Colossians 3

CHAPTER 3THEME: Christ, the fullness of God, poured out in life through believers; thoughts and affections of believers are heavenly; living of believers is holyWe come now to the line of division in this little epistle, which conforms to Paul’s regular way of dividing his epistles. He always gives the doctrinal section and then the practical section. Chapters 3 and 4 comprise the practical section of Colossians. We have seen the preeminence of Christ in chapters 1-2. We have seen Him as He is, a member of the Trinity. He is very man of very man, but He is very God of very God. He is preeminent in creation becaue He is the Creator. He is preeminent in redemption for He is the Redeemer. He is preeminent in the church because He is the One who gave Himself for the church. Now we have come to the place where Paul will insist that He must be made preeminent in our lives. Today we hear a great deal of talk about dedication. Well, what is dedication? A very brief definition is: Dedication is Christ preeminent in our lives. You cannot just say, “I am a dedicated Christian,” and then live your life as you please, as a great many people are trying to do today. No, if Christ is preeminent in your life, then you are going to live out His life down here on earth. Paul has already made this clear in the doctrinal section: “For in him [in Christ] dwelleth all the fulness [pleroma] of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him …” (Col_2:9-10). You are made full in Him. You are ready for the voyage of life in Him. In other words, Christ is really the solution to all the problems of life. Paul has discussed the different things that lead people away from the person of Christ. He has warned against enticing words which carry people away by great oratory. He has warned against philosophy, legality, mysticism, and asceticism. All these lead people away from the person of Christ. The Christian life is to live out the life of Christ. You and I will find in Christ Jesus all that we need. In this practical section of the epistle, Paul will show us Christ, the fullness of God, poured out in life through believersthat is the only way He can be poured out.

Colossians 3:1

THOUGHTS AND AFFECTIONS OF BELIEVERS ARE HEAVENLYAgain, this is not the if of condition; it is really the if of argument. We saw this same thing back in Col_1:23 where we read: “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled….” There was no question about their continuing in the faith grounded and settled. The lives of these Colossian Christians evidences their salvation. What was the evidence? It was faith, hope, and lovethe fruit of the Spirit was in their lives. “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus"the word had gotten around that they had a living faith in Christ Jesus; “and of the love which ye have to all the saints"they loved the believers (Col_1:4). Love among the believers is so important, and I do not mean this sentimental stuff that you hear so much about today.

For instance, if you are a minister, you evidence your love for your congregation if you give them the Word of God, and you show your love for your pastor as a member of the church if you support his Bible-teaching ministry. My friend, love is very practicalit gets right down where the rubber meets the road. If it doesn’t, it’s no good at all. Love is that which manifests itself in reality. The Colossians had faith, and they had love. They also had hope: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven …” (Col_1:5).

That hope is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His church. These threefaith, hope, and lovewere the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believers in Colosse. Therefore, when Paul says, “if,” it is the if of argument. Verse Col_3:1 here in chapter 3 would be better translated, “Since you are risen with Christ.” “Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Where is Christ today? He’s sitting at the right hand of God. What are we to do today? We are to “seek those things which are above.” Seek is an interesting word. It actually means “having an urgency and a desire and an ambition.” There should be an excitement that goes with seeking spiritual things. When we watch the Olympic games, we see folk who are running or performing some athletic feat to win a gold medal. Believe me, those folk are seeking. I don’t see many saints looking for gold medals today, but we are to be seeking Christ with that kind of urgency. “Those things which are above"these are the things of Christ. I want you to note that Paul is not saying that we should seek such courses as are offered today that are a mixture of pseudopsychology with a smattering of Bible. This kind of teaching is handed out in a few night classes, and then some poor crippled Christians think they have the answers to the problems of lifeall the way from a neurotic mother-in-law to a boss who is a dirty old man. They think some little course will teach them how to treat everybody and every problem. They consider it a do-it-yourself kit, a kind of an open sesame to a new life. Now I say to you, and I say it very carefully, you will only experience the new life as you “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” I will get even more personal in my illustration. You cannot find the answers in anything I have producedeither a book or a tape-recorded message. Now I am stepping on some toes, including my own toes. A couple came to me this past summer at a conference and said, “Dr. McGee, we have a certain tape of yours, and we play it at least once a week and listen to it.” My reaction was that they had better burn that tape. I had the feeling they were beginning to worship that tape and that tape wasn’t getting them through to Christ. And now I’m really going to step on toes: Paul doesn’t say here to seek out and listen to any preacher or teacher! May I say this to you very kindly and very frankly: Don’t make Dr. McGee or any man your idol. If you do, you have an idol who has feet of clay. You would be looking to a man who is just like you are. I make a lot of mistakes. I’m not near the man I’d like to be, nor the husband I’d like to be, nor the father or grandfather I’d like to be. Don’t make anything man produces a god for yourself. The purpose of this poor preacher is to get out the Word of God to you so that you can see the living Christ and get through to Him. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t use my ministry to get you through to the living Christ, then I have failedthen I have fallen flat on my face, and I am willing to quit. I believe with all my heart that the Bible is the one Book which reveals the living Christ, and that is my purpose in teaching it. I would like to give you an illustration of this. I went to school with a fellow who was a Canadian, and he told me about his first trip to Niagara Falls. (By the way, Mrs. McGee and I saw it for the first time this past summer. When we were looking over the falls, I said to her, “Honey, I promised you we would go to Niagara Falls on our honeymoon. I think we are still on our honeymoon, and here we are.”) Well, my classmate told me that as a boy he got on a train on the Canadian side of the falls, which is the prettier side. He said, “When I got off the train, I could hear the roar of the falls, but I couldn’t see them.

