Living for Jesus

Introduction

That’s beautiful, isn’t it? Singing has been so outstanding all week. And I love praising Jesus with you. I often think when I look at these songs, I think that’s it. Like, if we just go out and live the things that we sing, we would be so focused on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes I think the singing’s out ahead of the preaching sometimes, and we need to come back around to it and just think, actually, we’re kind of replaceable. You just sing and read some verses and go home. But they’re really beautiful, and I’ve really enjoyed being a part of that with you. I don’t know where this thing is, but I am a recovering is it kleptomania? I stole it. Okay, so check my pockets on the way out so I don’t get both of them.

I want to thank a couple of people. I want to thank Mr. Mike and Ernie and Craig and Scott, the leadership of this church for putting together this week and allowing me to come. that’s a big deal to let someone stand in a congregation where they’re shepherding and share things and influence you in ways. And I take that to heart. And so I really want to say thank you to these men whom I love and know personally and really appreciate. Also, great spending time with Harry. It’s great spending time out to dinner with others and meeting with special friends that I’ve known for a really long time. Super wonderful. Erica’s great. Caleb, okay, Caleb’s all right. Brent and I didn’t get spending time together, but we text like every day anyway, so we’re really close friends.

I love them, respect them, and I’m glad to be here. a couple things that we’re going to do tonight as we get started. I just want to begin with a question. We’re going to be in Colossians as we wrap up this series, but I just want to start by asking you what do you think, what do you think churches need to hear? Established churches like this one, with a room almost entirely filled with baptized believers who are now kind of in the thick of it, an establish operating church. Like, what are the topics that need to be preached? What are the things that you needed to be reminded of most often? And maybe we would have a whole bunch of different answers for that, depending on what you’re going through or what’s important to you right now, but we don’t really have to guess at that.

Because that’s what these epistles are about. These letters that come after the book of Acts in the New Testament are letters written to established churches. The book of Romans, written to a church like this one in Rome. The church in Ephesus receives a letter. The church in Colossae receives a letter. All those different churches. And what’s interesting is, even though it’s written to people who are already Christians like most of you and us, they all front in, or most of them very explicitly front in one thing. Jesus. They remind you about his lordship. They remind you about his grace. They remind you about the power of his blood, the central nature of the cross, the love that he has for us. They encourage you to open the eyes of your heart so that you may know the expanse of his glory.

He’s encouraging Christians to know the Lord more, because you can’t get to change unless you start with Jesus. He’s the place we commune. We do that on Sunday mornings, but anytime we need to talk through things or work on things or grow or change or whatever, we’ve got to get to him first. And so when we were in Colossians, that’s how everything started. There are going to be instructions. If you’re one of those people that’s like, I like sermons with practical application. Well, you’ve been patient all week, and you’re about to get it. You may be later going, I can’t believe I asked for that, but you will. But it didn’t come first in this letter, and it rarely comes first in any of the letters.

It’s not going to do a whole lot of good for us to say, hey, here’s some things you need to do differently, and here’s some things you need to do better, unless He is in the middle of your heart and amongst all of us. So chapter one just starts with this hope that he brings and all of these wonderful things that he did, and that’s where we started our study. From there, in particular, in the Colossian letter, when he gets to chapter 2 and verse 4, he says, you know, it’s awful easy to get distracted. And if you lose focus on him, if your gaze is drawn away from what he has done and who he is, to anything else, then it will all fall apart and quickly.

And this is what happens among Christians and in local churches sometimes. Maybe they’re not front-ending the name of Jesus. He may not get mentioned much at all. Or when he does, it’s this distorted view of him. So last night we saw that if you start drifting into what I think or what I think God is telling me, you’re gonna miss him. And if you drift over into what we think and who we are and what we believe, you’re gonna miss him. We’ve got to stay right on focused on Jesus. Hear his teachings and follow him. If we do that together, we’ll be a congregation with great strength. Now that brings us to our topic tonight, and I want to get into it. I know the key to ever being invited back.

1. Keep Seeking the Things Above

You’ve got to keep it short on the last night. I mean, it’s in the little handbook we get when we start preaching. somehow I suspect I may never be back. No, I’m gonna try. I’m really gonna look at it. Colossians 3, you get a little bridge text where it’s going from this great focus on him, chapter 2, verse 20, you died with him and in him, and it bridges from a lot of focus on the Christ to focus on us. And we know this text pretty well, so I’m just gonna show it to you and read it as we get started. Look at verses 1 through four. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. It’s a great text. It hasn’t quite gotten specific yet on what we’re supposed to be doing, but it starts with these really great ideas. We’ve been raised up with Christ, we’re hidden with Christ, and we will be revealed with him in glory. Let’s make it about him. And here’s what we’re told to do. We’re told to have a spiritual mindset, to be focused on greater things, not the things that distract us in this world, and to try to pursue that which is holy.

