Any biblical scholar, any Christian, or anyone who just reads the New Testament can tell you that there is a pattern that exists in all of Paul’s epistles, and it’s really a simple pattern. First, he gives the facts, and then he gives the application. In other words, he gives the doctrine or theology portion first in his letters, and follows that up by explaining what it all means for Christians and how what he has previously said ought to affect their lives. In nearly every one of his letters, there is a universally acknowledged point at which Paul moves from theologian to pastor. In Colossians, we are at that point. The shift occurs between chapters two and three where Paul goes into the mindset of telling us why what he’s given thus far is important. And I would remind you that what he’s given us so far is all about Jesus. He’s spoken of the supremacy of Christ and the sufficiency of his death. He’s spoken of the fact that Jesus’ death needs nothing else added to it, especially nothing that we can offer, in order to save us. And he has spoken of the fact that we have a great freedom because of Jesus Christ. We ended our time together last Sunday by saying that we are to respond to this freedom with joy, adoration, thanksgiving, and a desire to share this wondrous news. Well, in our texts for the next few weeks, Paul’s going to tell us exactly what that response ought to look like.
Paul begins all of this by telling his audience that if we’re really Christians, then we ought to seek the things that Christ would seek. And that may seem like an obvious statement to us, but how often do we see Christians who are able to embrace their faiths in certain settings while easily laying them aside in others. I had a conversation with someone a while back who is both a devout Christian and a defense attorney. I asked him, not judgingly, if he ever had any issue with the fact that some of the people that he defended were actually guilty. Was he ever bothered by the fact that his job was all about seeing folks not get the punishment that they deserved? Now, I know that in some cases his clients were probably innocent, but certainly not all of them. Mainly, I wanted to know how all of this interacted with his Christian faith. He responded by telling me that he worked very hard at keeping his work-life and his religious-life separate, which is a common thing that we hear isn’t it? Now, I didn’t push the issue any farther because it just wasn’t worth it at the time, but I was fascinated by that fact because, biblically speaking, it’s all life. In reality we don’t have work-life, church-life, family-life, etc. I mean, we do have different aspects of life, but it’s all part of our life as a whole. What we seek in all aspects of life ought to be the things of Christ, i.e. the proclamation of the gospel and the righteousness of the kingdom of God. That shouldn’t change depending on where we find ourselves and who we find ourselves around. In other words, the things of this world shouldn’t be our primary motivations, but it is those things that we would consider of God that ought to be our motivation.
Also, we can take Paul’s charge to seek the things that Christ would seek and say that we need to emphasize seeking ALL that Christ would seek. This means that we can’t just seek some of the things that Christ would and did seek. Did Christ seek social justice, care for the poor, and a certain civility and morality amongst everyone? Of course, but he also sought sinlessness, repentance, and hearts that longed for God above all else. Recently, it seems to be getting overlooked that when Jesus ate with sinners and forgave them of their sins, he also charged them to go and sin no more. Are we to seek social change for the good of all humanity as part of our faith? Yes, but we are to seek an adoration for and an obedience to Christ as well. We can’t just pick and choose which parts of the Christian faith we want to adhere to; we are to follow all aspects of Christ’s teachings and God’s commands.
Paul says, “Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Paul’s acknowledging the pull of earthly things, but he’s also telling all Christians that they are new people in Christ. Your old life may have been about these things, but that’s not who you are anymore. Your old life might have revolved around your social calendar, your wealth, your power, your status, or any one of a list of things, but not anymore. When you’re a Christian, your life is to revolve around Christ and no other. I love my wife and I love my kids, but I’m commanded in Scripture that not even they are allowed to be the center of my world; that is a place reserved for only God. Putting anyone or anything else in the place of God is, in essence, making whatever or whoever that is the god over your life. I firmly believe that there is a place in all of our hearts that only God can fill. We can try all we want to fill it with something else, but we’re never going to be whole or complete without God in His proper place in our hearts and our lives.
Paul even gives us a list of many earthly things that are values of the flesh and not of heaven: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. Paul calls us to put these things to death, meaning that he wants us to eliminate them from our lives. He wants us to do so not only because they are opposed to God, but also because they can become idols in our lives. People can become worshippers of these sinful areas of human nature, which would take their worship away from God. Now, there’s a few questions that some of you may have about this that I’m going to answer real quickly. The first is that didn’t Paul just get done condemning asceticism and legalism, two belief systems that have more to do with outward things? And now it seems like he’s calling for outward changes to take place in our lives. In a word, Yes. However, remember what we said last time, our outer behaviors are to be a reflection of our inner desires. If we desire the things of God, then there is no way that we could demonstrate it through any of the ways listed above. We’re not going to honor God through sexual immorality or covetousness. In fact, as we’ve noted already, these are things that are directly opposed to how God would have us live our lives and honor Him. Even the list that Paul gives later on containing anger, malice, and slander, none of these things can bring honor to God. Basically, Paul’s point is that if you are truly following God, then it should be an inward change that has outward consequences and results.
