Family Resemblance Pt2

As we began our study of Colossians
chapter 3, there in verses 12 and 13 a week ago, we heard Paul
telling of spiritual characteristics, spiritual characteristics about
a believer that will resemble those of God himself. And it’s not like in the physical
realm, where a child may or may not share a parent’s hair color
or eye color, but a Christian will always resemble God. Some of those features will be
evident immediately upon conversion. Others will develop and become
observable over time, but the child of God will. take on the
spiritual characteristics of his or her Heavenly Father. Such resemblance is inevitable. The Christian will always, and
in increasing measure, look like the God who made them and saved
them. We waded into Paul’s fourth practical
application here in Colossians 3, a subsection that we titled
Christlike Living. Paul is speaking to believers
here, those who had already come to faith in Jesus Christ. As
believers in Christ, there are already characteristics, as I
said, that may be observed in their life. They are to possess
an established identity. There are things that ought to
be seen in them right away that bear the fingerprint of God on
them. They possess specific God-given
characteristics, as we saw, but these believers are not yet perfected. And so there are features that
are still developing. These are those who have put
their faith in Christ, and now they are perpetually being renewed
as Paul sets forth in verses 9 through 11. But here in verses
12 and 13, Paul is detailing the progress of that renewal
in the Christian’s life, And if you would, I want to go back
to this passage, just verses 12 and 13 this morning. Let’s review this passage once
again. Colossians chapter 3, verses
12 and 13. So, as those who have been chosen
of God, holy and beloved, Put on a heart of compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and
forgiving each other whoever has a complaint against anyone. Just as the Lord forgave you,
so also should you. Here in these two verses, as
I said, the fourth admonition in this section, we’re considering
our family likeness. And by that, of course, I’m not
referring to physical similarities that we have with our earthly
family members, but spiritual characteristics that we share
with our Heavenly Father. Some of those features are present
immediately upon conversion. Other features will develop over
time. Last week, I suggested the outline
of verses 12 and 13 to you. The Christian who has put on
the new self is constantly being renewed, but that believer has
first and foremost an established identity. he or she, upon conversion,
as a child of God, will be seen first and foremost as chosen
of God. God has moved first in bringing
them to salvation. Whenever I discuss the whole
delicate subject of divine election, that’s one of the ways I just
simplify it, is who moved first? And we know that God moved first. Well, he or she, upon conversion
will be seen as one who has been chosen of God, but secondly,
they will be seen as holy. And we saw that this did not
mean that they are perfectly righteous, holy in that sense,
but rather they are those who have been set apart for God’s
particular use. They’ve been consecrated. And
the third distinctive feature already imprinted on the Christian
is that they are beloved. They are loved by God himself. Chosen, holy, and beloved. These are the very distinguishing
characteristics that a child of God already possesses immediately
upon conversion. And while all people are indeed
made in the image of God, not everyone bears these wonderful
characteristics. Well, that’s just point one.
That’s all the further we made it last week. Point two in our
outline deals with our developing character, those characteristics
or attributes of God into which the child of God will grow and
increase in their likeness to God over time. This is where
we find ourselves this morning, and we’ll tackle the third point,
Lord willing, next Lord’s Day. where Paul discusses our reciprocal
graciousness. As we have been shown God’s forgiveness
and grace, we need to exhibit that same kind of forgiveness
with others. That’s the practical outworking
of that quality of patience there at the end of verse 12. There
in the first portion of verse 12, Paul presents the renewing
Christian’s established identity, as I mentioned, but now he wants
to move into the developing character here in the middle of verse 12. These are those spiritual qualities,
as I said, into which a believer will grow, and he mentions them
right there in verse 12. Glance down if you would, where
he mentions a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, and gentleness,
four things. And this is where we left off
last week, point two in our outline. In the renewing Christian’s progress,
not only do we have an established identity, but we will also see
our developing character. the godly features into which
the child of God will grow. As God has begun a work of salvation
in a believer’s life, he will continue that work by the process
of sanctification. Initially, those features, if
you looked at that list and you shuddered to read those things,
initially, those features may not be observable. We may not
be fully developed in any of those, but through the working
of God’s Spirit, the true believer will grow more and more in the
development of those particular graces. These are the fruit of
the Spirit, after all. Let’s, if we could, let’s begin
our consideration of developing character. There are technically
four things. It’ll take a minute to kind of
explain why in a moment. But there are four things that
we want to look at this morning that are a part of a believer’s
developing character. So this second point of our outline,
that the renewing Christian’s progress not only has an established
identity, but a developing character, it’s right here in verse 12.
