Jesus Is Enough - Part 4
"Therefore, LET GO Of the WORLD"
Colossians 3:1-11
Okay, here we go....This is week four in our study of the book of Colossians, a study we are calling; "Jesus is enough." Remember, Paul wrote this letter to the church in Colosse because false teachers had come into the church, and were saying, that Jesus is not enough - they were telling the people that they needed more than Jesus.... Just as does, so many cults, false religions and our society today...
Well, after 3 weeks I hope that God’s word has convinced you that Jesus is enough. [Repeat after me; "Jesus --- is enough"]
In week one we talked about how His Grace is Enough....
His grace is enough to: Free us from our sins
Rescue us from danger
Brush away our tears
Reconcile us to God
Cloth us with Christ
Remove our guilt
Take us to heaven
In week two; we said that Jesus’ Lordship is enough and because he is k of k - and l of l - that He‘s Got it covered.. God’s word taught us in week 2 - that;
Jesus is Savior >>> He’s got our salvation covered
Jesus is Creator >>> He ‘s got our life covered
Jesus is the Church >>> He’s got Central covered
Jesus is God >>> He’s got everything covered...
And Last Week; we talked about how Jesus’ Word is enough - how we don’t need anyone to give us any ‘other’ stuff about God, we got it all right in here....The bible is the FULL and FINAL revelation of God. And we also said that we need to be growing in the word, because it will help us unmask the serpent and not be fooled by false prophets...(and their are literally billions who have been fooled)
Okay, Do you remember that I said at the start of this study, that most times in Paul’s letters he starts off doing some teaching and then he finishes up - by saying okay - now that you know this teaching here is what you need to do with it.... After all, it does little good for Christians to declare and defend the truth, if they fail to demonstrate that truth in their day to day lives.
Listen; There are some Christians who can defend the truth at a moments notice -- but by their personal lives (their actions and attitudes) deny the very doctrines that they profess to love so dearly. They are like the people Paul wrote to Titus in 1:16,
"They claim to know God, But by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good."
Now, we need to keep in mind during our study today, that the pagan religions of Paul’s day said little or nothing about personal morality. You see, In Paganism a worshiper could bow before an idol, put his offering on the altar, and then go back and live the same old life of sin. You see, to them, what a person believed had no direct relationship to their behavior.
The Colossian Church was made up of mostly gentiles, men and women who would have been accustomed to this type of religion and worship -- and they needed to know -- that Christianity was not like paganism. They needed to be reminded as do many in the Church today, that in Christianity there is a very definite connection between what we believe and how we are to behave!
Listen; We cannot profess to believe in Jesus Christ and in His Word, and yet still live any way we please. And if our behavior doesn’t match what we claim to believe then our belief really isn’t even worth a plug nickel -- and we are just like the ones that Jesus so harshly condemned, HYPOCRITES!!. PRETENDERS...
When the prodigal son of Luke 15 came home to the father -- he had to leave the pig pens far behind, and so do we. After all, to be a Christian means that we have become united in fellowship with Jesus Christ -- and if we are to share in his life we must follow in His footsteps.
Okay here is the bottom line; If we don’t want our religion to tell us what to do and how to live -- we better choose something other then Christianity -- but if we want to be a Christian, we need to listen to & obey God’s word.
"JESUS is ENOUGH!!" The first 2 chapters in Colossians hit hard the truth, now that we know this truth - HOW - should it effect our lives. This is what we’ll be doing the next 4 weeks...
Today message is called --- Jesus is enough -- "therefore let go of the world..."
Question; How do we do that; how to we really let go of the world? Today I’d like to suggest - 5 things we can do to let go of the world...
First of all we need to;
BE SEEKING THINGS ABOVE [1-4]
"Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
Paul literally says in verse one that we are to be seeking on a continuous basis, the things above. He says that we are to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things.
