“At the Christian’s Core”
August 17, 2008
Colossians 3:1-14
“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.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek 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 whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. “
Colossians 3:1-4
Last week, one morning in my devotional time with the Lord, I was reading the story of Samson again. I felt sort of sad for old Samson. He was a special man of God. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, yet he showed so much human weakness. He was a man’s man – but he had a thing for the ladies. He wasn’t so good at picking his woman. One tricked him into revealing a secret that cost him a bet. Another tricked him into revealing the secret of his strength – and ended up costing him his sight and then his life.
But he died well. He died gloriously. He gave his life to take the lives of thousands of his peoples enemies. And I thought, “I want to be able to die well”. I would rather rise up to meet the Lord in the air, or be beheaded for my faith in the end times – but even if I die naturally, I want to be able to say I lived and died well. Paul said,
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:6-7
Wouldn’t you like to be able to say that one day? I would. I look at Samson, strong and mighty, yet his life was so flawed and weak in ways. David was a mighty warrior, a handsome man, a talented musician, and a man after God’s own heart, and yet he had that huge glaring sin. He fell. He recovered. But his pure life was scarred by his adulterous affair and murder.
One of the lessons of the bible is that man is of a fallen nature – but it also teaches that God can protect his own from sin. The Bible teaches that sin is strong within us – but that God is stronger. His grace is sufficient to carry us through and bring us to repentance. Paul says,
“where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Romans 5:20 KJV
“Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” Romans 5:20 NIV
Isn’t that a great Scripture? Grace is the enabling power of God. And although sin is strong within us; although Satan is a tremendous adversary; although temptation is overwhelming at times – God is more that able to help us handle it. The Bible says,
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
“He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:9
Satan has so many weapons to defeat us – but God is more than able to handle them all. His grace is sufficient. His power is sufficient. He will never allow us to have so much temptation or trial in our life that we can’t handle it. We have the victory.
So if we fall; if we weaken; if we given in – is it God’s fault? No. It is because we did not use all the spiritual power that was available to us. The power of prayer; the power of the Word; the power of resisting; the power of fellowship.
I say all of that to say we can be the man or woman God wants us to be – in HIS strength. And to be the man or woman God wants you to be – to finish well – you need three core qualities.
First, you must be holy. Why? God tells us.
“I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” Leviticus 11:45
“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15-16
The bible is very clear that it is God’s will that we become a holy people. But what does that mean? Let’s define holiness. The dictionary says this:
1. dedicated or devoted to the service of God.
2. saintly; godly; pious; devout
3. having a spiritually pure quality:
Put simply, holiness is the state of spiritual purity. Jesus talked about a holiness of heart and a holiness of action. With our fallen nature – we will never do things perfectly. We aren’t wise enough, strong enough or spiritual enough. That’s one of the reasons it was important for Jesus to die for us. When we ask for forgiveness, God wipes the slate clean and we are pure and holy in God’s sight. But God desires more for us. He desires a holiness of heart. He desires us to be pure of heart. In other words, our intentions and desires are to be pure and holy. And it takes an act of OUR will to be holy of heart. The Bible says,
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.”
1 Peter 1:13-15
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
Do you see that the holiness God desires for us is an act of our will in conjunction with His grace. We are to prepare our minds. We are to control our selves. We are to NOT conform to our evil desires. It is God’s will that we be sanctified or set apart completely for him. God called us to be pure and holy.
Some people use sanctification and holiness synonymously – but they really aren’t. Sanctification is the act of becoming pure; the crisis experience when we surrender ourselves fully to God, and holiness is the resulting state of spiritual purity.
The bible is clear that we do both. “It is God’s will that you be sanctified”
(1 Thessalonians 4:3). “Be holy in all you do” (1 Peter 1:15)
I have sanctified myself, and my heart IS holy before God. That means I can look within my heart and see there is nothing unclean or rebellious or sinful. Faults, failings, errors in judgment? Yeah. I got a few. Just follow me around for a little while and you can pick out some. And I am working on them. That’s what growing in grace is all about. We need to strive for perfection. Paul said,
“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” Philippians 3:12-13
Do you see that Paul says he hasn’t achieved perfection – but that’s his goal? That is what he strives for. We need to do the same. We may not be perfect – but in everything we do – that needs to be our desire. That’s holiness of heart. I want to have a pure heart all my life – don’t you.
