Suitable Attire
Notes
Transcript
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is 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 what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Scripture: Colossians 3:1-17
Sermon Title: Suitable Attire
It has been a little while since we have entered Colossians together, but I am guessing that most of us probably can remember that what we had been covering was some pretty heavy doctrinal. Paul has been teaching them the implications of the resurrection of Christ, the supremacy that he has over all things, and how redemption give us freedom in our faith from human-instituted practices. This morning, we keep that foundation, but we shift gears now to more practical, everyday things. The life believers live in Christ is free, but that freedom does not mean all things are right or appropriate for us. Our three guideposts this morning are the situation of believers, the old outfit, and the new outfit.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I was reminded last week of the difference that one’s clothing makes in a particular setting. The President and First Lady traveled to Saudi Arabia to give their condolences in the passing of the late King Abdullah. Several news networks pounced on the First Lady for not wearing a head covering; they made it out to be that she had broken etiquette, and was being extremely disrespectful to the Saudis. A couple days later pictures came out documenting when other foreign women have gone there, including former First Lady, Laura Bush, and they also had not changed their clothes to fit the local standard. The way women from Saudi Arabia are expected to dress is not required or expected of foreign visitors.
In some ways, changing one’s clothes to fit the setting, the context of someone else’s home is a way to honor that place and its people. Putting on the local dress when visiting can be a way to respect the customs; but you only do that for the time while you are there. There are other times obviously when we put on different outfits though. An athlete might put on a jersey, shorts, and sneakers rather than dress clothes to play their sport. A swimmer typically puts on a bathing suit to be able to swim easier. A farmer who goes to feed his animals or to milk her cow likely does not go out to the barn in their best Sunday suit or dress. The game uniform, the swimsuit, the dress clothes are not what those people wear all of the time. Those different outfits that get put on are attire suitable for the situations we are entering.
In considering the situation of the Colossian church, Paul sums up in the opening four verses what he has been hammering on for the first 2 chapters. We have been raised with Christ, so we are to seek what is above. We can only be raised, if we have also died with him, and with that being true, then we are hidden in Christ, waiting to fully appear with him in glory when he comes again. Simply put, the current situation of the Colossian church and of all believers is that even though we are living here on earth, we are with Christ and our focus is to be on his leading.
Notice the cause and effect again and again in this passage. As believers, we are called to see that Christ’s coming into this world, his dying, and his resurrection have an effect on the way we are to live and see the world. This town of Colosse, remember, was a small town in the interior. Its residents could easily go through life just doing what they needed to survive, to prosper even, and be little affected by what took place out there in the more populated world. They could live in a way that they had always lived. But Paul’s wrote to let them know that this should not be the case. Because they have heard and received the gospel, their situation was now different. Having died and been raised with Christ, they are no longer like everyone else. They were hidden with Jesus; so they should be purposed by what is above.
We can connect in a similar way to the Colossians in a town like Corsica. It is easy to live focused inwardly on our community and on doing what we need to survive and sometimes to thrive. It can be easy for our faith to just be a little Jesus on top of everything else we do. But God does not want to be the toppings on whatever we deem to be the major substance of our lives. He desires for us to see that Christ is in everything. He is not just here to meet us on Sundays, he is not simply there when you decide to pull out your Bible for devotions—he wants us to know his claim on all parts of life and that his promises branch out to all parts of our lives.
Paul helps us to understand our situation—that how we live our lives should not be focused on the values, the fixtures of pleasure on this earth, but rather we need to be focused on and with Christ. He goes on, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.” Put to death—literally he is saying “kill immediately,” “kill these things right now.” But before we get into the details that he calls us to put to death, we need to be clear about one part of our situation. Something that has been sticking out through many of the passages we have looked at recently is how God changes our identity, that is in place, and so should have a response. Because we belong to Christ, because we have died and been raised with Christ—the effect is that we should be getting rid of sin.
What Paul had received by the Holy Spirit and instructs believers is not that we must have dealt with every sin in our lives, then we can die with Christ, be raised with him, and be hidden waiting to appear in glory with him. No, he is saying that has already happened—you have received Christ in your heart, recognized him as your only hope of salvation, that is the situation you are in. Now take a look at yourself—see that there are things you that do not line up with those things above. Because you believe in God, the effect is that you join the Spirit in working to change your life. Coming to Christ may not always mean having everything together first. Christ does not look at us, see perfection, and because of that offer saving faith. No, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ comes to broken people in their brokenness.
It is in the brokenness, then, that Paul says you have some things to put to death in verse 5; believers should kill these sins if they are part of their life. “Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed—which is idolatry.” He deals first with sexual sins. Paul knew and God knew of the sexual sin that existed in the ancient culture—the prostitution that was present, illicit sex had worked its way into false religions—they needed to be disciplined. We might think well we do not deal with that, but this is God speaking to us and our world today to be disciplined for any type of intercourse outside the bounds of covenant marriage. We are talking any sexual act before marriage, any affair outside of one’s spouse, and any action that disgraces or abuses the gift God has given to a man and a woman who have committed themselves to one another.
Paul starts with the action, sexual immorality—if you are engaging in that, kill it now. But then he works his way through to the thoughts that begin pulling one into this web of sin. Impurity—that questionable character, lust—having and holding thoughts about someone without acting upon them, evil desires—cherishing the idea of sex outside of one’s spouse, and greed—which theologian N.T. Wright defines as the “unchecked hunger for physical pleasure.”
