Exaltation Of Jesus Christ - [Colossians 3]

It's a little church in Santa Cruz, just north of Santa Cruz in the Redwoods. The first Baptist church in Scotts Valley, and about 34 years ago, I married Kim there, Kim Duncan, and she became Kim Avendroth.

A few years later, about 30 years ago, I got to preach my first sermon ever at that same little church, first Baptist church in Scotts Valley. I couldn't spit, couldn't really talk, couldn't really sleep.

My foster mother-in-law was there in the congregation, and she was really good with English and syntax and grammar and diction. I'm a kid from Nebraska, I mean, Galilee. I remember I preached a sermon, probably the worst sermon I ever preached.

Colossians 3 and the Shape of Christian Living

It's on Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 to 4. I've waited for 30 years to re-preach that sermon, and by the grace of God, I think I can do a better job. Turn your Bibles to Colossians, please. If you're new to the church, or just visiting today, welcome.

The name of our church, Bethlehem Bible Church, is actually true in the sense that this is a Bible teaching church. We're going through books of the Bible, verse by verse. We're having a little mini-series through the book of Colossians.

Not three or four sermons per chapter, but one sermon per chapter. So far, we've covered Colossians 1 and 2, and today we're going to cover most of chapter 3. Next week, we'll have the rest of chapter 3 with four.

So, four sermons, four chapters, the book of Colossians. You're going to love Colossians. If you have not read it lately, you'll say to yourself, this is a book that extols who Jesus is. He's supreme.

That's really the summary of the entire book. Jesus is supreme. He's sufficient for everything. He's to be exalted, and there's no Christian living outside of Christ Jesus. And so, big picture, as we're coming to the book of Colossians, I've tried to make outlines that are fairly memorable, so you can kind of get the chapters.

And so, remember, chapter 1, the outline was prayer. Paul starts off with a prayer of thanksgiving, and then he's praying for the dear people there, that they might walk in a manner worthy. He wants them to bear fruit, and so he prays, Lord, help them bear fruit, because you can't bear fruit on your own.

He wants them to increase in the knowledge of God. He wants them to endure through trials, because there are difficult things going on in this tiny little city. And he wants them to be thankful. And so, Paul prays for them at the very beginning, and then he moves into that section in your Bible, chapter 1, verses 15 and following, that just extols Jesus.

He's preeminent. He creates. He's not created. He's God, the Lord, the Sustainer, the Sovereign, the only Savior, and he reconciles enemies, and makes them sons. So, there's the prayer, there's the preeminence, and then there's a proclamation.

If somebody is so great, if somebody is such a Savior, then shouldn't he be proclaimed? I mean, you don't know about Jesus just in your heart. The trees don't tell you anything about who Jesus is in creation.

Jesus is good news, therefore he's to be proclaimed. And so, then verse 28, Paul says, Him we proclaim. And that's the key to Gospel ministry, is the proclamation of the Lord Jesus, with the goal in mind to make you mature, to make you devoted to God.

So, that's chapter 1, prayer, preeminence, and proclamation. We saw last week in chapter 2, did we not? Deceive, receive, and leave. Don't be deceived by people coming along who are smooth talkers, who speak really well, and they're telling you, you know, Jesus is good, but he's not enough.

Jesus is just a created being, and you're needing this other angel. Jesus is fine, but you need to have these rules of circumcision, and all these other things to make sure you're fine. So, he says, don't let people deceive you, because Satan is real, and he'll use people, people that tell lies, to get you off track that Jesus is supreme.

And he says, in verse 6, that key verse in chapter 2, as you've received Christ by faith, essentially, so walk in him. What you know about Jesus, what your grandma taught you, what your parents taught you, what your Bible teaching pastor taught you, don't deviate from that.

Continue to walk by grace through faith in this Lord Jesus. And so, as you receive Jesus, so walk in him. You didn't receive Jesus as some exalted angel. You didn't receive Jesus as somebody who could halfway save you.

