June 1, 2003 Colossians 3:4-11
“Look!”
INTRODUCTION
Once we get our focus on Jesus and heavenly things – that’s the “Look up” part, it changes our perspective on every part of our lives. It’s time we took a second look at parts of our lives that we thought we had seen accurately before. We might be surprised at what we find.
1. Look inside. (vs. 5)
It can be scary and uncomfortable thing to look inside. Many of us have a false idea about our own righteousness and purity before God. But the closer that we get to God and the more that we let the light of His Word shine into our hearts, the more that we will see ourselves the way that He sees us. Paul was near the end of his life and closer to God than he had ever been before when he wrote these words: (1 Tim 1:15) …Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. If that’s what Paul saw within himself, what will we find when we look inside. Let’s take a look at what might be there. And as we go through these things, don’t try to fool yourself or others into thinking that you don’t have a problem with any of these things. Paul assumed that the Christians he was writing to were struggling with them. We are no better than they were.
The word that is translated “sexual immorality” is the Greek word “porneia”. It is used to speak of any form of sex outside the biblical standards for proper sexual expression. What does God say should be our relation to such practices? (Gal 5:19) The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity… (Eph 5:3) But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. (1 Th 4:3) It is God’s will that you should…avoid sexual immorality; (1 Cor 6:18-20) Flee from sexual immorality (just as Joseph did). Then He tells why. 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 at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Even in the sound of the word “porneia”, you can hear another word – pornography.
. Pornography is a $13 billion dollar a year industry....
. In 1999 web-site revenues [from pornography] 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 are McDonalds
. More than 300 million x-rated videos are distributed each year.
Chuck Colson has called Internet pornography “Spiritual Crack Cocaine,” because of how quickly people can become addicted to it and because of how destructive it is to the human soul.
“Impurity” here means “filthiness” or “uncleanness”. It deals with evil thoughts and intentions. It is “marked by a mind, that is filled with sensually suggestive thoughts that reads sex into even the most wholesome situations.” – Brian Bill (1 Th 4:7) For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. (Mat 5:8) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. “Evil behavior begins with evil thoughts. Therefore the battle against all sin, especially sexual sin begins in the mind.” – John MacArthur
“Lust” speaks of a spirit that “seeks quick fulfillment and always wants more…it focuses only on the senses.” – Brian Bill. (Mark 7:21-22) For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, … adultery, [and] greed… (Mat 5:28) But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. A lustful person is a one who is controlled by feelings not rational thought and certainly not love. They act out on whatever their desire might be, and the fulfillment of that desire becomes their driving force.
Desires are given to us by God are therefore good. They become evil when we allow them to be “motivated by sinful nature and executed for evil ends.” – MacArthur Desires that are acted out for the wrong reasons and in the wrong context are evil desires.
The word for greed is “pleovexia”. It comes from two words – “pleon” meaning “more” and “echo” which means “to have”. Greed is the insatiable desire to have more. It is the idea that what someone else has or what is forbidden for you to have is better than what you have right now. (James 4:2) You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. People who get involved in pornography or immorality do so because of greed – a dissatisfaction with what God has given them right now and an impatience for God to meet their needs in his timing and His way. In going beyond God’s boundaries for sexual expression, they think that their needs will be met. But the more times that they go into that forbidden territory, they begin to discover that what once satisfied their curiosity and their desires no longer does. They find it necessary to go deeper and deeper because they need greater thrills to satisfy their greed.
Paul calls this greed “idolatry” because it “places selfish desire above obedience to God” – MacArthur “Things and people end up taking the place of God” – Brian Bill They become the source of need fulfillment rather than looking to the only one who can truly meet our needs.
Paul says to “put to death” these expressions of sinfulness. How do you do that? It seems too big and too powerful to kill. It’s like the alien ships in the movie “Independence Day.” They were too big to be destroyed by the comparatively insignificant missiles of the American planes. And the temptations are all around us. You don’t have to go to an adult bookstore to be faced with sexual images and suggestive comments. It’s in most commercials, the video store, unsolicited e-mails, even the grocery store. How do you kill it? Some people have gone to the extreme and taken Jesus’ words quite literally when he said, “If your eye offends you, cut it out” and have cut off the body parts that were causing them to lose control. That is not God’s intention. God’s way is less destructive, but it takes more work.
Part of the key to victory over these types of sin is found in (Eph 5:3-5) But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Phil 4:11) …I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. So thankfulness and an attitude of satisfaction with what God has given me for this moment in my life is a key.
