Christ is All in All

lines out the basic truths to our Christian lives. Spirituality is not a withdrawal from this world, but is living Jesus’ life in the world.

ILLUSTRATION

A famous preacher of an earlier day wrote a book about his early search for a full life in Christ. He told of his struggling for holiness - hours of prayer for purification from selfishness and wrong desires. He told how he guarded his every word and action, struggling to bring them into conformity with God’s will.

Finally exhausted by the pursuit, he contracted TB and spent a year in a sanitarium. There he met a young woman of his denomination who was recuperating from the same disease. She seemed so tranquil and pure. He watched her for weeks and became convinced that she had found the secret that eluded him. One night as he struggled in prayer, he felt he could wait no longer. He rose to find her, determined to ask for the way to peace.

Before he could leave, there was a knock on his door. There she stood, her face contorted as her body shook with sobs. “Brother Harry,” she gasped. “I’ve watched you all these weeks. If anyone has found the secret of holiness, it’s you. I’ve got to know!”

APPLICATION

Spiritual Reality - This true story illustrates the deep frustration many have felt in their search for an answer to the age old question of how does a human being find fullness of life? How do we experience the reality of Christ and know the meaning of life? How do we experience the reality of Christ and know the meaning of a Spirit - filled life?

Prescription Promised Short Cuts

Special experience: As a result of a dramatic moment, the Holy Spirit’s power will flow unimpeded for the rest of your life, eradicating sin and lifting you up to a full life. (promise from freedom, struggle, being lifted to a higher plane).

Special Knowledge: appealing to our feelings that there must be something more to the simple message of Christ than meets the eye. We expect to find special knowledge through learning to read Hebrew and Greek. How attractive it is to feel that knowledge sets us above others and brings us closer to God.

Ritual Observance: Fullness is obtained by careful keeping of prescribed rituals and taboos. We keep everything within prescribed rules. Soon we have a well defined list of traditions that define every situation and tells us what is pleasing to God. This leads us further away from Relationships and fellowship with Christ.

Self Denial: Pushing down desires, controlling the body by severe fasting or punishment, and being suspicious of anything associated with the material world. It seems so spiritual to escape this life to an ethereal plane! Christianity is a walk of discipline but it is not discipline for discipline’s sake.

Licentiousness: Belief that our bodies are a part of the evil material universe, it doesn’t matter what they do. They can indulge every fleshly desire, for whatever is done cannot contaminate the spiritual element within.

In contrast to these shortcuts, Paul encourages us to think in terms of gradual renewal and growth. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians was that they would bear fruit in every good work 1:6, and live in Christ rooted up in Him 2:6.

How does Christ become our All in All?

1. Apply All the knowledge of Christ to our daily lives

3:1-4

The First Element - of the knowledge of God’s will is literally a knowledge of what God has willed us to do. God has made himself and his word known to us in the Word.

PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE: ability to apply what is known to daily life, and see it’s implications for our choices and actions while God Himself is producing the Holy Spirit’s fruit in our personalities even as we are active in every good work.

The Gospel is Practical: in fact, we should not expect spiritual fullness to be marked off by its striking difference from ordinary living! Remember Jesus’ incarnation? What set Him apart during the early years? He was a Man among men. He laughed. He enjoyed companionship. He ate and drank like other men. He was so much a man that His own people did not recognize Him.

v. 3-4 To be hidden with Christ in God is a call to Holy Living, the fullness of living our relationship in Christ, is to be sought in the context of ordinary lives in this world. The the things that attract us and excite us belong to heaven, not to the earth. Our motives and strengths come from heaven not earth.

Knowing the Bible is not the Key - Applying what God has revealed in our daily lives is what counts.

Knowing what we should do is not enough - it is putting what we know into practice to live a life worthy of God.

There is a direction to growth (but the change is often imperceptible day to day.)

Direction of Growth

NEW POSITION: believers have died positionally in Christ. This happens at conversion. The verb here expresses what has already taken place; ‘if then you were raised with Christ...’ Believers on conversion are transferred from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God.

NEW AMBITION: ‘Seek’ is a doing word’ and therefore implies effort on the believer’s part, so the Colossians are to ‘be constantly seeking’ the good and holy things: the divine and spiritual things won for them at Calvary. The Big Idea here is reflection on and interest in heavenly things: ‘set your mind on things above’ (v.2).

NEW LIFE: Paul appeals to Colossian believers to make sure that they leave their old lifestyle behind and embrace the way of eternal life now that they are bound up with Christ forever. We have been raised with Christ to a new life where earthly regulations and concepts of spirituality are to be set aside. Our attention is to now be fixed on things above, on Jesus, for it is only in Him that our real life can be found.

NEW HOPE: There will be a farewell to the old world, a vindication of the gospel and their trust in Christ, and a victory over death and hell. Just as the bride wants the world to know whom she loves, so the church wants all of creation to know that she is in love with Jesus Christ her Savior.

Apply all the Holiness of God to our Daily Lives

TWO WAYS OF LIFE

One Flows from Evidences of Earthly Nature

The other flows from Evidences of Holiness

It may surprise you to read that holiness starts with a negative action: Therefore put to death...’ (v.5); later we have the positive side: ‘therefore… put on’ (vv. 12-17).

We possess a fallen human nature, but the call is to subdue the passion and power of the flesh.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 ESV

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Sinful Self-indulgence (vv. 5-7)

sins of the flesh, mind and heart are mentioned in this list.

Sexual Immorality: Sex outside of marriage

Moral Impurity: Uncleanness’ of all kinds has an inward reference to mind and thoughts.

Passion - is lust that uses others for self gratification.

Evil wicked desires - is cravings for evil things.

Covetousness - not a reference to stone or silver gods but to a greedy heart.

1 Corinthians 6:16–18 ESV

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 6:

Those who do these things are called sons of disobedience facing God’s wrath and unrepentant sinners will feel the just wrath of God.

Sinful Intolerance (vv. 8-9)

Anger: is the slow and gradual rising of emotion which increases to a white heat like that of a roaring furnace.

Wrath: is the sudden and passionate outburst which, having boiled up quickly, is let out.

Malice: is an evil attitude of mind, which is inclined to injure others and desires to do them harm.

Blasphemy: is language directed against another and it can be directed at God or man, but in this context it is the latter.

Obscene Talk: Filthy language, foul of obscene words directed at others, especially those who offend or appose you.

Lying - includes half-truths that convey the wrong impressions, exaggeration and distortion of the facts.

Intolerance is personality-directed and self-motivated. It is aimed toward those we dislike or disrespect and it is often intended to protect our reputation or aid our preservation, or dare I say it, simply to annoy and offend someone.

They take us back to our old life and they grieve the Holy Spirit. The believers only recourse is to ‘put off the old man with his deeds’.

*Paul is now asking Believers to put off the Old life in Practice.

BY REGENERATION CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW LIFE

BY SANCTIFICATION BELIEVERS HAVE A NEW LOVE