Rules for Holy Living
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
My Understanding: Paul began this section of his letter to the Colossian church by stating that, as a result of the fact that they had been raised with Christ, they were to set their hearts and minds on things above (where Christ is seated), not on earthly things. Basically what Paul was doing here was presenting them with an argument for why they should now have a change of heart, mind, attitude, behavior, and priorities, etc. Jesus Christ had died for their sins. With his blood he purchased their salvation. He died so that we could go free from the penalty of sin (eternity without God in hell; spiritual death), so we could go free from the control of sin over our daily lives, and so we would be free to love the Lord, to worship him, to obey and to serve him as our only God. Christ did this for us in taking upon himself our sins on the cross, crucifying and burying them with him, and then in triumphing over them in victory over hell, Satan, death and sin, via his resurrection from the dead.
So, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ via his grace, his Holy Spirit does the work of transformation in our hearts in cutting away our old sin natures, in changing our way of thinking, and in giving us new hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This faith involves repentance (turning from sin) and it involves a decision of our wills to turn toward Jesus Christ in obedience, and to now follow him with our lives, instead of following our sin natures. That is why we were crucified with Christ so that we no longer live, but Christ lives within us, i.e. it is now his life on the throne of our lives, and he is our Lord and master, instead of sin and our selfish wills being in control our lives. This is what it means to be raised with Christ. We are dead! Christ is alive within us, and he is living out through us.
So, on the basis of that knowledge and understanding of what it means to be truly raised with Christ, our hearts and minds should not be centered upon or focused on the things of this world, but we should have our hearts and minds set toward pleasing God and doing his will, and in bringing other lives into his eternal kingdom. Obviously we must eat and have a place to live, and we must work to pay for our food, housing, and clothing – basic essentials. Yet the things of this world are not to be what we live for and die for. The things of this world are not to consume us and to make us their slaves. We are not to get caught up in worldly matters but should be concerned about pleasing our Lord Jesus. We must live in the world, but we must not be of the world, i.e. we must not be partakers with the world in sinful things or in matters involving the things of this world. This world is not our home.
Your Life
The reason for this, Paul stated, was that we died to ourselves, and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God. And, then he said, “When Christ, who is your life…” And, I had to stop there and think about that phrase, “Christ, who is your life.” This is not merely stating that Christ Jesus is in our lives, is a part of our lives, or even that he is on the throne of our lives. What this is saying is that HE IS YOUR LIFE… or he should be. If something is my life, it is what gets me up early in the morning. It is what keeps me up late at night or gets me up even in the middle of the night when I truly want to just keep sleeping. It is what I talk most about all day long. It is what is uppermost in my thinking and in my emotions. It is what I want to do above all else. It is what consumes my conversations with my closest companions, if they are willing to listen. It is what I give the most time to; spend the most money on; give my heart to; give my energies to; etc. Can we truly say that Christ is our life if he takes a back seat to everything else going on in our lives, and/or if we don’t inquire of him to find out what pleases him, and/or if we don’t do what he requires of us to do?
Put To Death
So, for Christ to be my life, I must first of all put to death the things in my life that belong to my earthly nature. If I am in Christ, and I am reading this list of sins, for instance, I pray for God’s convicting power in my life if there is even a hint of any of these in my life. This calls for a prayerful heart examination and truth in our innermost being to hear what the Spirit says to our hearts, so we can not only acknowledge our sins before God, and perhaps before man, too, but so we can turn from them, and we can do an about face in turning toward following the Lord Jesus, in honestly making him Lord and master of our lives. We used to walk in these ways of sin, in the life we once lived before we came to faith in Jesus Christ, but now we must rid ourselves of such things. We do this through repentance and through obedience to our Lord’s commands. We make a conscious choice of our wills each and every day to say “No!” to sin and to say “Yes!” to Jesus Christ. And, if we said “Yes!” to sin, to immediately confess and repent of our sins and to begin following the Lord again.
