God's Chosen People

God’s Chosen People

Colossians 3:12–14 (NIV)

The church at Colossae was a faithful fellowship of Gentile believers, established around the time of Paul’s third missionary journey… by an associate and co-worker of Paul, name Epaphrus. Paul was writing to this young and growing church, from prison, because he had heard of their faithfulness and he wished to express his joy and thankfulness regarding their faith and love in the Lord.

But, he was also intent on warning the Colossians to avoid false teachings that added anything at all to the Gospel they’d not only heard, but received as Truth. It’s a rich Epistle that speaks to us as clearly today as it did to the Colossians 2000 years ago. Which brings us to our lesson this morning.

Notice how Paul begins verse 12 (it’s vitally important, but often overlooked in our casual readings): he calls the Colossians “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved…” In other words, Paul was saying, “You Gentiles (non-Jews)... you are the people of God; and God loves you, and has chosen you to be His own.” Since Scripture has two audiences: the original people to whom the word was first written… as-well-as those of us who are hearing it now… that means these words are intended for us... to remind us of who and Whose we are, before they ever begin to instruct us in what we’re called to do.

God has chosen us, set us apart for holiness (for His purposes), and He loves us with an everlasting love… before He ever calls us to do a single thing.

We often get it backwards (whether we intend to, or not). We allow ourselves to believe that we have to do something, or earn something, before God will take us as His people.

Our lesson does not say, “Choose God and He will choose you.” Or, “Be holy and God will choose you.” It says, you and I, are “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved…” The Christian life begins with God; God’s Will, God’s Choice; God’s grace, not ours. And if you think about that (with any degree of seriousness), it will humble you. To know the God of everything chose the likes of me to be His, is beyond words.

But, then, this is the heart of what we believe and profess. We are not redeemed because we somehow made ourselves worthy of God’s love. We’re all sinners whom God, in His sovereign grace, has chosen, and redeemed in Christ. And that means, that our obedience to God, and our faithfulness in living our lives for Christ, is NOT a prerequisite in order to earn God’s favor. Our obedience and faithfulness are the product and result of Salvation. They’re the grateful response of a chosen and loved people, who’ve been transformed by God’s grace, and God’s grace alone.

And because God has chosen us in Christ, Paul says we are to “clothe ourselves” with Christlike character.

Such a simple analogy… clothing ourselves! It’s something we do everyday. Think about getting dressed in the morning. We deliberately, intentionally put on clothing appropriate for the day. Paul uses that ordinary picture to describe sanctification. Having been chosen by God, we are increasingly compelled to put off the old ways of sin and put on the character of our Savior.

Remember: these words were written to “God’s chosen people” - including you and me! This is all about how we live together and treat one another as followers of Christ!

So with that in mind, what would the church look like if we all truly and sincerely put on compassion, and kindness, and humility, and gentleness, and patience? Not only to those outside the church, but to the person beside you? Your fellow believer.

Sounds like a tall order… especially when the person beside us isn’t always compassionate, kind, humble, gentle or patient with us. Right? But then, Paul takes it further, saying, “Bear with each other and forgive one another.”

None of us get it right 100% of the time! Churches are filled with redeemed sinners—and redeemed sinners still sin. We will disappoint one another. We will say things we shouldn’t say, misunderstand one another, and sometimes hurt one another.

That’s precisely why forgiveness is necessary and unavoidable! The standard being Christ himself: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

We’re not called to forgive because the offense against us is insignificant. We forgive because our debt to Christ was infinitely greater than the debt another person owes us.

And finally: “Over all these virtues put on love.”

Love is the garment that holds everything else together. You can’t be true to any Christian virtue without love. Everything we do in the name of Christ, must be grounded and purposed in the very love He offered us... because genuine love flows from the love God has first shown us in Christ.

And the Gospel gives us both the motivation and the power to actually live the life of our calling, as God’s chosen people. We don’t become more loving in order to become God’s children. We become more loving because, in Christ, God has already made us His children. Amen.