This morning we'll be looking to Colossians chapter 3, and it says in the bulletin, we'll be looking at verses 5 through 15, but we'll actually consider 1 through 15. In preparation, I thought it'd be better to start at the beginning rather than bring you in halfway through the argument. So turn with me, if you will, to Colossians chapter 3, and hear the word of God. 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. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is a form of idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 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. Anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge, in the image of its creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, Barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. But Christ is all and is in all. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful that the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. And as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 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. Brothers and sisters, young people, boys and girls, have you gotten dressed this morning? Have you put on everything that you need to put on today? Does your outfit show who you are? Is it a reflection of your character? Many of us know that what we wear tells people a lot about who we are. It's a reflection of who we really are. Take, for instance, an extreme makeover. Many of you may have seen some of the TV shows where houses are made over, cars are made over. But in particular, think about people. People undergo extreme makeovers. They may have plastic surgery or dental correction. Get a haircut, make up the works, you name it. They get it done. Essentially, when these people are through with the process, They're a new person. Now think of what they would wear after this makeover. They would not go on wearing the same old clothes that was identified with their old nature, with their old person. No, their whole wardrobe would go under a major transformation. They would no longer put on the old clothes. They would put them away, maybe even throw them out, or burn them even. But every day, as a new person, they would put on their new clothes. Because it's an outgrowth of who they are. It's characteristic of what they've become. Well, brothers and sisters, in a similar way, Christians have been made new. We've undergone a great transformation. You could say we've undergone an extreme makeover. It's not just an external makeover, though. The makeover we have is one from death to life. So Paul tells the Colossians, In light of the fact that you are new creatures, put off the old nature. Put those clothes away, but put on the new. Put on the new clothes of your new nature. In this letter, in this third chapter of Paul's letters to Colossians, he uses this illustration of clothing because he's talking about the body of Christ. And as he talks to the Colossians, as he tells them to put off what belonged to the old and put on what belonged to the new. He says that they can do this only because they are renewed in Christ's image. Paul tells the Colossians that their redemption affects how they act, how they live. He tells them that they are to look like Christ because He is their Creator and their Redeemer. He is the head of their body. Brothers and sisters, is this involves continually a putting off of the old nature, a putting away of the deeds of the flesh, and a taking on, a putting on, a clothing of ourselves with the new nature, the characteristics that God says belong to the new nature. So this morning, as we consider our extreme makeover, we'll look at three things. First, it's Christ-centered certainty. Second, it's individual implications. And third, it's corporate character. I didn't get them in the bulletin, so I'll repeat them for you again. It's Christ-centered certainty. It's individual implications. And it's corporate character. Well, while chapter 3 of Colossians deals more with how the Christians are to live, it's hard to start there. Because Paul's whole argument is grounded in what comes before. You see, who they are affects how they live. So in this first point, we're going to briefly scan the first two chapters and then get into chapter 3. But Paul's primary importance in this letter is to remind the Colossians that their redemption is a certainty in Christ. So he spends these first two chapters establishing that fact. And in order to combat what's often known as the Colossian heresy, he builds a picture of who Christ is. See, the Colossian heresy is a syncretistic, man-made religion where angels and asceticism, lots of laws are in place. But Paul says, these things are nothing. It's who you are. Because of the person and work of Christ, that's how you ought to live. He shows the church that Christ in all things is preeminent. And so Paul exalts Christ as the image of the invisible God. He's the creator, the redeemer, the sustainer. He goes on to proclaim that Christ is the one through whose blood all things are reconciled to God. In fact, Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. So in chapter 2, Paul goes to great lengths to explain that it is in Christ's death and in his burial and resurrection that believers are made alive. He goes on to say in chapter 3, verses 1 and 3, that we have been raised with him and that believers' lives are hidden with him. It's because of this reality, and only because of this reality, that the deeds of the sinful flesh can be put away and the deeds of the new flesh, the new self, can be put on. See, Paul's grounding his exhortation to the Colossians in the reality that their salvation is in Christ. It's a certain fact. So as Paul builds this case for the preeminence of Christ, the Son, he wants them to see that beyond all measure, their salvation is in Christ alone. Their rules, their regulations, their asceticism, their angel worship, none