#8~Col. 3:1-11 ~IN THIS CHAPTER, PAUL BEGINS DEALING WITH PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN LIVING~ 1-12-14
We'll be in chapter 3: today, but to help us get connected back up with our thought line let's read:
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Col. 2:16-23 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, [what you eat or drink] or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:
[Sabbath- is always to do with the Jews of the O.T.]
* In Exo.20: we find the 10 commandments;
Verse 8 say's Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
It is the only commandment that is not found in the N.T. -- The "Sabbath" has nothing to do with the N.T. Church, its altogether for the O.T. Jews.
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16- Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, [what you eat or drink] or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:
17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
~ A shadow is not the real thing. -- There is a difference between the shadow and the substance.
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18Let no man beguile you [rob you] of your reward in a voluntary humility [self-imposed -- humility- and Pestered by rules and regulations]
] --- and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19And not holding the Head, [Christ] from which all the body [Church] by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments [elements] of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21(Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
23Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Paul here is talking about an appearance, a masquerading. --- "Will-worship" means self-imposed worship, with one's self in mind.
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* Col.3:
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
~ When a person is at work, he does not sit down; Jesus is seated at God's right hand because His work is finished.
@@@ Luke 2:41- 50 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.
Deut.16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in --
1-- the feast of unleavened bread, [Passover] -- To commemorate Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, -- and the hardships of Israel's hurried flight from Egypt.
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2 --- and in the feast of weeks, -- The feast of Pentecost, of weeks, of wheat-harvest or of the first-fruits. -- The Feast of Pentecost was held fifty days after Passover. -- To dedicate and consecrate the first-fruits of the barley harvest.
Pentecost -- is from the Greek word meaning fiftieth.
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3 -- and in the feast of tabernacles:- The feast of tabernacles or "of ingathering".--this was when, in remembrance with thanksgiving of the major fruits of the ground, were gathered in, the corn, the wine and the oil.- etc.
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* There were 7 feasts altogether each year: all are found in Lev.23:
The seven feasts of Israel are an Old Testament portrayal of God's plan of redemption through Christ. -- Maybe we'll study the feast some time.
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1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
~ When a person is at work, in most jobs he does not sit down; Jesus is seated at God's right hand because His work is finished.
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@@@ Luke 2:41- 50 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.
42And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
~They traveled a day out and a day back, and searched the city a third day before they found Jesus in the Temple.
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45And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. -- Doctors were rabbis, teachers of Jewish law.
They knew the Old Testament and Jesus questioned them, as well as answered their questions.
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47And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48And when they saw him,** they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father ** and I have sought thee sorrowing. -- They had been searching for Jesus; they had been worried about Him.
49And HE said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? 50And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
~ So, Jesus completed His Fathers business, and that was paying the sin debt, His Fathers business was finished.
~ His first recorded words in Luke was; Lk. 2: 49-- wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
~ His last recorded words in John 19:30 -- it is finished.
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~ The opening verses of chapter 3 are connected with the closing verses of chapter 2. -- There Paul reminds the Colossians that man made regulations are of no real value in restraining the desires of the flesh. --- Paul points out that the only remedy for sinful desires is found in the believer's experience of union with Christ.
1If {since] ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
~ Paul now begins dealing with practical Christian living, with the clear understanding that, practical Christian living is built on the foundation of truths to do with the things of God, --- such as, we know that Jesus is really and truly raised from the dead, and this knowledge causes our identification with Him to become real. --- It's only because we were raised [past tense] with Christ that we can look to those things which are above.
~ The idea of being raised with Christ was mentioned back in Col.2:12 where Paul used baptism to illustrate this spiritual reality. --- Now that we understand that we are raised with Christ, certain behavior will be noticeable in us.
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** 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
~Paul tells the believers in Colossi to love heavenly things; set your hearts and minds on things above --
~Now that we belong to God, we're to conduct our lives with awareness of heavenly things, as some of us are, and were, in awareness of earthly things before we were saved All earthly things are not all evil, but some are.
~ But even things harmless in themselves can become harmful, if we allow them to take the place that should be reserved for the things above.
