The PASSION Blog

Preached on 25/9/2011

When we come to Jesus Christ for our salvation we receive a new life with many blessings. We receive forgiveness for our sins, we come into relationship with Jesus and we receive eternal life. However, it is not a destination, but the beginning of a new life and journey with Christ.

If we have a look at the New Testament book of Colossians, we find a passage that talks about living the new life in Christ. When we look through chapter three we see that it gives us some pointers to help us live effectively for Jesus. Today I want to share some of those points.

But first let’s have a look at the text…

Colossians 3:1-17 (NIV)

1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.

Message Points

As you can see the text naturally breaks into four sections. I have pulled out four points to help us live more effectively for Christ.

1. Focus on heavenly things (v1-4)

Verses 1-4 talk about things like setting our hearts and minds on things above. Verse 1 uses the term focus our hearts on things above. We are drawn towards things we love. We do nice things for those we love. Verse 2 uses the term setting our minds on things above. It is a deliberate focussing of our thoughts towards God and His Kingdom. There is a separation of heart and mind in this passage. Why? Because with our minds we work things out, with our heart we love things. It is the core of our love centre.

When we focus our hearts and minds on heavenly things we see God’s bigger picture. We still may have problems and struggles along our journey, but if our focus is on heaven, our lives take on an eternal perspective. We are able to be lifted above the current struggles that face us today. Much like I can see further if I go and stand on Merredin Peak, than if I look Westward from Barrack street. Viewing our lives through an eternal perspective gives us peace and comfort and a sense of purpose. It reminds is that we have a destiny and that we are part of God’s grand plan.

As I have shared before, I love the line from that great hymn Amazing Grace – when we have been there 10,000 years, we have only just begun. After 10,000 years we have only just scratched the surface of eternity. We need to remember death is not the full stop at the end of the book, it is the full stop at the end of the first chapter. Our lives must therefore have an eternal perspective. We must focus on heavenly things if we are to live out this new life in Christ.

2. Put off your old earthly nature (v5-11)

It is interesting that at the start of this passage it says in verse 1 that “Since then you have been raised with Christ…” As Christians the Bible tells us that we have died with Christ when we asked Him into our hearts and lives. We are identified in His death. We are also indentified in His resurrection. We are given a new life in Him.

At the moment we received Jesus into our hearts and life the Holy Spirit washes us clean and gives us a new nature. Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us because of his mercy, and not because of any good things that we have done. God washed us by the power of the Holy Spirit. He gave us new birth and a fresh beginning.” This is known as the Doctrine of Regeneration. It is a work of God that the Holy Spirit does in our lives when we come to Christ. This work includes receiving the Holy Spirit to indwell us and empower us. Romans 8:11 tells us that it is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. We have resurrection power living inside us. It is this power that helps us to live this new life in Christ and put off some things and put on some things.

Putting on the new nature also means we need to get rid of some of our old habits and behaviours that belong to the old nature. These include “having nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires”. It also says we need to throw off anger, rage, malicious behaviour, slander, and dirty language. If you look carefully at this passage you see there are five things of the flesh and five things of the mouth that we need to get rid of. Flesh = sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Mouth = rage, malicious behaviour, slander, and dirty language.

Getting rid of these things may take time, but if we feed the new nature and allow God to work in our lives, they will slowly drop away. We need to feed our new nature by reading the Bible, by spending time alone with God praying and spending time with others who follow Christ. In many ways it is like buying some new gym equipment. If you set it up and do a workout, you are now a weight trainer. But it takes time and regular workouts to look like someone who does weights. However if you persist and work out for about five years you will look fit and like someone who does weights. Consistent and persistent training brings results. It is the same with spiritual growth and putting off the old nature. If we work with the Spirit and do the right things, we will see growth and the old nature’s habits fall away. This is the second part of living our new life in Christ.

3. Clothe yourselves with heavenly attitudes (v12-15)

Verse 12 says, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience”. As we saw in the last point there was five things of the flesh and mouth we need to put off. In this section we see five things we need to put on. They are compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

It is interesting to note that these are the things called the fruit of the Spirit that Galatians 5:22-23 talks about – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. There is also the Words of God from “Be Holy for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

I love the analogy of clothing ourselves. It says we need to put on these attitudes and behaviours on like getting dressed. In the same way we have to out off our old fleshly behaviours, it is a conscious decision to put these things on. I remember when I first came to Christ I read an analogy of our nature of being like two dogs – a black dog and a white dog. The black dog is our old nature with all its habits. The while dog is our new heavenly nature that we received. It really stressed the importance of feeding the white dog to make it strong and healthy. As we grow in our faith in Christ by feeding the new nature, we will see these heavenly attitudes of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience start to happen automatically.

4. Be Christ’s heavenly representative (v16-17)

The Bible tells us that we are no longer citizens of this world, but are citizens of heaven and of God’s Kingdom (Ephesians 2:19, Philippians 3:20). We are to act like members of God’s Kingdom and be his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). It is our new role in this life. Verse 16 says the best way to be Christ’s representative is to “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives”. When we let the message of Christ’s love, Christ’s teachings and Christ’s death on the cross for us fills our lives, we want to live for Him and let other know about Him. When we are full of Christ’s love it has no choice but to outflow on to those around us. Like Jesus said in John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” Streams of living water are a natural outworking of faith in Jesus and the new nature that we are given. As we have seen we need to do the right things to let this new nature flourish and flow out.

This section finishes off with verse 17. It reminds us that whatever we do or say we need to be conscious that we are Christ’s representative. We need to remember that we are the only Bible many people will read. How will people know we are Christ’s ambassadors? We will let Christ’s word dwell in us, we will be people of peace, we will be thankful people who sing songs of praise and gratitude, we will teach and encourage each other, and we will do everything we do in Jesus’ name. In short all of the things found in verses 15-17!

Summary

I really like how this passage starts and ends. It has bookends – Set you hearts and minds of things of heaven (v1-2), at the end it says to remember that we are Christ’s representative in this world. In the middle it talks about putting off your old nature and putting on your new heavenly nature. It is all about living the new life in Christ.

1. Focus your heart and mind on heavenly things
2. Put off your old fleshly nature
3. Put on your new heavenly nature
4. Be Christ’s heavenly representative in all you do.

Prayer

Dear God, please help me to live my new life in Christ in a way that honours You. Please help to focus on heavenly things and spend time doing things that feed my new nature. I pray that You will help me to clothe myself with mercy and kindness and to be a worthy representative of Christ to those around me. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.