Now, if this is all we’re going to talk about tonight, this will be a pretty good study. There’s some really beautiful things in this short section, but we want to finish out the letter. And if I was just going to make a few points and I’ll just show these to you quickly, I would say, you know, there’s a lot of great points you can make from just those four verses. Clearly, he’s saying that if Jesus is real to you will think and you will live for his glory and for heaven’s glory. I don’t know how your day went today. Maybe you went to work, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you interacted with people you love, maybe people you don’t love so much. But if Christ is truly the beginning of your thinking, and all that you are emanates from him, then you are thinking and living for Christ and his glory.

That life that you buried, the one that you put to death, that old life, that’s always asking you to return to it. You kept it buried today, and you have kept it away from your heart so that you cannot be exposed by the will of Satan, and you anticipate his return and the glory that’s to come. That’s three pretty good points. You know, preachers like three points. It’s a little wordy, but it’d be pretty good. But I want more. I want to know what this all really looks like. Like, look at those. Those are good points, don’t you think? But it’s kind of like, what does it mean to actually have my mind set on the right things? And what does it mean to keep that old life buried and to really live for heaven?

2. How You Treat People Reveals Your Connection to Christ

Well, here’s the big reveal of the night. All these letters we’ve been talking about, front end Jesus, and we’ve talked about that a lot. 1 Corinthians 1, Jesus. Ephesians 1 through 3, Jesus. 1 Peter 1, Jesus. And each and every one of them, when they turn attention to the practical living in Christ, second half of the book of Colossians, where we are. Second half of the book of Ephesians, chapters 4, 5, and 6. Second half of Corinthians and Romans and 1 Peter, they all feature. And by feature, I mean prominent concept. One great proof that you truly are living with your heart set on Christ. You know what it is? Over and over again, it is the nature of your relationships. You want to know, you go, is Jesus first in my life?

Do I really love him like I’m supposed to? Am I experiencing a hopeful life filled with his grace? There are many ways to measure that, many good ways to measure that. But the New Testament letters keep saying start with how you treat people. How you treat other people. Bold statement alert. How you treat other people, particularly brothers and sisters in Christ, your family, and people in the world, is the most telling reveal on how connected you truly are to Christ. There is nothing that is featured as often as that, and we will look at some of that, but you’re going to see it very dominant here. Look, let me be clear. I’m not saying that other indicators are unimportant. I’m not saying that if I ask you, what are the key ways you know that you’re a faithful Christian?

You go, well, I go to a church that’s sound in worship, I read scripture every day, I pray in Jesus’ name. Those are important. I’m not taking the importance away. The organization of the church is important, our work and worship and how we follow authority, all of those are important. But I still need you to hear me. Ten times more often than these letters focus on those things that maybe you’ve put a lot of focus on, and you should, they’re important. Ten times more often, it’s focusing on this. At the very least, what that means is you cannot outworship a bad attitude. You can’t out-church. You can’t outpartake the Lord’s Supper, not treating someone kindly. You can’t, gentlemen, outpray being unkind with your spouse. It must begin with taking the way Jesus loves you and loving other people that way.

That’s where it all starts. That’s where it all starts. And everything that’s built on that is good, and anything that’s missing that is not good. Look, here’s what I’m saying. You can get the worship stuff right. You can understand. If you worship on Sunday exactly like God said, I mean, somehow you did it. You did it, you got it. I mean, you’re exactly the perfect first century model of worship. And you don’t love others the way Jesus loves you’re wasting your time. That’s what I’m saying. Does that mean those things are unimportant? No. It means they’re built on this fundamental concept. And by the way, we’re going to see that in Colossians. We could have done it in any of the other letters that we mentioned.

I want you when you’re reading the New Testament from now on to look for this. Look for Jesus on the front end, look for relationships in the rest. But it shouldn’t surprise you that’s where this is going to go. Because if we didn’t study Colossians tonight, we said, you know what? Let’s just, let’s not do this letter. Let’s go back and sit at Jesus’ feet. He’s first anyway. Let’s go all the way back to Matthew 5 and let’s just sit at the Sermon on the Mount and listen to Jesus teach. Guess what he talked about before he really got into anything else? So that’s actually what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna spend a little bit of time in Colossians 3. But mainly I want you to see that Jesus is begging you to get this.