I began to move toward the sound, and I came to a big building. I went into that building, which was like a Union Station in the United States: there was the popcoren vendor, the soda pop machine, the gift shop, and candy papers, chewing gum wrappers and even chewing gum on the floor. People were sitting all around. I was really disappointed, but I could still hear the roar of the falls. Then I looked down to the end of the building, and there I saw the biggest picture I had ever seen in my life. The frame of the picture took in most of the end of that building.

It was a picture of Niagara Falls. I couldn’t believe that right there at the falls they would have a picture of them. I began to walk down toward that picture, and as I drew closer to it, I began to realize that through a frame I was looking at the real, living, running Niagara Falls!” My friend, when you read the Bible, you are not looking at a dead person. You are looking at the real, living Christ. He is the One at God’s right hand. We are to seek those things which are abovewe are to seek Him. That is why I have a ministry of teaching through the Bible. There is no shortcut. Some have suggested that I cut it down to a one-year program, but that certainly is not adequate. And, really, five years is not adequate. Some have suggested that I lengthen it to ten years, but that is not feasible for me. Even if we took ten, or even twenty years, we would not know it all. At the end of his life Paul could still say: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Php_3:10). Real study of the Word of God will get you through to the living Christ. Let me illustrate this with a letter from a listener to our radio program: When we were studying Romans and Corinthians, I began to realize just how much of a carnal Christian I really was. I began to desire much more than that. So I began to pray that I might truly know Christ as God would want me to. Nothing happened for a while, but I kept praying. And then God did answer my prayer. One day you said that God sees us in Christ, and it was as though some dark, hidden thing had been brought out into the light. I had read Ephesians many times before, but that day your message really struck home. It is a wonderful thing to know that Paul’s prayer is still being answered today. I realized that day that God no longer looked down upon me as a poor sinner struggling upon this earth, but in Christ and that I belong to Him as a child…. May I say to you from my heart, get through to Christ. “Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.”

Colossians 3:2

Actually the word for “affection” is mind. Think about the things that are above. In Philippians Paul said that whatever things are true and honest and just and lovely, think on these thingsthe things of Christ. Life is full of its smaller problems (like whether or not you can get along with your mother-in-law), and they are very real to us, but by far the greatest need is for us to get through to Christ. That should come before everything else. “Set your affection on things above.”

Colossians 3:3

“For ye are dead” might better be translated “for ye have died.” If you have died, when did you die? Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I am crucified with Christ …” (Gal_2:20). You died more than nineteen hundred years ago when Christ died. He took my place; He took your place. We died in Him. “Your life is hid with Christ in God.” I have been taken out of the old Adam by baptism; that is, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I have been taken out of Adam and placed in Christ. I am now in Christ. Now that I am in Christ, I should live out His life and let His fullness be lived out through me.

Colossians 3:4

If you have any life, it is Christ’s life. John wrote in his first epistle that it was his intent to “shew unto you that eternal life.” How could he show eternal life? He was going to show us Christ; Christ is eternal life. And one of these days those who belong to Him are going to “appear with him in glory.”

