Colossians 3, 1, through 17, and the Stryphs are Eats. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated, seated at the right hand of God, set your minds on things that are above, now don't things that are on earth. For you have died in your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ was your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. After death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetednesses which is idolatry, on the count of these things the wrath of God is coming, and these you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put away them all, put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, 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 I have put on a new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, schedian, slave, free, but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then as God chosen ones, holding and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meatness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against one another for giving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And above all else 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 that the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching in the mind that she won another in all wisdom, singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, and word of the, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. This is the word of God to us. Well, the New Year is often filled with resolutions, things you would like to change, habits you would like to break, traditions and routines that you would like to start. Some of you have already begun this task, so you've got ten pages of New Year's resolutions. Others of you just can't even come up with two sentences, right? You just, or whether or not you have ten pages or two sentences as a follower of Christ, there ought to be a resolution that is at the top of everyone's list. If you are a follower of Christ, in 2015, you ought to resolve to be a better Christian. It's important to note that this is not just any type of growth. That's what a, that's what a Christian is, if you are a follower, a disciple of Jesus, you need to understand that you need to grow, that you need to progress, to be conformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ. If you are, or consider yourself a Christian, and you are not growing, if you are not progressing, then you need to evaluate whether or not you are a Christian. If you are accurately calling yourself a Christian, you need to be growing. Like I said, this growth, this growth is not just any type of growth. We are not simply talking about growing in knowledge. I know more Bible verses this year than I did last year. I know more theology this year than I do than I did last year. Know the type of growth that we are talking about is the type of growth that Paul talks about in the first chapter of Colossians, Colossians 1, verses 9 and 10. Here was his prayer for the church at Colossae, that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. That's it right there. That's the growth we are talking about, growth where you are changed. Growth that is noticeable in the way you live your lives. Here's a goal for 2015. Be accused of being a Christian. Think about that for a moment. Be accused of being a Christian, does your life reflect that you are a Christian? And I'm sorry to say that church attendance is not sufficient evidence. Oh, it's good evidence. You gathering with the saints on a Sunday morning is indeed good evidence, but just because you attend church on Sunday simply having perfect attendance doesn't necessarily mean that you are a growing Christian. So, let's resolve. Let's resolve to be better Christians in 2015. But before I do that, it's important that as we think about it and as we start this first Sunday of the year, it's important to realize that perhaps some of you in here are not Christians. You see, you can't be a better Christian if you're not one already. And so, I would be remiss that in a crowd decided there is nobody here. That there's nobody, there's somebody here that everybody here is indeed a Christian. The fact of the matter is that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have offended a holy and a just God. We sin continually and that sin is deserving of God's wrath. The God of the universe has every right to wipe you out. Your sin, the punishment for it is death. That's the bad news. There is good news, though. The same holy righteous and just God is also loving and he's merciful. And he sent his only son, Jesus. He lived a perfect life, perfect. Holy was punished though, punished on a cross, died a death. The reason for our sin, the punishment that was due us, the wrath of God that was due us was placed on Christ. He's put in a grave. Three days later, he rose again and he ascended and sits at the right hand of God the Father. Brothers and sisters, when we trust the perfect life of Christ and trust His death on our behalf, we get to be with Christ saved from the wrath of God. If you have never trusted Christ, trust Him now today, do not delay. The rest of the message will mean nothing to you. You can't be a better Christian if you are not one already, so I plead with you, trust Him now. Today, if you'd like to talk with me more after the service, I'd love to talk with you. Trust Him, trust Him. If you have trusted Christ, if you are a follower of Jesus, you can now resolve to grow. To grow in Him, that is our resolution for 2015, be a better Christian. In our text this morning, Paul lays out three areas, three focused areas that if we understand, if we pursue, we will see growth in 2015. Good spiritual growth that by God's grace would be long lasting. This first area that Paul touches on is key, and it's so key that if you get it wrong, your pursuit of the other matters will become frustrating and futile. Becoming a better Christian will be meaningless to you unless you understand your union with Christ. Look at verses one through four. 