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Remember Who(se) You Are (Part Ten) “Claim the New Life that God has Given You” Colossians 3:1-11 |
March 26, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
In 1942, 20-year-old Hiroo Onoda received a notice instructing him to join the Japanese army. He did so and after 2 years of training as an intelligence officer he was sent to the remote island of Lubang in the Philippines, to lead his men in guerilla warfare. His orders, delivered in person by the division commander, included this promise, “It may take 3 years, it may take 5 years but we’ll come back for you. Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily.”
Unfortunately for Onoda, shortly after he and his men were inserted onto the island it was overrun by the Allies. Repeatedly attacked, Onoda’s garrison began to diminish in numbers, so they decided to break up into cells of 3 or 4 men and hide in the remote interior regions of the island.
With virtually no supplies, Onoda’s cell was forced to live largely on bananas and coconuts but, committed to their cause, they continued to wait patiently for reinforcements and even managed to kill a villager from time to time, in the belief that the villagers they saw were actually enemy soldiers pretending to be villagers. But, mostly, they waited and they hid.
In October of 1945 they found a leaflet claiming that the war was over. They dismissed it as Allied propaganda.
As the months and years went by they found several other leaflets also declaring that the war was over, but they always found some reason to dismiss them as tricks.
In 1949, after 5 years in the jungle, one of the soldiers in Onoda’s cell simply walked out of the jungle without saying a word to the others. Onoda and his 2 remaining soldiers became even more cautious about being discovered.
In 1954, after 10 years in the jungle, another member of Onoda’s cell was killed in a skirmish. Onoda and his remaining soldier continued to wait for reinforcements.
18 years later, in 1972, Onoda’s only remaining team member was killed in a clash with a Filipino patrol. Now completely on his own, Onoda continued to hide.
In 1974 a college dropout named Norio Suzuki, heard about Onoda and decided to see if he could find him. And he did. Suzuki told him that the war had been over for decades, but Onoda told him that he would not come out of the jungle until his commanding officer ordered him to do so.
Suzuki returned to Japan, found Onoda’s commanding officer and returned with him to the Philippines where, on March 9, 1974 Major Taniguchi, read Onoda orders stating that all combat activity was to be ceased.
Onoda unloaded his rifle, eased the pack off his back and walked out of the jungle finally accepting that the war…which had ended 29 years earlier…really was over.
It’s an amazing story. 29 years of needless worry, fear and frustration. 29 years of needless hardship and deprivation. And all of this in spite of repeated announcements that the war was already over. If he’d simply accepted the truth he could have begun his post-war life 29 years earlier.
As we come, today, to chapter 3 in our journey through Colossians, we find one of the most critically important realities of the Christian faith. It’s a reality that, once accepted, frees us to begin living the joyful and victorious lives that Jesus wants us to live. Sadly, however, many Christians simply refuse to accept this reality as truth and by doing so they condemn themselves needlessly to lives of hardship and deprivation in a spiritual jungle.
So, what is this critically important reality that every Christian needs, first of all to understand and, secondly to accept as truth? Simply this: if you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord…if, as Paul said in chapter 1, you have been reconciled to God through the saving work of Jesus on the cross…in other words, if you are a Christian then the life you lived before you came to know Jesus is already dead and buried and the life you are now living in and with Jesus is totally and completely new.
And Paul’s word to us in this text is basically this—Since God has given you a brand new life, start living like it! Or, I suppose we could also say it like this, “Get out of the jungle. The war’s over!” God has already given every Christian a brand new life and it’s time to start living like it. And, thankfully, Paul tells us how to do it.
Beginning in Colossians 3:1-3 we read:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died…”
Let’s stop here for a moment and take a closer look at some key words and phrases beginning with that word, “since,” at the beginning of verse 1. The word, “since,” looks back to something that has already taken place. And, in this case, what’s already taken place is the death of our old life and the resurrection of our brand new life with Christ.
We see this clearly in verses 1 and 3. Verse 3 begins, “For you died…” That’s past tense. You died. And verse 1 says, “Since…you have been raised with Christ.” Again, it’s describing a present reality. You have been raised with Christ. So, the challenge that we are presented, then, is to accept as true the incredible reality that when we bind ourselves to Christ by a saving faith, his death and resurrection become spiritual realities for us right now.
Our old life—dead and buried.
Our new life—in and with the resurrected Christ.
And once we understand this and accept it as true, we can also understand the two commands that we’re given here in verses 1–2. And these are the commands.
#1 Set your heart on things above. The word, “heart,” speaks of the things that we desire.
#2 Set your mind on things above. The word, “mind,” speaks of the things that we value and delight in.
So, when we put all of this together, the command to us is this:
Since Christ has been raised out of the earth and is now seated above in a position of power and authority at the right hand of God…
…and since you have been raised with Christ…
…don’t let your heart and mind get preoccupied with earthly things…
…instead, keep looking up and learn to desire and delight in the things above.
