Lay Speaking Sermon given in May of 2019
Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV)
12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
We all have our own morning routines. Some like to start the day with a cup of coffee. Others prefer hot tea. Some make eating breakfast a daily habit. Others skip what many say is the most important meal of the day. Some jump right in and make their bed as soon as they arise. Others say, “It’s just going to get messed up again tonight, so why bother?” But there is one activity that I can say with 100% certainty that is on every one of our morning check lists. We all get dressed. We all go either to our closet or dresser and decide what we are going to wear that day. Each of you sitting here today made a decision about what clothes you were going to put on to come to church today. Some of you over-achievers and super organizers may have planned it last night. Some may have waited until this morning and made a leisurely decision on which outfit to adorn yourself with. And some of you, especially if there are any parents with kids, may have been rushed and kind of made a quick run through and thought, “Hey, that’s clean and appropriate – it will work,” and made a mad dash to get ready in a hurry. Now, don’t start eyeing your neighbor to see if you can decide which camp they belong to. Or, start judging or criticizing their particular choice of outfit today. For what it’s worth, every one here today made the one correct choice this morning that truly matters. You chose to attend church this morning to share in a time of worship with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen?
So, we have determined that we all reached into our physical closet and made a decision to clothe ourselves physically. But, how many of you reached into your spiritual closet this morning and adorned yourselves with the spiritual clothes that in today’s Scripture Paul is encouraging the Colossians to clothe themselves in? For that matter, how many of you have even acknowledged or considered that we all possess a spiritual closet to choose clothes out of on a daily basis?
Paul tells his readers that they should clothe themselves with: Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Meekness, Patience, and Love.
Today, I want us to think about how we can use our daily habit of dressing ourselves physically to help us to remember to consistently dress ourselves spiritually as well. So, we are going to explore why we choose to wear what we do and how that parallels with the importance of choosing these spiritual garments. Then we are going to examine each spiritual clothing item a little closer by seeing how Jesus first modeled them and how we can apply them to our daily walk.
There are a multitude of factors that go into choosing what we are going to wear on any given day. I’ve chosen three of those today to focus on.
First, sometimes our purpose for choosing an outfit hinges on the fact that we want to stand out and be noticed. When going for a job interview, people like to dress well – they are hoping to stand out among the other job applicants. Another example, is a bride on her wedding day. The unspoken rule is to not out-shine the bride on her special day. I’ve even heard stories of Bridezillas who intentionally choose less flattering bridesmaid dresses so as to not worry about being upstaged. How does this translate to our spiritual closet? I started today’s Scripture at verse 12 of Chapter 3. If we back up a little bit and read the preceding section, we see this whole chapter is addressing New Life in Christ and what that should look like in a believer. Verse 9 says in part, “seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self.” As Christians, in this world it is important to stand out from the world and be noticed as something different. Not for pride’s sake or to receive compliments, but so that those who have not yet received Christ’s salvation will see something different in us. Paul tells them they are no longer living the same life as before. Thus, their actions, attitudes, words, and deeds should look different. So our spiritual wardrobe helps us stand out.
A second factor that can often play into our physical wardrobe choice depends on the issue of safety from our environment or the elements. Wearing shorts for a hike through woods full of briars and thorns does not make for a pleasant outing. Some job sites require employees to wear steel toed shoes. Additionally, wearing your winter attire of woolen sweaters, gloves, and snow clothes during a 100 degree heat wave in Summer can cause heatstroke, while wearing Summer attire of shorts and t-shirts in minus degrees temps can set you up for frostbite. Again, how does this translate into our spiritual closet? These spiritual clothes that Paul is encouraging us to wear keep us safe from sinning and falling back into our old ways. Our acceptance of Christ’s redeeming work on the Cross gives us the assurance of our salvation. But, even living in this new life of Christ dangers still abound. If we aren’t intentional and constantly striving to live “as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved” as Paul calls his readers in verse 12, then we become susceptible to falling back into old ways and giving into our sinful nature. We can end up bruised and injured and not living within the fullness of life that God offers us in the here and now. So, our spiritual wardrobe protects us and keeps us safe.
