Reflection on the Book of Colossians (12)

Church-based fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. In the name of Jesus Christ. Lord our God, we desire that individually You will speak to our hearts. Lord, please speak to our hearts in the name of Jesus. Force partakers of the realities of the kingdom in the name of Jesus. Lord, work in us, Lord, work through us, the good pleasure of Your will in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Everlasting Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Praise the Lord. Yeah, we thank our God again this evening as we all gathered together for our discipleship class and I trust the Lord that it has always been God, it will still be God again today in the name of Jesus Christ. We have been reflecting on the book of Colossians for weeks now and we are still continuing on that reflection. Last week we were on chapter 3 and we drew the curtain on verse 16. Chapter 3 verse 16 where we drew the curtain last week is also where the letter to the Colossians drew the curtain on what should be the normal Christian life. What should be the normal Christian life. From verse 17, the Bible moves on to discuss the consequence of the normal Christian life on marriage. When the Christian life is normal, what would we find in the marriage? So when you don't find what we want to discuss today in a home, the problem is not about the home. The fundamental problem is about the Christians that make up the marriage. I don't know whether you get what I'm trying to say. The intro of Family Tent says churches and families cannot be more spiritual than the individuals that make them. The individuals that make our churches, the individuals that gather in the marriage. No family, no church can be more spiritual or better than the individuals. So many times when you notice that there is a problem in a marriage, it is not marriage as an institution that God created that has a problem. That's what I keep telling people. Marriage don't have, marriage do not have a problem. Marriage came from God, just like a matter of sex. Sex is not a problem. Sex is a good thing. But once sex is perverted, it becomes a problem. The same thing is with marriage. Marriage is not a problem. Marriage is a very good thing. Marriage is something to be desired. It was God that said it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a help suitable for him. So in the mind of God, when God was coming up with the idea of marriage, what was in the mind of God was a good thing. What was in the mind of God was something that would be a help for the purpose of God in the life of the man. And of course, as the woman helps the purpose of God in the life of the man, the woman fulfills the purpose of God. I don't know whether you get that. As a woman helps the man to fulfill God's purpose for his life, the woman by and by fulfills the purpose for her own creation. It was because the man has a need, that was why the woman was created. So just as man made to fulfill the purpose of God, by and by the purpose for creating man is fulfilled. In the same way, as the woman helps the man to fulfill God's purpose in his life, by and by the purpose for the woman is fulfilled. That's just the organogram. And so for God, marriage was purposeful, marriage was deliberate. And so Apostle Paul wants to dive into the matter of marriage from verse 17 and it is good to see that marriage was not what began first in the book of Colossians. Marriage came immediately after... Did you notice something? What I am trying to make you see is that the matter of the Christian life concluded in verse 16. That was where we ended the matter last week. Please if you have not been following us on this matter, just go online, go to our website www.familytentministry.org. You can follow us, you can listen to the earlier discussion on this matter. Now, the matter of what should be the Christian life ended in verse 16, the normal Christian life. Immediately in verse 17, immediately Apostle Paul said, "And whatsoever you do, in word or deed, do it in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God our Father through Him." Immediately he ended that matter in verse 17, the next thing that followed immediately was "Wives, submit to your own husband, as it is fitting in the Lord." Now, we need to get something clear in this text. The matter of a woman handing over her life to a man or submitting to a man, the matter of submission is not something that begins with the man. It's something that begin with a woman who has been a Christian and as a Christian she has been buried with Christ, as a Christian there is a correct understanding that she has been raised with Christ and Christ is her life. And then there is a clear understanding that there is a need to put off covetousness, immorality, adultery, idolatry. There is a need to put those things off. Furthermore, there is a need not only to have put off anger, wrath, malice, those ones have been put off. There is a need not only to have put off, but there is also something very very important. There is a need to have put on as holy and beloved of God, to have put on love, to have put on forgiveness, to have put on forbearance. There is a need to have put on all of that. So the matter of wife submitting to husband is coming from that background. When there is no putting off and putting on, you won't find submission in marriage. You won't find it. What you will find in marriage are those things that were not put off and you will not see a manifestation of those things that ought to be put on. This is what I'm trying to say. That when we live the normal