Christians should "put on" the new self, which is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Christ, as described in Colossians 3:10. The passage elaborates on the spiritual attire believers should wear, emphasizing that God looks at the heart and desires believers to embody compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering. These virtues are exemplified by Jesus Christ and are essential for believers to live out their identity as the elect, holy, and beloved of God. The sermon concludes by highlighting the importance of bearing with and forgiving one another, mirroring the forgiveness received from Christ.
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See, there are two clocks here, one here, and one there. I suppose I'm supposed to abide with what they say. Nobody told me when the service ends. They told me when it begins at nine-thirty, so I have no idea when I should stop. But yes, I do. But let me tell you about me so you know who I am. For I don't have the right to speak in this pulpit unless I'm related to you spiritually. and I am. I have been teaching at Lancaster Bible College since nineteen sixty five. I think I was about thirteen when I started teaching. Not at Lancaster Bible College.
But no, I started there in nineteen sixty five and in God's grace he gave me the opportunity to pastor two Bible churches while I taught at the college full time. I've just resigned from the second of these as of June of this past year. And I'm now part-time teacher at Lancaster Bible College whenever they need me. And my boss is Bob Spender. So whenever he needs someone to fill the gap as I'm doing this week, he calls me. And usually he gets me about once or twice a semester. Last semester I taught two classes in the Bible department. But I have been in the Bible department in theology and pastoral studies for over, well, over thirty years.
three years now with Lancaster Bible College. They've been great years. And as our brother said, it is Lancaster. It is not Lancaster. I was taught that the very first day I was on the campus when I mispronounced it. We have the privilege of living on Eden Road. Somebody asked me this morning, was that Eden before, after the fall? And I have to admit, it was after the fall. But it's been a great privilege of God to teach at Lancaster. and to be involved in the lives of many, many people, and to meet some great people on the faculty, one of whom is Brother Spender. I would bring you greetings from him, but he didn't know I was coming here, nor did I, so I can't bring them.
So I'll just say, in behalf of him, I say hi, and then I'll tell him that I did that when I see him again. But he's a dear brother in the Lord. Let me go back a few years before Tell you when I came to know the Lord, I was in college, unsaved heathen. I grew up in the United States of America, but I was not acquainted with church or God. I wasn't anti-God, I just wasn't acquainted. While in college, there were a group of men and women who were sharing the gospel of Christ with me. A different one would ask me into the room to talk, and they would present the claims of Christ, and I would listen. and just say, well, I don't know that that pertains to me or I've got that or it doesn't really matter.
And I wasn't antagonistic. It just didn't matter. In the course of a year's time, I was exposed to the gospel again and again by various means. And about a year after that began, Christ came into my life because I realized that as a sinner, as God said I was. And I believe that Christ died for my sins, all of them. And by His grace, He would save me forever. And I believed that. Very simple thing. I did it in my front yard at my home, and there was nobody there but God in me. But that's when I became a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Interesting thing that you might want to know.
One of the young men who was in the Bible study group, an intervarsity Bible study group on the campus of Juniata College, was a man named Langford. His name is Philip and he was a brethren. He and his family were from Pennsylvania and had been members of the Brethren Assembly for years and years. And Phil became a good friend of mine. Not a real good friend because he and I competed for the same girl and I won. My wife Donna is down at Word of Life. She was not able to come because we have guests down for the week from Pennsylvania. But it was through Donna's influence, she was the first one to share the gospel with me in a meaningful way.
And then others did as well. And then the course of a year's time, God brought me to the realization I needed His Son as my Savior. And we sealed the deal in June of nineteen fifty five. So I've been a brethren of yours for a long, long time. You just didn't know it. But thank the Lord for the privilege of being here today. I feel in something of an odd situation. Dr. Wagner finished last evening, and Dr. Showers is coming on Saturday. I know both of these men. As a matter of fact, Dr. Showers is a member of the church that I've pastored until the end of June. And so I feel like either I'm a thorn between, or I'm a rose between two thorns, or I'm the ham between two slices of whole wheat bread.
