Wardrobe Change

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SHOW ZAKK NAME GRAPHIC HERE. WAIT TO USE MAIN SERIES GRAPHIC WHEN REQUESTED BELOW.

When I was a kid — I was convinced my parents were the lamest people on the planet. For a lot of reasons. But mostly? Because these grown adults refused to stop wearing the same — old — ugly — out of style clothes they’d had since they were young.

As a teenager — this baffled me. It’s not that hard, I thought. You walk into a store. You pick something from this decade. Why are you still wearing stuff that was in style from before I was born?

And somewhere — along the way — my whole life came full circle. Because I love my wardrobe. I refuse to buy new clothes. And honestly — I don’t even like what the kids are wearing anyway. Oh my gosh I sound exactly like my parents.

And here’s the part that really gets me. These kids are now walking around in the same stuff that was in style when my parents were their age. The wheel came all the way back around.

God is laughing at me. I’m convinced of it.

Here’s what’s funny about clothes. The older I get — the more I realize they were never really about the fabric. What we put on says something about who we want people to think we are.

And that’s a game I learned to play long before I ever learned anything about what’s in style.

Because there’s one wardrobe change I’ve always been really — really good at. I can walk into a room — and in just a few seconds — I can put on a completely different version of myself. The version that’s got it together. The version that’s fine. The version that belongs here.

We’ve all got it. The Sunday outfit — and I don’t mean the clothes. I mean the self we put on the second we hit the parking lot at church. The smile. The handshake. The version that knows the right words — says all the right things — and gives away absolutely nothing.

It’s a costume. And we are experts at wearing it.

“YOU CAN CHANGE” GRAPHIC

Here’s what we’re going to see today — though: you can change your costume a hundred times and never once change your character.

We

And I know I’m not alone in that quick costume change. We do it in the car. You can have a full-blown argument with your spouse on the way to church — raised voices — and kids pretending not to hear — and then pull into the parking lot and you suddenly become a Sunday School Teacher! …”Hey. We’re so good. How are you?”

And I get why we do it. A lot of us learned a long time ago that the real version didn’t feel safe to show anybody. So we built a better-looking one. A version that’s “fine”. A version that never needs anything.

But here’s what nobody tells you about that costume. You have to keep it on. You have to keep checking the mirror. You have to remember which version of a person you met — so you can hand them the same one next time.

And it’s lonely. Because you can stand in a room full of people who love the costume — and not one of them actually knows you. You can be completely surrounded — and completely alone.

And what happens when everybody does that? Well — you get a group of really well-dressed strangers. Everybody smiling. Nobody known. And people can smell that from a mile away.

A lot of people are done with church for exactly this reason. They came looking for something real — and all they found was a costume contest. So they left. And who can blame them?

SHOW “THE REAL THING” MAIN TITLE GRAPHIC HERE

Because the world isn’t looking for a performance. It’s looking for The Real Thing.

And that’s exactly where this sermon series through the Book of Colossians has been heading.

Every week we’ve talked about being real. The real Gospel. Having real substance. And today — it gets personal. Today, the Apostle Paul shows us that:

“REAL DISCIPLES DON’T WEAR” GRAPHIC

Real disciples don’t wear costumes.

A disciple is simply somebody learning to become like Jesus — taking off who they used to be — and putting on who He’s making them into. A life-long wardrobe change.

And here’s the difference that changes everything — a costume changes how you look… but Jesus changes who you are. One is fabric. The other is the real thing… all the way down.

A couple weeks ago we talked about handing Jesus the keys to the house. And today — He’s about to open up the closet.

God

Let’s see what He finds there.

Exposition

v. 1-3

Colossians Chapter 3 — starting in Verses 1 through 3.

Colossians 3:1–3 CSB

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.

Paul says you died. When we put our trust in Jesus — we don’t just turn over a new leaf. The old person — the one running the costume shop — that person died with Christ. And a new person got raised up with Him. And our real life — Paul says — is now hidden in Christ. So when we put our minds on things above — he’s not telling us to float around so Heavenly-minded that we’re no earthly good. He’s saying — “Stop building your whole identity on the stuff down here. You already have an identity — up there — with Him.”

v. 4

And then Verse 4 adds the part we often forget:

Colossians 3:4 CSB

4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

He’s saying right now — the new you is mostly hidden. But one day it gets revealed — fully — in glory. So the new self isn’t finished yet. It’s just real. The unveiling is coming.

