Colossians 3:5-11 - Put Them All Aside
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[ILLUS] The American cockroach is not only disgusting, it’s also hard to kill.
It has a highly resilient immune system and the ability to detoxify harmful substances.
Its genetic makeup includes extra genes that enable it to produce its own antibiotics and even regenerate lost limbs.
Its rapid reproductive cycle and ability to eat a wide range of organic materials make them formidable pests.
All of this, plus its speed and ability to fly, make the American cockroach not only creepy but also hard to kill.
But some people don’t want to kill cockroaches; they want to keep them as pets.
Believe it or not, people even write books on keeping cockroaches as pets.
One man named Steve even has a website devoted to keeping various species of cockroaches as pets.
He says he finds them all fascinating due to their unique behaviors and natural beauty, but Steve especially enjoys keeping the Madagascar hissing cockroach as a pet because it is easy to care for and has a gentle nature.
I would ask, “If it has such a gentle nature, then why is it hissing?”
Perhaps you think like I do.
Perhaps you think its gross to keep cockroaches as pets.
Perhaps you think cockroaches need to be killed even if they are hard to kill.
If you think this way, you’re right; its crazy that anyone would keep disgusting cockroaches as pets.
But there is something more truly disgusting, more truly unclean than keeping cockroaches as pets.
Its a pest that’s even harder to kill; a pest even more resilient, even more adaptable, even more formidable, even more gross.
And that pest is sin.
As gross as they are, at least cockroaches serve a purpose.
The only purpose sin serves is destruction.
In Colossians 3:5-11, the Word of God says that we are to put sins of the flesh to death rather than, in a manner of speaking, keeping them as gross little pets.
Sin may be hard to kill, but we must exterminate it from our lives and from the life of the church.
[READING - Colossians 3:5-11]
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true 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.
[PRAYER]
[CIT] Paul called the Colossian Christians to put to death sins of the flesh so there could be peace and joy in their individual Christian lives and in the life of the church.
Sin never leads to joy.
It may lead to short-term pleasure, but never lasting joy.
Sin never leads to peace.
It doesn’t bring us together.
It always separates.
It separates us from God and it separates us from others.
[PROP] This is why we must take Paul’s charge to kill sin as a charge personally addressed to us.
Unless we put to death sins of the flesh, our lives will be robbed of joy and peace, and the life of our church will be robbed of joy and peace as well.
[TS] I want you to see three ROOT SINS that Paul call the Colossians to put aside… three ROOT SINS that we must also put aside…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
ROOT SIN #1: Put aside idolatry (Col 3:5-7)
ROOT SIN #1: Put aside idolatry (Col 3:5-7)
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
[EXP] Col. 3:5 says, “Therefore...” That word is a call to remember what Paul has said before. He has said that because of our spiritual union with Christ, when Christ died for our sin, we died to sin. When He was raised to new life, we were raised to new life. When He was exalted to the Father’s right hand, we we were exalted to the Father’s right hand. Therefore, we set our minds on things above, not on things that are on earth.
But although Paul began with this practical part of his letter with the command to set the mind on Christ, he goes on in Colossians 3:5-11 to say that we must also consider the members of our earthly bodies as dead to sin.
As we trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, our spiritual life is hidden with Christ in God, but while we wait for His glorious second coming, we live here on earth where we are tempted in the flesh.
As we are tempted in the flesh, we resist temptation by setting our minds on things above and by considering the members of our earthly bodies as dead to sin.
That’s how the NASB puts it in Colossians 3:5, “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to (sin).”
The CSB says, “Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature...”
The NLT says, “So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you.”
And the first sinful, earthly lurking thing Paul mentions is idolatry.
Now, you might be thinking, “Wait. The first thing he mentions in v. 5 is sexual immorality or fornication. Then he mentions impurity, then passion or evil desire, then greed or covetousness, and then, last of all, idolatry. So, how is idolatry the first sin that Paul says we must put to death?”
