What Have You Got There?
Tim Ross | July 5, 2020
“These questions are meant to calibrate us.”
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Transcription
I am so grateful to be with you all today. If you have your Bibles, I want you to open them up to the book of Colossians 3. We have been on this journey going through the book of Colossians, talking about Paul's theology, the practicality that he gives to the people that live in Colossae and also the love. Just understanding what that unity is supposed to be like between brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the most high God. I want to read three verses for you and then there's a pretty unique question that I want to ask you as the title of this sermon.
Colossians 3 starting at the 12th verse, here's what it says, "Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." Make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone," that’s the thing right there, "Forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others." Can I just pause right there? Paul is like, "I'm just going to bring this to you really, really firmly and strongly. Before you hold a grudge, before you do anything, just remember the Lord forgave you, you got to forgive others. We're going to unpack that in a minute. "Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds us all together in perfect harmony 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." Oh, that's so good.
If you're taking notes on this message and you should take notes because nerds rule the absolute world. Here is the title of this message, 'What have you got there?' I know I told you it's a pretty unique title, but that's the title of the message. It's, “Hey, what do you got there?” Bow your heads, close your eyes, I want to pray real quick, and then we’re going to jump right in. "Holy Spirit, help us identify what we have there. Amen." You know I pray quick because I like my Thanksgiving turkey to be hot.
Here's the thing that's interesting about us as human beings. We are very curious by nature. By our very nature, we’re curious. I can take you all the way back to Genesis 3 and it was literally curiosity that got us kicked out of the garden. Because we couldn't calibrate that curiosity in God's presence. We calibrated it in our own presence and it wound up getting us kicked out of the garden. It's really uncomfortable. To this day, we're very curious people.
What’s interesting is, especially in our culture, we always want to know what we don't know. If you look at the red carpet and people that are celebrities, they want to know, “Hey, what do you have on?”, “Hey, what you're wearing?” ,“Whose shoes are those?” ,“What do you got there?”. If you see somebody drinking something and it looks refreshing your like, “Hey, what is that?”, “Oh, it’s a passion, guava, watermelon, papaya drink.” “What is that?”, “Oh, it's delicious.” “I got to have it.” “Hey, what do you got there?” “Oh, it's the latest Apple watch. You don't have this one? This one lets you get your heartbeat and it will tell you when you're dying. Apple 2 watch didn't do that."
We're always curious about what's going on. When we think about what the Apostle Paul is writing to the Colossians in chapter 3, this is right after verse number 11, when he starts talking about in the middle of them working out to be a family of God. He says, "There's no Jew or Gentile, no circumcised or uncircumcised, no barbarian or uncivilized, there is no slave or free." He begins to remind us of who we’re supposed to be, what we're supposed to hold, and how we're supposed to walk out our faith. It made me curious about you. It made me curious about me.
As I read those verses, the only thing that popped up in my mind is, "What do you have there?" What popped in my mind when I read these verses was, "What do I have there? I want to ask you three questions, and I want you to open up your heart. I want you to let down your defenses and I want you to entertain the possibility that you are going to discover something about yourself that you didn't know before we read these scriptures.
I'm hoping that even as I'm teaching I discovered something about myself that I didn't know before I read these scriptures. Under the banner of, 'What do you have there?'. Here's the first question I want to ask you, 'What are you wearing? What are you wearing?'. Well, Tim, why would you ask me that question? Well I asked you that question because here is what it says in Colossians 3:12, 'Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.'
Now, I want you to keep that up because I want to hang out there for a minute. He says you must clothe yourselves with what? Tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must clothe yourself with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Every day you wake up, you need to put on tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. The next day, you know what you need to put on again? Tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Now, this resonates with me in a dynamic way for one reason. You may or may not know that last September, I decided that I wanted to go to a minimalist lifestyle as it related to my wardrobe. I used to love to dress fresh. I used to love to have the latest gear and to have the latest styles and I really liked couture pieces. I liked really, really fine tailor-made stuff and I had a closet full of clothes, a closet full of jackets and shirts and belts and shoes. Stuff that I wouldn't even wear. I had the tags on some of the stuff and I never even got to it.
