Godly Fashion Advice Series

Above All: A Study in Colossians

Colossians 3:12-17

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

07-24-2022

Are you in the Right Place?

When I was in college, I lived next to a guy who played in a band called, “Momma Tera.” It was a hard rock band and he invited me to come see them at one of the bars on Beale Street.

It was Saturday night and as I walked into the club, I noticed that many of the people there had on spandex or black leather. There were Mohawks and chains hanging from their belts. It was a heavy metal crowd.

Everyone in the place was sharing at me. I’m not sure why. I had on what I usually wore at that time in my life - penny loafers with the penny in them, pink socks, pink and white stripped shorts, white dress shirt, and I may or may not have had a sweater tied around my shoulders. I went by the name J. Michael Williams and fashioned myself after Michael J. Fox. I was the ultimate preppy.

A guy wandered over and asked if I was in the right place. I assured him that I was friends with the lead singer. Then another guy walked up to me and whispered in my ear, “I think you may be lost. The gay bar is around the corner.”

He totally misread me because the way I was dressed. It’s been said that the clothes make the man/woman.

We can even identify people just by their clothes.

Examples [pics] : Nurse, construction worker, soldier. Pic of Elton John in the Donald Duck outfit.

Paul is making the point in Colossians 3 that we have taken off the clothes of the old nature and now we are to put on the clothes of the new nature. People should be able to tell by our behavior that we are different and follow Jesus.

Paul begins with the fact that since we have died with Christ, have been raised with Christ, are hidden in Christ, and will appear with Him in glory, we should set our hearts/affections and minds/wills on things that are above.

“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 things above, not on earthly things. 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.” (Col 3:1-4)

He then gives two lists of behaviors that we are to put to death or take off. The first list consists of sins of desires: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed and the second the sins associated with our words: rage, anger, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying to one other.

These actions and attitudes are like wearing pink socks to a heavy metal concert. They just don’t fit.

This is not just about individual sanctification. He makes it clear that this is about being a new creation, the Body of Christ, which Jesus is the head. And in Christ, we are one body. The racial, religious, social, and cultural distinctions no longer matter. In this new body:

“Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Col 3:9-11)

I believe that God planned this very text we will study today for this exact time in our church. As we move toward the Eastview All In sermon series, we will have to live the verses out in order for the five weeks to make a real difference.

There is neither old or young, those who have coming here a long time or short time, those who live on this side of 24 or the other, male or female, rich or poor, white or black. We are one body and the next verses will give us our marching orders as to how to live that out well.

Turn with me to Colossians 3:12-17

Prayer

Identity

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, (Col 3:13a)

Paul begins with “therefore,” pointing back to his words about Christ being in all and all in all.

He then goes back to their identity in Christ. He describes these Gentile Christians as: “God’s chosen people, holy, and dearly loved.”

We can’t really feel the weight of that statement but Paul, who was Jewish and trained as a Pharisee, knew exactly what he was saying. These are three of the ways that Israel was described in the Old Testament:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your

God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Duet 7:6-7)

Paul was making it clear what he had just written - there is no Jew and Gentile divide in the church anymore. Gentiles were chosen, made holy, and were as dearly loved by God as Jewish people.