Growing in Christ - Chosen by God.
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Intro
Intro
We are beginning this morning and setting off in a bit of a new direction now. It is a good direction, a direction of specific growth.
Who has set out to hike across a long stretch of fresh deep snow?
It is a daunting task to be sure. Even snow that is only covering the top of your boots can be a chore at times.
As you look forward you, it seems as if you are looking into uncharted territory.
As you stand and look over the the smooth untouched plain there are many different directions to go but only one that will ultimately lead you to where you need to be.
As you set out across the plain it may seem like you are not really getting anywhere until you look back and see the tracks of where you have been.
This is often to same feeling that we get when we begin to move forward in our relationship with Jesus.
Growth in Christ is a process and we often don’t see it until we are looking back.
With that idea in mind.
What does it look like to really begin to move forward in our relationships with Jesus?
For the last couple of weeks we have been looking at the commands that Paul writes about what it is that believers are to put off, to put to death.
These are things that don’t have a place in a life that is focused on Jesus.
A life that is focused on the heavenly things, the things that are above.
There is a shift in focus. We are to put off the old self and to now put on the new.
We must remember this is a process. It is also important to remember though that it is a forward moving process.
Through our text today we will see how by intentionally putting on the traits that Paul lists we will grow in Christ.
Putting on.
Putting on.
Paul begins verse 12 saying Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
This part of the conversation is continuing and growing out of verse 9-10 where Paul started the picture for us of the changing of dirty clothes for clean ones.
Put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self.
The idea here with the things that Paul is telling believers to put on, is that we are to wrap ourselves in them. As if wrapping yourself in a giant blanket, wholly covering yourself.
Put on then what is holy, what is just, what is righteous. The things that are above.
The clothing imagery that Paul uses here is to urge the community of God’s people in Christ to cultivate virtues that will shape the community when they are put into practice.
The things that believers are to put on all have a purpose.
A significant aspect of the virtues that Paul mentions is that are often attributed with or associated with Jesus.
They are all things that Jesus modeled and taught during His earthly ministry.
Paul speaks of the idea a bit more bluntly in Romans 13 when he says
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
If we have been saved, born again into the new self, identified now with Christ Himself, it is also necessary to put on the virtues that characterize Jesus.
If Jesus is truly the ruler of your heart, your desire will grow and grow into a desire to be like Him.
There is a greater point in all of this as well.
It is not to be a good person.
It is not to be a good group of people.
It is however for the purpose that the community of Christ would show Him to the world around them.
Putting off bad things, and putting on good, if only done to be a moral person does not get to the point.
God does not call us to morality, God calls us to Jesus.
Morality will not get you to heaven, only Jesus will.
That is why we
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
And in turn, by intentionally putting on the the things that Paul lists for us here we will as believers grow in Christ.
God’s Chosen People.
God’s Chosen People.
The start of this whole process begins with God.
We saw from the end of verse 11 that this new self and Christian community that is formed by individuals putting on their new selves crosses boundaries of religious, ethnic, and social status.
All are welcome to join in this community.
This is shown in also in how Paul refers to the believers in Colosse.
God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
This is a direct reminder of God’s work in salvation.
This points directly to the fact that it is God who does the work, God who makes the offer of salvation.
It is by His initiative that anyone is saved. He gives the embrace of unmerited favor, the gift of grace.
This reflects the standard that God set in the Old Testament by choosing Israel as His holy people.
Through the events that led up to the exodus, giving of the law, and entering into the promised land, God was at work creating the nation for Himself.
It was God’s decision to choose them and form them into His people. The whole reason that they are considered holy is because God chose them to be such.
6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
2 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
With the new covenant though there is a change. Through Jesus, God now forms his new covenant people by choosing, or electing, individuals from both Jew and Gentile, remember verse 11.
All can now be placed into this special group of people referred to as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians and Philemon The New Morality (3:12–14)
God’s love confers value on the elect, but the idea of election can be misunderstood if we are not mindful that we have been elected for service, not for our personal benefit. Christians have been chosen in Christ (Eph. 1:4), who is the Chosen One (Luke 9:35; 1 Peter 2:4, 6); and, like Christ, they have been chosen for the benefit of “the world whose welfare they are to serve.”
It is to be a source of encouragement. As you place your faith in Jesus, know that it is for a purpose.
God has a plan, it is for the benefit of others and ultimately for His glory.
God chooses people and expects them to respond as such.
This is the whole reason that we are able to respond though is because we are chosen by God.
When we intentionally put on traits that fall in line with this calling, we will grow.
