I think one of the worst situations we're facing
in the church today is the reality of dualistic
Christians. And you might be wondering, well
what is a dualistic Christian? It's someone who
proclaims to be a Christian and acts like a Christian
when he's at church. But then as soon as he leaves
these doors, and goes home, he's someone entirely
different. Have you encountered something like
this before? You might call them dualistic Christians.
You might call them part -time Christians. You
could also just call them hypocrites because
that's ultimately what that's describing there.
There's a well -known pastor who's pretty well
known in the independent fundamentalist Baptist
Church. He's kind of famous. And he has a lot
of clips on YouTube and people sharing his stuff.
And people really love him if you're in that
camp. And they look to him and his church loves
him especially. They eat up everything he says.
They admire him. They revere him. They thought,
here is the man of God. Here's someone that we
can trust. Here's someone that we can seek to
emulate in our own lives. Here's someone who
is clearly walking with the Lord. And we should
follow him as he is following Jesus. But it recently
came out within the past few months, thanks to
interviews with his children, that this man was
living a completely different life. Now, he appeared
to be one way while he was at church, and he
was someone entirely different when he got home.
According to his children, he was physically,
verbally, and emotionally abusing his wife and
kids. His kids said that their dad used to whip
their mom with a belt sometimes across the face.
He would then throw dishes and glasses against
the walls and windows to shatter them. He would
even throw bar stools at their mother and at
them, which would result in having to go to the
ER. This is what happens when you live a fragmented
Christian life. This is what happens when you're
one person around the church and you're someone
else around your work and when you get home.
This is what happens when you try to compartmentalize
your faith and make Jesus just part of your life.
You say, well, I'll be the gentle, nice, mild
-mannered Christian on Sundays and Wednesdays.
I'll pray and I'll read my Bible on Sundays and
Wednesdays. I'll care about the loss and the
things of God on Sundays and Wednesdays. But
the rest of the week, those are my days, God.
That is my time. and I'm gonna do what I want
on those days, I'm gonna act however I want on
those days, and I will live however I want on
those days, but don't worry, on Sundays and Wednesdays,
I'll be a good Christian boy or girl. This is
not what the Bible says a Christian should be.
The Bible never recognizes the existence of people
who are Christians just two days a week. Who
you are at the church should be exactly who you
are when you walk out of these doors, because
at the end of the day, if God has brought you
out of death and into life, then you can't keep
living like a dead person anymore. You actually
have to embrace the new life that God has given
us in Christ. And no, listen now, God knows that
you're not going to be perfect. We all know that,
right? Nobody in here is perfect. God knows you're
not going to be perfect, but he does expect us
to be consistent. He expects us to have a level
of consistency in our lives that says the person
I am here is going to be the person I am out
there. I think the point that the Bible is making
here is because God has raised us up with Christ,
we must live out our faith in Christ at all times.
Because God has raised us up with Christ, we
must live out our faith in Christ at all times.
So notice how the Bible is kind of playing on
these directions here. You've been raised up,
now it's time to live it out. So because God's
raised you up, you must now live out your faith
in Jesus. And really, the simplest question is,
well, pastor, what does that look like? What
does it look like to be a consistent Christian?
What does it look like to live an unfragmented
Christian life? What does it look like to actually
live out our faith in Jesus at all times? Well,
the Bible is going to address that in these verses
if you'll start with me look at verse 1 The Bible
says then if then you have been raised with Christ
seek the things that are above where Christ is
Seated at the right hand of God Set your mind
on things that are above not on the things that
are on the earth For you have died and your life
is hidden with Christ in God When Christ, who
is your life, appears, then you also will appear
with Him in glory. Now, here's what Paul does
with his letters. If you're a careful reader
of Scripture, you've probably noticed it before.
Paul typically spends the first half of his letters
explaining heavy doctrine. Paul says, all right,
you're gonna sit there, and I'm gonna teach you,
and this is gonna be a lecture. Here's all the
heavy doctrine, all right? And that's what he's
done with Colossians. Here's the supremacy of
Christ. Here's the sovereignty of Christ in all
things. Here's how Jesus holds all things together.
