Introduction.

This is a quite straightforward passage in Colossians to expound until we get to the references to love and Christ's peace. It is far from clear to me exactly what Paul's fine sounding language means. The commentators are not much help because they all have different interpretations of verses 14 and 15. Well I have done my best to fathom Paul's intent. In this passage of his letter, Paul teaches:

(1) Christians are a special people.

(a) They are chosen. Men and women are not chosen unconditionally to be God's children. Some Christians are convinced that a person has to be chosen and then they will believe. Other Christians take the view that you believe in order to be chosen. I belong to the second group. God chose the criterion he would use to select the members of his family. The apostle John makes this abundantly clear: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Jn1v12and13. God elects to his family all those who have faith in Jesus his Son. Christians are very special: God is their father and Jesus their brother.

(b) They are holy. Christians are set apart as God's people. They are incredibly privileged to belong to God the Father's family and to be joint heirs with Jesus.

(c) They are dearly loved. One of the great blessings of being a grandparent is to be the recipient of the affection and devotion of your grandchildren. I sometimes watch with envy a grandmother shopping in Waitrose with her three year old granddaughter. It is obvious that both enjoy the experience. I wish I had a lovely granddaughter to come shopping with me!

It is certainly heartening and uplifting to know that we are loved, yes, DEARLY loved by our Heavenly Father.

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Spirit breathing from above,
You have taught me it is so.
O this full and perfect peace!
O this presence so divine!
In a love that cannot cease
I am His and He is mine.

(2) In view of our special relationship with God we should dress for the part.

So let us look at the clothes we should wear:

(a) Compassion. We show compassion when we feel sorry for the suffering and take action to relieve it.

People in the ancient world were not compassionate. Even the Jews, although it is never taught in the Scriptures, thought that the suffering - the blind, the paralysed, the mentally ill - had brought it on themselves through sinning. The Pharisees had no sympathy for the man born blind. Remember what they said to him: "You are steeped in sin at birth." Jn9v34.

The woman who had an issue of blood - an internal haemorrhage - was excluded from her local synagogue as one of the unclean. It was thought she had brought the condition on herself by sinning.

I know of people in my own prosperous country who do not support charities that relieve suffering in the Third World because they believe the citizens of those countries have brought misfortune on themselves.

We should put ourselves in the sufferings place and ask ourselves the question, 'How would I like it.' I was asked recently by a representative of a charity for the blind why I gave it my support. My reply was brief, 'I wouldn't like to be blind.'

(b) Kindness. We show kindness when we act in a way that benefits someone else.

My friends, Carolyn and Richard, are kind to me. Every so often they have me to Sunday lunch. Their son is kind too. He always has a glass of port or sherry waiting for me.

My uncle David was kind to me when my father, for whom I cared, eventually died. He invited me to his home in Exmouth for a week. Every day we walked in the splendid Devon countryside. He knew I would love this. In the evenings we played games. What happy memories I have of that holiday.

Every fortnight I show kindness to my old colleague, Dorothy, when I shop for her in Waitrose. My kindness abounds when I browse the shelves searching for obscure brands of cheese and little known wines - remarkable only for being half price! Sometimes my kindness is accompanied by clenched teeth!

Jesus was kind to that wretched woman taken in adultery and dragged into his presence. What could be kinder than the words, "Neither do I condemn you - go and sin no more."

(c) Humility. This is a rare but vitally important quality. It features in the first Beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

The humble hearted are not self conscious. Self consciousness keeps many men from confessing Christ. Zachaeus would never have climbed that tree to see Jesus if he had been worried what people might think.

The poor in spirit are not self-congratulatory. They would never pray like the Pharisee in Jesus' parable who said, "I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."

A man of genuine humility would never promote himself. Why do you think Jesus spent so long in the carpenter's shop? I think he was very reluctant to promote himself. His mother and brothers could not understand this and egged him on to make more of his miraculous powers.

