DRESSING APPROPRIATELY IN THE NEW YEAR
Colossians 3:5-14
Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is one of the most beautiful places on earth!
Nestled in the Sierras, this picturesque lake is lined by 3 majestic volcanos—one of God’s masterpieces.
Our family always enjoyed escaping for a few days rest there.
On the shores of this beautiful lake are numerous Indian communities.
These communities have been invaded by young tourists who have come to live in their midst.
Wealthy parents pay bills so these young people will stay away and not embarrass them by their lifestyle.
When you walk into the typical stores in these towns, you find two kinds of clothes.
You can buy brand new typical clothes at normal price, plus a premium for tourists.
You can buy old, worn typical outfits, if you want to spend a LOT more money for the privilege!
Tourists’ desire to wear worn out clothes has resulted in a huge increase in price for used typical clothing.
It’s great for locals. They buy new clothes, wear them out, then sell them for a profit!
I wish I could do that!
The children of wealthy North Americans who have gone there to enjoy the “good life” have chosen the old worn out clothes and simple lifestyle of the local Indian people.
They could leave that lifestyle any time they want.
The poor Indians have no choice. It’s their only option. They have to live that way!
But these young people choose to dress like poor, oppressed people!
Paul addresses Colossians as many parents might want to address these young people.
We are children of the King of kings; we have everything!
we ought to dress appropriately.
Paul is dealing with Christians, under pressure to accept legalistic rules to please God.
The answer to that quest for fellowship with God isn’t legalism;
it’s new life in Christ!
One of the main reasons for Christ’s coming–one of the best Christmas gifts– is the FREEDOM Christ gave us from the old legalistic attempts to please God by living by the rules!
PRINCIPLES FOR LIVING A GODLY LIFESTYLE:
WALK BY FAITH–JUST AS YOU RECEIVED CHRIST BY FAITH 2:6-7
Learn to trust Him daily, not ourselves; as we did for salvation
IN CHRIST WE ARE COMPLETE; WE LACK NOTHING! 2:9-10
We have everything we need to please God.
DON’T DEPEND ON HUMAN RULES 2:16-23
Law only serves to steal the prize God wants to give us.
Law is only a shadow of the reality; it points to the real thing, but it ISN’T the real thing!
Christ is the real thing!
Rules don’t supply the power we need to live by them!
We will never accomplish it, in our own strength!
FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION ON THINGS ABOVE 3:1-4
Not on ourselves, nor on what’s going on around us!
Instead of focusing our attention on human rules, we walk with our eyes fixed on Christ.
He is seated at the right hand of God.
His work is complete and has already been accepted by the Father.
Therefore, our hope for the future is found in Him; NOT in ourselves
Get your eyes off yourself and what you have, or have not, accomplished.
Focus on what Jesus has accomplished.
Since we’re in Christ, evidence of our union with Him should be evident.
[NEGATIVELY, things we used to do in “the old country” should be left behind:]
PUT TO DEATH THINGS WHICH CHARACTERIZE OUR OLD LIFESTYLE 3:5-11
Lit., [-ow verb ending] => “consider them dead” –“pronounce them dead” [cp. “declare righteous”]
Paul doesn’t propose libertinism to get rid of the old legalistic lifestyle.
Nor does he propose “trying harder” to live by the rules!
Since we are no longer citizens of this world, we should abandon the world’s lifestyle
–it’s effort to “do it myself!”–
and adopt practices which correspond to the lifestyle of our new home.
Paul describes the sinful deeds we’ve grown used to in the world, which should be eliminated.
These are the kinds of things our earth-centered nature produces naturally (Cp. Gal. 5:19-21)
It’s what we do, when we “do what comes naturally!”
Previously we all walked this way, but now we ought to be different.
[Some common acts of earthlings should be “pronounced dead!”
They have no place in the new country.]
Things common in the world, but not appropriate among God’s people.
3:5-7—TWO MAIN KINDS of activities we should eliminate: 3:5
Sins of sexual immorality—both acts and desires
God’s people should have a different attitude about sexual ethics
Paul’s concept was radical to the pagan culture of his day.
No one thought sexual morality was an important value!
The popular attitude was “If it feels good, do it!”
Our society still thinks morality is old-fashioned! It’s stupid!
This popular lifestyle isn’t appropriate among God’s people.
Anyone who expects the system to educate our children about moral values is deluding himself. The world will NEVER propose God’s values!
Sexual immorality and living for God are opposed to each other.
Uncontrolled sexual desire produces a lifestyle that doesn’t please God.
FLEE any activity that encourages us to fix our attention on such thoughts or activities.
Pornography, fornication, prostitution, adultery, draw us away from fellowship with God.
Members of God’s family, shouldn’t play around with such things.
That’s not legalism. That’s the essence of godly character and integrity.
[2nd kind of sins to eliminate are . . . .]
