The Letter to the Colossian Church- 11

Subtitle: Living out Your New Identity- 2

Colossians 3:12-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 5, 2025.

In the previous section, Paul had given us a list of the things that Christians need to put off, or to take off.  He generally mentioned in verse 10 that we should then put on the new self that is being renewed into the image of Christ.  The section before us gives a summary list of the virtues and character of Christ that we need to put on.  Essentially, we are putting off everything that is not Jesus and putting on everything that is Jesus.  In order to do that, we will need to get to know him by reading the Word of God and by spending time in prayer with him.

Let’s look at our passage.

Those who have been chosen of God (v. 12-14)

Back in verse 1, Paul used the conditional “if” to challenge them.  “If you have been raised with Christ, then set your mind on the things above.”  This was talking about having a heavenly perspective about things on the earth, doing earthly things for God’s purpose.  This is what the Lord’s prayer is getting out.  “Your Kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The conditional is not used to disqualify them, but rather to underline the importance of the command.

In verse 12, he does something similar.  Here, we have, “As those who have been chosen of God, then…”  This has the effect of tying the theological truth (you have been chosen of God) with a practical result in the way we live life- we will get to what that is in a moment.  Our theology should be logically connected to the way we live our life.  Our walk needs to line up with our talk.  We cannot claim to be a child of God while living like the devil.

So, who are these chosen ones?  God has chosen all those who will put their faith in Jesus, the Christ. 

There are some who challenge this understanding of God’s choice.  They believe it puts us in the place of saving ourselves.  They will typically say that the only reason you choose to follow Jesus is because God first chose you individually.  If He had not chosen you, then you would have never truly believed in Jesus.  At least, this is what they would say.  The problem here is that God from eternity past knew who would do what.  Yet, the contention of such theologians is that God chose people without any thought about what they would do.  He sovereignly chose some and didn’t others.  You may appear to choose Christ, but it is only because God first chose you.

I believe this is a misunderstanding of God and of His sovereignty.  All through Scripture, God is calling for us to choose Him.  “Choose this day whom you will serve!”  “Whose on the Lord’s side?  Come over here!”  The Gospel of Jesus is always presented as something we need to believe without coercion.

Thus, the character of God is such that He will not force us to come to Him.  Both because He is loving and because He is just, it is wrong to conceive of God controlling our ability to choose Him.  However, in the name of upholding the sovereignty of God- by saying He controls everything without anything from us- they actually end up limiting the sovereignty of God.  Essentially, they are saying that God cannot be sovereign enough to carve out a place wherein people can be free to choose Him. 

Truly, we cannot save ourselves even by believing.  The only reason faith can save is because God through Jesus did a real work of paying the price for sins.  A simple analogy is that of a meal.  If God never cooked the meal and put the plate in front of us, none of us are capable of feeding (saving) ourselves.  However, when God in His sovereignty cooks the meal, spreads the table, and calls whosoever will respond to eat at His table, the responding person is not saving themselves.  Rather, they are submitting to the sovereign choice of a God who is demonstrating His saving love to them.  When God puts the plate of grace in front of a person, they are able to believe and respond.   We are not save by our faith, but we are saved through it.

Paul further describes them as holy and beloved.  When you put your faith in Jesus, you become holy.  This does not mean that you walk on water and never sin.  A holy person is a person who has been set apart by God for His purposes.  Similar to a holy bowl in the temple of old, an Israelite should never take the holy bowls from the temple in order to impress people they are having over for dinner at their home.  The distinction is that there are common things that we all do, and there are holy things.  Christians are no longer to live their lives like everyone else, the common people.  We are to live our lives solely for the purposes of Christ.  In fact, the New Testament actually increases the concept of being holy because everything in our life becomes holy now.  We are to do all that we do for the purposes, glory, and honor of Christ.

You are also a loved one (beloved) of God.  The word for beloved is speaking of something done in the past that has continuing effects into the present.  You have been dearly loved by God by the work of Jesus Christ and the bringing of salvation to your door. 

In all of these things, being chosen, holy and loved of God, it is not intended to make us look down our noses at those who do not believe.  God’s love calls all to join the chosen and holy community.  He calls all to repent and join those who have stepped into Christ by faith.  Of course, none of us deserve to be in this place of His love.  However, we have been brought in through the work of Jesus and through our faith in him.

