CEFC Sermons
The Resurrected Life
Good morning, everyone. This is a full circle moment. That's for sure. Yeah, it's a great upbringing here in my family. When I got saved at 18 here, I remembered even my kindergarten class with Mrs. Harrison. I don't know if you remember her from 30 years. She is a faithful teacher. But then in high school, as many of you were praying for me, I was living a very simple life. I would be in the back pew playing games on my phone, not listening or trying not to listen. But the Lord got ahold of my heart right before actually college. And that's why I got saved and baptized here in 2010. And then I jet it off. And hardly have been here since. But it's really good to be back. I do sometimes come visit. So I've been in the corporate world for like 10 years, working at a company called SKF. I just quit in July to go into full-time ministry, as John mentioned. So I'm excited with narrow road ministries, doing some local youth and preaching work in central PA, working with some stuff at Penn State, and then traveling overseas for quite a bit of missions with Go to India in October, Lord ruling North Africa in January and then a couple other places planned for next year. Do you really equip the local churches to then go and teach and share the gospel? And then permeate evangelism, as he mentioned, it's creating a culture of evangelism within the local church. We do church trainings, social media content. And we give opportunities for people to go and do evangelism. If you're interested, we have a prayer letter, my family, and also a business car for permeate, it's in the back. If you're interested, there's a QR code and good old fashioned pen and paper. If you're interested to keep up and be praying, we would covet your prayers. But more importantly, let's get into the text. Let's pray first. Lord, thank you for this place. Thank you for this people. Lord, thank you for these people who have prayed for me for many, many years that even my salvation is a fruit of many of their prayers. So thank you, God, and bless them for that. Lord, thank you for your faithfulness over the years, but we know that you are not done. We know that you are ever growing us, challenging us, growing us deeper into you, God. And so we pray that this morning would do that, that we would not leave the same as we came. Lord, that we would be changed by your spirit, by your word, by your truth, by your power, God. And that you would convict us of sin, Lord, that you would encourage us where we need to be encouraged, whatever we need, Lord, you know. And so we pray that you would speak individually through your Holy Spirit. Exactly what we need to hear this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So we will be in the book of Colossians chapter three. I was too late on the slide, so if you could, open your Bibles and there's some in the pew in front of you. If you don't know how to find Colossians, check the table of contents or talk to the person next to you. It's important to see the word and not just hear it. So, background, a little background of Colossians chapter one goes into who is the Christ, who is Jesus. We know he's the creator, God, who is the creator and sustainer of all things. Colossians chapter two goes into the false teachings of the day, and that could be a whole another sermon of the false teachings of today, 'cause there's a lot of them as well. But then Colossians three and four goes into the Christian life. And I would say even more specifically, based on the context of the first few verses, it's not just the Christian life, it's the resurrected life. Many people profess Christianity, profess that they follow Jesus, but are they resurrected with Christ? There is a difference. And there's many practical instructions in this chapter that we'll get to, so things that you can take and put into practice this week. But I wanna focus heavily on the first few verses because they center on the root issues that the practical will flow from there. If we miss the first four verses, the rest is just a different gospel. It's a moral gospel rather than a flowing out from a resurrected life. So let's read Colossians chapter three, 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 minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. And so it starts off if then you have been raised. But what does this imply already happen? You cannot be raised unless you have died first. And the passage later on talks about putting to death things, putting on life, we'll get to that. But this is referring to a prior death, essentially the first death as a person. This refers to our death at salvation. And so when we talk about being saved, it's often talked and you probably have heard it, that there's new life and there's hope and there's peace that are given through Christ, that are given by God. It's not necessarily bad or wrong, those are glorious truths and promises. But oftentimes it's portrayed that it's just an add-on promise. It's an add-on to your life. That oh, if you want peace, raise your hand. All these things that are promises, but really they're empty because it's just an add-on to your life. I would say it's even a dangerous and a false gospel. Rather, to have this resurrected life as a Christian that I know many of you enjoy, this new life, there always needs to be death. And so what is this death? What does this death include? And I would say two things. The first is death to ourselves, death to our sins, a turning in repentance. So being a Christian is not adding something on to our life, adding Jesus, adding our Sunday morning traditions to our life. It starts with realizing that we had been living, the way we had been living only leads to death. For example, Ephesians 2, one through two says this, "And you are dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." And so we were dead. We weren't just, oh, he's not as good of a person or he had some things he had to work through. We were dead. The Bible is clear about that multiple times. How we are living, our pride, our lusts resulted in death eternally. It was on the path to destruction and judgment as my life was too. Dead and under the wrath of God for all eternity. And so that was our current state at that time before we meet Jesus. And for some even of you, it is the current state. Jesus also talked about this death that we have to go through, Matthew 1624. He says, "Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take of his cross and follow me.'" And so notice, Jesus is not saying, "Get your act together or improve the way you live." This verse is simply saying, "Know that you are dead. Deny the way that you're living." Saying, "Okay, I've realized that I'm walking in a way that is leading to not only a physical death but an eternal death. We deny that lifestyle." But we can take that verse and we might be like, "Okay, well, I've got