You didn't receive Jesus as, you know, you do your part, he'll do his part. No, no, you received him as Lord. And then he said, so I want you to leave all these principles, like don't touch, don't handle, don't taste.

God's gonna love you more if you don't eat these foods. He'll love you less if you eat these foods. If as long as you do your part, this transactional Christianity, and so Paul says, I want you to leave that.

It looks good on the outside, but it can't change you on the inside. And so now we come to chapter 3. And here's really the essence of chapter 3. Since Christ is preeminent and to be proclaimed, since he is sufficient, then he should have preeminence in your lives.

Since he is Lord and Savior, since he's head of the church, since he's head of the universe, shouldn't he have first place in your lives as well? And the answer is, yes, of course. So this is a whole chapter dedicated to the proclamation of the Supreme Christ so that you might adorn the gospel, so that you might live out who you are.

So if you've been clothed with the righteousness of Christ, Christian, that you have conduct befitting that. If clothes make the man, clothes make the women, then we want to make sure, since we're covered with Christ's righteousness, that we act commensurate to our calling, that we walk in a manner worthy.

And so the way we're gonna outline this today in chapter 3, chapter 1 was prayer, preeminence, and proclaim. Chapter 2 was deceive, receive, and leave. Today is ascension, mortification, and vivification.

How's that? Trying to get you to grasp it. Ascension, mortification, and vivification. How many times do you hear vivification from the pulpit? Well, you're gonna hear it a bunch today. Vivification. And you kind of already know what mortification is, right?

Muerte, death. And you know what vivification is too. Viva, life. This is a chapter about sanctification. This is a chapter about God is sanctifying you, dear Christian. He's working in you and through you.

And so instead of saying, I'm gonna be more holy by not touching, not tasting, not doing things. No, no, I'm gonna be made more holy by God working in me by the power of the Holy Spirit. And He's gonna teach me and enable me and give me power to say no to sin, muerte, mortification, and yes to righteousness.

Because without the power of the gospel, without Jesus, without the Holy Spirit, how do you say no to sin? How do you say yes to righteousness? God would be asking us to do something that we could never do.

And so today is the follow-up to the doctrine found in the first two chapters. We see the duty in these chapters. It's the creed or what we believe in chapters one and two about the preeminency of Jesus.

It moves us now toward the conduct of chapter three and four. Or if you want, Latin words, credenda, what you believe, agenda, what you do. Chapters three and four. Are we ready? Ascension, mortification, and vivification.

You know, it's funny when you get up and talk in front of people what you had memorized before. It's like if you ever tried to spell words on a chalkboard in front of a class. Somehow you revert back to some third grader and you don't know how to spell.

Sometimes that happens when you preach. But just between us, I already think I'm doing better than I did 30 years ago. Praise the Lord! Paul's writing to this church. They're this little church. They're being attacked by false teachers.

If Jesus is supreme, of course, the enemy would want you to think, you know what, he's not. And if you're supposed to be responding to the grace of God in your life so that you can kill sin and you can live for righteousness, people are going to say, no, no, don't do it that way.

That's not how you deal with sin. Paul wants everyone to remember that sanctification is supernatural. It's the power of God working in someone so that you can respond. God enables you, dear Christian, in sanctification, to say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

Before we get into the text. This is important for Christians. Because sometimes when we think about obedience, we say to ourselves, I can't. I have to do something hard. I just can't do that. I can't control my temper.

I can't forgive. I can't love my spouse. I can't do this. I can't do that. If you're not a believer, I might understand a little bit more. But since you're believers, and since the preeminent Christ doesn't just initially save you, but is sanctifying you, and he's giving you the down payment called the Holy Spirit in you, you can.

So this should give us great hope when it comes to sanctification. The real issue isn't, I can't. Boy, that would be depressing. It's, I won't. I refuse to. But God, the preeminent Lord Jesus, is not just preeminent in salvation, but he's preeminent in sanctification.

So I think you're going to be encouraged. If you have besetting sins that you have a hard time saying no to, there's hope for you. I think that is good news. Let's look at the first four verses, and let's call that ascension.

Ascension. I'm glad this section is in chapter 3, when people made the verse markings, and made the chapter divisions. I'm glad this is a separate chapter, because it's going to help us always remember that Jesus is tethered to sanctification, because we start getting the put-to-death information in verse 5, and putting on vivification in verse 12.

But here, everything's framed, and we're going to call this ascension. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory. He frames this. Before he says... I mean, just look at verse 5.

Put to death, therefore, what's earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion. Before he gets to start killing sin, he reminds everyone, okay, you're not going to have to do this on your own. This is not, I just have to try harder, buckle down.

You know the solas of the Reformation, and the sixth sola is what? Sola? Bootstrapsa, that's right. I'm just going to buckle down. I have to do it on my own. No, no, he's reminding. He's painting the picture again.

Don't forget where your power is coming from, and when you think to yourself, you know what? I need power to be able to kill sin. He raises our minds up to heaven. You say, well, you know what? I need the ability to kill sin.

He reminds us and raises our eyes up to heaven. I need confidence that, you know what? I'm struggling with killing sin, and maybe God's not pleased with me, and I'm going to lose my salvation if I don't kill enough sin.

He brings our eyes up to heaven. And what does he say in verse 1? Since you've been raised with Christ, remember this is all, as we talked about in the past, union with Christ language. When Jesus died on the cross, Christian, guess what happened to you?

You died. Dead. Dead to sin. So, therefore, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. He's talking about, yes, the object of your faith, he's in heaven, but the source of all the power that you need to say, yes, to live righteously, and no, to say no to sin, is found in heaven.

Now, there's a tie-in to the last chapter. Take a look at verse 20 of chapter 2. I mean, these Colossians, if they're not careful, they're going to be seeking all these elemental rules and things, verse 20 of chapter 2.

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? Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teaching.

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, and asceticism and severity of the body, but they're of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. If you want to kill sin, it's not by rules.

If you want to kill sin, what's it by then? And he brings the focus then up to heaven to the ascended Christ. You know, Jesus, of course, lived, He died, He was buried, He was raised, and then what happened when He was raised?

He ascended into heaven. And He's seated at a place of honor and dominion and power. Where is He seated? Take a look at the passage. At the right hand of God. He's trying to make every person realize that the power for holy living comes from heaven.

That the power for holy living comes from heaven. Because that's where Jesus is and every benefit is found in Christ Jesus. Paul talks about it in Philippians chapter 3, does he not? About the power of the resurrection.

Where is Jesus now? He's ascended into heaven. By the way, as I stop and think about that, I say to myself, He finished the job that the Father sent Him to do. He's now doing His work in heaven. And what's His work in heaven?

Praying for us. He's going to come back one day to make everything right. And even though His earthly ministry is finished, His heavenly ministry is not finished. What does He say in verse 2? He says, set your mind on things that are above.

It's like He almost says the same thing again. Not on things that are on earth. Context, not on all these rules that people give you. Not on all these experiences. I have to have an experience. I have to have a rule.

I have to be told what to do. Everything you need is in Christ Jesus. For pardon and for power and for sanctification. And so He says, I want you to have heavenly mindedness. I want you to let that occupy a large spot in your mind.

And what you think about and what you daydream about. That's what I want you to do, Paul says. I like Psalm 73. Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you I desire nothing on earth. This is Hebrews saying, fix your eyes on Jesus.

Because in Jesus is found everything. And you say, I need help in temptation. Found in Jesus. I need power to say no to self. Found in Jesus. I want to die to sin. Found in Jesus. Paul will not let people say, I've got Jesus for salvation.

