The Assembling Work of Sanctification
Paul on the Cultivation of Virtue(s) in the Christian Life
Below are my (lightly edited) teaching notes that serve as an inexact transcript for the talk above.
Last week we said there are two sides of the coin sanctification, two necessary and vital aspects activities in the Christian life by which the Spirit transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ. And last week we looked one of them, the first one Paul mentions in Colossians 3: the dismantling work where we take away, put off, tear down, and kill sin that remains in us. And now we come to the second work of sanctification.
Tonight we will focus on the assembling work of sanctification. And there are kind of two sections in the text tonight. First, we're going to look at what Paul tells the entire community to put on and grow in on the individual and communal levels. No matter how far along a Christian is, we are all needing to grow in the same virtues in some way. And so the first section deals with virtues every Christian is called to, and because none of us have reach full Christ-likness in any of them, we all still have room for growth in.
But, and this is the second section we'll see, we all also have specific life situations we are in that require us to practice those common virtues uniquely. And so, after addressing the community as a whole, Paul turns his attention to some subgroups of people who need specific encouragement in specific virtues given their situation and it's with those that we'll end our night.
So that's the game plan of where we are going. Ok, turn with me to Colossians 3:12.
Section 1
Put on, then, v.12
With these first words, the focus of Paul has shifted. No more is it kill or put away or put off, but Put on. Paul has now turned his attention to the assembling work of sanctification. We don't only need to take away things that shouldn't exist in us, we also need to add on things that we lack. We don't only need to demolish some walls to make us an open floor plan, we also need to add on extensions. We don't only need to tear down, we need to build up.
Just as important as killing sin, is acquiring virtue. Just as needed as putting away is putting on. If all we do is dismantle, a new house will never be built. He doesn't say it here explicitly but the idea carries over from the previous passage: just as needed as killing, is cultivation.
And really what we need to recognize is that the two sides feed each other. We put off so that we can put on, and we put on so that we can put off. The more we dismantle sin in our lives the better able we are to stand and assemble Christ-like virtue in us and the more we assemble Christ-like virtue, the stronger we are to resist temptation and dismantle the vices that remain in us.
Let me give one example. Paul in like 4 words is going to call the Colossians and us to humility. Now we should grow in humility simply because he commands it and because Christ was and we want to look like him more. But as we grow in humility we will be less prone to pride and better able to resist it in the moments it rises up in us. And the more we kill pride in us the more humble we will become.
So both sides of sanctification, putting off and putting on, dismantling and assembling, go hand in hand and enable the other.
…as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, v.12a
Just like we saw last week, there is a danger when God gives commands. And the danger is that when we read the command, we will slip into the human tendency to think that we must contribute to our salvation in some way and that that's exactly why God has given them to us. We we will take our eyes off of Christ and his gospel, and either become legalists who think they must, can, and are earning more of God's favor or staying in his favor by keeping them OR despondents who worry they have lost God's favor because they struggle to keep them.
And so, even though he has already grounded the Colossians in the gospel in the very second verse of the letter and time and time again throughout the letter including like 7 verses ago, Paul again grounds the Colossians in their already-saved-ness before giving the commands because he knows how much reminding and encouraging Christians need because of how prone we are to fall off into legalism and defeatism.
And he does so here by giving them 3 titles: God's chosen ones, Holy, and Beloved. (discussion groups discuss these 3).
List, v.12b
These are the kinds of people Christians are called to be. These are the sort of things each Christian is called to grow in more and more in their own personal lives.
And if sanctification is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus, it makes sense why Paul lists these qualities for the Colossians and us to grow in. Jesus was compassionate , kind, humble, meek, and patient. And so Christians are called to be.
Now, we as Americans have a very individualistic view of ourselves. And we can take the individuality thing too far and only see ourselves through that lens. In reality who are are as individuals is incredibly informed by others. And this is all the more the case for Christians. Christians are members, body parts that are connected to the body of Christ. We may be a finger or an eye or what-have-you, but we are those things within the body of Christ, not separate from it.
