Ep. 107 | Admonish One Another in All Wisdom
Speaker: Claire Roth
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Summary
Claire Roth shares from the book of Colossians. In an overview of the book, she focuses in on the theme of dwelling on God's word and the impact it has on the Christian life.
Scriptures Explored: Colossians 3:16, Matthew 18, Acts 20:31, Ephesians 6:21, Acts 27-28, Exodus 32, Acts 18:24-28
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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi
Speaker’s Bio
Claire Roth serves as Director of Children's Ministries at Emmanuel Bible Church in Salem, OR. She treasures every opportunity to learn and teach the Truth only found in scripture. She always feels that she learns more in preparing to teach than she is able to impart to her students who receive that teaching. Her goal is to build up her brothers and sisters in Christ so that their knowledge and understanding quickly surpasses her own, all by the grace of God and for His glory!
Transcript
Intro:
Hey there, welcome to Pickled Parables. This podcast is presented by Parable Ministries as a Bible teaching resource. Thank you for joining us. Pickled Parables is a podcast about taking in and living out the Bible. Here we will study, contemplate, and testify to the Bible's incredible teachings and how it leads us to live better lives. To stay up to date with all things parable, follow us on Instagram at parable underscore ministries and visit our website at parableministries.com. We hope today's message finds you well.
Message:
Hi, thanks for listening to Pickled Parables, and thanks to Pickled Parables for asking me back.
I have another lesson to share with you.
It's a little more than the thought that I shared on Rahab, but this one is from a series, actually, that I've adapted to this format.
So for your context, I taught on Colossians 3.16, or yeah, Colossians 3.16.
That's the verse that we're going to look at together.
And the phrase that I specifically looked at was teaching and admonishing one another.
Now, the lesson I taught was within a larger series on one another's, that phrase appearing in the Bible, and it was one of seven lessons taught throughout the year on different one another's that appear.
So that would be things like live in harmony with one another, forgive one another, increase and abound in love for one another, confess to one another, pray for one another, encourage and build up one another.
So that phrase appears so many times in the New Testament epistles that we decided as a group to study it.
And the one that was assigned to me was teaching and admonishing one another, that phrase that appears in Colossians 3.16.
Now, if this topic is of interest to you, I would encourage you to read a book titled 31 Ways to Be a One Another Christian by Dr. Stuart Scott.
That was a big inspiration for the series as a whole.
And today, like I said, we will focus on Colossians 3.16.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
That's the whole verse.
We're gonna focus on that teaching and admonishing phrase, but the verse as a whole is important, as is the entire book of Colossians.
And as we get into this, we are actually going to go through the entire book of Colossians.
It's not that long.
It's only four chapters, and it's worthwhile to get the whole context in order to understand those specific verbs.
And let's go ahead and define those before we get any further.
So teaching and admonishing.
Teach.
In Greek, this word is didasko, which I may be pronouncing that differently.
I'm not a Greek scholar.
I studied it at some point, but it's been a while.
So didasko means to cause, to learn, which is a really interesting way of thinking about teaching.
In fact, if you can successfully cause someone to learn, what an accomplishment that is.
It could also be translated as to instruct, to impart knowledge, also to instill doctrine.
So just to give you some context in the entire New Testament, this word didasko in different tenses and permutations of the verb, it occurs 97 times in the New Testament.
The first time it shows up is in Matthew 4 verse 23.
And speaking about Jesus, it says, he went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
So Jesus acted out this verb a lot.
Jesus taught in the synagogues.
So just so you know, that's where that word is coming from.
It's a word that is almost exclusively tied to the teaching of scripture, nothing else.
So didasko, teaching, scripture, think of doctrine, okay?
The next word is a little bit trickier.
The next word is admonish, right?
In Greek, it's nautheoteo, which again, probably not pronouncing correctly, forgive me if I'm not, but the translation of to admonish is to place the mind.
So it's also something tied to the idea of exhorting, to exhort someone, to gently reprove them, and to warn with an appeal to reason.
Now this word is super duper important to get right.
There's a warning here.
This scripture in Colossians 3 is not talking directly about dealing with sin.
So while admonishing, right, in the English understanding of the word can often be linked to rebuking or dealing with sin, that is not the context here.
The context here is more focused on understanding doctrine, specifically the gospel as the completed work of Christ.
So the book of Colossians does include sins we must quote, put to death in response to receiving the gospel.
But this exact verse in its scriptural context addresses doctrinal error more so than disobeying God.
For dealing with sin, I would encourage you to see Matthew chapter 18.
