Living Life With a Focus
Colossians 3:1-11
Study no. 6
To win the inner civil war, you have to set your heart and mind on Christ
The Apostle Paul, from prison, writes to the Colossians' Church – a church that he has never been to personally. We read in the first few verses of chapter 1 how Paul commended the church are for their spirituality, for their commitment to Christ and for their faith. What we have before us in chapter 3 is quite a change in his tone. He now talks to them about the evil practices that they need to get rid of out of their lives. How does he know that they are guilty of any of these things? Number one it could be because he expects this of all human behavior knowing the sin nature that we all have. Number two it could be that he is only addressing some of the church knowing that not everyone is spiritual, faithful, and committed to Christ. \ Or number 3 he understands that all of us have two natures. We have the old sin nature, and we have The Godly nature which has been implanted at Salvation. Someone has said that most Christians are schizophrenic. That is, a Christian has two natures. The original King James version refers to the old nature as the 'old man', while the NIV calls it 'the Old Self'.
Here is an example that we all can identify with …
Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. NIV
Do not hang on to the past v 1-3
For you died (v3). What a statement. I really think that most of us do not feel like that. This is the 'me' generation. We have grown up with the statement, 'That's just who I am'. The last thing we want to do is give up who we are. What is Paul meaning, exactly, when he says that we have died? He put it this way, those things that I counted as 'gain' (or having value) I now count as loss.
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
What was on Paul's list of things that 'died' when he took Jesus as his saviour.?
His ethnic background – superior race of people
born into the 'only' religion in the world.
Fully Committed to his religion
Committed his life to a worthwhile cause.
All the above 'died' after Paul's conversion to Jesus
In addition: Everything else that he had previously 'treasured'.
Was that easy for Paul to do?
1Co 9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Ga 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
... at least this is what we are supposed to have done!
So how do we get the victory?
First he said 'Set your mind on things above'. So we need to become 'heavenly minded'. We must feed our mind with God's wonderful word. There are several ways to do this. It could be by reading a daily devotional. It could be by trying to memorize a single verse for the day.
Secondly we need to quit feeding our 'old nature'. Stop building yourself up in the eyes of others.
Pr 27:2 ¶ Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.
We need to kill all the things listed in verse 5.
Those attributes and qualities of your life of which you are proud and have been the reason for achievements you have made … can get in the way of God really accomplishing his will through you.
1Co 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
29 so that no-one may boast before him.
Don't underestimate the destructive power of sin v 5-11
- Paul adds to the list of things that have to be 'killed'.
Col 3:8 ¶ But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.
Looking carefully at the list ...notice where pride fits in: Anger (I am not getting MY way). Rage (Nobody respects ME), malice and slander (That person took MY credit, got MY promotion ... I will get even!) filthy communication (I will talk BIG and use all of powerful four letter words ... I will get respect!) Do not lie to each other (I am going to make MYSELF look good, even if I have to lie and bend the truth)
Pride shows up and causes us to do all of these things because the old 'me' is very much alive.
Verse 9 says the 'old self' is 'taken off', removed. That is an alternate way of saying 'died', but this language works too.
Taking off the old self is a little like changing clothes. And the next verse actually brings that out.
We have PUT ON the 'new self'. Is that an instant change? I wish.
Verse 10 says the new self is 'being' renewed. That is a daily process. Now remember this: We are NOT killing the old self, and putting on the new self ... in order to qualify for heaven! Not at all! Jesus qualifies you for heaven on the basis of his having died for your sins ... and your recognizing that as an unbelieving sinner, you are bound for hell and you call on him to cleanse you from all sin ... a spiritual bath ... and you ask him to make you one of his children. That is instantaneous. That is not a process. But changing the New self IS a process.
This is a good time to re-look at Ephesians 2:8,9
By grace we are saved ... that is, by God's favor. That favor cannot be earned ... God just favors anyone who calls to be saved from hell. He adds salvation is 'not based on works' because, if it were based on works we would be boasting about how good we are . But then he adds, we are saved ... we have become his 'project'. He will work on us so that we WILL produce good works.
Verse 11 is another reminder of the 'precious' things' we like to cling to ... died, and that being in Jesus ... we have it all!
We talked about the 'dying' process. Things that we needed to kill. Our old Self is dead or dying. We talked about putting on a new self ... and that is a process. Now we get some detail on PUTTING ON the new self:
And that will come in our next session.