Listen, We are to make a deliberate conscious decision to seek the things above -- We are to make a habit of setting our minds, our thoughts and our attention upon heavenly things; upon God, Christ, The Holy Spirit, righteousness, heaven, on as Paul says in Phil 4:8;
"...Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of, praise."
Question; What do you find yourself thinking of most of the time? What gets most of your attention -- is it earthly things? or is it heavenly things? Again, let me emphasize that we must make a deliberate choice to think on heavenly things -- it will not come automatically -- it is much easier to let our minds wallow in the things of this world....Then it is to seek the things above.
Listen; Where we set our minds/ Where we focus our attention is important -- Outlook often determines outcome. And keeping our mind and hearts in the right place can often determine where we end up.
We need to keep our eyes on heaven -- we need to long for heaven -- Are your eyes on heaven? Are you longing for heaven? Listen, this will keep us moving in the right direction..
And keeping our eyes on heaven will also help to remind of that:
T.O.H. ARE SATISFYING WHERE T.O.E. LEAVE US EMPTY
T.O.H. ARE ETERNAL WHERE T.O.E ARE TEMPORARY
T.O.H. ARE SURE WHERE T.O.E ARE UNCERTAIN
T.O.H. BRING US FREEDOM WHERE T.O.E ENSLAVE US
T.O.H. BRING PEACE WHERE T.O.E BRING ANXIETIES
T.O.H. GIVES LIFE WHERE T.O.E. BRING DEATH
Question; Why are we to do this - why are we to set are minds and heart on things above? Why are we as the NLT words it, Why are we to "Let heaven fill our thoughts..." Paul gives us the answer in verse 3; "For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God...."
What does Paul mean I died? Hey, I may not be in the best shape but I am still alive. ( at least I think I feel a pulse?) If I died when did I die? Paul describes our death & new life in Christ in vivid detail in Romans 6; (Msg Bible)
"...If we we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace - a new life in a new land!
That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus...
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin miserable life - no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection....When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks you mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did." Ro 6:1-11 (Msg)
When we came to Christ -- in faith and repentance and were baptized, "we entered into the ‘new’ country of grace - a new life in a new land... our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a DECISIVE END to that sin miserable life..."
And now, as Paul says in our text; , "our lives are now hidden with Christ in God."
AND once we have are minds and hearts in the right place (set on heaven, once "heaven fills our thoughts.." we ready to take the next step in "Letting Go Of The World...."
WE NEED TO PUT TO DEATH THE INNER SINS [5-7]
"So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust and shameful desires. Don’t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry. God’s terrible anger will come upon those who do such things. You used to do them when your life was still part of this world." (NLT)
Paul says we need to put to death what ever belongs to our earthly nature -- we need to crucify the sins of the flesh. I call these inner sins because they are (as the original language indicates, they are sins that come from the desires of our flesh, basically they are the sensual sins resulting from the evil desire of our old nature.
We need to put to death these desires ; because they are; desires of the pig pen, because they are the fleshy passions of Egypt --- these desires & passions need to remain in the mud of distant lands, far from the heart and mind of the Christian.
Do you remember the story of Phinehas in Numbers Ch 25, well let me refresh your memory, he is one of my favorite heros in the Old Testament. The dude rocks!
Israel was just about to enter the promise land after 40 years of hanging out in the desert. I mean they were right on the edge, they were almost there. Now you would expect to find them really pumped and excited - having and awesome praise and worship service...
But this is not what we find at all - rather we find the men of Israel sleeping with foreign women and worshiping false gods. Needless to say God’s anger burned against the Israelites and he send a plague among the people.
One of the sinful men was so bold that he did not even hide his sin - he marched right in front of the people and Moses and took one Moabite women into his tent... Picture the scene, The people of God, are weeping at the entrance to the tabernacle (because of their sin and God’s anger), and this bonehead walks right by them flaunting his sin.
