Wed 7.3 – Renewed in Image

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.10-16; I Corinthians 12.13; Galatians 3.28; 2 Corinthians 4.16;

We talked yesterday about the “newness” of life. If you were not able to be a part of that study, please return to 7.2 and check it out so that you will have a better reference for today’s study.

I want to take yesterday a step further today. The fact that we have been raised to NEWNESS of life is very true! Please do not hear me saying anything different than that today. However, that is not the full extent of the truth of our LIFE IN CHRIST (Col 3.4).

Notice how God describes that new man in Colossians 3.10, he is RENEWED in knowledge after the IMAGE of him that created him. Now let’s look into that for a moment today.

Did you realize that when you were saved, it was not simply that you transitioned from a child of darkness to a child of light? Our salvation is more than a COMING to God, our salvation is a RETURNING to God. Here’s a little summary breakdown of the GOSPEL truth:

• GOD made man perfect and sinless to fellowship with Him and worship Him as the sons of God.
• SIN enters the picture with man’s seeking of self rather than seeking God and causes a separation between God and man.
• CHRIST, the gospel, comes to bridge the gap between man and God to bring sons of God back to Himself.
• FAITH is the agent by which men partake of Christ and receive their salvation unto life everlasting in Him.

Now, as we read the book of Genesis, we see that man was ORIGINALLY created in a perfect way with God. The Scriptures said that man was made in the IMAGE of God (Genesis 1.27), but notice a MAJOR CHANGE when sin enters the picture, now men are no longer in the image of God, but in the image of Adam (Genesis 5.1-3). Man LOST the image of God which allowed the fellowship with God and the reproduction of other sons of God. Adam was a son of God (Luke 3.38)but since sin, all men are the sons of Adam (I Corinthians 15.45-49 – with special emphasis on verse 49!)

So, when we are RAISED to walk in NEWNESS of life, we are actually being raised to walk in ORIGINAL life, the way God intended it before sin entered the picture and brought death. God says in Colossians 3 that we are “RENEWED” and that our renewal is after the “IMAGE” of the One who “CREATED” the new man…(Colossians 1.16-17)

Folks, remember today, we are not simply walking in a new way. It is just new to us, in God’s eyes it is ORIGINAL! God is in the RESTORING business. He wants sons of Adam to become the sons of God (John 1.12-14) and thus be renewed and alive-again to the original walk He wanted for us.

This truth leaves us needing to evaluate how we approach our walk with Him…is it simply to keep the list of things the NEW MAN should do and to avoid the list of things the OLD MAN would? Or is it in passionate thanksgiving for our restoration to His family as sons of God? And also, how are we doing at helping others find the RENEWAL their souls so desperately need?

May God awaken us to the reality of who we are in Him as sons of God! Amen.

Tue 7.2 – “Raised to walk in newness of life”

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.10-16; 2 Corinthians 5.17; I John 3.9; I Corinthians 6.17, 15.45-49

Yesterday, we looked at some of the characteristics of the NEW MAN that we are to PUT ON. I want to point out a couple simple things today as we compare the verses from today’s reading with each other to cover these truths from Colossians 3.10-16

1 – please notice that we ALREADY HAVE the NEW MAN if we are born again. 2 Corinthians tell us that if any man is in Christ, he IS a new creature. That means they already has the newness in him/her. What we are talking about here is not HOW TO GET THE NEW MAN. That is a question of salvation. What we are talking about is PUTTING ON THE NEW MAN, or in other words how to live in the full reality of our new life in Christ.

2 – I want to make sure and point out another vital truth this morning. The new man is not simply a better version of ourselves. Some will read these words and think that we are talking about how to adjust our lives to be BETTER lives than what we currently have. That is NOT it. What we are talking about here is a COMPLETELY NEW PERSON living in us after salvation. This is not simply a reformation, it is a replacement. It is not just a remedy, it is a rebirth.

And, just in case all of that goodness was not enough, that NEW MAN inside of us is not even us! Sure, we are united with it; Peter said we are PARTAKERS OF THE DEVINE NATURE (2 Pet 1.4), but the amazing truth is that in being united with HIS NATURE we are no longer simply ourselves. Check out how Paul describes it in Romans 13.14, “PUT YE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST” wow!

THE NEW MAN IS JESUS CHRIST IN US! Remember what we read back at the end of chapter 1? Paul describes the golry of God in the Mystery of CHRIST IN US! It’s just like our God…He will never call us to do something that He hasn’t first already equipped us to do! (1 Thes 5.24)

When we yield our lives to the new man, allowing the life of the new man to reign, and we PUT OFF the old man, we are actually seeking to distance ourselves from … well … OURSELVES, and place ourselves more fully in the One who is IN us! Check out 1 Corinthians 15.45-49 as you conclude your time with the Lord today and notice all the differences between the two men in that passage. One is earthly, carnal, sinful, and mortal. The other is heavenly, spiritual, sinless, and immortal. ADAM was that first man – the old man that we are to PUT OFF! And Christ was that second man – the new man that we are to PUT ON!

