Living the New Life

Colossians 3:1-17

1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

In the discipleship group that the Lord had me start we have discussed off and on the past few weeks a book by John Bevere entitled, "Driven by Eternity". These verses remind me of the idea in that book. Most Christians don't have an eternal perspective for their lives and what they are doing for the Lord. When we develop that eternal perspective that God has implanted on the inside of us we reveal the plan for our lives and can then seek wisdom and understanding from God on how to carry out His plan for us.

The first four verses here are really a powerful wake-up call to everyone who confesses to be a Christian, regardless of denominational ties. These verses aren't only speaking to catholics or lutherans or pentacostals. If you enjoy the new life in Christ by accepting His actions on the cross for your sins and have confessed that belief to someone else, then these verses apply to you.

Verses 5-9 really let us know what it is that our sinful nature desires to do so we can identify them and run from them. Notice that verse 7 tells us we don't have to give in to those desires. It says, "You USED to do these things". That means we do not have to be powerless to the flesh. Our spirit, if properly filled with the Holy Spirit, should be our guide and our benchmark for what we should do, how we should act, what we should say, etc. These five verses indicate just where our flesh wants to go and all of these directions lead to death and separation from God.

Verses 10 and 11 really hit home and let us know what we should do every second of every day. We should be putting on our new nature of living in the spirit and we will be renewed as we learn more and more about God and His plans for us and will become more and more like Him. In our new life as we do these things you see in verse 11 that this emphatically lets you know that this applies to everyone. Christ is all that matters and upon receiving Him as your Lord and Savior He lives in you. Your spirit man needs to be fed just like your body needs to be fed. I believe Jesus told us how we feed that spirit man in Matthew 4:4:

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus was speaking to the devil in these verses. That is appropriate because it is from the devil that all of our evil desires come from. It is through his rebellion and disobedience that he led Adam and Eve to stray and give ownership of this physical world to the devil until Jesus comes back.

Luke 19:10 (AMP)

10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Notice here that Jesus cam to save THAT which was lost. What was lost through the sin of Adam and Eve? Communion, harmony, right living, closeness, fellowship and relationship with God the Father. Once they sinned they could not approach God anymore as they did prior to and until Jesus came to die for our sins man could not talk to God without going through a priest or a prophet. What Jesus came to earth and did for us was open up a dialogue between us and God directly because of Jesus' sacrifice. God sees us as He did Adam and Eve before their sin. He sees us as perfect and blameless when we accept Jesus and confess our sins. He forgets them as if they never happened. We can commune with Him on a personal level and get the direction and guidance we need to live in our Garden of Eden He has planned for us.

Verse 12 shows us the reality of what I was just discussing. God chose us to be holy people He loves! Praise God! We will clothe ourselves with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience when we follow His plan for us. Verse 13 is probably one of the biggest areas most Christians need to think about and really seek God's guidance and direction for in their lives. "Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." I think that Jesus also has taught us this by His words:

Matthew 6:12 (AMP)
12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.

Matthew 6:12 (NLT)
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

How can we expect God to forgive us our sins when we are not always ready to forgive others. We try to justify our unforgiveness by ranking the level of hurt that the sin against us caused. We feel that if someone hurt us so badly that they don't deserve to be forgiven for their actions. An example would be if someone murdered my son and I chose not to forgive the person who did it because of what they did to me and my family. That would be an issue between myself and God. God would not see me as righteous and would not commune with me or share His plan with me, other than His plan for me to forgive so I could be forgiven.

Matthew 6:14-15
14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Those are the word of Jesus Himself to let us know that unforgiveness on our part is a hindrance to our being forgiven by God for our sins. Verse 14 shows us the path to unforgiveness, love. Clothing ourselves in love allows us to forgive others. Love binds us together and lets the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. We are called to live in peace and the only way to accomplish that is if we have truly forgiven those who have sinned or hurt us. If we don't let go and forgive, then we harbor resentment, which turns to bitterness. That doesn't sound a whole lot like what God has planned for us.

Verses 16 and 17 are a great way to finish off today's journey into the Word. Let the message of Christ fill our lives. It is rich and wonderful to read about Jesus and to understand just what He did for us on the cross. We are to help others by teaching and counseling them with all the wisdom that God gives through His Word. We are to sing to god with thankful hearts and rejoice in His majesty and splendor. Verse 17 really sets the tone for us as to when we do all these things. Do we do them just on Sundays? Do we do them just when we are at church? No and no. "And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." Whatever you do or say would tell me that it is wherever I am and whatever I am doing. 24/7/365. I should also be reminded about what the Word says on how I can do this.

Joshua 1:7-9
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Let's strive to study the Word continually and meditate on it day and night so we will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will we prosper and succeed in everything we do and say. Praise God Forever!

Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)

The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).

Published by Erik L. Vakula
Daily Bread From the Word
Copyright © 2009 Erik Vakula, All Rights Reserved