Colossians: The Dream Life
Deacon Alex Bonitto preaches from Colossians 3:12-17. Discussion points: We’re called to emulate Christ and put on his characteristics, dwelling richly in the word of Christ involves being part of Christian community, focusing on gratitude can help us see all the ways God works in our lives.
-
Scripture reader: [Colossians 3:12-17] 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. And above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Preacher: All right. Good morning. Can you guys hear me? So, if you live in America and have been an American, you probably know we had a very special day yesterday. Does anyone wanna, America, America Day. It was a special day. We. Thank you to one person. We celebrate 250 years of independence from Britain and one thing I've noticed is very amazing about our nation and some of our core philosophies. It's something that was written in the Declaration of Independence. You probably know what this is, but I'm gonna read it out. Where our founding forefathers say, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
How many here have heard that or read that once? Amen. Now, 155 years later in 1931, a man named James Trussell Adams, he was a businessman, entrepreneur. And he kind of took this core philosophy and coined the phrase we know of the American dream. Where he says it is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely. But a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain, watch this, to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable and be recognized by others for what they are regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. OK. I think we all have an idea of what this is.
And this philosophy has pervaded American soil for 250 years and as a result, you and myself most likely have this dream kind of sprinkled into what we think our dream life should look like. Now let me clarify, I'm not saying that this is bad, it's not all bad, it's actually a lot of it is actually really good. And the reason why it's good is because the American dream illuminates many of the good desires we have. Right? It, it illuminates the longings we truly desire.
For example, I think all of us here want to be good at something. Do we want to be bad at anything? Anyone? No. Maybe if you play me in basketball like. But think about it. Whether it's our job, academics, business, or whatever, we all want to be good at something. But what that's showing, what that desire's showing, it's illuminating that longing for a successful life. We all wanna live a life and die knowing we've done all we can and achieved, excuse me, something we call success. And that's why I love this country because we're able to pursue that. However, What the American dream attempts to fulfill by creating a social order, it actually is a shadow to something better. It's a shadow to something I call the new life. Not what I call, sorry, what Paul calls the new life, what Jesus calls the new life.
Two weeks ago, Jared preached your sermon introducing this theme of the new life where he explained how the identity and position. Sorry, where our identity and position have changed through our resurrection in Jesus Christ. And then last week, Pastor Fletcher explained that because of this new life granted to us, we are to put to death our old ways and live a life embracing this new grandiose life we have through Jesus.
And now we come to this part where we get to dive into see what the new life entails. My hope for you this morning is to see that the new life Christ has gifted and granted us is a life that actually better fulfills our deepest longings. In fact, it does fulfill our deepest longings. My hope for you is to see that this new life is actually the dream life we've all been wanting. This is not an exhaustive study, but I'm just gonna highlight four things I see through this text that highlight the desires we have that are fulfilled better in the new life.
Number one. The new life desires, sorry, it isn't desire. The new life fulfills the desire to be the best version of ourselves. Let's look at the text. Chapter 3, verse 12 to 14, it says, put on them 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 must also forgive. And above all, these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
To achieve the best version of ourselves, we have to have some type of idea of what the best version should look like. But rather than placing it in something like a businessman or an athlete or even a pastor in this new life we actually get to get to be able to put that vision of what the best version of ourselves is in the person of Jesus. It says put on then as God's chosen one's holy and beloved. I want you to notice something. OK. Something about the grammar, it says put on. This is a verb, this is imperative, right? But whenever you're making an imperative or a command, it's telling you something about God Himself. It's telling you about the what we call the indicative, a state about reality. So if it's saying put on then as God's cho chosen holy one something. That something is going to reflect the truth about God. Look at it.
