Before we look to God’s Word, I just want to say a word of thanks. Coming back from Peru, a thanks to you for allowing me and for the rest of our group to represent you there in Cajamarca and you’ll hear a fuller report in a couple of weeks but it was a tremendous blessing to be there; so thankful for having that opportunity. I just want to say how proud I was being there to be a pastor of that group that was there. I was proud of your church and thankful that we were able to do that. So, thank you; look forward to hearing a fuller report in a couple of weeks. Please come back to hear that and to see the video from our trip.
Tonight, we are looking at the fourth of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23. There’s love, joy, peace and patience. And patience, perhaps more than any of the other virtues that we have studied so far, entails trouble because you can have love without hate, and you can have joy without sorrow, and you can have peace without division, but you can’t have patience without some sort of trouble. Whether it’s with your circumstances or with someone else or maybe it’s even with God, in order to be patient, something or someone has to test your patience. And usually, we would rather not deal with those sorts of things. We would rather not deal with those sorts of things than having to work on cultivating patience with others. But we need patience. We need patience for our life together. We need patience for life in the church as God’s people and in community and on mission together.
And tonight, we are going to look at Colossians chapter 3, a couple of verses from Colossians chapter 3; you can find that on page 984 in the pew Bibles. And I think these verses show us, they tell us something about what it means to be patient. And we see in these verses a series of contrasts. And these contrasts will be our headings for our study tonight. The contrasts are between what is old and new, between what is outward and inward, and then finally, between what is passive and active. So, we’ll hopefully see those three contrasts in our study of Colossians chapter 3, verses 12 and 13 tonight. Before we read God’s Word, let’s pray and ask for Him to help us understand and apply His Word to our hearts and to our lives. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You for speaking to us, for revealing to us Your Word. We thank You for sending to us the Word incarnate, Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is all of these things which we study and which we pursue by Your grace. We ask that Your Spirit would work within us to sanctify us, to set us apart, to make us more like Christ, to bring glory and honor to Your name and to spread the good news of the Gospel in our community and in the world around us. We need these things. We can’t do it on our own, so we need Your help. Speak Lord, for Your servants listen. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Colossians chapter 3, verse 12 and 13:
“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 also must forgive.”
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever.
We could say that patience makes up a part of the Christian’s character. Maybe we could say it this way – that patience is a part of the Christian’s clothing. And that’s the contrast that we see at the beginning of these verses. In verse 12, it’s the contrast of taking off something old and putting on something new. “Put on then,” or “Clothe yourselves with” these virtues “as God’s chosen ones.” And don’t we recognize that our clothes can say something about us. And that’s true even throughout the Bible in many different places, isn’t it. You think about in the book of Genesis and Joseph and his change of status that was represented by a change in clothing. And Joseph was brought up from the prison and elevated to the right hand of Pharaoh. And what happened when he was elevated to that position? Pharaoh took his signet ring and placed it on Joseph’s hand and it says in Genesis 41 that he “clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.” And we see the same thing with Aaron and his sons when they were set apart for the priesthood. The book of Exodus says that they should “make garments for Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. And they shall receive gold and blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.”
And we could add to those examples. There is Elisha and the prophet’s mantle. There was Mordecai and the royal attire of Ahasuerus the King of Persia. Or think about the great multitude in the book of Revelation being clothed in white robes. Clothing signifies something about a change of status or about a change of identity. And that’s true in these verses as well because the believer in Jesus is called one of “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.” That’s who we are. That’s our identity. That is our status in Christ Jesus before our heavenly Father. We are called out. We are set apart. We are dearly loved. There’s been this great change that Paul talks about and he talks about it earlier in the book of Colossians in chapter 1. He says that we were those who were alienated and at enmity with God and now we are reconciled to Him. We are made partakers of a great inheritance.
There’s almost a sense of adoption that we find in the book of Colossians that Paul talks about with the new status, the new identity of believers. And we hear about adoption in the Roman world, perhaps, in years past in the church. And you know something about how binding it was, about how it could change the whole trajectory of someone’s life. I didn’t realize until recently that Caesar Augustus was adopted. Caesar Augustus, who was the first and perhaps the most powerful, most important impressive of all of the Roman emperors. He is the one who is mentioned in Luke chapter 2 that, “A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” He attained his position by virtue of adoption. Julius Caesar adopted him when he was 18 or 19 years old. And with that adoption, came a claim to the name of “Caesar,” claim to a position of power and prominence. He went from being Octavian to Caesar Augustus. What Paul is talking about here in Colossians is going from sinners to saints. From being someone who is at enmity with God to a member of His family, a member of the people of God. That’s the contrast. That’s the contrast that Paul has between the old and the new.
