Life in Jesus

Colossians 3:1-11

Transcript

Apostle Paul has been writing this letter to a church in Colossae. And they, it's a relatively new church, relatively healthy, but they've kind of been having a bunch of nonsense pumped into their brains, both inside and outside of the church, as to what it looks like to follow Christ. And so Paul, for the first two chapters, has just been, here's who Jesus is, and here's what he's accomplished for us. So here's, he is the image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn among all creation. Before by him all things have been created in heaven and on earth.

I mean, he just goes in this massive, here's how glorious, how inconceivable, how uncomparable Jesus is. And then he goes into, and he died so that we could have a right relationship with God. We've been rescued and redeemed by him. That he's paid our debt. And so there's no more, no more work and effort that we have to put in and nothing else that we have to do that by which we are judged as to whether or not we're right or wrong. And so Paul's going to, in the first two chapters, he just, this is who Jesus is, and this is what he's done.

This is who Jesus is, and this is what he's done. This is who Jesus is, and this is what he's done. That's the first two chapters. And then in chapter three and four, he's going to turn and say, okay, so because that's true, here's what we get to look like. Here's what life gets to look like. Here's what it gets to look like as we interact and live life together.

And so the book of Colossians is written to a church. Every time he uses the word you, it's the word y'all. It's the Greek version of y'all. And so he's talking to a group of people, and he's saying, this is what it looks like for you to live in community, for you to be people affected by who Jesus is and what he's done. And so we get this backwards all the time. We almost feel like it has to be backwards.

And so what I mean by that is this. Every other religion and even what we try to operate in, the mode of operation we try to work in in our own souls is do these things, be this type of person, and then God will love you. So do these things, be this type of person, and then God will love you. So we try to work it out here. We try to try really hard here, and then we earn a goal here that God loves us, that God accomplishes us, or that he gives us worth or that we have worth because of what we've accomplished. And so every other religion is going to be don't do this, do this, don't dress this way, dress this way, talk this way, don't talk this way, have your hair this way.

All of these rules and regulations, and if we follow those, if we're good, if we're moral, if we're right, if we have the right nationality, whatever it is, then we'll earn nirvana or we'll be accepted by God or we'll be loved by God. And that's actually the way humans want to operate. We want to believe that I can do something, that it's within my power to make myself right with God. And so Paul, in the first two chapters of Colossians, has been crushing that. He's been saying, no, it's not inside your power, it's who Jesus is and what he's done, and now we live in light of that. So we operate in a certain way because he loves us, because he gives us worth, because he gives us value, not to earn it.

I heard it explained this way, and I thought it was helpful for my brain, so I'm going to share it with you all. If a king has a castle and an enemy is approaching, So the king brings all the people in around the castle, he brings them inside the city, he closes the gates, he sets up some military units and soldiers and archers, he sets them all up, and then he and most of the force, most of the military rides out to meet the enemy. So he wants to go meet the enemy on the battlefield, and he wants to have some units left to protect the city. And so what happens is one of two things. If the king wins, he gathers some men and he sends them back to give the good news.

He gathers some men to be heralds of what has been accomplished. And so these men just come back, and all they do is give good news. All they're good newsers, they're giving a report of, all right, so here's what happened. The battle went like this, the enemy came this way, we did this, which was awesome, and then like a bunch of them died, and then they ran away, and we won. King went out, and we won the victory. And so now you get to live in light of the good news.

So open the gates, bust out the mead, get the cheese and the meat, and let's have a party. We get to celebrate the fact that we don't have to be in here preparing for battle, we don't have to be huddled up in fear. Victory's already been won, we get to live in light of it. Or, king loses. And then he gathers some men, and he sends them back, and they are advisors. Military advisors, and they're there to give good advice.

So they ride up, and they say, okay, king said this many men are coming, we were able to stop this force, but we know what's headed our way, and so we need to have extra men here prepared to do this. And he said to line up all the men here, and all they can do is give good advice. And what they can say is if we do these things well, if we try hard enough, we may live. But there's no guarantee. It's one of two options. And what Christianity is, is the king already came.

The king already fought the battle. The king already won the victory. And we get to live in light of it. That's Christianity. It's not good advice that if we do these things, if we try hard enough, if we're prepared enough, we might live. It is no.

We now get to live in light of what has already been accomplished for us. And so that's what Paul said in the first two chapters. Here's what the king did. He left heaven. He lived on earth. He was crushed in our place for our sins.

