Col

Col. 3:15-17

8/19/2007

“Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly”

We get used to things. The initial excitement that something new brings does not last very long. We get obsessed about something, feeling as though our life were suspended, as though our happiness would be incomplete without it. Then we finally get it and, the moment we get it, we sense that we are not as excited as we thought we would be. And soon that thing that we obsessed over ends up in our closet or in our garage somewhere, collecting dusts. Yet we foolishly go on to something else to get obsessed about, going through the same pattern--from obsession and unhappiness to acquisition and disappointment and oblivion. You wonder how the Israelites could have ever gotten used to the manna that rained down from heaven every morning (except on the Sabbath day, of course), and that, to the point of complaining and grumbling about it. This goes to show that we can get used to even miracles.

This presents a serious challenge for our spiritual life, doesn't it? When we placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we sing, "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see!" "O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemers' praise; the glories of our God and King, the triumphs of His grace!" But we get used to God's grace, too, as the Israelites got used to the manna. God's saving grace goes from amazing to mundane and expected and taken for granted. The initial excitement is gone. The joy of salvation is dried up. When was the last time you sang from your heart, "Jesus, the very thought of Thee with sweetness fills my breast!" When was the last time your eyes got teary with warm gratitude for His saving grace! We get used to God's grace. Consequently, we get used to God's word. We get used to the church. We get used to the preaching. We get used to the Sacraments. In fact, we get bored by them all!

What are we to do, then? God's answer is very clear: Remember! Remember! All throughout Israel’s history, God called them to remember what He had done for them, how He had delivered them from their slavery in Egypt with His mighty hand. They were to renew their faithfulness to the Lord by remembering the very beginning of their covenant relationship with their God. The same applies to us in the new covenant. Peter said, recognizing that his time of departure is drawing near, “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder…” (2 Pet. 1:12-13). Jesus Himself said in His letter to the church in Ephesus, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Rev. 2:4-5). He is calling them to renew their first love by remembering how it was when they began their Christian journey. It is not that we start at the highest point and the rest of our Christian life is all about not falling from there. As we progress in our Christian life and knowledge, so should our understanding of “the beginning” deepen more and more every time we remember it.

We live in the era of the new covenant. The church has existed in this era for the past two thousand years. Can the freshness of this new era be felt even now? Yes, by going back to the Scripture and hearing again from its writers their sense of awe and exhilaration as they witnessed the dawning of the new era. Even in our passage for today, even in v. 16, we are given many indications of the new era inaugurated.

Paul calls on the Colossian Christians, on all Christians, to let the word of Christ dwell in their hearts. Notice: Paul here speaks of the word of Christ--not the word of God, not the Law of God, but the word of Christ! Even this shows that something new is happening.

What is the word of Christ? It is at least the word spoken by Christ during His earthly ministry, testified and proclaimed by the Apostles. But it is likely that the word of Christ includes much more. Take a look at Rom. 10:7, which has the only other occurrence of this phrase in the entire New Testament: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Here “the word of Christ” seems to represent the apostolic preaching concerning Jesus Christ. Then what did the apostolic message consist of? Just the actual words spoken by Jesus? No. The Apostles not only taught what Jesus said and did but they also spoke of what the Scriptures testified concerning Him as they are fulfilled in His life, death and resurrection! After all, the word of Christ is the word of the promised Messiah, prophesied in the Scriptures. Jesus told the Pharisees in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me….” Insofar as the Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament to us) bear witness of Christ, they are the word of Christ.

Indeed, the word of Christ cannot be separated from the Old Testament Scriptures. As we read in Heb. 1:1, 2, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son….” The word of Christ, the word of the incarnate Son of God, is the culmination of what God spoke previously through the prophets at many times and in many ways. The word of Christ is what concludes and completes God’s revelation through the ages. So we read in our passage, too, that the word of Christ dwelling richly in us produces the singing of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (v. 16). These words may refer to the particularly “Christian songs of praise” (BDAG). But seen in the light of what has been said, they cannot exclude the Old Testament Psalms. Now the entire Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments, can be referred to as the word of Christ because they testify concerning Christ, because it can be truly understood only in the light of Christ. So Paul said in 2 Cor. 3:14, “For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.” So then, the new era of a clearer vision has arrived in Jesus Christ. The Word of God can be called the word of Christ because all of God’s promises in His word were about Christ and are fulfilled in Christ!

