August 26 – Practicing Justice
August 23, 2018
Sunday School Lesson
August 26
Practicing Justice
Devotional Reading: Romans 8:1-11
Background Scripture: Ephesians 4:25-5:2; Colossians 3:1-17
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Key Verse
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.—Colossians 3:12
Lesson Aims
After participating in this lesson, each learner will be able to:
- Identify several imperatives of godly behavior.
- Explain what it means to put off the old self and put on the new.
- Write a prayer asking God’s help in eliminating a besetting sin from the old life.
Introduction
- Agents of Change
Often in classic TV or movie Westerns, a new sheriff comes into a corrupt locale and proceeds to “clean things up.” A twentieth-century true version of the story is found in the life of Sheriff Buford Pusser (1937-1974).
In the late 1950s, Pusser moved from his childhood home in McNairy County, Tennessee, to earn a living as a local wrestler in Chicago under the name “Buford the Bull.” Pusser returned home in 1962 after marrying. He then became police chief of Adamsville, Tennessee, a position his father once held.
After the sheriff of McNairy County was killed in an auto accident, Pusser was elected to that position. Despite being the youngest sheriff in Tennessee’s history, Pusser promptly began trying to eliminate organized crime in his county. His one-man war on moonshine, prostitution, and gambling along the Tennessee-Mississippi state line became legendary. The 1973 movie Walking Tall was based on Pusser’s story. The film spawned sequels, a series, and a remake.
There is much that is corrupt with our world. But how can we make a difference when problems seem overwhelming? Paul tells us how to be a true agent of change in our world.
- Lesson Background
The letter to the Colossians is one of the four “prison epistles,” letters written by Paul while under arrest in Rome. The other three are Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon. The letter we call 2 Timothy was also written by Paul while imprisoned (later), but that letter is grouped with the pastoral epistles. We estimate that Paul wrote the four prison epistles about the year AD 63.
The letter under consideration was addressed to the church in Colosse. That town was situated on the Lycus River in southwest Asia Minor (modern Turkey) on an important commercial highway. The church was made up primarily of Gentiles.
The book of Acts does not mention Paul’s being in Colosse, but we believe that Philemon (the recipient of a letter from Paul that bears his name) lived there. This is because Onesimus, the slave whom Paul sent back to Philemon (Philemon 10-12), lived in Colosse for he is mentioned in Colossians 4:9 as “one of” the Colossians.
We find powerful doctrinal content in the first two chapters of Colossians, given by Paul to combat false teaching in the church. He refers to this as “philosophy” (Colossians 2:8), and it seems to have included false teaching about the nature of Christ.
As he often does in his letters, Paul follows the opening doctrinal section with practical teachings on how to live out these great truths. Coming to chapter 3, Paul twice encourages his readers to focus on things above (Colossians 3:1, 2). This means that their behavior should be according to God’s standards, not earthly standards. They should conduct themselves in expectations of Christ’s return (3:4). This is a way of exhorting them not to be engaged in activities that would embarrass themselves if their Lord made a sudden appearance. This brings us to today’s text.
- Put Off
- Ending Sinful Actions (vv. 5-7)
5a. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.
If the Lord Jesus could return at any time, how should we then live? A focus on “things above” (Colossians 3:1, 2) will lead us to mortify (put to death) the members that keep our attention upon the earth. This means putting to death the sinful elements of our lives that separate us from God and make us unprepared for Christ’s return (compare Matthew 5:29, 30). Paul teaches elsewhere about putting the old life to death and beginning the new life in Christ (Romans 6:1-7). Being forgiven of our sins is not a justification for continuing in them (6:1, 2).
How to Say It
BarbariansBar-bare-ee-unz.
ColosseKo-lahss-ee.
ColossiansKuh-losh-unz.
OnesimusO-ness-ih-muss.
PhilemonFih-lee-mun or Fye-lee-mun.
ScythiansSith-ee-unz.
5b. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Lest the readers misunderstand what must be given the death sentence, Paul lists five examples. The first is fornication. Paul and the other writers of the Bible consistently limit sexual activity to the relations between a man and a woman married to each other. All other sexual activity is seen as fornication (compare 1 Corinthians 6:18).
