Colossians October 5 th, 2014 Colossians 3:1-8 Part Two

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1 Colossians October 5 th, 2014 Colossians 3:1-8 Part Two Paul has just spent two chapters in this book of Colossians telling us who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us. In view of the theological truths presented, Paul now describes the life we should live as a result. In chapters 3-4, he identifies five levels of relationship that a Christian has in his/her existence. 1.) The Christian and his relationship to Christ in the heavenly world. 3:1-8 2.) The Christian and his relationship to fellow Christians, the local church. 3: ) The Christian and his relationship to family at home. 3: ) The Christian and his relationship to daily work. 3:22-4:1 5.) The Christian and his relationship to the outsider, unbelievers in the world. 4:2-6 Can you believe it? Paul pretty much sums up the Christian lifestyle in the 30 verses that make up most of Col We make this way too complicated. How Then Should We Live, as described in a mere 30 verses of the Bible. Somebody ought to write a book by that name, it is catchy (someone did, Francis Schaffer). The Christian and his relationship to Christ in the heavenly world. 3:1-8 If we get our relationship with Christ the way it should be, all the other relationships listed above will flow easier. Our walk with Jesus seems to be a key for everything else working. Vs. 1 If then you have been raised up with Christ Paul assumes that those who read or hear his words have been born again from above. If that is true, then there are now four urgent commands that we need to practice doing according to Paul, in order to keep our relationship with Christ in the heavenly world on track. Last week we covered the first two. A. Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated (vs. 1). Keep seeking is a present tense imperative (that is, a command). This is purposeful activity. If Christ is who He says He is, then why is my life wrapped up, 5 days a week, with soap operas? Or prime time television (that I will boldly suggest is Satan s kingdom ambassador into your heart and home)? Some of that television time could be given over to a more wholesome activity in a purposeful Keep seeking type of day. For example, in the fall and winter months, Kathryn and I will read a wholesome book in the evenings 4 or 5 days a week. Between an hour or more of reading and dinner with the family, we don t have time for prime-time television. Last winter, we read Billy Graham s autobiography, Just as I am. Talk about a wholesome Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated! I usually read out loud to her. B. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth (vs. 2). This is also a present tense verb, keep setting. Instead of allowing sinful thoughts to wallow around in the mind, we should replace those with wholesome eternal matters. When Paul says that we should not set our minds on the things that are on the earth, he does not mean that the activities of human life can never occupy the serious attention of the Christian. Rather, he speaks about the things of earth as referring to the moral sphere. They are; vs. 5, immorality (Greek = porn ee uh), impurity, passion (lust), evil desire, greed, which amounts to idolatry; and in verse 8 as; anger, wrath, malice, greed, slander. These things are what Paul has in view when he commands us to not set your minds on the things of earth.

2 The things that are on the earth comes from the Greek phrase, ta epi tace gace = the things of earth, the exact phrase also being used in verse 5. The above two urgent commands were last week s lesson. We now move forward. Vs. 4-5 When Christ is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality (porn), impurity, lustful passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. C. Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to (NASB) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature (NIV) Mortify (subjugate), therefore, your members, which are upon the earth. (KJB) In my view, the NIV states the command in the clearest language for us to understand. Even though we have been set free, and are dead to the penalty of sin, and have been released from the power of sin to control us, yet being alive in this human body, there is that draw, that inclination, that pull from within that leads us down the wrong path. What Paul is saying here is that there is a way around that draw, that pull, that sinful tendency that comes from the flesh, that old earthly nature. It is no accident that Paul begins with Set your mind on the things of heaven. That is where the power starts, as we will see in a moment. But then, secondly, Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature. What does put to death, or Mortify, or Consider your members dead, mean? It means, DON T FEED IT! It means, STARVE IT OFF. So, in spite of our being born again, there is still a proclivity in the human heart to live for self, to live sinfully, and Paul instructs us that we should beat that back, kill it, starve it off by not feeding it. Mortify the body s illicit passions by abstinence. When I first became a believer, I thought that my temptations would be greatly lessened. And some of them were. But Paul tells us that the roots of those sins lie so deep within our heart, within our human nature, that they cannot be totally eradicated, therefore, it becomes the Christian s business to put those tendencies to death by not feeding them. That put to death verb is an ingressive aorist active imperative (a command). It means that whenever we feel that pull to sin, we take action (the ingressive aorist aspect of the verb) to put it to death. This isn t a one-time deal, it is ongoing. This means that we want to spend time sowing to the spirit, thinking on wholesome things, rather than feeding the flesh, which we should instead, starve it off. How do you do that? First, by practicing the things in points A and B above. If you want power over sin and its pull, your spiritual life has to be powerful and exercised, and vibrant, as a result of your feeding it. That means a daily setting on the things of God. That means that we need to give our spirit a meal, every day. Huh??? Yes, that is what keep seeking the things above and setting your mind on things above means. Take time every day for prayer, perhaps the reading of a Psalm and reflection on it. Study the Bible in some depth, at a Bible Study, at a Sunday School class. Read a chapter from the Billy Graham autobiography with your wife. Every day, start your day with some reflection on God, that is what I mean by giving your spirit nourishment, a meal. How many meals do we eat for our body every day? Daniel figured out that he should nourish his spirit 3 times a day as well. If we skipped eating food for a week, because we didn t feel like it, our body would rapidly weaken. It wouldn t be as healthy and vibrant. It would lose power. The spirit is the same way. If we decide to not

