Colossians 3:5-11
Notes
Transcript
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
Therefore…
1 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.
4 When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Combine this with the end of chapter 2 where he gives warnings and concludes chapter 2 about the warnings
23 Although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.
It might be easy to assume that you only focus on the positive and you will be just fine.
Can you imagine going to the doctor with a ruptured appendix and the doctor just saying think about the good and don’t worry about the appendix?
It was 1999 and Y2K was about to happen. Y2K was when they felt as though all the computer systems in the world were not designed to roll over from 1999 to 2000 and the whole grid was going to shut down. When the clock struck midnight it was going to be a crazy world because nothing was going to function right.
Right before Y2K my side started to hurt. I was in pain and it just kept getting worse and worse.
I shared a bedroom with my brother. My brother was home from college for Christmas break. My stomach started to hurt.
My brother saw how much pain I was in and he hooked up the vaporizer.
Vaporizer for gut pain?!?!?!?
I was houghing that thing for all it was worth.
The pain did not improve.
So my parents put me in the car and drove me to Springfield
When I arrived the Doctor didn’t suggest just thinking about the positive.
Nor did the Doctor just look at what was working right.
The Doctor addressed the pain in my gut.
He determined that my appendix was inflamed and needed to come out.
The Doctor addressed the negative.
Today’s scripture Paul address the negative. It would be easy to read the previous verses and think if I just stay focused on the positive then I won’t need to deal with the negative.
Paul teaches us this morning some ways to address the negative.
It is a balance of transforming the mind to seek what is above and set your minds on what is above. Along side of this he says your life is hidden with the Messiah.
Now he says…
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
Put to death
Mortify νεκρόω (nekroō)
to stop utterly ⇔ kill v. — to stop a state or activity with lethal determination; conceived of as putting something to death.
I like this so much. This is a verb. It takes action. The action that is instructed is to completely stop or kill. To put to death
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eight: Heaven on Earth (Colossians 3:1–11)
Because we have died with Christ (
Our Lord used the same idea when He said, “And if they right eye causes us to sin, pluck it out”
Where does this desire come from? It comes from the heart. It is dealing with the heart. These evil desires that come from within.
What are we killing and putting to death?
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
what belongs to your worldly nature. He is writing to teach what it means to follow the One True God here on earth.
There is one goddess in particular Aphrodite: Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation.
Sexual immorality: any intercourse outside of marriage
Impurity: The contamination of character effected by immoral behavior
Lust: Overmastering passion/ Uncontrolled sexual urges
Evil desire: Its the state that precedes lust
Greed: Unchecked hunger for physical pleasure
which is idolatry: It is idol worship. All such greed places this at the center of one’s attention and devotion to that which is not God.
You must kill these things. That is you must cut off its lines of supply. Every Christian must seek out the lifelines of the sins that are defeating him/her and cut them off with out sadness or regret. Killing these is better than letting them destroy you.
6 Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient,
Destruction is the result of those who don’t pay attention to this warning. God’s wrath comes on the disobedient
These stand in opposition to true holiness, justice and goodness.
Some things make your stomach turn.
Because you know it is not right. It is not ok
God’s holiness is against these.
Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary ii. Knowledge and Life Renewed according to God’s Image (3:5–11)
Part of the horror of hell, it appears, is that those who consciously and continually choose sin instead of God become less and less human, until all that ennobles them as creatures made in God’s image has, by their own choice, been altogether obliterated, beyond hope or pity.
Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary ii. Knowledge and Life Renewed according to God’s Image (3:5–11)
Those who make evil a way of life begin to lose their humanity, begin (in other words) to die, even while they are alive: witness the dead eyes of the miser, the torturer, the prostitute. Paul’s constant emphasis on full, genuine Christian humanity casts a clear shadow over non-Christian existence. Those who choose to live without God will one day find that they have forfeited their likeness to him.
7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.
You once walked in
This was your usual way of life.
I can’t get over how it was once seen as a normal way of life to please the goddess of Aphrodite. Living this way was correct.
I also compare this to the world we live in today. The world works so hard to say that this way of living is correct. This is how you are to live. It is natural and ok to give way to sexual immorality. It is good for you to do this.
You once walked in these things when you were living in them.
8 But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.
Put away:
When these things come you must put them behind you. It is almost as if someone is somewhere they are not suppose to be then you are to redirect them out. If someone comes into your home uninvited then you need to redirect them out of the house.
Same with these. When they enter into your heart you need to redirect them out of your heart and out of your mind. Lord empower me to redirect this in my mind right now. Lord give me strength to get this out of my life.
It is also the image of taking off a dirty garment. It is getting rid of. Like a dirty sock that did not have shoes on the ground. Get rid of it.
(Grave clothes, Jesus and Lazarus)
Anger:
State of constant hatred or a brewing up of hatred
Wrath:
When the anger breaks out into actual angry deeds or words
Malice:
Turns to evil that intends to cause harm
Slander:
Speech that puts malice into practical effect. Speech that dishonors God himself. This tears down a human being that is made in his image.
Filthy Language:
Words that contaminate both the speaker and the hearers (hurts to hear, Bill Lee from the other room)
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary ii. Knowledge and Life Renewed according to God’s Image (3:5–11)
Truth is often inconvenient, untidy or embarrassing, and we are constantly tempted to bend it into a less awkward shape. But this too is out of place for the Christian, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self. This does not merely mean that Christ demands a new standard of life from his redeemed people.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eight: Heaven on Earth (Colossians 3:1–11)
When a Christian lies, he is cooperating with Satan; when he speaks the truth in love (
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.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eight: Heaven on Earth (Colossians 3:1–11)
“renewed” is a present participle—“who is constantly being renewed.” The crisis of salvation leads to the process of sanctification, becoming more like Jesus Christ.
11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
There are no cultural differences in Christ.
Those in Christ should be reflecting Christ. Let us all pursue Christ together.
Let us reflect Christ.
We want the Jesus way
Think about it for just a second and imagine with me in a mirror what are you reflecting.
Now change the angle of the mirror just a little bit and what do you see in yourself in others.
What are others reflecting on to you?
Paul doesn’t say, “manage it.”
He doesn’t say, “cope with it.”
He says—put it to death.
That is strong language… because sin is strong.
And this is where this message collides head-on with our culture.
Our culture says:
Follow your desires
Express yourself
If it feels natural, it must be right
But the Word of God says:
Some desires are not meant to be followed… they are meant to be killed
Some thoughts are not your identity… they are your enemy
Some patterns in your life are not harmless… they are destroying you from the inside out
So this isn’t just about thinking differently…
This is about declaring war.
War on the things that are killing your soul.
War on the patterns you’ve been tolerating.
War on the lies you’ve been believing.
Because you can’t hold on to sin… and fully reflect Jesus at the same time.
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Some of you already know exactly what needs to die.
You don’t need another sermon.
You don’t need more information.
You need a decision.
There are things in your life right now:
a habit
a relationship
a secret
a pattern of thinking
And you’ve been managing it… excusing it… minimizing it…
But today the Holy Spirit is not saying “manage it”
He’s saying—“put it to death.”
Cut off the supply.
Shut the door.
Remove the access.
Don’t negotiate with it.
Because killing it is better… than letting it kill you.
GOSPEL TURN
But hear this clearly…
You are not fighting for victory.
You are fighting from victory.
“You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
This is not behavior modification.
This is identity transformation.
You’re not trying to become someone new…
You are someone new.
So now… live like it.
