibility. However, depending on one’s situation, this isn’t always possible. But it isn’t reasonable to say we should always put up with another’s sin, or things like an attitude of self-pity or whatnot.

       All of us, no matter who we are, are at times going to have complaints against another. No matter how far one tries to run from this, or no matter how one tries to pretend it doesn’t happen, it certainly does. It would be nice if everyone at church could get along perfectly at all times, but if we are honest we know that’s not the way it is. There will be times others offend us, and we will have a compliant against them. There will be times where we offend others, and generally this will likely be more inadvertent. Most offense doesn’t seem to come as a direct attack toward another, or if it is an attack usually the person has justified it within themselves so that they feel they have the right to attack, or should attack. We have all heard how we are supposed to deal with offenses, as Jesus dealt with in the Gospels. Interestingly, with the Colossian believers Paul doesn’t really get into the ‘how to’ in dealing with offenses, but rather focuses on the end result. He tells us how things are supposed to end after the complaint. And how they end is with genuine forgiveness, forgiveness from the heart wherein we no longer hold the person guilty for whatever we feel they did was wrong, or we feel they did against us individually. Depending on the offense, this can last five minutes, or it can last five years. It can take people a long, long time to work through forgiving another if the offense is a big one.

       Paul tells us why we are to forgive, really, why that attitude is a must for a Christian. And that’s because, at the end of the day, the Lord Jesus Christ has forgiven each one of us our enumerable offenses against God. Those which we have done both externally and internally. Countless offenses. You see, if we are trusting in his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead to hold us blameless before God, so that we are seen as perfect in his sight, then we have to be willing to do the same thing for others. It’s hypocritical, Paul is telling us, if we want total and complete forgiveness from God for everyone we have ever done wrong toward, but then aren’t willing to forgive our fellow person for the wrong they did, which is usually small. Even if it’s big, we have to work through it. We have to forgive. It’s only right. And that doesn’t mean we have to be best friends with the offender, or even friends at all, but we have to forgive them. And the only way it seems to reach this state of total forgiveness is to become full of love ourselves. We freely love and forgive seeing that that is what we want to do, and actually, what we can do. God has enabled us to do that. If you are feeling you can’t forgive someone for something, whatever the offense was, it’s because you are not surrendered on something. You aren’t surrendered on a particular thing, and that’s preventing you from forgiving.

       Let us draw up an example of how this works, and let’s go ahead and use a common one, since this area appears to affect a lot of Christians. Let’s say your spouse has left you for another person. It just happened out of the blue one day, at least out of the blue to you. And now they are gone. Let’s say they left you and the three kids behind. That’s tuff. Where we can start is maybe you never wanted to be divorced, perhaps you didn’t want divorce as a part of your life story. If you’re a Christian, you probably feel strongly about this. However, now, since the person has left and you’ve gotten divorced, it is a part of the story. Now let’s say you also didn’t want to be a single parent—seems obvious—and you didn’t want to raise your children by yourself without the other parent. You were afraid it would damage their development. Yet, here is the situation. This is the way it now is. With both of these points of fact, the person is going to have a real difficult time forgiving the other person if they aren’t willing to accept these facts, to accept that circumstances have gone the way they have gone instead of the way they desired them to be originally. If a person isn’t willing to surrender to the situation, and to accept what has happened, and to work from there, then the person is going to constantly be looking back in time at what occurred or even what could have been—an alternate reality that doesn’t exist. Yet, the only direction toward healing is to accept what has happened.

       A big hold up for people when it comes to forgiveness is the fact they often get upset with God for the circumstances they find themselves in. The person we are talking about might say, “Why didn’t God prevent this from happening? Why didn’t he help me? Why didn’t God change the other person’s mind?” So the blame shifts to God, and the person believes he is at fault, And many pastors will tell the person in these shoes that, “Oh, God has something for you to learn in life. That’s why this is happening.” Yet, this answer is so clique, and thankfully, isn’t the actual truth. In reality, God doesn’t cause evil to make good come about. Did you know that? Highly unlikely you do because barely anyone says it. There are other beings in the Universe, namely, other people, like your ex-spouse, who can make bad decisions, and the great destroyer, who we know as Satan. These persons have free will, and they can make choices of which God himself cannot even prevent. God cannot always stop Satan from doing certain things, as is commonly believed. God didn’t allow this to happen so that you would learn something, or so that he could teach you something. That’s an incorrect viewpoint, and one that isn’t Scriptural. God didn’t want it to happen; it isn’t part of his plan. The Bible tell us that God hates divorce. It doesn’t say God allows and permits divorce to teach his children certain things. That doesn’t mean he won’t use the situation to bring about good, but he didn’t want it. He didn’t desire it. He didn’t put it is his plan. No, the leaving spouse and Satan desired it, planned it, and executed it.

       And this line of logic goes for all kinds of life situations. The death of a baby, the fatal car accident, the house burning down, the money down the drain after good intentions, the school shooting, the soldier dying in war—anything like these things. God doesn’t want them. He doesn’t plan them; he isn’t the grand architect behind them. This error has lead so many people to misery, and so many, specifically in our context of today, to unforgiveness, to an unforgiving spirit. But the beautiful thing is, is that despite all these events that God doesn’t want to happen, even after they do happen, there is hope, and that hope is found in Jesus. God is on our sides, and he is the one who leads to healing in situations, whatever those situations are, and when healing isn’t still possible, he’s the one who allows for individuals to move forward in an attitude of love, forgiving whoever it is, and actually living a fruitful life.

       Verse 14: “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (ESV).

       That’s the cure. That’s the hope. That’s the attribute we can all strive for. Love. Putting on love. Remember, this is what Peter has told us. He said, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8, ESV). That’s how healing occurs. The only way that one can move on into the future in a positive way, and a positive way toward the offender, is to see things under a different light, to see circumstances in a new way. It means giving up those old character traits that Paul has been discussing in this chapter, in Colossians 3, all that anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from our mouths and related feelings that can be rooted deep within us. Those negative traits are often beloved by us, believe it or not, without us actually realizing it. People hold onto the feelings of hurt since there is pleasure found in being right, and in being a victim. And, often there is the fear that if we forgive a person of an offense, that somehow they won’t pay for what they have done. There is a ‘fear’ that comes up in all of this. Sure, we can hang on to that fear and therefore justify our feelings that they shouldn’t receive our forgiveness, or rather we can choose an attitude of love and realize that everyone should receive our forgiveness. Sounds bold, but everyone is important, and everyone should be extended that forgiveness. That’s what God has done for us. This is the way out. It’s the way that frees everyone from everything.

- Daniel Litton