Please open your Bibles this evening to the letter of Paul to the Colossians. We will take up our consideration of this letter again in chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. We will begin reading at verse 1 through verse 17. We'll give our attention to our text this evening from verses 15 through 17. Colossians chapter 3 verses 1 to 17. Hear now the word of God. Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with his practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 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. Here ends the reading of God's Word. When we come back to this text, it's been a couple months. When we come back to this text as people who need it just as the Colossians did, because we tend to and are prone to forget the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, we know it in our heads. We know that Jesus died for our sins. But in the day-to-day trials of life, we are prone to forget that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for us then and there as well. We often take it for granted so that we drift into living as though we can or we must depend on something other or something more than Christ alone to live this life, this life to which we're called. We may drift away from dependence on Christ and toward dependence on our religious observances, doing all those things we're expected to do. Or toward religious experts, because they know what they're talking about, which was the appeal of the Colossian error. They were being pulled away to religious observances and pulled away by people that said they knew better than what Paul had taught them. We may drift away from Christ in favor of dependence on any number of things to find our comfort or our peace or our strength or our success to such things as power or status or wealth, technology or medicine or some substance to soothe the trials of this life. Well, throughout this letter, Paul is striving to keep us from drifting away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's been reminding us that it is Jesus Christ alone who has already inherited our justification or merited our justification. He has already secured our standing with God. And it can never be taken away. We've been converted once for all from darkness to life, from death to life. That's done. And it's Jesus Christ alone who has already secured our glorification. When he appears again, we'll appear with him and we'll be like him. Our life is now hidden with him in the heavens. This is done and it is certain we will be resurrected, body and soul. And it is Jesus Christ alone who can and is preparing us right now for that day. And this is where we have trouble. This is where we are forgetful. We forget that he will complete the work he's begun by his spirit through the gospel to sanctify us, to change us more and more, to be like Jesus Christ. Beginning in chapter 3 of this letter, Paul has begun to press upon us how we are called and equipped to exert ourselves in this process of sanctification. How we're to exert ourselves every day, day by day, putting off those sinful and earthly habits that were ours in Adam. And putting on the heavenly and righteous habits that are now ours in Christ Jesus. And as he presses this upon us and encourages us by the gospel, he also reminds us that this process is not something we do on our own. No man is an island and no Christian is an island. This work of sanctification is a community project. It's something God works in each of us, but He works within us in the context of His body, in the context of our relationships, in the context of the church. And He does this for the sake of the whole. For He's redeeming a bride, complete for Himself. Now this week, I believe some of you here attended the first meeting of the group called Walking Together. And if you did, you know that they are considering this very reality this year in a video series by Paul Tripp. That your walk with God is a community project. It's a concept that we need to hear and Paul will teach us much about tonight in our text. Because in our North American frame of mind we think it's about us alone, me and Jesus. When really it's about us and Jesus. So if you haven't started that study I would invite you to consider it. I think it will be very profitable for you. Well, in our text this evening, verses 15 to 17, Paul gives particular attention to how you, the body of Christ as a community, are to be who you are in Christ in three ways. First, by communing in the peace of Christ. Secondly, by worshiping with the Word of Christ. And third, by living for the name of Christ. That's what we'll be considering together this evening. This is the third in a series through this section of Colossians that's instructing us in the Christian life. And I've added to the front of that the word grateful or gratefully. And I do that because in these three verses, Paul refers to gratitude three times. It is the heartbeat of gratitude for this whole letter right here. But it's not something he puts in the front. is something that he reminds us gently, but three times gently is what drives us in this life that we're called to live. And why do we need to hear that? Again, it's because we forget the gospel. Because to do what God wants us to do apart from gratitude is not obedience. Children, you know that when you do what mom and dad tell you to do, and you really don't want to do it, it might look like obedience, but it's not obedience. It's a faithless compliance to something you don't want to do out of fear. That's what drove the Colossians into error. And what drives every form of false religion, especially those that are moralistic and legalistic, those that call for a religious lifestyle. We can do all kinds of religious living with no gratitude. It's not obedience. It's faithless. It's compulsion. It dishonors God and it frustrates true sanctification. And so Paul, as he presses upon us as a community what we're called to do, he wants us to know this has to be born out of gratitude. I won't ask you to do it any other way. Be thankful. Well, Paul reminds us rather deliberately in our text this evening that gratitude to God is the only thing that can drive us to be who