We need to remember that Jesus taught that the first will be last and the last first. People content to be last will do all sorts of menial tasks for Jesus without thought of reward.

(d) Gentleness or Meekness. This is another virtue that features in the Beatitudes: Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.

Meekness is power under control. A wild stallion has power but it is not under control. A horse has to be broken before it can perform all sorts of useful functions and can be called meek.

Self control is a very important quality. Without it Jesus would never have offered the perfect sacrifice for our sin. I would never have remained on the cross if I had the resources at the disposal of Jesus. I would have summoned the legions of angels and taught those gloating, taunting chief priests and Pharisees a lesson they would never, never forget.

We do a lot of harm for lack of self control. There is an incident of my youth that I always recall with shame. I was playing cricket for Brockley against a very strong invitation eleven. My father was umpiring. I was batting. The ball rapped my pad. The bowler appealed. My father gave me out. He wasn't going to be accused of favouring his son. I shouted at him all the way back to the pavilion. My father never umpired again.

You can never feel completely safe with a person lacking self control. The absence of meekness made me an unpredictable and rather scary teacher.

(e) Patience or longsuffering. The patient teacher is one who never gives up on a class or an individual pupil. He or she will use all the means at their command to motivate the idle. They will teach with conviction and enthusiasm, warn, tick off, cajole, encourage and praise.

God did not give up on his people, the Jews, for centuries. He sent them charismatic leaders, great generals and eloquent prophets. They were delivered from Egypt, conquered the Promised Land, withstood many attacks, were taken into captivity and reborn as a nation. Only when the Jews rejected his one and only son did God finally lose patience with them.

Christians need to have patience with a new, young pastor, who is bound to make some mistakes. Equally a pastor needs to show patience with his flock, some members of whom may fail to live up to expectations.

(f) Forbearance and forgiveness. Jesus expects his followers to bare with one another's weaknesses and forgive those that wrong them.

Christians seem to find this very difficult. They are not willing to put up with much. Some time ago a lady with a fine soprano voice worshipped with us. She stood behind an elderly couple who had occupied the same pew for many years. They disapproved of the soprano's singing. They couldn't hear themselves sing! So they went to the pastor and told him that unless he got the soprano to move they would leave the church. A forbearing duo would themselves have changed where they sat.

The same lady kept six dogs whose barking greatly upset her neighbours who also attended our church. Those neighbours, nominal Christians at least, hated the dog owner with a bitter hatred. There was no hint of forgiveness.

Christians need to follow the example of their Master who bore with his disciples notwithstanding their almost wilful misapprehension of his mission. Jesus forgave the Roman soldiers even as they nailed him to the cross.

Christians rely wholly on God's willingness to forgive them their sins. They are forgiven sinners. So why are they so reluctant to forgive those who offend them? We are enjoined to, forgive as the Lord forgave you. Jesus did not forgive grudgingly, half-heartedly or joylessly. He forgave as the Father forgave the Prodigal Son.

However, it has to be said, the Prodigal did need to repent!

(g) Love. It is by no means easy to grasp what Paul writes about the garment love: And over all these virtues put on love, which binds all together in perfect unity.

There are numerous interpretations of this verse which adds to the expositors confusion!

So, what garment satisfies Paul's description of the well dressed man? It is a garment that goes on over the other items of wear. It does not clash with the clothes that have already been put on. It is in harmony with them. It is a garment that combines with the other articles of dress to pleasing effect. This last garment may contribute qualities not provided by the other clothes.

I dress up to go to church on Sundays. I put on my wonderful three piece suit, my shiney black shoes, a colourful tie and a handkerchief in my top pocket. But, something is missing - especially on a cold and windy day. What I need to be a truly well dressed man is a charcoal grey, knee length, stylish overcoat. It doesn't have to be completely buttoned up. A few buttons can be left undone so the rest of my Sunday attire can be shown off to best advantage.

So what purposes does the overcoat serve?