Introduction:
A. Young children are funny to watch (especially when they are other people’s children).
1. One of the first words they learn is “mine.”
2. They think that everything is theirs – whatever they see, they grab and say: “mine!”
B. Unfortunately, many people never grow up or outgrow that mindset.
1. One of our world’s favorite mantras is “It’s my life, I’ll live it the way I want to.”
2. Frank Sinatra famously sang: “I did it my way.”
3. Billy Joel’s popular song of 1978 declared: “I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life.
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone.”
4. In 2000, Bon Jovi had a popular song that announced: “It’s my life, it’s now or never, I ain’t gonna live forever…like Frankie said: “I did it my way,” I just wanna live while I’m alive (it’s my life).”
C. While it is true, in many respects, that everyone’s life is their own to do with what they like, no one can live the way they want without consequences for their choices.
1. And for the person who has decided to become a disciple of Jesus, they have given over their life to Jesus, and that decision has benefits and responsibilities.
2. Today, as we move into Colossians chapter 3, Paul turns his attention away from the doctrinal matters about the false teachers, and turns his attention to the practical realities of our new lives in Christ.
3. Disciples of Jesus have a new life in Christ and that new life has a different perspective and has moral obligations.
4. Today, we will look at the two primary instructions that Paul gave his readers in Col. 3:1-11:
a. First, Seek the Heavenly.
b. Second, Slay the Earthly.
I. Seek the Heavenly (3:1-4)
A. Paul wrote: 1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:1-4)
1. Paul began with two commands and then gave the reason for the commands.
a. In other words, Paul gave the “what” and the “why.”
2. The commands are “seek the things above” and “set your minds on things above.”
3. So, let’s talk about what Paul means by those commands and the reasons behind them.
B. When trying to understand what something means, sometimes it is helpful to begin with what it doesn’t mean.
1. When Paul tells us to “seek things above” and “set your minds on things above,” Paul wasn’t telling us that we should be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good.
2. Disciples of Jesus are not to withdraw completely from work and activities in the world.
3. Paul is not calling for escape and isolation, as a matter of fact, later in this letter, Paul will lay down some guidelines and principles for living in the world and how to have an impact on the world.
C. So, when Paul tells us to “seek the things above” and to “set your minds on things above,” he is encouraging us to focus on Christ and realize that our attitudes, ambitions, and our whole outlook should be molded by Jesus and by the things of heaven.
1. Let’s illustrate it with a couple of illustrations.
2. “Setting our minds on things above” is like having a heavenly tracking device or GPS.
3. Or, “setting our minds on things above” is like having a spiritual compass.
4. An earthly compass always points north, and a spiritual compass always points to God.
5. By following our spiritual compass, or tracking device or GPS, then we will always be guided in the right direction.
6. The effect of seeking the heavenly will be profound.
a. With our hearts and minds focused on heaven, we will have the proper perspective of this world.
b. Whenever we look at things from a different vantage point, then our perspective changes – think about the effects of an aerial view of something or the different camera angles of instant replay.
c. In light of things above, the world’s wealth and ambitions, activities and pleasures are seen for their true value, in the context of the heavenly.
d. Many of the things of this earth may not be sinful in and of themselves, but they become sinful if they are sought in preference to things above.
7. Having the heavenly view at all times will help us maintain a godly and spiritual set of values and priorities.
D. Paul didn’t just command the heavenly view, he also explained the reason for it.
1. When we became disciples of Jesus a transaction and a transformation took place.
2. Ultimately, our life, both earthly and eternal, changed forever.
3. In verse 3, Paul said, “for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
a. Jesus gave His life for us on the cross, and in the watery grave of baptism, we die and are untied with Him in His death.
b. Our baptism in Christ is the reality and symbol of our death and the turning of our life over to God.
c. The early church often built their baptistries in the shape of a tomb to make a graphic point.
d. We have died, but not only have we died, our life is now hidden in Christ.
e. We no longer belong to the world or to ourselves, we now belong to Christ – He bought us at a great price.
f. Being hidden in Christ is a good thing, because it means security and satisfaction.
