If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye 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 whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Colossians 1:1-17
So we’re going to stop there. So chapter three, I mean we could break it in three different parts. In first part, verses one through about four, Paul states our position and our identity, which is with Christ.
And Paul tells us the things that we are to put off. I like to think of it as a concept of, the way that he writes it, it’s almost as in putting off old clothes and putting on new clothes. So we are to put off all the sin, to kill the sin in our lives.
So let’s look at some of the supporting verses here. So we’ll go to
Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
So many people identify with so many different things of this world. But our identification is to be with Christ. When others see us, they should see Christ in us.
People see other individuals who are not believers, and they see, or sports is his life, or wealth is his life, or college is his life. And earthly things have a place, but our focus and our mind should be on the things above. And I do want to emphasize what Paul is saying in Colossians, is to put our mind on the things above.
Let the Holy Spirit work our heart. So we were justified when we came to know the Christ. But we are in the process of sanctification now.
So our bodies are not glorified yet. But we will achieve at that point. But the purpose of the Paul’s letter is, how do we grow in our walk with Christ, and how do we let Christ reflect in our life.
So others can see it. We are to be light and salt in the world. So let’s look at some of the, let’s start with what we are to put off first.
Colossians 3:5
Therefore put to death your members which are on earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is adultery. So a lot of these are sexual sins, and they’re actions. So Paul is telling us here to put those off.
And he lists these very specifically. But then in verse 8, But now you yourselves are to put off all these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. So here he’s talking about words and our tongue.
Our tongue has a lot of power. And with it, we bless our father in heaven as the scripture tells us, but with it also people curse other people. And in the book of James, we are told to control our tongue.
But it’s one member of our body that is very hard to control. So let’s look into some verses here. So we’ll start at verse 12.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved. So we are the elect of God, holy and beloved. That is our position in Christ.
When he talks elect here, he’s not talking about the Calvinistic concept that specific individuals were chosen to be elect of God. He’s referring here to the new man. Anyone who comes to Christ who is a new man is the elect of God.
So these are the qualities that we’re to put on as a new man. So the old man is dead. I like to think one of the biggest concepts that comes to my mind when I read this chapter is baptism.
So we radically identify with Christ through baptism. So when we’re immersed, the old man dies and a new man is risen.
Colossians 1:13-14
So put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.
If anyone has a complaint against another, even if Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is bond of perfection.
So here Paul is telling us how to deal with others.
All these qualities deal with our relationship with other people. Humility, meekness, kindness, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. So God has forgiven us all our sins.
And when we constantly sin, we sin, people sin all the time. But God has mercy and grace to forgive us our sins. But we see so many people that can’t forgive others when they’ve wronged them.
So if God has forgiven us and continues to forgive us every day, why can’t we forgive others? And the other thing that I would like to call out is that the devil likes to get a hold of people through anger and malice and resentment. He wants us to hold on to these things. He wants us not to forgive people.
He wants us to be bitter. He wants us to be angry. He wants us to be discouraged.
And not to look to God and forgive others and restore those relationships. So I would just encourage everyone here tonight, starting with myself, is to remember to forgive others because we are forgiven. And then I would like to look at the few verses on when it says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Sing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. But also, there’s an important verse over here that I skipped over. I read it but I would like to reread it and look at some of the supporting scripture on it.
Do not lie to one another since you have put off old man with his beads and have put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of him who created him. So how are we renewed in knowledge? Let’s flip over to Psalm 119 verse 105. So verse 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
So let’s look at Psalm 119:9-11
How can a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed according to your word. So how are we renewed in knowledge?
We are renewed in knowledge by continually being present with the Lord.
And how are we present with the Lord is through studying his word. We are left with the scripture and that is our guide. That is a lamp to our feet.
And that is how are we to live our daily lives. Many people turn to psychologists, psychiatrists, which all have their place. But they look for answers and they don’t find many of the answers in their life because they’re looking in the wrong place.