~ The readers of Paul's epistle are not to be preoccupied with things on the earth, such as the heretical philosophies (2:8), legalistic practices (2:16, 21--23).
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** 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
~So the believer's new life is stored up in Jesus, this means that the Christian life belongs to the spiritual or heavenly realm.
~Since the Colossians now belong to the heavenly realm, and love the things of God, they are to look for those things and interests pertaining to heaven and not to earth.
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4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
~On that day, all will see the saints of God for what they really are, not as they appeared to this world.
~ Paul, the prisoner, a trouble making Jew to the Romans, and a worse-than-Gentile traitor to the Jews, will be seen as Paul the apostle, the servant of the King.
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5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
"Mortify" means "to put to death, or count as dead.
"Fornication" means "sexual immorality-- illicit sexual intercourse.
"Uncleanness" includes thoughts, words, looks, gestures, and the jokes we tell.
"Inordinate affection" means "uncontrolled passion or lust."
"Evil concupiscence" means evil desires.
"Covetousness -- which is idolatry" means always wanting more.
~The godly man seeks his happiness in God; -- the covetous man seeks happiness in his money. --therefore his covetousness amounts to idolatry.
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6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
~ The sins mentioned in verse 5, are a part of the way the world lives and not the way Jesus lived. --- Every Christian is faced with the question: "Who will I identify with, the world or with Jesus?" -- These sins invite the wrath of God.
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7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
~ Many of us, who now know the Lord, practiced these sins in our lives at one time.
~ These sins mark a world in rebellion against God, but they are in the past tense for the Christian.
As Christians, we're not to live like the sons of disobedience. ---A true Christian can not be comfortable in habitual sin, which is, continually remaining in theses sins.
~ Paul says that Christians once walked in these sins. -- And even now, it is possible that these sins can occasionally mark a Christian's life, but they must not be a Christian's walk, that is, their every day manner of living.
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8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
~There is a place for anger that is justified. You remember that the Lord Jesus was angry at the Pharisees because of the hardness of their hearts. That is not a sinful anger. The problem is that often we become angry over the wrong things.
~ Then anger becomes "wrath" when we have an unforgiving spirit.
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"Malice" It is an anger that has been nursed along, it is an anger that tries to take revenge and get even.
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"Blasphemy" blasphemy against God is to defame the name of God, It is not just taking His name in vain, but it is also to misrepresent Him.
~ We can also blaspheme other people, by slanderous talk, evil and lying speaking, hateful insults, reckless and bitter abuse.
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"Filthy communication out of your mouth" means foul communication and includes both that which is abusive and that which is filthy.
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9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
~Put off all those old habits, just as you would discard an outworn suit of clothes which no longer fit you. -- Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. -- Do not lie:
~Each of these sins is primarily committed by what we say. --- Paul calls the believer to a deeper obedience, he tells us to bridle our tongue (as did James in James 1:26.
~ Because the new man is renewed in knowledge he is always hungry to know more about what God says in His Word. -- We have a desire to understand it.
~ According to the image of Him who created him: -- Paul is talking about Gen.1:27 -- where it is said that God created Adam in His own image.
But Adam is pictured as the old man who should be put off and discarded now that we are created after the image of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
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11Where there is neither Greek [gentile] nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Barbarians were considered a lower class of people because they couldn't speak the Greek language. --
Scythian people were known for their cruelty, an un-civilized people--
"Scythian" - a generalized term for rude, ignorant, degraded, -- and were regarded by the ancients as standing extremely low in point of intelligence and civilization.
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The new man is part of a family, which favors no race, nationality, or class of any people. -- It only favors Jesus, because in this new family, Christ is all and in all.
This work of the new creation not only deals with the old man, but gives us the new man patterned after Jesus Christ; it also breaks down the barriers that separate people in society.
Among new creation people, it doesn't matter if a person is Greek or Jew or circumcised or uncircumcised or a Scythian or a slave or a free man.
Barbarians were considered a lower class of people because they could not speak the Greek language. --
Scythian people were known for their cruelty, un-civilized.
All those barriers are broken down. All of these barriers existed in the ancient Roman world; and the power of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ broke them all down.