Christian life, you will find that... I want to show you something so that the matter can be clearer. Let me read a few things. I want to read a few things. It says from verse 12, "Therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, put on kindness, put on humility, put on meekness, put on longsuffering; bearing with one another, forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ has forgiven you, you also must forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Let the word of God rule in your heart. Let the peace of God rule in your heart, to which you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching, admonishing in psalms and all of that. And whatever you do in words and deeds." It is on that background that you will find a wife that can truly submit to a man. It's on that background. It's on that background. Or else, what you will find ordinarily in marriage is that a woman would not submit to her husband. It is the ordinary thing, the natural thing in a marriage is that a woman would not submit to her husband. That's the natural thing. But the spiritual thing in a marriage is what? Is that a wife submit to her husband. You see, the reason why the matter of submission is coming as an instruction and you will marvel there. You will marvel that everywhere the matter of husband and wife is discussed in the Bible, what do you always see? Wife, submit. The simple thing that that is telling you is that one thing that a woman finds difficult to do is to submit. And what makes it difficult to do is that certain things have not been put off and certain things have not been put on. The reason why submission is so complex in the world is this matter. Because certain things were not put off, certain things were not put on. But in the Christian fold, look at something. Because you will discover that what He is asking them to do is still what will soon come out of the husband. What He is asking them to do is what is already in their Christian life. Look at it. "Wives, submit to your own husband." He has already said all believers should therefore as holy and beloved, put on what? Tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness and longsuffering. Somebody who has tender mercies, somebody who has kindness, somebody who is humble, somebody who is meek... I hope you know the meaning of meekness. Meekness means you are not revengeful. No matter what is done to you, you don't seek to revenge. That's the meaning of meekness. Meekness is different from humility. People normally confuse humility and meekness. Christ said, "I am meek and lowly." They are two different things. Lowliness has to do with humility, but meekness has to do with not being revengeful. Christ was not revengeful. In all they did to Him, He did not seek to revenge. That's what He meant by "I am meek and lowly." Now somebody who have put on these things, what will make you... I want to ask you ordinarily, what will make a wife not to submit to her husband? What will make a wife not submit to her husband? There are a lot of reasons, but the focus of that reason is that she is not pleased with what he is doing. Is that not it? Is there any other thing again? Everything will come to she is not pleased with what the husband is doing. That's the reason. Now when somebody is not pleased with what somebody is doing, somebody who have put on... look at it, somebody who have put on longsuffering... I hope you know what it means to suffer and to suffer very very long. Somebody who have put on longsuffering, somebody who is not revengeful, somebody who is humble, will not find it a difficult thing, will not find it something extremely out of place or strange to submit to a man who does not do what pleases her. Now because I want you people to understand something as believers. See, if ordinarily submission is what a woman will do ordinarily, the instruction will not be coming to her "submit." One thing you must understand as a Christian is that when you see the word of God coming very clearly on a matter, it's because it's something that you will naturally fight. When you see God speaking on a matter... Because you notice when He said, "If any man want to be My disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." Now, to be able to follow Jesus, the first thing is to forget yourself. Anybody who remembers himself or, we are dealing with her now, herself will never submit. Because it is herself that is not pleased. If she forgets herself, there will be nothing that is displeased. Am I making sense to you? If she forgets herself... You see, that is why I keep... many times when we have to discuss this, it looks as... I already make this statement one day, or it's like somebody else made the same statement and I said, "Okay, I think I'm not too hard." When you see people who naturally say, "Eh, l'en l'an ni gbogbo wa na," they are carnal people. It is carnality. You see, if you don't define something by their name, you will never have victory over them. As far as Jesus is concerned, if any man will successfully follow Jesus, the first thing to forget is self. As long as you can remember yourself, you will not be able to follow Jesus. And one thing you need to understand why this instruction is coming, because you'll be so surprised. In all the letters, you'll be finding this matter. Husband and wife matter, husband and wife matter, in virtually all the letters. And the reason why this matter is coming, Bible says, "In the matter of two or three witnesses, every word will be established." You find the Apostles raising this matter, raising this matter. It's because you should understand