*Col. 3 “Togetherness” *

16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.
Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.
Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.

20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. 23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.

4.1 Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven.

We must know the

on the Biblical view of Slavery. See the book of Philemon and remember that the book of Philemon is carried alongside this book of Colossians -

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both

to be

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read

to the church. Be sure you understand the entirety of the context of the Biblical view of slavery.

1 Cor. 7
20 Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. 21 Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be

,

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take

it. 22 And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.

3.16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.
Psalm 37

23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in

detail of their lives.
24 Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord

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holds

them by the hand.

16bTeach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.
1 Cor. 1
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be

itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.

We don’t counsel based on our anecdotal

or imitate the pattern of the world
Rom. 12.2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Col. 3
Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

This set of instruction is paired with the v16 ‘with one another/each other’ so this should be seen in the corporate construct of engaging as a group of believers, a

.
Heb. 10
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate

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one another

to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting

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together

, as some people do, but encourage

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one another

, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Heb. 13.1 Keep on loving each other as

and

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sisters

.

Col. 3.18, Instructions for Christian Households
18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is

for those who belong to the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and

treat them harshly.

20 Children, always

your parents, for this pleases the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not

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aggravate

your children, or they will become

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discouraged

.

Malachi 2
13 Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t

them with pleasure. 14 You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my

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worship

?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been

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unfaithful

to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.

15 Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his.
And what does he want? Godly

from your union.
So guard your heart; remain

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loyal

to the wife of your youth.
16 “For I

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hate

divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with

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cruelty

,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“So guard your heart; do

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not

be unfaithful to your wife.”

Eph. 5
21 And further, submit to one another out of reverence for

.

22 For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24 As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

25 For husbands, this means love your wives,

Christ loved the church. He gave up his

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life

for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. 28

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In the same way

, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows

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love

for himself. 29 No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30 And we are members of his body.

31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32 This is a great mystery, but it is an

of the way Christ and the church are one. 33 So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

The togetherness, reconciliation and restoration of people to Christ is described in a familial sense. When Col. 3.16 says “

the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.” I pray that we will understand the invitation by God that He will redeem everything and that our culture and society may be intentionally breaking apart and assaulting ideas of wholeness and wholesomeness but that God intends to fill our lives and in every way “RE-FILL” our lives with all the grace and goodness He really has for us.