Before I do that, actually, I want you to understand this concept. Paul is saying that as God's chosen ones, right? As God's chosen ones, we're going to choose the behavior that reflects Christ. This is not to be confused with do these things, therefore you will be chosen. That's a workspace salvation. But as God's chosen ones, put on these things. Now, Paul goes on to give us a list of some virtues, and these virtues might look very similar to Galatians 5, the fruits of the Spirit. And I'm not gonna go through all of them, but if you look closely, notice that the first 5 virtues you see compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, they can all play a role in the manifestation of forgiveness. You guys see in the text where it says after it says bearing with one another and if one has to complain against another, forgiving each other. You guys see how that works. Those virtues help manifest the virtue of forgiveness. And then the last virtue love says then binds all these two together.
If the former virtues are clothes of a wardrobe, think of love as the overcoat. That's why I'm wearing one today. To bind the whole outfit together, not just to look snazzy but to complete the whole thing, so it's not incomplete. Love is a driving force for the forgiveness we receive from Jesus and that's why we're called to forgive. Notice this person we're called to be. We're called to be a person who makes the intentional choice to release someone from the debt they owe you. That's what we call forgiveness. And then seeks their well-being without expecting anything in return. That's love. That's who we're called to be.
In John 15:13, Jesus says, Greater love has no one than this that someone laid down his life for his friends. And did Jesus not demonstrate this on the bloody, awful cross while being betrayed and tortured. Did he not demonstrate that? And because of this we can be called God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. And we get to live a life that resembles the character of Jesus. I'd much rather be a person trying to resemble the character of Jesus than a successful jerk. Rather than having all the money in the world, rather than obtaining all the things I want, yet lacking that self-sacrificial love.
And if you don't believe me, go to any funeral and notice, no, seriously, notice, what do the people best remember about the person? Is it how much do you accomplished? Is that how much money they had? Or is it how much they loved the people around them and how much they were willing to sacrifice for those they loved. Who would you rather be? You can set a million goals, but there's nothing better than being more like Christ. Trust me, I've done it the other way, it doesn't work.
Two. The new life fulfills the desire for something I call cosmic security. We're gonna read verses 15 through 16. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called one body. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. OK, this is a very meaty point. This probably will be the longest point, but just bear with me. I will try to keep it succinct.
But before I do, we gotta understand what the cinco cosmic security is. Clifford Williams, he's a professor of philosophy at Trinity International University, and he defines it as this. The feeling of being protected no matter what, not that we will never undergo hardship. But that even if we do, we will be OK. OK. I'm sure we probably haven't heard the term, but we've all felt that deeply. At the end of everything, in the grand scheme of all things, at the end of time, we just want everything to be OK.
And rather than placing that hope in the volatility of personal gain or finance or academic achievement or career status, those are volatile things. We get to place it anchored deep in the truths that through Christ, everything will be OK eventually. Revelation 21:4. This is a beautiful passage. This is like the most hope fulfilling passage to me. Where he says he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning or crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. This is the truth. These are the things we are to anchor our hope in. And that's why Paul says in verse 15, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, but we gotta understand what this word rule really means.
And the best way to understand that is to actually go back to chapter 2. This word rule, it means to act as a judge or umpire and in chapter 2 verse 18, Paul uses this term. On the negative, when other philosophies or ideologies, ideologies are trying to disqualify the Christians, Paul's saying do not let these disqualify you, and he uses that same word. But now he's saying. That let the peace of Christ rule, let it be the deciding factor let it be the umpire in your heart the peace of Christ makes the decisions in your heart, not anything else. Not any philosophy, not your job, not your wants, none of that. The peace of Christ knowing that through Jesus all things will work out for those who love him. That is the rule in our hearts and knowing this, we can withstand the storms, understanding that things may look bad now. But in the end, through Jesus, it will all work out.