Because idolatry is the poisonous root that produces all the other poisonous fruit listed in v. 5.
[ILLUS] Have you ever heard of the manchineel tree?
The manchineel tree is sometimes call the “beach apple,” which sounds cute, but its also known as the “tree of death.” It is one of the most poisonous trees in the world. Every part of this tree—from root to fruit—is highly toxic.
Its small, green fruit can cause severe burning, swelling of the throat, intense digestive issues, and even death if ingested.
The tree’s sap is caustic and can cause severe skin blistering and eye inflammation upon contact.
Even standing under the tree during rain can be dangerous, as the sap can wash off the leaves and cause burns.
Also, burning the wood releases toxic fumes that can cause temporary blindness and respiratory issues.
In Caribbean folklore, the manchineel tree is believed to be cursed, with evil spirits said to dwell among its branches.
Historical reports say that Christopher Columbus and his crew learned about the tree’s dangerous nature the hard way.
After experiencing its toxic effects, they reportedly called its fruit “the little apple of death.”
There are even tales of pirates using the manchineel tree as a form of torture or execution.
They would reportedly tie captives to the tree, knowing that the toxic sap and fruit would cause severe pain and potentially death.
Every part of the manchineel tree is toxic, but if you wanted to get rid of it for sure, you’d have to sever its deep roots.
The root that produces all the poisonous fruit in Col. 3:5 is idolatry, and unless that root is severed the individual Christian and the church at large will continue to see the deadly fruit of idolatry, which is immorality.
[APP] In Colossians 2:23, Paul mentioned “fleshly indulgence.” He warned that self-made religion, false humility, and harsh bodily discipline are of no value against fleshly indulgence (i.e., the sinful desires of the body).
In the body, we have God-given desires that are meant to be satisfied in God-ordained ways, but our God-given desires have been corrupted by our sinful nature, which means we seek to satisfy our desires in sinful ways.
This is what we all were doing before we experienced God’s grace in Jesus Christ; but through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we were saved from the wrath of God and given new hearts—not idolatrous hearts that produce the poison fruit of immorality—but new hearts that yearn to honor God with our bodies.
If our hearts have been made new through faith in Christ, our idolatrous hearts have been made new, and we are empowered to put aside the idolatrous ways of our past—the way of covetousness, passionate evil desire, impurity, and immorality.
This is what Word of God says we must do.
We must put aside the root sin of idolatry.
[TS]…
ROOT SIN #2: Put aside anger (Col. 3:8)
ROOT SIN #2: Put aside anger (Col. 3:8)
8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
[EXP] In Colossians 3:5 Paul began with the sinful fruit and traced it back to its evil root.
Here in v. 8, he begins with the sinful root and follows it forward to its wicked fruit.
Anger is a deep, burning bitterness of the heart.
It refers to the bitter inner disposition of an angry person.
If you’ve even seen coals smoldering in a fireplace or campfire, that’s a picture of the inner life of an angry person whose always ready to catch fire once again.
Wrath is the angry person catching fire with sudden outbursts of sinful anger.
Think of King Saul seething with inner anger toward David and then suddenly hurling a spear at him in hopes of killing him.
That’s wrath.
It’s also malice, which is the “desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another (person).”
But in the Colossian church, the attempts at fulfilling malicious desires were perhaps made with slander and abusive speech.
In the KJV and NKJV, slander is called blasphemy, but it is not blasphemy against Christ that Paul has in mind but blasphemy against those who belong to the bride of Christ.
[ILLUS] Back in the 1990s two psychologists wanted to uncover why so many marriages ended in divorce.
They followed a group of newlyweds over a ten year period and made a startling discovery.
Among couples who ultimately stayed together, 5 out of every 100 comments made about one another were put-downs.
Among couples who would later split up, 10 of every 100 comments were put-downs.
That means that couples that split-up were dealing out twice as many put-downs as couples that stayed together.
