Colossians 3:12-17 - At the center of our identity pt. 2

Who are you?

I loved being in the theater in High school.

Every year, we did a musical and I was able to play a role in the show.

I loved being able to switch into a new character.

In high school, you’re going through that stage where you’re trying to figure out who you are and who you want to be.

In those shows, I felt like I actually became those characters.

I was putting on a different identity.

Our world has major identity issues today.

We’ve lost our identity by trying to find our identity.

We try to find it in

Sexual orientation

Success and status

Depression and addiction

We let these things define who we are as people because we have a deep need to have a sense of identity.

Christians are people of identity.

The Bible speaks heavily about a believer’s identity in Christ.

Big Idea: Jesus is at the center of our Identity

Stand to read

Colossians 3:12–14 ESV

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.

Leader: This is God’s Word.

Everyone: Thanks be to God.

Context

Paul is giving a metaphor of a wardrobe.

He tells us to take off the old self with our old lives.

The lives that were stained with sin and death.

We are to change our clothes and put on the new self

The identity that is given to us by Jesus when we put our trust in Him as Lord.

We are to put on new character traits that are consistent with the faith we claim to have in Christ.

Paul focuses on their status as united to Christ.

This isn’t a moral “self-help” drive.

He wants the life of Christ to be seen in the Colossians’ lives.

He wants them to live consistently with the spiritual realities that are already true.

Explanation

He begins with addressing their new identity

“God’s chosen, holy, and beloved.”

These are identity characteristics

This is who they are now!

Those who trust in Jesus are God’s chosen people who are made holy and beloved through what Jesus did on the cross!

You have been forgiven, you have saved!

Now live like you’ve been changed.

Bluey season 3 episode 31—Onesies

Bluey and Bingos aunt Brandy brings them a gift during a visit.

She brings bluey a zebra onsie/Bingo a cheetah onesie.

What she doesn’t realize is that when Bingo puts on a costume, she becomes that character.

Bingo’s running around like a cheetah tackling people, it’s fantastic.

Bingo put on the onesie and became something else.

Being chosen and made holy by the eternal God of the universe in His infinite love and mercy would change everything about you.

When you are changed by the gospel, your community will begin to change.

Church,

We seek to be like Christ

If you want to live in the new identity, you begin to look like Jesus.

These types of attitudes foster a Jesus-centered community among believers.

He’s calling us to demonstrate the love of Christ toward one another as the Lord has shown us.

This type of love requires patience, kindness, and humility.

Jesus had to bear with you.

Verse 13 expresses that this is indeed talking to church people.

There are people who have walked away from Jesus because of church people.

They bumped into religious people and because of that they are missing Jesus.

If that’s you and you’ve come here today, I want to plead with you don’t miss Jesus because you had a negative experience with religious people.

Jesus had a negative experience with religious people.

If your Christianity doesn’t make you look like Jesus, you’re doing it wrong.

Christ’s Church is to put on love above all things.

This is the most important.

Christ’s love enables us to walk in forgiveness with people that have hurt us.

Christ’s love allows us to be bear with other people who don’t know how to be loved.

Christ love binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Our identity both as individual believers and as a church is Jesus.

Notice how all these characteristics are characteristics of Jesus.

When we put on Christ, this is how that is fleshed out.

But because you are in Christ, this inevitably flows out of you.

Because your identity is in Christ, this happens to you.

You become these things everyday that you put on Christ.

We put on Christ and live in a new identity marked by Christlikeness.

Transition

Paul doesn’t simply tell them what to do, He tells them how its done.

How do we be like Christ?

Colossians 3:15–17 ESV

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.

Explanation

The peace of Christ

This type of peace is different than any other kind.

Hours before Jesus died, He told His disciples, John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

This is huge.

Not a peace that we find when everything is right with the world.

He gives us a special peace that is His personal peace.

This isn’t peace we experience when there’s no conflict in our lives.

It’s a sense of wholeness and well-being. Completeness and totality.

More than that, this peace is Jesus’s own personal presence.

This peace is to rule our lives.

This is where Christ is King over every element of our lives.

The peace of Christ rules in our hearts when the Word of Christ dwells in our hearts richly (v. 16)

The Word of Christ

Reading the Bible is a great place to start.

Reading it does not guarantee that it will dwell with us “richly.”

The Word must be read, meditated on, and we yield our lives to it.

This is more than just a disciplined study

This is a matter of the heart.

It is Spirit-filled participation in with Christ in His Word!

Does the Word of God prompt you to change?

It is the presence of Christ and the Word of Christ that build up the church to engage in a kingdom life together.

I remember when I first felt the peace of Christ rule in my heart and transform me.

I grew up with a very legalistic understanding of God.

Rigid religion that says “Do this/don’t do this”

I knew my sins were separating me from God.

I elevated my own pursuit for self-gratification above God’s glory, yet I would’ve told you I was a Christian.

I was a full-blown liar.

I knew I couldn’t please Jesus by rule-following.

One night, I decided I had enough. I didn’t like Jesus/He didn’t like me.

During a suicide attempt, the Holy Spirit reminded me of God’s Word.

Matthew 9:9 “Follow me.”

I fell asleep and woke up with a peace that I did not understand.

All I knew is that I had experienced the love of God in a transforming way.

He called me to Himself! He called me to follow Him!

The Word of Christ brought the peace of Christ which gave me a new identity in Christ!

In that moment, I was God’s chosen, made holy and beloved by the blood of Jesus!

That can be your story!

“You clearly don’t know me. I’m not holy.”

You’re right. You’re not.

At one time you were dead in your sins and ungodly.

Some still are.

Everything you did was contrary to God just like me.

Gospel presentation

But God was patient and merciful

His heart was for us, even when we were sinful enemies!

God sent His Son Jesus

Jesus was perfection personified.

The embodiment of peace.

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 you 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.

You are made new by the sacrifice of God!

Jesus died to present you holy and beloved to God!

God chose you as a son or daughter through the blood of His Son, Jesus.

If you’re not a Christian, you can begin living a new identity in Christ today.

Repent of your sin and believe the gospel.

You can be given a new identity and live in the presence of Jesus.

As Christians, our lives must say that Jesus is the center of our identity.

Look at how Paul ties up this section of the letter.

Colossians 3:17 ESV

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.

When the peace of Christ and the Word of Christ moves our lives, this turns into an overflow of thankfulness to God for what Christ has done in our lives.

This is the foundation of our worship.

Church, if we want to walk in the new identity and be like Jesus

Church,

We put Jesus first

We worship Christ because we have been forgiven by Jesus

We live according to the identity that Jesus died for out of thankfulness!

Christians don’t live in begrudging obedience to Jesus.

We live out of the overflow of our enjoyment of the presence and peace of Christ in our lives!

When we list out our priorities, often Christians say that Jesus is at the top of the list.

Jesus is the paper on which our priorities are written on.

When you put Jesus first, everything is impacted.

Putting Jesus first is a lens through which we see the world.

We look at the world through the gospel and live accordingly.

We can see the brokenness of the world and lean in with the love of Christ.

We can see what Jesus is doing and celebrate!

We can point other people to abundant life in Christ when we put Jesus first.

Take the Next Step

Identify how you are going to put Jesus first.

Identify how you are not like Jesus

Decide what you’re going to do to change that.

How am I going to put Jesus first in my life?

What area of your life needs to be changed in order to put Jesus first.

What is getting in my way of putting Jesus first in my life?

Invite someone to put Jesus first

When the people around you see you living with the peace of Christ through the Word of Christ, you’re going to begin to look like Jesus to them.

They’re going to see a change when you live as if Jesus is the center of your identity.

When the peace of Christ and the Word of Christ dwell in your richly, people are going to be drawn to that.

Resolve today that you are going to live for the gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to bring more people in.

Simply invite someone to come with you next Sunday.

We want to see lives transformed.

How do we do that?

We seek to be like Christ by putting Jesus first.