Sanam Doctrinam

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Colossians 3:12-13

Last week we started to look at what I’ve called a handbook of church relations in Colossians 3:12-13. We looked at compassion, kindness, and humility last time. Today I’d like to turn our attention to gentleness and patience.

My Greek lexicon tells me that gentleness is “the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s importance.” It’s that character trait embodied by someone who isn’t hung up on herself, who doesn’t think she needs to promote herself to the world. A gentle person is not necessarily non-assertive or retiring. In fact, a person characterized by gentleness may be a strong personality with a powerful presence. The mark of a gentle person is that he or she is not into self-promotion. A gentle person is not obsessed with himself.

When we consider gentleness in the context of the church of Jesus Christ, we can find it is notably absent. Oftentimes, the very people who serve in leadership in local churches are anything but gentle. Church leaders can all too often be demanding figures who are obsessed with their position and prominence, who assert themselves at others’ expense. That is tragic. In fact, the word translated “gentleness” in today’s verse is the same word that the apostle Paul explicitly says the Lord’s servants should exhibit (2 Timothy 2:24). We need to know, too, that gentleness isn’t natural. In fact, Scripture teaches that gentleness is supernatural. It is something that the Holy Spirit of God produces in us, according to Galatians 5:23. We need gentleness sorely in church relations. Apart from gentleness, the church can quickly deteriorate into a club for ego enhancement. God has called us to something much higher than that.

Gentleness operates in tandem with another character trait we discover in today’s passage: patience. Patience has the idea of being able to bear up under provocation. The reality is that many times churches can be places of provocation. Christians provoke one another, and unfortunately this provocation is often not toward good works. Patience is the appropriate response for every believer. When we are patient toward people who test us, we are emulating our heavenly Father. In Romans 2:4, God’s patience is said to lead to repentance. In 1 Timothy 1:16, it is God’s patience which He demonstrated in Paul’s life. In 1 Peter 3:20, God’s patience was responsible for His delay in bringing the flood on the earth in the days of Noah. And in 2 Peter 3:15, God’s patience is that which grants salvation. We’ve mentioned it before, but the Greek word translated “patience” in today’s verse is a compound word that is composed of words meaning “long” and “anger.” God is long-angered. And His children are called to be exactly the same toward one another. As He has been toward us, so we are to be to fellow believers.

If we only employed gentleness and patience in our relationships within the body of Christ, imagine how the church would be transformed. Self-promotion would wither. Understanding would prevail.

Is there a brother or sister to whom we can show gentleness and patience this week?

In all the hubbub surrounding “Emergent/Emerging” I find it interesting that the overarching route that is being taken by the who posture this movement, is one that is not to far removed from an early 20th Century mainline protestantism. By saying this I am not covering new ground, but one of the particulars of the mainline church’s movement away from Scripture, was in overdoing social and abandoning the Evangel.

James 1:27 states that, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (NASB 95) This is the verse most often touted by the “E” types as what the “traditional” church has failed to do. So in reaction we must say that Scripture is unclear, except for the parts we want to be clear and condemn everyone else by.

I do agree that most evangelical churches have failed to accomplish this well in their days. This fault needs to be recognized and needs to be dealt with. However the 800 lb. elephant in the room is that, there is so much more missing from the context of what James is trying to get across in this passage. Let’s look at the full treatment, James 1:21-27 (NASB 95):

21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

In a general overview we see that there is a Gospel application here. We see the word implanted which is able to save your souls and as a result of that you should prove yourself to be a doer of the word and not just a hearer. What sort of things does it produce? Inwardly a change (v.25-26) and outwardly an action (v.27).

Now I understand this is the simplest of interpretations (maybe I will draw this out a bit in future posts), but it is none the less a balanced view of what it means to be a Christ follower, and it is implied that when we are taking care of the widow and the poor, they are aware of why we are doing so.

I remember recently handing a banana to a beggar in the streets of Springfield, IL on a visit there a few weeks ago. As I handed it to him, I also shared the gospel, to which he responded that he already knew it. I hope that there was a further watering of the Gospel that day. If I had simply handed the banana and said nothing, would that have been good? Sure. But a Mormon or Sikh could have done that. I wanted to attach what I was dong to the reason for doing it, and I need to do both more.