No one can generate a new heart except Christ. So our outlook on life should be that we are dead to sin. Sin is what separates us from God.
And sin is what puts us at enmity with God, at conflict with God. So if we’re putting off these behaviors, we are living with the Lord and conforming to his image. So we are being sanctified and awaiting his second return, which is what it talks about when it says here.
When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. And what a day that will be when we appear with our Lord. And that is a promise.
That is a hope that we have as believers, every single one of us. Sorry, I’m a little bit jumping all over the place tonight. But I do want to go back to verse 5. Therefore put to death your members, which are in earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is adultery.
So as I said, these things are sexual sins and they’re actionable sins. But it calls them here, which is adultery. And why does it do that? It’s because we are engaging in these sins and we are satisfying the desires of the flesh and worshiping the sins.
And that’s why it calls it adultery there. Now let’s go back to verse 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.
So the word dwell there is one of the key words in the verse. And what does dwell mean? It means to reside and to live in place. And Christ is all the wisdom and knowledge.
All is hidden in Him. And we have that access. And how amazing is that? But it also calls us here to be admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
What we put in our minds has a lot of effect on our soul and our spirit. So many people think, you know, music is just harmless. I can just listen to whatever comes up on the radio.
But words, as the scripture tells us, have power. And we have to be very careful and guard our minds. What are we letting in our ears? And how is that manifesting in our life? And it says, So to sum it up, whatever we do, all of our actions and thoughts, everything we do to others, should be consistent in the name of the Lord.
I would like to talk a little bit more about setting your mind on things above, not on things of this earth. So what it’s telling us here is that we all have homes, we all have jobs, and we all have responsibilities that we need to take care of. But this home is not our home.
This is not our permanent place. Our home is in heaven. And that is our eternal home and citizenship with the Lord.
And that’s where we are to put our minds on, is to seek those things which are above, the things that are pure, the things that are just. But also to share with others the hope that we have in the Lord. I would like to look at verse 17.
So another verse here on how the word is the guide. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.
So how do we get sanctified? How do we conform ourselves to the image of Christ? Holy Spirit regenerates us, but we continually must be present and study God’s word, so we know what the truth is. There are so many false teachings out there, and on internet, and in churches, everywhere. But how do we know what the truth is? Well, God has left us the truth.
It’s in this book. John 17, 17. So sanctify them by your truth.
Your word is truth. And what a powerful verse that is. And how amazing that God has left us.
I’m going to call it the equipment to succeed in life. He has given us the answers. We just need to use them.
We just need to look to them. It’s all at our disposal. I was listening to one of the hymns on television the other night, and it was marching to Zion, and the pastor had said before he started singing the hymn, we are the most hopeful, we should be the most hopeful people on the planet, because of our hope in Lord Jesus Christ.
He has made us a promise, and he is coming back, and his word doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. So what a hope we have in him, and how amazing that is.
I know it’s easy to get discouraged by life, by hardships, but also those are the times that conform us to the image of Christ, the trials, and how we respond to those. So if anything I will leave you with tonight, is to remember that we are people of hope, and to just share that hope with others. Let’s just close in prayer.
Lord Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray that your word would dwell in us richly, and that we would put off all these filthy sins, that we would kill these sins in our lives, and that we would put on the new man, and that we would let our light shine for others to see, and that they would glorify our Father in heaven. Lord, you are our hope, and our everything, and our home is with you. I just pray that you would help us share with others the hope that we have in you, and stand firm in that truth, and not compromise.
Help us not be ashamed of the cross and the gospel, but help us proclaim it boldly with others, as we know it is life and death. We all think we have so much time left on earth, but no one really knows when the day is coming. So we pray that your Holy Spirit would guide us, and move us as we meet with the people the rest of the week, and that we would be able to share with them the hope that we have in you.
Be with us now, and help us have a blessed rest of our evening. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.