Colossians 3:1-11

Colossians chapter 3 verses 1 through 11. I lost my spot when I was over I can turn to Daniel real quick all of a sudden but for whatever reason I was in first Corinthians I wonder why pressure's on rank all right Colossians chapter 3 verses 1 through 11. God's word says this if then you have been raised with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on Earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory put to death therefore what is Earthly in you sexual immorality impurity passion evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry on account of these the wrath of God is coming in these you too once walked when you were living in them but now you must put them all away anger wrath malice slander and obscene talk from your mouth do not lie to one another seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self

Which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator here there is no Greek and Jews circumcised and uncircumcised Barbarian scythian slave free but Christ is all and in all and so God we do pray that your word would be lifted high today that as we talk about worship that you would make us Supple to your teaching help us to rightly apply your word to our lives we love you and we thank you for this day in Jesus name amen yeah y'all can go ahead and have a seat now there's a story of an Indian man who is on a plane and he was flying from London to New York now he's on this plane and there's an empty seat next to him and he's just hoping that someone interesting sits next to him and lo and behold Here Comes Albert Einstein Albert Einstein is sitting next to him and he's wanting to strike up a conversation but he doesn't really know how but Albert Einstein actually strikes it up he says hey since we've got such a long flight how about we just make it kind of interesting so the man says okay well what do you what do you think that we should do he said well I tell you what how about we play a game of questions I ask you a question and if you can't get it right you give me five dollars but you can ask me a question and if I can't get it right I'll give you five hundred dollars yeah so you know he says well that sounds like a pretty good deal yeah let's do it so the Albert Einstein he says I'll I'll go first and he says can you explain for me linear analysis in calculus

And so the Indian man he reaches into his pocket and pulls out five dollars gives it over to Albert Einstein you know Einstein's pretty pleased with himself oh man says okay Mr Einstein I'd like to I'd like to ask you a question what goes up a hill on three legs and down a hill on four legs gotcha well let me think about that and so for hours he's racking his brain he's thinking through it he's he's looking back over some books that he had carried with him on the plane just to see if there was an answer in there and he's he's talking to other people out around him and he can't come up with the answer in the meantime this man has gone to sleep and they're over the Atlantic Ocean about six hours into their flight Albert Einstein wakes them up and says sir I can't figure out the answer here's your five hundred dollars and so the man puts the money in his pocket starts going back to sleep and Albert Einstein says by the way what does go uphill on three legs and comes down on four legs so the man reaches into his pocket pulls out five dollars and gives it to Albert Einstein that there's a mystery to it what does go uphill on three legs and downhill on four you know there are a ton of answers to that but and riddles and questions they can be hard to answer and there can be a mystery to a lot of those different things but when it comes to worship this is one of those areas that we're not really left in the dark with a bunch of unanswered questions I mean sure people they've got all sorts of opinions and there's literally hundreds of books on worship if I could write down a list for all the books on

Worship that me and Austin have read over the past several years it would probably stack about this High just books on worship there's tons of different philosophies and preferences and thoughts and many of those things we just have to treat with open hands because what is true about worship that we say is true about worship must also be true about worship for all time in all places and one of the things that is true about worship that I really enjoyed about A.W tozer's definition is that it is inherently intimate it is intimate it is us as creatures drawing close and many times feeling close with the Lord and so worship is intended to engage the whole person we are called and commanded to love the Lord Our God with all of our heart all of our soul all of our mind all of our strength and so worship is designed and intended to engage the whole person this means that our mind our emotions our desires our values our entire being should be loving and joyfully so towards the Creator that made you designed you and loves you now as we as we look at Colossians 3 today it's important to remember that three comes after two well good job Pastor that's what we paid you for right what's interesting about Colossians is that it actually mirrors almost exactly the book of Ephesians and if you if you read both of them side by side you just see this beautiful parallel we talked about that when we preached through the book of Ephesians two years ago but the theme of Colossians which you probably picked up on and as we were reading chapter one is about the

Supremacy and the glory and the Majesty of Jesus Christ that's what that's what we see in chapter one in chapter two we see Paul writing about the toil that he has for the churches and how he works tirelessly for their good and on in chapter two he warns the Colossians to be established in the faith so that no one would be able to take them captive by philosophy an empty deceit and he goes on to list ways that people try to make themselves holy to make themselves more pleasing to God by doing things that God hasn't explicitly asked us to do he gives some examples like abstaining from certain foods or not celebrating certain days and he asks this question in Chapter 2 verses 20 through 24 it should be up on your screen if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world why as if you were still alive in the world do you submit to regulations do not handle do not taste do not touch referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings these indeed have an appearance of wisdom and promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body but they are of no value in stopping the Indulgence of the flesh in other words you are free in Christ to live under him and so why submit ourselves to human wisdom which is ultimately foolishness to God human wisdom it looks wise but you know what sometimes happens is that it promotes legalism it may have the appearance of humility but in its very essence it's Pride and so the cure for this deception is what chapter 3 is all about look with me at verse one in your Bibles it says if you have been raised with Christ Lord willing we will celebrate a baptism next week and we're excited for that we're going to have that visible

Symbol of being raised with Christ about salvation regeneration adoption justification by faith alone those are good things amen but what Paul is talking about here is what Austin read about and the Baptist faith and message the Salvation it's not talking about baptism being raised with Christ that's the symbol of what actually has happened what he's talking about is the act of being adopted regenerated justified in the sight of God by faith alone and upon being raised and if you're taking notes write this down we are called to live redeemed lives we are called to redeem living and this means that as a result of the new birth you have a new mind you have a new nature you have a new heart which causes you and I to live redeemed lives and I want to apologize if that's really hard to read when I designed it on my computer it looked a lot more readable so I'm sorry you have to listen closely now that note when it says you have been raised with is all one word in the Greek and it's in a Giro which means of course you think of synergy working alongside there but what it is that you have been picked up you have been placed with Christ in the Heavenly places and the difference is okay that Christ he laid down his life and he took it up of his own accord none of us can lay down our lives and take it back up again he reached down into our grave into our Crypt and he rose us up with him in the Heavenly places Jesus Christ he truly and physically rose again from the dead amen we believe that with all of our hearts it's what gives us an eternal hope that Christ literally and physically rose again from the dead and so we thank the Lord for that and because of his physical Resurrection we

Also are promised a physical Resurrection as well and as a result of that change in our lives that reception of a new nature and a new mind and a new heart it also means that we should look a little bit different than when we were when we were in our Graves actually I would say we should look a lot different than when we were in our Graves see before Christ we could lie we could cheat we could steal we could blaspheme we could hate we could be selfish we could seek our own good we could be lustful we could be drunkards whatever right but not anymore in Christ sin was our Graves but now we are called to be dead to the Grave and we are now raised with Christ by faith and so we should be Heavenly minded as Paul says here in the passage it says seek the things that are above you've heard it said don't be so Heavenly minded that you're of no earthly good and I would say that the converse is true don't be so Earthly minded that you're of no Heavenly good the Scripture says here in verse 2 set your mind on things that are above not on things that are on Earth and so there's that contrast here above kind of living below kind of living excuse me Heaven and Earth they are contrary to one another they're not they're not accents of one another they're completely opposed to one another and the fact is that you can't follow both Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 in his Sermon on the Mount no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other he will be devoted to the one and despise the other cannot serve God and money number one thing that

Divides our loyalties to the Savior are the things that are in this world and so gotta ask you Christian what draws your heart what are the things that maybe get you excited or the things that make you thrilled and happy you know political season's coming and the next two years just hold on guys do political defeats really get you yeah or is it Gospel Proclamation that gets you excited is it a social event that she lived for maybe a particular hobby or maybe maybe even something like a good discussion on theology see it's the Lord alone that deserves a heart's affections and attentions and this is the Mark of redeemed living to set our minds on things that are above not on the things that are on earth and as Christians we are called to be in the world not of the world we are called to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness the ESV it tells us their seek The New American Standard it says keep seeking NIV I love how it translates this it says set your heart on things above set your heart on Jesus he told his disciples I am going to go to Jerusalem to die and Peter he opposed Christ he said there is no way that I am going to let that happen to you Jesus and what did what did Jesus say to Peter he said get behind me Satan you are a hindrance to me for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man and we might look at Peter and go how ignorant but you know if we were his Apostle his disciples back then you know what we would do we would do the same thing we'd go Jesus why are you going to die don't you want to be here with us isn't

Being with us better and the fact is that we would probably be in their same shoes being Earthly minded rather than Heavenly last night in our devotional time as a family we read Romans chapter 1 verses verse 17. And in that in that verse it says that the just shall live by faith that's what we see because we were raised we are called to redeemed living which means being raised with Christ being Heavenly minded living by faith secondly we're called to remember the Gospel the good news is that we were once disobedient to God we were once disobedient to God's laws we were haters of God we enjoyed the grave we enjoyed living excuse me excuse me we enjoyed living there but in spite of our Grave Loving by his love and his work we okay I don't know praise the Lord for it though foreign that wasn't Jeff was it make him beat red just messing with you buddy I love you but we were haters of God we enjoyed the grave we enjoyed living in our Crypts before Christ and by his own love and his own work he reached down to us through his son he sent his only begotten son who died on a cross and rose again and raised up all who would trust in him and so now we are dead to the Grave not dead in the grave we are alive in Christ because of what Jesus did for us and remember that we have we have died to sin because we have been raised to life with Christ and now our lives are hidden with Christ what are you tempted to hide in other words where do you find your identity is it is it in your kids do you live

Vicariously through your children do you find that you find that your whole life is focused around getting a higher salary or a more prestigious position or is your value being found in being hidden with Christ see we've we discover Joy when we find that our value is in him and in what he has done for us you see worship is where our whole being is focused around the goodness of God and what he has done and so if you if you work if you have a professional job you work for the glory of God it doesn't matter if it's sacred or if it's secular if you're a Christian it's all sacred every single job that you do you do it for the glory of Christ you obey his word you don't lie you don't blaspheme you don't join in the course joking you remember the Sabbath day and stay in fellowship with believers you do those things because you love the Lord if you're retired it means resting around the goodness of God and volunteering and serving for the glory of God because he has bought you at a price therefore glorify God with your body the Bible says here in verse 4 that Christ is our very life he's everything Tim Hughes he had a song way back in the day and well way back in the day 2005. It was be my everything and the lyrics go like this it says God in my living there in my breathing God in my waking God in my sleeping God am I resting there in my working God in my thinking God in my speaking be my everything be my everything that's the Cry of a believer's heart God if there's any place of rebellion in me work it out of me God be the Supreme joy and hope and love of my heart's affections because so many times God I'll be honest

My heart doesn't go that route and I have to consciously choose to obey the Lord and to serve the Lord and to submit the Lord so God be my everything and the number one affection and joy of our hearts we fall so woefully short of where it should be but there's Grace there's so much grace we live with divided Hearts we live with divisive motives rather than living in the Gospel and this shouldn't be the case but one day we'll understand this mystery and he will appear and we will be with him in glory in the meantime we are called to remember the Gospel third calling here is to crush personal sin and we're talking about Grace we're talking about death verse 5 is the instruction put to death what is Earthly in you and y'all y'all got to see a wonderful illustration about you know literally putting those things down when we look at when we talk about putting to death what is early in you this is because of God's grace and his salvation in your life and because we have been raised we should now live lives of worship not lives of rebellion and Paul he goes on to list a few acts of rebellion and there's other areas in Scripture where Paul does this from Romans 1 and in Galatians 5 you can study those lists and everything the point is that you have been saved by Christ Jesus and now you and I are called to crush the sin that seeks to subsert God's work in our hearts because Christians are redeemed people and we are called to spread the message of Salvation and to live holy and peaceful lives not to spend our lives on passions and preferences and pleasures I mean how on Earth can Christians praise the Lord and worship him when so many times our lives or our lives are opposed to his will and this is why Paul instructs us as worshipers of God to kill those things