Our debt was nailed to the cross when he was nailed to the cross. And we're free, and we have life in him. That's chapters 1 and 2. 3 and 4 is, so here's what it looks like for us to live in light of that. Here's what it looks like for us to open the gates and start the party. Here's what it looks like for us to be in relationship with one another.

And so that's what we're doing. That's what we're hopping into in chapter 3 and 4. And so it's going to be Paul telling us more. This is what you do. This is what this looks like. But at no point is it do these things, and then God will love you.

It's no. Here's what he's already done. So we live in light of that. I'm going to pray, and we're going to hop into chapter 3. God, we thank you that the battle has already been fought and the victory has already been won. That at no point as we talk through what it looks like for us to be your church are we trying to earn anything.

We're honestly just getting to live in light of what you've already done. So God, I pray that you would impress that on our souls, that you would make that real to us, that we would know it to be true. We love you, and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. So Colossians 3, verse 1.

If then you have been raised with Christ. So he's saying if you're a Christian, if you've placed your faith in Jesus. In chapter 2 he just said that you died with Christ, so your sin died with him, and you've been raised to life in Christ. So that the old you died with him, and the new you has life because of him. So he took our sin and gave us his righteousness.

He took our death and gave us his life. That's what Jesus did when he died on the cross and when he rose again. And so Paul says if you've been raised with Christ, if you've placed your faith in Jesus, if you have been given new life in him, this is what it looks like. So I know some of you may be in here hanging out and are just kind of checking this whole Jesus thing out. We think this is a really safe place to do that. Paul is talking specifically to those who've placed their faith in Jesus, what it looks like to follow him in that.

And for those of us who haven't placed faith in Jesus yet, you get to approach him knowing that he pays for your sin and gives you new life through faith. So 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 that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.

So what Paul says is if you've been raised with Christ, if you've placed your hope in Christ, set your mind on the things that are above. Live as if you understand what has happened. Live as if eternity is real for you because of Jesus. That Christ who is your life. That our life is in him. So we're not going to find it here.

Basically, Paul is saying that Jesus in his death and resurrection and when we placed our faith in him has reset the way we view the world. So like I remember middle school. There were some things that were super important and intense in middle school that when you got to high school, you were like, huh. That wasn't as big a deal as I thought it was going to be. I remember a couple stories. Anna told me that when she was in middle school, the first day she wore chapstick, she thought people were going to notice and it was going to be a big deal.

So that her lips were going to be more glisten-y and less chap-y than normal. And so she just felt like, because when you're in middle school, everything just feels like this is going to be way more intense than it is. And everything seems bigger than it is at that moment. And as you get older, you're like, that wasn't as big a deal. In middle school one time, I wore, I don't want to tell this story, but I've started. So I wasn't planning on telling it, but it popped down my mouth.

I wore some short, like gray, kind of cut-off sweatpants. And I was like, I don't know how I feel about these in middle school. Like people may give me a hard time. But I was like, whatever, I'm going to go for it. And they were comfortable. And so I was like, I'm going to do this.

And then at lunch that day, I sat in gravy. Brown rice gravy in the worst place possible. And so I was like trying to walk down halls up against the wall for the rest of the day and stuff. And the way I found out was one of my friends, I was walking down the hall. He was halfway away. And the way I found out was one of my friends yelled to me something that I'm not going to preach right now.

But just a question. He had a question that he had for me, giving him a pants situation. And I remember thinking, I don't know if you live this down. I think this may go with me forever. Like I may have earned a nickname. And it may stick with me forever.

Got to high school. People didn't remember. I didn't bring it up. Like it wasn't a thing. And I realized that it was less important than I thought it was. And the truth is, this happens to us all the time.

So you'll meet people that went on a trip to a third world country. And they come back and they just, they're like, oh, toilets are the best. It's like they just appreciate things that we don't appreciate anymore. Like we've gotten used to it. If you're watching a good movie, this can happen to you. Have you ever seen the movie Hidalgo?

It's like a guy rides a horse through the desert. There's this part where he's like crawling along in sand. His face is like cooked by the sun. His lips are split in half. And if you're drinking water while you watch that, you're just like, I love water. I forgot how wonderful this is.

And so what Paul is saying is that Jesus has given us the ability to see life differently. And that we get to set our minds on the things that are above. We get to realize that what is here is enjoyable. We get to realize that what is here is for his glory. And that we get to partake in it. And we get to enjoy it.