Well, this is where Phinehas comes into the scene he was the grandson of Aaron. When he saw this - scripture says that he jumped up and left the assembly. Grabbed his spear and ran to the man’s tent - and drove the spear through both the man and the women as they lay together...and the plaque stopped.
And God said, "Phinehas...has turned my away my anger from the Israelites. For he was as zealous for my honor, as I am..."
Listen; We must approach the slaying of these sensual sins (THAT SEEK TO DESTROY US) with the passion of a Phinehas. And anytime we see these desires begin to awaken in our lives we need to grab our spear and thrust it right through them... Because they have no place in the life of a Christian and they bring dishonor to God. And they are as Paul says in verse 6, they are the reason that God’s wrath is coming.
And please note, that PAUL SAYS THAT we are not just to put them aside -- we are not to just wound them -- we are not to just ask them to leave -- we are to play around with them and try to convert them -- we are not to rationalize or explain them away >>>> but rather we are to kill them.. We are to thrust our spear through them, through them -- because we know that if we allow them to live - then we will die...our faith will be destroyed.
Paul in verse 5, mentions 5 things that we are to put to death.... The first four are related. Paul says; "Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust and shameful desires."
Question; What is sexual sin? Now, that used to be a pretty simply question to answer - BUT - we lived in such a sex saturated culture that the answer has purposefully been clouded... The bible defines sexual sin as any type sex outside of the marriage of a man and women. And any type of activity that causes and feds immoral lusts and passions.
So we are not only talking about the sex act itself, but also anything that feds these shameful evil desires....
And listen one thing that does that, and it something I need to talk about briefly is pornography... because It is an epidemic that is destroying our country... It has it’s death grip in people especially men from 11 year olds to men married with children..
. Pornography is a $13 billion dollar a year industry....
. In 1999 web-site revenues were 1.2 billion dollars
. There are 100,000 porn sites on the web - with an estimated 200 new sites
Everyday.
. Currently more than 50% of requests on search engines are for porn
. 10,160 porn movies were released in 1999 alone
. There are 450 porn magazines being published today
. There are more porn outlets today than there McDonalds
. More than 300 million x-rated videos are distributed each year. This is more than the entire population of the US.
. 25% of porn sites have brand names (barbie.disney.nintendo,nba...) in their metatags to attract hits from search engines.
Did you know that Paul talks about sexual sin more than any other sin, he addresses sexual in nearly everyone of his letters.
Question; Why would God, spend so much time with this one sin... Well, as far as I can tell for a least 3 reasons;
#1; Sexual sin is different then any other sin...because I say so. No because God says so....
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have received from God? You are not your own: you were bought with a price. THEREFORE honor God with your body..." 1 Cor 6:18-20
Listen; Sexual sin will take you further than you want to go and cost you more than you want to pay...
A second reason, God talks about sexual sin so much
is because.....
#2; Sexual sin was and is EVERYWHERE.........
Sex was everywhere and accepted as the norm in Paul’s day... Sex was actually part of many religious rituals.... The first century was a sexual society. AND I don’t think I need to tell you that we too live in a sexual society, sex is everywhere..
TV - Music - video - Internet...Movies, magazines, billboards..etc. And Satan is constantly developing new ways of putting this sin up in our face...
#3; Sexual sin; destroys so many people and rending them ineffective in God’s service... Why does Satan use sex so much?? - because it works so well....
Listen it’s been his ace in the hole for thousands of years.... It was Sexual sin that brought down the man who was perhaps the ‘greatest’ servant - soldier, worshiper and man of God in the O.T. [2 Sam 11]
All he intended on doing was to just take a look.... When David went up on the roof - he knew what he was going to see... (people know what they are doing when they click on that site, go into the back seat, walk in to that bedroom). David knew woman were up bathing on their roofs... And his palace being the highest point in the city gave him the perfect view...