3. Don't Miss the Markers That Jesus Gave Us

Go back with me to Matthew chapter 5 in the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. I think you’re gonna see that a lot of what Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount when he’s laying the groundwork matches pretty well what Paul writes about to the church at Colossae, or to the church at Ephesus, or to the church at Corinth. Or, you know, you get it. And as you go to Matthew 5, I want to talk about the things that Jesus said matter most. And that’s kind of the idea of the Sermon on the Mount, isn’t it? Who are going to be my disciples? How will my disciples be different? Sometimes we create a lot of arbitrary markers for saved and unsaved, right and wrong.

Just be careful that you don’t miss the markers that Jesus gave us. And I want you to see the nature of those. So if we’re in Matthew 5, first of all, we can talk about the beatitudes. The beatitudes are just who you are. Are you humble? Are you gentle? Are you merciful? Are you somebody who makes peace? Why is all that going to matter? Because the fundamentals of the kingdom are relationships. And so if I’m knowledgeable and I’m smart and crafty and wise, but I’m not humble, what good am I? I’m no good. I’ll get all things right straight this direction. And so he starts with all those kinds of things. But when he gets into the practical stuff, look at where he goes. He says, here, okay, you got the attitude, the beattitude, the attitude you gotta be.

Here’s why I started with that. Because one of the fundamental objectives of my people is that they will be a good influence on other people. Look in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 13. You know this text. Start in a nice, familiar place. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It’s no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. We know that idea is salt of the earth. You’re a preserver of the integrity of what’s going on around you, enhancing what is there. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Now listen carefully. Opening instructions for who are disciples of Jesus. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. First of all, Jesus did that first. We talked about that on Sunday. He is the light that came into the world that brought vision and warmth and order to chaos. And I was drawn to him, and because I was drawn to him, I was drawn to the Father. The Father and the Spirit, just as vital. He said, That’s what I want you to do. What good is Bible knowledge? What good is getting a whole bunch of things right? If when I leave a church building, I’m not cognizant of the fact that true discipleship is housed in how I interact with everyone everywhere.

And whether I’m someone who brings them to Christ, or I’m someone who pushes them away. He gets specific here, and we’re going to get specific on this before we’re done tonight, too. He says, You cannot. We pause for dramatic effect in Lindo. You cannot mistreat fellow believers. You cannot. You cannot. You must not. There’s not a sin I can find in Scripture that is trumpeted as much as getting jealous and angry and impatient and rash and treating Christians inappropriately. Look at the text, Matthew chapter 5, verse 21. You’ve heard that the ancients were told, you should not commit murder. Of course. Whoever commits murder shall be liable before the court. But I say to you that everyone who’s angry with his brother, and brother, there could have to do with the Jewish people, but he’s obviously telescoping the establishment of the church in the very near future.

Whoever is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. Whoever says to his brother, You’re good for nothing, shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. Whoever says, You fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hill. You hear all the judgment in that language? I’m wise, you’re a fool. I know the good, you don’t know the good. He said, Look, if you’re presenting your offering at the altar, think like Jewish people and their offerings and they’re going to make their sacrifice. You’re presenting your offering at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you. Leave your offering there before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. He goes on to say, if you’re going to wait for your day in court, I’m not going to make it right with my brother.

I think my brother’s wrong, and I’m they may have something against me. So what? One day when we get before the Lord, we’ll hash it out then. The next few verses says, you need to be really careful with that. Because if your thing is I can’t wait to get to God so he can tell me I’m right and you’re wrong, you’re already wrong. And it’s not going to work out for you. And so one of the things that I’ve really tried to think about in my own life is Jesus central to my thinking? Some of it is getting up in the morning and reading scripture and thinking about him. Some of it is praying or wearing shirts. I wear a more Jesus shirt on normal days, and on Mondays I wear a much more Jesus shirt, just to remind me.

But it’s not just t-shirts here. It’s the way you treat people. If I’m just giving you some things to think about when you’re reading scripture, there are three main instructions to Christians in the New Testament that are far and away more prominent than every other piece of instruction. Instruction number one is how you treat people, and particularly Christians, which we’ve already talked about. Number two is how you morally utilize your body. Morality versus immorality. And the third would just be idolatry, where you’re replacing God with things. And so it shouldn’t surprise you that early on Jesus said, let’s talk about sexual immorality a bit, but he does it in the context of what it means to other people. Look with me in Matthew chapter 5, verse 27.