And we get to celebrate. And we get to have friends and family. And all of the good things that he's given. But it's not about that. And life isn't found in them. So he says that set your mind on the things above.

Not on the things that are on earth. For you have died. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. And so often we think that we're going to find life hidden somewhere. And for those who place their faith in Jesus, our life is hidden in Christ.

And when he appears, our life appears. I was trying to think about how that plays out. And I've got two separate examples that I'm going to kind of smush together just to try to give us a picture of what that's going to be like when our life appears. When Christ who our life is hidden in appears. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.

Tolkien and a couple other guys were in a, they hung out with each other. And so C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien wrote books like Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings. Yeah, thanks. So they hung out together in this thing called the Inklings.

And at one point one of their friends named Charles died. And there's this quote by C.S. Lewis saying that not only does he miss Charles, but now he gets less of Ronald, which is what he called J.R.R. Tolkien. So I'm assuming his name was like John, Ronald, Ronald, Tolkien or something like that.

Named after both his granddads, both their names were Ronald. I don't know how that works. But he called him Ronald and he says, not only do I get, I don't get Charles. He said, but you would think that now I have Ronald all to myself. He said, but that's not true. I actually get less of Ronald.

Because there's only certain ways that he interacts with Charles that I'll never get to see again. He said, I'll never get to see Ronald laugh at a distinctly Charles joke. And he said, so you would think I get more of Ronald, but I actually now get less. Hold that in your brain. I've got another example that we're going to try to smoosh them together to help just paint a vague picture of what this looks like. Anna, sometimes when she would go out of town or when we hadn't seen each other for a while, she would ask me, like we'd be on the phone and she'd be like, do you miss me?

And I've since learned, but originally I would say, uh, no, not really. After I said that several times, I realized this isn't going well. That conversation never takes a good turn after I answer that way. And so I've learned how to answer better. But the truth was I never had moments because I always understood missing her as like having these moments where I was just like, oh, I wish she was here.

Like I just felt it. And that wasn't how it was. And that's what I thought missing was. So I was just like, nah. I'm busy. I got stuff going on.

Like I was working on something. So no. But the truth is every time I would see her and if she goes out of town now, every time when she comes back, it's there's this moment when she first shows up that it clicks in my brain. That's what was missing. That's what's been off for the past two days. And I didn't stop and think about it.

And I never really sat and allowed that to sink in. But it's just been something's been missing. And there's, in a very small way, some of my life, some of who I am is tied up in Anna, but not the way that it's hidden in Christ. And so what Paul's saying is that the fullness of who we are is brought out in Christ. And that when we see him, there's going to be this moment for all believers that we go. So that's what's been missing.

That's what's been off in me so often that I've thought I've needed something else to fill me up. That's the hunger inside of me that I've never been able to quite quiet down. That's where my life was. And I've been thinking that these cheap substitutes would replace it. And that he's going to bring out more of us. And we're going to get to, as we enjoy him in church family forever, see more of him than we'd ever get to see if it was just us and him.

And so there's this amount of life that's multiplied as he calls his church back up into him. And Paul says, your life is hidden with Christ. And so for believers, we're not looking for life other places. And so Paul's saying, chapters 1 and 2, here's what Jesus has done for you. Here's what he's accomplished on your behalf. He's taken away your sin.

He's paid your debt. And your life is in him. And now he's going to start saying, so this is what it looks like. For us to have our life in him, for us to be gospel people, here's what it looks like. Five. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you.

As Paul says, our minds are on the things above. Our minds are on eternity. We realize that what is here is enjoyable, but it's not the goal. It's not where our life is. There's more important things than just having comfort or amassing success. There's more important things.

Life isn't here. We get to see things from an eternal perspective. So put to death what's earthly in you. Paul says, put to death. You kind of read that and you're like, all right, Paul, tell us how you really feel. It's intense.

He says, put to death what is earthly in you. And then he's going to give us some examples. Sexual immorality. What we're going to do is we're going to walk through this list and just explain briefly what they mean. And then we're going to kind of zoom back and go back through them as Paul kind of puts them together in categories. Sexual immorality.

That's the Greek word pornea, which is the word we get pornography from. It is just a sexual junk drawer. It's a sexual junk drawer, which just means that he's not being specific here. He's saying all sexual sin. He's not going to give a big list of this is sexual sin and this is sexual sin and this is sexual sin. All of it.

