New Life in Christ
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Colossians 2:6-15
Colossians 2:6-15
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
There are a couple of points that Paul makes here that we need to consider. First, Paul said to keep on living in Christ, rooted, and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith. We should encourage one another to keep going in our faith, building one another up in Christ so that our faith may be strengthened. It is so important that we are available to each other in this way. Paul also emphasized the importance of guarding against false teaching. Doing this will help to keep us deeply rooted in our faith. He also said that believers are buried with Christ spiritually and raised with Him through faith. When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive in Christ by forgiving our sins. Then Paul said something very interesting in verse 2:15, Christ disarmed the powers and authorities and triumphed over them by the Cross. See Christ fulfilled the Law and disarmed the demonic powers and authorities. These forces of evil have no dominion over Christ followers, we now have victory over sin and death through our union with Christ. And finally, we see that through our spiritual baptism a circumcision of the heart took place, and our whole self ruled by the flesh was put off. These points are important to keep in mind as we work through our passage.
Okay, turn in your Bibles to Colossians 3, and follow along as I read verses 1-17.
Colossians 3:1-17
Colossians 3:1-17
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Let’s begin looking at our passage in 3:1-2, Paul said,
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
When addressing the spiritual battle that wages inside each one of us it is essential that we understand the importance of setting our hearts and our minds on things above. If we keep our attention on the things of this world, we are sure to display a lifestyle that mimics this world. We will be distracted from God’s Kingdom purposes by all the earthly things competing for our time and attention. Let's stay on mission by keeping our attention on Christ. Verse 3 says,
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
This idea of being hidden with Christ implies that we belong to Him alone, and not to this world. We were bought at a price and are concealed securely in Christ. We died with Christ, and are born again to new life in Him.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
This is exciting news, amen? Next Paul said,
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
This of course is a nod to the rapture as explained in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17,
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Knowing this should make a difference in our lives. Paul believed we should, v.s. 5-6,
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
We are called to participate in our sanctification by putting to death our sinful fleshly desires.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
Paul said in verse 7,
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
There is this idea of a past life before our salvation, and a new life that begins at the time of our conversion. And in this new life we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness and our lives are to be a reflection of that spiritual reality. Paul still has much to say about this, v. 8-10,
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Paul named a few more attributes of the old sin nature here and emphasised the importance of not lying to one another. Here again we recognize an active participation of putting off the old self and putting on the new self. Oftentimes asking the question, where is God calling me to personal change promotes a call to action with help from the Holy Spirit.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
While we are called to join God’s work of changing our hearts and renewing our minds, we are never expected to do it alone. The Holy Spirit is always at work too, helping to renew us in knowledge in the image of Christ, and this should give us hope. Moving on in verse 11
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Because of our union with Christ all distinctions are removed, including nationality, former religion, cultural and economic distinctions. Due to this reality, there is no excuse for not living in the new self.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
We are no longer slaves to sin, we are now slaves to righteousness. This however does not mean that we no longer have the indwelling sin nature. This unfortunately is worked outward when we give in to temptation. But we must understand,
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
This is the battle against the flesh that every one of us deals with personally. What do we do? Where is our help and our hope?
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
The Spirit helps us to abide in Christ so that our will aligns with God’s will, then we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.
As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.
So how do we walk by the Spirit and live according to God’s will? Well Paul begins to explain this very thing in verse 12-14,
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Putting on the new self means clothing oneself with appropriate attributes and attitudes. First we are to clothe ourselves with compassion which translates to, pity or sympathy, inward affection, and tender mercy. Next is kindness, meaning that our character should exude gentleness and goodness. Then we are to clothe ourselves with humility, or a humbleness of mind, and a high level of modesty. Next is gentleness, or having a mild manner and meekness. Finally we are to clothe ourselves with patience that is filled with forbearance and longsuffering. Paul goes on to say that we are to bear with each other. This means that we literally need to put up with one another, and endure because relationships are messy. Right? Finally, we are to forgive any grievances we have against others. We are to forgive as the Lord forgave us. Paul goes even further and says over all these virtues put on love, because love binds all these together in perfect unity.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
This is agape love, a selfless, unconditional, and sacrificial love that comes from God, fills our hearts, then is shared with others. Paul goes on to say in verse 15,
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
A huge benefit of putting on the new self is that the peace of Christ is able to rule in our hearts. The peace of Christ rules in our hearts because we are living our lives the way God created us to live. We are most human when we live in this way. Paul tags a little statement at the end of verse 15 that is really important, he says, “And be thankful.” Showing gratitude to the Lord is an act of worship that honors Him, and fills us with contentment, joy, and peace. We know that we have put on the new self and are walking in the Spirit when our hearts are filled with thankfulness unto the Lord. In verse 16 we are to,
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Living a new life in Christ requires devotional study, meditation, and application of God’s Word. The more we grow in our knowledge of God, the better we will love Him through faith and obedience. This love is also shown as we worship Him in song, with gratitude in our hearts.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This was important enough for Paul to include in his letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians. When we put on the new self, and live according to our new life in Christ, we can’t help but worship God with gratitude in our hearts. Finally, Paul gives his concluding remarks in verse 17,
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
When living our new life in Christ everything we do should be done for Jesus’ glory, and with thankfulness. Notice that in the last three verses “thankfulness” is mentioned in each verse. This reveals the importance of having a thankful spirit, this is very important for us to remember and live out. If it is important to the Lord, then it should be important to us.
New Life in Christ
New Life in Christ
Here is a recap of our time together in this passage. Because of Jesus’ finished work on the Cross, Christ followers are given a new life in Christ, and we get to:
*Set our minds on things above, not on earthly things.
*Put to death, whatever belongs to our earthly nature.
*Take off our old self, and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of our Creator.
*Be thankful with gratitude in our hearts.
*Have victory over sin
In this new life we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness and our lives are to be a reflection of that spiritual reality. Thankfully, we have help and hope knowing that the Holy Spirit is at work on our behalf. The question is will we join Him in His work? Will we choose to live every day in light of who we truly are in Christ, or will we choose to live in light of who we once were? Let’s pray…