By hey he was going to look what’s the harm in that? Suddenly his eyes looked in on what he came up there to see, His eyes caught sight of the naked body of Bathesheba - (how long he stared - and what he thought about we do not know) -
BUT his actions give us a pretty good idea - because before the night was over he had her brought to his chambers (so what if she was married - so what if her husband was one of David’s own military officers...) David wasted no time in having sex with her...
A few weeks later he gets a phone call form Bathsheba - she’s crying - she’s pregnant... David starts sweating bullets... "how to we cover this thing up... this could cause me a lot of embarrassment - my wholesome image will be tarnished, it could mess up my career and future..." (Now, unfortunately for David and Bathsheba this was a couple thousand years before abortion on demand)...
"Hey, I know what I - I’ll issued orders to have Uriah brought home... he has been gone awhile - he’ll no doubt sleep with Bathseba and everything we’ll be fine...he’;; think the baby is his..."
So, Uriah returns from the battle lines...but instead of going home he sleeps on the steps of the palace... You see, Uriah was an honorable and a godly man - he refused could not go home and sleep with his wife - because the ark of God and God’s army were still sleeping in tents on the battle field..."
So, David went to plan B - he got Uriah drunk and thought then he’d go home for sure - but it didn’t work... Finally, in an effort to cover his own sexual sin - David went to Plan C - Murder... check out 2 Samuel 11 and see what he did... Murder is the option of choice of nearly 1.5 million teen age girls and woman every year through legalized abortion...
Listen; Sexual sin brought down the man who had the greatest faith in the Lord, (Goliath), a man who wrote Psalms of worship to the Lord... And sexual sin still brings people of God down today..
Recently I know personally and have heard of the following sexual sins among men in ministry..
. A minister in Florida - awesome servant of God - fired for having an affair
with a lady in his church....
. A minster of 10+ years confessed to men - that he has struggled with homosexual feelings and visiting pornography sites for years.
. Another minster told me of his desire to do great things for God, but sadly confessed that he knows it can’t happen, Until he removes what he called a sexual addiction of pornography from his life.
Listen, Paul says doesn’t say we are to play around with sexual sin..... he says we are to put it to death..... (Like Phinehas grab our spears....)!
If you are involved in sexual sin right now - put it death - purify or break off that relationship... go home and burn that porn in you house.... Get a web server that does not allow access to these sites...
Paul writes; "have nothing to do with sexual sin...."
He also writes in 1 Cor 6:9,10; "Don’t fool yourselves those who indulge in sexual sin...none of these will have a share in the kingdom of God...." (NLT)
Paul says we are also to put to death GREED - This is the sin of always wanting more, whether things or pleasure. The covetous person is never satisfied With what he has, and he is usually envious of what other people have. This Paul says is idolatry, for a covetous person puts things in front of God.
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs..." 1 Tim 6:10
Paul says we need to put to death sexual sin & greed -- because if we don’t kill them they will destroy both us and our faith....
WE NEED TO ALSO REMOVE THE OUTER SINS FROM OUR LIFE
"But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds..."
After warning against the sensual sins, Paul NOW points out the dangers of the social sins.... Someone has called these the sins of "good standing." Because We are so accustomed to anger, critical attitudes, lying and coarse humor among believers that we are no longer convicted about these sins.
We would be shocked to see a church member commit a sensual sin, but we will wink or excuse a lying, critical or angry spirit -- saying "well that is just they way they are or the way I am".
In John chapter 11 a close friend of Jesus’ dies. he is dead 4 days before Jesus arrives to comfort the man’s sisters Mary and Martha. Lazarus is dead and he is in a tomb. And Jesus walks up to the tomb and He says in a loud voice, "LAZARUS COME OUT!"
And John records these words for us in 11:44, "THE DEAD MAN CAME OUT, HIS HANDS AND FEET WRAPPED WITH STRIPS OF LINEN, AND A CLOTH AROUND HIS FACE. JESUS SAID TO THEM, `TAKE OFF THE GRAVE CLOTHES AND LET HIM GO’"
Lazarus was dead, but Christ made him alive again.. And if Lazarus was ever going to make in this world as an alive man -- he would have to remove his smelly grave clothes, wouldn’t he?
