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Colossians as Cornerstone #5

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Introduction

After someone has called upon the Lord, and has been baptized, he blinks and looks around, and one of the things he sees is all the same people. He is forgiven, which is exhilarating, and he is in fellowship with God, which is a novelty to him, but when he goes back to work, he runs into all the same people. What are we supposed to do? We have to make particular decisions.

The Text

“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. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven” (Col. 3:18–4:1).

Summary of the Text

So remember that the entire congregation has been exhorted to put sins to death, whether sins of the flesh or sins of the mouth. All the congregation has been urged to take off the old man, and to put on their Jesus coat. When the apostle comes to particular social relations, he is assuming that everyone he is talking to is behaving as a Christian already. This means a godly Christian can do what Paul tells husbands to do, the same with wives, and so on.

Wives are told to be submissive to their husbands, which is proper in the Lord (v. 18). Husbands are told to love their wives, and not to be bitter or resentful against them (v. 19). Children (meaning dependent children) are to be obedient to their parents in everything, which pleases the Lord (v. 20). Fathers are told not to be provocative (v. 21), and Paul warns against discouraging the kids. Slaves are commanded to do the same thing, obeying their masters in the fear of God (v. 22). Whatever task you are given, act as though the Lord Himself gave it to you, and do it heartily (v. 23). You can do this because you know that the Lord is your actual master, and His rewards will be a just inheritance (v. 24). But if a slave misbehaves in some way, then he will have to suffer the consequences (v. 25). And men in the congregation who owned slaves are commanded to remember that they too are under authority, they also have a master (4:1), and they are told to render to their slaves what is “just and equal.”

Let Onesimus Help Us Out

It is quite striking that slave owners are told to render equity to their slaves here, and Paul does not appear to intend immediate manumission by this. But liberty is very much in view, as we will see. But what Paul is doing is liberating slaves by means of the logic of the gospel, and not by means of fiery revolution.

Remember that Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon were all written at the same time, and were delivered by Tychicus (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7) and Onesimus (Col. 4:9). Onesimus also (presumably) delivered the letter of Philemon to his master Philemon, which means that Philemon lived in the area of Colossae, and was part of that church. The general instructions to all were particularly applicable to him, and the particular exhortations.

So remember that Paul has just finished saying that in Christ there is neither slave nor free (Col. 3:11). Here he tells the masters, Philemon included, to treat his slaves with justice and equity (Col. 4:1). At the end of the letter Paul commends Onesimus as a “faithful and beloved brother” (Col. 4:9), and he does the same thing to Philemon in that letter, urging Philemon to receive him as more than a slave, but also as a beloved brother (Phil. 9). He as much as asks for the freedom of Onesimus (Phil 13), but makes a point of saying that it is up to Philemon. In addition, if Onesimus pilfered anything, Paul said he would pay it back.

Christ and Hierarchical Relationships

In the first chapter of Colossians, we learned that Christ has been given the place of all preeminence. Recall that there are three governments among men, all of them supported and sustained by the reality of self-government. They are civil government, the Ministry of Justice, the family government, the Ministry of Health, Education and Welfare, and church government, the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. The enthronement of Christ over all principalities and powers is transformative and necessarily means a qualitative change. When Christ takes precedence over Caesar, Caesar isn’t really Caesar anymore.

In the same way, the coming of Christ transformed the role of the paterfamilias, the head of the Roman household, into that of a Christian husband. This did not eliminate the lines of authority, but it certainly altered how that authority was exercised.

Remember that everyone was to put on the Jesus coat. This meant that you would see Christ in your parents, in your husband, in your wife, in your children, in your slaves, and in your master. And the slaves are explicitly told to consider their work as being done for the Lord (3:24). The principle can and must be extended.

When it comes to our current debates over all this, we have different names for our positions. There is egalitarianism, there is soft complementarianism, there is hard complementarianism, there is soft patriarchy, and hard patriarchy, and with some areas of overlap.

The Font of All True Authority

The world is hierarchical, but the world is also busted. This means that men maintain their positions of authority through a straight right-handed authority.

