Instructions for Godly Living

Good morning! I’m Derek Freed, Pastor of House Churches here at Renovation Church. So good to be with you this morning.

Raise your hand if your first reaction is to ignore instructions that someone gives you, and figure it out yourself.

I am with you all. This is usually my first reaction. I want to figure it out on my own.

One time, my parents came to visit me and while they were visiting, they bought me a grill. So my dad and I set out to build this grill, and we just went for it. We started pulling pieces out of the box, we started laying out where we thought things would go. The problem was, I quickly realized I had no idea how it all fit together.

And at this point I had no idea where the instructions were at and so I had to start searching for them.

Now here is the incredible part of the story, once we found the instructions and started following them it was really easy to put this grill together.

Crazy, right? Instructions can actually help us when we use them.

But too often we like to do things our own way. As we go through life, we want to do things our way.

This way of thinking became hugely popular in the later half of the 20th century. With the rise of

Postmodernism – 1980-1990s

Truth, meaning, and knowledge are shaped by the world around us, rather than objective realities

Radical Autonomy – 1980-1990s

An individual has the authority to define themselves without having to be bound by any external moral or social authorities.

And we see them in our lives all the time.
“You do You”

“That’s my truth” (There is no objective truth)

This way of thinking has become more and more prevalent in our world. When we live this way, we are missing the instructions that God has given us for this life. We have an instruction booklet that shows us exactly what we should do, how we should think, act, etc. and yet we either fall into the trap, or we make the conscious choice, to figure it out ourselves.

Today we will be looking at Instructions for Godly Living

Go ahead and grab your Bible, if you don’t have one, there is one at your chair.

Last week we wrapped up our Life of Jacob series

Next week we are starting a new series on 1 Thessalonians

But for today, we got a one off and we will be looking at Colossians 3:1-17

So let’s open up to Colossians chapter 3

Page 806

And we will start at the big number 3.

Keep your Bible open here because we are going to be working through this passage.

And we are going to start with just verse 1.

Colossians 3:1-4

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ…”

As I mentioned, these are instructions for Godly living.

This morning I don’t know where you are at when it comes to you and God.

You may be a follower of Jesus, or may be someone who wants to know more what it means to follow Jesus.

For those that are following Jesus, Paul in verse 1 is encouraging us to follow these instructions, because of what Christ has done for us. Because we have been saved from sin, because we have been given the Holy Spirit, because our final destination is with Christ.

For those who maybe are not following Jesus yet, this is the hope that is in Christ. That these same things can be true for you, and these instructions for Godly living can happen in your life.

3:1-4

“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 the things above, not on early 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.”

INSTRUCTIONS

FOCUS ON THE RIGHT THING

If you have been saved, then your position is set with Christ.

Because of this Paul gives a clear instruction

STEP 1: FOCUS ON THE RIGHT THING

“seek the things that are above.”

“set your minds on things that are above.”

Don’t have your focus on the earthly and temporary things here.

Have your focus on the more important, Godly things.

Everything that Paul is going to say after this is predicated on this reality.

If your focus is on the wrong things, then everything else won’t work properly.

Here is what I mean. Anyone ever done archery before?

You may not know this about me, but I won an archery tournament at a men’s retreat I went to one time. So, I’m basically an expert on this subject.

But one of the most basic things about archery is...

To hit the target, you have to aim (to focus) at the target.

If your focus is on God, then your life is going to more and more reflect who God is, his heart of this world, for people, for his Kingdom.

If your focus is on the temporary things of this world. Then your life is going to more and more reflect this world.

So where is your focus?

What do you focus on the most in your life?

What takes priority in your time, attention, thoughts, etc?

Maybe this morning what is most important for you is to re-focus, or maybe focus on God for the first time?

3:5-9a

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk I these ways, in the life you once lives. But now you must rid yourself of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other.”

INSTRUCTIONS

MAKE SURE YOUR FOCUS IS ON THE RIGHT THING

PUT TO DEATH EARTHLY THINGS

STEP 2: PUT TO DEATH EARTHLY THINGS

vs. 5a – “Put to death”

Take note of this first phrase here.

Paul is calling for a complete extermination of the things he is about to tell us.

I think this is incredibly important in our world today, because so much of what we do and say is to put on a façade for other people.

This is what social media is all about. Making you and your life appear as if everything is good and amazing, no matter what is really going on.

Let me give you an example of what Paul is talking about here. If you think about a house. If a house gets termite damage the reality is that you could cover up that problem with putty and paint and make it look like there isn’t anything wrong. But if you don’t actually eradicate the termites, if you don’t take care of the actual deeper problem the house is doomed to collapse.

And if you take care of the termites, then you need to keep checking to make sure they don’t come back.

So, what are the things that Paul is calling us to put to death?

Sexual immorality

Impurity

Lust

Evil Desire

Greed

Idolatry

Anger

Wrath

Malice

Slander

Obscene Talk

Lying

That is a pretty hefty list.

But here is the thing about this list, any one of these things, if allowed in our lives, will take our focus off of God. We cannot be focused on the things above if we are living our life in idolatry, passion, etc. They will take our focus off of God.