we are in Christ. It comes from regenerate hearts. It focuses on God, the giver, more than the gifts that he gives us. And it is indeed the power for obedience. In verses 15 to 17, Paul begins by calling upon you, the church, to gratefully be who you are by communing in the peace of Christ. This is a command. Paul says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Submit to the peace of Christ. And as he gives this command, he does it on the basis of something that you and I, the body of Christ, already has. That's the peace of Christ. He's not commanding us to secure the peace of Christ. He's not asking us or calling us to earn it, to gain it. It's yours, and you're to submit to it. And so what is this peace of Christ that we are to let rule? Well, first and foremost, it's the peace that belongs to Christ. It's the peace that Christ purchased by His blood. It's the peace that Jesus Christ came to earth to live and to die and to be resurrected to secure for people like you and me. Peace with God. Free from the wrath of God. And He's the one who holds that peace. He's earned it. Paul makes his point earlier in this letter in chapter 1, verses 19 to 21. When he says, For God was pleased through Christ to reconcile to himself all things by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God because you were his enemies. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death. This peace of Christ is peace with God that was merited by Jesus Christ in His body in which He gives to His spiritual body, the church, through faith. In Christ, the church communes with God, has friendly fellowship with God, is at peace with God through faith in Christ. Jesus promised this before He went to the cross. He told the apostles, Peace I leave you, My peace I give you. And as the body of Christ, week by week, when we come here for corporate worship, this peace is confirmed to you on a regular basis, as it was this evening in the benediction. Those are not idle words. That's the word of God to you. To be received by faith that mercy, peace, and love would be multiplied to you. This is the peace of Christ that you already have. And this peace of Christ not only establishes peace with God on a vertical plane, communion with God in Christ, it also establishes peaceful communion between the members of his body. If you're at peace with God in Christ, you are at peace with one another. That's a fact of spiritual life. It's a reality that's greater than our experience. Because as we look through this room tonight, I think it's fair to say you're not at absolute peace with everyone here. That's because sin still clings to us, but it doesn't change the fact that in Christ we've been reconciled to God, we've been reconciled to one another. In fact, Paul reminds us in verse 15 that as members of one body, you were called to this peace. You were effectively brought into this peace. You were made a part of the body of Christ. It's an established reality that you and I, the church, are to let rule in our hearts. to submit to it and act in accord with it. And we can submit to this reality in two ways. First, this peace of Christ, established in our justification before God, is once for all. We can believe that and trust that and know that contrary to any false teachers who say we need some other endorsement or some other program to make this more secure, we don't need anything more than the work of Christ on our behalf. This justification can never be taken away, never be reversed, never be abdicated. It's a done deal if you belong to Christ. And when we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts in this way, when we know to whom we belong, and when we trust that God has revealed more than our circumstances, when we trust what God has revealed about this relationship more than our circumstances, we can face our circumstances with greater assurance of faith. and more gratitude to God. Assurance of faith is not something we can drum up on by ourselves. Gratitude is not something we can work up in our own hearts. It's a response. It flows when we're trusting that what God says is true about us in Jesus Christ is true. We are at peace with God. We're to submit to that. Live by that. Rejoice in that. And when Paul continues at the end of verse 15 with the second command to be thankful, he's really not adding a new command. He's really making the point that only gratitude will drive us to exert ourselves more and more to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts in this other way. In this way that's between us. What God has done is done. What Christ has established in the church is done and yet it's not experienced fully yet. We have to exert ourselves toward one another in order to preserve this peace. In order to keep this peace. Paul says as much in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 3. He says, make every effort to keep it. To keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. It's been given to you. Work to keep it. In other words, make every effort to love one another. which has been our point the last time we met on this chapter. In other words, as we submit to the rule of Christ or the peace of Christ, as we let it rule in our hearts, we submit to his will to exert ourselves to put away those habits that destroy peace and to put on those habits that promote peace. It's a commitment that we have realizing the reality in which we live, The reality to which we're to pursue. Make every effort to put off what's destructive, to put on what unites. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Vertically, horizontally. But there's more. In verse 16, Paul goes on to call you and me, the church that is communing in the peace of Christ, to gratefully be who you are by worshiping with the word of Christ. Again, another commandment. He says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Another command that's based on something you already have. You have the word of Christ. And so to what is he referring? Well, first and foremost, the word of Christ is the word about Christ. The word of the gospel. We hear that word a lot, young people and children. The gospel. The gospel is the good news of what God has done and is doing in Christ. It all comes to you from God. There's nothing you can do to earn it. There's nothing you can do to secure it. There's nothing you can do to make it better. It's what God does for you in Christ. The word of Christ primarily is the gospel. In chapter 1, verses 5 and 6, Paul reminds us that both faith in Christ and our love for one another springs from the hope that is proclaimed in this gospel. If we're going to have faith in God and we're going to love one another, we have to have the gospel. That word of Christ has to dwell in us richly. We have to believe it. We have to trust him for it. And even at that time, Paul said that all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing and it is today. It's the same gospel, 2,000 years later. It's the same reality, 2,000 years later. Different faces, same truth. Let the word of Christ rule or dwell in your hearts richly. Now, of course, the word of Christ can be understood more broadly in terms of the whole of Scripture. All of Scripture, Jesus said, testifies to him. The Old Testament anticipates him. The New Testament reflects on who he is and what he came to do. So all of it, in one way or another, points to Christ. And we can consider it as the word of Christ in this broader sense. And it is this word of God that God has given us. It's objective. It's established. It's something we're invited to and encouraged to and enabled to drink in and to feed upon and to meditate upon and to take within us and change us by the power of his Spirit. We're to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly so that from within, by His Word, the Holy Spirit will work to govern us from the inside out. He'll change our hearts, which changes our attitudes, which changes our speech, which changes our words, which changes our actions. It all happens inside out. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. But even as true as that is for each of us as individual Christians to have the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly so that by the Spirit we're being changed. It's a reality that extends to the church as a whole. We can read this same verse, verse 16, to say to let the Word of Christ not only dwell in you, but to dwell among you. Same word. And I think from the context, this is really Paul's main emphasis, is that within the body of Christ, within the church community, the Word of Christ would dwell richly. And he offers three ways in which it is manifest when it is. He says that this word of Christ dwelling richly in the church will be manifest in the teaching of the church, in the admonitions of the church, and in the singing of the church. Let me explain. In chapter 1, verse 28, Paul says that he proclaimed the word of Christ by way of admonishing and teaching everyone in all wisdom. That is, the apostolic method for advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ is by admonishing and teaching in all wisdom. And in like manner, this word of Christ which has come to us on apostolic authority is to be taken up in the church. To dwell richly among us through the teaching and admonition of one another in all wisdom. Same word, same purpose, same way that it dwells richly among us. Teaching. Teaching refers to that profitable instruction on that word that we often don't like to hear, doctrine. Who likes doctrine? Well, I do, but people think I'm weird. Doctrine is, that word simply means the truth. The teaching of the truth that God has revealed in his word. Jude says that this is the truth of scripture that was once and for all entrusted to the saints. This is where we get our doctrine. This is where we receive truth. And this good deposit of true doctrine has been taught from generation to generation to generation according to the apostolic pattern that Paul began with Timothy. He told Timothy, you look for men that are qualified, teach them all the things that I taught you in the presence of many witnesses and make sure they can teach it to somebody else. That's how it came here today. Dwelling richly in the church by the teaching of doctrine. But Paul doesn't stop with doctrine. He adds to that by admonishing. To admonish is to apply doctrine to the practical circumstances of life. To take the truth as God has revealed it and somehow rivet it or fasten it or velcro it to the circumstances of life. Doctrine does no good up in the clouds. Doctrine has to be applied to life. And admonitions can be negative or positive. They can warn us against sin and foolishness, warn us against those things that we're supposed to be putting off, or encourage us to wisdom and righteousness, those things that we're to be putting on. Admonition is not a bad word. It comes to us where we are and what direction we're moving and seeks to turn us in the direction that we're called to go. applying truth to who we are and where we are. And Paul assures us in 2 Timothy 3.16, you know this verse, that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching. But it doesn't stop there. He goes on to tell you that it's useful for admonishing. He doesn't use that word, but he says it's for rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness. The Word of God is inspired by God for that two-fold purpose, to teach you something and to lead you somewhere. Teaching and admonitions. And so the word of Christ dwells richly in the church where the saints are teaching one another what is in accord with sound doctrine and admonishing one another in the way that they're to live that's pleasing to God. And the end result of that, as he says in chapter 1, verse 10, is so that the body of Christ will bear fruit in every good work. There's a benefit to the body of Christ. Let the Word of Christ dwell among you richly. That's why we preach every worship service. You get doctrine and admonition. That's why catechism and Sunday school teaches doctrine and application. Young peoples, gems, cadets, all of those are efforts in the body of Christ to do those two things. To teach you something that you need to know from God's Word and to encourage you to a life that fits it. And when that's happening in the church, the word of Christ is dwelling richly and fruit is being born. We may not see it, but fruit is being born. Well, Paul continues in verse 16 to describe another important way the word of Christ is to be used within the congregation and that's by singing. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing with gratitude in your hearts. Singing. to God. Singing means singing aloud. This is not telling us to have secret songs in our hearts. This is about singing aloud to God from the heart through our voices. And most notably, of course, that takes place in congregational singing, does it not? God has blessed this congregation with willing voices, eager to do this very thing, but I want from this text for us to walk away with an appreciation for what God does in that activity for the body of Christ. It's not something that we just do. It's a way in which the word of Christ comes to dwell richly among us if our minds are on and our hearts are engaged. Just as teaching and admonishing are to be characterized by wisdom, singing is to be characterized by gratitude. We all know what it is to be here and to sing a song and really not be engaged. The words are so familiar, they're running through our minds, our lips can move, and we're next week someplace. Singing is to be characterized by gratitude, to flow from the heart. So that whatever we voice together in word and tune will be sung to God when it comes from gratitude, when it's born out of faith. But apart from that, it's just noise. It might be pleasant noise, but it's just noise. We're encouraged in this text to sing to God from gratitude. And God, of course, is the primary audience of our singing. He's the primary audience of the singing of the entire church, the one holy Catholic apostolic church, here and everywhere, now and every time, even in the eternity of heaven. Even now, the saints that worship the throne, they sing to God. But he's not the only audience. Paul implies that our singing to God is not to be lost on us. Not only on me personally when I sing the words that I'm engaged, but that as we sing to God, we sing to ourselves often. Not always. Not every song is addressed to us. But tonight I picked three songs that were addressed to us. That has something to say to us as the body of Christ. To teach us something. And to admonish us or instruct us in something. Now, Paul refers to this singing in the church under three headings. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Now, there are lots of debates on what exactly Paul means. Whether this is the only list that applies. Or exactly what each of these words mean. There's a lot of overlap. So, I'm going to give you kind of a quick and dirty attempt to get your hands on these three things. As I understand them. Psalms refer, of course, primarily to the Psalms. The book of the Psalter that the church has had as its primary means of praise to God, primary means of encouragement to one another since the church began. It still holds first place. The Psalms. We began worship this evening singing Psalm 149. A psalm which clearly admonishes us, in which we admonish one another to worship God. That's the whole point of that psalm, is to call us to worship. Hymns are mentioned, this word is only here and in Ephesians chapter 5. There's only two references in the whole Bible. It makes it hard to pin it down. Generally thought to refer to songs with religious content. Now that sounds safe, doesn't it? And we often use this word broadly in this way, in a way that's so broad that it includes what Paul goes on to call spiritual songs. We call anything that's not a psalm a hymn. And that's okay. But in the context of the scripture here, it's probably referring to songs that have found record in the New Testament scripture. The Song of Mary. The Psalm of Zechariah. The verses 15 through 20 of chapter 1 in this letter may well have been a hymn or a part of a hymn that was sung in the church. We don't have the tunes. After the sermon tonight, we're going to sing a hymn of this variety, a hymn that depends largely on the Word of God. The first verse, this is how firm a foundation. The first verse is going to tell us how needy we are for the Word of God, how necessary it is, how dependable it is. And then for four verses, we're going to sing the Word of God to ourselves. We're going to quote Scripture. Promises to us from God, but it's going to come from our mouths to build us up as the body of Christ. And the last category, songs, and honestly, it's used the same way as we use songs today. It applies to any poem that's put to music intended to be sung. So whether it's your favorite country western song or one of the new songs in the book of Revelation, this is a song. It's not a psalm. It's not necessarily recorded in scripture. But it's truth from God's word or informed by God's word that either speaks from a heart of faith or speaks to a heart of faith. for the purpose of praising God or building up the body. And that's what we sang right before the sermon. I called it a spiritual song. It's not really quoting scripture, but boy, it's full of truth. And it was a praise of Christ, a confession of His name, that we together, as the body of Christ, sang to His glory and His honor and to our encouragement as His people to be reminded even by that song many ways in that song of how we are at peace with God in Christ and how we're at peace with one another in Christ. So the Word of Christ dwells richly in the church where saints are singing to God and to one another the Word of Christ as expressed in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Worshipping with the Word of Christ. And as the Church of Jesus Christ who is communing, who are communing in the peace of Christ and worshiping by the word of Christ, you, the church, are being equipped to gratefully be who you are by living for the name of Christ. Paul almost had a chronological order in this text. He talked about how we're called to be assembled in peace, how we worship together to be built up in Christ. And at the end of this service, you're going to go back out into the world and you're called to be who you are and to live for the name of Christ as someone who belongs to His body, as someone who belongs to His church. He says in verse 17, And whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now