30 July 2023 PM – Colossians 3:15 – Col23 – Scott Childs
Introduction: So far, in Colossians 3, God has challenged us to seek things above and to set our affection on things above. He commanded us to put to death filthy lustful sins. In addition, He commanded that we put off social sins like anger and abusive talk. God gave us this command because He knows our weakness to respond in a hurtful way when people irritate or hurt us. To help counter this temptation, God commanded that we put on spiritual clothing or spiritual virtues like kindness and forgiveness. Now, when someone irritates or hurts us, we face a strong contest. Our flesh pulls us toward the social sins and our spirit pulls us toward the spiritual virtues. We need a coach and umpire.
In Colossians 3:15, God gives us two commands that help to resolve this problem.
Transition: I want to help you to understand and apply the two commands God has given us in this verse.
The first command is …
1. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
a. Peace
1) This word speaks of tranquillity, harmony or concord.
2) It is critical that we gain as clear of understanding of this peace as possible by examining other scriptures containing it.
a) (John 14:27) “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” It is the opposite of trouble and fear.
b) (John 16:33) “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” It is the opposite of tribulation.
c) (John 20:19) “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” It calms terror.
d) (Romans 5:1) “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” It describes harmony with our holy God.
e) (Galatians 5:22) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” It is a fruit produced by the Holy Spirit when we live in harmony with Him.
3) We see that Paul called it the peace of God. This peace is a fact, not just a feeling, for as we will see, it is to rule.
a) We find this phrase, the peace of God, in only one other passage. (Philippians 4:7) “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.“
b) Either this peace is a quality God gives us that can rule us, or it is the example of God’s peaceful quality that can rule us. He is the “God of peace” (Ro 15:33; 16:20; Php 4:9; 1Th 5:23; Heb 13:20).
4) The phrase, “to the which also ye are called in one body” relates directly to the peace. Follow along as we pull this apart for better understanding.
a) The little word “to” is important. This word literally means unto. Now, what about the word “which”? Because the word “which” agrees in gender with the word “peace”, we know that it refers to peace. We could read the phrase unto which peace.
b) Christians are called unto God’s peace in one body. As a body of believers, we are to function in peaceful harmony.
c) This is not just a nice idea; it is God’s command. Paul included it here to help us deal with the killing of fleshly sins (v.5), the putting off of social sins (v.8-9), and the putting on of spiritual virtues (v.12-14). God’s peace is to rule these actions and reactions. This brings us to the word…
b. Rule
1) “Let the peace of God rule” is a command. In fact, it is a continual command.
2) We find this word “rule” only here in Scripture. It means to umpire, decide, rule, direct, or control.
3) The umpires at a football game decide what is right or wrong, what is a score or not a score. God says that His peace is to be the umpire in our hearts. God’s peace also gives us direction, much like a coach.
4) Why do our hearts need an umpire or coach?
a) Jesus said, (Matthew 15:19) “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:“
b) Our hearts are the seats of our emotions. Conflicts always begin in the heart. When our spouse irritates us, our sinful hearts are tempted to respond with one of the social sins (v.8-9). When a sport umpire makes a poor call, we are tempted to get angry or use slanderous or abusive words. When the boss is unreasonable, the teacher is too hard, our parent is too busy to listen, someone at church ignores us, or we don’t get our own way, social sins rise up in our hearts.
c) Seldom will our irritated heart desire to respond with mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, patience, forgiveness, or love. We need an umpire to settle disputes and a coach to guide.
c. Application
1) God commands us to let His peace umpire, direct and control us. We must consciously follow God’s peace, not our pride.
2) We must not let our emotions govern us.
3) We must not follow our hearts as the world says.
4) We must ask ourselves difficult questions.
a) Is this the peaceful response God would make?
b) Does this response reflect God’s peaceful character?
The second command is …
2. Be ye thankful
a. The command
1) To be thankful is to be grateful or mindful of favours done to us.
2) It is a compound word: to act well + to be pleasant, agreeable, forgiving, or gracious.
3) To be thankful is more actions than words. We are to show thankfulness by action. We are to display gratefulness by forgiving or gracious actions.
4) Being thankful is doing pleasant things for or to others to show appreciation.
b. The principle
1) In context, being thankful is to work hand-in-hand with the peace of God to give us victory over wrong reactions to irritations in life.
2) Rather than focussing on the irritations of others, ask God to help you find something in that person’s life for which you can show yourself thankful. Find some pleasant thing about that person to ponder.
Conclusion: Irritations are frequent in life. We cannot avoid all irritations, but we can change how we respond to them.
It is difficult to put off social sins and put on spiritual virtues when others irritate us. For this reason, God commands us to let His peace rule in our hearts. Let God’s peaceful presence calm your heart hand enable you to respond properly.
Think of that person who often gets you fired up. How are you going to implement this command the next time that happens?
What can you do on a daily basis that will help you obey this command the next time irritations arise? Those who make no plans for success are destined to fail.