You’ve heard it was said, you should not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her. I think that’s important. With her in his heart. He goes on to say, do what you gotta do. If you need to take out your right eye, take it out. If you need to cut off your right hand, do what you need to do, not to commit adultery, clearly, hopefully clearly, but also not to lust for others. But what stands out to me is he says, if you lust for someone in your mind, you have committed adultery with her. Now she has not sinned, she is not guilty, but he’s asking you to think about your pornography problem or your lust problem through the confines of you’re actually bringing her into your sinful life in your mind.

You’re connecting an innocent person with guilt and shame. She’s not guilty, but you are. I think, and I’m going to get on this a little bit as we move forward. It’s great to keep preaching about moral purity and why we shouldn’t commit fornication and adultery and pornography. But I’m going to tell you this two things are going to help you give that up more than anything else in the world. Number one is you need to love Jesus and you need to know he loves you and he needs to be worth the fight. And two, you need to love every person involved. You need to love that person that you’re thinking inappropriate about. And go, is that a loving thing to think about someone? Even though it’s stuff that gets viewed on the screen.

Do you understand how depraved and dejected and mistreated those people are on that screen? Have you no heart? God’s people have a heart. They have a heart for others, and it affects, it. It gets in the way of all this selfish sin. I just want to think about me and my body. I know. That’s why love God, love your neighbor is how you change everything. But you gotta love God. You gotta love your neighbor. I think that’s why he brings in this idea of adultery with her. Look at what he does when he gets to divorce. I mean, we know that divorce is wrong and there’s all kinds of teaching on it, but the way he says it here, I think is profound. Whoever sends his wife away, Matthew 5, 31, this is what the old law had said in Deuteronomy, of course.

Let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, it doesn’t say we’ll go to hell, although he may, or is in sin or God is mad at them. He doesn’t want you thinking of your conduct in terms of yourself. This is tough. Tough. We tend to think about everything in terms of ourselves. He said, I don’t want you thinking of it in terms of you. He said, if you divorce your wife except for unchastity, you make her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Why do I care about her? I’m in love with someone else. You see, that’s what we think. Why would I care about who she marries three years from now?

I don’t have anything to do with that. It has everything to do with that. I can’t pursue adultery because it would hurt the woman with whom I married. Do I love her enough to let my relationship with her dictate the way I behave? I gotta love some guy I’ve never even met because I don’t want to put him in a position where he is wrong with God because of what I chose to do. We gotta love our neighbors. We’ll probably talk about this in a little bit when we get into Colossians 3 as we wind it down. But do you guys remember the don’t commit adultery or 1 Thessalonians 4? It’s like, don’t have another man’s wife, and it tells you why not. Like, why not have another man’s wife?

What’s wrong with that? 1 Thessalonians 4 said, Because you be defrauding your brother. I’m supposed to care about the guy. What does he have to do with who I love? You’re supposed to care about everyone. And how your conduct affects everyone, and that’s principle, relationships to who we are in Christ. Let’s look at a couple more. I would say of the list that he gives in Matthew 5, if there’s one that’s probably primarily about your relationship with God, not so much about the relationship in this direction. It’s probably this next point in verse 33, but it certainly applies to everyone. Again, you’ve heard that the ancients were told, you shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, if it’s the throne of God, or by the earth, for it’s a footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, etc.

Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement, verse 37, be yes, and no. Anything beyond this is of evil. He’s saying, have integrity. If you say you’re going to do something, then be a person who can be trusted to do it. If you say that something is wrong, then stand by that conviction unless you learn otherwise. It’s true of your relationship with God, but it’s also true of your relationship with other people.

Who preaches the lessons and stands for things and walks around, uses his hands a lot, and is not known to be an honest person you can trust. I can’t out preach dishonesty. I can’t out partake on Sunday not being able to help other people. Relationships. That’s where it all starts. Do not return evil for evil. Let’s look at these last two together. Do not return evil for evil. Verse 38. You’ve heard it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I say to you, do not resist an evil person. Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, you turn the left also. Anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, you’re like, I got a nice coat. You want that? Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too.

Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. This is an interesting text. I’m going to leave this one for Brent. But I have heard so many, myself included, preachers, teachers, just try to make sure we don’t ever have to do any of this. It’s all really about not taking personal vengeance. Well, I think that is a pretty good point. But has anybody ever watching? I don’t, I haven’t watched the last season or so, but anybody watch the show The Chosen. If you’re against it’s fine. you know, show about Jesus. And they were, they were walking the mile. The Roman soldiers made Jesus and his disciples walk. Anybody see that? Walk the mile.

