People of the Church
Colossians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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There once was a pastor who preached a series on the sins of the saints. A member of his congregation challenged him one day saying that this series should be preached to the lost , not to a church. “After all, sin in the life of a Christian is different from sin in the lives of the lost. The pastor replied Yes…it’s worst.
Today, we will be looking at the Christian character of the people of the church. Let’s not beat around the bush and jump straight into what I call the no-nos in the Christians life.
Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
Notice the words, put to death. Last week, we talked about cutting away our old self and rising with a new life in Christ Jesus. To put it in gardening terms, if you cut it away, the piece cut away will die if it is not replanted. The same things with the sins mentioned above. If it is cut away and put to death, it will not grow back. This issue becomes when we cut it away but plant it somewhere else in our minds.
Notice again the word Therefore. It means that something said beforehand needs to be addressed.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Paul is telling us to remove those earthly sins, we must focus on the things from above. There that old song that says…free your mind and the rest will follow. The Holy Spirit is trying to get us to understand this very point…you will either be a slave to the flesh or you will be a slave to Jesus Christ. And you can not walk the fence between the two.
What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
I am going to ask this with all the love and respect I can muster, if we know these sins, and we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us to correct them and help us to keep our minds on things above, why are walking around like we are in the spiritual poorhouse? Do we not see the mighty working of His strength in our lives?
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.
A spiritual poorhouse! Why are we not walking in the immeasurable greatness of his power? Is it because we still live in sin? Well…no. We know that we all fall short of the Glory of God. We all continue to sin and must repent daily for it. God knows we live in a sinful world and have a sinful nature to us. That is why He gave us the sacrificial lamb known as Jesus. So we can confess daily to Him and be washed clean. So why are we still in such a spiritual poorhouse?
The answer is simple. We are not living in obedience to what I call the must-dos of the Christian life.
We know the sins. We have a moral conviction as Christians to the sins in our lives. The reason we are in such a spiritual poorhouse is because we live in a spiritual bubble of worry trying not to sin that we miss the most important part of being a Christian.
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The Christian is to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, being there for each other, forgiving each other, loving each other, having thankfulness, having wisdom of God’s Word, praising God and acknowledging each others accomplishments, and having a spirit of gratitude.
Church this is what scares me. It is not knowing the sins in our lives. We know those. We can fight against those. It scares me because we know what we are fighting against but we don’t know the tools we are fighting with. When we put on that list of Christian character…we go from being in the spiritual poorhouse, to being a spiritual powerhouse. He has called us not to live in fear but to live in power and love
Therefore, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.
because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit,
The majority of the issues we have in this world is because we don’t live life's as a spiritual powerhouse. We have weak Christians, with weak backbones, because they are living in a weak spiritual poorhouse. They do not know God’s word , so they can not obey God’s word. To set your mind on the things above, you must know what the things above are. You can not know compassion, till you read about Christ’s compassion. You can not know kindness till you have read about Christ’s kindness. And so on.
Don’t dare call yourself a Christian, if you are not willing to know who Christ really is. You should know Christ so well that you can say this with all boldness.
Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
Paul is giving us a warning about the no-nos in the Christian life, and that we must be aware of them. He is also telling us that to be true followers of Jesus Christ we have to have the must-dos too.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Mark Batterson said in his book: “All In” – “Most people in most churches think they are following Jesus, but I’m not so sure. They may think they are following Jesus, but the reality is this: they have invited Jesus to follow them.”
Church let this be a rallying cry. Stop living in a spiritual poorhouse and live as a spiritual powerhouse for the Lord. Follow Him, not the other way around.