Who We Are And How We Got To Be This Way - colossians 3:9-17

to each other, since you've taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new

self, which has been renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Here there is neither 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 yourselves with compassion,

kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of

you has 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 are called to peace and be thankful. 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. 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. Amen.

Thank you, Alan.

Ralph moved into the pulpit here. He's got everything there. So thank you very much for leading us in

worship and bringing us to this point, Ralph. A very worshipful morning. Let's pray and then we'll

get to looking into the text here. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that your word is

truth, that we can sing your word, that we can proclaim your word, we can read your word, we can

hear your word, and that we know that your word proclaims the truth of Jesus Christ and who he is

and what he has done. We ask that you would strike us anew with just the majesty of who you are and the

work you have done on our behalf through Christ in your gospel. In his name we pray. Amen.

Well, we're at a part of Colossians here where Paul is getting very practical. He's getting very

moving out of the deeply theological portions of his letter to this church in Colossae and he's

getting very practical and today he's going to say, what do God's people look like? He's going to start

to answer that question and define what it means to look like a Christian. And I know maybe you have

in your head what an American looks like. I can tell, it's funny, I can see American tourists in

Ireland now. I couldn't see that before. I still look like one, I'm well aware. But when we drive,

it's funny because at first the roads were so narrow and we would pull over to the side and then now we're

driving and someone pulls over and we go, ha, not Irish. And we drive right past them and we could

tell when someone doesn't look quite like they're Irish or from another country. And that's fine that

God's made us all in his image. But we could start to look at Christians and say, what do Christians

look like? And this is not a new question. This was a common question in Paul's day. We have to

remember, Christianity was brand new. There was Judaism, which was very old and very accepted by

the Roman Empire. And people knew what it looked like to be Jewish. And then there was the Greco-Roman

world and their old worship of old deities, pagan deities. And some of those had been modified a

little by the Romans, but you kind of knew what that looked like. But what did a Christian look like?

And why? There's a very interesting first century letter, maybe early second century letter, where

where the author is writing to a man named Diognisius. And we looked at it a couple months or a month or so

ago. But the purpose of the letter from a Christian to a non-Christian, he says, is to answer the question

of what Christians look like and why. He says, most excellent Diognisius, I can see that you deeply desire to

learn why and how Christians worship their God and live the way they do. So it's a common question

from the non-Christians to the Christians. Who are you and why? The author of this letter says, you have

so carefully and earnestly asked your questions about them. He says, one, you have asked, what is it about

the God they believe in and the form of religion they observe that they are able to look down upon the

world and despise death and have something forward to look forward to? And we looked at that last week,

right? Christians can look forward to heaven and the things of this world grow strangely dim.

He says, you've also asked, why do Christians reject the Greek superstitions and Jewish customs

alike? And we saw that a couple of weeks ago with Jewish tradition and Greek gods and how those have

been rejected and should still be rejected. And he says, and now you want to know about the affection

they have for each other. And that's what we're going to see this week and next week. And I point

that out to tell you that, that this is common in Paul's day. Who are Christians and what do they

look like and why? And this sort of mindset reflects Paul's language to the Colossians here. And so what

we're going to do today is we're going to go through this passage and we're going to answer these two

questions as we move through three parts of the passage. Okay. We're going to say, what type of

people are Christians called to be? What should a Christian look like and why? What should Christians

look like and why? Okay. And first Paul says that Christians are a people who are honest about their

shortcomings, honest about our shortcomings, because we are being renewed in the image of Christ.

Okay. We're honest about our shortcomings because we're being renewed in the image of Christ. Let's

look at verses nine through 10. Paul simply says, do not lie to each other since you have taken off the

old self with its practices and you've put on the new self, which is, which is being renewed in knowledge

in the image of its creator. So first we want to note, this is a command. Okay. This is from the

apostle Paul by the spirit written down in God's word to us. Do not lie to each other. It's a very

real command. And we maybe want to ask why, why does Paul even need to say that? Isn't that just common

sense when we just kind of assume we're not supposed to lie to each other? Well, it's, it's interesting to

note that in, in the first century world, your religion did not necessarily mean you had to be

a moral person. What I mean by that is you could offer a sacrifice to a Greek God. And that was that,

and that, that actually didn't have to have anything to do with the way you live life.

As long as you went to the temple and you gave some sort of offering or sacrifice, you could go do

whatever you want. And in fact, if you read the Greek literature, you'll see that even the Greek gods

themselves are constantly lying. They're lying to each other and they're lying to the people.

And you can read in the, the Iliad and the Odyssey, how Zeus, he plays tricks on people.

He says, Oh, I'll do this for this person, but really this is what I'm doing. I'm going to trick

them. I'll lie to them. And so Paul has to say, you can't be like that. Do not lie to each other.

And maybe we say, well, that was, that was the Colossians problem. We don't lie anymore today.

Come on. Psychology today says in the States, I'm sure the Irish are more sanctified in the States.

People lie two and a half to three times per day, more than we brush our teeth. One article said,

I found that to be funny. Either we have really bad breath or we lie a lot in the States, but it

says two to two and a half to three times per day. Half a lie is a whole lie. So we'll say three times

per day. And so lying was a problem in Colossae back then. And it's a problem still today.

Well, why do we lie? Psychologists say in general, we lie to obtain protection. We want to protect

ourselves. We want to protect our interests. Primarily, we want to protect our image. We want others to

think well of us. And yet we all know that we do things, have done things and constantly do things

that would cause them to think less of us. Therefore, we lie to cover it up in order to

avoid suffering a lack of a loss of respect. We cover up our lives or we lie about things we

haven't done in order to make ourselves look better. But in general, we're promoting our own image

when we lie. So to sum it up, I would say we lie because of pride and perceived control. Those

would be the root issues, the root reasons why. Pride and perceived control. Now what Christianity

says is when it comes to God, we have nothing to be proud of. And we have no control. We don't

bring anything to the table, so to speak, when it comes to God. We can't stand up and say,

God, look how incredible I am. We're not. We are beautiful in His image, but we've distorted

that. And we cannot control God. We can't make Him do what we want. But we can try to control

others. We can try to protect our image, and thus we lie. Scripture says we are born into sin,

and we perpetuate sin. And we can't tell God what we'll do about it, or even what we think He should

do about it. So pride and self-control, pride and perceived control are at the root. And so what does

God do about it? Now I would argue, if you look in your scripture here at verse 9, that the text is

actually more God-centered than the translation gives it credit for. Okay, I would argue the literal

translation from Greek should say this, your old selves have been disarmed or stripped off you.

Okay, and we'll keep going with that in a little bit here. But your old selves have been stripped

away or disarmed. It's the same word that Paul used in Colossians 2.15, where he says God disarmed

the rulers and authorities, or stripped away their power. Same word Paul's using. But what he's done is

he's changed it from an active verb to a passive verb. And we'll keep going with that in a little bit,

but it should say, I would argue that the literal translation would sound more like,

do not lie to each other since your old selves have been disarmed and stripped off you. God's work,

past tense. Okay, so we're going to have to really focus on the acting agent of these verbs

and the time when they occur. And what Paul says is, God's work, past tense, this is your left,

past tense. So here's my timeline, past, present, future. And in the past, God did the acting on the

object, which is us, that he stripped off our old self. We received his work passively.

Then he says, and your new selves have been put on. Again, God's work, past tense.

And then you are being renewed. Still God's work. Present tense. In the image of our creator.

So we have three verbs, all of which are showing God at work. In the past, he has stripped off our old self.

In the past, he has put on our new self. And now in the present, he is renewing us in his image.

Okay, you tracking with me? I know it's very technical, but I think it's going to be very important.

It's worth the work here. All of the action is being done by God, and we are merely the recipients.

Remember, we said we lie because of pride and perceived control.

But Christianity says, when it comes to God, you have been made new.

You have nothing to be proud of. It was his work.

And you are being renewed. Present tense.

Christianity says, you are not nearly as in control as you think.

Therefore, we can just be honest about who we are and what God is doing.

We do not need to lie to one another about who we are or what God is doing.

That need was crucified at the cross.

And now we can be honest.

This is what happened in the past.

My old self was stripped away.

In the past, a new self was put on me.

And right here in the present, I am being renewed.

All of this is God's work.

And I can just be honest about that reality.

I don't need to lie to others about who I am.

It's interesting to note that biblically, lying is not just considered to be the act of making a false statement.

Biblically, lying is to deny the truth as represented by God Himself.

You can read Romans 1 and 2 and see that.

That lying is to deny the truth.

Or to deny what God has done and what He is doing.

To deny those truths is to lie.

To deny these truths is to lie to one another.

And so as a Christian, I can boldly proclaim,

I'm not perfect.

But I'm getting better.

I'm becoming more Christ-like.

Because of what God has done and is doing.

He stripped off my old self.

He put on my new self.

And He's renewing me in His image.

And He's stripped off your old self.

And He's put on your new self.

And He's renewing you in His image,

day by day, week by week, year by year.

And we can be honest about that reality.

And what Paul's doing is he's starting to talk about the difference between justification,

past tense, what legally happened,

and sanctification, present tense, what is going on.

Wednesday night, we will dig into that much more deeply than we are today.

Paul's laying the foundation.

Wednesday night, we'll really sink our teeth into it.

But we've got to start wrestling with these terms.

They're good terms to know.

Justification, God did it, past tense.

Sanctification, ongoing, present work.

So that's the first thing Paul says is,

as Christians, we are people who are honest about our shortcomings.

Because we are being renewed in the image of Christ.

Secondly, Paul says we are defined by love and forgiveness.

Because we are loved and forgiven.

Look with me at verses 11 through 14.

He says in verse 11,

Here, that is in the church,

There is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised,

Scythian or barbarian, slave or free.

But Christ is all and is in all.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved,

look at this word now,

clothe yourselves.

We'll come back to that.

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

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.

And over all these virtues,

put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity.

I don't know if you caught it,

but Paul did something very clever there.

In verse 12, he said,

Clothe yourselves.

He used the exact same word as he used in verse 10.

And duo is the Greek word.

Actively, it's to clothe yourself.

Passively, it's to have someone clothe you.

So verse 10, Paul said,

Past tense, passively, God has clothed us.

And in verse 12, he says,

Present tense now, actively, put your clothes on.

That's very interesting what he did.

It's very clever.

It's beautiful Greek.

Paul is extremely intelligent.

Hard for me to keep up with sometimes.

Verse 10, God clothes you.

Verse 12, put your clothes on.

I can see little kids going,

What are you talking about?

God clothed me, therefore I need to put my clothes on.

Yes, that's exactly what he says.

So what should I put on then?

Exactly what he clothes you with.

Compassion.

Kindness.

Humility.

Gentleness.

Patience.

Bearing with each other and forgiving one another.

Put it on.

I thought God put it on me.

He did.

So put it on.

It's exactly what Paul just said.

You say, what does a Christian look like?

What does a Christian in Ireland look like?

What does a Christian in Kosovo look like?

Or anywhere else in the world?

Paul says they look exactly like God made them to look like.

And they look like the clothing that they put on.

Compassion.

Kindness.

Humility.

Gentleness.

And patience.

Forgiving each other.

And loving each other.

You say, well, why?

Why do Christians look like this?

Because that's exactly how God has treated us.

It's exactly what he's done for us and is doing in us.

Verse 12.

Don't miss that.

As God's chosen people.

Holy and dearly loved.

How come I can be loving?

Because I've been dearly loved.

How can I be holy?

Because I've been made holy.

And then at the end of verse 13.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

He's saying Christians are defined by love and forgiveness because we are loved and forgiven.

Notice his illustration he uses in verse 11.

In the church there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised.

Barbarian or Scythian, slave or free.

But Christ is in all, is all and is in all.

It's important to note that each of those are opposites.

They're actually enemies.

Hey, Gentile, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised.

The Gentiles and the Jewish mind are inhabiting the Jews' land.

The Jews and the Gentiles' mind can be a bit of a problem.

They're natural enemies.

Brought together in one body.

Barbarian is to be slave.

Scythian is to be Roman.

Again, they're natural enemies.

At the Colossae, we're at the edge of the Roman borders.

And so to be in a church with natural enemies would be normal for these people.

Paul says all that stuff's gone now.

Remember verse 9?

It's been stripped off.

It's not who you are.

You're Christians.

You're all now equally one people in Christ.

Chosen, holy, dearly loved, and forgiven.

That's why we have to understand that as Christians,

love and forgiveness,

love and forgiveness are our greatest apologetic.

You can know theology.

You can know scientific facts.

You can have all kinds of words to say.

But if we cannot love and forgive other people,

we cannot show people what it looks like to be a Christian.

Does Jesus say in John 13, 35?

He says,

By this all people will know that you are my disciples,

if you love one another.

If you love one another.

He doesn't say because you can make great arguments.

He doesn't say because of anything else,

but because you can love one another.

And you say,

Well, how could I love this way?

Because that's how we've been loved.

How can I forgive?

Because we've been forgiven.

For what does Jesus say as they nail Him to the cross?

Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do.

See, Christianity,

it teaches that Christ entered into our suffering

and He suffered on a greater scale

than we could ever imagine.

And yet in the midst of that suffering,

in the fallen world,

He loved us and forgave us.

See, only in Christianity

does this God enter into our suffering

and love us and forgive us

in ways that we never deserved

or could ever imagine.

This is why Christians look different

than other people.

Because we are different than other people.

We have been loved.

We have been forgiven.

Which is why Paul can say

that a group of people

who were once naturally enemies

can now be compassionate,

kind, humble,

gentle, patient,

loving and forgiving with each other.

D.A. Carson says it very well.

He says,

The church itself is not made up

of natural friends.

But the church is made up

of natural enemies.

And we see that in verse 11, don't we?

He says,

What binds the church together

is not common education.

It's not common race.

It's not common income levels.

It's not common politics.

It's not common nationality.

It's not common accents.

It's not common jobs.

It's nothing of the sort.

What binds the church together

is that we have been saved

by Jesus Christ.

And we owe Him a common allegiance.

And in this light,

the church is a band of natural enemies

who love and forgive one another

for Jesus' sake.

Everything we do

is because of what has been done

on our behalf.

We are people who can be honest

about our shortcomings

because God has done work on us

and is doing work in us.

He's renewing us.

We are people who are defined

by love and forgiveness

because we are loved and forgiven.

And then third,

Paul says,

Christians are a people

who are responsive

to God's Word

in worship

because we are at peace

with God through Christ.

And in this part,

we're going to round out

this sermon with this part

and then we'll bring it

into next week as well.

But we are responsive

to God's Word in worship

because we are at peace

with God through Christ.

Look, if you will,

with me at 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.

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.

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.

Paul says Christians

are a people who are responsive

to God's Word in worship

because we are at peace

with God through Christ.

Now it's interesting to note

what Paul says is worship

can be deed, word, and or song.

All three can be worship.

They're forms of worship.

And I would say worship

properly defined is this.

Worship is our response

to having obtained

to some degree

something that we deeply desire.

Worship is our response

to having obtained

to some degree

something we deeply desire.

And that response

can be done

via word,

deed,

or song.

So if you want to think

of an illustration,

you can think of men

at a sporting event.

And you can all go home today

and turn on any telly.

Telly?

Did I say it right?

We would say TV.

I don't know why.

Telly.

And you can watch men

and women worship today.

I guarantee you,

find a sporting event

and you will see worship.

I watched the rugby.

I'm just learning rugby.

And I'm sorry, Rob.

I'll have to tell you.

Yep.

But Rob told me

watch Australia

versus New Zealand.

Apparently it's some sort

of little rivalry.

And I saw people

worship yesterday.

A lot of them

were Australian.

New Zealanders

worshiped at times.

But I saw a lot

of Australians worship.

And in the States

right now,

they're gearing up

for American football,

which I learned yesterday.

We just stole rugby

and made a couple

of odd changes.

But if you go

to an American football stadium

or if you watch

a rugby match

or hurling

or football,

you will see

a group of people

obtain to some degree

something they deeply desire.

Yesterday it was the,

correct me if I say it,

the Aussies.

Is that right?

The Aussies were obtaining

something they deeply desired,

which was to beat New Zealand.

And every time

they obtained

to some degree

that thing

that they desired,

you saw a response

in word,

deed,

and singing.

You can see it

all over the screen.

And I've been

in those stadiums

and I've had my team

that I wanted

to obtain

that victory.

And when they do,

boy,

guys who are so quiet

during the singing

at church

are chest bumping

and just high-fiving

and knocking

each other over

and drinks

are raised in the air

and they're singing

and there's words

and there's a celebration.

Because something

that was deeply desired

was obtained

to some degree

and the response

was worship.

So as Christians,

our lives

are a response

to what we have

obtained.

Through Christ,

we have obtained

something that we

instinctively,

deeply desire

and that is to be

at peace with God.

And because we see

in God's Word

which proclaims

the message

of salvation

which proclaims

that we have been

put back

into a relationship

of peace with God.

As we see that

and we hear that

and that sinks in,

that need for that

to have been obtained

results in worship,

in lives of worship,

in word,

deed,

and song.

Christians are

more responsive

to God's Word

and worship.

