Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Three years ago, we welcomed a German, short-hair pointer named CeeCee into our family.
And, like any dog breed snob, I’ve already given you more information than you asked for.
But, she’s really an incredible specimen.
I’ve honestly never seen any creature that can run like she can.
Before we moved, I used to take her out with the golf cart sometimes to let her run her energy out.
I’d hold her on the leash beside the golf cart, and she’d run while I drove.
And, for the entire time we rode, and we’re talking about a couple of miles, she was the one having to bridle back, even though I’d be driving the golf cart as fast as it would go.
But, my favorite thing to do is to look out the window and catch her stalking after a bird.
She can see a bird on the other side of the yard, and she will slow-walk and creep up to it.
Every muscle in her body will be tense, and her head and tail will be flattened so that they are perfect alignment so that she looks like a walking arrow.
And, it’s amazing to me because she’s never been trained to do it, and she’s never been asked to do it.
She just does it.
We got her when she was 8 weeks old, and she would stalk her stuffed bird toys the day we brought her home.
The truth is that she doesn’t even really know why she does it herself; it’s just instinctive.
It’s been bred into her so that it’s her natural reaction whenever she sees a bird.
She doesn’t point so that she’ll become a pointer.
She points because she is a pointer.
She is, and so she does.
And, this is the point that Paul is making with the Colossian Christians in chapter three.
There’s a particular shape that the Christian life is to take.
We are to obey Christ and deny ourselves and live generously and serve sacrificially.
But, we don’t do any of those things that we might be Christians; rather, we do those things because we are Christians.
We are, and so we do.
The gospel is the cause, and the works are the effects.
God’s Word
Read
Being and Doing
In Paul’s mind there is no concept more critical to living out the gospel than the relationship between being and doing.
And, it’s because is the relationship of being and doing is the difference between the truth and a lie, life and death, the true gospel and false gospels.
False gospels practically all relate to the Christian’s relationship with works and maturity.
Some false gospels say that you must have grace plus works to be saved.
That is, God must be good and you must be good.
Other false gospels say that it doesn’t matter what you do because grace makes your works irrelevant.
And, it’s the first of these that Paul is really trying to correct in his letter to the Colossians.
And, that’s what we see in our text.
How both being and doing matter in the gospel, but how it’s being that leads to doing.
I want us to see this morning how being leads to doing.
Our “identity” influences our “direction.”
v. 1 “If then you have been raised with Christ” v. 3 “For you have died...” The first observation I want you to make about the relationship of being and doing is that our “identity” influences our “direction.”
Twice in our passage, Paul tells us what we’re supposed to do, but in both cases he anchors what we’re supposed to do in who it is that we are, in our identity.
He says that we’re to ‘seek the things that are above’ (what we’re supposed to do) because we ‘have been raised with Christ’ (who we are).
We’re to ‘set (our) minds on the things that are above’ (what to do) because we ‘have died’ and our ‘lives are hidden with Christ in God’ (who we are).
So, the goal of this passage is not to become something different; rather, the goal in this passage is that you would become most fully, most truly who Christ has already made you to be.
It’s to live out your identity more fully in every aspect of your life.
And, what’s amazing is how Paul addresses every part of our identity — who we were (past), who we are (present), and who we will be (future).
And, each aspect of your identity helps to clarify the direction and shape your life should take.
You’re somebody new.
v. 1,3 “you have been raised…you have died” Notice what he says about who you were in the past — before Christ.
He says that you have died.
That means, that the old person that you used to be has been put to death.
That person had some dreams and some ambitions and impulses that were aimed at living for themselves and making the most this earth, and that person was nailed to Jesus’ cross.
That person was buried in Jesus’ tomb.
But, that person wasn’t just put to death, that person didn’t just identify with Jesus’ cross.
That person was raised to life!
When Jesus was raised, you were raised with him!
You’re somebody new! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come!”
You were an orphan, and now you’re a son, a daughter!
You were a slave, and now you’re set free.
You were a peasant, and now you’re a prince.
You were diseased, and now you’ve been delivered!
You were dead, but now, you’re alive!
So, live like it!
What son would choose to be an orphan?
What prince would choose to be a peasant?
What free person would choose to be a slave?
Who would be raised from the dead to live as though they were still in the grave?
Who you are determines what you do! Being leads to doing!
When you were dead, you acted dead.
But now, you’re alive!
And so, you don’t act like a child of God so that you might become a child of God.
You act like a child of God because you are a child of God! You’ve been made new!
You’re identity influences your direction.
You’re somebody safe.
v. 3 “you life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Now, see who you are now that you’ve been made new.
“Your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Now, what does that mean — to be ‘hidden with Christ’?
It means that you’re living for a King that others don’t know and a Kingdom that others can’t see.
It means that you are living by faith and not by sight and that you’re faith is well-founded.
You’re ‘with Christ’ because Christ has come to you and you’ve trusted his promise that He will never leave you or forsake you.
The world can’t see it, but you know it!
You are ‘in God’.
You’re friends are scared and anxious and constantly trying to catch everyone’s eye, but you’re firmly in the hand of God where no one or no thing can pluck you out.
The world can’t see it, but you know it!
You’re hidden away, and so you live a life and lifestyle that doesn’t make sense to anyone around you because the Kingdom you’re living for is on a higher plane that a person can see with natural eyes.
Why? You’re not just somebody new; You’re somebody safe!
You’re secure in Christ and in who He has made you to be.
You’re secure in the grip of the Father so you don’t have to fit in.
It doesn’t matter if you’re parents don’t accept you or if nobody wants to date you or if your classmates would assume bully you as be your friend.
You’re safe with Christ!
You’re safe in God! Do you remember the story of the Ugly Duckling?
This little bird is hanging out with all the little ducklings, but he’s big and awkward and a different color and couldn’t quack right.
And, all of the other ducklings make fun of him and beat him down.
And, it’s like the more he tries to fit in with the other ducklings the sadder and more miserable he is.
Until one day, he’s grown up a bit, and he notices some swans.
They immediately begin to talk about what a wonderful and beautiful swan he is so that now he swims with greater beauty and dignity than the most impressive duck.
Man, that’s the picture!
We’re here living in a land of ducklings and the harder we try to fit in the more miserable we’ll be, the more our souls will be disrupted.
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