These are the features and the elements that may or may not
be seen right away. They may take years to develop,
but certainly by God’s grace, they will develop over time.
And on this second point, everything is built on that word, put on. I say that word because in the
Greek, it’s one word. Here in the English translations,
typically it’s two words. As I pointed out last week, the
simple sentence of these two entire verses is put on compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. And this command
to put on, as I said, one word in the Greek, it stands at the
very beginning of the entire two-verse section. And it is,
as we saw, an imperative. It’s a command. Whereas God has
already imprinted his features on us as believers, chosen, holy,
beloved, now Paul turns to urge these readers to engage in the
sanctification process. Paul is commanding us to do something
as believers. You see, in the sanctification
process, neither God, by Christ’s Spirit, nor the individual believer
acts alone. There is participation. There
is cooperation. The Holy Spirit convicts us,
grants us grace for growth, but the believer must humbly repent
and apply such grace in order to grow. Sanctification is not
an either-or proposition. Sanctification is both. It is
the Holy Spirit leading the believer through the process of sanctification,
growth, and grace. And so Paul tells the Christian
reader what is expected of him or her, that they are to put
on these various spiritual qualities. This idea This metaphor of putting
on these things is really a continuation, as we’ve seen, of what Paul has
already said in the preceding verses. Generally, he said back
in verse 10, that we have put on the new self. The new self
is likened there to a garment that is donned as part of a believer’s
transformation. But new self, it’s a very undefined
illustration. And so here in verses 12 and
13, Paul begins to explain exactly what the new self is supposed
to look like. And he gives a series of character
qualities that ultimately must be seen in a believer’s life. Now here in verse 12, Paul lists
out in the Greek a total of six nouns. This is your Greek lesson
or your grammar lesson for the day. Don’t panic. It’ll be short. I’ve already made the argument
that that sixth noun, the final one, the one mentioned in verse
12 at the very end, patience, it’s separated out from the other
five because Paul expounds upon that one character quality in
verse 13. He doesn’t do that with any of
the other character qualities. Well, that
leaves five nouns for us to consider this morning, but the first two
of these are actually blended together as one, and beautifully
so. They’re blended into one feature,
leaving a total of four elements of developing character here
in this verse. If we could, let’s look at each
of these four spiritual features. The first character quality to
be developed is what is translated in the New American Standard
as a heart of compassion. This is the one quality that
is formed from two nouns. Let me explain how that happens.
The second of the two words is basically mercy or compassion. And we’ll let that stand for
now. In the parallel passage in Ephesians
4.32, it’s translated there as tenderhearted. That’s a beautiful
translation. We’ll let compassion stand for
now. I’ll come back to that. But at
the very first noun in the list, I want to call your attention
to this. It’s the Greek word splanchnon. I know you’ll want
to write that down. It’s an interesting and somewhat
flexible word. It occurs in only 11 passages
in the New Testament, and it’s translated only a very few ways. It’s translated as tender. It’s
translated as affection, translated as heart, And get this, it’s
translated as intestines. Basically, however, the word
could be used to describe affectionate feelings. And that’s why the
word affection is appropriate. Luke uses this word. in this
more delicate sense, to speak of the tender mercies of God
in sending the child Jesus. But in the verse before us, the
translation of this word varies in our respective Bible translations. Listen, the New American Standard,
if you have it, you see it. If you don’t, just listen. The
New American Standard has it, put on a heart of compassion,
just as I read. And that blends both of those
first two nouns, heart and compassion. Listen to the ESV. The ESV says
it translates as compassionate heart. So it reverses the order
of the nouns, but essentially it communicates the same thing.
As for the King James, hold on to your hats. It translates it
bowels of mercy. The order of the original words
is retained there, but the translation is almost shocking to our ears.
And so thus the new King James, if you’re holding that version
in your hands, you find it to be much improved over the King
James. The original order of the words
is there, but it’s a milder translation. Tender mercies. I love that.
Now, perhaps you notice that in all four of our major translations,
the first word, affection, is blended together with the second
word, compassion. Listen again, heart of compassion,
compassionate hearts, bowels of mercy, tender mercies. The
short explanation is this, that the second noun, compassion,
is in a slightly different form than all of the other nouns.