And Paul goes on to tell the Colossians that they are to let the word of Christ dwell in them--another indication of a new age. Who were they? They were Gentiles in the flesh. Having been “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise” (Eph. 2:12), they did not have the benefit of the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2), meaning the word of God. Think about what must have filled their minds and hearts in that condition, at a time long before any universal education! Folklores and myths, gossips and rumors, false religions and superstitions, which kept them in great fear! Even those who were educated had their minds filled with worldly, man-centered philosophies and sophistries. But what are the philosophies of man before the wisdom of God? And where are the debaters of the world? What good are their theories and ideas, philosophies and moralities? The wise of the world may gain the applause and accolades of men. But can their philosophies and wisdom earn God’s approval and justification? No! The word of God declares that the world failed to know God through its wisdom (1 Cor. 1:20)! Their philosophies, as clever as they may be, are nothing more than arguments and lofty opinions raised up against God! How abominable to God must be all the human philosophies that deny His sovereign authority and exalt man as the ultimate standard of wisdom and truth! They deserve to be destroyed and will be destroyed by the wisdom of God! How tragic it is, then, to have one’s mind filled with such things that deny God and oppose His truth! They are destined to be destroyed and humiliated! And all who do not have the truth of God’s word are filled with the falsehood of man and Satan. And that is how we were.

But a new era has dawned upon them and us, who were once Gentiles in the flesh! In this new era, the word of Christ, the word of God, can dwell in us, whose minds and hearts were once filled with the worthless things in the sight of God, the things that are indeed abominable to God and fully deserving of His judgment! Oh, what a privilege it is to have the word of Christ dwell in us! For Jesus Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life. He is the power of God and the wisdom of God. As Jesus Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God, so all the wisdom and power of God are found in His word. As Jesus Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life, so we find the way to God, the truth of God and the life of God in His word. This doesn’t mean, of course, that we can know everything about everything through the word of Christ. But it does mean that what we know is the truth of God. And God has revealed all that we need to know for our faith and life in His word. Man’s pursuit of truth without God’s revelation is like a mouse trying to figure out the pattern of a vast, intricate maze, except that the labyrinth of life with its unexpected turns and misleading trails is infinitely more complex. But the word of Christ as the culmination of God’s revelation gives us the truth of God, on which we can stake our life both in this world and in the world to come!

Paul tells us that, in this new era, we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us. To dwell means to make a permanent residence. The word of Christ is to dwell in us--that is, to make its permanent residence in us. That means that the word of Christ cannot be just a passing, temporary guest in our hearts. Guests come and go. They're here one day and they're gone the next. Not so with a permanent resident. He is always there. He is supposed to be there all the time. When he is gone, his absence is keenly felt. You know what it's like to have your husband or wife or your children gone for a few days--how empty the house feels. The word of Christ must be a permanent resident in our hearts. Of course, in human situation, not even permanent residents can stay home all the time. We cannot help but go away from time to time, to work or to travel or to just take a walk. But it is different with the word of Christ. It does not have to go away to take care of some other business. Its business is to stay and dwell in us.

Of course, we cannot make the word of Christ dwell in us. Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord of creation, history, redemption and consummation. As He is sovereign, sovereign also is His word. We cannot capture it and tame it and drag it into our hearts to make it dwell there by force. We may be able to read it, memorize it and grow familiar with it with our intellect and persistent will. But we cannot make it dwell in us and have it produce its intended effects in our lives. The word of Christ, as it is sovereign, will not make its dwelling in us without its sovereign initiative. We cannot have it dwell in us unless it chooses to dwell in us, unless it sovereignly and graciously grants us the privilege of its indwelling. Praise the Lord that this command of Paul’s presupposes that the word of Christ can and desires to makes in dwelling it us!