And there’s like there’s a mile marker, and they have to go a certain way, and they have to wear all the Roman, you know, they don’t want to, the soldiers don’t want to carry their stuff, so they put it on the disciples, and they’re holding all the stuff, and they’re walking, and the soldiers are making fun of them. And then when they got to the mile marker, it’s like the law, you stop there and then they drop it, and then the soldiers pick it back up. And so, boy, the disciples, what do they do with the mile marker? Oh, they just drop it, and they’re, oh man, you know. And they look up and they can’t find Jesus, and where is he? He just kept on walking.

And he’s still holding all the stuff, and he just keeps on walking. The disciples look at him and they look at the stuff and they look at him, and they reach down, they pick it all back up, and they just start walking that second mile. What’s really cool about that, if you watch it, is the soldier’s demeanor completely changes. Like they’re embarrassed. They went from pretty mean to ashamed when they saw someone go that extra mile to show them something about the Lord. That’s who we are. Love your enemies. You have heard it was said, verse 43, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. You know, it’s interesting, there’s six things here where he takes Old Testament quotes and he says, This is what you’ve heard, but in my kingdom, here’s the depth of it.

This is the only one where there’s an inaccuracy. You shall love your neighbor. Yeah, the Old Testament says that, but it doesn’t say hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. Now, can I just I think we need to slow jam that. I think we need to go back and read that slower. What about my enemies? What about my adversaries? What about people who don’t like me and don’t treat me right and are unrelenting? Aren’t the rules different? I kind of think some Christians think so. I think, like if they’re a brother, you’ve got to treat them one way, but if you can like make sure they’re not a brother anymore, then you can treat them a different way.

What Bible are you reading from, man? Look at it again. Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he causes his son, you’re gonna be like him. He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you only love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even tax collectors do that. If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same. Therefore, you are to be perfect. And to me, in the context, it has to do with this perfected love that God loves everyone and offers salvation to all, makes it available to all.

4. Being a Christian Is Being Like Christ

Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. And so here’s the deal. I don’t want you going, well, Chris came in a couple weeks ago and he said relationships are really important. They’re not really important, they’re monumentally important. It’s not, well, this is one of the things the scripture talks quite a bit about. It completely, unrelentingly, repeatedly and deeply begs you to weigh your faith by the way you treat people. Jesus did that early on, and he frontloaded it. So now let’s go to Colossians 3, and this won’t take long. You’re just going to see that it’s a lot of the same stuff. There’s a reason why Paul is doing it in the letters, because he doesn’t just want you to remember who Jesus is, he wants you to remember who he was and how he lived and how he treated people and what it means to be a Christian.

Let’s not forget, being a Christian is being like Christ. So go back to Colossians 3, move through this swiftly. I will say this in the earliest section. It does talk about sexual immorality. Like I told you, of the three big themes of be careful in the New Testament. It’s how you treat people, immorality and idolatry. But I think there’s a connection here to people, because all the rest of the letter, chapter 3 and 4, is about relationships. Let’s read verse 5. Colossians 3. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. I’m convinced all of those are related to sexual deviancy. And even the idolatry here is sort of the sum total of those things.

For verse 6, he says, It is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you once walked when you were living in them. So we’ll start with this. You go, well, what does that have to do with relationships? Well, maybe not directly, but back here, when he talked about lust for others, he said, you don’t want to have that connection with her. It’s not good for you or for her. When he said, do not commit adultery, he’s saying, you don’t want to do that to her or to some other person who maybe you’ve not even met. I’m convinced here that when he talks about avoiding sexual immorality, he’s drawing in, because you’re about to see it in these relationships, that sexual immorality is a sin against God, yes, and will be punished by the wrath of God, yes, but it is also a sin against other people.

And if that doesn’t matter to you, then you gotta get back to the cross and relearn faith in Jesus. Because when other people, tangential to your immorality and how it affects them and what it does to them, what it might do to them, when that is really dominating. I can’t do this, I can’t watch this, I can’t. This could change the whole dynamic of how I think about this person or how my kids think about me. I remember a story, we don’t want to get off into pornography stuff, but I remember a story from years ago when we had magazines, and there’s this five-year-old kid at the ballpark walking around with this magazine, like a magazine. Five years old, walking around, you know, look at this, you know, look at that.

And everybody’s going, What did you do? I’m gonna go find your parents. They get back to his parents, and he’s like, Where’d you get that? He’s like, I got in dad’s truck, you know. That guy went to church with us. That guy went to the church where I was preaching, and at the ballpark up the street, 50 people saw that. Like, what about other people? Aren’t they important? And it really reshaped the way we do things. So I would say that the focus here is on immorality a lot, but it definitely can be related to how it affects others. We love others, it’ll change our behavior, it just will. Then he gets into it. Here we go. He gets into the big one, like the number one relationship point made in practically each and every one of these letters.

You think about Romans 14 and Romans 15 and Ephesians 4 and all of it, beginning in verse 8, he says, Look, but now you also put them all aside. Now here’s what’s interesting. He just got through talking about immorality, fornication, adultery, and lust. And maybe you go, well, that’s not, that’s not a problem for me. That’s great. Really glad about that. But I almost think he was setting them up to go, you know what is equally a problem? Equally, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech. He said, put them all aside from your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to the true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.

You guys get that? If I’m not becoming more like Jesus, then I’m not moving in the direction I should be. And if I am becoming more like Jesus, then I’m growing as a Christian. Sometimes we get caught in this idea that if I know more things, then I’m growing as a Christian. Man, the Pharisees knew tons of stuff. And they couldn’t recognize Jesus if he stands right in front of them levitating. They couldn’t see it. It’s not just growing in knowledge, it’s actually growing into the image of who Jesus is. A renewal, verse 11, in which there’s no distinction between Greek and Jew, and he lists all these things. But Christ is all and is in all. Verse 12. So, as those who’ve been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion for who?

For everyone, but especially Christians. A heart of kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Love God, love your neighbor. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful, hope and joy. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to God, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

I always get a little stuck when I see Colossians 3 16. Because it’s a great verse to show that Christians sang to edify and encourage each other. And we use it to say, that’s why we have Acapella singing here, and we’re just trying to follow what the scriptures say. It’s good for that. It’s good to use to establish that. But it’s not exactly the point he was making. The point he’s making is Christians go all out to love and encourage other Christians. To build them up, to fill them up, put a smile on their face, to show kindness and forgiveness. And one great way to do it is to sing praises to Jesus together. The singing is just an output of the love we have. And the reason it sticks at my craw is I don’t know, guys, I mean I’m leaving here tonight.

Y’all be okay. Like, no one in my life has ever been as kind to me as Christians. I mean, there’s Karen right there. Come on. No one in my life has ever been as kind to me as Christians. And no one in my life has ever been as unkind.

They’ll get up and talk about a cappella singing, though. How crucial that is to being a Christian. Hey, I’m with you. But the text here is about how we care about each other. And that’s why we’re singing together. And you can sing your heart out. But if you don’t care about the brother sitting next to you, sing or don’t sing. We’ve got to work from the right place. Great stuff here. We already saw it. Not with anger, meanness, but with compassion and love, humility, understanding we all make mistakes and we do. Encouraging, and there’s that whole sense of thankfulness. Like we’re just thankful to be Christians. I was thinking about our read from the other day of 1 Corinthians, the Corinthian church, so many problems. And he starts by saying, just remember, we’re all sanctified in Jesus here.

5. Walk in a Manner Worthy of the Calling

So let’s be a sanctified group of people and let’s figure out how to work through these problems, as opposed to one of us ain’t getting out of here alive. One of us has got to be lost. And now we have nothing from which to work. There has to be that great attitude. I want to show you one more here. This is such a dominant thing. Go to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. You know, Ephesians 1 through 3, I know Brett’s teaching the class, and it’s so cool he’s doing that. And we’ve talked about kind of the approach he’s taken and everything. Ephesians 1 through 3 is just so rich in the goodness of the Lord. It’s just designed to make you fall in love with him all over again.

And then when you get to chapter 4, verse 1, it goes, Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. In other words, if you love him like you’re supposed to love him, let’s get out there and let’s do it. Well, what does he say next after that? I’ve always thought it was interesting if he’d have left the rest of the book empty, just blank pages. He’d have said, Jesus is awesome, chapter one, Jesus is awesome, chapter two, Harry, Jesus is awesome, chapter three. Now go out and walk in a manner worthy, and you guys just get your heads together and decide what that looks like. I don’t know what we would write in.

I think every generation would probably write something a little bit different. We’d certainly write the things that meant most to us, wouldn’t we? We would really make it work. I want you to see what he did say. He said, You want to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, then walk with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, which literally means putting up with each other, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. That sounds like beatitudes in action, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s all that stuff he’s saying when he’s sat down on the mountainside, he goes, All right, everybody, gather up. First of all, your heart’s got to be right.