The words that follow are related to this prohibition of fornication. Uncleanness in this context is not about personal hygiene, but sexual misbehavior. Inordinate affection characterizes sexual desires not in keeping with God’s standards. This is similar to evil concupiscence, an expression using another word for “desire” or “passion.” These are both the inclinations and actions of sexual immorality, and both should be put to death if we are to be ready to meet Christ.
What Do You Think?
What practical steps help you stay morally pure in a sexually saturated culture?
Points for Your Discussion
When confronted with cultural redefinitions of morality
When in the presence of people whose moral boundaries are unbiblical
Other
The last item, covetousness, may seem misplaced in a list oriented toward sexual immorality; we may immediately think of the tenth commandment. However, not coveting a neighbor’s wife is part of that commandment (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21). Such coveting can lead to sexual sin, as it did with David (2 Samuel 11).
Paul summarizes his teaching by equating covetousness with idolatry (compare Ephesians 5:5). The biblical concept of idolatry is more than the worship of statues of other gods. In the first century AD, worship involving idols often includes immoral sexual activity; but there is more than this here. At its core, idolatry occurs when we allow anything to displace God as the proper recipient of our worship. Covetousness disregards God and His proper place in our hearts, and this is never clearer than in the commission of sexual sin in deliberate violation of God’s intent for our lives.
6, 7. For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Paul’s list of sexually oriented sins is familiar to the Colossians on a personal level. They have walkedin this kind of sin, which is similar to have lived in it. The word walk is used commonly as a metaphor in the Bible to indicate the way people live their lives, the life choices they make (examples: Deuteronomy 10:12; John 8:12; 1 John 1:6, 7).
Paul’s warning is dire: disregard for God and His standards of holiness promises a frightful outcome at the return of the Lord. That outcome is to be subject to the wrath of God. His judgmental anger will fall on the unrepentant, the children of disobedience, who defiantly and consistently disobey His standards.
Many Christians do not like to talk or think about the wrath of God, preferring to dwell on His love. But God’s anger, which is never arbitrary or capricious, is real. Human sin calls it forth.
8, 9. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.
This list focuses on our attitudes and actions toward others. To drive home his conviction that these belong to the old life and not to the new, Paul commences to use one of his most powerful metaphors: that of taking off and/or putting on garments (compare Romans 13:12; Galatians 3:27; Ephesians 4:22-24). He depicts Christians “wearing” their deeds as clothing, meaning they are public for all to see. We shed filthy garments of dishonor when we eliminate particular sins from our lives.
The first two items on the list, anger and wrath, might seem ironic since Paul has just warned of the impending wrath of God on unrepentant sinners. Here, however, Paul is condemning human anger that seeks to harm others. Anger as such is not a sin; it is a God-given emotion. But anger born of a desire for revenge is indeed sinful. The third item, malice, reinforces the distinction between God’s righteous wrath and our self-serving anger.
What Do You Think?
How do you keep anger from crossing the line from justified (Mark 3:5) to sinful (James 1:19, 20)?
Points for Your Discussion
Prior to anger arising
While you are angry
Paul ends with three sinful deeds of the mouth. Blasphemy is deliberate disrespect in speech and is often applied to speech against God. It is a particularly grievous sin that the Jews of Paul’s day believe worthy of the death penalty (John 10:33). On a human level, though, such strong disrespectful language amounts to malicious defamation, something often the product of angry words.
This is followed by two other types of sinful talk, filthy communication and lying to others. With public discourse becoming coarser by the day, we can become numb to obscenity and profanity. If we’re not vigilant, that numbness can lead to participation. It is unfortunate that some Christians, even church leaders, do not hold themselves to a higher standard in this area.
The prohibition against lying calls to mind the ninth commandment (Exodus 20:16). At its core, lying is deception intended to achieve our own selfish ends. Deception and selfishness are foundational to our old self and must have no part in our new life.
