240303 Colossians 3: Clothed for Service

INTRODUCTION 5:00 Minute(s) INTRODUCTION SLIDE

Opening

Open your Bibles if you would to the book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 3.

The title of today’s message is “Clothed for Service.”

In today’s message we will be examining what it is to be united with Christ and enjoy life in Him. When the believer is united with Christ, an amazing exchange takes place - his sinfulness is stripped away and he is given new clothes of righteousness for the purpose of serving the Lord

Overview:

I had us turn to Zechariah 3, because in this passage there is a perfect example of this taking place in the time of the return of the exiles.

In our text, a high priest stands before the angel of the Lord, clothed in filthy rags with satan accusing him, his situation is hopeless, but then amazingly new garments are given to him from God. Even more amazingly the Lord gives him a commission to serve him. He goes from filthy sinner to clothed and commissioned servant all in one fell swoop. We will pick up the text in verse 3 VERSE SLIDE

Transition from clothed in the old man to that which is the new

Zechariah 3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 And he answered and spoke to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have made your iniquity pass away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.”

Restate

Something dramatic has just happened - the Priest had his old identity put away and he has been given a new one! Christian we are the same in this! Our old identity is has been stripped away and we have received a new one!

Why is this important? Look down to verse 7… We have been given this new identity too, these new clothes are given to represent and to serve the Lord. VERSE SLIDE

Clothed For Service

7 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will keep the responsibility given by Me, then you will also render justice in My house and also keep My courts, and I will grant you access to walk among these who are standing here.

Restate

Christian, we have this in common with the vision experienced with Zechariah, we have been stripped of our old identity and have been given a new one. ROADMAP SLIDE EMPHATIC: We have been given Christ’s righteousness! Why? To serve Him with every fiber of our body at all times in all ways with His power.

If we have come this morning claiming to be a Christian, then Christian, Christ has laid claim to our every heartbeat, every minute of the balance of our lives, every future plan, every expectation - it is all His. This all belongs to Him as He is the Pre-Eminent, Sovereign Master of the Universe. MAINPOINT SLIDE

Transition:

So here is the main point of today’s message and it is found in Colossians 3:17

MAINPOINT 1:00 Minute(s)

Scripture

Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Translation:

What this is, is a statement that commands the Christian to do everything in Christ’s power, with Christ’s authority.

Having been clothed for service, our Master commands us to live our lives doing everything in His name, with His character, with His authority. Ours has become a life of service and if we are in Christ, and Christ is in us, then this is how we are to operate, “Do all in the name of Christ” PAUSE

Transition:

Here is our road map for today

ROADMAP 3:00 Minute(s)

Introduction:

We started in Zechariah looking at the transformation that God initiated on the High Priest in filthy rags and how He placed him into service.

Connection:

We realized that we have this in common with Joshua. We too have had our filthiness removed and likewise we have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We have been unified with Him, we have a new identity but this identity has been given for the purpose of service.

Main Point:

We learned from Colossians 3:17 that we are to do all things, everything, all in the name of Christ.

Prayer and Context ROADMAP SLIDE: CONTEXT

In a few moments we are going to look at Paul’s letter to the Colossian church. They have been struggling with several big issues, as we will see in the context, but Paul’s inspired solution is to anchor the Believer’s faith in the Pre-Eminence of Christ and their union with Him.

Sermon: ROADMAP SLIDE: SERMON

Once we get a grasp of our union with Christ and His Pre-Eminence over everything; our lives dramatically change. We get a new identity, we get a new purpose, we get a new lifestyle and Colossians 3 outlines what that looks like specifically with our new focus on serving the Lord Christ.

Takeaways: ROADMAP SLIDE: TAKEAWAYS

As we work through the text we will consider some critical truths that this reality provides. We will make a number of observations, applications and call out some key obstacles.

Conclusion: ROADMAP SLIDE: CONCLUSION

In conclusion we will wrap up by going to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 9 tells us about our Great High Priest, who like Joshua stands to minister on our behalf so that we might serve the living God. BLANK SLIDE

Transition:

Before we jump into the main body of the message let’s go to prayer

PRAYER 2:00 Minute(s)

Adoration: Abba, what magnificient grace You have demonstrated by uniting us who believe with the Son of Your Love through His atoning work on Calvary

Confession: We confess that we are often, ignorant of the Son, we are obstinate against His headship, hesitant to step out in faith and negligent of valuing what Christ values - we are still fleshly, and idolatrous - we recognize this.

Thanksgiving: Be that as it may, the Christ’s atonement is fully sufficient and we know that You will bring us to a state of completion. For that we thank You exceedingly. We thank You for seeing fit not just to save us but to put us into service.

Supplication: Please help us this morning Holy Spirit, as we wade into Your Word, there are hard things here, to be sure; but such amazingly great truths as well. We need You to sovereignly superintend, to pierce our calcified hearts so that we might heed and obey what Your Word says.

We ask this in the name of Christ

CONTEXT 3:00 Min(s) CONTEXT SLIDE

Map Blank

Turn with me to Colossians chapter 3 and as you are turning there I will provide the context of this great little epistle CONTEXT SLIDE: Map Zoom

Visual Aid

As we dive into Colossae, here in modern day Turkey we see that it is at the southeastern end of the fertile Lycus River Valley - within walking distance of two others cities, Hieropolis and Laodicea, which also had churches. It is a small rural town, not really a significant city CONTEXT SLIDE: Zoom Out

But the Apostle Paul is writing to this little church, because a new philosophy has sprung up. CONTEXT SLIDE: Map This new philosophy has much in common and may even be an incipient form of gnosticism. Gnosticism is the heresy that eventually would hold that everything made of matter was evil and only that which was spiritual was good. This heresy held that true believers had a special knowledge. What this resulted in was a breakdown in theology which is no small thing.

What seems to have been the result was both dangerous and delusional. Works based righteousness which led them into a rabbit hole of pseudo-Judaism and asceticism, ultimately resulting in confusion and ineffective service.

CONTEXT SLIDE: Map With this background in philosophical confusion Paul writes to anchor them in the true knowledge of their union with Christ and His pre-eminence over them in their life

Transition: SERMON SLIDE

Ok, now let’s jump into Chapter 3. I have broken the text into 5 points and the first is verses 1-4 Where Paul is going to ask a pretty pertinent question, that is actually applicable to all here, “Have we been raised with Christ? Then we must seek what is above”

SERMON 40:00 Minute(s)

I. Are we raised? Then we must seek what is above (v1-4) 10:00 Min(s) SERMON SLIDE

Scripture:

Colossians 3 | 1 Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. SERMON SLIDE

Minimum Required Elements

Greek:

v1-2 We are commanded to earnestly yearn for (seeking) and concentrate on (set our minds on) Christ’s reality. The words in verses 1 and 2 for “seeking” and “set your mind” on are both Present Active Imperatives. That means that we are commanded to actively and continuously do this. Do what? Earnestly yearn for and concentrate on the things above. The things of eternity, of heaven, of Christ’s throne room, His power, our hope in Him. We are commanded to do this. PAUSE

Listener Engagement

So, how’s that going? PAUSE, NO REALLY PAUSE

Are we earnestly, continuously and actively obeying this command to ruminate on eternity? PAUSE Why not? I mean all believers are going to be there at some point...

Maybe the reason we don’t is because of the things mentioned in verse two - the things of the earth. That might be taking up our mind space, but should it? Should the horizontal be taking precedence over the eternal when our identity has changed?

Have we been raised with Christ? Shouldn’t we be spending time thinking about our new reality rather than the mundane one that everyone else in the world is pursuing?

Application: How to Earnestly Yearn For

Maybe a better question to ask is how do we even do this? When do we do this? What does it look like to earnestly seek and concentrate on the things above… When every moment we are busy doing something, is there a practical way that we can learn to earnestly yearn for and begin actively concentrating on Christ.

