MPC, 21st January 2001.Colossians 3:1-14 - Dress Sense
Andrew Richardson MPC, 21st January 2001.
If you took an opinion poll on the most UNPOPULAR TENNIS PLAYER this week, Jelena Dokic would have to win. At the moment, she'd have to be the most unpopular tennis players in Australia. Tuesday night, she got BOOED and JEERED when she came onto the court.
That's pretty unusual.. but the reason Jelena's so unpopular, the reason she's really got people OFF SIDE... is because although she became an Australian citizen 5 or 6 years ago, now she's started playing tennis for Yugoslavia. And that just doesn't seem right.
It's not that she made a DEAL to play for Australia if she was given Australian citizenship. It's not even as if she'll lose her Australian citizenship by playing for Yugoslavia. It's just that as an Australian citizen, most people expect her to LIVE as an Australian. To play for Australia rather than anyone else. It's natural... Australians want to REPRESENT Australia when they play sport. Australians want to LIVE as Australians.
And it's the same when it comes to living as a Christian. It's natural for people who ARE Christians to THINK like Christians…to ACT like Christians. It's natural for people who God has made citizens of his kingdom, to REPRESENT his kingdom in the way they live. It's not that you GET INTO God's kingdom by living a certain way. But when you're PART OF IT, it means it's only natural that you'll LIVE DIFFERENTLY. That's what Paul says to the Colossians here in Chapter 3. He's spent the first two chapters reassuring them that they're COMPLETE CHRISTIANS just by trusting Jesus. And now he says, SINCE YOU ARE complete Christians... LIVE like it. Don't live in a way that ignores what Jesus has done for you. Live lives that reflect WHO YOU ARE as Christians
And that's the logic you can see in the first couple of verses of the Chapter. Paul says to the Colossians, you've STARTED AGAIN. He says, it's like the OLD YOU HAS DIED. And you're a NEW PERSON. He says you've died and been raised with Jesus. You've died to your old life and been raised to a new life with Jesus. So live like it.
It's like someone on one of those witness protection programs you hear about on TV. They're given a NEW IDENTITY. A new name, a new address, a new job. They say goodbye to the OLD LIFE, and become completely new people. Their old life is gone and they've got to start living their new life.
And so Paul says to the Colossians, if you've got a new life… live like it. It's no good keeping the earthly focus of your old life, it's dead and gone. Focus on things above… that's where your new life is. Chapter 3 verse 1:
SINCE, then, you have been RAISED WITH CHRIST, set your hearts on THINGS ABOVE, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For YOU DIED.... and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
In other words, if you're a Christian, then you've made a WHOLE NEW START as a WHOLE NEW PERSON. You've died to your old life, and you've been raised with Jesus. And even though it mightn't look like it now, even though it mightn't feel like it now, the reality is, when Jesus comes back, your new life will be obvious to everyone. And it'll be glorious. That's what he says in v 4. It's hidden now; but it's going to be clear.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
So remember. Your new life with Jesus might not be obvious, but it's real. And it's glorious. And it needs to control the way you live. You need to focus on things above, because that's where your life is. If you've put your trust in Jesus, then he's DIED ON YOUR BEHALF. And you've got a WHOLE NEW LIFE TO LIVE.
And that means, you're going to have a CHANGE OF CLOTHES. You're going to get rid of things that fitted with the old you, and you're going to put on things that suit the new you. You're going to be like the people in Jenny Craig ads. The BEFORE and AFTER photo. After they've lost weight on the Jenny Craig $9-a-week plan, their clothes don't fit them anymore; they need a new wardrobe. Well, Paul says now that you've become NEW PEOPLE you need a NEW WARDROBE too. There's stuff you've got to TAKE OFF. And other stuff you need to PUT ON.
So the first step towards a new wardrobe is getting rid of anything that doesn't fit with the new you. You're going to take off anything that doesn't suit your new life with Jesus in heaven. You're going to GIVE UP the sort of attitudes and actions that are a hangover from your old life that's dead and buried.
Have a look at verse 7 to 10. Because that's what he's saying.
v 7. You USED to walk in these ways in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must RID YOURSELVES of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. 9 Don't lie to each other, since you have TAKEN OFF YOUR OLD SELF with its practices 10 and have PUT ON THE NEW SELF, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the creator.
