Sermon from 9th July 2006
The New Life-Shape
(Colossians 3:1-17)
One of our Lay Readers, Trevor Tayleur continues our study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
New life, new lifestyle. That’s a very brief summary of what Paul wrote to the Colossians in the first 17 verses of Chapter 3. New life, new lifestyle. I suspect that some of you will know that this summary, New Life, New Lifestyle, isn’t original - it’s the title of a book written about 30 years ago by well-known Christian writer, Michael Green, and it sums up Paul’s message very neatly.Paul is drawing a sharp distinction between the old and the new, the old ways that Christians should leave behind and the new ways they should follow. As Christians we belong to God’s new world, the new creation that God is bringing in to replace the present world that is doomed to decay and ultimately to perish. However, we are living in a time of overlap, a time of overlap between the old creation and the new creation. Christ through his resurrection has overcome death and brought us back to God, but the old world is still around us. One day Jesus will return and heaven and earth will be joined together for ever in the new creation. But that hasn’t happened yet. We are still physically living in the old world, even though at the same time the good news is that if you are a Christian you already do belong to that new world. We are still in that period overlap; we have a foot in both worlds.Yes, we do have a foot in both worlds, but our final destination as Christians will be God’s new world. And what should that mean for us? Paul starts his answer to this question in verse 1, and The Message version of the Bible translates what Paul says in very clear terms; “So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.” And Cameron said something similar last Sunday, “If you are a Christian you have received Christ Jesus as Master. So now live him.” Paul is saying that we should let the new life be the governing principle of our existence. Learn to think about the things that are above, to see things from Christ’s perspective. And what Paul writes in this Chapter flows from this. “You have new life in Christ: adopt a new lifestyle. New life, new lifestyle.”There then follows in the next part of Chapter 3 a list of do’s and don’ts, what the heading in the NIV calls “Rules for Holy Living”, and this list follows on from what Paul said in the first few verses of the Chapter. We have new life in Christ, so how should we live in our new lifestyle? Now Paul isn’t being legalistic; he isn’t saying that you become a Christian by obeying a strict set of rules. We become Christians by accepting Jesus into our lives and by deciding to follow him. Jesus has rescued us from the idea that we have to reach God by our own efforts. But as a response to what Jesus has done for us, we should want to live lives that are worthy of him. So, what does Paul have to say about the hallmarks of a new Christian lifestyle? The picture that Paul uses is that of taking off old clothes and putting on new ones. In verses 9 and 10, Paul says, ”Do not lie to one other, for you have taken off the old self with its habits and have put on the new self...” In the early church, it was common practice for a candidate for baptism to take off the old suit of clothes they were wearing and then, after coming up from immersion, they would be a given a new set of white robes to wear, to signify the purity of the new life they were now entering.The point that Paul is making is that there are certain patterns of behaviour that may be acceptable in the world, but Christians need to take off the old clothes, the old patterns of behaviour, and put on new clothes, new patterns of behaviour. Paul will have more to say about the new clothes later on in the passage, but initially he concentrates on the old clothes to be got rid of. Firstly in verses 5-7 he deals with sexual morality, and secondly, in verses 8-10 he deals with speech. In verse 5 he says, “You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions and greed, (for greed is a form of idolatry).”The catalogue of sexual misbehaviour includes both actions and thoughts. Fidelity in marital relationships is of course vital, and clearly sexual promiscuity has no part in a Christian’s life. But it’s not just actions that Paul is concerned about. We may pat ourselves on our backs because we don’t commit adultery, but what about our thoughts? What do we fill our minds with? Now, it’s important to remember that it’s not a sin to be tempted. Jesus was tempted, yet he never sinned. Temptation only becomes a sin when you give into it. Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” You can’t stop the Devil from suggesting thoughts, but you can choose not to dwell or act on them. There is a big difference between physical attraction and lust. God has given us hormones, and you can find someone attractive without choosing to sin by lusting. Lust is a deliberate act of the will where you fill your mind with what you would like to do with your body. So-called adult movies and pornographic Internet sites, including the legal ones, fuel lust and so should be given a very wide berth.Paul is just as concerned with the sins of speech as he is with sexual sin. Paul was not a single-issue campaigner. Paul treats speech every bit as seriously as sexual morality. He puts it very bluntly in verse 8, “But now you must get rid of these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings. No insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips.” And in verse 9 he emphasises one particular danger, “Do not lie to one another…” God is a God of truth, and if we aren’t truthful we can do immense damage to the credibility of the Gospel.After listing his two areas of don’ts, Paul moves on to his do’s, but the do’s and don’t are two completely separate lists; they are in fact closely linked, as Tom Wright points out in his commentary as follows; “Paul is, of course, concerned for the individual behaviour of every single Christian. But, even greater than this, he is concerned for the well-being of the community as a whole. Sexual misbehaviour can tear a community apart (people often pretend that it’s a purely private matter, but it seldom if ever really is); so can malicious and abusive speaking.”In verse 11 Paul moves on to the well-being of the community, that is how we live together in the Church. “As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves and free men, but Christ is all, Christ is in all.” We don’t live our new lives in isolation; we live our new lives and new lifestyles as part of God’s people. The new life is about unity, about Christians coming together in love. The divisions of the old life must be banished, whether social, cultural, geographical, class or whatever. And in verses 12-17 Paul sets out his list of do’s. So far we’ve concentrated on the don’ts, and sometimes people accuse Christians of being negative, killjoys who want spoil people’s fun without anything positive to offer. Paul makes it clear that Christian faith is positive; Christ calls Christians to a life of love, peace and thanksgiving.So let’s look at what Paul tells the Colossians to clothe themselves with in verses 12-14: Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. What a list - and what a great challenge! Paul isn’t writing about a wishy-washy wimpish type of peace wherever everyone is scared to say boo to a goose. To the contrary, Paul is using initiative-taking words. To achieve unity, we need to be active in what we do. Compassion and kindness are what’s needed to counter the apathy that will walk by on the other side of the road. Humility is the opposite of pride; pride means we don’t really care what happens to others, only what happens to me; true humility means putting others first. Gentleness doesn’t mean being a soft touch, but in this context it means restrained strength, strength that is used with compassion. Patience isn’t merely the lack of complaint; it’s steady persistence in the face of all the difficulties that life may throw at us.But Paul understands the overlap that we’re still living in; the new world hasn’t yet fully come and we’ve still got a foot in the old world. And that is why we also need to be tolerant with one another and forgive whatever grievances we may have against each other. “You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you,” Paul urges them. God has forgiven us; that’s why we’ve been able to take off the old clothes and put on the new ones. Disagreements and disputes will still arise in the church, and how we handle them is crucial. John Wesley and George Whitfield were two very great evangelists, and in the 1700s their preaching brought about tremendous revival here and in the USA. But they had a serious doctrinal disagreement. Yet despite their deep personal disagreement, they managed to keep their own relationship going, and John Wesley preached at Whitfield’s funeral. However, their followers weren’t always so gracious. There’s a story that one of Whitfield’s supporters came up to him and asked, “Do you think that we will see Mr Wesley in heaven.” Whitfield replied, “No, I don’t.” Whitfield’s follower beamed with approval at this reply until Whitfield continued, “Mr Wesley will be so close to the throne of God that we will be too far away to be able to see him.” He knew that, despite their differences, they were both Christians.And Paul continues in the same vein. Put on love, he says. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Let the word of Christ dwell in your hearts, and be thankful. And in verse 17 he concludes, “Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus…” Jesus is central. The peace that we have is in Christ; the unity that we have is in Christ. We Christians can indeed be one, but only if we are united in our Lord Jesus Christ.The standards that Paul sets are high, and it is easy to think that you can never attain them, or to fall short of them. If you feel that, then you are in good company. Every Sunday we say the Confession because all of us fall short of God’s standard. If I claimed one Sunday that I didn’t need to say the Confession because I hadn’t sinned during the past week, I would be a liar. We can’t do it on our own. And that’s why we have each other. Paul urges us to keep our minds fixed on things in heaven, not on things that belong to the present world of change and decay. It’s worth noting that Paul wants us to use our minds, to think. Paul isn’t telling us to have nice warm feelings about each other and God. Paul wants us to think, rather than simply going with the flow of the world. Paul wants our minds to grasp the truth that Jesus has died for us, and that he has given us new life. And once our minds have grasped this truth, our hearts will follow.Let us pray. Father, help us to set our minds and hearts on the things that are in heaven, not on earthly things. Help us to live new lives that are worthy of you, clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. May we be united in our love for you and each other. Amen.
