How are You Dressed?

       In one of the stories of Flannery O’Connor, a black couple, Ruby Turpin and her husband Claud, are in the doctor’s waiting room with a crowd of other patients.  Mrs. Turpin is never entirely comfortable until she has surveyed those before her, put them mentally in their places and seen herself rise to the top.  She is in the process of doing this with her fellow patients, when her gaze is met with hostility by a fat, pimpled, nineteen- or twenty-year-old girl.  The girl scowls as she raises her eyes from her book entitled Human Development.

       Mrs. Turpin remarks to the woman next to her that she once knew a girl who had everything a child could possibly want, but was still a spoilt, ungrateful brat.  At this point, the book flies across the room and hits her.  The girl hoarsely whispers: “Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart-hot.”  After the nurses and others have rushed to the scene to settle the girl and have taken her off, Mrs. Turpin goes home.  But she feels dead inside.

       Lying on her bed, the vision of herself as a razor-backed hog with warts on its face haunts her.  “I am not a wart-hog from hell,” she moans.  One evening soon after, she goes out to the pig yard and hurls defiance against the Almighty: “Go on, call me a hog!  Call me a hog again! From hell!”  A garbled echo returns to her.  A final surge of fury shakes her and she roars, “Who do you think you are?”

       Then the evening sky begins to burn with a transparent intensity.  A long purple streak spreads across the sky.  As she looks in its direction, she sees in a way she has never seen before:

       She saw the streak as a vast swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire.  Upon it a vast horde of souls were rumbling towards heaven.  There were whole companies of white trash, clean for the first time in their whole lives, and bands of low-class blacks in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs.  And bringing up the end of the procession was a tribe of people whom she recognized at once as those who, like herself and Claud, had always had a little of everything and the God-given wit to use it right.  She leaned forward to observe them closer.  They were marching behind the other with great dignity, accountable as they had always been for good order and common sense and respectable behavior.  They alone were on key.  Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burned away.  She lowered her hands and gripped the rail of the hog pen, her eyes small but fixed unblinkingly on what lay ahead.  In a moment the vision faded but she remained where she was, immobile.

       James Houston writes about this story in In Search of Happiness: A Guide to Personal Contentment:   “The fat, smug ego is the relentless enemy of God and of the happy life. It has to be put in its place.  This can only be done by having a transformed imagination, something that can only come about through a revelation.”  Mrs. Turpin has to place everybody in her universe within a hierarchy: “white trash”, “common”, “stylish”, “good”.  She compared them all to herself, rather than to God. She was the measure of her own world.  She thought she knew herself very well, but faced with God she realized that she knew virtually nothing.

       In Colossians 3:12, Paul writes that we are ‘the elect of God, holy and beloved.”  And what we do should flow out of who we are.  As Christians our identity is certain and clear.   We are God’s people; once without mercy, now the recipients of His unlimited mercy and grace.

       Is there anything more important-to know than that I am loved?  Think of two or three people who love you most.  Get a picture of them clearly in your mind.  What do they think about you?  How do they feel and act toward you?  What do they do for you?  Think about the strength you receive from their love.

       God’s love for you is even greater than any of these special people you have thought about.  The witness of Scripture is that God’s love is unconditional, not dependent upon our merit.  His love is a constant kiss of grace which can keep us going-no matter what.

       We have been called to be God’s people, not because of our goodness, but because of His grace.  This results in praise, not pride.  The overflowing gratitude for the call of God is what creates in us the desire to follow Him and allow Him to guide us.

        Paul says in Colossians 3:12 that we are beloved.  He also says that we are holy.  Holiness has to do with reflecting God’s character with the actions and attitudes of our lives. 

       John Stott writes in Issues Facing Christians Today, “Our God is often too small because He is too religious.  We imagine that he is chiefly interested in religion – in religious buildings, religious activities, and religious books.  Of course he is concerned about these things, but only if they are related to the whole of life. According to the Old Testament prophets and the teaching of Jesus, God is very critical of “religion,” if by that is meant religious activities divorced from real life, loving service and the moral obedience of the heart.

       So Paul writes, “And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and having been loved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  As we saw in verses 5-9, it is possible to consciously banish certain things from our lives in seeking the things which are above.  It is also possible to include certain things in our lives.  We are to put on certain virtues as if they are our clothes.

