Put It to Death and Make Room
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Good morning Missio! Huge thank you to David for leading us in communion this morning. Scott and his family are roughin’ it on the beaches of Cancun. They are getting some well-deserved rest and sun-tans. Today we are as Scott would say, taking an Exodus from Exodus and jumping a bit forward in history to the New Testament. We are going to be taking a look at the passage in Colossians 3:1-17. Our leadership team has been reading through a book called Awe, by Paul David Tripp and in chapter 11, titled “The Church” Tripp quotes Colossians 3 and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. So consider this sermon a passion project to get essentially a song called Colossians 3 out of my head.
Bible:
Bible:
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have 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.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 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 there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 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. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 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. 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.
I. Where your heart is...
I. Where your heart is...
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
I. Where your heart is...
a) There your treasure will be also.
We are given two commandments here: (1) to seek the things that are above, to pursue such things, to chase heaven. The NIV puts it as, “set your hearts on things above...” Jesus says in Matthew 6:19–21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
b) There your thoughts will be also.
The second command given in Colossians 3:1-2 is to set your mind on the things that are above. We can no longer focus on ourselves, we must focus on Christ. We see messages everywhere telling us to find our inner-peace to focus on ourselves. That our own well-being is the most-important thing. Self-enlightenment and knowing your body and you do you and as long as it isn’t harming anyone else and as long as you aren’t forcing your ideas on someone else because it is all your own and for yourself and your truth and your body your choice and your life and your freedom and your pronouns and your needs and you and you and you and you and me and me and me and me and the one thing you and I can never be is… us. Is united. This is dangerous. Now to be fair, caring about your mental health and your bodily health are good things, but when you become the center of the universe everything is yours and suddenly everything is a very heavy burden. Ironically then, a sole focus on yourself will ultimately harm your mental health and your bodily health. Selfishness can become self-harmfulness.
This happens in the church. It happened through me: I was interning for a large church and I had this conviction that everything that was to be accomplished in ministry was naively because of my effort. If it did not make my resume more interesting I did not care for it. I cared more about my measured effectiveness in ministry than the people I ministered to. I could present numbers of people who were baptized or who raised their hands or who attended an event. And I felt the pressure of a necessity to “succeed” by being impressive. It was wrong and I made mistakes and I was hurting. God humbled me and I am forever grateful that he did. And let me encourage you that ministry is not measured on your effectiveness, in fact effectiveness in ministry isn’t defined correctly. Effectiveness is our submission to God’s effect on us. We submit to God and God effects the heart. Ministry is measurable therefore by our submission to God, not our impact on the world.
Statistics show us today that the more self-aware we become, the greater our anxiety, depression, and self-loathing increases. It is almost as if we are depraved and in need of a savior and the more we look inward the more depravity we are finding in ourselves and the greater the hopelessness becomes. Some of us think then that we need to turn our brain off, stop searching. But the problem with that is the person who is no longer concerned for themselves is a greater danger to themselves. The next step is to focus on others and this is promising because we ought to care for others as we would wish to be cared for, this is the golden rule. The problem is when we don’t like the others that we care for or when we don’t know how to care for them or when people are just another project because I’m looking to get gold stars on my afterlife report card. The only person we can focus our minds on, our thoughts on must be Christ because then our hearts are set upon Christ and our hearts therefore reflect Christ to others. When we look to Jesus, we see our worth because it is his worth in us. When we look to Jesus we see the worth of our neighbor, even the one who mows their lawn at 5am, because we see them as made in the image of God. If our heart belongs to Jesus, so should our mind, and so will our actions.
c) There your theology will be also.
Our heart is already linked to where it is we focus our deepest desires. Do we desire Heaven or do we desire Earth? Do we desire Christ or do we desire ourselves? So this is true with our theology. Do we root our understanding of God in God or in ourselves? When something doesn’t sit right with us, is it we who determine truth or is it God? Do we seek to understand truth so that we are made to be right or so that we know the truth even if that means we should be corrected. Seeking a theology above needs to include these three things:
i. Belief in Jesus.
ii. Life with Jesus.
iii. Glory to God.
II. Put to Death
II. Put to Death
For you have 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.
II. Put to Death
Faith and Life Chapter 32: The Hidden Life
This life of ours is a hidden life; hid with Christ in God. God, not the world, is the sphere in which it is passed. Christ is it itself. And Christ is now with God. The Christian in seeking heavenly things must not seek to be known of the world to be good, but only to be seen of God.
If the old life that we once lived is now dead and gone and the new life we now live is Christ’s life, then we are no longer to live for ourselves because we are dead, instead we live for Christ because he is alive and our life is his given to us.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 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 there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
a) An earthly way of living.
Our actions must reflect the life that we now live in Christ. But who are we reflecting to our actions to? Surely they are seen by the world, but they are not for the world, if they were then our hearts would not be seeking Christ and treasures in heaven and the things above, but instead would still be stuck on the things below. We need to be reflecting Christ to Christ. Paul is telling us that we need to live in a way that reflects where our heart is and if our heart is seeking Christ so should our actions.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
We are no longer slaves! We are free! Why would we ever want to live lives of slavery now that we have tasted the freedom that we have in Christ? If my heart belongs to him, so do my actions belong to him. Christ is all and in all. By the way this is one of the greatest arguments against legalism and sinful liberty. If all our actions are of and for Christ, than there is nothing that we do that is of and for ourselves so doing good in this life does no good for your old life. Legalism is doing good things in hopes that your old dead self will be known as a good person. Newsflash, dead people don’t do things. So instead all the good that we do is in Christ, of Christ, and for Christ because our new life is his life. It is his good and it is our joy because his good is the greatest good we could ever participate in. Are we then free to sin? By no means Paul says! Our freedom is not to live as if we were never free to begin with. Our freedom is not to sin, our freedom is from sin.
b) An earthly way of speaking.
but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
Our speech carries a great power. It is not by our own work James says that we could ever tame it. Instead, it is only by the work of Christ that we could ever take the words of Paul in Colossians 3:8–10
But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 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.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
What we state is either made in support of our creator or in opposition of our creator. Without Christ all we can do is oppose, but in Christ we can praise. This isn’t a sermon on how you need to be careful what comes out of your mouth when you stub your toe or when Dak Prescott throws an interception. This is what you have to say about your fellow human beings. About people who are as valuable as you are. Whether they are saved or not they are made in the image of God and have inherent value.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
c) An earthly way of identifying.
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 there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put off the old self and put on the new self. You are new. And you are being renewed in knowledge meaning you are growing more like Christ and in him we no longer identify apart from one another but we are now unified because Christ is all and in all of us who know and belong to him. This is how I know that we can succeed in putting to death our selfish actions and self-centered speech. Because we no longer need to identify with ourselves, we belong to Jesus. I no longer look within me and see nothing but despair and depravity and hopelessness. I look within and should I belong to Christ, I see him alive in me and I know hope and know grace and I know mercy and I know forgiveness because I know Christ and he is in me. I do not look within to find myself anymore I look to Christ and in him I know who I am. Might I encourage you that you are not a sinner and no longer need identify as one. A sinner is someone who is known by their sin, you are known by Christ. You are a Christian, a “little Christ” in translation. Your identity is not found in you it is found in him.
Hallelujah Oh what a Savior!
This encouragement extends far beyond just the negative identities we hold. Because when you belong to Christ you can say, I am no longer a sinner, I am not a failure, I am not a disappointment, I am not broken. But it’s more than that. Our identity in Christ is more than just the negative. I am not my job. I am not my wealth. I am not my following on social media. I am not my family. I am not my friends. I am not my success. Our identity in Christ is greater than the greatest good. I am redeemed. I am forgiven. I am loved. I am new. I am whole. I am saved. I am a child of God. I am not my own. I am Christ’s.
III. And Make Room
III. And Make Room
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 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. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 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. 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.
III. And Make Room
Why do the old things in our life need to die in order for new things to live?
I had a roommate in college. Kyle. He was terrible at convincing a girl to like him. He’d exaggerate and try to be impressive. Then he’d try to get me to help him out and be a “good wingman” but if I’m being honest with you, I didn’t want to be a good wingman. This was for two reasons. One good reason and one bad reason. I’ll tell you both. The first was I didn’t want to help Kyle because I hoped that he’d learn that he didn’t need to be anyone other than himself in order to convince the right someone that he was worth the conversation. The second reason was when I messed up his chances of a second date, I thought it was hilarious. In this case, I was a terrible wingman and because of that I was also considered a bad roommate. But when our RA showed up one night to let us know that Kyle was suicidal and had told one of his professors that day that he was planning to end his life, I would like to think that my response of sitting with him, hearing his story, and praying over him were the marks of a good roommate. You see my hope is that the things in us that we are putting to death become the kinds of things that when an opportunity presents itself, we would be failures by the world’s standard. But those things that we give life, when the opportunities present themselves, we would be successes by Christ’s standard. We put to death the old so that we can make room for the new. If your roommate was Jesus, what kinds of things in your life would he be excited to see moved out and what kinds of things would he be excited to see moved in? Make room.
a) Make room for virtue.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
Paul in verse 5 points out the vices that we need to put to death. Now in their place he lists the virtues that replace them. When we let go of our sin, it is not only the absence of sin that we see in our lives, but the room for the presence of Christ and his virtues and and his attributes and his likeness that take sins place. We make room for virtue.
b) Make room for the church.
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.
We who are in Christ belong together, not apart. Before Christ we were separate, in Christ we are unified.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
We are called to be together. We are called to support one another. This is one body. If you want to grow in Christ but grow apart from those who are in Christ, you’re growth will be stunted.
How can you seek the light without those who are called the light of the world? How do you expect to see more than what is right in front of you if you continuously surround yourself in darkness and try arguing why the people of God are worth avoiding. There are times when I hear the person who argues, why can’t I grow in my relationship away from the church and it just be Jesus and me? There are two things that become clear with that argument. The first is that you will grow up until the point where you feel the convicting call to obedience that is to be connected to the church and either you will choose to continue growing in obedience to Jesus by being a part of the church or you will choose to live in disobedience and your growth will be stunted. The second is 1 John 2:9-11
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Imagine walking into a vast empty space and there is no light at all except that you have a candle to light your path. All you can see is what is right in front of you. Suddenly you stumble upon a group of people all who have candles and you suddenly can see so much more and you are learning about all the expanse that surrounds you more rapidly than ever before because you can see so much more when we share our light with each other.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Why would you choose not only to navigate the darkness alone, but to hide your light from others? We all need the church. As messed up as it can be, we are called to forgive and we are called to stir each other up in love and good works. Hebrews 10:24 You need the church and the church needs you.
c) Make room for love.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
If we are to seek unity in the church we need to make room for love. We are known by our love for each other.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
It is an act of evangelism to love one another. Creating division in the church and stirring conflict up with other Christians, speaking poorly of other churches because you don’t like the way they do things down the street are not the kinds of things that are recognizable of a disciple. I wonder are Christian’s often recognized as disciples of Christ or disciples of whatever it is that we are currently mad about? Put to death anger, wrath, malice, slander, and make room for forgiveness, love, and.... peace.
d) Make room for peace.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Peace is something that cannot be separated from forgiveness and love. When we have something to forgive that is on our hearts we either let hatred win or we let love win and forgiveness flow out of love for others. If we do not forgive and do not love, we are at a impasse and peace will be unattainable as we are constantly eaten away by our anger and our need for justice by our own wrath. I think a lot of times we are apprehensive to forgive because we think that it suddenly makes what they did ok. Let me be clear, forgiving someone is not giving them permission to have hurt you or making what they did now ok. Forgiveness is not a letting go of justice, it is a giving to God the responsibility of justice. I forgive so the responsibility of justice is no longer mine, but it isn’t like justice will never be served, it is God’s to serve and that to the believer is by Christ’s death on the cross and to the unbeliever is total separation from God in eternal torment. Choosing unforgiveness is a denial of God’s justice and is disobedience. There is no peace apart from forgiveness and love.
We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.
Thomas Merton
e) Make room for The Word.
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.
Everything that we give life we know is worthy of life by the Word of God. When I’m faced with a decision, are my answers measured against the Word of God? I have an offer for a higher paying job, but I have to work when my church gathers. I’m starting to grow closer in relationship with someone who isn’t my wife, should I just say that I’m no longer interested in being married and move on? I’m feeling alone and I’m convinced I’m broken, what do I do? We turn to the Word of God for the answers, for how we are to live and who we are to live for. We turn to the Word of God and the more we do, the more it moves in our lives and the more the lies and false teachings move out.
Notice we are to let the Word dwell in us richly and we are to teach and admonish others. The Word of God is what equips us to do this. The more it is rooted in our lives the more difficult it is for foolishness to invade. When you are struggling with self-esteem. When you are struggling with body-image. When you are struggling with who you are. When you are struggling with pain, with sorrow, with depression, with anger, with addiction, with sin, with loneliness, with family issues, with anything under the sun: turn to God and find comfort in His Word. It will be your guide.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
God’s Word will lead you where you need to be. Not only to deeper understanding, but also to the right actions. It’s not just about finding quick solutions. If you are depressed go to therapy. I agree with this statement, but the kind of therapy you need and the kind of values you seek in a counselor are described in Scripture. Even the advice that is given to you can be weighed against Scripture. The more that this Word takes root in your heart, the more wisdom you will have in your toolbelt to know not only what words to trust and what to let pass by, but also how to respond to each. You can have a loving friend give you awful advice and you can have a hateful enemy give you the odd nugget of wisdom. God’s Word not only will help you decipher them, but know when to be bold and when to be humble.
d) Make room for Christ.
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.
This is the goal. This is why we put to death our old selves and make room for the new self, because our greatest hope is Christ. I look within no longer to find myself, but to find Christ alive in me. Because if he lives in me, I am alive.
And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
Jesus is not among the dead. If he is in you, then you are alive. Let’s pray.