God’s Chosen, Holy, and Loved People

Introduction

Series recap

a letter written to a people that Paul has never met

a little different tone from some of his other letters where he had a relationship with the people prior to writing.

think of Galatians that has very little in terms of introduction

midway through the letter saying, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?”

that he was praying for them to grow in Christ, in all wisdom and knowledge

several weeks ago

to walk by faith

last time - you are free from the ways of the world and can live for the Lord

Today - God’s Chosen, Holy, and Loved People

what does it look like to live for the Lord

The power to live a new life depends upon daily communion with the living Lord.

John Eadie

Colossians 3:5–17 CSB

5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Prayer!

We cannot simply dress up as Christians on Sunday, Christ must be what we wear 24/7. We do this by being devoted to the word of God.

Killing of Sin

Killing is such a strong word

to put to death and can seem kind of harsh when we are talking about parts of ourselves and behaviors and thoughts

we have no trouble with it being like this in other areas of life

what about the food we eat…

we want to make sure that our chicken is cooked all the way through, get rid of anything bad in it because we know that it can affect us in a very negative way

Greta and her chicken salad

Colossians 3:5–8 (CSB) 5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

Therefore -

Paul’s favorite word… but we always have to make sure that we know what it is pointing to

Because you have been raised with Christ… 3:1

because your minds are set on things above 3:2

because you have died 3:3

put to death what belongs to your earthly nature

be killing your sin!

“Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” Jon Owen

what sin are we killing

of course all sin but Paul has a specific line of thought

sexual immorality -

the term is general, 1 Cor 5:1 uses the term as various kinds of sexual immorality

impurity -

this is not simply a dirtiness but is used in Romans 1 as the homosexual sin

Romans 1:24 CSB

24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

lust -

a longing to satisfy the desires of your body

evil desire

not all desires are wrong, but the evil desires

chasing after the things of the world to satisfy your flesh, not the things of the God, not seeking things above

and the things of this world that we use are just objects to us

This verse alone is contradictory to everything that the world tells us today

if you want it you should have it

it is not fair to you that you want something that somebody else has and you cannot have it

they are evil and you are being oppressed

This is the sinful, I can satisfy or seek my satisfaction in everything else but Christ

Colossians 3:5–8 CSB

6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.

God’s wrath will be poured out on such things

this is who we were

but now we put it away

put away / take off - same things

If you are his - chosen, holy and loved we live different

we do not chase after the temporary satisfactions of the world

they leave us wanting

We were chasing after these things

now we strip these things off of our selves

that does not mean that we remove our sin

but when we strip off these things, it removes these attitudes from us as well

We put on new clothes

Anger - mad that I do not have what I want to satisfy my flesh

wrath - fierce anger at you because you have what I desire

slander - that I am speaking falsely about you in my wrath

filthy language - word is actually obscene - abusive language

This is what Jesus said when he spoke about taking up your cross

Luke 9:23 CSB

23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

this is not a one time thing

this is not a fad diet to see if you get the results that you want

You may be asking how… We will get there, but first see the freedom that we have when we rid our lives of this

Killing of the Show

While on vacation, Heather was wearing a sweatshirt that had KS for Kansas on it…

in an elevator with another couple he asks, “Where are you from?” We said, “Kansas,” and he responded, “You’re shirt doesn’t lie. Unlike mine.” His shirt said New Zealand.

too often we are trying to be or come across as something we are not

Colossians 3:9–11 CSB

9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

We are now free to live a honest life

we do not have to hide the sinful way that we were living

I am not pretending in front of you and God that everything is ok

we are not going to lie to one another… like we are tempted to do

Garden of Eden -

when sin entered, we immediately tried to cover or hide our sin

when confronted by God, we lied about why we sinned

not because we wanted to be like God

but because the woman, who you gave me…

We replace the old filthy garments with the image of Christ

he is the creator that lived sacrificially for us

we are to live lives of service

seeing others needs before our own

constantly being renewed

this is not a simple did and move on process

you have put on Christ and you are being renewed

you will still sin

we will look more and more like him as we seek out, put on these things

he gave two lists of five to take off, not gives a list of five to put on

compassion

kindness

humility

meekness

patience

We are no longer separated by worldly lines any longer

Christ is in all - It is him we put on

His spirit connects us

His Spirit rules our lives

Not that these things go away

but for the believer, they are no longer the focus

our focus is him

Our desire is to look like the him ( Col 3:10)

Colossians 3:10 CSB

10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.

presenting others mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28)

Colossians 1:28 CSB

28 We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Christ is everything

We are no longer white evangelicals, black evangelicals

we are Christians, believers, the redeemed

We are chosen, Holy, and loved

Putting on Christ

How you are dressed can determine what you are doing that day

Jimmy - “Are you going to Walmart?”

men - can wear a button down shirt, jeans and boots every day

but which ones determines if they are working cattle or going to town or church

Everyday you get dressed, Paul has told us to take off the filthy clothes of the flesh and put on Christ!

Colossians 3:12–15 CSB

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

Luke did a great job last week talking about being chosen

how do we know we are chosen, God called your name

because you are holy (set apart) and loved

why are we these things

to the praise of his glory ( Eph 1:6)

so that the world will know that there is a God in heaven,

Colossians 3:12–15 CSB

13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

The five behaviors in v5 leads to five attitudes in v8 are replaced by five fruits of the Spirit

compassion (ESV - compassionate heart)

Feeding of the 5000 - after the apostles had been sent out two by two, they come back tired and Jesus takes them away to rest

He sees the great multitude and has compassion on them… what does he do? Feeds them

compassion is love in action

SNAP - there are 42 million people on the SNAP program in the US

leaves 300 million people in the US that can feed them (200 million claim to be Christians)

if you cannot eat today because your SNAP benefits have run out, I will feed you and probably send you home with the left overs

All of these are connected

because of my compassion,

I will show you kindness,

because I realize who I am (Humility)

go through first of the beatitudes

so I will be gentle, and patient

When this is what guides us, what we put on, then the practical part of living together in community happens

we can bear with one another patiently

we can forgive as we have been forgiven

The question from the beginning, How

How do I take off the world and put on Christ… His word

Colossians 3:16–17 CSB

16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

word of Christ -

the gospel

scripture

dwell -

live in and among us

richly -

an identifiably distinctive manner

We preach and sing the gospel

[T]he key religious theme throughout Colossians is the centrality and supremacy of Jesus.”

Douglas J. Moo

Everything about what we do should be to exalt Christ!

a worship service

when we preach the gospel -

we are all growing in the word together

when we sing the gospel

we realize that we are not alone in our need of the gospel

it is easy to come in and think that those people have it all figured out and…

no, we all need Christ, to throw off our old evil desires and put on Christ

I need you Lord, As the deer pants for the water, and whatever comes, it is well with my soul.

Memory Verse

Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,”

Discussion Questions

How does understanding our identity as God's chosen, holy, and loved people impact our daily decisions?

What does daily communion with the living Lord look like in your life?

In what specific ways are you actively 'putting to death' the earthly nature mentioned in Colossians 3?

What does it mean to you that 'Christ is all and in all'?

How can you practice compassion and kindness in your everyday interactions?

How can you encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ to bear with one another and forgive one another?

What does it mean to 'put on the new self' in your everyday life?

How do the teachings of Colossians influence your understanding of community within the church?

Why is it important to view sin as something to kill rather than manage?

What are practical steps you can take to let the word of Christ dwell richly in your life?