Holiness – Part 4 – Put On Jesus Christ Series

"Holiness – Part 4 – Put on Jesus Christ"

Romans 13:11-14

Pastor John Bright

Romans 13 “11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

Pause right there. Those words I just read; they were “Breathed by God”! God wants you to hear His Word right now! So, what is your response? Do you want to transformed by that Word or do you want to be informed about the words? You must choose.

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A big part of the hustle and bustle in our modern world has to do with “stuff.” We all have too much stuff – amen? I have told you before – it’s ok to have stuff, just make sure stuff does not have you. Today, I want to begin with a question – how much stuff is enough?

Dave Ramsey gives this warning, "We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like."

Richard Foster gives this warning: “We are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they are worn out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick. Until we see how unbalanced our culture has become at this point, we will not be able to deal with the mammon spirit within ourselves nor will we desire Christian simplicity.” (Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, pg. 80-81)

If holiness is equal to freedom, we must seek the practices we see in the life of Jesus to be truly free as we grow into holiness of heart and life. The more we become like Jesus, we will understand Paul’s instruction to the Roman Believers and all of us to - “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

SIMPLICITY

Jesus had a few things (wink-wink) to say about our relationship to our stuff. In the Sermon on the Mount, we read (Matthew 6:24) “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Mammon is the Aramaic word for wealth. For our purposes, let’s call it TOO MUCH STUFF.

Jesus also made sure to let us know that this relationship with our stuff starts on the inside – also in Matthew 6 “19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Richard Foster writes about the move from the inner heart of simplicity to the outward manifestation in your life. This is where legalism, a long list of do’s and don’ts, is always a danger. In Matthew 19, Jesus told the rich, young ruler to sell all he has and give it away. That was not a directive for everyone – just for him. Jesus knew that this man not only had too much stuff – it had him. In Matthew 6, Jesus continues teaching about not being anxious or worried – “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (v.33) That’s what we are seeking in the practice of simplicity!

Here are the 3 inner attitudes (heart) that are seen when simplicity leads to freedom from anxiety over stuff:

• Receive what you have as a gift from God – “give us this day our daily bread”

• It’s God’s business to care for what we have – you have no control over the weather

• What we have is available to others – remember how we hoarded t.p. during the pandemic (Celebration of Discipline, pg. 88-89)

John Mark Comer focuses on the outward manifestation. He tracks the last century where most folks were on farms (90%) to our current time with a completely different economy – one based on consumerism. He calls it the “thingification” of American society. (The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, pg. 182) Others have called it – “AFFLUENZA.” This has been accomplished by a change in advertising so that it became propaganda to sell us a lie: MORE MONEY AND MORE STUFF EQUAL MORE HAPPINESS.” (pg. 188)