Colossians 3:12-21 How Practical Can You Get?

The speaker starts by talking about putting off negative characteristics and putting on righteousness. They mention a story about a man who removed a devil from his heart but didn't replace it with anything, resulting in more devils coming in. They explain that if there are characteristics in our Christian life that are not in line with the Word of God, we should take them off and ask the Holy Spirit to remove them. They then mention that the Bible has been studied for 2,000 years and we should have removed these characteristics by now. The speaker introduces the idea of putting on new spiritual characteristics and explains that this teaching approach is derived from rabbinical teachings. They mention that the Apostle Paul is going to give six new characteristics to put on. The speaker then discusses the importance of relationships in the church and gives a brief summary of the previous chapters in the book. They emphasize the concepts of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, justificatio Good morning. Y'all doing okay? Good. Get my chair up here. I quit bouncing, getting too old to bounce. I still bounce. How y'all doing? Did you have a good week? Did you put on a bunch of stuff? Did you put on a bunch of stuff? You remember last week I told y'all that the way you put on the things that Paul told us last week to take off, that the way you took them off is the same way you put them on. If you took off sin by faith, then how are you going to put on righteousness? It's a very simple process. It's so simple it's phenomenal and it's profound. And that's why the Bible is such as it is. It's phenomenal at the same time astounding. And at the same time, if you read it carefully, very simple. It's not confusing. God never confused anyone. He is not the God of confusion. He is the God of understanding. And so today we're going to pick up, if you put something off, then you better put something on. Right? Do you remember the story that Jesus told about the man who had a devil? And the man cleaned his heart out of the devil, but he didn't put anything back in it. And do you remember what happened? Somebody tell me what happened. Seven more devils came in. And before he could get it where it was better, seven more devils inhabited it. So he took off one, he inherited seven. So in the Word of God and in Scripture and in the Kingdom, anytime you are told to take off something, and last week we were told to take off twelve characteristics which were of little or no value. And if you go back and look at the twelve characteristics, you'll understand how they are of no value. What Paul was telling these Christians who were Gentile Christians, and who had grown up in a culture that had not understood what he was talking about, he's trying to help them understand that if there are some characteristics in your Christian life which are not commensurate with or in relationship to the Word of God, you need to take them off. Now the thing that's difficult for some folks to understand is we have all of this in the Bible. We have all of this in the New Testament. We have it all in writing. We have had it since about the second century. We have had the translation of the Septuagint in Hebrew since way back in the second, fourth century. So we have had what Paul was teaching these people, we have had it, and we have been studying it for about 2,000 years. And so we ought to be, as 2,000 year Christians back in 2024, from the first century, we should have looked at all of this many, many times, and we should have, if those characteristics are still in our life, characteristics such as a characteristic of ugliness, or a characteristic of ugly speech, or the characteristic of greediness, if you still have those characteristics, according to last Sunday's lesson, you need to pray the Holy Spirit, who is the one who indwells you, that the Lord Jesus Christ, through his power and by faith, will remove them from your life. And having removed them, you don't need to leave your life void. It doesn't need to just be empty. And so that's why in the study today, the Apostle Paul is going to come forth and he's going to give us six new characteristics to put on. And last week he was talking about put off, and he gave us 12 to put off, and now this week he's going to come and he's going to say to us, here are six new spiritual characteristics that you need to put on. Now, put on, put off, was an old rabbinical teaching methodology. And of course the Apostle Paul was one of the master rabbis, and he was trained in Jerusalem as a rabbinical genius, and so he knew rabbinical teaching. And so what he's doing here, he's doing a rabbinical teaching approach with all of us, in the Word of God and to these Colossians, to help them understand that in the Old Testament, God many times told the Old Testament believers, put off, and now put on. And so since that happens to have been a very strong characteristic during the period of the Old Testament, it becomes another very strong characteristic in the New Testament. So today we're going to pick up the study in verse, I don't know why I turned to Ephesians, I thought my Bible was in the wrong chapter. We're going to begin today looking at verse 12 and following. And