Colossians 3
Notes
Transcript
Living Like Christ
Living Like Christ
Good morning my friends!
I hope you are well and blessed today.
It’s a great joy to gather together as the body of Christ, a family of believers who worship the Lord our God with gladness, rejoicing because of His love and mercy.
Today we are returning to our study of the book of Colossians, and we are focusing on chapter 3.
Now we are going to going back and look at part of the passage from the opening verses of chapter 3 to help set the foundation for this message today.
In all things we are called as the children of God to be like Christ.
And I know that is difficult, we are not God, and it is difficult to have the right emotion, the right response, the right attitude or words all the time.
But here is something I believe to be true… If Christ is our focus, we can be like Him, and as we dwell in Him, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit into being more like Jesus… His ways become more of our ways...
It is doable, I believe so....
So this morning, lets go to chapter 3 and we will start at the beginning.
So lets start where we left off last week...
1. You are in Christ
One important fact for us to hold fast to is our identity in Christ. We are His children...
If you are a born again believer, You are in Christ.
Yet, we might ask, just what does that mean, we are in Christ?
Well, the idea is that having received Him, you are brought into the family of God. Jesus is now a part of your life and you are a part of His life.
Lets go back and look at verses 3-4
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.
So we know, at the moment we received Christ, we were found in him, and this blessing and is noted by certain facts that Paul mentions here in this letter to the church at Colossi.
First, Paul says they have been raised in Christ (Col 3:1), referring to the resurrection. They may not have personally experienced the resurrection yet, but without a doubt, in Christ they will.
This happens because there is life in Christ, and there it is, ‘in Christ.” is of upmost importance. Jesus told Martha at the death of her brother, Lazarus would rise again.
Martha never doubted that, she believed there would be a resurrection in the last day. But Jesus goes on to tell her the dead will rise because He was the resurrection and the life.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
So for those in Christ, having believed and trusted in Jesus by faith will not experience loss. They will live even though they die. Death no longer has a hold on those in Christ.
So Paul tells us, their new life source will sustains them. In fact, their life is now hidden in Him. Just what does that mean, that we are hidden in Christ.
He is our life and we are in Him and so we are not seen but He is...
Think of it like taking an envelope and a dollar bill. You place the dollar in the envelope, you still have both, but the dollar is hidden from the sight of others, yet it is there and yours..
So just as Jesus is hidden from the sight of this world, the world may not see him, but yet He is still there and at work in this world.
So we are in Christ as are a part of His work.
And Secondly, think of this, our life may be hidden in Christ, and hidden to the things of this world. But one day it will be revealed in the future.
My friends if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are his and your life if hidden in His life. The world no longer sees it, because it is not a part of the world.
Paul assured the church in Rome that they were the children of God, Why? God assured us.. Rom 8:16-17
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Our position and place in Christ assures us that we will will day appear as a resurrected soul, bringing glory and praise to our Lord.
This helps us get caught back up from where we were last week… so lets move forward my friends.
As we move through the next section of Chapter 3, Paul encourages us to ...
2. Put to Death the Earthly Things...
We spoke about this last week some…As a child of God we are called to seek that which is above, and not the earthly things.
The challenge is to live like Christ, to have this mind in us which was also in Christ. This is important, we are to be different from the world.
There should be a distinguish between the world and the church.
So lets investigate this… Listen to Paul here as we look at our text for this part of chapter 3 Col 3:5-11
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.
Wow, the call here isn’t just to leave sin behind but Paul’s word is serious, forceful, He says for us to put it to death.
Why is it so serious? Well it has to begin with who we are in Christ.
When a believer receives Christ, a death takes place, In a spiritual reality each person has been crucified with Him, it means that we went to the cross with Jesus.
So the old person, who were were before Christ was put to death spiritually on the cross with Jesus. The Scriptures tell us that we have been crucified with Christ, listen to Gal 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
So spiritually we were put to death, we were also buried with him, just as Jesus went to the tomb so we were buried under the waters of baptism.
And as Jesus rose from the dead, we rise to newness of life as well, we rose from the baptismal water as well a new person, this old man having been transformed into a new man who now knows that sin is to be avoided.
So what do we put to death then… well these vices that Paul mentions..
In verse 5. Paul mentions 5 sins that speak to personal actions.
The first of these are sexual immorality (fornication), If you notice, this is always at the start of Paul’s lists, it speaks illicit sexual experiences. It is this sin that robs young people of the joy of saving themselves for the right person and robs themselves of the joy of being pure before God.
The next is Impurity, this also follows sexual immorality, for it is the defiling of a person who has engaged in these sexual sins. Let your heart, mind and body be pure in front of God.
Passion is also referred to as lust, it is where we allow out mind to be carried off into sin. It is where we allow out thoughts to go to far. It is one thing to think a person is beautiful, but when your mind undresses them, you have sinned
Evil desires, where by our desires go bad…it is the “want” or “desire” for things that are wrong. That can refer to sexual things or material things.
The last is covetousness… or greed. Longing for something that is not yours but belongs to another or placing the supreme value on something not yet possessed...
These are indeed serious my friends, and we do not treat them as such.
People claim we have the right to be happy, to entertain self, that it never hurts anyone.. That it is their life… I think my friends we are here and have life by the grace of God, created for a purpose and not our own life.
But I would remind you that these sins we have been talking about, they will always bring pain and suffering upon the person, the other person, the family, and do not forget that every sin is a violation of God’s standard and thus we have sinned against God.
And Paul says on account of these things the wrath of God is coming...
But Paul also remind the church at Colossi that these were the sins you once participated in but now you are in Christ and now different attitudes and actions characterize your life. Do not fall back into those sins.
Oh my brothers and sisters, there should be a new attitude and life for you in Christ.
Guard your heart and mind in Christ. How do we guard our heart and mind?
One is with the Word of God and through the witness of the Holy Spirit in our life. It is the daily challenge to make choices to honor God with what you watch and entertain in your life. To make choices that will glorify Him.
You can make good choices....
And because of your continued change, Paul tells the church to completely conquer their sinful attitudes..
These were not actions, but they might as well have been as they were reflected in their social lives among other believers.
Look at verse 8, Col 3:8
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
These destroy our relationship with others, and so the command is to put them away. You have a new self and new life that is in Christ and this new value system should prevail and control of our life.
Remember my friends, there is neither Jew or Greek, there is only Christ., and those in Christ.
Every person in Christ is a brother or sister regardless of their background, nationality, or place in life… we are all in Christ and we all stand on the same plane around the cross.
Let me ask you my friends, what is it in you that you that needs to change.
Gossip, slander, hatred, anger, forgiveness..what is it?
Confess these before the Father and ask him to forgive you and to redirect your thoughts and mind in Christ...
Now we come to the last thought today,
3. Put on Holy things
As we move forward in the text we find that Paul shifts and tells us what the believer should model, what they should demonstrate in their life as they live in front of others.
The call to put on holy things is important since we are the representatives of God’s kingdom here on earth, called to be both salt and light
So lets look at what Paul says, look with me at Col 3:12-17
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.
Wow, how marvelous… Paul calls the church, the community of believers what? He calls them God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved...
Remember, there are two groups of people in the church at Colossi, , there are Jews who have come to faith in Christ, and there are Gentiles, those who are non-Jewish.
And even though they are different, they are both in the church, they come from polar opposites, and in the past thought very poorly of each other at times. Sometimes even in the church those old ways, feelings, make it hard - but they were trying..
And Paul here is calling them all God’s chosen ones, they are all in Christ, equal - all believers, regardless of their background, they are a part of God’s family, Jew and Gentile alike. God has called them to salvation and called them to represent His nature and be holy and He is holy.
So the truth is there is no distinction in Christ, there is one Jesus and the one church, the believers who are in Him..
And these are called to put on, let your life be representative of these things :
A. Holiness… Several times in the Scriptures we are called to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:16)
In being holy we refuse to embrace and share in the things of this corrupt world, our only journey into those things are to be a witness.
Holiness requires that we live, think and act differently...
We have to navigate this world not that we are better, but that we are sinners saved by grace, wanting to tell others about Jesus.
So look....
Paul tells us to be filled with Compassion.. man there is a word we should pay attention too, we perhaps need more compassion.. When we look at the teaching of Jesus, we see compassion in the heart of the Good Samaritan, do you remember his response to the person in need, the Samaritan being a good loving neighbor. cared for the one left by everyone else.
And Father’s reaction to the Prodigal son returning home. A true mark of our faith is how well we care for each other, even those outside of the household of faith.
The father loved his son, restored him and blessed him.
He must love and have compassion for those around us, working to restore them and bless them...
Next we are to be filled with Kindness, Kindenss is the loving response to those in need of a Savior, instead of pointing out their sin, their wrong ways. Instead we choose to love them as God would in hope of them being loved to Jesus. That is not our job, that is the Holy Spirit’s work.
