Dressing to Please God (Col. 3:12-14)

This sermon was preached on 24/3/2011

Paul, in describing the spiritual activities of God’s people, uses the illustration of undressing and dressing. In the previous passage, he has listed several characteristics that they are to discard (he does not mean that they should be then stored in a spiritual wardrobe in order to be worn at a subsequent occasion; instead they are to thrown out with the rubbish). Now he mentions several features that they are to put on.

These items are not clothes for our body, rather they are designed for our souls. We know that clothes for our bodies are often designed to hide our defects, so that others who observe us don’t see the real us. In contrast, the items mentioned by Paul are intended to reveal that we are new creatures, that our souls are in the process of being renewed by God.

Another detail that we need to note is that it is our responsibility to put on this new attire. Paul’s words make this aspect very clear.

Who can put on the new clothes?

Paul tells who they are in verse 12 – they are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved. Right away, we can see that Paul refers to the doctrine of election, and his usage reminds us that election has implications for daily Christian living. Often we tend to discuss election in the context of salvation. Yet there is more to the use of the doctrine than its connection to the onset of the Christian life.

Does Paul mean to say three different things about his readers when he says that they are chosen, holy and beloved? He may have done, but it is also possible to see him as saying one thing (elect), with the other two (holy and beloved) characterising what it means to among the chosen people of God. In other words, because they are elected, they are set apart to God (holy) and are the objects of his love. This twofold description of election was true of them before they were born – God sovereignly set them apart as his people and eternally loved them. The description is also true of them now that they have become Christians – they are set apart to God and live under his love. And this description will be true of them in the future, because in heaven they will be living in his presence and basking in his love.

So we should be able to see that election is a motive for living in a way that pleases God. We are to remind ourselves that God wanted us to be his and arranged for that to take place. This desire of God’s was eternal and he will never change his mind about his choice or reduce his affection for his choice. The thought of God’s everlasting love should cause us to want to do what he desires us to do.

This is how we can tell that we are taking election seriously and spiritually. For some, election is a matter of mental speculation, despite the fact that they know it is beyond such trivialisation. For others, election becomes a compulsive obsession, despite the fact that they know all about the gospel invitation to come to Jesus for mercy. Nevertheless they try to discover unrevealed details of God’s unseen choice and ignore his revealed promises of forgiveness to the unconverted. Such responses are not spiritual reactions to God’s sovereign choice of his people. Those who really admire election will heed Paul’s requirement to put on the right spiritual attire.

Where can they get these items?

We are familiar with sales that offer free items to the first hundred (or whatever figure) customers on a given day. I suppose we could describe the attitude of the owners as gracious and the fortunate recipients as privileged. Yet we know that such offers can only be made occasionally. Nevertheless we can use such an event to illustrate what Paul has in mind here when he tells us to obtain a spiritual wardrobe.

The Lord is the owner of the location where all the features mentioned by Paul can be obtained. Furthermore, the location is always open and all the features are free and can be obtained simultaneously. The owner, in the person of the Holy Spirit, delights to point out to his privileged customers the beautiful range of clothing he has for each of them to wear.

Sometimes, the owners of the earthly store arrange a special day when their privileged guests can observe a model wearing the clothes and so give them an example of how to wear the attire. And if they need to consider the presentation in more detail, the owners will provide them with a DVD that they can watch at home in order to know how to best put on the new wardrobe. Similarly, there is a model in the heavenly location and he is the Owner’s Son and he wears the attire all the time. In the heavenly store one will not find new fashions, but neither will one find dated items either. And the Owner provides an equivalent of the DVD, and that is the records of Jesus in the Gospels and we can go through each of them and discover how best to wear the heavenly wardrobe.

So how did Jesus wear the item of a compassion heart? On one occasion, he used his tongue to show compassion when he taught those he saw as sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). He also used his tears at times, as when he wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). And at other times, he used his hands as when he broke the few fish and rolls with which he fed the 5,000. There were many other ways by which he showed compassion, but these are three that we can imitate – we can tell the truth of the gospel to those who are deceived by sin, we can weep over the perishing, and we can use our assets and possessions to bring relief to those in need of it. And if we find ourselves forgetting how it should be done, we can take out the Gospels and see how Jesus did it.