And that is worth reminding ourselves of because we will read a list like the one in verse 12 and see it as these individual qualities we need to grow in and put on. But what I want you to see is that you can't do that apart from other Christians. You must belong to other Christians in order to be these things.
Otherwise, who would you need to have a compassionate heart toward? Who would you need to be kind to? People who just live on their own in a shack in woods don't struggle with humility, humility and pride are things that occur infront of others and because of others. Meekness is not forcing one's way upon another, who is that another if this is just totally individual? Patience is only needed because we are interacting with others that require it.
This list of qualities in verse 12 that we are called to put on, are only practicable in community with others. That's why sanctification isn't a self-improvement regimen. It ultimately isn't about you becoming a better person on your own off over there away from everyone. You are called into life with other Christians when you are saved, you are attached to the body of Christ via a local manifestation of it, and the qualities given here to put on are given so that we might inhabit that space with others well and like Christ.
And I wanted to point that out because from verse 13 on Paul uses language like "each other" and "one another" that make it explicit he's talking about how we exist and behave in community with other Christians. And what I want you to see is that this initial list is no different. Each of these qualities can only be practiced and need to be put on because we are involved with other believers.
And all this means that sanctification is also a community project. We are called to personal transformation and renovation. But we are also called to one another and we collectively are being sanctified. And really, our personal transformation and renovation is for the purpose of us being a unified body that together glorifies God.
Paul calls the Colossians to certain things that are only possible with other Christians. So there can't be lone ranger Christians. In order to be obedient to the commands he gives, we need each other.
We are called into communal life with each other and there is a kind of way we are to inhabit that communal life: like Christ would. So, imitate him and put on compassion hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
…bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive, v.13
The problem with Christian community is the same problem of all human communities, it is made up of people who sin. And because that is the case, we are going to hurt each other. That isn't an excuse for it, it's just a statement of fact. Sinners hurt each other, including those who have been redeemed from their sin but aren't perfected yet.
So you need to know this about the local church, about Christian community: you will get hurt here. Not because it's an especially dangerous place, but because it's a place made up of people who sin. We shouldn't idealize Red Mountain or any church or any group within a church. It isn't perfect because the people who make it up aren't perfect.
But here is the greatest difference: Christian community is the one place in the entire world that knows what to do with sinners and their sin. It is the one kind of grouping of people on the planet that knows how to handle the fact that we hurt each other. And that is what sets it apart from any other group. Christian community calls sin sin and because we have been forgiven of great sin ourselves, we forgive sin.
And because Christian community knows how to respond to sin by forgiving one another, it is able to do the other thing Paul says here. We are able to bear with one another. You could translate the word there "put up with."
In Christian community we are going to have to put up with one another. Not because some of us are pieces of work the rest have to put up with, but because every last one of us has burdens the rest of the community is going to have to help us carry and will because they know they have their own that others are helping them carry.
So, bear with, put up with, one another. How? If one has a complaint against another, call it for what it is: sin, own it if you’re the perpetrator, and if you’re the one sinned against: forgive as Christ has forgiven you.
Above all these, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony, v.14
As we'll see later on tonight, love in the New Testament means self-sacrifice for the good of others. And because that's what it is, it is to be put above all the others. Paul is saying that if we pursue self-sacrificing love that has others’ good as the goal rather than our own, we will do all these things he’s just mentioned, but to pursue them apart from self-sacrifice it's impossible an endeavor.
So, if you can’t remember this list or it feels overwhelming. Just take one command from it: put on love, self-sacrifice, others’ good aiming, Christ-resembling, love. If you do, you’ll get all the rest thrown in.
Next Paul gives 2 commands. He says, Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called to in one body in v.15 And Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in v.16a and then tells them some how to’s. How to do those things.
But I’m actually going to leave these for you all to discuss in your discussion groups. Like how do we practically do these things? What does Paul say we accomplish these things by?