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, minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the 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. Brothers and sisters, this is foundational Christianity. You, you being saved, and part of the family of God, under His grace, and not under His wrath, only makes sense because of this truth. You are in Christ. That's the truth that we need to dwell on. This is Paul's exhortation to these believers that they are to set their minds on that fact. You are to have a perspective, a worldview, a perspective that is heaven, word, and not earthly. But you know, this lack of perspective, it plagues us all. We let our life circumstances, our problems, our trials, and our hurts, unmatched expectations, and other people determine our overall happiness and contentment. We let earthly matters control those things, our affections that get wrapped up in materialistic idols that only disappoints and bring temporary happiness. This, this sin, this, this habit plagues us all. We get focused on those things that we see on earth, materialistic things. We are focuses, our focus is not heaven, word. There is only, there is only one habit that you and I break this year. This is the one that needs to be shattered. Stop setting your mind on earthly things. It's your eyes off the things below and set your eyes on heaven. The King James verse and says that you are to set your affections on the things that are above. Continually, this is an ongoing setting. Paul is saying, get your eyes off yourself. Get your eyes off of your circumstances. Get your eyes off of temporary things, fix them on Jesus, where there is joy, where there is contentment, where there is satisfaction, where there are met expectations, not just some of the time, not just temporarily, but always all of the time. That's why we set our eyes there, find our joy in our contentment and our satisfaction and the fact that we are in union with Christ. When we fix our gaze on our union with our, on Christ, our union with Him becomes clear. You realize, wait a second, why am I dwelling here, why am I focused here? I belong to Christ and he belongs to me. I have been crucified with Christ, Galatians 2.20 says, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live and the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You, you, Christen, you belong to Christ, you are in Him because you have died. Your old life, the life of sin, rebellion, was crucified with Christ on the cross, the evil thoughts and evil desires that the lust, the jealousy, the pride, self-righteousness, all of it now to the cross. You died, to get this, the Christian who dies twice actually lives. Because we are crucified, we who are crucified in Christ when, when he arose from the grave, we rose with him and our, and our lives are hidden in his, it's what Romans 6 4 tells us, we were buried there for with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. This is the new life that you and I share, old life crucified, crucified now to the cross, new life hidden in Christ,
which means that you and I have the pleasure and the favor of God. That is what makes our union with Christ so glorious and so wonderful. We are with Christ. That, that is what leaves off the page in these first four verses. You are a Christian, if you are a Christian, you are raised with Christ, hidden with Christ. You appear with glory in Christ. You are with Christ. You ever been somewhere, invited somewhere that you, you didn't belong. The only reason you were able to be where you were is because you were with somebody and when you get there, you're, you're walking around and people are looking at you wondering, how did you get in here? And the first thing out here now is always, I'm with them. I'm with them. I'm, I'm covered with them. As a sister, do you understand that you are with Christ? You are hidden in Him. You are with Him. Our union with Christ is so crucial to our Christian faith to understand that. Do you understand this is basic Christianity? This is, this is basic. And if you have been at East Point Church for any amount of time, this is not the first time you're hearing this. You hear this all the time. Again and again and again, we share the gospel. This is gospel. This is the gospel that I'm sharing with you. This is nothing new. We are committed to pointing people to Christ here at East Point Church. You are familiar with it. You say, I know this, but do you know that familiarity breeds, it breeds neglect? So you might be tempted to say that as I share this, as I share this, this union with Christ, you may be tempted to say, well, I know this already. How is this going to help me be a better Christian in 2015? I know this already. Why are you continuing to share this with me? If that is the question that is running through your mind, as I share about the glorious doctrine of our union with Christ, you are not as mature as you think