Another key is to fill my mind with the right kind of stuff. My mind is like a computer. It only has so much space and so much capacity to think about any one subject at a time. If I want to get rid of the trash that is floating around in my hard drive, I need to load it up with good thoughts. (Phil 4:8) Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. (Col 3:16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…
You don’t need to give in to sin or those thoughts that seem to control your life. You, through the power of God’s Word and God’s Spirit can defeat them.
2. Look ahead. (vs. 6,10)
One man tells this story of a momentary indiscretion that he experienced. “While my wife and I were shopping at a mall kiosk, a shapely young woman in a short, form-fitting dress strolled by. My eyes followed her. Without looking up from the item she was examining, my wife asked, "Was it worth the trouble you’re in?" – Reader’s Digest We get ourselves into trouble when we don’t look ahead to see the consequences of our actions before we do them.
In John 16:8, Jesus told that one of the Holy Spirit’s main jobs is to convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. The word “convict” in that verse actually means “to cause to see.” He causes us to see the sin within us, He causes us to see the righteousness of God and the blackness of our sin in comparison to it, and He causes us to see the judgment of God that is ahead for us if we don’t do something about that sin.
Right now, some people refuse to look ahead and see that the consequence of their unforgiven sin is the wrath of God. (John 3:18,36) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. … Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him." (Rom 1:18) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, Those who have not turned their lives over to Jesus Christ have only the judgment of God to look forward to. Those of us who have experienced God’s forgiveness have been rescued from His eternal wrath and don’t have that staring us in the face when we look ahead. (1 Th 1:10) But just because we have been rescued from God’s wrath poured out in hell does not mean that we can get away with whatever we want to while on earth without experiencing God’s punishment and discipline. (Heb 12:5-6) …the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." My friend, if you can sin sexually or any other way without experiencing the discipline of God in your life, you had better check to make sure that you are a child of God! In addition to God’s punishment of sin in a person’s life, every sin is going to bring with it a set of natural consequences. (Prov 6:27) Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? (Gal 6:7-8) Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction… “Either way, those who pursue sin will suffer its consequences.” - MacArthur You tell me. What are some of the natural consequences of sexual immorality? – sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, AIDS, ruined marriages… Does that sound like something that we can play around with? But people still do. The people of Israel did too.
While the Israelites were out in the wilderness, “Instead of thanking God, the men of Israel [were] sleeping with foreign women and worshiping false gods. Needless to say God’s anger burned against the Israelites and so he sent a plague among the people.
“In the midst of God’s judgment, one guy was so brash that he didn’t even try to hide his sin. He marched right in front of the people with a Midianite maiden and took her into his tent to sleep with her. Picture the scene. The people of God are weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting because of their sin and the plague that is wiping them out, and this bonehead walks right by them flaunting his sin.
“Well, this is where Phinehas [one of Aaron’s sons] enters the scene. When he saw what was going on, he jumped up, grabbed his spear, ran to the man’s tent and drove the spear through both the man and the woman as they lay together. The plague immediately stopped, but not before 24,000 people were killed. I love what God says in Numbers 25:11: ‘Phinehas …has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor…’” – from a sermon preached by Brian Bill as recorded on sermoncentral.com
It is clear how God feels about sin. He hates it. It makes Him angry. But how do you feel about sin, particularly sexual sin? Do you play around with it? Do you treat pornography as if it is no big deal – a sin in which no one gets hurt? Wives, do you put up with your husbands watching it on TV and viewing in magazines, justifying it by saying that its better than him having an affair? Playing around with sin is always going to create destruction.
Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees, bright with flowers. …on the third day, as he looked up at the surrounding mountains, he noticed one tall rugged peak, capped with dazzling snow. I will test myself against that mountain, he thought. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders and set off to climb the peak. When he reached the top he stood on the rim of the world. He could see forever, and his heart swelled with pride. Then he heard a rustle at his feet, and looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke.
"I am about to die," said the snake. "It is too cold for me up here and I am freezing. There is no food and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley." "No," said the youth. "I am forewarned. I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite, and your bite will kill me."
"Not so," said the snake. "I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you." The youth resisted awhile, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass, when suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and leapt, biting him on the leg.
"But you promised..." cried the youth. As the snake slithered away, it said the last words the boy every heard, "You knew what I was when you picked me up."
