Already And Not Yet

Intro

[Thank worship team]

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “Connect” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out there or at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. We even have a free gift for you if you are new to Bethel. We would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Announcements:

Leadership Co-Op

Men’s Breakfast

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Meals again and Donate to The Hope Center

Today we will be continuing our study of In, But Not Of. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 984. If you do not have a Bible, please stop by the Welcome Center and take one. It is our gift to you.

TRANS: Pray

Opening Hook

[Story, question, setup]

The Natural Question

“What does growing look like?”

TRANS: [text]

Colossians 3:1–4 ESV

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Already And Not Yet

Christ, the King, has given Christians new status.

Colossians 3:1-4

Passive Voice and Status Change

Notice the passive voice in this passage: “Have been raised.” The implications for the Christian life are because of what Christ has done on our behalf, not what we have earned. To obey Christ’s commands is simply to live out what is already true of us.

There has been a “status change” in our lives. We have become something, because Christ has made us alive in him through faith.

So we are to respond to this status change:

Seek the things that are above

Set our minds on heavenly things, not earthly things

Paul will go into more detail about what that looks like in verses 5-17. But the principle is there. You are new, you are raised, your life is hidden with Christ. This new status comes with a new way of living. One that is built on Christ’s power, life, and hope.

This text summons the believer to seek or to set one’s will/mind/heart on things above1

1 Scot McKnight, The Letter to the Colossians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018), 291.

“Hidden with Christ”

Garland describes three implications of the believer’s life being hidden “with Christ in God.” First, it means that the believer’s life lies, to a certain degree, in the future. He suggests that Paul stresses the believer’s “fullness” in the letter (see Col 2:10) to prevent believers from buying into the false philosophy at Colossae. Second, no “menacing power” can harm believers since their life is “hidden” in God. Third, the believer is called to a new life and new ethics as a result of being united with Christ.

“Colossians 3:1–4” NIVAC : Colossians and Philemon1

NIVAC The NIV Application Commentary

1 Derek R. Brown, Colossians, ed. Douglas Mangum, Lexham Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013), Col 3:1–17.

9-125

Hidden with Christ

Christ, Jesus

Colossians 3:1–4

(POSB , note 2, point 2.b.)

An excellent illustration of what it means to be “hid with Christ” is this: take the index finger of your right hand and wrap your left hand around it. Say that the index finger represents you and the left hand represents Christ. Where are you (the index finger)? In Christ. You are hidden in Christ. When God looks at you, He sees you hidden in Christ!

9-1261

POSB The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible

1 Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2001), 29.

Christ is the ruler, he sits on the throne. He is the true king for all of life. Growing in our walk with Jesus happens when we do not try to tell Jesus where he can and cannot lead us. What kind of king could we do that with? In such a case, this person would not be a king at all, but in fact we would be the king.

You cannot receive Christ in bits and pieces.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

But let me say the flip side of it. To give you whole life, to receive all of Christ, is to flourish. The new life in Christ is built on the fact that you are given new status. You are His! You are made new. And when Jesus returns, we will join Him in glory.

TRANS: And Paul draws two conclusions from this new life in Christ: we must put off, and we must put on.

Colossians 3:5–10 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 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Put to death what is earthly.

Colossians 3:5-10

Here starts the first of his two conclusions with telling Christians that we must put to death what is earthly. He then lists a number of things. Scot McKnight makes this observation:

The 11 Vices

In the NIV there are eleven vices that Paul exhorts them to renounce:8 sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, and then anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying. The eleven can be cut into two major themes: sins of desire9 and sins of disunity.1

NIV New International Version, 2011 ed.

8 The Greek text: πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, πάθος, ἐπιθυμία κακή, πλεονεξία, ὀργή, θυμός, κακία, βλασφημία, αἰσχρολογία ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν, μὴ ψεύδεσθε εἰς ἀλλήλους.

9 Gupta insightfully calls them sins of exploitation and abuse (132). For more on desire, see J. Edward Ellis, Paul and Ancient Views of Sexual Desire: Paul’s Sexual Ethics in 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 7, and Romans 1, LNTS 354 (London: T&T Clark, 2007), 18–146. The issue in both the Jewish and the Greco-Roman contexts was not desire per se but misdirected and abusive actions prompted by desire.