to deny myself. I need to keep going," similar. And for those who might know, the Buddhist faith, where it says, "Remove all of your desires, fix yourself, deny everything." That's Jesus isn't teaching a Buddhist religion. For example, he's calling us to come to him. It says, "Deny himself and take of his cross and follow me." So deny and run to Jesus. And so this death is not fixing yourself. It's running towards Jesus. So a death to self, but running to Jesus. And so as an example, as an analogy, if you take a shower, I hope you take showers, but do you wash your hands before you take a shower? I know that sounds weird, but no, you probably don't, right? Is anyone weird and do that? Okay, good. It's weird because why are you doing it? You're just going to wash them in the shower. But so often people take the Christian walk and say, "I need to fix myself and then all get cleaned by Jesus." It's completely silly. It's futile, it's useless. And so what is denying yourself in this death look like? It's acknowledging our current state and running to Jesus, jumping into the shower completely without reserve with all the mud and dirt and things and baggage that you've brought, crying out to Jesus with a brokenness, a humility that realizes, that acknowledges that he is the only hope. But all of this has to start with that, you need to realize that you're dead, that you're unclean. And so to the believer who knows this truth, that it's a reminder, what did you die from? Did you remember that you were dead prior to Christ? So often we are so in love with our life that has been given to us, through Jesus even, that we, or we get distracted with the things that this life has to offer, that we forget where we came from. The Apostle Paul throughout his letters say, "Remember, remember the Old Testament to the Israelites. Remember, remember." So often we get caught up in the here and now and even the future that we forget where we came from. And to the person here today that has not believed in Jesus, that maybe you have reservation, maybe doubts, the reality is that you, like us, have rebelled against God and are under his judgment, that you are dead inside, according to Ephesians 2, seeking things of this temporal world that will never satisfy you. But do you know that you are here today, you are breathing and God loves you immensely and is pursuing you individually? Which leads us to a second aspect of death that has to happen prior to the resurrected life. And that is the death with Christ. As we just said, we don't need to make ourselves better. That is futile. There is only one death that ultimately can save us. This is the death of Jesus. And so Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh came 2,000 years ago, lived a perfect life. And He did not just live an exemplary life, like many people today. Oh, I love Jesus' morals and values. He was on a much deeper purpose. He was on a rescue mission. As it says in 1 Peter 3, 18, it says for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous and the unrighteous, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit. And so the rescue mission was that you would know God and there was an endless gap separating us from God due to our rebellion and wickedness. He longs for you to be His child. He longs for you to be with Him. Yet we cannot get to Him on our own. And honestly, many often just flat out, reject Him. But as we see Jesus and His death for us, we not only acknowledge His death, but we die with Him. And this is important 'cause a lot of times, oh, Jesus died, I can do everything I want. That is a false gospel. Galatians 220, it says this. I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. And so this is how the two deaths that I'm talking about die together. We die, we deny, we acknowledge that we live a life of death and then we turn to the death of Christ and we are crucified with Him. We resonate with Him, we trust in His death. Not in our death or what we can do, but His death. That there's a recognition that there is nothing good in us. Then in response to our deadness and Christ's crucifixion, we jump headlong into His death that He did on our behalf. Jesus' death is the one that can deal with the sin that causes your judgment and my judgment. It is the only way that God's wrath can be satisfied in full. And so it says we've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. And so it's no longer, oh, what is Kevin going to do? What feels best to me? What feels best to you? How are you gonna live your life? We're no longer alive. We're dead in Christ and we are slave to Christ. We are followers of Christ. We follow no longer ourselves, but Christ. And so this death insinuates that the old man, the old person that you were before Christ, no longer defines you, no longer controls you. The problem is that many professing Christians, the 65% plus in America that professed Jesus, have not actually died with Christ. They profess Christ, but they have not died. And that's why I'm spending so much time as the introduction on this because if there is no death, there can be no life. If there is no death, there can be no resurrected life. And when we go through the things that we're called to do, you could be the most loving person on the outside, but dead inside. And so if we do not understand death, we will not understand life. And so as we realize the death, as it said in the previous passage, and this passage here, Colossians 212, just the chapter before that we're studying, it says this, verse 12 of chapter two, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. And so we are buried with Christ, not only crucified, but buried with him, but then we are raised to life. And as John was saying that you all are having a baptism yesterday, the privilege of baptizing one of my friends in Philadelphia, and it's such a beautiful picture of we go from death under the water, completely resonating with an acknowledging Christ's death and our death, and then being made new in this life that he offers in response to our death and Christ's death. And so I would encourage if you all haven't, not only profess and follow Jesus, but if you have not been baptized, the Bible is clear that we are called to be baptized. As a profession of faith and as accountability that you are now saying, that you are resurrected in Christ, that you have died with Christ and you are now resurrected, it's a beautiful story. And so again, I will reiterate, without death, there can be no life. Just this past Tuesday, I was in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, on the boardwalks with some people doing evangel, and we do some signs with different surveys. And I've talked to a lot of Jewish people in my evangelism life the last 14 years. It was the best conversation I've ever had. There were two girls, they were literally from, lived in Israel, were there for the October 7th