"Raised with Christ"

Colossians Series; 2/20/11

Colossians 3:1-17

Introduction: Last week this story, Breakfast at McDonalds, was e-mailed to me. I believe it sets us up for what Paul wants to teach us in Colossians, chapter 3. So, let me read it to, because I believe it is more powerful in her own words...

"I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was very inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called 'Smile.' The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions. I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone, so I thought this would be a piece of cake. Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonalds to share some special time together. We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, including my husband and son. As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling.' His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's light as he searched for acceptance... He said 'Good day' as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation. I held my tears as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted, and he said 'Coffee is all miss.' That is all that he could afford (if they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. They just wanted to be warm). The I really felt it- the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed that all eyes were set on me, judging my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the table where they were sitting, and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me and said 'Thank you.' I leaned over, began to pat his hand, and said: 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.' I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son... When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, 'That is why God gave you to me, honey, to give me hope.' We held hands for a moment and at that time we knew that only because of the grace of God given to us were we able to give to others.

In this chapter Paul challenges us to set our minds on the things above, to put off our old sinful practices, and to seek to teach one another the way of Christ!

I. Set your mind on things above- (Colossians 3:1-7; Matthew 6:19-21; Philippians 4:6-7)

Let us start by reading Colossians 3:1-7, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.”

a. Heart and mind- Paul knows that our hearts and minds control

our feelings and our thinking, which in turn determine how we live our life. This is something Jesus, Himself challenged us with, when He said in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our heart determines what our greatest desire is. Our heart leads us to act. We may say we want to do something (like go on a diet), but then we see this dessert we like and we decide to eat it, because in reality our hearts desires to enjoy the dessert more than it desires to lose the weight.

With this in mind, we can understand Paul’s words, when he tells us to set our hearts and minds on things above, not on earthly things. This is a continuation of what Jesus said in Matthew 6. Paul wants us to understand that the things of earth are temporary, and will disappoint us. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, idolatry are not only unhealthy for us and will not satisfy us, they are temporary and will fade away. We are to set ourselves on that which has eternal impact. Why? Because we are now in Christ, and should value the things of Christ.

b. Put to death- So we see that we shouldn’t desire the earthly things.

But how are we to overcome our desires? Paul tells us to ‘put to death.. whatever belongs to your earthly nature.’ We are to put our desires ‘to death.’ Now we can’t exactly stab our desires, or shoot our desires. So how do we put them to death? We put them out of our mind by dwelling on the things of God. We RID ourselves of them. As Paul says in Philippians 4:6-7, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.” THINK ABOUT SUCH THINGS. What you put into your brain will ultimately move to your heart, and will live there. You have to find new things to desire by dwelling on them regularly.

Illus., Stories for the Heart, p. 144, “Act of Love.” There is a story of a little girl who came home from school one day all excited to tell her mother what had happened. The girl began to tell her story, but when the mother realized that the story was going to be a long one, she asked her daughter if they could finish it later. The mother got the dinner ready, and then after dinner the phone rang and the mother had to take the call. When she finally hung up her daughter asked her: “Mommy, do you really love me even in if you don’t have time to listen to me?”

We show what we love by what we make time for. To put to death our earthly desires means we don’t make time for them, but rather make time for the things of heaven; the things of eternal value. So to do this, we have to understand what has eternal value. We have to understand what are to treasure in heaven. We have to understand what are the things above.

The only way we can do this is to see what Christ valued; see how Christ lived. And when we look at the life of Christ, we see that He valued relationships, starting with His relationship with God the Father. Christ valued prayer. Christ valued ‘loving others.’ Do you value these things?

II. Put off old practices- (Colossians 3:8-14)

Paul continues in this thinking in verses 8-14: “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. ¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

a. Evil practices- Not only are we to rid ourselves from our earthly

desires, but we are to rid ourselves from our evil earthly practices. Paul gives us a list of some of these practices: anger, rage, malice, slander, lying and filthy language from your lips. I think it is pretty obvious that the characteristics on this list are not what God would have for us. On top of this, they are not what would help us in our life or our relationships.

It is really like putting off our clothes. If you were wearing clothes that were terribly dirty, and that smelled bad, you would not want to keep these clothes on. You would take them off so that you could put on new, clean clothes! So, our old self is dirty, and stinky and needs to be put off, SO THAT WE CAN PUT ON SOMETHING NEW.

b. Godly practices- vss. STORY (via internet: “A Voyaging Ship was

wrecked”) A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island. The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit.
After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, and more food. The next day all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing but a little food.
Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered. As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"
He responded: "My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them. His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything." "You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings." "Tell me," the first man asked, "What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?" The voice of God said to him: "He prayed that all your prayers be answered."

