REVIVAL CHANGES OUR FOCUS

Revival Changes Our Focus!

Colossians 3:1-10

Well, Welcome back!

Prayer

If you have your Bibles with you, and I hope that you do, open it with me to the New Testament book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 3. If you are unfamiliar with Colossians, you can find it if you locate the books of 1 & 2 Corinthians- Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians then you will find Colossians - Colossians chapter 3.

Sunday we learned about the powerful story of Jonah and how he needed to be revived which brought the revival in the hearts of the people of the great city of Nineveh.

We learned from Jonah that revival will come to us when get real with ourselves. When we get right with God though repenting and coming clean with God, seek forgiveness.

Then we must get up and go.

We are a people who are called to go and to do the work of God. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jonah, the apostle Paul and the Disciples are just a few in the Bible who were called to get up and go do the Work of God. We also must get up and go.

Then last night we learned how revival brings a great awaking. For a great awaking to come we must live as enlightened people of the hope of God’s calling, for the glory of God’s riches of His inheritance and to realize the greatness of God’s power that lives within us.

We learned that we must lean on the Holy Spirits power to overcome the world.

WHICH BRINGS US TO MESSAGE;

REVIVAL CHANGES OUR FOCUS.

If you are there in the book Colossians 3:1, begin reading with me from verse 1. This is the Word of God, and it begins like this:

1“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

I love how the apostle Paul closes out this section of his letter, because it tells us a little about the world that surrounds the Colossian church.

Now we all know that the Church in all of its glory has never really gone without persecution in some form or another.

During Paul’s first imprisonment he wrote this letter to the church because of the report that was given to him by Epaphras. Who was likely the leader of the church at Colossae. Of course, there were false teachers saying that Jesus wasn’t God and that centered of the Church. Many of the believers who came to know Christ by faith, were now questioning if Jesus was the true Messiah and Son of God.

Paul points out that believers come from all different places of society, all different backgrounds of life and if we are in Christ, and Christ in us, we are equal no matter who you are.

Paul states that if you are a believer in Christ you have died with Christ; therefore, we must die to our worldly sins.

We have also been raised with Christ; therefore, we must live well in Him and put on qualities that are motivated by God’s love. And because He is Lord over-all, the life of the believer is a life of submission to Jesus.

That brings us to question: And that question is: Are you following Jesus as you should be?

You see our faith in Jesus Christ should transform the relationships we have in every area of our lives, in our homes, our churches, and our world. So, we see that this part of the letter is reviving the church of not only of who Jesus truly is, but also who we are in Christ Jesus.

As Paul said there are no “Greek and Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free; but Christ is all and in all.”

WHICH BRINGS US TO OUR TAKE HOME TRUTH THIS WEEK:

TRUE REVIVAL COMES WHEN WE CHANGE OUR FOCUS FROM US TO GOD.

In the beginning of this letter the Apostle Paul shares a prayer that he has with the church, that the Colossians believers would be filled with the knowledge of God so that they can then walk worthy of the Lord. In chapter two Paul again speaks of this walk “as you have received Christ walk in Him.”

I think that most of us live life without a thought to being renewed in Christ. But in verse 10 we see that Paul speaks of the newness of life that comes to all who believe, and he speaks of the need to be renewed in the “knowledge of Christ” to believers, to the church. Verse 10 “You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created Him”

I know that we can get a little lost, when the devil gets in and causes us to have doubt, when people try to pull us away from God by enticing us to do worldly things and we do it. We step away for living for God to living for ourselves and we need to be reminded and often renewed of who Christ is and who we are in Him.

In today’s scripture we find that the Apostle Paul gives us a three-step action plan for revival. And if we put this plan into action, we can be continually revived and refreshed in the Lord.

THE FIRST STEP OF THE ACTION PLAN- IS TO TURN OUR ATTENTION TO CHRIST.

Paul makes this pretty clear that we need to focus our lives on Christ.

Look at verses 1-4 with me: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

The knowledge that completely transforms us comes from what is above, as we look to Heaven God the Father and God the Son.

In my first Church it had 12 members left and the Pastor was retiring, after meeting him, he became a close friend and mentor of mine.