One of the researchers, Cliff Notarius, said, “Hostile put-downs act as cancerous cells that, if unchecked, erode the relationship over time. In the end, relentless unremitting negativity takes control and the couple can’t get through a week without major blowups.”
[APP] In this case, what’s true in a marriage is true in the church.
If we allow anger to give birth to outbursts of malicious slander and abusive speech, then it won’t be long until we split up.
Paul knew this was the case in Colossae.
The false teachers who thought they had greater spiritual insight than everyone else certainly put down those who resisted their influence.
But at the same time, there may have been the angry temptation among the Colossian believers to put down the false teachers.
All this was to be put aside.
And it all came from anger, but here’s the question, “If God has made our hearts happy in Christ Jesus, and if we—as Jesus said—speak out of the overflow of our hearts, why would our words ever be angry? Why would they ever slander or abuse?
They wouldn’t.
Anger that gives birth to abusive speech is who we were before trusting in Jesus.
Now that we follow Him, anger must be laid aside.
In the words of Ephesians 4:29, we now “let no unwholesome word proceed from (our mouths), but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”
This is what Word of God says we must do.
We must put aside the root sin of anger.
[TS]…
ROOT SIN #3: Put aside pride (Col. 3:9-11)
ROOT SIN #3: Put aside pride (Col. 3:9-11)
9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true 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.
[EXP] It is pride that causes us to lie to one another, and it is pride that causes us to look down on one another.
Why did Paul tell the Colossians not to lie to one another?
It could’ve been just a good and right practice to tell one another truth, so Paul said without any particular reason, “Don’t lie to one another.”
It could’ve been that the Colossians were notorious liars and that Paul calling them away from that notorious past.
But I think Paul told the Colossians not to lie to one another because of the false teaching in Colossae.
The false teachers in Colossae claimed to have heightened spiritual experiences and stricter spiritual disciplines than anyone else; the false teachers claimed that these things exalted them over others.
This was a lie, and others may have been tempted to lie along with the false teachers so they could also appear to be in the club of the “exalted ones.”
The Gospel is contrary to this.
The Gospel forces us all to humbly admit that we are sinners; it forces us to admit that we struggle with sin, that we have problems; if forces us to admit that we don’t have it all figured out; we don’t have it all together.
We are sinners in need of Jesus to save us from God’s wrath and sanctify us from sinfulness.
This was true not only when first believed, but even now as we continue to believe.
Even as we try to put on the new man or new woman that we are in Christ Jesus, we still don’t have it all figured out.
There’s no use in lying to one another.
There’s no use in trying to keep up appearances.
There’s no use in exalting yourself or looking down on someone else or being worried about someone looking down on you.
The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
There is no difference between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, because “Christ is all that matters, and He lives in all of us” (Col. 3:11, NLT), and we’re all just trying to become a little more like Him.
We understand the obvious danger of idolatry and the explosive danger of anger, but pride is a fault line that has split more churches than anything else.
And it can happen quickly.
[ILLUS] In Africa, the continent is apparently splitting.
The Somalian tectonic plate and the larger Nubian tectonic plate are separating, which will eventually split the African continent in two.
One scenario has most of the Somalian plate separating from the rest of the African continent, with a sea forming between them.
This new landmass would include Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and the eastern parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
But this process will take tens of millions of years to complete.
Currently, the plates are diverging at an average rate of 0.2 inches per year.
[APP] Pride doesn’t work that slowly, but it does work even more surely.
The tectonic plates in Africa could stop moving and the continent wouldn’t split and no new sea would be formed.
But pride will keep splitting the people of God so long as it is not put aside.
This is what Word of God says we must do.
We must put aside the root sin of pride.
[TS]...
Conclusion
Conclusion
Unless we put to death sins of the flesh—root sins like idolatry, anger, and pride and all the poison fruit born from them—, our lives will be robbed of joy and peace, and the life of our church will be robbed of joy and peace as well.
Brothers and sisters, let’s put all these things aside as we try to become more like Christ.
[PRAYER]