Solomon warned his son about the dangers of sexual immorality. (Prov 5:15-21) Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well…May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer-- may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife? For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. Before you pick up that first magazine or before you give into those e-mail advertisements, make a commitment that you will not play around with sin. Don’t think that you can get away with it without anyone knowing now that you can get all the pornography you want via the secrecy of the internet. Regardless of whether or not you can keep your sin a secret from your spouse, God sees. You don’t want to get God angry at you.
Look ahead to the consequences of your actions before you do them. God wants us to look ahead because He too is looking ahead. He’s looking ahead to what He’s got planned for us and the potential that He sees for us. Look at vs. 10. Because of the sin that you are involved in right now or have been in the past, you may not see much of a future for yourself, but God does. (Rom 8:29) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son… Right now, God is working the circumstances of your life in such a way that they will help to shape you to become just like His Son, Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:49) And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. People who suffer addictions – whether it be an addiction to pornography, a wrong relationship, to alcohol or just an addiction to sin in general often give up hope that they will ever be set free. There is a release coming, and there is an assurance that one day you will be free. (1 John 3:2) …when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
That release has to start now though. You have to make the decision to leave that life behind. Romans 12:1-2 says, “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God…Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind… You’ve got to let God transform your mind by putting His truth into it. That starts by looking back at what Jesus did for us. Paul says that the motivation for offering our bodies to God is the mercy of God that was poured out on us. (“in view of God’s mercy”)
So let’s look back.
3. Look behind. (vs. 7, 9b)
(Rom 6:1-2) What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
(1 Cor 6:9-11) …Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
(2 Cor 5:17 NIV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
(Eph 2:1-5) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- it is by grace you have been saved.
4. Look out. (vs. 8-9a)
The Bible makes it clear. There are angry men all around us. For the chronically angry man, “Provocations do not create his anger, but merely reveal that he is an angry person and give him a target for his fury.” – MacArthur When you encounter a man like that, look out! Do as the Bible says, and stay away from him. (Prov 22:24) Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered.
Late one summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night truck stop. The waitress had just served him when three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclists - of the Hell’s Angels type - decided to give him a hard time. Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his french fries, and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it. How would you respond? Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night.
When she returned, one of the bikers said to her, "Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?" She replied, "I don’t know about that, but he sure ain’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot."
I guess that’s a rather humorous example of road rage, but other examples aren’t quite so humorous. In Atlanta, Georgia a two-year old toddler was shot through the neck by an irate motorist engaged in an argument over a road incident with the toddler’s father (The Atlanta Journal & Constitution, 30 June 2000). In Denver, Colorado a 51 year-old man used a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol to kill a 32 year-old bicyclist who cut him off on the road (The Denver Post, 21 June 2000). Near Cincinnati, Ohio a 29 year-old woman cut in front of a 24 year-old pregnant woman and slammed on her brakes in an irate gesture following her anger about the latter’s driving. The mother-to-be lost control of her car in a violent accident in which her unborn child was killed (Newsweek, 02 June 1997). In Florida, a 41 year-old man who pulled into an exact change lane at a toll booth was shot and killed as he exited his truck to confront an irate driver behind him who was annoyed at the 41 year-old’s delay in paying the toll (Car and Driver, September 1998). The words of Solomon in Prov.14:17 are proved true: a quick-tempered man does foolish things…
Some people don’t use semi-trucks, cars or guns to vent their anger. They use words. That’s what Paul is talking about when he mentions slander and filthy language. Lest you think otherwise, let me assure you that words spoken in anger do just as much damage as any gun could. A lady once came to Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. "There’s nothing wrong with losing my temper," she said. "I blow up, and then it’s all over." "So does a shotgun," Sunday replied, "and look at the damage it leaves behind!" A gun can kill the body, but words can kill the spirit.
The book of James has a lot to say about the tongue. He talks about people who use their tongue to praise God on Sunday morning and use it to curse their children or their neighbors on Sunday afternoon. (James 3:11) Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? James tells us what our proper attitude toward anger should be. (James 1:19-20) …Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
Anger takes control of us when we see people from the wrong perspective. If we see people as only a means to our own fulfillment and the meeting of our own needs, then we will get angry at them when we feel our needs are not being met. We will see them as a hindrance to our desires being fulfilled. If we are to see our world from God’s perspective, then we must see people as He sees them.