Colossians 3:5

LIVING OF BELIEVERS IS HOLYIf we are truly risen with Christ this will be evident in two areas of our lives: (1) our personal holiness, and (2) our fellowship with others who are about us. It seems that Christians are frightened of this matter of holiness. When I was a young preacher, I heard the late Bishop Moore of the old Southern Methodist church make this statement: “If Methodists were as afraid of sin as they are of holiness, it would be a wonderful thing.” This isn’t true of Methodists alone; it is true of most Christians. Somehow we don’t like this term holiness. It is a very good word, and that is Paul’s subject herepersonal holiness. Christ was born as a little Babe in Bethlehem, but He is no longer in that inn. He is up yonder at God’s right hand at this very moment. He’s on a thronenot in a cradle and not in an inn but in heaven itself. And He’s there for you and me today. Now, if you are in Christ, if you have accepted Him as your Savior, then that is going to show in your life down here. Friend, if it doesn’t tell in your life down here, then maybe you are not in Him up yonder! Mortify means “to put to death, or put in the place of death.” Fornication means “sexual immorality.” Is that your sin today? Let’s not kid ourselvesthere are a great many folk who are covering up this sin, and yet they still talk about being dedicated Christians! Paul brings this right out into the open and tells us that we are to put our physical members in the place of death. Do your eyes cause you trouble? Do you look with the eye of covetousness, or the eye of lust? Put those eyes in the place of death, and now use them as the eyes of Christ to look upon Him. My friend, that will change things, will it not? Uncleanness includes thoughts, words, looks, gestures, and the jokes we tell. Inordinate affection means “uncontrolled passion or lust.” Every now and then someone will confess to me a sin in his life, and he will say, “Well, I couldn’t help myself.” My friend, you ought not to get in that spot in the first place. It’s like the little boy whose mama called to him one night when she heard him in the kitchen, “Where are you?” He said, “I’m in the pantry.” He had the cookie jar open. She called, “Whet are you doing?” He answered, “I’m fighting temptation!” My friend, that is the wrong place to fight temptation. Don’t fight it there at the cookie jar, if you’re not to have the cookies. The same thing applies to inordinate affection. Evil concupiscencethat means “evil desires.” Put them to death, my friend. “Covetousness, which is idolatry” means when we always must have more. Is the almighty dollar your god today? Are you more interested in the dollar than you are in the living Christ? These questions can begin to hurt! Our bodies are the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit, and they are to be used for God. When I drove to my office this morning there were a great many people on their way to work. Many of them were professional men and business executives. One man went by me in a Cadillac. He didn’t see me or anyone else because he was in such a hurry. I don’t know why he was hurrying, but I can guess. We see pictures of people in other lands going to heathen temples and worshiping there, and we feel sorry for them in the darkness of their idolatry.

But I suspect that the fellow in the Cadillac was also in darkness, that he was on his way to worship his idol and to bow before it. His idol was the almighty dollar, and he was rushing to work to see how many he could make. A great many folk are overcome by this matter of covetousness. They covet the material things of this worldthey want more money. I would venture to say that covetousness is the root of most of the problems in our country today. “…the love of money is the root of all evil …” (1Ti_6:10). Money is not the problemit can even be used for the glory of God. But there are many men, even Christians, who are working on that second million, and they don’t need it. It is because they worship an idol. If you are in Christ, He will come first and you will seek those things which are above.

Colossians 3:6

“For which things’ sake” Paul means the things he has just been speaking of, the things which the world does. “The wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” Men are not lost simply because they do these things, neither are they lost because they haven’t heard of Christ. Men are lost because they are sinners, sinners in their hearts. And, because they are sinners, they do these things.

Colossians 3:7

Those of us who now know the Lord practiced these sins in our lives at one time. I hope that we are not still doing them. I met a young millionaire in Florida quite a few years ago. He very frankly admitted that before he was saved he worshiped the almighty dollar. He was always after the next dollar then the next one. When he came to Christ, he decided to retire. He had already made a million dollars and any more that he made he wanted to put into the Lord’s work. He wanted to spend his time seeking the things of Christ. Oh, my friend, do we put Him first? Or are we engaged in the very things that the world is engaged in and for which God intends to judge them? Well, how then can we expect that we shall escape the judgment of God? If you are in Christ, seek those things which are above, and you will not find yourself involved in the things of the world.