Well, yes there is and unfortunately it has generally abandoned by American Evangelical Christianity which has contributed to the fleshly cultural Christian soup we see in our day. Nevertheless this method has a proven track record over Millennia. What’s the method, SLIDE

“Re-prioritizing meditation on the Lord’s Day.” Right now we are feasting on God’s Word but in about an hour it has become normal to race home, feed the kids take care of a couple of chores and the Lord’s day is abandoned - off to the next thing. Have you ever tried to sprint 100 yards after Thanksgiving dinner? Not a good idea. We do need personal quiet time with Bibles open before us to reflect on what we heard in corporate worship in a time of personal worship. We don’t as a rule do this and this is one of many reasons why we set our minds on the things of the earth. We don’t take time to meditate on what God has told us.

Transition:

The reality is that we are commanded to earnestly yearn for and concentrate on the things above; but that can take a lot of forms and re-prioritizing meditation is just one way to do that.

That being said I can hear our rebuttals forming. Let’s look at a few obstacles that we have against this command to seek the things above and set our minds on them.

Obstacles: 4 Reasons why professing Christian’s do not yearn for or pursue the things above

Ignorant: We struggle to obey what we don’t understand and the fact is that we don’t know Christ very well, as a result we don’t trust Him-the command is meaningless

Hesitant: We fear an expensive faith, one that will cost us our comfortable lives–we are truly inexperienced in sacrificial worship and thus reluctant to engage something we fear

Obstinate: We stubbornly want what we want, so we fill our time with “other stuff” and force Christ out of our life. There is no room for Christ, when our pleasures consume us

Negligent: We neglect to value what Christ values. Christ values honoring and exalting and glorifying God, Christ values doing His work. Christ values enjoying everlasting sinless communion with His Father-we don’t. We neglect this thing we are commanded to do because we think we know better. We are like children playing with mud pies, when there are fresh baked hot cookies on the counter ready and waiting for us.

Transition:

But verse 3 tells us this is not our reality. We have died to the things of earth, mud pies as it were. Our reality is different - the truth is that our old self has died… SLIDE

Scripture

3 For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.

Restate:

The Christian’s reality is that we have no connection with our former life - in this regard we have died, we are only alive in Christ. Now, it seems appropriate to consider a perspective change:

Observation: Dead People Don’t Have Rights

Dead people don’t have rights, they don’t own or pursue stuff, possessions or wealth. The former state, the mud pies, the things of the earth, that all is a previous reality for us Christian SLIDE

Close out Point 1

Have we been raised with Christ? Then we must seek that which is above not that which is below. Our reality is that we have been united with Christ, we are alive in Him and pursue what He desires now. He is the head of the Body, we have been united with Him and in Him we are united with God.

Ultimately we will be revealed with Christ in glory. What does that mean, hold that thought… we are going to come back to the question of what does it mean to be manifested with Christ in glory

Transition: SLIDE

Let’s transition to our next point, having been raised with Christ, having learned we must seek the things above we learn in v5-11 that we are not to stop here but put on our new man

II. But don’t stop there; now, put on the new man (v5-11) 10:00 Min(s)

Colossians 3:5 Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. SLIDE: WE MUST KILL OFF THE OLD MAN

Minimum Required Elements

Restate v5

Paul says “consider the members of your earthly body as dead.” A better translation is that our we are to stop our old self utterly or kill off our old earthly self. The idea is one of a fight to the death, As John Owen said this in the 1600’s “you must be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

Listener Engagement:

What are we to be killing off? Five items are listed in verse 5,

Firstly: sexual immorality or πορνείαν: which includes but is not limited to premarital sex, pornography, sexting, and reading erotic literature and watching graphic anime. Secondly: Impurity - includes acts homosexuality and sexual deviance Thirdly: Lust or Passion, which can be uncontrolled anger, obsession, addiction, overindulgence Fourthly: evil desires - which involve envy, sabotage, vengeance Lastly: greed - which can include being a workaholic, hoarding, and obsessing over material things - this is idolatry, pagan worship of a false god.

Observations

In our day, as in days past, there are many empty professors, those who even believe that they are Christians but are not, these are actively and un-repentantly engaged in this litany of sins, but also associating themselves with the name above all names all the while wallowing in what He hates.

OBSERVATION SLIDE If verse 5 defines you, then it is entirely likely that you are still dead in your sins. You have not attained the bottom rung of sanctification and you are only fooling yourself.

If that is you here today, I want to utterly remove your complacency. Why must the old man be killed off? Because God’s wrath is directly aimed at it- look at verse 6 SLIDE WHY?

Scripture:

6 On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,

Restate:

Are you rebellious in your sin, impenitent, hardened? Then, you are disobedient and God’s wrath is your ultimate end - you must immediately repent, utterly forsaking your sin and begin killing your enemy that is killing you.

Application

How?

SLIDE Well Jesus tells us how. In Mark 9 Jesus talks about killing off the flesh in graphic terms Mark 9:43–47““And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, [and where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] “And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, [and where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] “And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell,”

How do you kill off the old man? SLIDE Dispassionately, without any pity, without any mercy, quickly cut off anything that causes you to sin and abandon it.

Believe this, take it to the bank, Christ is worth far more than any sinful dissatisfying idol. SLIDE

v4 Pickup

Now, a few moments ago I alluded to the reality of the redeemed, that they will be revealed in glory with Christ. Do you recall that in verse 4? Do you know when that happens - it happens in Revelation 19 at the end of the Great Tribulation, when Christ returns in full violence against the sons of disobedience, to establish His Millennial reign and we will be with Him to witness His establishing of justice on the earth. Revealed with Him in His glorious power. We are coming when He comes against the son’s of disobedience.

Continue Killing the Old Man

Let’s continue reading in verse 7. For the Christian, this old man is a past state, we have set aside the old man and are putting on the new identity, the new man. Verse 7 says

7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, lay them all aside: wrath, anger, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you put off the old man with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a full knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and freeman, but Christ is all and in all. SLIDE

Christian Reality:

SMILE: Christian, True Believer, Redeemed of the Lord, you are to set aside any vestiges of chronic smoldering fury and even road rage. You are to put away any uncontrolled outbursts of anger, any intention to harm another, any passive aggressive attacks. Remove from yourself any slanderous whispering and any filthy or abusive jokes or language. You once had this as an identity, but now you have put on the new man.

You will never do this in your own strength but praise God He gives us power and victory in Christ over sin - we are to do this in His strength… He does not command what He does not empower to obey. PAUSE FOR EFFECT SLIDE

Transition

SMILE: With love and gratitude we are to do everything in the name and power and authority of Christ. This is our third point in verses 12-17

III. With love and gratitude do all in His Name (v12-17) 10:00 Min(s)

Colossians 3:12 So, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and graciously forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you. 14 Above all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Minimum Required Elements

Restate:

As mentioned earlier a new identity has been given. SLIDE The command to “put on” in verse twelve communicates something similar to when parents say “Get dressed” to their kiddos before school. We have been commanded in verse 9 to put off the old identity and now we are putting to put on the new identity. What does that look like? It looks like the ornaments, the accoutrements, the particular identifying marks of one unified with the Pre-eminent One.

Develop:

Five nouns are given, this isn’t things we do as in a verb. No, this five point list tells us what attributes we are to be identify ourselves by. First, Compassion - a deep awareness of and sympathy for another one’s suffering - put it on… Secondly, Kindness - which is the quality of being warmhearted and considerate - put it on Thirdly, Humility - which is the disposition of rightly valuing oneself especially, taking our own sinfulness into account - put it on. Fourthly, Gentleness - which is having about us a manner that is mild and even tempered - put it on. Lastly, we will be identified by our Patience or our ability to endure pain or unhappiness - - put it on. Take off the old five things and put on the new five things. These ornaments identify us, just as the high priest Joshua’s ephod and crown made it clear who he was.

Listener Engagement:

But what do we do? We know what we are to put on but what do we do? Verse 13 gives us some actions. Something we are to do. We are to endure “the difficult situation” either on our own behalf or on behalf of another. We are to forgive others because of the forgiveness extended to us by the Lord. We are not to hold sin debts against another because the Lord does not hold our sin debts against us - The Christian’s sin debt has already been paid by Christ. So we have our ornaments in verse 12 and we have our actions in verse 13.

