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For some, Christianity is nothing
more than a set of rigid beliefs. For others, nothing more than
a rigid set of standards. And it seems that every new emerging
movement in the church, every new seminar that comes on the
scene for success is an effort to somehow capitalize on the
Christians' dissatisfaction that have caused them somehow to fail
to understand what the Bible says about the Christian life. And there is something very practical
about Christian living, about Christian doctrine. And the scripture
invariably connects what we believe to what we do, connecting our
creed and our practice, always linking what we believe with
our living. And I must say it amazes me that
the truths of the New Testament that seem to so grip the hearts
and the minds and the thoughts of first century Christians never
seem to cross the mind of Christians in the 21st century. There is
in the gospel a dynamic, a power to energize and to guide life
along the proper path. And it is only when Christians
fail to identify what that gospel message is, when they ignore
the gospel, that they find Christianity to be just a drudgery. Too often I've seen in the church
that many Christians define their Christianity in terms of decision
that they make sometime in the past. Sometimes I say they simply
fail to apply to day-by-day living, and as we heard in the previous
message, to the way we think in a way that allows the truth
of the gospel, a way that allows the power of the gospel to influence
and direct our Christian living. It is Christ, it is the cross,
and it is our completeness in Christ that must interfere. Can
I put it in those terms? It is Christ, his cross, and
the completeness of the gospel that must interfere with life. It must be the focal point for
our living the Christian faith. It is the cross that must stand
in the way of every sin. It is the cross that must stand
in the way to point us to piety. And it's always the case. And
again, I was impressed as Dr. Murray spoke in the last hour,
how closely the Lord has directed our thinking for these messages.
For very, very simply, it is right thinking that produces
right living. If we can learn what it is to
think right about the gospel, then we are on our way to living
right in the Christian life. And the text before us makes
this connection. In the previous chapter, the
Apostle Paul exposed and warned against all the additions to
Christ that were supposed to add to spiritual attainment and
satisfaction. And he does so first by expounding
the completeness of Christ, the completeness of his deity, the
completeness, the fullness of his humanity, and then our completeness
in him. If you'll skim over, cast your
eye to verses 9 and 10 of chapter 2. For in him, that is in Christ,
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. LinkedIn,
that statement combines that full deity and that full humanity
of Christ. What a remarkable statement that
is. All of the fullness, all of the completeness of the Godhead. And I say that because when we
come to verse 10, and ye are complete in him, which is the
head of all principality and power, and the word that our
authorized version translates as fullness in verse 9, the same
basic word that we have as complete in verse 10. We have the completeness
of Christ, and we, as his people, are complete in him. That completeness is defined
in terms then of our union with Christ. And it is our completeness
in that union with Christ, not how we adhere to religious principles
or other rituals But it is how we meditate and how we apply
and how we live in the reality of that union with Christ, that
throne union with Christ, that will give direction and give
motive and give reason for living out our faith. Our theme here
is living out our faith. Living out our faith. And the
text before us is going to instruct us as to how to live out that
faith from two different perspectives. one from the inside and one from
the outside. The apostle defines for us first
the principles of Christian living, and then he gives to us the procedure
for Christian living. And the text shows us how deep
theology translates into the practice of life. Ultimately,
for us, there is nothing more practical than doctrine. I must
say, I get sick, and I get sore, and I get tired. of those that
tell us that we ought not preach doctrine, just be practical,
just give me application, just tell me what to do, don't make
me think about anything. I submit to you that for us as
believers, as Christians, who have the revealed Word of God,
there is nothing more practical ultimately for us than Christian
truth, the doctrine that God has revealed to us. And as we
understand that doctrine, then we have the basis and the foundation
for living out that gospel, living out that which we say we believe,
for what we believe must translate into how we live. I think it was Spurgeon that
said of this chapter. Spurgeon gets credit for saying
all these cute things, so I suppose it was Spurgeon that said this
chapter begins It begins in heaven, and it ends
in the kitchen. It begins with these lofty truths,
but it brings us down to the nuts and bolts of what it is
to live the Christian life in every sphere, and that's what
I want us to reflect on in the time that we have together this
evening. I want us to look at the Christian
life here from two perspectives, the principle of Christian living
and the procedures for Christian living, the hidden life and the
seen life. So I start with the principle,
and the principle is the hidden life. In the opening four verses
of our text, Paul expounds for us here the theology that is
absolutely essential both for spiritual life and godly living.
He draws our attention to the objective realities of the believer's
union with Christ with all of its representative and vital
and intimate and mystical significance. A union that is equally true
for every believer. A union, and I want us to understand
this, every genuine believer enjoys or it is true of, let
me put it in those terms, that every true believer is united
to Jesus Christ. There is that throne union. And while that is equally true
for every believer, the unhappy thing is that it's not equally
enjoyed by every believer. And it is my desire for myself
and my desire for those that are gathered here that we come
to understand something of the beauty and the wonder of what
it means to be in Christ, to let that grip our heads and our
hearts, that it may be translated then into the way we live our
lives on a day-by-day basis. The hidden life. The hidden life. Now we start with the fact of
the hidden life. Verse 3. Again, I trust you keep
your Bibles open as we make our way through the text this evening.
Verse 3 gives to us the fact of that hidden life, for ye are
dead." More literally, for you died. Indisputable fact. Paul says, you died. Now, since he's writing to those
that were very much alive physically, this past death must refer to
something that is spiritual, something I dare say is mystical,
And don't be afraid of that word. Theologically, it simply designates
that spiritual truth that surpasses human comprehension because of
the transcendence of its nature and its significance. It's the
most appropriate word to designate this, our spiritual, our mystical
union that we have with Jesus Christ, a truth that, notwithstanding
its reality, defies understanding. defies complete comprehension
and certainly defies my ability to explain. But the statement,
you died, takes us to that mysterious and that mystical union that
every believer has with Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. There is a sense, incomprehensible,
in which every believer jointly participates and shares in that
work of the Lord Jesus. Now, I say that staggers the
mind. But consider what the scripture says. I'd be afraid to say that
if it was just me saying that. But over and again, the scripture
makes it clear and makes that remarkable statement. I am crucified,
Paul says, with Christ. We are buried with him by baptism
into death. Our old man is crucified with
him. If one died for all, then we're
all dead. That is, all for whom he died,
died with him. Remarkable statements. Obviously,
we did not hang on the cross with Christ to suffer all the
physical agony and the torment that he endured, both in body
and soul. In a physical sense, the Lord
Jesus suffered and died alone as the substitute for his people.
He bore the penalty. of our sin. He exempted us as
believers from ever having to pay the penalty of our own sin.
But he's our federal head. He's our representative head,
standing in the place for all those who are his, and we thus
united to him. When Christ died, all of his
people died with him, and God regarded believers, the elect,
those that had been given to Christ for his eternal Covenant
inheritance as belonging, as being in His Son. It's on the cross. It's on the
cross where satisfaction against our sin was secured, where the
connection to sin was severed. And so being crucified with Christ
means that we should look down on sin, we should look down on
the old life, from that vantage point. And sin that we find so
alluring in our face, yeah, and you know it, there's something
alluring about sin or there'd be no such thing as temptation.
The sin that is so alluring when in our face loses its appeal
when viewed from the old rugged cross. And ironically, although
we died, our life has been hidden with Christ in God. Paul goes
on to say that. You died, but your life is hid
with Christ in God. This mystical death did not produce
a lifeless corpse. On the contrary, it is union
with Christ, union with his death, that always results and produces
that union with his resurrection in life. Consider what verse
one says, if ye then be risen with Christ. That assumes the
reality. For those of you here that know
Greek, this is a simple condition that assumes the reality of the
Protestants. I say that for the seminary students.
For those of you that don't know Greek, it says the same thing. The idea is since, since this
is a fact, since you have been raised with Christ, it assumes
that reality. Then on that basis, on that basis,
there is a community with his death that always results in
the community with his life. And significantly, Paul uses
a different form of the verb here to describe the hidden life.
We died with Christ once. A once-for-all placement, mysteriously,
in Christ when he died. But the form of the verb that
he uses here now speaks of not only a being hidden, but with
a constant staying hidden with Christ. We were hidden from him. as a past act, and we have the
continuing consequences that we are staying hidden in Christ. When we died with Christ, we
were at that very time hidden in Christ, and there we constantly
remain. And given the fact that Christ is at the right hand of
God, there he is, verse one again, seated at the right hand of God,
and we are in him. We have a throne union with him.
I say this staggers my mind. It staggers my mind when we think
of this throne union that we have with Jesus Christ. He's
on the throne. Where am I? As a believer in
Jesus Christ, where am I? Well, you say, I'm here in Grand
Rapids. Yeah, I am. But where am I? I'm in Christ. Where is Christ? He's seated
at the right hand of God. There is a union, an inseparable,
a mystical, an inexplicable, what a wonderfully true union.
that we have united to the Lord Jesus Christ on the very throne
of glory. The implications and the applications
of this throne union are far-reaching, both regarding our security with
God and regarding our duty to the world. The world can't see
us there. After all, we're hidden. But
God, with whom all things are naked and open, God sees us there,
His people, the people that belong to Christ, the elect of God,
He sees us. They're in union with Jesus Christ.
You think of the imagery that the scripture gives us of the
church, Christ is the head and we're the body. There's an inseparable
connection, yeah, between the head and the body. The body cannot
exist apart from the head. And the head is not alone apart
from the body, an inseparable union. And there's a very wonderful
sense in which God sees the body in terms of the head. And there's
a sobering reality that the world sees the head through the body. They look at us. The world is
looking at us who profess to know the Lord Jesus Christ, who
profess His name. What do we look like? And what
is it about our lives, who profess to be believers in Jesus Christ,
that is going to say something to this world about the wonder
and the beauty and the glory of our head? Thankfully, God
sees us through the head. What a duty belongs to us. now
to realize that the world's estimation of our
Christ will very often depend upon what they see in the body.
So because of that, not only do we have the fact then of that
union with Christ, we have the imperatives that the apostle
gives to us of this hidden life. And he issues two imperatives
in verses one and two that are the logical corollaries to his
proposition regarding this union. The logic is clear in the opening
statement that assumes, I say, the reality of that fact, since
you were raised with Christ, given the fact of that life union
with Jesus Christ, there are some things to think about. What
Dr. Murray was drawing our attention
to in the last session, there are some things to think about.
Both imperatives, seek, set your affection, involves thinking,
involves thinking. These imperatives are always
addressed to our will. They identify then what we are
obliged to do. These are not apostolic recommendations.
These are apostolic commands that we as believers are under
the obligation to do. It starts in the head. First, be seeking the above things. Be seeking the above things.
The form of this verb demands a continuing and habitual process. This is not just an occasional
thought, but one that becomes the regular routine, again, as
we heard in the last session. And furthermore, this seeking
does not refer simply to an investigation, but it includes the thoroughgoing
effort to obtain that which is sought. The direction of this
ongoing effort is above, where Christ sits exalted in his session
at God's right hand. Apostolic advice parallels the
words of Christ himself. There, in the Sermon on the Mount,
where he tells us that we are to have our affections there
in heaven, where our treasure is, there will our heart be also.
There's no treasure that is more valuable than Jesus. Only he
has that infinite value, that intrinsic worth. Nothing else
approaches that one who is the pearl of great price. So to regard
him as our treasure is to have our earthly heart fixed where
he is, where he is seated on that throne at God's right hand. And again, I say this seeking
is more than just an examination of doctrine. It's a striving
to experience. and to possess the fullness of
the blessing. It's one thing to consider the
doctrine. It's one thing to look at the truth that God has revealed
to us, and we can examine that, and we can look at that, and
theologians can argue about how to define this or that. Sometimes
theologians can suck the joy right out of the truth. But here's
the truth. Here's the truth that God has
revealed to us. We seek it. We seek it not just
to examine what it looks like, but to come into the experience
of it. I think sometimes we as Christians
approach the truth of the gospel much like those spies that were
sent out to investigate the land of promise. And they went in
and they saw the grapes, and they saw that it was indeed a
land that was flowing with milk and honey. And they collected
those grapes, and they examined those grapes, and those spies
said, yeah, these are no doubt the best grapes I've ever seen. But, they just looked at them. They just looked at them. And
they stood there looking and examining the grape, but they
never took the step into the possession and the experience
of what that promise was that God had for them. And there they
were on the border of blessing. I think so often we as believers
tend to live on the border of blessing. We look at the truth,
we examine the truth, we admire the truth, we envy the truth
that others have applied to their lives, and how come? This is
why we have the great emphasis in the seminary here. The great
emphasis not only upon the Reformed truth, but that experiential
aspect of that truth. Not just to know it, but to bring
it into the reality of life. to live in the reality of what
we say we believe. That's what it's all about here.
