JAIL BREAK (Breaking the Chains of Unforgiveness) - Put On the Love of Christ
September 9, 2018
Colossians 3:12-17 (p. 822)
Introduction:
One of my favorite books of all time is one written by a Kentucky preacher named Brian Jones…It’s called “Getting Rid of the Gorilla: Confessions on the Struggle to Forgive.
The back of the book has this paragraph:
[Living with an unforgiving heart is like living with a gorilla…the beast follows you everywhere. He squeezes marriages. He stinks up friendships. He growls at family gatherings and beats his chest at church.
An unforgiving heart ruins relationships, affecting everyone and everything you touch. Maybe you’ve tried and failed to forgive someone who’s hurt you…maybe you aren’t sure you even want to try.]
Forgiveness is the foundation of what real Christianity is all about…Forgiveness is what the cross is all about. Forgiveness is what Jesus is all about…
And yet it’s absolutely a gorilla when it enters our lives…when someone hurts us, or even worse someone we love.
Forgiveness stops being a concept and becomes a very real giant hairy reality!
Here’s the picture the Apostle paints as he writes to the Colossians…it’s a before Christ picture and an after Christ picture. The first is a life of war…and the second is a life of worship…One puts us in an emotional fail…and the other is the key to set us free.
Our text starts with a “Therefore” so what proceeds this powerful challenge is important…it’s a description of
I. A LIFE AT WAR
Most people operate in this battle zone we call life with the same weapons…Our intellect, our emotions and feelings, our physical strength, our desires, our plans. But left to our own devices, outside the influence of God…they create warfare, not peace.
It’s why we read these words
COLOSSIANS 3:5-9 (p. 822)
“Put to death” or “kill” are pretty strong words…But it requires a drastic command for me to “kill” my unforgiving, self pleasing nature…It lusts after stuff, it’s greedy, it’s impure and immoral…my nature has one god it worships…and it’s “me.”
It’s the very reason God poured out His wrath on the cross…and it’s the very reason that if you or I haven’t accepted Christ’s payment…His wrath will be poured out on us when He returns.
And one of the most important Biblical truths is found in Colossians 3:7 “You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived.”
Our lives before Christ were a war zone. We were fighting with God’s authority…we were fighting with others who got in the way of our desires…and we could lie really well if we got caught.
Anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language flowed through our hearts and out of our mouths.
We idolized the god of “me” and our nature was to try and get everyone else to see how important this god was.
The practices of this old self were honed to a sharp edge over time…Figuratively (I hope) if you brought fists to the fight, I brought a knife…You bring a knife and I bring a gun…you bring a gun and I bring a grenade.
Let’s make it very clear…anger is a normal response when someone hurts you. It’s usually proportioned…someone is unkind to you, you want to be unkind back…someone kills your loved one…You want to kill them…both reactions are normal responses.
Ephesians 4:26 says “In your anger do not sin.” Anger is not a sin…anger is a God given feeling and emotion…anger is not a sign that you are an immature Christian. Feeling angry when you’ve been hurt is not a sign of weakness…it’s a sign you have a pulse.
Brian Jones writes:
The original Greek word the Bible uses for anger is ogre, which means to “be puffed up, swell” or “be excited.” Anger is a normal, God-given emotion. It causes us to protect ourselves. Numerous passages in the Bible seem to condemn anger, but what they’re really condemning is the behavior we display when we act on our anger, not the initial feeling of anger itself. Despite what well-meaning Christians might have told you in the past, there is something severely wrong with you if you don’t feel angry when you are hurt.
But you give full vent to your anger outside of Christ and it turns to rage, malice, slander and filthy language…and if you don’t murder them…you’ve murdered them in your heart.
Listen, none of this is easy when someone hurts you or someone you love…and in many cases doesn’t care…or keeps doing it…That person is operating under God’s wrath…outside of Christ…They still wear the old self…and we who have been raised with Christ, who have set our hearts on things above, focused on Jesus and surrounded our minds to His influence, have to choose if we put on the gorilla or the clothes of Christ.
“Have we put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.” (v. 10)
If we have, we’ve chosen?
II. A LIFE OF WORSHIP
We gather as God’s people on Sundays and other times to praise our Savior and worship…but the most impactful worship of our Father takes place in the world…“This is our spiritual act of worship…where the will of God is tested and approved in our lives.”
That’s why Paul uses the words “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.”
Either we are distinct from this world or we stink like the world…We have a Father who called us, chose us, loved us, and saved us.
He cleansed us from the dirt and grime of sin…and He expects us to “put on Jesus His Son” so we’re ready to meet Him when He comes.
“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory.”
(v. 4)
He’ll recognize His chosen ones clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” And verse 14 tells us they’ll be tied together with love.
You see, the world is looking for a fight…and God tells us we were made new creations so we could reconcile the world to Him…we’re his ambassadors. (2 Cor. 5)
Our daily worship of God reflects itself best in the mirror of forgiveness.
“Bear with each other…Forgive one another…If any of you have a grievance against someone…forgive them as the Lord forgave you.”
Don’t escalate it…Don’t be disproportionate in your anger…Don’t immediately hurt them back.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”
Only one king can sit on your heart’s throne at a time…and it will either be the god of “me” or “Christ.” One king is a war monger…and one is the Prince of Peace. And as difficult as it is…I choose which one rules.
One puts me in jail…and one lets me worship.
One of the key ingredients of real worship is gratitude.
Paul ends this section by saying, “You are one body…you were called by God to be peacemakers…be thankful.”
Let me ask you…if you’re thinking about the message of Christ and what he’s done for you…If that message is coming from your heart and mouth…what do you think your life will be filled with…peace or war? Jail or freedom?
Which person do you believe releases you to sing praises, songs and hymns of gratitude…the one who rejoices in their forgiveness…or the one who is constantly trying to fight slander? Which one helps you focus on Jesus and His message?
Ungrateful and unforgiving hearts have destroyed more worship than any other issue!
Satan loves to steal our worship by replacing gratitude with injury in our hearts.
C.S. Lewis says, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”
[Christianity is a lovely idea if it’s my ticket out of Hell…If it gives me an easier life…Christianity is just right if I can go to church when it’s convenient and have friends…like me. Christianity is OK if it’s convenient.
Here’s the problem…real Christianity is never convenient…or selfish, or easy, or limited to people I like…Religion might be…Christianity ain’t.
Christianity can’t be a pigeoned holed part of my life. Christianity is Christ…and He must become our lives if it is real.
Many operate like this person:
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man
or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
-Wilbur Rees
The Apostle Paul’s prayer is a much better one for worship…
“Lord, whatever I do, whether in word or deed, let me do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
That’ll cost you a lot more than 3 bucks!