Here's how he made peace between you and God.
Here's the reconciliation Jesus has brought about
by the blood of his cross. Here's the atonement
of Jesus. Here's salvation in Jesus. Here's doctrine.
And then as soon as he starts the second half
of his letter, he goes, all right, now this is
why this matters on Monday. Pay attention. So
here's what you need to know. And here's how
you're going to live it out. Here's what you
need to know. Here's why this matters. And that's
exactly what he does here. He's saying, in light
of all that I've said to you in the first two
chapters, here's what it's going to look like
to live this out in your day -to -day lives.
And he gives us two commands here. He says we
need to seek the things that are above and set
our minds. on the things that are above. You've
probably heard an old saying that says, a person
is too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.
Y 'all heard that one before? I don't like that.
It's just patently not true, okay? I think the
opposite is true. I think the more heavenly minded
someone is, the more earthly good a person is
gonna be. Like if you care about the things that
Jesus cares about, if you pursue the things that
Jesus pursues, Well, then you're going to bring
about a whole bunch of good on the earth more
so than people who don't care about Christ and
his kingdom at all. And so here's what's really
interesting is that the Bible is saying here,
here's this thing that's good for you. Seek the
things that are above. Set your mind on the things
above. This is what you should focus on. This
is what's good for you. Pursue these things.
And you know what our problem is? We get distracted.
A lot. And we get distracted by trivial things
and things that do not matter at all and they
take our attention away from pursuing the things
of God. That actually kind of reminds me of one
of our dogs, Roscoe. God bless his heart. That
dog. I love Luna. Roscoe, we let him live with
us. Roscoe is a he's half Bernie's Mountain Dog
and he is half golden retriever but let me tell
you the golden retriever in him is strong okay
it overtakes anything else if you give Roscoe
a a ball or a stick that is his only focus nothing
else matters at that point you can say here Roscoe
I've got a steak and I've got a stick and he's
focused on the stick okay that's his attention
span so I we have this problem right Before I
built a new pen for our dogs, we had the smaller
pen and Hurricane Helene kind of damaged that
severely so it was not a very stable pen. And
so every time I'd go out to feed the dogs or
water them, I would get to the gate and both
dogs were sitting right at the gate. And if I
opened it even a little bit, they squeeze their
ginormous bodies through the smallest crack,
cartoon style. Just squeeze right through, and
they take off running. Because that's what they
wanted. They wanted freedom, they wanted to be
able to run around. And so I was trying to get
in, and they would squeeze out, and now I've
got to chase a Bernie's Mountain Dog across a
70 -acre property for the next hour and a half,
and that's fun. But that was my problem. Every
time I went to this gate, if I opened it a little
bit, they're going to squeeze right through.
And I thought, I've got to do something about
this. So here's what I did every time I'd go
to the gate to give them food I just pick up
a random stick and Roscoe went from I want out
of this I want out of this to oh you've got a
stick and I would take that stick and I throw
it and there goes Roscoe and he chases it and
I open the gate and I get in and Luna doesn't
get out because she's a good girl as every dog
should be But anyways, so I start doing this
process right and I did this for months and months
and months and I thought to myself one day surely
to goodness There is enough intelligence in this
dog where he is going to realize that every time
I come to this gate, I'm gonna pick up a stick,
I'm gonna throw it, and as soon as I throw it
and he walks away, I'm going to open the gate
and he's not gonna be able to get out. I thought
surely he's gonna figure this out. Do you think
he did? Did you guess no? Because you'd be right.
He did not figure it out. There was something
that he wanted that was good for him, but then
he was easily distracted by something that was
very trivial and did not matter. And I really
thought about that situation with my dog as I
was studying this passage, because I thought,
that's kind of like how we are with God. God
says, here's this good thing. I want you to seek
the things above. I want you to set your mind
on the things above. But like Rosca, we get distracted.