This is to be acted out. Not in isolation. We tend to think this in Western culture that, OK, I have the peace of Christ. I'm gonna just read my Bible, praying, just believe in him. But Paul has a different way to look at it. Paul's telling us to have this piece rule in us, but it's through a community. Look at verses 15 through 16. To which indeed you are called one body. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Let's look at that term one body. Why is that term right after Paul says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts? It's because all body, body parts play a role in carrying out, carrying out a mission, right? If the church is a body, then this means you can't isolate yourself from Christian community. You have to go to church. If you think you can, you are going to weaken yourself. It's like cutting off your arm and expecting it to curl the sixties. Not happening. I don't care how strong your bicep is. You completely lose your strength.
Then we have this dwelling, right? Where one body, then it says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Now, to dwell means to make something at home. And I have a friend who's really good at making himself home at my house. I mean, he knows where all the food is. He knows where all my secret stashes of snacks are. In fact, he made himself at home so much that when I left for college during my undergrad, he would still go to my house and get a good meal from my mama, good conversation. He probably took a nap on my bed. Now I'm not gonna say who this person is, but he's in this, he's here. And he embodied the way to dwell in my house, to to dwell richly in my home.
But that's what, that's what Paul wants us to do. Some of us may think that it's reading scripture daily, but it's much, much more, and I want you to notice something. The words after says dwell richly we have teaching. We have admonishing. And we have singing psalms and hymns, right? Notice something. If you look at the grammar, all of these are participles. I won't get too gramma grammatical. I'm a math teacher, not an English teacher, but what the part of what the participles are doing is modifying the verb. So if you want to know what it looks like to dwell richly, it's these things. Teaching, admonishing and singing, that's what it looks like to dwell richly in the word of Christ, the message of Christ. It's not just isolation.
And what, so why? Why would this be considered the dream life? Well, let me tell you, because. This security we have. Even though it's not absent of storms, we're present, we're present with Christ ruling it over in our hearts, but it's done with a family of believers to weather the storms with us. Right? Oftentimes, we want to be on the top of the hill, yet neglect the people below us, but when times get rough, who do we have? In the new life, in the life of Christ, we're able to weather all these storms together. We're supposed to bear one another's burdens together. To me, that sounds way better. Than just living a life without acco accolades.
OK, so point one, the desire to be the best version of ourselves. Point two, if the new life fulfills the desire for cosmic security, these next two points will be much shorter. Point three is the new life fulfills the desire for worthwhile work. Verse 17 says, in whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. OK. I want you guys to tell me. Do you want all your hard work to be for nothing? Who here works hard? Can I? We're in Boston. Now, do you want all that work to to matter for nothing in, in the grand scheme of things? No. Well, in the new life, our hard work has a purpose. In the new life our efforts for the kingdom are to be done what it says in the name of the Lord Jesus.
This can be described as authorizing a contract with Jesus where we are to do everything under his authority, making sure he approves of our actions and efforts, doing all things with his reputation in mind. Now this can be very frightening, but it doesn't have to be. Think of it this way. Imagine a life knowing that all your shed blood, sweat and tears were made for something that will, that will outlast your life. Think of it that way. Imagine knowing that the things you're building in this life are part of God's city map plan. Right, from raising your kids. To trying to move on with with your business. All those things are a part of something bigger than you that will actually outlast you. That gives more meaning to your work.
For me, this takes the stress right off me. And it helps me rest knowing that my efforts in Christ will never be in vain if they are authorized through him. Amen.
Number four, the new life fulfills the desire for contentment. Now, you guys are very cerebral, you guys are very smart. You probably noticed that I left out a few passages in this. If you didn't, then this is your sign to start paying attention. All right. Look at verse 15, 16, and 17. It says let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called one body, but then it says, and be thankful. Right? Verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell on you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And in verse 17, and whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Thankfulness is repeated three times in this very small passage. All right. In Bible 101, if something's repeated more than once, you ought to pay attention. If it's repeated three times and you still don't get it, I don't know what to tell you, brother. You're just, you're just not getting it. So Paul is really tying in the new life with this sense of gratitude.
