Colossians
3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all
wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in
your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed,
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him. 18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the
Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become
discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and
do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with
sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do,
work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24
since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
The Apostle Paul was a real person
living with real people. Real people
just like us. He knew the hardness and shallowness of our hearts. He knew that
we would be shallow and hard in our relationships with each other because we
are that way with God. Paul knew the
remedy for the disease of our souls. He
tells us to LET the word of Christ dwell in us.
Typically we fight letting God’s word dwell in us. We often don’t want the word of Christ to dwell in us because we know that if it
does our own selfish passions get shoved aside.
When something dwells in a place then other competing things have to
leave. Last week we saw the Apostle John
writing that the WORD of God was with God and was God and was Jesus Christ
himself.(JN 1:1) When Christ dwells in
us and makes his word come alive in us then the power of a new affection takes
hold in our soul and drives out competing affections. How often have you wished you would somehow
be able to love those that seem unlovable?
(BTW, we often are those unlovable people!) How often have you thought that you just want
to love God more? Then let his word
dwell in you!
Not only does God desire that we
let his word dwell in us but that we let it dwell in us richly. With this addition
(richly) we find that the word of Christ dwelling in us is not mere academia or
memorization but a rich and alive abiding of Jesus Christ and his beautiful
words of redemption and forgiveness.
With this richness we experience more than just a religion. With the word of Christ dwelling richly we
experience Jesus Christ himself! That experience will sometimes resemble a marriage. There will be days when it is exciting and you feel as though the sun is shining just for you. Other days, there will be no fireworks and a faithful, selfless love seems distant. In all of those days though, Jesus Christ has promised to dwell in you. He is faithful even when we aren’t. Jesus knows that we need to let his word dwell in us richly, fully, if we are to walk close to him and experience the joy of being a Christian.
The rest of the passage is also quoted above. In it you note that the rich dwelling of the word of Christ results in songs of praise and words of rich beauty in relationship with other Christians. We live in relationship because that’s where we were designed to live. For those relationships to also be rich, we must also live with, dwell in, Jesus Christ.
We are designed to dwell with Christ. Let his word dwell with you. Experience Jesus.
Pursuing Jesus with You!
Harrison Spitler, Pastor
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