This leads up to a “therefore” moment.  Since you are chosen of God, holy and beloved, you should put on some things that we will get to in a moment.  This begins a list of virtues, or rather, the character of Christ.  It is using the language of clothing that was started earlier in the section on the vices we need to “take off.”  We undress our lives of the things of this world, and we dress ourselves with the character of Christ, the image of Christ.  We are taking off the works that our flesh generates and putting on the character and works that the Lord Jesus Christ generates through the Holy Spirit working in us.

Let me take humility- which we will talk about in a bit- for an example.  We are not called to put on humility as we might define it, or as the world defines it.  We are called to put on humility as it is defined by God and especially revealed through the words and actions of the Lord Jesus.  It is His image we are donning.  We look to him to understand the what and the why of humility.

This world loves to give lip service to love, toleration, justice, equality, and inclusivity.  However, the definition of these things, and how they are actually lived out, often lead to a perverted expression of them.  Seeking these things for the sake of saying we are doing them puts us in the driver’s seat.  It is a form of self justification.  Society will continue to adjust the definitions of these things according to the desires of their sinful flesh.  Christians are called to embrace Christ and let his humility be lived through us.

So what are we putting on?  First, we put on a heart of compassion.  There are two words here, even though some translations will translate it with one word.  The first word refers to a deep place in the guts of a person.  It is best translated as heart, but we might get a glimpse of the meaning in our description of “getting the butterflies.”  Notice that we do not speak of the butterflies as being in our heart, but rather our stomach.  So, the type of compassion they are describing comes from a deep place that is deep within you and is accompanied by a feeling in the pit of our stomach.  In this case, it is not the butterflies (nervous excitement of what is ahead).  It is compassion for someone’s predicament.  You did not cause their plight, but their misery has touched something deep within you and motivated you to action.

Compassion is the first word that God uses to describe Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6.  That Hebrew word also has the emphasis on a deep-seated compassion for those in misery.

We want to be careful of only having a heart of compassion for people that we like, or for people in which it is socially acceptable to help.  Putting on the compassion of Christ will put you at a Samaritan well talking to a woman who is very far from God.  The people around you (even the woman herself) may protest that you shouldn’t do this.  However, Christ expressed the great compassion that God the Father had for her by giving her his compassion in the moment.

We are also told to put on kindness.  Kindness somewhat speaks for itself, but it speaks of a general disposition of goodness towards others.  A person who is kind has a kind of default setting.  They are predisposed to being good, benign towards others.

We are to put on humility as we said before.  This is a lowliness of mind towards others (and God).  Our position or standing does not influence the way we speak and deal with people.  We do not approach them as superiors, nor even as equals.  We come with lowliness of mind, knowing that God helps the humble, but resists the proud.

It is easy to think that you are humble when you think about God.  The real test is in our relationships with one another.  When we think we are smarter than others around us, when we compare ourselves to them and think that we are better than them, we will act in ways that are anything but humble.  How smart and how much better than us Is Jesus?  Yet, how humble was he in the face of men who were clearly wicked?  Did you deserve Christ to come down and serve you by taking your place on a cross?  No, you do not; none of us do.  Lay down your pride and judgments and simply serve others for Christ.

We also put on gentleness.  The gentleness of a person says nothing about how strong they are.  Gentleness at its core is not about weakness, but about control of strength so as not to cause injury.  What is true in the physical is also true in the way we approach one another.

Of course, we should remind ourselves that these virtues of Christ are not some kind of law.  When Jesus whipped the men out of the temple, it did not look gentle.  We are to be gentle with one another, but sometimes a strong word and strong action is necessary.  However, it must be the image of Christ and the Spirit of Christ that is governing our words and actions in that moment.

We are to put on patience.  The word here has the idea of a long fuse.  We need to be slow to anger (another virtue that God uses to describe Himself in Exodus 34:6).  You need to take off your short fuse and put on a long fuse, and not long as you define it.  We put on the long fuse of Christ with one another.

In verse 13, Paul moves deeper in the virtues, showing how they lead to virtuous actions.  It is not enough to think virtuous thoughts.  Such virtues will and must always lead to virtuous action.

Bearing with one another is the picture of someone who may need to be carried from time to time.  It is never convenient to have to carry someone, but love compels people to use our strength to help the weak in whatever form it occurs.  In fact, we all need to be carried, whether metaphorically or literally, at times.