And here’s why all of that matters before we go any farther — we don’t put on the new clothes to become somebody. We put them on because we already are somebody. A costume is just what we wear trying to become somebody we’re not. The new self — though — is just the truth finally catching up to us.

v. 5-10

Now Paul’s about to get specific — and he starts with what comes off. Look at Verse 5:

Colossians 3:5 CSB

5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

And then Verse 6 tells us why it has to come off:

Colossians 3:6 CSB

6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,

This isn’t God being uptight about your wardrobe. That old coat is genuinely deadly — it’s under judgement. And you might find yourself saying, “Well, Zakk — I don’t like this. I just want to talk about how much God loves me.” But friend — we’re talking about this because of how much God loves us. He doesn’t want us living under those things that separate us from Him.

But don’t miss Verse 7:

Colossians 3:7 CSB

7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.

You catch that tense? He says you once walked in them. You used to wear that. Past tense. That was the old costume — it’s not who you are anymore.

So then how do we do that? How do we live as real people? As free people? Well, Paul answers that in Verses 8 and 9. He says:

Colossians 3:8–9 CSB

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…

Notice where that list ends. Anger. Slander. Lying to each other. See — the old self isn’t just a private problem. Half the stuff Paul lists here is stuff that happens between people. The old wardrobe doesn’t just stain us. It shreds the room. It tears a body apart.

And then the back half of Verse 9 into Verse 10. The engine of the whole passage:

Colossians 3:9–10 CSB

9 …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.

Take off. Put on. That’s not the language of self-improvement — that’s the language of a wardrobe change. The old “you” comes off like a coat you don’t have to wear anymore — because:

“REAL DISCIPLES DON’T WEAR” GRAPHIC

Real disciples don’t wear costumes.

Jesus never offered us a better-looking version of the old self. He gave us a brand new one. We’re being renewed in the image of our Creator. We’re not becoming fake — we’re finally becoming real — remade to look like the God who made us.

v. 11

And then Verse 11 says something that would’ve stopped the first-century church cold. Paul says:

Colossians 3:11 CSB

11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

Let me translate — because those are loaded words. Paul just named every wall people hid behind:

Your ethnicity

Your religious resume

Whether you’re “civilized” or one of the poor people everybody looked down on.

Rich or poor — free or enslaved — every label people used to rank each other… We don’t say “barbarian” anymore…we’ve just got fancier versions — what part of town you live in (I know… the West Side is the Best Side) — who your favorite team is — whether you put the shopping cart back when you’re done.

Paul says when the old self comes off — those come off with it. He says “Christ is all in all.”

v. 12

So then what goes back on? Look at Verse 12:

Colossians 3:12 CSB

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

Catch the order here — you put these on because you’re already chosen and loved. Not to earn it.

But here’s what I can’t get over about this list. Every single piece of it is relational: compassion — kindness — humility — patience — you can’t put on patience alone in an empty room.

Patience isn’t something you practice on the couch by yourself. It’s something the kids drag out of you — or that one person on the Lloyd that you’re trying not call some awful names in the middle of the road work.

None of these “clothes” even make sense by yourself. The whole outfit was designed to be worn around other people.

v. 13-15

Look at Verse 13:

Colossians 3:13 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.

Then Verse 14:

Colossians 3:14 CSB

14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Love is the coat that holds the whole outfit together. Pull that thread — and the rest of it falls apart.

And then Verse 15:

Colossians 3:15 CSB

15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.

You see what Paul’s done here? He described a brand-new self — and almost every thread of it is a uniform for a body. This was never designed to be a solo outfit.

And that’s the turn. Because a watching world can’t see your private holiness. Nobody out there can see whether you set your mind on things above this morning. But they can see a church full of people who actually bear with each other. Who forgive. Who put on love when it would be so much easier to grab the old coat.

That’s the real thing they’ve been looking for. And that — more than any program we could ever run — is how disciples get made.

You

So let’s bring this all the way down. To our lives. To this week.

