SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). Before we get dressed (vs 1-4)
(2). What not to wear (vs 5-9)
(3). What to wear (vs 10-17)
SERMON BODY:
• An alternative title for tonight’s talk could be:
• ‘What Christians should NOT wear to worship?’
• Of course this sermon is NOT about the proper physical attire for church attendance.
• God doesn’t care as much as people seem to care regarding our dress preferences.
• This sermon is about ‘things’ (i.e. character traits, sinful actions or attitudes);
• That we are to ‘put off’ and ‘put on’ when we come to Church.
• Yet Colossians 3:1-17 gives us some real sound advice on ‘spiritual dress’.
Note:
• Now due to a misunderstanding - this week’s sermon (chapter 3 verses 1-11);
• Should have been preached last week.
• And last week’s sermon (chapter 3 verses 12-17);
• Should have been preached this week!
• Now because these sections (verses 1-17) are all about “spiritual dress.”
• It doesn’t really matter very much that you’ve had it the wrong way round;
• Because the two sections fit together either way round.
• Verses 1-9 is about putting off;
• i.e. What you should not wear to Church.
• Verses 11-17 is about putting on;
• i.e. What you should wear to Church
(1). Before we get dressed (vs 1-4)
• A right mindset is important if we are going to wear the right clothes.
• i.e. If you are going to decorate the house – do not wear your best suit or dress!
• i.e. If you are going on a hike – do not wear high heels or uncomfortable shoes!
• i.e. If you are going to a wedding – do not wear your bathing suit or swimming trunks!
• A right mindset is important;
• We need to make sure we are wearing the right clothes for the right occasion.
The apostle Paul tells these Christians at Colossae:
• Not WHERE they are going i.e. off to decorate, or off on a hike or off to a wedding etc.
• But WHO they are going with i.e. Jesus Christ.
• Because they are with Jesus they need to dress appropriately.
• Remember I am using clothing as a figure of speech, a metaphor.
• Just as we cloth our bodies to look presentable;
• So every Christian must cloth their heart & their minds to be presentable to Christ.
Ill:
• The pagan religions in New Testament times;
• Said very little or nothing at all about personal morality.
• A worshiper could bow before an idol, put his offering on the altar,
• And go back to live the same old life of sin.
• Religion was in one compartment of his life;
• And everyday living was in a separate one.
• What a person believed had no direct relationship with how he behaved,
Ill:
• British comedian Frank Skinner a modern example of that ideology.
• His stage act is course, crude and full of innuendo, as well as lots of bad language.
• Yet as a devote Catholic he goes to mass each morning.
• Yet what he believes does not affect his behaviour.
When the Christian faith burst into a pagan society like that at Colossae:
• It brought a whole new concept into being.
• Because WHAT a Christian believed,
• Had a very definite connection with HOW they behaved!
• After all, faith in Christ means being united to Christ;
• And if we share His life, we must follow His example.
(1). Preparation – requires 3 things (vs 1-4):
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
(a). Remember we are raised with Christ (Vs 1):
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God”.
• Because you have been raised with Christ:
• Your heart should be near the throne of God where Jesus is seated.
• Now although we are raised with Christ
• It is possible to be alive and still live in the grave.
Ill:
• A true story from the second World War,
• Tells the story of several Jewish refugees who hid in a cemetery,
• During that period of hiding, one pregnant lady gave birth to a baby;
• And so a baby was actually born in one of the graves.
• Transition: Did you know that for a Christian:
• It is possible to be alive in Christ and to still live in the grave?
• Each Christian should not only alive in Christ;
• But they should also realise that they are raised with Christ.
Note: Three ways we are raised with Christ:
(1). SYMBOLICALLY:
• At our baptism (i.e. believers baptism by immersion),
• Coming up out of the water is a picture of resurrection life.
• (i.e. Romans chapter 6 verses 3-4)
(2). THEOLOGICALLY:
• The Bible teaches in this and other passages that we are raised with Christ.
• That is our position as far as God is concerned.
Ill:
• People in the armed forces out in Afghanistan will spend months away from home;
• They will eat in Afghanistan, sleep in Afghanistan, breath Afghanistan air.
• In other words their physical body is in Afghanistan.
• But do you know where their hearts are?
• Do you know where their minds are?
• Back home with their loved ones!
• Why? Because even though their bodies are in Afghanistan,
• Their life was back with their families, they never sank roots in Afghanistan.
• In the end, Afghanistan was only a place they were passing through;
• A place they were soon to leave behind.
• That is our position as far as God is concerned.
• We may be physically on earth but our hearts & minds & desires are on him at home.
(3). PRACTICALLY:
• We are to live lives as those who are raised and seated in glory;
• Or as verse 2 puts it: we are to ‘set our hearts on things above’.
The expression:
• “Things above” means things controlled by God.
• “Things that are on earth” mean things pursued without reference to God.
• Christians might be living on earth,
• But they don’t follow earthly values, attitudes or behaviour.
• Christians are to desire and live in such a way, that they please God.
• And this can only be achieved when we look at life from God’s perspective.
Ill:
• Football manager often sits in the stand for all or part of the game,
• That higher perspective helps him to take aboard things he can’t see at ground level.
• In our daily living we are to sit ‘in the stands’ or ‘in the heaven’.
• This will help us achieve what we cannot achieve at ground level.
(b). Remember We are hidden in Christ (vs 3-4).
3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Question: Did you notice the contrast in these verses?
Answer:
• The Christian is described as both dead and alive at the same time;
• In human terms you cannot be both – you are either dead or alive.
• But spiritually speaking you can be both dead and alive:
• When you became a Christian you became dead to sin;
• And every Christian is now alive in Christ.
• The emphasis in these verses then,
• Is on the believer’s relationship with Christ -“Christ is our life” (vs 4).
Ill:
• Paul actually uses a Greek idiom (play on words), a Greek expression used for death;
• To show that just as in death the body is hidden in the earth,
• So likewise the Christian is now ‘hidden’ in Jesus Christ.
Note the expression:
• “And your life is now hidden with Christ in God”.
• I think this sentence is referring to our security.
Quote: The eminent Greek scholar, Dr. A.T. Robertson, comments on this:
“So here we are in Christ who is in God, and no burglar, not even Satan himself,
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus”
ill:
Sunday School teacher and the little girl.
• They had just finished a lesson on our security in Christ;
• The teacher asked the little girl; “What if you slipped away?”
• The little girl replied “I can’t slip away for he has me in my hand”.
• The teacher teasing her said, “But what if his fingers should let go?”
• Suddenly remembering another lesson they had been taught, she replied;
• “They can’t for I am one of those fingers!”
(c). Remember We are glorified in Christ (vs 4).
4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
• Christ is in glory, he is NOW seated at the Father’s right hand,
• Remember Paul has been teaching what happened to Jesus, happens to the believer!
• The second coming when Christ returns in glory,
• Will not be a ‘Christ only’ event, it involves us as well!
• Christians will not just be spectators, looking on;
• But we will be partakers, we will be involved and share in his glory.
• Glorification is the future and final work of God upon Christians,
• Where he transforms our mortal physical bodies;
• To the eternal physical bodies in which we will dwell forever
Quote: Philippians chapter 3 verse 21-22:
”But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere”.
Now because we are:
• Raised with Christ (verse 1)
• Hidden in Christ (verse 3).
• Glorified in Christ (verse 4)
• Our attitudes and behaviour should reflect these truths.
(2). Put off - What not to wear (vs 5-9)
“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. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also 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”.
In these verses Paul tells us what not to wear, what we should abandon, or put off:
• Verse 5 “Put to death…”
• Verse 8 “…rid yourselves…”
• Verse 9 “…now you have taken off…”
• Paul says in these verses that there are some things you are not to wear as a Christian.
• Because they are connected with the old life not the new.
Ill:
• Les Hardwick a friend of mine once saw a tramp in need;
• He decided to give the tramp his newish coat so that he could keep warm.
• To his amazement the tramp simply put the new coat on top of the old one!
• The apostle Paul says the Christian should not do that,
• He or she puts off the old to wear the new.
Now if you read through the list, I make it that there are ten sins mentioned;
• Ten practices often found in unbelievers,
• Ten features of our old lifestyle.
• Ten traits we need to deal with, to ‘put off’, get rid of’, to ‘take off’.
• And this is not a ‘take your pick’ list;
• All the qualities mentioned need dealing with!
Ill:
• We would be shocked to find out that a church member;
• Had committed some of the sexual sins mentioned in verse 5.
• Yet all too often we stand by and watch Christians commit the sins mentioned in verse 8:
• e.g. lose their temper or gossip.
Paul’s advice to the Christians at Colossae:
• Verse 5 “Put to death…”
• Verse 8 “…rid yourselves…”
• Verse 9 “…take them off…”
Ill:
• The word picture used here is that of a person changing clothes:
• “Putting off” (vs 9) and then in verse 10: “Putting on”.
Ill:
• The idea of changing garments to express spiritual truth is not new,
• i.e. Zechariah chapter 3 refers to the high priests filthy clothes.
• i.e. Luke chapter 15 the prodigal son received a change of clothes.
(3). What to wear (vs 10…)
Paul now uses this metaphor, this picture to the Christians at Colossae:
• God has given you a new wardrobe of clothes to wear.
• So cast off the old clothing.
Ill:
This clothing metaphor relates back to verse 1:
• To the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
• When He arose from the dead, he left the grave-clothes behind (John 20:1-10).
Ill:
• Likewise, when Lazarus was raised from the dead, J
• Jesus instructed the people to “loose him, and let him go” (John 11:44).
• The grave-clothes represent the old life with its sinful deeds.
• But now that we have new life in Christ, we must walk “in the clothes of new life”.
Paul is never just negative:
• With “Put off” that is making sure that their old nature (old self) is dead,
• He adds “Put on” God has something far better for you to wear.
• Quote Warren Wiersbe:
• “God wants you to wear the grace-clothes, not the grave-clothes!”
ill:
• No one would play football in their best suit of dress.
• No one would go to a wedding in their gym clothes.
• You wear appropriate clothes, which suit the activity.
• In the activity of life Paul says you are wearing grace-clothes.
• So live accordingly!