For you language students, it’s in the genitive case. That means
that that word compassion acts as a powerful linguistic magnet
and draws in that first noun and links those two words together. The two terms are drawn together
in close association by the grammatical form of that second noun. That
ends the grammar lesson. We see this by the helpful little
word in the New American Standard, of. It’s a heart of compassion. It’s not just a heart sitting
there beating on its own. It’s a heart of compassion. It’s
a compassionate heart. But the other translations capture
this blending as well without using the word of. That very
uncomfortable translation, the King James, bowels of mercy,
effectively makes the same point. That word again, translated there
as bowels, is the Greek word, as I mentioned, splanchnon, and
the word can indeed refer to our inward parts. And this was,
to the Greeks, the seat of emotions, was held not in one’s heart or
even in one’s mind, but in one’s inward parts. We speak of things
as being heartfelt. We employ the Greek use of the
word when we say, I have a gut feeling, or that something was
gut-wrenching. In a most graphic use, Luke uses
this same word in Acts 1 to describe what happened to Judas, Christ’s
betrayer. After purchasing a field with
his blood money, Luke records that he fell headlong, burst
open, and all his splanknon, his intestines, gushed out. Graphic, I told you. Now, while
the word was used to speak of our inward parts in general,
typically it referred to the more noble organs within the
heart, the liver, and such. There is a Greek word for the
heart, cardia. from which we get our word cardiology. And yet, in several New Testament
passages, even though there’s a Greek word for heart, this
word, splanchnon, is translated as heart. Listen to this. Three times in Philemon, He says
to speak of the hearts of the saints, verse 7. He says to them
that I’m sending you my very heart, verse 12. And again in
verse 20, refresh my heart in Christ. We see the same use or
the same translation of the word in 1 John 3, 17. Whoever has
this world’s goods and sees his brother in need and closes his
heart. How does the love of God abide
in him? And so I find the translation
of the New American Standard here to be spot on. It’s a heart
of compassion. That said, it’s a very interesting
note that the verb form of this word, splank non, is used 12
times in the New Testament. Listen to this data. It’s used
only in the gospels. It’s used always either of God
or Christ. And it’s always translated as
the exercise of compassion. And so these two words are relatively
synonymous in their meaning together with our second word,
which is compassion. Let’s look at that word momentarily. Paul links this affection, this
heart. As I said, to the second grace
of compassion, and that word could easily be translated as
mercy. We heard it in some of our translations. It’s translated as such when
used in reference to God. When this word is used to speak
of God, it is his mercy that they are referencing. Romans
12 one, you know it. Paul says, I urge you brethren,
by the mercies of God, And there he harkens back in Romans chapter
12 to everything that he’s detailed in the first 11 chapters of Romans,
and he refers back to it as being by the mercies of God. Look at
all that God has done. In 2 Corinthians 12, pardon me,
2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul opens there with, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. In both of those references,
God’s undeserved mercy toward us in sending a savior who would
die for our sin, rescuing us from ourselves, is calling us
to a right and restored relationship with himself in forgiving us,
in saving us, in beginning the process of changing us. All of
it, he says, is an outworking of God’s Mercy towards us. Amazing use of the word. Well,
the word then used, whether of God or of man, refers to practical
tenderness, a demonstrated piety. It’s not just the sentiment of
compassion, feeling, but it’s the exercise of compassion as
well. It refers to a most practical
tenderness, an exhibited pity. This is not the man in James
that says, be warmed, be filled. This is one who observes a brother
or sister in a need and does something about it. And so the
first question I posed to you this morning is, how is your
heart of compassion? As believers, we’re called to
rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. A very
simple description of what a heart of mercy looks like. A heart
of compassion. We care for one another. We love
one another in practical terms. Closely related to a heart of
compassion is the grace of holiness. This is the second characteristic
that the believer is called to develop. Kindness, we see in
scripture, is also, first and foremost, a character quality
of God himself. Writing to his co-laborer, Titus,
serving on the island of Crete, Paul reminded his friend of the
foundations of our salvation. He said, when the kindness of
God, our Savior, and his love for mankind appeared, he saved
us. It’s almost an understatement
there to refer to our salvation and all that went into it, God’s
plan of redemption, ultimately sending the Lord Jesus Christ,
to refer to it as kindness? It’s an understatement. Writing
to his church in Ephesus, Paul ties God’s kindness to his provision
of a Savior as well. He mentions the surpassing riches
of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. This is the
practical outworking of God’s compassion for sinners, kindness. It is first God’s graciousness
towards sinners. It’s an act of benevolence which
bestows goodness and forgiveness. It’s just another way of referring
to the generous and undeserved love of God. Paul says it this
directly in Romans 2, 4, it’s his kindness that leads us to
repentance. And every one of us as believers
will remember that moment. And many times it’s met with
weeping, that how could God have mercy on me, a sinner? So what Paul is seeking to express
here is really just an imitation of God’s attribute of kindness.