But there is a crucial barrier that has to be taken care of first: our sinful nature and our sins. For Paul’s command in v. 16 has in mind not just any kind of dwelling but a very specific kind, not just a mere presence but a particular manner of presence. The manner of its indwelling must fit its character and worth. For the word of Christ is not just any word; it is the word of Christ. We all know that the weightiness of a person’s word is directly proportional to his dignity. Think about the difference between your classmate asking you to do something and your favorite professor, who happens to be a Nobel Laureate, asking you to do the same thing. The two might have asked you in exactly the same words but you can imagine the difference between the impact of one versus the other’s. How can we measure the supreme dignity of Christ and the honor and respect His word deserves from us? He is the eternal Son of God, who is the Way and the Truth and the Life. What Nobel Laureate can match His dignity? He made us and He knows us perfectly. He is the sovereign Lord of history and He holds in His hands our life and our future. “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:18, NASB, 1977).

So then, the word of Christ cannot be simply present somewhere in our hearts, somewhere in an obscure corner away from the center stage, from the forefront of our consciouness. Think about the exalted identity and supreme worth of Christ’s word. Its presence--no, its sovereign authority--must be felt at all times in our life. Everything we do, whether in word or deed, must be done in obedience to the word of Christ. If so, how can the word of Christ dwell in our hearts in that way when we are still in sinful rebellion against God and His sovereign authority? John Milton’s Satan said after his fall from glory, “Better to reign in hell than to serve in heav’n!” There is the reason that so many people reject the free offer of the gospel. If heaven were nothing more than the Club Med in heaven, why would anyone refuse to go there? But, ah, heaven is not just Club Celestial but the kingdom of God. It is where God reigns supreme and that is something that the arrogance of the sinful man just cannot accept--they would rather suffer in hell than to bow down to God. And the very essence of sin is man’s God-complex--that is, for a mere creature to live and think as though he were in control of his own life and destiny. Isn’t that the grandest illusion--when we come into this world without our choice and we go out in the same way? “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood” (Isa. 10:15)!

So then, for the word of Christ to dwell in us richly, our sin problem has to be dealt with first. And how did Christ take care of this most urgent and fundamental problem of ours? He did it by paying for our sins and by doing on our behalf what we failed and refused to do! Our sin was the sin of pride and arrogance. We said in our hearts, to borrow the words of the king of Babylon, “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isa. 14:13, 14)! What is the punishment for exalting oneself over God? “But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit” (Isa. 14:15, NASB 1977), declares the Lord! Do you see the play on words? The king of Babylon attempted to seat himself on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north--that is, a very high place according to an ancient expression. So God punishes him with a reversal: he would be thrust into the far reaches of the pit.

And if that is the punishment we deserve for our arrogance and pride, what did Christ have to do? He had to be thrust into the far reaches of the pit, to the very pit of hell itself! And praise God that He was willing to do this for us and did it for us in history! “[T]hough he was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8). And because Christ humbled Himself to the point of death--indeed, to the lowest pit of hell--God raised Him from the dead and restored Him to His former glory at the right hand of God, now as the Redeemer Lord of His people! That was the way it was supposed to be in the kingdom of God: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt. 23:12)! And Jesus did it for us although He is the God of all glory, because we in our sinfulness refused to do so!

Do you see what is going on? As sinners, we were busy trying to put ourselves above God--our faulty ideas above God’s eternal truth, our provincial opinions above God’s infallible word, our sinful desires above God’s law. Yet, while we were yet sinners, while we rebelled against God in despicable arrogance, Christ the Son of God humbled Himself to pit of hell, the Prince of life laying down His precious life for us wretches sinners. “Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered; / the slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered. / For our atonement, while we nothing heeded, / God interceded” (“Ah, Holy Jesus!”)! Redeemed by such unspeakable humility of the Son of God, how can we hold on to our sinful pride and arrogance, to the ridiculous delusion of our autonomy and self-sufficiency? Through His death and resurrection Christ not only took away the guilt and punishment of our sins; He also removed all the basis of our arrogance and pride before God and others. We have no right to be proud, no right to indulge in arrogance. Not only that, Christ through His death and resurrection gives the promise and the hope that those who humble themselves in the likeness of His death will also be exalted in the likeness of His resurrection. And through His death and resurrection, He cleansed us of our sinful pride and arrogance and made us fit to be the dwelling place of His word. We cannot make the word of Christ dwell in us. The command is given because the word of Christ can and desires to dwell in us. Look how far Christ was willing to go just to let His word dwell in you.

