Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Colossians chapter 3 as we continue our study through the Word of God. As we have seen in our study over the past few weeks, the first 2 chapters of Colossians dealt with doctrine. You see, heresy was beginning to creep into the church and was threatening the life of the church and Paul tells them that they are sufficient in Christ. He shows them this by portraying Christ’s preeminence in creation, in redemption, and in the church in Colossians chapter 1. Then in Colossians chapter 2 Paul shows them that outside of Christ they are not complete, they are not sufficient and he looks at the emptiness of the worlds philosophies, religious legalism, mysticism or a man-made spirituality, and asceticism or a life of self-denial to attain righteousness before God.
Now, as we move into Colossians chapter 3 this evening and chapter 4 next time, we will see the application of the information that Paul gave to us in Colossians chapters 1 & 2. He is going to show us how we are to walk since we have the right information before us. And folks, that is wisdom or the proper application of the proper information! You see, the bottom line is, “ . . . the substance is Christ.” (Colossians 2:17). And thus we need to walk accordingly. With that said, let’s begin reading in Colossians chapter 3, starting in verse 1, and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
VERSE 1
Since we have been raised with Christ or literally “to be co-resurrected” with Him, why would we want to focus our attention on worldly things? You see, our life should be focused on Christ for you will receive heavenly direction for earthly duties as you do. Some would argue and say, “You are so heavenly minded you are no earthly good!” I disagree, in fact I wish I was more heavenly minded, I find myself too often so worldly-minded! I truly believe that you can’t be any earthly good unless you are heavenly minded! In fact, the Greek word for “seek” is ZETEO (dzay-the’-o) and it carries with it the idea of “to seek or strive for earnestly.” That is what we are to do and thus, may we be focused on Christ instead of being directed by the empty things of this world.
VERSE 2
Not only are we to “seek those things which are above” but also we are to “set our minds on things above.” Paul, in Romans 12:2 said, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” You see, we are not to be conformed to the things of this world but we are to be transformed by renewing our minds in God. How is that done? Very simply by spending time in God’s Word, in prayer, by engaging in things that will build us up and not tear us down or just entertain us, and by gathering together with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
What is then produced is godly behavior and if we negate these things what is produced is ungodly behavior. Where is your life, your mind set upon, what are you seeking? May it be the Lord! And think about it like this. A compass needle orients itself toward the north and thus, the Christian should orient himself towards heaven where Christ dwells!
VERSES 3-4
Paul speaks of our death being in the past, and I realize I am getting older, but I still think I have a pulse, at least I did the last time I checked, so what is Paul speaking of here? At the time of our salvation we died to sin, the old life passed away and we have been raised up new in Christ. Paul put it this way in II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
And in Romans 6:3-11 Paul tells us, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And what happens in our life when we die to self, when we are raised in Christ? Paul continues on to say, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:12-14. Thus, as we are in Christ all the riches of God are available to us!
When the Lord returns in His Second coming to set-up His kingdom, we shall return with Him. John tells us in Revelation 19:11-16, “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”
And so the key to living resurrection life is to have a life that is centered upon Christ because He is our life or as Paul put it in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
VERSES 5-7
Paul is calling for us to mortify the flesh nature and to do it now! You see, if you were raised in Christ, if you seek those things which are from above, if you set your mind on things above, on God, then these works of the flesh will not be manifested in your life! Paul speaks of sexual sins or fornication, uncleanness or moral filth, passion or uncontrollable lusts, and evil desire or illicit cravings. Then Paul speaks of covetousness or greed and this is truly where the other sins that Paul spoke of spring forth. It is a selfish desire and thus, it is idolatry. Think about it, you covet a relationship with another woman and you are married and where does it lead? It leads to fornication if you let it grow and don’t cut it off! Thus, if you are content in the Lord you will not covet and give room for these other sins to grow by!
Now those sins are the way the world is going and there are consequences for their rejection of Jesus, they are condemned and their sinful behavior will determine the degree of punishment in the Lake of Fire, (Revelation 20:11-15). Jesus put it this way in John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” I think that is very clear, you may accept it or reject it but that does not change the truth of what Jesus said!