In many ways, that's all I'm trying to say tonight. For us
to live in the reality of what we say we believe. So let us
not be like those ten spies that admired and could describe the
grapes of Canaan but failed to possess them. Let us be like
Caleb and Joshua who entered into the possession of what God
had promised and provided. We seek the above things, and
those above things define for us as Christ there, exalted at
God's right hand. But second, we are to set our
affection on things above. What our authorized version translates
as, set your affection, literally could be translated, be thinking
about above things. Be thinking, again, the thinking
process. And the form of this verb also demands a continuing
and a habitual activity. Thinking is the exercise of the
mind and is spiritually crucial. Paul uses the noun form of this
particular verb in Romans 8, verse 6, when he says, to be
carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace, the mindset. Where is our mindset? What are
we thinking about? And one's mindset is the litmus
test that ultimately reveals what one really is. Thinking is the first step to
doing. I say again, it's right thinking that produces right
behavior. It is the imperative that the believer therefore habitually
and routinely engages the mind on the above things where Christ
is, where he is with Christ in that throne union. Dr. Murray spoke much of thinking.
He used the imagery of the diet of thinking, what we put in our
heads. I don't know how thinking works, but I know it works. And I know that when you think
about something hard enough, when you think about something
long enough, you can't stop thinking about it. Habitual thinking,
what analogy can I use here? Habitual thinking grooves the
brain. Philippians 4 verse 8 that we
meditated upon just a little while ago. Paul suggests some
of those things that we are to think about. And we need to groove
our brains. We need to groove our brains
on those things that are true and honest and pure and lovely
and good report, virtue praise. All of those things subsumed
really in the Lord Jesus, for all those virtues were his. Groove
the brain. Groove the brain in thinking
about Christ. Doesn't mean that we never think
about other things, for other things are unavoidable parts
of life. But it does mean that all else that we think about
is governed by the fact that we are united with Christ. Thinking
about that affects everything else. And contrary to that common adage
that I heard growing up so often, that common adage that somebody
can be so heavenly-minded to be no earthly good, I submit
to you that the gospel logic is that the more heavenly-minded
we are, the more earthly good we will be. The imperative of
the hidden life, and now we have the prospect of the hidden life. Verse 4, here's the prospect
of that hidden life. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. The prospect of the hidden life
is that it does not and will not remain hidden. A day is coming
when faith transitions to sight. A day is coming when the invisible
becomes the visible. A day is coming when our subjective
experience becomes one with our objective position. The Greek
word that is translated appear here has the idea more fully
of being manifest, being completely revealed and open. So that day
comes when Christ, Who is our life? What a statement that is.
Christ, our life. The essence of our life? The object of our passions? What
defines us? We use that expression. I could
say that Hebrew is my life. That tells you something about
what my passion is, what my occupation is. Christ is our life. Is Christ our passion? Does Christ
define us? Paul says, Christ our life. The
essence of our life, the object of our passions that would one
day be openly revealed in all of his splendid glory. And adding
to the wonder of that is that we will be manifested in the
same glory with him. There's no separating Christ
and his people. Not then, not now. He's the head, we're the
body. So the prospect of that certain
glory shared with Christ puts all the stuff of time in its
proper place. So it's occupation with Christ
that is the secret to everything in the Christian life. You with
me there? It is occupation with Christ. that is the secret to everything
in the Christian life. So living out our faith, that
was my topic, living out our faith. Living out our faith means
that we live now with a view to then. We keep eternity in
view. We keep the gospel in focus. So Paul begins. with the principles
of Christian life, the hidden life, the inside life. But now
he transitions to the procedure. What does that look like? What
does that hidden life look like? So we come to the procedure,
the seen life. And what is true on the inside
will show itself on the outside. And although our union with Christ
is hidden from view, the evidences of that union should be seen.
Union with Christ is going to look like something in the way
we live. Doctrine breeds duty. There are ethical demands that
flow from theological truths. And in verses 5 to 17, the bulk
of the text that we've read, the apostle deals details for
us, the implications. of what it is to be in Christ,
both in negative and in positive terms. And the logic that the
Apostle uses here in dealing with this life, if you will,
of sanctification, this logic was adopted by the Westminster
divines in their classic definition of sanctification as that work
of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man
after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die
unto sin and to live unto righteousness." Dying to sin and living to righteousness. And I say that's exactly the
logic that we have before us in the verses that we have read
together. So let's consider first then the death to sin. In verses
5 to 11, the focus here on the negative component of this sanctification,
dying to sin, believers are to put off all of the vices belonging
to the old life outside of Christ. It only makes sense that if we
die judicially to sin in union with Christ in His death on the
cross, I say it only makes sense that we should also die practically
to sin as we live in union with his life in the resurrection. Paul puts it this way in Romans
chapter 6 and verse 4. Therefore we are buried with
him in baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in the newness of life. We died, we were buried. You
think of The burial process in the physical realm, that corrupting
corpse, is removed from the land of the living. In the spiritual
burial in Christ, this living corpse, if you will, is removed
from the land of corruption. But there's a separation. There's
a separation from the life that was in the sphere in which that
life was lived, buried with him. in this baptism unto death. So 1st Paul demands the duty
of death. He issues here some commands.
Again, these are not just apostolic or pastoral suggestions that
are being made, not optional behavior, imperatives that demand
obedience. We are to mortify our earthly
members, verse 5. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth. with all their sinful practices.
The word members here usually designates the physical limbs
or body parts, but by figure of speech here it includes whatever
in us that is of this world that is bent to sin. It parallels
what Paul in a moment will call the old man, and we'll consider
what that means in just a moment. But in many ways, in many ways,
I know it in my experience and my guess is that you know it
in your experience. The biggest threat to our sanctification
is self. Therefore, we must die to self.
Mortify. Mortify your members. Die to
self. But this death is not by natural
causes, for dying to self is not natural. The word mortify,
in many ways, in English, I think has lost some of its force. Blossom
of its shock. Talking here about a spiritual
suicide, if you will. Must kill self, put it to death. The language
is blunt. The language is forceful. The
language is shocking. But no more so than Christ's
counsel to eliminate those offending body parts for the spiritual
welfare of the soul. This member killing refers to
the urgent and the immediate effort to eliminate by execution
everything and anything that is at odds with God. If our earthly
life is truly in heaven, then we must kill off the stuff of
the sinful life that we have in our earthly existence. And
the consequence of dying with Christ The consequence, I should
say, of Christ dying for us, and our dying with Him, is that
we should not live anymore with a view to ourselves. No longer
a view to our own interests, our own desires, our own concerns,
our own ambitions. Paul says in 2 Corinthians that
having judged this, having come to think about this, that He
died for all, then how can we, for whom He died, died in Him,
how can we then live unto ourselves? How can we live with a view to
our own selves, with our own interests, with our own desires,
if we're really judging this, thinking about this, having the
mind engaged in this, that He died for us, that He died for
us? to put off the sinful practices. Verse 8, put off all these things. The imagery changes, but the
topic's the same. By using the illustration here about changing
clothes, the apostle makes the point clear that life in Christ
cannot look the same as it did before. It's only logical, yeah,
after you take a bath, that you don't put on the same dirty clothes
that you had on, required the bath in the first place. And
so spiritually, after that washing of regeneration, we must put
off the old garments that have been mucked up from the dirt
of this world. And this life in union with Christ then requires
a visible transformation. The Bible knows nothing about
a gospel that makes no demands on life. The Bible knows nothing
about a gospel that does not require a change of life. The grace of God finds sinners
in the most indescribable of filth. There's power and wonder
in the grace of God that can find sinners wherever they are.
But grace never leaves sinners where they are. Grace never leaves
sinners where it finds them. It finds us in the depths of
our sin and our misery. But there's something about that
power of grace, yeah, that transforms us. And Paul tells us here with
this imagery, put off, put off all of those filthy garments. He then identifies sins that
are subject to death. And he gives two extensive but
not exhaustive lists of sins to illustrate the kind of behavior
that is incongruous to the hidden life in Christ. You have that
in verse five, yep. Here are these things of the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness,
idolatry. Then in verse eight, you come
to the anger, the wrath, the malice, the blasphemy, the filthy
communication. Here are the sins that we are
to put off, that we are to put off. Now, it's not my intent
to define or elaborate on each of these specific vices, but
I do want us to get the principal point. The principal point that
the Apostle is making, if you go through these two lists, both
of which have five particular sins, interestingly, they all
have bearing upon the second division of God's moral law,
dealing with man's relationship to man. For transgression of
the second division is always evidence that the first division
has already been violated. For man's relationship with man,
his fellows, is always a mirror to his relationship with God.
