Sing to God

 

[The following is a manuscript of my devotional message delivered on Sunday morning, the 29th of October, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This is a fifth Sunday service where we sang our favorite hymns.  A recording should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Please listen and follow along to the instructions the Apostle Paul gave the Colossians, and us, as written in the 3rd chapter, verses 12 through 17, of his letter to that church family, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

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.

--Colossians 3:12-17 (NLT)

Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, sent by God to redeem us of our sin and offer salvation to the world through the shedding of His own blood.  We carry His name into the world when we call ourselves “Christian”.  If we truly are followers of Christ Jesus, we will honor that name.

As God’s chosen, we should clothe ourselves in tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  This is what separates us from the world.  Looking at all that is going on around the globe, we see very little mercy being extended, scant kindness, hardly any gentleness, and no humility or patience whatsoever.

As representatives of our Lord Jesus, we must do better than this, just as Jesus Himself did better than the world.  We should give one another a break, making allowances for each other’s faults, because we all have faults.  We should forgive others, just as we have been forgiven.  Let love be our impetus, our motivation, the deciding factor in anything and everything we do.  And let the peace that only Jesus can give settle into our hearts and guide our lives.

So right now this morning, let us sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.  For God is good all the time.  And all the time, God is good.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for choosing us to follow Your Christ, Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for sending us out as His representatives.  Please help us be more merciful, kind, humble, gentle, and patient, so that we can show the world Your love.  May we always sing Your praises, glorifying You in all we do.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.