5. Look around. (vs. 11)
A Chinese man and a Jewish man were eating lunch together. Suddenly, without warning the Jew gets up, walks over to the Chinese fellow and smashes him in the mouth, sending him sprawling. The Chinese man picks himself up, rubs his jaw and asks, "What in the world did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "For Pearl Harbor!" His response is total astonishment: "Pearl Harbor? I didn’t have anything to with Pearl Harbor. It was the Japanese that bombed Pearl Harbor!" The Jew responds, "Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese -- they’re all the same to me.” With that they both sit down again, and before too long the Chinese man gets up, walks over to the Jew and sends him flying with a hard slap to the jaw. The Jew yells out, "What did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "The Titanic." "The Titanic? Why, I didn’t have anything to do with the Titanic!" Whereupon the Chinese man replies, "Goldberg, Feinberg, Iceberg -- they’re all the same to me!"
Looking at people from an earthly perspective causes us to focus on the ways that we are different from one another. There are all kinds of differences that we can focus on. Paul mentions four of them. “Greek or Jew” – that’s racial differences, black vs. white. “Circumcised or uncircumcised” – that’s religious differences, American Baptist vs. Southern Baptist. “Barbarian, Scythian” – that’s cultural differences, New Yorker vs. West Virginian. And finally “slave or free” – that’s socio-economic differences, management vs. the union. When dealing with people, I’ve got to make a choice. Do I see them from an earthly point or view or do I see them from a heavenly point of view? Paul made that choice for himself (2 Cor 5:16) So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view… You can make that same choice for yourself. Maybe this will help.
Remember that we are all made of dirt. That’s “what Jesse Duplantis says about [prejudice]. He says that we were all made of dirt, that there’s white dirt, red dirt, yellow dirt, brown dirt, and black dirt, so we all came from the same place. We’re dirt. We would think that it was crazy if we saw one clump of dirt telling another clump of dirt, "I’m better than you are." That is exactly what we do, when we tell someone who’s not the same color that we are, I’m better than you, or I’m so different than you that we can’t associated with each other. We’re all just dirt and no matter what color dirt we are, we’re still just dirt.” We were all made by God from the same stuff, and all of us who have Christ as our Savior are going to the same place.
Concentrate on what is the same about us rather than what is different. We have the same Lord. (Rom 10:12) For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, We have been baptized into the same Spirit and are part of the same body. (1 Cor 12:13) For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. In Christ, all those differences that separated us have been taken away. (Eph 2:11-14) …For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. In the small book of Philemon, Paul writes to his wealthy friend Philemon concerning Onesimus who was one of Philemon’s runaway slaves. Paul says that Onesimus who is now saved is returning home, and he counsels Philemon to not punish Onesimus and to no longer treat Onesimus as a slave but to treat him as a dear brother instead (Phil 16). So a proper treatment of others is not only concerned with not treating them badly but in a positive sense treating them with love and as equals. That’s what God did for us. While we were still His enemies, dead in our sins, He reached out to us, saw us as something of worth, and gave up His most prized relationship in order to have a relationship with us. That’s how God sees you and all those other people that you have been avoiding and treating as second-rate human beings. You need to start looking around and seeing people the way God sees them.
CONCLUSION
For the past couple of weeks, I have been reading the book “The Purpose-Driven Life” by Rick Warren. I would suggest you get it and read it if you have not already. Listen to one of the things that Rick says in this book: “When you live in light of eternity [a heavenly point of view], your focus changes from ‘How much pleasure am I getting out of life?’ to ‘How much pleasure is God getting out of my life?’” When you are focused on yourself and your own pleasure fulfillment whether that fulfillment is through sexual immorality or road rage, then it really doesn’t matter to you who is hurt by your actions so long as you get what you want. Is that how you are living life right now – me, me, me? Then you need to change your point of view.
INVITATION
God calls you and me to look up. But right now, He is looking down. (Psa 14:2) The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Maybe you’ve looked inside this morning and seen some things that made you sick. Maybe you’ve looked ahead and seen that there are going to be some consequences to the actions that you have been taking. Maybe you looked behind and saw that there really isn’t that much difference between the way you lived before becoming a Christian and today. Maybe in looking out for that angry man, you have discovered that you ARE that angry man. Maybe as you look around, you see that you have been seeing people from the wrong perspective. All of those are maybe’s for me. You and God know the reality of your heart. One thing I know for sure, God is searching for people who will look at life from His point of view and will seek Him more than their own personal satisfaction. Will you be one of those people that brings God pleasure this morning?
