A Loving Family of Believers

INTRO

Please open with me in your Bibles to Colossians 3. Today, we’ll take a look at an important passage delivered to the Colossian Church for the growth and unification of the believers there as they fought against destructive false teachings and a culture that sought to disrupt and divide them. We live in an age where the idol of self-interest seems to reign supreme.

As we draw closer together as believers, we want to see what is required of us. Colossians three, I believe, shows us practical ways to draw closer together as members of the same body for the glory of God. If you would, let’s look together at Colossians 3:1-17, as we study the word of God together.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Colossians 3:1-17

Colossians 3:1–17 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. 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 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 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 also must 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 word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer as we ask for His blessing over our time of study.

PRAYER

**CHANGE SLIDE** - How should we come to church?

How Should We Come to Church?

Today, as we spend time in the Word together, you’ve probably noticed, if you have a bulletin, that there is an insert that contains our church covenant letter on one side and our vision and mission statements on the other. We’ll interact with the covenant later, but if you’re not familiar with our vision and mission statements, I want you to take a look.

I want to highlight that as members of Mililani Baptist Church, we want to strive to be unified in our mission to be a loving family of believers who, together, worship, share, connect, grow, and serve. Today, I want to consider what’s required of us as members if we’re to fulfill the mission the Lord has given us.

When it comes to preaching about church membership, we could turn to Hebrews 10, where we’re told not to neglect the gathering together of believers, and drive home the point that regular church attendance is necessary for your growth and beneficial for your brothers and sisters as well.

We could also turn to 2 Corinthians 9 and reiterate Paul’s words about giving sacrificially as cheerful givers, understanding that when we give faithfully, God is glorified, and the ministry radius of our church is extended.

We could even turn to various places in the letters of the Apostles Peter and Paul to focus on the need to know and use the spiritual gifts that God has given each of us for the building and functioning of the body for God’s glory and our growth.

We could go to all those places, but I don’t want to belabor those points today. It’s not that they are unimportant, however. I believe we have a few additional, less often discussed points to consider. As we study our passage for today, I want us to answer this question: “If we’re going to be this loving family of believers, how should we come to church?” As we walk through our passage, we’ll find that it’s really quite simple.

In our “New Members’ Class,” we answer the question by saying we don’t expect anything that the Bible doesn’t already command. Colossians Chapter Three does not contain all we need to know, but what it has is a goldmine for us today.

In addition to those obvious and often discussed aspects of membership that we just touched on, we want to be faithful members by growing together as we come to church with the right things. First, we want to come with the right identity; second, we want to wear the right clothes; and third, we need to use the right words. While these three things are far from an exhaustive list, each is necessary for a growing, healthy church.

Let’s look at what it means to have the right identity.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Identity

Have the Right Identity (3:1-8)

If you read the full letter to the Colossians, you’ll find that Paul encourages the church while he clearly teaches the supremacy of Christ over all things. As Paul moves into chapter three, while defending the faith and countering false teaching, he connects the believer's newfound identity with that of Christ Himself.

In the first eight verses of chapter three, the Apostle reminds believers that in their conversion to Christianity, they have a new identity, and he shows that this new identity is permanently and inseparably connected to Christ. Look through the passage again. In verse three, we find that believers have died with Christ. Verse one tells us that we’ve been raised with Christ. Verse three also tells us that we are present with Christ by being hidden in Him. Verse four tells us that we will be with Christ in His return. [1]

This new identity, which was purchased by Christ, animated by Christ, and sustained by Christ, is yours if you’re a believer. The old nature, your sin nature, was, as Paul told the Galatians, crucified with Christ, and as a believer, it’s no longer you who live but Christ in you. Of course that old nature, or the old man, is hard to kill. The new man, the new identity, that we are in Christ has to wage battle every morning to put the old man to death.

Paul says that old nature was consumed with sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. It’s for those very things that the wrath of God is coming against. Paul isn’t telling us to form legalistic rituals, but rather to embrace the new identity which is dead to sin and alive to Christ, as he teaches in Romans 6. We once walked in those former sins, we were marked by those sins, but we need to put all of that behind us as we live the reality of our new identity. Doing this requires us to put away former sins like anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk.

As a loving family of believers, we must come having embraced the identity we have in Christ, no longer slaves to sin, but putting to death our old nature and its bondage to sin. Putting it to death, in the original language, carries the idea of murdering it. When it comes to our sin, we are not to play nice, or treat it with kid gloves. We have to wage war against it and treat it like the enemy it is. Only when we have a right view of who we were, and begin to wage war against that old identity, can we begin to truly embrace our new identity.

Knowing this identity that is your in Christ, have you been living in it? Or, have you been content to remain as you were, having sought forgiveness but are withholding glory for the Father by not embracing what was purchased for you by the blood of Christ? So first, we must come together with the right identity. Second, we must also come with the right clothes.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Clothes

Wear the Right Clothes (3:9-14)

Embracing our new identity is like taking off what’s old, dirty, and worthless and putting on something new, clean, and elegant. When I said we have to wear the right clothes, I wasn’t talking about a physical dress code. Members of loving families don’t lie to one another, they don’t provoke one another to anger, they don’t look for arguments, they don’t insist on their own way, and they don’t put one another down, and they don’t lord their knowledge, or experience, or authority over each other. They don’t hurt one another’s feelings. They don’t scoff at the damage they’ve caused others.