That rise up out of those Graves John Owen he was Puritan preacher you guys have heard me talk about the mortified mortification of the flesh he said this and I got some cartoon artwork for you do you mortify do you make it your daily work be always at it whilst you live see it's not a day from this work be killing sin or it will be killing you we look at that and we think oh that's kind of morbid well it is remember that sin does not want your life it wants your destruction it wants you to be destroyed so we see so we see there you got Pride you got lust you've got Envy you've got greed you've got gossip all these different areas the thing about putting them down in the grave there that they will come back daily hourly sometimes sometimes you won't think of something for years and then kind of like a bird flying over your head and all of a sudden just whoa where'd that come from where'd that Temptation come from sin always seeks to destroy and we could attribute this quote to him but you know John Owen all he was doing was just elaborating on Romans chapter 8. If we look at Romans 8 verses 13 through 17 it says for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the Deeds of the body you will live for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God for you to not receive the spirit of Slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption as Sons by whom we cry Abba Father the spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him don't forget

This warning in verse 6 that it says here in Colossians chapter 3. That it's because of sin that God is coming to judge the world one day he will he will return to judge the world it will be judged fairly it'll be judged completely there is not one area of Our Lives that will be hidden everything will be known those dark secrets everything will be put out unless it is dealt with now unless you submit that and repent of those things now is the day of salvation now is the day to repent and tell the Lord I'm sorry for that God can you forgive me the Lord says yes he will Bible promises that he won't even remember those sins anymore fourthly we are called to think of our Salvation verse 7 it humbles us because Paul reminds us that we too once walked in this seven verse 7 it humbles us because it tells us that we once walked in here we were all once sinners we were children of the evil one we were following our sinful desires seeking out pleasure and we were by Nature children of Wrath so what does this have to do with worshiping our Lord everything when we when we revisit our former State when we visit our grave and we look here lies Cody Harlow a liar a blasphemer a disobedient child a hater of God it reminds me that I did not do anything to earn salvation I didn't do anything to deserve what Christ did for me on the cross the cross it pierces our hearts and it shatters the Heart of Stone and when we begin to lose sight of that Grace we lose sight of God's glory

Because it's no longer worship it's a work of the flesh when we just sing songs that aren't filled with gratitude we remind ourselves that this was our life but we don't live like that anymore because we are now dead to that life and we have to continually die to it to continually kill it because it will come back but remember that we are Redeemed by the blood of Christ fifth calling is the call of division of ourself now what I mean by this is that before Christ we had one nature one heart one hope we were dead we could sin and totally feel okay with that but when God saved us through the message of the Gospel there were some things that changed firstly we received a new heart we didn't receive a stone cold dead heart but a heart of Flesh that was on fire for the Lord we were recipients of his grace and the only thing that we could do was worship Him and so I encourage you to go back to that moment that moment when he saved you and called you his own child remember that joy and remember that peace that he gave to you I remember my daughter Lily it was not long after she had been a Christian she was underneath our kitchen table goofing off and she just pokes her head out and she says Dad look it's me the Christian you know she was just so excited to tell people about her own heart change about what Jesus had done and we laugh about that all the time she's looking at me she's like what you talking about Dad well when I became a Christian there were things in my life that had to change too I celebrated a culture of death and lust and so I had to make significant changes to my life because I was redeemed I didn't want to go back to the