But it's interesting to me that in verse 5, the list progresses
from outward transgressions to inward transgressions. When you look at verse 8, it's
just the opposite. It begins with inward manifestations
that then show themselves outwardly. Interesting logic here that the
apostle is using. Sometimes the logic that we have
in the scripture is not quite the same logical mindset that
we have in our culture. We tend to think linearly. We
have our proposition and then our proofs that develop those
propositions. So we try to teach the students
in Amelie's class. be logical, but sometimes the
logic that we have in the scripture is different. They don't quite
have that linear procedure. I don't want to get technical
here. Not quite true. I love being
technical. There's a logic here that the
apostle is using. I'm going to give you a fancy
word here, no big deal, called chiasma. Chiasmus comes from
the Greek letter chi, which to you, if you don't know Greek,
looks like an X. And this kind of X logic, very
frequent in the scripture. And the idea is that our thoughts
then, our attention, is to be focused in the center. It brings our attention now to
the center. focusing all thoughts to that
center statement and then it develops out from that. Have you ever seen the FedEx
trucks and signs? If you look at next time you
see a FedEx, it's a remarkable advertisement. It's ingenious
really. If you look at the FedEx and
you look at the X part, where the E transitions to the X. It looked like an arrow. Somebody
told me that one time and I looked at it and I could never see it.
And then one time I saw it and now I can't look at a FedEx truck
without seeing it. Once you see it, you'll see it
forever. So next time you see A FedEx
sign, look for that. Look at the E, end of the X,
where the E transitions to the X, and you'll find an arrow pointing
right to the middle of the X. And when you see that, you think
of this message when you're learning what chiasm is. All right, chiasm. Chiasm where you have the X and
everything is pointing right smack to the middle. Right smack
to the middle. I should get commission from
FedEx. But when you do that, it's very
interesting. Verse five begins with outward
sins coming into inward thoughts. Verse eight begins with inward
thoughts leading out now to outward manifestations of those sins.
It puts the focus upon the head. It puts the focus of these transgressions
then upon the mind, upon what we think, what we think, Right
thinking produces right living. Wrong thinking produces wrong
behavior. Focus there draws attention to
the inward attitudes and the inward thoughts. And the focus
affirms what we're saying, that thinking determines behavior.
And sins of the head are no less serious before God than the sins
of the hands. all things open and naked before
the eyes of him with whom we have to do." It's another literary
device that's operating here when all 10 sins are combined. You would make a mistake to assume
that all of these sins here are the only ones Paul says that
we need to handle. I can go through that, listen,
take them off, say, yeah, I'm not done that one, not done, no,
no. It's a figure of speech here, a literary device. A list, a partial list of something
that designates the totality of something. If you want the
name for it, it's Procytology. A partial list that designates
the totality of something. So Paul here, in essence, is
just giving us some representative sins. We get the idea here, what
is it that we've got to put off? Not just these ten particular
sins, but representation of all of the sins. We had to deal with
sin. The sins that I have struggles with may not be the sins you
struggle with. What you struggle with may not
be the sins I have problems with. I look at that list that Paul
has, you know, I'm pretty good, I don't do, you know, but what,
there's things that bother me and there's things that bother
you. What are the sins? Paul said, put it off, put it
off. Whatever those sins are in our
lives, living out the Christian faith is going to be putting
off, mortifying, putting off those sins. And verse 7 gives
us hope that it's possible, that there is power in the gospel
that can transform the life. These Colossians walk that way
sometime, but they don't anymore. There's a reversal of lifestyle
that marks every genuine believer. There's no Christian who experientially
is as holy as he should be. There's not a one of us here
that experientially is as holy as we should be. Not a one of
us that will be as holy as we will be. I think every saint
can say with John Newton in that famous statement of his, I am
not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I
am what I hope to be in another world, but still I am not what
I once used to be. And by the grace of God, I am
what I am." There's hope. This is not just
airy-fairy Christianity. This is bringing it down to where
we live and where we must live day after day after day. Fill the mind with those above
things. kill the stuff of sin, put off
that muck. Then Paul explains the reasons
for death to sin. He gives two reasons, one negative,
one positive. Negatively, death to sin is necessary
because sin angers God. Verse 6 makes that clear. Every
sin is a violation of his righteous justice and his wrath is poised