But I don’t want you to think this is a one a done thing. We just say a prayer and these things are dead. This is a daily, conscious thing we must do.

We must choose every day, to continually put these things to death in our lives.

For you, what is something on that list that you need to put to death?

Which area there is the one that you know is the place you get tripped up, you get stuck in?

Maybe for you it’s sexual sin of some kind that you can’t control, and it’s destroying you, or your marriage?

Maybe it’s anger, and you quickly lose your temper on those around you?

Or maybe it’s how you talk? How you talk about others, or around others?

And then what would it look like to put that to death?

What do you need to change, what do you need to put into place in your life for that to happen?

And the reality is that you can’t just do this on your own.

1)You need God to help you do this. You need to come to Him and seek his help.

a.This is one of the reasons we have prayer every morning available after every services.

i.GO TO THE PRAYER ROOM

9b-11

“since you have taken off your old self, with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

INSTRUCTIONS

MAKE SURE YOUR FOCUS IS ON THE RIGHT THING

PUT TO DEATH EARTHLY THINGS

PUT ON THE NEW SELF

STEP 3: PUT ON THE NEW SELF

Paul says “since you have taken off your old self, with its practices and have put on the new self.”

The language that Paul uses here describes this like the removing of old torn, dirty clothes and putting on new clean clothes.

This is a conscious choosing to change. When you get dressed in the morning, you are making a conscious choice to change your clothes from what you were sleeping in, to different clothes.

And, just like putting to death earthly things, putting on the new self is a continual process.

Look back at verse 10

“which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of it’s creator.”

This idea of being renewed means that we are continually putting on the new self.

So what is the new self?

What does it mean to put on the new self? What does that look like?

3:12-17

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave 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. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 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.

If you want to put on the new self, what should you be about?

Compassion

Kindness

Humility

Gentleness

Patience

Bearing with One Another

Forgiving

Love

Peace

Worship

Thankfulness

Now looking at these two lists, I want to point something out here, in both of these lists, Paul isn’t giving us just a list of specific actions to do or not to do.

What Paul is talking about are deeper things.

Paul lists things that deal with issues of control, surrender, trust, deep issues of our heart and soul that get in the way of our focus being on God.

I look at these lists and I can’t see one thing that I can simply schedule for an hour each morning and be done with it.

I started talking about not wanting to follow instructions or a check list. But there are some of you in this room that love that. Some of us would love to just have a list of actions to do. Our spiritual life would be so much easier if you could just have a list that you could check off every day. And to be honest there are times when I feel that way as well.

And if Paul had just given us a simple checklist of things to do, yes it might be easier to just get those things done, but would it really change us? Would we really be putting off the old self and putting on the new self if we were just checking off boxes?

Paul is pushing the Colossians, and us, to look deeper into our hearts.

How can you to put on the new self?

When you look at this list, which one of these is the area that you have the hardest time giving over to God?

Maybe you have a hard time seeing people with compassion and you need to ask God to soften your heart for others?

Maybe you’re someone who has a hard time being patient and gentle with people?

Maybe you have a hard time finding peace in your life and the pace of life always feels chaotic to you?

Again, this isn’t something to try and do all on your own. Don’t try to bear down and think that this will only happen if you do it all by yourself.

2)You will still need God’s help.

3)But you’re also going to need others to help you as well. People who will check in with you, ask you about it, and keep you accountable.

a.Find someone in your life that you can do this with. Maybe it’s a spouse, or a best friend, or maybe a sibling or a parent.

But this is also why we have House Church here at Renovation Church.

House Church is designed to be a place where you can grow spiritually and connect relationally, to do exactly what we are talking about here. Develop relationships with others so you can be real about how you are doing in these areas, and they can help you in them.

Next week, House Church sign-ups open, and I cannot encourage you enough to sign up and join a House Church.

As I was working through this message I had someone share a thought that I think is really insightful.


Have you ever been around a new believer, and thought about how “on fire” and “passionate” they are about God?

The reason for that is because new believers are living this out and experiencing these instructions for the first time, in real time.

They are putting their focus on God for the first time and seeing how majestic, and holy, and beautiful, and magnificent God is.

They are seeing everything that Jesus has done for them.

And they don’t want to take their focus off Jesus.

They are realizing that the things in their life that used to control and bind them, and keep them enslaved, they can be free of.

They can put to death those earthly things and not be bound by them anymore.

And then they find out that they can have something even better in their place. They can have a new self, that reflects the God they have chosen to follow, and they want those things in their life.

And every day they are choosing to follow these instructions.

And we look at them and think they have so much passion and are on fire, but we could all have that. If we chose to follow these instructions.

And there are some of you in this room that have never decided to follow Jesus. You have never decided to put your focus on him for the first time. This morning, if you can feel God calling you to put your focus on Him. You want to put to death earthly things, and you want to put on the new self, but you need to for the first time, put God first and the focus of your life. I want to give you the chance to do just that.

Here is what’s going to happen. I’m going to invite the band back up, and we are going to worship God through song, and after that song I’m going to come back up and give you the chance to take that step today.

LET’S PRAY