3 feed our spirit but one meal a week, it loses power, it loses vibrancy, it becomes weak, and along comes Big Temptation (you ve heard of big oil, big pharma, big whatever) and here is this little weak spirit trying to beat this Big Temptation and guess who wins? Can you see where this is going? The first way that one puts to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature is by doing the things of points A and B so that we have some spiritual strength to do so. Jesus referred to this same type of lifestyle in John 15 only He called it, Abide in me. Jesus talked about abiding in the vine, not abiding in the tree branch. Here s why. I used to have grape vines in my back yard, loved them, crawled up there and made myself half sick eating grapes. You can hardly distinguish the main branch of a grape vine with the branches that flow out from it. Jesus is a vine because His people, us, are supposed to be vine-y too. We are supposed to look like Him. It s easy to distinguish the tree trunk from the branch, but Jesus likened Himself to a vine because the vines that grow off the main vine look so much like the main vine that you can hardly tell where they split. What Paul describes as setting your mind on the things above and not the things on earth Jesus calls, abiding in the vine. John 15:5 even declares that if you branches remain in the vine, you will bear fruit, you will receive the nourishment that the main vine offers, that sap will flow into you little branches. In fact, you can t stop it! You can t spend some quality time in a deeper Bible study, in reflective prayer, in thinking about heavenly things and not get life-giving sap flow into your spiritual life. You can t stop it, it happens. Sap happens. Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature So, how do we put to death the things on this earth? First, by practicing the things of points A and B above, by getting to know Christ better, and if you have been here for previous weeks, by holding fast to the head, by walking in Him. That will strengthen us in the battle as we learn to love Him more. But there is a second point that we want to get on the table. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the weapons of the flesh, for our weapons are not what the flesh would use, but are divinely powerful, for the destruction of fortresses. Hence, we are destroying speculations, and every lofty thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. The word captive, is aichmalotizo in the Greek language. Aichma = spear. Lotizo = to lead away. In other words, to spear-lead away. In ancient days, when a country conquered another country, the top military would often take the leading citizens of the conquered country, and parade them through the conquerors home towns, with the point of a spear in their backs. This showed the locals who the victor was. This marching of the conquered people through the town with a spear in their back was spear-leading. If any of the prisoners got out of line, during the parade through town, they were jabbed in the back with the spear. In other words, they were spear-led through town, they were marched as captives, through town. Paul is saying, with the use of this term, that when we sense our mind being drawn over to some sinful action, say, porn, or contemplating an affair, or engaging in gossip, or theft, or lying, or the making of money via sinful activity and you suddenly find your mind waffling, and going, whoa-o, whoa-o, whoa-o, I m in trouble, then at that instant, we spear-lead that thought back in line. The thought process got off the right path, Paul calls for taking it captive, by spear-leading, that thought back to Christ. If we have been setting our minds on the things above, such that our spirit has some energy and

4 strength, then it is possible to put those evil thoughts away. That is how we can put to death the things that remain of our earthly nature. I have noticed, in my own life, that early on, when a temptation is forming, and getting a tighter grip on me, that God s grace will provide me with a window of opportunity. There will be some moments, or minutes, when I still have the mental strength to spear-lead the thought of sin out of the brain and take it captive to Christ. If my spiritual life has been strong on that day, if I have been setting my mind on things above, I will have much greater power over that temptation. In that window, that grace window of opportunity, that is my chance, spear-lead that thought away. Jim, don t think that way, don t roll that thought over and over back in line you thoughts, jab the thought life with a spear, take that thought captive to Christ. When we do this, we ARE putting to death the things that belong to our fleshly nature, we are mortifying our members which are upon the earth, we are following the imperative of verse 5 and starving back the grip that the sinful draw brings upon us. Every time you do this, the strength of that temptation weakens a bit. Maintain this spearleading activity in a given area and the battle gets easier. I should add that oftentimes, when we have achieved a great victory over a weak area in our life (sometimes called a stronghold ), such that we are relatively free from the temptation for months at a time, that the devil will leave us alone for a while. But then, after a period of victory, or perhaps spiritual weakness, expect a sudden battle over that area to crop up temporarily. Temporarily, that is, unless we cave several times (or once) to the temptation, in which case we must begin the battle all over again. [Note to Jim: tell story of girl with whiskey at my house. I was in college, engaged at the time, and one Sunday night, after visiting with my fiancé all day, this casual acquaintance, a moderately pretty female that I knew, showed up at my door with half a bottle of whiskey in her hand. In a minute, I found out where the first half of that bottle went. She hadn t been going to Kathryn s Saturday morning Bible Study on True Woman, so she didn t realize how inappropriate her behavior really was. At any rate, she wanted to visit so I let her in and we sat down in my kitchen. Now, don t bring up the lack of wisdom shown on my part for letting her in the door in the first place. That s a point in an entire different Bible lesson. Anyway, after about 15 minutes of discussion, she brought up boys and what they always wanted. I was sympathetic to her position and a little while later, she suddenly announced that she wanted to tour the house that I lived in at the time. She wandered through the house, Is this your living room? Yes. Then, Is this your bedroom? Yes. Then silence. About five minutes passed so I decided to see what was going on. I went to my room only to find a pile of her clothes on the floor and her, awake, under the sheet. Now when you hear this story, I want you to visualize 22 year old college student Jim in your mind, not happily married Sunday School teacher Jim. That college student Jim had not yet been gotten hold of by Christ. If you can picture the scene therefore, you can imagine what went through this guy s mind when realizing what was going on. There was one thing that provided me the strength to escape. I stood there at the door to my bedroom for about 5 to 10 seconds and thought, I love my fiancé. I can t do this. That love provided me the motivation to run out of that house. I went and helped my roommate deliver pizzas that night. If you can see how that single motivation, love for my fiancé, got me through that terribly tempting circumstance, then you can understand what setting your mind on things above and our love for Christ can do to strengthen our resolve to put to death the things that remain. And Jesus can send spiritual sap into our spiritual veins. If a person who has love for Christ AND has been setting his

