It seems like the last month or so I have been studying in Colossians and 1 Thessalonians and every time I think I am ready to move on I get pulled back to a passage in Colossians.  It is found in the third chapter verses 1-17.  The heading in my English Standard Version translation is “Put on the New Self.”  If I have read it once I have read it a thousand times and every time I read it, the impact seems to go deeper and deeper.  This is especially true when I consider the world around me and the darkness that seems to be so prevalent.

Paul transitions from this point where he asks the Colossians why they are allowing others anchored to the things of the world to dictate to them.

Let No One Disqualify You

At the end of chapter two, Paul asks the Colossians about those that try to pass judgment on them.  He warns them not to get caught up in man-made religions.

Colossians 2:16-19 (ESV Strong’s)

¹⁶ Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

I like this one line in this passage that describes these false teachers – “going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind.”  Paul goes on to say that these folks are not holding on to Jesus, the head of the church and implies that they simply rely on their own strength and foolishness

Let No One Disqualify You… continued

He continues with a reminder of the TRUTH… and a BIG If statement.

Colossians 2:20-23 (ESV Strong’s)

²⁰ If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹ “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²² (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

I read this passage from verse sixteen to twenty-three and I think of all the times someone tries to add requirements for salvation that differ from the Gospel.  The thing is the “requirements” always seem to be that I have to do something.  But God has told me I could not do anything to earn my salvation.   One of my favorite passages that describe salvation is Ephesians two.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV Strong’s)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

But in this passage in Colossians Paul talks more about how our mind and body change when we surrender to Jesus.

Another Big IF

Paul goes on to discuss how we change and what is truly important… the Gospel if we have accepted Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:1-4 (ESV)

​¹ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

“ If then you have been raised with Christ,” our focus should not be on this world, but on the one to come.  For if we have accepted Christ Jesus we have died to this world.

If, Then the Gift

We are hidden in Christ Jesus.  I like how Paul says it in Romans 6 as well.

Romans 6:3-7 (ESV Strong’s)

³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin.

What an amazing gift we have in Jesus. In Romans 5 reminds us that through Adam all sinned but through Christ Jesus all are justified.

Romans 5:18-19 (ESV Strong’s)

¹⁸ Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹ For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Jesus paid the price for all sin from Adam to me and those still to come.

Obedience

One man sinned and that price was death for all men.  One man, Jesus Christ, the son of God was obedient and paid the price that assured life for all that believed.  I love how Paul put it in his letter to the Philippians.

Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV Strong’s)

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Just let that soak in for a minute.  Jesus was completely man and completely God.  We know that he agonized over the price he had to pay to save us because he asked His Father to take it from him if he could as He prayed in Gethsemane but he accepted it with the words, ⁴² saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  Luke 22:42 (ESV)

He suffered, without relief, from every blow and every moment of persecution.  He did it without a complaint obedient to the will of God the Father.

Colossians 3 If… Then

In Colossians three Paul asks the Colossians that IF question – If you are in Christ Jesus, (Colossians 3:1-4), then show it in how you live…

Colossians 3:5-10 (ESV)

⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ In these, you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

He adds a piece to the end of this passage that to me is particularly important today.

Colossians 3:11 (ESV)

¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.

I look at verse 5-11 and Paul specifically focus on behavior.  He does not refer to people groups until the end.  In verse 11 he mentions that there are no differences from one to another because, “Christ is all, and in all.”

In those days there was significant discrimination between class and race, but when Paul spoke these words, he emphasized that there was no room for that any longer.  We are ALL in Christ Jesus and He is in us.

With this gift, we need to be united.  You can pick any designator that the world uses to separate us and if we truly do believe those designators no longer exist… “but Christ is all, and in all.“(Col. 3:11b)

United

We as Christians need to be focused together encouraging each other and lifting each other up.  Paul was very specific.

Colossians 3:12-15 (ESV)

¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.

He emphasizes the need to grow together in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:15-16 (ESV)

And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

He also reminds us who our example is and for whom we do everything.

Colossians 3:17 (ESV)

¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Closing Thoughts

As I think about this letter that Paul wrote to the Colossians, I cannot help but think about the church today and the world around us.  It seems we take so many of our cues from the world around us.  I have to ask myself, how much time do I live out verses 12-17 in Colossians 3 or do I focus more on things of the world?

It is so easy to be distracted and before you know it the peace and contentment that comes from Jesus can be replaced with anger or frustration with the earthly things.  The adversary knows all our triggers and he uses them all to distract us from the things above to focus on the things below.  We need to be reminded and we need to remind others…

Colossians 3:1-4 (ESV)

​¹ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The things in the world will pass away, but the things above are eternal.  The adversary will use everything in his war chest to try and distract you.  We must not separate from the flock and our good shepherd Jesus.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for reminding me of the wonder of your promise.  Thank you for reminding me that we, as believers, need to be nourished with Your Word and by encouragement within the body or the church.  I thank you Lord and I pray that I might take these tools and always share your Gospel and my testimony with those I may meet, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.