Crypt I didn't want to live in my grave thankfully Lord sent people and Scriptures at the right time to hold me accountable and move me along the right direction and I still don't deserve any of God's grace even in spite of all the changes that I've made and it's good for me to remember because it causes my heart to overflow with gratitude and I pray that when you revisit your conversion experience that your heart is filled with gratitude as well secondly we also received a new nature before salvation our nature was rebellious just like Adams and we were doomed we were doomed to continue on into our in our Graves with no true desire for any type of real help but now we have a new nature because of what Jesus did for us and Paul talks about that at length in Romans chapter 7 and so we learn in that particular passage that well I'll go ahead and I'll read it for I do not understand my own actions for I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate you ever related to that more ever now if I do what I do not want I agree with the law that it is good so now it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out for I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing you track him with me you understand that I've never related more to Paul than in that sentence right there now if I do what I do not want is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me so I find it to be a law that when I do right evil eyes close to hand for I Delight in the law of God in my

Inner being but I see in my members another law Waging War against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members Wretched Man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord and so then I myself serve the law of God with my mind but with my flesh I serve the law of sin and so we see that Paul even had this divided nature that he broke down into spirit and flesh being Heavenly minded and dealing with that old nature of Earthly mindedness you know David he sinned with Bathsheba he sinned against Uriah but it wasn't until Nathan the prophet declared God's word and David repented that God was able to do a work in him and draw him back to himself you see David he never lost his relationship with God he didn't like become unsaved or anything like that even in spite of that major sin but there was the means of Grace that was broken in other words you and I if we continue in rebellion and we continue in sin what can happen is that distance between us and the father grows and grows and grows and just like that prodigal son that left the father okay you can go the whole world around that father is still going to love you he's still going to be looking for you and what do you have to do you repent you believe the character and the goodness of the father and you return to him because he says that he will receive you back to himself finally in verse 11 we see a final call to Unity in Christ verse 11 it begins with the word here there is and I want to ask that question where is here it's kind of a weird weird phrase there because we don't see many locations in this passage it's not the cross

Because Cross isn't mentioned in the text it's not sin that wouldn't make sense it's not our old man or our new man but it's the person and the place of Christ it is here it is in Jesus where we are hidden with Christ in the Heavenly places where we don't have these divisions by race or social status or political alignments or anything like that and so we can look at this passage and we can see that Christ is all and in all not meaning that God is in everything that's pantheism but your brothers and sisters in Christ are one with the father just as you are one with Christ and we are together one in the Lord that means that we are united together that his desires and our desires are one and it's found in Christ not in ourselves not in our wants not in our supposed needs and so in Christ none of those things that divide us on Earth really matter because we seek the Lord and we put to death the passions of The Old Man and the Earthly desires and so we seek the Lord and his will for our lives and our world and this message is one that we are to carry to the world because this world desperately needs to see a united front of believers who are carrying that message of Hope in unity in love and how do we do that best how do we bring that message of Hope to our neighbors well we do it by living lives pleasing to the Lord that's true worship it's by sharing and telling of his goodness on us and what he has done through his son Jesus Christ it's showing your family your friends your neighbors your co-workers the positive change that you are no longer the same person as you were in the grave but you are now called to walk in a new life and so he calls you to do that and what would happen if

For one month Believers at First Baptist Church lived like that if we didn't if we chose to live redeemed lives remembering the Gospel crushing personal sin instead of trying to take out the speck in our brother's eyes what would it be like if we wrestled with our divided nature until the new man wins to work toward unity in Christ and making much of Christ because he is all in all what would happen our community would be revolutionized our worship would be completely different if our lives reflected what we Proclaim We Believe and my prayer is that we would be worshipers and one of the ways that Christ has symbolized this is through the partaking of communion and so we're going to take communion and then we're going to take do a song okay now if you did not take the elements at the beginning of service now would be a time for you to get up and make your way up here to the different doors those of you who have children if your child is not a Christian they are not allowed to partake communion okay it's just it's something that we don't want them to drink judgment upon themselves the Scriptures give that direction and so what you can do during this time is you can walk through this time with them explain to them what the bread means Express explain to them what the wine means and if there's anyone that needs needs a communion cup and you did not receive one are those all out got a few more over here we've got about 20 and there's a whole bunch back there okay if you could just maybe raise your hand I think Dan he's one of our deacons he'll he'll try he'll get you one