attack, and just sharing all these things. We were going through the gospel through the Old Testament. So really the gospel is there. So I was using their scriptures. It was really cool, I was able to pull up my phone, the Hebrew names of the prophets, it was awesome. But they were so hard to grasp the idea that there had to be death, but I used the Old Testament, used the sacrificial system, that there has to be a death, there has to be a sacrifice. And then I connected it then to Jesus, and they started to get it at the end. They realized that their own text in the Old Testament said that there had to be death. And in the same way there had to be death in the New Covenant, except we no longer sacrifice animals, animals, but it's through Jesus. And so many people, not just Jewish people, struggle with this idea, because they just want to do it all themselves. They want to earn their way to God's favor. But it will not work. It is only through death. It is only through the death of Christ. And so let's get back into the text after that intro. Closhing three, one through two, I'll read it again. It says, "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 minds on things that are above, not on things that are on Earth." And so if we have experienced the death and resurrection of Christ, if we have denied ourselves and trusted in the work of Jesus, and in return he raised us to life. He has washed us white as snow. He's cleaned us from the sin and the judgment that we deserved. The response of a resurrected person, one who is resurrected in Christ, should be that they are seeking the things that are above. What is the above? It's not the clouds or the stars. It's not astrology and looking at your signs and all that stuff. It's the eternal. It's the things that last. We seek what matters to God. We bounce everything our passions and desires. Does this actually matter to God? There's so many things that we can spend our time on, especially in our culture and the internet. There's so many things that are coming at us that we could spend our time in. But what we seek after and try to find as our utmost priority does matter. This does not mean that we should only read the Bible and hide under a rock. It means to go and put it into action what God tells us to as a result of his death and resurrection. So it says seek things that are above. And notice here too, it says two different actions. It says set our minds and seek. So setting our minds, we purpose our trajectory, our course, our GPS destination is God's presence. And so we're gonna do what God has called us. The map that he's given to get to heaven is through Jesus alone. But then it's a transformed resurrected life that he gives us. We're just passing through this world on the destination to Jesus. We're already through the single door of Christ, but now everything we should do should be in light of eternity, not this world. And that doesn't mean that we can't have hobbies, and we can't work all these things. I've worked for 10 years in a corporate world. God used it, it was good. And a lot of what you all do is good. But are you working in light of eternity? Are you doing your hobby in light of eternity? Are you using the hobby to meet other people that are non-Christian so that you can share the love of Jesus with them? Not just so you can be fulfilled and happy. See the difference there? That you're doing everything in light of eternity. And then it says seek. And this word in the original language is not just try to find it for a few minutes and then throw in the towel. So often my three-year-old daughter, like all three-year-olds, they lose things. They lose their toys and who knows where it is. But they usually give up after a minute, right? Anyone understands that? That's not the seeking that I'm saying. This word is seeking that it may be found. And my daughter has this elephant, I call it Mr. Elifanti. I don't know why, I must have been tired. But she can't sleep without it. Now it's a little better, thankfully. But silly enough, we only had one, and there has been times where she lost it. And I know she will not go to sleep without it. And so I had to purpose myself to not stop looking, not stop working until this was found, even to the point one time, 'cause we were in a rural place, we had to drive 30 minutes to a Walmart to find this silly little elephant, just so she could go to sleep. And I know that's a silly worldly example, but there is an urgency behind the searching. And for us as Christians, there's so much temptation for a lackadaisical, lukewarm, just kind of go through the motions approach rather than seeking God, seeking the will of God so that it will be found without giving up. And you will sit at his feet for weeks and months and even years until he does something in your life. That's why in the Psalms, Jesus even says wait for the God of your salvation. What we are seeking will not be found momentarily often. It is a persistent waiting and an active seeking. And so what is eternal that you need to seek more of? Is it the people around you that don't know Christ, maybe seeking them and praying for and working through them with the gospel? Is it your finances that needs to be more heaven minded? Is it the way you spend your free time? Are you spending time in the words of God in prayer? Is your life marked in setting your minds on the eternal things, on seeking these things until they are found? And so it goes on in verse three and four. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will peer with him in glory. And so why should we be living in such a way that is so eternity minded? Because we've already died. It reminds us that before the resurrection there was death. If you just try to be heavenly minded, it won't work. 'Cause our minds wander. We can't pray sometimes because our minds are wandering. We have to meditate and come back to the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ going back to the original. The gospel, the power of God. And notice here it says, you have died, but you're not gonna die again 'cause your life is hidden with Christ in God. Ephesians 4.30 says that we are sealed for the day of redemption. That is an assurance and promise that no other faith, no other religion, no other philosophy can give us that we are assured his presence when he raises us from the dead. And it goes on verse four to say that Christ is our life. And you might often hear maybe even about yourself, maybe other people that, and for me, this was the case that sports is life. That was my life before Christ in addition to all the sin I was doing. Or music is their life, or work is their life, or that hobby is their life. And the question is, what are you known for? Are you known for your hobbies and things? Or are you known that Christ is your life? The resurrected Christian life, there is no, that is the bar that we are called our life is Christ. (congregation applauding) Even if we do sports, music, work, all these things, is Christ your life, even as you do those things. There's no silos, there's no church on Sunday and then live your life. Oh, check it off the box, that's not the Christian life. And then it goes on, it says we'll see, appear with him in glory, which isn't this crazy? 