Fri 8.5 – Like Jesus, Like Jesus

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.17-25; Philippians 2.5-8

As we close out this passage in Colossians, we’ve noted that God addresses a variety of real-life relationships. Let’s now make sure that we are reading about those relationships in the correct context.

Remember if you would the thought of 3.17 for a moment. Basically put, we are to make sure that our very WORDS and DEEDS are done IN THE NAME of the Lord Jesus Christ, correct? So then, what is the connection between that verse and the list of relationships that follows in the next verses?

I think we can argue that 3.18-22 are simply examples of how 3.17 should look in our lives. For example, if we are living our life in the name of Jesus Christ then:

As wives, we will SUBMIT.
As husbands, we will LOVE.
As children, we will be OBEDIENT.
As parents, we will be HUMBLE.
As SERVANTS, we will OBEY.

Now, you may be looking at this list and think to yourself, those are not exactly the first qualities that I think of when I think of Jesus. While majesty, holiness, power, and preeminence are the things that we typically associate with Him, do not lose sight of the time he spent here on earth and what that it took for GOD to become a MAN.

I find a lot of similarities between the teaching of Col 3.17 and of Phil 2.5. Read them together and see if you can sense the heart of the author as you read. They both seem to be calling us to a selflessness and a pursuit of Jesus’ life in ours don’t they? As our WORDS and DEEDS are taken captive to Christ and our MIND becomes His, then it seems that we would begin to live that life of seeking things above and setting our affection on things above.

Check out the similarities in the description of the mind of Christ is Phil 2.5-8

He SUBMITTED to the will of God, “but made himself of no reputation”
He was made a SERVANT, “and took upon himself the form of a servant“
He LOVED us enough to be, “made in the likeness of man“
He was HUMBLED, “being found in fashion as a man, he bumbled himself”
He was OBEDIENT, “and became obedient unto death, even death of the cross“

Do you see some similarities? I can’t help but think that God has a desire that we stop living this life ourselves and allow the life of Christ to invade and rule as we continue our days. May your life be lived IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, and may THIS MIND BE IN YOU WHICH ALSO WAS IN CHRIST JESUS, as you go today! Amen.

Tue 6.2 – Old Man, Old Self

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.1-9; 2 Timothy 3.1-7;

When you read Colossians 3.8-9, what comes to your mind when you see that term “old man”? Are we supposed to find an Old Man like this guy, and so something to him? No, of course not. So, then what does God mean by “old man”? (ok ladies, you are going to have to work with me, this is just a biblical term – MAN – that speaks of the whole of the human…ok, not necessarily the male chromosome of our species.)

I think the best way to define something is to illustrate it. Oftentimes we can understand a concept very well, although we may not be able to verbalize it exactly as we want. Like if I asked you to explain “love”. You may know what love is, you may have experienced love, you may even be remembering the emotions that are so strongly attached to such a word as we talk about it, however…to put all of that into words, you may struggle.

THE OLD MAN?

So, let’s look at an example of a day in our lives when the OLD MAN was THE MAN in control of our lives. Check out Ephesians 2.3, now get that picture in your mind. What is God describing there? He’s describing that way of living that is TOTALLY YIELDED (Rom 6 – know, reckon, yield) to the ways, desires, and LUSTS of the FLESH. That’s pretty easy to identify with isn’t it? We have all been there, some more recently that we’d like to admit.

That is the OLD MAN, the OLD WAY, the OLD SELF, the PRE-CHRIST version of living that was totally captive to the desires inherited from the FIRST MAN – ADAM (Romans 5 is an in depth treatment of this subject if you’d like more information, maybe even compare that with 1 Corinthians 15 for a overall understanding). That man – the OLD MAN, who was in control when we were lost but now is dead (Romans 6.6) is what we are to “PUTT OFF”.(for more on the old man, just in case you are itchy about these kind of things like I am, see Ephesians 4.22; Galatians 2.20, 5.24, 6.14)

PUTT OFF?