“And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:42–43, ESV).

This is not servant leadership. It is like Christ—which makes it servant lordship.

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The Love Chapter – Part II

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The Text

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13).

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Colossians as Cornerstone #4

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Introduction

In the Scriptures, we are given a high theology, a high Christology. Christ has ascended into the highest Heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and He is Himself the infinite waterfall of holy pleasure that cascades at that right hand (Ps. 16: 11). That waterfall of infinite joy has no top, no bottom, no sides, no front and no back. Christ is all, and Christ is all in all.

But this is not the kind of high theology that puffs up. Quite the contrary. “For thus saith the high and lofty One That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Is. 57:15). As we shall see, we should measure the height of our theology by how low it can stoop.

The Text

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God . . . (Col. 3:1-17)

Summary of the Text

So if you have been raised with Christ, you ought to yearn to be where Christ is, which is at the right hand of God (v. 1). Set your affections where you actually are (v. 2). This is because your earthly identity is dead and your heavenly identity is alive (v. 3). When Christ—our life—appears then we will also appear in shared glory (v. 4). Because of that, it is necessary to mortify your members which are on the earth, which can be described under the one word lust(v. 5). These are things that the wrath of God rests upon (v. 6), and you used to walk that way yourselves (v. 7). So take off the coat of all foul attitudes (v. 8). Stop lying to each other, since you have taken off the coat of the old man (v. 9). But it is not enough to take off the foul coat, you must also put on the coat of the new man, the Jesus coat (v. 10). When we wear that uniform, previous differences fade—Jew, Greek, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free (v. 11), and Christ is everything. Putting on the Jesus coat means putting on a number of other things as well—mercy, kindness, meekness, forgiveness, all of that (vv. 12-13). Don’t forget to put on love, which is the bond of perfection (v. 14). What do you do when this is all done? You let the peace of God rule—among all of us—and you show gratitude (v. 15). Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly—teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (v. 16). And whatever you do, remember whose coat you are wearing, and be grateful (v. 17).

Mortify Your Members

Remember that Paul began this letter by saying that the Colossians were “saints and faithful brethren” (Col. 1:2). These saints and faithful Christians—like all Christians since—were summoned up into the heavenly places. They are called to straddle H Like the great angel in Revelation had one foot on the land and one of the sea, so we also have one foot on the rock of the heavenly places and one foot on the miry clay of this earth and its lusts. Paul tells these saints to put their leprous passions to death. There are two things we can derive from this instruction. One is that true Christians can be afflicted with these lusts. The second is that true Christians are instructed to execute them. And if you have to do it again, well, then, do it again.

Remember the three stages of mortification, which means putting to death or executing. The first is what all true believers have done, which is putting yourself to death to the world and the world to you (Gal. 6:14; Rom. 6: 3). The second is found here in Colossians 3, and it refers to putting significant sins to death, and it is a definitive event. The third is an ongoing task, a daily task, and refers to the mortification of the deeds of the body, and it is an ongoing responsibility (Rom. 8:13). It is like weeding your garden every morning at 5 am. You will always find something.

Slave or Free

We live in a time when racial animosities are festering and growing. Just the other night I saw a candidate for president saying that we needed to pay reparations for slavery. What this must mean to us is really straightforward—these people need Christ. The slavery of two centuries ago was awful. In fact it was so awful that nothing devised by the wit of man can even come close to dealing with it. Roman slavery was also atrocious, and when believers put on the Christ coat, what does Paul say about it? He says that slave/free distinction becomes meaningless. The fact that we are still trying to fix slavery a century and a half later is a testament to our apostasy from Christ. We are a lost people—not because we want racial reconciliation, but rather because we cannot obtain it through our own wisdom, not for love or money.

The Devil in Your Mouth

The sins of verse 5 are the corrupt and grimy ones, the ones we rarely mention at church. As professing Christians, we are ashamed of them. That’s good, so long as we make sure to go on to slaughter them as instructed. But the sins of verses 8 and 9 are often the sins that we commit at church. To be sure, when we do this, we have decorate our anger, our malice, our accusations, and we have even gotten adept at making it all seem like a zeal for righteousness.