What are you wearing today? Rags, filthy stains, temporary things? Or are you wearing gold, silver, eternal works, blessings and praise, divine nature??? Now that we are RISEN WITH CHRIST (3.1) let’s walk in the newness of THAT life! Amen.

Fri 4.5 – What’s the point?

Today’s Readings: Col 3.5-7; 2 Chr 33.1-2, Eph4.17-20, 5.3-10

Have you ever seen something weird, and thought to yourself, “What’s the point?” Like this picture for example. Can’t you just imagine a year down the road, when the group from the picture is sitting down to dinner, reminiscing about that vacation they took. So they break out the pictures, and can’t seem to remember who was who in this one…what’s the point in a picture like this? It can’t really be too important, or serve too great a purpose?

Now, with that kind of thinking in mind, check out our passage from Colossians today.

Remember, we’re talking about mortifying our bodies. We have seen how we must KILL the desires of our natural selves and pursue the SPIRITUAL desires of Christ in us.

In Colossians 3.6, God talks about those people who do not mortify themselves, those people who live according to their own lusts. What name does He give to them? He calls them “children of disobedience”. Since we, who are saved, are his children, we should be ANYTHING but those who disobey Him. As a matter of fact, behaving in the manner in which Christ did is supposed to be true of every believer (I John 2.6). God explains that this disobedience caused His wrath to come on them. Wow. I guess God does care about our obedience to scripture!

Notice His next words in verse 7. The reason we shouldn’t live our lives being controlled by the members of our bodies, is because freedom from that bondage is part of salvation. God says they WALKED, past tense – as in they do not do it any more. There is a change that occurs at salvation. Things are supposed to be different now. When once we lived our lives seeking to fulfill every lust of our flesh for food, acceptance, sex, success, etc., we now live our lives seeking THINGS ABOVE. God said those who turned away from Him and went back to allowing the natural desires of their bodies to control them were the CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE! They didn’t mortify their members, but instead gave into them and allowed those members to be their God!

Look at God’s commentary about the Kingdom under Manasseh’s reign. What was it that made them wicked before God? They acted like the HEATHEN whom God had destroyed in order to put them in the promised land to begin with. Wouldn’t it be a shame if the same was said of us concerning our lives here today!?! What if God could look out and say, “Nick was evil before me because he lived his life according to the lustful desires of his body that I freed him from when I saved him. Because Nick returned to the bondage I freed him from, he is a child of disobedience.” Man, that would be hard to hear.

You’ll see a couple passages from Ephesians above. I recommend we conclude our time with God today by reading through those passages and asking His Spirit to show us areas that we may need to mortify in our lives to keep His commentary on our lives from being like the one from 2 Chron. Amen!

1.5 - CHANGE comes with the new Identity.

Today’s reading: Colossians 3

For those of you who know me very well, you know what fitness is kind of one of my hobbies. When I was in High School, I was the “Goofy Fat Kid.” You know the one I’m talking about. The kid who has a very poor self image, no confidence, and never really pops up on anyone’s radar? I was 15 and weighed roughly 250 lbs. Now at 15 and around 5.10, that’s a pretty hefty kid.
Then something happened inside of me. I would like to say it was God getting ahold of me and convicting me about gluttony and not taking care of my body, but at that point in my life God was the furthest thing from my mind. I wasn’t even a believer at the time (though I was playing the “spiritual” game from time to time when it was convenient). If I am being totally honest, my basic motivation for changing my body was two things: (1) I was unhappy and was tired of being so awkward and uncomfortable, and (2) I noticed that all the fit guys seemed to get the girls. So, unfortunately, my original motivation for getting fit was not the right ones, it was basically selfish and greedy. However, thankfully as I have been saved and come to know God and His Word over the years, He has shown me how important it is for us to be good stewards of the body He has given to us, and I thank Him for giving me that right way of thinking. So, let’s think about some of the similarities here…

How many of you have ever seen one of those TV infomercials about a weight loss program? You know the ones, “Call today and for three easy payments of $19.95 you can loose 30 lbs in 30 days…” Then they show pictures of success stories like the one above and tell you how perfect this system is. If you will notice, there is usually some fine print that will say something like “results not typical”. Does anyone want to guess why that is? It is because most plans like those are not “lifestyle” plans, they are quick fixes. Let me repeat that for those of you who haven’t been catching the spiritual parallels there, they do not work because they are not LIFESTYLE plans, but instead are QUICK FIXES. What you will often find is that if you could look up those people on the commercials today, they’ve gained the weight back, and then some. It’s called the YO-YO effect. The problem is that those people REALIZED THEIR CONDITION as being in need of help, and they sought out  QUICK FIX that helped them for a while, but soon returned to their OLD WAYS of living and now are right back where they started, and often worse.