I'm going to try, if I can today, Brother Jimmy, to get through slaves, because in a few moments I'm going to tell you what Paul's getting ready to do to us. If I don't get there, Jim, I may ask you to take up slavery and masters together next week, if that's okay. If I can get there, I'll go ahead and try to put a dot on it. But if I can't, Brother Jimmy knows what I'm talking about. This chapter has a relationship activity I have put into it. That is, how are relationships in the church supposed to be taken care of? Now let me help you understand where you have come from in this book. Now the Apostle Paul, in all of his epistles, did basically the same thing. He always gave them an intent biblical study of who is God, or the study of theology. And then he followed that by giving them a very strong study of who is Christ, or what we call Christology. Theology was God, Christology is Christ. And he, in this chapter, has talked a great deal about the Lord Christ being your redemptive king, the one who brought you out of sin and brought you into salvation. And so he gives you a strong background in Christ. And then he starts talking about, because you are in Christ, you are there by the power of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, which is the third part of systematic theology, which is the study of the Holy Spirit, or pneumatology. And then he bursts into the fourth part, which is the study of salvation. And it starts with sinfulness, justification, sanctification, and eventually glorification. And if you remember, in the last chapter, when Brother Jimmy was talking to you all, in chapter 2, he was talking about telling these Christians how they came into faith. How they were deep in sin, how they were introduced to the Lord Christ, how the Lord Christ came into their life and brought them out of sin and brought them into justification. And he talks about them having been in sin but moving into justification. And then he started talking about them becoming sanctified. And you see, that happens to be the process of redemption. We are in sin, totally lost, we are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from what? All sins. And so we are justified by Jesus Christ, and then we are sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever figured out that it is a triunity of the faith that has brought you where you are? God introduced Christ to the world in order that we might be saved. Christ introduced us to salvation in order that we might become children of God, redeemed and adopted by Him. And then Christ introduced us to the Holy Spirit who infills us. Wow! Isn't that great? Now, that's all been happening to you in this book. Have you figured it out? Have you picked them out as you've come along and seen how they've been working in you? He talked about God, He talked about Christ, He talked about the Holy Spirit, He talked about sin, He talked about justification. Last week He talked about sanctification. Today we're going to talk about sanctification. He's going to tell you all of those ugly things that you took off, now in order for your body to be totally sanctified. And sanctification means to have burned out all of the dross that is in you, allowing the Holy Spirit who is the fire of God to burn out of you and out of me all of that which is of no value. We need to get rid, put off all of those things which are of no value. And in order not to be left empty, then we are to put on those characteristics of the kingdom of God which are of value and by the power of the Holy Spirit which is by faith, begin living in those new characteristics. You got it? Now, along the way, Paul's kind of sneaky. You see, the last part is glorification. And glorification will not come to any of us until we die or else the Lord Christ comes from heaven and raptures all of us. Then we shall be glorified. But in order for these Christian saints at Colossae to understand glorification, you remember there was a passage back there that he said, for when Christ is glorified in His kingdom, you too shall be glorified. He kind of snuck in a glorification on you. You got to watch Paul, he's sneaky. He really is. He'll sneak some stuff in on you. And you've got to read him carefully because he's talked about all of the process of theology, systematic theology, in this one little book. Now he comes today in verse 12 and he uses our favorite word, therefore. Now, what is that therefore, there for? Okay? It's there for us to understand that all of the 12 that he had mentioned last week, those 12 characteristics which are of no value to us, now the therefore is saying, therefore, since these are of no value to you any longer, let me tell you what is of value. Okay? Therefore, let me tell you what's of value. So he says, therefore, as the elect of God, holy, beloved, put on. There's the words. Therefore, as the elect and the holy and the beloved of God. Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me share something with you. That's the whole process of redemption. These three words are the whole process of redemption. Elect. You were elected from the foundation of the earth. Holy. You were made holy by the redemptive power of Jesus Christ and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And you are beloved by eternal God because we are now joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Is that not simple? So the entirety of the gospel is in these three words. Elect. Holy. Beloved. So we are elect before the foundation of the earth. We are made holy through the redemption of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. And we are beloved of God because we are his children. And God loves his children. And just for your passing information, we have been adopted. And in the process of adoption during this period of time, you could not get anyone, you could not unadopt anyone that you have adopted unless you first did away with your own child. So in order for God to do away with us as joint heirs with Jesus Christ, guess who he would have to do away with first? Jesus Christ. I don't think he's going to do that. In fact, I think our adoption is pretty sure. Don't you? I think it's pretty sure. Okay, so he's saying now, you understand, you're elected, you're adopted, you are holy, and you are beloved. I want you to know, I want you to put on. Now, here comes six things that the Christian, in deference to the 12 in the other part of the chapter, which we are to take off, are to be put on. So he starts off and he starts with tender mercies. He says, first of all, you must have tender mercies. And he says here, tender mercies are the following. They are, actually, you need to have a heart of compassion. A tender mercy is a heart that is full of compassion. And you need to have a heart of compassion which meets a deep feeling in your soul for love and mercy. Now, we must have love because God is love. We must have mercy because God is merciful. And if we are to emulate and to identify with eternal God, we must identify and emulate the characteristics which are characteristics of eternal God. And God is a God of mercy and love. So he talks about tender mercies which are compassionate mercies. And then he talks about kindness. It doesn't hurt to be nice. In fact, I think it's a whole lot easier to be ugly than it is to be nice. And sometimes we allow our ugliness to take over our niceness. So what he says here, you need to have kindness. In other words, they were to emulate, we are to emulate the identification and relationship of Jesus Christ who, when reviled, did not revile back. Who, when ugly treated, did not treat ugly back. He had a true kindness in him. And he was a kind, gentle, wonderful, loving Savior. Never, never against, always for. And so the second characteristic that he says we are to put on is kindness. Then he says, with that kindness, humbleness of mind. Now, some people, when they get these two characteristics of compassion and kindness, get a little hearty about it. They get a little headstrong. They get to thinking that they are super saints. And that they have a characteristic that maybe some of the other people around them have not yet received. Which is not true, because if one can receive it, cannot all receive it. And so you have to be careful about the process of having kind of mercy, compassion, and having kindness and not letting it go to your head. You don't want it to go to your head, you want it to go to your heart. And so he talks about humbleness of mind. Now, in the scripture, many, many times, when the word mind is used, it also relates to the heart. Or the heart and the mind are connected to each other. Or with the heart man believeth, with the mind man works. And so the heart and the mind are connected with one another. And he says, then put on humbleness of mind. Be humble with what you know. Don't be snooty about your faith. Don't push your faith on other people. Help them to come to understand simply through compassion and through kindness what your faith is like. That's not to say you're not to share. That is to say you are to share in humbleness and in kindness. So that you can allow them to see your mind. And then put on meekness. Now, meekness is one of the eight meaptitudes. Blessed are the meek. For what? I'm sorry? They shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek. Do you know what the word meek means? I'm sorry? Yes, it means gentle. I'm sorry? Teachable? God-controlled. God-controlled. That's it. Okay? Meekness means controlled by God. If we're controlled by God, what do we do, Holy Land? What did you just say? You're teachable. If we're controlled by God, we're teachable. If we're controlled by God, what did you just say? We understand. It means to be under the control of loving God. Now, watch. Blessed are the meek. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So the meek, those who are controlled, are the ones who are going to inherit heaven. He also starts talking about long-suffering. Does this sound like a verse that might be in the book of Galatians? Can anybody run a verse by me that's in the book of Galatians that has many of these words in it? Galatians 3.23? For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, long-suffering, temperance, faith. Do you remember? So now what the Apostle Paul is saying that we are to put on is what he said to the Galatians many, many years before he wrote this book. What he said to the Galatians, let me tell you what the fruit of the Spirit is. What you don't remember is, maybe, you do remember, I hope you do, having read the word of God, what precedes the fruit of the Spirit is two strong verses of 21 Acts of the Flesh. Do you remember that? If you go to the book of Galatians and you read the couple of verses that precede the fruit of the Spirit, 23-25, if you go back and look at Galatians before that, you're going to see two verses of ugly, ugly, ugly characteristics. Which then is followed by the Apostle Paul saying, here are the characteristics God does not want you to have. Last week we were shown the characteristics God does not want us to have. And he says, but now here are the characteristics that you ought to have to the Galatians. For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, long-suffering, kindness, temperance, faith. And so what Paul is talking to these people here is something that he said to those people in Galatia there. And then he comes to the last one when he says, bearing one another. That's one of the most difficult things we discover in the Christian faith. Do you all realize that we're going to have to put up with each other in eternity? Have you all ever figured that out? I mean, if you don't like me here for 90 years, you're going to have to put up with me forever. Think about that. Heaven is forever. It is eternity. And so what the Apostle Paul says, you better learn to love people who are here, bearing with one another. Now, do you all know that I have some characteristics that Barbara Terry doesn't like? Would you all believe that? Well, if you don't believe it, okay. And would you believe that she has some characteristics I don't like? Well, of course she does. And each of you have characteristics I don't like, and each of you have characteristics that you don't like, right? But how in the Christian faith do we get along together? We bear one another. We lift one another. Now, do you know what? If you don't like somebody, pray for them. Okay? I mean, it will get the unlikeliness out of your head in a hurry. You say, you know, God, I really don't like that character. He stinks. I don't like to be around him. God says, why don't you pray for him? If you pray for him, you might find out that he has a characteristic that you need pretty desperately. So, if you don't like someone, bearing one another. If you don't like one, if you can't bear them, pray for them. Which is the other side of bearing one another. He says, also, not only bearing one another, but forgiving one another. Now, Christ many, many times says, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has what? Forgiven you. So, you see, these eight characteristics are getting real close to the wholeness of the kingdom of God. All of them have relationship and characteristics of what the kingdom of God is in life, and how we should be acting every day. Now, he comes to the last one. And the last one is love. And he says here, but above all these things, above all of these seven, put on love. And he says about that, for love is the bond of perfection. Love, ladies and gentlemen, is what sent Jesus to the cross. Love, ladies and gentlemen, is what redeemed your soul from hell. Love is what God expressed to you through his son, Jesus Christ. Love is what he had for you in order that you not spend eternity in our darkness. Love is that part of life which we need to learn how to live in love. You remember, in the 13th chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians, it says, Now there abideth faith, hope, and love. And sometimes love is called charity. It's okay, it's called charity in the Word. Now, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is what? Love. That's why he uses this one last. Hope looked down at a drowning man, and hope had not a doubt that someone would get a rope and pull that fellow out. Faith looked out at a drowning man, and faith had not a frown that someone would soon jump in, not let that fellow drown. Love looked out at a drowning man. But love had faith and hope. But love had more. Her hand was quick. She threw the man a rope. You got it? And so what it says is, you must put on, as the ultimate of all of these characteristics, which having taken off, you now do not need to remain empty. You need by faith to put on these characteristics and love. Now, what does he mean when he says the bond, love is the bond of perfection? That is a strange set of three words. And so they're so strange, and Barbara always is saying to me, you think about things that other people don't even think about. Okay, it's one of my idiosyncrasies. I went to study these words, which are said by bond of perfection. And it has to do, ladies and gentlemen, with clothing, believe it or not. It has to do with the clothing that a Hebrew male wore every day. Now, I don't have time to go through all that, because I've got to get on, because I have to leave for the gym some work next week. But when these people put on their clothes, they had all of this clothing that was kind of flowery, kind of fluttery. They had to put a waistband on. And you remember when Paul was telling the Ephesians about all of the parts of the uniform, and put on the belt of salvation? Okay, and they all had to put on a belt, because all these flowing clothes had to be held together. Then they put on these flowing kimonos, and they put on these flowing shawls on top of the kimonos. And it was just all kind of flowing stuff. And then they took another piece of cloth, and they did a bond of perfection. And the last piece of clothing is what held the inside fluffing around, and the outside fluffing around. It held all of it together. So what Paul is saying here is, love is what's going to hold the other five together. Got it? That's what the bond of perfection means. It means the bond of completeness, or that which holds all of the other together. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called, in one body, and be thankful to the Lord. And let the Lord richly dwell in you. Let Him richly dwell in you, in all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another. Now, pause. Where have you heard these next verses? Always admonishing one another with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord. And whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Where have you heard that? Paul wrote that to another church. Test time. We are not going to have an examination. You know, at seminary, we give examinations rather regularly. And we kind of test our students. Where did you hear this? Don't you look it up in your common, Lord. Don't you look it up. I want you to look it up in your concordance, not your concordance, okay? Where have you heard that? Ephesians 5.19. Put it down by this one. Ephesians 5.19. Singing with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Making melody in your heart unto God. And he repeats it here to these Christians in Colossae. What is he really saying here? Is he really talking just about the worship music of the temple? Which was psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Or is he talking about something a little deeper than the music that was sung in the temple? These people, folks, had probably never seen the temple. And they probably didn't know little or nothing about the worship of the Hebrews in the temple. They didn't know that a lot of singing went on in the temple. There was a lot of praising that went on in the temple. And they knew that there was this book that was called the Psalms. Which basically is nothing more than pieces of music. All of the psalms are musical additions. In fact, if you read through the psalms, every now and then you'll run into a phrase that says, Selah. S-E-L-A-H. You'll be reading along in a psalm, and all of a sudden here's a word that says Selah. Do you know what that means? That's a musical term. Selah is a musical term. And it means to pause. To take a breath. And then go on. It is a musical term saying, stop singing for a minute, get a good breath, and start over again. And Selah. Stop. Pause for a moment. And so what he's saying here is, these songs did go on in the temple. Psalms, which many were written by David, many were written by other people. And spiritual songs. And hymns. Do you know the difference between a spiritual song and a hymn? Test day. I've only told you this four times. Just four. This is number five. A hymn does not have a chorus. That's the difference. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty is a hymn. Standing on the promises is a spiritual song. But when you sing the verse on standing on the promises, when you get to a place, you say, standing, standing, standing on the, remember? But you've got another verse coming. Think of standing again, remember? So, psalms, we understand. Hymns, no chorus. Spiritual songs. A song with a refrain. With a chorus. Okay? So the Apostle Paul says, now, there are a lot of songs that you all need to learn. There are a lot of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that you need. But, that's not what I'm talking about. Really? Well, let's see what he's talking about. He says, and whatever you do, do in word or deed, do all to the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever gone into your quiet place, and you're going to spend some time in your closet? And you're going to spend some time with the Father? And you're going to pray? Have you ever noticed that many times when you get into your secret place, that a song begins to reverberate in your mind? You may open your Bible, and you may read one word. And all of a sudden, that word generates music in your head. And all of a sudden, a great spiritual song or a great hymn begins. I was looking the other day, and I just happened to run on to the word praise. P-R-A-I-S-E. And as I ran on, I was trying to read the word, and as I ran on to that word, all of a sudden in my head started singing, Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Have you ever done that? Have you ever been reading the word of God, and all of a sudden a word generates a song in your head, in your heart, in your soul, in your mind? That's what Paul's talking about. He's saying, not only do we need to do these wonderful spiritual exercises as groups, but it is more important that you do it as an individual in your closet. When you get in your closet, let God bring up the great hymns. Let God bring up the great songs. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Alright? It just begins to bubble up. So the Apostle Paul here is saying, giving thanks to Him and the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now at this point, Paul puts a period on doctrine. He puts a period on theology. There will be no more theology in this book. What happens from this point on, as Dr. Jimmy and I will work on partly today and next week, is a practical application of the commandments and the characteristics of the kingdom of God, which should be presented in your bodies daily and throughout your entire life. So you're going to have, in fact I even named this lesson, How Practical Can You Get? And that's exactly what Paul's getting ready to do. He's getting ready to become very practical. Now, in your paper on page 3, and you go there, turn to page 3. Don't read it now, I just want you to know where it is. In your paper on page 3, I want to tell you something about wives, husbands, and children. And I want to tell you this because you need to understand it. Whether in the 21st century, in 2024, it's very difficult for us to understand the husband-wife relationship of the 1st century. In fact, the husband-wife relationship in the 1st century, to which Paul is writing, was a relationship that is 175 degrees on the other side of what Paul is writing. Can you imagine what these people must have thought when Paul began talking about the relationship of a husband to a wife, and a wife to a husband, and a parent to a child, and an owner to a slave? Now, in Judaism, all of the marriages were developed by the family. Neither the guy nor the girl had any choice. The parents met, the parents decided who was going to marry whom, and they set up the wedding, and you got married. Whether you loved them, whether you liked them, whether you wanted them, or not. Too bad. Let me give you an express example. Do you remember, in the Old Testament, when a guy was trying to marry a young girl, and her father gave him her sister? Do you remember that story? And how he went to work seven years more to get the one he wanted? Now you begin to understand marriage in the period of Judaism. The marriages were put together by the family. Love was illogical. Love was unnecessary. Love was not there. And so what happened was, a wife to a Jewish male was a piece of, actually, she was a piece of his inheritance. She was cattle mortgage. She was a piece of his mortgage. He owned her. In fact, in Judaism, the husband owned everything the wife had, including her clothing. And if he desired, on any day, without any provocation, could say to her, I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee, get out of here, she had to leave naked. She had no clothing. It all belonged to him. He literally could throw her out in the street naked, if he chose to. Now, of course, most men would not do that. Most men would let them go at least dress. But they did have the privilege of saying, I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee, you're out of here, kid. And they had to leave. He owned her lock, stock, and barrel. She had no money. She had no privileges. She had no rights. All she had to do was bear children and cook food. And take care of the home. That was her job. Now that was Judaism. Now, in Gentile society, it was a little better, but not great. A Gentile wife lived in total seclusion. Greek, Roman, and other. The husband had an apartment for her in which she lived, and she never got outside. The wife, I'm not talking about his girlfriends. And I'm not talking about the other women he hanged around with. I'm talking about his wife. In Gentile life, the wife lived in an apartment. She lived in absolute silence by herself. She was not even allowed to go out of the apartment, go to the market, or get out on the street. She could not go on the street, ever, even with a servant. And all she was there for was one purpose. To give the Gentile man an heir. And when she gave him an heir, she was through. He could literally throw her out and do away with her. So, husband and wife life in Judaism and in Gentile society was pretty sorry. And so, since it was that way, and since now the Apostle Paul is going to start talking about love. Love? What do you mean, love? Have you ever seen Fiddler on the Roof? How many of you have seen Fiddler on the Roof? If you haven't seen it, you need to see it. It's a great Jewish show. In that show, several little things happen. I'm going to take just a minute to kind of build it up. Trevi, who is the milk salesman. He runs a milk business. He has a milk company. And Golda, his wife, is his loving wife. And they have three beautiful daughters. They have a daughter whose name is Sitesil. And they have another daughter whose name is Hodel. And they have another daughter whose name is Chelm. And Golda is his wife. And Trevi owns a milk company. And he has a big trailer that he goes all over town selling milk. He has milk cows. And Trevi, all of a sudden, finds out that his oldest daughter is in love, or she wants to marry this guy who makes suits. And his biggest deal is to buy a sewing machine. So that he can open up a business of making men's suits. Now, Trevi's not ugly about him being a seamstress. What he's ugly about is he didn't have an opportunity to tell Titsel who she ought to marry. And he said to Titsel, Titsel, why do you love the guy with the sewing machine? Why do you want to go with the guy with the sewing machine? To which Titsel