Wednesday, September
26, 2012, 8:30 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song “Broken and Contrite” playing in my
mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Colossians 3:1-17 (NIV 1984):
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.
Since
you… Then…
Because of what Jesus Christ did for us, in
dying on the cross for our sins, and in being resurrected from the grave back
to life in conquering death, hell, Satan and sin, and because of what he did in
our lives in transforming us from death to life in Christ Jesus, our Lord,
through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we have an obligation and a
responsibility before God to live holy and godly lives, pleasing unto God.
We are to set our hearts and minds on
heavenly things, not on earthly things. To “set” something means: “to focus
your mind on a goal or task; to become permanent or fast; or to establish or
impose something,” such as a standard (Encarta Dictionary). It means we are
determined and steadfast in keeping our thoughts, will and emotions focused on
Jesus Christ, on what he has called us to do, on his word, on obeying his word,
on following him wherever he leads us, and on what is of eternal value. We are
not to be steadfast and determined in keeping our thoughts, will and emotions
on the things of this earth, which will pass away. So many believers in Christ
have this all backwards. They are very worldly focused and God/Jesus gets what
is leftover or at least second place.
Why is this so important? – Because we died
to our old way of living according to the flesh and the ways of this world, and
our lives are now hidden with Christ in God. I get this picture here of my life
in Christ as being wrapped up in Christ like a gift is wrapped in wrapping
paper, or like a person completely wrapped in a warm blanket. It is no longer
my life to live the way I want, but it is Christ’s life to be lived the way he
wants and desires.
Put
To Death
One day I was out witnessing for Jesus Christ
and I was telling people they needed to repent of (turn away from) their sins
and turn to faith in Jesus Christ. A man approached me and asked me to repeat
what I had just said, so I told him what I had said. He then responded, “I don’t
have to repent. I just have to believe!” Wow! We must know that many, many
people are getting this message, which is not Biblical. What it means when
someone truly thinks he can “believe” in Christ apart from repentance is that he
is still left in his sins, because to believe in Jesus Christ means to turn
from our lives of sin and to turn to walk humbly before God in faithful
obedience and surrender of our wills to his will for our lives (see Eph.
4:17-24). To think that we can just acknowledge who Jesus Christ is or what he
did for us in dying for our sins, and think we have no responsibility whatsoever,
makes a mockery of what Jesus Christ did in dying for our sins so we could be
free of slavery to sin. There is a good reason James told us that even the
demons believe, and they shudder.
Therefore, we are to put to death the things
that belong to our earthly nature. We don’t do this in our own strength, or
even according to our own timetable, nor is it impossible to do, as some have
come to believe. Jesus died so we could be free. He made the way possible for
us. All we have to do is to yield to his will for our lives, and allow the Holy
Spirit to do his work of transforming us in heart and mind, as we cooperate
with that work. There is not a question as to who is going to win. Jesus
already won! We just have to learn to appropriate to our lives what he already
did for us. So, when Satan tempts us to sin, we claim what is ours in Christ
Jesus, we resist Satan strongly, in the strength of the Lord within us, we put
on the armor of God, and we draw near to God in full assurance of faith. We don’t
have to sin any longer. This does not mean we will never sin, but what it does
mean is that the battle is already won, and we are free! We just have to live
like we are free.
Clothe
Yourselves
The Scriptures teach us in various verses,
primarily in Paul’s writings, that we are to take off the old man and put on
the new, like we would take off old or dirty clothes and, after taking a shower
(being cleansed), we would put on new or clean clothes. I love Ephesians 4-5,
because it gives us such practical help in doing this. If you are struggling
with a particular sinful habit in your life, please read and put into practice
what is written in these verses in Ephesians. We can’t put the new man (our
life in Christ) over top our old life. That would be like putting on new or clean
clothes over top our dirty bodies and our dirty clothes. What good would that
be? We might appear clean on the outside, but we wouldn’t be clean. And, we’d
probably start smelling pretty quickly, and it would be obvious we were just
trying to appear clean when we are not. Becoming a Christian does not mean
cleaning up your old life. It means eradicating your old nature from your life.
And, this can only be done in the power and the working of the Holy Spirit
within you, as you cooperate with that work.
So, coming to faith in Christ Jesus, as well
as growing in Christ on a daily basis, means putting to death our old sinful
practices and being clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, love,
forgiveness, etc. Where a lot of people get tripped up is that they put off the
old life of sin but they don’t put on (clothe themselves) with heavenly things
or with Holy Spirit spiritual things, and eventually they end up going right
back to where they were before. That is why Ephesians 4-5 is so great, because
it teaches us that we need to not only put off our old way of living in sin,
but we need to walk in the Spirit and put on the deeds of the Spirit. In other
words, we have to become someone else, which is what it means to be born again.
Word
of Christ
If we want to be successful in putting off
daily the sinful practices we indulged in before coming to faith in Christ, it
is essential that we let the word of Christ dwell in us. The way we do this is
not just by going to church and listening to sermons, attending Bible studies
or small groups or reading daily devotionals. We must be daily feeding on God’s
word in our personal times of prayer, fellowship and study of God’s word, letting
Jesus speak his words to our hearts, and then obeying what he teaches us. The
more we study, and the more we listen, and the more we obey what we hear, the
more the word of God begins to live in us and to become part of our lives, i.e.
to be what we eat and drink and breathe in and breathe out to others.
When we are doing that, out of the overflow
of our hearts of love for God will come the things of the Spirit of God, and
our hearts’ desires will be to do what is pleasing to God and to serve him and
to share his gifts with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Then we will want
to teach and encourage others to know Christ, too, in all his fullness and
glory, and we will share whatever gifts God has given to us to share for the
building up of the body of Christ, his church. Our gifts may or may not be in
sharing songs, yet we should all sing for the glory of God with whatever voices
God has given us, and we should receive from one another songs given in love
and obedience to God, even if they are not sung with the best voice ever,
because truly music comes from our hearts, and the voice does not matter if the
singing is heart-felt and Spirit led.
And, whatever we do, we should do it all for
the glory of God, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen!
Broken
and Contrite / An Original Work / May 13, 2012
I
come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With
humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I
bow before You, I implore You,
Heal
my broken heart, I pray.
Love
You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You
are the King of my heart.
Lord,
purify my heart within me;
Sanctify
me, whole within.
I
come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With
humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I
bow before You, I implore You,
Heal
my broken heart, I pray.
Oh,
Lord, I long to obey fully
The
words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I
pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength
and wisdom to obey.
Father
God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t
You set my heart on fire?
Lord,
cleanse my heart of all that hinders
My
walk with You, now I pray.
Oh,
Lord, I long to obey fully
The
words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I
pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength
and wisdom to obey.
Oh,
Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My
heart cries out for understanding.
I
want to follow You in all ways,
Never
straying from Your truth.
Holy
Spirit, come in power,
Fill
me with Your love today.
Lord,
mold and make me;
Your
hands formed me;
Live
Your life through me, I pray.
Oh,
Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My
heart cries out for understanding.
I
want to follow You in all ways,
Never
straying from Your truth.
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