Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Colossians 3

• Being Chosen to Serve
• The Meaning of Being Holy.
• The Difference between ggg and GGG in family relationships.

Not Carnality but Christ

Colossians 3:¹ If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3:² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Colossians 3:³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

• Just as Christ went to the Cross for the joy set before him, we also can look beyond the circumstances to the reward that awaits.

Colossians 3:⁵ Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Colossians 3:⁶ Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,

• The wrath of God is the “Day of God’s Wrath” which is preceded by the Seven-Year Tribulation and culminating in the “Return” of Jesus with all the Saints and Angels.

Colossians 3:⁷ in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

Colossians 3:⁸ But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy (cursing), filthy language out of your mouth.

Colossians 3:⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,

• Men, do not lie to your wives.
• Women, do not lie to your husbands.
• Be “as One”.

Colossians 3:¹⁰ and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

Colossians 3:¹¹ where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Character of the New Man

Colossians 3:¹² Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

• To be “Holy” is the mindset of being pure, without sin. Holy means “Separated from any aspect of sin. Set-Apart”.
• To be the “elect” is to be chosen to serve and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. To be “Set-Apart”.
• If a man is not covered by the blood of Christ, that person is incapable of being holy, whether in mindset, intent, or actions simply because all thoughts and actions not part of God’s agenda for man is disobedience and therefore sin.

Colossians 3:¹³ 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.

Colossians 3:¹⁴ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

• The bond of perfection is a sacred relationship dedicated to having the other’s best interest at heart. Love covers a multitude of sins.
  

Colossians 3:¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

• And Be Thankful:
  
  • “Katherine Bevis tells how among the students at a well-known college there was a young man who had to get about on crutches. He had an unusual talent for friendliness and optimism and so won the deep respect of his classmates. One day a student asked him what had caused his deformity. ‘Infantile paralysis,’ he replied briefly, not wishing to elaborate on his difficulties. ‘With a misfortune like that, how can you face the world so?’ inquired his classmate. ‘Oh’, replied the young Christian, smiling, ‘the disease never touched my heart.’”
    Encyclopia of 7,700 illustrations Page 953

Colossians 3:¹⁶ 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.

Colossians 3:¹⁷ 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 Christian Home

Colossians 3:¹⁸ Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

• Submission takes two people. If the wife is not brought into the process of decision making, how can she submit to the decision of his choice?

Colossians 3:¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.

• For Husbands, your wife has pain, both physical and emotional which you may not understand. Do not punish her for her pain but cure it by filling the need within it.

Colossians 3:²⁰ Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

• Children will be disrespectful and lawless when the family home is broken apart and are raised by gangs, the government, and gamers = ggg.
• Instead, the home needs to be the basis for GGG = go get God.

Colossians 3:²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

• Husbands, wives, and children all experience hard things in life. Each child needs a protector, someone who has their back, a parent who will talk and try to understand.

Colossians 3:²² Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.

• Bondservants: workers who have a job to do. Serve your boss as unto the Lord.

Colossians 3:²³ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,

Colossians 3:²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:²⁵ But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.