Thank you. Well, it seems fitting that on St.
Patrick's Day we would talk about going to witness
to our friends and neighbors. You know the story
of St. Patrick? He lived 1 ,500 years ago. As
a young man, perhaps eight years of age, he was
kidnapped and was sold as a slave to a Celtic
chieftain who took him across the Irish Sea from
England, where he lived, across the Irish Sea
to Ireland. and he was there as a slave to this
family for a number of years. As a teenager,
he was able to escape and went back home to England,
and it was there that he came to faith in Christ.
But God burdened his heart for the pagans in
Ireland, and so he returned to the Celts of Ireland
and began to preach the gospel of Christ to them,
ultimately seeing thousands and thousands of
them professed faith in the Lord and be baptized,
and churches were established. And so on this
day that we remember St. Patrick, and we celebrate
those of us of Irish ancestry celebrate that,
we celebrate a man who gave us an example, and
I hope that all of us will follow that example
as we anticipate the crusade this summer. Be
a part of Operation Andrew. God will bless you
for it. And now let's open our Bibles together
please to Colossians chapter 3. We Christians
are not only to know the truth in our minds,
we are also to show the truth in our lives. There
were false teachers who had come to the church
in Colossae and confused the saints, making them
think that they needed more than Christ to have
a complete knowledge of God. And so the apostle
spends the first half of this letter correcting
that misunderstanding. And in the first four
verses of this chapter, he crunches some of the
details of what the Colossians said they believed.
He says, since you have been raised with Jesus
Christ, having died with Him, now having been
raised with Him, Seek the things above. And so
he reminds all of us that salvation is all about
coming into a personal relationship with Christ.
And dying with Him, being buried with Him, being
raised again with Him in newness of life. He
is the source of our life. We believe that. And
he says that our life is now hidden with God
in Christ Jesus. Hidden with Christ rather, in
God. I got it turned around. And so that's the
security of our lives. That we are hidden with
Christ in God. We believe that. And he says whenever
Christ who is our life shall appear, then we
will appear with Him in glory. That's the destiny
of our lives. And we believe that. But it's not
enough to just believe it. We need to show that
in our lives. And so he says, since this is true,
since this is what you believe, seek the things
above. Set your affection on things above, not
on the earth. You see, what we believe ought
to affect how we behave. And so now the apostle
is going to take the rest of the book basically
to talk about what behavior ought to look like
when people believe what they say they believe
about Christ. A believer is to set his heart
on things in heaven. And when he does, that will
change the way that he treats others on earth.
I'm going to read the text beginning in verse
5 and as I do that I want you to notice that
this list of sins that the Apostle says that
we are not to have in our lives are sins of relationship.
They have to do with how we treat other people.
Therefore consider the members of your earthly
body as dead. to immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
For it is on account of these things that the
wrath of God will come, and in them you also
once walked when you were living in them. But
now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath,
malice. slander and abusive speech from your
mouth. Do not lie to one another since you laid
aside the old self with its evil practices and
have put on the new self who is being renewed
to a true knowledge according to the image of
the one who created him. A renewal in which there
is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised
and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian slave
and free man. But Christ is all and in all. Now
as you look at this text, there are two decisive
commands or word pictures that the apostle gives
to us. This morning I want to talk about what
a heavenly life looks like in street clothes.
He says we are to set our affection on things
above. But what does that look like in a mirror?
What does that look like in everyday life when
you set your affection on things above? Well,
Paul is going to write quite a bit about that.
We're going to begin this morning by seeing two
decisive commands that are involved in that kind
of a life. The first one is put to death. That's
the first command. I don't know if you mark your
Bible. I encourage people to do that as a way
of kind of jotting things down and when you underline
it or you take a note of the margin, it helps
jog the memory. The first decisive command is
put to death the members of your earthly body.
The second one is put aside in verse 8. Put aside
the lifestyle that was out of your past. When
the apostle says we are to put to death the members
of our earthly body, he is not saying that we're
to put to death our hands and our feet and our
tongues. He is not saying that we're to put to
death the physical members of our body. This
is picture language. It's an analogy. For example,
When it says that you as a believer are a member
of Christ's body, it doesn't literally mean that
you are a toe or an index finger. What it means
is that like the members of your body express
your life, so you as a Christian express Jesus
in the world. You are an extension of His life
inside of you. You're a member. And so when he
says here that we're to put to death the members
of our bodies that are upon the earth, he is
saying that we are to put to death those expressions,
those impulses that come out of our bodies that
are related to sin. We're to put them to death.
