GROWING UP IN CHRIST
Colossians 3:9-17
Introduction: Eugene Peterson
the author of the Message (the Bible in contemporary language) explains why we
need the Church. “The church is the primary arena in which we learn that glory
does not consist in what we do for God but in what God does for us.” “Church is
the textured context in which we grow up in Christ to maturity. But church is
difficult. Sooner or later, though, if we are serious about growing up in
Christ, we have to deal with church. I say sooner.”[1] We come to church, not to do something for God, but to let God clean
us up inside out. Church is like a spiritual laundromat where God through the
blood of his son, washes our sin stained lives and turns them into Christ
reflecting lives. Last, week we looked at
what church is and what it means to be the Church. In our study, we looked at how
we all are interconnected with one another and connected to the head of the
Church, our Lord Jesus Christ. We also learned that God gave each of us a gift,
and those gifts are meant to be used not to please ourselves but to serve
others in the Church and in the community.
In
this postmodern, and highly liberal town of Sharon how can we survive and
thrive as a bible believing Christian community? How can we remain viable,
relevant and impactful as a Church? The answers to these questions lie in
understanding our primary purpose, why God wants us to be part of the Church,
which is that we may Grow Up in Christ. We will also look at how our Growing Up
in Christ impacts the way we see ourselves, one another, the way we conduct our
Sunday worship service, and the way we serve in the Church and the larger
community where we work and live. We will leave with principles from the
Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in a local church in the City of
Colossae. Colossians 3:9-17
Background:
Colossae
was a city in Phrygia, in the Roman province of Asia (part of Modern Tukey).
Colossae was a thriving city in the fifth century B.C. Although Colossae’s
population was mainly Gentile, there was a large Jewish settlement. Colossae’s
mixed population of Jews and Gentiles manifested itself both in the composition
of the church and in the heresy, that plagued it, which contained elements of
both Jewish legalism and pagan mysticism.
Paul
wrote to the Colossians to oppose the false teachers. He reminded them that
Jesus is supreme over everything. While explaining the nature and the function
of the church Paul identifies one overarching principle which is, “Growing up
in Christ” and its implications. What does Growing up in Christ look like in a
believer?
I. BECOMING MORE CHRIST LIKE (Vs 9-10)
Vs 9-10, “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.” Paul was reminding the believers that they have taken
off their old self with its practices and now they have put on the new self. In
this “take off & put on” analogy a Greek word used for taking off clothes.
Like one who removes his dirty clothes at the end of the day, believers must
discard or put away the filthy garments of their old sinful lives.
How can believers
put away the old habit patterns of sin, such as anger, malice, slander and
lying? By continually renewing their minds in the knowledge of Christ. In other
words, “Imitating Christ in all manners of life.” Salvation is a gift from God
and it is a once and forever act of God. When we have accepted Christ as our
savior, we are born again. The old has gone and everything has become new. Just
like a baby is born complete but immature, the new nature is complete, but has
the need and capacity to grow in the knowledge of Christ.
Paul was
encouraging the believers to embark on a journey where they become
progressively more like Jesus Christ. It is a life long journey of the
awareness and the application of the gospel truth.
II. SEEING CHRIST IN ALL
(Vs 11)
Vs
11, “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” Growing up in
Christ means to grow into the likeness of Christ as individual believers. But
that is not enough, collectively the body of Christ must realize its unity and
destroy the age-old barriers that separated people. Christ came into the world
precisely to break down those barriers and to offer salvation everyone.
Romans
10:12-13, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is
Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved.” During Paul’s time and even now people are
widely divided and segregated around religion, class, culture, gender and
socio-economic barriers.
The
Colossian Church was comprised of a wide variety of people. There were the
Jews, the Greeks, the circumcised and the uncircumcised, barbarians (all those
who had not been trained in Greek language and culture, the uneducated masses),
Scythians (An ancient nomadic and war like people, noted for their savagery).
Slaves & Free, a social barrier had always existed between slaves and
freemen. Though they were all different, one thing they had in common, they
were all sinners, and in need of a savior. Without exception Christ had saved
all of them.
Therefore,
Paul was encouraging the believers to see the work of Christ in themselves, and
see Christ in all their fellow believers in faith. Let me illustrate, in the recent
devastation in Houston Texas where flood waters displaced thousands of people.
