Colossians 3:1-17

When Christ is All in All in Us

You have probably heard the saying “Clothes make the man.”  I want to ask a question.  If Christ were to decide to spend the day with you would you dress any different than normal?  Would you rush out to buy new clothes?  Maybe you would make sure you dressed modestly.  Maybe you would put on your best Sunday, “attend an interview” clothes.

Well, in today’s text (v12) it tells us to clothe ourselves in certain ways.  We are to “put on” or as some translations have it, “clothe yourselves” or, as the New English Bible puts it, “put on the garments that suit God’s chosen people.”

Look at the last phrase of chapter three, verse 11, “but Christ is all and in all.”  When Christ is all in all how different will it be?  Clothes don’t make the man, not in Jesus’ view.  Where does Christ look?  Not at the outward man but upon the heart.

When Christ is all in all in us, Paul says three rings will be different:

1. We will LOVE differently

A. We will LOVE GRACIOUSLY
B. We will LOVE GENEROUSLY

2. We will LIVE differently

A. At PEACE with OURSELVES
B. At PEACE with OTHERS
C. At PEACE with GOD

3. We will LEARN differently

A. Through STUDY of the WORD
B. Through SONG in WORSHIP
C. Through SERVICE in WORK