Songs, Hymns and spiritual songs

We are going to move into this passage, and I just thought I'd make a few preliminary comments. One is, having gone to Uganda and back, I still have to figure out how to present that. That's not something we're going to work into today's time. Just very quickly, I mean, there are definitely some things to cover.

My route to get to Uganda was Denver to Houston, and that's a foreign country in itself, but then Houston to Dubai, which was there in the Middle East. And in Dubai, I got together with Matthew Ellis. A number of you remember Matthew. So anyway, got together with him and then made my way to Uganda after a one-day delay and an overnight in Ethiopia.

So anyway, And the time there was just phenomenal beyond words, but then it's time to come home. So, at any rate, lots to tell you about, but I'll have to figure out another time to give you the details on that. Here in Colossians 3, we're going to be wrapping up our kind of mini-series on the body life beginning next Sunday. to move into 1 Corinthians and we'll be going through 1 Corinthians all the way through 2 Corinthians and beginning that next Sunday.

So here we are in the passage that Wayne read for us and some of the things to bring about in looking at this passage is just the point that this is practical action among us in the body of Christ. This isn't intended to be hypothetical. It's not intended to remain theoretical. This is real, practical action that Paul is writing to these people here. And in each verse here, he gives an action to take, but it's not superficial. When he gives an action, it's not just a sort of a mechanical checklist either.

Instead here, talks about how the life of Christ is to flow in each one of us, from each one of us, and between and among us as believers. That's what he's describing here. You'll notice as we go through the passage, he keeps talking about the heart. He keeps talking about the attitude that comes from the heart as he brings these things out. He's not just saying, behave this way, do this action. but he's talking about where it comes from and the attitude that generates the action.

These verses have a few imperatives. By imperatives we mean the implication there is you must do something. There is a compelling reason for you to do something. They're not just suggestions or recommendations or this would be nice, but in fact things that he intends really ought to be taking place between and within and among believers. And so this is another thing to look at as we examine this passage. It is not simply, this is kind of a good idea, but this is to be the reality.

So let's talk about a word called let. Can you handle that? Well, I hope not to talk quite like that, but anyway. This passage in a number of translations has portions that start off with, let this or let that, an example, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. We see it at the beginning of verse 15 and 16 in the New American Standard and some of the other translations have it similar.

But it's important for us to recognize that let does not mean to allow. It's a word that, in fact, if I were to sit down and talk to the translators, they'd say, could you guys pick a different word? Because let can often be thought of as to allow something. That's not what the original language is communicating at all.

Let me make this broad statement, and this is going to sound bold, but take note of it. Let does not mean to allow anywhere from the book of Acts to the end of the New Testament. You'll find places, you'll see let this and let that. From the book of Acts to the rest of the New Testament on the Revelation, let never means allow.

So that's not the intent. Here in this passage it means that you must act from the heart so that Christ rules in your heart and dwells richly. That's what is intended. in the original language. And it's important to have that clear understanding. It's not like we're allowing something to happen and just sort of letting something happen that we're preventing. This, in fact, is an action that must take place. It's an action that ought to take place in what he describes here. Okay.

We're starting in verse 14, but it's obviously in the middle of a passage. It comes off of verses 12 and 13. Paul tells the believers to put on mercy, put on kindness, humility, meekness, and patience with each other for bearing and forgiving each other. Just as in Christ we were also forgiven. And so then as he starts into this passage, he's continuing on with that same kind of thought. So that you must put on love, and verse 14 is a continuation of that message.

And it's interesting, he uses this put on, it's as if you're putting on clothing. I think one of the points, this does not mean superficial, because it's not putting it on on the outside, it's putting it on from the heart. Put on love from the heart.

And it's appropriate clothing. It's a clothing that identifies who we are. not just something you put on superficially. The word picture has this idea of clothing. It's not clothing on your body, on the outside, that you sort of put on and take off. But it's clothing you put on your heart.

It's deep. This love is the perfect bond of unity. It's unity among us as believers. It's the perfect bond of unity. Now, we could contrast that with some not so perfect bonds. Cultural similarity among us is not perfect or adequate. As a matter of fact, I would say that there's some cultural differences between different folks here this morning, and that's fine. That's good. But cultural similarity isn't what bonds us together. It's the love that is from Christ Himself, His life. That's the perfect bond. There isn't any demographic feature that's a perfect bond. Being of the right age group or right income group. No, that's not going to work.