The rescuers went in boats and picked up everyone who were stranded and brought
them to safety.
Whether
they were democrats, or republicans, gay or straight, citizens or illegal
immigrants, rich or poor, they all were in the same boat. Likewise, we were all
once caught up in the flood waters of Sin. God had mercy on us and sent his son
Jesus Christ to save all of us.
After
explaining the need for the Colossian believers to grow up and become more like
Christ, and see Christ in themselves and in all the other believers, Paul makes
three bold assertions. Vs 12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and
dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility and
gentleness and patience.” Let these bold truths sink into our spirit this
morning. Firstly, we are chosen by God. It is God who chose us not we chose
him. Can you imagine what that really means? Among all the people you made the
team! You were hand-picked by God to play in his team. If that doesn’t excite
you, I don’t know what will?
Secondly,
we are already made holy because of what Christ has done, so let’s behave like
we are holy. Thirdly, we do not have to perform inorder to be loved and
accepted by Christ, because we are dearly loved. Here comes our response to God
who has done so much for us already. In
view of what God has done through Jesus Christ for the believer, Paul described
the kind of behavior and attitude God expects in response.
III.
CHRISTIAN CONDUCT:
(12-17)
Paul
describes in these verses how a growing up believer in Christ should conduct
himself or herself in the community of believers where they were graciously
placed by God. For lack of a better word, these instructions of Paul are like
the “By-laws of all Christians. When we try our best to live by them, they
serve us to live in peace and harmony with one another. Let’s un pack them:
Christians are called to put on a heart
of compassion.
In
Greek it literally means, “bowels of compassion,” Implying the internal organs
of the human body as used figuratively to describe the seat of the emotions. These
days we see a lot of people who are passionate about social justice, climate
change, racial, and gender equality and so on. Passionate people are the ones
who will get things done, but in the process, they don’t realize they might be
hurting others in order to achieve their cause.
Christ on the other hand was not only
passionate but compassionate. To be compassionate means, “To have a sympathetic
consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” Consider
these passages where Christ moved in compassion. Matthew 9:36, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on
them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd.” Out of compassion:
He raised the only son of a widow
from the dead (Lk 7:10-16). He healed the sick (Matthew 14:14). Gave the blind
men their sight (Matthew 20:34). The world needs more compassionate people, and
you can be one of them.
There are whole range of things Christians must put on, such as kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience. There is much we can talk about these
virtues, but for now Paul was urging us that we must put on these virtues?
Because, naturally we do not exhibit these qualities because they are not with
in us. These all are part of the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians
5:22-25. We are to ask the Holy Spirit to give us this fruit, and by his help
can we live out these beautiful virtues.
Vs
13-14, talks about the importance of forgiveness and what binds all these
virtues in perfect unity. “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any
of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And
over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect
unity.” If we want to move forward as a church, and live in peace with one
another we must pay close attention to these two verses of scripture. Where two
or three gathered together, problems develop. Egos are bruised, plans get
disrupted, angers flare up, temperaments clash and so on. What is the remedy for
these and many other problems?
It
is to be patient and be forgiving of one another. We are admonished here, if we
have any grievance against someone, we must be patient with them and forgive
them as the Lord forgave us. When we recognize, how wicked and un loving we
were, and how gracious and forgiving Christ was towards us, do we have any
reason not to forgive those who might hurt us either intentionally or
unemotionally? Let’s not hold back in extending grace and mercy to one another.
Above all let’s put on love, for love covers multitude of sins.
We
are exhorted how to conduct our worship service in vs15-17. We are to be the
students of God’s word as we teach and correct one another. We are to use
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in our worship to God. Whatever we do either
in word or deed we are to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus with
gratitude.
I
envision, at Hope Church we embrace these virtues and endeavor to put them into
practice. We also provoke each other to live out these live giving virtues. On
this communion Sunday, may we take a moment and check our hearts. Let the Holy
Spirit convict us, if there is any bitter root growing, or resentment, or
unforgiveness towards a brother or a sister. Let’s repent and ask Jesus to
forgive and cleanse our hearts. When we leave this place let’s take proactive
steps to forgive and to be reconciled with others where needed. Amen