If these are communal commands to do for one another, and they are, then what better way to flesh that out than with each other?
Section 2
Next Paul moves from addressing the entire church at Colossae to addressing subgroupings among them. And what he does is address three relationships that are defined by authority and submission. Wives and husbands, children and parents, and servants and masters. And what he has to say is pretty straight forward, at least for one of the subgroups. which is why we won't spend any time on it.
But the other two of the three power dynamics here might trip us up more especially given our nation’s history and our cultural location in the 21st century United States. You may have issues not only with the authority structure with one or both but also with what is commanded within them. And I don't think you even need to look back at the text to know which two I am talking about. We are probably chill with the children and parents/fathers authority structure and commands. But for wives/husbands and servants/masters...that may be a bit more awkward feeling.
And because of that, because it will probably feel a little off as we read it, I want to address them. Now I'm not going to be able to address them as in much detail as I'd like to because of time, each. So just know that each could have their own message but we just don’t have the time. But they need to be addressed because they are in the text and because of our hangups with them. So we are going to.
-Wives and husbands, v.18-19
Here's the main thing to notice about this authority structure and what wives are commanded to do. And it's nothing about the greek. The word for submit there just means submit. No getting around it. No, the main thing to notice is what is commanded to husbands. Wives submit to your husbands, husbands, what?, not lead, not domineer, not rule, LOVE.
Now, that may sound trite. Like, oh ok wives have to do the awful thing of submitting while husbands are just told to looooove. But love for Paul and the Bible isn't shallow like it can be for us today. We say we love tacos after all. Love in the New Testament particularly means one thing: giving up your life for the good of others. It is self-sacrifice for the well being of another person not yourself. 1 John 3:16 says, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."
So Paul does command wives to submit. But he commands husbands to die. That's literally what he writes in Ephesians 5:22-25, "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,"
I am not saying the call to submit is easy, but I am saying this: it ain’t dying, it ain’t death. And wives are called to submit to husbands who are doing so. That is how the relationship is meant to work. Husbands, daily, moment by moment, die, self-sacrifice for the good of their bride like Christ has for the church, and wives follow that dying gladly and willingly as the church does Christ. That’s what submission means, “follow his dying for you.”
That's the power dynamic. Husbands practice headship over their wives by intentional self-death, by using that power to take the initiative in dying. And wives gladly follow their husbands because such a form of leading demonstrates his desire is for their greatest good and not his own.
-Children and Parents/Fathers, v.20-21
Pretty straight forward right? Kids, obey your parents in everything. Parents, fathers particularly, don’t provoke your kids to anger. Don’t frustrate them. Don’t heap up commandments on them you know they can’t meet and therefore discourage them.
-Bondservants and masters, v.22-4:1
The word translated bondservant there is the word for “slave.” But our Bibles don’t translate it that way because if it did we would read into that word what we think of when we hear slave or slavery and that’s American race-based chattel slavery and that is NOT what Greco-Roman slavery was like. Our Bibles use “bondservants” because it carries what the system was actually like. These were more like indentured servants who owed a debt to someone and were working it off. So, that is the situation Paul is addressing.
Now, a big part of what we need to see as incredible about this part of passage is that Paul even addresses these indentured servants at all. For Paul to write this letter and as it's being read publicly for the slaves to hear themselves acknowledged and addressed would have been somewhat shocking. Wives and husbands children and fathers those are pretty broad groups. This is not. The one specific group he address is bondservants! Out of all the specific groups of people he could have addressed, he gives them the great dignity of being one of the few he does.
And when he does, he gives them the most direction and encouragement. Notice that Paul gives more attention to the slaves than to any other subgroup. Everyone else gets a single verse, and short verses. Slaves get 3 and they are beefy verses. Which I think just shows Paul’s love and pastoral heart for them.
And here’s what Paul says to them, “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
He draws their attention way from their earthly situation and to their heavenly standing and assures them that everything they do, because they are Christians, they do for Christ now. And his point is that that should cause them to work not for eye service or as people pleasers but with a sincerity of heat.