I don’t know about you, but when I was in High School I was not very concerned with how my clothes looked in my closet. I would come in after school, in a hurry to scatter off to wherever my friends were going to be that night and would come into my room, throw off what I had on and grab some different shoes, maybe a hat and hoodie or something, and jet our the door. In the midst of the clothes-changing-frenzy that would take place in my room, little concern was given to hanging those clothes back up, or making sure they were color-separated for the laundry, or whatever… I just wanted to get off my cheesy “school clothes” and get on my comfortable weekend clothes, caring nothing about those I was throwing off my back…where ever they landed was fine by me…the bed, the floor, the chair, the stereo, the trash can, on top of my dog, whatever…I was in a hurry to get the good ones on.

Now, do you get the idea of PUTTING OFF from that story? It was simply that I was throwing those things OFF my body, casting them aside for the sake of PUTTING ON something better! When we are saved, and we realize that our RISEN LIFE is that NEW MAN Jesus Christ that we PUT ON, then there shouldn’t be any question in our minds that we are to PUTT OFF the OLD MAN who is ALREADY DEAD, CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, and HOLDING US BACK from living in the reality of who we are IN HEAVENLY PLACES via the NEW MAN.

God says, take that OLD MAN and PUT HIM OFF, rip that junk off your body, throw it to the ground, and never give it a second thought…don’t even take the time to hang that mess back up in your closet…it’s dirty…it’s tainted…it’s worldly…it’s opposing God…and YOU – a NEW MAN IN CHRIST JESUS should never wear those NASTY OLD GARMENTS of the OLD MAN!May God help us to realize this truth today, may you PUT OFF the old man today, and may all his ways and wills go right along with him!

Sat 5.6 – Easter Eve

Today’s Readings: John 18-20

Hey guys, let’s take a little different approach to the devotional this morning. We you go through your day today, remember what today is as we celebrate this season. We know he rose on the first day of the week, Sunday. We know he was crucified on the fifth day of the week, Thursday. But have you ever stopped to think about those days in between? Have you ever considered the sorrow and distress that would have been on the hearts of the people? Have you ever thought of the brokenness and defeat that would have overcome Jesus followers during these three days? These would have been hard times for the disciples!

I selected a familiar passage from scripture that recounts the whole Easter story for us. Take a minute and think about some of the people involved with this story and try to see all of these events through their eyes as you read these chapters today…

Jesus – He knew why he was here, he knew the future, he knew the weight he was to bear. He also knew that the disciples didn’t fully understand all that was going on. He knew Peter, though full of passion, was about to stumble. He knew John, the beloved, would be left alone without his mentor. He knew his mother was about to enter the darkest days of her life. He knew he was leaving behind a group of people who needed him…(see John 14-17 as he so beautifully explains how they are to live in his absence) Yet, “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame”.

Peter – Having just promised the Lord his companionship to the end, has defected and ran away ashamed, even denying him publically three times. The last glimpse he had of Christ was during his final screaming denial of their friendship. Peter would soon return to fishing (the life he knew before Christ called him to be a disciple). Imagine his heart of regret. Having the opportunity to make a difference and yet, failing to do so. His Master and Lord, Teacher and Leader, now crucified and there’s no going back.

Mary – Think of all the years she spent as a social outcast. Nobody wanting to come within 30 yards of her (unless they too were of poor reputation). When all the townspeople mocked, when all her family abandoned her, when nobody seemed to care if she live or die, there was One man…Jesus…who not only cared, but he gave her a purpose to live. He showed compassion when none of the others would. He would give her those loving pats on the shoulder that so many were afraid to be seen doing, He didn’t care about her past, only her future. And now, the Hope giver, the life redeemer, the compassionate One, gone. Dead. Buried. And hope, with him.

John – having grown so close to the Lord as to be called the “beloved disciple”, he knew the heartbeat of Christ because he’d heard it with his own ears, he knew the desires of the Lord because he was inside Christ’s life, Christ’s inner circle, and after all those years of growing together, becoming friends, learning at his feet, and molding to fit the Master’s will…now…his beloved Leader, Master, Teacher, Friend…gone. The WAY the TRUTH the LIFE, all gone away. Surely loneliness would have plagued him, solidarity would seem bitter to him…but he must go on somehow.