(Colossians 3:1-17)
One of our Lay Readers, Trevor Tayleur continues our study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
New life, new lifestyle. That’s a very brief summary of what Paul wrote to the Colossians in the first 17 verses of Chapter 3. New life, new lifestyle. I suspect that some of you will know that this summary, New Life, New Lifestyle, isn’t original - it’s the title of a book written about 30 years ago by well-known Christian writer, Michael Green, and it sums up Paul’s message very neatly.Paul is drawing a sharp distinction between the old and the new, the old ways that Christians should leave behind and the new ways they should follow. As Christians we belong to God’s new world, the new creation that God is bringing in to replace the present world that is doomed to decay and ultimately to perish. However, we are living in a time of overlap, a time of overlap between the old creation and the new creation. Christ through his resurrection has overcome death and brought us back to God, but the old world is still around us. One day Jesus will return and heaven and earth will be joined together for ever in the new creation. But that hasn’t happened yet. We are still physically living in the old world, even though at the same time the good news is that if you are a Christian you already do belong to that new world. We are still in that period overlap; we have a foot in both worlds.Yes, we do have a foot in both worlds, but our final destination as Christians will be God’s new world. And what should that mean for us? Paul starts his answer to this question in verse 1, and The Message version of the Bible translates what Paul says in very clear terms; “So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.” And Cameron said something similar last Sunday, “If you are a Christian you have received Christ Jesus as Master. So now live him.” Paul is saying that we should let the new life be the governing principle of our existence. Learn to think about the things that are above, to see things from Christ’s perspective. And what Paul writes in this Chapter flows from this. “You have new life in Christ: adopt a new lifestyle. New life, new lifestyle.”There then follows in the next part of Chapter 3 a list of do’s and don’ts, what the heading in the NIV calls “Rules for Holy Living”, and this list follows on from what Paul said in the first few verses of the Chapter. We have new life in Christ, so how should we live in our new lifestyle? Now Paul isn’t being legalistic; he isn’t saying that you become a Christian by obeying a strict set of rules. We become Christians by accepting Jesus into our lives and by deciding to follow him. Jesus has rescued us from the idea that we have to reach God by our own efforts. But as a response to what Jesus has done for us, we should want to live lives that are worthy of him. So, what does Paul have to say about the hallmarks of a new Christian lifestyle? The picture that Paul uses is that of taking off old clothes and putting on new ones. In verses 9 and 10, Paul says, ”Do not lie to one other, for you have taken off the old self with its habits and have put on the new self...” In the early church, it was common practice for a candidate for baptism to take off the old suit of clothes they were wearing and then, after coming up from immersion, they would be a given a new set of white robes to wear, to signify the purity of the new life they were now entering.The point that Paul is making is that there are certain patterns of behaviour that may be acceptable in the world, but Christians need to take off the old clothes, the old patterns of behaviour, and put on new clothes, new patterns of behaviour. Paul will have more to say about the new clothes later on in the passage, but initially he concentrates on the old clothes to be got rid of. Firstly in verses 5-7 he deals with sexual morality, and secondly, in verses 8-10 he deals with speech. In verse 5 he says, “You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions and greed, (for greed is a form of idolatry).”The catalogue of sexual misbehaviour includes both actions and thoughts. Fidelity in marital relationships is of course vital, and clearly sexual promiscuity has no part in a Christian’s life. But it’s not just actions that Paul is concerned about. We may pat ourselves on our backs because we don’t commit adultery, but what about our thoughts? What do we fill our minds with? Now, it’s important to remember that it’s not a sin to be tempted. Jesus was tempted, yet he never sinned. Temptation only becomes a sin when you give into it. Martin Luther said, “You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” You can’t stop the Devil from suggesting thoughts, but you can choose not to dwell or act on them. There is a big difference between physical attraction and lust. God has given us hormones, and you can find someone attractive without choosing to sin by lusting. Lust is a deliberate act of the will where you fill your mind with what you would like to do with your body. So-called adult movies and pornographic Internet sites, including the legal ones, fuel lust and so should be given a very wide berth.Paul is just as concerned with the sins of speech as he is with sexual sin. Paul was not a single-issue campaigner. Paul treats speech every bit as seriously as sexual morality. He puts it very bluntly in verse 8, “But now you must get rid of these things: anger, passion, and hateful feelings. No insults or obscene talk must ever come from your lips.” And in verse 9 he emphasises one particular danger, “Do not lie to one another…” God is a God of