That is, we are to deprive them of power. We're
not to allow them to be brought to life. We're
not to allow those sinful impulses that arise
out of our present state to be realized. We're
to kill them. We're to put them to death. In
Romans 8, I think it's verse 13, he says that
we are to, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds
of the body. It's the very same thought. It's
those actions, it's those words, those attitudes
that arise out of our current state in which
we still have sin working inside of us. Put to
death, he says, these expressions of evil desires
operating in your body. Not only that, he says,
put aside the lifestyle connected with your past.
That is, cast them off, just like you would take
off dirty clothing at the end of a day. You know,
when you've worked hard and you're gritty and
you're soiled and you're sweaty. And you can
hardly wait to get the clothes off and get into
the shower and get refreshed. He says, strip
off of you. Take off of you. Put off from you.
Those things connected with your former lifestyle.
Now why are we to do this? Well he explains in
verse 6 that it's on account of these things
that the wrath of God will come. Literally says
the wrath of God is coming. We don't hear much
about the wrath of God these days. God's wrath
is not God having a temper tantrum. God's wrath
is the natural expression of His holiness when
sin presents itself. God's wrath is just as natural
as lightning is when the charges are set up during
a storm and lightning flashes and then there's
thunder. That's the way God's wrath is. God is
holy and when sin comes into his presence, when
he's aware of sin, wrath goes forward because
of who he is. So it's not God's stamping and
having a tantrum of some sort. It's just the
expression of God's holiness against sin. Now
he says that you and I are to put to death. We're
to take off of ourselves like dirty clothes.
Those behaviors, those actions, those attitudes
that God's wrath is coming on. And notice he
says that God's wrath is coming. It's not that
it someday is going to come in the distant. We
don't know when. But he's saying God's wrath
comes on it. The idea in this verb is that God's
wrath is already approaching. God's wrath has
already been declared. God has given the sentence
upon this sin. Even though the sentence may not
yet be carried out. It's like a prisoner who
is declared guilty of murder. And the sentence
is given. You must pay by your life. You must
be executed. And years go by. The judgment is
already given. The sentence is there. But it's
not been carried out yet. And my friend, that's
the way it is with God's wrath. In John 3 and
verse 36 it says, the one who does not believe
on the Son, the wrath of God abides on him. It
means that God's wrath has already been declared.
The sentence has already been given against that
person even though it will not be carried out
until his death or Christ returns. As Jesus told
the story of the rich man in Lazarus, he told
about the rich man who lived sumptuously all
of his life with no thought of God. And during
that whole life, God's wrath was on him. He did
not know it even. But God's wrath was hanging
over him, around him. And then when he died,
he was immediately aware of being in flame and
in torment in hell. and the wrath was carried
out. If you're outside of Jesus Christ today,
I warn you that the wrath of God is coming. And
it's because of that terrifying fact that the
apostle says that we believers ought to put to
death those things of our lives that are of this
earth. The earthly things. connected with the
sinful impulses in our bodies. We're to take
them off like dirty clothes and pile them up
and be done with them. Because God's wrath is
coming. I think you can see from this that men
invite the wrath of God. God does not delight
in the death of the wicked. But when we sin,
We invite the wrath of God to come against us
and it is and it will be carried out unless we
find refuge in the cross where God's wrath has
already fallen and there alone there is safety
for the sinner who will come to that cross and
bow and repent and believe on the Savior. who
died and absorbed that wrath for him. But what
is it specifically that's to be removed from
the believer's lifestyle? By the way, let me
say something because there's confusion about
this in our culture today. There is the suggestion
in our culture that all lifestyles are equally
valid. It's just a matter of what option you
have or what choice you make as to what lifestyle
you want to follow. And whatever it is, have
a wonderful life. That is not biblical. That
is not biblical. He is going to tell us here
that there is a lifestyle that brings judgment
from God. And that's what we're to be done with.
We're to get rid of that lifestyle as Christians.
First of all, it involves immorality. Notice
verse 5. Consider the members of your earthly
body as dead to immorality. The word here is
pornea. And if you listen to that Greek word,
you will hear the beginning of our English word
pornography. The word pornea came from two verbs.
Both of them connected with prostitution. Male
and female prostitution. Those two verbs came
together and formed this noun. pornea. Pornea
refers in the New Testament to any kind of a
sexual relationship that is apart from God's
order of a husband and wife in marriage. He is
saying that the expression of sinful desire,
sinful sexual behavior rather outside of that
which is God's order, is pornea. It's immorality.
