Colossians 3:5-7 | inside out

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Catechism

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Colossians 3:1–11 (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. 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.

Intro - Change from the inside out!

Last week we dwelt in verses 1-4 where God’s work outlines that by faith we have been united with Christ and so we are:

dead to the former life. To sin, to earthly patterns, passions and wisdom.

alive together with Christ.

Now, since God has united us with Christ. - justified, adopted, loved us as he loves his son - Paul Says: to set your mind on things that are above.

To set you mind, the gaze of your being, upon… not earthly things… but on heavenly things.

Now, lest that sounds a bit lofty and airy fairy, the very next thing the text goes to, is discussing practically how we ought not to, and then how we ought to live as believers.

therefore clause - since we are in Christ… setting our minds on things that are above…

therefore, here is the sort of living that we are to do away with

12 onwards - here is the sort of living that is according to who we are in Christ

But These next two weeks we are looking at the ‘not to’ - two 5-fold lists

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

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

Now, right in the middle of these, Paul makes 2 really profound statements that shape how we must view them.

6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

The seriousness of Sin. That it is our sinful rebellion that deserves and will bring about the wrath of God.

We ought to treat it so. Beucase our sin is ultimately against God.

As David prayed in Psalm 51 - against you have I sinned o’God

= all sin is ultimately against the holy God who created us for his glory to reflect his good nature.

And it deserves his justice it deserves his wrath.

Sin is so serious and issue then we must take it seriously.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:29–30

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

That which Breaks God’s law and belittles his name is not small thing to be trifled with.

In fact, we first and foremost need forgivness, redemption.

Gospel send.

look at the second statement for those saved by grace:

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

What we have been saved from. You were living in them – but now you are living in Christ.

This is what used to define you, but now by the grace of God you are defined, not by what you deserve, but by what Jesus deserves.

SIN is Serious, But God’s grace is so much greater.

And if we have faith in Jesus as saviour of our soul, then the seriousness of sin ought to cause us to deal with it head on.

The Christian life is a life of obedience to God and his word.

An obedience that is made possible by the work of the Holy Spirit, in giving us new life, but obedience nonetheless.

But I fear some of you have placed obedience in the category of legalism. It isn’t, it is simply the words of Jesus. (John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” ) Or this command in Col… put off, put to death these things in your life - thats not a suggestion. Jesus came to show us grace and forgive us, and no amount of obedience can earn that —but now he calls us as his people to walk in accordance with who he has made us.

There is also no such thing as delayed, partial, or grumpy obedience. Obedience is doing something right away, all the way, with a happy heart.

If Jesus is king of everything then he is king of all of our lives.

And it is upon this firm foundation of God’s grace and the reality of who we are now in Christ, in this fertile soil that we grow. We change.

So now we Put away the old self.

How do we change? How do you, grow in godliness? If we are in Christ, a Christian, how do we become more like Christ?

Well I think what many of us do, is we come to lists such as these two I have just read out, and we see our sin. Naturally.

And then we gaze it. We gaze at it by thinking intently about how we are going to stop doing it.

We hear a list of sins, of vices that we must stop doing… and we try and stop doing them… Im not going to be sexual immoral, im going to stop lying, no more coveting… And we strive with all our strength to not do those things… In doing so, what do we create… we create legalists who can’t live up. Becuase We are trying to bring about change from the outside in. We are Gazing at our external failings, hoping the fruit of our lives will be altered.

Thats like me, going to one of the fruit tree’s in my front yard with a spray bottle of water. And doing nothing other than spraying all the leaves, and attempting to remove the dust from them… and then expecting it to bear good fruit. No matter how shiny the leaves are, unless the roots get food and water …

We can’t change by simply modifying our behaviour. Because apart from God’s transforming grace, Outisde in change doesn’t work.

Real change, deals with the roots first, its inside out.

This is how verses 1-4 set the grounds for verses 5-11.

He has said - Colossians 3:2 (ESV)

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

So setting our minds on the things that are above does not only mean that we are to think differently, or believe differently according to a heavenly reality in Christ.

It also means living according to that heavenly reality we have in Christ.

In fact, it is setting out minds on things that are above that is the means by which we change from the inside out.

1 Peter 1:13–16 (ESV)

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

So

Rather than setting out minds on our sin… it is gazing at God in Christ.