Now take those eyes and look through the pages of scripture…imagine the morning Mary arrives at that tomb. Imagine the fervor with which Peter and John would have run to that tomb. Imagine the hope that would have flooded their eyes when they heard of this glorious news… RESURRECTION… HOPE … CHRIST!

May you have a wonderful Easter…and may this weekend be a time for you to reflect on how you look at these events, and may we never let them become a Sunday school story, but rather a world changing truth of the hope we have in our Lord!

Fri 5.5 – Jesus taught us how to deal with it…

Today’s Readings: Colossians 1.16-22, 2.12-14, 3.1-7;

As you know, Sunday is the Christian celebration of “Easter”. Although Christ actually died at the Passover, because of pagan celebrations and worldly influences through history, Christians adopted the name to compete with festivals for false God’s. (I don’t even know why I put that out there…guess I just thought you’d want to know?) Anyway, since Easter is coming in two days, I wanted to take a new approach to the thoughts we’ve been looking at in Colossians by looking at them through the window of the MORTIFICATION OF CHRIST. While we have talked about MORTIFYING our FLESH, and making that a spiritual principal, Christ ACUTALLY mortified His flesh. However, many of the same principals applied. That FLESH (the human body of Christ) had to be mortified before the SPIRIT (the Holy Spirit of God) could reign in life (by indwelling the believer, see John 16.7 ).

So, here’s how today is going to work…get our your Bible, get out a pad of paper, click here, and here, for some awesome background music, and prayerfully consider these passages. We know how our FLESH lusteth against the SPIRIT (Gal 5.17), so let’s consider the ultimate battle between ALL FLESH and the SPIRIT HIMSELF as Christ was suffering on that cross…as he bled…as he groaned (Rom 8.23)…as he was mortified… and consider these verses…

Philippians 2.5-8

• Imagine the power it took for CHRIST JESUS the LORD to be on that CROSS!
• How should that invade and influence our MINDS?
• What did the cross signify in Christ’s life? (specifically v.8)

Hebrews 12.2-4

• Consider the HUGE statement that Jesus Christ is the AUTHOR and FINISHER of OUR faith!
• What made Him mortify that flesh?
• How are we to gain strength from meditating upon His death for us, and how far He was willing to go?

Ephesians 2.14-17

• What has been removed between God and us?
• We were at ENMITY (absolutely against) God, what did Christ do to remove that from us?
• What was the instrument Christ used to RECONCILE us (or bring us back) to God? And what did that tool do to the ENMITY?
• Because of Christ’s work, now we no longer have ENMITY between God and us, but rather we have something amazing, undeserved, and unreachable without Christ…what is it?

Before you leave your time with God today, spend time thanking Him…because He mortified, we can mortify…because He died, we can die…because He suffered, we can have peace…it is truly, NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD, and I pray we will YEARN for Him more today because we realize that more and more!

Mon 5.1 – To kill a mocking flesh

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.1-7; Romans 6

Hey everyone! Man, I had a blast at the camping trip this weekend. Okay, so I was only 2 for 10 with the skeet shooting, but I still had a blast! We had a few close calls with the weather but God was protecting us, and we thankfully praise Him for that! I want to note that there was no devotion from Saturday because we didn’t have any internet access at the property where we were camping. As a matter of fact, we didn’t have access to anything but woods and dirt there J . So, since I couldn’t access the internet to post Saturday’s devotion, there wasn’t one. I appreciate your faithfulness for checking in to see it, it really encourages me to know that you guys are getting so faithful with these devotions. We are averaging like 35 people doing them a day. That’s almost half of our youth group, which means we are getting more and more people on board.