Paul tells Timothy, remind the saints of these things. Remind them of these things. We need to recall these things over and over again because do you understand that if we really believe this, our lives would be different. They would be. But they're still the same. They're not changed. We still think that the favor of God rests upon us based upon our performance. We do. Here's what we think about God, about God the Father. We think that he is a tyrant, that he is waiting just to punish the Fourth of mess up so that he can punish us. That's what we think. That's the way we live our lives. I can guarantee you that Bible reading plan. At one day, you're going to realize, oh, I missed and you're going to think, oh, God's going to punish me because I missed my reading today. That's how we live our lives. I have to somehow work my way into receiving his pleasure. You know what this union with Christ says? When John the Baptist was in the wilderness and he was baptizing, Jesus came and John the Baptist baptized Jesus and the Father said from heaven, this is my son with whom I am well pleased. Do you know that being in Christ, that is what the Father says of you because you are in Christ, with you I am well pleased because your life, you're dead but you're now in Christ and God you have his favor and his pleasure. When you start contemplating that and thinking upon those truths and and mining them, you start to change. You are on your way to becoming a better Christian. Why? Because because you are you better understand your position in Christ. You realize that your old life is dead. You realize that things have to change. Yes, I find the pleasure of God because I'm in Christ, but there is still indwelling sin that needs to be dealt with. It needs to be removed. To be a better Christian in 2015, we need to be thinking, setting our mind on heavenly things, being reminded of our union with Christ, that our life is hidden with Christ, but also the second area of focus that Paul brings to our attention in our text. To be a better Christian in 2015 is to put to death sin. It's to put to death sin. Look at verse 5, put to death therefore what is earthly in you. John Owen, the great Puritan, says this, if you are not killing sin, sin is killing you. Brothers and sisters, that is real. There is enough sin in our hearts left unchecked and unattended to kill us several times over. Paul makes the list plain for us. These aren't the sins that I've come up with. He sets the list. You can't escape the sins that he lists. He deals with those secret sins, the ones that we battle with from within in our hearts and in our thoughts. The ones that you and I can indulge in without anybody knowing. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry. Oh, brothers and sisters, we could deal with those in the recesses of our mind and in our hearts without anybody knowing. That's what makes these sins so dangerous is that you can gratify these desires and nobody would even know. The person sitting next to you could be dealing with these very things and you would have no idea. You're hidden from plain sight. Take place in the dark solitary places of our mind. Oh, we all have this type of sin that we need to get rid of. We all have it that we all have it. These are sins that we need to get rid of because the hidden sins weren't convicting enough. Paul reminds us that there are additional remnants of our old self that still remains. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Brothers and sisters, these are the sins that you can't hide, but they are just as destructive for they affect our relationships with one another and cause this unity and discord in the body. All sins and offense against God and that's ramifications that affect other people, but these sins cause division and this unity in the body. All of us, all of us is dealing with this sin, sin of the old man. Nobody here can go down this list and look at it and say sexual immorality, impurity, passion with anger. Nah, that doesn't describe me. Nah, that's not me. None of these. I'm good. Nobody. Nobody here can save it. John 1, John 1 and 8 says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Paul takes it up a notch regarding the seriousness of this sin and saying that the wrath of God is coming on account of these things. So, if we all have this remaining sin, secret sins, sins that are evident to all, and the wrath of God is coming against them, then it would behooves us. It makes sense then that we should be diligent about putting it to death to get rid of it. Paul says in Romans 13 that we are to make no provision for the flesh. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 says that we are to lay aside to throw off any way of sin that seeks to hinder us from pressing forward. Paul tells Titus that we Christians are to renounce ungodliness. This here is strong language brothers and sisters that we should be do well to heed and take notice of. Listen, you are not growing. You will not be a better Christian in 2015 if you let sit and run rampant in your life. You must, you must put it to death. You must put it to death for your serious. I hope you are. If you recognize the seriousness of this sin and if you are serious about putting it to death, the question that should be running through your mind right now is how do I do that? How do I put, I want to put it to death, preacher, I want to do it. How do I do it? I think the scriptures give us a two-prong approach. It gives us a two-prong approach. We fight and we trust. We fight and we trust. We fight. We put the sin away. We make no provision for it. In other words, we take practical tangible steps to deal with the sin that hinder us. If your sin is gossip, remove yourselves from those conversations and situations that tempt you most. If your sin is pride, perhaps you need to make a habit of serving in ways that will humble you, volunteer for the nursery. That will humble you real quick. If you are a leader, people are always looking to you. Perhaps it's now time to follow. Deal with the pride. Take practical steps to deal with the pride. The issue, the issue is lust. Sexual morality is the issue that maybe you need to cut off what you are watching. Maybe get out of the relationship that you find yourself in. Maybe, maybe you need to cut Facebook. Maybe you need to throw out your computer. Maybe you need to not have a cell phone. I know that sounds drastic, but it's that serious. It's that serious sin will kill you. We need to be ruthless. Jesus says that if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Now, these are not literally telling us to be destructive of ourselves and to hurt ourselves and to harm ourselves, but he does want us to get to the point across that it is that serious.
Remember, if you are not killing sin, it is killing you. It's either chill or be killed. It's that serious. Like we said, we are trying to come at this thing from all different angles, right? This is a form it will follow and you can't just hit them with one blow. You've got to come from all different directions. So not only do we fight, we trust. Trust looks like Paul says in verse 10 of our text, put on the new self or like he says in Romans 13 and 14, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to walk and live with the knowledge that the old self has indeed been crucified with Christ. We need to trust the truth that we are no longer slaves to sin. We are not in bondage to it. We actually have the freedom and the ability not to sin. Brothers and sisters, do you realize that is a weapon? That is the way of escape. James talks about. We can say no. We can flee. It's also trusting. It's also trusting that if we do sin, if we do fall, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We repent. We turn from it and we go and sin no more. We trust that that truth is right. In other words, we trust our union with Christ. To put on the new self, to put on Christ, is to trust that all that is true of our union with him, namely that we have the pleasure of God. There is forgiveness of sins because it has been nailed to the cross. I have the ability not to sin. Holy Spirit dwells in me to combat the works of the enemy. He who began a good work and you will bring it to completion. Do you see now why it is so important that we understand our union, our position in Christ. You are holy. Now live like it. We walk. We live according to what is already true of us, namely that we are holy. We fight sin by trusting that what the word of God says about me. This is the indicative imperative approach to scriptures never tire of using. This is truth. What Christ has done on the cross is true. Now go do this because I have given you the ability to do it. We trust and we fight. We fight. We fight. We preserve. We push through. We say no to the sin. We run. We take measures to stop it. We also trust that I am covered with Christ. When I fall, I don't have this pleasure but as mercy awaits me. I can come. I can repent. I can turn from it and continue trusting him and going and sinning no more. To be a better Christian in 2015, we need to think upon our union with Christ. We need to put to death sin but our last area of focus is that we need to put on love. We need to put on love. Look at verse 14. And above all the heaths put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. You want to be a better Christian in 2015? You need to love better. Love better. Why? Because love is the mark of a Christian. Love is a mark of a Christian. You can't be a Christian and not love. You can't. You can't do it. There's no such thing as an unloving Christian. It doesn't make sense. It's oxymoronic. Especially those we call our brothers and sisters in Christ. There is a unity that exists between Christians because they are in Christ. Therefore we ought to love one another and that love, that love should be ever increasing. Ever growing or reminds them of this unity in Christ. In verse 11 he says, here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and I'm circumcised barbarian, something slave-free, but Christ is all and in all. That is why we ought to be pursuing love. We have this common bond, this unity, this unity that is unique from the world. There's a unity that exists here because we all are in Christ. Once again, our union with Christ coming into play and therefore we love and we pursue it to be ever increasing. That's Paul's prayer for the church in Philippi was that their love would continue to increase. That should, you want to pray for something? Pray for East Point Church, that we would be ever growing, ever increasing in our love of God and of one another. That is a prayer to pray in 2015. Daily, Lord, pray that our love for God would grow and increase and that love would find itself expressed in our community and that we would love one another, should be ever growing, ever increasing. Oh, I love the Christian relationships that I have had for years. I love it because it's glorious to see the work of God in the life of a long time saint. They grow, their love, the fruit of the spirit is evident in their life and it's growing and it's ever growing and ever increasing. That's why we pray for it. It should be our prayer at East Point Church that we would follow the commandment of the Lord. John 13, 34, 35 says a new commandment I give to you. You should love one another just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. By this, by this love all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. This is a love that expresses itself practically. Look at verse 13. Paul, he has just finished telling the church at Colosse that they are to put to death sin by putting off the old self and putting on the new self and as they put off the old self, the fruit of the spirit becomes more evident in their life. They are combating the evil one with that fruit. This is true of all Christians. When we put off the old self and put on