And so, what could we say about that? What could we say about that new status or identity as God’s people being chosen, holy and beloved? Well, those are designations of immense honor and esteem, of dignity and glory. And so, what kind of clothing would we expect to go along with that sort of change in status? We would expect maybe the sort of clothing that goes along with those examples that I mentioned from the Old Testament – gold, purple, scarlet; clothing of honor and glory and dignity. But that’s not what we find in these verses. What do we find Paul saying in these verses? He says to put on compassionate hearts, to put on kindness, humility, meekness and patience. We’ll look more specifically at those words in just a minute, but as a whole, just notice that those are very much the opposite of honor and esteem and glory. That’s what’s so surprising about this list. That’s what makes the two parts of verse 12 stand out in our minds when they are placed next to each other. On the one hand, there is this unbelievable blessing of God. And what does that call for in the life of a Christian? It calls for compassion and kindness and humility and meekness and patience. We can’t miss how lowly and unimpressive those things are.
If we were talking to our children for the children’s devotion, we would say that these virtues are little putting on play clothes instead of church clothes. And you remember what that was like as a child – to get home and you had a family gathering and your cousins were going to be there and you wanted nothing more than to take off your church clothes and put on your play clothes and run around the yard and to enjoy being comfortable. And even if they get dirty, that’s okay! That’s what sort of clothes these are as Paul writes in verse 12. These are blue collar virtues instead of white-collar privileges. And in reality, for many in the Roman world and even in, I would say in our own world today, these characteristics could be viewed as signs of weakness and vulnerability. These are the things oftentimes in our culture that are to be avoided, not valued. And so, I think what we can say from these verses is that when God raises us up, when He makes us His “chosen ones, holy and beloved,” He sends us low. And it’s because of the new life we have in Christ, it’s because of the freedom and the incredible blessings that comes from being chosen, holy and beloved, that we are to put on clothing that allows us to deny ourselves in order to be a blessing to others; that we do not keep that blessing to others but we extend it to other people as well.
And we have to begin, we have to begin by recognizing the wonder of our calling before we can take up or put on the work of our calling. And so, these two things are placed together. There is this contrast between the old and the new. And here we are, chosen, holy and beloved, but we are to put on these new clothes – compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. And so, what does that mean? What do those qualities mean? Well, we could think in terms of a contrast between outward and inward. And there’s a lot of overlap that we see in these five virtues. It’s hard to say, isn’t it, where compassion ends and where kindness begins. It’s hard to draw a line between humility and meekness. But what we can say generally is that compassion and kindness have a view towards others, outwardly, and that humility and meekness have a view towards ourselves, inwardly. These describe a Gospel mindset, both outward and inward.
And there’s a lot we can learn about patience – that’s our focus of the fruit of the Spirit tonight – there’s a lot we can learn about patience by looking at the four words that come before it in this passage. And isn’t it true that oftentimes our impatience with others is because we think too highly of ourselves and we do not think of others highly enough. And don’t we oftentimes tend to view others simplistically. We think of others one dimensionally. And yet we think of ourselves as being complex and multifaceted. In other words, when someone else doesn’t tell the truth, it’s because they are a liar. And if they don’t do what they said, well then, they are undependable and flaky. But what about for us? What if we hedge the truth? Well, maybe we had a lot going on, and maybe we were thinking about the needs and the feelings of someone else. There’s a good reason for us maybe to not be honest all the time. That’s how we oftentimes think.
Maybe it’s a silly example, but think about Jackson drivers. We know what Jackson drivers are like, right? They run redlights and they drive too fast. It’s because – why? Because they’re bad drivers and probably they’re bad people! But what about when parents in the carpool line run the redlight or cut in line? Well, that light changes too fast and we have to get to work and there’s just not enough time between school and practice. There’s a good reason, and it all makes so much sense when we are the ones running through a redlight or driving too fast.
And isn’t that true of our impatience? It comes from thinking that our time is more valuable than someone else’s time. Or it comes from thinking that we are more competent than the person who is doing something that lets us down or they’re not doing it like we want them to do or when we want them to do it. Our impatience comes from feeling that we have the right to be heard, we have the right to be respected, we have the right to get our own way when we don’t always extend that right to other people as well.
But what does verse 12 say about our view of others and our view of ourselves? Well, it says the same thing that Paul teaches in Philippians chapter 2 – to have the mind of Christ. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look out not only for your own interests but also for the interests of others.” That’s what it means to have compassionate hearts, to be kind, humble and meek. Compassion is sometimes translated as “bowels of mercy.” It comes from the belly. It’s the same word that we get “spleen.” And so, compassion is a deep seated, a deeply felt concern for the well-being of someone else. And kindness, kindness comes from the same word that means “useful.” And so, it can be defined as being more than just a sweet disposition. Kindness goes more than just being nice. It’s actually going to involve acts of service towards someone else. And that’s where patience begins – with a deep-seated concern for others and a life that extends care to them.