It's love. It's Christ love expressed from us and between us and among us. That's a perfect bond. Think of the love of Christ The love of Christ is such that in the New Testament, at least twice that I'm aware of, Paul wrote that Christ loved and he gave. He loved and he gave. The author of Hebrews in chapter 12 says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Imagine, here's Christ making a deal.

He says, die for Vern's sins? Absolutely. I'd love to. I'd consider it a joy. I'll take that on. His love for you was such that dying for you was a bargain. He valued what would come of it so greatly. that dying for you was a bargain. It's kind of like, where do I sign?

And as Paul has made the point in the verses before, it's the ultimate, I forgive you. Forgive one another, he had told them, because you have been forgiven in Christ. Completely. Not forgive in order to be forgiven, but forgive because you've been forgiven. The forgiveness is not something that you're trying to earn, but it's something that motivates you. His forgiveness motivates you to forgive.

Love is a basic character of God himself. We talk about how God is all-powerful and all-knowing and all-present and all those things. Love is one of these basic characters of God himself. It's a fundamental characteristic. It's also a part of the fruit of the Spirit, those expressions of the Holy Spirit through us as we walk in fellowship with the Lord.

That's the perfect bond that he's talking about. This selfless love here that he's writing of seeks the benefit of another, not because the other deserves it or has earned it. but seeks the benefit of another entirely without expectation of return. And not because the other is due the love. That's the kind of love he's talking about here. It is love with God as its source. That's the perfect bond. That's what makes us united.

As we step into verse 15, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. The peace of Christ must act as the umpire. When it says rule in your hearts, that's the word for an official or a referee in a sports event. So that's the word that Paul used here. Let the peace of Christ act as the umpire in your hearts. Let the peace of Christ call the shots.

Now, you and I know well, we've probably seen it, maybe more than once, arguing with the referee is practically a national pastime. Not quite, but almost. It happens a lot. But let me suggest to you that when Christ is the referee, that's not a good idea. That's not a good idea. If there are any issues that rise among us or within us, let the peace of Christ make the call. Let the peace of Christ make the call. By the way, have any of you ever heard of a church split? Yeah, I'm afraid so, huh? Pretty ugly, huh? Hopefully you've only heard of it. I'm sorry to say, a few of you might have even seen it. That's too bad. I'm sorry.

The reality is, the Lord intends to have us settle for Christ making the call. Let Him make the call. Let Him be the umpire. And notice, where does the call get made? Do you wait until there's some big, outrageous uproar in the church? And you say, hey, let's let Christ settle this. Notice where does it get settled?

Not in the middle of the uproar. In your hearts. That's where it gets settled. It's a heart issue. Let Christ make the call. Let Him be the umpire before this thing even ever blows up and the words get out of our mouth. Let him call the shots. He's the umpire that we won't need to argue with. He's the ref we won't need to get nose-to-nose with. Let him make the call.

This passage then says, our calling and our placement by the Holy Spirit is into one body, the body of Christ. Our calling is into one body, more specifically, 1 Corinthians 12.13 says, by the Holy Spirit's doing, we've been placed, baptized into, that is immersed in order to be made different, the body of Christ. That's our calling. That's our placement. It's God's doing. We've been placed into the body of Christ.

When Paul wrote, Be thankful, And we're going to notice that this word, thank, in its various forms, shows up three times in this passage. That is the basis for our motivation under grace. Remember he gave us imperatives in this passage? The first one shows up right there in verse 15.

Let, what's translated let, that's an imperative. That's a you must. Now, when you get a you must, how do you feel? The inclination oftentimes when we hear, you must do something, is to resist it. It reminds me of this cartoon I saw once where this fellow is standing along the street and he's standing next to another person and there's just a sign right there by the street side that says, absolutely no machete juggling allowed here. And the guy turns to the person next to him and says, I have this unbelievable compulsion to juggle machetes. That's the way musts and must nots tend to impact us.