again, Paul does so on the basis of what you already have. The name of the Lord Jesus. You already bear the name of Christ. What do we call ourselves? Christians. We are those who are at peace with God in Christ. We have been given His name. We are His. He is ours. We are in Him. He is in us. We bear His name and we share in His anointing. And we, the church, are His body in the world. The church is a living, breathing organism. It's a walking billboard for Jesus Christ. The communion of saints serves to display the name of Christ to a watching world. That's you and me. That's all of us. And Jesus told us about this in John chapter 13. He says, As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. If we live in the name of Christ, the world will know. Therefore, Paul says, whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in his name. Whatever you do means whatever you do. Whenever, wherever, with whomever. It includes every aspect, every circumstance, every relationship, every moment in your life. Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And boy, when we read that verse, we've got to know that the Christian life is not about toeing the line. It's not about compliance out of fear to some list of do's and don'ts. Even though we often try to live it that way. That's not what the Christian life is about. The Christian life is all about living a life as a member of the body of Christ that's ruled by his peace, that's indwelt by his word, and that is living out this worshipful communion to do whatever you do in his name. That's a tall order, but you know what? That which God demands, God gives by his spirit. And where we get disconnected from this, and this is where we tend to drift away from Christ, is we tend to think of the Christian life as something that we need to perfect now. But the Christian life is not about perfection yet. It's about progress. Progressive sanctification. It's about persevering in obedience in one direction for a long time. Even though we have ups and downs, successes and failures. See, when we expect it to be perfection, we get derailed when we fail. When we think we've achieved perfection, we get proud. The Christian life is like walking up the stairs with a yo-yo. Your yo-yo is your life. And if you were standing still, it would seem like there's just no hope. It's just up and down, up and down, up and down. When's it going to change? It's up and down. But because of the work of God in us by Christ, through His Spirit, that up and down is making progress. As we exert ourselves in it. So the Christian life is about facing every circumstance more and more choosing and acting in faith. Depending on Christ in that circumstance no matter how small it is, no matter how big it is, turning to Christ instead of the circumstances. More and more. The Christian life is about more and more choosing and acting out of gratitude rather than out of compliance. Acting because I want to. Checking myself with this question, am I able to thank God the Father for having given me this opportunity that I can act in it with gratitude? It's a great check. Christian life's about more and more choosing and acting for the purpose of promoting and defending the name of Christ rather than my own name. More and more. And it's more and more about choosing and acting in accord with His will that He's revealed in His Word, doing my best to put off what I know to be sinful, to put on what I know to be righteous, and when freedom allows, it doesn't seem to be addressed as right or wrong, and it's freedom that I just choose and act as wisely as I can, trusting that God will work it out. That's the Christian life. And it's going to be this way until the end. And we as the body of Christ are called to live that life together. This is the life, the community life into which each of us has been called through the gospel of Christ. And this is the life, the public life of progressive sanctification for which Christ equips us by his spirit through the word. And this is the life for which we as individuals and more importantly as a community are inspired and enabled by gratitude only to God our Father through Jesus Christ our Savior. We're totally dependent on him. And that's Paul's point. All through these half-tos of Colossians chapter 3 is don't leave behind the gospel when you step into this life. It's the only strength you have. It's the only hope you have. It's the only motivation you have. It's the only power you have to live it. That yo-yo life up the staircase to glory. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we come before you this evening. Having heard your word, your commandments to us, Lord, as a body in this place, as the communion of saints, whom you've called together out of the world, to commune together with you and with one another in the peace secured by Christ. And within this community, Lord, this communion that we have to pursue the preservation of this peace as we live toward one another in love rather than in selfishness. And Lord, we thank you for the gift of the church in which you've placed us for this very purpose, for on our own, Lord, we would have no hope. It's here in the church, in the communion of saints, where the word of Christ dwells richly. Where you teach us from your word, and where we teach one another from your word. Where you admonish us and direct us in our living from your word, and we admonish one another from your word. And we sing to you out of gratitude in our hearts, according to your word, that your name would be praised, and that we as your people would be encouraged and directed and built up. In this world. And we thank you Father. That as we face this final commandment. To go and live. Whatever we do. Doing it all to the name. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That we don't go alone. That we go together. And we go on the power of your spirit. As you conform us by your word. And we go on the confidence. That we have been established. In right relationship to you. That one day we will see glory. And in the meantime, the work you have begun, you will complete. And so we rest in the gospel of Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen.