Change your clothes to Christ

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Reading      Colossians 3:10–21

Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

     12–14     So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

     15–17     Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. (The Message)

Sermon

Two weeks ago we spoke a little about Baptism and Communion.

I’d like to carry on with that this morning.

A friend of mine moved to Sudan when he was about 11. His father was a civil engineer who built for the government in Sudan. The biggest contract he was awarded was to build an entire airfield with runways and hangars and everything. The project was so big the government deposited a few million dollars in his account as working capital.

The problem came when my friend’s dad’s partner took the money and disappeared.

My friend was woken by his parents in the middle of the night and told he had five minutes; they had to flee for their lives. They had no space to pack anything except a change of clothes. He left all his toys and photos, everything behind.

When they arrived back in South Africa they had to start over. Everything they needed they had to buy from very limited resources. As they made every decision, they strategically rebuilt their lives. Some things they never replaced, because they felt they were unnecessary. Often they waited before buying something so they could buy excellent quality.

There new lives were not driven by emotion, but by choice.

What my friend went through was drastic, but when we understand coming to Christ as our Lord and Saviour and baptism, in reality it is no less drastic.

So often we say we surrender our lives to Jesus, but we want to live as we did before.

To be saved, we have to die to our old lives. We are buried in baptism, and we are raised in Christ.

In the early Church, those who were about to be baptized spent an entire year being taught what it means to be a Christian. They spent a year of their life peeling off their old attitudes, stripping away their previous life.

Early Church historians tell us that in preparation for baptism, people would even change their careers.

Teachers who were compelled by law to teach emperor worship resigned their jobs.

Soldiers, who would be required to declare Caesar as lord in public gatherings, resigned their jobs.

Magistrates who would be expected to sentence people to death, resigned too.

The night before a baptism Christians held old night prayer vigils, and then before sunrise would go down to a stream. Those being baptised would take off their clothes, and dress in a plain white robe, and then enter the water. When they came out the other side they dressed in fresh clothes.

They left who they were on the other side of the river, and came out someone brand new.

If you have asked Jesus to be your Lord, have you died?

After baptism, we are in Christ. Paul says, “It is no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me.”

Today’s reading from Colossians tells us a little about how to live as those who have died and been resurrected. Paul speaks of attitudes as clothes that we wear. Maybe they are like the clothes the catechumens put on when we come up from the river.

 

Paul says all the old divisions are out of fashion.

Our race, our class, our ethnicity, our culture are all things we leave on the other side of the river. When we emerge this side, the only distinctive about us is that we are Christian.

 

The old me used to dress in pride. Pride because of my career, pride because of where I lived, the car I drove, the people who were my friends.

Some of us dressed in shame. Shame because of things we had done, things we couldn’t afford. Shame because of our parents or our children.

But those things are left behind with our old pile of clothes.

As the catechumens came up from the river on the other side they would put on new, plain clothes.

 

Having left behind the old out of fashion attitudes, Paul encourages us to be dressed in the attitudes God has chosen for us.

Today’s world is very competitive and individualistic. Most people are trying to make a name for themselves.

But maybe our goal should be that of John the Baptist, who said, “I must decrease, so that Jesus can increase.”

What if the goal of life is not to become rich and famous, but that your life points to someone else, your actions glorify God?

Paul says all the old distinctions are washed away, rich or poor, insider – outsider, management or labour because those are worldly labels. All that matters eternally is, “Are you in Christ?”

You are now dressed by God Himself in clothes He has tailored for you.

Whatever clothing label defined you before is no more, you are defined by Jesus.

We have no room to boast, except in the charity of our God.

Something fascinating happens when we tell people we are Christians.

Often I have conversations with people and they go something like this:

Where do you live?

Always PE?

Married?

Children?

What do you drive?

What do you do for a living?

At that moment I become invisible. Usually the focus of the conversation turns to belief, either sharing the joys of faith, or justifying why not.

Paul says, “So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offence.”

Imagine dressing tomorrow morning and saying, today I am going to wear compassion. When my neighbour comes to share his woes, I will listen and be compassionate.

Today I will wear kindness. I will be like a hunter on the lookout for opportunities to be kind. If I see someone overloaded with work, I will take them a cup of tea. I’ll carry two pens, so if someone’s pen isn’t working I can give them one.

Today I will be content with second place. Imagine counting how many times you say, “After you” in one day.

Before I even leave my bedroom tomorrow, I will dress myself with an attitude which is quick to forgive an offence.

Paul says, “regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”

To understand what Paul is saying, we need to understand love. Love is not the feeling that you want to hug everyone.

Love is the decision that I will sacrifice having my needs and my wants satisfied, so you can have what you need and want.

God so loved the world that he gave His Son.

Jesus loves the church so much that He died for His bride.

The focus of your love can never be that you feel good. The focus of your love is that the other person feels loved. It’s not “Have you given love” but the question is, “Has the other person received it?”

Paul says always wear love as your basic clothing. The world will know you are a Christian by your love.

As a resurrected person, Paul says, “Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other”.

Have you ever watched someone tuning an instrument to another instrument?

The piano goes “plonk” and the guitar goes “twang”. The guitarist tightens the thumb screw a little. “Plonk” “Twang” a little tighter. “Plonk” Twang” Oops too tight. Loosen a little. “Plonk” “Twang”

Finally the two sound the same.

Isn’t that a beautiful analogy of conflict resolution?

One speaks while the other listens. Then we adjust our opinion a little and share what we think. Then we listen again. Again we adjust our opinion.

The peace of God becomes the middle “C”. We tune ourselves to God. He is the standard.

Then Paul says, “Cultivate Thankfulness”. If I understand Paul here, Thankfulness is not like the other things which we just put on, it is cultivated and grown.

Thankfulness is the attitude of looking at ever situation and finding something to be grateful for.

The world trains us to identify problems and threats, but God calls us to look beyond the flaws and see the good.

Whining comes naturally like weeds in a garden, but thankfulness needs to be cultivated.

The last point I want to make is that Paul says, “Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way

Friends, don’t go through life feeling like a victim. Live with purpose, live deliberately, live strategically. Shape your life around Jesus.

Meal of suffering

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