I'll never forget the time I turned up to an engagement party wearing the wrong clothes. I was thinking it was a casual party, just a couple of friends getting together at a restaurant. So I turned up wearing my jeans. Trouble is, it was a really swish party. Hundreds of guests, a fancy restaurant, dance floor, the lot. Everyone else is wearing ties and jackets and there's me stuck in my blue Levis and a T shirt. It's a terrible feeling. I stayed sitting at the table all night so my legs were under the table and no one could see I only had jeans on; no way I was going to get up and DANCE where anyone could see me! Wearing the wrong clothes at the wrong time is embarrassing. You're out of place. You don't fit in. And when Christians treat each other with anger or malice, when Christians SLANDER ONE ANOTHER, it's just as inappropriate. TAKE OFF THAT STUFF, that's what Paul's saying, and PUT ON THE NEW SELF. TAKE OFF THAT STUFF, with its dissensions and divisions, and treat one another as you SHOULD.
And I guess as he's writing this, there might be particular issues in the church he's thinking of. Where people AREN'T TREATING ONE ANOTHER the way they should. Where maybe there's DIVISION... instead of UNITY. Maybe FACTIONS, between the different racial groups in the church. And so he says, when you're WEARING WHAT YOU SHOULD BE WEARING, there'll be UNITY. That's what he goes on to say in verse 11. "Here," here among CHRISTIANS, "here, there's no Greek or Jew, here's there's no circumcised or uncircumcised, no barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but CHRIST is all and is in all." All one. With no hint of malice or slander or lies or deception. As a Christian, whereever you've COME FROM, whatever YOU WERE, doesn't matter. We're ONE. So going round being angry with each other, going around slandering one another... doing that's as bad as turning up at a restaurant in THE WRONG CLOTHES. It's embarrassing!
But I've seen it happen. I guess you have as well. Imagine a church; and someone actually BUYS A HOUSE for the church to use. Incredibly GENEROUS. And yet there's a faction who think the church should be building on their OWN LAND... and all of a sudden everyone's angry. And someone's maliciously ringing up the council to get the house REZONED so the church can't use it; and the people who bought the house are being SLANDERED.
How embarrassing. Here's a group of Christians who are dressed all wrong for WHO THEY ARE AND WHERE THEY'RE GOING. Here's a group of Christians who are angry, who are malicious, who are slandering. Not living like they've taken off the old life at all. Not living as if they're united in Jesus. It's completely inappropriate.
So next time you're about to make a malicious comment about someone in the church, next time you're getting angry with another Christian... be embarrassed. Imagine yourself in one of those nightmare situations where you dream you turn up to SCHOOL still in your pyjamas. Because that's what it's like. You're a NEW PERSON; and that means you need to TAKE OF THE OLD CLOTHES, and PUT ON THE NEW.
And the NEW OUTFIT looks like this. Verse 12. Here's the fashion parade:
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved; therefore BECAUSE YOU'RE GOD'S PEOPLE... DRESS LIKE IT! Clothe yourselves with compassion... kindness... humility... dress yourself with gentleness... and patience. Bear with each other... and FORGIVE whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Compassion, kindness, humility, forgiveness... LOVE. All the stuff that actually helps people get on together. The kind of attitudes that are essential if a group of people are going to be united and bound together. And that's why it's so important that the Colossians have them. They're united in Jesus, so they need to have attitudes that show their unity.
I wonder, if we're all doing that, if we're all working at putting on COMPASSION and KINDNESS and HUMILITY... if we're all QUICK TO FORGIVE... I wonder how HARD IT WOULD BE to cause DIVISION in a church that was like that. Just about IMPOSSIBLE, I'd say - even if there are issues about houses and buildings and the colour of the carpets. NO WAY anything like that would even cause a ripple... if we're NEW PEOPLE wearing NEW CLOTHES. So can I finish by asking you, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WEARING? If you've put your faith in Jesus, you're a WHOLE NEW PERSON. But have you been LIVING LIKE IT? Or not? Paul says, you've been GIVEN everything you need already. Not only FORGIVEN... but MADE HOLY. A citizen of the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Now you just need to LIVE LIKE IT. By putting off the old ways... and putting on the new.