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, this is about our death as much as it is about our new life in Christ. If we have not died first, how can we live? When we come to Christ, it means that we have taken off our old self with its sinful practices and “we have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” So many people today are teaching salvation absent of this understanding of what it truly means to be in Christ. I had a man tell me one day, “I don’t have to repent. I just have to believe.” Well, that says it right there! His idea of believing in Jesus Christ had nothing to do with dying to his sin and to taking off his old sin nature with its practices. His idea was just that you put on the new self without first eradicating the old self. Jesus Christ had to die first so that our sins could die and so he could be resurrected in conquering our sins. And, when we come to faith in Christ, we are crucified with Christ so we (“I”) no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Put on Love
One of my most favorite chapters in the Bible is found in the book of Ephesians, chapter four, but some of it overlaps into chapter five, too. The same theme that Paul discussed here in Colossians 3 he also discussed in Ephesians 4, only in Ephesians 4 he made it more practical, I think. He explained more thoroughly what it means to put off our old sin nature and to put on Christ and how that is lived out in all practicality. Then, in Ephesians 4, Paul proceeded to give us a list of the kinds of things we should put off and what kinds of things we should put on in place of them. Many Christians fail over and over again in the same sin areas because they try, oftentimes in their own flesh, to put off sins, but they are not transformed in their thinking about the sin, and they don’t put on something else in place of the sin, and eventually they fall right back into the same sin pattern as before. If we want to stop telling lies then we need to get into the habit of telling the truth. If we want to stop saying mean or nasty things to people, then we need to get into the habit of saying kind and thoughtful things to them (in truth). We cannot stop sinning if we don’t change how we think about the sin, and we don’t replace the sin with godly habits and practices.
So, in place of the list of sins here in this chapter and in other chapters in the Bible, we need to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and most of all the kind of love with which God truly loves us and gave himself up for us. Previously I have made two columns on a piece of paper. I asked the Lord to show me the things in my life I must put off and any scripture passages having to do with those sins. I listed those in the first column. Then, I asked the Lord to show me what godly qualities and practices to put on in place of my sin habits and verses to go with those, too, and I listed those godly qualities in the second column opposite the respective sin problems. And, I referred to it frequently to help me to remember whenever I was tempted to sin that I needed to reject the sin and I needed to put on the godly quality or actions that stood opposed to the sin. And, I testify that it worked! Understanding Ephesians 4 revolutionized my Christian walk.
Peace of Christ
Lastly, in this section of his letter, Paul said that we should let the peace of Christ rule our hearts. That means we should not be anxious about anything (no worrying and fretting), but in all things, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make our requests known to God and his peace, which passes all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (see Phil. 4:5-7). The Lord is still working on me in this area, as he sometimes needs to remind me that I am being anxious and that I need to give my circumstances over to him, and then his peace truly does rule my heart when I give over the driving wheel to him. As well, we are to be thankful in all things, no matter what we are going through.
We are to let the word of Christ dwell in us. To dwell means to live; abide; make as its home; is comfortable there; etc. And, the way the word of Christ dwells in our hearts is not just through studying it or memorizing it, as good as those things are, but we must hear the word (daily), we must heed what it says, and we must do what it says, i.e. we must live it. Then, it is really home in our hearts. We need to do this, not only for our own relationships with Jesus Christ and our Christian experiences, but we need it as we teach and admonish (warn; caution; advise; alert) one another with all wisdom (that comes from Christ and his word), and as we sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God so that we know experientially what God’s word says.
And, then, whatever we do, whether in word or deed, we are to do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Christ for all that God has done for us.
Your Love Offering / An Original Work / September 13, 2011
Thank You, Lord, for Your love,
Dying on a tree,
So we’d be forgiven,
Live eternally.
Thank You for Your kindness,
Your love offering,
When You shed Your blood,
So we could be set free.
Thank You, Lord, for Your cross,
Dying for our sins,
So we’d live in vict’ry,
Purified within.
Thank You, Lord, for Your life
You gave for our sin,
Giving us a new life,
We’re made whole within.
Thank You for Your mercy.
You paid what we owe.
When we turn from our sin,
Your grace freely flows.
Thank You, Lord, for conq’ring
Death and sin and hell,
So we’d walk in freedom,
With You now to dwell.
Thank You, Lord, that You will
Soon come for Your bride.
Perfectly You made her
To with You abide.
Thank You for Your Spirit;
Our God, three in One,
Giveth us salvation,
Through God’s only Son.
Thank You, Lord, for Jesus!
He’s our King of kings!
He will reign forever!
Our praise to Him bring!!
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Audio, song lyrics and sheet music:
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs2/home/songs/your-love-offering
Song on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoAahWniTgE
No comments:
Post a Comment