Hide and Seek
Colossians 3:1-17
October 29, 2000
Prop.: We must put off the old man and assume the new in Christ.
Introduction: When I was a kid growing up on the streets of Dorchester, one of my favorite games to play was “Hide and Seek”. We used to play on Tolman Street and Norwood Street. There were lots of places to hide, behind cars, under cars, in doorways, in the lumber yard between the piles of lumber. But I found a hiding place that almost always guaranteed me a win. You remember the rules of Hide and Seek don’t you? One person is chosen to be it. They have to close their eyes, this was usually done leaning on a lamp post in my neigborhood, and count to 100. The players then scatter and look for a place to hide. When “it” finishes the count they opened their eyes and began to seek out those that are hidden. When a hidder was found by the seeker there was a mad rush to “home” (the lamp post) and the first one there won. If the seeker got there first the hidder became it for the next round. We used a variation of that rule in my neighborhood in that while the seeker was seeking elsewhere a hidder could jump from his hiding place and make a wild dash for home. If he got there before the seeker saw him, he or she was exempt from being “it” for the next round. Got it?
I found that the street lights cast a giant shadow right by the front porch of the Lockes house on Tolman Street which was so dark all you had to do was lie down in the shadow and be very still. The shadow was about ten feet from the lamp post. Voila, as soon as the seeker turned her back I was all over that post. Yes. ladies and gentleman, standing before you this morning is the Hide and Seek champion of Dorchester. They never caught on because they never saw where I was coming from.
The text this morning teaches us that we are “hidden in Christ”. What we were before Christ is gone and we stand under the shadow of the cross hidden from our old life. The comment on this verse in the Believers Study Bible reads, "Hidden" expresses a permanent condition created by God in Christ. The fact that the Christian’s old sin nature has been crucified with Christ and buried together with Him in baptism (cf. Rom. 6:35, note) and that he is now liberated, resurrected to live a life pleasing to God, must be accepted "by grace ... through faith" (Eph. 2:8, 9), just as was the initial salvation (cf. 2:6). "Having begun in the Spirit," by allowing God’s power to work in them by faith, believers are not made mature "by the flesh" (Gal. 3:3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? ), by striving to live the Christian life in their own power without total dependence on God” Total dependance on God, that’s the key. The Old man was self reliant and willful. The new man is Christ reliant and obediant. So let’s play a little hide and seek with this text shall we.
I. Hide the Old Man, Seek the New
A. Romans 6:6-7 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--7 because anyone who has died has been freed
from sin.
1) When Christ came into your life the old self died.
a. This is the point of baptism.
b. The point Paul is making here is this. In baptism the Christian dies and rises again. As the waters
close over him, it is as if he was buried in death; as he emerges from the waters, it is like being
resurrected to a new life. Now, if that is so, the Christian must rise from baptism a different man.
What is the difference? It lies in the fact that now the thoughts of the Christian must be set on
the things which are above. He can no longer be concerned with the trivial passing things of earth;
he must be totally concerned with the eternal truths of heaven. Barclay
B. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new
has come!
1) The old has gone the new has come. The new man is one’s new, regenerated humanity—including a
new spirit, a new nature, and a new life. Our new spiritual life is a hidden, inner life, that is now in union
with Christ who has brought us to be with him in God.
a. New attitudes
b. New priorities.
II. Hide the Old Attitudes Seek Christ’s Attitudes
A. Self centered becomes others centered.
1) The Three Stooges once declared “All for one, one for all and every man for himself.” That human
attitude changes when we are born again.
a. We become concerned about the salvation of others, the welfare of the poor and disenfranchised.
B. The attitudes the world excepts as normal and right are changed by the new attitude of Christ in our
lives.
1) The Christian will, for instance, set giving above getting, serving above ruling, forgiving above
avenging. The Christian’s standard of values will be God’s not men’s.
C. Your attitudes toward your fellowman undergoes a drastic change.
1) You can’t be a racist now. You can’t be a hater now. You can’t be judgemental now.
a. A new creation requires a new attitude towards God, self, and others.
2) Look at verse 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you
were called to peace. And be thankful. 5
a. 15 rule—actually, “act as umpire” or “arbitrate.” (The same root word was used in 2:18.) The
peace of Christ should act as our umpire when anger, envy, and such passions arise, and restrain
them.
b. That, my brothers and sisters, is a new attitude.
D. This is an ongoing process to be sure.
1) Phil. 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but
now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it
is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
a. God is working in you and through you. You must do your part, that’ what “working out” means.
b.With the Holy Spirit as your guide work at hiding those old attitudes and seek new ones that better
complement your new faith.
c.The new man is being renewed to a full and personal knowledge of Christ. In other words, the new
man is being renewed into Christlikeness, and such renewing simultaneously brings the new man
into a personal, experiential knowledge of its Creator, Christ.
III. Hide the Old Priorities, Seek Christ’s Priorities.
A. Let me read part of our text again; 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on
things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on
earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
1) William Barclay “ We must note carefully what Paul means by that. He is certainly not pleading for an
other-worldliness in which the Christian withdraws himself from all the work and activities of this world
and does nothing but contemplate eternity. Immediately after this Paul goes on to lay down a series of
ethical principles which make it quite clear that he expects the Christian to go on with the work of this
world and to maintain all its normal relationships. But there will be this difference--from now on the
Christian will view everything against the background of eternity and no longer live as if this world was
all that mattered.
This will obviously give him a new set of values. Things which the world thought important, he will no
longer worry about. Ambitions which dominated the world, will be powerless to touch him. He will go
on using the things of the world but he will use them in a new way. In Col.3:4 Paul gives to Christ one of
the great titles of devotion. He calls him Christ our life. Here is a thought which was very dear to the
heart of Paul. When he was writing to the Philippians, he said, "For me to live is Christ" (Php.1:21).Years
before, when he was writing to the Galatians, he had said, "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives
in me" (Gal.2:20). As Paul saw it, to the Christian Christ is the most important thing in life; more, he is
life.
2) Sometimes we say of a man, "Music is his life--Sport is his life--He lives for his work." Such a man
finds life and all that it means in music, in sport, in work, as the case may be. For the Christian, Christ is
his life.
a. This is not to say the Christian can’t enjoy sports or music or even his work. It means that Christ and
His work and obedience to His will and His Word supercedes all else in the New Creations life.
b. And here we come back to where this passage started--that is precisely why the Christian sets his
mind and heart on the things which are above and not on the things of this world. He judges
everything in the light of the Cross and in the light of the love which gave itself for him. In the light of
that Cross the world’s wealth and ambitions and activities are seen at their true value; and, the
Christian is enabled to set his whole heart on the things which are above.
c. In brief, Paul says, “Live up to what Christ has done for you!” This simple principle of Christian
living is more powerful than all the rules and regulations men can devise.
Conclusion: I hate being cliche’ but after those three points here’s a poem;
I counted all my dollars while God counted crosses;
I counted gains while he counted losses;
I counted my worth by the things gained in store,
But he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I coveted honors and sought for degrees;
He wept as He counted the hours on my knees.
I never knew till one day by a grave
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not know till a friend went above
That richest is he who is rich in God’s love.
-- Author unknown, Parables, Etc.
The new life within demands a new life without. Since we have died with Christ, we should put to death (“mortify,” v. 5) impure behavior (see Rom. 6). “Don’t live the way you used to live,” Paul cautions, “the way the unsaved crowd lives. Christ is your life, and you died with Him. Now, let His life show through you day by day.”