The Christian has died with Christ and has been made alive again. And we like Lazarus must remove our grave clothes >> We must rid ourselves of the old ways, the ways of Egypt, the ways of sin, the ways of the pig pen -- if we are ever going to make in this world as an alive man.
The idea behind the verb here is to take off as one would take off a garment. The Christian is to remove these things from his or her life.... He is to take off the grave clothes of sin ... After all what alive person wants to go around in clothes fit only for the grave... Grave clothes are not very fashionable are they? And neither are the 6 sins that Paul addresses in verse 8 and 9 fashionable in the life of the Christian.
Now is the time to get rid of.....
ANGER -- This word refers to a habitual type of anger, in which anger is maintained as a basic part of ones attitude. Always mad about something.
"...do not become angry easily, because anger will not help you live the right kind of life God wants..." James 1:20,21
RAGE -- This word refers to the sudden outbursts of anger. You know blowing our lid, losing our cool, throwing a fit -- taking our ball and going home.
"A fool gives full vent to his anger..." Pr 29:11
Now, it the time to get rid of:
MALICE -- WHICH IS AN ATTITUDE of ill will toward a person. If we hold malice towards a person, we are sad when he is successful and we rejoice when he has trouble (some even have this attitude about a church -- one they left -- they want to see it fail). Have you ever found yourself holding this kind of attitude towards someone? Are you even now holding this kind if attitude? -- Paul says it is sinful --and we need to take it off.
SLANDER -- is speech that is designed to tear another down, designed to hurt them. Often among Christians slander & gossip masquerades as spiritual Conner...
Slander is saying negative things about someone in an effort to get someone to feel the same way you do about someone.....
Now, is the time to get rid of......
DIRTY LANGUAGE
What this boils down to is that we really shouldn’t say anything a joke or other talk that we wouldn’t want Jesus to hear us tell... We shouldn’t make light of sin in jokes.. And we shouldn’t listen to those who do. We should politely say I am sorry but I really am not interested in that garbage...
AND FINALLY, WE ARE NOT TO LIE TO EACH OTHER --
Lying is serious, it is the misrepresentation of the truth.. And a lie is anytime our intent is to deceive someone... An old proverb says, "HALF A TRUTH IS A WHOLE LIE."
"The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful..."
Pr 12:22
To Let Go Of The World
And we need to because Jesus is Enough...
We need set or hearts an minds on things above
We need to put to death sexual sins and greed
We need to get rid of ‘social’ sins
and 4th we need to:
RENEW OURSELVES
"Put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge and image of the Creator..." (10)
When you think of renewal what do you think of? I think of a vacation away from the daily grind -- sitting on the beach, SIPPING A MT DEW, listening to the waves gently caressing the sand.... So am I telling you to go to the beach? Well in a way.
Let me share with you a way that I and many others find renewal -- spiritual renewal, how we as Paul says in Romans 12:1 "RENEW OUR MINDS"
It’s called spending time with your Lord reading his word and pouring out your heart before your King....
Hey, if you haven’t tried don’t knock it!!! t works!! Spend time with the word and see the great stories in the lives of God’s people unfold... Allow God’s truth to penetrate your heart and you will be renewed.... God’s word has more renewing power than any psychologist... And those who come to Him never thirst again... God’s wells are bottomless and overflowing with life....
HOW DO I KNOWS IT’S TRUE --- BECAUSE I’VE TRIED AND IT WORKS !!! AND BECAUSE GOD SAID IT WOULD.... ONCE YOUR REALLY DRINK FORM THE FATHER’S CUP.. THE WORLD HAS LITTLE TO OFFER. AND IS MUCH EASIER TO LET GO OFF...
GOD OR WORLD? EASY CHOICE....
