Colossians Ch3v1-17 - Made Alive In Christ

Well, good morning, church. It is a pleasure to be back with you. It was a year ago when I was here last.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sean Herrick. I am married to Roisin. I'm living in Douglas. My wife, unfortunately, cannot be here today.

So she sends her love and her apologies as well. Yeah, it's a pleasure to be back with you this morning and to share God's word.

And I want to share also greetings from Douglas Baptist Church. You guys are very much in our thoughts and our prayers.

Today's passage isn't from Revelation, don't worry, but we're going to be looking at Colossians.

So Colossians chapter 3, if you want to turn to your Bibles there. In the church Bible, I don't know what page that is, but Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention Colossians 3 · chapter mention

1, 1, 8, 4 in the church Bible. Thank you. And we're going to read verses 1 to 17.

Starting at verse 1, Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ and God.

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

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.

You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived.

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these.

Anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices.

And have been put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge and the image of its creator.

Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free.

But Christ is all and is in all.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience.

Bear with each other and forgive one another.

If any of you have a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.

And be thankful.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly.

Let us pray and ask for the Lord's help.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for who you are.

Lord, I thank you for your faithfulness and your unfailing love.

Lord, we are weak and needy people.

Lord, we need you.

Lord, I ask that you would open our ears and soften our hearts to your word this morning.

May we be challenged and encouraged by your word.

Lord, show us your glory.

Show us the glory of Jesus this morning.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Let me ask you a question.

How often do you forget things?

If you're like me, constantly.

And we are constantly being reminded of things.

I know when I was younger, my mom had to remind me constantly to clean my room.

And I used to sit there and go, I know, mom.

And I would go and do it.

Sometimes.

But there are some good reminders.

Let's say you have a schedule and you have things to do that day.

And my wife is very good at telling me, remember you have to do this?

And I was like, okay, yeah, thank you.

That's actually good.

They're good reminders.

One of the best reminders, my mom and dad always used to say to me before I leave the house, Sean, remember who you are.

And he used to drive me nuts.

I was like, I know, I know.

Remember who you are.

And that has still stuck to me till this day.

Well, here in this passage, Paul is reminding the believers of the church in Colossae of who they are.

He's saying, remember who you are and how they are changed in Christ, that they live in him and for him.

They no longer live like they used to.

It is easy to forget that, isn't it, as Christians.

Studying this passage this week, it has been so convicting and challenging, but also really encouraging.

And a great reminder of how Christ has made us new.

And I pray that if you are feeling weak and heavy and burdened as a Christian, I hope that you'll be encouraged today by this word.

I want to look at three different reminders this morning.

The first reminder, remember to set your heart and mind on the things above.

Look at verse one with me.

Ralph read this earlier.

Since then you have been raised with Christ.

Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

You see, Paul is summing up what he has just talked about.

So far he has talked about that you are free in Christ.

You are no longer bound by human traditions and rules.

But you are actually free to live in Christ.

And so he's emphasizing that point.

Since you have been raised with Christ.

So the question is, have you been raised with Christ this morning?

In chapter two, verse 20.

It says, since you have died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world.

So he's talking about you have died with Christ.

And now he's saying, since you have been raised with Christ.

So Paul is saying, so sorry, picking back up in verse one.

Since you have been raised with Christ.

We have a new perspective, don't we?

We have a new perspective in this life.

So Paul is saying to the believers to set their hearts on things above.

In other words, as Christians, we look ahead, don't we?

We look ahead to where our home is.

Our home is dwelling with Christ face to face.

Worshipping him.

That is our home to dwell with him.

In relationship with him.

This is what our hearts should long for.

And so Paul is saying, set your hearts on the things above.

If this is the case that you have been raised with Christ.

Let's look at verse two.

Set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things.

See, we shouldn't just set our hearts on things above, but our minds also.

But our minds not on the earthly things.

Now just to clarify, this doesn't mean that we don't care about things or things are important in our life.

There are many places in the Bible that talk about that we should enjoy this life and enjoy the gifts that God has given us.

Just read the book of Ecclesiastes.

So why should we not set our minds on earthly things?

There are two reasons.

First, the things on this earth are so temporary.

They are here one minute and gone the next.

The second, look with me in verse three.

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

So your life is not of this world anymore.

Your life is hidden with Christ.

And you are his.

Our life is his.

Look with me in verse four.

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

What an encouragement that is, brothers and sisters.

Christ, who is your life.

When Christ appears, we will appear with him in glory.

We long for that day where there is no more sin.

There is no more struggle.

There is no more death.

But just complete and utter joy in Christ.

And that was what Paul is reminding these believers.

And it is a great reminder to us.

That is an encouraging thought to set our minds on things above.

However, we don't just sit back and wait for that day and do nothing, do we?

We have been changed, radically changed by Christ.

So this should impact the way we live in this world.

The second reminder is remember to put on the new self.

Look with me in verse five.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.

Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

Paul is saying put to death everything in our earthly nature.

That means our earthly nature is sinful, isn't it?

Something we battle with every single day.

And these things lead to destruction and death.

But they also lead to something else.

Look with me in verse six.

Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

The wrath of God is coming and he will judge sin once and for all.

This is what Jesus saved us from.

He took the wrath of God.

Jesus took the wrath of God on himself for us.

For those who have put their trust in him.

So why would we live on our old self?

We should put on the new self.

And Paul is saying even in verse seven that you used to walk in these ways in the life we once lived.

Isn't that amazing?

We used to live like this.

We still struggle with this.

But we used to live like this.

We were doomed to face God's wrath.

But yet Jesus took it on himself for us.

Graciously offering mercy to us.

We do not deserve that.

But let me ask you a question.

Do you struggle to put to death the old self?

Or does it rear its head from time to time?

Or all the time?

Do you struggle?

And in verse eight he says,

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things.

Anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language from your lips.

We are to rid ourselves of these things.

Do you hear that kind of undertone of like, we should hate these things.

We should, as Christians, sin.

We should hate our sin.

One thing I've been praying recently is, Lord, help me to hate my sin.

Help me to see it for what it is.

Wicked.

And sinful.

Help me to see it for what it is.

And Lord, help me to hate it.

Help me to run away from it.

Help me to cling to the new self.

We should rid ourselves of these things.

These are our old sinful selves.

All these things that Paul has listed so far,

do we see them in the world around us?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

That is why, as people who have been raised with Christ,

made a new creation and alive in Christ,

we should be radically different.

We should be radically different to the practices that we see in this world.

He says in verse nine,

Do not lie to each other,

since you have taken off your old self with its practices.

So all these things are of the old self,

the sinful self.

And we should hate these things.

And you'll see later on in verse 12,

what Paul lists that as people,

the holy people called by God,

what we should live like.

We have put on the new self.

Those who have been made alive in Christ.

Look with me in verse 10.

And have put on the new self,

which is being renewed in the knowledge,

in the image of its creator.

Man, that's an amazing verse.

It is nothing of ourselves,

but what Christ has done.

The new self is being renewed in the knowledge of its creator.

As we grow in Christ,

as we grow in Christ,

he sanctifies us through the work of the Holy Spirit,

who changes us to become more and more like Christ.

This is an ongoing thing,

this is an ongoing thing, though.

This isn't going to happen overnight.

Maybe some of you,

as I asked at the start,

are weary and faint and disheartened

at struggling with living in the old self

and to put it to death.

But may I urge you and encourage you

to cling to Christ and to his word.

He changes desires and gives you new ones.

The battle with the old self

is going to always be there

until we die

or until the Lord Jesus returns.

But what an encouragement that

we are being renewed in the image of our creator.

The ESV puts it,

being renewed in the knowledge

after the image of its creator.

But it is nothing of ourselves.

It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

One encouraging word that is for us

who struggle with sin,

that has really touched my heart this week,

that sometimes we can think

that we have to do it ourselves,

that I have to do these things

to put away this bad sin

or this sin that I'm struggling with.

I don't know what you're going through this morning.

But cling to Christ

because it is only through the work that he does

that the old self can be put to death.

The third reminder

is remember

that you are members of one body.

Look at me in verse 11.

Here there is no Gentile or Jew,

circumcised or uncircumcised,

barbarian,

Scythian,

slave or free,

but Christ is all

and is in all.

See, Paul is pointing out

that there is no division between each.

There shouldn't be separate groups

of people within the church.

Now,

obviously,

there are different roles

within the church.

Obviously,

you have your elders,

your deacons,

your members.

But even in those roles,

we are all one

in Christ.

From the new believer

to the believer

who has been a believer

for 50 years.

We are all one in Christ.

This is what unites us.

I know in our church in Douglas,

there are so many

different backgrounds.

And looking out at the church,

you're like,

how are all these people

from all different countries

in one room?

Christ.

That's what unites us.

In verse 12,

and this is where

Paul lists out

how a Christian should live life.

Therefore,

as God's chosen people,

holy and dearly loved,

clothe yourselves

with the compassion,

kindness,

humility,

gentleness,

and patience.

Let's just stop

and think about that.

Do you see yourself like that?

That you

are

God's chosen people,

that you are

holy and dearly loved?

Not in an arrogant way.

Not like,

oh, look at me.

God loves me.

Not like that.

But

with thankfulness

and with

utter awe

at the grace

and the mercy

of God.

That's an amazing thought,

that you are

dearly

loved,

even

struggling

with sin.

and because of that,

Paul says,

clothe yourselves.

Clothe yourselves

with compassion,

kindness,

humility,

gentleness,

and patience.

Do you see the difference

between

the old self

and the new self?

Drastically different.

Drastically different.

But this is how

the Christian

should live.

Should live.

Now,

can I ask,

do we do this perfectly?

Nope.

I can put my hand

on,

I don't.

I fail at this

every day.

My job

that I recently

got two weeks ago,

I clamp

cars for a living.

Not the most

desirable job

and not the most

liked person

in the world.

But,

I have to learn

that I need

to be

kind

and gentle

and humble

and patient.

I don't always

do that.

The interactions

that I get

on a day-to-day

basis

are with a lot

of angry people.

But I need to be,

I need to work

on my patience.

That's something

I've been praying for

is Lord,

help me to work

on my kindness

and my gentleness

and my patience.

But Paul

is also saying

that

this will even

happen

with each other.

There's going

to be times,

even in interactions

with people,

brothers and sisters

in Christ,

in church,

where you are going

to sin

against one another.

That you are going

to clash

with each other.

Look what,

Paul has something

to say about this.

Because Paul

isn't,

Paul isn't

ignorant about this.

He knows

that we're still

sinful

and that people

will clash

with each other.

Verse 13,

bear with each other

and forgive one another

if any of you

has a grievance

against someone.

Forgive

as the Lord

forgave you.

we are to

bear with one another.

Not looking

to hold something

against someone

or picking on

every little thing

they do.

If someone

has a grievance,

we are to

forgive

just as the Lord

forgave you.

Now that

can be hard,

can't it?

That is not

to say that

if someone

does not ask

for forgiveness

though,

we can't have

that transaction

of forgiveness,

can we?

But,

we should have

a heart

to forgive.

That if they

come to us

and they ask

for forgiveness,

we should

forgive.

We should have

that genuine

heart to forgive

because the Lord

forgave

us.

But why?

Look at me

in verse

14.

All over

and all

over all

these virtues

put on love

which binds

them all

together

in perfect

unity.

All of these

characteristics

of a Christian,

what holds

them together?

Love

binds them

together.

This kind

of love

though

is that

only

comes

from Christ.

Someone

who has

been set

free,

forgiven

by Jesus

and living

in him

can love

the way

the Lord

loved us.

And we

need to love

each other

which isn't

always easy

is it?

But

Jesus loved

you.

He loves

you and he

gave his life

for you

even though

we didn't

deserve it.

So we

should forgive

even though

it seems

like the

person

shouldn't

deserve

forgiving

because

the

Lord

forgave

us.

God

will

will

be

to

be

thankful.

!

!

And the

peace

that

only

Christ

gives

to

his

people.

Look at me

in verse

15.

Let the

peace of

Christ

rule your

hearts

since as

members of

one body

you were

called

to peace

and be

thankful.

Let that

rule your

hearts

since we

are members

of one

body.

We are

called to

peace

and to

be thankful

for each

other

and to

be thankful

for Christ

and what

he has

done

for you.

Is that

always easy?

We don't

remember that

all the time

do we?

We need

to be

reminded

of this.

To

remind

to let

the peace

of Christ

rule

our hearts.

And there

is such

peace in

Christ.

If you

are not

a Christian

here,

the peace

that Christ

gives

is,

you can't,

it's hard

to describe.

That doesn't

mean life

is easy.

That doesn't

mean life

is,

yeah,

happy and,

you know,

you're getting

things all the

time.

No.

That's not

the case.

But even

in the bad

times,

even when

things are

not going

well in

a sinful

world,

the peace

of Christ

is with

you.

It's in

your heart.

Let that

rule your

heart over

everything.

And not

only that,

verse 16

says,

let the

message of

Christ dwell

among you

richly.

Let the

message of

the gospel

dwell richly

among you

and let

us remind

each other

of the

love and

the grace

and the

mercy of

our king,

our living

king and

savior.

