SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/12/2017
4:36 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Word of Christ”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
3:16
Message of the
verse: “16 Let the word of Christ
richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your
hearts to God.”
We have been looking at some of the different words found
in this verse, looking at what their meanings were from the English/Greek dictionary
along with what John MacArthur had to say about some of them too. Now we want to proceed to talk some more
about what Paul is teaching us from this verse.
Paul mentions two specific results of having the Word of
Christ dwelling in you and one of them is positive while the other is
negative. “with all wisdom teaching and
admonishing one another.” MacArthur
writes that ‘teaching’ is the impartation [the transmission of information] of
positive truth.” Now we have to look at
the negative side which comes from the word “admonishing,” as admonishing is
the negative side of teaching. MacArthur
tells us that “It means to warn people of the consequences of their
behavior. Both are the result of a life
overflowing with the Word of God.”
Now as the Word of God dwells in us it not only produces
information, but it also produces emotion, and after studying about the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John for the last few weeks I
truly can understand the emotional side of the Word of God as I have been
thinking about what it cost the Son of God to give me eternal life. There is also good emotion in having the Word
of God dwell in a believer as Paul goes on to talk about “psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs”, and also “singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” This kind of good emotion I have experienced
many times in listening to songs that bring about some good emotions. In the Old Testament the Jewish people sang
from the Psalms, and in the early church, and even later on believers also did
this singing from the Psalms. MacArthur
adds “Spiritual songs’ emphasized testimony (cf. Rev. 5:9-10). They express in song what God has done for
us.”
MacArthur deals with a problem as he ends this
section. “Commentators are divided on
whether charity (‘thankfulness’)
should be translated ‘thankfulness’ (as the NIV and NASB) or ‘grace’ (as the
KJV). Perhaps its use here encompasses
both ideas: believers sing out of thankfulness for God’s grace. When Paul tells believers to sing ‘in your
hearts’ he does not mean not to sing with the voice. His concern is that the heart agree with the
mouth (cf. Amos 5:23). Singing is to be
directed to God as praise and worship offered to Him for His pleasure and
glory. That it is edifying to believers
is a by-product of its main purpose. 5/12/2017 4:57 PM
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