What happened is I wanted to declutter my life because of the responsibilities that I started to accumulate as a leader, I just didn't want to be thinking about what I had to wear anymore. I gave away 93% of my wardrobe, and I went to a minimalist wardrobe. Let me tell you how minimalistic it is. I have four pair of pants. I have 25 white shirts, so all I got is white shirts, short sleeve, long sleeve, bandit collars. They're all white shirts. They’re all the same type of shirts. I have two belts and I have four pairs of shoes and I have 15 blazers and I choose a blazer to wear for the entire month.
It took me seven minutes to pack for this trip to South Carolina because I have streamed my wardrobe down to only consist of what is essential for me to do what I need to do today. Here’s what I found out about wearing the same thing every day. No one's even checking for you. People are so consumed by what they got going on that they hardly notice that you have the same thing going on every single day. Here's the other thing that really blew my mind, I found out that the less people are paying attention to what you have on, the more they pay attention to what you have to say.
What would it be like if you went to a minimalistic wardrobe for your spiritual life? What if in the same way that I just wear the same shoes, pants, belt, shirt and jacket that you would put on these five things every single day? What would it be like for people to become accustomed to the fact that you act the same way as a believer every single day. That every time we see you, you have tender-hearted mercy, every time we see you, you have these attributes about your life and this fruit that's coming out of your life that people are like, "That's just her everyday, humility that's her everyday. Kindness, that's him every day. I keep trying to tell him to change his clothes, he won't change them."
I want you to think about why it would be so important for us to wear this wardrobe right now. When we walk outside of our doors right now, people have on hate, people have on anger, people have on division, they have on strife, they have on insecurity. They're wearing so many different things and if we would just come out as believers every single day, I think people will start asking us, "What is that you got there?", "You're way too peaceful against the backdrop of our current cultural climate. How do you have so much peace? Where did you get that from? What are you actually wearing?" I want you to think about that as I ask you the second question.
"What are you holding?". We know by verse number 12 what we should be wearing. The second question I want to ask you is, "What are you holding? What's that you have in your hands?" This is what it says in verse number 13, 'Make allowances for each other's faults and forgive anyone.' I'm going to let that marinate for a minute. Forgive anyone, not just people you like, people that you don't particularly like. Forgive anyone who offends you. I'm going to just let that rest for a minute. "I got to forgive anyone who offends me?" I want you to forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you.
"Oh, Paul, that is so petty of you. Oh, Paul, it's disrespectful." Don't you hate when somebody just drops a reminder from scripture on you at a time that you want to vent and be in your feelings a little bit. You're like, "You know what, I'm sick of that person and I can't stand them. I'm never going to talk to them again." They're like, "What if the Lord never talked to you again?" You're like, "Shut up. I did not ask you for your opinion. Right now, I'm so happy that you're in my life and you help me be a better disciple of Jesus but you also get on my nerves because you're always talking about scripture. I like it when I like it and I don't like it when I don't." Keep my verse up there, keep my verse up there.
I want you to think about what he's saying. Remember, the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others. Here's the question I want to ask you, "What are you holding? Are you holding some unforgiveness in your heart? Could you be possibly holding a grudge? Are you holding an offense?". I remember I was at a church and I was doing a whole bunch for this church and my gifts and my talents were being utilized but I wasn't being recognized. What was interesting is the recognition that I wasn't getting in the house was being matched by a lot of recognition that I was getting outside of that spiritual house. It caused me to set up an offense in my heart in the house. "They don't, they don't recognize what I'm doing and they're not giving me any types of support to just encourage that I'm actually doing something here. I've done this,"and I had a whole list because when you get in offense, you can list it. "I've done this and this and this. When they didn't even see it, I picked up a roach that was sitting on the floor for three days and I vacuumed the carpet till I had [screams]. I was just going off.
I'm sitting there and it wasn't until one day in worship, I was lifting up my hands. I was praying to the Lord. He said, "You're offended." I was like, "No, I'm not." He said, "You have your hands up, but I need to check what you're holding because you think you're holding your hands up and worship and every time you raise your hands to him, all I see is your offense. It's time to stop holding this offense because I can't put anything else in your hands until you take this out of your hands."
I started weeping. I was-- because I'm a cry baby, "Oh God, they never have to notice me again. They never have to notice me again." I'm just whatever Lord, as long as you notice me, they never have to notice me." Six months later, I got hired at that same church to be one of the most influential positions in the entire ministry. The Lord was like, "Hey buddy, if you let this small offense go, I'll give you a really big promotion. You got to know what you're holding."
Here's what's incredibly important for you to understand. These questions are meant to calibrate us. These questions are meant to calibrate the things that are going on with us. It's so easy to see what's in everybody else's hand. It's so easy to build conjecture around what somebody else might be doing, what they might be wearing, what they might be holding. Today is a self-examination. What am I wearing today? What am I holding today?
My last question, "What is residing?" I'm going to let that marinate for a minute. What is residing? If you're going, "Tim, what do you mean what is residing? What's living?" What's taken up occupancy? Let me give you the text so you can have context. 'Let the peace that comes from Christ rule where? In your hearts for as members of one body, you are called to live in peace. Always be thankful.' Please leave that verse up. Let it hang out. 'Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.'
Here's my question, what is residing in your heart? Is there a peace there? Is there frustration there? Is there anger there? Listen, righteous indignation and anger, God gave us that emotion for a reason. It can come visit your heart. It can't reside there. Frustration, I allow frustration to come over for a visit in my heart. It informs me on the words I need to say and the actions I need to take, frustrations and anger is a good thing. It's a great guest. It's a horrible resident. What is residing? If we're honest enough to take a self-evaluation, we can find out what's in our hearts. Here's what Paul says, "You need to let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts."
There was an injustice that was done to me personally several years ago by someone in the church, I was flaming mad. I would love to say that I let anger visit. No, it kicked peace out. It kicked rationality out. It moved in and it took up like four rooms. It put like three bags in one room and it just crossed it's legs across the couch of my heart and said, "I'm here to stay." One day I'm brooding in this, this anger and this offense and this sentiment that has taken up residency in my heart. The Holy Spirit says to me, "Hey, I've heard you now for several months." I would love to say it was only days but the truth is that was months. "For several months, I've heard this argument that you've had Tim. I want to ask you a question based on the person that has offended you, based on what you know about this person and based on what you know about you, and based on what you know about the situation, here's the question I want to ask you. When you put your head on your pillow and they put their head on their pillow, who do you think gets to sleep faster?" I said, "Oh, I know it's me." He said, "Tim, you've judged success externally instead of seeing the piece that I've given you internally. It's time to kick this anger and this offense out of your heart. It's one thing to hold it in your hands. It's another thing to have it in your heart."
I shooed this unwanted house guests out of my house and I moved peace back in, then I added some extra locks to the door and got a ring security light so we can see without opening the door who's there. I made a decision from now on, according to what I see in scripture. Peace was the only resident that I would allow into my heart. Joy is a resident that I will allow in my heart. Love is a resident that I will allow in my heart. The other ones can visit, some of them, not all of them, but they can't stay there.
The first self-awareness question was asked in Genesis 3. God comes walking through the garden of Eden and he says to Adam, "Where are you?" He wasn't looking for Adam. This wasn't a geographical question. This was the first self-awareness question asked in human history. Where are you? God knew where he was. God wanted to know if Adam knew where he was.
"What do you have there?" If I could peer through the camera lens, jump out on the other side that would be so weird. "What do you have there? What are you wearing today?" What have you chosen to hold today? What are you allowing to reside today? Let today be the day. Not that you look out but that you look in because I believe that God wants us to get dressed. Hold on to something that is virtuous and walk out the door with something in our heart that's worth staying there.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message? My hope and prayer is that there's something about these questions that we asked ourselves that is allowing some light bulbs to go off. My prayer is that with these questions, we would get God's answers about what we put on, what we hold on to and what we allow to reside in our hearts. Father God, I thank you so much for my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, and the ability that you have given us this day to look inward before we walk out. I pray we have a growth spurt because of this for your glory and none of our credit, in Jesus' name.