4. When Paul explained the new reality of our lives as Christians, I like the way he explained it in a time sequence that includes: the past (we died), the present (we are hidden in Christ), and the future (we will appear with Him in glory).
a. Many have described the reality of the Christian life as “already, but not yet.”
b. We already belong to the heavenly realm, but we are still living in the earthly realm.
c. We are already glorified in Christ, and we have already won the victory with Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, but not until Christ returns will we appear with Him in glory – already, but not yet.
d. We are like the heir of a great fortune, but don’t yet have possession of that fortune, even though it is ours.
E. So, why should we “seek the things above” and “set our minds on things above”?
1. Because that is where our life is hidden and that is where we will be going and where we belong.
2. But until then, we are here and we have a mission to accomplish, and part of that mission is to properly represent our Lord and Savior Jesus.
3. In order to do that, we must “seek the heavenly” and also “slay the earthly.”
II. Slay the Earthly (3:5-11)
A. Paul wrote: 5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. (Col. 3:5-11)
1. In these verses, we see Paul turn from the positive “do” or “add” to the negative “don’t” or “subtract.”
2. We have to add the positive (seek the heavenly) and subtract the negative (slay the earthly).
3. Just like the gardener has to add the seed and fertilizer and subtract the weeds.
B. In verse 5, Paul says to “put to death what belongs to your earthly nature.”
1. The command to “put to death” is a very strong one.
2. It suggests that we are not simply to suppress or control evil attitudes and actions, but are to wipe them out and eliminate them completely.
3. The word “slay” pretty well expresses the violent elimination or extermination of our old ways of life.
4. Jesus used similar harshness when He said, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” (Mt. 5:29)
5. If your house has a problem with termites, it doesn’t help to put putty and paint over the problem, rather the problem has to be attacked at the source – the termites must be terminated.
C. When we look at the first list of things to slay in verse 5, we are reminded of the fact that not much changes over the years.
1. This list of sins negatively impacting culture 2000 years ago – sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire and greed – are the same things that are negatively impacting our culture today.
2. Sexual immorality and everything associated with it continues to destroy people, shatter families, and spread disease and death.
3. And greed does the same: destroys people, shatter families, and brings destruction and death.
4. Unfortunately, these things don’t just effect the world, they also effect the church.
a. Many Christians get caught in Satan’s traps of sensuality and materialism just like the world.
5. But Paul says, because we belong to Christ and have our life hidden in Christ, then we need to slay the earthly.
D. Let’s briefly touch on each of the sins listed here.
1. The first in the list is sexual immorality or fornication.
a. The Greek word is porneia and is the general Greek word for illicit sex – meaning sex before marriage or outside of marriage.
b. Sexual desire is something God created for our good and obviously is not evil in itself, but moral indifference fuels erotic passion, misdirected sexual desire, and breeds sexual excesses.
c. Paul says that sexual immorality must be put to death – it has no place in the life of a Christian.
2. Paul then lists several things that can be sexually related: impurity (uncleanliness in thought, word or action), lust (uncontrolled desire for sex), and evil desires (these could be sexual in nature or other base evil desires).
3. After naming these sensual sins, Paul added “and greed, which is idolatry.”
a. Greed or covetousness is the sin of always wanting more, with disregard for the rights and needs of others.
b. Greed is idolatry because the person whose life is dominated by the desire for more things or more pleasure has made those things their god.
c. Greed turns desires into idols.
4. Paul says that these kinds of attitudes and actions have no place in the life of a Christian for two reasons.
a. First, because they incur the wrath of God – God is holy and sin must be judged and punished.
b. Second, because these sins characterize a worldly, sinful life.
1. All of us are sinners and before we knew Christ, we may have lived lives oriented towards sensuality and materialism, making idols out of all kinds of things – including self.
2. But now that we are followers of Christ and we are to have our minds set on heavenly things, then all worldly and sinful things must be removed from our lives – they don’t belong any longer.
E. If that list in verse 5 wasn’t enough to put to death, in verse 8, Paul moved into a whole new list of destructive things that must be eliminated.
1. Paul wrote: 8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another…(Col. 3:8-9)
2. Notice that Paul said to “put away all the following” – The verb translated “put away” or “rid yourselves of” literally means to “strip yourselves of.”
a. Paul was employing the metaphor of clothing – these old attitudes and actions are like dirty, worn out clothing that needed to be removed and replaced.
b. Next week, Lord willing, we will look at some of the new “clothing” that we need to put on.