But one of the key points here that he brings out repeatedly in this passage is thankfulness. Being thankful. Thankfulness is the grace motivation for us as believers. rather than the Lord coming to you and saying, you know, you better forgive that person or else. You better forgive that person or I won't forgive you. Right? What you see here, because he keeps, every time he puts in an imperative, he puts in a thankful. What you see is thankfulness is the grace motivation.

I respond to the imperative, you must do this. Not because there's some threat. Not because I have some external compulsion. Not because I'm earning something. But from the heart I'm thankful. The grace motivation. That's what he's got here. Let the word of Christ richly dwell. Now, Christ already dwells within you. If you're a believer here this morning, Christ dwells within you.

Galatians 2.20 is one passage. We could certainly look at others. So that's just a fact. Christ does dwell within you. But Paul's exhortation here has to do with the message of Christ. Get that? The message of Christ. It's real life truth and reality. He wants the message of Christ, of who Christ is, the truth of who He is and what He has done to dwell richly within us.

He says that the real to life truth and reality of Christ's message is to dwell richly. Now this word richly, that's not a foreign concept. One of the ways that this word richly is used in the book of Ephesians is, we're told there, the riches of His grace, the wealth of His grace. Likewise, we're told, the wealth of His mercy. May the message of Christ dwell in you with wealth, dwell in you richly, with all of God's character. that fullness of God's characters to be in all of us and each one of us. So how do we go about having Christ make himself at home in our hearts? Well, let me ask you this question. How do you go about making yourself at home where you live? How does that happen?

Well, you personalize it, right? Yeah, you go into a place and you personalize it. You don't just go and put in a generic picture on the wall and generic furniture. No, you personalize it. You say, this place expresses me. It has to do with the projects that the guy gets involved in and he's doing all sorts of reconstruction and wants to put things in and install this and put that in and all the turbo everything. and all the projects where the gal wants to move. No, no, no, move it back over here. That goes over there. That belongs here. I like that picture. Over there. There is a personalizing that goes on, right?

Well, let's ask this. If Christ comes in and makes himself at home in you, what does that look like? What's he going to do? You know what he's going to do? Personalize your interior. Yeah. Might even be a little bit of remodeling going on. You know what that involves first, right? Anybody had any remodeling going on lately? In here? Oh, might be a little situation inside where it needs a little interior decorating. To personalize it, you know. with Christ making himself at home in your heart.

Lots of details. And oh, those closets. Oh, wow. That's going to take some work. Oh, something else I've got to let you know. If he's going to personalize it, I've got to tell you, he's going to want a lot of light in there. That might mean changing some things. You ready for that? Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly with lots of light and cleaner closets.

How about, he's going to put some special mirrors in there. Special mirrors in this house, because after all, he's going to dwell in you richly, where you look in the mirror and you see him instead of yourself. How about that? That's real special mirrors, isn't it? I think that's what he's likely to do.

Little, very special interior decorating. Places where you and he can sit and talk for a long time. A lot of things. About everything, right? Places that he's going to personalize, where he's going to dwell richly, and guess who he wants to dwell richly within? and whip. That's you. That's you. That's you and me.

One of the interesting things about this verse, Colossians 3.16, is it has some words in common with another verse of the very first chapter, Colossians 1.28. You'll find this, at least I sure hope so, on the second page of your handout there. Admonishing is a word that is repeated in both verses. Teaching is another one, repeated in both verses, and with all wisdom in both verses.

Interesting, huh? This admonishing here is the idea of placing something in the mind. Hopefully you don't end up looking like this fellow, but anyway, placing something in the mind. You see, a part of what's going on in our interactions with one another is we're placing truth in one another's minds. Truth that maybe wasn't there before. As a matter of fact, that would be the particular intent. Some new understandings, new ideas, new perspectives.

Some of the translations even have this as a warning, as a caution. You need to understand this could be a problem. The other part of this is teaching. This is a word used for conveying the things that the apostles taught. Yes, so teaching, but notice that goes together with admonishing. Teaching is the regular instruction about things. Admonishing is particularly placing something in the mind of another. Something else shows up as a pattern, and we've looked at it in part.

In the book of Colossians, Colossians 1.28 says, we teach every man. By the way, that's not every male, that's every person.

Colossians 2.7, you have been taught. And here, in 3.16, you teach one another.