We talked often throughout the week, and I think that I did as much for him as he did for me. There was one thing that he said to me each time before ending a call, ending a conversation, or departing from me was Tim “Keep looking up”.

Keep Looking up! What Great advice.

Keep looking towards Christ. And that is what Paul is telling the church, they had issues in the church from false teachers giving them false truths about living Godly, teaching their own culture, teaching of the world rather the Word. Even Paul considered it to be hearse.

So, Paul says set your heart on what is above- set your mind on what is above. Protect your soul because we will appear with Jesus in Glory. This is a threefold knowledge that tells us that revival and life comes from above, not from the world and that in our walk with Christ we should be looking towards Him. As Paul says it “seek those things which are above.”

Jesus spoke about seeking what is from above when he said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 “SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD”

Meaning that God should be first in our lives.

This past winter summer we visited two of our granddaughters. The oldest often asks me to play hide and seek with her, she would run around that corner and count, 5,10,12,16,22, 30, 50 ready or not here I come pop pop!

Have you ever played hide and seek?

I think we all have at one point in our lives. When I was growing up that was the game of choice in my neighborhood. Seeking who was hidden from us. Seeking those who we couldn’t see, but we knew they were there.

We don’t see God physically, we see Him through His Word, we see Him through His creation, we see Him through the work of the church and many times we see God through others.

Paul says that we should seek what is above, and that is Jesus. We may not physically see Him, but He is there. We don’t need to look any other place than where He is.

Last night we learned that God’s power raised him from the dead and seated Him at the right of God the Father.

In Acts chapter one, it records Jesus ascending into heaven on a cloud, the angles said that He will come back just as He left.

In the last book of the Bible, in Revelation chapter 19, in the end it describes Jesus coming back from above “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”

Jesus is in heaven and if we are going to grow as Disciples of Him, as followers of Him we need to make Jesus our life then we must seek HIM with all our heart, all our minds and all of our soul, we are to run after HIM like a child after the one who is found.

We must fix our eyes on HIM, seeking Him at all costs.

REVIVAL COMES WHEN WE CHANGE OUR FOCUS FROM US TO GOD.

If we are seeking revival our focus must be on Christ. We must Keep Looking up!

THE SECOND STEP IN THIS ACTION PLAN IS THAT: WE MUST GET RID OF THE OLD.

Look at verses 5-7 with me: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds”

What is it about old stuff? I went through my clothes a while back and I found several pants that there is no way that I was ever going to go back to that size, shirts that I had been hanging on to that I wasn’t going to wear, yet I was hanging on to them, or what about holding on to the old stuff in our lives?

I find it interesting that people seem to hang on to the things in the hopes of one day either needing them or one day using them, but that day never comes.

Paul says don’t hold on to the old way of life that separated you from God to begin with.

That old life is just cluttering up and in the way of the newly restored you. Let’s be honest how many of you have stuff in your life that you need to get rid of?

Paul says we are to “get rid” of these sins from our old lives, the sin that characterized us before Christ.

It’s a trap by the devil- to continually keep us down and keep us in sin.

Have you ever seen the show Hoarders?

The show is all about people who cling to things and even eventually the house is packed, and they only have paths to walk through in their home. Often when they clean out those houses, they find dead animals buried under all that junk.

It reminds me of us spiritually. Our closets are often full of the junk from our old lives. Our dressers are overstuffed with the memories of the Good Ole Days. But the truth is those old days had just as much junk in them as these days do, but we hold on to the old life and for what?

Notice the words “to put off” this means to put off or disrobe. The old, filthy, ragged clothes must be taken off before the new clothes can be put on.

The believer removes the old life of sin and puts on the new life of Christ, His robe of righteousness.

These are all things that prevent us from seeking Christ who is above. And we must get rid of them for us to truly seek God with our heart, mind, and soul.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:1 to “let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us.”

You have died as Christ died, yet Paul knows that there is still struggle. The Church did the sin, they were dead in their sins, just like we have been dead in our sin. By accepting Christ and having a new heart, being buried in baptism there is still a struggle to remove the old life and to live in the Glory of the new Life.

The Apostle Paul makes two statements about the past life of believers.

First, they once walked with those who practiced such sins.