Take time today and read Colossians 3 in that light. Paul is telling us that we cannot come to Christ as a QUICK FIX. That is not what He is. Christ is a LIFESTYLE (Col 3.4) and if we are RISEN WITH HIM (our we could say if we are IN HIM) then our LIFESTYLE should reflect that change. In the same way a person who is seeking to lose weight can wind up right back where they started from, a Christian can too in some ways. Obviously, they cannot lose their salvation, but they can lose their testimony, effectiveness, fellowship, and so much more. Some Christians even walk around looking, acting, and living just like they did before the CHANGE of JESUS CHRIST in their lives. That’s what Paul is saying here. That’s what God does NOT want from His children.

Unfortunately, a QUICK FIX JESUS is what most churches are preaching today. “If you want to be happy, come to Jesus. If you want to give Him all your burdens, come to Jesus. If you want to be forgiven, come to Jesus. If you want to find strength and healing, come to Jesus.” And while all of that is true, and while He is all of those things, those are all the SIDE EFFECTS of a relationship with God, not our PURPOSE for one. HE IS OUR PURPOSE for having a relationship with Him. God wants us to walk according to the life we now have in Him and that is what Colossians 3 is all about. Let’s listen carefully to His instructions about how our life should look as someone RISEN WITH CHRIST.

We do not want to “put the weight back on” so to speak once we’ve been freed. So let’s PUT OFF the old man who put all of that spiritual weight on us to being with, and PUT ON  the new man in the LORD JESUS CHRIST to walk according to His way.

1.2 - Walking Worthy

Yesterday, God established (through Paul) His desire that we be filled with knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Sounds simple enough right? (if only it was)

Today, in Col 1.10, He adds a second degree to the “Christ-identity” that God has predestined we should develop into (Rom 8.29), we are told to WALK WORTHY. Now, that seems to be simple enough doesn’t it? Well, that’s because it is. There are 2 other portions of scripture I want us to look at this morning and I think this will explain what God is saying simply, clearly, and at the same time challenge us like never before.

Before we get to those passages, let’s remind ourselves of what God says in Col 1.10. Read it in your Bible now.

So, we see the desire and prayer for the believer here is to WALK WORTHY in a way that is PLEASING and FRUITFUL in those GOOD WORKS. Alright, now what we are going to do is simply take the WORD OF GOD and figure out what He means by selecting those words to describe this WALK that is considered WORTHY. (remember, one of the greatest mistakes is to read something like this in scripture and then walk away making up our own conclusions and decisions about what the passage means, defining the terms our own way and therefore miss what God was trying to say to begin with.)

The first thing that He says is for this WALK to be PLEASING. How can I know what pleases God? How can I be sure that something does (or doesn’t) PLEASE Him? Take just a second and look up Heb 11.6 to answer that question, then settle in your head, what it is that allows us to please God. OK, what’s the answer? Now keep that in the front of your mind…
Next question, What is required for salvation? How do we “receive” Jesus Christ? (You can check our Eph 2.8-9 here for a Biblical answer if you do not know already). So, now what we can see is that the one thing that pleases God, and the thing that is necessary for SALVATION and receiving Christ, are the same thing…FAITH! Ok, with that in mind, check out what God says just one chapter later in the book of Colossians in 2.6. How did we get into this walk? Right, FAITH. And how are we to continue this walk? Right again, FAITH. It is that FAITH that is going to allow us to please God. It is that FAITH that comes from God and glorifies Him, so of course it pleases Him.

Ok, now the second passage. Remember that WORTHY WALK is to be one that is PLEASING, and also what? FRUITFUL. It is almost like God knew that we would be prone to stumble at this truth that FAITH is the NECESSARY thing if we want to be PLEASING to Him. So what He does is add the explanation of being FRUITFUL IN EVERY GOOD WORK. I know most of you probably have this verse memorized, but look it up anyway. James 2.17, 18, & 22 clarify this reality for us. God says that FAITH without the presence of WORKS  is what kind of FAITH? DEAD! So, if our FAITH is dead, will it be able to PLEASE God? I doubt it. However, if our FAITH is alive and proving itself by our WORKS, then that is a vibrant faith that will PLEASE God. Check out how He concludes the thoughts in James 2.22! You see, the FAITH and believing was always what mattered, but the simple truth is that true, LIVING FAITH will always be accompanied by WORKS.

How is your walk? Is it WORTHY? Are you still living the Christian life based upon the same FAITH that brought you into it (Col 2.6)? What areas of your life are lacking in FAITH and therefore not PLEASING to the Father? Are there any areas where your FAITH and your WORKS do not seem to match up? Let today be the day that God’s children recognize their WALK before Him by FAITH and become fruitful in every GOOD WORK in Jesus name!