I'm not sure what I am this week. I'm sort of in the middle between those two good men. But I thank God for them both and know that they're going to have a blessed ministry here with you. And we trust we will as well in the days we have together. When I received the call the other evening from Dr. Wagner about possibly pinch hitting for him, I thought, okay, I'll be glad to do that. I'm always happy to open the word of God. But I thought, what do I do? And I wanted to know what he had done. He told me he had been in Jonah. And I thought, well, that leaves me free to go wherever I want to go. And so what I'd like to do in the days we have is spend some time in the book of Ephesians, perhaps my favorite book in the New Testament, but I'm not going there this morning, and the book of Colossians.
I want to start there. And I'd like to talk about what we wear, about how we walk, and the way should we run. And as I've gotten older, I don't care as much about how I wear what I wear. I'm trying to walk a lot more. And I do run occasionally. But this morning, I would like to raise the question from the book of Colossians in chapter three, if you'd turn there, please. Colossians chapter three. And I'm jumping in the middle of an exhortation by the apostle Paul that relates to the matter I want to consider this morning with you.
Colossians chapter three. Would you bow with me in prayer? We come before you, our God and Father, thanking you for the privilege of being one of yours. We thank you for your grace and your love, for your righteousness, your justice, and your goodness. And we come today to recognize full well that it's a privilege to come into the presence of the Almighty One, the Holy, Holy, Holy One. And while you were seated there in the heavenlies, surrounded with those who praise you moment by moment, we sort of come in almost interrupting you.
But we thank you that we're not interrupting you. You've invited us to come. And so we ask that you would use the words of this passage of Scripture to stir our hearts, to help us to realize who we are and what you want us to be in a world that is so ungodly and so unChrist-like. direct us we pray by your spirit in Jesus name amen as I prepared to come here I went through the trauma that I went through about a month and a half ago when I prepared to come to Florida I've never been in Florida for a long period of time in the winter two weeks at the most and so the question ran through my mind and also through the mind of my wife I think What am I going to wear?
What should I pack in a way of clothing? Do I want long sleeves or short sleeves, sweaters or jackets, shorts or long pants? And I wrestled with us and decided I'll just take a little of each and I found out when I got here, too much of one and not enough of the other. Deciding what to wear or how to dress is an important problem when you're packing to go away for four months. And we were in coming to Florida this time. But I've been through that on other occasions when it was not nearly as long, but it's always a quandary saying, what am I going to wear? What should I wear? When I talked to Dr. Wagner, I said, now I know you're up there with the assembly.
What should I wear? Should I bring a coat and a tie? Should I come out of a coat and a tie? And I see this morning that I could have done either and might have been comfortable. And he says, no, I think I'd bring a coat and a tie and a suit. And so I have, but I didn't know what to wear. And so I followed his instructions and I'm dressed not Natalie but properly today, I think. Now, by the way, I can't tell jokes. I will forget the punchline before I ever get to it. But if I do say something funny and I do say those things without thinking, you may laugh. I would love you to laugh. But anyway...
I brought what I thought I needed to wear. In the book of Colossians chapter three, the Apostle Paul talks about wearing the right things. And in Colossians chapter three, verse ten and in verse twelve, he uses a word that talks about dressing up or putting on as a garment. in verse ten of chapter three and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him in verse twelve therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved put on tender mercies kindness humility make this long suffering Paul is writing to the Colossians who had been saved out of paganism by and large And he's saying, I'm concerned about what you wear.
And I think we are too. And we often will determine our opinion of somebody on the basis of what they are wearing or perhaps aren't wearing. And we form some opinions. But God is concerned about what we wear as well. He wants us to dress properly. And the Apostle Paul addresses that in these verses, Colossians three, twelve, through fifteen and I'd like to spend some time thinking about the apparel of a Christian now you all look wonderful today ladies are dressed attractively and the men are dressed handsomely I didn't say the men are handsome I said they're dressed handsomely I concur with our brother who spoke earlier I've been to the to the mall with my wife and I have three daughters And I've often sat on a bench outside the stores while they've shopped.
And I have a little game I play. And sometimes when my friend is with me, another man whose wife is shopping with my wife, we will play the game of guessing what occupation people have who walk by us. And it fills in the time that way. And we'll see a man walk by dressed rather splendidly and we'll say, well, probably an accountant or an attorney. We have no idea who he is, but on the basis of his outward appearance, we try to form an opinion of what kind of work he does or she does. It fills in the time. But nonetheless, God is concerned about what you and I wear. And so in this passage, I'd like to approach it by looking at it in three ways.
I want to talk about the identification of the ones who are dressing up. the attire of the ones who are being dressed, then the actions of those who are dressed. As a teacher, I have to do this to help me think through things. So I get little outline things that hang things on so I can kind of help myself through the passage. This morning, I want you to think, first of all, with me about the identification of the ones who are dressed or who are dressed as God desires. I read about them in verse twelve. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the Apostle Paul, in talking to these rather recent converts to Christ, reminds them of who they are.
You and I know that people will usually dress on the basis of who they are with reference to their vocation. You can identify a policeman usually by the fact he's wearing a policeman's uniform or a nurse or a doctor and various other people are identified by their apparel. You say, oh, okay, I think I know what you do for a living because I see what you're wearing. And sometimes they'll have it written on their uniform. Well, God says, I want my people to remember who they are and dress accordingly. And in verse twelve, Paul gives us three words to identify us, the Christian, the child of God, the ones who were to dress in behalf of God.
And three words that are just loaded theologically. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy ones, and beloved ones. I want to talk a bit about those three terms. Because I think what happens often in Christian circles, we forget who we are in the sight of God. On some occasions when I've counseled, I've had people come in with very serious problems. And one of the first questions I will ask them is, who are you? And they'll smile, you know, you know who I am, I'm a member of this church.
And I said, but who are you? And they'll tell me their name. And I'll look at them and I'll say, who are you? And after several statements like this, they begin to realize I want something more than just their name and identity. And finally, many without coaching will say, well, I'm a child of God. I'm a Christian. And I'll say, yes, that's who you are. That's who you really are. Well, look at your problem in light of who you are. who you really are spiritually. God wants us to keep that in mind as we think about how we should dress, dress like who you are.
And the first word he uses to identify the child of God, the believer, is the word elect ones. Boy, that word gets a lot of treatment and mistreatment in theological circles. Some people will run from the term because they think it means something it doesn't mean in the Bible. As it will use a term to sort of identify themselves as very distinct from anyone else. The word basically just means ones who've been picked out. And in the book of Ephesians chapter one, it says, God picked out some for himself in Christ Jesus. It's a great term.
Don't be afraid to use it. Not in a proud or vain way, but saying, That's who God says I am. I'm a picked out one. At the end of last year, they were, that is, we in America were attempting to pick a president. They were going to choose a president. And most of you know about what happened here in Florida. I was in Greece at the time, so I wasn't aware of all that was going on, but we got back to in the middle of November and lived through the rest of that as they continued the process of counting and recounting and recounting and all of that. And they were trying to pick the person that they wanted to be their president.
And I don't know how many millions of people voted, and I don't know how they voted, and at this point it doesn't matter. It's over and done with. The state of Florida voted for President Bush. And I began to think about how I was elected. And as I did, I realized only three people voted for me. Only three people voted for you if you're a child of God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And he said, votes over. Isn't that great? To know that the Godhead says, somehow I want to make you one of mine, and I will do everything necessary to make that happen.
And I can't boast in anything I had or was when they picked me. I couldn't commend myself to them at all, saying, well, God, you ought to pick me. He says, no, I shouldn't, for you're not worthy of me picking you. But in my grace, I will choose you. And through the gospel, I came to know Jesus Christ. I'm a chosen one. And so are you, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. But the second thing he says about us, as far as our identity here in verse twelve, he says, we are holy ones. That's a beautiful word. And it's a word that I don't think we should shy away from either.
Again, not in any vain way should we use it. But God in his grace, when he saved you and me, says, I set you apart to myself. You're one of my holy ones. And positionally, in the day I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, though I didn't know this at all because I was basically biblical illiterate, God set me apart from self-says, you're one of my holy ones. You're a saint. I'm down at Word of Life this winter with my wife enjoying the ministry there, but there's a brother in the... I call it a compound. They call it a conference center. I don't know why I call it a compound.
