Seeking the Knowledge of Christ

Introduction

Growing up in the faith I started to get frustrated with the continuous sermons and advice from some that would only say, put on the new man, and put off the old man. Or have this mind that is in Christ. Or, we need to just be more Christlike. I would get frustrated because there was no real application given. Hey, just stop doing “X”, and start doing “Y” now that you’re a Christian. I don’t think that is helpful, and I don’t think that we as Grace Baptist are that kind of Church, I don’t think we have those kind of pastors, and I think we strive for biblical clarity and understanding. I think our text tonight is very practical, and I think that if we just look at it at a glance we can miss the forest for the trees. So, I have titled the sermon tonight, Seeking the Knowledge of Christ. Now just to qualify for a moment, while I don’t believe there is knowledge that should puff up and make us feel superior to others, there are deep mysteries in the gospel. And those deep mysteries are for you Christian. They are there for you to mine out, and to study. They are there not just to entice you with mystery so that you make an idol out of uncovering it, but they are there to build you up in the faith. They are there to crush that old man and that old woman and to out them to death. I am giving a little away too early but this is the reality of who we are. We are a people who are saved by grace through faith, and by Christ alone through the word of God and His Holy Spirit, and we are called to pull out the treasures of our savior. Paul here in Colossians wants to remind the people of the great treasure’s and mysteries that belong to Christ. The answer to the Colossians of what pure devotion and true faith looks like isn’t keeping the feasts and festivals. It’s not keeping circumcision. It is Christ alone. So, I am sure you are there already so lets read Colossians 3:1–11

“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”

The prerequisite for seeking

I want to focus on what Paul Gives us here as one of the main points of his instruction. He says, If 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 the things 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. We saw LJ’s baptism here last Sunday, and I always love seeing Baptisms, and you should too. You get to see a symbol of what Paul is talking about here. How the old person the sinful flesh has been vanquished, it is dead as it has gone to the grave As Christ, bearing the sins of the world, went to the grave, and then we are raised to new life by the Life Giving Spirit of God. And that life is hidden with Christ in God. It should make us think of our own baptism and how we too have been raised with Christ! Also, this is blessed assurance beloved. Paul is saying that your new life is entrusted to Christ, and whatever He has He will never lose. LJ has been raised with Christ, and that symbol of Baptism is a symbol of her being raised to new life, and her new life is Christ. He is the one who causes it to happen through His Spirit, and His word, and He makes available all of his precious mysteries through His Spirit and His Word.

How do we set our minds above and how do we seek the things that are with Christ? Well we study what He has said. If we want to grow in our relationship and understanding of God, Who He is, how he has set forth the plan of salvation from the very beginning, How he has accomplished and applied that salvation, how he raised up shadows and types that were meant to point to him, the covenants that were meant to show us how truly other he is from us, how truly greater he is than us. Yet how incredible it is that He humbled Himself to take on human flesh and take on humanity, and do it as a suffering servant, as He bore our sins and took them to the grave. Look, the mysteries are there the knowledge is there. We have excellent Bible translations and we can study all that God has given us for a lifetime. Christian if you struggle with reading your bible read it anyway. Don’t wait until you’ve got the motivation to read it, discipline yourself to read it. Look at the cross references to build context and understanding about what is happening. Pray through the scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand. If there is something that you have a particular interest about then study that! If you want to know more about the parables, or if you want to study biblical or systematic theology, or maybe you want to understand the Pentateuch better because you’re tired of reading Leviticus and feeling like its drudgery read those scriptures, and study them first, then go to what other faithful brothers and sisters have said to help open your perspective.

Killing the old man

Now that we have been raised to new life it doesn’t mean we don’t still struggle with our flesh, and with our sins. We have trained ourselves in our former way of life in sin, and we need to kill that part of us. Paul mentions here killing the old man and putting to death the former earthly ways such as sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness. I will say that one of the best things that I have ever been told and really helped me to understand killing the old man, is that it is painful. Denying your sinful desires, saying no to the former passions that once enslaved you isn’t easy, and it truly does hurt. It hurts your stomach and your heart, but I think this is gracious. God has allowed us to feel the dying of the old man. We can know when we are being effective in putting those old ways of the flesh to death when we literally feel it. However, the temptation is there to succumb to that pain and give in to the desire because once you do the pain is gone but then the shame comes. You just substitute the pain of resisting sin for feeling shame for indulging in the sin that you KNOW isn’t going to satisfy you. That you know is only going to lead to death. James 1:14–15 says “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” You see these sinful desires that are fleshed out bring forth death, and Paul says in the next verse that the wrath of God is coming on account of these sins. He is recapitulating this true narrative that in the end God the just will be satisfied either by the righteousness of Christ being counted to a sinner, or by crushing unrepentant sinners in His wrath. There is no in between here and there is no other option.

