COLOSSIANS 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
COLOSSIANS 3:12-17 “HOW DO WE NEED TO CHANGE WHAT WE WEAR”?
Springford Baptist Church: August 14, 2022.
One of the first things that we tend to notice about another person is what that person is wearing. Today we are thinking about how what we wear, what we clothe ourselves in as followers of Jesus, is meant to draw attention to our Lord, not to us.
If what we are wearing in the way we live our lives (our words and deeds) does not represent Jesus well, then that will need to change.
This brings us to the question we are asking as we reflect on our Scripture from Colossians 3:12-17, “HOW DO WE NEED TO CHANGE WHAT WE WEAR”?
We read,12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
The quality of kindness worn as a garment is meant to be an indication that we belong to Jesus. Being clothed in kindness means “Living as those made alive in Christ.”
What does kindness look like?
Think about how it is that people think of us as Christians as followers of Jesus…
What are the first things that people notice about us beyond the actual clothes that we wear?
Of course there are various things that people will remember about us and about our church.
People should be able to remember our kindness “dressing in the wardrobe God has picked out for us” (vs. 12 The Message). That should characterize the way we live our everyday lives and being clothed in kindness and expressing that kindness in practical ways becomes a means of other people encountering Jesus through us.
How have you experienced the kindness of Jesus?
This will be an inspiration for the ways that we demonstrate kindness.
The whole motivation for Jesus’ kindness and care toward us is His unconditional love for us.
Colossians 3:14 emphasizes, 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Jesus’ kindness is not motivated by guilt or a sense of obligation.
Jesus extends kindness to us because He loves us so much and it is the most natural thing in the world for Him to respond to us with kindness.
Real kindness is always motivated by love.
We can engage in repeated expressions of generous kindness toward others but without love it lacks meaning.
Kindness is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit because like patience we cannot summon it from our own limited resources. We need God to transform our varied motives for kindness into a concerted focus of love and compassion.
Sometimes we respond to a particular need to relieve a sense of obligation. It is as if we are saying, “There now I’ve done something and don’t need to think about that anymore.” Really?
Growing in our understanding of being clothed in kindness will offer the opportunity to continue to consider ways that we can bless others.
And will kindness always be what we would expect? “Doing something nice.”
Will there be times when kindness will involve the hard work and investment of ongoing commitment to help someone help themselves for that person’s own well being, not just doing it all for them?
Think of when someone is struggling with a change that is needed in their life. If we facilitate the continued pattern that is not in that person’s best interest, is that kind?
Probably one of the places this is hardest is with those closest to us-family and friends.
We want to support them and make things easier for them, but sometimes real kindness will lead us to challenge them to take responsibility themselves.
Sometimes kindness is extended in a one time act of thoughtfulness and generosity and that does bless another person and draw that person closer to Jesus. But if we are to always be clothed in kindness and if we are by the grace of God’s Holy Spirit growing in kindness and our expressions of it, then it will be much more than occasional random acts of kindness.
Kindness is to characterize each of our relationships and our everyday living. Kindness involves commitment to another person’s well being.
Evidence of this comes as Paul raises the matter of forgiveness 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Colossians 3:13). Forgiveness is necessary when people spend time together and there have been carelessly spoken words or misunderstandings. Forgiveness is necessary when something hurtful needs to heal.
There is kindness involved in order to forgive. This may well involve a change of what we wear because we belong to Jesus.
Kindness chooses not to keep another person captive through my resentment over something wrong that has been said or done.
Kindness is reinforced by love and finds courage to do the right thing, the hard thing and to extend forgiveness.
Kindness remembers that I also need to be forgiven by God and by other people.
As highlighted in Colossians 3:14, love must always be worn and it will keep the virtue of kindness in place.
We are aware aren’t we, that we can do the right things for the wrong reasons.
Love, love that comes from Jesus, keeps us in a place where we are expressing kindness for the right reasons.
How will we be clothed in kindness, in accurately representing Jesus in the way we live our lives? How will we need to change what we wear because we want to live for Jesus?
Let’s review as we think about our wardrobe choices:
Kindness must be motivated by Christ’s love, not a sense of guilt or obligation.
Kindness is not always doing the nice thing that someone wants, but carefully considers what is in another’s best interests.
Christ-like kindness forgives and chooses kindness even when that is not what is deserved.
We can know that consistently choosing to be clothed in kindness will be possible as the peace of Christ rules in our hearts. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15) Then we are relying on His resources for kindness, not our own.
We will find ourselves naturally reaching for the garment of kindness and we will want that to be what we are wearing when we acknowledge that this is all for Jesus. Paul sums up this instruction by saying, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17)
Being clothed in kindness is not to draw attention and gratitude to us, but rather to Jesus!
Our bigger question that has been guiding our summer sermon series in Colossians has been, “HOW DOES KNOWING GOD CHANGE OUR LIVES”?
With this in mind, it is necessary for each of us to give careful consideration in order to answer accurately the question, “HOW DO WE NEED TO CHANGE WHAT WE WEAR”?