"Put It On"

Everyone is acting so weird! The most obvious recent weirdness was when Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars. But people have been behaving badly on smaller stages for months now. Last week, a man was arrested after he punched a gate agent at the Atlanta airport. People also found ways to throw tantrums while skiing—skiing. In one viral video, a man slid around the chairlift-boarding area, one foot strapped into his snowboard as he flailed at security guards and refused to comply with a mask mandate.

During the pandemic, bad behavior of all kinds has increased. Americans are driving more recklessly, crashing their cars, and killing pedestrians at higher rates. Health-care workers say their patients are behaving more violently, as a result, Missouri hospitals planned to outfit nurses with panic buttons. In 2020, the US murder rate rose by nearly a third, the biggest increase on record, then rose again in 2021. And if there were a national tracker of school-board-meeting hissy fits, it would be heaving with data points right now.

What on earth is happening? How did Americans go from clapping for health-care workers to threatening to kill them? More than a dozen experts on crime, psychology, and social norms suggest few possible explanations:

We’re all stressed out: One explanation for the spike in bad behavior is the rage, frustration, and stress coursing through society right now. Everyone is teetering slightly closer to their breaking point. Someone who may have lost a job, a loved one, or a friend to the pandemic might be pushed over the edge. People are drinking more: People have been coping with the pandemic by drinking more and doing more drugs. A lot of these incidents involve somebody using a substance. Americans have been drinking 14 percent more days a month during the pandemic, and drug overdoses have also increased since 2019. We’re social beings, and isolation is changing us: The pandemic loosened ties between people: Kids stopped going to school; their parents stopped going to work; parishioners stopped going to church; people stopped gathering, in general. Sociologists think all of this isolation shifted the way we behave. The rise in disorder may simply be the unsavory side of a uniquely difficult time—one in which many people were tested, and some failed.

And what this had uncovered is the true nature and reality of what happens when the old nature is revealed. It is truly during times of real stress and pressure that the mask is removed and we all see what is really there. It is easy to be christian and do all the nice and godly stuff as long as nothing in life is messing with you. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched circumstances and trials cause people to walk away from Christ. I remember telling a woman who was having a difficult time in life and she was doubting and I told her to be careful with her doubt because she might just walk away from Christ. She said too late. I already did. She stopped going to church. Life got better and she started going to church. Then life got hard again and she stopped going to church and then life got better and she came back.

Her faith is being tested and every-time it is… it fails. Her faith is not genuine.

2 Corinthians 13:5 NLT

Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.

Did we ever take off our old self? Or are we walking around with our old clothes on and have a robe on hiding our old self. And when the heat is on we take off the cover and now we are the same person we always were. Are we the same person we were before we got saved? Did we put off the old self and put on the new? Lets take a look at this today.

Colossians 3:10–11 NLT

Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever.

Put it On

Christ lives in Us

The first thing we will look at today is the reality of putting on our new nature that we have in Christ. The second thing, Christ living in us is our true hope of glory.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to deceive ourselves in thinking we are walking clothed in new life, it is the power of the Spirit and the truth of the scriptures that cause us to see the genuine faith given by Christ and the true life change that it really brings.

I. Put It On

- Put on the new nature.

A. The picture we have to get in light of the context of the passage is illustrated with the action of changing clothes. We are to take off the old clothes of the old self and put on the new clothes of the new self.

Dr. Doug Moo writes, A change of clothes is a rather natural symbol for a change in life or situation; and a kind of “ritual” changing of clothes therefore featured in a number of ancient religions.

I remember my first professional position at church as a Pastoral intern. My uncle generously gave me some money to buy new clothes so that I don’t wear shirts and shorts in the office. This was a change of clothes that affected me and how I carried myself in dress clothes and suits.

I remember an experiment I tried with my job at the builder. How you dress even affects the way people treated me and how people see you. Warranty Manager people were very different with me when I wore a suit and when I wore work clothes. Very noticeable.

B. We also see this picture other places… in light of the gospel Paul gives the same illustration.

Ephesians 4:22–24 NLT

throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

C. Now when Paul eludes to this kind of illustration. When we look elsewhere in the NT we see even more specifics. Its not just taking off our old life, but taking off our old nature. With these clues we should conclude… that, for Paul, the “old self,” or “old man,” is first of all Adam and the “new self,” or “new man,” is Christ.

Galatians 3:27 NLT

And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.

Romans 13:14 NLT

Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

D. So what does this mean? We have been introduced into a new arena of existence, a realm where the “old self,” understood as our Adamic nature all that he represents, no longer dictates or directs our thinking or our behavior. This does not happen because we have made a clear and decisive break with the “old self”: we are no longer identified with Adam, and his sin and death no longer rule us.

E. Where the old life is characterized by Adam’s sin, we should understand the new realm is characterized by the death and resurrection of Christ which looks like righteousness and life. We have been transferred into this new realm and that because of this transfer we are both empowered and required to live in a new way. Christians we are commanded to live a godly life and we have been given the power to actually do this.

F. Now we do struggle with the two competing natures. Our sin nature and our new nature in Christ. This is why we still struggle with sin. This is why we still struggle with ungodly behavior. This is why we still do what we do not want to do. Or we still do what we want to do but we know we are not supposed to want it. There is still a war going on inside. But the Bible tells us why and it is beautifully illustrated in Israel’s land conquest. The sin nature remains because

Judges 3:1–4 NLT

These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.

G. It is there to test us and to train us. It is there to teach us and for us to gain knowledge. To teach us to fight, the wrestle, to struggle, to overcome, to conquer, to gain self-control, to suffer, to grow, to know, and to learn about the Lord. So is this gonna be a struggle? You bet it is. We will fail. We will sin. We will fall short. And continue to fall short. The way I like to look at this… are you winning? DO you have a winning record? Are you gonna make the payoffs?

H. And when we grow in knowledge of our Lord, we become more like Him. We work to know, we work to grow. And when we do we become more like Christ. This is why you cannot and must not be ignorant of the Bible and doctrine. Dr. Voddie Bauchman said… If we are ignorant of the scriptures, if we are ignorant of theology, we will never be able to identify false teachers. So I add to it… If we are ignorant of the scriptures and you are ignorant of theology we will never know God more and become like Him.

I. How can we become like Christ when we don’t know Him? I will say this… knowledge of God does not automatically make you a mature godly person. I know lots of knowledgeable people who are tragedies and many phd’s teach heresy. Sure. But you cannot be mature and be ignorant. You must and repeat… must grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord.

J. This is why one of the biggest things evangelicals are falling for is the just be yourself, be authentic, be who you are. Many reasons we are showing that we still have the old clothes on is because of teaching like this. The Bible never tells us to be ourselves… it tells us to be like Christ not just here.

Ephesians 5:1–2 NLT

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

1 Corinthians 11:1 NLT

And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

K. And you see… knowledge of the Bible would have caused us to pause and say… hey wait we are not supposed be to be ourselves. We are supposed be like Christ. And learning about Christ is how we learn how he behaved and so we know what we are supposed to imitate.

II. Christ Lives in Us

- Christ in me the hope of glory.

A. And in Christ we see some extraordinary paradigm shifts. There is a huge change with how the new nature brings down many social walls that used to maybe divide - Racial divides come down (Jew or Greek) certain religious divides (circumcision vs uncircumcision maybe Baptist and presbyterian) cultural divides (barbarian uncivilized) and social barriers (slave or free) All of these walls are supposed to come down in Christ.

B. There should be no racism in christianity. No hostile division within evangelicalism in Christianity. There should be no cultural disdain in christianity. And definitely no social barriers in the church. If there is … you are still wearing your old self and you need to rid yourself of it. This is unbecoming of those who are in Christ. And you need to be winning this battle. You have the power to do it.

C. And we have the power to do it because of the biggest wall that came down when Christ came. The wall that separated us from the Heavenly Father came down. Because of Adam’s sin in the garden, we as mankind was separated from the Father and the veil to the holy place made that very very clear. And we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

D. But when Christ died the veil to the temple was torn and the barrier was gone… now covered with the blood of Christ we now have confidence entering into the throne room of the living God. We have life in Christ. Because here it is… Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.

E. And the promises continue… If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

F. Walls came down with the death and resurrection of Christ and it brings peace and harmony to mankind but most importantly the wall separating the wall between mankind and God. The Father and Son also gave us the Holy Spirit to bring us power to overcome sin. He gave us the scriptures to teach us to become more like Christ. He gave us life and life more abundant.