11.10.09 - The Power To Live Right

Can you think of things you haven’t done? I can think back to my childhood and remember my parents asking me to do certain things and I didn’t do them. Much more recently, I have said to people that I will do things for them and I haven’t done them. I’ve made promises to myself that I will do some things and I haven’t done them. Why not?

It might have been that I was unclear what I was to do. That is one possibility but generally I’ve known what to do.

The other possibilities are that I wasn’t actually capable of it. If someone gave me a task that I wasn’t able to do, then obviously it is not going to get done. The problem then is “how”. I don’t have the means to do it. Or I have not been willing or I wasn’t sufficiently motivated. I could have done it but I chose not to. Maybe even at the time, in the back of my mind, I was saying, “I’m not going to do that” or maybe I intended to but as time passed I just simply failed to do it. Not being willing or motivated means I didn’t have a big enough “why”.

God wants His children to live a particular lifestyle. If we are not, is it the “what” that is missing? Is it the “how”? Or is it the “Why”? We have been looking at the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians. As we read chapter 3, verses 1 to 17 look for the what, the why and the how.

The most notable thing about this passage is that it contains a list of things not to do and a list of things to do. Verse 5 to 9 list eleven things not to do. Verses 12 to 17 list about 15 things to do. They are the “what” – what God wants us to do. We are not going to look at those today. God willing, we will do that next week – except just note one thing – how much the list is about relationships; about how we get on and how we treat each other. Yes there is work to be done as Christians but core to being Christians is how we relate. We will look at that more thoroughly next week.

Today I want to look at the other comments Paul makes – all the bits around those lists – because they give the why and the how.

By giving lists of things to do and things not to do, is Paul saying any more than, “Be good.” Is that the message of Christianity – “Be good”? If we say to someone, “Be good”, and even if we explain what that means, that person is still left with “why” and “how”. The Bible gives the why and the how.

Look at the first clause: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ... It is not just “Do this. Do that.” It is “Since you have been raised with Christ, do these things.” What difference does being raised with Christ make? In baptism, we are said to die with Jesus and to rise again with Him. Going under the water is like being buried. Coming up out of the water is like rising to new life. The old person has died. A new person has been raised. The person who comes out of the water is not the same person as went in.

2 Cor 5:17 ...if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The new person is expected to live a new life – a life that was described in 1:10 as worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way. It is just unthinkable that the new person, wonderfully saved by Jesus – rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ – will continue to live the old life that displeases Jesus. It is unthinkable that the person brought into the kingdom of Jesus will not obey Jesus, the king. The new person is expected to live a new life – compassionate, kind, humble, without anger or malice or greed.

Having received God’s grace; God’s goodness; God’s mercy; God’s forgiveness; God’s patience and gentleness, surely no one could think that he or she could continue living the old life. Having received so much from God, the only proper response must be to want to do everything I can to please Him. If not, we would have to ask if we really have experienced His saving goodness. As Jesus said, “those who have been forgiven much, love much.” If you don’t love much – if you don’t want to please Him in everything you do – if you don’t want to live the new life – have you actually been forgiven? Those who have been forgiven much, love much.
Suppose someone gave you a million dollars. If you then started bad-mouthing that person and being generally nasty towards him, people would see a glaring contradiction. They would say, “Didn’t he just give you a million dollars? I thought he had but you behaviour says that he didn’t.”

“Since you have been raised with Christ” gives us the why. That is the reason. God has done so much for you. That is the reason for living every minute of every day for Him.

But it also gives us the how. Having been raised with Christ, we are different people. It is not only that we owe it to God to now honour Him. We are now capable of honouring Him; we are capable of doing what is right. We are capable of turning our backs on sexual immorality and greed and anger. The old person wasn’t. The old person was a slave to sin and no matter how hard he or she tried, there was inevitable failure in one area or another. There was no escaping it.

But the new person is no longer a slave of sin. The new person can say ‘No” to what is wrong and can do what is right – can be compassionate and humble and forgiving. Before we were powerless. Now we have the power to do what is right.

Look back to chapter 1 verse 10. It talks about living a live worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in every way. Four things characterise that life. One of which is “being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that we might have endurance and patience”. The new life is about being strengthened by God so as to be able to keep on doing what is right. Unlimited power – all power according to His glorious might - available to enable us to live as we should.

Look at chapter 2 verse 6 and 7. This also is about how we should live. We are to be rooted and built up in Him and again it talks about being strengthened.

“Since then you have been raised with Christ” tells us why we should live a life worthy of Him but it also tells us how – by the power God gives.