Because in God's Word

we see that we are

at peace

with God

through Christ Jesus.

So what does a Christian

look like?

Why?

And why?

What does a Christian

look like and why?

Well,

it looks like someone

who's honest

about their shortcomings.

There's nothing

quite like having

a Christian just be

completely honest

about who they are.

It's striking.

It grabs your attention.

Why can they be so

honest about

their shortcomings?

Because they recognize

they are being renewed.

They are being renewed

in the image

of their Creator.

A Christian looks like

someone who is

loving and forgiving.

Why?

Why can they be so loving?

Why can they be so

forgiving with each other?

Oh, because we've been

so deeply loved

and forgiven.

A Christian looks like

someone celebrating

with all of life.

living a life of worship

in word,

deed, and song

because they're at peace

with God

through Christ.

So to apply that

to our lives now,

I would just simply ask,

is this your desire?

Is your desire

to look like this?

And if so, why?

Do I want these things

to describe my life?

Do you want these things

to describe your life?

If someone were to say,

what does,

and they were to say

your name,

what does this person

look like?

Would you want

these things

to be how you're described?

And why?

So if you don't want

these things

to describe your life,

I think it's worth

asking,

why wouldn't you want

that to describe you?

And going to the other

end of the extreme

and saying,

what's the opposite?

The opposite would be

someone who is deceitful,

who hates others,

holds grudges,

and falsely worships

false gods.

And I'd be willing

to bet that most of us,

we don't want that

to describe our lives.

You wouldn't want

someone to say,

hey, what's Alan like?

Oh, he's this horrible,

deceitful person.

He hates people.

He holds a grudge.

And he's always

just falsely worshiping

false gods

like rugby teams.

No, we don't want

that to define us.

Most people don't.

But why?

Why would we want

these things to define us?

Why would we want

someone to say,

this person looks

like this?

And I would say

it's one of two things,

either self-righteousness

or righteous response.

See, self-righteousness says,

I want to look this way

so that,

and it starts in the present,

and it goes towards

the future.

I want to look this way

so that God will accept me

in the future.

I want to be an honest,

loving, forgiving,

worshipful person

so that when I die,

God will accept me.

That's self-righteousness.

That won't get you

anywhere with God.

That's to completely miss

how holy and righteous

He is.

But a righteous response

says,

I want to look this way

because that's what

my Savior looks like.

I want to look this way

because that's how

God has dressed me.

I want to look this way

because of what

He has done

for me,

in me,

and through me.

And that's what makes

Christianity different

from every other religion

out there.

The Grindys talked about

the number of Muslims

that they have to minister to,

and that's every other religion

that has got that same idea.

I'm going to get better

here in the present

so that in the future

I can be accepted.

And Christianity

is the only religion

that says,

you've been made new.

Your old self's been stripped off.

A new you's been put on.

God is renewing you.

Therefore,

respond in righteousness.

Respond

as who you are

because of

the work God has done

through Christ Jesus.

And because of what

God has done,

we can say

whatever we do,

whether in word

or deed,

we can do it all

in the name of the Lord Jesus.

giving thanks to God the Father

through Him.

Whatever we do,

and we'll look more

at that next week,

whatever we do,

whether it's here in Karagline

or it's overseas,

whether it's at work

or at home,

whether it's with children

or adults,

whatever we do,

we can do it all

in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Giving thanks to God the Father

through Him.

Let's pray.

Father,

we thank You so much

for the work You have done.

Lord,

we often take for granted

all that You have done.

We recognize

that at times

we are guilty

of thinking

that You haven't done enough

and maybe we need to add

to what You've done.

Would You remind us

over and over again

today and this week

and this month,

Lord,

of all that You have done

in the past

and all that You are doing

even today.

And yet,

with that in mind,

Lord,

would You cause us

to respond in righteousness?

Would You remind us

that You have made us new?

You have put new clothes on us

and would You remind us

that now we need

to put on our clothes?

would You have done us?

Would You deeply stir

in our hearts

the desire

to respond

to what You have done

and what You are doing?

Lord,

would You continue

to renew us

so that all of our lives

would look like worship

in word

and deed

and song?

Would we rejoice

in who You are?

Would we rejoice

in what You've done?

Would we call others

to come and taste

and see

everything that has been done

through Jesus Christ?

Would You lead us

into lives of worship

for Your glory

and for Jesus' sake.

Amen.