'Cause we are on the path to hell, many of us, and we have been before. But not only is he going to save us, and rescue us from damnation and judgment, but he is going to welcome you in glory. He's gonna roll out the red carpet and bring you into his presence with all the beauty that is heaven, where there is no more crying, no more disease, no more tears, that there is glory that Jesus himself, you will sit at his right hand. That is something that is worth living for. And Christ will return, and I believe soon, and as even John mentioned with what's going on in the Middle East and the world, all these things, the prophecies are being fulfilled, that Jesus is coming back soon. But are you hidden in Christ? Is Jesus your life, even for the resurrected person? And so we may now move into another section, going into more specifics of what the life in Christ looks like, what the resurrected life is. But remember, if you are not resurrected in Christ, if you're here and say, I've not believed in Jesus, I still don't believe in Jesus, this is not really applying to you, because if you just do these things, it won't make any difference in light of eternity. It is only from dying in Christ and resurrecting in Christ that you have the ability to do these things. And so for the unbeliever, you need to die with Christ, deny yourself and trust in the love of Christ that he poured out for you on the cross. But for the Christian, these are our marching orders. This is what our life should look like. This is a result of your resurrection in Christ. So verse five, it says, "Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, "sexual morality, impurity, passion, evil desire "and covetousness, which is idolatry. "On account of these, the wrath of God is saying." First it says, "Put to death." But wait a second, I thought we had already talked about the death part. It's continuing on. This is the death as a result of our first death, that we've died with Christ, but now we continuously die on this side of heaven. We live in such a way that we continually put to death the things that are not of God. And this death is a strong word in our society, but this is even deeper and more serious one. It's in very strong language to make dead, to exterminate, no survivors, no hint of anything. Even the memory of those things being put away. And so this doesn't mean like, oh, I put it to death today, I'm good. But this is saying, put it away for it never to come back, to go to the extreme. And even Jesus, we won't turn there, but talks about even plucking your eye out if it caused you to sin. That's the level of extreme that this death is talking about. So what does it tell us to put to death, to put away from ourselves? The first is sexual morality, the word pornea, sexual intercourse outside of marriage, anything sexual, the word impurity even covers everything in that realm of uncleanness, pornography, lusting after others, even in our minds. And all sorts of kind of evil to put away. But in the day and age that we live in, the movies that are even PG-13 are pornography. And unfortunately, we have been desensitized to what God has for us, not just in this area, but in the political realm, the hatred, all these things, we've been desensitized to the standard of the resurrected life that Christ has for us. And he says, put to death these things, have no nothing to do with them, whatever it takes, get rid of your TV, computer, get rid of a book, whatever, get rid of even a friend 'cause we know bad company corrupts good character. Your life, your eternal life is not worth someone else's approval. And so it says, put to death these things. It goes on covetousness, we all know what that is. But this really becomes idolatry. It's sin against others 'cause you're coveting what they want. And then there's a rift between you. It's self-destructive and even enslaving. And this is rampant in today's society and also in the church. Even churches are covetous of other churches. I've had to deal with that myself too. And so these things should not even be named among ourselves in the resurrected life. And it says these things on account of these things, the wrath of God is coming. And I can assure you that God is loving, that he is so abundantly merciful, that he will forgive anyone who comes to him. And I am a product of that for all the things that I've done. But he is also just as much of wrathful and vengeful God. There should be a level of fear in the resurrected Christian. We don't obey out of fear. We obey out of love, but know that God will judge even the Christian one day. And so this does not mean that if you've done one of these things or if you mess up tomorrow that you're hopeless, rather are you identifying yourselves with these things instead of Jesus? Are you willingly giving into sexual morality? Are you willingly covetting? Are you willingly doing XYZ even though you've been convicted? And that's where the fear of God should come in. Rather though, are you identifying in the death of Christ as a God, take these out from me? And it goes on Colossians three with more of these things. It says in these you two once walked, verse seven, when you were living in them. But now you must 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 so it says we use to walk in them. There is a path, there is a change. No one can truly die with Christ and come to Christ in salvation and not be changed. It doesn't work. God is too holy and perfect and powerful. There will be change. Shows that any sin is forgivable, that you can be renewed again. And the people that you're thinking of that may be walking in this life can be forgiven as well. (congregation laughing) And so this list of sin includes the minds of thought and our words, it may seem minor to us, these anger. Like, oh, everyone gets angrier. Oh, like everyone gossips, all these things. But in God's eyes, they are just as impactful and ungodly as anything else. James 1.26 says if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Your belief, your belief system is worthless if it does not cause a change in you. And so anger and wrath. And I've seen this accepted in Christendom. And I've also even anger that is ungodly be a gateway to so much spiritual warfare, demonic stuff that I've seen even in the last year all for us holding on to anger. And so God doesn't want us to be attacked. God doesn't want us. He wants us to live his resurrected life. Ephesians 4.26, 27 says be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. When we are angry, when