Sins of greed or coveting
Materialism—desire for more—things, possessions
Desire for something which isn’t mine.
Desire for what my neighbor has (“keep up with the Joneses.”)
Amounts to idolatry =>puts my desires and my possessions in 1st place.
It gives them the place that rightly belongs to God alone.
Such a tricky sin! It’s so easy to disguise. It has many respectable forms.
Old proverb: “If a person is drunk with wine, we kick him out of church;
if he is drunk with money, we make him a deacon!”
Why are such things inappropriate for God’s people? Four reasons:
* They are earthly—3:5a—earth-centered–focus on things above, not on earth (3:2).
* They deserve God’s wrath 3:6
* They characterize people who are rebellious 3:6
–children of disobedience, in rebellion against God
* They characterize our old lifestyle–without Christ—we’re new creatures 3:7
These 5 sins are battleground in modern times.
Turn on TV or computer, you’ll be struck by appeals in these areas. We’re bombarded by it!
We’re insensitive to subtle nature of appeals directed at us.
They’re so natural to us we don’t even sense the nature of the poison.
Psychology Today, hardly a bastion of fundamentalist propaganda,
warned that the sexual violence depicted on TV should carry warning labels, like those on cigarettes!
Kent Hughes: “What makes the situation even worse is the amazing human capacity for self-delusion ...
I’ve known Bible-carrying ‘Christians’ who talked sensitively about theology and serious issues, yet were adulterous and even incestuous.
I’ve known Christian workers who were fundamentalists at work (mouthing all the shibboleths)
and cable TV voyeurs at home.
Even more tragic, the delusion is so deep that they see no inconsistency in their behavior.”
Like frog in slowly heating kettle, we’re being desensitized to danger and becoming used to life in the dark!
Prov. 6:37 “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?”
Cal Thomas: Compared conditions in England to conditions here.
Quotes a religious/political leader there who points to two major issues in the deterioration of their society that Thomas maintains are equally true here:
(1) Greediness; (2) Moral confusion. The exact issues Paul refers to here!
Paul says these things don’t belong in our lives. Consider them dead!
You don’t have to go there anymore!
Eliminate them from your life.
They don’t belong among God’s people!
Why are these things so difficult to leave behind?
Things MY NATURE produces—the fruit of the flesh (Cp. Gal. 5)
=> they “belong to your earthly nature.” 3:5 They’re part of us.
Considering them dead isn’t legalism.
I can’t do it by keeping rules! Cp. 2:23
This is ME! (Pogo: “We have met the enemy and they is us.”)
How can I decide to leave behind what I myself AM?!!
Maclaren: “It’s easier to cut off the hand, which after all is not me,
than to sacrifice passions and desires which, though they be my worst self, are myself.”
But I can consider them dead, because I died with Christ 3:3
“Consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live . . . “
I am in Christ. I don’t have to live by the rules of the old lifestyle!
Such activities belong to the past.
They don’t conform to what God has made us in the present.
Therefore, Paul tells us in Rom. 6 to consider it to be true—because it is true!
Here he says, “Consider them dead. Kill them!”
Job: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.”
We need to make a covenant to clean out anything in our lives that promotes sensuality, greed, or materialism. Period. Throw it out!
It doesn’t belong among God’s people.
However hard it may be for me to clean house, I need to weed it out!
[These are supposed to be past. Consider it so! Act that way! But now, we also must deal with ...]
Things from our old life that are still common among God’s people. 3:8-11
The “old clothes” we need to change out of to dress appropriately
Have you noticed strange appearance of people from “the old country” who never change their dress style?
The old clothes don’t belong here. They’re no longer appropriate!
Even after we trust Christ, we continue to wear “old clothes” of old lifestyle.
It doesn’t occur to us that this “clothing” doesn’t fit new life in Christ.
Paul encourages us to change clothes—put on something more appropriate
The early church emphasized this with visual demonstration in baptism.
People removed old garments; when they came up out of the water they put on new outfit.
They had taken off the “old life” and dressed in a new garment.
What are these “old clothes?”
TWO KINDS: Sins of attitude and sins of the tongue.
Sins of attitude
Anger—internal reaction to what is going on around us
Often no one even knows we have a problem, because we hold it in.
Attitude normally comes and goes. Sometimes it festers for years!
Ex.—the angry person—Beatriz: “I’ve been angry all my life!” (Jennie; Stacey; Kelly)
Rage —internal attitude converted into external expression—
Everybody suddenly becomes aware of problem.
Sooner or later, the ticking time bomb goes off!
We can’t hold it in any longer!
This attitude belongs to the old country.
Take off these and put on new clothes, appropriate for new country.
Malice—like previous two articles of clothing, refers to an attitude, not an activity;
it’s a disposition—the desire to harm another person
Sins of the tongue—words
Slander—accusing and criticizing others.