Isn't that interesting? What a pattern. We teach, you've been taught, you teach each other. Wow, how's he going to do that? Oh, I've got this other thing to go along with it. Admonishing and teaching with all wisdom. All wisdom is the full biblical insight and perspective about things.

It's that series of aha moments. Ever have one of those? My wife wishes I had more of them. It's that series of aha moments. Those series of, ah, now I get it, that comes from understanding what God has put in His Word, what He has revealed to us because He loves us.

It's a depth of understanding that moves from the idea of concept into practical reality. It's not wisdom that just sits there. It's wisdom that moves into action. It moves into reality. It moves into real life. The admonishing and teaching, then, are not just some sort of conceptual and intellectual thing. They're real and practical and intended to be true, lived out in our lives.

Now, here is the cool part. Now, when I said, you need to teach one another, some of you may have thought, uh-oh. This is how he says it needs to happen. We're going to teach one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. This admonishing and teaching with one another with all wisdom, in fact, ought to take place in our worship together, as we worship together, as we did just before we began and as we'll do some afterwards here. Paul used three words to describe our musical worship together here. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as it's shown there in the diagram. Let's step our way through them. The first one, Psalms, typically and often used for the Psalms, as in the Old Testament.

However, in a more general sense, the word means songs about God, not directed to him, but about him. Hymns are the things where the Greek word refers to songs sung directly to God. We don't typically tend to think of hymns as that, but that's the meaning of the original. Hymns are those sung directly to Him. We are using the song to essentially pray, to talk to the Lord.

And the third one is spiritual songs. These are songs that are spiritual in content, but not exactly the other two, and they might have various kinds of truths involved. There might be a number of different topics that are covered. It might have to do with just maybe some of the things I struggled with. It might have to do with a perspective I used to have before I was saved even. Those are spiritual songs. So we have these varieties of music, music and worship, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Psalms, for example, where it's about God, would be one like this.

This isn't directed to Him. And it goes, Oh, heaven declares the glory of the risen Lord. Who can compare with the beauty of the Lord? Forever he will be the Lamb upon the throne. I gladly bow the knee and worship him alone. It's not directed to him, is it? But it's about him.

And so this would be an example of what Paul means by a psalm. And you have hymns, which we tend to think, well, that's the songs out of the hymn book, right? But particularly, Paul used a word that's talking about songs directed to him. We sang one here this morning, okay?

Another one goes like this. As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee. You alone are my heart's desire, and I long to worship Thee. So this is directed straight to the Lord, isn't it? So this is the category of hymns, songs sung directly to the Lord Himself.

And as we showed in the illustration, you might have a crossover there. We'll have some songs where we'll talk about God and then we may move, for example, in a chorus or into another verse and talk directly to God. So you'd have a song that is actually a mixture of the two. Finally, you have spiritual songs where it represents something that isn't to God or about God directly, but it still is of spiritual content and nature. There would be an example, Knowing You, when it talks about knowing you in the next part, the chorus, that is to God directly, right? So that's a hymn. But the first verse of it is a spiritual song, okay?

All I once held dear, built my life upon. All this world reveres and wars to own. All I once thought gain, I have counted loss. Spent and worthless now, compared to this. So that would be for at least that part, a spiritual song. It's not about God directly, it is not to God, at least in this part of it, but it is talking about spiritual issues. It's this person expressing, I think this is Graham Kendricks, the author of this, a perspective that he once had. And there's value in it because then it's contrasted with knowing the Lord. And it's spoken directly to him.

He says there, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. The singing is with thankfulness. What is it? The grace motivation again. So it's not a threat. Boy, you better get singing these songs. But it is instead Thankfulness, a grace motivation that causes you to do these things. This attitude of thankfulness, this grace motivation comes from where? From a rule? From a sign we have? From words we put up front? No. It comes from the grace motivation of thankfulness. And it comes from the heart.