Colossians 3:8

These are the habits that we are to put off as we would put off a garment. We call a garment a habit, do we not? Many folk have a riding habit or a golfing habit. I have an old pair of slacks that I play golf inthat’s my golfing habit. (I don’t look very good, but that is what I wear.) Different people have different habits that they wear. Paul says that we are to put off these old practices as we’d put off a dirty, filthy garment. You don’t send it to the laundryyou throw it away! You put it in the garbage can. You “put off all these.” The first is “anger.” There is a place for anger that is justified. You remember that the Lord Jesus was angry at the Pharisees because of the hardness of their hearts. That is not a sinful anger. The problem is that we become angry over the wrong things. Anger becomes “wrath” when we develop an unforgiving spirit. Someone has said that “malice” is congealed anger. It is an anger that has been nursed along. It is an anger that tries to take revenge and get even. Paul says that a Christian is to put that off like an old, dirty, filthy garment. That kind of behavior does not represent Christ. “Blasphemy” can be of two kinds. There is a blasphemy against God and a blasphemy against man. The first type of blasphemy is to defame the name of God. It is not just taking His name in vain, but it is to misrepresent Him, to hate Him. I received a letter from a lady that tells about the death of her little three-year-old child and how she hated God because of that. Somebody gave her our little booklet, The Death of a Little Child, and she was brought to the Lord. She realized that she had been only a church member before and had not really been born again. You see that hating God for something that has happened is really blasphemy. Did you know that you can also blaspheme another Christian when you make a statement about him that is not true? I remember years ago a statement that was made by a man about a preacher who was Arminian in his theology. The man who made the statement was a Calvinist, and he said that the preacher was “of Satan.” Well, my friend, when you say things like that, untrue things about a child of God, you are guilty of blasphemy. “Filthy communication out of your mouth” means foul communication and includes both that which is abusive and that which is filthy. I can’t believe that Christians would want to indulge in that, but I am told that there are certain little groups which meet together and share dirty jokes. Some Christians use swear words. In fact, I have heard of Christian leaders doing that. I do not believe that you can be a child of God, friend, and live like that. These are things that are to be put off.

Colossians 3:9

To whom is Paul speaking? He is writing this to believers, because he says, “seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.” Is it possible for a Christian to lie? It certainly is. That doesn’t mean that you have lost your salvation when you dootherwise many of us would have lost ours a long time ago. It does reveal that you don’t reach a place of perfection, my friend, nor do you get rid of the old nature, when you become a child of God. I believe one of the first sins a little child commits is to lie. I heard the story about the little boy who came running into the house and said, “Mama, Mama, a lion just ran across our front lawn.” The mother said, “Willie, you know that was not a lion. That was a big dog that ran across the lawn. You go upstairs and confess to the Lord that you lied about that.” Little Willie went upstairs and after a while he came down again. His mother asked, “Did you confess your lie to the Lord?” He answered, “Yes, I did. But the Lord said when He first saw him, He thought he was a lion, too!” Lying is something that is deep-rooted in the human heart, and many Christians still indulge in it.

Colossians 3:10

“Put on the new man.” If you take off the old garment, the old man, you put on the new garment, the new man. Nature abhors a vacuum. Putting off is not enough, we must live in the new man by the power of the Holy Spirit. You and I have an old nature which has controlled us for so long that we have set up certain habits. That is why garment is such an effective term hereit’s a habit. We have developed certain patterns in the way we say and do things. We also have within us a complex nervous system that is conditioned to respond in a set fashion. If I put my hand down on a red hot stove, a message travels through the nervous system to the brain. The message gets switched over to a motor nerve which goes back down to the hand and says, “Say, you crazy fool, take your hand off that red hot stove.

You’re getting burned!” And you jerk your hand off the stove. Of course, it all happens more quickly than I can tell it. It is a reflex reaction that occurs very quickly. In the same way, our habit patterns are formed. It is psychologically true that we are able to put off old habits and form new ones. But it is especially true for the believer because he has the power of the Holy Spirit within him. We are to “put on the new man.” “Renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” You are to put on the new man, and that new Man is Christ. In that way the church is able to represent Him on this earth.