Study no. 6
To win the inner civil war, you have to set your heart and mind on Christ
The Apostle Paul, from prison, writes to the Colossians' Church – a church that he has never been to personally. We read in the first few verses of chapter 1 how Paul commended the church are for their spirituality, for their commitment to Christ and for their faith. What we have before us in chapter 3 is quite a change in his tone. He now talks to them about the evil practices that they need to get rid of out of their lives. How does he know that they are guilty of any of these things? Number one it could be because he expects this of all human behavior knowing the sin nature that we all have. Number two it could be that he is only addressing some of the church knowing that not everyone is spiritual, faithful, and committed to Christ. \ Or number 3 he understands that all of us have two natures. We have the old sin nature, and we have The Godly nature which has been implanted at Salvation. Someone has said that most Christians are schizophrenic. That is, a Christian has two natures. The original King James version refers to the old nature as the 'old man', while the NIV calls it 'the Old Self'.
Here is an example that we all can identify with …
Romans 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. NIV
Do not hang on to the past v 1-3
For you died (v3). What a statement. I really think that most of us do not feel like that. This is the 'me' generation. We have grown up with the statement, 'That's just who I am'. The last thing we want to do is give up who we are. What is Paul meaning, exactly, when he says that we have died? He put it this way, those things that I counted as 'gain' (or having value) I now count as loss.
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
What was on Paul's list of things that 'died' when he took Jesus as his saviour.?
His ethnic background – superior race of people
born into the 'only' religion in the world.
Fully Committed to his religion
Committed his life to a worthwhile cause.
All the above 'died' after Paul's conversion to Jesus
In addition: Everything else that he had previously 'treasured'.
Was that easy for Paul to do?
1Co 9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Ga 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
... at least this is what we are supposed to have done!
So how do we get the victory?
First he said 'Set your mind on things above'. So we need to become 'heavenly minded'. We must feed our mind with God's wonderful word. There are several ways to do this. It could be by reading a daily devotional. It could be by trying to memorize a single verse for the day.
Secondly we need to quit feeding our 'old nature'. Stop building yourself up in the eyes of others.
Pr 27:2 ¶ Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.
We need to kill all the things listed in verse 5.
Those attributes and qualities of your life of which you are proud and have been the reason for achievements you have made … can get in the way of God really accomplishing his will through you.
1Co 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
29 so that no-one may boast before him.
Don't underestimate the destructive power of sin v 5-11
- Paul adds to the list of things that have to be 'killed'.
Col 3:8 ¶ But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips.
Looking carefully at the list ...notice where pride fits in: Anger (I am not getting MY way). Rage (Nobody respects ME), malice and slander (That person took MY credit, got MY promotion ... I will get even!) filthy communication (I will talk BIG and use all of powerful four letter words ... I will get respect!) Do not lie to each other (I am going to make MYSELF look good, even if I have to lie and bend the truth)
Pride shows up and causes us to do all of these things because the old 'me' is very much alive.
Verse 9 says the 'old self' is 'taken off', removed. That is an alternate way of saying 'died', but this language works too.
Taking off the old self is a little like changing clothes. And the next verse actually brings that out.
We have PUT ON the 'new self'. Is that an instant change? I wish.
Verse 10 says the new self is 'being' renewed. That is a daily process. Now remember this: We are NOT killing the old self, and putting on the new self ... in order to qualify for heaven! Not at all! Jesus qualifies you for heaven on the basis of his having died for your sins ... and your recognizing that as an unbelieving sinner, you are bound for hell and you call on him to cleanse you from all sin ... a spiritual bath ... and you ask him to make you one of his children. That is instantaneous. That is not a process. But changing the New self IS a process.
This is a good time to re-look at Ephesians 2:8,9
By grace we are saved ... that is, by God's favor. That favor cannot be earned ... God just favors anyone who calls to be saved from hell. He adds salvation is 'not based on works' because, if it were based on works we would be boasting about how good we are . But then he adds, we are saved ... we have become his 'project'. He will work on us so that we WILL produce good works.
Verse 11 is another reminder of the 'precious' things' we like to cling to ... died, and that being in Jesus ... we have it all!
We talked about the 'dying' process. Things that we needed to kill. Our old Self is dead or dying. We talked about putting on a new self ... and that is a process. Now we get some detail on PUTTING ON the new self:
And that will come in our next session.