against And whereas the sinful world stands already condemned
before God, all those of us in Christ have been delivered from
that condemnation. And insomuch as we have been
delivered from that condemnation, no longer under the wrath of
God, then sinfulness should no longer be part of our practice. We are no longer subject to God's
wrath because of Christ's atoning work. It is the cross, the great
The greatest evidence of God's justice and wrath against sin
that has dealt with the wrath against us, God put the cross,
God put the cross between our sin and Him. And the wrath of God, for our
sakes as believers, quenched by the cross of Christ. If God put the cross there, then we ought to as well. Thinking
about why he died, remembering that we died in union with him,
is reason enough for us to die to sin. But positively, this
death to sin is necessary because we have been restored in the
image of God, verses nine and 10. We're restored in the image
of God. Paul transitions now his argument
by linking these two statements, put off and put on, to an imperative
to lie not one to another, verse 9. And that's suggested by the
imagery of dress that he's already introduced. I don't think it's
true. I don't think it's true that
clothes make the man. but they do reveal something
about the man. I love to wear camouflage. And I look good in it. So when I wear camouflage, yeah,
if I wear camouflage and a hat advertising Cabela's, you probably
can figure out I love to hunt and would rather be in the woods
where you couldn't see me. that says something about me.
On the other hand, if I were to wear the scrubs of a surgeon,
that would be misleading and potentially dangerous if you
believed it. But the point is that we dress
according to what we are. And to be hidden in union with
Christ demands death to sin because we have put off the old man and
put on the new. Calvin defines the old man as
whatever we bring from our mother's womb, whatever we are by nature.
And in this context, it designates the unregenerate state in which
there's no spiritual life or sensitivity or impulse toward
God or spiritual things. It's that nature that gives rise
and expression to every evil deed. And the simple fact of
the matter is that those who trust Christ don't wear those
clothes anymore. They're no longer spiritually
dead. We're no longer spiritually insensitive
or motionless toward God. We have to look different, so
we put on the new man. The new man here, that regenerate
nature which the Holy Spirit has implanted into a life of
a dead heart and soul, the principle of that spiritual life. It's
a new garment worn by everyone that's in Christ. Not sinless. Wants to be. It's headed in that
direction. But the new man here is described as being continually
and habitually and progressively renewed in the knowledge of the
Creator's image. It's far beyond our scope or
time this evening to consider what it means to be in the image
of God, except it points us ultimately to Christ who is that ideal image,
the ideal manifestation of God. It is a call for us, very simply,
to be like Christ. No matter who we are, race, nationality
is irrelevant, verse 11. Every believer is going to look
the same in this regard. Put on the new man to where the
new man is to be adorned with Christ who is all and in all. He's everything in the realm
of grace. And as we look to him, we are changed. Paul says in
2 Corinthians, yeah, that we are changed. from glory unto
glory by looking into the face of Jesus Christ. That's how sanctification
works, ultimately. We can do all of these little
things, but the bottom line is by looking into the face of Jesus
Christ, we look into His face, we see all of those virtuous
and praiseworthy things that we considered in the last hour,
all subsumed in Christ. We look into His face and we
are changed from glory unto glory. John tells us in his first epistle,
this is always a remarkable thought to me, we learn there when Christ
appears, we're going to be made like him because we're going
to see him as he is. That's as close as we have anywhere
in the scripture that defines for us the miracle, the supernatural
act of our glorification. When we see him, We will be like
Him because we'll see Him as He is. And I submit to you that
if seeing Christ is what ultimately glorifies us, that's the secret
to our sanctification as well. Look to Christ. Look full in
that glorious face of our Redeemer. And the more we look, transformed
from glory to glory to glory. dead to sin, alive to righteousness.
Living on our faith is more than just doing bad things, it involves
doing good things as well. We're unable to live under righteousness.
He gives to us, and I'll hurry through this, He delineates for us the marks
of spiritual life, continues the clothes analogy now by telling
us to put something on, and then He gives us the virtues of the
new man, the style of clothes that we are to wear, those that
are chosen by God, set apart as distinct the objects of that
fixed and continuing love. Here's how we are to look. And
again, without going through all the virtues now that are
mentioned in verses 12 and following, all those relate as well to the
second division of the law. And all of those are virtues
and perfection. that can be found in Christ.
