Well, good morning. I'd like to welcome you to another edition of Anchored in the Word, and this is our morning reflection. We're looking at Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 11. If you're joining us this morning, I'd like to encourage you to take your Bible, and please take your Bible out and turn to Colossians 3, 1 through 11. I'm going to go ahead and begin in verse 1. We'll read down to verse 11, and then we'll take some time to reflect on some of the contents of this passage. Colossians 3, 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall he also appear with him in glory. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, and ordinate affection. evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. For which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience? And the witchy also walked some time when you lived in them. But now ye also put off these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all." When I read this passage of scripture, this is a really encouraging passage. And I wanted to take the time to reflect on a couple of principles, truths from the passage, but before we do, let me give you a simple summary statement of the passage. Since Paul has just exposed deficient human devices to bring about godliness, he then goes on to show how true godliness into Christlikeness occurs. And so if you'll remember the last time we were looking at this passage, we saw that Paul warned these Christians there are certain philosophies that are beginning to infiltrate the church, they're beginning to affect the way that you're thinking. These things have no ability, they have no power to make you a godly person. They have no power to help you to overcome fleshly passions that are sinful. And so what he's basically doing is he's saying, don't take those philosophies and try to put them to practice. Well, then when we come to chapter three, basically what Paul is saying is, look, while you're not supposed to follow those worldly philosophies, There is a way that you are to deny your flesh, and that way that you're supposed to deny your flesh is a gospel-centered way, and this is something that I'm telling you you have to do. It's absolutely imperative that you do that. And so that's really what this section is all about. It's about Paul saying, Don't follow worldly philosophies that don't have the cross and Christ and the gospel as the center of how you become matured and godly. But there is a way that you are to deny your flesh and you can grow into Christ's likeness. And here's how it works. So here's the first observation that we're gonna look at this morning. These verses have a condition which indicates both responsibility and the empowerment to do what we're called to do. Look down at verses one to four at some of the details that we find here. The first verse is this, if ye then be risen with Christ. That word if and the next word then are extremely important. We cannot do what Paul is saying we are to do here if we're not actually a Christian. Our ability, the empowerment to take these verses and apply them is rooted and the fact that we are new creatures in Christ. On the other side, not only are we able to do that because of Christ and the gospel, but we are compelled and we are commanded to do that. In other words, there's a condition that makes the following exhortation possible. The next phrase we see is this, seek those things which are above. We need to pursue what has eternal significance. In other words, the average person just lives for the here and now. What is right in front of me? What am I doing today? But he says, as a Christian, I'm not supposed to be just living for today. I'm supposed to be living for eternity, for what is to come. Then in verse 2 he says, not only are we to do things that are focused on eternity, but our affections are to be focused on eternity. He says, set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. In other words, our hearts need to be firmly set on what has lasting, eternal significance. Verse three, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. We can do this because when we were regenerated, basically old things pass away and all things become new. And actually, he's even referring to what happens when we are baptized and what is pictured in baptism. When a person is baptized, what is pictured is that they are buried in Christ and they are raised to walk in newness of life. And so that spiritual reality that is pictured in baptism is what he's talking about. Because you have been placed into Christ, because you're identified with his death, burial, and resurrection, you can and you must do what I'm about to tell you. And then lastly, in verse four, he says, In other words, one of the reasons that you need to do this is because your future destination is going to be living in eternity with God. We come to a second observation, and that's this. While the self-denial encouraged by those pushing a worldly philosophy has no power to transform, there is a kind of self-denial that's rooted in the gospel that produces true godliness and change. This is what he says in verses five to eight. He says, mortify, that means put to death, therefore, on the basis of what I just told you, your members which are upon earth. In other words, put to death your members in light of your position in Christ, not purely by a self-centered, willful desire to basically become a more disciplined person. And he mentions some of the things, the passions, the sinful passions that we're to put off. He talks about sexual perversions. He talks about covetousness, when a person's not content with what God has given them. He talks about idolatry, and when he talks about idolatry, He's not just referring to idolatry in the sense of worshiping an image that's been made by my hands, but he's talking about worshiping the things of this world as a replacement to worshiping God as we should. In verse six he says, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in which ye also walked sometime when ye lived in them? Basically what Paul's doing is he's reminding these Christians that today the way that you live, what you are passionate about, what you are living for, your ultimate destination, all that has changed. And so you need to think back and realize that those former ways are former. That's how you used to live. It's not the way that you live anymore. And then in verse 80 says this, you also need to put off. not just fleshly passions that need to be suppressed and killed, put to death, that are sinful passions, but there's also sinful practices that flow out of those sinful passions. And you need to put these practices off. He says, put off anger and wrath. And when he talks about anger and wrath, he's really talking about two kinds of ways that we get angry. One is where we explode in anger, and one is where we just boil and seethe inside. He talks about malice, the idea of having evil intentions toward people. Talks about blasphemy, where we go around and talk about people behind their back and we undermine them. He says filthy communication out of your mouth, talking about things that just aren't appropriate. and not conducive to Christian