And that’s where it began with Jesus, didn’t it? Because what did we see with Jesus? We see that He was moved with compassion because He saw the crowds and they were like sheep without a shepherd. And we see that He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for others. And how else would He have put up with the failures of His disciples? How else would He have put up with the ridicule and the opposition of those He had come to save? How else would He have been patient with those to whom He ministered if it was not that He had a compassionate heart and kindness toward them. Patience requires us to see other people as Jesus sees them. And what is that? It’s seeing others as sinners, as broken sinners, yes, but also as those who are sinned against. And we see them as they truly are and we desire, out of compassion for them, to seek their best interests. That’s the outward dimension of patience – compassionate hearts and kindness.
Now what about the inward dimension of patience? There’s humility and there’s meekness. Now if compassion comes from the gut, then humility comes from the chest, we could say. The word here for “humility” is related to the word for “diaphragm” or “lungs.” It has to do with breathing. In the Greek world, it was thought that the breath controlled the whole body. It was regarded as the seat of the intellectual and spiritual being. It’s the inner part, the inner man. We could even say it’s the mind. And so, what is humility? It’s low thinking. It’s thinking of yourself less. And meekness. Meekness is a quiet strength. It’s a gentle disposition that comes from having a realistic view of ourselves. Meekness recognizes our own limitations – that we are willing to be corrected when we need to be corrected; we are willing to learn when we need to learn. That we take a gentle and pleasant and calm disposition with others.
And when we put all of these together, what we could say is that Paul is calling us to value others more and to value ourselves less. That’s not meaning that we are to think of ourselves as worthless or to lose all sorts of esteem. Remember who Paul is talking to. He’s talking to those who are “chosen, holy and beloved” of God. So, there’s great value and esteem that we have in Him, in Christ. But as we relate to others, we are to value them more and value ourselves less. And it means having a concern and a care for others outwardly, while having a lowliness and a restraint of ourselves inwardly. And when we put those things together, that leads to a heart and a practice of patience.
Now here’s the problem. The danger of focusing on these particular virtues like the ones in these verses, like the ones in the fruit of the Spirit, it’s missing the big picture. And the big picture is that those who are patient are compassionate, kind, humble, meek, and so on. They go together. And the reason they go together is because they are all of Christ. These things belong to Christ before they belong to us. They are all of Him. They come from Him. And Paul says earlier in this letter that the reason he is writing these things, the reason for him making the Word of Christ fully known, is to reveal the glory of the mystery. And what is the mystery? The mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” It’s a whole new identity in Christ. The old is dead and buried; the new is raised and living. A whole new way of being, a whole new way of walking by faith. And so, we come to a virtue like patience and sometimes we can think, “What can I learn about patience? How can I be more patient with my spouse, with my children, with my coworkers, with my neighbors?” But we miss that it’s bigger than that and the need for patience shows us a need for salvation. It shows a need for God’s grace, a need for making Christ the center of everything we do in our lives.
And so, the question is, “Where do we need Christ? And where do we need to grow in faith? Where do we need to grow in maturity in Christ in becoming like Him, walking in Him, being rooted in Him and built up in the faith for His glory and praise?” Being in Christ means being completely new, inside and out, so that our posture towards others and towards ourselves is transformed. That’s the likeness of Christ. That’s the likeness of Christ that Billy talked about with our children in sanctification. And what that looks like in our relationships will lead to patience if we are putting on Christ and walking in Him and living by faith and not according to our own ways.
So, there’s the old and the new, there’s outward and there’s inward, and the third thing, the last thing, is passive and active. What else can we learn about patience from this passage? Well, the Greek word is “longsuffering.” And verse 13 tells us a little bit about what that means to be longsuffering. It means to bear with one another and to forgive one another. And that’s the passive and the active part of patience. The passive part of patience is bearing with one another. It means persevering with each other over the long haul. I came across a poem the other day and it goes like this. It says, “To dwell in love with saints above, O that will be glory. But to dwell below with saints we know, ah, that’s a different story.” And that can often be the case, can’t it? I thought about that even in the context of a mission trip to Peru. One of the highlights of our trip was the unity and the fellowship that we enjoy with brothers and sisters in Christ in Peru, but isn’t it one thing to enjoy fellowship for a week and to overlook some of the cultural and even personal differences in the context of a mission trip? But what about those differences, what about being together week after week after week and year after year? Some of those things that may irritate us and rub us the wrong way, they come up over and over again through the years and patience means bearing with one another. It means absorbing some of those differences of personality. It means absorbing some of the weaknesses of others and their shortcomings and even their own dysfunctions for the sake of unity and the harmony of God’s people. None of us are perfect; we all have a long way to go.
