PUT ON THE NEW MAN – TENDER MERCY – LOVE
By Pastor Paulus Budiono
Johor, Sunday, May 19, 2019
Shalom,
We are followers of Jesus; therefore, we need to follow His will rather than our own will. We must set our eyes on Him and on His will. What does the Lord want from us? Colossians 3:12-17 said, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Let us be honest that we often read the Bible out of obligation; we are relieved and thankful that we have read the Bible but we forget about all those verses afterward. For example: The conjunction “so” is to link verse 11 with verse 12. Do we still remember verse 11 that we have read previously?
Who are God's chosen people? They are not just leaders and the Colossians but all of us chosen by Him. If we are in one body, we will take more care in every will that God told us to do. Illustration: a participant who is in a competition will give all his time and effort to do his best; whereas a participant who does not participate in the competition will be ignorant if it does not interest him.
What does the Lord want from His sanctified and beloved chosen people? To wear our ‘clothes’. What is it for? Initially, because of human’s transgression (Genesis 3:21). Up to now, all human beings who know about manner etiquette will wear decent clothes – the color and the pattern that are appropriate for us.
Speaking about “put on”, Colossians wrote it up to three times:
- Put on the new man (Colossians 3:9-10) → faith
We ought to have faith to become a new man.
We couldn’t possibly wear our old clothes inside while putting on our new ones outside. The unpleasant smell of the old one will penetrate though we try to eliminate it with perfumes. So, it is proven that ‘old clothes’ which remain hanging on will ruin our ‘new ones’. That is why we have to throw away/ leave behind our old beings to be able to wear the new ones.
The high priest Joshua was standing before an Angel of the Lord while Satan stood on his right hand to contend and accuse him because Joshua was wearing filthy garment. The devil saw it and judged him so that the high priest Joshua could not do his job inside the Tabernacle. Upon seeing the condition of Joshua’s clothing, the Angel of the Lord commanded him to remove his iniquity and He clothed him with rich robes (Zecharia 3:1-5). Satan could not do anything because of the presence of the Angel.
Implication: The old garment that we keep inside will ruin our Christianity and ministries. Although we could hide it from people, the Lord and Satan could see it clearly. Therefore, let’s not wear ‘old garments’ in our marriage, nor in our daily lives.
The fact is that we are sinners and rebels from the beginning. We are like unclean things and all our devout and righteousness are like filthy rags. We all fade as leaves and vanish with our iniquities blown away by the wind. (Isaiah 64: 6-7). In other words, our old garments will fade as time goes by and be prepared to be destroyed.
Newly-bought clothes will be worn out in a few months and it will no longer be bright as the colours will fade. We shall not let the clothes of our hearts be decent and clean today but filthy the following week! We shall also not take pride in ourselves that 10 years ago we were diligent and faithful servants of God but now become reluctant and unfaithful with thousands of excuses! We have to put on the new man always renewed from day to day (Colossians 3:10) because we have been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27).
Introspection: Are we wearing the garment of Christ wherever we are so that other people can see Jesus Christ through us?
- Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering (v. 12) → hope
We put on the holy garment after we believe and have been baptized. We can put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering after we throw away the anger, wrath, blasphemy, filthy language and lies (vv. 8-9).
The new garment of tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering must be the ‘uniform’ and ‘dress code’ of the children of God that shows contrast with the filthy and worn-out ‘fleshly garment’.
This new garment will be the ‘dress code’ so that we can remind each other whenever we stain it with our weakness.
Introspection: Will a husband as the head of the household be willing to accept the criticism from a wife if she finds a ‘stain’ in his life garment? Has he put on tender mercies so that he can accept her criticism with forbearance?
Everyone has different background and character but then we were changed into new beings by putting on Christ so that there are no more racial, social, academic, economic differences and so forth because Christ is all in all (Colossians 3:11). With this, there will be unity between all of those differences. For example: the Jews demanded a miracle, the Greek was looking for wisdom; circumcised and uncircumcised people → linked to their religion; barbarian and Scythian → having rough or soft characters; all of these can be united with the work of the Lord. Just like the parts of the body having organs and cells with their respective functions but all work as one and in unity because that was how God created us.
We must admit that it is challenging to practice tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering. That’s why Jesus asks us to learn from Him for He is gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). We must bear with one another and forgive one another (Colossians 3:13). Didn’t Jesus give an example by not punishing them who had crucified Him but asked the Father to forgive them (Luke 23:34)? To be honest, it is not easy to forgive those who are close to us (husbands, wives, childrens, friends) who hurt us but let’s learn to do what He wants us to do. The Lord allows us to meet and get along with people from different characters and cultures simply to shape us to be new men. Through those differences we could be united and forgive one another through Jesus’ sacrifice.
- Put on love (v.14) → perfection
Love only exists in Jesus for God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). We could sacrifice, preach and prophesy but without love, everything will be in vain (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Love never ends (1 Corinthians 13:8) and it unites and make us perfect as well (Colossians 3:14).
As it turns out, sanctification is to express love. The Lord said to the Laodiceans, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent!” (Revelation 3:19).
In facing various struggles with people from different cultures, characters, ages, backgrounds added with their own struggles, love here will be one thing that unites them all.
The fact is that we can catogorize people based on their clothing. For example: the uniforms of doctors, soldiers, students, government’s staff, all have their own characterization. It was written in Ephesians 6:11 that we should put on the whole armor of God so that people know whether we are obedient soldiers who can use our weapons well or not. For example: students who wear STTIA uniforms must know the rules in STTIA and obey them.
Furthermore, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful (Colossians 3:15). We cannot imagine if our hearts are ruled by His peace!
Human needs peace; that’s why before Jesus went up to Heaven He promised His students, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
Jesus’ disciples were confused and scared to see their teacher died; on Sunday night they gathered in one place behind locked doors. Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you! (John 20:19). Jesus had said peace to them twice (v. 21) and they were calmed because peace was upon them. Then they started telling Thomas, who was not with them at that time, that they had seen Jesus but he didn’t believe it before he himself saw and put his finger into the print of nails in His hands and put his hand into His side (vv. 24-25). Jesus was good that 8 days later while the disciples along with Thomas were inside the locked house, Jesus came and stood amidst them and said, “Peace to you!” (v.26)
Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:5); if He stays in our hearts, only peaceful words will come out from our mouths instead of anger and curse.
If Jesus’ words with all His wisdom and richness live in us → the 12 breads on the Table of Showbread, we are able to learn and reprimand while singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs → The Gold Lampstand (Colossians 3:16). And let everything we do and say be in the name of Jesus Christ while giving thanks to God our Father (v.17) → The Altar of Burnt Offering.
Application: A heart that is full with the word of God will shine through in words and deeds and they will show how great His name is wherever and whomever they meet.
We shall put on our new clothing with tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering so that the characters of God will be with us for non-believers to witness, so that they may also believe and receive salvation. Amen.