Or we can look at some of the ways in which Jesus showed kindness. Kindness is the practice of goodness – it is the display of grace in all kinds of situations. A way of seeing kindness in Jesus is to focus on incidents when it was unexpected, when it was shown to those who would not have received kindness from others. One such person was the woman of Samaria – how kind Jesus was with her, a social outcast despised by her neighbours, but to whom he gave the water of life (John 4). Another was Simon Peter – how kind Jesus was to a failure when he restored Peter to the work of an apostle (John 21). Or we can think of the criminal on the cross – what kindness Jesus showed to him when assuring him of a place in heaven (Luke 23). Of course, we can see Jesus showing kindness in other ways than just to those who did not expect it. But you will see them in the Gospels.

Then Paul mentions humility. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus described himself as gentle and lowly in heart, and both these character traits are mentioned here by Paul. We see many example of humbleness of mind in the Saviour. His birth reveals his humble beginnings. Although all things are his, he made himself nothing. He identified with his people when he humbly went to the Jordan and was baptised. And the best-known occasion is when he washed his disciples’ feet in the upper room. Humility is the willingness to perform what others think is beneath them, and Jesus was constantly marked by gracious humility as he lived a servant lifestyle.

At the same time, we see that Jesus’ humility was accompanied by full knowledge of who he was, which means that he possessed genuine humility. Jesus knew that he was divine, he was aware that he was the Creator and Possessor of all things, and he knew that his future role would include great authority as Sovereign of all. Yet he remained lowly in mind.

The fourth characteristic is gentleness. One way by which we can look at this feature in the life of Jesus is to consider his work as shepherd of his people. He gently guides them to waters of rest when they are struggling to cope with the pressures of life. When they fall, he gently restores them. Paul referred to the gentleness of Jesus when he was urging proper behaviour on the Corinthians (2 Cor. 10:1) and he urged the Galatians to restore transgressors by a spirit of gentleness (Gal. 6:1). Those who need correcting are to be instructed gently (2 Tim. 2:25). The grace of gentleness is perhaps the hardest to live out in today’s pressurised world, but it is how Jesus expects his people to live.

The fifth aspect is patience (or long-suffering) and Paul connects it bearing with one another and forgiving one another. How patient Jesus was with his disciples, and with us! We tend to confuse patience with placidity whereas it is better to link it with perseverance. How long are we to bear with one another? As long as we will know one another. Of course, it is easier to persevere with a person if we do not hold grudges against him or her. I suspect that the failure to forgive in the past is at the root of many church troubles.

Paul informs the Colossians of the level of forgiveness they have to show – ‘as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.’ That is a high standard, but I don’t think it should be a difficult standard to follow. How can one who is forgiven innumerable sins by Christ not forgive one or two faults in another Christian! What was the Lord’s forgiveness like? First, he desired to forgive – this was true of him before he came into the world and remains true of him. Second, he delighted to forgive; he fully forgave all who asked him for pardon, and he gave his forgiveness joyfully. Third, he forgives permanently – Jesus does not remind us of the sins he has forgiven. We will remember them with shame, that is true. Yet if we imitated Jesus in desiring to forgive, in delighting to give pardon, and in forgetting the faults of others, we would be very attractive.

The priority of love (v. 14)

Paul continues his illustration of clothing when he introduces the feature of love. He says that Christians should put on the garment of love above the other garments of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. In this illustration, love is what is seen as the outer garment. I think he means that love will show itself in the five ways depicted by the garments worn below the outer garment.

So at times, love will be compassionate, or kind, or humble, or gentle and or long-suffering. He is not indicating that love can only be marked by one of these features, but he is saying that love always has an accompanying grace(s). Christian love is not expressed in isolation from other Christlike attitudes.

Paul is also stating that love will have an appropriate attitude accompanying it. For example, we can imagine a situation where a person tries to show compassion rather than give forgiveness. Compassion is good, but not if it is practised in order to avoid expressing a more appropriate form of love, which in this case is forgiveness.

Secondly, Paul says that love ‘binds everything together in perfect harmony’. Literally, he says that love is the bond of perfection. There are three possible meanings of what is bound by love. One is the five graces that he has mentioned (which means that love is the girdle that would have tied one’s clothes together), the second is the individuals who possess the five graces (which means that love ties the church members together), and the third is that love binds believers to God. Paul is saying that love gives balanced harmony to one’s spiritual life or that love is the environment in which believers display the five graces to one another, or that love allows a relationship with God. All options are true, and it may be that Paul had each in mind. For what it is worth, I think he is referring to love as that which gives harmony to each Christian life.