God’s holy people.
God’s holy people.
The next designation of God’s people is that they are considered holy.
I eluded to this in the fact that the Israelites were considered holy because God chose them to be such and this also passes into the new covenant people.
The word holy in Greek has the idea of being dedicated.
In this context, dedicated specifically to God, dedicated to service to Him.
In the Old Testament, this often comes across as having characteristics of moral or ritual purity depending upon the context.
The base idea is to be set apart.
In the new covenant, in reference to God’s people, it shows them to be reserved for God and God’s service.
Being a part of God’s chosen people brings responsibilities.
Relating this idea to other aspects of life, what other examples can you think of as being part of something bringing about responsibilities?
People chosen for public offices have a responsibility to lead well.
People chosen to be a part of a team have a responsibility to the team they are chosen for.
If you work with a group of people, you have a responsibility to get work done to help support one another.
Bringing it in to the realm of the church. Those who claim to be Christians, and are part of a church have a responsibility to the church and their fellow members.
The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians and Philemon The New Morality (3:12–14)
As those who are chosen by God, they must choose their behavior. They are to be the living advertisements of what God’s grace does in human lives.
Being referred to has God’s holy ones also brings with it notes of assurance.
It is assurance that in Christ, Christians are now members of God’s chosen people.
Being set apart for His service depends not upon our goodness, but solely up God’s grace.
Being set apart is not based upon our lovableness, but solely upon God’s love.
How easy is it to love a great big teddy bear? Pretty easy.
How easy is it to love that person who never has anything nice to say about anyone? Not so much.
God’s love though doesn’t pick and choose.
The basis for Christians being holy though comes from our relationship with Jesus.
1 Pet 2:4, 6, then 5
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
If you notice verse 5 wrapped in between the two references to God’s chose one, Jesus.
We are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Our growth comes by intentionally becoming like Jesus, the living stone.
Remember this is a forward moving process.
Our faith, our lives, all we do as Christians should have a forward moving, God focused purpose.
God’s beloved.
God’s beloved.
This is because as Christians we are God’s beloved.
Paul uses this word here to further describe how God relates to people.
Paul’s letter here to the Colossians is expressing the same concepts as was shown true of the people of Israel and now true of all believers.
Beloved here in our passage is a verb.
It is in the perfect tense, so it has past reality with ongoing results.
This is important because it is a continuation for the phrase, it continues to show God’s work.
God is the one doing the work of loving those who don’t deserve it.
Paul gives an example of this when he quotes from Hosea in Romans 9
25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
This is a divine love, a love that is found in the new community that God has created through Christ.
The significance of this term though comes by its connecting believers to Jesus.
This word in particular is used repeatedly to refer to God’s infinite affection for Jesus, His beloved Son.
When Jesus was baptized
17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
At the transfiguration
5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
I would like us to take special not though of the quote from Isaiah in Matt 12.
18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
Jesus was God’s chosen beloved servant.
This phrase now connects us to Jesus.
We are also now, as believers in Jesus, God’s beloved.
13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
and
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
These are the affects of being loved by God.
Just a little rabbit trail quickly, how often do we say thank you for this?
We are a people for God’s own possession.
We have been called out of darkness into light.
We have recieved God’s mercy.
We are chosen as firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification.
Our ties with Jesus are significant because that is the way that God has made for us to have a relationship with Him.
Our ties with Jesus are significant because identifying with Him is the basis for growing in Christ likeness.
Our identification with Jesus is the only reason that we can intentionally put on the traits that Paul is listing in the second half of this verse.
Conclusion
Conclusion
All of this that we have looked at so far is the basis that Paul lays out for growth in Christ.
Looking at the call to put things on. It is not a passive act.
The christian life is not one a passivity. We are called to do so much more.
Not because we have to in order to be saved. But because the transforming power of Christ in us will compel us to do so.
Because we are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
The work of Christ in us, growing us into the image of His son ought to cause us put on the things that Paul lists for us. Compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
This is only done with the help of the Holy Spirit.
It is so important that we not to look at these lists as simply do’s and don’ts.
There is so much more to the equation, Paul is not simply telling us to be moral people.
The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians and Philemon Contemporary Significance
We should never confuse being moral with being Christian, but we cannot claim to be Christian if we ignore morality. A lukewarm morality can hardly damp down the scorching flames of heathenism. Our behavior as Christians becomes an advertisement for what being in Christ does to a person’s life.
When we make choices each and every day to intentionally put on Christ, we make steps to grow in Him.
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