page four until we finish page three I wonder if I can remind you of the of the earlier outlines just in case you haven't them with you we have divided this epistle to the Colossians into four parts The first one is in chapter one, verses one through fourteen, and this we have entitled, The Name of Christ Brought Before the Church. And we notice that it's associated with two things. It's associated with greetings to the saints, and it's associated with gratitude to God. The Apostle Paul twice expresses his gratitude in those first fourteen verses. saying in the first place that he's grateful for fruit, and that fruit of two kinds, fruit on the inside and fruit on the outside, on the one hand faith, hope and love, and on the other hand wisdom, walk and work. And then having associated the name of the Lord Jesus with gratitude to God for fruit, then he associates that same name with gratitude to God for fellowship. And just as the fruit was of two kinds, so the fellowship is of two kinds, fellowship with the saints and fellowship with the Son. Now that was our first outline. That was page number one in which the name of Christ is brought before the Church. And then... In the next five verses from verse fifteen through verse nineteen we have page number two in which the majesty of Christ is displayed to the church. And that in a threefold fashion, first of all in his person as God, verse fifteen, and then in his power in the universe verses sixteen and seventeen and into eighteen, and then in his position over the church. The majesty of Christ displayed to the church. And then we began a long section with the twentieth verse of chapter one, taking in all that is left of chapter one, all of chapter two, all of chapter three and the first six verses of chapter four. Now it's not surprising that this is a long section because having brought the name of Christ before the church and having displayed the majesty of Christ to the church, now the apostle Paul talks about the sufficiency of Christ exercised in the church. And he deals with four things. We haven't finished that list of four things yet. But first of all, we noticed that he is the means of membership in the Church. And we observed three words, the word alienation, the word reconciliation, and the word presentation. These in verses twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two of the first chapter. And then we observed that he, who is the means of membership in the church, is also the strength of ministry in the church. And Paul ends verse twenty-three saying, I, Paul, am made a minister. And then in the verses that follow, he speaks about sufferings. He speaks about afflictions. He speaks about labor. He speaks about striving and he speaks about great conflict. And we talked about the cost of the ministry. And we saw that the one who is the means of membership in the church is also the strength of ministry in the church, which is why the Apostle Paul eventually arrives at this statement, where unto I also labor striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily. He is the strength of ministry in the church. Then last night we began at verse four of chapter two and noted the words, Lest any man, repeated again in verse eight, Lest any man, and then a change of phrase in verse sixteen, let no man, which is repeated again in verse eighteen, let no man. And here we saw that the Lord Jesus, who is the means of membership in the church, and the strength of ministry in the church, is also the cure for mischief in the church. And we noticed these four warnings. A warning about oratory. A warning about philosophy, a warning about legality, and a warning about heresy, and following every one of them a presentation of the Lord Jesus as the antidote or the cure for the mischief, because he is the cure for mischief in the church. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. That was the antidote. That was the cure for this business of being deceived by oratory. The man who is walking by faith will be sensitive to the Spirit's leading and conscious when attempts are made to lead him into bypass meadow. And then that warning about philosophy is followed by an observation which goes like this. Ye are complete in him. so there's nothing that needs to be added. Your completeness is in the Lord Jesus, and this becomes the antidote for this peril, this danger. Then the warning about legality is followed by an explanation, the body is of Christ. And we talked about that last night, and then came to the last warning. A warning about heresy, a worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which ye have not seen, reminded ourselves of the existence of demonism and how we must be on the alert in these days and expect this horrible thing to grow in popularity. It is to be a mark of the last days. and it is definitely increasing in these days. Now, that was followed by this word at the beginning of chapter three. Seek those things which are above. Now, finally, number four on these list of things that make up the sufficiency of Christ exercised in the church is found on your outline of last night. He is the foundation of morality in the church. Now this is where we're going to spend most of our time this evening, but I want you to look at page number four, because most of this you're going to have to do your homework on. And that's not good English, but I'll leave it that way. The last section runs from verse seven of chapter four through to the end of the chapter. And here we have the Messengers of Christ valued by the Church. First of all, their description and commendation. They are fellow workers which have been a comfort to me. Now the Apostle Paul, you'll remember, was in prison, and so this comfort was very, very important in these days. And then they are named here. Ticicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Marcus, Justice, Epiphras, Luke, and