Colossians 3:11

“Neither Greek nor Jew"in the church, the body of believers, there is neither Greek nor Jew. This was a religious division or distinction that was made in Paul’s day. “Circumcision nor uncircumcision.” This was also a religious division. “Barbarian, Scythian.” Barbarians were those who were not Greeks, those whom we would call heathen today. The Scythian was the worst kind of barbarian. Scythia was north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The people who lived there were probably the most barbaric the world has known. You talk about pagan, heathen, brutal, and mean! They would take their enemies and scalp them; then they would use the skull as a cup and drink the blood of their victims out of the skull! I cannot think of anything more heathen than that! Did you know that the ancestors of many of us who have white skin came from that territory? We are called Caucasians after the area where these barbarians lived. Even in Paul’s day, some of these people were being led to Christ. The gospel had reached out and done a tremendous work, and some of them were in the church at Colosse. Missionaries had gone north beyond the Black and Caspian SeasScythians had been won for Jesus Christ. Even though they were barbarians, they were brought into that one body which is the church. “But Christ is all, and in all.” You just can’t have it any more wonderful than that, my friend. This is something that is beyond description. Christ is the catalyst who brings together individuals and groups who are separate and makes them one in Him. A catalyst is a substance that is placed with elements that are opposed to each other and brings them together into a new compound. This is exactly what Christ does. We have all been made one in Him! Remember that we are in the practical section of Colossians. In the doctrinal section we saw Christ, who is the fullness of God and the head of the church. Believers have been made full, made complete in Him. We will find all that we need in Christ, not in any man-made legal or philosophical system. Since we have risen with Christ, we are to seek those things that are above where Christ is at the right hand of God. We have seen that this will lead to personal holiness. Beginning now with verse Col_3:12 we will find that it will also lead to holiness in our relationship to others; then verses Col_3:18-21 will deal with holiness in the home; and in verses Col_3:22-25 with holiness on the job. The Christian life is living out the fulness of Christ in our walk in the home, on the job, and in our social relationships. Paul has clearly labeled the things of the old man that are to be put off. Now he will label the specifics that are to make up the wardrobe of the new man. We are going to see the latest in fashions for Christians, by the way. In fact, I have written a message on this passage of Scripture, and I have called it, “What the Well-Dressed Christian Will Wear This Year.”

Colossians 3:12

“The elect of God.” There is a great deal of discussion about this matter of election. The fact of the matter is that if you have trusted Christ, you have on this new garment, and you are one of the elect. If these things that Paul is going to list are in your life, you’re of the elect. I couldn’t begin to tell you otherwise, nor argue any further about thatyou’re of the elect. The elect of God are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You will notice that the garments Paul is mentioning here are actually the fruit of the Holy Spirit. You and I cannot produce them in our lives. The minute you and I think about the wonderful position that we have in Christ and the high calling we have in Him, we have to recognize as we look at ourselves that we are impotent. We are weak and powerless, unable to “put on” these fruits. We are in the same position as the bride in the Song of Solomon. She had been kissed with the kiss of peace.

Peace has been made with God. He has kissed us, my friend, and told us that our sins are forgiven us in Christ. How wonderful that is! But as the children of God we still sin. Then we need to remember the boy who got away from his father and his home, who lived in sin and wasted his fortune in riotous living. When he came back home, his father saw him afar off and ran and fell on his neck.

What did he do? He kissed his son. That is the kiss of pardon, the kiss of forgiveness which God gives to His children. We are in the position of the bride who says in the Song of Solomon, “Draw me, draw me” (see Son_1:4). I am not able to attain to this wonderful position that I have in Christ. I can’t do it myself. So you and I find ourselves cast upon Him. This is where the Spirit of God moves in and enables us to walk in the Spirit. Bowels of mercies means “heart of compassion.” How heartless this world is today. How indifferent and mechanical it has become! I find that much of the time I am simply a number. In the few business transactions that I have, a computera machinedoes business with me. I can’t tell that machine how I feel. I can’t tell that machine when it has made a mistake.

I can’t tell that machine when I have made a mistake. I just do business with that machine. It sends me a bill and I pay itthat’s all. I also do business with a bank. It has as much heart as the computer. In fact, the computer is the heart of the bank.