5 mind on things above, there is a far higher motivation to put to death the things that belong to your earthly nature. ] Vs. 6-7 For it is on account of these things ( the things that belong to your earthly nature, i.e. immorality, impurity, lustful passion, evil desire, and greed) that the wrath of God will come, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. Paul reminds us that things we may not take seriously (because of a deadening of conscience due to cultural rot) are still things that the Lord God does not like. Notice also that Paul acknowledges that his Christian converts once wallowed in those ways of life. And yet, he urges them to overcome those earthly draws, kill them off, put them to death. In other words, he thinks it is possible to do so or else he wouldn t command it!! In case some of us think it isn t possible to overcome some of our powerful temptations, Paul did! And the time to do so is now, Paul declares. Repent of previous failures and get to seeking the things above along with mortification of earthly temptations. One more time why would we even want to do this? Because of Jesus, who He is, what He has done for us in salvation, and because of His claim over us, His granting a myriad of gifts (eyes, hearing, the enjoyment of music, legs, food, gifts of the Spirit, etc.), the gifts He has given are given to us. And we also owe Him because of the future glory we will enjoy. Thus, as Christ s ambassador, Paul tells us that the time to spear-lead, to starve off, to put to death those old ways is now. Don t lie in bed meditating on, rolling over and over again, dwelling on evil thoughts things such as how nice it would be to be with that other woman right now, or man. Don t let your mind dwell on those things. Put those thoughts to death. The person who gives up a drug habit finds that it gets easier and easier to starve out that desire, as he sets his mind on things above and spear-leads, that is, takes his thoughts captive. But the temptation, though reduced may not forever go away. Here is what a Christian man once told me, Oh, I had a year of victory over pornography on the internet. So I decided to just check it out a little bit again to see if anything had changed. In checking it out, he fed the temptation, he gave it new life. Here s the thing, it s hard to set your mind on the things above when a couple times a week or more, you are visiting the porn sites. I realize that immorality is only one of the earthly things of which Paul speaks. There are gambling addictions, drinking addictions, focused completely on money in an out of balance way, worshipping more as if getting more is the only thing in life. This more describes greed, which is the placing of material things above God and anything placed equal to or above God is idolatry. Thus it is that I do not want to limit these earthly things to sexual immorality. And yet, speaking as a male, I know the drive that exists in that arena for men and I am seeing in these days of American life, that it exists in women too. Before Kathryn, I was sort of in shock to find out what the typical girl thought when out on a date. It appears that our culture has brought about equal-opportunity sexual sinning. Before moving past this discussion of sexual immorality, please know that there are internet filters and online protections that those who feel that they need help in this arena can employ. The best 2 websites that I have run across for accountability and for help in this area are: and Copy one of those links your browser and check them out. You can get protection for the entire family, for computers, IPad, or mobile phones. Costs vary but Covenant Eyes has a

6 family flat rate that includes filters for $13.99 a month. I think that afo is less expensive. These filters and protections work, and they add accountability to the family s online activities. I ve asked Christian husbands if they would have any trouble staying off the porn sites if their wife was sitting beside them in the room. Many have said, No, I would have no problem staying away from porn if my wife were there with me. It strikes me that Jesus is sitting there as well but His invisible presence seems to be forgotten. Conclusion The best way to walk the Christian life, one that is pleasing to Jesus, it to both set our thoughts on things above and put to death the things that belong to the human nature. It doesn t matter what age one starts to begin this process. What counts is that we begin the path whether 6 years old of 85. I don t believe the adage, You can t teach an old dog new tricks. It s just harder with an old dog.