We take what might be a hat and bring it to our waist
and say, look, now it's a belt buckle.
Or we might say, I'm not slandering them,
I'm just trying to vent.
Or I'm not being lustful,
I'm just trying to figure out what my future wife looks like.
But we need to be willing to not just
wear our old selves differently,
but to put them off altogether.
Colossians 3, 5-17 says,
put to death therefore what is earthly in you,
sexual immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and covetousness,
which is idolatry.
On account of these,
the wrath of God is coming.
And these you too once
walked when you were living in them.
But now you must put them all away,
anger, wrath, slander, malice,
and obscene talk from your mouth.
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 not Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, and free,
but Christ is all and in all.
Put on then as God's chosen ones,
holy and beloved, compassionate hearts,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another.
And if one of you has a complaint against one another,
forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you,
so also you must forgive.
And above all these, put on love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you are called in one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
There are two main ideas presented here in Colossians 3.
The first is the idea that if we are truly
to take on our new identity in Christ,
there are things that we have on from our previous living
that we need to put off.
And there are attributes that come
with having our identity in Jesus
that we need to put on to fully represent
the new life that we have in Christ.
The latter idea is that if we put off the wrong things
and that if we put on the right things,
along with becoming acquainted with Jesus,
we can bless God in everything that we do.
I love the language that Paul uses.
That out of our new identity,
there are things that we get to put off
and put on like we would with clothing.
One common idea or tip that you'll hear
if you're ever going in for a job interview
is that you wanna dress for the job
that you're interviewing for.
And the idea behind that advice
is that if you want to be hired for a specific position
or a specific career,
you should already look like what that career is.
You should look like the thing that you want to be.
Or in other words, you want to be ready
so that you don't have to get ready
when it might already be too late.
A parable that Jesus tells
that perfectly displays this idea
is in Matthew 25 and it goes like this.
Then the kingdom of heaven be like 10 virgins
who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise.
For when the foolish took their lamps,
they took no oil with them.
But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
As the bridegroom was delayed,
they all became drowsy and slept.
But at midnight, there was a cry saying,
here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him.
Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said to the wise,
give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out.
But the wise answered saying,
since there will not be enough for us and for you,
go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.
And while they were going out to buy,
the bridegroom came and those who were ready
went with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut.
After the other virgins came also saying,
Lord, Lord, open to us, he answered,
truly I say to you, I do not know you.
Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour.
I think that parable connects to Colossians 3 so powerfully because the thing that Paul is seeking to guard us against
is running the risk of not being ready for the occasion that God calls on us.
If we put to death and put off all the worldly things in us and put on the things that come with an identity change in Christ,
we won't be scrambling in the moments that God calls us.
Whether he convicts you to speak to someone or to help someone you don't know unexpectedly,
or if you find yourself in a moment where you're being tempted to compromise with sin and God is calling you back,
if you know that you have already put on the right things and put off the wrong things,
you're not going to find yourself scrambling for what you need to confront the situation.
I had an experience while I was working at Panera Bread as a delivery driver where I was coming to the end of my shift
and I remember the Holy Spirit piquing my interest at this lady that I saw at the front of the store.
She was with a three-year-old and she went into the store.
All of my co-workers were tending to her.
She was crying and I remember God just saying,
So I went to her and I gave her whatever tips I had from the day and told her that I felt like she needed to know God sees her,
that God cares for her, and she just started bawling.
So I walk away and I hear the Holy Spirit say to me,
And I go to my manager and I ask him,
And he says to me that she's running away from an abusive relationship.
And that she left with nothing but her son, a stroller, and whatever she could escape with quickly.
So I tell my manager, because they were looking for a shelter that she could stay at overnight while her mom came to pick her up from out of state,
that whenever they find it, let me take her to the shelter after I do my last delivery.
So I get back from my last delivery and I take her to the Walgreens across the street so we could buy whatever she needs for her son.
And we go to the shelter.
She's able to stay and I'm able to take her to her mom who was meeting with us so that she could take her back to New Mexico.
And I just remember thinking that if I had met that lady any earlier when I was feeling despondent or hadn't put on the things that resonate with my identity with Christ,
I wouldn't have been able to answer that call that the Holy Spirit placed on me to bless this woman who was running away from an abusive relationship.
And the idea that comes with putting off those things that are worldly in us and putting on the things that are of Christ in us is that we need to be able to represent Christ here on earth well.
So going back to Colossians 3, it says,
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry.
On account of these things the wrath of God is coming.
And in these you too once walked when you were living in them.
But now you must put them all away, anger, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.
Now you might be saying to me, I don't even know what it means to put off these things.
I didn't even know that they were on me.
And the difficulty that we tend to have with putting off sin and what is earthly in us is that we try to do it in our own terms.
We don't put these things off, we just try to wear them differently.
We take what might be a hat and bring it to our waist and say, look, now it's a belt buckle.
Or we might say, I'm not slandering them, I'm just trying to vent.
Or, I'm not being lustful, I'm just trying to figure out what my future wife looks like.
But we need to be willing to not just wear our old selves differently, but to put them off altogether.
We need to say, I've made a covenant with my eyes that I shall not look upon a woman with lust.
So when you're being tempted, you can say, it's not even an option that's immediately available to me because I've put it off.
I'd have to go digging in the closet or in the hamper to be able to find that thing and put it back on me.
We should make sin uncomfortable, inconvenient, and unfamiliar.
The Bible says that returning to sin is like a dog returning to its vomit, or a pig returning to its vomit.
turning to the mud. Because we find our identity in Christ, we shouldn't just put off our sin,
but we should be off put by it. It should be gross for us to return to what we've already put off.
It should gross us out. Not to say that we won't get dirty ever, but we should feel grossed out by
our sin and want to be clean again. As for the things that we should put on, it says,
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against
one another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, you must also forgive. And above
all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace
of Christ rule in your hearts. To put these things on is to wear them. And I don't know
about you, but I don't just wake up with my outfit for the day already on. I have to make
it a part of my day to intentionally look at my closet and say, I want this on me today.
I want this to be what I wear today. And in the same way, I should wake up and be able to say,
what does it look like for me to put on and wear a compassionate heart? I might need to ask God to
give me compassion and a care for people that I might overlook without his spirit reminding me.
What does it look like for me to put on kindness? I might need to be intentional to consider what I
could do or who I could be for the people that I might see throughout my day. What does it look
like for me to put on humility? I would need to sit down and intentionally set my sights on God,
who is above me, in order to keep a true perspective on how valuable others are because
he says they are. What does it look like for me to put on meekness? I should declare and dedicate
myself to being self-controlled in how I talk and how I live. What does it look like for me to put
on patience and forgiveness? I should remind myself every day of the grace God has given me
so that I can extend it to others. And what does it look like for me to put on love? I should put
on God's love in the same way that he has shared it for me. And the purpose of putting on all of
these things are found in verses like John 17, where he says, Father, I desire also that they whom
you have given to me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you
have loved me from the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not
know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. Or like Psalm 103, which says,
Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me, bless his holy name. The goal of being like Jesus
and putting on the things of Jesus is to be with and to bless God. My final point is a simple one,
and it's what Colossians 3.17 says. It says, Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So we should make it
our aim and our practice to give back to God what he's already given to us.