So get rid of that. All sexual sin and sexual sin in the Bible is any sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage. So God invented sex. Made it enjoyable on purpose. Knew what he was doing. But it's for marriage to create oneness, to create unity for health and life and procreation.

Like it's it's a good thing, but not outside of marriage. And so he says sexual immorality. Put it to death. And so we immediately ask the question. Well, like what? How far is too far?

If it's this vague term. And he clarifies for us. Sexual immorality. Impurity. So he says it's not a line that we work our way towards.

It's purity or not purity. So like if you have water, it's H2O. It's water. And you can't be like, well, it's water with just the hint of battery acid. It's like, no. No.

That's impure water. It's no longer drinkable. That's not a good thing. It's water, but just a little bit of dead animal bacteria from up the creek here. It's like, no. And so what Paul is saying is the question isn't how close can we get before this becomes a problem?

The question is how can you be pure? How can you honor Jesus with the way you live and act? And so Paul says for those of us who've been rescued by Jesus and had our debt paid, get rid of this. Put it to death. Passion, evil desire. So we use passion in a good term, and so I don't think it's necessarily wrong.

What he's talking about here is overwhelming desire for reaching our goals, for having success. It's this passion and evil desire, this overwhelming, I have to have what I want. I have to achieve what I want. And he clarifies this further. But that's what he's, passion and evil desire.

And covetousness, which is just wanting things that aren't ours, desiring things that someone else has, greediness, which is idolatry. So idolatry is when we love anything more than God, when we worship anything that isn't God, when we seek in something what only God can give. So Paul says your life is hidden with Christ. So quit seeking life in these other things. It's idolatry. It's us pursuing this to give us something that we think it will fulfill us, we think it will give us worth, we think it will give us value, and it's not going to.

So he basically, when I was reading through this, I was like, dang, Paul. I feel like he read our mail a little bit when it comes to how we operate in American culture. So I'm going to put these into three kind of categories, and I think he kind of does as well. He talks about idolatry. So the God of sex, the God of success, passion and evil desire, and the God of more covetousness.

Tell me our culture doesn't tell us that joy and life and hope are found in sex. It does. That's how you know you have... If you watch any amount of film, television, the way you know you're successful is your sex life. The way you know you're okay, the way you know you're valuable, the way you know you have worth, the way you know... Sex.

It'll complete you. It'll fulfill you. You can look at magazines. Sex. This is what you need. Does your partner fill you up?

Do they complete you? Are they doing what they ought to? We have bought into the lie that sex is somehow going to fulfill us, make us whole, and give us worth and value, and that our life will be found in it. Paul says it's not. He says for Christians who've placed your life in Jesus, who's died for your sin, put it to death. Truth is, this shows up in the church as well.

This belief, this cultural belief that sex somehow will fix us, will fill us up. It shows up in the way we treat single people in the church. Like they have a disease or something. Where you can't be single in the church without having people constantly ask you like... Because we have this assumption. We know you can't be having sex now.

We're in the church, so stop it. But won't you like it later when you can? Like there's this... This you're not complete yet. You're not full yet. You're not fulfilled yet.

Your life will be found when you're married. The problem is... Paul says our life's in Jesus. Not future magic marriage. It doesn't exist, by the way. And Paul says our life's in Jesus.

And the truth is, biblically, it's okay to not be married. It's a perfectly acceptable way to honor Jesus and walk through life. Marriage is good too. It's a gift. But Paul says that not being married is a gift and that he wished more people had it.

The God of sex. Paul says, put it to death. Live as if the gospel is true. The God of success. This is another one that we buy into. Passion and evil desire.

That our life will be found when we've made something out of ourselves. So we have the concept of the self-made man. That when we've become successful enough. When we've earned enough. When we've achieved our goals. So we pump this into little kids' brains.

Like every little cartoon ever. Some animal shows up. Like a grasshopper or something. And it's like, follow your heart. Live your dreams. It's like, kill that grasshopper.

He's lying to you. I go to children's movies just so I can yell, No, don't do it! I don't, but that would be fun. But we believe that. We believe that if I earn, if I achieve, if I get the things I desire. Then I'll have life.

Then I'll know I'm complete. Then I'll know I'm fulfilled. If that were true. The happiest people in our society. Would be movie stars. Musicians.