Now, what does that mean? Well we have seen so far in Colossians, that it is:

being enthralled with the Glory of Christ. Beholding his beauty

beleiving who we are in Christ & living according to our new nature

How do we change?

we set our gaze on God in Christ, who is most glorious, all satisfying, and alone worthy of all our attention and affection

AND

By believing and trusting by faith in God’s work of justification. By setting our minds on things that are above. By reminding ourselves of the truth, that in Christ, no matter our performance or progress, that we are loved, saved, and adored by the one true living God.

Let me show you… Look at the list in verse 5.

Sin is serious

God’s grace is greater

Put sin to death by setting your mind on that which is above.

Applying the Gospel of Grace to what is earthly in you

Sexual immorality (Impurity, passion)

The first three of the five specific manifestations of the “earthly nature” listed here all have to do with sexual sin. (Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2008), 256.)

“sexual immorality” (porneia), which refers to any kind of sexual sin.

The second, “impurity” (akatharsia), refers more generally to any kind of moral corruption, but it is applied quite often to sexual sins.

And the third, “lust” (pathos), refers to sexual sin in its two other New Testament occurrences (both Pauline: Rom. 1:26; 1 Thess. 4:5).

Whether Paul has in mind 3 different nuances to sin in this area he is making a point of emphasis is hard to tell, either way it is clear that it speaks to an are of great temptation for us.

God has given the gift of marriage, union between a man and woman, and within a marriage God has given the uniting gift of intimacy.

Sexual immorality is corrupting, the good gift that God has given.

We can corrupt the good gift by

Individually treating intimacy as a means of self gratification, (pornography in it’s multitude of forms, by treating another person as an object, or making intimacy a transaction to be purchased or bargained for). We can do so by wanting to feed our pride by wearing more revealing or tighter clothing… whether its to show off your biceps or your b.not biceps.

Within the context of marriage, we can sin in this area by - Neglecting to pursue your spouse with the desire to please them. - selfishly witholding intimacy, or being unresponsive to the pursuit of your spouse - seeking intimacy (whether that be sexual or emotional, from someone other than your spouse)

Sex is related to sexuality - God has made us either a boy or a girl. and Thats good. Subverting that truth is living according to a lie. Or, as Romans 1:26–27 describes

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

lust Matthew 5:27–28 (ESV)

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

All of these, put them to death, remember the seriousness of sin, and the goodness of grace, now put them away.

Evil Desire

Speaks of our affections - it is self indulgent craving that displaces affections for God.

It is the sort of living, and thinking and feeling that breaks ‘Christs command we find in

Matthew 22:37–38 (ESV)

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.

It is, as we talked about last week, finding your greatest treasure, the affection of your soul in something other than Jesus.

Seeking satisfaction in:

relationships

drink or substance

experiences or entertainment

Put it to death… Take it seriously, know his greace and put it away.

Covetousness,

Longing or desiring something that isnt rightfully ours.

It is refusing to be content with what we have and instead living with an unhealthy comparison that robs us of joy and makes us bitter towards others.

Specific examples: Longing and desiring

posessions - desiring another kids toys

lifestyle (holidays)

blessings

skills, abilities and acheivements.

Put them to death. Do away with it!

Now he ends this list of examples of earthly desires, with the clarifier

which is Idolatory

Now grammatically, this refers to covetousness, being idolatory. It is making that which you desire (yet doesnt belong to you) a god that you sacrifice to, and live for.

But theologically, it can refer to the whole list - becuase all sin is Idolatory.

Breaking the 7th commandment - don’t commit adultery, is also breaking the 1st commandment, ‘You shall have no other God’s before me’ - beucase you have made a god of your own creation, to satisfy your lustful desires.

All sin at it’s root is idolatory - it is setting on minds on earthly things.

beleiving that they will bring satisfaction. It is giving our affection to tempory delights It is being driven by sinful desires.

So what does Paul say… just stop it…

No, he says set you mind on things that are above.

Maybe we need to be confronted with Why do we sin, becuase we love it.

Maybe something stood out to you in that list, and convicts you. Maybe you mind jumps to somethng else.

So ‘just stop it’ doesnt work.

Instead we need to find a greater love. a greater delight. a greater satisfaction.

This is how we change from the inside out. By replacing the idols of our hearts, by setting our minds on

the glory and the goodness and the beauty of Jesus. Who is all satisfying,

who we are in Christ. HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU Free from the binding of sin. justified, loved, adopted, filled with the Spirit of God and NOW Able to choose not to sin. Able to wage war against that which is earthly in you. Able to walk in holiness.