You might say that these are, “Memories, of the way we were!” And those memories are not too pretty, are they? But for us as Christians they are in the past tense, we are not like the sons of disobedience, but like Christ! Now, is it possible for a Christian to fall prey to these sins? Tragically yes, but if they are part of their walk, if this is the way they are living and they are comfortable in their sin, I would question their salvation, I don’t believe that they are saved. Paul said in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Thus, as a Christian you must ask yourself, “Who will I identify myself with, Jesus or this world?” And understand that the choice you make will have consequences, one that is good and one that is bad!
Let’s put this into the proper perspective as Spurgeon asks us:
Christian, what hast thou to do with sin? Hath it not cost thee enough already? Burnt child, wilt thou play with the fire? What! When thou hast already been between the jaws of the lion, wilt thou step a second time into his den? Hast thou had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all they veins once, and wilt thou play upon the hole of the asp, and put thy hand upon the cockatrice’s den a second time? Oh, be not so mad! So foolish! Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure? Didst thou find solid satisfaction in it? If so, go back to thine old drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delight thee. But inasmuch as sin did never give thee what it promised to bestow, but deluded thee with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler – be free, and let the remembrance of thy ancient bondage forbid thee to enter the net again!
- Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 151
VERSES 8-9
Paul is speaking of removing all the traces of worldliness that is in us and he tells us to “put off” these things, which comes from the Greek word APOTITHEMI (ap-ot-eeth’-ay-mee) and it is a word that speaks of removing clothes and in this case, removing the dirty clothes and putting on Christ! Notice Paul’s focus here, they deal primarily with the sinful things we say, what comes out of our mouth! James put it this way, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.” James 1:26. Sometimes it is hard for us to say nothing, but sometimes that is what we are to do, and the reality is, the Lord is the only one who can tame our tongue and that is done as we surrender to Him, make our will His will! Now what are we to remove from our lives, throw off? Paul tells us:
Paul tells us we are to take off these things, remove them from our lives because they are inconsistent with the child of God who is focused upon Christ. If we take these filthy clothes off, what are we to put on? Paul tells us in the next verse.
VERSE 10
There is a relative of ours who is very rich, he worked very hard and didn’t spend much money, he saved it. Several years’ back he unexpectedly came to visit us in Schaumburg, Illinois and I had never met him before. So when we picked him up at the train station I couldn’t believe me eyes, even though I was warned of what to expect. Here was this man who was dressed like a beggar, he had a suitcase that was held together with rope, he had no teeth because he didn’t want to spend money to get new dentures. He was not dressed consistently with who he was, the money he had. The same is true for Christians, we must dress ourselves in accordance to our new identity in Christ, we must put on Christ and put off the old self!
We are a new creation in Christ; we have put on the new man as we have taken off those old filthy garments. We are complete in Christ but we still can grow just as a baby is complete but needs to grow throughout his life. We grow by being in the Word of God, applying the Word of God to our lives. Paul put it this way in II Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” Thus, as we grow in the Lord it is our will that is being conformed to His will, we are becoming more like Him!
What does this new life in Christ do for us? Listen to what Paul says in verse 11.
VERSE 11
The new man is now part of the family of God where there are no walls of division. The walls of nationalism – Greek or Gentile and Jew were removed. The walls of religion – circumcised or uncircumcised were removed. The cultural walls – Barbarian or those who did not speak the Greek language and the Scythian or a wild savage that was a nomad were removed. The social walls – slave or free were removed. And this is all because we are part of the family of God in Christ. There should be no barriers to separate us, don’t put up walls that Christ has torn down! Paul said in Ephesians 2:14-16, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
VERSES 12-13
This is what should flow from the lives of Christians, the person who has taken off the old garments, the filthy garments and has put on Christ! These qualities that Paul speaks of here are to cover the new man. Remember what Jesus said of how people will know if we are His or not? He said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Remember the song from years ago, “They will know we are Christians by our love”? May people know that we are His by our LOVE!
Let’s look at these qualities that should flow from our lives:
What keeps us from not manifesting these qualities in our life? SELF! You see, instead of being heavenly minded we are self-consumed, self-absorbed and then what flows from our life is not the nature of Jesus but the nature of the world! What can we do about that? Paul tells us in Galatians 5:16, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” In other words, surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit, put off the old man and put on the Lord! And here is the key in the next verse, what holds all these things together, kind of the initiator of them.
VERSE 14-15
Love is what all these other qualities spring-forth from, the AGAPE love of God. Paul, in I Corinthians chapter 13 tells us, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails . . . And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:4-8a, 13. If we would allow the love of God to fill our lives, then the love of God would flow from our lives!