says to him, I love him. So Trevi begins to think about it. And then all of a sudden, Hoda falls in love with a Gentile. And Hoda wants to marry a Gentile. And so Trevi goes to Hoda, and he says to Hoda, Hoda, what's going on? You know you can't... First of all, I'm mad at you because you didn't let me choose your husband. And secondly, I'm mad at you because you choose him outside the faith. And she says, Daddy, I love him. Well, and then all of a sudden, Chacha shows up. And she wants to marry this Russian counter-intelligent idiot. Who's actually fighting against the Russian government, who when they go together, he gets put in Siberia. In a prison camp in Siberia. And Cheba goes with him. To Siberia. To go see the show. And when Trevi puts Cheba on the train, he says, Cheba, why are you going to Siberia? You're not even married to the guy. You know what she says? I love him. So he comes home, and he says to Hoda, Hoda, now here's the song. Do you love me? That's the name of the song. It's a beautiful little song. And she says, Hoda, do you love me? And Hoda gives him a list of things that she does for him. When she gets through, he says, but Hoda, do you love me? And she gives him another list. And when she gets through, he says, again, Hoda, I'm saying, do you love me? And she says, yes, I love you. And that's where the thing kind of comes together. All of a sudden, what is happening here, and what's happening with the Colossians, and what's getting ready to happen in their husband-wife-child relationship is getting ready to happen what happened with Trevi and with Hoda. You see, in Judaism, you just didn't go because you loved. You went because your parents told you you would go. So the Apostle Paul starts in verse 18. And in verse 18, he says, Wives, submit to your own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. And he's going to talk to wives, and then he's going to talk to husbands, he's going to talk to children, then he's going to talk to fathers, then he's going to talk to slaves. So let's look at these very carefully in our few minutes we have left together. He says, Wives, submit yourself to your husband. In other passages where the Apostle Paul is doing the same thing, and he does this in most all of his epistles, he did it in Ephesians, he did it in Galatians, he does it in several places, not only does he say, Wives, submit to your husband as is right in the Lord. It is right in the Lord that you submit yourself to him. But, he comes back in verse 19, he says, Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Now, in another place, he says, Husbands, love your wives as your own bodies. In another place, he says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church. Now, he gives us three very strong reasons for why husbands should love their wives and in what manner of love those wives ought to respond to the husband and in what manner the husband ought to relate to the wife. The wife is to be submissive, not as a format, and not as someone to be stepped on, and not as someone to be pushed to the side and totally forgotten, but as a, we will find in a few moments, a partner. Not just a wife. You see, marriage is a partnership. Somebody said, marriage is 50-50. No, I disagree. Marriage is 100 and 100. You see, the husband needs to love the wife as Christ loved the church. The wife is to submit to her husband as the church submits to Christ. You have two pretty good images. As Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. As the church submits itself to the King. And the Apostle Paul is saying something to this Gentile culture, ladies and gentlemen, which they have never heard before. Their relationships were not like this. And Paul is saying to them, look, you've got to come to understand in the Christian faith, relationship is different. And as it has been in your past, it can no longer be in your future. For if you remember what 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, if any person is in Jesus Christ, all things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. Paul is saying, what you were, what your culture is, what your culture did, what your culture demanded, is gone away. That's no longer you. Now folks, in your relationships with your husbands, your wives and your children, what your culture was, how you grew up, under what relationships you grew up, under what you were taught as you were growing up as a child, if you are a born again believer of God, those things are gone away. And in the new relationship, you have a relationship where a wife is to submit to her husband as the church submits to Christ. Figure that one out. A husband is to relate to her husband as Christ relates to the church. And so Paul is telling these people, putting them in solitude, in an apartment, not letting her out, keeping her there until she produces you an heir, that is no longer a part of your program. That part of your program is over there. It's gone. And the new program is love your wife as Christ loved the church. And then he started talking about children. This is kind of interesting. In talking about children, he said, children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing in the Lord. Now, in other places he said, children obey your parents, which is right