Christ is Life Podcast

Well, today we're continuing in our Colossians message series that we have been in ever since the beginning of this year. As you know, we've started in Colossians, one, one, and we've been working our way through it, verse by verse. The first two chapters were a lot of doctrinal things, elevating the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ getting a real clear picture of who Jesus is and who we've become in Christ, after we put our faith and trust in Him and received his salvation. And then a couple of weeks ago, we hit kind of a turning point in the letter at the beginning of chapter three, where he says, since all of these things are true, then set your hearts and minds on things above what's true of you, above and the eternal realm of things. And then last week, Paul started to get very specific about the new life that we have in Christ, and how that plays out in a practical way. And he is going to continue to do that today. And I think it's gonna make a lot of you really happy today. And the reason is, because you are getting new clothes today. I knew that make a couple of you're pretty happy. And I think it probably made a few more of you happy, and you just didn't say anything. I mean, who doesn't like to get new clothes, right? I think most of us love to get new clothes and to wear new clothes. Some of us love it more than others, my wife would probably fall into that category. Love you, though. No. But before I get into trouble, I do need to save it. She's a great shopper. She's really good at it. And it's probably one of her favorite things to do is to come home and say, Look at all this stuff, it would have cost you probably $1,000 If I would have paid full price for it. But it only cost you 53. You know, I mean, she's a really great shopper and loves to shop. And I know that many of you too. But whether you love to shop or not, I think a lot of us do like getting new clothes. We like wearing new clothes, it makes us feel good. And again, that's good, because today's passage really is all about getting and wearing new clothes. Now. They're not the kind of clothes that you wear that we have on this morning. But last week, if you were here, you know, the apostle Paul picked up on this theme of getting rid of our old clothes. And here were some of the old clothes that he mentioned, to get rid of sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, lying, and racism. So these are some of the clothes that he mentioned to get rid of last week, and he even told us why he gave us the reasons why we're to get rid of these clothes. In verse seven. He said, You used to walk in these ways in the ways that you want to live. And then in verse nine and 10, later on, he says, You have taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, there's something that's happened to you, you're no longer who you once were, the old self is gone, the new self is here. And these old clothes don't fit the new you they don't match who the new you I've made you into. So take off those old clothes. Now, we used to go to these kinds of things, because they were how we got our needs met. I mean, we are all born into this world with needs that need of contentment, the need of security and value and worth and in love. And we try to find different things to be able to meet those needs. And some of us go to impure things to try to meet our needs of love or security. Some of us go to anger or rage, or we treat people with malice or slander, because we use that to try to manipulate or control people to get the love that we feel like we need in our life, the security to get the value and the worth that we think that we need. But now as a new creation in Christ, all of our needs have been met. And so Paul saying these don't fit they're ill legitimate ways to try to get your needs met, because I'm the one who's supposed to be the source of all of your needs. I'm meeting all of those. So these outward clothes that you're wearing in this way, don't fit with the new you the one who's having all of his or her needs met. And so he goes on then, and picks up and says Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, he gets into the clothes. He says clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And so we're going to talk a lot about those isn't new clothes today. But once again, as I've just kind of highlighted with the way Paul talks about the old clothes, he sets us up for the new clothes. In the same way, he gives us the basis for wearing the new clothes in one way. He's saying, again, since this is true, then clothe yourselves and do this thing here. And again, what it is that he says is true. Three things, you're God's chosen people, your holy and you are dearly loved. Now, God's chosen people should kind of make you think of the Israelites in the Old Testament. This is how he would refer to them. This was their identity, God's chosen people. And so what is it that he's doing here in using that particular language under this New Covenant? Now? Well, you may remember that the apostle Paul had just said this in the last verse that we looked at last week, in chapter three, verse 11, he said here, in this new realm of things, this New Covenant, this newness that you have in relationship with Christ, here, there is no Gentile nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and in all, he breaks down all of the racial and religious and cultural barriers that existed and unites us together, as His people. He's trying to help them in the original audience, and even us today see that it is not just the Jewish people, it wasn't just the Israelites that were his chosen people, we