| Introduction The well-known theologian and philosopher, Marshawn Lynch, famously said, "I'm all 'bout that action boss." In some sense, we Christians are also all about that action. In this passage there are 5 actions that we are all about: seek, set, kill, put off, and put on. I. Two Actions That Flow from Whom We Are in Christ: Seek and Set, 1-2. A. These two commands (call to action) will shape the rest of the letter. 1. Putting sin to death, clothing ourselves with righteousness, family, church and societal relationships will be part of seeking and setting. 2. Also notice that these two actions involve doing and thinking. a. It is as if Paul started by saying that we are to act as citizens of heaven, but then quickly adds that we must also think as citizens of heaven. "You must not only seek heaven; you must also think heaven." J.B. Lightfoot b. As we think of these two commands, let's keep in mind that they flow from whom we are in Christ instead of making us to be something in Christ. "… we are to make that heavenly status the guidepost for all our thinking and acting." Douglas Moo B. Seek those things which are above. 1. Things consistent with the life to come, righteous things – things above = heavenly things, things consistent with the character of God. 2. Several things about this seeking. a. It is a constant seeking – present active imperative. b. It is an active seeking. 1) We don't sit around and if something comes up in our radar then we go for it. 2) We pursue righteousness. a) It means we try to find out we are supposed to do in the Bible. b) It means we learn to like what God likes. C. Set your mind on things above. 1. There is a repetition of the things above, but with increased intensity. 2. Not only do the things consistent with the character of God, but also think in a way consistently with the character of God. 3. The things above are concrete things like the ones described in 12-16. 4. Thinking right thoughts is an immensely important part of following Christ. Rom. 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. D. Do not set your minds on things on the earth, 2. 1. These are not necessarily bad things. 2. This exhortation is to not make the things of this life of ultimate importance. 3. The idea here is that sometimes we look at this life as all that there is, even as Christians. a. So we fret and worry and despair. b. Christ has freed us from that. 4. Paul here echoes what our Lord taught on the Sermon on the Mount. Mt. 6:33-34 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day isits own trouble. Mt. 6:19-21 – Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 5. How are we holding on this life? a. With a tight fist hoping that we get all kinds of blessings from life itself? That leads to despair. b. Or with open hands as a thank offering to the Lord? Lk. 9:24 – For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. E. When we seek and set our minds on things above because of who we are in Christ, we are ready to start living out the put offs and put ons of the following verses. "These four verses, then, point to the believer's union with Christ as the root principle of the whole Christian life. It is the point of departure and the source of power for all that he does." Curtis Vaughn II. Kill Sin, 5-7 A. Why? Because we still have indwelling sin! B. In order to deal seriously with indwelling sin, we must face up the reality that we sin. 1. We have been delivered from sin's reign, but we have not been freed from the presence of sin. 2. A constant struggle goes on within us as the flesh wages war with the soul. 3. There is a spiritual opposition that is war-like taking place in the innermost part of our beings. 4. There is a need, therefore, to look sin (personal and particular sin) in the eye. C. Despite the current trend in society and in the church in general, it is appropriate and necessary to talk about sin. 1. Paul gives us two detailed lists of sin that we are to mortify, 3:5, 8. "He who would make great strides in holiness must first consider the greatness of sin." J.C. Ryle in Holiness. 2. This idea has always been a core Christian belief. 3. Our problem is sin – it has been so since the Garden of Eden; and it remains so to this day. 4. We need to allow our hearts to be exposed by God's Holy Spirit to reveal the extent of sin's devastation upon us. a. It is something like what happens when we have an MRI of the inner organs and tissues of our bodies. b. It can show up not only what is healthy, but also what is cancerous and unwanted. c. It can see what the outer eye cannot. 5. When you get bitten by a snake, one of the best things you can do is to bring it with you to the hospital so that the poison can be recognized, and the relevant antidote prescribed. a. It is the same with sin. b. Unless we can identify (name) the poisons we will not know what the remedy will be. c. It is not enough to be vague and general about our sins. d. Sins have names, and we will do well to learn what they are. e. It will be a point of growth whenever we can identify what sins dominate our lives. f. Before we can do that, we will need to acknowledge that there is the need to do it. 1) Sin has got a hold of us in ways that we sometimes refuse to acknowledge. 2) We may be in some kind of denial about it. 3) We must begin by facing sin. D. Knowing that the ability and desire to sin dwell in us means that our eyes have been opened and we can deal with sin. 1. This is much like when a doctor diagnoses what's wrong and we come to appreciate the real need that exists. 2. Imagine a doctor saying to you: "Yes, there's something going on inside you, but we will not worry about that! Let's look on the bright side, shall we. Isn't it a beautiful day!" a. What would you think of that? b. Even if that satisfied your need for denial in the short term, I doubt that you would ever visit that doctor again! c. Most of us, when things get serious, want to know the truth, even if it hurts. d. The truth about our sin will hurt, make no mistake about that. e. But it will also enable us to grow by killing it. III. He identifies for us in detail what needs to be dealt with, 3:5, 8. A. The first list of five sins moves from external acts to internal motivations, 5. 1. The first thing Paul mentions is fornication. a. The word he uses covers all forms of sexual immorality. b. This includes any type of sexual relation that is outside of the one-fleshness that is sanctified by the bonds of marriage. 2. He links with it the attitude of the heart: uncleanness. a. This word means the same thing as the English word impurity. b. It applies to various kinds of moral evil. c. By using this word, Paul wants us to consider that what the mind will linger on in secret the body will do externally. 3. Then comes passion (inordinate affections) a. These are passions that come and master us, uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Rom. 7:5 – For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. b. These passions are in our hearts and we must kill them. 4. Evil desire is the next word by which he means something which is out of control. 5. And he ends the list by saying that all these sins are a form of covetousness, which is idolatry. "Covetousness is idolatry because it involves the setting of one's affections on earthly things and not on things above, and therefore the putting of some of other object of desire in the place which God should occupy in his people's hearts." F.F. Bruce a. These sins are selfish at their heart. b. They show, as Calvin wrote in his Institutes of the Christian Religion: "Man's mind is a perpetual factory of idols." c. We have lost your mind when we think that life is about satisfying what brings pleasure to us, and us alone! d. When we do that, we have made ourselves like God. e. We are bowing down to the god of self. 6. Paul's day was remarkably like our own. a. It was day when sexual immorality was everywhere. b. Paul's words here seem particularly pertinent for us today. c. Holiness, true holiness, demands total sexual purity. d. Sin has distorted what God intended to be a beautiful thing. 7. It is important that we all realize that Paul is talking to all Christians, not just males. a. There is this idea that women are immune to these sins. c. Perhaps their manifestation is a little different, but they are there. B. Perhaps this touches us very personally! 1. Nobody else knows about it. 2. Maybe, that's just as well. 3. It would certainly make this sanctuary a very ugly place if sexual sins were to be recited. a. Affairs, business trips, magazines, Internet. b. The list of possible areas that affect us is endless. C. Put these sins to death! It will destroy you if you don't, 6-7. 1. Do you notice that Paul has several motives for righteous living and not just positive ones? 2. In verses 1-4 the motive was positive. a. It is because of who we are, of what we have become in Christ. b. We have died and have been raised with Christ. c. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God. 3. But here, the motive is altogether negative. a. The wrath of God is coming on those who do not repent. b. Turn or burn, is what Paul is suggesting, blunt and harsh as that may sound. D. Sin also has a potential to destroy others, 8. 1. Now, Paul moves from internal emotions to external actions, doing the opposite (or mirror image) of what he had done in verses.5-7. 2. The five sins mentioned are: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language from your lips. 1) That spirit of being opposed in a hostile way to things that God desires for our lives. 2) Sinful anger is always against God. 3) There is a righteous anger that is perfectly proper and in accord with the highest reaches of holiness. 4) But that is not what Paul has in mind here. b. To anger he add wrath. 1) Today's equivalent for this word is rage. 2) We hear of road rage, and the rage of a husband towards his wife. 3) This word also carries the idea of a quick temper. 4) One commentator suggests it can be translated as "exasperation." 5) We could say that this word describes the action of flying off the handle. 1) Malice is the attitude that wishes or does harm to another. 2) This includes a refusal to forgive, and allied to cynicism. 1) We are not used to using this word with a person other than God as its object. 2) The word translated blasphemy in the NKJV is the word for slander. 3) Slandering is defaming someone's character or character assassination. d. It would be wonderful to say the church was free from this kind of thing, but it is not. E. Sex and speech, these are the features of life that are most out of control. 1. We will never grow until we bring the surgeon's knife of God's Word at these points in our life. 2. Augustine used to pray the following prayer: "Give me chastity, but not yet!" 3. But God is saying to us: I want it, now! F. Sin cannot always be dealt with privately. 1. In verse 9 he urges the Colossians not to lie. 2. He is not simply calling for truthfulness, but rather honesty and accountability. 3. Don't pretend, he seems to be saying. "If I am going to be able to function in this fellowship, then I had better stop pretending that I am better than I am. We need to be able to say to each other: 'I need your help, counsel, wisdom. I am struggling to Zion, rather than marching to it.'" Derek Thomas IV. How we go about dealing with sin A. There are two verbs that Paul employs in the passage that need to be engraved upon our hearts: put to death (v.5) and put off (v.8). B. They bring to mind the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount that urge us to pluck out right eyes and sever right hands – Jay Adams refers to this as radical amputation. "Let not that Christian think that he makes any progress in true holiness who is not prepared to walk over the bellies of his lusts." John Owen C. It may sound to you like legalism, but it is not. 1. That is a convenient word that some Christians employ to dodge the task of painful self-examination and change. a. They use this when some application sounds as though it will hurt. b. But it is not legalism to want to be as holy as Jesus. c. It is the only sensible thing to desire. d. Anything less is compromise and unworthy. 2. According to C.J. Mahaney, "Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and justification before God through obedience to God." 3. Paul says that we kill sin because we are justified, not the other way around. ConclusionWhat will that mean? It will begin with an honest owning up to the seriousness of our condition. It will mean facing sin down and pursuing its destruction at whatever cost to ourselves. It will mean going before the Lord and saying: "Lord, I have this besetting sin. And I am so sorry. I fly off the handle, or I trash people, or I gossip all the time. I rejoice when others fall because it makes me feel better about myself." It will mean changing habits and lifestyle, determined that our members be used for that which is holy and not that which caters to self-gratification at the expense of God's Word and God's ways.
Will you pursue this task? Without it, we will always be less than what God wants us to be.
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