That's specifically one Christian sinning against another.
That would be where to find instructions on that, but it's not in here.
That's not what teaching and admonishing in this context is talking about.
Now, this word admonish appears eight times in the New Testament.
The first time it shows up is in Acts chapter 20 verse 31.
And it's never used to describe Jesus's actions.
Just so you know, Jesus's actions are more tied to teach, which is what I just went over, and the word rebuke.
So Jesus rebukes sin.
And I think this is an important difference between Jesus and those who follow Jesus.
Yes, as I said, there are moments where fellow Christians can identify in one another sins that need to be dealt with.
But Jesus rebukes sin for he is holy.
He is the one most qualified to do that.
And while other passages in the New Testament explain how a follower of Jesus also does this, according to God's will, this is not one of those passages.
So the danger I would see here, right, is misinterpreting the word admonish in order to weaponize the chance to prove someone wrong.
So that's a moment of exercising power over fellow believers who truly are equals under the law of grace, which is described in Romans and Galatians.
So when it comes to correcting someone's information and understanding of that information, there's a certain way we need to act.
We are to act as peers in humility and not as a chance to exercise our power over them that comes from understanding, that we actually get as a gift from the Holy Spirit.
So as I said, we just need to be careful with this word.
We need to be careful not to weaponize the chance to correct one another.
This is a command to do so in a brotherly way.
And we'll get into that more later.
The actual emotion and affect of that becomes clear as you read through the book.
So one thing that I want to identify to you before we move on, in this verse, we have the command, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
That is a present tense thing.
And then the tense of teach and admonish is super important.
It says teaching and admonishing one another.
So this state of being is a constant and it's dynamic.
It's something that doesn't have an end point.
There's no finish line.
There's no point at which we stop teaching and admonishing one another.
And it's also something where it's a dynamic thing.
It continues on, right?
And this one another relationship really points to the fact that we're gonna be, as believers, using one another's understanding to grow together, to build one another up.
More on that later.
Let's get some context for the book of Colossians.
So Colossians is written by Paul, dictating to Timothy.
And this is true from the, we know this is true from the first part, the introduction of Colossians, as well as the sign off.
And we'll read through that.
As I said, we're gonna read through this whole book.
That final verse was likely his own signature in his own hand.
And the letter is written at the same time as the Book of Philemon and Ephesians.
So there were three letters sent with Tychicus and Onesimus while Paul was in prison in Rome.
Now the reference for that, you'll find that in Ephesians 6.21, is where we find out that these three letters are linked.
And those are the two Christians that Paul trusted with these communications.
So Paul's in Rome, he's in prison after the journey that was recorded in Acts 27 and 28.
And this is the context for the church in Colossae.
And I'm going to just read to you an excerpt from the ESV study Bible, just because I love the way that they wrote it.
So this is the quote, The church at Colossae apparently got its start during Paul's three-year ministry in Ephesus.
So that'd be AD 52 to 55.
During this time, a Colossian named Epaphras probably traveled to Ephesus and responded to Paul's proclamation of the gospel, so that would be in Acts 19, 10 that they're talking about.
This new believer returned to his hometown and began sharing the good news of Christ, which resulted in the birth of the Colossian church.
Now we know that from Colossians 1 verse 7.
At the time of this writing, Epaphras is with Paul in Rome and has likely shared the bad news that there was a dangerous teaching threatening the church at Colossae.
Paul writes this letter to respond to this situation and encourage these believers in their growth towards Christian maturity.
That's the end of the quote.
So the exact nature of this dangerous teaching that Epaphras has shared with Paul is unknown.
We're not exactly sure what was going on, but there are likely influences and people both outside and inside the church.
So Paul's concerns are great.
His primary reason for writing, and this is again, a quote from the ESV Study Bible, Paul's primary reason is pastoral concern to dissuade the Colossians from getting caught up in useless religious regulations and to awaken exaltation of Christ and exultation in him.
Now, for the sake of this being an audio medium, I'm gonna say that again, but in different words.
So Paul is his desire for the church in Colossae is that they would exalt Christ, that is glorify Christ and exult in him, that is rejoice in him.
So we want to bring Christ glory and rejoice in him.
And that is the point of writing this book.
Without further ado, let's go ahead and jump into Colossians.
Just think about within this idea of teaching and admonishing, we're looking to answer certain questions.
We're looking to answer who is teaching, why they're teaching what they're teaching, and what exactly is that.
Eventually we'll get into when and where as it applies to followers of Jesus in general.
So let's start here.
The book of Colossians, starting in chapter one, verse one.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy our brother to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.
Grace to you and peace from God our father.
Now, I'm sorry to stop so soon, but grace to you and peace.
Grace is the salutation in Greek culture and peace is the greeting in Hebrew culture.
So Paul is greeting both the Greeks and the Hebrews with this simple phrase of grace to you and peace from God our father.
We always thank God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you.
Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant.
He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the spirit.
So that first chunk of Colossians, that's verse one through eight, establishes the authorship and also the church history, this very young church, the way that Paul hasn't been firsthand involved in their development, but he knows from Epaphras what's going on.
Moving on to verse nine.
And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
So this answers the question of who is being taught and admonished.
Who are we teaching and admonishing?
In this case, it's prayers for believers.
So we're building that exaltation of Christ, the rejoicing or the glorification of Christ, right?
That's the beginning of that build starts here.
In the next chunk, this is 15 to 23.
He, that is Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him, all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things.
And in him, all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
If indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
So this is exalting Christ for who he is and what he does.
For what Christ does comes from who he is.
This is a reminder of the power of the gospel before we get into warnings about false teachings that don't fit that.
Moving on to the next section.
Now I, this is Paul speaking, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction for the sake of his body that is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known.
The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Paul's mission is as a steward of the gospel.
He has been given this great truth, the freedom that is found only in Christ and as a steward, he works.
That's why he does what he does.
So the answer of why we teach and admonish is found here.
Him we proclaim, right?
Christ we proclaim.
And again, why do we teach?
To achieve maturity in Christ, that is the goal.
Chapter two, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments, for though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Therefore, as you received Christ, Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ.
I'm gonna stop right there really quick.
So this answers the question of what are we teaching?
We know who we're teaching, we're teaching believers.
We know why it's for proclaiming Christ and achieving maturity in Christ.
What are we teaching?
We are teaching that Christ is the source of all knowledge and wisdom and guarding against deception, argument, tradition.
Those are dangers that Paul is warning against.
Starting in verse nine of chapter two.
For in him, that is Christ, for in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
And if you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority, sorry, there's no if there.
And you have been filled in him, right?
So, sorry, that's an important point.
If you believe in Jesus, you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.
And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
Wow, this section is so rich.
It shows us that Christ's work is the complete redemption of all who believe.
Nothing else is needed.
I was just reading a book, a little book by Dane Ortland.
It's called, How Does God Change Us?
And in that, Ortland has this quote.
He says, we lose entirely the comfort of justification if it is vulnerable to self-strengthening.
It must be all or nothing, end quote.
That is to say that justification through Christ brings the whole sinner under God's grace.
That's the gospel which brings freedom, for our debt is nailed to the cross.
God is satisfied and triumphant in Christ.
Let's keep going.
The next section starts in verse 16.
Therefore, that's important.
Therefore, because of the work that Christ has done, because God is satisfied and triumphant in Christ, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Let no one disqualified you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings.
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
We're gonna look at this section a little bit more in just a moment, but I wanted to find for you a couple of things.
Well, first of all, living in freedom, aligned with Christ and his teachings, means you are not living according to human, quote, wisdom.
The warning here is to not mix the two.
I just got a chance to teach on Exodus 32, and that's the passage where the Israelites create golden calves and worship that idol, as well as, question mark, the God that is present on Mount Sinai.
There's some interesting things going on with plurals and that kind of thing.
Essentially, what it looks like is that the Israelites were mixing Egyptian worship practices with what they understood to be correct from the direct commandments they were getting with God.
This mixing, right, it doesn't lead to freedom.
If anything, it leads to sin and death.
So, in Christ, we are not to mix human wisdom and live with human wisdom as well as Christ's wisdom, but under Christ alone because the gospel stands alone, right?
And one more thing I want to define for you before we move on, asceticism.
I get this mixed up with aesthetic.
Often, it's a very similar word, again, as an audio medium.
Maybe this is difficult to describe, but aesthetic, right, is something to do with art and beauty.
Asceticism is a severe self-discipline, an avoidance of all forms of indulgence.
It's sort of a way of doing life that was popular amongst other philosophies, not Christianity, though the temptation clearly is there for Christians to fall into that camp, and Paul is warning against it.
Like I said, we'll come back to that a little bit at the end in a moment of application.
But moving on to chapter three.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you?
Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.
In these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.
Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, sithian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.
Unity with Christ means there's unity between those who follow Christ.
All right, the next section.
Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another.
And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you.
And so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
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.
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
Bond servants, 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 Jesus.
For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
Masters, treat your bond servants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Okay, there's so much in there.
So this is the practicality from 12, I'd say from chapter three verse 12, all the way through chapter four verse six, with a little moment of a turn towards evangelism at the end there.
But this is the practical application of what we are to do instead of falling to human wisdom.
What does it look like?
We put to death sin once and for all.
We put on compassion, the verb tenses here are super important where there's a single action of put it to death, right?
Put sin to death.
We do not go back to it, we do not dwell in it.
And we put on compassion, we keep it on.
It's not something we take on and off, we put on compassion.
And then with these ing verbs, these present participle, the ones that are dynamic, these characteristics and behaviors are in a state of constant dynamic existence between believers.
So things like teaching and admonishing, it's something that we are in a state of doing constantly.
In chapter four, verse three through six, three through three and four, there's a shift towards evangelism, right?
We think about those who do not yet know the truth, do not yet know the gospel.
And so they are not the ones directly being addressed by this command to let the word of Christ dwell and maybe teach and admonish one another, right?
The unbeliever is still on Paul's mind.
And so he asks for prayer about that.
And then this final section, let's finish the book out.
That's starting in verse seven of chapter four.
Tychicus will tell you all about my activities.
He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.
I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.
And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.
They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions.
If he comes to you, welcome him.
And Jesus, who is called justice.
These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God.
And they have been a comfort to me.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.
Luke, the beloved physician, greets you as does Demas.
Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nimphah and the church in her house.
And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
And say to Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.
I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
Remember my chains, grace be with you.
The final greetings to other believers.
I think it's an amazing reminder that God's family is growing all the time.
Paul couldn't possibly list everyone he wanted to greet, even though these were people that he had never personally planted their church.
He knew of them, he loved them, and there were many people that he wanted to speak with and encourage.
And that's just an amazing picture of God's family.
The church at work, and a huge part of one another's lives, right?
So, after reading the entire book, we can answer a few big questions.
The first big question we can answer, well, let's one more time, one more time let's read the verse, Colossians 3 16, and that's in the middle of that practical application of, okay, what do we do instead of listening to human wisdom?
Here's what we do.
We let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
So according to the book of Colossians, who is teaching and admonishing?
That would be Christians.
Christians are doing the teaching and admonishing.
Who are they teaching and admonishing?
That would be other Christians.
Yes, non-believers are included in this book, but the way that we are meant to correct doctrine and instill instruction is for those who already believe.
It's the idea of working towards maturity in Christ.
What are they teaching?
So they are teaching the word of Christ that it dwells within us, right?
That first part of that verse, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, that is the source from which we teach and admonish.
So that would be the gospel, the truth of scripture.
It also, it's something that's given in all wisdom.
And we know from chapter two, I think it was, that Christ is the source of all wisdom.
Yeah, so that's chapter two, verse two and three.
Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So if we are to teach and admonish in all wisdom, we must be connected to Christ.
We must be teaching Christ.
What are Christians admonishing against?
Anything added to the gospel, anything elevated to the same level as Christ, anything masquerading as truth that's actually from human wisdom.
So why do we teach and admonish?
We do it to glorify Christ and to achieve maturity in Christ.
How do we teach and admonish?
It's an act of worship.
You'll notice from the second half of Colossians 3.16, it says, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Now this means a lot to the Jewish people, the Hebrew context of an oral culture.
In fact, many cultures at this time had strong oral cultures because writing wasn't as pronounced.
That's not true of every culture.
I don't want to make that blanket statement for the ancient world, but as an oral culture, hymns and spiritual songs and Psalms had significant weight to them, right?
So when we read this, it's a little bit different impact for us because we don't necessarily teach using Psalms as much as they might have.
So in this case, I want you to think of that as an act of worship that's very much intertwined with good teaching practice at the time.
It would be decent pedagogy, right?
To include singing and hymns and spiritual songs.
And the attitude of all this, right, is wrapped in thankfulness in our hearts to God.
That is the attitude and I would call it the posture of worship, right?
As we are teaching and admonishing, we are meant to be worshiping God, right?
Even as we relate to one another and teach one another, we are worshiping God and He is the focus of our efforts, right, that keeps our perspective correct in that we have no power of understanding on our own.
It is a gift from God that then we share with those around us, our peers, our equals under the law of grace.
I promised you that we would get into some applications.
So I do have one personal example that I think would be super helpful in looking at what human wisdom might look like today.
And of course, there are tons of examples.
This is just one.
So if we're gonna look back at Colossians 2, verse 20 to 21, this is talking about if with Christ, you died to the elemental world, okay, why as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?
Quote, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.
Now, when I read that verse, it sounds differently to me than it might have to the direct audience of this book, okay?
So for the direct audience in this book, these regulations would sound like Jewish tradition, right?
It would sound very familiar.
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, right?
That is part of the law.
That was part of how people identified how they were unclean and so they could address it before coming to the presence of God.
Now, because we are in Christ, we no longer subject ourselves to those laws, as Paul explains.
If in Christ we died to the elemental spirits of the world, why do we submit to these regulations?
To me, who doesn't have a lot of experience with the Jewish culture, but I have a lot of experience in my own culture, obviously, to me, it sounds more like a diet, right?
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.
It sounds like one of those fanatic conversations about food that we often have in our culture.
Now, to me, a woman in her early 30s, living above the poverty line in a wealthy country, right?
My understanding is not generic.
And at the same time, I would guess that most Americans have experience with human teachings regarding food, okay?
So I know the understanding of my experience, my cultural background is vastly different from the readers of this book.
So keep that in mind as we think about this application.
But I do think it's still helpful.
And just in case you've tuned out, men fall into this category as well.
Men have the same, not the same type of pressure, but a similar pressure on them to think about their bodies, the food they're ingesting, the aims may be different.
I would argue that the aims are different for men versus women.
But at the same time, the danger of obsessing over food is something that is widely experienced in American culture.
So if you're a man, don't tune out just because you've never felt guilty about wanting to do a diet, okay?
This applies to you as well, okay?
So the tradition of fussing over what we eat, how much we eat, and why, it's a familiar one.
The danger is inappropriate elevation, right?
Do we elevate human precepts and teachings above what scripture says?
Now, of course, this is not meant to apply to certain things.
So it is wise to avoid eating something you're allergic to, right?
And it is a kindness to communicate allergies.
That's not the kind of food fussing I'm talking about.
Diets are useful for our health and decisions to be intentional about our food.
That's not the kind of fussing I'm talking about.
That's not the kind of elevation I'm talking about.
The problem becomes when it's either obsessive or just sort of slowly creeps into this position of prominence in your life.
Let me give you an example from my own life.
So my doctor told me to cut down on sugar, including the foods that quickly become sugar once they're digested in your system.
My response was to take that doctor's advice and also talk to other people about how I'm taking that advice.
I started to research what to eat, what not to eat, and also talking to other people about what I was researching.
Eventually, I felt convicted about what I was doing.
I realized it was better to stop broadcasting my thoughts and look to scripture for help.
So accountability and talking to other people about things is useful, but I was not communicating for that reason.
I was communicating for the sake of attention and recognition in that I was following this human wisdom and doing well in it, sort of.
So looking back, I wish I had followed Paul's instructions.
He says, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him, you are serving the Lord Christ.
So shifting my focus in this context, in this situation, from my own body to Christ changes everything.
My motivation for following my doctor's advice is no longer for the sake of attention or for the sake of achieving a certain body type, it's for the sake of worshiping my Lord who gave me this body.
I am choosing to devote this gift, this body he gave me to his plans for me.
And so my stewardship of it matters.
Then also my failures and successes are between me and my Lord who knows me and he forgives me and gives me the strength and humility to try again when I fail.
So the diet plans themselves, quoting directly from Colossians, they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
But I have been filled in Christ again from Colossians, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
That includes what I need when it comes to my health.
I need love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, all of it.
All of that comes from abiding in Christ.
As these things come into our lives, whether it's a holiday season or getting beach bodies ready, all those conversations that happen in our culture, I encourage you to keep an eye out for the difference between true doctrine and human teachings masquerading as salvation.
Now that's just a personal example, an application that could be useful to you, but here is a scriptural example, let's go to Acts 18, verse 24 to 28.
This is a practical example of what it looks like to teach and admonish fellow believers.
We are going to get to answer the questions of when and where.
Earlier we did who, why and what, now we're gonna be who, when, where and how do we teach and admonish, okay?
This is the story of Priscilla and Aquila and their instruction to Apollos.
I'll just read it to you.
Starting in verse 24.
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
He was an eloquent man competent in the scriptures.
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.
And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
And when he wished to cross to Accia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.
When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
Okay, this is a very quick example of what it means to teach and admonish.
So, Apollos was accurately teaching about Jesus, but scripture says he did not possess the full knowledge of the gospel.