Now I'm on to other things. Just give me a TED talk. Verse 3, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. You're dead. That means you're dead to sin. And then it says, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

And you're identified with God. I like John Newton's hymn where he quotes Colossians 3. Rejoice believer in the Lord who makes your cause His own. The hope that's founded on His word can never be overthrown.

Though many foes beset your road and feeble is your arm. Your life is hid with Christ in God beyond the reach of harm. Can I have a little more motivation to seek and to set my mind on things above? Verse 4, yes you can.

When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with Him in glory. So you see what he's trying to do? He's trying to say, live in light of who Jesus is. Live in light of His soon return. Live in light where He'll publicly be vindicated.

You will be publicly vindicated. So live in light of that. 1 John 3, beloved now we are sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him and we shall see Him as He is.

If you look back at verse 4, when Christ who is your life appears. It's kind of a fun one to just sit and think about. Maybe not fun but maybe convicting. When Christ who is your life appears. How would you fill in the blank?

Blank is my life. My life is all about this thing. People say, life is what you're alive to. People say, I live to shop. Music is my life. Sports is my life. My grandchildren are my life. It would be wonderful things that we can do that the Lord has given us.

But for Paul, he's not going to say, I live to work. Everything about me is about working. For the Christian, this is our desire, is it not? This is what Paul said, Christ who is my life. Paul is trying to say that if you want to live a holy life, you can't forget Jesus.

You can't forget what He's done, where He is, what He's accomplished and how He not only initially saves you but gives you the power. So right away you should probably say to yourself, there's a sin in my life that I'm having a hard time with.

Maybe I should start praying, Lord, would you help me? You think that would be a good prayer to pray? Lord, would you help me do these things? Lord, I need confidence to walk by faith and to kill these sins and live to righteousness.

Yes. So what Paul does at the very beginning of this section, in this section on holy living, he frames it by don't forget about heaven, don't forget about the ascended Christ, ascension. Now we move to mortification, verses 5 through 11.

Since you have resources, since you have everything in Christ Jesus, since He's the exalted Savior, He kept His word, God the Father raised Him from the dead, He's accepted you, you're forgiven, you're redeemed, you're saved.

Well, how do you live? I'll just sin as much as I want because it's not going to affect anything because once saved, always saved. I'll just do whatever I want. No, since Jesus is preeminent over the cosmos, over the world, over the universe, over the church, He should be preeminent in your life and, of course, in my life.

And so for that to happen, there's got to be a killing of sin, a despising of sin. It's violent language, verse 5, put to death. That's where we get the word necrosis. And if you've worked in operating rooms or you've dealt with things before, it's just dead, it's necrotic, it's awful.

And everything that goes along with death. He says, I want you to be killing it. It was Thomas Watson who said, you better be killing sin or it's going to be what? Killing you. That's right. So Paul is moving to this ethical, we want to do the right thing.

And for the Christian, he or she must never say, I don't have to obey the law at all. The Christian must not say, I have to obey the law because then God will be fine with me. I have to obey the law so I don't lose my salvation.

I have to keep the law so I can keep my salvation. No, no, the law has been kept by the Lord Jesus for you. And in light of that, now we want to obey the law as a guide, as a help, as a direction. And so Paul moves to this very practical section.

And he says what in verse 5? Most of these words deal with sexual sin. Put to death, kill, mortify, therefore. Get the therefore because it's tied in. Christianity is not just stop sinning. Dear Christian, why do you sin so much?

Christianity is, don't forget about chapters 1, 2 and 3 and verses 1 to 4 of chapter 3. Sexual immorality, that's all sin. All sexual sin, and sexual sin is all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

Someone who was born a man and born a woman, I have to start adding now. Sexual immorality, impurity, that includes pornography. That includes sexual romance novels. Everything is in there, including the actual act.

Impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness. Something you think about all the time and you want and you want and you want and you think about. I wish I had, I wish I had, I wish I had. That turns into what?

Idolatry. So this area here, Paul is saying to this Colossian church. In a place in the world where it was fine to do all this. And you have wives and concubines and you can have everything else. I was like when my kids would ask me what a concubine was.

And I said, there might be a mistranslation here in the Bible. I think they meant to say porcupine. But, get you in a lot of trouble either way. They're living in cesspool. And now because Jesus is preeminent.

Now because Jesus the preeminent one has saved you. Why do I want to run back to what I used to do? That was awful what I used to do. Fun for a while, but fleeting, certainly sinful and wrong and lawless.

It's a trespass. I'm not going to go back to that. I need to put to death that. And I think there's probably in such a large group here. There are people in this room that when it comes to sexual sin, either real or online.

You need to kill it. You need to stop it. It's not holy, it's not right, it's not good. And you say, I can't. And I say to you, don't forget about verses 1, 2 and 3. Don't forget about who Jesus is. Don't forget about how Jesus wants a pure bride and a white bride clothed in the righteousness of his son.

This is an imperative. Kill, put to death. Obviously it's not literal put to death. It's a figure of speech. Does this sound familiar to you with this language of put to death in verse 5 of Colossians?

Does Romans 6 sound familiar to you? What should we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Verse 9, we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. Verse 11, first command in all the book of Romans. So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Make sense? This mortification and vivification isn't something from the catechisms and creeds. It's right there from Romans. It's right there from Colossians. You want to do those sins? You think, I have to kill those sins.

I'm considering myself dead. I don't even have to do those things. Yes, I'm tempted, but I don't have to do that anymore. Now here's a good question. Verse 3, he says, for you've died. And then verse 5, put to death.

How can that be? Hey, I'm already dead. How do I have to put to death? Well, of course, we know verse 3 is your position in Christ. Dead to sin. And now your practice needs to match up to your position.

Conduct befitting an officer. Walk in a manner worthy. You Christians are dead to sin, so start dying to sin in your life. That's what he's after. See, I'm not perfect at that. That's true. Heidelberg Catechism, even the holiest of men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of obedience.

That's true. But this verse is true. Put to death what's earthly. All the sexual stuff, put it to death. Now, if you take a look at verse 6, it really answers this question. Well, how bad is sin? I mean, I'm supposed to put to death sexual sin.

I know that. But really, is sin that bad? It's kind of just, you know, maybe it's just kind of like a peccadillo. It's just kind of a boo-boo. It's really not that bad. How bad is sin? Answer, on the account of these, these sexual sins, the wrath of God is coming.

Is sin a big deal? Christian, you don't have to worry about the wrath of God because Jesus received the wrath of God in your place at Calvary. We call that propitiation, assuaging God's wrath. But when you say sin's not a big deal, sexual sin's not a big deal, pornography's not a big deal, bad romance novels that are sexually laced, that's not a big deal.

How big of a deal is sin? The wrath of God is going to come onto sinners who aren't repentant. And so we look at this and we go, you know what? Sin is a big deal. If Jesus didn't pay for the sins that we've committed in these things, we would be undone.

It would be a disaster. Calvin said, whenever God threatens, He shows, as it were, indirectly the punishment, that beholding it in the reprobate, we may be deterred from sinning. If God is that angry at sin, if God is that holy, then I don't want to sin.

It's not because I'm going to lose my salvation. It's because I don't want to sin. Sin is bad. Why would I do that against the Father who's loved me? Verse 7, in these you too once walked. It's your lifestyle.

That was our lifestyle before we got saved. Actually, when you were living in them, living and breathing in this world of sexual sin and all kinds of other sins. And now He switches from kill sin, mortify sin, to something He likes to do in Ephesians, especially.

He talks about clothing. And if your clothes were sin, what would you do with your clothes? Answer, verse 8, but now you must put them all away. Take them off. These are more words probably associated not with sex, but with our tongue.

Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Moving from sexual sins to sins of speech. He said, to use 1 Corinthians chapter 6, such were some of you. That's the way you used to be, but you've been washed and sanctified and justified.

