Lessons From Colossians – Lesson 5
Last time we saw scripture tell us that you are complete in Christ. Therefore touch not, taste not, and handle not Jewish rituals and ordinances.
Because we are complete in Christ let no man judge you according to those things. As you know that truth is personal to me. Not only have men judged me according to those things, but this issue has become a big issue today. Many are being led into this stuff.
The Bible is truly amazing. The newest parts are about 2,000 years old. There have been many changes in society and in technology in those 2,000 years. And yet the Bible still accurately addresses the issues of today. God in His infinite foreknowledge wrote His Word so that it would always be profitable to any people in any age that would study it.
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
We know Paul is writing to Saved people who are in Christ, he has confirmed this many times in the first two chapters. He has already dealt with the false teaching that was going on, but there is something else that needs to be dealt with. Why would someone who is saved get off track by going after doing rituals to try to be more complete? Christ is enough. That is absolute truth. But does Christ always feel like enough. He is worthy of that, He is faithful, and true, and pure, and promised to never leave us.
Christ is enough, but sad to say it might not always feel that way. Why is that? There can be many reasons and circumstances that enter into this, but at the root of it all it is a matter of the heart. We still carry with us after we are saved what some term the old man. We still carry our old sin nature. When we get saved God does a supernatural work. We receive the circumcision made without hands. This is a cutting away of some of the flesh in the heart. Not all only some.
Not our heart that pumps blood, but the heart as in the seat of emotions.
Before I got saved I had a thirst for alcohol and moment I got saved that desire was gone. I mean gone. Totally marvelously completely gone. That was a work of God. However I still had a lot of other sin in my life that God did not just cut away. Those I had to work thru. I had to grow, I had to make choices, I had to learn. It is a process. I had to make decisions about what is really important in life. I had to make the choice to walk with God.
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. When Jesus finished His work and returned to Heaven He sat down. Sitting down pictures how the work is done. This is why in the Tabernacle where they had to continually make sacrifices because those sacrifices could never solve the sin problem.
They were only a type and a picture. That is why something is missing in all the furniture of the tabernacle. There were no chairs. No sitting allowed. Because the work there would never be finished. It only pointed to the coming Jesus who is the only one who could finish the issue. The only one who could complete the work. The only one who could pay for sin. And when He was done, He went to the throne and sat down. It is finished.
Since it is done, and since we are complete in Jesus, then therefore seek those things which are above. Seeking takes choice. You need to decide to not stop with just being saved, but you chose to look into things deeper. Seeking takes choice and it takes action. It is going to take some time to seek anything out. You are going to have to look and think.
The Colossians were seeking rituals. They were seeking the wrong thing. They did not have their eyes on Jesus. They were not seeking His truth and what He wants. So we need to seek the correct things. And it is going to take applying your heart.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Set your affection. That again is choice. You have to decide to do it. I am going to care more about the things of God than things on the earth. I am going to set my affection on things above. Now remember before salvation you have one nature. The sin nature. After salvation you now have 2 natures. You still have the sin nature, and now you have a spiritual nature. God quickens you, He makes you spiritually alive. And the Holy Spirit moves in and indwells you.
The choice to get saved is a onetime choice. Anyone who calls upon the Lord to save them with a repentant heart gets eternal life. That one choice carries me for all eternity.
The choice that comes after salvation to set your affection above does not work that way. It is not a onetime choice. After salvation every day you have a choice. Do I feed the sinful nature? Do I listen to and indulge the old man. Or do I choose to feed the spiritual side. Do I set my affection on things above?
It is not a choice that you make one day and then you are done. I don’t make that choice on Monday and that choice carries me every day for 20 years. With all my affection set on heaven. It does not work that way. On Tuesday I still have that old man and that old sin nature wants its way again. It is the same thing on Wednesday. What we are faced with is making a choice every day to set our affection on things above.
Living the Christian life really is a heart matter each and every day.
Something that really helps is considering your old man dead.
Rom_6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom_6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Death is separation. When you die you do not cease to exist, your soul separates from your body. People who die without Jesus experience eternal death which is separation from God for all eternity. When a Christian dies that old man is finally completely put off and is no more. The old sin nature has a death sentence upon it. It is as good as done, it just has not happened yet.
Do you remember in the story of the wrath of Khan, when Spock went in the radiation filled room to save the ship and Kirk runs down there and tells Scotty to open the door. Do you remember what Scotty said? He is dead already. Spock was still breathing, he was still talking, it was only a matter of time. His death was guaranteed. That was a silly story created for making money. But it does illustrate my point. Your old sin nature is as good as dead. It is guaranteed. It just has not happened yet. It is weakened, you now have the Holy Spirit to help you and guide you, but that old man is still breathing and still talking.
But the old sin nature’s death is so guaranteed that you should consider it dead. Why breathe more life into that no good sin nature. Nothing good will ever come of that.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Instead of choosing the old sin nature, each day consider him dead and chose to live in Christ. How do we do that? In a real practical way? What choices can I make to say no to the old sin nature and say yes to the spiritual nature?