We expect such “out there” among pagans in the old country!
We criticize and accuse one another, even spreading false accusations.
Citizens of heaven shouldn’t dress with this kind of clothing!
Abusive or filthy [lit., “shameful”] speech
Can refer to indecent language, e.g., pornography, sexual inuendos, swearing, etc.
Can also refer to abusive words, e.g., personal attacks, etc.
Be careful about marginal uses of such “clothing”:
Inuendos or suggestions, of a sexually explicit nature,
or of an accusing or criticizing attack.
Such use of the tongue is inappropriate among God’s people!
Lying—”stop lying to one another” Implies they are lying to each other.
Stop it! It’s not appropriate for citizens of heaven.
WHY SHOULD WE “CHANGE OUR CLOTHES?”
* We are no longer the same as we used to be
—God has transformed us—given us a new nature. 3:9b-10
We HAVE BEEN transformed.
The old self has been removed; we have put on a new self.
We aren’t perfect, but we aren’t what we used to be.
That’s why Paul urges US to change; our status is changed.
We don’t change our clothes, our lifestyle, to get status.
It’s because we have status that we dress appropriately.
Assumes we are new creatures and tells us to change clothes.
Such things are common among genuine Christians
These attitudes and actions are appropriate for our old lifestyle, but not the new one!
* We ARE BEING transformed day by day 3:10b-11
—to new knowledge—not theoretical but practical
—into His image
One practical result of knowledge of God: artificial distinctions man established (class, race, and religion) are eliminated.
We become aware of our unity—not distinctions man makes!
—so as to live for Christ in every aspect of our lives.
[So then, how should we dress? What is the appropriate lifestyle for God’s people?]
DRESS YOURSELVES AS GOD'S PEOPLE 3:12-14
Certain kinds of clothing serve to identify those who wear them—
School or work uniforms Gang outfits Team uniforms
In previous times, officials of the royal house had special outfits that identified them.
If the king’s son should dress royally, how should a child of the King of kings dress?
In contrast to old lifestyle, Paul describes the new lifestyle we should adopt.
We should dress in a way that is appropriate for who we are.
WHO should dress this way? 3:12a
People whom God has already chosen
People whom God has already set apart (saints/holy)
People whom God already loves
These things are already true of us. We don’t have to earn them! Therefore, . . .
HOW should we dress? What kind of “clothes” should we wear?
6 articles of “clothing”—4 included in Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit
He produces them. Other 2 are, likewise, produced by Him.
NOT legalistic things we do to earn approval,
but His expression of Himself and what He is through us. He lives His life out through us.
All of this clothing has to do with our relationship with others.
Compassion—sincere interest in those who suffer or are facing a serious need.
lit., “bowels of mercy”— = “caring from the gut!”
Woman promoting atheism: people who believe in God and the Bible have little social concern. History contradicts her. In ancient days, no one denounced dishonesty, greed, and cruelty like God’s prophets did. No one showed more compassion toward poor and downtrodden than Jesus. More recently, no one fought slavery and injustice more than Christians like William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Lord Ashley Shaftesbury (1801-1885). Through their leadership, slavery was abolished in England and the insane began to be treated in a humane way. Because of their efforts, little boys were no longer used as chimney sweeps, and working conditions in mills, factories, and mines were greatly improved.
God’s people should be known as caring people!
Kindness—goodness, graciousness, friendly disposition
Humility—not false; NOT “humility and how I attained it!”
Attitude which considers others superior to selves (Phil. 2:1-4)
Instead of seeking our benefit, we seek welfare of others.
Gentleness—meekness
Tendency to think of it as a “Caspar Milk-Toast” or “Doormat” personality.
J. Upton Dickson decided to found a group called “DOORMATS” => “Dependent Organization Of Really Meek And Timid Souls.”
Their motto: “The meek shall inherit the earth—if that’s O.K. with everybody.”
This is NOT the biblical concept of meekness or gentleness.
Not a lack of convictions
Jesus and Moses are both described as “meek.”
Remember cleansing of temple? Hardly “Caspar milk-toast” stuff!
Like powerful horse with a bridle => “power under control”
Interest in feelings of others. Willing to sacrifice our rights for others.
Patience—long suffering—Patience with unbearable person 13
Putting up with offensive person, their insults and offenses, and seeking their welfare in spite of offensive behavior.
2 things that accompany this kind of patience:
1) Bearing with one another
2) Forgiving one another
When we recognize how much God has taken, how He accepted and forgave us,
we can respond the same way to those who offend us. Eph. 4:32
Love—the most important–“at the top of the list”! 14
Summarizes the rest. That which unites us
HOW’S OUR WARDROBE? ARE WE DRESSING APPROPRIATELY?
Can our neighbors tell that we belong to God’s family by the way we “dress”?
Does our outward expression demonstrate that God has changed us on the inside?