Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;  (13) 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.  (14) But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  (15) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.  (16) 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.  (17) 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.

The letter to the Colossians was written by the Apostle Paul who never actually visited Colosse.  Most likely this letter was written while Paul was a prisoner in Rome and he wrote urging the Christians in Colosse to stay true to the gospel Paul preached – most especially the true doctrine regarding the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ.

The verses we study today concern the vital and basic principles of Christian living and Paul moves form the specific to the general.  A true believer has been given eternal life.  We have died with Christ and have been resurrected with Him.  This is our spiritual position and we should live in light of that identification.  As new men (and women) we are transformed and should put on “new clothes” which are a new character and new behavior – we are to assume family characteristics manifested in the family of the Lord.  We should have the spirit Paul is talking about – gratitude, love and forgiveness.  The innermost miracle of transformation demands equally dramatic outer change in life style.  This external lifestyle is very specific – it is not cultural,  not relative and not situational – it is Christ like and eternal.

We are urged to put on real compassion – it is an action word and think the Good Samaritan.  Humility was alien to Greek thought in that ancient world.   We are to imitate the meekness of Christ who was willing to suffer for sinful proud man – we are not to be angry but to continue in God’s patience.  Finally we are to go beyond endurance to forgiveness.  Christ forgave us and we did not/do not deserve it.  Christ is to become our pattern.

So our new garments are on and we are to cover all this with a mantle of love.  Paul is telling the faithful in Christ that they will never know the true virtues without love.  We will just be posturing.  The fruit of the Spirit is love and the Spirit dwells in us – we cannot do this alone.  The priority of the new man is to let Christ dwell in him/her.  We will know the Word of Christ, the peace of Christ 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.”

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began (26) but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith –  (27) to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.  Amen.

The letter to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul in preparation for his anticipated visit there.  This towering epistle addresses the problem of man’s sin, the matter of salvation and matters of application of doctrine as outlined in Romans.  Paul ends this letter with an exuberant doxology praising God for establishing man in faith through the completer work of Christ Jesus.  A doxology is a saying/singing of praise or glory or honor – an example of which – appropriate to the season – is where the angels appeared to nearby shepherds in a field singing glories to God at the birth of the Christ child.

The verses we study today tell us that the ultimate goal of the gospel is all and eternal glory to God.  But man’s happiness and God’s glory are not at odds as God gospel is claiming the faithful so that our lives glorify Him.  God’s plan for our unearned salvation is the now disclosed secret kept since the world began –  that in the substituionary death and resurrection of the historical Jesus Christ, man, through faith, is saved.  Prophecy all through the Old Testament points to Christ as savior.  All Scripture points to Jesus as redeemer and savior.

God will keep those of true faith steadfast.  The saved must stand for God by their transformed lives which proclaim the truth of the gospel – belief informs behavior.  Paul’s outburst of praise reflects on the wisdom of God’s plan for redemption.  Proclaiming the  glory of God comes from the realization that man had/has nothing to do with man’s salvation – our good works do not  and cannot merit redemption. Salvation is a gift from God.

Rejoice in this Christmas season which marks God’s time of the incarnate Jesus and the mercy of God made man for our sins and for our salvation.  Thanks be to God.

Rejoice always.  (17) pray without ceasing, (18) in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  (19) Do not quench the Spirit.  (20) Do not despise prophecies.  (21) Test all things; hold fast what is good.  (22) Abstain from every form of evil.  (23) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (24) He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

The first letter to the Thessalonians was one of the Apostle Paul’s earliest letters.  The Christian Thessalonians were a small group gathered by Paul over a very brief period of time.  When Paul was forced to leave the city he worried about the recently converted and he sent Timothy back to find out if they were true to the gospel.  When the good news of their steadfastness arrived, Paul pens this letter of joy, gratitude, commendation and exhortation.  It is a letter not written to enforce any specific doctrinal truths but to reinforce the facts and principles of the gospel.  This letter is a look at the power of the Gospel  – there were only a few weeks of instruction and these to pagans in the main part.  Look at the power of the gospel where an imperfect glimpse of it had transformed this people with a totally new – revolutionary – message.