of these things can save them. It can't do anything to bring them any further than where they are at this point. In fact, Paul even goes so far as to say, these things, your rules and your regulations, they can do nothing and they have no value in stopping the indulgence of your flesh. So you see, in Christ, the old man, the old self has died. But it is also in Christ that the new man is made alive. In Christ, we die to sin and are made alive to righteousness. In Christ, here he's pictured as the second Adam, the one in whom there is a new humanity, a spiritual people. The church of which he is the head is gathered to him and united to him by the Spirit. And we're being redeemed according to his image, even as he is the image of God the Father. The church is being renewed to be like Christ. But brothers and sisters, so we no longer find ourselves as Adam. dead in the garden having sinned against God we find ourselves alive in Christ who in contrast to Adam completely fulfilled the law of God by his righteous life and his sacrificial death on the cross he took the penalty for our sins upon himself and so we find our life in him however for those who are not trusting in Christ those who have not understood that they are sinful and that the law is condemning them. They are not trusting in Christ and they will be condemned. They are under the curse of the law and they are dead in their transgressions and sin. So as we look to the second point, the individual implications, we must see that what we do, how we live, is grounded and rooted in who we are. Paul essentially is telling the Colossians to be who you are, to live the lives that flow out of your new nature. In Christ, we're transformed from the old to the new. Our souls are brought from death to life. As we live on this earth, though, we engage in the process of sanctification. It's a daily dying to our sin, a putting off, a putting to death of our sinful works. And it's a clothing, a putting on of our new nature. See, this is what characterizes the Christian. It's an ongoing, lifelong struggle that we have to engage in every day because we are new creatures. You can picture it as two towers. The tower of our sinful nature, the deeds of the flesh, is being torn down daily. Yet at the same time, the tower of our righteousness, through Christ, is being built up. We don't have to wait for this first tower of sinfulness, of our wicked ways, to be torn down completely before the new one is starting to be built up. It happens at the same time. So Paul reminds the Colossians of who they are. They're united in Christ. They're his chosen ones. They're holy, and they're loved by God. Brothers and sisters, this is you and I as well. Our lives, just as the Colossians' lives, are hid in Christ. But Paul doesn't stop there. He moves on and presses them to understand who they are and then to make good of it. Remember that Paul's combating the Colossian heresy here where there's added rules and regulations above and beyond what God requires. So in fact, he's telling the Colossians, don't worry about these man-made regulations. Don't touch, don't taste, don't do this, don't do that. Observe this day. But what Paul is doing here is giving them principles according to which they should live. According to their new identity, they're to clothe themselves, to put on the new nature. So Paul instructs them how to tear down this tower of ungodliness and of unrighteousness. In verses 5 and 8, in chapter 3, he says, Put to death sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed. He goes on and tells them to put away all rage, all anger, malice, slander, and filthy language. These things are sinful and have no place in a redeemed creature. They have no place in the lives of the child of God. So in contrast to these deeds, though, in verse 12, Having looked at ten things that they're to put off, Paul makes a list of other things that the Christians are supposed to put on. The new clothes, the characteristic characters of Christians. He said, you must clothe yourself, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. He's not giving a long list of do's and don'ts. He's not saying that by your works you can add to your salvation. but he is saying that according to your new nature according to the new person that you are in Christ you must clothe yourself differently it's out with the old in with the new day by day we need to to put on the new self and since we are alive in Christ we're not under the condemnation of the law no the law for Christians for redeemed believers serves a different purpose in our life It's not there to condemn us. We've already seen our guilt and our misery. And we've been pointed to Christ. And we have our faith in Christ. So now the law serves a different purpose in our lives. It's a norming principle. It's a guide according to which we can form our lives by the Spirit of Christ. So in regard to what a Christian is supposed to put on, Paul gives a particular emphasis to love. As you recall, even in the reading of the law this morning, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. For it's love that binds everything together, Paul says. And even in the New Testament, Christ says the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And he goes on to say that you should love your neighbor as yourself. So these are the characteristics that are to be put on by the new Christian, By the new self. Because they are equated. They correlate with the new person. But he gives one more here. In chapter 3, verse 15. It's kind of an awkward little phrase. At the end of the verse, Paul says, And give thanks. Brothers and sisters, the Heidelberg Catechism has taken this up. In view of the sin and the misery that we've been saved from, seeing the grace that has been given to us, we're to live lives of gratitude. As we live our days out, we're to be thankful and grateful for all that God