Colossians: Putting on the New Self

So we are in Colossians 3 this morning.

We're studying our way through the book of Colossians, and we're asking, how do we live and grow with Jesus?

That's what Colossians is presenting to us.

How do we live and grow with Jesus?

Now today we see a shift in the book of Colossians.

We're going from chapter 2 to chapter 3.

Chapters 1 and 2 are about one thing, and then we shift in chapters 3 and 4.

Chapters 1 and 2, we get the indicatives, just lavishing on us God's promises, what's indicated to us, everything that we have in Jesus.

So that's what we've been doing the last few weeks.

And then the shift occurs in three and heading into four.

And we get the imperatives.

Because of those promises, how should we live?

So Paul is actually teaching us, not just verse by verse, but also the structure of the book teaches us something.

We live the imperatives, chapters three and four, through the indicatives, chapters one and two.

Meaning how we should live is fueled by what is already true about us.

So we could say it this way: who we are in Jesus fuels how we live for Jesus.

Now it's easy to move on from the promises, one and two, and just live in three and four, what we should do, how we should be living as Christians.

And without planning on it, we sort of just stop resting in the lavish promises we have in Jesus, and we just get and put ourselves to work.

And we become exhausted.

Chapters three and four without chapters one and two will exhaust you.

And some of us have lived the Christian life like that.

I have.

And some of you have lived the Christian life like that.

And it gets you wondering what's the point of this?

Why is this not, why is it not working?

But Paul's teaching about a relationship with Jesus before living for Jesus.

So let's look at Colossians 3, 1 and 2.

Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated, seated at the right hand of God, set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

So point number one is this we pursue Jesus because Jesus has already pursued and is pursuing us.

So we could say it this way: our pursuit of Jesus rests in his pursuit of us.

My wife, Christy, she works for a family company and she drives a company car.

So for 20 years, she has driven this company car, an amazing perk, a provided car and provided gas.

So we have never hesitated to fill up.

We're like, hey, let's fill up again, right?

Like, like it is provided.

It's been given to us.

The fuel's free.

So let's just let's fill up.

Like, why we're not going to hesitate on this.

We need the fuel.

The truck will not run without the fuel.

And yet, many of us as Christians, we become a Christian and we get like our free faith F-150, and then we try to drive the truck without the proper fuel.

See, when we move on from a relationship with Jesus just to serve Jesus or just to live for Jesus, but it's not rooted in relationship and the lavish promises we have in Jesus.

That we're fully forgiven in Jesus alone, that we're fully righteous in Jesus alone, that we have a worth immeasurable in Jesus alone.

That's the fuel that we put in the truck.

Without that, without that, whether you're living in the world or you're living in religion, without the relationship with Jesus, it's like trying to push a truck.

It's just gonna exhaust you.

And it's eventually gonna condemn you.

But Paul teaches a different way of faith.

Look at it in verses one and two.

Where is the imperative in one and two?

Oh, we see it in one B and two.

The imperative, set your hearts on things above, set your minds on things above.

This is what you should do.

Unbelievable, fantastic, right?

I mean, this is a good, this is a good word for us.

Imagine how much freer you would be.

Imagine how much healthier you would be if you could only set your hearts and your minds on things above.

But is anybody doing this perfectly?

I mean, am I the only one this week that was a little too dialed into the news?

I mean, like, how how much is the news on in your in your house, right?

Like you don't even want to say it out loud.

You're like, I'm not gonna do that.

Like, how or like the interest rates drop?

Was anybody a little too dialed into that?

And then the stock market, what it did, and then you're gonna, well, like, what's gonna happen in the future?

Like, is anybody too?

I bought a new shacket for the fall, and I've been pumped about, I can't wait for the weather to cool.

I'm gonna put that shacket on.

It's gonna change everything.

Like, my look's gonna be different.

Like, are we did we just get so dialed into what is temporary?

And Paul's saying, uh, set your hearts and minds on things above.

So, how can we how can we do this really good but impossible task?

Well, 1B and 2 give us the imperative, what we what we should do.

1A gives us the indicative, the fuel.

Since then you have been raised with Christ.

We don't just go on to do the stuff we should do as Christians without resting and remembering and what we have in Jesus.

The commentary says it this way in union and fellowship with this Lord.

In union and fellowship, the Christian is set free from the tyranny of the elemental spirits and for the perennial enjoyment of God's presence.

Now, nothing can hold the Christian to the unsatisfying shadows of religion.

So, in relationship with Jesus, we are free.

We pursue Jesus because he pursued us and he is pursuing us.

We live out our Christian lives by resting all the more in Jesus.

Verses three and four.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

So point number two is this our lives are enveloped in Jesus' life and greatness.

And enveloped is the proper way to pronounce it, but I like to say enveloped because it gives the image.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, don't you get a better image?

Your life is enveloped.

Like because you you picture an envelope, don't you?

And like you're inside and it's sealed up.

Like that's such a good image of what we are in Jesus that we are immersed.

He doesn't turn away when we're weak or broken or don't have our acts together.

He draws near to us because we're hidden in him.

So fall planting season's coming up for perennials, perennial people, you know it's coming up.

It's a couple weeks away.

We're gonna plant our hostas, we're gonna split our hostas.

And if you go out in your yard to split and replant a hosta in another part of your yard, and you're out there and you're planting, you're splitting, you're moving some ferns, you're moving some hostas, you're doing your hydrangeas, and you're out there, you come back in the house and you wash your hands, it's been four or five hours, and your ring is gone.

I mean, just at some point, your hands are down in that dirt, and you're mixing the planting soil and the soil and the hosta, and at some point the garden took over.

At some point that ring is buried, it's enveloped.

And the ring is still there.

The ring still exists, it's just hidden.

It's hidden by the garden.

And the point is, is that like you and I, we're the priceless ring.

And we are hidden in the garden of Jesus.

Hidden in Christ, which means that we're perfectly loved, perfectly held, even while our life is a mess.

In verse 3, there's a finishness to this language, this you died, your life is hidden in Jesus.

Like there's it's done, it's finished.

When you give your life to Christ, it's finished, it's hidden, it's finished.

And then Paul says, So let's use that.

Let's use that new heart, let's use that new mind.

So study Jesus, read about Jesus, commune with Jesus.

There should be something different about us because our source is different.

Verse 4 completes our story.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

So, as Christians, our gaze is through the world and beyond the world.

Even when our story is over on this earth, our story is not over because we have a home in heaven.

Verses 5 and 6.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry, because of these the wrath of God is coming.

So sexual immorality most likely refers at the time which was quite common, sex with harlots.

And then Paul goes further, he says, Oh, but also impurity and lust, which just sort of covers everything else.

And we would say, at least Redeemer would say, like, sex is wonderful.

I mean, anybody else?

Amen.

Like, sex is wonderful.

It is good, but it is it's limited.

Right?

It is limited to marriage.

Outside of that, it's like a it's a fire that's broken free from the fireplace, and it will burn the house down.

And then verse 5 says, Greed is like the fire also.

Money's great.

I hope you have enough money.

I hope, I hope you make lots of money.

I hope you make a ton of money.

Like, have at it.

Right?

And I maybe you can afford a Porsche.

Maybe you could afford the 10 Porsche.

But even if you can afford the 10 Porsche, you can only drive one at a time.

And you can't take any of it with you.

So we have to learn not to put our heart on this stuff and this money.

We have to learn to be generous.

We have to learn to focus on Jesus, not money or sex.

And we have to learn to keep money and sex in the fireplace and not burn down the house.

Verses 7 through 10.

In these you two once walked.

When you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.

Here's everything we should be putting to death.

We should be turning from anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

So much of our heart's condition, what comes out of our mouths toward other people.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator.

Point number three is this in Jesus we have a new self with new values and a new ways of living.

When we surrender Christ, a new self is born.

So now inside of us, there's this old self that used the ways of the world, very self-oriented, selfish-based.

There's that old self, the flesh, the Bible calls it, the sinful self.

But then God creates in us a new self.

This is born of the Spirit.

And now there's two parts of you inside: there's a new self and there's an old self.

And Paul's saying, hey, the old self, that's not really, that's not really you anymore.

Let's not live out of that self.

Let's put that self away.

So this is my 10-year-old Patagonia pullover.

It doesn't come out of the house much.

You know, you have that sweatshirt.

It started coming out of the house.

You go to dinner and then slowly it's kind of, it's just become a house shirt, right?

And I love it, I can't wait during the wintertime and fall to get home and take off the collared shirt.

It's a little stiff, not like super comfortable in it.

And I love to put on this pull.

This is my comfy.

I know you have a comfy.

Like you have you have a pair of pajama pants, and uh, they should have been thrown away a long time ago because they're from college and you've been out of college too long.

Like, I know you have a comfy, right?

This is my comfy.

Right?

When I put this on, it it knows me, it fits me, it fits me perfectly.

And this is what our belovedness in Jesus is like, that it knows me fully and it envelops me.

I'm immersed in it, I'm fully known, I'm hidden in it, I'm accepted, and I have full security in it.

And Paul says, therefore, because that's true and you have that, therefore, don't walk in the old self, pretending and performing.

Walk in the new self.

Our hearts are longing for acceptance.

That's what that old self is generating, trying to find acceptance, earn it, suck it from other people.

And the new self can be at rest because you already have it in Jesus.

But we're all looking for acceptance.

The boss, Bruce Springsteen, he knew it.

Everybody needs a place to rest.

Everybody wants to have a home.

Don't make no difference what nobody says.

Ain't nobody like to be alone.

And then we all remember the Course: everybody's got a hungry heart.

Lay down your money and play your part.

Everybody's got a hungry heart.

Then Paul says, Hey, I know the answer for you.

Here's a summary of Colossians 3.

As we increasingly live in the promises we have in Jesus, we increasingly put to death destructive forms of finding love, joy, and peace.

So you see how chapters 1 and 2 lead into 3 and 4.

Also, as we increasingly live in the promises we have in Jesus, chapters 1 and 2, the indicatives, we can increasingly live in godly forms of love, joy, and peace.

Chapters 3 and 4, the imperatives.

Verse 11.

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.

Point number four is this in Jesus we have freedom that transcends race, personal righteousness, and status.

Our truer selves are richer and deeper than so much of what we try to build our identities on in this world.

Colossians 3 came to life for me 25 years ago as a college student.

I went with 20 people from my church to a mission trip to Ghana, Africa to help plant churches in remote villages.

So the first day I was there, I went with another person from our church, a translator, and a pastor from this one town.

We drove an hour out further into the remote, and we went to this village.

And this village had no Christian church, and a white person had not been in this village in years.

And then here comes this is a lot of white.

You know?

You're very aware of how white this is white.

Like I am white when I'm walking around.

And they're looking at me, so just a hundred kids, about probably a hundred kids just followed, just followed me around.

They had never seen a white person.

I mean, can you imagine if a purple person just showed up?

We would follow him and like, can I touch?

Can I touch?

We're like, what?

And so all day, just these children following around.

And they would come up close and they would look and they would want to touch.

There's one little girl, and I noticed her several times throughout the day.

She was so cute.

She was just darling.

And every time I looked at her and made eye contact, I would smile, and she would take off.

Just take.

It's like, oh, this is the ministry that I'm here to minister to the Ghanans.

And the children are running away.

And so it happened like two or three times.

And then toward the end of the day, I was I was sitting down and I think we were setting up for something, and there were two benches in front of me.

And this little girl, she walks up and she wiggles her way into the spot right in front of me.

Here's a picture of it.

25 years ago, this little girl on the right.

Now, all day she had had on rags.

Every time I looked at her, she had on rags.

And then she shows up and she has this dress on.

She had ran home, she had taken off the rags, and she had put on new clothes.

Better clothes.

See, your creator says, hey, you got some old clothes on.

They're not good for you anymore.

Like they're not really who you are.

Like there's a new self, new ways and new values.

And it's not to earn God's love or earn God's favor or make him smile upon you.

That's already been handled in Jesus.

But there is a new self with better clothes.

What's beautiful is that God fully loves us in our rags, and even when we put our rags back on, he still loves us.

But he does have a way of life for us that is good and wholesome and godly.

And he will go with you.

And he will help you take off the rags, he will help you put on the better clothes.

As we rest all the more in chapters one and two, the goodness, the lavishness of Jesus for us.

Full forgiveness, full righteousness, full value.

We have the fuel to live three and four.

I close with my favorite quote, Brendan Manning quote from Abbas Child.

You've heard it before, we can't hear it enough.

Define yourself radically as one beloved by God.

This is the true self.

Every other identity is illusion.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, thank you for all that we have in Jesus.

Thank you that you just didn't put on us everything we should do and how we should be and what we should be doing and how we should live and how we should serve and how we should love and where our focus should be.

But first you rescue us.

And that Jesus is enough for our forgiveness, that the cross takes our sin and gives to us your righteousness.

And that the cross is enough for all the forgiveness we need and all the righteousness we need.

Thank you for the lavish promises in Jesus we have in chapters one and two.

Thank you for the fuel that empowers us to live the Christian life.

And thank you that while we're not perfect and we still put back on the rags that you are patient and loving.

Help us, Jesus.

Help us to rest all the more in you.

Help us to receive you and trust you more.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.