God condemns it. We are to put to death immorality
and impurity. The word impurity refers to any
lewdness or unnatural pollution, whether it's
acted out by oneself or with others. Bob Gromacki,
who is an acknowledged Greek scholar, says, Marked
by perverted fantasies, it is expressed today
through pornographic literature and movies. Impurity,
lewdness. It is a word that is used specifically
in Romans 1 -24 as descriptive of homosexual
behavior. But it's not just limited to that.
It's impurity of any form of immorality. We are
to be done with impurity and passion. This word
refers to erotic love, the drives or lusts that
dishonor those who indulge them. The word passion
is used in Romans 1 .26 of homosexual behavior.
It is used in 1st Thessalonians 4 .5 of heterosexual
behavior. It is erotic love that... sees the
only end in this as fulfilling one's own lusts,
and it brings dishonor to those involved. We
are to put to death passion as well as evil desires.
Here the word refers to those physical drives
and desires that come from the body. God gives
us some of these. And when God gives them, He
intends them to be good and for blessing. But
sin within us seeks to twist those drives for
evil, to pervert them for wickedness. And that's
what he's talking about here. It's when the drives
that we have that are good drives, the appetites
that we have that God gives us, are twisted by
sin. He says, put to death those things. And
not only that, but greed. The word greed comes
from a verb that means to have more. One does
not have to be poor to be greedy. It has nothing
to do with how much one has or how little one
has. It's that drive to say, I want more. It
is a craving for what one does not have as well
as a craving for more of what one does have.
It is an insatiable selfishness. And the Apostle
says here it is equivalent of idolatry. Idolatry
is the placing of something before God. An idol
is anything below from which we seek satisfaction.
It may be something that by itself is even allowable.
But we focus on it. We set our desire on it.
And therefore it becomes to us an idol. And we
seek satisfaction from it rather than from God.
And so he says, we are to put to death that lust
within us that says, I want more. Kill it. And
not only that, but anger as well. Anger is a
human emotion and can be expressed righteously.
But here he's talking about the wrong expression
of it. It is here that settled, abiding reaction
that seeks revenge. Anger here is that smoldering
hatred that can be fanned and brought to flame
in our lives. It seeks to punish others who hurt
us or who hurt someone we love. Anger is that
thing that wants to get even. Some people try
to divide it by saying, well I don't get angry,
I just get even. But you see that's what anger
is. It means I want mine in return. And not only
are we to put to death anger, but wrath as well.
Wrath is similar to anger, but it means the outburst.
of inward indignation. It's like hot lava that
is contained and held within and then suddenly
BAM! Like a volcano it explodes against others.
And once the explosion takes place, it's over.
That's the word here for wrath. It's a fit of
rage. Now God has a holy kind of wrath. But He's
talking here about unholy, sinful wrath. that
blazes quickly and then, after the violence,
subsides. We're to put it to death. That's a
part of something else. Another life, before
we knew Christ, He says kill it. Take it off
like dirty clothing. And with it, malice. Malice
is that vicious nature that's intent on doing
harm to others. kill it, he says, and with it
slander. The word is blasphemia, where we get
our English word blasphemy, which can be against
God or other people. To blaspheme or to slander
means to be little so as to cause another to
fall into disrepute. It means to gossip so as
to ruin another's reputation. He says that does
not belong in a Christian lifestyle. He says
that is what God's wrath is coming on. And not
only that, but abusive speech. The word literally
means shameful words. It is an uncontrolled tongue
that uses base language. It's crude language.
We live in a world that communicates with this
kind of language. You junior highers and high
schoolers hear it on your campus all the time,
just crude, base language. Not cursing. Not using
God's name in vain, but just crude words. That's
what he's talking about. And he says that's not
to be a part of our lives. Not filthy language.
Not dirty talk. Put it to death and also lying.
He says stop lying Whether by life or by lip
stop lying to others Wow The next paragraph is
going to be in more positive words But here he
goes down this list of 11 sins and he says these
things have to go so when you talk about What
a heavenly life in street clothes looks like.
Here you see what the clothes ought not to be
worn. These are the kind of clothes that need
to be taken off and piled up in the corner and
burned. Done with. By the way, this list is not
all inclusive. If you go to Ephesians 4 or Galatians
5, you will find similar words, but the words
kind of ebb and flow. There are other things
that Paul could list here. This is suggestive.
