This morning, and for the last few mornings, I have been reading through Paul's letter to the Colossians, which is one of my favorite letters of Paul's. This morning I was impressed with the strong language Paul used in describing our need to put to death certain things of our old nature. Here are the verses - Colossians 3:1-14 NIV:
[1] "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. [3] For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
[5] "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [6] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [7] You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. [8] But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. [9] Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices [10] and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. [11] Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."
[12] "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. [13] Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. [14] And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."
Paul begins by reminding us that in our salvation experience, we become a new being, as from God's perspective, our old self dies with Christ and we are now hidden in Christ, alive in Him. This is language that can only be slightly understood by us this side of eternity, but is the foundation for the next paragraph.
Moving to the next paragraph, Paul starts with the very stark statement, "Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature". My thought this morning on reading that was "how difficult of a time we have putting to death things from our old nature". It seems that while we may not be actively participating in the list Paul gives us in verse 5 and verse 8, these things are never far away, as culturally they are sometimes celebrated, and certainly allowed. We might not visit them, but we do not put them to death. Paul's language can't be any clearer, the word he used is the Greek word Nekroo, which means to put to death, first and foremost. It can also mean to destroy the power of something, but I like the first definition better. The NASB translates this sentence, "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead" and while they mean essentially the same thing, I again prefer the NIV translation.
I like the fact that this sentence demands action, and demands a finality! A couple of evenings ago we had good friends over and we were talking about the way the Israelites used to allow the high-places and Asherah poles to remain, rather then destroy them completely, as they had been commanded. There are 40 different references to Asherah poles in the Old Testament, and that fact shows how much of an ongoing issue it was. Occasionally a King would come along, who followed the decrees of God, like Josiah (See 2 Chron 34) who would destroy the high places and Asherah poles. At one point it described how he ground the idols into powder ( 2 Chron 34:7). Many of the rest of the references were of the kings allowing the high places to remain, and their failure to follow God's direction.
The question in my mind, was why did they allow them to remain? I think it primarily has to do with unbelief. They didn't fully trust God's plan and word for them, and wanted to keep their options open. They had people living around them who seemed to prosper, who worshipped such things, and sometimes the commands of God were hard or required sacrifice. Other times they might not have wanted to seem that different, as when the requested a King the first time (See 1 Sam 8:5). Whatever the "reason" it all seems to come back to unbelief, to not believing God's Word, His plan or His character.
When I read Paul's encouragement, and thought about my typical response to those things in my life, I realized that I don't take the radical steps to "put things to death" rather I lock them away in a closet, and try not to visit that closet in thought and certainly in deed. Paul is talking about Idolatry, and his encouragement to "put to death" is in line with what the Israelites were encouraged by God to do to the high places, and what Josiah did. However, we live in a world that is full of the list Paul warns against and thus it is hard to "put these things to death", for they are all around us.
So how do we "put something to death" that is so prevalent? Paul says we must rid ourselves of these things, and that is the start. I must choose daily what things I will allow in my life, and what things I think about, entertain or view. We must be willing to recognize these things, and root them out. Jesus, in his sermon on the Mount, said we had to go beyond our actions to what is in our heart and thoughts (See Matt 5: 21-32). We must take thoughts and even attitudes captive to the throne and refuse to allow them to affect us. We must choose to guard our eyes and ears, to turn away from those things that are full of such temptations. We must learn to confess our sins, one to another, as encouraged by James (James 5:16), refusing these things a foothold in our lives.
We must learn to wage a spiritual war in our own lives, and in our own thoughts. Paul's list, includes several things that are accepted as "normal" these days, like slander, anger and greed. If I pick up any news headlines, they will almost always include one of those three topics. Slander seems to be the political tool of the day, and in an election year, we almost never hear about the positive plans or ideas, but rather are filled with slanderous tidbits. What we choose to read, to express, or to join ourselves to in our day, has a impact in our lives, and this is what Paul is addressing.
One of the things my Dad taught me when I was learning to drive was to look where I want to go, rather than looking at that which I didn't want to hit. The same can be said here, and that is another part of the "putting to death" these things. If we are always focused on God, on His Word, on His face, we can effectively shut out and shutdown anything that is not of Him. Jesus described the need to fill a house that has been emptied of a demon (Matt 12:42-45), and that is a good way to think about our lives, our thoughts and our actions. If we are busy about the things of God, if we are reading his word, if we are praying, if we are serving, if we constantly are setting our mind on things above, then we will fill our life with Him, and there will be little room for things that belong to our earthly nature.
Finally, we must wage war against those things that are actually causing these things to proliferate, as Paul writes. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NIV: "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." He adds in his letter to the Ephesians 6:12 NIV: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Let us come together as the Body of Christ, and let us fight with our weapons, that have true power to destroy strongholds, our prayer and worship.
Let us commit together to identifying the lies and delusions, the subtle infiltration of the earthly nature into our ways, and let us battle these and destroy them, demolishing the strongholds and high places that have been erected even within the church. Let us pray for a wave of repentance to flow through the church, poured out on us by the Holy Spirit! Let us embrace humility, and cast off the spirit of pride, the spirit of religion, the spirit of independence, the spirit of unbelief, and the spirit of division, the spirit of judgement, and the spirit of immorality.
Oh Lord, wash us clean, and help us to put to death, in our lives, and in our corporate lives as Your Body here on earth, all those things that are of our earthly nature, all those high places that are not of You! Help us to repent and to change our hearts, our minds and our actions! Let us press forward into purity and holiness, for You desire a spotless Bride (Rev. 19: 7-8).
Amen and Amen!
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