3. Here, in this second list, Paul turned his attention to various manifestations of anger that destroy relationships and community.
4. Paul started the list with anger.
a. The word for anger used here is an anger that is chronic, long lasting and slow burning.
b. It is an anger that refuses to be pacified and nurses it wrath to keep it alive and burning.
5. The second word is wrath or rage.
a. This is the sudden anger that is quick to be kindled and quick to run its course.
b. It is like setting fire to kindling or straw – it bursts into flame, but runs out quickly.
6. The next word is malice – which is an attitude of ill will toward a person – it is a subtle underlying dislike or hatred.
7. Malice often leads to the next thing on the list, which is slander.
a. Slander is speech that is insulting and seeks to tear down a person and destroy their reputation.
8. The final sin listed in this group is filthy language.
a. Filthy language includes things like coarse humor, curse words, obscene language, and abusive speech.
9. There is one final thing that Paul says must be “put off” and it is lying: “Do not lie to another.”
a. Paul singles this one out from the other list – maybe because it occurs more frequently, or maybe because truthfulness is so central to Christianity.
b. A lie is any misrepresentation of the truth – as an old proverb says: “A half truth is a whole lie.”
c. Adlai Stevenson, former senator once said: “A lie is an abomination unto the Lord and a very present help in trouble.”
d. Many of our lies are designed to help us avoid trouble, but they only lead to greater trouble when the truth comes out.
e. Deceit reveals a lack of mutual trust and undermines relationships and breeds anger.
f. Christians don’t want to cause any of those outcomes.
10. When it comes to our speech as Christians, think about these guiding principles.
a. Christian speech must be kind and loving.
b. Christian speech must be pure.
c. Christian speech must be true.
d. Ultimately, Christian speech must be guided by more than whether something is true or false, but must be guided by whether it is helpful or harmful, whether it is pure and holy.
F. Paul concluded with the reason for putting away these things.
1. Christians should put way anger, wrath, malice, slander, filthy language and lying because that was part of our old selves, our old lives.
2. When we become Christians and put on our new selves, then we are supposed to become like our Creator, who is holy and good.
G. Paul concluded this section in verse 11 with the words: In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
1. This new community of God’s people who are to be seeking the heavenly and slaying the earthly, are also to be striving to put off old human, sinful divisions that keep us divided from one another.
2. In Christ there are no more divisions for Christ is all and is in all.
a. In Christ there are no more ethnic or racial divisions.
b. In Christ there are no more cultural divisions.
c. In Christ there are no more economic divisions.
3. The gospel breaks down all man-made walls and divisions.
4. That reality is truly other-worldly – heavenly – the church is supposed to be a taste of heaven on earth.
Conclusion:
A. So, what have we learned today?
1. Being a Christian calls for big change - radical surgery – a putting to death and a putting off.
2. We must seek the heavenly and slay the earthly.
B. But we must acknowledge that we don’t have the power to bring about these big changes all by ourselves.
1. The Christian life is not a “do-it-yourself” or a “lift-yourself-by-your-own-bootstraps” religion.
2. Rather, Christianity is a religion of transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
3. Through our faith and with our commitment, we seek God’s help to set our minds on things above, and put to death and put off all that does not belong.
4. We acknowledge that we have died to ourselves and turned our lives over to God, we are His.
5. Our life is now hidden in Him and He gives us the hope and the power that we need to grow.
6. We are committed to being God’s work in progress, continually putting off the wrong and putting on the right, so that we might become more and more renewed in the image of our Creator.
7. How wonderful and exciting is that, and yet how challenging and never-ending!
C. So, do you need to make some changes today?
1. Have you heard and obeyed the gospel, dying to self and turning your life over to God, being baptized into Christ?
2. If you are in Christ, then do you need to seek more of the heavenly?
3. Or do you need to slay more of the earthly?
4. God is waiting to help you and so are we.
Resources:
Colossians, by Warren Wiersbe, in The Bible Exposition Commentary, Victory Books, 1989
Colossians, by David E. Garland, in the NIV Application Commentary, Zondervan, 1998
Colossians, by Owen D. Olbricht, in the Truth for Today Commentary, Resource Publications, 2005