in the Lord. Now, here's an interesting context. In working with children, and I put you a rather strong thing in the middle of page 3, and I hope you'll read it sometime. I want you to read about Martin Luther. Because Martin Luther had an interesting experience with his father. You see, in parenting, there are two ways that each of us parents can go. We can either be too easy with the children and spoil... spoil... spoil... I'm waiting for her to raise her head. She hasn't raised her head yet. And spoil the living daylights out of the children. Alright? We can either be too easy and spoil them and make them good for nothing, or we can be too severe and discipline them and make them hate us. You don't want to exasperate the children. You want to help them grow. Now, Martin Luther, because his father was so severe a parent that Martin Luther, when he was a young man, could not, in good faith, pray the Lord's Prayer. He could not say, Our Father. Think about that. Martin Luther said his father was so ugly, so severe, so mean, so disciplined that he hated his father. And he said, I could not even say, Father. And he said, Surely, I couldn't say, Our Father. And Martin Luther said he was well into his priesthood before God came into his being and allowed him to say, Our Father. Ladies and gentlemen, that's tragic that a parent would be so severe on a child that they hate the word, Father. Now, Martin Luther made another statement. He said this. He said, You know what really needs to be happening? You really do not need to spare the rod. Now, the Scripture says, You spare the rod. What do you do? You spoil the child. All right. Martin Luther made a statement. He said, Do not spare the rod. The child is true. But near the rod, keep an apple. And when the child does well, give him the apple. Okay? So, children, love your parents, which is right in the Lord. Brother Jamie, I'm going to stop here. If you don't mind. Because, ladies and gentlemen, from this point on, it talks about servants and slaves. And in Chapter 4, the first part talks about masters. So, you're going to see the slave-master relationship under Brother Jamie. You're going to see the master-slave relationship in Chapter 4. And in the end of Chapter 4, I call it the Texas Howdy group. Because in Chapter 4, he says in verse 7, Howdy, La Casas. And he says, Howdy, Onesimus. And he says, Howdy, Aristarchus. And he says, Howdy, Mark. And he says, Howdy to all these people. And so he's telling these Colossians, all of these people are saying, Howdy! How y'all doing? You doing okay? And so the last part of Chapter 4, beginning with verse 7, is a Howdy Doody chapter. And he's going to tell you about all of these people who are all these people whom these people know through who? Through Epaphras. And through Cassius. And through others who had come from Colossae. So the Apostle Paul is going to say Howdy to all of them. So brothers, you may help you learn how to say Howdy to them. So, here's the end of the story. The end of the story is this. When you come to the time where there are requirements, you must not leave your body empty. Do not leave a vacant space to be invaded by the devil. So, as Paul said, Put off that which is of no value. Put on that which is of all value. And having put them on, come to understand that the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. Pretty interesting, isn't it? Interesting how we're instructed. And interested how our instruction becomes so much a part of our lives. And so, Father, we thank you today for all of this wonderful commandments of instructions that Paul gave to us. We thank you, Father, that he laid them out here for us to look at carefully. And to see in our relational experience with you as redeeming Lord and with God as Father, and with the experiences that we have with the Holy Spirit, that all of these characteristics of goodness are a very vital and interesting, exciting part of our life. Help us, Father, to put them on. Help us to wear them by faith. Help us to live in them through faith. And help us enjoy them because of faith. And when faith stands before us, it gives us all of the necessities that we need. Bless us with our families. Thank you for our wives. Thank you for their love. Thank you for their partnership. Thank you that a real marriage is not a marriage of one person or another person. It is a partnership. And thank you, Father, that we have that kind of marriage. Bless our children. Thank you for allowing us to rear them. Thank you for helping us to be kind, gentle when necessary, stern and disciplined. But help us to lead them into the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. And if we can do that, we give our children the greatest gift we could ever give them. So thank you, Father, for what Paul is trying to help these Colossians who don't have a clue. They don't have a clue about how to live with each other. They don't have a clue about what the kingdom of God requires. They don't have any idea. And Paul's trying to help them get out of darkness into light in order that they might come to understand the joy, the peace, and finally, the love of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Thank you, Father. In the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.