A third purpose or factor that at times goes into our physical wardrobe choices is our desire for unity with other like-minded individuals. Perhaps we are attending an athletic event and we choose a shirt that identifies us as a fan of a particular team. Churches often order specially designed shirts for members to wear to identify they belong together when either sponsoring or attending an event. My own church right now is in the midst of planning our 125th Anniversary Homecoming celebration. We are ordering shirts now to commemorate that event. So, how does this factor relate to our spiritual wardrobe? When we wear our clothing of Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Meekness, Patience, and Love we are showing our unity with Christ. As I said earlier these things help us to stand out in the world. So when the world asks us how we came to possess this particular brand of living, we can point them to Christ and let them know about His saving power and grace.
Retailers that offer clothing for sale use mannequins in their stores and live models in their print and television ads to show us what their clothes look like when worn. I don’t know about you, but the clothes never look as good on me as they look on the models. In regards to this spiritual clothing that Paul is writing about, we also have a model who shows us what these attitudes, or clothes, look like in action. I mean it’s only common sense that since this passage is about New Life in Christ, that Christ himself would be who we look to as our example.
Jesus Clothed Himself in Compassion
Matt 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Matt 14:14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and had compassion for them and cured their sick.
Matt 15:32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”
Matt 20:34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him.
There are people today that feel harassed and helpless.
There are people today who are sick and in need of healing.
There are people today who are hungry and in need of food.
There are people today who are blind and need to be shown Jesus so that they can see the truth.
When we see these people we too should look upon them with compassion just as Jesus did for the people of his day.
Clothe Yourself in Compassion.
Jesus Clothed Himself in Kindness
The Woman at the Well. Jesus spoke to the woman that was scorned by the rest of her community. She came to draw water at a time when no one else was there because of that scorn and rejection. Jesus looked beyond what she had done and saw what she could become.
The Woman Caught in Adultery. By all rights according to the law, Jesus could have allowed the people to stone this guilty person. He chose to forgive her instead and give her a second chance.
Zacchaeus. As a tax collector for the Romans, Zaacchaues was not popular or be-friended by those of his community. Jesus sought him out and chose to spend time with him at his house.
There are people today who feel they are on the outskirts of society. They feel pushed away by everyone else.
There are people today who, though they have committed wrongs, need forgiveness and a second chance and not punishment.
There are people today who feel friendless and would love to be recognized and visited.
Clothe Yourself in Kindness.
Jesus Clothed Himself in Humility
Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. Several of them balked at this initially. They were uncomfortable with being served in such a manner instead of serving their leader.
We often warn ourselves and others about being too prideful. There is nothing inherently wrong about being proud of your accomplishments and achievements. It’s okay to receive compliments and pats on the the back for a job well done.
The danger comes when one starts expecting such treatment all the time or feeling entitled and deserving.
Jesus showed that true leadership involves serving others instead of expecting to be served.
Clothe Yourself in Humility.
Jesus Clothed Himself in Patience
Jesus was very patient with his disciples. Even when they were slow in understanding his teachings. Even when they exhibited doubt in what he was able to do. He never quit teaching them. He never gave up on them. He continued to encourage them up to his final moments with them.
People often assume that patience is an act of sitting back and quietly accepting what is occurring around you. That is not the case. Jesus showed frustration with the actions of his disciples. He sometimes got exasperated with them. But he didn’t give up on them.
Patience is an act of Endurance or Hopeful Forbearance.
Endurance implies struggle. Hopeful Forbearance means bearing things out with hope for a positive outcome.
In our Scripture today, verse 13 Paul even says, “Bear with one another.”
Learn to be patient with others. Learn to be patient with yourself. You will have frustrations. You will get exasperated. But by not giving up hope and by promising to endure through the struggles, you will be rewarded in the end.
Clothe Yourself in Patience.
Jesus Clothed Himself in Love
Paul leaves this article of clothing until the end. In fact, he doesn’t include it in the initial list. Instead he says, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Above all. This tells us that although those other articles are important, this is the most important one of all. This final article binds or ties everything else together.
We just completed our Easter celebrations several weeks ago. The work Jesus did on the Cross was in fact the most important of all. All these other virtues and attitudes he modeled for his disciples and for us were and are worthy pursuits. But his Love for us – a Love so intense that he was willing to take on our guilt and sin – is the ultimate act.
We are to love others as Christ loved us. Christ sacrificed his life. We can sacrifice our life to others in service and in love.
Clothe Yourself in Love.
I urge you that when you start your day each morning to imagine that you have a spiritual closet within your home. And as you take the time to dress in the physical clothes you decide to wear that day, you pause and reflect on this act of adorning yourself. And with each article of clothing pause and imagine that you are also putting on these spiritual articles of clothing as well.
Clothe yourself with Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Meekness, Patience, and Love.
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