Our Belt

Verse 14 tells us the thing that will most define us is love - again a noun, agapane - which we just studied three weeks ago in 1 Corinthians 13. Think of love like a belt that holds all of these articles of clothing, all of these identifying features together. The most important feature is love.

Let’s continue with verse 15

Scripture:

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, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Restate:

We are again given a command, let the peace of Christ be the factor that determines the outcome. Let the peace of Christ have final say - do this by both feeling and expressing it with gratitude. Let God’s Word define us, distinctly define us.

Now, that will not be possible unless we spend both quality time and copious amounts of time in that space, not just turning pages and checking off devotional calendars. But internalizing and meditating on what we have learned. If we do that our identity will change and the outcome that follows will be that we will be able to rightly discern truth and apply it.

Spending rich time with the Lord affects how we interact with others, because it will affect our heart - which in turn must affect our mouth, with the logical result that, if this takes place, there will be an outflow of grateful praise. Our language - seen as a display of our personality will develop and change just like our outward appearance will change when we put on the new Man.

Summarize:

Ultimately, in verse 17 we find ourselves at the main point of this message. Colossians 3:17“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Application:

v17 contains a statement so completely and utterly exhaustive in scope and it is undeniably fantastic in scale! There are no boxes or partitions that isolate this command from a Sunday Worship Service from a Tuesday work meeting, or a Wednesday night dinner prep, or a Friday night date, or from any other aspect of our life. SLIDE We must do everything in the name of Jesus and for His glory, with His power 1 Corinthians 10:31“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

But what does that mean? Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus… ?

We as Christians are used to praying in the name of Jesus, coming to God, the Father in the power of His Spirit and the righteousness given by Christ - we are used to the biblical assurance that God hears and answers our prayers and we commit our prayers to God with this familiar refrain… we pray these things in the name of Jesus, amen. But apparently this concept for the Christian extends beyond just praying but to every aspect of our life. We are to live lives fully aware of Christ’s headship over all things. Whatever we do in word or deed we are to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Here’s another way to look at this… if we cannot say honestly that what we are doing, we are doing in the name of Jesus we probably shouldn’t be doing it, or our manner of doing it should change. PAUSE This is a good test to apply. Can we do this thing in the name of our Master, Jesus? PAUSE Lets get back to the text for our fourth point.

Transition:

What does this new identity look like with regard to our relationships - verses 18-21 is our fourth point. SLIDE

IV. Here is what that practically looks like (v18-21) 6:00 Min(s)

Colossians 3:18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.

Minimum Required Elements

Marriage:

Within the context of our relationships our lives are to be overwhelmingly identifiable by these actions.

Wives:

v18 “Be Subject” means to submit. This is about as a provocative and controversial word if there ever was in this culture. This word means to subordinate to obey your husbands and not disobey them unless they are demanding that which is contrary to what God has commanded.

The text doesn’t say do this if you like your husband… it doesn’t say subject yourself if he is kind or smells good, it just says ‘subject yourselves’, this is proper in the Lord.

Now, as difficult as this sounds; husbands we have a more difficult job - not because our wives are difficult, but because of the accountability that is associated with it.

Husbands:

We are commanded to sacrificially give ourselves up for our wives. Furthermore, we are prohibited from allowing ourselves to become bitter against them, we are forbidden to be sharp or harsh or misuse them or abuse our authority.

How do we do this? If we want a model to follow it is Christ - we should by now understand that intuitively. That is how you sacrificially love, like Christ does… . How did Christ love the Church? He died for her and gave Himself up for her.

Observation:

But before we move on to familial relationships lets add one more thing SLIDE while we are at it. Marriage was established by God in the beginning, and you will note that there is a conspicuous limitation that is also entirely countercultural - God says husbands have wives and wives have husbands. Wives don’t ever have wives, no matter what - that is an unbiblical statement and antagonistic towards God.