And so whatever a Christian’s situation, they can serve in gladness knowing they are ultimately serving the Lord and not man and his inheritance and reward are far greater than any earthily one we may miss out on or be robbed of.
And then there’s the masters. They are commanded to treat their bond servants justly knowing that they have a master in heaven. And so Paul radically for his day puts masters and slaves on the same footing. A couple verses ago he told the slaves, “you are serving the Lord Christ” and here he tells the masters they have a master in heaven. Both slave and master are slaves to Jesus. And for masters, they better remember that their master in heaven is a just one and therefore they better be too or Christ will pay them back accordingly.
As I’ve meditated on this passage more and more I just find what Paul did to be more and more incredible. He maintains the authority structures while flipping them upside down. Those in authority remain in authority but their authority ceases to be a ruling and becomes a leading by serving those who submit to them. The flow of authority stops being top-sown and transforms into from the bottom up.
-Husbands are still the heads of their wives and wives still submit to them, but it’s because husbands are given the seemingly more servile task of dying for their wives.
-Parents and fathers in particular are still the parents their kids are still kids, they aren’t made equals, and kids must obey them, but fathers are commanded to take into consideration their children in how they parent, they don’t just have a free reign to do it how they want but must consider those child’s good in their parenting. The children determine the parenting to some degree.
-Masters still remain over their slaves, and slaves are to obey them as though they do Christ: with a sincere heart. But masters are also put in he place of slave with the slaves, and in the most ultimate reality defining sense: slaves to Christ. And masters are commanded to be just earthly masters because their master Christ is and because if they don’t they will be paid back for it.
Paul maintains the authority structures while flipping them upside down. Just like Christ remained sovereign ruler of the universe while coming not to be served by to serve.
Of course there are the general virtues all Christians are to walk in. But we also each have our specific context we need to apply them to. And Paul gives us 3 case studies, 3 examples of what they looks like. Whether we find ourselves in these three or not, our job is the same: take the Christ-like virtues we are called to and work at assembling them in your specific situation. And that’s a work we will all be involved in until Christ takes us home with him.
Conclusion
And so to close, there are two sides of the coin of sanctification, of growing in Christ-likeness. There are two necessary works that every Christian is engaged in. The dismantling work of killing, of putting off, and of tearing down. And the assembling work of cultivation, of putting on, and of building. Both essential, both founded in the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ.
We’ve spent two weeks now focusing on our tasks in sanctification, how important it is, and charging ourselves with getting to work. But what a pity it would be if in our endeavor to become more like Jesus our attention was drawn away from him. It’s him after all who our sanctification has everything to do with, he is who we aim to imitate in it, he founds our it, he empowers it, he sustains it, and he will bring it to a glorious resolution.
He is all-supreme in his cosmic ruling in the physical and spiritual realms. He is the only preeminent one. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the creator and sustainer and ruler of all things. He is the head of the church. In him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
He is all-sufficient in his personal communing in the heart of every believer. He’s the one we are aiming to look like. He's the one who dwells in us and empowers us by his Spirit. He’s the one who does the real transforming work in us through our meager efforts. He’s the one who greets us with grace when we fail. He satisfies every last desire with pleasure and joy that is full and forever.
He is the focus, the point, the ultimate thing in our sanctification, not our progress in holiness. Because In his cosmic ruling he is all-supreme. And in his personal communing he is all-sufficient. His supremacy and his sufficiency is our only hope and power in sanctification.
I skipped a verse earlier tonight because it’s Paul’s catch all command for each one he says here and it’s just a great way to close the series:
And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him, v.17
Whether you are dismantling or assembling. Killing or cultivating. Whatever you do, do it in the name of Jesus, who is all supreme in his cosmic ruling and all sufficient in his personal communing, giving thanks to God who has saved you through him and who is sanctifying you by his Spirit, so that in everything He gets the glory.