Intro to Colossians 3:9b-17

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/27/2017 10:19 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Intro to Colossians 3:9b-17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 3:9b-17

      Message of the verses:  “since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him- 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.  12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”

            Today seems to be the day for introductions as we already did one from John’s gospel in our morning SD, and so we do one now in our evening SD.  John MacArthur entitles this 13^th chapter of his commentary on the book of Colossians “Putting on the New Man” and as noted it covers 3:9b-17 as it seems that things changed right in the middle of verse nine.  I think it best to quote from MacArthur commentary as it is only two paragraphs long.

“You can tell a lot about people in our society by the way they dress.  From baseball players to bus drivers, from postal carriers to policemen, people wear the uniform of their profession.  Who we are determines what we wear, and failing to ‘dress the part’ can sometimes have embarrassing consequences.  Many years ago a very wealthy man in a Southern California town was found wandering around the local country club wearing shabby clothes.  He was promptly seized by the country club.  He had failed to dress consistent with who he was.

“That is precisely Paul’s point in 3:9b-17.  Christians must dress themselves spiritually in accordance with their new identity.  They have died with Christ and risen to new life.  Salvation thus produces a two-sided obligation for believers.  Negatively, they must throw off the garment of the old, sinful lifestyle, as Paul pointed out in 3:5-9a.  Positively, they must put on the lifestyle of the new man.  To do that, they must understand the position, progress, partnership, performance, perfection, and priorities of the new man.”

The last sentence with the six items listed in it will be what we will be looking at over the next several Spiritual diaries. 

4/27/2017 10:35 PM