Second, they lived in such sin.

Much like us today… AMEN?

We need to break free from the dead weight that keeps us in sin and by doing so God revives us. As believers we must be willing and actively overcome the desires of our sin nature. We have died in Christ and yet we are still alive in the world- therefore we must consider the old lifestyle that we lived as dead and buried.

Paul first deals with the sins of the flesh “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry” But also he speaks to us to deal with misused anger that often spilled over into evil speech.

Look at verse 8 “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.”

How many of us need to learn how to let go of these 5 anger issues?

Pastor and Writer, RC SPROUL SAID: “All of our life is Religious or none of it is Religious.”

So, we must put away the following:

1. Anger. A continuous attitude of hatred that remains bottled up within. This could refer to what is under the surface, while “rage” (below) refers to what bursts out. Anger would destroy the harmony and unity Paul called for among the believers.

2. Rage. Outbursts of anger or quick temper for selfish reasons. This could mean continual and uncontrolled behavior.

3. Malicious behavior. Doing evil despite the good that has been received. This word is a general term referring to an evil force that destroys relationships. It can mean anything from trouble to wickedness. It is a deliberate attempt to harm another person.

4. Slander. Destroying another person’s good reputation by lies, gossip, spreading rumors, etc. Malice often manifests itself through slander.

5. Dirty language. Crude talk, abrasive language, expletives.

Paul admonished the believers that such language must be caught and stopped before it escapes their mouths.

These behaviors have no place in any believer or in any church. These are parts of the “old life” before knowing Christ.

To be revived we must “put off” these sins of anger and speech so that we can “put on” Christ’s attitudes and actions. Paul goes on to say that we have to put these old lifestyles to death -to bury them because this is what God in Christ came to save us from look at verse 7 Paul says, “you once walked in these things when you were living in them.”

But now Paul says they are no longer in control of your life because of look back to verse 4 “Christ who is our life.” In order for us to continually seek what is above, which grows us and changes our lives – we must continually Put away the old ways of the world which holds us down and keeps us from the Life of Christ.

THE FIRST STEP OF THE ACTION PLAN TURN OUR ATTENTION TO CHRIST. SECOND, GET RID OF THE OLD.

THE THIRD STEP IN THE ACTION PLAN FOR REVIVAL IS: WE MUST PUT ON THE NEW SELF.

Look back at verse 10 with me “put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,”

Having a revival in our lives means that we turn from the things that have caused us death and to turn to Him who has given us life.

The “old nature” was each person before he or she came to know Christ. The person was enslaved to sin, bound to the earth, without hope.

But believers have clothed themselves with a brand-new nature that must be continually renewed, revived, and restored. The “new nature” from Christ frees us from sin, sets our hearts on “things above” (3:1), as Paul presents to us in verses 12-17 tender mercies,kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, Bearing one another, forgiving, love, and the peace of God, which love is the greatest.

This is a changed behavior from looking at the worldly things, desires, and sin, to seeking what is above and dying to self, revealing that Jesus is your life even through your interactions with others.

This changed behavior brings a changed position, we have become children of God and God restores His children. Just as the words “Putt off” means to put off or disrobe. The Words “PUT ON” is mentioned twice and it is the idea of changing one clothes to illustrate that transformation in the believer.

It means literally to put on the new you- the robe of righteousness that can only come from above through Christ.

Jesus was speaking to His disciples and said these words, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matt 16:24)

The Christian walk is a life of denial to self and anticipation of the relationship with God. What Paul is describing is basic training for the believer.

Did you know that the purpose of basic training for the military is to take the person that you were and break it down to the core of who you are then rebuild you for the purpose of being obedient so that there is no fear of fighting in war and becoming obedient even to the point of dying in war.

This is exactly what Paul is talking about taking apart the old you and making you into the new disciple, so that you can live the life that Christ has for you even after death. As we said on Sunday; God is God is second, third and fourth chances, tonight you must know that God is a God who revives His people.

REVIVAL COMES WHEN WE CHANGE OUR FOCUS FROM US TO GOD.

We must focus on Christ who is above. Second, we must get rid of the old wordly things. Third, we must put on the newness that can only come from above.

INVITATION