Although the state might recognize a union of two men as “marriage” it is not. God established marriage and He has set its limitations as between a man and his wife. SLIDE

Family Relationships:

v20 Children “Obey your parents in all things,” this was written to children between the ages of those that are speaking and those that have begun puberty in that context. Nowadays, we might say those that are still in the home. Children are commanded to be absolutely subordinate unless the parent is breaking God’s commandments. Now the extent of this commandment is profound.. SLIDE

Application:

Let’s put a fine point on this one, because the submission and obedience that is referenced here impacts us all… In the ten commandments in the very middle, the fifth commandment we read : Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you… SLOWLY This command was given to a people that would bury their rebellious parents in the wilderness while they entered the promised land Numbers 14:31. The extent of the children’s obedience to their parents is profound. SLIDE

Restate:

Let’s close out this point with verse 21 Fathers, “do not exasperate your children.” This means fathers, we are prohibited from provoking our kiddos. We are forbidden to rouse them to anger, we are warned against making them resentful, nagging them, giving them unreasonable commands or over-correcting them.

Since we are heads of our homes, then if we have failed in this regard, as I know we have, then let us also be the chief repenters of this sin.

Transition:

Let’s now go to verse 22 for our final point, and it starts off speaking to slaves but at this point we should all be considering ourselves as slaves of Christ. Our fifth and final point is the final summation of what we have learned SLIDE So then, go serve our Lord Christ.

V. So then, go serve our Lord Christ (v22-4:1)

Colossians 3:22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but with integrity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. Serve the Lord Christ. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. Colossians 4:1“Masters, show to your slaves what is right and fair, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.”

Minimum Required Elements

Restate:

Do we consider ourselves slaves of God? Slaves, like dead people don’t have rights, they do not set the agenda, they do not have their own way. No, slaves obey, and in return their Master cares for them. While it is clear that this is addressed to slaves working for masters, this instruction is applicable to everyone because we are all under someone, either an earthly master or the Pre-Eminent God of the Universe.

Summary

To summarize we are to obey in all things, heartily - with a good will. Don’t just work hard when the boss is around, work for Christ all the time.

Go, serve the Lord Christ, He is both Our Master and Our Messiah!

Having put off the old man, having put on the ornaments of Christ - the things that identify us as being united with Him and each other, we are to serve Him in all things, doing everything in love with thanksgiving in the Name of Jesus, in His power. Legitimately serve Him and work earnestly, yearning for Him and the things above - knowing that the time is short, the reward is sure, the promises are good.

Transition to Conclusion:

As we wrap up, this rather long message, please turn with me to Hebrews 9. In Hebrews 9 we come full circle. We started off in the introduction looking at Joshua the High Priest and now we are going to look at our Perfect High Priest and see what He is doing, what the things above look like and our part in the equation. He entered into the perfect, the real, because He paid for our sins with His perfect righteousness. Now He sits enthroned to cleanse and sanctify us through His Spirit away from the old man to the new man in a life of service to God. Let’s read

CONCLUSION 2:00 Minute(s) CONCLUSION SLIDE

Hebrews 9:11–14“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood,

He entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Restate and conclude:

Because of Christ we are commanded to put off the old man… like Joshua the High Priest, in our introduction. He has cleansed us. We have been cleansed and clothed for service in Christ. Since this is the case for the believer, we must do all work in the power of His Holy Spirit in His name for God’s glory.

Transition to Prayer:

Let’s pray and then we will dismiss since we have gone over time.

PRAYER 1:00 Minute(s) BLANK SLIDE

Acknowledgment: Your Word is clear O God, the Christian is clothed for service. Clothed with Christ and His perfection. This is not of ourselves it is the gift of God.

Supplication: We ask You great and merciful God to help us apply the truth of our new identity and give us confidence in this countercultural mode of life. What we have heard is stunning - that every moment is to be fully consumed with Christ. Surely, as our good Father we can trust You, Surely as the Pre-Eminent One He is worthy.

Conclusion: Please help us to believe You and we will give You the glory - it is in the name of Jesus we come to You, amen.