If you are not a believer okay like if you're if you don't know where you would spend eternity I would ask that you not partaking communion communion is a special meal for believers and that we remember what Christ did for us on the cross and if that Grieves your heart I would encourage you to repent of your sin place your faith and trust in Christ and you can you can partake in communion you know next month when we when we partake in it together I would like to talk with you about that but there's nothing more important than knowing where you will spend eternity you see communion it explains the Gospel the bread it represents the body of Christ oftentimes 11 yeast is used to describe sin and how it would impact every part of the dough you just add a little bit in and it goes all throughout the whole whole whole dough that's why we use unleavened bread that's why it's a cracker it doesn't have any leaven in it reminds us of Christ's sinlessness and his death on the cross the Bible says that he was crushed that his body was bruised that he was beaten and in the same way we are called to partake in communion and remember his body that was bruised and crushed for us the Scripture says this in First Corinthians chapter 11. It says for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you at the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread what I would like to do is before we partake in communion I would like us to Bow our heads and close our eyes and prepare our hearts to partake in the Lord's supper together Lord thank you for the your table that you invite us as Believers to thank you for the Redemption that we have

Through your son thank you for the love that you've shown to us by sending your son God thank you that there is just one table that really matters and that all of us who are in Christ are invited not as pastors or Elders or preachers or deacons or missionaries or whatever there's there's no division except are we in Christ thank you for that Lord if there's any areas of hidden and secret sins desires and lusts Lord I pray that we would forego partaking in communion until we have those issues settled firmly in our hearts that you are infinitely better you were good the Scripture says in verse 24 and when he Jesus had given thanks he broke the bread and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me take the bread and eat with me Lord we are so thankful for your body that was bruised for us chastisement that brought us peace was upon you and by your stripes we are healed God we thank you for that Lord as our minds and our hearts now turn to the blood that was poured out for us thank you for saving us completely that not one drop of your blood was ever wasted but yet you fully drank the full cup of the father's Wrath taking on My Punishment and the punishment of every single person that would trust in you God Lord we thank you for redeeming us as Christians gathered around our table knowing that none of us are here by our own efforts or good works but only through the spilling of your blood thank you for that in Jesus name

Amen Scripture says in the same manner also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me take the cup and drink for as often as we eat this bread and we drink this cup we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes let's pray and actually let's all stand together let's pray and then we'll sing a song and depart from here together and so God we do thank you for this day thank you for your blood that was spilled thank you for calling us to Holy lives of worship help us God to serve you and to love you and to seek out your good in your glory God Lord you are always good and so what I mean by seeking out your good is your desires for us Lord we are so tempted to maybe visit the graves and dig up old things help us to put those things away to make it our work of moving past them that we might live unified holy lives reminding ourselves of the goodness of the Gospel help us go out of here declaring that truth as well we love you Lord we thank you for this day in Jesus name amen let's all worship together [Music] seeking you as a precious Jewel Lord to give up I'd be a fool You Are My All In [Music] Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name Jesus Lamb of God Worthy of your name taking my sin my cross my shame Rising

Again I bless your name You Are My All In All when I fall down you pick me up when I am dry you fill my cup You Are My All In [Music] Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name [Music] Jesus Lamb of God Worthy is your name [Music] all right you guys are a good looking crowd especially the fluids for those of you that don't know me I am Nick I'm one of the deacons here if you need something or if you want to accept Jesus to be your Lord and Savior come find me come find Cody or Austin and we'll be glad to sit here and we'll talk to you for however long it takes to talk so with that I'm going to pray us out of here and you guys enjoy your lunch and have a good day all right all right father we just come to you today Lord we thank you for this opportunity to worship you and to hear your words Lord and father I just ask that you just continue to keep our hearts open allow it to just soak in to take in what you've had brought before us today Lord father we pray this in the name of your son amen