Christmas in Colossians (3)

We Can Put on the New Self

Colossians 3:12-17, says,

“ 12) Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13) bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. 14) And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts , to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17) And whatever you do, in the word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.

So far we have experienced two gifts from Colossians in the past 2 messages:

Gift #1) Knowing that Jesus Christ is Superior Over All

Gift #2) We Have Been Made Alive in Christ Jesus

The Third Gift that is presented to us in Colossians is:

Gift #3) We Can Put on the New Self

POINT #1) God Calls you to PUT ON the NEW SELF

Here in Colossians 3:12, the Word/Phrase “Put on” in the Greek is Endyo… and Endyo/Put on

PUT ON = is being used as a verb and it means to be imparted or to be clothed… it was understood as being wrapped in a covering…

In fact we see this same verb Endyo being used in Romans 13:12, says “12) The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on [endyo] the armor of light”...

In other words God is telling us that we ought to wrap ourselves, covers ourselves, in clothes that represent the New Self in Christ…

We ought to wrap ourselves and clothe ourselves with compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and above all else - LOVE!

Would you be described as someone who is wrapped, covered, and clothed with these things? Does this describe you? Have you put on these attributes?

Understand that in the spiritual wardrobe there are only two types of styles, fashion, and clothing…

Those who put on the light…

Those who put on the darkness…

The first half of Romans 13:12 says, “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness…

CAST OFF in the Greek is Apoballo and it is a verb/action = to give up, understood as throwing or casting something away...

And the word Darkness is being used as a noun and means = The realm dominated by evil, sinfulness, and ignorance of God and His ways; understood as the absence of light

If you look at Colossians 3:5-10 it clearly describes those who have not cast off the darkness, but have chosen to put on darkness it says this: “5) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6) on the account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8) But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator”.

Here is the ultimate question: Have you wrapped, covered, and clothed yourself in way that God calls you to live? Or have you yet to cast off the darkness in your own life? Have you yet to put to death the sin in your life?

What are you clothed in? What have you put on? the clothing of light? or the clothing of darkness?

POINT #2) We must SET our MINDS on the things ABOVE

I can remember when I was 13 or 14 years old my Dad had bought me a dirt bike. My parents best friends at the time were motor heads and loved dirt bikes. So naturally, my dad and I got into into it as well.

There was one weekend where my dad and I and two other guys went to Doe-Run… Doe-Run had trails, hills, and different paths that you could take a dirt-bike or quad on…

For those of you who do not know, I am terrible at riding dirt-bikes… honestly… horrible… probably one of the worst… There are two things in this life that I know I can not do well - SWIM & RIDE A DIRT BIKE…

In fact within the first hour of riding dirt bikes at Doe-run I had fallen over at least 5 times… and the dirt bike was so heavy that every time I had fallen I could hardly pick the dirt bike back up…

When I had fallen the 5th time the dirt was to heavy for me to pick up, so my Dad comes over picks the bike up for me… I remember being embraced that I was not good at it… and I could not understand why I kept falling over…

Well my dads best friend at the time - Mike - walked over to me and said, “I know what the problem is”.... he said, “When you are riding you look directly in front of you”… “You see every bump, every hole, every rock, and stick that is in your path”… he said, “Keep your head up, look beyond what lys right in front of you”…

What Mike was saying is, if you keep your head down, focused on every rock, stick, hole, pump, and problem that is right in front of you, you will continue to fall…

But, if you keep your head up, looking beyond the right here, right now… you will be able to ride over the sticks, rocks, holes, pumps and problems because you are no longer focused on them…

Friends, we have to keep our head up and our focus must look to Jesus - who is ahead & beyond what lies in front of us.

If you do not keep your head up, transfixed on Jesus Christ… on the things above… you will be bogged down, and strapped to this world, weighted down by the demands of the temporal instead of experiencing the freedom that lys in the eternal…

In other words, if you do not keep your eyes fixed on Jesus you will be consumed with things like:

Friends

Popularity

Good Grades

Parent Approval

Acceptance by friends and piers

sports

accomplishments

video games

college

money

future planning

careers

Self-ambition

Self-promotion

What you want

Your plans

But if you keep your eyes and mind on things above you will be consumed with things like:

Jesus Christ

God the Father

The Holy Spirit

Gods Word - the Bible

Righteousness

Forgiveness

Filled with compassion for others

Humility

Meekness

Kindness

Patience

Peace

The Kingdom of Heaven

Your Home in Heaven

Eternity with God

No more pain

No more sorrow

No more sin

LOVE

Question: What is your mind set on? Is it set on things of this world… or is set on the things above? Where Jesus Christ is… seated at the right hand of God?

So far we have learned that God Calls us to Put on the New Self…

To put on clothes of light that honor God and how he calls us to live

We have also seen that we are called to keep our eyes and mind on the things that are above… where Jesus Christ is Seated

Lastly, point #3 is, in order to put on the New Self…

POINT #3) CHRIST must be your LIFE!

“ 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 the things that are above, not on the 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”.

VS) 4 says, “When Christ who is your LIFE appears, then you also will appear with in in glory”...

The Word LIFE in Colossians 3:4, is a noun and it means = the condition of living or the state of being alive; especially healthiness, happiness, exuberance, energy, vitality, and the like.

We see this same word LIFE used in Genesis 2:7, “When Yahweh God formed the man of dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of LIFE, and the man became a living creature”…

Friends, Jesus Christ must be your LIFE… he must be the one who has blew into your soul the breath of life… Jesus must be the one who has brought you into the condition and state of living and being alive… meaning that your happiness, your energy, your spirit, your spiritual health, and who you are are grounded, founded, and rooted in Jesus Christ alone… He must be your life… and since he has given you life… your life belongs to Him…

Jesus must be what you live for… what you strive for… whom you aim to please and serve… Jesus must be your everything… He must be whom you long to be with more than anything or anyone… Jesus must mean the most to you… If I were to look into your soul in the deepest corner of your essence, would Jesus Christ be what you hold most dear? Jesus has to be your LIFE…

Is Jesus your life?

I look forward to my son coming into this world… I look forward to adoption a child… I look forward to 5 years of marriage to my lovely wife… I look forward to 10,20,30,40 years of marriage to my lovely wife… I look forward to Christmas and Holidays with my family… I look forward to seeing my brother that I have not seen in 3 years… I look forward and long for a lot of good things… But I look forward to being with Jesus Christ in eternity more than anything else… not because those things I listed are not dear to me, but because Jesus Christ is the most dear to me and because Jesus Christ is my life…

John 3:16 says, “16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

I do not know what your life has been like, I do not know the hardships some of you have faced, I do not know if you have been treated fairly, I do not know how badly you may be hurting, but what I do know is… without a shadow of a doubt… is that each and everyone of us is LOVED by God…

He sees you… he loves you… and he provided it by sending His only Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for you…