I’ve been thinking recently, or I’ve been coming back to this quote from Alexander White from one of his sermons on Bunyan’s characters. And he talks about the character of Patience. And he says that in a marriage, oftentimes, for newlyweds, the last thing they think they need, that they’ll have any need of in their marriage is patience, and yet the thing that they need more than anything else, that their relationship is not to gall them and beyond all endurance, is patience. And isn’t it so true that oftentimes the people we need to show the most patience with are those who are right at home or right here with us week after week after week. To bear with one another. That’s the passiveness of patience to take on those faults and those weaknesses, to let go of slight annoyances, personality quirks, and even the ways that we disappoint one another.
And then there’s the active side of patience, and that is, forgiving; forgiving each other when harm has been committed. It says here in verse 13, “If one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” You know, forgiveness can be a trigger word in our culture. And forgiveness can sometimes sound a lot like injustice or unfairness or maybe even abuse. But we’re told to forgive one another and we’re told how to forgive one another. How are we to forgive one another? It’s simple in a way. We are to forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven us.
Now how has the Lord forgiven us? How great of a debt has Jesus forgiven us? It’s like the man who owed 10,000 talents. It was an unpayable debt. It was impossibly ridiculous and his master relieved it all. And that’s how Jesus forgives us. He forgives us completely, of all of our sins, of all of our debts. And now many times has Jesus forgiven us? Seventy times seven times? No. Much more than that. An uncountable number of times. And every time we go to Jesus for forgiveness, He extends His mercy to us. He forgives us over and over and over again. And the completeness of His forgiveness? “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” And the costliness of His forgiveness? “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” It cost Him His life and He bore the punishment that we deserved on the cross, the wrath of God. That’s the costliness and the forgiveness of Christ.
And so how are we to forgive one another? Well maybe it’s simple – as Christ has forgiven us – but that’s not easy, is it? What we’re called to do is to forgive fully and repeatedly and to bear the cost and to do it freely. Can we do that? Can we do that on our own? Of course not. It’s impossible. There’s no chance. We can only forgive like this if we have first been forgiven by the grace of God that is for us in Christ Jesus. We can only forgive like this if we have been given the Spirit of Christ by faith in our hearts. And that’s what the fruit of the Spirit is about. It’s about cultivating Christlikeness in our hearts and in our relationships with one another. It’s about love and joy and peace and patience – together. A patience that comes from putting on a whole new identity in Christ, received simply by faith; not working hard enough, not doing the right things, not living the right way, just trusting in Christ and receiving that gift of salvation and putting on a new identity. It’s a patience that considers others more significant than ourselves and a patience that bears with the faults of others and extends forgiveness when forgiveness needs to be extended. That’s what we need. That’s the sort of patience that we need to stay together when staying together seems difficult, when it inevitably will.
I heard an interview or saw an interview recently with the actor, Mandy Patinkin. And he was talking about his favorite line from the movie, The Princess Bride. And it wasn’t the line about him getting revenge for the killing of his father; it was a line that came later than that, a line that came at the end of the movie. And he said his favorite line was this. He said, “I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it’s over, I do not know what to do with the rest of my life.” And he said he loves that line because it points to him something of the pointlessness and the worthlessness of revenge. It brings no satisfaction.
And yet how often do we bear grudges instead of bearing burdens? And how often do we forsake others instead of forgiving them? We oftentimes roll our eyes instead of rolling with the punches and we are insufferable instead of being long-suffering. And we mutter under our breaths about others instead of praying to God for them. It’s time to put on new clothes, Paul says, and not just to put on compassion when we need compassion, not just to put on humility when we need humility or patience when we need patience, but to put on Christ, the one who is compassionate and kind and humble and meek and patient. To put on Christ and then to live by the Spirit of Christ which makes these things a reality in our lives by God’s grace. And may He receive all the glory when we extend that patience to one another. Let’s pray.
Our Father, we thank You for Your patience with us, Your patience in leading us to repentance, in drawing us to Yourself, in making us Your own. We thank You for the patience in which You work Your grace in our lives by the Spirit to make us more like Christ. And we ask as we conclude our time together tonight, we confess that there will probably be something before we even leave the building or the parking lot that tests our patience. And we can all feel how woefully short we fall of these aspirations of the virtues of patience. And so, we ask that You would extend to us Your grace. Forgive us and help us to be forgiving to others and to extend Your love to others, even when it’s difficult. And would You bless us and give us a unity and a harmony together and a joy with one another and use us in this community, in the neighborhoods around us to be something different in a world that’s impatient, in a world that seeks revenge and holding onto anger. Would You give us a way of life that is different and compelling to show us the one who gives us this way. And we pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.