Put on Christ

Put on Christ

This sketch is from one of the earlier sermons in our church by Evan Westburg. He preached on this verse.

 Colossians 3:9-14, -Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another of any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

This sketch is how I interpreted a church that embodies this verse. Here are people holding each other up, working at being humble and kind, bearing with each other and forgiving.  

          

What would happen if we really did this within our churches? What if when we disagreed with leadership we didn’t take our ball and go home? What if when the music wasn’t our taste, we had patience? If the songs were too fast, or too slow we didn’t run off to another church hoping it would fulfill our laundry list of needs? 

Say the older generation made room for the styles of the younger and the younger left a place open for music familiar with another generation? By the way, this doesn’t necessarily mean a battle over using hymns. Both sides seem to like hearing a classic hymn now and then. It is mostly modern vs 90’s style music.

Oh yeah, and what if when we didn’t agree with how the money was being spent, we didn’t try to disrupt the entire church by talking in secret meetings to get our own way? Then leave taking many with us. Only to find another imperfect church, one that we will leave again somewhere down the line.

If someone hurts our feelings, or a Sunday School teacher is not up to our standards can we be examples of commitment and stick it out?

Then cover it all with a deep, consuming love for one another. A love that overlooks, forgives, and has compassion. This would strengthen individual churches by not having a constant stream of strangers flowing in and out of its doors. We could get to know each other, and really be a family.

Wow! I want to be in that church. Where do I go? Oh, yeah, I stay right here in my lovely, but imperfect church, and commit to dearly loving, forgiving, and being compassionate to my own church family.