we are holding grudges against one another, not only is it against God's resurrected life in God's way, it will hurt us individually. God's laws, God's commands are good and for our benefit. It goes on malice, which is the desire or intent to cause pain. Notice, just the desire. I don't know about you, but I have horrible thoughts sometimes. Would you agree? I'm like, oh, I wish that person the worst or you get angry and the thought, you don't say it. So everyone looks at you like, oh, there's such a loving person. But are you dealing with the mind? The resurrected life in Christ deals also with the mind, not just the external. Slander, a false and inflammatory oral statement about a person. It includes both direct, slander, and also gossip. Notice that it's false. There's times where we have to confront sin. But slander is rampant in our society and the church that we talk about each other, talk about around others. Sometimes true, but sometimes false, it should just be not there. The resurrected life puts these things away because it's against God's, not only his word, but his kingdom and for our benefit. And then it says, even getting rid of obscene talk. Matthew 4, 34, it says, you brood of vipers. How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And you know how I talked about my mind before how things come to my mind that are not good, anger, maybe pride, maybe judgment on others that's not appropriate. Maybe slander comes out of our mouths, but it's not the slander or the mind that's a problem. It's out of the heart. And so it's not a stop-slandering. Your heart needs to die somewhere. There's still something trying to live in your flesh. And so we so often fight the results, but we don't fight the cause of it. And so it's not necessarily be a better Christian. It's we need to die and die again and again until it's exterminated. It goes on, lying. And I know we don't like this, but the white lies, the partial truths, we need to stop making ourselves try to feel good, be honest. And notice, when you're living a resurrected life, and I notice this a lot from prior to Christ 'cause I was a perennial liar, that I didn't need to lie. But I noticed in my life even five, 10 years after, I was still lying and I was like, I had no reason to lie. I have nothing to hide anymore, even though I was hiding everything as I was coming to church and going get drunk. So as a resurrected life, there's no need to lie, but we still do it. And it damages not only our walk with God, but our walk with others. And so with these, we often keep letting the thoughts come back and falling for it. And you might be fighting these things. And that's great that you're fighting it 'cause it's not a battle that you're gonna all of a sudden win tomorrow, but God does give victories on this side of heaven. But we have to purpose to die to ourselves, to rid ourselves of these by God's help. Anything that hinders or slows down our relationship with God needs to go. Ask God, is there anything that's keeping me from you? And I can almost guarantee there is because in my life, constantly things pop up, that hinder me. And we need to aggressively seek that it will be found, aggressively set our minds on what is above and to not hinder our walk. Jesus can truly put to death the things inside of us. And I will say that many of you probably are fighting these things. You know these things. This isn't new, you've heard this passage. But it's oftentimes demoralizing of I can't get rid of this. And I've dealt with that so many times in the last 14 years as Christian. Spurgeon, once or I believe it was Spurgeon, he says on this topic, dead men don't fight. In the sense that if you are fighting these things, I'm not saying it's a guarantee of anything of salvation that's up between you and the Lord, but it is a good sign. If you're not even fighting, if you're just kind of letting it happen, 'cause well, I'm a slander at heart. Oh, pornography, it's always there, I'm just gonna keep doing it. That is a sign that you're not even alive inside. If you've given up fighting. And so I know that none of us are gonna be perfect, but are we fighting? Are we trying to die each day and letting Christ crucify what's in us and exterminate what's in us? (congregation cheering) So this leads us to the last section in Colossians three that we're gonna study today. We must not only die to ourselves, continuously put things to death, but also put on life through Jesus. If we only focus on putting things to death and trying not to mess up, we will fail. And we will fail miserably. As it said earlier, we do not seek to not mess up. We seek things that are above. We seek God to help us. We seek life. And so the goal is a bunch of do's and don'ts. No, it's a put on. It's putting on a new clothing. Verse 10 and 11 of chapter three says this. "And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, givian, slave free, but Christ is all and in all." And so it put to death the things that we had talked about, that the word talks about throughout scripture, but then it's putting on life. And so these things that you're gonna see, the humility, the honesty, the love, all these things, if we're focused and actively being kind and humble and love through Christ, we're not worrying about lying 'cause we have no need to lie. Does that make sense? That we're putting on a new jacket so we're not naked anymore. And it says here, being renewed in knowledge. And so this list will not happen immediately. It's a continue active word that's being renewed. It's a journey continuously renewing us, but how do we be renewed? It's not just try better tomorrow. It's not trying to read the latest self-help book and try to be a better person. That is futile. It is being renewed in knowledge after the image of the Creator, the knowledge of the Creator. As you know God more, you will become like Him. We are what we worship. And notice the culture, the people that we follow, whether it's celebrities, we start dressing like them, we act like them, we use their vernacular, maybe even the person that you look up to in church or even at work or wherever it might be in family, you become like them because you like, wow, I really like that person. I wanna be like them. But if we are being renewed in the knowledge of God and knowing Him, we will become like Him. It's inevitable. If you read His word, if you spend time in prayer, you will become like Him. And so being renewed, getting this new clothes, it's from God Himself. Not through another person. And so here in God's kingdom and God's kingdom, as it goes on, there's no Greek or Jew. Doesn't matter what nation you're from. Doesn't matter, circumcised or uncircumcised, separate levels of society or past religious tradition. Whether you're a barbarian, which is a foreigner, a Scythian, which is a foreigner, but also a savage that they're uncultured, if you will. Uncivilized. Or whether you're slave or free. Again, different levels of society and roles. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where you came from or even where you are today. Because Christ is all and in all. And the church that I've been a part of, it's been interesting and this even been very evident. There's been prints in professors and then there's homeless people. But it's so cool when everyone is unified under the word of God, there is beautiful unity. And so in the resurrected life, there is unity in Christ. Notice Christ is a unifier. Not a political thing, not a hobby. The unity that we can find alone is in Christ. There is love in this unity. There is not holding of grudges or where you came from. And even those outside the church, which they don't have Christ, they are not saved yet. But God is pursuing them and we should not let our preconceived notions or biases or where they came from or what part of society they're from get in the way of pursuing them and pointing them to Jesus. And this is a mark of the resurrected life. And unfortunately in our society, that has been lost. So it is a radical move of God when we see that there is unity and power in Christ. Closhing 3, 12 and 13 goes on then. It says, "Put on as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another and if one is a complete against one another, forgive each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." So it says, "Put on, there is action being taken. God didn't save us for inaction. He didn't save us to be passive and just cruise control to heaven. God saved us so that we can take action. God gives you the clothes, but are we putting them on? We don't go naked to work or out to the store, I hope not. In the same way, we shouldn't go about our day unless we are putting on the clothes of life. We shouldn't go about our day unless we put on the spiritual armor of God in Ephesians 6. I went through a lot of spiritual warfare last year, and I consistently just read Ephesians 6 every day, just reminding myself that these things are used to deflect the arrows of the enemy, the arrows of the mind, the doubts, the things that come through. We need to continuously do this, not just listen to one message and be good for three years, but continuously putting on these clothes. And so as God's chosen ones, it says, or elect in some versions, we're not going to go into too depth of this, but know that those that are saved by God, that have trust in Jesus, God knows you, God knew you from the very beginning and has brought you to life, and this is a comfort that we can rest in. And then it goes on, for those who've been resurrected with Christ, you are holy and beloved. Holy means set apart for a purpose. It even can be translated as a saint, that you are a saint in the kingdom of God, that you are given a purpose by God Himself, that you are set apart, that you are not just one guy on the fringes that is cruise control into heaven, but you have been given a purpose to do. But unfortunately, we go on cruise control, but he says you are set apart for a purpose. And then he says, beloved, to be loved dearly and well-pleased with. God's just not dealing with you and say, ah, I guess I got to forgive that guy again. He is pleased with you. He loves you dearly, knowing the sin that you have even committed this week. He loves you dearly. But in response to that set apart purpose and this belovedness of God, we are called to put on. And these things all have to do with relationships, this section. And it just shows that those that are God, that God has saved, whom he knows, he wants to flow through us. God cares about people. Look no further than the gospels. Gee, as constantly it said, he looked at them with compassion. When have you last looked at someone who have blasphemed and rejected Christ with compassion? For many Christians, it's been a long time. And so we're called to have compassionate hearts or tender mercies. Are we being empathetic? Do we realize that people are just blind? They have no idea what they're doing. Even when they reject Jesus. Do we see them as Jesus would? Kindness. Are we dear? It can be defined as dear to him as his own. And so a lot of families here are beautiful representations of family. That the love that God shows, you pour out to your family, the people that are in your tribe, if you will. But do you love people outside of your family, outside of your friends, with the same kindness as the people that you love and care deeply about? So it says, dear to him, as if it were your own. It goes one further than the natural love that might come out of us. Humility. This is a radical departure from the Greek culture of pride at the time, but also ours today. I've been mocked and even kicked out of organizations because, oh, you're too hard on people. You're too hard on sin. But this is what it is. We have to be humble to not only enter the kingdom of God that we have to deny ourselves, but we have to be humble in our resurrected life. And so often we have this spiritual pride of being better than one another. And this humility is so-called maybe a parent of meekness and patience. It's not trying to lord power over everyone or manipulate, no resentment or impatience toward anyone. Again, this is rampant not only in our culture, but has infiltrated the church at large. And then it goes on to forgive others. And in my experience in discipling and mentoring and leading people, not much more, not much paralyzes a person more than unforgiveness. And think about in your life, if you've ever been through a season of unforgiveness, it cripples you personally, the unforgiver. The way of life, the way of Jesus is to forgive. And similar to remembering our death, remembering Jesus forgave us. Think of how wicked you were before you knew Christ. So it tells us based on the way God forgave us, forgive others. Look no further than the cross of Jesus when he says, "Father, forgive them, the people that was killing him, for they know not what they do." So even if someone is physically killing you, God calls to forgive them. That is radical. That is impossible outside of a resurrection of our heart. Caution 3, 14, it goes on. And above all these, all these things we talked about, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. The overarching message, the overarching result of this resurrected life is love. It's agape, it's unconditional. It's not for people that are nice to you, but it is all people that you interact with ever. First and foremost, love towards God, but then that love towards God will become a love towards other people. Because we will become like God through the knowledge of him. This is radical and counter-cultural, but this is what we are called to without exceptions. And with this love, it's a perfect harmony. Even if you were the most humble person but had not loved, it would be worthless. If