Where Christ himself is to be dwelling richly. It's part of Christ personalizing his home in you. How about that? The singing with thankfulness in your heart is to be toward God. That's the other point that he makes. Even if I have a song like we just had here, All I Once Held Dear, and it's not direct to God, It's not even about God directly, but it is a spiritual song. He says the whole thing is ultimately directed to the Lord. When we gather here on Sunday mornings or at any other time and place that we gather, those are times to teach one another and to admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. and to direct these songs from a thankful heart to the Lord himself. This is true even if we're singing songs that are directed about God, or hymns that are directed to God, or whether they're just spiritual songs about spiritual things. All of it's ultimately to the Lord. An interesting side note.

Ephesians 5.19 is a parallel verse in the book of Ephesians that has some similar things. It talks about speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Same word, same order. But then it says, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

You may have come across some folks who say, oh, you shouldn't be using musical instruments in church. Ever run across that? There are those who enchristened them who say, oh, you shouldn't be doing that. Well, guess what? This making melody, that's psalo, which means to pluck, like an instrument, right? During New Testament times when Jesus and the apostles would gather in the temple, they actually had dedicated priests who would play the harp. and they'd have a harp there, and Jesus and the apostles would listen to the harp being played right there in the temple area. And it's the plucking of that harp, that's the word here that Paul uses for singing and making melody in your heart, is from this plucking, the instrument. So if someone says to you, you should not use musical instruments in church, take them here. because Paul himself gives validity to the idea. By the way, I don't think we're stuck with just using harps. Something else that comes out of the very end of this passage.

For the believer, there is nothing in life in which Christ stands outside. There's nothing in life for which Christ is kind of irrelevant and peripheral. Everything is about him. As a matter of fact, if we develop the mindset that Christ is kind of external to any part of life, that's a problem.

The church at Laodicea received these words, and you've likely heard them, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and this is Christ speaking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with me. That's, by the way, making himself at home in our hearts. This is not an invitation to salvation passage. It was written to Christians. So this Colossians 3 passage here is also intending to point to this idea. Everything is to him. Everything is for Him, to all things unto the Lord. Nothing is outside of our relationship with the Lord. There isn't a spiritual part of my life and something else. Everything in life relates to Christ. Everything. And notice I put pictures of somebody tying shoes. You can tie your shoes spiritually. Go ahead. It's okay. You can teach your kids to tie their shoes spiritually. That's okay too. Everything we do in life has a spiritual aspect. No exceptions.

Our ultimate focus and resource is to be the Lord Himself. You see, it's our focus on Him and our dependence upon Him that He's looking for. And that's what really matters. If I were to stand up in front of you, and heaven forbid that I should, but if I were to stand up in front of you and do it in dependence upon my own self, your tying your shoes in dependence on the Lord would be more spiritual. How about that? Everything, everything is to be done in dependence upon the Lord. Everything, after all, on this planet is really preparation for eternity.

We're not going to be here that long. I'm getting to realize that it's pretty short. We're not going to be here that long. We just aren't. But the truth is, it's really preparation for a place where we're going to be for a long time. I tend to think eternity is a long time. So we're here on planet Earth in preparation for eternity.

And it's only those things that are done with a focus upon the Lord and a dependence upon Him that are going to last for eternity anyway. So everything in the name of the Lord, everything for His sake, everything with regards to who He is and what He's done. That's what makes sense. It makes perfect sense.

Because we're not here that long. We're just getting ready. Only what's done with that understanding, with that view, is going to last into eternity anyway. It could be for any of us, and maybe all of us, a matter of a very short time before we walk through heaven's gates. I hope it's today. And all that's happening here is just preparation.

This is kind of the Boy Scout motto, you know, with an eternal perspective, be prepared. That's what we're doing. We're preparing. Notice as you look through this passage, and we've looked at a lot of things, look at the thankfulness keeps coming up. That's the grace motivation. We, as Romans 5 puts it, we breathe the principle of grace. We breathe the atmosphere of grace. And all we can do is be thankful. Do you know we don't owe the Lord anything? We can't. Do you know why we don't owe the Lord anything? Because we can never pay Him back.

It's all of grace. Every bit. All of grace. So let's be thankful. Let's take a moment to express that to the Lord, okay? Lord, as we look at this passage, as we look at the songs that you have brought about for us to sing here this morning, as we look at the things that you're doing in our lives. We just ask that our hearts would be caused to be thankful. And for what we do understand and see today, we just thank you for it all. We give you thanks and praise in Jesus name. Amen.