In a sense, it’s sad that Paul even has to urge this appropriate
behavior. But if you think of it, Israel
certainly needed these kinds of reminders, didn’t she? Micah
6, 8, he has told you, O man, what is good and what does the
Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kindness, and walk
humbly with your God. In this particular context here
in Colossians 3, we might consider kindness as the natural expression
of a heart of compassion. In other words, a heart of compassion
showing itself in acts of kindness. Again, Paul is not just urging
his readers toward warm feelings, pity of others, but he’s urging
them to beneficial action, to do something. The word kindness
speaks of a sympathetic graciousness over against harsh severity towards
others. It’s one of the descriptions
of the fruit of the Spirit presented in Galatians 5. And as such,
kindness is to permeate the believer’s entire life. Our thoughts, our
attitudes, our demeanor, our speech, our actions. Practically
speaking, the kind person is one who sees someone in distress
and seeks to relieve, not add, to such discomfort. They want
to take it away. One pastor referred to it as
goodness in action. Isn’t that beautiful? It’s not
a person who observes from afar, but one who comes alongside to
befriend and to comfort. And so I would ask you a second
question this morning. How are you with regard to kindness?
Do you believe that you are a kind person? Are you known for operating
outside of yourself, expressing your heart of compassion outwardly
by acts of kindness? There’s a third. Paul quickly
mentions this third characteristic in which a child of God should
be growing. It’s that of humility. Godly
humility just speaks of a general lowliness of mind, a mindset
that recognizes that we have no reason, we have no justification
to be proud or arrogant. Such a person is neither haughty
nor conceited. The humble man or woman does
not exalt or promote themselves. They don’t put down others just
in order to elevate themselves. They don’t think more highly
of themselves, their needs, their opinions, their desires, more
than those around them. We almost can’t even understand
this grace of humility outside of the context of God in our
lives, can we? The natural man is anything but
humble. He’s arrogant. He’s hostile toward
God himself, not to mention the way that he treats in his prevailing
attitude towards his fellow men. It’s a sad and telling thing
that the heathen world thought very poorly of this quality,
humility. They thought it to be a joke.
To that culture, humility was the natural companion of lowliness,
poverty, some groveling person on the street, a coward. A Greek
would never think of humility as a virtue. But the Apostle
Paul, the Apostle Paul didn’t think twice about commending
the grace of humility to his people. Of the seven times that
this word is used in the New Testament, six of them are by
Paul. Only one by Peter. Humility was
the very attitude that marked the Apostle himself. Here was
this remarkably gifted man when he addressed the elders of the
Ephesian church in Acts chapter 20, he called them to remember
his time with them. And he said that he was with
them, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with
trials. Here was this gifted apostle,
sewing tents, serving, laboring day and night, even with all
of his giftings and graces, all of his usefulness to God and
to his kingdom, Paul was humble. Nothing was beneath him. He was
willing to do anything and everything to be used by God in the service
of Christ’s kingdom. That’s what made it so natural
for him to exhort his fellow believers to that same grace
of humility. Godly humility, if you think
about it, is only produced in one indwelled by God’s Spirit. There can be a lowliness to someone
who does not know God, but true humility is only produced by
the Holy Spirit. Only a child of God can truly
be humble. Only God, by His grace, can make
a person humble. But once a person has come to
an understanding of their sinfulness, once a person knows of their
desperate need of the Savior and the absolute dependence upon
God for salvation, true humility begins to grow in the heart.
All this person sees of himself is the emptiness of sin and the
decaying effects upon everything. And he sees God’s mercy. And
he knows that he doesn’t deserve it. He knows that he can never
repay it. And so there is in true humility,
an acknowledgement of our utter dependence upon God’s grace for
everything. Beginning with our salvation.
For the believer, humility is a state of mind. It’s an attitude
of heart that humbly acknowledges that we deserve nothing. A truly humble person knows,
as James says, every good thing given and every perfect gift
is from above. And that means that there are
no self-made men. Every ability, every possession,
every opportunity is a gift from God. Where then is there any
room for arrogance or pride or boasting? In that sense, that
humility is an accurate assessment of who we are. The Christian
person is not haughty. The Christian is not conceited
or proud, but rather he or she is modest and unpretentious,
unassuming, humble. To the humble person, it’s okay
not to be noticed, not to be recognized for one’s service,
not to be appreciated But because the one who counts more than
all others, God himself, has already bestowed on us more than
we ever deserved. So true godly humility is the
very opposite of arrogance, the very opposite of self-promotion
where an individual demands recognition. A saved person will not boast
in anything but Jesus Christ. He or she has come to the place
of humility. If you think of it, humility
is the only right and reasonable response to our calling to Christ.
