Jesus Helps Us Grow. Colossians 3:1-17

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1 Jesus Helps Us Grow Colossians 3:1-17 This passage beautifully expresses the dual reality of our lives. At the same time both of these things are true: You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God Put to death therefore what is earthly in you Colossians 3:3,5 In Christ, your old self is already dead - it was nailed to the cross with Jesus at the moment you put your faith in Him. If you belong to Jesus then your sin is not ON YOU anymore, it fell onto Jesus - all of it - and was crucified and buried with him. But in the very same breath Paul commands us to put to death what is earthly in us. Spiritually, we ARE dead to sin and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. But physically, sin remains in our hearts and lives and we are in a daily battle with it. Maybe a better way to say it is that POSITIONALLY believers are righteous, holy and pure in Christ but PRACTICALLY we are still weakened and stained by sin. It s good to think in terms of POSITION. Before you trusted in Jesus, you were dead in your sins. And you, who were dead in your trespasses God made alive together with him. Colossians 2:13 That was your position before God. That is where you stood. You were IN your sin. The picture for me is of someone struggling in quicksand and rapidly going under, like Princess Buttercup in the Fire Swamp. Sin enslaves. It captures you and draws you under. The non-believer is IN his sin and has no hope of escaping it. and placing us into a new position IN HIM. Of course we know that Buttercup was rescued from the lightning sand because Wesley dove in after her, pulling her out on his back. And that is a perfect picture of what Jesus has done for each of us. He dove directly into the quicksand of our sin to get us out. Unlike Wesley, Jesus had to die to save us. But save us he did, lifting us out of our sin

2 Look at the insert in your worship program that says In Christ I am and listen to what it means to have a new position in Christ: To the saints in Christ at Colossae He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (1:2,13-14) Consider these words. The believer is no longer IN SIN but has been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of Christ. Jesus rescued you from the quicksand of sin and lifted you up into HIMSELF. Your position before God is no longer dead in sin but is now alive in Christ. And in Christ you are no longer defined by sin but now you are a SAINT - a holy one. Let that truth sink in. Listen to chapter two: You have been filled in him In him you were also circumcised having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith God made alive together with him (2:10-13) The One who fills all things has filled us with Himself - with His Spirit. He circumcised our HEARTS - as we learned last week - changing us on the inside, taking our cold, stubborn, hard hearts of stone and giving us HIS HEART of flesh that loves God and delights in His Word. We have new desires and thoughts because we are new creations IN CHRIST. Your old self was buried WITH CHRIST and a new person was born at the moment of saving faith. You were raised to life with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places. This is the wonderful and central gospel doctrine of our UNION with Christ. Do you see how the Gospel is much better news than you thought? Yes, our sins are forgiven. Yes, we are declared righteous so that God only sees the perfection of Jesus when he looks at us. But the reason that all of this is true is that the believer has been united with Christ - you have become one with Him by faith. Our goal this morning is twofold, based on two exhortations: to believe the Gospel and live worthy of it. First - BELIEVE the Gospel. Listen to the quote you have in your program: The battle is not to conquer sin. The battle is to believe the gospel - that Jesus has conquered sin. Jonathan Dodson, Gospel Centered Discipleship If you think that your job is to conquer sin by yourself, in your own strength, you will live a frustrated and guilt-ridden life. The battle is not to conquer sin. That is impossible. The battle is to believe the wonderful truth of the gospel - that Jesus already HAS conquered sin. He paid the penalty for sin so there is no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus. And he broke the

3 power of sin over us - setting us free from our old self with its passions and desires, and giving us a new heart with new desires in which His very Spirit has come to dwell. So our calling every Sunday and our mission every day is simple: to BELIEVE the Gospel; to rest in this truth; to let the wonders of God s grace fill us with gratitude and joy as we worship the One who saved us and made us His own. Then the second part is to live worthy of the gospel. Here is how Paul prayed for the Colossians in chapter 1: Asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1:9-10 This is all God asks of us - these two things. This is the daily struggle of our lives. To believe the gospel and live worthy of it. Let s fill up on the gospel again this morning so that we may live WORTHY of the Lord Jesus - who loved us and gave himself for us. First, brothers and sisters, Believe the Gospel! Believe the Gospel Jesus Christ is Lord If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 The first truth of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ IS LORD. His resurrection proved once and for all that He is who He claimed to be - One with the Father, the eternally divine creator of the world who rules over all things by the word of His power. He is, right now, seated at the right hand of the Father, in the position of supreme authority - the Prime Minister of the Universe. Do you believe this? Deep in your bones do you believe that Jesus IS LORD? Do you see how our fear and anxiety is a failure to believe this single truth? If Jesus is Lord and we belong to Him, what do we possibly have to fear? What can mortal man do to us? Our Lord is seated at the right hand of God - and, beyond that, you and I have been raised up with him and are seated with Him in the heavenly realms! V. 3 - Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Whom shall I fear? I know who goes before me; I know who stands behind; the God of angel armies is always by my side. The One who reigns forever; He is a friend of mine; the God of angel armies, is always by my side. Believe this central truth of the Gospel: Jesus Christ is Lord. Second, You have been united with Christ by faith. V. 4 Believe the Gospel Jesus Christ is Lord &

4 You have been United with Christ by faith When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4 This is what Paul spelled out in detail in chapter two, as we ve already seen. The One in whom the fullness of deity dwells, the One who fills all things - 2:10 You have been United with Christ by faith You have been filled in him In him you were also circumcised having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith God made alive together with him (2:10-13) Do you believe this? You are no longer IN YOUR SIN - you have a new position IN CHRIST. Only because of your faith - only because you called on Jesus name; not because of your sparkling personality or zealous efforts but all by God s grace, you have been united with Christ - buried with him, made alive with him, raised up with him and now seated with Him in the heavenlies. So now Jesus Christ IS YOUR LIFE. Listen to the four facts of your union with Christ: Since you have been united with Christ: 1. Your old self Died with Christ 2. Your new self came to Life with Christ 3. You are becoming like Christ 4. You will be glorified with Christ The Lord of the Universe is now the center of your identity. You are not your own, you have been bought with a price. You are One with Jesus Christ Himself. This is the essence of the Gospel. Do you believe it? First, your old self died with Christ. Since you have been united with Christ: 1. Your old self Died with Christ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God You have put off the old self with its practices. Colossians 3:3,9 We talked about position. You were dead in your sins, trapped and being drawn under to inevitably die in your sins. That was your situation, your condition apart from Jesus. But he dove into your sins, bore them on His own body and died. And when Jesus died, your old sinful self died too and was buried with Him.

5 So where are your sins now? Are they still on you? Not if you are in Christ! Are they in some storage vault waiting to be brought out on judgment day? Not if you belong to Jesus! If you have put your faith in Jesus then your sins were nailed to His Body on the cross and sealed away in that tomb 2000 years ago. It is so important for us to understand and believe this truth! You have died You have put off the old self. You are not enslaved by your sins, nor are you defined by them any longer. That is not who you ARE, it is who you WERE. We heard a statistic a couple of weeks ago that 43% of women today have had an abortion. That is a staggering number and it doesn t include those who use the morning after pill - so the actual number is much higher than 43%. 2 of every 5 women you see have put their unborn baby to death - and they live every day with the guilt and shame of that immensely selfish act. Imagine that was your story - either as the woman having the abortion or the man encouraging her to kill that child. How it would haunt you. How that single act would try to define you. How could you ever escape the guilt of it? You ended a human life. You - the mother who should have defended your child with your own life - you killed your own baby. Now, hear the gospel in Colossians 3:3 - You have died. You have put off the old self with its practices. You are not defined by that sin or any other sins you have committed. All of your sins were nailed to the cross of Christ and you do not bear them any longer. They are not on you, they are not in you, they are not awaiting you in the future. Jesus paid it all. He took your sins upon Himself and the old YOU was buried with Him in the tomb. Your old self is dead. Whatever YOU have done - hear that good news! That old you is dead and gone. That s not YOU anymore. Since you have been united with Christ: 1. Your old self Died with Christ 2. Your new self came to Life with Christ If then you have been raised with Christ your life is hidden with Christ in God. You have put off the old self and have put on the new self Colossians 3:1,3,9 Since you have been united with Christ you not only have a new position in Him, you have a new IDENTITY in Him. You are a totally new creation - you have been BORN AGAIN. Now you can say with Paul, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. Or elsewhere, If we have been united with him in a death like his we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. You have put on the new self. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. This is what defines you now - nothing in your past can define you any longer. Not your failures or your successes. The fact of our spiritual birth should encourage the humble and humble the proud.