When Paul says to “let the peace of God rule in your hearts” he is basically saying, “let the peace of God be the umpire in your life.” How do I know if what I am doing is right or wrong? We allow God’s Word to guide us and give us peace about our actions, if it is right or to change our behavior if it is wrong! You see, if you want to go by your feelings in a situation, chances are you are going to be wrong, you are going to be way off, and you will even justify your wrong behavior. We are told in Jeremiah 17:9-10, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” Thus, allow God through His Word show you how to walk, what you should do!
VERSES 16-17
Paul is admonishing us to have the Word of God abundantly fill our lives and as we do we then can minister to others within the body of Christ by teaching them the things of God and admonishing them or warning them of their wrong behavior. We keep each other accountable according to the Word of God! And please remember that the Word of God is the final authority on matters of the heart!
We can minister to others not only with the Word of God but with worship also, the worship of God with Psalms or songs out of the book of Psalms, with hymns or other songs of praise, with spiritual songs as opposed to secular songs. It is a life that is overflowing with the goodness of God!
Paul says that whatever you do, whatever you say, you are doing it unto the Lord. When you walk with that perspective, you will bring glory to God and minister to people!
VERSES 18-21
What is the key to unity, not only unity in the family, but unity within the body of Christ? Paul tells in Ephesians 5:21, “submitting to one another in the fear of God.” Thus, in the family God has placed the husband as the spiritual leader of the family and wives are to submit to his authority. It is not a master/slave relationship, but a submission of love, allowing your husband to be the man God wants him to be. And this is all done in the Lord. If he asks you to do something illegal or against God’s will, then that is the only time you don’t have to submit. But please understand it is a beautiful relationship, one is not lording over the other.
Men, you are to love your wives as Christ loves the church and gave Himself for her. Do not be bitter towards you wife and I guess men, we must need to hear that! Don’t call your wife “sugar cakes” and then treat her like dirt is the idea here. We are to have AGAPE love towards our wives.
For children who are living at home, they are to respect their parents, to honor them because in doing so they are respecting God’s order of authority within the family unit. For parents, we are not to discourage, put down our children, but encourage them. That does not mean we can’t discipline them but when you do discipline them do so with the idea of restoration, of building them up, helping them to grow not for demolition!
Listen to this perspective by Dorothy Law regarding the raising of children that is entitled “Children Learn What They Live.” She says:
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
Let me also say this, a child who is brought up in the things of God will not depart from them when he is old! May we train our children in the ways of God, teaching them lessons of faith as they grow!
VERSE 22-4:1
Paul now looks at a slaves relationship to his master or today an employee’s relationship to his boss and then he turns it around and looks at it from the other perspective. Obviously Paul was speaking to Christian slaves and now employee’s, that we are to do our best when the boss is looking and when he is gone because ultimately we are serving the Lord. And when we do poorly or do something wrong on the job, don’t expect favors or leniency because you are a Christian, in fact we should be held to a higher standard and how often we lower the bar. There are consequences to our actions whether they are good or bad. You see, being a Christian makes us more responsible, not less!
Now verse 1 of chapter 4 should be included in chapter 3, it is a bad chapter break here. Keep in mind that the chapter and verse divisions are not inspired but were added much later for our connivance of finding things in the Bible. Now, as a boss you are to treat your workers fairly, you are not to show partiality or favoritism because as a boss you have the Lord to answer to. And again, Paul is speaking to Christian bosses here; this doesn’t work for those that are not Christians. And think about it, don’t you want the Lord to treat you with fairness and justice? Of course you do and thus, treat your employee’s the same. And the reality is, this should be true of every one of us, how we treat people!
As I close this evening, if we put off the old life and put on the new, put on Christ, then the nature of Jesus would flow from our lives because our minds and hearts are focused heavenward. There would not be walls of division in the body of Christ because love would be flowing from us with all of its characteristics! And in the family life, as you are focused on the Lord, as you are guided by love, there is harmony. And this is also true at work. Thus, whatever we do, may we do it unto the Lord, be it our words or our actions, allow Christ not only to shine in us but also through us touching those around us.
It is as Paul said as he opened up this chapter, and this is from The Amplified Bible, “IF THEN you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [Ps 110:1.] And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory.” Colossians 3:1-4. May we keep looking upward and seeking the Lord’s guidance in all that we do and say!