So if we want to put on the bowels of mercies, what does that look
like? It looks like Christ. Follow Christ. Be like Christ. Forgiveness. Has Christ forgave
you? Then that's how we do it. It's
this bond of love, the belt that keeps everything complete and
together, verse 14. This love which is selflessness.
That Christ-likeness who gave himself for his church? Again,
there's nothing that will spoil and spot or stain the Christian's
wardrobe more than Christ. So we be like him. And again,
those virtues are just representative. We put it all together. Put it
all together. I don't want to repeat myself,
but this is the core of it. This is the core that we fill
our sight and we fill our hearts with the sight of Christ. We
see all of his virtues, we see all of his merits, we see all
of his perfections. We have been predestinated to
be conformed on the image of Jesus Christ. Look to him. He details in the methods of
the spiritual life, verses 15 and 16. Three imperatives to explain
how we are to live out our faith. They all express constant habitual
activity. They all underscore that Christian
life is a full-time occupation. Let the peace of God rule. Let
the word of Christ dwell. This is what should happen, and
we should do what is necessary to allow it to happen. Here's
a peace that comes only from God, that rules in our heart,
with our inner being. We think, we feel, we determine
to act. I think this peace here, while it could refer to our subjective
experience, I think it more refers to that objective reconciliation
of peace that Christ accomplished on the cross, that is to overwhelm
our thoughts, to rule, let it rule in our heart, that athletic
term that means to act as an umpire, to arbitrate disputes,
to make the calls. Let the peace of God, the peace
of God that comes from Jesus Christ, Make all the decisions. Let that be the rule of our mind
that governs and determines how we think. Let the word about
Christ dwell in us. To put it simply, the gospel
should be at home in our hearts. Let it dwell within us. It ought
to be at home in our hearts, where it will impact every decision,
every plan, every activity of life, to live within the sphere
of God's word. Part of our Reformed tradition,
yes, that we argue sola scriptura, only Scripture. But that has
to be more than just a component of our creed. That has to be
the experience of our life, that the Scripture becomes that which
guides us and rules us, and the love for the Word, more than
just talk. But it feels at home. It takes up residence with us. takes up residence with us. It's
going to affect our conversation with fellow believers we teach
and admonish. It directs our praise to God by the singing
of the new song in our hearts. Inside shows itself on the outside. And sandwiched between those
is the imperative to be thankful. Constant, habitual gratitude
is a component for living out our faith. No exposition required
here. How can we not be thankful? How
can we not be thankful when we think of Christ, his work, and
what it means for us personally? And finally, Paul declares the
motives for the spiritual life, verse 17. For why we do what
we do is important. Motives matter. And for the Christian,
it is the name of Christ, the glory of Christ that ought to
be our principal concern in everything thought, everything said, everything
done. Scripture disallows the modern.
or perhaps I should say postmodern notion of compartmentalizing
life so that religious life is somehow unaffected and uninfluenced
by everything else I do in life. Not so. The fact that I'm a Christian
defines everything in life. The fact that I'm a Christian
has bearing upon everything that I do, everything that I say,
everything, every place that I go. No compartmentalizing.
Not my religious life, and my work life, and my social life,
and my family. No, it's my Christian life that has manifestation and
application, implications for every other sphere of life that
exists. Whatever we do, we do it for Jesus' sake. Consciously,
intentionally, in the name of Christ. You think about that. Can't get away from that accent.
That right thinking produces right living. Living out our
faith then requires thinking. Living out our faith equates
simply to living in the reality of the religion we say we believe.
There can be no disconnect between belief and practice, no disconnect
between doctrine and duty. Objective truth must transfer
to subjective experience. And the more we know the gospel, The more we know our completeness
in Christ, the more we can enjoy and experience the gospel and
life. So in the head, we must know
the truth. In the heart, we must believe
the truth. And with the hands, we must implement and evidence
the truth. Living out our faith starts on the inside. and it
shows itself on the outside. Amen.
Living Out Our Faith
Series PRTS Conference 2013
| Sermon ID | 822131930141 |
| Duration | 1:01:33 |
| Date | |
| Category | Conference |
| Bible Text | Colossians 3:1-17 |
| Language | English |
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