Seek those things that deepen your relationship with Jesus. Delight in those things that Jesus delights in.
Don’t get caught up with the lesser things of this world. You don’t belong to this world anymore. Desire and delight in the things above.
And in verses 3-4 Paul gives us a word of encouragement to help us keep focused on the things above. He writes,
“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Folks, here’s the encouragement in those words—Right now, in this present existence on earth, the essence…the nature…the fullness of your life as a Christian is hidden with Christ in God. In other words, even as Christ is hidden right now from the eyes of the unbelieving world, so, too, your life in Christ is also hidden from the eyes of the unbelieving world.
--You know that Christ lives in you, but they can’t see him.
--You know that Christ is the source and power of your life, but that makes no sense to them because they can’t see him.
The reality of your life in and with Christ is hidden from them. But it won’t stay hidden forever. One day, Christ will appear in all his glory and on that day His glory will also appear in you. And your hidden life with Christ will be revealed for all to see. And all of those who didn’t believe will know that you got it right, and they got it terribly wrong.
--Folks, it’s no wonder that those who don’t know Jesus are preoccupied with earthly things. That’s all they can see.
--It’s no wonder that those who don’t know Jesus desire and delight in earthly things, that’s all they have.
But we know that that old earth-focused life that we once lived is dead and buried. That’s not our life any more. We’ve been raised with Christ. And that’s why we keep our hearts and minds focused on the things above.
Now, as we move on to the following verses, Paul is going to be very specific in identifying some of the attitudes and activities that have no place whatsoever in the new life that we now have with Christ. In verse 5 he writes,
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”
Let’s stop here for a moment and ask the obvious question—Why is he telling us here to put our earthly nature to death when, in the verses we just read, he told us that our old life has already died? In other words, why do we have to put to death something that’s already dead? Good question.
The answer is that while the death of our old life and the resurrection of our new life with Christ are, in fact, present tense spiritual realities, translating this already accomplished spiritual reality into a whole new way of life in the here and now is a process that each of us has to work out over the course of our lifetimes. It’s true that, through Christ, we have already gone from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive. Our challenge now is to claim the new life that Christ in us has now made possible.
And it’s this process that Paul has been describing. In verses 1-2 we discovered that focusing on the things above rather than on earthly things is key to the process. And in these next verses Paul identifies some of those earthly things that we must deliberately and decisively root out our lives.
Returning to verses 5-6 we read, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”
The first four sins identified are all sexual in nature. While the Bible consistently celebrates sexual expression within the marriage relationship, it also consistently condemns it outside of the marriage relationship and that’s the focus here of the prohibitions against “sexual immorality” and “impurity.” “Lust” and “evil desires” describe a consuming preoccupation with forbidden forms of sexual activity. Including “greed” in this list seems, at first, a bit off target, but in fact “greed” a similar kind of sin in that it describes a strong desire for something that is not what God desires for us.
So, the command to us is this—don’t allow yourselves to get caught up in these kinds of behaviors and thoughts. Keep your minds on things above.
Paul continues his list in verses 7-8 shifting his attention from sins that are sexual in nature to sinful attitudes that find expression in the things we say. He writes,
“You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”
Remember that Paul is writing this letter to a church, a body of believers that God has drawn into a living, dynamic relationship, even as He’s drawn us into the family here at Petaluma Valley. If you want to blow up a church family, just turn these kinds of attitudes loose in it. That’s why we’re told, “You must rid yourselves of all such things as these.”
Finally, Paul concludes his instruction in verses 9-11 saying,
“Do not lie to each other,…(Talk about a relationship killer. Folks, it’s impossible to maintain a sense of family among people who are dishonest.)… since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
Paul ends his lesson by reminding us that this fellowship that we enjoy as church family is a fellowship rooted in our mutual connection to Jesus, consequently we cannot bring into the church any kind of distinction or barrier that Christ, through the cross, has broken down.
--Ethnic barriers…“Greek or Jew”…must be banished from the church.
--Religious heritage barriers…“circumcised or uncircumcised”… must be banished from the church.
--Cultural barriers…“barbarian” or “Scythian” …must be banished from the church.
--Economic barriers…“slave or free”…must be banished from the church.
These kinds of artificial distinctions are rooted in our old life, but that old life is dead and buried and it has no place in the church. Here, among us, “Christ is all, and is in all.”
It’s good news that we’ve heard today. If you are a Christian, God has already won a great and decisive victory in your life. Your old life that was addicted to all kinds of sin is dead and buried. God has given you a new life empowered by Christ who completely defeated the power of sin at the cross.
Folks, you don’t belong to this world any more. You belong to Christ.
Remember who you are.
Remember whose you are.
Look up and claim your new life.
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum