A New Suit of Clothes (Part 2)

Opening:

Isaiah 57:15 “15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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 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.

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. 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.

If you recall, last Sunday we looked at the first 4 verses of Colossians 3, considering first of all if we have been “raised with Christ”

That is, if we have received a new life

And if that is the case, then there are some things that need to happen

Seek the things that are above

Set our minds on things that are above

Put to death some things

Put on some new things

Now, The ultimate goal is to work toward and understand the things that we are to put on

But before we get there, we have we have to work through some things that aren’t very pleasant

We have to work through things that unfortunately seem all too natural for us; the things of our sinful nature

But, as we do this, I think we have to be aware of a couple of pitfalls.

We need to guard against the tendency cover up the old stuff instead of actually getting rid of it. This can be something that we really try to do

See, getting rid of these things that we are looking at today is hard work

And so, what we try to do is just try to look better, and act better.

And that’s the way modern psychology kind of looks at things. “just be a better person”

Problem is, that doesn’t work, does it.

Imagine that you are a hog farmer, and you go out on Sunday morning and you do your chores, and you are in with the pigs, and you rub up against them, and you get manure on your overalls

And you come back inside, and you are running late, and so you decide, “Hey, rather than taking off these old chore clothes, I’m just going to put on some nice clothes over top of them and go to church”

Well, you might look a little better. You might look odd, but it might be an improvement

The problem is, you still stink, right?

You are trying to be a better person without taking off the dirty and smelly part of you

But this is what a lot of people do

They say, “I like the ‘putting on’ part, but that ‘putting off’ part is hard work, so I don’t want to focus on that too much

The other pitfall is that sometimes we tend to wallow in the putting off part

But too many times we tend to focus on the things that we are to put off.

Our Christian lives become a list of things that we aren’t supposed to do.

And for some reason we have this tendency, to focus on the things that ARENT good, or that we ARENT supposed to do, and hopefully that will result in the things that ARE good, or the things that we ARE supposed to do.

When I was a kid, we had this record that I listened to Bill Gaither with the Sunday School Picnic

And I loved the songs on this record, listened to it over and over again—some great songs

But there was one song that, now that I’m older, I sort of question the theology of the song a bit

It was called “Won’t Be’s in Heaven”

The whole song was about making a list of the things that won’t be in Heaven

As a kid, I didn’t think much about it

But now that I’m older, I think, “How interesting”

We are making a list of the things that we DONT like that WONT be in Heaven

I get the idea behind the song

We deal with things in this life that make us long for a place of rest and perfection. A place where the things that we don’t like won’t be

But I had to stop and think about what this song did to the mind of a little kid

And I sort of think that it made me think of the Christian life and about Heaven as escaping from from the things that I don’t like

Which, again has some truth in it.

But it sort of gives us a window into how we think and how we so often try to live our Christian lives by the things that we AREN’T supposed to do rather than the things that we should do

But I think that Jesus would rather have us tweak our thinking and our forward view just a bit

And we focus through the things that we aren’t supposed to do toward the things that we should do

And as we look at this passage today

There is a list of things that we definitely want to put off.

And we want to know about those things

We want the Holy Spirit to reveal to us if these kind of things are in our hearts and lives

And we want the Holy Spirit to cleanse us of these things

But we don’t want to dwell there of just trying to constantly put things to death and get rid of things

lets not get bogged down there.

Rather, let’s move through those things toward the things that we are supposed to put on

Let’s press on toward that which is ahead

Put to death vs. 5

Remember, last Sunday we talked about this term nekroo as being a pretty rare word in the Bible

The only other two times it is used is in Romans and in Hebrew

Both times talking about Abraham being old and full of years and it was time for him to die

His life was over

And so he died a natural death

And this maybe has the same sense. Now that you are risen with Christ, verses 1-4, and have a new life, these old things in your life have reached their shelf life limit

And it’s time for them to die a natural death. You are supposed to allow these things to fall away, just like someone who is full of years might breathe their last

Here’s what we must allow to die inside of us:

Paul begins his list in verse 5 by giving us 5 things which are all part of the same category. That is lust and sexual immorality

sexual immorality

impurity

passion

evil desire (evil concupiscence)

covetousness

Now, I’m not going to spend time picking apart all these terms, because they all are very closely related

All of these things that Paul lists here are talking about the same thing: Desiring what is not ours to have

desiring gratification in a way that is outside of the will of God

And there are many things that in our flesh we desire. Our flesh demands to be gratified

But Paul is talking primarily about sexual immorality

It was without question a huge issue in the ancient Roman world,

But not just the Roman world.

Almost without fail, when a person or a society is straying away from God, sexual immorality shows up

There’s that somewhat mysterious passage in Genesis 6 that talks about the sons of God being attracted to the daughters of man and having relations with them

Ancient pagan societies were full of prostitution and other such practices

I think that you would be hard pressed to find a person or society who has turned their back on God, and this isn’t at least a part of the picture

and without a doubt this is something that we in our society deal with in a huge way

It’s nearly impossible to watch a show on TV or a movie or drive down the road or get on the internet without being hit in the face with it in some shape or form

Our society is addicted to sex

And unfortunately there in some cases things aren’t much better in the church

I know it’s uncomfortable for us to talk about, but it is a real issue for us as people

It’s a battle that we fight. Sometimes we fight it well, and sometimes not so well

But the point is, Paul says, if you have been risen with Christ, then these things need to die, fall away from you

All of these things that are listed here, are, as he says, covetousness

it is the desire to have what is not ours to have

it is greed

it is forbidden desire

Life with Christ and the desire to have what is not ours to have do not go hand in hand

Remember, that was a big piece of Adam and Eve’s sin.

When Eve saw that the fruit was

Good for food

It was pleasing to the eyes

And that it could make her wise

In 1 John 2, when it talks about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, this is what he was talking about

She coveted it. She wanted what was not hers to have, just as we so often do

And it’s this lust that drives so many people..wanting what should be off limits for them

It’s because of people living like this, Paul says, that the wrath of God is coming

The other week in Sunday School, the subject of God’s wrath came up

And we were speculating that perhaps the wildfires out in Los Angeles were the result of God’s wrath on particularly the entertainment industry

I don’t know. I really can’t stand up here and say that it was or it wasn’t

But, maybe that’s not for us to worry about

Maybe it’s more important for us to consider our own lives and think about, are these things a part of my life?

you know it’s easy for us to blame our society, internet content creators, advertisers, the entertainment industy, and so forth

And we say, “I can’t help it. Our society is so sinful and has decayed so much.”

Do I need to put them off? If I’m not willing to let these things die, then it would stand to reason that I am in danger of the wrath of God

The reason that this is so important, says Paul, covetousness and evil desire is, in fact, idolatry

We become so addicted to this stuff, so fixated on it, that it consumes us. We worship it

And that is idolatry

And do we need to be reminded of what God thinks about idolatry?

You used to live this way, Paul says, but that should not be your story anymore

Also, put to death the old ways that we talk and act with each other

The previous things we are told to “put to death”

These things we are told to “put away”

Another interpretation of this is: Lay aside! Take off!

Put away things like

anger—this word is the same word that is used for God’s wrath or judgement of sin

So, the implication here is that wrath, or divine judgement is God’s business, not ours

Do not get angry and pass judgement on each other like we are prone to do

wrath—again, another word for anger

Deals more with the emotion of anger

It is an emotion that is part of how God created us, but don’t let it rule you

Remember, deal with it “before the sun goes down”. Deal with it before it becomes part of your life

malice—that is, the desire to harm someone

The feeling that says, “Man, I wish that guy would get what he deserves”

Slander—the same Greek word that from where we get the word “blasphemy”

It is the intentional defamation of someone

This is something that I think we have to be so careful about

it’s so easy to talk about people in ways that don’t build them up.