you were meek, it would become distorted if you had not loved. First Corinthians 13 goes into that. And so as we put on love as a result of our resurrected life, this will be a life well lived, glorifying Jesus and people knowing Christ. There will be fruit from this life. And then it goes on of resurrected life, verse 15 and 16. It says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell with 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 so it talks about the peace of Christ. Jesus gives us peace with God, that He reckons us, He brings back the relationship between man and God, but also peace in our entire lives. Because we know God is sovereign, He's in control of all things. We know that God is good, we know that He is a plan, that He's set apart, we know that He loves us completely and fully. But notice the peace of Christ is not just existing, but it will rule. In a day and age of anxiety and depression, the media wanting us to panic about anything and everything, social media, all these things. But as we live a resurrected life in Christ, if you are resurrected in Him and following in and abiding in Him, you will have peace. And this word rule, it's important, it could refer to like an umpire in a sport, one who controls, who's the final authority. And notice even in sports, they always like complain to referees, but they never change their decision. So we can complain to God and say, "God, there's a terrible..." He's still in control, and He's still going to make the final call the final shots. But He is good, He is perfect in all of His ways. And so things will be chaotic and falling apart. But there's still a peace that is achievable. So the question is, do you not only have peace, but do you let peace rule in your life? Or are you crippled by anxiety, depression, fear, which is so rampant around us? The resurrected life will be a life marked with peace ruling everything. And you will not find peace in a political candidate, you will not find it in a job, you will not find it in a family or a hobby. You will find it only when you die to yourself and are raised in Christ. Outside of Christ, there is no lasting peace, it is temporary. You can be satisfied for a time, but it is surface level. You will find it when you seek things that are above an eternal. You will see that there is peace, and there is the prince of peace. And as we experience this peace, as it says, that we will be grateful, we will be thankful to God. And then it goes on, the word of Christ, the word logos, the promises of God, the word of God, the Scriptures, all these things that are given to us. But even Jesus himself, as we know from John 1. And so the word of Christ dwells within us. And this is important because it means to dwell and influence. So many times we have Jesus and we believe in Him even as our Lord and Savior, but is He influencing every aspect of your life? I know in my life, the last 14 years, He hasn't. It's been a process, it still is a process that He's influencing every aspect. My mind, my thoughts, my actions, my hobbies, everything is influenced, needs to be influenced by Christ. And that's where many Christians fall short of this fully resurrected life because they want to keep this area for their own. And then it goes on to teach and then monitor one of the others in wisdom. And so often we rest in Christ, the peace He gives, it's good, we're on, we're right in Christ, but the love of Christ, as it talks about in 2nd Corinthians 5, compels us to do something. And as we are resurrected in Christ, the word of Christ doesn't just dwell and influence us within, we then go into action. And one of the greatest issues in the American church that I've seen is that we are consumers. Because outside of church, it's a consumeristic society. We have the greatest amount of inboards, we're so focused on that. But I'm not necessarily talking about material things. We are consumers of God's word, but then does it come out and flow through us? Does it make a difference in how we act during the week? Does it make a difference how we act politically? Does it make a difference how we do our job? Rather than just being sponges, which seems like a good thing, but just rather than just being sponges, we should be channels of living waters for God to work through us. And so as we do that, we teach others, we disciple them, we mentor them, we study the word with them, we encourage them with Scripture. And we admonish, admonish means to warn or exhort. That part's not as fun, but it's still just as important, including the hard conversations. And I firmly believe the resurrected life of a Christian that everyone should be, either being discipled, being mentored, being encouraged, or discipling others. And it is missing in the church, we rely on the consumeristic nature of the pulpit, or the church, or the leaders, rather than being in the resurrected life ourselves. But notice it says, do these things in wisdom, gentleness, respect. Sometimes you're called not to say anything. Sometimes you're called to say a hard thing, but do it in wisdom. And then it goes on to sing songs in the resurrected life. And this you need to do in wisdom at all, also because if I started singing, you would run away. But it's interesting, and I know some of you maybe are more singers than others, but as we are indwelled with Christ, oftentimes songs come out. Make it a habit to worship consistently wherever you are. And notice even think of the persecuted church. I don't know how aware you are, but oftentimes the stories of the persecuted church in prisons. And when they're under intense pressure, they're often singing. It's a result. It's a product of the resurrected life, this song and thankfulness. And we should be thankful in all things and continually. And then it goes on in verse 17 to end, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. God calls each of us to different roles, different jobs. We're in different stages of life. The unifying aspect is the marching orders are all the same. In response to our resurrection in Christ, for the believer, we give glory to Jesus in everything we do. There's no more silos, no more this area is mine and that area is God. Everything we do, whether we eat or drink as it says in another passage, we do it for the glory of Jesus. Are you thinking even about Jesus as you're doing your hobbies, as you're doing your work, as you're loving your family? Jesus did not resurrect and resurrect us just for our Sundays but for our entire lives. And so let's just think about it. What if we actually put to death the things that we went through today? What if we actually started loving people being kind and humble radically through Christ's power? You will look radically different from the culture. You will look different from even your family. Even other Christians have been told that before too. By other Christians, you're