That is what Paul goes into next.
Verse 5 is a list of things that the old sin nature wants. There are a few words in this list that we need to define.
Mortify. Mortify has 4 meanings in the dictionary. In the context of this verse mortify means to subdue, to humble, to reduce, to restrain.
Fornication is sexual relations between unmarried people.
Inordinate is excessive, disorderly, not within the rules prescribed, not within the boundaries set.
Concupiscence – Lust, passion, an irregular appetite for unlawful enjoyments.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
So if you are going to seek those things that are above and you are going to set your affections on things above. If you are going to put your heart there, then you are going to have to subdue and restrain the following: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness.
This is a list of nothing good. All of them are bad. Everything in that list comes with bad consequences attached to them. We are told how bad in verse 6.
Col 3:6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
The wrath of God comes upon those things.
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Before they got saved, they lived in them. They walked in them. The implication here is that was before salvation. They have not been walking in those things since. And that is good that they do not do that anymore. However, there are other things that they need to put off.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Anger can be a huge problem for many. Filthy communication is another one that plagues many. Anytime that we give into these we are feeding the flesh. We are feeding the sin nature that is with us but under a guaranteed death sentence. We are not supposed to feed that which is as good as dead.
Instead put on the new man. I love that the Bible covers both sides. It will tell you what not to do but it does not stop there. The Bible will then tell you what you should do.
It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum. When you take something away, you need to replace it with something else. If you take away anger, then something needs to be put in its place. Take away filthy communication and fill it with what?
Take away wrath and malice and something will need to fill that space. We are to put off the old man and then put on the new man.
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
This is important. The new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of Jesus. So learning about Jesus and following Him is a large part of putting on the new man. Keep your eyes upon Jesus and keep learning and following Him and you are renewed. The new man is strengthened.
And this truth goes for anyone.
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Remember James said there is a difference between Greeks and Jews. That teaching is wrong. Paul drives that home again here. In Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. Christ is all, and in all. Because of this. Because of what Christ has done for you, because of who He is. A list is given of what we should put on.
So we know what to put off. A list of all hurtful things. Anger, wrath, malice, coveting, ect.
Now comes what we should put on.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Each one is precious. Every one of these is good and moral and helpful. Mercies, and kindness. Of course these have to do with how you deal with others. Mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. Mercy lets things go. Mercy does not seek revenge.
Mercy has to do with withholding. Kindness has to do with giving. Being nice. It can be done thru words. Kindness in word can really be special to someone. And just saying kind things can go a long way to help someone. Sometimes people need more than words and they need a kind act. Do something nice, help them out with something.
Mercy and kindness has to do with others and humbleness of mind and meekness have to do with you. Realize that we are not all that and a bag of chips.
Humbleness is the opposite of arrogance and self-importance. Meekness is softness of temper, it is the opposite of pride. It is forbearance under injuries and provocations.
And put on forgiving others.
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And then the big one. Above all this good list put on an extra helping of this.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Charity is an old English word for Love, but not some empty emotional feeling. Charity is highlighting the working aspect of love. Charity does feel. It is love. It is a love that does, a love that works. A love that moves us to help people.
Doing something out of love for someone else, does huge things for your heart. It really does. It is the best way to fight depression and a host of other issues.
And it pleases God. Remember when they asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was and He said the first is Love God and the second is Love your neighbor as yourself.
When you put on charity you are doing what Jesus said was the greatest commandment and when you are following that you are also loving God because you are doing what He wants. Living the Christian life really is a heart matter in many ways. And of course the strength to put all of these things on day after day comes from the Lord. We cannot do it without Him. And the list to put on keeps going. Just great thing after great wonderful helpful thing. God is not asking us to put on anything hurtful or harmful in any way. He only wants our best.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. God has not given us the spirit of fear.
He has given us peace.
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
We have peace given to us by God. It is not the same peace as the world gives. This is God given peace in the heart.
We need to accept it. I have seen truly saved people refuse this gift. That is a shame. They live in fear and worry too much about so many things.
The Lord wants us to have peace, we need to accept it and more than that let it rule in our hearts. Let the peace of God rule over, let it be stronger than our problems.
And we are to put on being thankful.
That takes time out of our busy day. We have to pause and think about what we are thankful for and then we need to express that to God. Being thankful does so many things for you. Good things. It helps put things in perspective. It helps us see that our little problems are just that little. O’ don’t get me wrong. We can have real problems and they can be large problems. But if you compare them to all the blessings and the greatest one of all is eternal life, then it really helps put things in perspective.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom
This is another thing to put on. Let His word dwell in you. Dwell means it lives there all the time. Not only for a few min here and there. Let it dwell in you in abundance. Let it have its way with your heart.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
In all that we do, do it for the Lord. Live for Him, and all the while, I mean thru it all give thanks to God.
Thank Him for saving you, thank Him for putting on love, and mercy, and longsuffering. Thank Him for His peace, and thank Him for being able to help others.
Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God