6 Did you contribute anything to your physical birth? Do you look back on that moment with a lot of pride in your own achievement? I was nearly born in a car travelling at 60 miles per hour. Probably the only reason I wasn t born in the car is because I tried to back into the world instead of the usual head first exit most of you commoners settled for. So I don t claim a lot of credit for that particular day. I give dad credit for breaking the speed limit and getting us to the hospital. I give mom most of the credit for carrying me for 9 months and enduring a breech birth. And I give the doctor some credit for somehow getting me out of there. Your old self died with Jesus and a new person was born, raised up with Jesus. This is not something you can take any credit for. After all, you were DEAD in your sins when Jesus came to save you. The One who is the resurrection and the life breathed His life into your lifeless soul and awakened you. Do you believe this to be true? Oh brother, sister, believe it! Believe the gospel! Your old self died with Christ and your new self came to life with Christ. Third, you are becoming like Christ. V. 10 Since you have been united with Christ: 1. Your old self Died with Christ 2. Your new self came to Life with Christ 3. You are Becoming like Christ You have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:10 Jesus, who fashioned you in your mother s womb and who re-made you spiritually when you trusted in Him - this Jesus is the pattern or mold into which you are growing. You are a masterpiece of God that He is shaping more and more into the image of Christ. Sometimes this chiseling process is painful - just as a potter must work the clay; just as a blacksmith must heat the gold to purify it, so God uses heat and pressure to mold and shape us. But God is committed to the final outcome. He is not going to leave us like so many of my halffinished art projects. He is going to work with you throughout your life to make you more like Jesus. You are becoming like Christ. God is doing this work, but we must cooperate with this process. He is the potter, we are the clay in terms of setting the terms and time frames. But that analogy breaks down because the clay can t talk and squirm and fuss and move like we can. Notice the active language You have put off the old self. You have done that. And in a minute we ll hear how we are commanded here to keep on putting to death the remaining sin in our lives. Then it says, You have put on the new self. You have done that.

7 That doesn t mean you have saved yourself or done anything about which you can boast before God. It simply means that by exercising faith in Jesus, you took the robe of righteousness He offered you and put it on yourself. You received the gift of salvation. You put it on. But then in v. 12 it says, Put on then 3. You are Becoming like Christ You have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator Put on then compassionate hearts Put on love... Colossians 3:10,12,14 More on this in a minute. For now just believe the truth that you are in a process of transformation and you WILL become like Jesus. That s the fourth part of the Gospel we are called to believe: You will be glorified with Christ. V. 4 Since you have been united with Christ: 3. You are becoming like Christ 4. You will be glorified with Christ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:4 So you see the past, present and future realities of the gospel. In the past, your old self died and a new creation came to life with Christ. In the present you are becoming more and more like Jesus, though that process can be painful. And in the future, you will be glorified when Christ returns. The process of sanctification will be completed when we finally see Jesus face to face - all the remaining sin will be burned out of our hearts and lives and we will have no more fears, no more temptations, no more sinful flesh to contend with. Christ will finally have all of us and His glory will shine perfectly through us. Do you believe all of this? Brother, sister, study the truth of your union with Christ. Read Colossians for yourself this week. Meditate on all that book says about your new position IN CHRIST. Make your own In Christ I am list from Ephesians or 1 Thessalonians. This is the battle - to believe the truth of the gospel - that we have been made new in Christ. You are not who you were. Your life is Jesus now! THEREFORE. Have you noticed there are a lot of THEREFORES in the Bible? V. 1 Believe the Gospel & If then you have been raised with Christ Put to death therefore Put on then Colossians 3:1,5,12

8 Because of all God has done for us in Christ, THEREFORE we must live worthy. The gospel is the basis for how we live and the motivation for it. Our union with Christ is what makes it possible for us to live holy, righteous and fruitful lives - giving us both the desire to follow Him and the power to do so. So here are five ways to live worthy of the Gospel First, our lives must be fueled by gratitude for all God has done for us. 1. Fueled by Gratitude for all God has done for you in Christ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and be thankful Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with thankfulness in your hearts to God do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:15-17 This is the difference between Christianity and religion. Religion is fueled by duty and pride. It is all about you and your efforts. You push yourself, discipline yourself and work hard to pray certain prayers, perform certain rituals, serve in special ways and you hope, in the end, it s enough to get you to the top of the mountain, whatever you call it - heaven, paradise, nirvana. You work IN ORDER TO BE SAVED. Christianity is totally different. We are not working and living holy lives and serving the Lord in order to be saved but because we are saved. Religion is an unending uphill climb. Duty and discipline are exhausting without the proper motivation. And they can never produce love. Only a GIFT, freely given, can do that. The gospel is the fuel of Christian living. Because of all God has done for us in Christ, THEREFORE, we live lives worthy of Him. Think about it in your family. What if you told your kids - listen guys, from now on your status in the family is conditional. You have to get to work. If you do enough chores, appreciate me and mom enough and do well enough in school THEN we will call you an Anderson and you ll still have a bed to sleep in at night. But if you mess up, if you step out of line, if you get a bad grade - that s it - you re out. No bed, no food - out of the family!

9 How motivating do you think that would be? That is religion! Work and work and work IN ORDER TO earn some benefit. Exhausting. Depressing. Hollow. But Christianity isn t like that at all. It s all based on the gospel - because we are saved, therefore we live. Gratitude is our fuel and motivation. Second, the Holy Spirit fills us with power as we walk with Him. 1. Fueled by Gratitude for all God has done for you in Christ 2. Filled with Power from the Holy Spirit who lives in you Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly Colossians 3:15-16 We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ lives in the hearts of all believers. Again, that is true of us positionally. But practically, our experience of the Spirit fluctuates from day to day and moment to moment. It s like sailing a boat with a steady breeze. The Spirit s wind is always blowing, the question is whether we are setting our sails to catch His wind or if we are resisting Him and trying to sail directly against His will for us. Hear the words of Colossians 3 - Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It doesn t say Fill yourself with peace or fill yourself with God s Word. It says let these things fill you. The sister letter to this one is Ephesians and in the parallel passage Paul says, Be filled with the Holy Spirit. 1. Fueled by Gratitude for all God has done for you in Christ 2. Filled with Power from the Holy Spirit who lives in you Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 The power of the Holy Spirit is always available to us - the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The question is whether we are placing ourselves before Him so that He can fill us. Again, it doesn t say, Fill yourself up with the Holy Spirit. We cannot manage the Spirit. We don t tell Him what to do, He tells us what to do. You can t manipulate God. He is not a vending machine. The Spirit of Christ is a living person and we need to cultivate a personal relationship with Him. He has likes and dislikes. He speaks to each of us uniquely and we must learn to listen to His promptings. 1. Fueled by Gratitude for all God has done for you in Christ 2. Filled with Power from the Holy Spirit who lives in you