has given to us, all that he's done for us in Christ. Well, having looked at the certainty of our Christ-centered redemption, we see that it does not only have implications for our own individual living, but in a great way, it impacts our corporate character. The way we interact with brothers and sisters in Christ, with other members of the family of God. Being a new creature, being united to Christ, means that we have brothers and sisters beyond our genetic family. We have men and women, boys and girls, who also are believers in Christ, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. And so Paul focuses in this, on the latter half of this chapter, verses 9 through 15 particularly. And as we look at these characteristics, we're going to look a little bit more deeply than we did in the first two points. So as we've seen here, as there's evidence that the Colossian church has been under the influence of this heresy, in which rules and regulations have been piled on, Paul says, you know, these things don't have any worth or any value in sustaining the desires of the flesh, and nor do they have any power to bring unity? Sure, they might look like it from the exterior. You might have a bunch of people doing the same things, living ascetic lifestyles, worshipping angels, not drinking certain things, not eating certain things, not touching or tasting. But brothers and sisters, the unity in Christ that we have is much more real because it's a unity in which the Spirit of God is dwelling in us. And so the implications of that are overwhelming. Let's look at what Paul says in regard to the body, to the unity of Christ. He says that there's no distinction. There's no barriers. All these common cultural, social barriers that so often hinder the relationships between men and women and boys and girls, all these things are broken down in Christ. Look at verse 11 with me, if you will. Paul says that there is no, in Christ, excuse me, that there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. But Christ is all and is in all. So as we look at these distinctions, the Greeks, the Jews, uncircumcised, the circumcised, the barbarians, the Scythians, the slave and the free, we'll see what Paul means and kind of the implications, especially in the first century, of how these distinctions were so important on that lifestyle. But yet how they are now, even those distinctions are to be put off. So first, in regard to Greek and Jew, Paul's saying that there's no racial or religious barrier anymore. It's probably aimed more particularly at the Jews. You may remember in the Jewish life that it was so strange in the New Testament that the Gospel is going out to Gentiles. For thousands of years, they had been God's people. They had been heirs of the promise. And now, Gentiles are being brought in. It was such a controversy that the Jerusalem Council had to meet in order to work things out and to see that believers didn't need to be circumcised in order to be part of the family of God. You see, because this physical sign of circumcision was a sign of the spiritual circumcision, a circumcision of the heart. So this outward sign is replaced by baptism, in which we're united to Christ. Secondly, Paul focuses on the cultural barrier. He says that in Christ there's no Greek, no barbarian, no Scythian. To understand this a little bit better, you need to know who the barbarians were and who the Scythians were. And I'll start with the Greeks. The Greeks were cultured people. They had a great language, great literature, great philosophy. You may have even read some of it. But beyond that world, beyond this Greco-Roman world, there was a whole world of people who were the barbarians, who were uncultured, who didn't speak Greek. And even the name itself, barbarians, from what I've read, is probably an onomatopoeic put-down. When the Greeks heard these people speaking, it just sounded like bar, bar, bar, bar, bar. That's what they were hearing, so they called them the barbarians. And you're asking, who are these Scythians? Well, the Scythians are the barbarians of barbarians. They're the worst of the worst. In the Greek eyes, these people were barely better than beasts, actually. See, this distinction is so great. The divide was so entrenched in their mindset. But yet, in the church, in the body of Christ, these divisions are broken down. So finally, there's a third distinction. And it, too, is a very, very important distinction. In the first century, where much of the world is bound in slavery, in the Greco-Roman world, many, many people are slaves. A large percentage of the population is entrenched in slavery. So for Paul to say, there's no slave or free in Christ, it's a radical distinction. But what's even more important, and perhaps even more interesting, is that this letter, this letter to the Colossians, is being carried by two men, Tychicus and Onesimus. Onesimus was a runaway slave from Colossae. You may remember the book of Philemon, where Paul writes to Philemon and says to take back Onesimus. And even this letter, in chapter 4, as this letter is being sent out, Paul says to the Colossians, Onesimus, a former slave, well, he probably still is in slavery, But he says he's a brother and a faithful Christian. So you can see that these distinctions are broken down in the body of God. By his Spirit, Christ lives in his people. We're bound together. So what does this say for us today? What are the implications? What does the corporate character look like as we live out our lives in the United States, in Escondido? What does it mean in regard to different cultures, to different races, different societies, different denominations? Well, in our mobile society, as people are able to leave and come and go, what does it mean, or why does our churches struggle so much, so hard to integrate these new families? Why is it so hard for us to accept people who are new or just a