        Note that every one of the virtues Paul lists has to do with personal relationships between people.  There is no mention of virtues like efficiency, cleverness, diligence or industry.  These things are important and useful.  But the great basic Christian virtues are those which govern human relationships – the sacred relationships that will be the theme of this year’s Lenten series. 

       First on the list in Colossians 3:12 is compassion. 

       When Paul writes: “Put on a heart of compassion”, he is not talking about something easy or superficial.  He is talking about a vital change in our deepest being.  The word which we translate “heart” is actually the word for intestines which the Greeks believed to be the home of our deepest emotions.  You don’t feel things in your heart.  You feel them in your gut.

       Compassion begins with pity, but it is more.  Compassion is that deep response we have when we do something about our feelings of pity.  I can feel sorry for you and do nothing about it.  But to be moved by your pain, to feel your situation so deeply that I seek to act in your behalf, is compassion.

       Tony Compolo was once asked to speak to a rather large church congregation.  After he strode to the pulpit he said, “There are three points to my sermon.”   Most people yawned at that point.  They’d heard that many times before.  But he went on.  “My first point is this.  At this time there are approximately 2 billion people starving to death in the world.”  The reaction through the congregation was about the same since they’d heard that sort of statement many times before, too.  And then he said,

       “My second point…” Everybody sat up.  Only ten or fifteen seconds had passed, and he was already on his second point?  He pauses, then said, “My second point is that most of you don’t give a damn!”  He paused again as gasps and rumblings flowed across the congregation, and then said: “And my third point is that the real tragedy among Christians today is that many of you are now more concerned that I said “damn” than you are that I said that 2 billion people are starving to death.”  Then he sat down.

       As believers in this modern world we need to guard our hearts against compassion fatigue.  Every new broadcast, every morning edition of the Times carries news of human pain close at hand and around the world.  The sheer numbers can cause us to become numb.  There is pain all around us.  But we must never let our hearts become cold.

       Paul writes: “Put on a heart of compassion…” and immediately an objection is raised.  “If I don’t feel like doing it and I do it anyway; aren’t I just being a hypocrite?”

       Paul answers “No!” Because the important thing is the act of kindness that grow from the compassion -- not the feelings that underlie the act.  It is not hypocritical because it is not done to deceive but to help.  Put on the action and the feelings will follow the action.  The test that we have experienced the true mercy of our Lord is that we become merciful. It is shown in kindness- the ability to give practical help to another.

       The next item in the list is humility.  The word that Paul uses here “tap-e-no-pro-sin-a” literally means “lowliness of mind.”  This is the humble mind, Paul writes in Philippians 2, that was in Christ.  This was the humble mind that led Jesus to empty himself to become a servant and die on the cross.

       In classical Greek literature, this humility was seen as an ignoble quality.  Yet God personified it in Jesus and set it in the forefront of our Christian witness.  It is something the world badly needs to recover.

       Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal carried a story of how the movie industry is plagued by rampaging egos.  The problem is how to resolve the vital question of which star gets top billing—whose name appears first and in what size letters.

       The article states that “months of delicate negotiation are sometimes required to deal with what one writer calls the “conceit of the industry.”  To satisfy two media created superstars, one studio created two sets of screen titles and two sets of ads with one star named first in each set.  Then they had to run each set of titles and each ad 50% of the time.  In another situation, a studio agreed to place one star’s name on the left, which is the normal spot for top billing, while the other star’s name appeared on the right—but was a half line higher.  When pictures of both stars were shown, the same compromise was used.  One appeared on the left and the one on the right was set a half line higher.

       As outrageous as this “conceit of the industry” may appear to us mere mortals, the quest for status is epidemic in every area of life—including our areas.  And we need to hear Jesus’ words from Matthew 18: “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus tells us that conversion and humility belong together, and to those who are converted and become humble belongs the kingdom.  Humility means to remove ourselves from center stage.

       Historian John Ruskin wrote:  I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility.  I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power.  But really great people have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them.  And they see something divine in others and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.

       The next characteristic Paul calls for our Christian walk is gentleness.  Paul uses the same word Jesus used in the beatitude, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.”  In Colossians the word has been translated, “gentleness.”

       Gentleness is a beautiful, positive quality.  It is strength that knows what it is.  The Greeks used the word of a horse that had been broken and no longer fought against the bit.  Instead the horse took direction from its master.  It was controlled.

       A gentle person controls him/herself.  Gentle people have the power to retaliate but don’t.  In fact, they possess such sensitive and caring that they submit themselves to another, even when they feel they are being misunderstood, cheated and injustice is being done.  The cause of Christ and His church are more important than their wants and rights.

       Gentleness is strong enough to submit to others—an attitude that would solve most of our relationship problems.

       Patience is the next virtue Paul calls for in the maintenance of oneness.

       We live in an instant society.  We have developed microwave ovens to prepare our food quicker.  We have miracle drugs to cure us immediately.  Probably the most attractive sign to us is the “no waiting” sign.  We don’t have to wait long for things to change.  The rate of change is so rapid we have come to expect change constantly.  Now we want patience, but we want it now.

       Consequently we have a difficult time accepting the slow rate of change within people.  It is even more difficult for us to accept that we can’t change everyone.

       Paul is calling us to wait and allow God time to do the changing.  God usually takes a long time and changes us in small doses.  Too much change threatens us and we resist it.  God prescribes change like a medicine in small doses over time so that we can assimilate it and use it and not have it be destructive.

       Wait for God.  His timing may seem slow but he is never late.  Lack of patience is a lack of trust in God.

       The final behavior that Paul calls us to is “forbearance.”  This is the forbearance that leads to the forgiveness we’ll talk about in three weeks.  Forbearance is the decision to get along even when another person has treated us poorly.  The word might be used of the kind of behavior that is sometimes seen when two dogs—a large dog and small puppy are together.  The puppy will yap a the big dog, worry him, bite him, and all the time the big dog, who could annihilate the puppy with one snap of his teeth, bears the puppy’s impertinence with forbearing dignity.  Forbearance is the spirit that bears insult and injury without bitterness and without complaint.

       Dr. Karl Menninger writes in his book The Human Mind: “When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins with a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes escape.  Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him.  In the same way the human being struggles with his environment and with the hooks that catch him.  Sometimes, he masters the difficulties; sometimes they are too much for him.  But his struggles are all the world sees and it naturally misunderstands them.  It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one.”

      “It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one.  But forbearance grows out of the recognition that there may be hidden hooks digging into a person that is causing him or her to behave in a way that we do not like—a way that may actually be hurtful to us.  Forbearance gives us the ability to get past the splashes and the unpleasantness-find the hidden hooks and help to remove them.

       This forbearance can only grow out of love—an active decision to be on the side of another person no matter how they behave toward us.  The practice of such forbearance in love could heal the great majority of the personal hurts that occur in this or any other human fellowship.

       Forbearance is essential in showing the love of God to the world—getting past the hurt we may experience, in order to help the very ones who are causing the hurt.  Just like God did for us.

       Perhaps you may be tempted at this point to say: “I thought you said we were getting into the practical part of this letter.  And now you’ve gone off and talked about all the things I don’t have.  What’s so practical about that?

       The answer to that must be, “If you don’t have them, then it is your responsibility to get them and the Lord Jesus is living in you to make sure that you do.”  Each of the virtues we have talked about depends on getting self out of center stage.  That is what true Christian community depends on.  It is what makes for peace.  As long as my feelings, my prestige, my interests are the primary things; there will be no peace.  We will have a fellowship of convenience, but not a fellowship of faith.  Humble, gentle, patient, forbearing people are the people who have mastered the “my” and are concerned about the “our”.

       One of the most important principles of Christian faith is that “truth is in order to goodness.”  What this means is that any true understanding of Christian truth must result in you being a better person or it is no more than spiritual gymnastics.

       Think about yourself for a moment in relationship to the church.  How would you like the church if everyone in the church were just like you?  What would the church be like if everyone was as forgiving as you are?  As serving as you are?  As gentle as you are?  As faithful as you are?  As consistent as you are?  As generous as you are?  As dedicated as you are?  As loving as you are?

       If there is anything in your life that would be disastrous for the church if everybody else was the same way—a spirit of touchiness, a spirit of pride, a spirit of criticism, arrogance or power seeking, a laxity of moral standards—that is a very good sign that it doesn’t belong in you either.  Take it off, and put on God’s clothes.