Dwell in You Richly

And this section closes Paul says that we are to have the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and there is a particular kind of overflow. The overflow is musical—psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. This is place where we can profitably compare parallel passages in Ephesians and Colossians because Paul says something very similar in both places, at least in terms of the fruit. By “fruit” I mean the psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.

In Ephesians this overflow is the result of the filling of the Spirit. Many translations make this sound like the Spirit is the “fluid” we are filled with, but a better translation would be “filled by means of the Spirit.” He is the agent, the one doing the pouring, not the one being poured. And what is being poured? We see that here in Colossians—it is the word of Christ. Put this all together. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly through the agency of the Holy Spirit, resulting in musical and scriptural gratitude.”

One last comment. This passage makes plain that all Christians are to be musical. Music is not optional for us because gratitude is not optional, and grateful people sing. But stack these things in the proper order. I say this because I am addressing a congregation that contains a great deal of musical talent, and we will be tested in this area, particularly as musical literacy spreads in our midst, becoming commonplace. The Spirit leads to music, but it not the case that music leads to the Spirit. You can be a Christian and you can be a musician, and yet not be a Christian musician. If you are ungrateful, or unkind, or sour, or critical, or competitive, or envious, or conceited, or vain, then you might be a musician . . . but not Christian in your music.

Christ is all, and is in all. And this means that He is in all the music.

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Despising the Shame

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Introduction

In a recent article entitled, Shame Storm, a writer chronicles how true and false accusations of wrong doing combined with the internet and social media have mixed together to create storms of shame: One person commented on a situation, “I think nobody has quite figured out what should happen in cases like his, where you have been legally acquitted but you are still judged as undesirable in public opinion, and how far that should go, how long that should last.” The author continues: “No one has yet figured out what rules should govern the new frontiers of public shaming that the Internet has opened… Shame is now both global and permanent, to a degree unprecedented in human history. No more moving to the next town to escape your bad name. However far you go and however long you wait, your disgrace is only ever a Google search away.”

We live in a world that has become shameful– literally, we have done shameful things, we feel shame, we are afraid of being exposed, and we are frequently driven by avoidance of shame. But the Bible speaks to this situation, and the gospel is good news and good courage for this.

The Texts

Shame first enters the world in the Garden of Eden in the sin of our first parents: “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons… And [Adam] said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Gen. 3:7, 10). Shame is the feeling or fact of exposure – the visceral, frequently physical sense of disgrace, defilement, dishonor, humiliation, or embarrassment. If guilt is the objective fact of wrong doing, shame is the subjective feeling and the public exposure of that fact. When Aaron led Israel to worship the golden calf, they did so naked to their great shame (Ex. 32:25). Shame is something that covers people like a garment or covers their face (Job 8:22, Ps. 35:26, 44:15, 69:7, 83:16). It’s a spoiled reputation, a despised status, blot, filth, a mark of folly that is seemingly impossible to remove. Think of Joseph not wanting to put Mary to open shame, supposing she had sinned to become pregnant with Jesus (Mt. 1:19). Shame is the private and public humiliation of being wrong, the removal of respect and glory (1 Cor. 11:6). And yet our texts say that we are to look unto Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2). He endured such contradictions against Himself, that we are to remain resolute and confident (Heb. 12:3). We are to establish our hearts with grace, going to Jesus outside the gate, bearing His reproach (Heb. 13:9, 12-13).

The Grace of Shame

In the first instance, if we are to rightly despise the shame, we must welcome a certain sort of shame. How does Paul say that we are to establish our hearts with grace? Not by diverse and strange doctrines and not by eating meat (Heb. 13:9). What does he mean? He means that you cannot establish your hearts by doing respectable religious things – he’s talking specifically about priests and Jews trying to trick grace out of the sacrificial altar in Jerusalem after Jesus has come. Of course, at one time that altar did point to Jesus, our sacrifice for sin, but those sacrifices could never actually take away sin, and now that Jesus has come, turning back to the Old Covenant was worse than useless.