How do we know that the prayers that are answered for us were not answered because someone else is praying for us? Our problem too often is that we are like the first man, only caring about ourselves. This regularly leads us to our evil practices. Paul tells us to ‘put off’ our ‘old self,’ and ‘put on’ our ‘new self.’ Then he precedes to give us a list of some of what is included in these new clothes we are putting on: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, forgiveness and patience.

These characteristics can only be put on if we take our eyes off of ourselves, and put our eyes on others. We have to open our eyes and look for situations where we can be kind, forgiving, compassionate. Actually, we don’t have to look too far or too hard to find these opportunities. I’m sure if you think back on your week, you will realize the times you had an opportunity to show these qualities to others, and in fact, you might be already doing this. If that is the case, then this passage is just a reminder to keep doing what you are doing.

III. Teach one another- (Colossians 3:15-17)

We finish up by reading verses 15-17: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And 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.”

a. Message of Christ dwell in you- So we have this message of Christ

dwelling within us. It is there in a way that we remember daily. It is the message of love, and compassion, and forgiveness. It is with us in a way that we cannot forget, because it is part of who we are, since we have put on these new clothes.

I might have mentioned this before, but one of the turning points for my life was when I read a book called “The Practice of the Presence of God.” It is written by a monk, who talks about how we are to constantly be in conversation with God. In being in this constant conversation, we are then more aware of Christ’s message in our lives. We are more concerned with what we are to do and who we are to be.

As we have this message of Christ within us, we also experience the peace of God in our lives. Peace is an important aspect of life. Without peace we struggle to enjoy life. Without peace we worry more and trust God less. Without peace we feel at odds with our life. With peace we are comfortable with who we are and what we are called to do. With peace we believe that all things will work out for the good. With peace we can recall more readily the message of Christ!

b. Word or deed- But Paul reminds us that we are not just to have

the message of Christ dwelling within us; we are to teach this message to others. When Paul talks of teaching, he is not just referring to those who have special gifts of teaching, but he is speaking to all who follow Christ; all who have the message of Christ within them!

If you were to look at Jesus’ life, the amazing thing is that most of Jesus times of teaching were not in the synagogue, but in his every day traveling around. Think about it for a minute: As you take a quick look through the gospels, you see that Jesus was teaching as he called the disciples (telling them He was going to make them ‘fishers of men.’); He taught the Beatitudes on the top of a mountain; in fact, Matthew, chapters 5 through 7 were all taught from this mountain top. We travel some more through the gospel of Matthew and see Jesus teaching the disciples by His calming the storm; later the disciples of John the Baptist come to Him and ask Him about fasting, and He takes the opportunity to teach them right there (He doesn’t say: ‘Come to the synagogue this Friday and I will be teaching on that). And on and on it goes. If you were to take away these “interruptible” moments of Jesus’ life, you would see very little teaching and ministry going on.

What does this mean for you and me? When I say that we are to teach the message of Christ to others, I mean that we do it in our every day lives; we do it with our words, ‘yes,’ but also our deeds. We teach someone about the love of Christ when we walk with them in their pain and struggles. We teach people about forgiveness, when we forgive them, or when they see us forgive others.

The truth is, our message is more powerful when it is lived out, as opposed to just being spoken. When we come to church each week, we speak a message of being committed to worship. When we serve in the church, we speak a message of giving away ourselves to others. When we help others in a time of need, we speak a message of how God has time for people as well. ‘And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.’

Conclusion: If you were to say, ‘that person is a changed person,’ what would you mean by that? Usually, this statement means that a person has improved who they are as a human being. Maybe they were making poor choices, but now they are making choices that not only benefit themselves, but others as well. When Paul tells us in Colossians 3:1, ‘Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is…,’ Paul is telling us that we are changed people. We have died to our old life and have now been raised to a new life.

What is this new life? It is what we have talked about in chapter 3: being committed to Christ in our hearts and minds; putting off our sinful practices, and being more Christ-like in our behavior; practicing godly behavior; and seeking to teach others about who Jesus is, and how Jesus calls us to live our lives.

Let us commit ourselves today to live as those who have been raised with Christ, and let us do it with our words, and with our deeds, in thanksgiving for this new life God has given us in Christ. Amen.