Hidden With Christ - Sanctification - Colossians 3:1-17 - HWC2

Intro

This is our identity - Hidden with Christ in God

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Being Before Doing

Subtopic

Doing out of Being

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

When Christ Appears

We believe that Christ is coming again

We also believe that Christ reveals himself through His Church

Two questions

If this is what our record is before God how do we reflect this to a world that needs to see Christ?

How do we grow as image bearers, as reflections of Christ?

This is called discipleship

Following the one who has called us

Its also the sanctification piece of the gospel on the ground

Being made holy

In Leviticus 11:44 God is giving His people the Law and He calls them to “be holy for I am holy”

And we believe that we do not only only have the law that shows us how to love God and man

We have Jesus! the fulfillment of the Law, the one who has perfectly loved God and man

Colossians 3:5-17 tell us how to do this, but first remember who you are in Christ

Read verses 1-4

PRAY

Put sin to death - VS 5-11

We see in this list a brokenness of relationship with both God and fellow man

We can easily begin to categorize these sins

Things I struggle with

Hierarchy

Sin of idolatry covers most of it

Root Idols

Control

Thankful for grace of COVID

Comfort

Power

Approval

Put to death by remembering our identity in Christ

The gift of the Church

We lose all other identities but we gain Christ

Putting off sin creates a void to be filled

Luke 11:24–26 ESV

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Jesus parable of the demon cast out goes and finds more to fill the void

This desire to put sin to death, or if you want to go old school, the mortification of sin, is the lesser of the two desires.

Killing sin is the means by which we gain the end of being with God

Put On Christ - VS 12-17

We begin to look like Christ by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit

The behavior of Christ

The character of Christ

The motivation of Christ

Putting on Christ means walking in the good works of Christ

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Putting on Christ will uproot idols

We must be explicit

It is change worked by God

If we do not boldly proclaim this it is moralism

Jeff Vanderstelt story of coworker who didnt know he was a christian

Moralism detracts from Christ

"On my own I can live"

What if we said "Yet not I but through Christ in me" to every compliment?

vs 15 "And be thankful"

Not just what but how

three times refers to thankfulness

Put on Christ by remembering our identity in Christ

The gift of the Church

Christ is Everything - VS 11 & 17

It looks like us becoming disciples

Becoming & Making

Paul Tripp definition of disciple

“For him, (a disciple) being part of the body of Christ is an identity that doesn’t just define a set of gatherings he attends but redefines everything in his life. Everything about him - his relationships, his work, his time, his money - is being transformed because he is part of the transformational community of disciples called “the church”. - Paul Tripp

Sanctification looks like Christ becoming OUR ALL, OUR EVERYTHING

Sole provider

Our Joy

Our identity

Not one of our identities

I’ll say this again because we need to hear it

Sanctification looks like Christ becoming OUR ALL, OUR EVERYTHING

Our sanctification, like our justification and glorification, points to Jesus