discussion. He says, lie not one to another, speak the truth with the people around you, seeing you put off the old man with his deeds. In other words, this whole section is that, look, there are certain practices and certain passions that as a Christian, I shouldn't have. I need to put to death those fleshly sinful desires, and I need to put off those practices that flow out of those sinful desires. A third observation that we find in this passage is not only are we to live in light of the gospel, and by the Spirit's enabling put off those sinful practices, we are also to put to death those sinful practices. We are to replace those passions and practices with godly passions and practices. In other words, because of the gospel, Not only do I put off certain things, not only do I put to death certain things, but I'm to replace them with something that God wants. God wants me to have godly passions. God wants me to have godly patterns of life. God wants my character to reflect his righteousness. God wants me to live in a way that's consistent with the way that he created me to live. And so this passage is basically saying it's not just about putting off and putting to death, but it's about replacing that with what is good and right and wholesome. And so in verse 10 he says, and having put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." In other words, the apostle Paul is saying, look, when you became a Christian, you became a new creature in Christ and old things pass away and all things become new. And so you need to root out sinful passions and practices, replace them with what is godly, and you as a new creature in Christ, grow into Christ-likeness as you read the scriptures and as the Holy Spirit transforms you through the renewing of your mind. I then come to a fourth observation, and to me, this is one of the most interesting and perhaps one of the most encouraging. What he says here is that the cross and the nature of the Christian life remove all of the advantages and disadvantages and the divisions that we experience in society. Whether we like it or not, if a person is born into a family that has money, that has education, that has opportunity, that person is going to have more opportunities for them in life than someone who's born in a poorer family that doesn't have a lot of opportunity. We see these injustices and these imbalances in society. And the truth is that there are certain things about the way that the world works that we can try as hard as we want to try to change that. It's impossible. But there is one place that we can go where all of the advantages and disadvantages that we see in the world around us are removed 100%. And that's in the gospel. In other words, it doesn't matter if you have money or not. It doesn't matter if you're physically strong or not. It doesn't matter if you have an education or not. It doesn't matter if you're born into a family with means and opportunity or not. No matter who you are, where you live, you have the same opportunity with the cross and with the Christian life. We are all saved the same way, by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, and we all grow into Christlikeness the same way, with a life that is rooted in the gospel. And this is what he says in verse 11. He says, there's neither Greek, nor Jew, nor circumcision, nor uncircumcision, nor barbarian, nor Scythian, nor bond, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. In other words, the distinctions that create divisions in society, they are removed by the gospel. We're all on equal footing at the cross and in our Christian life. And so the Apostle Paul is reminding us that, look, we can, no matter what our background is, no matter what point in life we come to become a Christian, we can do what he's saying to do. So here's my question. How do we practically apply what's in these verses? Well, the first thing that I jotted down for myself is don't follow man-centered devices to produce true godliness. In other words, we need to go to the scriptures and we need to let the scriptures be what guides us into how we look at the Christian life and how we grow as Christians. Two, we don't grow into Christlikeness by just the sure power of our wills. You know, the fact that I can get up every morning and go running for three or four miles, which I don't, but let's say I could. The fact that I could do that, that I had that discipline, or the fact that I spent a certain amount of time in the gym on a daily basis, or the fact that I disciplined my eating habits, which I definitely don't do well. The fact that I can do those things by the sure act of the will does not mean I'm godly. In other words, godliness is not just rooted in our will, but it's rooted in the power of the gospel. And it is as we obey God and as we trust God, he changes us, he transforms us through the power of the gospel. Three, we need to have a cross-centered, Christ-centered, gospel-centered approach to this idea of denying our fleshly passions. Not every fleshly desire is a sinful desire. The desire to eat food, the desire to get the rest that I need, the desire to exercise my body. The truth is there are lots of fleshly desires that are not sinful, but there are a lot of fleshly desires that are. And we need the scriptures to guide what is sinful and what needs to be put to death and denied and replaced and what does not. And we need the cross, the gospel, and Christ to be the center of that process. Lastly, we need this. Not only do we need to put to death sinful passions and practices, but we need to replace them with the passions and practices that God created us to have. You know, God created us with emotion. God created us with will. God gave us a body. And the truth is that this body, and this mind, and this will, and these passions, these emotions, They're gifts from God. And when these gifts from God are properly focused, they bring glory to God. And so it's not just about me putting off, it's about me putting on and replacing those things that need to be replaced. Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us to do that this morning. Let's be out together for prayer. Our Father, we thank you so much for the tremendous privilege we have as your children to recognize there's equal footing at the cross, that there's equal opportunity to grow into Christ's likeness. Father, help us to seize the privilege that we have as your children to grow into Christ's likeness. Father, help us to be diligent to put to death those sinful, fleshly passions that well up inside of us. Father, help us to put off those sinful, fleshly practices in life And Father, help us to replace them with godly passions and godly practices so that we can live in a way that brings honor and glory to you. I pray that you would help this little devotional this morning to be an encouragement to someone. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. It's been good to see you this morning. We hope you have a great rest of your day. And if you're gonna be joining us for church, we look forward to seeing you there. who have your own churches. We hope that you've enjoyed this study and that it has been a blessing to you. Have a great Sunday.