Every once in a while I want to break off and get outside the compound. But there's a brother in the Lord down there, and he more than one time will say, how are you doing St. Ron? And some people will hear that and say, what's wrong with him? And he and I share a common awareness of the fact that it's not long to be called a set apart one of God. By His grace. The third word is another lovely word that identifies who we are in Christ. In verse twelve, it says, and beloved. Don't ever forget how important that term is.
It's the same term that God the Father used when he talked about his son. This is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased. And that same word is used with reference to God's love for us. And the apostles, Paul and Peter and John will continually use the term beloved ones, ones loved by God. In First John chapter three, it's used. Would you turn here? You've been listening to me a while and looking at me and trying to figure out who that person is. Look at First John chapter three with me and See what John says about this important designation with reference to our family relationships.
First John chapter three. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God, and we are. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure don't forget who you are your beloved ones ones loved by God in a very unique way because of our relationship to him through the beloved one Jesus Christ in the book of Ephesians we have We have redemption through him, or we have forgiveness of sins.
And it talks about acceptance in the beloved one. Three things God uses to identify you and me. He says, you're my chosen ones. You're my holy ones. You're my beloved ones. Remember who you are. While teaching the Bible college, sometimes I will deal with students who are having problems, and often they have money problems. They just don't have the money to pay their bills, and I can understand it. I was there done that when I was in seminary and college. But we'll talk about who they are and how God has made himself responsible for caring for them with reference to all of their needs.
And I said, don't forget who you are, and you live your life, don't live beneath the dignity of your position in Christ. I said, now for instance, what you might try to do sometime is go down to the bank and say, you know, I don't have money, don't have enough money to pay my school bill, but I'd like to borrow something from the bank. And they will say, well, we can have you fill out the papers. Do you have any collateral? No, not much. Well, do you have anybody that could co-sign? Well, my father could. And I said, you tell them who your father is.
Say, my father owns everything. My father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, a wealth in every mine. And they'll look at you and say, just tell them who you are. And they'll say, my father has to be God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he will be my co-signer, my collateral, if you will. I don't think you'll get the loan. on the basis of that. But nonetheless, tell them anyway. They need to know who you are. And they'll kind of chuckle and leave them off and say, there's something wrong with that guy. Don't forget who you are. Now, Paul, having told the Colossians, remember, they didn't have any kind of background that would let them know this.
They had paganism. They were religious people. Some were Jewish people. But Paul's saying, remember who you are in light of Jesus Christ and what he's done for you. Then he goes on and says, now I want to tell you how to dress because you should dress on the basis of who you are. And beginning in verse twelve and going through verse thirteen, he will talk about the attire of Christians or the attire of the ones mentioned in verse twelve. And he's going to mention five things that help me understand how I should dress. He basically will talk about attitudes here or attributes of my character. And it reminds me of the Old Testament statement where it says, Man look upon the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.
And in these verses, he will talk about things that relate to who I am inside, who I am as far as my personal nature. And he's going to make five statements to remind them of how they ought to dress. Let me read the verse again, verse twelve. Therefore is elect of God, holy and beloved ones, put on, and then he's going to state five different attributes or attitudes that should pretty well describe our apparel as far as our nature. Five terms. But the word that he uses is the put on. It's the word they used in New Testament times for putting on a coat, as I did this morning.
And Paul brought it into the language of the scriptures and said there has to be the putting on of the apparel. But it's interesting, the way it's written in English, it could mean put on once and for all or keep on putting on. If you look at it in the original language, people say, put it on and keep it on. It's an Arish tense, which means do it and have it done. And so it's something you wear all the time once you've put it on, but there's a continual, shall I say, of reattiring yourself. putting it on and on and on every day. Let's look at what we should be wearing.
And remember, God looks at the heart as well as the outside of man. I'm going to explain the five terms and draw some illustrations from the life of Jesus because he was the best-dressed Christian that ever lived. He was the epitome of what a person should be in the sight of a holy God, for indeed himself was holy, being the very Son of God, our Savior. But it says, first of all, put on tender mercies or vows of mercies. And a word that is used in the New Testament several times, a beautiful word as far as the expression, not a very beautiful word as far as the term. You think about the word vows, that's not something you like to talk about too much in public.