Because that body Paul describes — that unified church the world actually wants to see — it doesn’t get built in one dramatic moment. It gets built one person — one relationship — one ordinary Tuesday at a time. Which is why it comes down to us.

So let me ask you something — and I want you to sit with it:

“WHAT’S THE OLD GARMENT” GRAPHIC

What’s the old garment you keep putting back on?

You know the one. For some of us it’s the grudge — we’ve worn it for so long that we don’t even feel it anymore… but everybody around us does. For some of us it’s the sharp tongue that we like to call “just being honest.” The sarcasm. The cold shoulder. The scorekeeping. The way we talk about somebody when they leave the room.

Paul already told us — that stuff isn’t private. It’s the old coat that shreds the body.

So this week — I want to encourage you — directly — to not just “try to be a better person” — but to find that one person — there’s probably a face in your mind already — and take off that old garment you’re wearing around them.

Take it off — and put one thing on instead. Don’t send the text you’ve been rehearsing in anger — pick up the phone instead. Have the conversation you’ve been avoiding — but walk in wearing humility. The grievance you’ve been holding against somebody — forgive it.

And listen — I already hear your objection. “Well, Zakk. You don’t know what they did.” You’re right. I don’t. But Verse 13 of our passage saw that coming:

Colossians 3:13 CSB

13 Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.

And here’s why this is so much bigger than just being nicer. Somebody’s watching what you wear. Our kids are learning what following Jesus sounds like by how we talk about people in the car. Yeah — that same one you got into a fight in on the way here this morning.

That person — a couple rows behind you — who’s new to the faith and they’re trying to decide whether or not you’re real. And that one co-worker who’s done with church. You might be the only sermon they hear all week.

Real disciples don’t wear costumes. And the moment you take off the old coat and put on love in front of a watching world — that’s not just you growing. That’s how the next disciple gets made.

We

So let me lift your eyes for a second. Let me show you the other side of this.

Imagine a church — this church — where nobody’s running the costume shop anymore. Where a brand-new believer walks through these doors terrified that everybody’s got it together — and instead they find a room full of people honest about the fact they don’t. Where families in this room fight differently this week — because somebody finally took off the old coat in the kitchen.

Where the person who gave up on church years ago wanders back in braced for a performance — and runs straight into something they can’t explain. Something real.

That’s not a program. You can’t manufacture that. That’s just a body — wearing the same clothes. Compassion. And kindness. Humility. And patience. Love holding the whole-thing together.

That is a disciple-making church. And the world is starving for it. And that’s who we want to be.

But here’s the problem: you can’t sew this wardrobe together by yourself. You’ve tried. I’ve tried. We’ve all stood in front of the mirror promising we’d be more patient — more kind — less angry — and by Tuesday afternoon we’re right back in the old coat.

So then how does anybody get changed?

Let me take you to a hill outside Jerusalem.

The Son of God — who was clothed in glory before the world began — took off all of it. He put on flesh. He put on us. And then — at the very end — they took even that. Soldiers stripped Him bare and gambled for His clothes while He hung there with nothing. Exposed. And shamed.

Why?

So that we’d never have to be.

Jesus was stripped so that we could be clothed. He wore all our shame — all the way to the grave so He could wrap us in His righteousness. That’s the Gospel. The new self we could never sew — He bought it with His own blood. And then He put it on us Himself.

Which means the real thing was never something we put on. It was Someone who put Himself on a Cross — and then put His righteousness on us.

So hear me — you don’t have to perform your way in here. You don’t have to clean yourself up first — or get the costume just right before God will have you. That’s not how this works. Jesus already did the stripping. He already bought the clothes. You just have to stop pretending you don’t need them — and let Him dress you.

For some of you — maybe that’s the first time you’ve ever heard that — and today’s the day you come just as you are and let Him clothe you. For the rest of us — it’s time to take off that costume again. Name the old coat we’ve been hiding in. Trust that we’re already dressed. And go put on love toward one person this week.

At the beginning of this series we said the Gospel doesn’t just save you — it grows you. And this is what it grows into. A whole new wardrobe. The real thing — all the way down.

Real disciples don’t wear costumes. They take off the old — and put on the new. And then — we go out and be the real thing — together.

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