Paul’s summary of leaving this ungodly behavior behind uses his metaphor of taking off clothing. We have discarded (put off) the robe of the old man, the selfish sinful person, as signified by discarding our sinful deeds. We do this deliberately and intentionally, just as we would take off a winter jacket when we come into the house.
- Put On
10, 11. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
In Paul’s imagery, we don’t stand naked after disrobing from our sinful behaviors. We replace the discards with the proper clothing, the new man, because we are being restored to the image in which we were created, the image of God (Genesis 1:26, 27). Ultimately this is the image of Christ, God’s Son (Romans 8:29). From a behavior standpoint, we should look a lot like Jesus. This also involves a knowledge renewal, changed thinking in regard to sin.
The universal application of the image of Christ finds expression in Paul’s description of Him as being all, and in all. This is further defined by the three inclusive contrasts that precede that sweeping statement. In Paul’s world one is either a Greek (Gentile) or a Jew, either circumcised or not, either bond (slave) or free. All of humanity is thus included; all are eligible to be clothed with the image of Christ.
Paul uses two other categories. Barbarians are non-Greek speakers considered uncultured and barely civilized. Scythians live on the north shore of the Black Sea and are considered to be extremely backward, the ultimate barbarians of the ancient world. Paul is not putting these groups down. Rather, he is telling the Colossians (who think of themselves as educated, cultured Greeks) that donning the image of Christ is possible even for those on the lowest rung of the culture ladder.
What’s a Picture Worth?
“A picture is worth a thousand words”—or so we used to think! Before the days of digital imagery, faking a picture to make it seem real required much skill and time, plus a darkroom equipped for the task. Today all it requires is a computer and proper software such as Photoshop. The right software enables digital manipulation to the heart’s content: people can be added and removed from scenes, day can be changed to night—the list is endless.
You’ve probably received an e-mail with a subject line that suggests the photographer was on hand at just the right moment to take a striking photo. Chances are, the “right moment” was the moment at the computer when the one editing the photo combined pieces from two or more photos to create the desired effect. A common example from calendars is a spectacular picture of a rising full moon in which the moon fills a much larger portion of the sky than it ever does in reality. So nowadays a picture may be worth only one word: fake or manipulated.
The question for each and every Christian is, “Does the image of Christ I present to the world reflect reality, or is it a fake?” A highly manipulated image that we put together for Sunday services or Monday work will eventually be seen for what it truly represents: hypocrisy. Don’t go there.
—C. R. B.
- New Wardrobe (vv. 12-14)
- Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.
Paul begins to specify seven qualities that are to be put on, but first he defines his audience. The elect of God are the Christians, further defined as holy and beloved. God’s love makes salvation possible (John 3:16). When we accept His Son according to the biblical plan of salvation, we become set apart in purity (holy) from sinful humanity even as we continue to live among unrepentant people. In the pattern of Christ, we are not of the world (17:14, 16). The new garments we wear to reflect this reality should be evident for all to see.
The phrase bowels of mercies indicates a strong feeling of compassion for others; we usually call this a response of the heart, but we sometimes say we feel something “in the gut.” Kindness likewise indicates a positive, generous, gracious response to others’ needs. Humbleness of mind and meeknessboth stress adopting a position of lowliness, seeking to serve others instead of asserting one’s own rights or privileges. Longsuffering indicates the willingness to wait as long as it takes for others to make the right response, just as God waited for us to respond to Him (Ephesians 4:32). Such “clothing” as this surely identifies a person as belonging to Christ.
What Do You Think?
In practical terms, what does it look like to have put on the attributes of which Paul speaks?
Points for Your Discussion
When interacting with fellow believers
When interacting with unbelievers
When interacting with total strangers whose spiritual status is unknown to you
- Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Paul’s sixth category of Christlike clothing is particularly applicable when a quarrel takes place within the church. Forbearing one another means we don’t give up on our relationships. A vital aspect of that is forgiving one another. When a quarrel looms, we don’t have to win. We can derail a church fight before it begins if we practice mutual forbearance and forgiveness.
Paul includes a humbling reminder of our prime example: Christ. Those who clothe themselves with Christ should not forget the great forgiveness that Jesus has bestowed on all of us. This reminder should make our quibbles seem vanishingly petty by comparison.