Demas. Now, you might like to take these names and take your concordance and see what you can find about each one of them in turn, because most of them are mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament. You all know what happened to Demas, don't you? See, well, if you can find out what happened, to the other seven. Then there is in verse fifteen a salutation, a word of instruction in verses sixteen and seventeen, and a benediction in the last verse which goes like this. Remember my bonds, grace be with you. Amen. Now I've disposed of page four very swiftly, but I expect you to spend a little time with it yourself. Now let's go back to this business of morality in the Church. And I've suggested here that the Lord Jesus is the foundation of it. I don't know how you would define morality, but a certain literary figure by the name of Henry Adams, writing in a book called The Education of Henry Adams, says this, is a private and costly luxury. I rather think he was opposed to it. Ernest Hemingway, there's a name that you know, and it won't surprise you to hear that he said this. What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after. I don't believe that that's a good definition. of morality. It certainly served Ernest Hemingway's purpose, as it serves the purpose of lots of people today who feel good about lots of things they ought to feel very, very bad about. Now, if you really want to know what morality is, you've got to read the Word of God. Morality actually is a right kind of behavior. And in order to know what that is, You have to have a guide. You have to have instruction. You need to have some kind of textbook. And in the Bible you have it. The Bible is a textbook of morality. That's the reason why... Believers can never look upon homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle. It is sin and perversion, and the Bible makes that very clear. Fornication and uncleanness are things that the Bible condemns. Adultery is very roundly attacked in the Word of God. Morality is a right standard of conduct. And here in our Chapter Three, we get a lot of detail about morality. I'm very happy that the Lord Jesus is the foundation of morality in the Church because it matters not what we read in Chapter Three about what God expects of us. In the Lord Jesus, there is all the strength that we need to bring these things about. I suppose tonight is the night that I stop preaching and start meddling, but I only do it after the word of God. So let's read some very straight language in chapter three of Colossians, beginning our reading at verse five. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth. fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them. Verses five and six and seven of chapter three. Now, in speaking of the foundation of morality, I have listed some duties here on the outline, and I believe that these three verses that we've read together constitute the believer's duty to himself. There are certain things which, allowed to intrude upon the life of the believer, will ruin him and ruin his testimony. which is why the word of God does not beat about the bush, but very, very clearly calls a spade a spade. You will notice my little note again on the outline here, the way you think, the way you yearn, and the way that you act. Let me explain to you why I put that in this particular position on the outline. There is a progression in these three verses. I don't want to dwell here too long, but if you will look, you will find here listed evil thoughts and evil desires. And then you will notice listed selfish lusts and uncontrolled passions and then finally unclean deeds, fornication. I've reminded you already in the words of another. You sow a thought, you reap an action, you sow an action, you reap a habit, you sow a habit, you reap a character, you sow a character, and you reap a destiny. I want you to notice the word with which our reading tonight began. Mortify. In England, they still have undertakers. But here we don't have undertakers anymore, they're all morticians. I suppose it sounds a little better. Actually it's very accurate, because the word mort is a Latin word simply meaning death. Now why do we find it here? Because God is saying, you've got to put to death, therefore your members which are upon the earth, and then they are listed. How do you put the flesh and the things of the flesh to death? What is the flesh? I think I've told some of you before, if you really want to know what it is, you just turn the word backward and you cancel out the H, and you come up with S-E-L-F. That's what the flesh is. Now how do you mortify the deeds of the flesh? The Bible tells us, make no provision for the flesh. If you don't feed your family, your family will starve and they'll die. If you make no provision for the flesh, the flesh will wither and it will be mortified for to death. That doesn't mean to say that this can happen once and for all. It is a continual process of putting to death and mortifying moment by moment. Recon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. That's the secret of true Christian living. The way you think, evil thoughts, evil desires. First you ponder, the way you yearn selfish lust and uncontrolled passions, then you propose, and finally unclean deeds, fornication, then you perform. Happy is that Christian who recognizes the evil thought when it comes and conquers it. Somebody has said that you cannot prevent the birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from making a nest in your hair. And so it is with evil thoughts. You cannot prevent them coming into your mind because you're human and the devil knows every weakness of yours and mine. He'll make sure that they intrude upon us. But while we cannot prevent them appearing... we can prevent them from being nourished and fed and allowed to develop. That's an ugly topic. But you know, this is the believer's duty to himself to see that by the Spirit of God his life is protected from these evil things. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry. Let's go on. But now he also put off all these. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian city and bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Now that's the negative. Put off all these. Then comes the positive. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any. even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Now this is the believer's duty to his neighbour. The negative, verses eight through eleven, and the positive, verses twelve through fourteen. Can I dare to look with you for a few moments of these negative ones? Anger and wrath. Let me put that into more modern language. The word that is used here for anger means simply bad temper. And the word that is translated wrath means furious rage. Now just saying those phrases immediately makes a sense that these do not belong in the life of the Christian. There are Christians who excuse a bad temper because they say, I was born with it, I've always had it, and they ignore the fact that the Bible says, if any man be in Christ, Jesus, he's a new creation, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away, and that includes bad temper. I don't need to stay here for a long time, but somebody has very aptly said the Christian is allowed to lose his temper, but only once, and having lost it, never to find it again. There is no excuse for a bad temper in the life of a Christian. Now I can say that here because nobody here has a bad temper. And certainly nobody ever flies into a furious rage. And it may seem strange that words like this would be written to Christians. And yet it must be necessary somewhere along the line. It must be meant for somebody else. Anyhow, this is the believer's duty to his neighbor. Why? Because if he gets angry... And he flies into a rage, somebody else gets the backwash. Somebody else gets the result of that temper and that rage. And so it's a believer's duty to his neighbor not to give way to these things. Put them off, the Bible says. And then it speaks of malice and blasphemy. Now these are wrong words about others. and wrong words about God. And once again we are told to have no part with them. One of the things that comes not back, like the sped arrow, and the lost opportunity is the spoken word. Some of us have talked about this in the past. We need to remind ourselves about it constantly. What did that wise old man say? Your tongue is in a wet place. Mind it doesn't slip. Or the very wise Jewish rabbis who said, Remember that your ears are open, but your tongue is walled in with teeth. Bad or wrong words about others, malicious words about others, and wrong words about God, blasphemy. And then God hasn't finished with this business of the tongue, because he then says, Fill the communication out of your mouth and lie not one to another. Fower language and downright lying. Here they stand condemned. I don't need to say any more about them. I'd rather concentrate on the positives. So we are to put off these things as a duty to our neighbor. We are also as a duty to him to put on other things. And here they are some beautiful things. Bowls of mercies. That's compassion, you know. Kindness. Humbleness of mind. Now just as you can see that your neighbor can be hurt by you're not putting off... the things that are mentioned a little earlier here, so you can see in a moment how your neighbors will be benefited when you put on the things that are listed here. Let me very quickly give them to you. Compassion is the first. Now, what is compassion? Let me give to you my own definition here. I believe that compassion is the ability to be moved. I think that's what compassion is. I wonder how long it's been since the tears ran down your cheeks. You know, we had a little film this morning. At least two people said to me after the film on the story of Philemon, I was really moved by that film. It's a nice thing when we can be moved. It's a nice thing when we so feel for others that the tears come to our eyes. God says, put on compassion. I don't know how compassionate a people we really are. I suppose living in the kind of day that we live in, it's very easy to become hardened. It's very easy to become calloused. We come into contact with so much that is evil. so much that he's selfish, so much that he's violent. We see it portrayed on our television screens from time to time. And, you know, we're like a spring. When a spring is brand new and you pull it out and then you let it go, it comes right back where it went from. But imperceptibly, the next time you pull it out and let it go, it doesn't come quite as far back. And if you keep on doing that, the day will come when you do that. And it won't any longer do that. It's a danger that we face as believers in a callous age. God expects us to be compassionate. Put on compassion. Ask yourself some questions. Do I really have the ability to be moved by the needs of others? The next thing is kindness. Now let me give you again my own definition of kindness. If compassion is the ability to be moved, I think that kindness is the activity of unselfishness. We see a lot of selfish activity, but when a person is unselfish and an active person to boot, the outcome of that is kindness. And we live in a world where there's not enough kindness, where people are not sufficiently kind. Humility is the next thing. You remember those four kinds of pride we've mentioned in the past from time to time. There's pride of faith and pride of place and pride of race and even pride of grace, because you can be so humble as to be proud of your humility. like the man I've mentioned, who wrote the book, The Ten Most Humble Men in the World, and How I Met the Other Nine. Humility. Now, what is humility? Again, let me give you my own definition here. If compassion is the