Supreme: Colossians 3:1-11 - Put off/Put on

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anyone been to summer camp?

mess fest… fun - cant wait to shower and change

I experienced something like this earlier this year on a missions trip to Colombia - OCT with Kortney and Henry. (PHOTO)

colombia/andes mountains (second biggest in the world behind the himalayas)

We got told that on our last day, we would be doing a hike! Sounds so much fun! The missionary we were with was telling us all about it the day before.

He said “the hike won’t be too bad - it is about as steep as some of the neighborhoods we were in… with a decent trail”

We were thinking - “this should be great! Doesn’t sound horrible!” mind you… none of us had ANY hiking gear. Just shorts and tennis shoes.

drive an hour up into the mountains

pull off onto a COW FARM. It starts raining (PHOTO)

We get out to be greeted by our guide. A farmer with knee high rain boots and a machete. None of us knew what we had gotten ourselves into.

It was NOTHING like Gessi made it sound. We were walking up probably 45 degree incline the WHOLE time. No trail at all, knee high grass, and mud EVERYWHERE.

I told you guys it was a cow farm… we didn’t know if we were walking in mud or cow poop. (sock story)

We hiked for about an hour and a half-2 hours up the hill and it was so hard. People were slipping and falling, we are crawling on all 4’s for some of the different spots, crossing creeks with make shift bridges, crawling underneath barb-wire fences…. and we finally made it to the top! (PHOTO)

Then we had to come down…

Some of us ATE it down the hill. Henry at one point goes “its honestly easier to just fall down and catch yourself” so we would literally just sit on our butts and slide down.

By the end, all of us were COVERED in POOP and mud. It was disgusting.

We didn’t go back to the hotel right away… we went and got lunch, then went to a hot spring.

It felt SO good to get into that water… then I realized that hardly any of us had a change of clothes… so we all put our gross clothes BACK on and had to sit on an hour long bus ride back to the hotel - wet and stinky.

FINALLY, we got back and showered. I got in the shower with my clothes and shoes still on - ended up throwing my shoes away because they were so gross, it was impossible to bring them back.

after i cleaned myself and put on fresh clothes…

I have never felt better in my life than when I took that shower.

Subject

I start there because, sometimes when we continue to live our lives dirty and contaminated with sin, we will never be comfortable.

If we are “Christians” like we say we are, we need to know how take off and throw away the old parts of ourselves that are uncomfortable, and are hindering us from continuing our walks with Jesus.

Need

We need to know this because, when we put off out old selves and put on our new self, which is a new creation in Jesus, we will slowly start to see change in our lives.

Big Idea - Because of Jesus - dwell on what is above. put sin to death. display your new life.

Text Address (3:1-11)

As you know, over the last few weeks, we have been in Colossians 2. In Colossians 2, Paul is telling the believers to STOP doing so much! Stop believing the lie that you need to ADD to Jesus and follow all of these rules!

He is saying:

Jesus is enough

Only he can save you

We don’t need legalism

We don’t need to add to Jesus

Chapter 3 picks up in this same interaction. But, rather than pointing out all the wrong that they are doing and believing, he tells them what to do about all of it.

He doesn’t leave them questioning about “what’s next”, he tells them “now… you know you are saved and you know what NOT to do… so, here is your next step”

Put off your old self - put ON your new self

Text - Colossians 3:1-11

Colossians 3:1–11

1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you 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 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.

Point 1 - Dwell on Christ

What does it mean?

Colossians 3:1–4 “1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you 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.”

How many of you get distracted easily? I know I do. I can sit down to do something (like write this message) and will get distracted right away.

Or, when I read my Bible in the mornings, I have to silence my phone or leave it in a different room because the second I open my bible up, my phone will buzz and I will look at it briefly..

Which then turns into 5 minutes… then next thing I know, 30 minutes were just wasted watching youtube.

In the same way, when we give our lives to Jesus, it is easy to forget about the change that was been made in our lives because there are so many things that can distract us!

So, Paul is telling the readers here “hey! You already know the truth! You and your sins have died with Christ! Don’t forget about it.”

He is referencing Psalm 110:1 “1 This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.””

So, Paul is telling us - seek Jesus! Dwell on him - seek the things that are above (in Heaven) because that is where Jesus is. Jesus is in heaven, he is ruling over EVERYTHING.

“set your mind on things above - not earthly things”

Curtis Vaughan (not my brother) Theology Professor once said SLIDE “‘Earthly things’ are not all evil, but some of them are. Even things harmless in themselves become harmful if permitted to take the place that should be reserved for the things above.” (Vaughan)

The things of this world are not all bad! But, when our minds become more focused on things of this world than Jesus, it often can make us tune out what is important - Jesus.

Why is this important?

Here is why this is important. Colossians 3:3–4 “3 For you 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.”

When we our lives to Jesus, the things of this world that have distracted us or taken our focus away from Jesus, we often forget that we were raised to new life in Christ just as God raised Jesus from the dead.

So, we must not forget the importance of dwelling and fixing our eyes on Jesus. When we

What can we do about it?

Paul is telling the readers here “hey! You already know the truth! You and your sins have died with Christ! Don’t forget about it.”

He tells us to “set our minds on things above - not earthly things” so, we need to think about Jesus and think about all he has done for us.