And for us, it's not a stick or a ball, at least
I hope not, if it is for you, that's embarrassing,
I will laugh at you. But it's not, it's not a
stick or a ball, but it's all sorts of other
things in our lives. I mean, we encounter things
all the time that take up our attention and take
our mind away from things that are ultimately
good for us, do they not? I mean, just think
about the fact that in our world today, we've
got people who are completely consumed by sports.
Whether they're playing sports or watching sports,
sports consumes their lives, their schedules,
their money, their focus, their energy. We've
got other people who are entirely focused on
their jobs. And all they want to do is just rise
through the ranks of their jobs so they can make
more money. And we've got people who are consumed
with their stuff. They love their stuff. It's
their stuff. And you know what? They want more
stuff. Give me a new car. Give me a bigger house.
Give me the newest smartphone. Give me the newest
gaming system. Give me the every single streaming
service ever made on earth, even though you can
never watch them all at the same time. I love
stuff, and I just want more stuff. And so stuff
consumes them. And here's my thing with this.
None of these things in and of themselves are
bad, but they become a problem when they take
our attention and focus away from Christ and
his kingdom. Do we see that? Because here's my
question, everything that I just mentioned, whether
it's sports or your job or money or leisure or
stuff, are these heavenly things or are they
earthly things? They're earthly, right? Here's
what that means. It means that it's not going
to matter in eternity at all. I mean, this could
be encouraging for you or it might break your
heart, but when we get to heaven, God is not
going to check our bank accounts, folks. Praise
the Lord. Amen. For most of us in here, we're
saying, praise God for that. That's not a barrier
to entrance. God's not gonna check your bank
account and go, all right, how much money did
you make on earth? When we get to heaven, God's
not gonna see how many touchdowns we scored.
He's not gonna see how many free throws we made.
And God's not gonna check what our batting average
was. You wanna know why? God doesn't care. Doesn't
matter in eternity. He's not gonna ask which
neighborhood we lived in or what kind of car
we drove. Because none of these things, are going
to matter one iota in eternity and yet how sad
is it that we give our lives to them to these
things that don't ultimately matter you see the
point that i think the first few verses are making
here is that you can't pursue jesus and something
else at the same time You have to seek the things
above, set your mind on the things above, not
on the things of earth. Why? Because you can't
pursue Jesus and something else at the same time.
The Bible says no man can serve two masters.
You're either going to love one, you're going
to hate the other, you're going to love the other,
you're going to hate the one. So you can't actually
serve God and sports. You can't serve God and
money. You can't serve God and leisure. And here's
what the Bible would say. The Bible would say
that whatever consumes our hearts is going to
consume our minds. And whatever consumes our
hearts and our minds, it's going to consume our
lives. You can tell what someone actually loves
by the way they live. And here's what I think
everybody knows. The Bible says that as Christians
we are to be in the world, but not what? But
not... the world right Christians are supposed
to be distinct from the rest of the world now
if that is true and it's true yes church yeah
okay so if that is true then why is it that the
lives of so many Christians look exactly like
the lives of those who do not love Jesus if we're
called to be different if we're called to be
distinct then why do our lives look just like
the lives of those who don't even believe in
God? I mean, if it looks like a dog and acts
like a dog and barks like a dog, it's probably
a dog. And if it looks like the world, if it
acts like the world, thinks like the world, and
lives like the world, it's probably a citizen
of the world and not a citizen of heaven. You
see, Jesus doesn't just want part of your life.
Jesus doesn't just want some of your life. He
doesn't just want you to think about Him occasionally.
He doesn't just want your 10%. He doesn't just
want your love and attention on Sundays. Listen
to me church, Jesus wants it all. He wants everything.
That's why the Bible says here, Jesus is all
and He is in all. God wants all of it. As Christians,
our lives are meant to be Christo -centric, meaning
centered on Christ, consumed with Christ, all
about Christ. Because here's the only alternative.