ability to be moved, and kindness is the activity of unselfishness, I think that humility is the attitude of honest intelligence. What have we got to be proud about? Absolutely nothing. So if we're honest and we're intelligent and we put the two together, we are bound to come out of it, feeling very, very humiliated and humble. The one that the Word of God says, God has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. God has not dealt with us as we deserve. If he had, why we would all already be in hell. There's nothing that we have that we have a right to be proud of, because at best we are what? Unprofitable servants. So I think it's the attitude of honest intelligence. What about gentleness? I love that word. Meekness. This is the thought. Gentleness. Not very many gentle people in the world. Can I give you a definition for this? I believe it is the aptitude for sensing the hurt of other people. That's what I think gentleness is. realizing when there's a wounded person that needs to be ministered to and ministering to them very, very tenderly. That's gentleness. You can see, can't you, how this benefits one's neighbor? And this is, the Bible says, our duty, the believer's duty to his neighbor. Finally, there's patience. Patience. They say patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, it's seldom in a woman and never in a man. Well, that's what they say, and I refuse to make any comment on it. But the fact is that we all of us know how often we feel rebuked in our own hearts because we are so impatient, so naturally impatient. Why we're so impatient sometimes. We even want to give God a little push occasionally because He isn't moving fast enough for us. He's not answering our prayers fast enough. He's not helping us out of this dilemma or providing a solution for this problem. And we forget that God's time is the right time. What is patience? It's the awareness that everything takes time. That's what patience is. And we can spoil things by going off half-cocked. These are the things then that constitute the believer's duty to his neighbour. Now let's go to verse eighteen, shall we? After we've observed that over all of these things that we must put on, we must manifest that love that we've been talking about in the morning sessions that's so beautifully illustrated for us in the story of Paul and Philemon and Onesimus. Forgive in love. Believers wouldn't fall out, you know, if they forgave in love. Verse eighteen now. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Lest they be discouraged. The believer's duty to his family. The wife to the husband, the husband to the wife, the child to the parent, and the parent to the child. God is very meticulous, isn't he? God sees that we each of us get our place here and are brought face to face with that which is true Christian morality, our duty to one another within the family. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. I wrote several letters recently because I discovered that the ERA were going to make a mighty push. with the Florida House of Representatives and so on. And did you see those large, full-sized ads taking whole pages in the newspaper, urging people to write to their congressman, write to your representative and tell them you want the ERA passed. So I wrote to my congressman, And I wrote to my representative, and I told him why I didn't want the ERA passed. I figured some of us better take up the cudgels in the other direction. I believe it to be a threat to the family. I really do. And you only got to look at the women who lead this ERA movement in order to see what's behind it all. I really think so. I know some of them have husbands, but I'd really like to know what their married life is like. I really would. Some of them don't have. And so I can well imagine why they are so active. I believe that it is anathema to the woman who is so aggressive in pursuing this cause that she should be expected to submit to her husband. Or, for that matter, to anybody else. Now the Word of God teaches us that submission is a wonderful grace, and it's something that God looks at with great joy. He sees it in the life of the believer who is concerned about his will and his word, and he sees it in the life of the obedient wife. But you know, I think it's very striking that here the woman is not told to love her husband that that's taken for granted. but the husband is told to love his wife. And I think that it's because, while we sometimes say to our wives, well, you know that I love you. We don't demonstrate it. We don't show it. And yet this is what our wives need. I'm going over some old ground here, and I chose to say it tonight because my wife isn't here tonight. If it's not her birthday, And it's not your anniversary. And you take a home a present. Does she look at you suspiciously and say, what did you do? Somebody has said you don't give bait to a fish after you've caught it. But the fact is that the husband who ceases to woo his wife is the husband whose marriage is not going to be as satisfying as God intended to be and as it might be. Husbands love your wives. And the thought is... Show them your affection. Demonstrate it to them. And be not harsh with them. Because wives are told to submit to their husbands. Husbands are very, very powerfully warned not to take advantage of that submission and not to dictate to and be harsh with their wives. Children are told to obey in all things their parents because that pleases the Lord. Robin, did you hear what it said? He's sitting right on the front row there. I won't even mention Deirdre there, but it's tough on those two because they're only two little children here. But you know, the Word of God does remind boys and girls that they must obey their parents. But it also reminds parents that they must encourage their children. Don't provoke your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Somebody has said