Colossians 3:5-11 - At the center of our transformation (Identity)

Timothy Treadwell

All American swimmer/diver in high school

Full ride scholar to Bradley University.

Gets into the party scene/Addicted to alcohol and heroine.

A friend of his wants to rescue him, so he invited him home to Alaska for a get away.

Doing Alaska stuff

Backpacking, mountain hiking, all the stuff.

They have a moment where they encounter a grizzly bear, which changed the trajectory of Timothy’s life.

He began to believe that his purpose in life was to protect grizzly bears

When I think of grizzly bears, I don’t think they need much protecting.

He finds something intoxicating about these bears.

He starts taking these expeditions to befriend and take care of these bears.

I finds this group of grizzlies that he “befriends”

He sets up camp among them, and tries to bring them in to feed and pet them.

All of this started as a life changing experience with a grizzly bear.

There’s a whole documentary about this.

Don’t watch it now, I’m preaching.

Christians are people who have had a life-changing encounter with the sovereign God of the universe.

When people encounter the risen Jesus, nothing can be the same.

This stays with us forever and it changes everything.

You don’t have an encounter with a grizzly bear and “Meh”

You can’t encounter the eternal God and remain indifferent.

You inevitably change.

Big Idea: Jesus is at the center of our transformation

Stand to read

Colossians 3:5–9 ESV

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

Leader: This is God’s Word.

Everyone: Thanks be to God.

Context

Everyone encouraged, so far? Good!

What’s going on here?

Paul is following the explanation that when Jesus died on the cross, we died too.

The sin that use to haunt us and keep us from God has now been killed on the cross.

The identity of brokenness when you were an enemy of God.

He explained that if you were raised with Christ when God raised Him three days later.

Those who trust in Jesus, belong in Christ.

The Holy Spirit gives us a new identity and a new nature.

We are alive in Christ.

Every time Paul writes something theologically rich, he follows it up with a call to live it out.

Theology that does not change you is dead.

Any belief you have that does not change the way you live is simply a philosophy that holds no power.

Chapter three is the hinge of the book of Colossians

1-2 is deep gospel theology

3-4 is what we do in light of the gospel.

Exposition

Since Jesus was crucified and died for your sins, and God raised Him from the dead so that we can be changed from death to life, how should we live?

Paul points out the things in us that need to die.

Since we have new life in Christ, there are things in our lives that need to die.

Colossians 3:5 ESV

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Paul uses strong, take no prisoners language.

There are things that have absolutely no place in the life of a Christian.

Not because that’s how we gain access to heaven.

Because it sucks the life out of us.

Because we have been changed by Christ to live as citizens of heaven.

If we had to pick what might be the biggest vices of the world, we may say hatred, power abuse, and murder.

Paul doesn’t. He immediately picks up on sex!

Sexual immorality, impurity (v. 5)

Here we go again. Christians telling us what we can/can’t do in the bedroom.

What Paul is doing is showing us that this is connected to a severe heart problem.

Paul goes for the jugular on things that have this seemingly irresistible force that traps us.

Sexual immorality is an open-ended term and covers all sexual activity outside of marriage.

Sex is not a bad thing, unless it is used outside the covenant of marriage.

Why does he start there?

Because sexual immorality does more to break down a soul than what we think.

Pornography gives this fantasy that glamorizes sex outside the covenant of marriage and paints a picture that the grass is always greener.

It produces ungodly expectations and leaves us unsatisfied.

It starts small.

I’m just going to go over to instagram and see what’s out there.

Sexual immorality starts when we begin looking at people as objects for our satisfaction and not image bearers of God.

Then it begins to grow into your plans.

See a girl that’s not your wife at the gym and you start working out at a different time so that you can set up an encounter with her.

See a guy that does lunch at a different time than you do so you pivot your schedule to be able to eat with him.

There was a guy who wasn’t a believer, married 19 years, had the picture-perfect life who started coming to Graceland because he worked with a girl who was coming here.

Nothing ever happened, but he was intentionally putting himself in places to encounter her.

I’m not saying it’s sinful, I’m saying it’s stupid.

What it does is take one more step toward “too far.”

King Solomon was sitting on his porch one night and he watched what he said was “A young man lacking sense.”

Proverbs 7:8–9 “8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house 9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.”

It will lead to places you do not want to go.

Even if we don’t act on them, it represents the truth of our imaginations and evil desires at their worst.

It’s on these things the wrath of God is coming (v. 6)

Paul continues with a list of verbal sins

Colossians 3:8 (ESV)

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another…

As I mentioned, these types of things start small and then grow to combustion.

The anger here is described as a growing, inner anger.