become part of His people, a group to belong to God's family, the moment we put our faith and trust in Him for salvation. So he says, that's true about you, you are part of God's chosen people a to you are number one. Number two, he says, what's true about you is you are holy, to be holy means to be pure, to be sanctified, to be set apart to be different. And Paul says, that is true of you. Now, you may not feel like your holy, you may not even think that your holy, you may have tended to think that kind of thing has to do with your behavior. And sometimes since your behavior doesn't line up with what it is in your mind thinks of holiness, then you're not really holy, you would put people who are really acting like saints most of the time as to being holy people, but not you. But here, Paul says, now that's what's true about you, regardless of he hasn't even got to the clothes yet. He hasn't got to the behavior. He's just saying, since these things are true about you, then we're going to get to the clothing in just a moment. So you are holy. If you're in Christ, Christ is holy, and you are in Christ. And so you are pure in Christ, you are sanctified in Christ, you are different, you are set apart. Once again, we say this all the time. But you are not a poor old senator who is saved by grace, you are a saint, who does sometimes still sin in this world. And the difference between the two is enormous. So you're God's chosen people. That's what's true about you, you are holy. And number three, you are not just loved, you are dearly loved. I mean, we're told in scripture that God is love. It is who he is, right. And if you're in union with Jesus, the God of the universe, then that means you're dearly loved at all times. It is an unconditional love, that we're talking about things to do today, things not to do last week. And a lot of times when we think about God's love, we think of it in relation to those things that we're not doing or the things that we're doing, right. And so when we get to those lists, and we're not supposed to be doing those things, well, if I'm doing them that God probably doesn't love me as much right now, if I'm not doing them, he probably loves me more if I'm doing the things he wants me to do. I feel loved by Him. If I'm not doing those things, I don't feel love. But he's saying what's true of you is your dearly loved before we ever get to that God cannot love you any more than he does right now. Nor can he love you any less than he does right now. It is not dependent upon your behavior. And so again, we look at this whole thing and it's really important that we don't skip over it. We've talked about this a number of times, but it's so true. A lot of times we just get to the list. We just jump skip right over this stuff and go right to these things and don't grounded in the basis for which we are doing those things. It is only since this is true.
Then close Have yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, because of those are the things that are already true of you as being God's chosen people, those who are holy, and those who are loved. And so since these things are true, then it lines up with what we kind of talked about last week in the way Paul was even talking about there just to make sure we say at how we did there, the lists of do's and don'ts in the New Covenant are simply descriptions of who you are, and who you are not. In Christ, when you become a new creation, he's giving you things that no longer line up with who you now are, or things that do line up with who you are, so that you will know. And a lot of us just we, again, don't ever go there in our minds, we just go to the list. And we think, well, I need to get busy. And a lot of us think it's because, well, he's commanding me to do all of these good things, because I'm not a good person. And I need to be changed into a good person. So he's given me the list of things to do. So that all be good. He's given me all the list of things not to do, because I'm not good. And I need to avoid those things so that I can get to be a good person one day. But that is not the by I mean, that is not the gospel. That is not what New Covenant Christianity is all about. Paul has said over and over and over again, as we've already even highlighted today, throughout the first two chapters, you already are changed, you are no longer a bad person, I've changed you. God says I've changed your sin nature into a new nature, I've given you a new heart. And so again, these lists are not. They're just descriptions of who you either are in Christ, or who you are not in Christ. And so we've got to make sure that that's how we're approaching these things. As we now dive into them, or will miss the gospel in it all. It'll just become religion. It'll just be stuff we're trying to do to get somewhere that God's already brought us to that place. And it's going to end in frustration and failure over and over again. Alright, so because this is true, God's chosen people holy, dearly loved, clothe yourselves, let's talk about them all with compassion. Let's take the first two compassion and kindness. Here's what the words mean, that are translated compassion and kindness in our English Bibles, compassion, heartfelt sympathy, for those suffering, or in need kindness, the friendly and helpful spirit that meets needs through good deeds. This is the concrete action of compassion. And so you have heartfelt sympathy for someone that you're seeing who's in need, and then you express kindness to them by meeting that need. Now, what does that practically look like? Well, remember, we talked about how each one of these things are true, because