Now, why are these things to be removed from
a Christian's lifestyle? I want to suggest two
reasons. First, because of what you did. Secondly,
because of what Christ did. What did you do?
Well, he tells us in verse 9, Do not lie to one
another since you laid aside. the old self with
its evil practices, and have put on the new self.
The Apostle says that when you trusted Jesus
Christ as your Savior, whether it was as a little
child, in childlike innocence, or was an adult
who's been in the gutter, and all the rest. When
you trusted Jesus Christ, something happened,
whether you realized it or not. The old person
that you were up to that point, you stripped
off completely. Just like a dirty set of clothes.
Who you were. You just took off and you threw
them down. You stripped yourself completely.
And then you picked up this new garment, this
brand new set of wonderful clean clothing and
you put it on and that's the new you. Now this
isn't something that you did apart from God.
God in His grace led you to that point of recognizing
your need of trusting Christ. He's the one who
showed you what the clothing was like you had
on. He's the one who provided the new clothing,
but it was an act of your will. God's grace enabling
you, but it was an act of your will. He says,
you did this. Now he says, you have taken off
all of that that you were before. This is how
you once lived, but now it's different. You've
taken that off, so stop living that way. That
doesn't reflect who you are now. So put it to
death. Get it off of you. Throw it away. If any
man be in Christ, he is a what? A new creation.
Old things are passed away. All things are become
new. And so he says, if you continue to live
like this, it's a contradiction. to what you
did when you trusted Christ. But he says there's
a second reason why these things ought to be
removed from your lifestyle. There's a second
reason why you ought to put to death and put
aside these impulses and actions. It's because
of what Christ did. Notice verse 10. You put
on the new self who is being renewed to a true
knowledge according to the image of the one who
created him. In the first place, Christ created
you, the new self. That's what he did. Ephesians
2 10 says, we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works. Ephesians 4 24,
put on the new man, which in the likeness of
God has been created in righteousness and holiness
of the truth." He says, Jesus Christ created
you, the new you. And not only that, He's constantly
renewing you now in a deeper, more intimate knowledge
so that you're being changed into His image.
because of what He did put aside all of these
practices. But not only did He create you as
the new self, the second thing that Christ did
is that He indwells you as the new self. Notice
verse 11 says, this new thing involves no distinction.
between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian and Scythian. Do we have any Scythians
here this morning? No takers. You know what a
Scythian is? That is a word that was created
back in those days for wild people. Now barbarians
were simply those who had not been to school.
They had not had training. But Scythians were
wild people. Wild people. Some of you have been
to Betshan in Israel, which is one of the Decapolis
cities that's being dug out of the earth and
they're restoring it. It's a marvelous place
to visit. But Betshan is the Hebrew name for
that place. It was called in the Roman days,
by a Roman name, Sinthopolis. And that word,
Synthopolis, comes from this same word. What
it was called was the City of the Wild Things.
Synthopolis. It kind of reminded me of my neighborhood
last night, to tell you the truth. My mailbox
was on the ground this morning. We had a Synthian
in our neighborhood last night. You know what
he's telling us here? Even wild people can get
saved. There are some people in your life right
now you look at I mean they're out there and
their friends probably or maybe you're living
with them I don't know but Somewhere there may
be a synthion in your life, and you said boy
I tell you God could never do anything with that
person Don't you believe it for a minute put
that one on the top of your operation Andrew
list and pray for him pray for her And you probably
know some barbarians and maybe some Greeks and
Jews and so on But the point here is that in
Jesus Christ, all kinds of people can get saved.
It doesn't matter about their ethnicity. If you're
Irish, it really helps because God loves the
Irish a little more. At least on St. Patrick's
Day. It doesn't matter about ethnicity. It doesn't
matter about social standing. Your economic...
Capability, what you have or don't have, none
of that matters. There's no distinction. But
he goes on to say something that's very wonderful.
He says, but Christ is all and in all. Some of
you know Pastor Mark Jefferson, a dear black
brother who pastors a church in the north side
of Minneapolis. Challenging brother, wonderful
brother. Every summer, Mark goes with some of
the people in his church and some others to Sturgis,
South Dakota. Isn't that the right place? Where
the Scythians meet. Where hundreds of thousands
of bikers come together. And they set up a tent
and they offer coffee. And they have cots there.