Wrath/rage, is that anger boiling over.

Malice speaks to the viciousness of mind.

This is the attitude that plans evil and celebrates when bade things happen to someone they don’t like.

Malice turns into slander, which is gossiping and tearing down someone elses character.

If that’s unchecked, it turns into “obscene talk,” which is foul, abusive language.

If these things aren’t put to death, then the tongue is nothing but a shovel for sewage.

Paul calls us to deal with these things in a violent way.

We must put them to death in us.

Church,

We don’t let sin live.

Here at Graceland we want to be a safe place for sinners, but not a safe place for sin.

Paul calls us to get violent with our sin.

This is an epidemic with many Christians because we think we can handle our sin alone.

If no one finds out, no one gets hurt.

If anyone knew this, it’d change the way they felt about me.

I can handle this on my own.

Instead of killing the sin, we tuck it away in the drawer just incase we need it later.

Paul doesn’t say just hide it, he says to kill it.

As a Christian, you cannot experience the abundant life Jesus has and continue to live with these things.

Timothy Treadwell had convinced himself that he could cohabitate with bears because they had accepted him.

He had brought his girlfriend, Amy up to meet them.

During the trip he felt that something was off, so they were going to go home. But their flight was delayed.

They returned to their camp to find a hungry she-bear.

Timothy Treadwell lost respect for the power of a grizzly bear because he believed it to be his friend.

If we try to pretend that we can hide and keep our sin tame, it will ultimately overtake us and kill us.

We must put these things to death so that we can experience the joy of the presence of God in our lives.

Notice that Paul doesn’t say “or else.”

It is not a “Do this/don’t do this” so that you’ll be accepted.

That’s fear based religion.

This is not a ploy to stir up anxiety about what God might do to us if we fail.

Paul’s argument is based Colossians 3:3 “3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

This is “You belong to God because you are united with Christ.”

We don’t let sin live because that’s not who Jesus saved us to be.

Jesus died so that we can have a new self

Paul points us to “take off the old self”

The old you that existed for your own sinful pleasures

The old you that was dead in sin and separated from God.

There’s a new you that lives in Christ!

Jesus died to give you a new identity!

Colossians 3:9–11 (ESV)

9 ……….. 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.

This is a work of God! God is at work in you!

Gospel presentation

God is not waiting for you to get your act together to save you.

This is why He sent His Son!

This is the good news. When you hear the word “gospel,” this is what we mean.

God sent His Son Jesus to die for your sins while you were still a sinner.

Jesus lived perfectly according to God’s will for you.

He willingly went to the cross for your sin and shame

On the cross, God poured out all His hatred toward sin that was supposed to be for onto Jesus.

Jesus absorbed the full-wrath of God on your behalf instead of you.

Then, to show His awesome power over sin and death, Jesus rose again from the dead to give us eternal life in Him!

Now, when we put our trust in Jesus, not only are we saved from our sin, but we are given a new identity and a promise of eternal life

If you’re not a Christian, this good news is for you.

You can be transformed by Jesus today!

Fully forgiven and adopted into the family of God.

Now, the gospel isn’t only for lost people.

Colossians 3:11 ESV

11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Paul is writing to a church of Christians, reminding them of the gospel.

We never outgrow the gospel.

You never “make it.”

The gospel is what sustains us as Christians.

The gospel is what helps us put sin to death.

The gospel continues to hold us in Christ and will not let us go!

If you are in Christ, it is His good news that holds you there!

Regardless if you’re a Christian or not, the gospel is for you.

We can take off the old self with it’s past shame and guilt

We can put on the new self that is reflecting the image of Jesus.

Church,

We are being renewed

Progressive; not perfect

You’re not saved and finished.

You were saved from something, to something.

You are being saved. You are being renewed.

This involves a cutting away of the old life so that you can delight in the new life.

During our stay at Good Sam Hospital, the NICU windows overlooked an old parking garage that was going to be torn down to rebuild a new lobby.

I got to watch as this claw broke up parts of a 6 story parking garage.

It took small bites, but I wanted to see a huge chunk.

As I stood there, I realized that’s whats happening with us throughout the Christian life.

The old, unneeded, dead parts of us are being chipped away in small chunks.

Sometimes there’s a big break.

But there’s definitely a mess that’s going to need to be picked up at the end.

The Holy Spirit is chipping away small, dead parts of us, so there can be life.

Every single one of us has something we need to put to death, so that we can have joyful life in Christ.

Everyone one of us has something to put off.

Take the Next Step

Identify what you need to put off.

What has to die so that you can live abundantly in Christ?

Invite someone to be transformed with you.