of you been in Christ, right? I mean, we even talked about how he said that at the very beginning of the chapter, since then, you've already been raised with Christ, you're in union with Him, you've died, your life is now hidden with Christ in God. So because those things are true about you, you're in Christ, then you are compassionate in Christ, you are kind in Christ, because Christ is those things. And so if, if these are the clothes that we're to wear, because they line up with who we are in Christ, then here's what we should see. We should see them as clothes of Christ in His earthly ministry. Right? If that's who Christ is, then we should see him in stories reflect him wearing those kinds of clothes all throughout the Gospels. And of course, we do I mean, let me just give you one quick example of where we see His compassion and kindness. This comes from the Gospel of Matthew, it says, as Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him to blind men were sitting by the roadside. And when they heard that Jesus was going by they shouted, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us. The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet. But they shouted all the louder Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us. Jesus stopped and called them, what do you want me to do for you? He asked, Lord, they answered, we want our site. Verse 34, says Jesus had compassion on them. He had heart felt sympathy towards these men in me What does he do, touched their eyes immediately and received their sight. And they followed him. What happened after he had heartfelt sympathy towards these men. He showed them kindness, he wore the clothes of kindness and actually met their need. And so we do see Jesus wearing the clothes of compassion and the clothes of kindness. Why? Because He is compassionate, and he is kind, it's who he is. And if you are in union with Jesus, and he's compassionate, and he's kind, then guess what that makes you. It makes you compassionate, it already makes you kind this is who you are at the very core of your being in union with Christ, you don't need to become compassionate, you already are compassionate. In Christ, you don't need to learn to be more kind, you already are made kind in Christ. This is the gospel, that is the work of Jesus that he does in you, to make you into these things, not things that you're trying to do better about, and change your self in. And as you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, as we said, In Colossians, chapter three, your eyes above the line, he's going to clothe you with compassion and kindness for the world to see, you're going to start to notice because you'll see, these are things that are true of me. So you're looking for them, and you're gonna start to notice people in need, you're gonna start to experience heartfelt sympathy for people, because that's the new heart that you've been given. And then when you start to feel that for them, he's gonna say, You know what you could actually meet that need. And then he's going to use you to express kindness to them in meet the need. And so this is what it looks like, and a very practical way to clothe yourself with compassion and kindness out of the new creation that you already our next piece of clothing that the Apostle Paul's mentioned was humility, which is an attitude that is, of course free from pride and self assertion or promoting oneself above others. This was a very countercultural thing, when Paul was writing this to the church at Colossae. I mean, humility was seen as weakness. Everybody in this culture was trying to one up the other person, they're always kind of jockeying for position, they're trying to do whatever they could to promote themselves and let everybody keep their eyes fixed on them, they had the need to be important, they had the need to have self worth in value. And so they were always acting out in pride and promoting oneself above other people, so that they could feel like they were getting their need of value and worth net. And he says, That's not who you are in Christ. It's not who you are in Christ, because that's not who Christ even was. He wore the clothes of humility. I mean, if there's ever anyone who had the right to promote themselves above others, wasn't a Jesus. God in the flesh was here, and yet he knelt down and he washed the disciples feet. Paul even wrote in in Philippians, that, that Jesus humbled himself, to be obedient to death, even death on a cross. This is the clothing that we see Jesus wearing. And once again, if it's true of Jesus, and you're in union with Him, then at the very core of your being and your union with Christ, you too, are humble. And as you keep your eyes fixed on things above, he'll begin to clothe you with humility on the outside, this attitude free from Pride, this, this freedom from feeling like you've got to promote yourself over and above other people to find your value and self worth. Why, because he gives you your value and Southwark self worth in himself and in the life that he's given you. So we've seen two articles of clothing that he mentioned, the third one was gentleness. This particular word that Paul uses means not being harsh with others, it could also even kind of be talked about as power under control. I love the way one commentator put it up, put it in quotes when I was reading this week, he said this word is is describes the power, which in a situation of conflict enables us to criticize another's conduct so that they experience it as help and not as condemnation when I read that I could not help but think about Jesus meeting the woman who was caught in adultery.