If our lives are not Christo -centric, they're
going to be ego -centric. And I'm only going
to think about myself and what I want, what makes
me happy, what makes me comfortable, what I want
to agree with. And here's the problem. If I'm
living for myself, then I'm gonna miss out on
all the heavenly opportunities that God gives
me. I had a seminary professor, he was my evangelism
professor in seminary, and he told us a story
about how he missed out on one of these opportunities
one time. He had just finished giving a lecture,
he said it went. terribly. So he was very upset
about that. Gets in the car. As soon as he gets
in the car, his wife starts telling him about
how bad his lecture was. So then they get in
a fight, and he's feeling bad about the lecture,
and then they're fighting about him doing bad
at the lecture. So it just ends up being this
big fight. And he was tired and just wanted to
go home. So he stops at a gas station to get
gas. And he goes inside to buy snacks while he's
pumping gas. He said as soon as he walked into
that gas station, he felt the Holy Spirit urging
him. to share the gospel with a cashier. And
my professor said, no, I don't want to. I don't
feel like it right now. God, I'm upset about
how the lecture went. I've got to go back to
the car to a pointless fight with my wife. I'm
tired. I just want to go home. So no, God, you
can find someone else. I do not feel like sharing
the gospel right now. And so he bought his snacks,
went back to his car. As he's pumping, he sees
a biker pull up. And the guy looks like a typical
biker covered in tattoos, piercings, everything.
He goes into the gas station and my professor
started feeling even more convicted. He's like,
man, I really should have shared the gospel with
that guy. And so he said, I'm gonna go back in
after the biker leaves. He admitted that the
biker made him nervous so he didn't want to go
in there while the biker was in there. And so
the biker leaves and my professor goes back in
and he goes up to the cashier and he goes, hey,
This might be weird for you, but I just want
to tell you my name is Tim I'm a follower of
Jesus, and I'd love the opportunity to just talk
to you about Jesus and the cashier looked at
him and said well Tim you're a little too late
Because that biker who just left told me all
about Jesus, and I just gave my life to him My
professor said that that experience taught him
never to be so focused on himself and on trivial
matters that he does not get to take part in
the work that God allows us to take part in.
He said it also taught him that God's work is
going to be done, and we have the opportunity
to be invited into it. But make no mistake, God's
work is not dependent on us. God will accomplish
His will, but He has invited you to take part
in it. You see, I want the same thing for us,
church. I know that it's easy for us to get tired
and distracted, and I know the things of the
world consume us, but I don't ever want this
church to be so focused on earthly issues that
don't matter that we miss out on all the heavenly
opportunities God gives us. Don't waste your
life giving yourself to things that aren't going
to matter one lick in eternity. Because here's
the thing, church, if you're not living for Jesus
now, then you have no reason to believe that
you're going to be living with Jesus later. If
you're not living for Him now, you're not going
to be living with Him later. And He doesn't want
us to live these fragmented lives with divided
hearts and loyalties. He wants us to pursue the
things above, which means we have to kill the
desires of the flesh. Look at verse five. He
says, Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil
desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. On account
of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these
you too once walked when you were living in them.
Now here's the thing about this list. We read
this list. Let's all get in agreement. Everything
on this list is sin. Yes? Yes. Everything on
this list is bad. Yes? Okay, the fact that we've
got 7 % of our church saying that right now.
I mean, I can make a whole sermon on this verse.
I can do that. Okay, thank you. We know these
things are bad. The problem is that we are living
in a world that constantly redefines sin. We're
living in a world that constantly redefines sin
and repackages sin and then represents it to
us. and makes it something nice and palatable.
For instance, I saw an article this week as I
was writing this sermon and it said, a new study
shows that inviting a third person into your
marriage bed might actually be beneficial for
some couples. I read that headline and I literally
said to myself, well good job article, you literally
just went five for five on the Bible's list here.
You managed to hit them all, because if you followed
the advice of the study, you'd be guilty of sexual
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
covetousness. The Bible calls it sin, but our
world wants to redefine it and give it a new
name to make it more palatable. Those who reject
monogamy, they're now to be called polyamorous.
Polyamorous just means multiple loves or many
loves. Now the Bible would call them adulterers,
but polyamorous sounds nicer. And so it entices
people more. You see it with practically every
sin. It used to be if an adult was attracted
to children and wanted to engage with them sexually,
we used to call them pedophiles. But now the
world has said we have to refer to these people
as minor attracted persons. Now here's the thing
about that. You can give it a new name all you
want. But simply by putting a new label on sin,
you understand that that doesn't actually make
the sin any less dangerous or heinous, right?
We all get that, yes? I mean there's a famous
story of a pastor who was preaching on sin one
time. I mean he was coming down hard on sin.
And he had some church members come up to him
after the sermon. And they said, Pastor, we don't
want you to preach like that anymore. They said,
you can't call it sin. You mentioned too many
things by name. If you continue to preach on
sin like that, you're going to hurt people's
feelings. And they're going to be offended. And
they might not come back here. And we want this
church to grow. So we can't afford to offend
people. So call it something else in the future,
but you've got to stop calling it sin. And the
pastor, who is wiser than I am, had anticipated
that something like this would happen. And so
he pulled out a little vial from his jacket pocket
and it said poison on it. And he said to his
church members, I see what you want me to do.
You would like me to remove this hurtful mean
label and replace it with something nicer, maybe
essence of lilac or something like that. And
he said, do you not understand that if I were
to do that, this bottle of poison has just become
even more dangerous than it was before. You see,
you can try to redefine sin, relabel sin, re
-present sin all you want. It doesn't change
the fact that it is sin and sin will kill you.
That's why the Bible is calling on us to do something
here. The Bible is saying you can't be light
on sin. You can't play around with sin. If you
play with the fire of sin, church, you're going
to get burned. And so the Bible says what we
need to do, if we don't put sin to death, sin
will put us to death. Those are your only two
options right there. If we don't put sin to death,
sin will put us to death. It's just as the great
theologian, and my favorite theologian of all
time, John Owen once said, or sin will be killing
you. Sin is like a disease that slowly eats away
at you. It slowly corrupts your soul. And if
we all know this, then here's my question to
you, church. If we all know that sin will kill
us, if we all know that sin will damn our souls,
then why would we continue to allow it to be
part of our lives? Why would we not just be done
with it and put the desires of the flesh to death.
And the reason I think so many people don't do
this, and the reason they see no problem with
this, is because they say, Pastor, I'm good on
sin. Well, what do you mean by that? I'm good
on the big sins. I don't cheat on my wife. I
don't do drugs. I've never murdered anyone. So
I'm good. And because people think they're good
on the quote unquote big sins, that somehow gives
them a right to overlook the small sins in their
life. And so they say, well, a little gossip's
not that bad. Never hurt anyone. I'm not really
gossiping. I'm just trying to tell my friend
about something that happened today. That's not
gossip, that's just sharing a story. So it's
not really that bad. Or a little gluttony, we
say, a little gluttony's not that bad, right?
eat a little bit more than I should have. I mean,
even though the Bible says that we're temples
of the living God, that we should care for our
bodies, that we should be good stewards of the
bodies, that God has given us, that we should
actually take care of them. The Bible also says
that we're to be self -controlled and self -disciplined.
And so even if you lack self -control with regard
to food, turns out that's still sin. But we won't
look at that. We won't talk about that. It's
just a little gluttony, pastor. I didn't kill
anybody. It's not that big of a deal. A little
bit of sloth, a little bit of judgment. A little
resentment, a little grudge, refusing to forgive
people, a little white lie here and there. No
big deal, pastor, right? These are little sins
in the grand scheme of things. Have you ever
noticed how little sins have a way of piling
up in your life? And here's the thing about Christians.
We're all on guard against the big ones, right?
We say, no matter what, I will never cheat on
my spouse. I will never murder someone. I'm on
guard against that. And because you're on guard
against that, you tend to let your guard down
with the little ones. And something I want to
tell you this morning, church, that you need
to understand is that the enemy will not waste
his time killing you with a big sin when he knows
a few little ones will do the trick just as nicely.
He doesn't need to get you to murder someone
if he can get you to hold a grudge and refuse
to forgive someone in your heart. A few little
ones will do the trick just as nicely. as a big
one. That's why the Bible is saying that Jesus,
He's never going to settle for just being part
of your life. He's never going to be satisfied
with just having you be good on the big sins.
Listen to me, church, God wants more for you
than that. Don't you think there's more for the
Christian life than to just not murder someone?
I hope so. I mean, if that's our end goal, it's
like, hey, when I get to heaven, at least I'll
be able to say that. Obviously, God wants more
for you than that. God wants you to be good on
the big sins and the little sins. He wants your
life free of all sins. That's why he is imploring
you as a father, a good father, put sin to death
now. Stop playing around with it. Be done with
it. Because if you don't put it to death, it
is going to put you to death. I want to remind
you that the only reason we are even able to
live These new lives in the first place is because
of the work of God in Christ whereby He made
us new creations in Christ. Notice what these
final verses say here in verse 8. Now you must
put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander
and obscene talk from your mouth. 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 its creator Here there's not
Greek and Jews circumcised and uncircumcised
barbarian Scythian slave free but Christ is all
and in all Now you've probably at some point
heard the phrase the best offense is a good Defense.
I think the reverse is also true. The best defense
is often a good offense. And I want you to notice
how the Bible's making this pivot here. Because
the Bible has been saying you need to be on your
guard. Put up a defensive front. You need to
be defensive against all these sins that are
present in the world that used to be part of
your life. Be on your guard against them. But
now the Bible says we need to take an offensive
approach as well. Put off the old self. and put
on the new self and start living for Christ.
So it's an offensive measure that needs to be
done here. So rather than just constantly defending
against all these sins that are vying for our
love and attention, actually the best way you
can fight against sin is by actively pursuing
the things of God. It's significantly better
that way. I want you to think about it like this.
Let's say there's a man who He's addicted to
alcohol. And he says, God, I know it's a sin.
I don't want to be a drunk anymore. Help me with
this. And so he says, I want to put it to death.
I'm going to stop drinking alcohol. And so he's
on his guard against it, right? And let's imagine,
this is what this man's day looks like. He wakes
up in the morning. From the time he wakes up,
he says, I will not drink alcohol today. I will
not drink alcohol today. I will not drink alcohol
today. He does it all day. Looks at his watch
and he goes, oh, praise the Lord. It's bedtime.
I can go to bed. I made it through another day.
He's going to wake up tomorrow and he's going
to do the exact same thing. He's going to sit
around all day trying his best not to grab a
bottle. He's going to live a pretty miserable
life, is he not? Because all he's doing is trying
to resist something. But what if he were to take
an active offensive approach, right? What if
instead, what if every single time he felt the
urge to drink alcohol, he prayed? What if every
single time throughout the day where he normally
would be drinking, he was reading his Bible instead?
What if instead of sitting alone at his house,
completely in isolation, trying his best not
to do this thing, what if he actually got involved
in the ministries of the church and distracted
himself with the works of God? Do you think his
life would look different? Yeah, of course it
would, right? Because it's about not just resisting
something bad, it's about pursuing something
greater. It's about investing in something more.
It's about taking your next steps with Christ
and going deeper into your relationship with
Jesus. That's what God wants for His people.
I mean, I heard a story this past week of a little
boy who fell out of bed in the middle of the
night. His mom had come and tucked him into bed,
and at some point in the middle of the night,
he fell out of bed, hit his head, started crying.