1 Scot McKnight, The Letter to the Colossians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018), 300.

On Desire

The world, the flesh, and the devil can only distort what is good. It cannot create, for that is a role reserved for God! But they can twist, distort, and mar. This first set is related to desire gone wrong. Let me say this clearly, to have desire is not bad. It is when what is earthly takes advantage of our desire for the good, the true, or the beautiful, and we believe the lie that this thing, behavior, relationship, etc. can fulfill our desire. That is the snare. It is the trap.

It is clear that Paul had deep concern with various kinds of sins that come from impure desire, or desire being hijacked and leading people astray. Notice that Paul links desire gone wrong with “idolatry.” Huh? I thought Idol worship was only when a statue is involved? No.

Idol worship is this: When I believe that something other than God can satisfy me in a way that only he can. In other words, when I depend on something other than God for my sense of self, for my well-being, for my joy. Look at the list, sexual immorality, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness…. looking to something other than God to satisfy. We must put these things to death, because those things will try to put you to death. They will lead you down a path to ruin.

Insight: if you do not put to death these various sins, the sin will grow, and destroy you.

The real question is this: who dies? You? Or the sin?

But Paul has more words for us. We must also put away actions which cause disunity.

The Theological Foundation

There are three premises upon which Paul has built these exhortations: (1) God’s wrath is against such sins; (2) they have been converted from such sins; and (3) the inclusive body of Christ requires an alternative kind of moral fellowship.1

1 Scot McKnight, The Letter to the Colossians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018), 307–308.

9-330

Worse for Believers to Sin

Sin

Colossians 3:5–11

(POSB , note 1, point 2.b.)

Colossians 3:5–11 gives a shocking list of sins: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying. Surely, Paul must have been addressing non-believers! What kind of believer would practice these kinds of sins? The answer: not a very good believer! Warren Wiersbe adds his insight:

Do believers in local churches commit such sins? Unfortunately, they sometimes do. Each of the New Testament epistles sent to local churches makes mention of these sins and warns against them.

I am reminded of a pastor who preached a series of sermons against the sins of the saints. A member of his congregation challenged him one day and said that it would be better if the pastor preached those messages to the lost. “After all,” said the church member, “sin in the life of a Christian is different from sin in the lives of other people.”

“Yes” replied the pastor, “it’s worse!”132

That really hits where it hurts! But, tragically, how true. Sins in the life of a believer are worse than sins in the life of a non-believer. Why? Because as believers we know the truth, and we know the power of God to help us overcome sin. A nonbeliever has neither the knowledge of God nor access to the power of God!1

POSB The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible

132 Warren W. Wiersbe. The Bible Exposition Commentary, Vol. 2, p.135.

1 Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2001), 131.

Remember Paul’s point in verse 9 and 10. You are no longer “of the world.” You are new, you have been given a new identity in Christ, which is being renewed day by day.

TRANS: So we must put off, and we must put on. So what is it that we must “put on”? Paul tells us.

Colossians 3:11–15 ESV

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.

Grow into your new identity.

Colossians 3:11-15

Paul’s premise is that the Colossians have died with * Christ (2:20); therefore trusting the finished work of Christ and living as what they are in him, rather than following human religious regulations (2:21–23), will produce holy living. - Craig Keener

As Christians, the scriptures promise that at the end of all things, we will no longer struggle with sin. We will get a new body that actually cooperates with us.

The Cure

Did you know that there is no difference between a caterpiller and a butterfly? Well, it certainly looks like a difference! But on the genetic level, they are identical. This is what being a Christian is like. Genetically, you are already in Christ. You may not look like a butterfly, but one day you will be fully transformed (when God makes all things new).

The Christian life is this: Growing into who you already are in Christ, not trying to become something you’re not.

A saint who still sins, not a sinner pretending to be a saint. You are a “chosen one, holy and beloved.” That’s your identity.

Perfect “harmony” not melody. Our differences are intentional, and are meant to be a beautiful blend that makes a chord, not contentiousness that makes discord.

TRANS: You are already new in Christ. If you don’t feel like you have fully “arrived” in overcoming your struggle, that’s because your status change before God prompts us to trust and obey Him. We already have been made new in Christ, and we have not yet been transformed fully. So here are two things to bare in mind as we keep growing into our new identity:

In, But Not Of

Kingdom living looks ordinary.

Colossians 3:16

Colossians 3:16 ESV

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.