little different? Even here we're experiencing kind of an exodus as people are moving away. We need to be aware that as new people take their places, we need to welcome them in, to embrace them as brothers and sisters in Christ. For they are part of God's body, the church. Brothers and sisters, as we live out our lives, we've got to strive for this reality. We need to be praying that the gospel will go forth, even throughout this city where there's a cultural divide. We need to pray that the distinctions that are so prevalent are broken down. For in Christ, there is no Dutch, there's no Mexican, there's no Korean or English. All these things are broken down. For Christ is the foundation upon which the church is built. He's the root and we're the branches. Christ identifies his church so closely with himself that he uses an organic picture. You know, Christ is the head, and we're the body. Paul saw this very particularly on the road to Damascus. You might remember, before his conversion, Paul was a menace to the church. He would go and persecute Christians. So on his way to Damascus, with letters in hand, with the authority to do what he willed, the Lord met him on the road, and he said, Paul, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Connecting, uniting himself with his church. Well, brothers and sisters, because of this union in Christ, as his body, we are called to forgive one another, even as we have been forgiven. We have been called to live peaceful lives with one another. In a church, there's many things that can go awry. There's many personalities that can clash. There's many things that might be done that insult one another or that hurt one another. But as we think about the grace of God and the unity of the body of Christ, we need to take heed, to forgive one another, and to live with the ruling principle of peace in our hearts. For it's the peace of Christ that overcomes all the quarrels, all the strife, all the contention, the disagreements, and the grudges that are current. The redeemed body of Christ, brothers and sisters, is to be one of peace. Our relationship with one another, and especially with the church, within this community, within this body, is to be impacted by the presence of peace, the peace that's brought by Christ. So, brothers and sisters, having looked at these three points, you might answer my question that I asked before a little bit differently. If you were asked now, have you gotten dressed this morning? You might think a little bit differently about what I mean. You might think more deeply about what it means to put on the new self, the new nature. In regard to makeovers, as I said, we've gone under the most extreme makeover. We've been brought from death to life. Grungy to glamorous no longer matters. What matters is that we are made alive in Christ. and that having been united to Christ, we are united to his body, to his family, and that has a tremendous impact on how we live, how we carry out our daily interactions, living with one another, bearing each other's burdens, forgiving each other, just as Christ, just as in Christ, God has forgiven us. So being united in Christ, we rest in him, in the salvation that he has accomplished, And because of this, He rules in our hearts so that His peace might transcend all the discord that's brought about by people who are redeemed and yet who are still sinful. Brothers and sisters, having been shown such grace, having experienced the reality of being brought from death to life, we are called to live lives of gratitude, to make our praises and our thanksgiving known to God. And that is our call as we endeavor to live out what it means to be a new person in Christ. As we put on the new self, we seek to implement the characteristics of the new self and live out our lives in the body of Christ. Let us pray. Our dear Lord God and Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you this morning, having seen that our redemption is a reality in Christ alone. But Lord, we've also seen that that reality requires some work. Lord, that you've required us to put off the deeds of the old nature, to put off the old ways of the sinful flesh, and to put on the characteristics of the new, to put on, as it were, Christ. And Father, we ask that as we engage in this process of sanctification, that we may not just look to ourselves, but that we may look further to the body of Christ in this congregation, to the surrounding congregations, and to the church abroad. Father, we ask that this morning, as we leave this place, we may think more indepthly about what it means to be a Christian, and how that affects our lives, how the law no longer condemns us, but it is a guide and a norm according to which we ought to live. Father, we pray that you will help us to live in peace and unity, even among fellow believers, where struggles and strife can develop, and even over doctrinal issues. Lord, help us to be gracious in our dealings with one another, to be forgiving, even as you have forgiven us. But Father, help us, above all, to love you and to love our neighbor. For these are the greatest commandments that you have given to us. And Father, we pray that as we live out our days, that we may be thankful, that we may not forget the reality of our salvation, the struggles that Christ had to go through on this earth, the pain in which he endured for us on the cross. Father, help us not to take this lightly, but to rejoice in the fact that because Christ was slain, because our sins were imputed to Him, that His righteousness was imputed to us, and we therefore have life. And we look forward to Your second coming, to the consummation where You will bring all things under Christ's reign. And Father, as Your people, we pray that You will bless us, that we may live lives pleasing to You, and that we may glorify You in everything that we do. We pray these things in Christ Jesus' name. Amen.