The second core quality God wants in a godly man or woman is faithfulness. We talked a little about that a few weeks ago – but let’s touch lightly on it. The Scripture says,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Do you remember how we defined faith? Faith is composed of three main elements (Belief, Trust, and Action) in a five step process. The process goes like this. 1. We heard the Word of God. 2. Hope grows in our hearts that God is good and will bless and reward us. 3. We believe God. 4. We trust that He will do the right thing for us. 5. We obey or act on what He is asking us to do.
Being faithful is being obedient. Living by faith means that when God reveals His will to us, we believe Him, we trust Him, and we act accordingly. If He tells us to stop doing something – we stop. If He tells us to start doing something – we start. We stop lying, stealing, committing adultery or fornication, coveting what others have – because we realize this is God will for us. We begin to worship, witness and walk in His will. That’s living by faith. I want to be faithful – don’t you? I can look back over my life and see I have been pretty faithful in a lot of areas. I have been faithful to my wife for almost forty years. I have been faithful to my church for over thirty years. I have been faithful to read the bible daily and so on. But I want to be faithful all my life – don’t you. I don’t want any hiccups like with David or Samson. When I am gone – I want people to be able to say I was a faithful man. How about you?
Faithfulness is achieved one day at a time. Paul said, “I die daily”. We need to die out to self – daily. We need to begin each day with a new commitment to live for God that day. Jesus taught us to pray daily for blessings, forgiveness, guidance, deliverance and protection from evil, and to make Him our King each day and that we would do his will. Listen again to the prayer Jesus taught His disciples:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:9-13
We need God’s daily help to be faithful. May those who follow behind us find us faithful.
The Third core quality God wants in a godly man or woman is love. That’s how we are to be known. Jesus said:
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
Paul gives the definition of love to the Corinthians church. Apparently they were having a little trouble with it. Paul says:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Cor 13:4-7
Why do you think Paul had to define love to the Corinth Church? Do you think maybe they were a little immature and selfish? Love is a choice. Love is an action that has to be willed. Love is a fruit of the Spirit that we need to work on and nurture. The kind of love God desires in us is motivated from a holy heart and expressed faithfully.
The problem with love is that it can be easily misunderstood – and is often viewed from a person’s own spiritual immaturity. In other words, if they would do something – they might think you would, too. Jesus was criticized for being a friend of sinners. He was accused of being a drunk and a glutton. Why? His love caused Him to go to the sinful and the hurting and the poor and the unacceptable to the religious of His day.
The religious people of Jesus’ day wouldn’t associate with certain people because of their race. They wouldn’t associate with certain people because of their religion. They wouldn’t associate with people because of their sex. Yet Jesus’ love motivated him to spend time alone with a sinful woman at a well. He talked with prostitutes and healed them. He touched the untouchables and loved the unlovable. Did He ever sin? Did He become unholy or unfaithful to God? No. No one could bring such an accusation against Him. He proved Himself faithful and holy in every circumstance.
I think we need to use wisdom – but we need to also be loving. If you associate with certain classes of people – you may be painted with the same brush as them. People will certainly find fault with how you do things. And some people will be lost – because a Christian is so concerned about his holy image that he lets a soul slip away into eternal hell.
Someone was telling me about a preacher that was so concerned with his image that he wouldn’t go into the back yard where a young married woman was alone. To me, that’s just silly. Was he afraid she might attack him? Was he afraid he might give into his lusts and attack her? Was he afraid people would talk and ruin his reputation? Or was he wanting to flaunt his holiness like the Scribes and Pharisee’s did. Jesus wasn’t afraid to talk to a woman alone, which was against the code of His day, and it resulted in a whole community becoming believers.
I want to be holy. I want to be faithful. But I also want to be loving. We need to care about people. The Christian is to be the arm of the Lord. God is love - but He is also Holy. Can we touch the world with a holy love this week?
Don’t be unwise. Don’t put yourself in a compromising situation or into needless temptation – but don’t be so concerned about your own comfort that you let someone slip away.
The core of the Christian needs to be these three: Holy, Faithful, and Loving. May it be so with us.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for the great love you have for me. Thank you for dying for me. May I return that love by becoming holy. Make me holy. Help me to be faithful for all my life. And help me to be an extention of your love. Love the world through me. I give you permission to use my life and my gifts for your own purposes.
In Jesus Name,