Humble, thankful, peaceable. Because I’m gonna leave here after a while and I’m gonna head to heaven and I’ll be back after a while, but I’m gonna ask you guys to start collecting yourselves together and getting to know each other and working through things, different nationalities, different backgrounds, different maturity levels, different ideas. And it is not going to be you thinking the same thing as everyone else that’s gonna hold you together. It’s gonna be this tolerance, gentleness, patience. Just love that idea, can’t stop preaching about it. You guys aren’t the only ones here in this. We preach about it at home all the time. Because from this position, we can get through anything. If you take some of this stuff away, we’ll stumble over the simplest things.

Then he gets into family. And a lot of the letters do this. First Peter does this. When he gets into the relationship side, he talks about marriage in chapter 3. Ephesians 5 and 6 does this. When he gets into the relationship side, talks about husbands and wives. We’ll look at Colossians, it’s where we are, and it’s said quite tightly here. But look in Colossians chapter 3, verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. All, whatever, all you do. Giving thanks through him to God the Father. Wives, be subject to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. It honors the Lord for you to honor your role. I know he doesn’t always deserve it. I know he doesn’t always do the right thing.

The Lord does, a husband does not. Husbands, love your wives. Do not be embittered against them. This text doesn’t connect that to God. Like with the wife, it connects it to God. It says, if you and God are strong, then fulfill your role as a wife with integrity. It doesn’t say that exactly here for husbands, but it does if we go to 1 Peter 3. Gentlemen, do you remember 1 Peter 3 7? 1 Peter 3 7 says to treat your wives what? In an understanding way, as with someone weaker, showing her fellow honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life. Treat your wives right, lest what? What does it say? Anybody remember the rest of it? Lest your prayers be hindered. What’s he saying?

He’s saying, My wife’s not here, I’d point to her. But this can’t, she’s standing here. This can’t be strong. If for my part, this is weak. You get it? This can’t be, you can’t out, you can’t out outpace this. You can’t go, I’m not putting everything I can in right here. I’ve got a hundred excuses, but at least God and me are good. I don’t think that dynamic is possible. Because Jesus said, you love God, you love your neighbor, and he built Christianity around the health of relationships. Children, obey your parents. Be obedient to your parents in all things. I got paid extra to say this. In all things. Because your parents always get it right. They don’t. I remember my mom telling me I was like 15, I thought she was the silliest, dumbest thing, and I was the smartest.

She goes, Chris, this is my first time to ever do this. Like, I’m an I’m new at this too, you know? And then I remember calling her when my daughter got, yeah. I apologize profoundly. I mean, you do, right? You go, wait a minute. I don’t know what I’m doing here. Children obey your parents not because they’re perfect or they always get it right, but because they love you. And they’re trying to live out their lives well pleasing to the Lord. Like help them please God by letting them lead you. Fathers, do not exasperate your children so that they will not lose heart. And so we could talk about this a really long time. But what I’m saying is, loving your family and loving the Lord is probably, I’m just saying probably, that means it’s my opinion.

Probably is your part in it, so far as it depends on you. The way you treat Christians, the way you treat your family, is probably the strongest indication of your faith, of your Christianity. Because, look, worship’s important, very important, but it also becomes sort of a habit, doesn’t it? You know, you get on Sunday, you go to church, you know, it’s very important. Crucial to do it in an authorized way. But those things can become very habit forming. The way you treat people is who you are. It’s just the way you are with people. And that is very telling. really quickly here, there’s these authority rules. I’ve always kind of struggled with how to apply the master slave stuff. It comes up a lot.

It clearly was a really big deal back then. The book of Ephesians features it pretty heavily. And here, while he’s just going through all these different relationships, he mentions slaves, and we don’t maybe really understand the fullness of what that’s like, but he does tell slaves, like, do your work well because you fear God, verse 22. You serve your master well this direction, because you love the Father who is over you. Whatever you do, verse 23, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. And then he says quite profoundly, it’s the Lord Christ whom you serve. The slave says, No, it’s not. It’s that master, and he’s no good. And that’s why I have a bad attitude.

And that’s why I’m a problem for him at every turn, because he deserves it. He said, It’s actually the Lord Jesus whom you’re serving. And that’s what we’re saying tonight. You’re serving him through these connections. That’s how we serve him. We serve him directly as well, but we serve through those things. And then masters, he turns it around in chapter 4, verses 1 and following. And again, I don’t know what to do with this except to tell you this. If in an extreme master-slave relationship, which most of us probably can’t comprehend, even in a case where you were a slave to an abusive master, you still do your work with a thankful heart and gratitude, because it is in that way that you show that Christ is real to you.

