Evan Kirby – Colossians

As Dan said last week, we had the joy of celebrating salvation here at church, didn’t we? It was such a joy, wasn’t it? I hope you felt the joy in the room and the excitement as we heard stories of God bringing people from death to life to find life in Christ and as we watched many people declare their faith in baptism and confirmation. As Dan said, to go along with our celebration, we’re doing a two-week mini-series in the book of Colossians. Last week, Gary took us through one of the key sections in chapter 1, talking about how amazing Jesus is. This week, we’re moving to what I think is another key section in Colossians chapter 3. And whether you’ve been a Christian for three days or three decades, I want to say that the passage before us this morning is relevant to you. Colossians 3 is relevant to you because here Paul turns to a question and an issue that should be familiar to all of us.

I’m sure I’m not alone in having felt something like this before. I know that Jesus is my king and my savior. I know that he died on the cross. He paid for my sins before God. Because of him, I now stand blameless before God. And yet I still sin. We all still sin. Why do I keep on doing this? Why do I keep sinning? And how do I put sin to death?

The Colossian church was being told that spiritual growth comes through rules and regulations and religious practices and special teachings. But if you have your Bibles open, at the end of chapter 2 in verse 23, it’s the very last sentence, Paul says that things like this—rules and religious practices—they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. Rules and regulations are not the path to transformation and putting sin to death. This is where Paul is heading in chapter 3, which we’ll be looking at today and which Joe just read for us. He turns to the question, how do saved people actually change?

To answer these questions, we’ll look at Paul’s three commands which go throughout these verses. They are:

• Command one: Focus on Jesus because he is our life.
• Command two: Let the old go cold.
• Command three: Let the new shine through.

We’ll start with command one. Have your Bibles open because there’s a lot in these verses that we’re going to be looking at, whether it’s on your apps or on your physical Bibles.

Command One: Focus On Jesus Because He Is Our Life

Command one: focus on Jesus because he is our life. I’ll read verses 1 to 3.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:1-3

In these verses, Paul is commanding believers, he’s commanding us to make heaven our focus, to strive for heaven, to set our mind to heaven. This is what he means with the two commands: “Set your sights on the realities of heaven” and “think about the things of heaven.” Now, the things of heaven could mean a lot of things, but the most important thing Paul tells us about the things above, the things of heaven, is that this is where Christ is seated. This is where the supreme creator, the inheritor of everything, our king and our savior is now ruling and reigning. We see this in verse one. He says, “This is where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”

This is really important as we think about how to put sin to death and transformation. Before any specific commands, Paul says that Christian transformation begins with this reality that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord of everything. Christian transformation is all about having this as your overarching purpose and focus in life. And notice what Paul grounds these commands in. He grounds it in something certain. He grounds his commands in who God has made us to be in Christ. I don’t know if you noticed, but in verse one, he says, “Focus on heaven since.” Here’s the basis, the grounding: “You have been raised to new life with Christ.”

Not to state the obvious, but dead people can’t raise themselves to life. It’s something that’s impossible to do. This is something God did to them. We saw this earlier in Colossians chapter 2, verse 13.

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God—not themselves—God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
Colossians 2:13

We see in this chapter, it’s the same in verses 2 to 3. In verse two, he says, “Focus on heaven because,” verse three, “you died to this life and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.” What we see here is that when God saves us, he unites us to Jesus, to his son. His death on the cross becomes our death. His resurrection becomes ours. His glory, even as we see in verse four, becomes ours as well. This is what it means to have your life hidden with Christ. And we see it’s a life hidden with Christ in God. When Paul says it’s a life hidden with Christ in God, he’s saying that when we’re united to Christ, it’s as certain and unbreakable and unshakable as Jesus’s perfect, loving relationship that he has had for eternity with God the Father. It’s a lot to wrap your head around, isn’t it? It’s big stuff that he’s getting at.

Now, you might say, “So what? What difference does this reality make?” It’s fundamental. You see, every other religion, every other path to spiritual wisdom and maturity says, “Change yourself from within. Muster the strength and the resolve from within yourself so that God accepts you. Do this, then God will accept you.” But Christianity, what Paul says here, is that God has already raised you in Christ. He has securely united you to him. And so transformation, it’s a matter now of becoming who you are, who you already are.