But the temptation here varies through the ages: it’s the temptation to respectability, various and strange and new doctrines and fads. The Jews had a nice building, formal sacrificial liturgies, and an inner circle inside the camp, inside the gate. The carcasses of the sacrificial animals were burned outside the camp (Heb. 13:11), and so that is where they also crucified Jesus, outside the gate (Heb. 13:12). And that is where God’s grace is found, outside the gate, where Jesus was nailed to a tree, hung up naked for all to see, mocked and jeered, until our sins were paid for, until God’s justice was completely finished. In the beginning, God killed animals and covered Adam and Eve’s shame, and in the fullness of time, God laid the wrath of His justice on His own Son and covered all of our shame forever. It is the grace of shame to cause us to know our sin, to know our nakedness, to drive us to the cross of Jesus, despising the shame of owning our sin.

I remember years ago when I was teaching, I called a parent to report something about their student. In the course of the conversation, I was not completely truthful, and when I hung up the phone, I knew immediately that I had lied and needed to put it right. I called back a second time, and proceeded to apologize for a good half of my lie. Upon hanging up a second time, I was thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed as I proceeded to call the parent for a third to finally tell the entire truth – and I’ve never done that again! Shame drives us to deal with our sin, but shame also teaches us to hate sin, to stay far away from sin. This is the graceof shame.

True and False Shame

But in a fallen world, rebellious sinners who refuse to repent of their sin must do something with their shame, and so they embrace it. They call evil good and good evil, and they glory in their shame (Is. 5:20, Phil. 3:19). They rejoice in their shame; they are shameless and proud of their shame. “Who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked” (Prov. 2:13-14). They are “raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 1:13). “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you” (1 Pet. 4:3-4).

The logical end game of refusing the message of true shame for sin is a complete reversal or inversion of glory and shame, calling good evil and evil good, to the point that you are evil for not joining in with them in their evil, for not rejoicing with them in evil. And the goal is to make you ashamed. The goal is to make you feel bad about confronting their sin, for not endorsing it. And so this is also what it means to “bear His reproach” outside the camp (Heb. 13:13). They falsely accused Jesus. They said He was a blasphemer and rabble-rouser and traitor. They condemned Him, crucified Him, speaking evil of Him. They sought to shame Him, and therefore they will seek to shame all who would follow Him (Jn. 15:18-19, 1 Jn. 3:13). This is what Peter and John faced when they were beaten and rebuked: “they departed from the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:41-42).

Conclusions

The first application is the straightforward invitation to have your shame covered by Jesus. And you must be entirely covered. When Jesus came to wash the feet of Peter, Peter was apparently embarrassed, ashamed to have the Lord wash his feet, but Jesus said to him: “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me” (Jn. 13:8). And Peter immediately got the point and asked for the full bath. The same is true for our shame. Unless Jesus covers you, you have no part with Him. Jesus has white robes for everyone who comes to Him, but you must come (Rev. 3:18). This invitation is for all sinners and all sin, but it is particularly for the sins and filth that you think cannot be covered: the shame of sexual sin, the shame of abortion, the shame of divorce, the shame of wayward children, the shame of being fired from your job. He even covers the shame of things that are not necessarily our fault — not being married, not having children, not accomplishing the great things you said/thought you would. Take it to Jesus, He’s waiting outside the camp.

The second application is that whatever Jesus has covered with His blood and righteousness is utterly blameless, and you must not give a wit for the accusations of the Devil or the shame-weaponizing of the world (Col. 2:14-15, Heb. 2:14-15). When Peter and John rejoiced to suffer shame for the name of Jesus, they did not cease to preach and teach Jesus Christ. So too, when you are privileged to suffer shame for the name of Jesus, do not cease to walk with Jesus. Do not slow down. Do not hesitate. If you have been forgiven, then learn to teach transgressors the ways of God, so that sinners will be converted (Ps. 51:13). “And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed” (Joel 2:26-27).

Do not grow weary, lay aside every weight, and fix your eyes on Jesus, who despised the shame for you.

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