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Colossians 8 – Jesus Life Glorious Life

Since then, you have been raised with Christ… set your heart, your mind, and your life on things above.

Welcome. We are Redemption Church of Plano Tx. My name is Chris Fluitt, andI am happy to serve as Lead Pastor here.
What kind of Church is Redemption Church? We are a church that believes in community. We believe thata if you say you love Jesus but don’t love the people around you that you are mistaken. We are called to love Jesus and love each other. Jesus commands us to love one another just as He loves us. The level of our love is the level of love Christ has shown us. THEREFORE we should live together in unity. We should do life together. Hang out. Bear each other’s burdens. Celebrate our successes together. I  invite all of you to go deeper in community with us.
Welcome to everyone online, and hello to everyone in the room. God bless ya’ll!
We are back in the book of Colossians. Turn to Colossians 3. We took a 5 week break to study belief and the great commission and now we are returning to this great book. If you missed any of the previous sermons in the Colossians series they can be found on our website redemption-church.com.
Does anyone remember what the theme of Colossians is?
Christ is Supreme
Colossians 3:1 (NIV2011) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Colossians 3:2 (NIV2011) Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:3 (NIV2011) For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:4 (NIV2011) When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:5 (NIV2011) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Colossians 3:6 (NIV2011) Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
Colossians 3:7 (NIV2011) You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
Colossians 3:8 (NIV2011) But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Colossians 3:9 (NIV2011) Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
Colossians 3:10 (NIV2011) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Colossians 3:11 (NIV2011) Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
We touched on the first 3 verses but let me review… You have been raised with Christ, so set your heart, mind, and life above.
Verse 1 Set your heart on things above WHERE CHRIST IS. Wherever Christ is, that is where your heart is.
Verse 2 Set you mind on things above not on earthly things.
Verse 3 Your life is now hidden with Christ in God… the location of your life is above the things of this world.
If we have really been raised with Christ… then our hearts, minds, and lives ought to testify to that fact!
Colossians 3:4 (NIV2011) When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Jesus Life
When Christ who is your life… What a declaration. He could have said “Christ, who is a part of your life… Christ, who gave you life… Christ, who saved and blessed your life…” No Paul declares CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE.
Scripture declares that Jesus is life on many occasions.
John 11:25 (NIV2011) “I am the resurrection and the life…
John 14:6 (NIV2011) “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 1:4 (NIV2011) In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Jesus didn’t just give us life when He created us… He didn’t just give us spiritual life when He saved us… He didn’t just give life and walk away… He is continually our life. We would do well to live like He is our life!
I refuse to wear a shirt that says “football is life,” “music is life,” “something else is life.” JESUS IS LIFE!
When I worshipped Him to today it felt like I came to life! When I hear His voice it’s like I come to life… because His words are Spirit and they are life! When I have close communion with Jesus I come to life… BECAUSE CHRIST IS MY LIFE.
Paul uses some word play here in these verses…
Colossians 3:3 (NIV2011) For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
KRYPTO – HIDDEN
Hidden – kryptō (krü’p-tō) to conceal… it is the word where we get Crypt from – which is the idea of a tomb or grave.
You died and what do you do with a dead life? You burry it! You hide it, conceal it, within the grave! You are hidden… buried with Christ in God… This burial is an allusion to baptism..
Paul told us in Colossians 2:12
Colossians 2:12 (NIV2011) having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
At the funeral there comes a moment where they close the casket and that body is concealed. Baptism is the moment in the life of a Christian where we close the casket on our old life. Your life in now hidden with Christ..
Colossians 3:4 (NIV2011) When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Phaneroo – Appear
When Christ who is your life APPEARS!
Appear – phaneroō (fä-ne-ro’-ō) to make manifest, to show.
Your sinful carnal life is kryptos hidden… the new life of Christ is phaneroo appearing…
When Christ appears… then you will appear with him in glory. It is not that you go away. It is not that you cease to have a personality and become a Christian robot or cookie cutter version of Christ. YOU WILL APPEAR but there is going to be a great change in you.
WITH HIM IN GLORY
You will appear WITH HIM in glory. The fact that we can appear alongside the king of kings & lord of lords is amazing. Your Bible says that Christ will return to Earth with an angel army and WITH HIS SAINTS. I WANT TO APPEAR WITH HIM!
IN GLORY? Throughout the Old Testament scriptures, it declares that only God is glorious.
Isaiah 42:8 (NIV2011) “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.
It is clear that God’s glory is off limits… yet we see this in the new testament…
Hebrews 1:3 (NIV2011) The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Jesus, the son is radiating with God’s glory! No one knew that was possible until Christ showed us the glory of God in the flesh.
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV2011) For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
God’s glory is placed within and upon Jesus Christ! Christ displays God’s glory… and one day we will appear WITH HIM… IN GLORY.
Romans 8:17 (NIV2011) Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 8:18 (NIV2011) I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
God whose glory is displayed in the face of Jesus… That same glory will be revealed in us. God is going to place His glory on us.
Glorious Life
Do you want a glorious life? The Jesus life is a glorious life.
There 3 stages to the Jesus life. Did you know this? The Christian life can be narrowed down to 3 stages.
Justified, Sanctified, Glorified

• We are justified by Jesus. He takes away your sin and it is JUST IF I’D never sinned.
• We are being sanctified by Jesus. This is a process where become more and more like Jesus. We live holy lives.
• Then one day we will be glorified. We will be transformed, when Christ Appears!

