What does Holy Living look like? Perhaps this message should have been the first message in the series rather than the last. We must remember, we have been called to holiness:
1 Peter 1:15–16 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
Our call is clear. It is God will for our lives:
1 Thessalonians 4:3a For this is the will of God, your sanctification;
God’s will is for our sanctification. Sanctification means to make holy. If we are holy in all we say and do, the rest of God’s will for our lives will become quite evident.
Our holiness is based solely on the finished work of Jesus. We talked about that last week. When God sees us, he sees the holiness of Jesus imparted to us by the fact that Jesus paid the penalty of our sins on the cross. We are holy only because Jesus is holy. However, as Jesus, through His Holy Spirit has taken up residence within us, and His indwelling has brought about a change of heart, mind and our very soul. Because of the inward change in our lives, there ought to be outward evidence of that change.
Our passage today deals with just that. When trying to describe a holy life, I kept coming back to these verses. I have preached this passage in the past in the context of living in peace and unity, with one another and within the church, but these things are the things that make up our lives as we display the holiness that Christ has imparted to us.
Colossians 3:1–17
The great missionary David Brainerd, who spent his brief life (he died before the age of thirty) ministering to American Indians, [in the 1740s] wrote in his journal these words: “I never got away from Jesus and him crucified. When my people were gripped by this great evangelical doctrine of Christ and him crucified, I had no need to give them instructions about morality. I found that one followed as the sure and inevitable fruit of the other.” He also said this in another place: “I find my Indians begin to put on the garments of holiness and their common life begins to be sanctified even in small matters when they are possessed by the doctrine of Christ and him crucified.” What Brainerd was saying was this: when a Christian realizes who Christ is and what Christ has done for him so graciously, as we have been seeing, it tends to have a dramatic effect on this life, not only in salvation but in holiness.[1]
This is exactly what Paul is saying in these verses:
Colossians 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Paul is referring to the picture of our baptism. We were buried in our trespasses and sins and raised from that death with Christ:
Colossians 2:12–13 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
Seeing then how we are alive in Christ, our minds needs to be transformed to seeing those things which are above and holy.
Colossians 3:2–4 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
When we begin to see things as God see them, we will want to discard what is unholy and embrace what is holy. We begin to see the importance of what is eternal verse the things of earth which are temporal. “When Christ, who is our life.” Christ is our life! Being in Christ, being a Christian ought to be who and what we are. It is the very fabric of our being. When Jesus appears, we should see a family resemblance.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
Considering then to whom we belong and the family of which we are part, we are to put aside all that takes away from our holiness.
Colossians 3:5–7 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
This is an example of what an unholy person looks like. All that we once were we lay aside:
Colossians 3:8–9 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
To live a holy life, reflecting the holiness of Jesus which was been placed within us, we must leave all that was part of our carnal, or worldly life, because we have a new person, because we have been made new in Jesus.
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—
A holy life will, a life that is being sanctified, will resemble Jesus more and more, the image of the one we were made to look like in the beginning, but sin had altered that image. If we, as Christians begin to look like the One who created us, in whom we have the new self, then we also begin to have a family resemblance with one another:
Colossians 3:11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
In the church, there should be no racial issues, no matter our skin color and ethnic background. We all will resemble Jesus, and we all will have individual expressions of that image. So we all in the church belong to Jesus, Paul goes on to say:
Colossians 3:12a So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved,
The KJV has the “elect” of God. God chose us and we responded. Because we were chosen and we responded, we are holy – set aside for the purposes of God, and beloved. Considering whose we are, Paul goes on and says:
Colossians 3:12–13 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
These are the traits of a holy life. Consider: “heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;” I believe this is just an abbreviated list, and they sound a lot like the fruit of the spirit:
Galatians 5:22–23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
All Christian, true believers and followers of Christ have these qualities within themselves, and since we do, we need to display them in all areas of our life. These are what set us individually apart from the rest the world.
“Bearing with one another.” We get the forgiving part. But let we take a minute with the “bearing with one another” part. Bearing with one another means to put up with one another. This verse speaks of enduring as the one offended. This not directed to the offender but the one being offended. You see the one offending may have no awareness that an offense had happened.
We as a nation have become a nation of offended people. We have political correctness because of all the outrageous offenses people perceive against themselves.
This offense mentality has also invaded the church. We are offended and we let others know. We get upset and withdrawal. We have our feeling hurt and we want to take our ball and go home. How are we to be a blessing to others in the church, much less those outside the church, if we continually allow ourselves to be offended every time somethings happens that things just do not go our way or someone says something that hurt our feelings?
Paul says we are bear with one another. Put up with one another. We do this all the time in families. Growing up my older sister would be mean to me, but I did not build a coalition against her, I did not try and leave the family because of her, and I did not even threaten to leave. She was and always will be my sister and I will love her because she is my sister.
The church is the same way and is, in a real sense, a family. We put up with one another. We put on thick skin and we love one another because they are our brother or sister. Lord knows, how many have put up with me and still love and bless me despite all my faults.
“Just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” We must continually remind ourselves who we are pattering our lives after. Just how much did Christ forgive you and me? Does Jesus hold a grudge against you and me for what we have done in the past or even continue to do? No He does not. So we must do likewise with others.
Colossians 3:14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Faith, Hope and Love, and the greatest of these is what? Love.
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Are we really loving one another? Or do we just say the words?
Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Let the peace of God rule. We talk about the peace of God. We know that as a child of God we can experience the peace of God which surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). But this verse is talking more than personal peace This verse is dealing with the peace of God that brings harmony to the body of Christ.
Peace is to rule in the body of Christ. It is our umpire to our decision making. Will what I do bring peace? Peace, the very peace of God should guide all our activities, whether individual decision or actions, or in church programs and projects.
A most important part of a holy life is to be thankful. Thankfulness is the end result of peace. Without peace, people become self-centered, self-seeking, and dissatisfied with the body, and there is not any thankfulness. How thankful we are is an indicator how the peace of God rules within the heart of our fellowship.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
We are to teach and lift up one another. The word says to do with all wisdom. In other words, we don’t lord it over each other what to do, but we teach and lead by example, openly praising God and thanking Him with one another.
Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Do we do all things in the name of Jesus? Do you ever think about that? Doing everything we do in the name of Jesus? Would we stop doing somethings and start doing other things if all was done in the name of Jesus? Thank about it. Do we go to work in the name of Jesus? Do we go to school in the name of Jesus? Do we go to Walmart in the name of Jesus? Do we have our leisure time in the name of Jesus? Doing all in the name of Jesus will have an impact on our holy living.
So how is our holy living? It is not a matter of do’s and don’ts. It is all a matter of the heart. If our hearts are right before the Lord, if we are in step with the Lord and his Holy Spirit is guiding us through out each and every day, then we will naturally avoid the unholy and be pure in and holy in all the things that we do. We will not look like the world the around us and the world will ridicule us. But if we pattern our lives after Jesus, Jesus said:
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
Holy living will produce a negative reaction from the world around us. But who are we living to please? The Lord or the world?
But there is great power in holy living. And the eternal rewards are great. Holy living boils down to this, living for Jesus in all we say and in all we do. Who are we living for?
[1] Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 188.