- And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Paul ends his list of Christ-clothing with the one that ties it all together: charity (in modern English, love; Romans 13:8, 10). The phrase above all these things is striking in that it views charity/love as a topcoat, to be put on over all else. This bond of perfectness is the ultimate unifier for the body of Christ. Let us love one another as Christ has loved us (John 13:34).
Wit Versus Wisdom
Who among us doesn’t secretly admire the wit that enables some people to come up with spontaneous, clever retorts? On a certain occasion, Winston Churchill was purportedly speaking with Lady Nancy Astor, a longtime political enemy, when she said to him, “If you were my husband, I’d put poison in your tea.” Churchill’s response was, “Madam, if you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
Much as we might admire the ease that some people have with witty retorts, the wisdom of Scripture urges a different approach. A put-down won’t succeed in building up, but compassion and forgiveness will.
—C. R. B.
III. Put Forth
- With Jesus’ Power (vv. 15, 16)
- And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
The loving church will be a peaceful church, and for this we should be thankful. This has not been engineered by our brilliance but by following the example of Christ and conforming to His image (Romans 8:29).
If we live with love, forgiveness, and patience for others, our hearts will be filled with the peace of God. We are part of one body, the organization whose head loved its future constituents so much that He died for them (Ephesians 5:23-25).
What Do You Think?
Does one focus on having inner peace to be able to exhibit love and forgiveness to others, or does one exhibit love and forgiveness to others so inner peace will result?
Points for Your Discussion
Considering situational issues
Considering scriptural guidance (Proverbs 12:20; 14:30; Matthew 15:18, 19; Luke 6:45; Romans 14:19; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 2:22)
- Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Paul finishes this section with specific qualities that characterize the peaceful church. First, the word of Christ must find a home in the hearts of believers. There should be an eagerness to learn the ways of God. This is a path of wisdom, knowing God’s plan for living and then choosing to live that way.
Paul then offers a mechanism for implementing this imperative: teaching (primary instruction) and admonishing (encouragement to follow the instruction). A highly effective but often underused method of doing both is through the words of the songs we sing together in the context of worship. There are technical distinctions among psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, but it’s their cumulative effect that interests Paul. The songs we sing together will find their way into our hearts in powerful and memorable ways, often coming to mind later. Therefore, we should sing what we believe and believe what we sing.
- In Jesus’ Name (v. 17)
- And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Paul’s final words in this section call us to harmonize our words and our deeds, our talk and our actions. This harmonization happens when both are in accordance with what the name of the Lord Jesus signifies (Matthew 18:5, 20; etc.). We are to say and do what He would have us say and do.
Jesus’ message is for everyone. All are invited to come to Him (Matthew 11:28-30). We can be His ambassadors for kindness, for hope, and for justice in our communities, but above all we are His ambassadors for eternal life in Heaven. For such a privilege let us be thankful, and may our actions express this gratitude to God through His Son Jesus Christ.
What Do You Think?
What steps can you take to ensure that your efforts are always in the name of Jesus?
Points for Your Discussion
Regarding what you say (speech patterns)
Regarding what you do (behavior patterns)
Conclusion
- Just Thinking
Righteousness means doing the right thing. It is closely tied to the biblical understanding of justice: wanting to see the right thing done from God’s perspective and according to His Word. The one who loves justice is the person who wants to see the right thing done for others.
But sin stands in the way of that happening. Sin comes in two categories: acts of commission and acts of omission. God becomes angry not only when His commandments are actively broken but also when people fail to do what they should. When we commit unrighteous acts, we sin by commission; when we can correct an injustice we see but fail to act, we sin by omission. Both dishonor the name of the Lord Jesus. Both discredit what Paul says we have put on.
- Prayer
Lord God, may Your Word dwell richly in our hearts, so much so that we are increasingly conformed to the image of Your Son. Make us ever aware that what we have put off has no further place in our lives, and what we have put on must be honored. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
- Thought to Remember
We can only bring change to the extent
that we let God change us.