Today, I want to simply answer a question. We’ve been talking about mortifying the flesh, which is something we all know that we should do. However, it can also seem to be a pretty complicated thing to explain. Therefore, today I just want us to look at some scriptures that explain the process of making that REALITY in our lives. If you would, start today by reading Colossians 3.1-7 to remind yourself of God’s commission for the one who is RISEN with Christ. We are to live our life here like the life we have with Him in heaven. We are to SEEK and SET OUR AFFECTION on things above where God is, not things of earth where we are. We saw the things of earth are mainly things of our BODIES and that’s why God mentions in Colossians 3.3-4 that one day our bodies will be redeemed, but in the mean time we need MORTIFY our MEMBERS which are UPON THE EARTH.

Now, right there is where we pick up for today. If we are to mortify our members on this earth, how do we do that? That’s a fair question, and a good one at that. Well, I think one of the best portions of scripture for us to examine is a simple one found in Romans 6. Paul is talking about this very idea of MORTIFYING or making DEAD our flesh on this earth that we may LIVE UNTO GOD and not unto ourselves. Paul gives a little formula for this process, he says we have to (1) Know, (2) Reckon, and (3) Yield to the truth that we are dead.

1.     Know it. Paul takes Romans 6.1-5 to remind us that we ARE DEAD with Christ. Then in verse 6 he says, “KNOWING THIS…” What is it that he says we are to KNOW? He says we are to KNOW that our OLD MAN (that is our old nature) is CRUCIFIED with him…and therefore because our OLD NATURE (that part of us that yielded itself to the body that we currently live in) is now dead, we no longer have to SERVE SIN. It is interesting to note how Paul describes our bodies in this verse. What does he call them? Bodies of …SIN. Wow, what a strong name.

Okay, so first things first – in order to mortify the flesh we have to KNOW that we no longer are bound to serve it because our OLD MAN is CRICIFIED with Christ, freeing us to live unto HIM and not this BODU OF SIN.

2.       Reckon it. In Romans 6.11, Paul says we are to RECKON ourselves to be DEAD UNTO SIN, but ALIVE UNTO GOD because of the truth we now KNOW from verse 6.This is a word you probably don’t understand unless you are related to country people. “I reckon so” was a common response to questions when I was growing up. What it meant was “My calculations would lead me to say yes.” And really, that’s not such a bad understanding of this word. It is actually a word that, in the days when the Bible was written, would have been used as an accounting term. Today I might say I have RECKONED, or balanced, my checkbook. It means to survey what you know about the situation, and calculate the truth. If I had $100 Monday, and I spent $20 on Wednesday, and deposited $10 on Friday, then Saturday I would RECKON that I have $90 available to me in my account.

So, in dealing with our flesh, we are to begin to account, or RECKON, the truth of our freedom from the bondage of sin in our bodies and realize the life we can now life unto Christ. Once we know something is truth, then we can begin to adjust our RECORDS to match what we know is truth. (when people’s personal RECORDS do not match the truth of the ACCOUNT they are recording, that is when people get into trouble and bounce checks. People get into trouble much the same way spiritually.)

3.     Yield to it. In verse 13, Paul says that once you KNOW it, and once you’ve moved your life to RECKON it, then you simply YIELD to what you already know is true. If you are DEAD with Christ to sin, and you have ACCOUNTED that truth to mean you no longer have to SERVE sin, then when the hunger for sin presents itself, you no longer have to YIELD YOUR MEMBERS to unrighteous acts, but you can YIELD THOSE MEMBERS as instruments of Christ. Those are the SAME MEMBERS that Paul talks about MORTIFYING in Col 3.5. When you kill them to the flesh, you can utilize them to the Spirit, as one ALIVE UNTO GOD.

So that’s the very simply progression God gives to help us with mortifying the flesh… (1) KNOW the truth of your freedom from sin and your DEATH with Christ. (2) RECKON the truth in your personal life, do not let this simply be something you know “is”, but make it something that “is true about YOU.” (3) YIELD to that truth in your life. When we realize we are dead unto sin, and alive unto God, then we can YIELD to the right master…the only Master! Amen.