That is the

basis of

our faith.

May it dwell

with you in

the teaching

of God's

word,

admonishing one

another as we

sing songs

together as we

just have.

We sing to

God, but we

also sing to

each other.

We encourage

one another

through

psalms,

hymns, and

songs from the

spirit singing

to God.

But do it

with a heart

of gratitude,

of gratefulness,

of gratefulness

to God.

I know that

in times when

life has hit you

hard,

life has

knocked you

down.

And you're

in church

and you're

like,

I literally,

I can barely

sing these

words because

you're just so

beaten down.

But to hear

others sing

the richness

of the gospel

to you,

oh, the

peace of

Christ,

let it rule

your heart.

It's an

amazing thing

to hear people

sing the

truths about

Christ.

in verse

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.

Brothers and

sisters,

everything we

do,

whether it's

your job,

whether it's

at home,

whether it's

making tea

or coffee

in the back,

whether it's

doing creche

or Sunday

school,

or meeting

up with

friends or

anything.

Anything we

do, do it

all in the

name of the

Lord Jesus,

giving thanks

to him,

giving thanks

and glory

and honor

to God.

That is the

call of the

Christian life.

That has been

such an

encouragement to

me studying

this week,

and I hope

it was to

you.

But before

we close,

I just want

to try and

think,

what do

you take

away from

this?

Well,

first of

all,

if you

are here

and you

are not

a Christian,

remember

what it

says in

verse 6.

Because of

these things,

the wrath

of God

is coming.

You are

living in

the old

self,

and the

wrath of

God is

coming on

those who

are sinners,

who have

not turned

to Jesus.

Sin will

be judged

one day,

but there

is one

who came

down from

glory to

become

flesh,

human who

lived a

perfect life,

who showed

the compassion

and kindness,

humility,

gentleness,

and patience,

and showed

the greatest

love by

giving himself

for sinners,

paying the

price of

sin.

Your

sin.

Will you

put your

faith and

trust in

him for

the forgiveness

of your

sin?

For the

Christian,

it's a

great reminder

for us,

but let us

remember,

first of all,

verse 1,

you have been

raised with

Christ.

You have been

raised with

Christ.

We are new

creations in

him, all

because of

what he

has done,

nothing of

what we

have done.

Let the

old self

die.

Our sin

and the

old self,

brothers and

sisters,

that has been

nailed to

the cross.

Our sin

has been

nailed to

the cross.

So let's

live for

Christ.

Let us

bear with

one another

and let

the message

of Christ

dwell richly

among you.

And in

everything,

let us

give all

the glory

to God

in everything

we do.

Is your

life hidden

with Christ?

I want to

read to you

verse 3

again.

3 and

4.

For you

died and

your life

is now

hidden

with Christ

in God.

When

Christ,

who is

your life,

appears,

then you

will also

appear with

him in

glory.

Let's

pray together.

Heavenly

Father,

I thank

you,

Lord,

for your

word.

I thank

you for

the

encouragement

of this

passage,

Lord,

that we

have been

raised with

Christ.

Lord,

help us

to put

the old

self to

death.

Help us

to clothe

ourselves

with all

kindness and

gentleness and

humility and

compassion,

and that we

love each

other as the

same way as

you have

loved us.

And Lord,

we confess that

we do not

do this

perfectly,

but Lord,

keep strengthening

us day by

day by day.

Help us to

serve one

another,

but Lord,

help us not

to do it for

our own

pride,

but Lord,

help us to

do it for

your honor

and glory,

giving thanks

to God in

everything that

we do.

Lord,

help us to

be drastically

different from

the world we

see around

us.

Help us to

live for

you,

people who

are free

in Christ,

who can

live this

life with

the peace

that you

give.

Lord,

help us to

show people

that.

Help us

for people

to notice

those things

in our

lives.

And may

you draw

them close

to yourself.

Lord,

I pray that

if we have

family or

friends,

or even if

there's people

sitting here

who do not

know you,

Lord,

I pray that

you would

reveal yourself

to them.

Lord,

I pray that

they would

see Jesus

for all his

glory,

that they

would see

his ultimate

act of love

by giving

your life

for us

and raising

again to

give us

life undeserved,

all because of

your love and

mercy and

grace.

Lord,

be with us

now in

our days,

this day,

and our

week to

come.

May we do

everything for

the honor and

glory of

your Son,

Jesus Christ.

Amen.