Paul begins our verses to day with a command – Rejoice always.  This is followed by a series of exhortations that deal with the beginning of inner life and our relationship with God.  The command to rejoice doesn’t mean we are not to be empathetic but we are to transcend sorrows – at all times means even through severest adversity.  This is not possible from a human point and it is not a natural joy but supernatural  joy and a gift of the Holy Spirit.  A command to joy is part of the process of holiness.  This needs our will and confidence that God is in control and at His own good and perfect time all things will work to the best conclusion.  We are to rejoice that we are chosen by God; to rejoice in the redemptive work of Christ.  We are to rejoice in the work of the Spirit who is indwelt in the believer.  The Spirit enables us, gifts us;  rejoices in our spiritual blessings, in the Word of God,  that we are complete in God.  Rejoice in appreciation.

True Christians live their faith.  They/we are justified in Christ and then we are sanctified which is the process of spiritual development – joy increases.  We become holy or separate to God and  to be committed to holiness is the prayer of Paul at the end of the verses we study today.   We are to pray without ceasing and be ever conscious of God’s presence.  We are to get rid of habits that act as a film between us and God.

Joy can be a matter of circumstance and/or constitutional ability but communion with God WILL bring us joy.  The faithful are urged by Paul to continual thankfulness on condition of continual communion with God.  What a worthy command with what immeasurable consequences for our holy living;  REJOICE ALWAYS

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  (9) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  (10)  the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  (11) Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.  (12) looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?  (13) Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

The verses today are written by the Apostle Peter.  His message is clear:  There will be a final judgment and Christ’s second coming is certain.  The time of this this Day of God is God’s time – the fulfillment of God’s promises are precisely timed.  Our belief in this day is based on confidence in the word of God in Scripture and we are told this day will be unexpected – it will come like a thief in the night.  Peter is saying the Scriptures are the sufficient,  accurate and authoritative record of the word of God.  He is not seeking to inform the faithful but to instruct them/us in belief and behavior.  To deny the second coming is to deny future hope and future judgment – to deny this makes it easier not to worry about accountability.

Peter explains why the Lord’s return has taken so long –  God is eternal; God has no beginning and no end.  Peter references the Old Testament which tells us in Psalms that to God a thousand years is as one day to man.  Man has no comprehension of this truth.  Man is finite and God is eternal – our days are numbered and His are not.  Time does not limit God.   God’s delay of the final judgment makes possible our salvation and that of others.  It doesn’t matter what man believes, only what God’s proposes.

We are reminded of our responsibilities against this Day of the Lord.  Peter is talking about God’s wrath on sinners and the consequences of corruption.  The faithful must live righteously.  Scripture gives us a road map to discern what is true from what is false teaching and “wisdom” of our times.  Materialism is folly and what is reality is in the Bible.  These thoughts give new, urgent meaning to the words of the Lord’s Prayer:  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (4) I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, (5) that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, (6) even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.  (7) so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ (8) who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be made blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (9) God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul.  Corinth was a center of commerce, populated by Roman soldiers and people from all over the Mediterranean.  The city had been razed and rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. and there was no one dominant culture – it was materially prosperous and morally corrupt.  Corinthians valued the reckless development of the individual – there was praise for self will, self indulgence in a carnal environment.  The Corinthians were haughty, divided and competitive.

Paul begins this first letter to the Corinthians by telling them who he is in relation to God and then telling them who they – the faithful – are,  in relation to God.  Everything has its true meaning and is defined by its relation with God.  The Corinthian letters are Paul’s best testimony for how the church should function in any age.  The message is how to be God’s people.  The church is made up of people in whom the spirit of God resides.  In Scripture the church is the body of Christ himself and is a far cry from any other human organization.  There is the church visible and invisible.  Only in the church invisible is there true unity.  It is Christ’s church made up of those called to be holy.  The faithful’s relationship to Christ has changed them and they are being sanctified and set apart.  Paul is addressing not those who attend church but those who are the church – everyone who calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is part of the community of faith.

Paul tells the church in Corinth that they do not lack any spiritual gift – they have everything they need.  The promise is God is faithful.  And, it is God’s choice – before all time – to keep true believers in the faith.  God’s chosen will be brought to glory.    Paul concludes this introduction by telling his readers that they (the faithful) will be blameless in the day of Christ and the reason for that is God’s will and power.  God has a plan and we are part of it.