Has anyone given a gift to an ungrateful person? Anyone have kids? What happens when you give them a gift? You're probably like throw it against the wall, like break it the next day, and then want another one, right? What about adults? Have you ever given a a gift to an ungrateful adult? What does your life look like? Elitist, probably snobby. Yeah. But unlike that sense of entitlement, in the new life, we are called to be grateful for all things.
And what this does, it takes the focus off what we don't have, and it rewires our brains to see all that we actually do have. I like to think of it as putting on a pair of 3D glasses while going to, a movie, right? When you're, you're sitting at the movie, it's a 3D movie, things are kind of blurry, you can't really see it all. But then once you put those glasses on. The glasses of gratitude, everything becomes clearer. Things start to pop, you start to see more detail than you've seen before.
When you do this in life, you start to see the hand of God in Christ and the nuances of your everyday life. When you put on that posture of gratitude. And once, once this happens, the disappointments you have, they may start to lose their luster, and we begin to be content with the work Jesus is doing in and through us. This is not to be confused with complacency where you stop trying to improve yourself, but it's a state of mind where you are pleased with what you have while striving for more growth. That is what the new life entails.
But if you guys are anything like I am, you may struggle with this. You may know in your hearts. Sorry, you may know in your minds that yeah, this new life should be that life I aspire to. Or you actually might be living that life for now. But you just might not feel like it. It might not feel like this is the dream life, the life you've been expecting. I've often struggled with this idea that this whole preparatory time has been a struggle. Where the Lord's working on my soul and I'm like, Lord, is this new life really the dream life? And I have just been growing weary through disappointments and time and time again getting irritated and frustrated that things haven't turned out the way I wanted it to be.
Maybe you can find yourself similar to me. Maybe you have found yourself like me, very familiar with Proverbs 13:12. Where it says hope deferred makes the heart sick. But it has to do with expectations. I often expect my life or expected my life. To look like the American dream. And if it didn't look like the American dream, I would get frustrated and disappointed. But when I set my mind on things that aren't, that don't have to do with financial status or social order or career success, I get to see the heart of Christ in my life. My expectations stopped from being distorted. And then they start to be illuminated by truth. OK. Sometimes I find myself, instead of having those 3D glasses of gratitude, it's more like I have 20/20 vision and I'm putting on prescription glasses wondering why the world is so blurry. We need to take those off. When we take the foggers off and look back, when we see the person of Jesus through ourselves, through our failures. We start to realize that those things that have held us back, those doors that may have been closing, actually were for a purpose and have a, they're going to be for a better plan.
One time I was so disappointed with my life. I was so angry with God. I started to like really lose some of my faith. My faith was declining at one point in my life. At one point it, it just felt like my faith was holding on by a thread, honestly. I'm like, Lord, I'm just so disappointed and mad at how my life is. Well, I don't know what's going on. But I felt them say very clear in my spirit and through other people. Listen, you are not a failure. There is a plan for you. In the grand scheme of things. And what I want you to do. It's just to take a step back and look at all I, all I've done. That's what I felt like he was telling to me.
And I did this, and I started to see, this is interesting, I started to see that other people saw Jesus through me. That other people, my students, my co-workers, my family were seeing Jesus through me and once I started to see that, all those disappointments started to lose their luster. All those disappointments, lost, or losing their power. Cause I realized something, and this is the last thing I'll leave you with. I realized that the best thing that has ever happened to me. Sorry, the best thing that will ever happen to me has already happened and that's Jesus. Everything else is fighting for second place.
When you live a life embracing the new life, when you are deliberately embracing and wholly embracing the new life. You will notice that the best thing has already happened to you. And all the other things that you want are just fighting for second place. Let's pray.
Help me, Father, may your word not fall on deaf ears. Lord, if there's someone here who is struggling with disappointment, struggling to embrace the new life. Lord, may you just encourage them knowing that you're the best thing for them. Father, I pray you take these truths and you place it deep into our hearts. So we can live it out fully and richly, Father. And above all things, Lord, thank you for sending your son Jesus. So that we can confide in him in all our struggles. I pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.