That have made it to the top. Got everything they ever dreamt of. So just as a brief case study. Is that true? No. The reason we can continue to believe it's true is because we haven't succeeded and grasped everything that we've desired.

So we can still believe it holds the promise of life because we haven't found it, caught it, and seen that it comes up empty. And Paul says, put it to death. Your life is not going to be found in your ability to succeed. Your life is not going to be found in your ability to get everything that you want. Covetousness. Man, we've this hook, line, and sinker.

The God of more. That we need more. That life would be better if I could just have... Oh, this would work out well if I could just... If this would just... Our whole economic system is based off of the fact that you need more.

Because we produce way more than we actually need. So we have to buy more to keep our economic system going. So that advertisers have figured this out. They don't sell you on need. I saw a commercial the other day for a Buick. And all it did was inside of the car tell you features.

And it was like this old man talking really slowly. And it was like, plush leather seats. A knob that controls the radio. And I was like, this is the weirdest commercial I've ever seen. Because he's trying to sell me this car as opposed to something that the car will bring me. Because he's acting as if I need the car.

But we don't need the car. I think it was directed at really old people. But the better example of this and the way our society works... I used to work at the mall at Sears before they shut down. So I apparently wasn't crushing it or anything.

But I used to work at the mall at Sears. People would come in with Hollister bags. And that's the best. Hollister is a clothing store that sells clothing. And on their advertisements, on their bags, is a picture of a guy from about ribs up with no clothes on. That's how Hollister advertises their clothing store.

A clotheless guy. Now, if they're not selling me something other than their product, I don't know what they're selling me. Like, you look at that and you go, Oh, I need to buy my clothes at Hollister. So I'll be cool enough to not wear clothes. Maybe if I buy enough of those shirts, I'll get abs like that guy. I'm going to need a lot of those shirts.

But the truth is, we're sold on the idea that we need more. That we're incomplete. It's the absolute antithesis of the gospel. That Jesus has completed everything on our behalf, and we're sold on the idea that if we could just have a little more. That we'd be better off if we just had a little more. And Paul says it's idolatry and put it to death.

But all of us walk around saying, Life will be good if. I'll know I'm okay if. I won't have to worry anymore if. And Paul says, Christ is your life. He's already done everything for you. So put it to death.

And the truth is, for some of us who have placed our faith in Jesus, we're still operating. Paul says this is earthly in us. We're still operating as if this were true. And Paul says, Get the guillotine out in your soul. Have an execution. And put it to death.

And for some of us, that's going to be a daily process of taking this and putting it to death. And reminding ourselves that Jesus already died. We died with him. He already rose and gave us life. And this does not hold the promise of life. And we don't have to live up to it or be enslaved to it to know that we have worth and value.

Jesus has already done it. So we can put this to death. That this died with us when we died with Christ. He keeps going. He says, On account of these, so on account of idolatry, on account of rebellion, the wrath of God is coming. We, I think, often like to believe that the wrath of God is not coming.

Or that God does not have wrath. And he does. He has wrath for sin, rebellion against him, worship of anything other than him. So we read in chapter 1 how magnificent, how holy, how exalted, how worthy he is, and how he created everything. And that his little creation turned around and said, nope, we want to worship ourselves. And we want to chase after smaller things.

And it says, on account of these, the wrath of God is coming. And the truth is, God has wrath and love. And that's what we see in the cross. Where God loves us enough to take wrath for us. So that he can bring wrath towards rebellion and not have to destroy everyone.

So that we who placed our faith in Jesus, he took our wrath on our account. Some of you in here have been hurt by evil people. God has wrath. He loves too much to not have wrath. The God who is love cannot sit in heaven and watch molestation, murder, lying, pain, heartache, rape, and not have wrath. If you show me a God who doesn't have wrath, I'll show you a God who doesn't love.

God is love, and he has wrath. And he loves enough to take our wrath for us. But those of you in here who have been hurt, and who have seen those who hurt you, go free. You don't have to pick up wrath. You don't have to take up the sword. God does.

And those who harmed you will have one of two things happen to them. They'll receive the same overwhelming, undeniable, undeserved grace that we've received. Because Jesus will have paid for their wrath. Or they'll receive the wrath of God. Sin will be paid for. The question is, will Jesus pay for it or will we?

So Paul says, On the count of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these two you once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Jesus at one point says that, that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so some of us just have anger, and wrath, and malice, and bitterness inside of us. I've heard the example, and it's a simple one, but if I was holding a cup up here, you wouldn't know what was in it until I shook it.

