Scripture referenced 11 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Colossians 3:12-17 Main passage read and expounded at length, covering chosen, holy, beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, forgiveness, love, peace of Christ, and doing all in the name of the Lord
12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
14 Above all these things, walk in 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 with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
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Keep this verse
Colossians 3:18
Wives be subject to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord
18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
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Colossians 3:19
Husbands love your wives and do not become bitter against them
19 Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.
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Colossians 3:20
Children obey your parents in everything for this is pleasing to the Lord
20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.
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Colossians 3:21
Fathers do not antagonize your children so they will not become discouraged
21 Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.
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Colossians 3:22-25
Slaves obey your human masters with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord, doing work heartily as for the Lord
22 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
23 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
25 But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.
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Colossians 4:1
Masters grant your slaves justice and fairness knowing you also have a master in heaven
1 Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
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Colossians 4:2-4
Devote yourselves to prayer with thanksgiving, praying that God would open a door for the word to proclaim the mystery of Christ
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;
3 praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;
4 that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.
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Colossians 4:5-6
Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, speech always with grace seasoned with salt
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
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Ephesians 5:1
Be imitators of God as dearly beloved children, cited when speaking of forgiving one another
1 Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
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Ephesians 5:21
Mutual submission noted before the specific household commands
21 subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The message worked through Colossians 3:12-4:6, moving from the qualities that belong to people chosen by God into the specific household commands Paul gives to wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters, and then outward to how Christians are to engage with people outside the church. The preacher connected all of it to a single thread: voluntary surrender to God and to one another, powered by the agape love that holds the whole passage together. The service closed with communion led by a newly ordained minister.
What was said
The passage opens with God addressing Christians as chosen, holy, and beloved, and the preacher paused there to let it land. Those are not words people always feel, but the text states them as facts about anyone who belongs to Christ. From that foundation, Paul issues a string of present-tense commands: be putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These are not occasional postures but ongoing ones, worn the way you put on clothes.
Forgiveness sits at the center of that list, and the preacher pressed on it. The standard given in the text is not a personal threshold but a borrowed one: forgive one another just as the Lord forgave you. The engine behind that kind of forgiveness is agape, the self-effacing, others-focused love the passage calls the perfect bond of unity. Without it, the other qualities on the list have no fuel.
From there, the preacher moved to two more commands that close out verse 17: let the peace of Christ rule, and let the word of Christ dwell richly. He acknowledged that some people in the room are dealing with circumstances, health, job loss, or spiritual weight they cannot get out from under, and he held out the peace of Christ as genuinely available for those situations. The word dwelling richly, he said, should be so overwhelming to the system that it simply overflows out of a person's mouth.
At verse 18, the tone shifted. The preacher named the four household groups plainly: wives, husbands, children, fathers. He was careful to distinguish voluntary submission from subjugation, pointing out that the clause "as is fitting in the Lord" qualifies the wife's submission and that the commands given to husbands are heavier in volume across both Colossians and Ephesians. Three times in Ephesians, he noted, Paul says to husbands: agape your wives. The command not to become bitter against them is treated as a separate charge, not a footnote.
The commands for children and fathers were read together. Children are told to obey in everything, and disobedience to parents appears, the preacher noted, on the long New Testament lists of vices. Fathers are told not to antagonize their children so they will not become discouraged. The preacher described what a broken spirit in a child looks like when that command is ignored, and he said men's ministry talks often about the father wound precisely because this instruction gets missed.
The two remaining groups, slaves and masters, were kept in their first-century context. The preacher connected the letter directly to Onesimus, a runaway slave who he believes was carrying both Colossians and the letter to Philemon back to the church. He did not minimize the horror of the institution, saying plainly that he believes Paul hated it, but he read Paul's instructions as pastoral guidance for people inside a situation they could not immediately leave. The master who grants justice and fairness is reminded that he also has a master in heaven, and the preacher said every wrong ever committed will be either justly condemned or mercifully forgiven.
The final section pulled all six groups back together under shared commands: devote yourselves to prayer with an attitude of thanksgiving, and conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders. Speech toward people outside the church, the text says, should always be seasoned with grace. The preacher read that as starting with unmerited favor, giving goodness away before anyone has done anything to earn it, and trusting that the mystery of Christ is powerful enough to work through that kind of humility rather than through argument.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
- Pick one person you have a complaint against and choose to forgive them this week, the way the Lord has forgiven you.
- If you are a husband, ask yourself whether bitterness has crept into the way you treat your wife, and take one step to address it.
- If you are a father, think of a specific way you may have been antagonizing or discouraging your child and go out of your way to encourage them instead.
- Let the word of Christ dwell in you by spending time in it daily, and let a psalm, hymn, or song of gratitude be part of your week.
- In every conversation with someone outside the faith this week, lead with grace and kindness rather than argument, and look for an opening to share what Christ has done in your life.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The sermon talked about putting on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience as things chosen and beloved people wear. Which of those is hardest for you to put on consistently, and what gets in the way?
- The preacher said 'he who is convinced against his will is unconvinced still' and that kindness, not argument, is what opens people to the gospel. Have you seen that play out in your own experience, either coming to faith or sharing it with someone else?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Resumen en español
El mensaje resumido, en español.
El mensaje partió de Colosenses 3, repasando primero los versículos 12 al 17 antes de llegar al pasaje que le incomoda a más de uno: el 18 en adelante. La sección recuerda que los creyentes han sido elegidos, llamados santos y amados por Dios, y que de esa identidad nace todo lo demás: compasión, humildad, paciencia, perdón mutuo y el amor ágape que mantiene unida a la iglesia. La paz de Cristo, se dijo, es lo suficientemente poderosa para gobernar el corazón en cualquier circunstancia, si uno la deja actuar.
Luego se abordaron los mandatos para esposas, esposos, hijos, padres, esclavos y amos. Se aclaró que la sujeción de la esposa no es sometimiento forzado sino entrega voluntaria dentro de una relación de amor mutuo, y que el mandato al esposo, repetido tres veces en Efesios, es amar con amor ágape y no amargarse. A los padres se les advirtió que no exasperen a sus hijos para que no pierdan el ánimo. El pasaje sobre esclavos y amos se leyó en su contexto del siglo primero, ligado a la historia de Onésimo, el esclavo fugitivo que llevó la carta a Colosas. El punto central fue que, sea cual sea la situación difícil en que uno se encuentre, el llamado sigue siendo hacer todo como para el Señor.
El sermón cerró con la invitación a orar sin cesar, a caminar con sabiduría ante quienes están fuera de la fe, y a hablar siempre con gracia. Se tomó la Cena del Señor como recordatorio del sacrificio de Cristo y anticipo del banquete que espera en el cielo.
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Pasajes bíblicos mencionados
- Colosenses 3:12-17
- Colosenses 3:18 - 4:6
- Efesios (mandato de sumisión mutua y amor ágape entre esposos, citado varias veces)
- Filemón (contexto de Onésimo)
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