I could go on and on, but the point is, in our new identity, we’ve been adopted into a new family, been given a new name, and received a new inheritance. We, as believers, should put off, or away, those old things that are the marks of the old identity. Paul likens it to slipping off a set of clothing and putting on a new one. Obviously, this is easier said than done.

I play hockey in a couple of adult leagues, and I play as a goalie. If you’re not familiar with hockey, just know that that means I have to wear a huge set of equipment. One nice aspect of these pads is that the chest protector I use contains all of the upper body pads in one piece of equipment, so I slide it over my head and put my arms into the protective sleeves, and after getting the shoulder pads aligned, tighten it all down and throw my jersey over it. Normally you want to take it all off in reverse order. Several weeks ago, it was a particularly hot day for December in Hawai’i, and after playing two full games, I couldn’t get out of that suit fast enough. So once the game was over and I skated over to my bench, I just tried to pull the whole thing off in one fell swoop so I could breathe.

I learned that day that there is a good reason for the process. When you leave the jersey on, and forget to unclip the chest protector, you can only take it off so far. So if you can imagine, I’m flailing my arms around trying to get this thing off, but I slid it off to the point that it wasn’t quite off, but it certainly wasn’t on either. My arms were stuck halfway out of the sleeves and I didn’t have enough reach to keep pulling, my head was stuck in the neck hole, if that’s what it’s called, and I’m just wiggling around praying no one noticed me.

I probably looked like I was doing some sort of a dance, which if you know me at all, you know I was certainly not trying to dance. So here I am, stuck in this old, super sweaty, super smelly set of pads, and if it was hard to breathe before, my nose is being pressed down by the neck guard and I’m thinking, I’m going to pass out and everyone will see, but no one will even know what’s going on since they can’t see my face. It was like the pads were clinging onto me almost trying to suffocate me.

I finally got all the equipment off of me and didn’t make any eye contact on my way to the car.

Getting back to Paul’s metaphor now, as hard as it can be to remove the old clothes that went along with the old man, there is a process.

If you try to do it on your own strength, you’ll fail. If you try removing the clothing before calling on Jesus for forgiveness, you’ll never be able to get them all the way off. Trust the forgiveness of God to unclip or unbind you. Trust the indwelling of the Spirit to guide you as you begin to slip out of what once held you captive.

And then, put on new clothes. Paul tells us that as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, we must put on the garments of compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. We ought to also bear with one another, ready to forgive others who are striving to put on their new clothes even if they upset or offend you. We know that the Lord has forgiven us, and we must be clothed with grace as we exercise forgiveness with others. Above all of that, we need to wear love. Paul says love binds everything together in perfect harmony. Love is what holds it all together. Genuine love is what takes what’s fake and makes it real. Love is what takes these new clothes that start out just on the surface and binds and connects them with your heart.

Where do you find yourself today? Have you been consistent in putting off what’s old and tainted, while putting on what’s new and spotless? Or, are you more focused on your physical attire than your spiritual makeup?

While some people get hung up on what physical clothes you’re wearing when you walk into church, the Lord is far more interested in what you’ve put on spiritually. So, wear the right clothes.

Finally, we need to use the right words.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Words

Use the Right Words (3:15-17)

Letting peace rule in your heart means that love, forgiveness, and graciousness are to flow out of the core of this new identity that’s been changed both inside and out. When our hearts are devoted to Christ and showcasing Him, what comes out of our mouths will follow suit.

Embracing the indwelling of Christ, as Ephesians three says, and the indwelling of His word, as verse sixteen of Colossians three says, leads to proper Christian ethics. It leads to sound doctrine being shared through teaching and warning one another in deep wisdom. It leads to singing songs to the Lord for His glory and the encouragement and building up of your brothers and sisters around you when you’re worshipping corporately.

Think about your speech and thought life. Have you been speaking with thankfulness to God in our hearts. Words matter, and as a loving family of believers, we must be careful to use them wisely to build, not to destroy; to encourage, not to shame; to unify, not to divide.

Finally, Paul reminds us that whatever we do, whether in word or in action, we are to do everything in the name of Jesus, thanking the Father through Him who has saved us.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Title Slide

We must have the right identity, put on the right clothes, and use the right words. If we walk away from today thinking that to be a good church member, we’ve got to make sure to check those things off our list every time we’re together, then we will have missed the point.

Those three points are not things that you must legalistically do, thinking if done enough times, they will make you righteous. Instead, over time, because you’ve embraced whom Christ has made you to be, you’ve willingly put to death every day the old man, and are putting on the new man, and are walking and talking as the new creation Christ has made you to be, those things become who you are. It’s an ongoing process of transformation. At MBC, our loving family of believers seek to worship, share, connect, grow, and serve. We are an active family. We cannot be a family of couch potatoes, but rather, every member of the family is up and active, sharing one another’s burdens, meeting one another’s needs as we are able, and intentionally glorifying God every step of the way.

My prayer for MBC is that we would boldly proclaim and display on the outside, the incredible reality that is on the inside: we are new creations.

To borrow from John Owen, we are not what we ought to be, we are not what we want to be, we are not what we hope to be …, but still we are not what we used to be, and by the grace of God, we are what we are, which is, I pray, by the power of God, sustained by the Spirit of God, for the glory of God a united in vision and on mission, a growing and loving family of believers.

Let’s pray.

[1]R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015), 2126.