Have you received new life in Jesus? Have you died with Him and been raised to new life? Then live a life worthy of Him. You have a responsibility to live in a way that glorifies and pleases Jesus. You have to make that decision. Don’t be half-hearted about that. If Jesus died for you, choose to live for Him. That is your responsibility but God will strengthen you to do that. As a new person, empowered by God, you can do it, therefore choose to do it. Choose to do it consistently.

What Paul says to do here is “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” Where is your heart? Is your heart set on things of this world? Is your heart set on a new iPod or a new house or a new car? Is your heart set on pleasure or travel? Is your heart set on making a name for yourself?
Paul says that in this new life our hearts are to be set on heavenly things. We are to look at everything in the light of eternity. If you have an eternal view, your priorities change. How important are possessions in the light of eternity? We cannot take them with us. In fact, they are a powerful distraction always calling us away from Jesus. A lot of things are both useless and dangerous if you have an eternal view. With an eternal view you don’t have to seek after every pleasurable experience. You can forego many pleasures knowing that this life is short. It will soon be over and God has far greater pleasures waiting for you in heaven anyway. Better to deny ourselves now and have that expectation of the far greater pleasures than to have a few pleasures now and miss out on what God has planned.

An eternal view affects every decision we make. Giving becomes more important than getting. Forgiving becomes more important than revenge. Serving becomes more important than ruling.

Not only our hearts, but our minds too are to be set on things above (v.2). Our thinking and beliefs are to be shaped by eternity and by the things of God.

v.5 – Put to death therefore... When Paul gives instructions – set your heart on things above; set you mind on things above, not earthly things; put to death; rid yourself of, take off, put on – obviously we are being told to do something. We have to take the bull by the horns and determine where our heart will be; what we will think about; what we will and will not include in our lives. We are responsible for acting.

But always remember that God has already acted. God has already set us free; He has already given us new life; He continues to strengthen us. Without Him we couldn’t do it. It is only because He enables us that we can be asked to do it at all.

What Christ has done for us tells us why we should live for Him. Our motivation is to honour the One who died for us. But if anyone needs more motivation, Paul makes two more comments. V.6 says that because of the acts of the earthly nature, the wrath of God is coming.

On the other hand, v.4 said that those who died with Christ and whose life is hidden in Him, when He appears, will appears and share His glory.

Take your pick. We can live for Jesus and receive His glory or we can live the lifestyle our earthly nature craves and receive God’s wrath. Think in terms of eternity. Then take your pick.

In vv.9 and 10, (and also v.12) Paul uses the image of taking off one set of clothes and putting on another. But it is not clothes. It is the old self that we are to take off and the new self we are to put on. God has made this possible. We are to appropriate in our own lives what God has made possible. God has given us a gift. We are to open that gift and use it. If you are a Christian, God has raised you to a new life. Stop being the old person. Take that person off, Throw it away. Put on the new person God offers you.
The new self is still being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator (v.10). Being renewed is an ongoing, daily experience. I am not like Jesus yet. It is a process of renewal. Every day decisions have to be made and God will use those decisions to transform us a little more into the image of Jesus. Every day we need to choose to continue to be part of that renewal process so that we continue to grow. The new self is open to the work of God. The new self wants to be transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Skip over the list of things we are to do and drop down to v.17.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Whatever you do... That means absolutely everything. Whether in word or deed. Everything you say and everything you do is to be done in the name of Jesus. What are you going to do this afternoon? Even that is to be done in the name of Jesus. Every conversation. Every comment. Every decision. Every action is to be carried out in the name of Jesus.

What does that mean in practice? William Barclay says, “One of the best tests of any action is: “Can we do it calling on the name of Jesus? Can we do it asking for his help?” One of the best tests of any word is: “Can we speak it, and can we in the same breath name the name of Jesus? Can we speak it remembering that He will hear, and asking Him to hear?” If a [person] brings every word and deed to the test of the presence of Jesus Christ, he/she will not go wrong.”

Since you have been raised with Christ... If you are not yet a Christian, you don’t yet have new life. You are still trapped in the old life. The life this world offers might look attractive but look at it in the light of eternity. Unless we have, through faith in Jesus Christ, been forgiven and been given the new life, the ultimate outcome is God’s wrath. The alternative is to let that old life die with Jesus and to receive the new life that will result in appearing with Him in glory when He returns.

If you are a Christian, God has given you a new life. Live that new life. Put off the old life. Put on the new life. You have to choose it but then God will make it possible.

There are some other questions: When? Now. God is asking you to live this life now. Where? Wherever you are. Don’t be a Christian some places and not other places. Wherever you are. Who? You.

Is there anything missing for you? God tells us what. He tells us what He wants us to do. He tells us why. Since you have been raised with Christ. Because you have received God’s grace. He tells us how: as new people whom God empowers. If you are not living as God wants you to, why not? What is missing?