truth, and if we aren’t truthful we can do immense damage to the credibility of the Gospel.After listing his two areas of don’ts, Paul moves on to his do’s, but the do’s and don’t are two completely separate lists; they are in fact closely linked, as Tom Wright points out in his commentary as follows; “Paul is, of course, concerned for the individual behaviour of every single Christian. But, even greater than this, he is concerned for the well-being of the community as a whole. Sexual misbehaviour can tear a community apart (people often pretend that it’s a purely private matter, but it seldom if ever really is); so can malicious and abusive speaking.”In verse 11 Paul moves on to the well-being of the community, that is how we live together in the Church. “As a result, there is no longer any distinction between Gentiles and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, savages, slaves and free men, but Christ is all, Christ is in all.” We don’t live our new lives in isolation; we live our new lives and new lifestyles as part of God’s people. The new life is about unity, about Christians coming together in love. The divisions of the old life must be banished, whether social, cultural, geographical, class or whatever. And in verses 12-17 Paul sets out his list of do’s. So far we’ve concentrated on the don’ts, and sometimes people accuse Christians of being negative, killjoys who want spoil people’s fun without anything positive to offer. Paul makes it clear that Christian faith is positive; Christ calls Christians to a life of love, peace and thanksgiving.So let’s look at what Paul tells the Colossians to clothe themselves with in verses 12-14: Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. What a list - and what a great challenge! Paul isn’t writing about a wishy-washy wimpish type of peace wherever everyone is scared to say boo to a goose. To the contrary, Paul is using initiative-taking words. To achieve unity, we need to be active in what we do. Compassion and kindness are what’s needed to counter the apathy that will walk by on the other side of the road. Humility is the opposite of pride; pride means we don’t really care what happens to others, only what happens to me; true humility means putting others first. Gentleness doesn’t mean being a soft touch, but in this context it means restrained strength, strength that is used with compassion. Patience isn’t merely the lack of complaint; it’s steady persistence in the face of all the difficulties that life may throw at us.But Paul understands the overlap that we’re still living in; the new world hasn’t yet fully come and we’ve still got a foot in the old world. And that is why we also need to be tolerant with one another and forgive whatever grievances we may have against each other. “You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you,” Paul urges them. God has forgiven us; that’s why we’ve been able to take off the old clothes and put on the new ones. Disagreements and disputes will still arise in the church, and how we handle them is crucial. John Wesley and George Whitfield were two very great evangelists, and in the 1700s their preaching brought about tremendous revival here and in the USA. But they had a serious doctrinal disagreement. Yet despite their deep personal disagreement, they managed to keep their own relationship going, and John Wesley preached at Whitfield’s funeral. However, their followers weren’t always so gracious. There’s a story that one of Whitfield’s supporters came up to him and asked, “Do you think that we will see Mr Wesley in heaven.” Whitfield replied, “No, I don’t.” Whitfield’s follower beamed with approval at this reply until Whitfield continued, “Mr Wesley will be so close to the throne of God that we will be too far away to be able to see him.” He knew that, despite their differences, they were both Christians.And Paul continues in the same vein. Put on love, he says. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Let the word of Christ dwell in your hearts, and be thankful. And in verse 17 he concludes, “Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus…” Jesus is central. The peace that we have is in Christ; the unity that we have is in Christ. We Christians can indeed be one, but only if we are united in our Lord Jesus Christ.The standards that Paul sets are high, and it is easy to think that you can never attain them, or to fall short of them. If you feel that, then you are in good company. Every Sunday we say the Confession because all of us fall short of God’s standard. If I claimed one Sunday that I didn’t need to say the Confession because I hadn’t sinned during the past week, I would be a liar. We can’t do it on our own. And that’s why we have each other. Paul urges us to keep our minds fixed on things in heaven, not on things that belong to the present world of change and decay. It’s worth noting that Paul wants us to use our minds, to think. Paul isn’t telling us to have nice warm feelings about each other and God. Paul wants us to think, rather than simply going with the flow of the world. Paul wants our minds to grasp the truth that Jesus has died for us, and that he has given us new life. And once our minds have grasped this truth, our hearts will follow.Let us pray. Father, help us to set our minds and hearts on the things that are in heaven, not on earthly things. Help us to live new lives that are worthy of you, clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. May we be united in our love for you and each other. Amen.
posted by Parish Administrator at 1:15 pm
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