And these Scythians stumble into the tent every
now and then. And they're able to sit them down,
to give them a cup of coffee, to try to sober
them up. They offer them a place to sleep. And
they witness to them. And some of them every
year come to faith in Christ. I wouldn't, I don't
think I could do that. I would be scared to death.
But Mark is part of what's called the Sons of
Thunder. You think about that in a moment a bikers
group from Minnesota Christians, and this is
their ministry one of them You know what when
those sithians out there those bikers get saved
Christ is in them He may be buried pretty deep,
but he's there Christ is in every one of the
new people he makes. And here's Paul's point.
I mean, it's just a little prepositional phrase
here, but here's his point. Why do I need to
put these kinds of behaviors away and put them
to death? Because those things describe how I
treat other people. When I treat another Christian
by lying to them, or committing immorality with
them, or I am slandering them, I am gossiping
about them. I am sinning against Christ. Because
Christ is in them. That's why he says, put to
death these things. Kill them. When those impulses
come and you want to do this or that, say no.
When you have a drive or desire within you or
you want to say something so bad or there is
this attitude that just rotten to the core He
says get that thing off of you Throw it in the
dirty clothes and burn them get rid of it Because
if you indulge it you're lying about who you
are When you trusted Christ You became a new
man. And Christ created you who you are. And
Christ lives in you, and He lives in that person.
So be done with those things. When we go home,
we often go up Lexington Avenue, and just as
you get to 694, there's a Perkins restaurant.
There's one of those beautiful flags out there
that fly at Perkins restaurants. Sometimes they're
coming down to church. The flag will be limp,
or it'll be kind of floating in the breeze. But
sometimes we're heading back home. It's just
the opposite. Something's happened in the meantime.
The two or three hours we're here, and that flag
will be straight out. And usually it's indicating
that the wind is blowing from the northwest.
And I suspect it'll be that way later today if
the weather report's right. You can tell which
way the wind is blowing by looking at the flag.
And my friend, you can tell whether your mind
is focused on things above or on things on the
earth by the way the wind is blowing in your
life. What's the flag in your life saying? If
your life attitudes, if the decisions that you're
making or your actions are not reflecting a heavenly
mindset, there's no better time than today and
right now to change course. You say, how do you
do that? Alistair Begg in his fine book entitled
Made for His Pleasure says, not by a slavish
observance of external rules. We don't do it
that way, he says. That's so because we need
an internal mechanism if we're to put off the
old and put on the new. And that will come about
only if we have been raised with Christ to newness
of life. It is our union with Christ that makes
the new life possible. The power we need is the
power that comes from the Lord who works in our
lives to enable us to do His good pleasure. Then
we are responsible to work out what God by His
Spirit is working in. He's saying God hasn't
left us alone to put to death these things. No,
He's given us the Holy Spirit. We've been united
with Jesus Christ. We have life from Christ.
Now He says, you're responsible to follow up.
You are responsible, He says, to carry through
and put to death and to put aside these things
for these reasons. I invite you to bow together
with me as we close the service. And I just ask
the question, which way does the Holy Spirit
say the wind is blowing today? What does the
flag in your life, your behavior, your attitudes
indicate? Is the wind blowing from self -centeredness?
selfish desire, lust? Are you treating others
in a way that is according to your past lifestyle?
Then today is the day to stop and see the wind
that change directions and by the Spirit to say
no to sin and yes to Christ's Lordship. Will
you do that? Father, I pray that by the Holy
Spirit you will enable us to do what we must
do today. And I pray that we will not only know
the truth, but show the truth in our lives. Before
I finish praying, I wonder if there's someone
here who would say, Pastor, the Holy Spirit has
touched my heart about this this morning and
I know the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.
Well, I see the flag is telling me that I'm not
living for what I ought to be living. But I need
to set my mind on things above and not on things
on the earth. Would you pray for me, Pastor?
If you just lift your hand and then put it down,
I'll be glad to do that. God bless you. I'm not
going to point you out or embarrass you. You
just want to know. And God knows. Yes, God bless
you. Thank you for being honest, transparent.
Anyone else? Oh Father, I thank you for these
who have lifted their hand and whom the Holy
Spirit is doing a very special work at this moment.
I pray that you will bring that to full consummation.
May they enter into the kinds of behavior, the
kind of a lifestyle that declares who they are
in Jesus Christ. That's consistent with what
they've professed. to believe. And would all
of you stand with me please and let's sing together.
Blessed Savior, I surrender.