Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 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. 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.I've studied this passage before, I've preached on this passage before, but this time I shared it with Jeannette and we asked each other, "Is our home a peaceful place? Does our family enjoy peace? Are we allowing the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts as we relate to each other in marriage, as we parent our children, and as we transition to Tanzania?"
Ouch.
Jeannette and I decided to start memorizing this passage, praying that God would convict us, challenge us, and change us more into the image of Jesus.
So let's start at the beginning. Before Paul gives the commands, he reminds us of who we are in Christ. Our identity in Christ gives us the compelling motivation to obey the commands.
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people."
Before the creation of the world God selected us to be holy in Christ, Ephesians 1:4. God predestined us to be adopted as his children, Ephesians 1:5. God predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus, Romans 8:29. From the beginning God chose us to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit, II Thessalonians 2:13. God chose us to be sanctified by the Spirit and sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, I Peter 1:2.
That's who we are! God selected us. Not because we were good looking. Not because of our good works. Not because we loved Him first. God selected us only because of his magnificent mercy and limitless love. God selected us because he wanted to make much of himself.
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy."
God is holy. God is "other." God is perfectly free from sin. God is light and in him is no darkness. We are sinful, we are blinded by the darkness of sin and Satan. But through the sacrifice and death and resurrection of Jesus, we are holy, Hebrews 10:10. We are holy in God's sight because Jesus took our guilt and sin and darkness onto himself, Colossians 1:22. God credited Christ's righteousness to our account so God sees us as holy. God sees us as clean, pure, and right, because we are in Jesus, covered with the blood of Jesus. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, making us holy, convicting us of sin, renovating our hearts to make us think and act more like Jesus, the Holy One, Romans 8:9-11; I Corinthians 3:16, 6:11.
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved."
We were lost in sin, we were blinded by sin, we were dead in sin, we were enemies of God, but God chose to love us. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), Ephesians 2:4-5. Oh, how He loves us.
This is who we are! We are chosen, we are holy, and we are loved. Our identity in Christ compels us to obey the commands in the following verses.
Stay tuned...
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