He didn't, he most likely did not know about Jesus' death and resurrection and command to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
That's from Matthew 28.
So, in this little example from the Book of Acts, we have answers to the question of who.
Who is teaching and admonishing men and women in a small group setting?
Don't make the mistake of applying Priscilla's authority here to all situations, right?
This is a small group, this is just three people meeting together and teaching one another, but it is clear that both Priscilla and Aquila are teaching Apollos, okay?
The next thing is when.
When do we teach and admonish our fellow believers?
And in this case, as immediately as possible, as soon as they heard him, they took him aside.
As soon as they heard, when they heard him, they took him aside and explained it.
They didn't wait until weeks of like, well, let's just see if he gets it right eventually.
It's important to address it and then continue him on his way.
That goes into the next important question of where.
Where do we teach and admonish?
And you'll notice that though Apollos was teaching boldly in the synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila took him aside.
It is important to meet privately in these moments, right?
For the sake of preserving Apollos' enthusiasm, I think, for the gospel.
There are a lot of things that can be said for momentum, right, in teaching.
If you're excited to teach something and someone embarrasses you in front of a big group, it's hard to manufacture that enthusiasm again.
So in this case, Priscilla and Aquila very wisely take Apollos aside and in private they explain to him.
This also points to the posture that they're using in their teaching and admonishing.
Much like Paul asks us to do in the Book of Colossians, they do so with humility.
It's not a moment where they're trying to prove themselves correct and Apollos wrong.
They are working to build up Apollos in maturity in Christ.
And to do that, they don't need anybody else there.
They don't need anyone to tell them they're doing a great job.
They take him aside and they teach him privately.
All right, the last question I wanna look at, how?
How are they teaching and admonishing?
Well, the actual verb here is explaining, right?
It's not lecture, it's not rebuke, it's explaining, so it meaning a combination of instruction and correction, a combination of teaching and admonishing, literally, in such a way that it encourages Apollos to keep going.
We hear that he continues his preaching and speaking out about Jesus beyond this, and it encourages other believers around him, right?
It's amazing what a good teacher can do for a student.
And the way that we are meant to teach and admonish one another is in a way that encourages believers to grow and continue the work God has called them to.
That's the other example I want to give you.
So as you contemplate Colossians 3.16, I want you to remember to be humble, remember who we are in Christ.
We are free from the human wisdoms that would trap us and entangle us.
We are free from different things.
To add to the gospel is to lose the gospel.
And so as all of us seek to follow Christ, may we teach and admonish one another in all wisdom because we are connected to Christ and out of the word that dwells within us, all while adopting this posture of worship, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs out of thankfulness in your hearts to God, who is the ultimate source of mercy and grace.
And I have a few discussion questions that might be helpful as you think about this passage.
The first one is which human precepts and teachings fight for preeminence in your life?
For me, a lot of that has to do with fitness and diet and food and that kind of thing.
Those human precepts and teachings are very much in the forefront of where I consume media and what I choose to read about.
That's fighting for preeminence in my life.
So then the main next question is what sins may lurk within these teachings that you must quote put to death?
That is Colossians 3, 5 and 6.
And the third question is how does the freedom we enjoy through Jesus Christ change your relationship to this human teaching?
If Jesus is your Lord, how does your attitude and behavior change?
And that relates back to the example I gave you in my own life.
The final question, do you feel the spirit leading you to admonish another believer in your life?
How might you approach doing so in a way that leaves them feeling encouraged to continue their kingdom work?
Let me end with prayer.
Father, thank you so much for your word, for your desire to reveal yourself to us through it.
Would you please build in us maturity in Christ, the knowledge and understanding of scripture that we might be used by you to build each other up?
God, we ask you for wisdom from Christ, who is the source.
We want to know how to live according to the freedom of the gospel, teaching and admonishing one another as an act of worship unto you.
For you are worthy of worship in all things.
And so in all things, we ask for Christ to lead us as our exalted King.
May Christ be seen in us by how we love one another, how we teach one another, and give us your heart for the lost, your patience for the wayward, and your love for the people around us.
It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Outro:
Thank you for listening to Pickled Parables. If you enjoyed this message, please rate us, subscribe, and share with your friends. If you're interested in more things like this, check out our secondary podcast called My Dusky Bible. To stay up to date with all things Parable, follow us on Instagram at parable underscore ministries, and visit our website at parableministries.com. Parable is a volunteer organization, and we would deeply appreciate your prayers. Thank you for joining us today. We'll catch you later.
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