Is it important for us to seek these social opportunities out? Yes, but then we must ask ourselves, “To what end am I doing this?” Is it simply to fulfill some social agenda or is it to fulfill what Christ has called us to in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)?

We need to see these opportunities as ones to which we attach “feet” to the Gospel and that the Gospel is central to what we are doing.

Your argument might then be, “Well then your motivation is all wrong!” Is it? I can think of no more of a loving thing to do, than to let someone know as I feed them or care for them, that their empty stomach or their broken home is the condition of their heart of sin, that needs to be brought from utter emptiness and brokenness and deadness to repentance and that by repenting and trusting in Christ’s death and resurrection alone, they can be made right with God, as I have been made right with God, in spite of my sin, and hence the reason I am doing what I am doing when I choose to feed and care for them.

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Colossians 3:12-13

Have you heard of Robert’s Rules of Order? First published in 1876, it’s the standard handbook on conducting meetings of self-governing groups. The author, Henry Robert, was asked to preside over a church meeting in 1863, and then was involved in further self-governed meetings. Realizing that there was little agreement on procedure for these meetings, Robert wrote his classic manual.

Many churches rely upon Robert’s Rules for their church meeting procedures, and I’m certain it aids greatly in decision-making. While this book might be useful in conducting church business, I’d like to turn our attention for the next few weeks to another text that doesn’t deal with how we ought to conduct church meetings, but rather with how to conduct ourselves in the church.

We find our manual—or handbook on church relations—nestled in a couple verses in Colossians 3. I think that if believers in Jesus Christ only lived out the few directives in this handbook, churches would be remarkable places. In fact, I would even risk suggesting that churches would be irresistible places. Let’s page through this handbook for the next few minutes.

The first directive we discover in our handbook of church relations is that our hearts are to be characterized by compassion. Biblically, compassion involves an exceedingly deep feeling of concern that motivates toward action. Compassion doesn’t just entail fuzzy feelings. It is a compelling inward attitude that leads us toward actually doing something for another person or persons. Compassion is embodied in the story of the Samaritan man who helped the man wounded by robbers. He saw, he felt, he acted. We’re called to relate to one another in the church in just that way.

The next page in the manual bears the title “kindness.” Kindness involves a gracious attitude toward others. It’s the kindness God expresses that leads people to repentance in Romans 2:4. It’s a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. Perhaps most significantly, it’s the motivating factor in God sending His Son for sinful humanity in Titus 3:4. This isn’t a kind world, but the church is called to stand out in the midst of all that unkindness as a distinctively kind place, a place where we evidence a gracious disposition toward one another.

A third page in our church relations manual has “humility” at top. Humility is a sense of voluntary submission and unselfishness. We can certainly use more of this quality in the church of Jesus Christ. Maybe some of you have heard about the woman who was voted most humble person in America. They gave her a medal and then took it away because she wore it. Humility is a difficult topic in a sense. When we think we have it, we might not. In 3 John 1:9 we read of infamous Diotrephes. What was his problem? That text tells us that he loved to be first. We have many infected with that disease in the church of Jesus Christ. It was a problem then, and it is today.

How do we gauge humility? A little self-analysis is in order at this point. We need some practical evaluation techniques to evaluate our progress in this area. Let me provide some cases in point. When we have a great idea, and everyone forgets it was we who came up with it, and we don’t care, that’s humility in action. When we do something worthy of mention, and no one notices, and that’s okay; again, we’re growing in humility. When we serve faithfully, and no one acknowledges it, praise the Lord, we’re growing in humility. The essence of humility is doing things for Jesus and for Him alone. The attitude of John the Baptist toward the Savior—who might have been seen to be stealing the show—is instructive. In John 3:30, the Baptizer says of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That’s humility.

Compassion. Kindness. Humility. Those are three essentials in the way we as believers in Jesus Christ are called to relate to one another. Let’s think on these this week, and next week, we’ll continue paging through our manual of church relations.

In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Psalm 56:11

I have a crisis orientation. I’m sorry, it’s just the way I look at the world. I live my life anticipating the worst, and repeatedly find myself pleasantly surprised that things come out better than I anticipated. It might be a strange way to live, but it has worked for me.