Glorious Life
If you want to live the Glorious Life then you need to be justified and become sanctified.
Justification happens at the moment you repent and have all your sins washed away by Christ. Justification happens in this instant!
Sanctification is a process and Paul talks a little about this process…
Colossians 3:5 (NIV2011) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Colossians 3:6 (NIV2011) Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
The wrath of God is coming! The judgment of God is coming! There are 2 options. You will either be put to death by the wrath of God… Scripture calls this the 2^nd death (Revelation 21:8)… or you will PUT TO DEATH WHATEVER BELONGS TO YOUR EARTHLY NATURE! Remember that Paul started this chapter by saying to place your heart, mind, and life ABOVE and not on earthy things… Now He is telling us to put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature.
Colossians 3:7 (NIV2011) You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
Here is drawing back to the idea of your life that died and became hidden and the CHRIST LIFE that is now revealed. It’s like there is a second life! It’s like you are born again just as Jesus said in John 3.
Colossians 3:8 (NIV2011) But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Colossians 3:9 (NIV2011) Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
I took some time to ponder the difference between verse 5 & 8-9. They both hold lists of things to NO LONGER do.
Verse 5 talks about earthly nature… The Greek word melos (me’-los) means member, a physical limb of the human body. …earthly physical body parts…
Colossians 3:5 (NIV2011) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Paul is condemning the use of your physical body towards sexual sin and indulgence. Paul calls this idolatry.
Why is it idolatry? Because your members… your physical body was meant to worship and honor God and when you use it this way you are worshipping your own selfish and sinful desire. Idolatry is to worship something other than the true God. It is idolatrous to take an instrument that is to be used for the worship of God and then use that instrument to worship something other than God.
Church we need to control our physical bodies. Your body is the temple of God.
Then in verse 7-8 Paul addresses practices. The Greek word praxis (prä’-ksēs) which means works & deeds. It stands out to me that the things listed in verse 7-8 is more internal than the physical external things mentioned in verse 5.
Colossians 3:8 (NIV2011) But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Colossians 3:9 (NIV2011) Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
Paul wants us to put to death and take off these practices. We need to close the casket on this dead body. It is part of the sanctification process of becoming more like Jesus. We must take off the old self…
Colossians 3:10 (NIV2011) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
We have put on a new self – Jesus Christ.
We are being renewed. This is not a one time renewal… it is a continual renewing.
Renewed in the knowledge… the knowledge that God gives. Open your bible and pray and worship – there is a renewing knowledge that will come to you.
…Renewed in the image… Greek word we talked about in Chapter 1.. eikōn (ā-kō’n). This renewel brings us into the image of Jesus. We start to look like Jesus!
Colossians 3:11 (NIV2011) Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Here? Where is here? IN THE NEW SELF, RENEWED IN KNOWLEDGE AND IMAGE OF JESUS!
HERE everything is different! In the glorious life of Christ…
There is no Gentile or Jew – National difference.
There is no circumcised or uncircumcised – religious difference.
There is no barbarian or Scythian – Cultural difference. (Barbarians were looked down on because they were foreigners who did not speak Greek and had strange cultures. Scythian was a tribe of people who were extremely violent and known for drunkenness)
There is no slave or free – Economic difference.
BUT CHRIST IS ALL AND IS IN ALL!
We have so many barriers in our society. We have so many divisions. Paul says that Christ removes all these barriers and divisions.
What do we say to our national differences? BUT CHRIST IS ALL AND IS IN ALL!
What do we say to our religious difference?
What do we say to cultural difference?
What do we say to economic difference?
What do we say to political difference?
What do we say to racial difference?
What do we say to sexual difference?
Our Jesus and the new life He gives, removes all our barriers.
This is great news for a world that seems more divided than ever…
That person over there is not a black man… That is Christ! Because Christ is all and is in all…
That person over there is not a wealthy business woman… That is Christ! Because Christ is all and is in all…
That person over there is not a democrat or a republican… That is Christ! Because Christ is all and is in all…
I challenge you to see people differently today!
The new self… the glorious life… changes everything. You end up seeing Jesus everywhere!
That person who claims to be a mulsim, a jew, or an atheist… I see Christ. I know that Christ died for them. I know that Christ is calling to them. I feel no hate for that person. To hate them would be to hate Christ!!!
That person who lives a different lifestyle… They are in a relationship outside of marriage, they are homosexual, they are trans… I see Christ. That person is loved by Jesus. Jesus never picked up stones against me, why would I want to pick up stones against them. To throw a stone at them would be to throw stones at Christ…
That person who is a hypocrite, a bigot, a liar, greedy… I see Christ. Christ is trying to save them from themselves. I know that Christ is trying to bring us into His love.
We think, say, and do things to people that we would never say and do to Christ… little do we realize that we are thinking, saying, and doing it to Christ.
We need Christ. We need him to change the way we see people. We need him to bring us a new self.
This can’t happen unless we close the casket and have a funeral…
Colossians 3:3 (NIV2011) For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Musician
There is a new self present today. There is a glorious Jesus life ready to give you new birth.
Let’s talk to God right now.
Jesus come justify me…
Jesus come sanctify me…
Jesus come receive glory…
Jesus come be all in all…