Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Our verse starts again with the word “Let,” meaning this is an act of the will. If Sin reigns in our mortal bodies, as born-again believers, we must “Let it” [Rom 6:12]. If the Word of Christ dwells in us richly we must “Let it.” As Christ was at the door of the Laodicean church knocking and coming into any man who would open the door and supping with him, so is the living Word of God, the Scriptures. It first passes by our eyes and into the corridors of our minds, just like any other literature, but it stands alone in its ability to enter our hearts. It knocks and cuts and divides asunder. His word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So don’t crack open the door, swing it wide open and let His word dwell in you richly!
Dwell means to take up abode. Let the Word of Christ come in and rearrange and make your heart new. For someone to dwell they must be alive, and God’s word is alive, and it won’t just sit on a shelf in your heart it will clean house [Psalms 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?by taking heed thereto according to thy word], it will fill the house with pleasant songs [Psalms 119:54 Thy statutes have been my songs]. It will invite his companions, joy, peace, love, and kindness. The Word will toss out the garbage and make your heart a place fit for God, A place where Christ would be happy to dwell. It is amazing the similarities between a life that is filled with the Spirit and a life in which the word of Christ dwells richly. Ephesians commands us to be “Filled with the Spirit.” Look at the outcome of being filled with the Spirit; “17 but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” He then goes on to speak about relationships with one another, just like in Colossians. It seems to me that having his Word dwell in you richly is synonymous with being filled with the Spirit. This is not surprising, it is by these 2 avenues that Christ dwells in his people, the church. He dwells in our hearts by His Spirit and by His Word. They work together to convict the Heart, clean the heart, and then comfort the heart. You will hardly see one without the other. The Word is called the Sword of the Spirit, it is the Word that the Spirit of God swings to cut away the cancers of our hearts and because it is a two-edged sword as it cuts with pangs of conviction it also heals with promises of comfort. Let the Word of Christ into every corner of your heart and be filled with the Spirit, and you’ll find that Christ will dwell in you richly.
We are to let His word dwell richly “In all Wisdom.” Wisdom is not only hearing the Word but doing the Word. Do you Remember the Words of Christ concerning wisdom? “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man.” It is not enough to have his word stored in our hearts as volumes of books and memorized. It must go deeper than familiarity. His Word must dwell richly in all wisdom. We must know his word to the end that we obey his word. The presence of signs on the highway has never saved one life but heeding and being a wise driver who watches and heeds to the caution signs, and speed limits. I have known some who were so familiar with His Word but not in wisdom. Like Satan, he is very familiar with God’s word but has never believed or taken heed to it. So having it as a trinket or good luck charm won’t help you but hearing and obeying. His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path don’t be a fool and walk contrary to the light he has shown you, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.”
Once our hearts have become an abode of his word and we have not only known it but obeyed it. Then and only then should be begin the work of teaching and admonishing one another. Ezra sets this same example for us in one of my favorite verses in all the OT; Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.The work of the scripture is first a heart work. Before we go to it our heart must be prepared to receive it and obey it. His Word is yay and amen, it is unchanging, and it is we who must change. Our hearts must hear it, receive it and obey it. If not, we are in danger of becoming like the fool whose house was built upon the sands, hearing but not doing. Is your heart prepared to hear what God has to say? Are you prepared to do as he says? If not, we are in grave danger of becoming knowingly disobedient. God’s word was going to require Ezra to leave everything he knew in Babylon and go spend the remainder of his days in Jerusalem with the remnant rebuilding the wall, but when God’s word was made clear to his heart he packed his bag and headed to Jerusalem, the word was dwelling richly in him in all wisdom. Once he was willing to do what God’s word required him to do then he could teach the same statutes and judgments to God’s people. If we do not follow the same process, we see here in Colossians 3:16 and Ezra 7:10 we are nothing short of hypocrites. Many are willing to wield the word in the pulpit and slice and dice the congregation but that word they are preaching has never cut their own heart. Like Israel in the promised land, they had to make sharp knives a circumcise themselves before their first battle, so it is with us as Christians in the Lord’s army. We must draw the two-edged sword on our own uncircumcised hearts and cut away the flesh before we wield it on others. Has the Word changed your heart? If so teach and admonish others.
It seems that being filled with the Word produces a heart-felt song sung unto the Lord. Much of what we see in churches in this hour is nothing more than entertainment, the body is involved, the mind is involved men’s fleshly senses are appealed to but the heart, I doubt is very much affected by smoke, lasers, and all the rest of the Hollywood production going on in the name of “Worship.” It may very well be worship but of whom and what I know not. True heartfelt worship doesn’t require a million-dollar production, just hearts full of His grace. Full of his Word, full of His Spirit. If that be the case Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs will do more for the heart filled with his word than the best production money could buy. My heart has been raptured away in mud huts; with a handful of God’s people whose hearts were full. Praise will be the outpouring of full hearts. Hearts full of his grace, full of his word, full of His Spirit, Full of Jesus. Do your songs teach? Do they admonish? If they are psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, they do. Those are the songs we should have in our fellowships. If they serve to excite the emotions or puff up the performers, I’m afraid they are of the wrong sort. Many despise the hymns and spiritual songs and psalms, but I believe it may be because their hearts are not full of his word. If your heart is full of his word, then the truths you sing about will resound with the promises of God and remind you of all he has done!
Psalms 119:54 54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
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