Therefore because you have been raised with Christ in victory over sin and death, you must put to death the ways of the world that you once walked in. Of course this isn’s easy. I have already mentioned that it is painful, and it’s not only painful, but it takes a lot of time. Our sanctification takes a lifetime, and there are varying amounts of suffering that come along with it. Sometimes it is less and sometimes its more. Sometimes we are unaware of changes that need to be made until the Spirit of God and the Word makes it clear. My point is that putting this old man to death isn’t going to be instant. God designed it to take a lifetime so that we can learn to trust Him and know that He is everything we need, always. That Christ is all and in all. The threat of punishment of the wrath of God is no longer hanging over the Christian, however we now know the King, and we want to serve the King. We have a duty, that will only be carried out by the grace and help of God, to be faithful to the covenant. To be obedient children to the covenant. We have a duty, but we also have a desire to be faithful to the God of the universe that created us in His Image and likeness. Our obedience isn’t perfect, but it isn’t meant to be perfect. We can strive for the perfection of Christ, but we aren’t saved by keeping the law ourselves. We are saved by Jesus having kept the law. Therefore we learn that God had no obligation to save anyone except for the obligation that He imposed on himself.

Go ahead and look at v. 7 with me. 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.

Paul gives more examples of the former ways of life that we once walked. This really levels the playing field. If one may be able to deny they were given to any of the former sins mentioned, surely now Paul has spoken to everyone’s sin condition and made them acutely aware of their task. I think that in listing all of these and then coming back around and telling the Colossians not to lie to one another is for their benefit. He is encouraging them not to lie to one another at all surely, but there is a temptation when you are dying to your sin and putting to death the old man, to cover up any sins that you may be struggling with. You may be tempted to pretend that you have crushed your desires and have all of this figured out. Brothers and sisters I want to tell you now that there is no larger foothold for Satan to absolutely make a fool of you when you have this attitude. And if you present yourself as someone who has ascended to perfection, we all know you’re lying. You’re lying to us, and you’re lying to yourself, and when you fall, not if, but when you fall you will be even more tempted to cover up your bruises. To hide the scrapes on your knees and put blush on your black eye, and continue to present a rosy picture. But it will eat you alive, and you will keep falling and falling until you can’t hide it anymore.

What I am trying to say is don’t lie to each other. Don’t put on a false front. Confess your sin to one another and be held accountable. Do it, and continue to do it over and over and over again. Keep being vulnerable with each other and it will help you die to that old man. Just like denying that desire is painful this is painful as well, because it makes you confront yourself it makes you think about who you are as a sinner and who you are as someone who is redeemed by Christ. If then you have been raised with Christ.

Renewed by Knowledge

This is where I think Paul’s exhortation really gets fleshed out here. I think there have been some practical application up to this point, but now Paul tells us exactly how we are being renewed and exactly what we are seeking. He says that this new self, that life the is Christ is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. We know that Christ is the archetype. Mankind is made after His image, and He is the imprint of God, we confess that He is Very God of Very God, and we are made through Him and for Him to borrow language from chapter 1. This is even an exposition of what Paul prays in chapter 1 v9, Colossians 1:9–14 “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Also, listen to what Peter says about the knowledge of God, 2 Peter 1:3–4 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

I don’t want you to wonder how we should think about growing in Christ. I don’t want you to go away wondering what things we need to seek, how we need to be renewed, and how we shed off the old dead man in this life. Before I address the last sentence of the passage I want to recap quickly. We seek Christ’s word through the Spirit.

We confess our sins to one another and to God, and we repent. We don’t lie to others and we don’t lie to ourselves about who we are.

We are renewed by knowledge of our creator in who’s image we have our