We know when a person is at the bottom, we do not have to remind them, but we can show them the greatest gift of all.
And next is Humility, That we remember that we were like the world in the past, we are sinners saved by grace. If it were not for God, we would have suffered loss.
Gentleness Gentleness isn’t weakness it is instead strength and power under control. It was Jesus who was meek but he also braided a whip and drove the money changers from the temple.
And patience... is the ability to put up with others even when it is not easy. God the Father was longsuffering, patient with a rebellious people, they never deserved his mercy but in love He gave it to them.
The world needs our patience with them, allowing them to see the wondrous God we serve.
And then moving forward Paul tells us to
B. Bearing with one another…and Forgiving… verses 12-13....
The call is that in all things we should chose to fall back to love! We remember that the Lord Jesus forgave us a great deal so we should put up with those who difficult and love them, forgive them and move on...
There is no room for un-forgiveness in the church. Jesus taught his disciples in the Lord’s prayer to ask for forgiveness but to be certain to forgive others.
We do not have to worry about making it right, God will...
When someone has something against us or we have something against another, we should seek to make it right.
Forgiveness is necessary for us to be at peace.
C. Be Loving… I love Paul’s words there at verse 14, and above all else, put on love..
Love is the glue Paul says that binds it all together. Nothing has meaning unless love drives it (1 Cor 13) and the law is fulfilled in how we love others around us Gal 5:14
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love binds all the previous virtues together perfectly. My friends how can we serve, speak, tell, do anything unless we are driven and defined by love.
There were those who loved me when I didn’t think anyone cared … Love drove it home...
Love each other, but do not forget to love the world around us so we can model and show love to them.
Now moving forward...
Now Paul moves on and he then calls us to be a peace and to be thankful...
Peace isn’t the absence of problems or the storm, it is the quality to move forward trusting God has the answers.
Just as we are to love, so we are to be at peace with one another, allowing peace to rule in our hearts.
Why does love and peace rule in our hearts??, The heart of man is the seat of our volition. We are guided by what is in the heart. So if Christ rules in your heart my friend, then every decision made and every action taken will have a quality of peace.
One man said as love characterizes the outward part of life so peace must the inward. Christ in us promotes peace..
We, when were were in the world were in turmoil, but coming to Christ we found peace.
In coming to Christ, we were to make Him Lord of the believers life. His peace comes by the fact that He has made peace between us and the Father.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He brings us peace through the justification he gives to each person who responds to him by faith.
D. His presence in our should lead us to Worship.
The final characteristic of the community of believers life is its worship of God.
As the church we can express our love and devotion to God in two ways, instruction and worship.
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.
Paul exhorts them to teach and admonish one other. So we the word of God has to dwell, have a home in the believers life. As a child of God the Word has to be in us, without it we have to direction, we have guidance. David tells us in 119:11 Psalms 119:11
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
And the second aspect for us is that the word in us produces a celebration of His salvation and work in our life.
We are to sing with the gratitude of our hearts, P Paul says we bring forth praise in Psalms, hymns and other spiritual songs. And hear this the types of songs do not matter, what matter is that it compliments the teach of the word of God.
Charles Wesley, the brother of John, the founder of the Methodist wrote many hymns, these provided the context for understanding the theological contribution of his brother, John Wesley.
The word of God, the worship of our hearts work together to bring us closer to God in the hopes of the creation allowing praise to pour out of our lives in response to all that God is and does for us.
Finally, in verse 17 Paul tells us, admonishes us to do everything for God and his glory. Let me read that verse again.
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.
So no matter where you serve or what you do, do it all as as unto him.
Praise him and giving thanks to our Father.
All that we do in this life, do it in a way that we are determined that Jesus is seen in our actions.
You have heard me tell the story of the janitors closet, the sign said whatever your hand finds to do, do it for God’s glory.
It doesn’t matter what it is you can serve others and God, giving thanks if we do it in a right heart.
The chapter closes out with visual examples of living rightly in front of God in such a way others are put first and God is glorified.
Today, I want you to know that you can live like Christ in every area of your life. Let no one tell you different.
You are in Him, put to death the flesh and those fleshly, worldy things and strive to put on holiness in every area of your life.
God will be blessed and will bless you I believe when you resolve to live in a way that honors Him.
This morning...
Are you at harmony with those around you.
Are you at harmony with the Father, living your best in front of Him.. are you letting go of the wordly things
Are you doing your best to put on holiness.
Treat Each Other in Godly Ways..