Why go back? You clean off the pig, and the pig goes back. I don't want to be like a pig. I don't want to do that. I don't want to have myself saved out of all this awful sexual sin, sins of the tongue, and then I'm just going to go back.

No, no, I used to live in those. I don't live in them anymore, because as chapter 1 and chapter 2 has talked about, Christ is everything. And you can see Paul is understanding the transforming grace of God in the lives of people.

They used to be these sinners. They lived in them. They walked in them. And they're not that way anymore. We're not that way anymore. No wonder David prayed, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.

No wonder James talked about how we talk to people. And one minute we're praising God. How great thou art. And the next minute, we're snapping at our spouse. He said, if that was closed, just take it off.

I'm trying to think of a good illustration of what that might be. I remember when I first got here to New England, almost now 27 years ago, I thought, you know what? Some of the great theologians in New England in the 1700s would take walks, and they would put little safety pins on their lapels and other places.

And this safety pin meant, don't forget to add redemption to your sermon. And this safety pin meant, make sure you talk about Jesus for sanctification. And this safety pin meant, make sure you talk about how awful sin was.

And so they would walk, and they would think, and they would pray. And so I got here, and I walked out over there into that little cemetery, and then down toward the reservoir. And I thought, I'm the next theologian in New England.

I probably did think that, sadly. I thought, oh, I got a rock in my foot, in my shoe. And I bent down to get the rock out, and I could just see the ticks crawling on my legs, my pants, my socks. And I thought, oh, that's all right.

Once they suck enough blood, they fall out. No, I got to get these pants off as soon as possible. Get these socks off as soon as possible. There's sexual sin in your life. Get rid of it. Take it off. Put these things off.

It's the language of putting off. And you're going to see the language of putting on soon enough, too. Get rid of that. I mean, if you're here, and you are full of wrath and anger and malice and slander, saying things about people behind their back, that needs to stop.

I can't. I won't. Verse 9, Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self which is being renewed in the knowledge after its creator.

Do you see what he's doing there? You are to put off because it's already been put off. Practically, you're supposed to say no to sin, because positionally, God, the triune God, had you die to sin and be raised to righteousness.

Seeing that you have put off. And you could just probably make a little note in your Bible. See chapter 3, verses 1 to 4. And he says, And you put on the new self. Quit lying to one another, because that's what you used to do.

Quit cheating on your taxes, that's what you used to do. Quit fudging on such and such, because that's what you used to do. Quit lying. Don't lie to one another in the body. Don't lie any place else either.

Trust in God's sovereignty, that if you tell the truth, it'll work out. This taking off is used in chapter 2, verse 15. If you go back a chapter, he disarmed, or he stripped off, he took off, he threw off like bad rags, the rulers and authorities, and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.

He's saying, you have a new position in Christ, that obligates you to live a life commensurate of your calling. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1. You put off the old self. So be honest. Be sincere. Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Because you're being renewed in knowledge after the Creator. That's kind of a dig at the false teachers. They thought they had the full knowledge. They thought they had the inside knowledge. They thought they had the special knowledge.

They said, no, no. All the knowledge is found in Christ. Verse 11. You might think it's kind of a throwaway verse, but it's not. Obviously. Here there is not Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.

Jesus has obliterated every distinction of people, whether it's racial, whether it's sociological, everything is new. There's no longer Jew, Gentile, probably a dig at the Jewish false teachers who said you have to do all this Jewish stuff.

No, no. You're united to Christ. Culturally, one. Socially, one. Racially, one in Christ Jesus. Grace bridges all these. Just a side note. See that word Scythian there? Scythians. Do you know anything about Scythians?

Scythians were brutal. Scythians were treacherous. They were the people that you didn't want to see on a dark alley. One writer in history of the world says, they drank the blood of the first enemy killed in battle and made napkins of the scalps, drinking bowls of the skulls of the slain.