But it was a word used in the day in which Paul lived and before of talking about the inner parts of man's being, the center of one's compassions, of one's feelings, of one's emotions. And the Greeks used it that way because they felt that where the Hebrews said in the heart, they said down here in the viscery is where the man really expresses himself as far as his feelings and emotions. And so the King James says, Bows. Other translations say, tender mercies and so on but let's talk a bit about the word it means put on a heart of compassion and a good translation the term would be be compassionate be full of compassion when i think about that i i'm drawn to the life of jesus christ And I would like to have you go to two places where this word, part of this word, is used with reference to Jesus Christ.
Would you turn, first of all, to Luke chapter seven, Luke seven, verse thirteen. And you have a situation where our Lord is involved with a person who didn't know or expected to become involved. Luke seven. Verse thirteen is the verse I want to note, but look at verse eleven. Now it happened the day after that he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples went with him in a large crowd. And when he came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
And a large crowd from the city was with him. And when the Lord saw her, he had boughs of compassion. He had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep. Then he came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried stood still, and he said, Young man, I say to you, arise. So he was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he presented him to his mother. Then fear came upon all, they glorified God, saying, A great prophet is a rig, among us. God has visioned his people. And this report about him went throughout all Judea, in all the surrounding region. Picture the scene.
And some of you, as I have been at the bedside and the coffin of loved ones, here was a lady whose husband had died. She only had one son and he died. And in that society, she was probably destitute in the sense of any real support anymore and real male support. Our Lord didn't just happen on the scene. If I read earlier in the text, he was about twenty miles away and makes a trip over to Nain and performs the miracle of raising the dead boy and leaves. But notice it says in verse thirteen, he had compassion on her.
That's the word used in Colossians chapter three. His heart ached for this woman. And maybe he could think of his own mother, and perhaps Joseph was dead by now, and Mary was a widow. We don't know. But he certainly knew that one day he would leave his mother to die as a Savior, and she would be without her firstborn son, miraculously born. But he says, my heart aches for this woman. He had compassion on her. He reached out to meet a need that no one else could meet. In Mark, you have a similar occurrence where Jesus is involved in reaching out in compassion to someone in need and did for them what needed to be done when nobody else could or wanted to do it.
But in Mark chapter one, verse forty, this is a case of a leper in Jesus. Now a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying to him, If you are willing, you can make me clean. Then Jesus moved with compassion. There's our word. Stretch out his hand and touched him and said, I am willing. Be clean. As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And he strictly warned him and sent him away at once. And he said to him, See that you've say nothing to anyone but go your way, show yourself to the priest and offer your cleansing, offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded as a testimony to them.
Now the case, man is helpless. Not just in the sense that the physical ailment brings him great anguish and pain, but the social pain as well because he's cut off from the people of Israel. He can't participate in the social life or the family life of the people. He's destitute. Jesus had compassion on him. He says, I know that you need help. And my heart aches for you. Jesus would know later on the loneliness of rejection being put outside the company of the so-called righteous and condemned as a criminal. Paul says to us, I want you to put on vows of compassion, tendered.
mercies. Let's come back now to Colossians and look at a second attitude, an attribute that is part of the attire of a Christian. In Colossians chapter three, verse twelve, put on tender mercies kindness. Interesting word it's used over in Ephesians chapter two when it talks about God's kindness toward us when we're dead in our trespasses and sins. And it's a word that speaks really of being benevolent, being pleasant, being one who is willing to express an act of love and concern instead of an act of harshness or hardness.
The opposite is one is benevolent. The other one is one who is takes advantage of or harms somebody. And Paul says to them, as he says to us, and indeed God said this as well, doing good to those who hurt, rather than hurting those who need help. God says, I want you to be dressed in the attire of being a kind person. It's used of God himself in the First Peter chapter two. O taste and see that the Lord is good, it says. It could also be translated this word here. Kind or gracious.
Lord is gracious to us. Third word that talks about our attire is right here as well. After kindness, he says, put on or keep on humility or humble-mindedness or lowly-mindedness. It's always been difficult to define humility. The word itself is difficult to define. One person has written, it's a deep sense of one's moral littleness. A deep sense of one's moral littleness. And you get a deep sense of your moral littleness when you look into the face of a holy God.
And he says, I'm holy and you're unholy. I'm God and you're ungodly. You don't measure up. But in Christ Jesus, I will accept you. And to realize by His grace and mercy, He said, you're acceptable to me now, not on any merit of yours, because I've done something to eradicate your sin. I've given my son to die for your sins that I might forgive you and take you into my family. This word is used of Jesus in Matthew chapter eleven. Look there. It's not the exact same word, but it's from the same stem.
In Matthew chapter eleven, that very famous passage where Jesus gives a personal testimony, one of the few, if only places, where he actually says something about himself with reference to his personality. Matthew chapter eleven. Would you look at verse twenty-eight and twenty-nine? Come unto me, all who are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And the expression here, lowly in heart, is akin to the one used in Colossians, humble-minded.
one who has the right appraisal of his own self-worth. You see, Jesus Christ, as the God-man, had to walk before a holy God the same way you and I do. And the fact that he was the God-man did not in any way say, well, because your man, the standard of holiness I expect of is any less than anyone else. And he says, as a human being, standing before a holy God, I do not measure up to his standard. Yes, Jesus was perfect and perfectly holy as a man. Never sin, thank God. But he had to live life as a man. And by the standard he had set is a holy son of God when he did the Ten Commandments.
He says, this is the law that you will live under, and he lived under it. But here he is saying, in effect, I'm humble of mind or lowly in heart. The next word that is used, and I'll stay right here if you will, because it's It's used back in Colossians. Jesus also said here in this passage, I'm gentle and lowly in heart. And the word gentle, as I have it here, or want something akin to that, is the idea of meek. But it's used back in Colossians chapter three of the attire that you and I should wear. Now, you've looked at it here. Turn back to Colossians and see how Paul uses it.
But again, it's one of the two words mentioned there in Matthew that are used of Jesus Christ. He himself used them of himself to indicate the kind of character, the kind of person he was as far as his purity, as far as his goodness. And Paul writes, kindness, humility, meekness. and the word that we looked at back in chapter eleven verse twenty nine translated meekness could be translated gentleness or gentlemanliness or even the idea of being mild as compared to being wild the word means basically to restrain one's right or authority when you have the right to exercise it for the benefit of someone else.
To restrain one's right or authority when you have the right to exercise it for the benefit of someone else. Do we have any golfers here? Any of you play golf? I won't tell. A few of you play golf. What does it mean to exercise your prerogative? Well, for you non-golfers, it means If I win the hole with a lowest score, I get a birdie when everybody else gets a par, when we go to the next hole, I get to hit first. That's my prerogative. And sometimes people will forget the rules of golf and they'll go up there when it isn't their right to hit first. They didn't win the hole.
And that's happened on occasion when I played and I've wanted to say, I'm going to exercise my prerogative. You may not hit first. I'm first because I won the last hole. But I don't do that, so I'm expressing the attitude of mildness or gentleness. I'm not exercising my prerogative when I have a right to. You think of our Lord Jesus Christ as he walked this earth. And time and time and time again, he put aside his interest for the sake of others and allowed them, if you will, to take advantage of him. He had a right to do certain things on occasion.
He had a right to to literally silence his accusers, but he didn't. He put that aside, not because he didn't have the authority, but he says that is not what is God's will for now. Then the last thing that he uses an attribute with reference to our attire, at the very end of the verse, twelve, and put on long suffering or patience. The word here is an interesting word in the sense that it means to hold back your desire to express your anger for a long, long time.
Macrofumia. And to restrain your expression of feelings that would be hurtful to someone else for a long, long time. We translate patience. We translate long suffering. You put up with people irritate you. for a long time. You put up with people that you would like to retaliate against for a long, long time. It's used of God in the sense that he is long suffering to usward. I have a friend. He's a golfer. He's living here in Florida, an older gentleman.
He was a member of our church when I pastored in the town of Mountain Joy, Pennsylvania. And this friend back then had, he was short-tempered. He would fly off a handle. You know what that means? You ever hear that expression, fly off the handle? It's kind of a Pennsylvania expression. He would get mad quickly. And on occasion he did that in my presence, and he would usually say, well, this is my father was like that, and I'm just natured that way. And being a good pastor, I'd say, But you don't get that from your new nature. God has given you not the nature of your earthly father, but a nature from your heavenly father.
You don't have to fly off the handle. You don't have to explode in anger. You can be long suffering. He was smiling and knew I was right. And then later on we'd go over the lesson again. And he would do it for me sometimes too. But God is saying, I want my... my children to dress up in the garment of being long-suffering, not retaliating quickly, being willing to hold out against wrongs done against them by people. Now, let's see a tyrant. I'm almost at the end of my time. And I'm going to race through the actions of the Christian, and we'll finish at ten thirty.
But very quickly, let me have you look with me at verse thirteen, because in this verse, Paul will describe two activities. He's talked about the attire, five things that are part of our apparel, our character. He says, now there are two things you ought to be doing with reference to each other in light of who you are and how you dress. And he puts them here in verse thirteen. Varying with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint or a grievance against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Two activities that are part of the relationship that goes in when the body of Christ is related to one another.
and people outside the body of Christ. He says, there are two things I want you to keep in mind. And he uses two present participles. He says, while you're wearing these things, here are the two things you ought to be doing. One, he says, you ought to be bearing with one another. A better way to put it is, just put up with each other. The Greek word will bear that meaning just to put up with or to hold out against expressing yourself. And you and I know the older we get, the more difficult it is to put up with certain things. I shouldn't identify with me. That's my problem. As I've gotten older and older in the Lord, I haven't gotten as easy to be along with sometimes.
Seems like my nerves are a little more frayed than before, and sometimes I don't put up with people very well. And God says, but I expect that of you, since you're one of mine. forebearing or putting up with one another as part of the responsibility of acting properly as one dressed up by God. And then he adds another one, forgiving one another. And he gives an illustration. If anyone has a complaint against another or against yourselves, forgiving one another. Forgiving and being forgiven are two things that go with us for the day we leave this earth.
And I suppose you, as I've had people, sin against me and I've sinned against them. And I'm called to this verse saying, but I must forgive them. God tells me I must forgive them. God tells me I must have the attitude of forgiveness toward that person who sinned against me. Not always easy to do. The word forgive sometimes means to cancel the death. And my wife and I have a daughter who has gone away from the Lord. She was a missionary in Haiti for five and a half years. She has since that time broken the marriage and married again, and it's just a way off from the Lord.
We spent hours agonizing with her and praying with her. And there's nothing harder to receive from a child than to say, when you tell them what the scripture says, almost read it, they say, that's your opinion. In my heart, I've forgiven my daughter. God wants me to, and I want to. But she hasn't come to the place where she thinks she needs my forgiveness or wants it, or my wife's. She's far from the Lord, and much like the prodigal. not concerned or saying, hey, I don't need that anymore. But I pray that God will keep me with a forgiving heart every day that I live for her.
And when the day that he brings her back and I believe he will, we can have a uniting like the prodigal and a father. But God calls you and me to something very hard to do, to forgive. Because sometimes you've been sinned against unjustly and God says, I know how hard it is because I've been there when they did it to my son. But I want you to remember that I forgave you because of what he did for Christ's sake. You forgive them because of what he did for Christ's sake, what I did for you in Christ Jesus. Not easy to forgive. But God says, I expect it of you.
because I'm the one who will enable you to do what I expect you to do. And I don't know this audience very well at all. But I know that all of us have been bruised at times or have bruised people at times and the things we've said and done. And we've not displayed the attire of a Christ-like person. And God says, when that happens, you need to come to me and talk about that. Confess it as sin if that's the case. And let's get dressed again. And the nice thing about this wardrobe is it always fits. As I've gotten older, I've had to expand the size of my belt, lengthen the length of my pants, or shorten the length of my pants, and I'm now into, I'm not going to tell you what I wear for a coat.
It's none of your business. But the attire that God gave me fits perfectly every time. It's always in vogue wherever I go. I don't have to be ashamed of wearing it either. Because God will look on the heart and say, I approve that dress. Because that's a dress I've provided for you. Just wear it proudly. In behalf of me and my son. Don't we have a great God? Father, thank you today for your word.