What do I mean about a metaphorical carrying?  None of us are perfect, despite the attitude of some.  There is a certain heaviness that others experience in those less than perfect moments.  The choice to either overlook, i.e., not make an issue of something, or to bring up the issue, but with an attitude of love, is a heaviness that others must carry in the presence of my differences from Jesus.  Some of these are sin.  I am disobeying the commands of Christ.  Others are simply offenses.  My personality is grating on yours, and of course, those differences can lead to overt sinful choices.  When we ask for forgiveness and extend forgiveness, we are choosing to carry the weight of one another.  When we step in and help in moments that were even caused by the lack of foresight of the other, we are choosing to carry them.  We should make room for one another by not holding on to the sins and the offenses that others have done to us.  Perhaps we should think of it this way.  Our sinful flesh would rather hold on to the weight of the sins and offenses, never letting go, when Christ would have us drop the list we are keeping and carry a different weight, the burden of love for a person.

The best way to begin carrying a person is to pray for them.  Ask God to change your heart.  Ask Him to help you see what you can say, or not say, do, or not do.  Be committed to a good relationship in the name of Jesus.  Ask for wisdom on how what things should be overlooked as trivialities and what things need to be addressed in love.  Ultimately, be committed to carrying the weight of working things out with a person who may not be easy for you.  In fact, I am sure that all of us have people who have found it hard to carry us in such a way.

Paul’s next point of forgiveness is a natural next point as I mentioned above.  We all need to learn to forgive each other.  Of course, there are times when people persist in belligerence and refuse to get along.  However, Paul is calling us to this commitment of love.  Love forgives.  Love refuses to hold on to a record of wrongs.  Love never quits!

Paul says the same thing in another way.  “Whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”  Think about this.  Did Christ forgive you of your sins because you became perfect?  No.  It was first because he loves you and secondly because you responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  We must be quit to let go of complaints in forgiveness.  If a person refuses to deal with offenses, we are still to move forward by keeping the door open for reconciliation.  Here is a prayer to try.  “Lord, this offended me, and it is hard to let go.  I turn this over to you and trust you with whatever happens.  Let me do only what you want me to do.  Let me say only what you want me to say.”

Verse 14 then states, “Beyond all these things…”  Some versions say “Above all these things…”  Since Paul has been using the language of clothing, it may be better to translate this as “On top of all these things…”  This final thing is like the outer cloak that everyone would recognize as your cloak.  It is the signature touch to getting dressed in the Character of Christ.  We are to put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Thinking of love as if it were clothing may seem strange.  However, it makes sense.  Love is something that is not generally welling up from within our soul.  It is often the conviction of the Holy Spirit pointing us to this thing called love that challenges us to pick it up and clothe ourselves with it.

Although love will help people to have a bond of unity, this most likely refers to love as the virtue that ties all of these character traits together into a bond of perfection, or a unity of full maturity.  If we only contemplated these character traits as individual items on a list, they may be twisted beyond the point.  It is love that teaches us when gentleness must give way to a firmness and perhaps to a harsh word.  All of these things should be seen as facets of love which ties them all together into a perfect man, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Love is being committed to the good and well-being of another as God defines it.  Jesus said it best.  “Love one another as I have loved you!”

How did Jesus love us?  He did it with his whole heart, even when it hurt, sacrificially, undeniably, outwardly, etc., etc., etc.  He is calling us to love one another this way.

Some further exhortations (15-17)

In verse 15, Paul gives them an imperative. However, it is an imperative about letting something happen to you that God will do, if you yield.  You are the question here, not God.

We are told to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  The word for “rule” here has the idea of an umpire.  In other words, let the peace of Christ have such a position in your heart and mind that it is calling the shots and grading our attempts.

The Colossians were dealing with some men who were coming into their church and making judgments about how they were serving Christ and what they believed.  Some disconcerted Colossians were listening to these men and following their judgments.  Yet, Paul knew that these men were leading them into the philosophies of men and the legalism of religionists.

This admonition to let the peace of Christ call the shots in your life would be a protection against those who would try to trouble our hearts about whether we were acceptable to God or following Him correctly.

The peace of Christ can be seen in different ways.  First, it is the peace that Jesus creates between us and God the Father.  In Jesus, we can know that God the Father does not see us as an enemy.  He sees you as His child.  This knowledge can be a protection when others try to scare you about how God sees you.

However, the peace of Christ can also be seen as something that is an internal experience.  Just as Jesus stood up in the boat and cried, “Peace!  Be still!,” so we have many times when we need the Spirit of Christ to silence the internal troubled waters.  This comes as we spend time in prayer, seeking His wisdom and direction.