Living in the world and not of the world starts with being connected deeply to God’s word (the Bible)

In Focus on the Family, Rolf Zettersten writes:

A good friend in North Carolina bought a new car with a voice warning system … At first Edwin was amused to hear the soft female voice gently remind him that his seat belt wasn’t fastened … Edwin affectionately called this voice the “little woman.”

He soon discovered his little woman was programmed to warn him about his gasoline. “Your fuel level is low,” she said one time in her sweet voice. Edwin nodded his head and thanked her. He figured he still had enough to go another fifty miles, so he kept on driving. But a few minutes later, her voice interrupted again with the same warning. And so it went over and over. Although he knew it was the same recording, Edwin thought her voice sounded harsher each time.

Finally, he stopped his car and crawled under the dashboard. After a quick search, he found the appropriate wires and gave them a good yank. So much for the little woman.

He was still smiling to himself a few miles later when his car began sputtering and coughing. He ran out of gas! Somewhere inside the dashboard, Edwin was sure he could hear the little woman laughing.162

If we attempt to live the Christian life, but unplug ourselves from God’s Word, we too will find ourselves stranded on the side of the road!1

POSB The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible

162 Craig B. Larson, Editor. Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, p.39.

1 Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2001), 155.

Paul shares with us that when we live in the world but not of it, (Kingdom living) a few things happen:

The Word of Christ (the Scriptures) dwells in us richly

We teach each other

we admonish one another

We do these things wisely

We sing!

There is thankfulness in our hearts to God

None of these items are spiritual cartwheels. It looks, dare I say, boring? We don’t receive the spiritual gift of flight. But boring on who’s definitions? The world’s. The world looks at this like, “ok great, you’re singing songs and saying nice things to each other. Whatever.”

But the Christian looks at this and finds PEACE. JOY. HOPE. LIFE. Kingdom living LOOKS ordinary, but it is extraordinary. Jesus calls us into something life-giving and exciting. He transforms us from the inside so we are thankful in our hearts.

Who’s life in this room would not be better if rather than being filled with idolatrous desire, were rather thankful? At peace, content, your heart was still, you experienced gratitude to God. Is that better than constantly feeling unfulfilled?

This is the practical affect of abiding in Christ and growing in your new identity: you experience the quiet satisfying presence of God, who quenches your longings and brings you a heart of gladness. Now who can understand that unless you’ve experienced it?

C.S. Lewis contends that it is not the desire that is wrong, but it is that we desire too little. We have become content with playing with mudpies when a day at the beach is available to us in Christ.

TRANS: Paul shares one last thought in this section, and this is where we will close our time together:

Kingdom living keeps Jesus in view.

Colossians 3:17

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.

Lastly, live your life for Jesus. Yes, it sounds cliche, but when you live according to how you’ve been designed, you flourish.

Illustration - My will and God’s will

I was talking with a good friend of mine yesterday over the phone, and we were talking about what it’s like to Abide in Christ. To grow in your identity, to put off the old self, put on the new self. Everything that I knew I would be preaching about today. And he said something so interesting I had to include it today.

He talked about how he used to be so confused about what is God’s will vs his will. You almost feel as if you have analysis paralysis, constantly second-guessing because you’re not sure if it’s what God wants. But he said this to me, “The more I learn to abide with Christ, and the more I am transformed, the more the line is blurred between my will and God’s will.” He talked about abiding like being in the “sweet spot.”

We also over complicate what it means to follow God’s will. We think it’s mostly about making the right decisions, which that’s what it includes. But what I see, specifically in the writings of Paul, is the idea that once you commit to growing as a Godly person, you start making Godly choices. Your character and His will align. Not perfectly, we will all struggle, but I think we can get better at it. Like a muscle being worked out.

And many of us do not live this way because we believe “I’ll never grow.” But let me ask you, is that keeping Jesus in view? Or your own sin, past, failures in view? “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” happens when you define yourself as His Child first, not by your sins that Jesus paid for.

Conclusion : [text]

Pray

Talk About It/Think About It

What does it mean to “seek the things above,” and how does this new identity shape your daily priorities?

Why is “putting to death” sinful patterns so challenging, and what helps you resist returning to old ways?

How does recognizing your identity in Christ transform your relationships within the church?

How can worship, teaching, and gratitude become part of your ordinary rhythm of life?

What does it practically look like to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”?

What part of “putting on the new self” do you sense God calling you to focus on this week?