the new self, the works of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit begin to manifest in our lives and where there was once anger, wrath, malice, evil desire, idolatry and slander where that once reigned, your life is now marked with the fruit of the spirit. Compassion, kindness and humility and meatiness, patience and forgiveness. That is how you know that you are growing, that which is earthly and you begins to decrease and Christ-like character begins to be expressed in our midst. You are loving, compassionate, bearing with one another. But to sum it all up, Paul says, put on love. That is the umbrella in which he puts all the other fruit of the spirit under. Just like he did in 1 Corinthians 13 when he was talking about love. He says, so now faith, hope and love abide, these three but the greatest of these is love. Once again, Paul elevating that mark of a Christian to love. He takes all of the fruit and he puts it under the umbrella of love because one can't display the fruit of the spirit if you don't love one another. You understand that if you love somebody, it's easier to be patient with them. If you love someone, it's easy to bear with them, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, bearing with one another. You can only display those things. You can only measure growth in those areas if you are in community, if you are in community pursuing love. Paul says, put it on. Put on love. When you pursue this love in a community, you're with other believers, you are the recipient of invaluable benefits. The peace of God begins to rule in your heart. It reminds you that you are not only at peace with God, but you are at peace with one another, with the people you find yourself in community with and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you are called in one body and be thankful. There is flowing through this community is the idea that we are at peace with God. We have been reconciled to God and therefore we are now reconciled to one another. This is why Paul always, and often, not always, but often begins his letter with grace and peace, grace and peace to you, the peace of God, peace with God and peace with one another. This is the peace that we are to let rule in our hearts and let rule in this community. Not only does the peace of Christ rule in a community that is expressing itself in love, you experience the joy of a community that is guided by the word of God. Look at verse 16, but the word of God of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and monitoring one another in all wisdom, seeing psalms and hymns and spiritual psalms with thankfulness in your hearts to God. You let the word of God dwell in you richly. Here's a plug for the Bible reading plan that we're taking up. If you want to know what the word of God dwell in you richly, you have to spend time in it. You have to read it. You have to get to know it. We need to be in the word. The admonishment from Paul is to let the word dwell in you so that it affects how you deal with other people. Admonishing others, encouraging them, seeing psalms and spiritual psalms, brothers and sisters, you understand when you are in the word personally, it affects the, corporations. It affects us, corporations don't neglect the word so that when we gather together, you have something to give. You have something to share with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Personal study, personal Bible reading is so important. It doesn't trump corporate worship, but personal worship is so important because it affects, it informs, it helps our corporate worship before God. When we gather together, you have an encouragement. You don't need to be encouraging them with self-help. You need to be encouraging people with the Bible. What you've read in the word because the word of God is dwelling in you richly. Community who is doing these things is joyous, thankfulness dwells in their heart. It is a community that is loving and growing. When we pursue love, when we put on love, brothers and sisters, we don't lose. You don't lose the benefits for Christian community are numerous. So the exhortation, the admonishment is 2015 to put on love. We have been talking today about becoming a better Christian in 2015,
but there really is one way in which we can sum this all up. Here is the resolution for 2015. If you have a list that is 10 pages long, put this one at the top. If you don't have a resolution for 2015, now you have one. Here is the resolution. Resolve in 2015 to put on Christ. That's it. Put on Christ. It's that simple. Everything that we have been talking about today takes place when you put on Christ, you live as how you have been called. You remember, you reflect on your union with Christ, that you are in Him, that you have the favor of God. Because of that, you live differently. You put to death sin, then you put on love because you have been loved by Christ. Oh, brothers and sisters, you want to grow in 2015. If that is our resolve, if that's what we want to do in 2015, and you should be if you are Christian, simple. It seems so simple, but always so profound. Put on Christ. Put on Mon. Put on Mon. Walk in Him. Let's pray.