Because of the new life we have in Christ, we need to live like he did.

Part of what Jesus did was model what it looks like to put sin to death.

Point 2 - Put sin to Death

Colossians 3:5–9 “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”

What does it mean?

Paul is talking to these believers and is not just tell them to stop sinning but, is telling them to literally KILL their sin.

I heard it once “we are not simply to suppress or control evil acts and attitudes. We are to wipe them out, completely exterminate the old way of life.” (Vaughan)

I think that term “exterminate” fits this perfectly.

Over the last couple years, I have had my fair share of rodents getting into my house. 2 bats were in my ceiling and I have killed probably close to 30 mice… It is disgusting. But, here is what I have learned. When something is infesting your house, you cannot just simply take them and move them somewhere else. These things nest in homes, they eat electrical wires, they cause damage and they reproduce like crazy!

You can’t just move them. You have to kill them. Once they are dead, you then have to find where they are coming in and seal off the entry so that they can no longer find their way into the home.

In the same way, when Paul is telling us to put to death our sin, he is telling us to find every possible entrance and trace of sin, and kill it from our lives. If we leave traces of sin, it will come back and continue to grow.

Why is this important?

Much like exterminating an animal, Paul hints at the wrath of God. The punishment for our sins - which is eternal separation from God.

But here is the good news - he says “you ONCE walked in these things” now? We get to walk in the new life that Christ has for us because he took the penalty and the weight of the sin for us, so that we do not have to live in it anymore. He put our sin to death for good on the cross and so now, we get to live obedient to him.

What can we do about it?

Paul lists out sins that are a clear way that the world lives, which is the complete opposite of a way of a life that is changed by Jesus.

sexual immorality

impurity

lust

evil desire

greed

anger

wrath

malice

slander

filthy language

This is a great reminder for us. Identifying sins in our lives is one of the first steps we need to take to put DEATH to sin.

What is it for you? (list some from the list above)

Here is the thing - none of us should ever be comfortable in a habitual sin. A habitual sin is one that is a habit! One that you keep going to over and over and can never seem to get over it. Our sins should make us uncomfortable and want to change.

I can think of how uncomfortable I was after the hike in Colombia. I may have rinsed off in a hot spring but, it didn’t change the fact that I was still wearing the dirty, smely clothes.

It wasn’t until I full washed myself and threw the old clothes away that I actually felt clean.

In the same way, when you have sin in your life that has not been put to death, it will still make us feel dirty, But, because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins, we have the chance to get rid of that way of living, and put on a new way of living - a new life with him.

Point 3 - Display your new life

Colossians 3:9–11 “…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.”

Paul ends in verse 9 by saying “since you have put off the old self with its practices…” he picks up in verse 10 saying “You are being renewed in the knowledge according to the image of your Creator”

What does it mean?

By putting sin to death and removing it from our lives, we are slowly being shaped and transformed into a person that looks more like Jesus.

Paul is using language that is descring clothing - taking off the old and putting on the new. Last week, I talked about how following rules can change your behavior but it won’t change your heart.

By putting on a new self and displaying a new life, it is a display that not only has your behavior changed, your heart has.

By giving your life to Jesus, you are not longer defined by your past or your sin struggles, you are actually being renewed to look more like Jesus - you are defined by a new identity.

Why is this important?

Verse 11 can be a bit confusing. Colossians 3:11 “11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.”

In that day, people were defined and judged based on who they were, what their status was, and where they came from.

Paul goes on to say that none of that defines them anymore but, if you belong to Jesus, THAT is your new identity. It is in Christ, not in your upbringing.

I think sometimes this can be similar for people today and even when I was in school! We would judge people based on where they were from! (Eden Prairie - the slightly less rich but better sports programs… Edina - rich and snobby, only good at hockey and nothing else (go moorehead!) Tonka - whats a skipper? Chaska/Chan - never good at any sports…maybe you’ll be something someday)

We would find out where someone was - then make an opinion simply on where they lived! We never gave them the time of day.

Because of this, we are to display him in all that we do.

the way we talk

how we act

how we treat people

It should all be a reflection of a new life in Christ. People should begin to see Jesus in you.

What can we do about it?

Think about how I keep describing the hike in Colombia. Imagine if I got back to the hotel, hung my dirty clothes out to dry, showered, and then got BACK into those disgusting clothes. It would be ridiculous.

Sometimes as believers I think that we do that. We give our lives to Jesus at a retreat or at home, have an amazign experience, and then continue getting back into the same dirty clothes or sins that we always do. So then, we feel like we have to keep getting clean over and over and over.

Jesus has already washed us clean and given us a new life.

Paul says to take off the old self, put it to DEATH, and put on the new self that Jesus has given us. Live to new life and display it for all to see.

Application

If you are here, use tonight in your small groups to identify a sin struggle in your life.

Get vulnerable! James 5:16 “16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.”

open up and let your small group in

confess and pray together for freedom from that sin

If you are here and you have never given your life to Jesus, let tonight be the night. He created you perfectly, he loves you dearly, and he sent his son Jesus to die for the sins that have taken over your life.

If that is you, I would love to talk with you afterwards.

Summary

Because of Jesus, dwell on what is above (christ), put your sin to death, and display your new like.

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