10 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly Colossians 3:15-16 But Colossians 3 gives us a helpful clue about how to be filled with the Spirit by saying, Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly. The more we know the Word of Christ, the more we will know the WILL OF THE SPIRIT. Let God s Word fill your heart and mind. Study, meditate, discuss the Word. And be sure to OBEY IT! Three more points of application. Fueled by gratitude for the gospel and filled with power from the Holy Spirit, we must focus on God, fight sin, and follow Jesus. 1. Fueled by Gratitude for all God has done for you in Christ 2. Filled with Power from the Holy Spirit who lives in you 3. Focus on God 4. Fight the remaining sin in your life 5. Follow Jesus 100% This is how we will become who we are in Christ - how we can believe the gospel and live worthy of it. The exhortation of Colossians 3 is to focus on God. 3. Focus on God If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:1-2 Because we have been raised with Christ - lifted out of sin and into His Kingdom, now we must go after the things of His kingdom. We must pursue them and set our minds on them. We are no longer citizens of this world, we are citizens of heaven, called to live like that is true. Yet the pull of earth on our hearts is as real as the pull of gravity on our bodies. Our minds are constantly drawn back to this world, this life, these desires. I just read an article by a Free Church missionary in Tanzania. Amy Medina has lived in East Africa for half of her life now - with bugs and bad roads, crazy heat and lots of uncertainty. But she wrote about how she is still haunted by the American Dream. Deep down she sincerely believes that God owes her a safe and happy suburban life with all of the amenities.

11 Can you relate to that? I know I can. Why do we struggle so much with illness and loss? Because we feel entitled to health and blessing - as if God owes it to us. But then, she ponders, if God owes believers health and wealth and happiness, why do so many believers worldwide have to endure hunger, danger, persecution, starvation, illness and death? I think she is on to something deep in our souls as Americans. We really believe we are a special nation - a holy people - and because of that higher status we deserve and have earned the blessings of the American Dream. Amy writes: God does not owe me a savings account or health insurance. He does not guarantee that my children will have the opportunity to go to college and become prosperous citizens. He does not promise religious freedom, or pleasant vacations, or safety on American streets. He doesn t even promise that America will continue to exist as we know it. Amy Medina Find the link to her full article on the church blog. The treatment she gives for these lies we believe is some insight into the plight of our fellow believers elsewhere in the world. She and her husband have lived in Tanzania for 20 years and have adopted four precious African children. Part of seeking the things above and fixing our minds on spiritual rather than physical things is knowing about and praying for ministries like this. We need to discipline ourselves to lift our sights beyond the American dream desires in us and around us and focus on the God who saved us from that materialism. We must fix our eyes on Christ and give ourselves in service to Him. And in the process, we must learn to fight sin - like this deep seated selfishness and earthliness that is the American Dream. 4. Fight the remaining sin in your life Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 This is our relationship to the remaining sin in our flesh - we must fight it with a view to KILLING IT. We are not to play around with it. We are not to draw lines and see how close to those lines we can come. We are to put to death the traits of our old self. Kill sin. The old puritan preacher, John Owen, said, Be killing sin or it will be killing you. Check the church blog for more from Owen from his classic book, On the Mortification of Sin. Here is the essence of it: Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you... Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death. John Owen, On the Mortification of Sin

12 John Schneider preached a great message on this back in February as part of the Keep Moving Forward series on Romans 8. Check that out for details on how to fight sin - to know your sin, stalk your sin and kill it - digging it out at its idolatrous roots. Put to death what is earthly in you. Focus on God. Fight sin and finally, Follow Jesus 100%. 5. Follow Jesus 100% You have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self Put on then, as God s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Colossians 3:9-10,12 Again the dual truth - you HAVE put on the new self, but you must actively and constantly PUT ON the character of Christ. He has dressed you in His righteousness - that s the Gospel to believe. Now you must put on the love of Christ and grace of Christ and holiness of Christ and commitment of Christ. Follow Him with all you have. Go after the kingdom. Live it out. Live worthy of the gospel. Live worthy of the One who saved you and with whom you are One. Believe the gospel. Live worthy of the gospel. Let s pray.