CHRISTIAN LIVING
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
January 23, 2005
Evening Service
Text: Colossians 3:1-17
Having just delivered his severe reprimand to those making false claims
and teachings to the Colossian church, and having just gone to great
lengths to tell the people there that the regulations were man-made
impositions, Paul now goes on to set out his own list for proper living.
This can be confusing because it can easily appear that Paul is just
substituting one list for another. Which list we follow just depends on
who sounds the best to us.
It is confusing if we don't keep in mind Paul's purpose. We have to put
together the two chapters; remember, Paul didn't write with chapter and
verse divisions in mind. He wrote a letter, continuous in thought from
one idea to the next. He had just finished warning the Colossian church
to not follow after those who delighted "in false humility." He told the
Christians to "see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic
principles of this world rather than on Christ." Having said what he was
against, Paul now sets out to say what he is for.
This is the way Paul is. He was never satisfied to only denounce what
someone else was teaching. Paul would have never finished his letter at
the end of our chapter two. Paul's interest is always to establish the
truth. The commentator G. Preston MacLeod wrote that, "a Christian whose
aim is to persuade and win rather than to denounce and reject will win
nobody unless he presents the highest in so clear, convincing, and
satisfying a way that his readers or his hearers must come to life's
inevitable moral choices in full knowledge of what the highest is." (The
Interpreter's Bible, v. 11, p. 209)
Paul's main thrust against the false teachers in the Colossian church is
that their teaching is bondage. "Since you died with Christ to the basic
principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you
submit to its rules?" he asks in 2:20. At the same time, though, Paul
admitted that even these false teachings had an appealing ring to them:
"Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom..." So Paul sought
to lift his brothers' and sisters' hearts from earthbound morality to
that steady focus on Christ. Still, the question arises: what makes
Paul's list of morals right and the other's wrong?
The basis of an answer comes with recognizing this important element of
Paul's thinking: after his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road,
Paul trusted Christ. He didn't just think that he trusted Christ, or that
he only believed intellectually in Christ. Paul trusted Christ so much
that he changed his whole way of thinking for Him. Paul was a Pharisaic
Jew - and a good one. After meeting Jesus, Paul gave up a promising
career; he changed the ways he had always been taught; he gave up who
knows how many friends and how much support in order to be a Christian.
Because he trusted Jesus, Paul went hungry; he exposed himself to harsh
elements of nature; he went to prison. Paul trusted in Jesus Christ as
the one and only Lord and as his Lord.
Therefore, when Paul makes his list of "rules for holy living," when he
tells his readers to "set your minds on things above, not on earthly
things," he has a completely different perspective than the legalisms of
the false teachers. Recall that, from the false teaching, men and women
were supposed to adhere to rules of piety and subject their bodies for
harsh treatment in order to attain spiritual purity. In other words,
follow the right rules to the letter of the law and then you will be made
holy, then you will be saved.
Because Paul trusted Jesus Christ, though, 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..." and he goes on to list some.
Paul tells Christians that we are not interested in lists of morality so
that we can find salvation. He tells us plainly that salvation has found
us, and because we love and trust in Jesus Christ who has bought us for a
price, then we "clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness and patience." We "bear with each other and forgive whatever
grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave
you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all
together in perfect unity."
We read in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from
God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor
God with your body." The Corinthians, like the Colossians, were going
astray. Notice that when Paul wrote to them, he didn't tell them that
they needed to straighten up so that they could attain spiritual
perfection. He wrote specifically to remind them that they "were bought
at a price." They were not going to be bought. The action is past tense.
They, like the Colossians and like us, were already bought at the cost of
Jesus on the cross. Nor were they were going to be returned. Paul says
clearly, "Christian! Wake up! You have already handed yourself over to
the One who has bought you. Don't forget that. Therefore honor God with
your body. Therefore put to death whatever belongs to your earthly
nature. Trust Christ's completed work on the cross and do these things
which are right."
What causes the world confusion - and even oftentimes confuses Christians
- is that it doesn't appear to make much difference whether people are
pious in order to attain perfection or in response to the perfection
given by Jesus Christ. From outside the Christian faith looking in, there
is no apparent difference between the Buddhist living a pious life in
order to work off Karma in order to attain Nirvana and the Christian
living a pious life in response to Christ's sacrifice. In terms of piety
and high moral standards, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have a superb
testimony. Followers of the Islamic religion follow a strict piety. In
fact, when it comes to pious, moral living, virtually every typical
member of a pseudo-Christian cult or an Eastern religion can run rings
around typical Christian. And if the world is giving awards based on
piety and morality, then these other groups will receive the trophies.