that every boy should have a pat on the back, as long as it's low enough, and hard enough, and often enough. But you know he also needs the other kind of pat on the back too, and sometimes I don't know, most of us are brought about families and their families are busy bringing up their families. But looking back, looking back, don't you as a parent feel that if you had it to do all over again, you'd enjoy your children a little bit more? Don't you feel that way? Don't you feel sorry for the firstborn? By the time you got to the third, you were lots more lenient. But bringing up that first one, you had to do it by the book, you had to do it right, you know. I think that... It's an amazing thing our children are not more discouraged than they are. The word of God says, don't provoke your children because you might discourage them and you mustn't be guilty of discouraging your children. And then it says, then it says, servants obey in all things your masters. Now that brings us to the believer's duty to his livelihood. Now since the Bible says, whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, I think it's obvious that a man's career is something that he is expected to handle as before God. And I believe it's something that constantly he must handle with an eye to the glory of God and the will of God. I believe that there's many an American Christian who has taken one promotion to many. Now that sounds very anti-American, very un-American, doesn't it? Because if promotion comes along, of course you take it. You seize it with bohem. But you know, men have sometimes climbed the ladder until they got to a point where they realized that if they took the next promotion... It would mean that they would have to go to cocktail parties. They would have to provide liquor in their home. They would have to hobnob with certain men whose desires had to be carried out. And from that point on, when they took the promotion, their lives were no longer their own. You become an executive in a big company, and they believe, they believe, and they act as though they believe it, that they own you lock, stock, and barrel. They're not going to apologize to you if they call you out at midnight. And they're not going to apologize to you if suddenly, without warning, they tell you you got to go to Timbuktu. You're expected to go. You belong to them. They pay you, and they pay you plenty, and they pay you that they might own you. And I believe there's many a Christian man in America that's taken one promotion to many, and it's cost him his testimony, and it has certainly cost him his own peace and happiness. The moment I've got to compromise my testimony in order to carry on my job, that's not any longer the job for me. I know that's easy to say. It's not easy to face, but that's the fact, as the Word of God teaches it. But when we are at work, we are supposed to give a good day's work for a good day's pay. Servants, obey in all things your masters. Now, this is actually a word to slaves, and they were owned lock, stock, and barrel by their masters, but there's an application here. An employer ought to be able to expect from a Christian employee... a good and full and honest and conscientious day's work." And I think that's the thought that underlines this here. By the same token, an employer must be prepared to be honest and fair with his employees. It says, Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that ye also have a master in heaven. You know, it's very sad that there are Christian employers today who will not take on Christian employees. And there are certain Christian employees who will not go and work for a Christian master, because each has had bad experiences. One expected to take advantage of the other. That's a sad thing, you know. And yet it does happen. Here God is outlining the duty of each to the other, so that instead of shunning one another, when it comes to earning one's livelihood, they might be able to work together for the glory of God in the job that has to be done. The believer's duty to his livelihood... That is, whether he's an employee or an employer. Then comes the believer's duty to the work of God. Very quickly, notice what it says in chapter four. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, see unto a salt, that you may know how ye ought to answer every man. The believer's duty to the work of God. But there were two or three verses that I skipped over because I wanted to close with them. Go back to chapter three and look at verse fifteen, will you? I felt this was the note. on which I would like to bring this week of conference to an end. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Did you notice we sang that in one of our hymns? To the which also ye are called in one body, and be thankful, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Did you notice we sang that too in one of our hymns, in all wisdom? teaching and admonishing one another in sounds and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. This, then, is the believer's duty to his God to let the peace of God rule and to let the word of God dwell. I don't think that I could profitably make a comment there. Let's leave our study, shall we? at that point. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we know that when the peace of God rules in the heart of the believer, his life is so practically affected that men and women have to sit up and take notice and indeed covet what he has. We know that when the word of God dwells richly in the believer, then he is not confused and perplexed as concerning the direction he should go, for moment by moment, as has been promised him, the Spirit of God will lead and direct and bless him. Grant, O Lord, that we who have sought tonight to face up to what the truth of God says about our duty to ourselves, our duty to our neighbors, our duty to our families and to our livelihoods, our duty to our God.