Title: Robes or Rags?
Text: Colossians 3:5-11
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don’t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)
God’s terrible anger will come upon those who do such things. (Colossians 3:6)
You used to do them when your life was still part of this world. (Colossians 3:7)
But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. (Colossians 3:8)
Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds. (Colossians 3:9)
In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you. (Colossians 3:10)
In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. (Colossians 3:11)
Introduction
- Beggar’s new clothes
Heaven bound believers are to be clothed with royal robes of righteousness while those who are earth bound is still in rags of filth.
Oriental, Greek and Roman religions teach little or nothing about personal holiness. A person could bring sacrifices, say prayers and go away from the altar and commit sin. No one will think he is inconsistent.
This is not so with Christianity. Heaven bound believers are expected to be clothed in royal robes of righteousness and not rags of filth and sin.
Paul having dealt with the heart and mind in verse 1-4, begins to instruct the Colossians in regards to the practices that are wrong.
He firstly instructed the Colossians:
1. To put to death the sexual sin that enslaves the body.
In verse 5, Paul listed the sexual sins which lurk in the secret alleys of believers.
(Sexual sin) Fornication –
Illicit sexual relationship which includes adultery, sexual relationship before marriage, bestiality, homosexuality and lesbianism.
Uncleanness – (akatharsia) moral impurity, doing things which are dirty, pollute and soil life.
(impurity) inordinate affection – deprave or foul passion
(Lust) Passion –
depraved passion, vile passions
(Shameful desires) evil desires –
desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust
covetousness –
wanting something which does not belong to you and in this context it speaks about the secret greed of lusting after the opposite sex.
Sexual sins start in the secret desires of the heart and once left unchecked it will start to grow like a cancerous tumor, destroying the whole life of the person.
Sexual sins have caused ministers to fall, marriages to breakdown, diseases to develop. It is satan’s number one weapon in destroying the believer. That is why in recent times sexual temptations are every where. Pornographic material can be obtained easily. MTV are filled with sensual material.
I strongly advise Parents to remove MTV from your children’s diet. MTV corrupts the mind of your children. Monitor the internet; apply for internet filtering so that your children are protected from pornographic material.
Sexual sins carry a higher degree of seriousness with it because:
a. You sin against your body. (1 Cor 6:18)
b. You defile the temple of the Spirit. (1 Cor 6:19)
c. You will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
d. You will be faced the wrath of God. (Col 3:6)
e. Sexual sins enslave the human person and keep the person in bondage. Deliverance is often needed in order to deal with such sins.
Paul says that we are to put it to death. Kill it before it eats you up. Enforce spiritual chemotherapy to totally wipe it off.
How to put it to death?
i. Confession
ii. Repentance
iii. Renunciation and deliverance
iv. Accountability
Secondly Paul instructed the Colossians:
2. To strip off the social sins that enslaves the emotion and the tongue.
Colossians 3:8-9 "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. [9] Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds"
In verse 8-9, Paul instructed the Colossians to deal with sins that enslaves the emotion and tongue. They are also known as social sins because they affect people around us. Paul used the word “put off” because they are like filthy garments which need to be stripped away piece by piece.
Someone has called these the sins of "good standing." Because we are so accustomed to anger, critical attitudes, lying and coarse humor among believers that we are no longer convicted about these sins.
We would be shocked to see a church member commit a sensual sin, but we will wink or excuse a lying, critical or angry spirit -- saying "well that is just they way they are or the way I am".
Social sins have a devastating effect.
A lady once came to Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. “There’s nothing wrong with losing my temper,”
She said. “I blow up, and then it’s all over.”
“So does a shotgun,” Sunday replied, “and look at the damage it leaves behind!”
Social sins affects family, friends, and it break up the body of Christ. While sexual sin is like cancer is to the human body, social sin is like cancer in the body of Christ. It has the potential to divide and breaks up the unity of the church.
Anger (ORGE)
- uncontrolled or violent anger
Wrath (THUMOS)
- emotional temper tantrums
Malice (KAKIA)
- meanness of spirit
Blasphemy(BLASPHEMIA)
- a maligning tongue
Filthy communication (AISCHROLOGIA)
- talking to shame or hurt someone
Lying (pseudomai)
- to lie, to speak deliberate falsehoods or to deceive one by a lie, to lie to
Proverbs 10:24 says “Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man”
Anger gets us into all sorts of trouble. It causes us to react, lash out and hurt others. It causes one to seek revenge. Anger has to be dealt with before its bitter water starts to permeate your whole being. Once you allow it to permeate, it will eat you. We must never accept these emotional sins as normal, we must be convicted that they are of the old man, and start to strip them off piece by piece.
Ephesians 4
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil.
This certainly does not mean that when you quarrel with your spouse, you must settle it before the sun set; else the devil would have stepped into your life. After having being married for more than 10 years, I finally found out the woman’s anger do not subside with the sun.
However it does mean that we have to deal with anger before it stirs up more devastating emotions and reactions.
When a person keeps anger in his heart, it will lead to the sins of the tongue. That is when wrath, malice, and even blasphemy will come in. Unresolved anger will lead to wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication and lying.
Paul told the Colossians to stop lying. Sometimes we lie out of fear. Abraham lied out of fear. Some lie to deceive so that they may gain from the deception. In our workplaces, sometimes we are told to cover up which is equivalent to lying.
I am constantly amazed by believers who are blatant in lying and do not at all feel convicted by God.
Seriousness of Lying
a. If you are a blatant liar, then you are of the devil, because he is known as the father of lies.
b. Lying is an abomination to the Lord. He hates liars. (Prov 6:16-17)
c. Liars have no place in the Kingdom of God (Rev 21:8)
Conclusion
Paul instructed the Colossians to put to death and strip away the earthly sins that are like filthy rags. His solution is so simple. He told them that Christ is sufficient to free them from their sins. Christ is enough for you! He has the power and ability to remove your rags and give you new robes.
Christ is sufficient to free us, but we must embrace the new nature.
Sin does not come from the eye, hand, or foot; it comes from the heart, the evil desires within. Centuries ago in England, if a pickpocket was convicted, his right hand was cut off. If he was convicted a second time, his left hand was cut off. One pickpocket lost both hands and continued his “trade” by using his teeth! Physical surgery can never change the heart. We must be willing to exchange the filthy rags for the royal robes. We must be willing to embrace the new nature, buy a total surrender of the heart to Christ.
Christ is sufficient to free us through the work of the indwelling Spirit in our heart.
Walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The Holy Spirit is the agent that renews us in the new nature, the nature of Christ. Apart for the work of the Spirit we can do nothing to change our inner nature.
Christ is sufficient to free us, when we learn to abide in Him.
2 Peter 1:
3 As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! 4 And by that same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature. (New Living Translation)
Peter said that as we get to know Christ better, His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. How true this is. As I think back regarding my own life, the change and transformation came when started to engage Christ in a living relationship. The time spent in the prayer closet was Christ was the place of my transformation. My prayer closet was the place of death, where I started to die to my sins. My prayer closet was the place of tears where I was convicted of wrong and I shed tears of repentance before God.
Enter into the secret place with the Lord. Enter in with rags and exit with new heavenly robes