But you know what Paul would say to them today? "Since you died with
Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still
belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?" Paul recognizes, as every
Christian should, the difference between being pious for the sake of
receiving salvation and being pious in response to the salvation already
received. The Christian is free from the bondage of sin and the works of
worldly death. Doesn't that warrant an Amen!? Ephesians 2:8-10: "For it
is by grace that you have been saved, through faith - and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can
boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Piety and morality do
not save us! Good works do not save us! Jesus Christ saves us. Jesus
Christ has saved us - all who believe in His work on the cross, receive
Him into their own life and trust that same life to Him.
Piety, morality and good works may lead someone to faith in Jesus Christ.
An unbeliever, for example, may become a believer while working on a
Habitat for Humanity project - building a house for a poor family -
alongside Christians. But the project did not save him. Not even the good
works of the other Christians saved him. Jesus Christ alone gave that
unsaved man spiritual life now and eternal life in the age to come. But
good works did play a part in that man's conversion, and that leads us
into some reasons why Paul was concerned with piety, morality and good
works - which I'll lump together and call holy living.
First, holy living is a response to the sacrifice and indescribable love
of Jesus. We all know that even in strictly human terms, the phrase "I
love you" can mean very little. Oh, we do need to tell it to each other
more. But a husband cannot say to his wife "I love you" and then go be
involved in some adulterous affair. When I really love someone, I will
act in loving ways toward that someone. When I say I love my Lord, Jesus
Christ, I need to act in loving ways toward Him. One of the primary ways
that Scripture tells us to do that is what Paul writes here in Colossians
3: "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience... And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all
together in perfect unity."
Secondly, holy living is our expression of the freedom we have in Jesus
Christ. It is an outward display of our absolute trust in Him. Holy
living makes a statement to the world. We spend time in worship, Bible
study, training and so forth when the world says spend time on ourselves.
We use our resources in Christian service to others when the world says
spend them on ourselves. We believe that people everywhere need to hear
the gospel message of Christ when the world says any system of beliefs
will do. We try to apply a Christian morality to our own lives when the
world says do your own thing. But we are free from the world and called
to do unworldly things like forgive and love and live in peace and take
concerned action against injustice and immorality. And as we do some or
all of these good works, unbelievers are filled with wonder and can be
led to open their lives to receive Jesus Christ.
As we express our freedom in Christ through holy living, we also allow
Him to work in our lives. Many people, even some Christians, say that
lists of holy living are restrictive. The unsaved world, especially,
likes to point to Christianity as nothing more than a restricted,
captivated lifestyle. They couldn't be farther from the truth. Rather
than stifling creativity and the enjoyment of life, holy living does the
opposite. It opens up better avenues for life as we refrain from sinful
activities which bring us nothing but harm. And, most wonderful of all,
holy living gives God a chance to work with us.
My favorite example of all of this comes from the Reverend Walter
Wangerin, Jr., in his book As for Me and My House. In this book, Walter
uses his own marriage as a case study. At ten years of marriage, his
marriage crumbled. All of the differences of opinion, all of the missed
communication, all of the miscommunication, all of the "I'm rights,
you're wrongs," came to a head. Suddenly, their "perfect" marriage fell
apart. And in spite of ten years of marriage and children, you know what
could have happened - divorce. However, in the most profound paragraph in
the book, Walter writes: "And the thing that neither one of us would even
contemplate was divorce. We were stuck with each other. Let the world
call that imprisonment; but I say it gave us the time, and God the
opportunity, to make a better thing between us. If we could have escaped,
we would have. Because we couldn't we were forced to choose the harder,
better road." (p. 79)
Most of us would applaud them for merely not seeking a divorce. Staying
married is one of those elements of holy living that we like to uphold.
So many people this day give up the marriage so easily, and this is
wrong. Others say that the marriage should hold together regardless of
how trapped either partner is, and this is wrong. What the Wangerin's
discovered is that sticking to the marriage - this step of holy living -
became a way for God to free them from the bondage of an unhealthy
relationship and into a fuller relationship through Him with each other.
Walter concludes his book: "Whereas the contract is (and will continue to
be, so long as you live in this fallen world) conditional, your gifting
and your volunteering is unconditional. It depends on nothing but love
itself. And if this in any way means being "faithful till death," it
means being faithful to God within the marriage, to God's manner, his
mercy, and his new covenant - but for the sake of your spouse. Do you see
the richness of this marriage work, this task? It invites the loving God
to come and dwell between you, and it is he who empowers you to do so
unworldly and irrational an act as to give for nothing in return, to set
yourself aside for your partner's sake, to die a little that she might
live more. When God loved the unlovable, he made us lovely after all."
(pp. 251-252)
Paul's purpose for making the list he did was not for creating another
religious system or adding to the work of Jesus Christ. He wrote them for
the purpose of responding to Christ's love and for sharing that same love
to others. Colossians 3:17, a verse we should all try to remember and
cherish as much as John 3:16, certainly sums up Paul's thinking here:
"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."
Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN