Nailing Down the Christian Life
Colossians 3:5-11
April 29, 2007
Morning Service
This message was adapted from materials in SpringLife disrtibuted by Wesleyan Church World Headquarters
Introduction
Soon after Augustine’s conversion, he was walking down the street in Milan, Italy. There he accosted a prostitute whom he had known most intimately. She called but he would not answer. He kept right on walking. "Augustine," she called again. "It is I!" Without slowing down, but with assurance of Christ in his heart, he testified, "Yes, but it is no longer I."
You will never experience victory over the power of sin until you resist it. You will never find freedom until you resist the temptations that you face.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Recap from last week
Paul described what had already been accomplished for the believer.
• Saved: Our salvation has been done through the work of Christ
• You died: When we accepted Christ we took an active part in the crucifixion
• You are raised: We have been given new life
Paul now describes those things that can be ours but are part of our choice
• Mature: Done through your will and the power of the Holy Spirit
• Put to death: The behaviors of the old life have to die
• Put off and put on: The new way of living
The fact that we have already died with Christ makes us examine our lives in a different light. The old life is gone with all of it’s problems and passions. The new life we have flows out of the death and resurrection of Jesus. If this is the case, the beghaviors of the old life must also be put to death.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24
This is where our choice comes into play. The work of salvation was already done and so our participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus was a matter of acceptance. The pursuit of maturity is a matter of will and obedience.
The earthly nature that Paul mentions here must die within us. Just as we have been crucified spiritually we must also crucify the patterns of our old life. Each area that we struggle with needs to be surrendered over to Christ. The moment you give those struggles over to Christ, those issues are nailed to the cross. Our biggest problem in living for Christ is that we never “nail down” the old life to the cross.
What does Paul want us to put to death?
Sexual imorality The Greek word here is porneia, which is where we get our word pornography. This referes to any illicit sexual behavior. It also refers to not only those who participate but also those who act as an audience. The ancient wolrd had incredibly loose morals, especially in the area of sexuality. Not that much different from today. Loose sexuality has become the norm.
Pornography is one of the biggest struggles for Christian men. Why?
1.) It is easily kept hidden
2.) It is easily accessible
3.) It has become an accepted matter in society
Impurity: Being morally unclean. This is not usually a sexual act but having a perverse attitude toward sexuality. This could include crudeness or insensitivity toward sexual matters
Lust: Evil passion that leads to sexual immorality. It may begin with something that seems innocent, like looking too long at someone of the opposite sex. Lust invades the thought life and shannels your way of thinking toward sexual behavior. Paul makes it clear that thoughts are the basis for our lifestyle.
Evil Desire: Nothing more than wanting that which is evil to satisfy our desires. our human nature is corrupted by sin and has fallen from where God wants us to be. Our nature wants evil things. These evil desires will take control of a person’s life
Greed (which is idolatry): Greed is nothing more than a relentless urge for more. It is never being satisifed with what you already possess. This is a personal longing to satisy our desires. Greed is desiring something to the point of unhealthy obsession. It is allowing that desire to control your life.
Why does Paul make such an issue with these behaviors?
These behaviors lead us to God’s wrath. They will lead us away from having the new life with God Christ died to provide us. God will pass judgment on every person and every sin they have committed. These specific issues were directly connect with the Roman worldview of acceptable practice and with the pagan concept of worship.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. John 3:36
If allowed these behaviors absorb a person’s life. The issue boils down to obedience. Eugene Peterson once said that discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction.
Remember you were crucified with Christ. The old way of life was nailed to the cross. Stop going back to the way you used to live. A new life requires a new way to live.
Many churches place a high emphasis on belief. All we need to do is place our trust in Christ and everything else will be fine. Jesus is the beginning of the Christian walk, not the end. The Christian life is a daily decision to follow Christ. Each day you either build your walk on tear it apart.
Paul wanted the Colossians to be focused on life with a heavenly perspective. Instead of being wrapped up in the things of this world, we are meant to live focused on the things of heaven.
Paul says to rid yourselves of specific practices. The idea here is to put off which is to disrobe and discard. It is the symbolism of changing clothes. Taking one set off and putting another on.
Anger (orge). A continuous attitude of hatred that remains bottled up within. This could refer to what is under the surface. Anger would destroy the harmony and unity Paul called for among the believers.
Rage (thumos). Outbursts of anger or quick temper for selfish reasons. This could mean continual and uncontrolled behavior.
Malice (kakia). Doing evil despite the good that has been received. This word is a general term referring to an evil force that destroys relationships. It can mean anything from trouble to wickedness. It is a deliberate attempt to harm another person.
Slander (blasphemia). Destroying another person’s good reputation by lies, gossip, spreading rumors, etc. Malice often manifests itself through slander. From the Greek word we get our word "blasphemy," a term used to describe speaking against God. The Greeks used the word for defamation of character. Again, this destroys human relationships.
Filthy language (aisxrologia). Crude talk, abrasive language, expletives. Paul admonished the believers that such language must be caught and stopped before it escapes their mouths.
Here (that is, "in Christ" and in the new creation, the church) there should be no barriers of nationality, race, education level, social standing, wealth, gender, religion, or power.
(1) Racial or national distinctions, such as between Greeks and Jews. The spread of the Greek culture and civilization meant that a Greek person (regardless of his or her country of origin) could feel pride in a privileged position and would look down on the Jews and their persistent clinging to an ancient culture. The Jews, meanwhile, would look down on Greeks as heathen, immoral, and outside of God’s grace for the chosen nation.
(2) Religious distinctions, such as between those who have been circumcised (Jews) and those who are uncircumcised (Gentiles). The Greeks (above) would fit in among the Gentiles. Circumcision, the physical mark of the male Jew, was prized as part of the covenant of God with his chosen people. If practiced at all by Gentiles, it was as part of a heathen cult; most often, the Gentiles were uncircumcised, and they mocked the seriousness of the rite for the Jews.
(3) Cultural distinctions, such as between barbarians (a contemptuous name Greeks used for people unfamiliar with Greek language and culture) and Scythians. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, wrote that these were wild and primitive tribal people, living near the Black Sea, who were considered little better than beasts, fit only for slavery.
(4) Economic or social distinctions, such as between slaves and free people. Slavery was common in the ancient world. Paul would have special words for the relationships between masters and slaves
How could these barriers possibly be removed? Paul’s answer: because Christ is all, and is in all. For all these groups of people, Christ is everything. He "is all" they need for redemption and unity. He is central and brings believers together. Christ is "in all"; he dwells in all believers so there can be no division, no prejudice. In others words, every believer is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) with a new self (3:10) by the power of Christ’s indwelling Holy Spirit. In Christ, human distinctions are removed. Such distinctions are no problem for him, so they should be no problem for us. Everyone is equal at the Cross.
Conclusion
During a tour of a large manufacturing plant, a visitor noticed a man using a fiery torch of high intensity to work on huge slabs of steel. Operating from a blueprint on a nearby table, a pointer traced the pattern and then by a clever system of levers enlarged the design as it was burned into the metal.
There were times, however, when the flame would not make any impression. When this happened, a chemical substance was applied to the resisting patch, and immediately the cutting could be resumed. The worker explained that although the torch was able to go through clean steel 8 inches thick, if it encountered the slightest film of rust on the surface, the flame would not penetrate it.
Much like that steel Christians can gather “rust” that makes their hearts hardened to the work of God. It holds them back from being everything that God intends for them to be. We need to closely examine our lives and see where we need to be changed.