being too serious about this. What is what the Bible says? It will then be, as a resurrected life, you will be contagious and people will start asking you, why are you acting like this? Some in mockery, some though in curiosity. The resurrected life will get pushed back. Second Timothy 3, 12, it says, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." It's not all who live in India and preach the gospel to the Hindus will be persecuted. No. All who desire to live a godly life, all who desire to live a resurrected life will be persecuted even by sometimes fellow professing believers. And so count the cost before you walk down this path. It is not an easy one, but it is a good one. It is an eternal one. You will look different, but remember you're honoring the one who has saved you, the one that has raised you, the one who has forgiven you and washed you clean, not looking at you in judgment, but in love and in grace. And there's no better way to live this life on earth than being resurrected with Christ. Seeking things that are above an eternal. I can guarantee you will not regret it. Again, everything we have talked through this morning comes down to the death and resurrection, both in Christ, death to ourself and dying with Christ through the crucifixion of Jesus, and then being raised in Christ through the resurrection of Jesus. Everything else will flow from this point, but we need to go back to the heart, go back to the core, and to give one final analogy on this relatively simple. What is an apple tree that is alive going to produce apples, right? And maybe some of those nice green leaves. It really is incredible. My house that I live in Central PA, we have an apple tree. We didn't even know when we bought it. I was like, wow, this is great. Hardly any work is needed to get to produce it. The water and sunshine that God provides is enough. I have not touched it once and it has grown like a hundred apples. In the same way, if we're truly alive in Christ, the fruit will come. The problem is we haven't truly died many of us. And if we've died in salvation, we're not dying continually. And so there's fruit that is not being produced. And so, but what if the apple tree is dead? Will it produce fruit? No, nothing. The problem is people forget the first four verses that we have to die and be resurrected in Christ. They try to not sin. They try to look good before other Christians, before their family and friends. They try to be kind and humble because they think it's the right thing to do. But it will fail. It will fall short of the standard of God. And so in this analogy, if we are, it's as if we are taping apples and taping leaves to a dead tree. And that sounds silly in a waste of time, but so is trying to do good works on our own. The feudal endeavor. And so for the person here that has not put your faith in Jesus, I want to talk to you because you probably have tried this. You probably have tried to be a good person. You're a good person in the eyes of society. You've tried to be the best you can to be kind. However, we can see from a society's perspective with how depraved it is, but also according to God's standard, it doesn't work. And so every human is under the wrath of God one time or another, deservingly so, but he does not see you with hatred. He looks on you with love. He is simply asking you to turn to him. Turn to the word in the Bible, and the word in the Bible is to repent, which is a change of mind. It's not trying to wash your hands before jumping in the shower. It's to turn and recognize that Jesus alone can save you. You today are dead in the eyes of God. You're dead in the apple tree trying to tape apples, but he wants to make you alive today to produce fruit. Simply trust in him and cry out and ask him to forgive you and follow him. He is waiting for you. And for the Christian, remember what actually produces the fruit. Not all the love and kindness and things that you can do. What produces the fruit? It's dying to yourself and instead looking towards the death of Christ. Remember that you have been resurrected in Christ to the believer, and he has given you the Holy Spirit to not only be alive in his child, but to live a resurrected life as described here in Colossians 3. Let God search your heart. Have you allowed wickedness, sin, and things that lead to death to be alive in your life, to be a part of your life? Have you been asleep in your walk with Christ or living faithfully only in certain areas of your life? Return to the simplicity of the gospel that you've been crucified with Christ and have been given life through him. That Jesus died and rose again so that you can not only be saved, but live a resurrected life. Do not look for what this world can give you, but set your eyes on things above. This is a mark. This is a result of following Jesus. And so as I pray and as the last song plays and the worship team comes up, I'm going to ask you, if you sense that you have some dead areas in your life, even as a Christian, because I've had to deal with some and have been even recently, that you have let them creep in, come up and I would love to pray over you. That the Lord would give you a fresh filling of the spirit, a fresh filling of his spirit that would make those dead things truly dead and he would put on life. So even if you also have never been raised with Christ, I would love to talk to you after I'm in no rush. I'll stay as long as it takes him, would love to talk and pray with you. But after we pray during the last song, come up as you will before I end the service. If you have something that you sense that God is calling you to die to you, and I would love to pray for you that God would put on life in your spirit. Let's pray. Father, these are hard things. Lord, it is hard to love. It is hard to be humble and kind. But Lord, bring us back to the death of Jesus. Lord, bring us back to the truth that we have been crucified with Christ as a believer. Lord, I pray for the person that have rejected Jesus. Maybe they are doubting still in Jesus that you would show them who you are, that you'd wrap your arms around them, that you would reveal to them that you are God and that you are good. Lord, I pray for the believer who has been faithful even for decades, but maybe there's still something that needs to die. I pray that you would zero in on that and that you'd speak to them what that is and that they would confess it to you so that you can have life, give them life and breathe life and put on the clothes of life of them. Lord, we don't want to live a cruise control life. We want to live a resurrected life where we want to be alive and producing fruit Jesus. Only you can do it. Only you can do a hard work in it, God. We're moving us. We pray so that you can be glorified with our lives in Jesus' name. Amen. Come, I'd love to pray for you if you would like and we'll close our time.