Today’s verse is about “the worst.” It’s a verse that takes us to the very worst we can experience from a physical standpoint. The worst is wrapped up in David’s rhetorical question, “What can man do to me?” When we think of the question, some of the most terrible things people have inflicted on one another come to mind. Human beings have defrauded, cheated, murdered, slandered, cursed, enslaved, and defiled one another. When we consider history, we discover numerous tragic events. When we survey events like the Holocaust, Gulag, the Killing Fields, and other atrocities too numerous to mention, we can be overwhelmed.

When we consider these dark topics, we recognize that “the worst” that someone can do to us in the physical realm is to torture and kill us. David’s enemies were seeking to do just this to him (Psalm 56:6). David, however, found consolation in God’s protective care for him.

It might be well for us, however, to ask the same question that David did. What can man do to me? The one thing that tops all others is that man can conceivably kill us. Other things fall somewhere short of this. There may be those who would identify extremely difficult living circumstances as things worse than death, but even among those in desperate situations there typically persists a desire for self-preservation.

Jesus identified “the worst” in His teaching in the Luke 12:4. There we read, “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.” People are limited in their ability to harm. The maximum damage they can inflict on us is to take our lives. At the end of the day, however, being killed at the hands of evil men isn’t much.
Paul knew the danger of death on an ongoing basis. He didn’t fear that prospect, however. He talked about his daily threat of dying in 1 Corinthians 15:31 when he said, “I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” In fact, Paul said he welcomed his eventual death as a friend (Philippians 1:21-23). Paul didn’t delight in death because he was suicidal. He delighted in his own demise because he knew that for him, death would be the means of entering into the very presence of Christ.

It is so much like our God to turn things upside-down. He has done just this with death. Something that it seems natural to fear is nothing to fear. Death is a friend to the believer in Christ.

What’s the worst people can do to us? They can take our lives. If we have believed in the Savior, however, our eternity is secure, and that is what ultimately matters. Even “the worst” is nothing to fear.

I love John Owen! That is of course in a purely platonic and posthumous way. He can take phrases that I would definitely put an exclamation point after and just put a period there, as if it were the normal course of the day! (See I did it right there! Dang it, I did it again! I should just leave this alone and get to the point.) Here is the phrase that particularly caught me this morning as I was reading the Mortification of Sin:

lust darkens the mind, extinguishes convictions, dethrones reason, interrupts the power and influences that resist it, and then breaks out into an open flame.

You see right there I would have put and exclamation point. Now when Owen speaks of lust, he does not mean it as sexual sin only, but anything as James says, that when we are tempted we give into and are dragged away by. (James 1:14-15) He is simply describing the power of sin, and what will happen if we do not daily mortify it.

He is writing this in a section describing what mortification is not, but the point that grips me and has been gripping me more than anything, is the idea that we seem to treat sin with inequality. We tend to elevate “public’ sins as those which are more grave and “private” sins as those which are less likely to destroy us. While it is true that the consequences of certain sins are far greater than others, the detriment to our spiritual well being is affected the same.

Lewis Chafer once said, “It may be a secret sin on earth, but it is open scandal in heaven.” This is how we have to view sin. Every sin is an offense to God and we must see it as that, and as a detriment to our fellowship with Him. We tend to measure ourselves against adulterers and murderers and think that in comparison, we aren’t that bad. But the secret sins of the heart, or the “less filthy” like gossip, we think in the end will not be as detrimental. Owens point is if we don’t deal with every sin the same, and with the same severity, we will be brought down, just the same. Maybe not as swiftly, since some do carry greater consequences, but down none the less.

And it is this lust to fulfill the flesh, that does exactly what Owen describes. We justify it because it, darkens our minds to what we know to be true, it diminishes the flame of conviction in our hearts, it takes that which we know to be True and takes it from it’s rightful place, it sets aside the power given to us by God to do battle with it, and then it has free reign in our hearts like a raging forest fire.

No matter the sin, this is what we deal with. The answer is to continually be aware of the tendencies of our heart, and be on guard to deal with it before it gets to this level, by prayer, by meditating on Scripture, and by denying sin at its very first temptation.