We didn’t deserve the salvation that we enjoy. Instead, we deserve
nothing. We were dead in our trespasses
and sins, deserving only God’s righteous wrath, and yet because
of his mercy, he moved in our direction. How then can we be
proud? What else could possibly be the
response except humility, an honest assessment of our spiritual
standing? And so I ask you a third question. Are you a humble person? And
you may need to ask those around you, do you think I’m a humble
person? Do you downplay your own gifts,
your own opinions, thoughts? even ideologies? Do you downplay
your own accomplishments in light of others? Do you downplay your
own privileges, pushing away, eschewing even
what recognition the Lord affords you? And at the same time, are you
building and enhancing others? That’s a real test of humility.
There’s a fourth feature that I want to look at this morning.
The fourth character quality in which a Christian will grow.
It’s the grace of gentleness. Not unrelated, and there is overlap
with all of these. It’s a beautiful tapestry. Gentleness
is really the outward expression of humility. It’s the outward
expression of humility in one’s interaction with others. You
really don’t know if someone is humble until you see them
expressing, living out a gentleness. He or she is gentle in his or
her passions. They are in check. This is a
person who is not hostile or critical or combative. They are
composed and they are peaceable. A believer so graced with this
virtue possesses what is called a meekness of spirit, a sweet
reasonableness, as one called it. It’s the very opposite of
an angry person who has a slow-burning fuse just waiting to explode.
This is the person who is not quick to take offense, is not
short-tempered, responding with vengeance to anyone who wrongs
him. The gentle person is willing,
even peacefully, to endure outright mistreatment. 1 Corinthians 10,
Paul speaks there of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Nothing
that these attitudes rather are, they’re
nothing short of attributes of Jesus Christ. And not surprisingly,
gentleness is one of the attributes that is produced by the Holy
Spirit again in Galatians 5.23. Early in the subsequent chapter,
chapter six, verse one of Galatians, Paul applies this character quality
to all believers. in the confrontation of a brother
in sin. He says it this way, if anyone
is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such
a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself
that you will not be tempted. Gentleness must attend our address
of a brother or sister in sin, something that’s good and right
to do, but it must be done in the right spirit, Paul says.
Gentleness also is expected of the shepherds of the flock. Paul
urges the same thing of his young helper, 2 Timothy 2.25. He says, with gentleness, we
are to correct those who are in opposition. It’s a completely different demeanor
operating inside of our calling to Christ. We are not the Lord
himself, we are his servants. And when we go to address a fellow
sinner, we are to go with all humility and gentleness. Titus
3.2, the King James has this word as meekness. Even though this meekness was
a character quality of Christ, it’s an almost completely unmentioned
grace among believers. We don’t like to talk about our
meekness. But it’s the description of gentleness
there that I want to capture. Paul says there that as believers,
we are to be gentle, showing every consideration to all men. That’s the exercise of gentleness,
considering others. Not just some occasional softness
thrown in here and there because you’re too tired to fight, but every consideration. thinking
through why they might have done thus and such. And it’s not just
towards some, but to all men, all people. That’s gentleness
in action. And as Christians who are transformed
by God’s grace, we deal graciously with the offenses against us.
There’s one final character quality that we must pursue, one remaining
grace that, as I said, really is separated off from the others. It’s the grace of patience. It’s
separated off from the others because, as I said, Paul expounds
upon the godly quality of patience in verse 13. He tells us what
it looks like. He tells us how it operates.
as we deal with others. It’s the third point in our outline,
reciprocal graciousness. It’s a prominent feature and
we’ll take it up next Lord’s Day together with Paul’s urgent
explanation of it. My question to you here fourthly
is, are you a gentle person? Is your demeanor and your behavior
toward others marked by a distinctive gentleness, or is it harshness? Is there a sweet reasonableness
to you, or are you only known as rigid and severe? These are the spiritual elements
The godly features, rather, that a Christian is to vigorously
pursue. A heart of compassion, kindness,
humility, and gentleness. Believers are to vigorously pursue
those things. And every one of us is on a continuum
with all four of those character qualities. The bottom line is,
we cannot lay hold of these ourselves. The spirit must grant us the
necessary grace. But the spirit must also find
in us a willing and yielded heart in which to do his work. And
so I would ask you finally, how are you doing in those four virtues,
those four graces? Every one of us is somewhere
along the continuum in all of those, and most of us are far
from mastering these graces. We know that these are godly
qualities that we have to pursue in order to reflect God’s character,
but we all fall willfully short. We need help. We need the grace to change. And the good news is Christ sits. at the right hand of God, the
very throne of grace, offering whatever we need to help. Would you humble yourself before
Him?