In that day and in our day, sex has such a grip on society—advertising for Fifty Shades of Grey, this novel turned movie that comes out this weekend is all over the place. I have not read the books; I do not know what takes place—but is that something that is going to cause people to be thinking about sex outside of their spouses or outside of their singleness? Much of what goes on around us is sinful, and sexual sin is one of the most destructive things in the church. We can say that the way we look at others is not hurting anyone so long as we do not act; to think we are not sinning as long as we “don’t go all the way,” to think we will stop looking at porn whenever we get married. But that’s the devil working in us; he tells us this type of sin is not that big of a deal. Yet when we try to confront it, we realize how deep it has gotten its hooks into us. Paul says kill it and kill it now; it is because of those things—God’s wrath is coming. The gift of sex that God gave man and woman for the covenant relationship they have—the actions, the thoughts, and the intimacy altogether come as a packaged part of his plan. How people have distorted sex for temporary pleasure causes God to bring his wrath. If that is something you struggle with, bring it to God and talk to someone you can trust—work to put it to death knowing God’s grace is still for you.
Those dealing with sexual sins are not the only ones who need to make adjustments; so too do those dealing with what I am calling relational sins—verse 8, “But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” Paul is saying if these things are a part of you; take them off of your life. Do not let them clothe you; do not let them be what others think of when they see you. Get rid of them as well.
This second list I have generally called relational sins—these are various ways of how we deal with pain and frustration caused by others. It is a sweeping list again that does not let anyone off. It starts with anger, those raw feelings that can boil up inside of hearts, our minds, our spirits when we feel like we have been wronged. Those can lead to rage—anger coming out in action or thought. Not only do you want to do something, but you want something bad to happen to someone one else, or you want to tear down the character or reputation of another person. He also instructed them to put off using any type of speech in a filthy way. Using language which is vulgar, profane, or abusive against God or something he has created. If this is you struggle with this, bring it to God, talk to someone you can trust—work to get rid of these.
These practices are all of the old self, they reflect the old outfit. It is easy for some of us to say well at least I do not have those “horrible sins” in my life—I do not have that sexual list weighing on me. But there is no difference between the first list and the second list. One seeks fulfillment by pleasure, the other by putting others down—neither seeks the love which we have in Christ, to whom we are called to look and keep our hearts and minds focused on.
If we are to kill the sexual sins and to rid ourselves of the relational sins, we need a new self, a new outfit. Whereas Paul gives us 10 sins, 11 if we count “do not lie,” to put off—here he makes it simple with only 5, and a 6th for us to have suitable attire that shows our situation as people set in Christ. If you have your Bibles open still, you can follow along in verse 12, “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved,” again that is already our situation, that is already the reality, “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [Bearing with and forgiving one another] just as the Lord forgave you.”
Get dressed with compassion. Be willing to simply be with others, to suffer with them in hard times, and to rejoice with them in times of gladness. Clothe yourselves with kindness. When someone is in need, that we would be willing to help them out; we care not just about ourselves but about everyone we meet. We want nothing bad to happen to other people. Put on humility. Do not brag about ourselves, do not think we are better than other people; instead, encourage others in their triumphs. Get dressed with gentleness. Be careful about what we do. In both the sexual sin and the relational sin lists, there are instances of abusing and taking advantage of others. Gentleness stands against all thoughts and deeds that seek to exert unchecked power over others. Again, we do not only look out for ourselves, but gentleness causes us to look out for others. The fifth piece of the new outfit believers are invited to put on is patience. Taking our time, not rushing through things. We listen to others, and we wait for people around us. Even when we really want to sprint ahead, we know it is better to journey together. When people struggle through sins, we must be patient with them. These virtues are principles from above—this is the outfit that believers should put on that imitates what Christ is about and what God desires for creation.
Looking at that list of things Paul teaches the church to put on—compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience—we have a list of qualities that lots of people could put on. There are nice people in the world, there are patient people in the world, there are even people who forgive others—and they are not all Christian. Sometimes it is the non-Christian that wears this attire better than most Christians. There are people all around us donning this outfit, but what sets the believer apart is that they have the most necessary piece of the wardrobe—we find it in verse 14, “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
For those of us who have faith, who believe in Jesus, we have the opportunity to put on love. In all of our kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness, and patience—we can do those things—but to have love be a part of them makes them into Christ-like qualities. Love is what binds them together; it forms connections so that the way we live with one another is really how Jesus wants you and me to live. If we have love in our hearts—the love that is selfless and looks like what it meant for Christ to die for us—then we will be drawn away from those sins.
I want to go back over to verses 9 and 10; Paul says, “[You have taken off the old and have put on the new], which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, salve or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” When we started we said there are times when we put clothes on to honor a certain context, but then we change back into our regular clothes when we are at home or in the rest of our lives. For believers, the situation of being in Christ is one that we never leave. This outfit that we get to put on, as we focus on Christ, is an outfit that is suitable wherever we are for the rest of our lives. Any alterations that happen are happening because we are being renewed by God as we grow closer to what he intended for us to be when we were created in his image. This outfit that we have been given is one that we should be finding ways to live into no matter where we are or who we are with; it is an outfit that we should be unashamed to wear.
We close this morning with the verse we ended on, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed,”—whatever you say to someone and whatever you do to someone and we could probably add whatever you think about someone, “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus”—do it in the love that he has shown to us. Everything we do in life, we do with thankfulness for what God has done for us. Amen.