And so when we’re confronted with the reality of sin in our life, our first response shouldn’t be despair. And neither should it be to instigate all these rules as if that’s all there was to the solution. We must start where Paul starts here. We must start by reminding ourselves of the reality here. We must tell ourselves, “My life is hidden with Christ in God, unbreakable, unshakable in glory. Sin is not who I am anymore. It’s merely my old self kicking up a stink as it dies the certain death. I live for Jesus.” That’s command one. Focus on Jesus. He is our king. Our life in him is certain. And what we see is that everything Paul says next flows from this reality. Christians, we don’t fight to become God’s people. We fight because we already are God’s people.

Let The Old Go Cold

And we see this in command two: let the old go cold. That is, let it die, put it to death. We see this in verse 5.

Sexual Sin and Immorality

Paul begins with sexual sin and sexual morality. He says:

So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
Colossians 3:5

Sexual immorality: Any sexual activity outside God’s design for sex to take place between one man and one woman in marriage. Impurity: the moral corruption that comes from behavior outside God’s design. We see those are about behavior. But Paul even goes beyond behavior to desire. Even evil desires and lust must be put to death. There’s no escaping it. These are unpopular words today, possibly even more so than they were in Jesus’s time. But pay attention to the word at the start of the verse: “So.” Everything Paul commands here is in light of what he said before: the reality that Jesus is Lord and that a Christian’s new identity and purpose are in him.

So the things we are to put to death must be contrary to this reality. Otherwise, Paul wouldn’t have commanded them. And here’s the reality that’s underlying Paul’s commands here. If Jesus is Lord and creator of the universe, the Christian must listen to him when he says that sex is reserved for marriage between one man and one woman. When Jesus and his apostles constantly return to the picture of sex and marriage we see at creation, this is what we must desire and live for as well. We must conform to this picture.

Here’s the other reality though in these verses. We have to remember there’s been an identity change. We have been raised to new life with Jesus. And so when your identity changes, what you love, what you desire, what you chase after along with your behavior and purpose, all of that changes. To give you an example of this, before we had our son Billy, I couldn’t have imagined giving up time, sleep, and freedom for this little helpless miniature human. I’m sure many of us have seen that or had a similar experience. But when my identity changed, when I became a father, suddenly what I loved and what I wanted to do changed as well. With love comes transformation.

Paul’s commands here are not rules simply for the sake of rules. He’s telling them, “If your identity and purpose are now in Christ, here’s how you live that reality.” That means living with him as your Lord, including the area of sexual morality. And so if this is true for us as believers, ask yourself, what do I need to put to death? Is it pornography, the sexual sin that is so prevalent and assumed as normal in our culture and world today? Is it feeling the pull of that affair? Is it desiring a relationship, any relationship outside of Jesus’ design for sex and marriage? Whatever it is, bring it to the light. Talk to a trusted Christian friend who can pray for you and help you put this to death. There is remarkable freedom that comes when we don’t hide our sin in the dark, but bring it to the light and confess it to God and one another.

Sins Against One Another

That’s the first list of behaviors that we are to put to death. The second list, starting in verse 8, focuses on all the ways that we tend to and are tempted to harm one another in our relationships, in our actions, and our words. In verse 8, Paul says:

But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.
Colossians 3:8-9

All of us, I’m sure, have heard and maybe seen how damaging fits of anger and rage and violence can be to people for their whole lives. How damaging it is to relationships. How it damages people’s trust in other people. We also, all of us have probably heard that saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” It’s nonsense. I want to say words like these—slander, coarse language, and the deception of lying—just like violence, but maybe not to the same degree, but just like violence, they can damage people for a lifetime as well.

It’s obvious none of these are fitting. None of these are befitting for someone whose Lord is Jesus, whose Lord is Jesus, the Prince of Peace himself. And so, brothers and sisters, it’s time that we put these things to death as well. These things are no longer who God has made us to be in Christ. Which of these is God convicting you of today? As I said for sexual sin, don’t wrestle with this alone. Seek counsel, seek prayer, and bring it to the light.

Let The New Shine Through

That’s command two. And it’s heavy, isn’t it? But Paul wants us to know this, so we have to wrestle with it. We now come to command three which is to let the new shine through: put on the new self.

Putting On The New Self

From verse 10, Paul paints a picture of what the new self in Christ is to look like. In verse 10, he says we are to be “renewed as we learn to know our creator and become like him.” And in verse 12, we are to put on the new self because “God chose us to be the holy people he loves.” And so what we see is as with the command to put off, everything here is about living out the certain reality of who we are in Jesus, not as individuals alone, but as brothers and sisters in community. Everything we’re to put on is consistent. It’s harmonious. It befits Jesus and who God has made us to be in him.

For is not verse 12 a perfect description of how God treats us in Jesus in the gospel? “Clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” To walk through these: God’s mercy in Christ means he doesn’t give us what we deserve, does he? And so when we’ve wronged each other, when we hurt each other, our first question shouldn’t be, “How do I get even?” It should be to ask, “How can I show this person the kind of mercy that God has shown me?”

Moving along. God’s kindness, in his kindness, is what gave us his son. And so when we’re together, instead of asking, “What can I get? What can I receive?” we should be asking, “What can I give?” Humility. Jesus humbled himself, didn’t he? To serve us, to serve our greatest need by dying on a cross. So in our life as community, we follow him by putting the needs of others ahead of our own. And God is endlessly gentle and patient with us, both when we were dead in our sin and even as we seek to live the new life in Christ, struggling with sin. So we extend that same gentleness, that same patience to one another, trusting that Christ is still at work in them as he is in us.

I’m sure this is why Paul is writing this. There’s no doubt as we do all this, as people get to know each other and do life together and serve together in community, that there’ll be conflict and disagreement. That’s part of being human. I’m sure if you’ve worked or even been around church, you’ve felt that reality. And I think this is why Paul gives us verse 13. He says, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” You’ve probably heard the saying, “Hurt people hurt people.” Paul’s logic is the same here, but it’s grounded in the gospel: forgiven people forgive people.

And if that wasn’t beautiful enough, Paul tops it all off with love in verse 14. If we think of the new self as an outfit, Paul says love is the vital accessory. It completes and ties the whole outfit together. Without love, the whole outfit doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t work. It falls apart. In verse 14, he says, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” It’s important to say this is not wishy-washy love, just love that is positive feelings to someone else. No, here Paul is talking about a gospel-shaped love, costly, other-person-centered, a love that seeks the good of the other.

As we follow Christ, we have him as an example of how to live. We look to him for the pattern of how we’re to relate to one another. And what’s even more exciting is as we do this, even in just our behavior, in how we relate to each other, we have the opportunity to shine the new self into the world, to shine the goodness of Christ and the gospel in how we relate to each other. And so again, ask yourself, which of these Christlike attributes do I need to put on this week? How do I need to put on Christ? Look through the list again. Pick one or two for the week and pay attention to it in your life. Be on the lookout for it in your heart, in your thoughts, and in your actions. And as you reflect, ask yourself, how would life be different if I let the new shine through?

Our Life Together In Christ

Here from verse 16, Paul shows us that one of the main ways Christ transforms his people is by being together, is by our life together. I’ll read it again.

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
Colossians 3:16

What we see is that transformation happens as we teach and encourage one another. This means we don’t come to church simply to catch up over good coffee. As good as the catchups are and as good as the coffee is—shout out to the coffee team—we come so that Christ’s word can be amongst us, so that we can fill our lives together with Christ’s message. As we talk about God’s word, as we share where we’re struggling, and as we remind one another of the gospel, we encourage one another to follow Jesus. This is how Christ is working to renew his people. He does so by his spirit in his people.

Paul also says the message of Christ ought to fill us as we sing. I was thinking about that reality as we were singing this morning. We were singing such fantastic songs. We’re so blessed by the music team. But how often do we catch ourselves—I know I do—thinking of the singing that happens at the start of church as just time to make up for the fact that we were late or time to park the car. It’s a trap because Paul says our singing is not just praise directed at God. It’s truth, God’s truth that we speak and declare to each other. As we sing God’s truth together, we encourage one another to keep trusting Christ. So don’t miss the songs. We don’t want to miss out on your voice strengthening us, strengthening the faith of the people around you.

Both these commands—seeking to be like Christ and having his message fill us—are vital. God has given these to us so that we can let the new self shine through both amongst us and into the world.

Conclusion

To bring this to a close, last week we celebrated people being confirmed and baptized. And both are declarations of the truth that we’ve looked at today. The old me has died. My life is now hidden with Christ in God. But what we see in this chapter is that baptism is not the finish. It’s not the finish line. It’s the beginning of a new life, a life that is focused and fixing its eyes on Jesus. We keep putting the old self to death. And we keep putting on the new. And we don’t do it alone. We do it until the day Jesus calls us home or until he returns. As we read in verse four, “When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

And so, brothers and sisters, the answer to the question, “How do we actually change? How does a saved person change?” is simple, but it’s also profound: become who you are in Christ.