AM Bible Study Group; May 1, 2013
Colossians 3:16
Theme: God wants us to be a church family that is abundantly saturated with His word.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
God’s word is a life-changing force. It is “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). God stands behind every word of it; and promises, “It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Everything that anyone ever needs for a full spiritual life and complete life-transformation can be obtained—with full sufficiency—through the Bible; because “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Therefore, it is essential that a church be saturated with the word of God. The church on earth is to be “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). It has been entrusted with the Scriptures as the written content of “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3); and the people within the church family are to be occupied with continuing “steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42). Its leaders are told of only two basic things that they must devote themselves to continually: “to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Its preachers are not to create a new, culturally captivating message to declare to the world; but rather, are to: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). The pastor—who is charged with caring for the flock of God—is urged: “Be diligent to present yourself approved of God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Paul was writing to the believers in the church of Colossae because they were under the threat of abandoning the truth of God’s word. A false teaching was threatening their trust in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. And so, among the many things Paul felt led to urge them to do, he urged them to be completely saturated with the teaching and instruction of the Scriptures.
I. NOTICE WHAT THE SCRIPTURES ARE CALLED.
A. Paul refer to the Scriptures as “the word of Christ”, instead of in the more generic phrase “the word of God”. The reason had to do with the whole focus of this letter. Paul emphasizes Jesus Christ as our all-sufficient Savior. Jesus—the Son of God in human flesh—is both the divine Author and the main Theme of the entire Bible. It is called “the word of Christ” because it’s given by Him for the main purpose of pointing us to Him. The phrase “the word of Christ” embraces the whole Bible—Old Testament as well as New. It’s all about Him—from its beginning (Genesis 3:15), to its very end (Revelation 22:20-21). When Jesus argued with the Jewish religious leaders, He told them, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). After He rose from the dead, He met two of His disciples, and “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). And before He ascended to the Father, He opened the understanding of His disciples, so that they could comprehend the Old Testament Scriptures; and He told them, “all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44).
B. This should be a reminder to us that we, as a church, need to embrace the whole word of God—not merely parts of it. Many Christians tend to focus only on their favorite portions of New Testament. Some professing Christians even neglect reading the Old Testament altogether on the argument that “only the New Testament is for us today.” But when it comes to allowing “the word of Christ” to dwell in us, we need to make sure that we’re embracing the whole Bible—not just the New Testament (in which the promises of the Old Testament are exposited), but also the other three-fourths of the Bible in the Old Testament (in which the glories of the New Testament are anticipated). We need to be a “whole Bible” church; because the whole of the Bible together constitutes “the word of Christ”.
II. NOTICE HOW WE’RE TO RELATE TO THE SCRIPTURES.
A. This verse gives us a command. As a community of believers, we’re to see to it that “the word of Christ” is continually, progressively dwelling in us. We’re to allow it to make its continual home in us. And more than that, we’re to allow the word of Christ to “dwell in us richly”. It’s to be in us in an abundant and fruitful manner. For the word of God to dwell in us richly as a church, it must be dwelling in us richly as individual believers. A church that’s powerful in the word is made up of individuals who are powerful in the word.
B. Many professing Christians in our culture have a marvelous availability of contact with the word of Christ. And yet, it still isn’t dwelling in them “richly”. Why?
1. One reason may be because they don’t have a daily habit of reading it personally. If you only eat a healthy meal once in a great while, it won’t matter how good the food is; you still wont get the nourishment you need from it. A rich indwelling of the word of God can come only through a daily exposure to it so that it can be built into our lives over time—transforming our thinking and attitudes, informing our beliefs and convictions, guiding our daily steps and decisions.
2. Another reason the word may not dwell in some richly is because they don’t take the time to truly study it. A rich indwelling of the word of God is the by-product of hard work—looking up words, consulting maps, building bridges over the gaps in our understanding, memorizing and meditating, digging deep until we find the treasures God has for us in it. We only experience the rich indwelling of the word to the degree that we are willing to pay the price to work diligently at it.
3. Another reason for a lack of a rich indwelling may be because of a failure to depend on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit when it is read and studied. The Bible is not a human book that can be understood by human means. It presents us with spiritual truth; and spiritual truth cannot be grasped apart from the gracious enablement of the Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote, “. . . We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). He added, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (v. 14). Whenever we pick up our Bible’s to read, we should always begin with prayer; and ask the Holy Spirit to open our understanding to its rich treasures.
4. We’d have to say that very one important reason the word of Christ doesn’t dwell richly in some may be because they fail to obey what they read from it. There are some people who intentionally study the Bible as more of an exercise of the mind than as a submission of the heart or as a transformation of the life. The Bible is unlike anything else we can study. In all other fields of study, the student seeks to master the subject. But when it comes to studying the Bible, we must let the subject master us. The apostle James wrote, “. . . Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25).
III. NOTICE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO BE RICHLY INDWELT BY THE WORD.
A. When the word indwells a church richly, that word comes bubbling out in the things that it does. Paul says that it is expressed in a church in two ways.
1. Such a church of individuals expresses the word of Christ to one another in one-on-one ministry. He says, “. . . in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another . . .” This sounds very much like what Paul says he and his co-workers sought to do in their own ministry (see Colossians 1:28). And he urges us to do the same. We’re to be “teaching”—that is, instructing one another in what the word of God says, and what God expects from us in it. And we’re to be “admonishing”—that is, exhorting one another to take action, or warning each other of the danger if they fail to do as they should. “Teaching” informs the mind, and “admonishing” implores the will. This two-fold, balanced ministry is to be conducted: “with all wisdom”—learning from Scripture itself what the best means are to be used, in God’s appointed way, for perfecting one another in Christ.
2. And when the word truly indwells us richly in that way, we reflect the word back to God in sincere worship. Paul says it is to show itself in us “. . . in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Paul mentions three types of musical expression in this verse. “Psalms” comes from a Greek word that means ‘to pluck’ or ‘to touch’, as if strumming a cord. It was the name given to the sacred songs of the Old Testament; and Paul’s use of it is probably a reference to the psalms in the Old Testament psalter. “Hymns” is a word that was used to describe songs that were sung by pagan people to tell forth the praises of their gods, or of the exploits of their heroes. It’s main element is that of praising the subject being sung about; and so, Paul’s reference here is probably to songs of praise about the nature and character of our Savior. “Spiritual songs” is a more generic term; but the nature of these songs is specifically defined by the term “spiritual”. These would be songs that particularly focus on the things that pertain to God’s work in our lives, or the testimony of what He has done for us. They are songs that lift our thoughts to spiritual realities in our life with Christ.
B. And notice that we’re to enjoy such expressions of worship sincerely; with “grace” in our hearts—that is with a genuine, sincere, thankful, heartfelt response to the rich, joyous and blessed things that God has freely done for us in Christ. This “grace” is a work of the Holy Spirit in us. In fact, what Paul says in this verse is very much like what he says in Ephesians 5:18-21; “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
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All of this is to be done by us together as a church family; and we’re to be guided in it by God’s word. God’s great desire is that we serve one another and worship Him together in a way that’s in keeping His revelation of Himself in the word. And so, we see the word of Christ returning full circle: the word of Christ is to be in us as a body by God’s grace; and it is to be expressed to one another in our care for one another through ministries of teaching and admonishing; and then, finally, returned back to God in our sincere, heartfelt, thankful worship together.
May God help us to be a church in which the word of Christ truly dwells richly.