New Year New you | Colossians 3:1-7

Intro

Hey Y’all! Welcome back to Wednesday nights in the chapel. How is everyone? Are we glad to be back in the swing of things?

Cool.

How about them dawgs? anyone feel bad for TCU. Kirby using TO for curtain calls is wild. 65-7. just wild.

3-peat, you heard it here first. Calling it.

Anyways, everyone good?

Everyone have a good christmas? Cool.

Anyways, welcome back to a knew year here with us at FBC Gray. It feels like we haven’t been together in forever.

So question for you? have you y’all seen the people on tiktok or the people on instagram that will buy old beat up furniture and fix it up, and sell it for a bunch of money?

basically taking this old thing and restoring it, and really making it a new thing. This one girl said she made 175k the first year she did, i don’t believe her, but that’s pretty wild if she made a quarter of that. I’m sitting there thinking like, i could do that. That would be a fun side gig.

But I love that kind of stuff, where they take old stuff and make it new.

Anyone watch hometown? The home renovators? They’re like a down to earth Chip and Joanna. They’ll take these broken goofed homes and make them incredible homes. and almost every episode the guy, Ben will take wood from the old house or something and make a woodworking project out of it and it then becomes this like work of art. It’s wild.

Like look at some of these houses.

Crazy, they replaced everything in that house, doesn’t even look like the same house.

or this one, it’s wild.

Anyways, I love that stuff, it makes you want to try and do it, go on FB market get the broken dresser and see if you can fix it or restore it to a new thing.

Give it a new life.

New life is where we are going to be tonight, looking at this idea of restoration.

We closed last year looking at spiritual formation. and we are going to kind of continue that trend tonight.

For followers of Jesus, this passage we are going to look at tonight should be a good reminder of who and where we are with Christ. I think it is easy for us who are followers of Christ to forget what we actually are.

And for anyone who is not a follower of Christ or who doesn’t know what they are, this passage presents hope as a real reality. Presents grace as a means of real change.

So where ever you are with your walk, let this passage speak as a reminder of who you are or as a glimpse of what is offered to you through the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection.

So tonight we are in Colossians 3, verse 1-7. If you have a bible go ahead and flip over to Colossians 3, if you don’t have a bible, throw a hand up and we will get a bible to you. So who needs a bible. If you don’t have bible, go ahead and take that one with you. If you have one at home, but didn’t bring it, bring it.

Last call for bibles. Cool.

Context

So, while you’re flipping over there let me set up what is going on is Colossians.

Paul is writing to the church at Colossae, which is a small town is asian minor, that Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan area, east of Israel.

Pauls is writing to remind them of who Christ is and who they are in Christ. He reminding them that Christ is not just a good idea, but was and is God in the flesh. That Christ is of and in all things. The Creator, a chapter early Paul writes, He is the image of the invisible God. A perfect representation of God’s will and heart, made manifest in the flesh.

So what Paul is reminding them of, is what Christ has done for them. That through Christ, they are different.

So that is what I want to do tonight. If you are a Christian,I want to remind you of who and who’s you are. We forget that sometimes, so let’s be reminded together, and then I want to try and equip you to better remember where you are.

And if you aren’t a follower of Christ, I want to show you you the goodness of the gospel. The goodness of Christ.

So let’s get in to it. Let’s pray for our time in the word tonight.

Pray

Alright, let’s read this passage together.

Colossians 3:1–7 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

So, where are my musicians at? Who plays an instrument? Who plays an instrument at a fairly high level.

Cool, how did you get proficient at your instrument? you practiced. And the more you practiced, the more you wanted to play.

If you are a true musician you get joy out of creating music.

For me, I am a guitar player, I’ve played guitar for about 20 years now, and when I was in high school it was my missions to be a great guitar player, i had this effects thing that I could wear headphones with and I’d go to my room around 11 and play my guitar until about 3 or 4 in the morning, every night. Headphones, put my iPod headphones under the over ear headphones and would try to play along with any and everyone.

For some of y’all i know y’all you have tutors, you want to be the best at your craft. You enjoy playing, you have put in your mind to be good at your instrument.

What is the difference between a guitar player and someone who knows a few chords, the desire and the practice.

You are doing what you can to be good at what you do.

And that really goes for anything any of you do.

how good at football would you be if you don’t practice, if you aren’t watching film, trying to learn pass rush techniques.

If you are a golfer, how many youtube videos are you watching to gain an edge, to learn a better way to do something?

So look at what Paul is saying here to the church in Colossae, if you have been raised with Christ, seek things that are above, where Christ is. Set your mind on things above, not earthly things.

Don’t leave Christ in the tomb.

So what is Paul reminding them of?

He’s telling them that there is more to the Christian life than just christ died for our sins, have a good life. Jesus did died for you, He died for me. but he didn’t stay in the tomb. Christ rose from the grave.

Paul is reminding them of that fact. Christ was was in the tomb but, he didn’t stay there.

So for us, Don’t leave Christ in tomb, He’s not there.

Because he is risen we have access to the Father, we have access to God.

The church here was acting as if Christ was still in the tomb.

In one of Paul’s other letters, he writes, “if Christ is not raised from the dead, we are to be pity most of all.” it means nothing for Christ to have died if he was not raised. None of matters with out the cross.

So the question for followers of Christ that you need to ask is, what does it mean for my life that Christ is actually alive. Should i act differently?

Am I just acting like I was saved and kinda doing it my own way, or do I really live like He’s alive.

If you are a follower of Christ think about how we live, are we just wondering, are our thoughts on only earthly things, or are we hungry to know Christ deeper?

For those who aren’t a follower of Christ this presents a question to be answered.

Did Christ actually rise from the dead? That is the only question you need to answer in here tonight, if you aren’t a follower of Christ or don’t know what you are, I want you to answer this question tonight, did Jesus rise from the dead? If the answer is no, then just tune out what ever we are doing in here, there are million other things you could be doing if Christ was not raised from the dead.

But if you answer yes, then ask yourself, what do with that? If Christ did rise from the dead then he’s actually God, should that impact you? If he is who he says He is, ask if you want to follow and give your life to that. Answer that for me and come talk to me afterwards.

Don’t leave Christ in the tomb, when we leave Christ in the tomb we are going to want to do things in our power. We are going make ourselves little gods.

When Christ is left in the tomb we basically tellIMB God that he is not powerful enough to rule and lord over our lives and that we are the only ones who can do that.

Look at verse 1 and 2, Colossians 3:1-2

Colossians 3:1–2 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Are you hungry to know Christ? is your mind set on eternal things? Are your pursuits those that bring glory to God? Are you letting God be god or are you trying to be God?

Paul is telling them remember Christ risen from the dead. DOn’t leave Him in the tomb. Let’s keep going.

You are made new, act like it

Paul tells them to not leave Christ in the tomb, and then tells them to act like they are also risen with Christ.

Look what he says, verse 3-4

Colossians 3:3–4 ESV

3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

You were this one way, full of sin, bound for Hell and in need of a savior. BUT Christ comes and provides away for you to know Him as Lord, to have a real relationship with Him.

You were one way, now you are another.

That is the Gospel, you were dead and are now made alive.

That is he Good News, Christ came and lived the life you couldn’t live and died the death you should have died.

Paul is reminding them that they are new creatures, their old self is dead and the new self is made alive in Christ. We are made new, we need to act like it.

Think about this in John 5, there is man who is crippled, paralyzed, can’t walk. He has been crippled for 38 years, I’m 32 years old, in 6 more years i will be as old as this guy was crippled. What they would do was sit by this pool that they thought would heal them because angels everyone in a while would touch the water and the first guy to get in there would be healed of what ever. So this dude, has been sitting by this pool for years and years, he’s famously sitting by this pool. He can’t get in the pool, cause he crippled, hard to walk.

In comes Jesus, and he ask the man who has been crippled for 38 years, “do you want to be healed?” dude at first doesn’t understand it so he just is like, I can’t walk to get in the pool. Jesus tells the man, take up your mat and walk. Then dude gets up, and walks. and it’s miraculous.

Now think about. This guy has been sitting by the pool for 38 years, not walking do you think that dude ever sat down again? prob not for a while, he probably became Forest Gump, “Everywhere i was going, I was running!”

But imagine if Jesus healed him he stands up, does a heel click and is like you know i think I’m gonna sit back down, kinda tired from all that sitting. you know he didn’t do that.

But a lot of the time, we are the ones who just sit back down. We act like we aren’t new people, new creations, we act like God didn’t deal with our sin.

That is what Paul is reminding them of, you are new people, you are made in to a new creature. act in that manner, you were raised with christ.

He is saying, when you mess up and do sin, and all of us are going to, remind yourself that you were raised with Christ.

When you do that , This does two things,

One, it gets us to think in a way that is beneficial to the christian life, and two it takes the weight of living a perfect life and puts it on Christ. We have Christ’s righteousness imputed on us, pursue holiness. That is what Christ is wanting us to do. Pursue him, and remember that we are raised with him, and have his spirit that will allow us to pursue holiness.

Let’s keep going.

Kill Sin. Vigilance

We know we are going to sin again, we are still living in the world the fall created, we are not yet given our glorified state. But that does mean we can be vigilant in our walk with the Lord to recognize and kill sin.

i know you have heard me quote this, it’s probably one of my favorite quotes from an old dead theologian, John Owen,

and side bar, you need some old dead theologians in your life, it’s good to read what they had to say because they were not that much different from us, but they give us a view in to how to practically live out the Christian life. get you some dead theologian friends.

anyways, john owen said, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” simple, memorable, and spot on accurate. look at the rest of this passage, Colossians 3:5-7

Colossians 3:5–7 ESV

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

look at these things, what do they have in common?

They’re all like base level sins, from these sin a myriad of a ton of different sins grow out of. All of these have one thing in common. Covetousness, coveting. If we look Pauls other writings we see him say the root of all these sins is coveting, Romans 7:8

Romans 7:8 ESV

8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

coveting runs through most sins, greed? you want more money than they have, marital affairs, you want someone else spouse, you stole some money, you want the life someone else is living.

Paul is saying put to death all these sin, they produce and are produced by covetousness.

Why? Because these lead to death because at the end of the day this is all idolatry.

Look at just about every sin here, it’s idolatry, its putting something in the place of God.

In our walk with the Lord we need to see and be vigilant against idolatry and putting to death everything that sprouts up from that.

at our house, we have these banana trees, and they are kinda cool in the summer it makes our pool area look real tropical, but in the winter they die and they look gross. So we want to get rid of them, they don’t look good long enough for then to be cool. So last year, i cut them down, thinking, that’ll kill them. Nope.

They grew back like twice as tall, and now they’re dead and worse looking. But do you know how to get rid of them? You gotta de-root them. Take the whole root system out of the ground and pretty much burn it cause they can grow in any conditions.

So that’s what i gotta do, uproot the who thing and burn it.

And that’s what Paul is telling them to do, uproot and burn and sort of sin that remains, know your habits, know what tempts you and kill it, don’t put yourself in that situation to fall in to a trap.

be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. Sin will leda to death, sin always leads to death. The wrath of god is against these sins because they are the roots that need to be burned.

be vigilant.

P2C - What do you need to kill? If you aren’t in Christ, your sin will kill you.

So what do we do with this?

We need to ask ourselves, what sins need killing in our lives, and how can we follow closer to Jesus?

Think about your life right now? What idols are there? The easiest one for all of us is what is hopefully in your pocket at this moment. The almighty phone. we love that thing, we love the phone. I love the phone, it usually the first thing we pick up in the morning and the last thing we see as we go to sleep. Im just as guilty of it as anyone. We all are.

Look deep inside yourselves, you know what sins are there in the deep darkness of your minds, and if you aren’t sure, ask the Lord to reveal sin to you.

Kill it, and if you need help killing it, come talk to me, talk to one of the adults, talk to a friends. My office is right over there, and that door is always open for you to come and talk, and sort stuff out. Take me up on it.

So for the past about month, I’ve been going to the chiropractor, my lower back and hip has really been giving me trouble. and for a while I was pretty stubborn, “it’ll heal up on its own” which is normally does, but this time it didn’t. It really affected how I walk, last Saturday I couldn’t bend over.

So I start going to the chiropractor.

How dumb am I if i can’t walk well or if it hurts to pick up my daughter if i just try to deal with, if I just let it get worse. How dumb am i, it’s gonna get way worse if you don’t take care of it.

Don’t let sin fester, like a bad cut, it can get infected, don’t give sin a place to sit, don’t give sin a place to grow.

Kill it. uproot and burn it. Ask the Lord to help you kill it. Ask the Lord to give you grace while killing. And ask the lord to keep it dead.

This passage is reminding us that we know what we need to do, do it. Act like you are made new, because you are.

Start this year off by killing sin, and getting closer to the Lord.

Y’all pray with me.