Since I have had cancer I must also do business with my doctor. I have a very wonderful doctor who takes care of me, but when I had to be taken to the emergency room and I had a strange doctor, I found that he considered me just a boy with a stomachache. I wasn’t a person to him at all. He just talked in big medical termsthat’s all I was to him. Paul is saying that as believers we should have a heart of compassion in our relationships with those around us. Kindness is a word that Paul uses that carries with it the thought of being “profitable.” It means to be helpful to others. There is another Greek word for kindness that has an element of sternness in it. You can be kind and still be stern, as when I tell my grandson, “Don’t you do that.” When I say that, I mean to be stern with him. But there is the kindness that means gentleness, and that is the word that Paul uses here. Humbleness is “meekness.” As I say so often, meekness does not mean weakness. Notice that here Paul’s emphasis is “humbleness of mind.” Meekness. Here the emphasis is meekness of spirit. Longsuffering is the Greek word makrothumia, which means “long-burning"it burns a long time. We shouldn’t have a short fuse with our friends and Christian brethren. We shouldn’t make snap judgments.

Colossians 3:13

Quarrel actually is “complaint.” Paul is including situations where there is blame involved and the complaint is justified. What are we to do in such circumstances? “Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” This does not mean that you become a doormat. But it does mean that when we have a complaint, we’re to go to the individual and try to work out the matter. There are always going to be some people with whom you cannot work out thingswe must realize that. When our Lord denounced the Pharisees, there was no mention of forgivenessHe just denounced them. They did not seek His forgiveness, of course. Paul’s thought here is that Christ has forgiven us so much that it won’t hurt us to forgive somebody who has stepped on our toes. We are to forgive others in the same way that Christ has forgiven us.

Colossians 3:14

Charity is “love.” Put on love. We have here in these verses two fruits of the Spirit: love and peace. Rule means “to umpire.” The peace of God should govern our hearts.

Colossians 3:16

There are many people who are great on doctrine and want to be fundamental in the faith. That is all-important, and I don’t think anyone emphasizes it any more than I do. These people can often be heard praising Bible study, yet they do not attend Bible study, and they know so little about the Word of God. “The word of Christ.” The Lord Jesus said, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (Joh_15:3). The best Saturday night bath that you can take is to study the Word of God. Dwell means “to be at home, to be given the run of the house.” We should be familiar with the Word of God. The Bible should not be a strange book to you as it is to so many people today. “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts"let it be an umpire. And then “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom"let it be at home. Know Him. Be familiar with the Word of Christ; study it and know what He’s saying to you. That is where He is going to speak to you today, my friendin His Word. “Teaching and admonishing one another"in what? “In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” “Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” I can’t singso my singing never does get beyond that which is in the heart. The point is that we are to let the Word of God have this marvelous influence in our lives that Paul has described here.

Colossians 3:17

Do you want a norm for Christian conduct? Do you want a standard to go by? Do you want a principle rather than a lot of little rules? Paul gives us such a principle here. He does not say what we should or should not do. He simply says, “Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” My friend, whatever you doat your place of employment, in your home, and in all relationships with otherscan you say, “I’m doing this in the name of the Lord Jesus”? If you can say that, if you are doing it in His name, then go ahead and do it. This is a marvelous standard, a yardstick that we can put down on our lives. Now Paul comes to the subject of holiness in the home. You will notice that he is dealing with the same things that he dealt with in the Epistle to the Ephesians. There he told them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and then he gave them these same instructions. Here in Colossians he writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,” and then he goes on to give instructions for living. What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? It means that you will have to be filled with the Word of Christ also. The Word of God is inspired by the Spirit of God. If the Word of God dwells in you richly, then you are filled with the Spirit of God. I do not believe that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit or that you can serve Christ until you are filled with the knowledge of His Word. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Now, if the Word of Christ dwells in your richly, it will work itself out in your life, and it will have an effect on your home.

Colossians 3:18

This is for the purpose of order in the home. This is not for the purpose of producing a browbeating husband. I do not believe that God intends for a wife to submit to an unsaved husband who beats her or orders her to do things contrary to her walk with the Lord. A woman wrote to me and said that her husband was an unsaved man. When he would get drunk, he would beat her. She felt as a Christian she ought to stay with him. I advised her to leave him. I do not believe that God ever asks any woman to stay with a drunken husband. She loses her own personality; she loses her own dignity, and she will find herself being brought down to his level if she submits to that. She is to submit “as it is fit in the Lord.”

Colossians 3:19

The husband who loves his wife is the one to whom the wife is to submit. She is not to be the one to take the lead in the family, but she is to urge him to take the lead. I think we have had this thing all wrong for a long time. In my entire ministry I have removed the word obey from the marriage ceremony. I don’t think it belongs in there at all.