Brothers and sisters, does the word of Christ dwell in you richly? By now you know that I am not asking whether the word of Christ is present in your heart. For if you have placed your trust in Christ, the word of Christ has taken a permanent residence in your heart. My question is whether or not the word of Christ dwells in your life in a manner that is fitting to its dignity and worth as the word of Christ. Because it is the word of Christ, it deserves your double obedience and double allegiance. For as the word of Christ, it is more than just the word of your Creator God, who made you and gave you life; as the word of Christ, it is the word of your gracious Redeemer. If we cannot take lightly the word of our Creator God, how about the word of Christ, our wonderful Savior? The word of Christ cannot be said to dwell in us without our obedience, at least not in its proper manner of dwelling.

How are you doing with the word of Christ, the word of your dear Savior, whose love for you drove Him to the cross, all the way to the pit of hell? His word comes from a heart that is full of love and compassion and desire for you--for your time, for your attention, for your obedience. Have you gotten used to the word of such a wonderful Savior? Worse yet, have you gotten so used to His word that you can go on without reading it for days and weeks and not feel any need for it? And when you do read it, it does nothing for you? To borrow from the Westminster Confession of Faith, you don’t embrace His promises as yours and continue on with your anger, bitterness, depression and despair? You have no desire to yield obedience to His commands? You don’t tremble at His warnings and threatenings? That cannot be normal. That is not OK. Don’t rationalize it. Don’t excuse yourself for it. You are in a very, very dangerous place in your spiritual life if your heart feels no need for Christ’s word. In your pilgrim journey, you may be led astray into the City of Spiritual Complacency and Arrogance, or into the dry Wilderness of Hardened Heart, or you may be sleeping in the Arbor of Indifference to your great peril.

Go back to the beginning and remember what it was like then, at the time of your first love--how you could not get enough of His word, how you pored over it chapter after chapter, book after book, because you could not believe how sweet His word was to you, because His word spoke to you of His sweet and amazing grace to you, of the new age in which you now share in the eternal inheritance of the Son of God! Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly! One word from Him can bring light into darkness. One word from Him can calm the storms of the sea. One word from Him can raise to life those who are dead in trespasses and sins. One word from Him can fell that hideous serpent of old. What a blessing and privilege to have the word of Christ dwell in us! Let it bring the light of heaven into the darkness of your soul! Let it speak peace to your raging heart! Let it mortify your sins and the sinful desires of your heart! Let it feed your hungry soul! Let it quell your thirst! Let it lead you away from the paths of destruction toward heaven, toward the kingdom of eternal glory! Let it guide you away from the deceptions of Satan and the lies and spins of man toward the infallible and eternal truth, on which you can stake your eternal life! Let the word of Christ replace the temporary, perishable life of this world with the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, renewing its power, glory and joy day after day, morning after morning, through all eternity! Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly! Take every opportunity to read His word and meditate on it! Take every opportunity to learn and deepen your knowledge! And make your every thought, every word and every action captive to the obedience to Christ and His word (2 Cor. 10:5)!

This is only one half of the message on this command. Because of time I had to cut it in half. Next week, Lord willing, we will address the other half. This message is not complete without it. I hope you will look forward to the conclusion of this message and rejoice in the abundant richness of Christ’s word. As we do so, let us look forward to the time when Christ’s word will dwell in us richly and perfectly without any hindrance from our disobedience and half-hearted allegiance.