Finally, the peace of Christ can also be the external experience that believers have between one another. In the context of this passage, all of these have their place.  They work in a three part combination.  My relationship with God the Father leads to an inner experience, which can then lead to working for the external peace between brothers and sisters.  We have been called to this peace of Christ in one body (vs 15) by One Lord and One Spirit!

This is the work that the Spirit of God will do and is even now doing in our fellowship with one another.  However, you, I, need to cooperate with this purpose of His.

He qualifies this activity with the phrase, “and be thankful.”  This is the first of three times that he reminds the Colossians (us) to do these things while also being thankful.  Have you ever done something you were supposed to do, but with the wrong heart, perhaps begrudgingly?  Yes, we need to work for peace between us, but we need to do so without complaining to God about others.  Yes, this is hard, but God is in it.  Trust Him!  Give thanks that you are not doing this by yourself.  You are partnering with One who is greater than anything you may face!  Give thanks!

The second thing that we need to let happen is that we need to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.  The Word of Christ is firstly the Scriptures.  Not just the words that are in red, but the whole thing.  All Scripture is God-breathed, and the spirit of prophecy is Jesus.  Read it and bring it into your heart and mind.  Take ownership of this need to have God’s Word dwelling in you.  Yes, churches and pastors are handy, but take time to go further.  Ask God for a love of His Word.  The idea of the Word dwelling richly in our hearts has to do with the fruitfulness of the Word of God.  It is a seed that is intended to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Take time to prepare the soil of your heart.  Till up the hard parts, roll out the big rocks, and spend some time weeding in your heart so that God’s Word may be fruitful in your life.  This is its normative effect.  This is why we do not read the word as a mere exercise in quantity.  Rather, we spend time praying about what we read and meditating on it.  We spend time fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit over what the Word is saying to us.

Paul adds to do this with all wisdom.  This does not mean our wisdom, but the wisdom of Christ.  This too is a part of our prayers and meditations.  They had received wisdom about the Scriptures from Christ and his apostles.  When others come along later and try to trouble the waters, wisdom would say to be careful.  You already have everything you need in Christ.  Turn back to Him instead of looking to a man on this earth.

He continues telling them to be teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  Of course, we can teach and admonish without singing, but there is something about singing that takes God’s Word to the next level.  In some ways, it is a spiritual warfare that pushes out the enemy.  It is easy to say words that you don’t believe, but it is much harder to sing them.  In fact, a person may begin singing half-heartedly, but songs have a way of lifting us and calling us to a higher place of worship. 

Yet, notice the second occurrence of thankfulness.  “Singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  In the midst of heavy brothers, offenses, and forgiveness, in the midst of attempts to take off cruddy clothing and to put on the attire of Christ, we can sing with thankfulness and gusto because we are doing it for Christ!  He ain’t heavy; He’s my brother!  How can a heart sing this, say this, without first coming to grips with the Lord who has carried us all and made us to be brothers to Himself?  Even in the midst of stony hearts and hurtful actions, we can be thankful that the God is working out His salvation in us and through us!

Singing to Christ about the glories of who He is, what He has done, and how we are called to be like Him, can drive the devil out of a situation and put our hearts in the right way.

Verse 17 then becomes a summation to this section.  “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Everything I do or say should be done in the name of Jesus.

What does that mean?  “In the name” speaks to doing these things in His place.  You are to be Him in the lives of others.  Your goal should be to let Jesus do through you what He would do if He were there.  It also has the idea of doing it in the reputation of Christ.  Everything we do can affect how people see Christ.  Of course, this can be intimidating because we are not perfect.  Still, I am representing Him and should not act in such a way to dishonor Him.  What do I do if I have acted selfishly and not as Christ would have me?  Be honest.  Confess your error and ask for forgiveness.  Point people to the truth of Christ rather than yourself.

Finally, “in the name” also speaks to doing these things in His purpose, as an ambassador, and as a service unto Him.  If we were more conscious of this in everything we said and did, we would be far more circumspect in our actions towards one another.

He then reminds us for the third time to be “giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”   How can we get a heart like this, a heart that does tough stuff with a thankful and cheerful heart?  We can only get it from Jesus, one day at a time, one dying to self at a time.  May God help us to truly believe that He can help to transform our hearts over time and lead us in living out the image of God that He so perfectly revealed and is even now inspiring within us.

New Identity 2 audio