The second question that you may have comes by way of something that I’ve already said. I said earlier that my family can’t be the center of my world. I said also that work or friendships shouldn’t be the center of our worlds either. Now, if we compare those things to the lists that Paul gives us, it seems as if we’re talking about two completely different things here. Obviously anger, wrath, impurity, evil desires, or malice ought not to be our goals, but do we really put those into the same category as our families or our jobs? After all, aren’t we encouraged by God to seek to build strong families? Aren’t we commanded to work; wasn’t that part of our created order, the cultural mandate? Aren’t friendships encouraged in Scripture? And my answer to all of these questions would be yes. However, I think that much of how we interpret these things hinges on the word used at the end of verse 5, idolatry. As we said earlier, nothing can take the place of God in our lives. It doesn’t matter if it’s something bad (like what Paul has listed here) or something good (like our families and friends), we can’t let it take the place of God.
As we’ve spent time working our way through the Old Testament in Sunday School, we’ve seen a number of common themes or threads run throughout the entirety of the Old Testament. We’ve seen God’s faithfulness to His people and His covenant promises. However, we’ve also seen God’s people’s unfaithfulness to Him as well. We’ve seen how people who have a special relationship with God are so quick to set that aside and worship the newest and shiniest thing that comes along. We’ve seen a people who were expressly forbidden from worshiping idols bow down at the feet of a golden calf, a bronze bull, or other man-made idols. We’ve seen people who cry out for God as being all that they need devote themselves to things like food, riches, or social status; worshipping the gifts instead of the gift giver. Even this morning we talked about a man who was anointed by God as the king of Israel becoming so drunk with power that he began to place himself above God’s authority. It goes to show us and warn us that even the noblest and upright person can fall victim to the tentacles of sin. That is, they can if they are left to fight against sin on their own, but we’re not.
You see, that is the beginning of Paul’s application of the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Remember, I told you back at the beginning of this series that this epistle was written about the same time as the epistle that Paul wrote to the Ephesian church. And in that epistle, which we looked at last fall, Paul spoke about this distinction known as the old self and the new self. This distinction was about the way that when we enter into a relationship with Christ, we stop being someone who is dead to sin and become someone who is alive in Christ. We stop being alone and are now in union with God. We spoke back then of how the language that Paul uses in Ephesians is that of taking off grave clothes and putting on a new life in Christ. Well, Paul, here in Colossians, brings up this distinction between old and new. He says, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of the creator.” Now, we’re going to look at what Paul tells the Colossian church the new self ought to look like next Sunday when we look at the second half of chapter 3. But we can tell pretty clearly without much hesitation that Paul is saying that the way we act when we are in a relationship with Christ is to be completely different than the way that we acted before entering into that relationship. It’s so different that we virtually become a new person; hence the reason why we refer to this as rebirth or being born again. We become an entirely new creation in Christ than we were before. All of the other things, the other distinctions that we create amongst ourselves are gone.
Do you know the old saying “There are two types of people in this world…”? Well, we can say with absolute certainty that that is a true statement. There are two types of people in this world, those who are in Christ and those who aren’t. There are those who are wearing the old grave clothes of dead men and those who are adorned with the newness of life in Christ. The only distinction that exists in this world is whether or not we are in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” Nationalities, ritual observances, social positions, nor any other distinctions exist for those found in Christ. In the next verse Paul will simply refer to Christians as “God’s chosen ones.” Remember, Paul is trying to combat against and denounce a false belief system that teaches exclusivity amongst God’s people. This false teaching was promoting the fact that there are distinctions amongst the people of God; those who have been enlightened and those who haven’t, those who have denied themselves to extremes and those who haven’t, and those who have been given visions and kept certain rules and those who haven’t. You see, Christianity may be seen as exclusive in that not everyone is found in Christ, and that is true. However, for those who are found in Christ, there is no distinction to be made.
Now, I don’t want it to seem like it’s some great secret that we are privy to that no one else is, because it’s not a secret. The good news of what we celebrate today through the partaking of the elements on the table before us isn’t a secret. It’s something that many know about but fewer understand their meaning. Not these elements themselves, but what they represent, the body and blood of Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross, give us the ability to take off the old and put on the new. Christ gives us both the desire and ability to change from darkness to light. As we prepare ourselves to receive these elements in just a few moments, I want all of you to understand that because of what we remember this day, we are able to overcome sin and be adorned in a newness of life that is found only in Christ. We’ll look at what the new self looks like a little more in a week, but for now, let’s focus on putting to death those things in our lives that separate us from God.
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