Right. I mean, he he didn't ignore the truth. He called out her sin, but he led with grace and he led with compassion when the religious leaders were not wanting to act gentle towards her caught in her sin. They were wanting to act harsh and they were wanting to stone her to death, he leads with grace and compassion and gentleness towards her. And as he tells her to go and sin no more, she's able to now receive it because of that as help and not as condemnation. And so this is who Jesus was. This is who he is. He is gentleman, once again, if you're in union with Him, what does that make you? It makes you gentle. And as you keep your eyes fixed on him, you're going to begin to wear the clothes of gentleness when you meet up with other people and conflict arises. If your eyes are fixed on Jesus, he's going to lead you to act in a way that you say things and you say truth that enables people to see it as help and not as condemnation, because you're not condemning them to try to elevate yourself over and above them to have your own value and self worth, you know, you've already got those met in Christ. And this is how you begin to wear that article of clothing. Patients hear the word that Paul uses here refers to the capacity to bear injustice, without revenge, or retaliation. It's the willingness to actually endure wrongs. You remember the night they came to arrest Jesus, and Peter pulls out a sword and he's wanting to do what retaliate. He's, this is unjust, right? So I want to get revenge immediately. And he says, Put away your sword, like I can call 12 legions of angels around here if I wanted to, but but he was willing to endure, Jesus had done anything wrong. He's willing to endure they're wrong, not just in that moment, but ultimately through the cross. And if this is true of who Christ is, if he's patient, and he's willing to endure wrongs, and you're in union with Him, then guess what that makes you it makes you patient. It's who you are in your union with Christ. And the more you keep your eyes fixed on things above, as Paul said, at the beginning of Colossians, three, the more you'll see the clothing of patients begin to manifest itself. When someone wrongs you, you'll find yourself being patient, you don't have to retaliate, you don't have to seek revenge, you don't have to put them in your place to try to make sure you elevate again, yourself because your needs are already met in Christ. And so again, when we see these lists of things to do, things to clothe ourselves with, we must remember on the basis of which he says them to be true about us. And then they become manifest. As we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He goes on and talks about even more clothing and context, right? He says, bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. The next two articles of clothing are bearing with each other. and forgiving one another, to bear with someone is related to what he just last said, the patience, right? The willingness to endure wrongs to to bear with someone just means to put up with them. Right, you put up with other people and you put up with them wronging you at times, and you don't actually get even with them, you forgive them, you wear the clothing of forgiveness, right? This is who Christ is he cried out from the cross as they were treating him in this way he bore with what was going on and He forgave him, Father, forgive them, for they know not what it is that they are doing. It's who Jesus is. You're in union with Jesus, at the very core of your being, you are a forgiver. And as you keep your eyes fixed on him, you'll find yourself wearing the clothing of forgiveness, complete forgiveness in the same way that Christ forgave you. The very last thing that Paul says here is to put on put over all these virtues. Love, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. This is the last article of clothing that he says to put on is, is love of overall love home, right? Once again, God is love. Jesus is love and you're in union with Jesus. So what does that make you it makes you a loving person. It's who you are at the very core of your being and as you keep your eyes fixed on things above who you are in Christ, you're going to find that love being manifested or expressed through you, which will bind all of these things together in perfect unity. This love that you have in Christ will then lead you to wear the clothing of humbleness before others to have compassion for them to show kindness by meeting their needs. The Love will lead you to be gentle towards them not harsh and to be patient and to endure suffering and to forgive those who wrong you. So these are the new clothes that I said you were going to get today? Are you so excited to get to wear your new clothes? You have new clothes to wear today as you leave? Right? Last week I left you unclothed. This week, we're putting clothes on you. So how does all this play out practically? Well, I've said it, but I just want to say it. Again, I think one of the things that we've got to make sure that we do not miss is the basis for which we see the lists. I mean, if if you've been approaching these as I've got to avoid these things, to be a good person, I've got to do these things to be a better Christian. These are not the way that Paul talks about them. Paul says they're descriptions of who you already are in Christ, the new you that you've