So, if it’s true in that scenario, name one where it’s not true. Well, you don’t know my boss, no? But he’s not a master, and you’re not a slave. So I think the extremeness of this is really important to me, that it shows that no matter what authority construct I’m under that I don’t appreciate, most of us don’t really appreciate authority constructs when they malign what they’re doing, we can treat them well. And then the last thing, last thing. How about just broadening it out? Be in it, this is exactly what Jesus said. Most of this, if we had little arrows, we could tie back to the first box. Because he’s just building on what Christ has laid as a foundation. But he says in chapter 4, verse 2, devote yourselves to prayer.

That’s important. Keeping alert in it with an attitude of thankfulness, praying at the same time, this is Colossians 4 3, for us as well that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. That outsider idea just says, anywhere, anyone, any time, no matter who they are, what they say, why they say it, you need to be Ephesians 4.29ing that thing and going, what is the appropriate word in this moment?

6. Treat People the Way You Want Them to Treat You

What brings grace to those who hear? What represents that I am showing the name of Christ and what I do inside and outside. All the rest of it matters too, right? All the all the things we learn about the practical living and the way churches work together, but these are the foundations upon which they must be built. So, what I’m asking you to do as we close, I’m asking you to think, is Jesus central? Do I think about him first? Do I think about him often? Do I think about his love for me, his patience for me, his presence in my life, his relentless pursuit of me and his grace? And am I focusing on him and I’m not letting my ideas or other ideas get up?

Is it really about him? And if your answer is yes, that’s awesome. That’s what it means to be a Christian. Here’s how you keep testing it right here. Test it by the way you react and interact with all these wonderful living souls that God wants to save, and he loves them just as much as he loves us, though we get special love in Christ. All right, last thing. You guys are doing great. I’m closing it out. Go with me to, I’m putting this in my pocket, I’m taking it home. Go with me to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. We did a lot of work in Matthew 5. It feels very fair game to say, hey, can we look at that sermon one more time? In Matthew chapter 7, there’s of two verses we know really well.

Everybody in this room is pretty familiar with these verses. Matthew 7, 13 and 14. Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. How many of you believe that? There’s a wide road, there’s an Autobahn road, and you go as fast as you want, you do whatever you want, and lots of people travel that way, and they’re headed off a cliff and they’re gonna lose their souls. But there are relatively few, especially in the first century, where there were, you know, 99% of them didn’t believe in Jesus at all.

There are relatively few who will find that narrow path. Now the question is, how do you know which path you’re on? What boxes have to be checked? How do you go, well, that person’s clearly lost, and that person’s clearly saved? Look, there’s lots of things, and they’re all worth studying. But while you’re deciding in my family, in my life, in this church, this is the lost road, and this is the saved road, and you’re working all that out. While you’re working your way all over the New Testament trying to put that little thing together, would you just humor me? And would you just back up one verse? Don’t miss the context to make some point. Let me read all three together. In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you.

At this point, you’re going, could this have been a 10 second sermon? Yes. We could have been out of here 47 minutes ago. Treat people the same way. Which people? Look at the board. You name it. Everyone? Authority figures who don’t know what they’re doing? Family members who make mistakes. Christians. Everyone. Verse 12, 13, 14. Treat people the way you want them to treat you. This is the law and prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. People who don’t treat people the way that they want to be treated. People who don’t love others the way God loves them. Maybe they go to church, maybe they don’t. It’s not going to matter much in the end.

Conclusion

But the gate is small, the way is narrow for people who live like Jesus and love like Jesus and are patient like Jesus and forgive like Jesus and seek unity like Jesus does. My question tonight is that who you’re trying to be? All the rest of it, you’re going, there’s a lot of other things that are important. Yeah, but they get built on that. And nothing stands that’s built on anything else. I’m just asking you tonight if Jesus is central to your life, have you been treating people the way Jesus treats you? How thankful we are for his mercy. And if he is not a part of your life, you’ve not been baptized. We talk about that, it’s important at the end of the meeting.

You’re saying, I don’t know Jesus that way. I don’t have his grace flourishing in me, so it can’t flourish in others. You’re right about that. Car won’t go without the fuel. Maybe you need to obey the gospel. Maybe you can be baptized in this water here that’s probably warm, maybe. Maybe. It’s not warm. Maybe this is a moment where you put on Christ, and then you can wear him wherever you go, and other people will meet him when they meet you. You’ve got to put them on, though. He’s worthwhile. He’s worth everything. He’s the center of everything. Jesus first, as together we stand and sin.