And so his mom came up to his room, picked him
up, held him for a moment. And she asked him,
she said, what happened? Why did you fall? And
he said, well, I think I just stayed a little
too close to where I got in at. And I heard that
story and I thought, man, that sounds like so
many Christians I know. We've stepped into God's
kingdom. We've stepped into new life in Christ.
We've stepped into salvation. And we've stayed
there right on the threshold of the kingdom.
Never moving any further, never going any deeper,
keeping everything entirely surface level and
superficial. We stayed too close to where we
got in at. And you know, the problem about that
is that we can still see our old lives from the
threshold. We can still hear all our old sins
calling to us. We can still see all our old affiliations
begging us to come back. What you need to do
is move further. You've got to take deeper steps
into the kingdom. You've got to take deeper steps
in your walk with Christ. You can't just stay
at the threshold forever. You've got to move.
God doesn't just invite you into his kingdom
just so you can live life at the threshold of
the kingdom. God wants more for you than that,
church. So the point that he's making here in
these final few verses is that if we're going
to claim to have new life, then we actually have
to live new lives. If we're going to claim to
have new life, we actually have to live new lives.
Does every Christian in here understand that
this morning? You can't go around telling people
you love Jesus and you follow Jesus if you don't
actually live like it. I mean, think about when
Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, right?
There was something different about Lazarus.
Yes, he was dead. Jesus said, Lazarus, come out
of there. Lazarus came forward and he was dead,
but now he's alive. You know what Lazarus couldn't
do at that point? He couldn't turn around and
go back into the grave. He had to leave the grave
behind. And in the same way, church, when Jesus
calls us out of death and into new life in Christ,
we can't go back in the grave. We can't go back
to the tombs. We can't keep living like a dead
person. We actually have to live a new life for
Jesus. And when you do that, the important thing
to understand is that none of our old affiliations
have any bearing on us anymore. That's one of
the most beautiful things about becoming a Christian,
is that when you come to faith in Christ, when
he's called you out of death and into life, guess
what? None of your old affiliations, none of
your old identities, they have no bearing on
you anymore. So in fact, even if someone knows
you from your past, and they're like, oh, I know
who you are. You're the person who used to do
this in high school. I know who you are. The
whole town knows about what you used to get up
to. Or I know you. I've heard stories about you.
I've heard about the things you've done. None
of those things matter anymore. None of those
things identify me anymore. Why? Because that's
who I was when I was a dead person. But the Bible
says I'm alive in Christ. That old name doesn't
describe me anymore. The only identity that matters
for me is that I am a child of God through faith
in Christ. Which is exactly why the Bible says
here there is not Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free. You could add
to that list educated, uneducated, rich, poor.
None of it matters. The only thing that matters
is Jesus. That's why the Bible says Christ is
all and Christ is in all. It's always only ever
about Jesus. So because He's raised us up with
Christ, we need to actually live out our faith
in Christ at all times. So here's what I would
love our church to do this morning. And everybody
in here, even if you're visiting, here's what
I would love for you to do. If you would call
yourself a Christian this morning, I would love
for us to commit today to stop trying to pursue
Jesus and something else at the same time. I
would love for us to commit ourselves to pursuing
Christ and Christ alone. I would love to see
us commit today to put sin to death in our lives
before it puts us to death. And here's the thing
about sin, folks. It will always find you out.
God will bring every sin to light. And I would
love to see us today commit ourselves to embracing
the new life that we have in Christ and living
out that faith in Christ. Because here's the
thing you're not going to hear in a lot of other
churches. God actually does want you to enjoy
Life in Christ. Jesus has set you free. You have
new life in Him. God wants you to embrace it
and enjoy it and live your life for the glory
of God. And you'll get to enjoy Him forever.
There is nothing greater than that. So the Bible
says earlier, whom have I in heaven but you?
And on earth, there's nothing I desire. When
God is your greatest desire, you will have the
greatest joy you've ever known. And it is all
because of what Jesus has done for us. That's
what I want the testimony of this church to be.
Always only Jesus. Amen? Let's pray.