We focus on the dumb things that people do, or the outrageous things that people do

because those are the things that make better stories

Instead of focusing on the good about that person

But, Paul says, that is something that needs to die, fall away from us

obscene talk—that is, filthy language, fowl talk, telling crude jokes

lying—again, this is something that we also probably do too much of

intentionally or unintentionally deceiving each other

One of the things that should be common, normal in the Body of Christ, I believe is the the ability to talk honestly with each other about the things in our lives

If I hurt you, you should be able to tell me

If you hurt me, I should be able to tell you

Or, if you hurt me, I should be able to believe the best about you

Instead, so much of the time, we live in fear of each other. Some of you are nervous of me because I’m the preacher

I’m nervous of you because I don’t really know what you think about me

Can we just be honest with each other and live truthfully with each other? It seems like we could do a better job of this in the Body of Christ

Because this thing of fear and deception and hiding from each other is something that needs to fall away from us.

It doesn’t belong to those who have been risen with Christ! can we agree on that?

All of these things need to die, to get put away.

The reason for this is that you have put off your old self and have put on a new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator

This is key for us to emphasize: our new selves that we put on are being renewed. IT is a process!

it’s a process of being made holy

In your old self, you don’t have hope of becoming a better person

But that’s not what it’s about anyway. It’s about being made into the likeness of your Creator

Do you want to look more like your Creator? I trust that you do.

Because this is a place where our differences and our arguments and our fear of each other fall away

And that goes for anyone, no matter who you are. You could be a Gentile, you could be a Jew, you could be circumcised, uncircumcised, a barbarian (an uncivilized person), a Scythian (they were a nomadic people who were considered to be utterly pagan), you could be a slave or a free person

Doesn’t matter. All of us have the same need. All of us are the same before God

We all, especially those of us who have been raised with Christ, we all need to be in the process of putting off the old and putting on the new

You know, the things that we’ve talked about this morning are hard things

Many of us find ourselves battling these things

And I don’t stand before you this morning as an expert

But as one who needs this message as much, if not more, than any of you

How do you put these things to death

How do you take these things off

When they pull at you so hard, and always seem to be hanging around?

Back in the 80s and early 90s there was an ad campaign

“Just say no to drugs”

There were some problems with that

But this morning as Believers, I wonder if there isn’t some truth in that for us

Certainly the Scriptures give us this message in a number of occasions

Jesus:

Does your eye offend you? Pluck it out

Does your hand offend you? Cut it off

Colossians:

Put these to death

Take them off

Titus

English Standard Version Chapter 2

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age

And I don’t think that we are being taught to make ourselves righteous

But certainly we have a role to play

And we have been given some pretty formidable weapons to wage this battle

The Holy Spirit

It is the Holy Spirit that transforms us

But I do believe that the Holy Spirit wants our cooperation in this

He will not transform a heart that is not desiring to be transformed

Scripture

We don’t suffer from a lack of knowledge

But Scripture reminds us of who Jesus is and what He desires from us

A community

of people who understand

Because we all deal with the same struggles to one degree or another

We are not meant to live in isolation

But that is where Satan wants us because that is where these things fester

So, what does the Holy Spirit want you to take off this morning

You need to get serious and put these things to death.

And we might think, “yeah i’ve tried that, but it doesn’t work”

And I get it. The battle is real and brutal. The enemy would have it no other way

But, hey, you’ve been given two very powerful and formidable weapons

The Holy Spirit

But you have been given the resurrection power of God. The same power that raised Christ from the dead

So, I’m here to tell you that it is a battle which can be fought and won

A church community

Sometimes it requires reaching out to someone help you deal with past hurts and deal with the pain that often drives us to live in constant defeat

And we think, “no, I can’t do that. It’s embarrassing!”

yep, it is. I won’t sugar coat it. It is humbling

But how serious are we at putting to death these things?

And that is what we are going to talk about next Sunday

But, folks, I realize that this has been a difficult sermon. It’s been a difficult one to preach because personally, I fall well short of this exhortation

I sometimes look at my life and I wonder, have i managed to put off anything?

Have I managed to put to death anything

Because all of these things, I still deal with it seems to some extent or another