Colossians 3:20

Children are to obey their parents. They are to honor their parents all their lives, but when they are children they are to obey them. However, the child also needs to grow up. I don’t think this verse means that a twenty-four-year-old boy must stay tied to his mama’s apron strings. Whether he is married or single, when he has reached maturity, he is ready to get away from his parents. We see so many teenagers rebelling against their parents in our day. I believe that God may have put into the hearts of teenagers the necessity to get away. There is a period in their lives that is a weaning time, and they need to learn to be independent. I have seen some literature that tells young married couples that they are still to go to their parents and obey them. I think that is nonsense and entirely unscriptural (see Gen_2:24). “Children, obey your parents in all things” is a verse for children, for minors.

Colossians 3:21

Let me refer you to my book on Ephesians and my comment on Eph_6:4. The remarkable feature of this verse, as given both in Ephesians and Colossians, is that under the Mosaic Law, the commandment referred only to the children. There was no reference to parents. Had the Law developed in the parents a dictatorship rather than a directorship? No. The Book of Proverbs reveals that the responsibility to find God’s will for the child had been given to the parents: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Pro_22:6). Now the apostle moves on to the subject of holiness on the job, at the place of employment. He will discuss the relationships that exist on the job, the relationship of capital to labor.

Colossians 3:22

Eye-service is a word peculiar in the New Testament to the writings of Paul. He means, “Don’t keep your eye on the clock. Keep you eye on Christ. He is the One whom you are serving.” That is the way you ought to do your job. Sometimes Christians talk about being dedicated to the Lord and wanting to serve the Lord, but they are lazy. We had one boy working here at our radio headquarters who was like that. He stood around with his hands in his pockets all the while his mouth was going, but he thought he was dedicated! May I say something very frankly? If you are lazy on the job, you are not dedicated to Jesus Christ. Paul had reduced the Christian life to its lowest common denominator. He had one simple goal: “…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php_3:13-14). He had his eye, his mind, his heart, and his total affections fixed upon Jesus Christ. “In singleness of heart, fearing God.” The idea here is not to fear the boss, but to fear God.

Colossians 3:23

When Paul says to work “heartily,” he means work from your soul. We have heard a lot about a “soul brother,” but we ought to have a little more “soul work.” If you can’t do something with enthusiasm unto the Lord, regardless of what it is, it is wrong for you. Some people write in and ask me, “Is it right for me to do this?” or “Is it right for me to go to this place?” Here is your standard: “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.” That applies to everything. Even if you cannot go to a church with enthusiasm, I would recommend you quit going to that church. “As to the Lord, and not unto men.” Whatever we do should be done to the Lord, not to men. We are not to be men pleasers.

Colossians 3:24

Maybe you’re not going to have to report to your boss; or when his back is turned he doesn’t see that you are loafing on the job, not really giving him a full day’s work. But the Lord Jesus sees, and you are going to answer to Him. You are in Him, and you belong to Him. Therefore, you have to give an account of your life to Him. Since we represent the Lord Jesus down here upon this earth, He is going to ask that His representatives be found faithful. There are a great many folk who are humble, little-known people that you and I know nothing about who have been faithful on the job. They have been faithful to their employer, faithful to their church, faithful to their homes, faithful to their pastor. Very few people know about them. The Lord knows. They will receive a reward. I think you and I are going to be surprised by the reward some people will get. “For ye serve the Lord Christ.” This puts a different complexion upon Christian service down here. There are many people who are lazy in God’s work. I would say that laziness is one of the curses of the ministry. It is found in the church staff. It is so easy to loaf on the job because nobody is looking, nobody is watching. We need to remember that we serve the Lord Jesus, and we are going to give an account to Him.

Colossians 3:25

He is going to straighten out everything in your life and in my life that we don’t straighten out down here. This is exactly what this means. It is a privilege to be in God’s service. It is a privilege to teach a Sunday school class. But don’t ever think that this makes you something special. When the Lord judges you, He will judge you on faithfulness. All will be judged alike. God is no respecter of persons. My friend, we are joined to a living Christ. How wonderful it is! I cannot attain to it in my own strength. But He says He is going to help me. Only the Holy Spirit working in me can attain this high and holy calling. He wants me to mirror Him in every relationship I have down here. What a glorious calling you and I have! Doesn’t that give you enthusiasm today? Don’t look to the Babe in Bethlehem. Go to the living Christ who is at God’s right hand.