become. So here's what you you say, you say, since I know these things are true of me, the now I'm looking for this kind of activity in my life, I'm looking for it because I know who are that it's true of me. And now I get the chance to participate with Jesus in what it is that he's already done to me and is now doing through me, I get to agree with him, I get to walk by faith independence, that this is who I am, and participate with him in the way that he puts these clothes on for the world to be able to see who he's made me into above the line at the very core of our being with people can't just see if he doesn't express that in a tangible way through us through these contact points that he has, through our mind and our our emotions and the choices that we make and our speech and our bodies in the ways that he works in and through us. So you can say, hey, because I am compassionate and kind in Christ, then I'm going to start looking for who he's leading me to be compassionate towards, for the needs, that he's wanting to meet through me to express kindness, because I am gentle because I am patient because I am forgiving in Christ, I'm going to start looking for ways that he wants to use me to bear in justices in my life, to not retaliate, to look for ways that he's leading me to forgive people when they wronged me and to be gentle with them in the moments of conflict, because that's who I am. So I should start looking for the Spirit's activity based on who he's made me into. So I can participate with him and what he's wanting to do, and an outward expression of the inward change that he's made in my life.
When we see the others, when we see the anger, and we see the rage and the malice and the slander, we can recognize those two, oh, that's my flesh. That's not really me. And you go, Where's that coming from? If those are now illegitimate ways to get my needs met, then let's go backwards. What needs do I feel like I don't have met in Christ, right? Because that's what we're going to those things. Again, these are flesh patterns that come out, because we're trying to find love or security or contentment in some way through being angry and controlling people and rage and malice and putting them in their place or slandering someone and lying to cover these kinds of things up. And so we go, oh, Where's that coming from? Why don't I feel like I don't have my needs of love and contentment and security and value and worth met in Christ, which is causing me to lash out in these different ways rather than in ways that he's made me consistent with who Christ is. And then as we recognize those things, we're able to thank him for the forgiveness that we have. We admit, man, that was not what was best for me in that moment. That wasn't who I was, I fell for the lie that I needed to act out in that way to get a need met that already had met in you. And gosh, thank you so much for the forgiveness I have and that and now I'm keeping my eyes fixed on you and who I am and you and what you're wanting to do in an outward way, in the areas of compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and patience and forgiving and all of these things that we talked about today. So the second thing when we look about the way this practically applies to us is not just how we approach the list, being making sure that we understand this is our identity and if flows from this place of identity. But then what is he wanting to do in us today, and throughout this week, in the days and weeks and months to come? Within each one of these things, there's a list here, if he wants you to know that you are compassionate, that you're kind, and that these are things that get manifested in an outward way, then how's that practically playing out in your life today? Did he bring you here today, because there's someone that you haven't been compassionate and caring towards lately, you haven't been very gentle to you, maybe it's your spouse, maybe it's a co worker, maybe it's a school mate, a teacher, your parents or somebody who's going, I got you got to see this in why you're going to those things. And because you have your needs met, here's who the real you is. And here's what I want to do in you and through you to lead to show them compassion to see there needs to be gentle in these moments of conflict. And so is there a situation that's been going on in your life this week that you're dealing with today that he's highlighting and saying, I want to use you to bring compassion into this situation or kindness or humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, whatever it is love. And if so, trust him with that, participate with him and what he's doing in you and through you in that area. And if it's not, there's not something specific today than just start looking for it. Like we said, now that you know, if you didn't know that was who you are, and you're leaving here going, I know, that's who I am. I don't have to try to become those things I am, I'm gonna start looking for that activity. Who see leading me to be compassionate towards because he's doing that too. He's made me he's gonna do that in some level. So I need to look for the spirits activity in that way. All the ways that we talked about here. We leave here today. Let's take off the old clothes that don't fit with who you are anymore. Let's begin to put on the new clothes that reflect who we now are in Christ.