And so some of us like to pretend like we're pretty nice people, but the truth is, we don't really know what's in our heart until it begins to overflow. Until we're pressed. And then we realize that, man, we're angrier than we thought. We have more wrath and slander and malice than we thought because of what I just shouted at my wife. Because of what I just yelled at my roommate. Because of what I'm saying about my parents behind their back.

Paul says, put it away. That we've been rescued and redeemed. We don't have to dwell with that anymore. Like, I know that there have been times in my life, people have told me before I'm not super emotional. And I used to be like, yeah, I'm emotional. I get angry and hungry.

Like, I have emotions. But there's been times where, that's all, that was really all I operated in was anger. Malice and wrath and slander. Paul says it doesn't fit with a Christian who's been forgiven. So put it away.

And we don't have to walk around with that. And we don't have to, because his wrath is coming, we don't have to be wrathful. We get to know that we're forgiven, so we get to forgive, and we get to know that God's sovereign, and that he'll take care of it. Then he says this, 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 knowledge, after the image of its creator. It feels to me, so he goes through this list of major idolatry, and then he goes through this heart level anger, and then he goes, and don't lie to each other.

And it's like, okay, that's helpful. That's good advice. And I know it's in a list of how we ought to exist with one another, but it's the first time he says one another, and he's not just kind of talking about what we pursue. And so it feels a little bit like he's showing us something more, and trying to help us more than just saying, hey, lying's not going to be helpful for you. See, what he says is, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge, after the image of its creator. we're being made to look more like Jesus.

And so Paul says, just be honest. He's taking a very real look at sin here. You see, he's not condemning us at any point, because condemnation would mean that we're judged based off of our ability to behave, and chapters 1 and 2 says that that's not true. That we couldn't behave, we couldn't get it together, we aren't moral enough, we aren't going to control our sexual desires, our desire for success, we're not going to be able to get rid of all the idols in our soul, and that Jesus had to die so that we could have life. And so, and then Paul goes right into chapter 2, right before he gets here, he says, you're not judged by morality, spirituality, effort.

You're judged by Jesus paying your debt. And then he says, so he says, put to death what is earthly in you. In these two you once walked, when you were living in them, now, now you must put them all away. So what he's saying is, look, I know this is in you. Paul's a human, he knows it's in him. At no point is he taking an unrealistic view of this, and acting as if you're judged or condemned by it.

And so what he says is, don't lie about it. Be real. We get to be real about the fact that we're broken. About the fact that we often pursue things that we think are going to give us life and that they aren't. Everyone in this room who's a Christian knows that value comes from Jesus, not from us. And so that when I stand up and tell you, here's how I messed up, we're not surprised.

People often would, non-Christians that were friends of mine, would be like, I can't believe you did that, you're a Christian. And I'd be like, whoa, entry exam to Christianity. I'm a horrible person. Listen, Jesus is awesome. It's not about our ability to behave. But that means we get to live like we're free.

We get to live in light of what's already happened. We get to live in light of the victory. So we get to throw open the gates and start the party. We don't have to live as slaves to chasing after other things and seeking life and small things anymore. As Paul says, don't lie. Be real about it.

John says this. He's one of Jesus' disciples. John says in 1 John, and we're going to put it up on the screen. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So John says, look guys, if you're going to say you're not sinful, if you're going to say you're not broken, you're going to say you've deceived yourself.

And I think you've deceived yourself in one of two ways. Either you believe that you're not sinful or you've actually deceived yourself enough to believe that you've got it together or you're deceived in thinking that we believe it. But I'm a Christian. I know everybody in this room is messed up. And I know that we all need Jesus. So Paul says this.

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 the image of its creator. Here there is no Jew, here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. What Paul just said is, all the categories that we use to assign worth are gone. He's talking to a society that just knew that there were certain people that inherently had value and certain people didn't. That certain races were just worse than other ones. That certain types of people, certain people were just born to be slaves than they were supposed to be.

They had less value than the people who were supposed to be not slaves. Paul says, all the categories that you use to gauge whether or not you have value and worth are gone. Paul says, there's no good people and bad people. There's no moral churchgoers and heathens. There's no people who get it together and act right and those people that keep falling short. He says, Christ is all, which means that everything is about Jesus.

All worth and value and joy and hope are found in him. And he says he's in all, which means that Christ, as he dwells in us, gives us worth and value and joy and hope. So if Christ is all, all that matters, he's the only category that matters and he's in all, then we don't have to lie to each other. We get to be real about where we are, where we're struggling. We get to confess and repent and we get to put to death what's evil inside of us, what's earthly inside of us, where we're trying to pursue life, where we're angry and slanderous and off. So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to play some music so that we don't have a band up here that can't also do this and can't also operate as church family. We're going to play some music and we're going to repent, which is just that we confess that we're off, that we've been chasing other things and that we begin to change because the gospel gives us the freedom to do that. We're not repenting. We're not turning away from the sins so that we can have life. We're getting to live in light of what's already been accomplished. Every time I don't want to share and confess sin, all I'm saying is that deep down inside of me, I still believe that my value comes from me.

Deep down inside of me, functionally, I can say all I want to. I can stand up in front of you as much as I want and say that Jesus paid everything for me. If I'm not willing to be open with where I'm off and where I'm broken, what I'm saying is I don't really believe it. So Paul says, put it to death. I know it's there. Put it to death and live in light of what's already happened.

All Paul's saying is fling open the gates and start the party. No longer live in the slavery of my value comes from what I do. My value comes from what I can accomplish. No longer live in the slavery of if I could just have more, if I could just, I would find life. No longer live in the slavery. He's saying, you don't need to be huddled up in fear anymore.

The enemy's defeated. You don't need to be gathering weapons and coming up with plans of how you're going to succeed. The enemy's been defeated. Fling open the gates and start the party. And what that looks like as we put it to death is that we confess and we're open with where we're off and we're open with where we need Jesus to rescue and to fix and to redeem and to change us and to pay for a debt that we can't pay. So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to repent. We're going to play some music. We're going to sit in here and we're going to, as church family, we're going to move around. Some of us are going to need to talk to Jesus about some areas in our lives and our hearts, areas where we've been pursuing something else to give us value when our life's actually in heaven. Some of us who don't know Jesus, haven't placed our faith in Jesus, is open for you to repent, to ask Him to rescue and to redeem because life is only in Him. You're not going to find it anywhere else.

Some of us are going to need to talk to each other because there's been wrath and malice and slander. We're going to need to confess. We're going to ask for forgiveness. We're going to forgive because Jesus forgives. We're going to live in light of what's already been accomplished, that our worth and our value doesn't come from us, but it comes from Him. That we get to be real.

Some of us are going to need to step outside and make phone calls. We're going to do that. Some of us are going to start a conversation off like this. I'm going to want to lie to you the entire time we talk. I'm going to need you to ask me some real questions because I want so badly for the gospel to functionally dwell in me like it's true and the whole time I'm going to fight against that and try to hide. But I don't want to lie.

I don't want to hide. I don't need your help. Some of us are going to invite people in our church family to just end on what we're struggling with. I've been believing this is going to give me life and I just want a teammate. I just want somebody to pray with me. I don't want to pursue this anymore.

I want to live like the gospel is true. I want to fling open the gates and start the party. Then we're going to take communion. After we confess, after we talk, after we repent, Jesus says if we're at the altar and we realize that someone has something against us or we have something against someone else that's on us to go talk to them. So we're going to talk.

We're going to pray. We're going to actively live as if the gospel is true. We're going to do chapter 3 because we know chapter 1 and 2 are true. That Jesus paid our debt. He disarmed the enemy. The victory has been won.

We're going to fling open the gates. We're going to be honest. We're going to be real. And then we're going to party. We're going to sing and make much of Jesus and celebrate the fact that we get to be church family because of what he's done for us. I'm going to pray.

We're going to move around. We're going to talk to each other. We're going to live like the gospel is true. God, I thank you that at no point does my value come from my ability to behave. I thank you that at no point does my value come from my good morals, my wise decisions, my pure heart. God, we so often in this room believe that other things hold our life, that our life is hidden in something other than you.

God, and I pray that through your Holy Spirit you would convict us, that you would lead us to repentance and to the joy that comes from the freedom from slavery to sin. God, so impress upon us the victory that's already been won that we will come out of the darkness, out of fear, fling open the gates, and live in light of the fact that you give us worth by your death, that you give us life by your resurrection, that our value and our hope is not seated in us, that our life is not hidden in us, but it's hidden in you. Lead us now. In Jesus' name.