WEBVTT 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:13.919 Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:20.800 Thank you for listening. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:26.239 Thank you, choir and orchestra, praise team for a great morning in worship. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.120 I'd like to pick up where we left off last week. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:36.399 We started talking about identity, and we've been talking a little bit about our spiritual growth we represent in our triangle. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:47.679 So turn with me to Colossians chapter 3, and I want to talk to you today about how to deepen your understanding of your identity in Jesus, of who you are in Jesus. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:58.320 We talked last week about this question, about our identity in Christ, when we've trusted him as our Savior, and He has saved us through His grace and mercy. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:10.319 He comes into our lives, we come into Him, and then He begins the process of helping us understand what happened to us when we got saved and how to grow and be transformed to be like Him. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:22.560 So when we talk about that triangle here at First Baptist Church, if you're visiting with us, this is just a shorthand way that we use to describe that process of being transformed to be in the image of Jesus. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:42.640 As we grow closer to him, there are three biblical principles that are put together that form that sort of spiritual chemistry of how we walk with Jesus and how he works in our lives to do his work in us and transform him to be like us to be like him. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:47.280 The first is that foundational level, our identity in Christ. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:53.599 That is, we are saved, we are his, we have made him our Lord and Savior. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:02:02.799 And so my identity as a Christian is I have trusted Christ as my Lord and Savior, and when I was saved, I was made a part of the body of Christ. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:10.319 You cannot separate being a Christian and a part of the church. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.319 You can't separate those. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:18.080 If the church is the body of Christ and you are in Christ, then you've got to be in the body of Christ. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.240 That is our identity of who we are. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:29.599 And then from that foundation, the relationship part of our life with Him is just how we grow closer to Him, how we focus on Him. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:30.560 That's easy. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.159 That's the process of prayer, Bible study, and faith choices. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:40.639 So it's a part of staying in the Word every day, talking with Him in prayer, listening to Him speak to us. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.439 And if you're going to talk to the Lord, He's going to talk to you. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:45.840 And He begins to say, Hey, I want you to go this direction. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.120 I want you to step out of faith. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:48.000 I want you to do this. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.479 I want you to take this out of your life, put this in your life. 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:57.520 And you're obeying His instruction, His work, how He's developing us. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:59.840 It's that relationship part of who we are. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:10.960 And then there is a ministry part of who we are, and that's when we serve others, we serve the body, we are exercising out what God is putting in us. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:14.719 And the way that grows is as an equilateral triangle. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:18.000 And as those things grow, they all grow together. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:24.800 And so it is this dynamic part of our Christian life where we continue to grow and be transformed like Him. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:41.199 Now, what the Bible does not allow for is treating this, even if you're thinking from a perspective of your identity, we do not get to treat this as just a piece of our life. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:53.520 I'm a schoolteacher, I'm a Baptist, I'm a libertarian, I'm a razorback, I'm a cowboy, I'm a sooner, whatever. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:58.240 You don't get to just put those things in, and it's just one piece of that. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:08.560 I'm a mom, I'm a dad, I'm a brother, I'm a husband, I'm a wife, I go to church, I do this for a living, I do that, I love to go camping, whatever. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:12.240 It's not one piece of who we are and what we do. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:29.360 And too many people treat our going to church or being a part of the church family, or I believe this in terms of theology, and I believe this in terms of economics, and I believe this politically, and I believe this about relationships, and I believe I have the right to do this. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:31.120 It's not a piece of that. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:35.759 You are first a Christian if you know Christ as your Savior. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:42.480 If you have trusted Him and He is your Lord and Savior, then what happens is you are first a Christian. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.680 And then He tells you how to do work. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:58.000 How to be a husband, how to be a wife, how to be a son, how to be a daughter, how to be a grandparent, how to be a teacher, how to be an accountant, how to be a dentist or whatever you are, how to be this and how to be that. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:04.079 He tells you what place all those things fit into our life and how they work. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:12.399 Our identity should be driven first through an understanding that I have given my life to Jesus and I am surrendered to him. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:18.879 It is his life now, and it goes the way he leads me and teaches me and empowers me to go. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:33.040 And in that process, what's going to happen is, as that triangle grows, as we are, as it's represented in an illustration, as we are learning how to walk with him, what happens is he transforms us into his image. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:42.319 The more I understand who Jesus is, the more I am understanding that I am connected to the body of Christ because I'm connected to Jesus Christ. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:54.000 As I begin to walk with him and study his word and he speaks to me, and as I begin to obey and learn to trust him, as I begin to serve others, I begin to look more like Jesus. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:56.240 I begin to think more like Jesus. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:00.160 Things are taken out of my life that shouldn't be there. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:05.120 Things are put into my life that make me become more like Jesus. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:12.879 It is a dynamic relationship that is moving to transform us into his image. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:27.040 Now, as we read Colossians chapter 3, I want you to get in your mind those three principles, and I want you to see how often the Bible is stirring each one of those pieces of that chemistry that's in our spiritual lives. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:29.920 Now, here's what we get in Colossians chapter 3. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:41.040 He's been reading already, he's been teaching them already, and he gets to this point, and so he says, So, if you have been raised with the Messiah. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:44.639 So that's a rhetorical question that he's setting up there. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:57.600 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, if you know Christ as your Savior, so let's just take a minute in chapter 2, look at a couple of verses and just see what that means, because that is very important to understand what's happening there. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:02.639 He is asking a rhetorical question that sets up its own answer. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:05.680 And so we've got to understand what that means. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:18.720 First of all, in Colossians chapter 2, verse 3, here's what it says All, all, all, not some, not lots, not it's profitable, not its good. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:25.920 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:30.480 There is no answer for life that is not out found outside of Jesus. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:36.639 Every question that you have in your life, every question mark, Jesus is the answer. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:43.839 Jesus brings the answer, he has the answer, his work in you answers that question. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.800 Any question you have about who am I? 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:48.800 What's God want to do in my life? 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.199 How am I going to work this out? 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:54.800 All of that, Jesus is in all of those. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:08:00.959 The Bible says all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Jesus. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:06.879 Now then he says this if all of that knowledge and wisdom is found in him, then how do we know him? 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:08.240 How are we saved? 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:10.000 How do we make him our Savior? 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:19.279 The Bible teaches us what we've been singing about this morning, what you know to be the gospel, all of us have inherited a sin nature. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:22.639 We are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:24.240 I mean, we all sin. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:31.519 Everybody in this room pretty much is old enough to know you've done things and that was wrong, and you need to ask for forgiveness and all of that. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:34.399 We know that we are not perfect. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:36.320 And the Bible calls that sin. 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:41.840 And the Bible makes it very clear that because of that sin, as a holy God, he must judge that sin. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:49.360 And that we know what the good news of salvation we've been singing this morning is that God looked down out of heaven and he saw us in our mess and he saw that sin. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:53.360 Instead of being done with us, he sent Jesus to come and to live a sinless life. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:57.120 He goes through all the questions and struggles and everything else that we go through. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:59.120 Except Jesus did it without sin. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:02.159 He was sinless, and then he went to the cross. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:10.480 Jesus was not sent to the cross, Jesus went to the cross on purpose to pay the price for our sins. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:18.559 He took his sinless life, he went to the cross, and the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 3 that he bore our sins on himself. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:20.080 I love that picture. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:27.279 To bear something means that you pick up a weight and you carry that weight for a purpose. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:39.919 Jesus on purpose bore the weight of our sin to the cross, and there he died and took the full wrath and punishment of God for sin. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:42.159 He paid it all. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:45.759 That's why we sing, Jesus paid it all, and all to him I owe. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:49.039 And so then he rose again, conquering death and sin. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:50.799 He was raised from the dead. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.879 And when you come to Christ, you make him your Lord and Savior. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:02.399 What that means is you believe the historical fact of what we just described. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:08.799 And then when you trust him to his death, pay the price for your sins, you surrender your life to him. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:13.039 You give him your life, all that you have been, you are, and you ever will be. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:14.320 You give it all to him. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:20.080 What happens is that exchange, spiritual exchange occurs. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:22.000 Your sins are paid for. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:42.879 So when you have trusted him as your Savior, that's what you've trusted in. 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:45.519 You've said, I don't have an answer for the sin in my life. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.240 I don't have an answer for where I'm going. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:50.879 I don't have an answer for how I am going to describe this. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:54.080 I don't have an answer for how I find a way out of this struggle. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:59.919 I don't have an answer for defining what I'm going to be in life when I figure it out. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:01.360 I don't have an answer for all that. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:05.440 And all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:11.440 And you find that when you come to Him and you trust Him as your Savior, and you are born again. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.080 You are raised in a new life. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:19.679 You are given a spiritual life that you did not have because you were under judgment of sin. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:27.919 You realize that you are loved, and no one loved me as much as God did when He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price for my sins. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:28.879 I am guilty. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.080 I don't know what to do with this. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:38.000 And then you understand that Jesus took every single sin and he nailed it to the cross. 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:51.519 And when you trust him as your Savior, you are clean, you are forgiven, you are loved, you are in his presence, and then there is a reality that must happen because you have trusted Christ as your Savior. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:14:18.639 Now, that we understand what it means when he says, if you have been raised with the Messiah, if you have trusted Christ as your Savior and you've given your life to him, because you believe that every answer to every question is found only in him, if we have done that, then there is a response that is the only reasonable response that anyone can give. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:27.440 If you have been raised with a Messiah, then seek what is above where the Messiah is. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:29.759 Seated at the right hand of God. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:34.399 Set your minds on what is above and not is what on the earth. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:42.159 For you have died, and all of your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:49.919 Because he's the one who saved you, he's the one that paid the price for your sins, he's the one that you rest in, that you are raised with in newness of life. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:54.159 Your life comes from him, and so your life is totally in him. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.639 As you continue to read in verse 4, the Bible says this. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.320 When the Messiah, and he tells us again, who is your life? 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:05.200 You have no life outside of Jesus. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:10.159 When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:20.080 And there he's talking about the eternal life that we have when Jesus is fully revealed, and when all of this is sorted out and we begin eternity, you are with him forever. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:34.480 Therefore, because your life is with him, because of the promises of who you are in Jesus, because of all of that, therefore, there is a response that is required to giving your life to Jesus. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:46.000 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:47.360 What is idolatry? 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:53.360 It's worshiping something different than what we are required or supposed to worship. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:16:03.600 And when we are pursuing things that are behaviors that are not a part of our identity in Christ, it is literally worshiping something other than Him. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:04.799 It is sin. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.320 Because of these sins, God's wrath comes on the disobedient. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:12.960 In other words, God has to judge sin. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:20.159 And then he says, and you once walked in these things when you were back there living in your sin. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:37.919 But now, because your sins have been paid for nailed to the cross, now because your life is in Jesus and he is in you, now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:45.440 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:52.879 He continues to get this picture of an old self and a new self. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:55.840 He's giving us this idea of transformation. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:58.159 You were dead, now you're alive. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.399 You were guilty, now you're forgiven. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:04.240 You were in your sins, now you're in another condition. 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:12.720 There's an old person of who you were before you were saved, when those were your activities and your desires, and now there is a new person. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:23.680 And so he says, Because of these, God's wrath comes on the disobedient, and you once walked in these things when you were living in them, but now you must also, he's put away all that stuff. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:30.480 Do not lie to one another, since you've put off the old self and his practices, and you have put on the new self. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:34.559 You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:41.680 In Christ, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.319 But Christ is all and in all. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:47.039 Therefore, here's another one. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:54.480 Because your life is in Christ, because your sins are paid for, because you are changed, because you are his. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:04.480 Not only are we putting away things, but therefore God's chosen ones, holy and loved, again, he's giving us that sense of identity in who we are in Christ. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:16.960 You are loved, you are set apart, because you are God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.359 Accepting one another and forgiving one another. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:26.559 If anyone has a complaint against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, you must also forgive. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.960 Above all, put on love, the perfect bond of unity. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:38.799 And let the peace of the Messiah to which you were also called in one body control your hearts. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:41.039 Be thankful. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.960 Well, we don't live in a world where people are thankful. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.400 That's not the attitude that we run into most of the time. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:50.160 Be thankful. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.839 Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:56.799 Why? 00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:59.920 Because your life is with him. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.079 You are hidden in him. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:06.799 All of the answers to life's questions are in him. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.440 All the treasures of knowledge and wisdom are all found in Jesus. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:24.240 And he says, Let the message of the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom and singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:30.799 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:32.720 Let me just talk a minute about singing. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:43.279 I had an opportunity on Friday, some of our men from our men's ministry groups, we went and worked with one of our partners in ministry, Pathway to Freedom. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:50.960 It is an organization that us and other Christians around the state we help fund and support and be a part of. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:20:02.160 They are a prison ministry, and so they are validated by the Arkansas Department of Corrections, and men who are in prison apply to be a part of this program. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:04.960 And when they are accepted, they come into this program. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:15.920 They spend 18 months in a dorm that is built for them with all of classrooms and all that stuff that's built for this program in the rightsful prison on the campus there. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.319 And they come in there and for 18 months they teach them about Jesus. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:21.359 They disciple them. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:32.720 They spend 10 to 12 hours a day in studying God's word and learning what caused them to end up where they were and then trying to rebuild so that they have a future in life out there. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:44.000 And they learn in such a deep way that they're the certificate of debts against them, their convictions, man, God has nailed that to the cross with Jesus and they are free. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:45.119 Let me talk about it. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:50.799 We went on Friday, and what happens is churches that support them, we take turns once a month. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:52.079 We go in there on a Friday. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:21:00.640 So I went with about 14 or 15 of our guys and three or four men from five or six different other churches, and so there's about 30 plus of us in there. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.920 We go in and we have church and worship with these guys. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:05.519 I got a chance to preach. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:18.240 Then we break out into fellowship groups and we have discussion groups, and all those men that went with us, they're leading those discussion groups with these men who are either finding Jesus or they've been saved and changed. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:20.960 Let me tell you what worship looks like. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.559 There was a praise band and three or four men who were singing. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:33.200 There were guitar players, drummer, keyboard player, uh, they were playing the bass. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:46.559 Those guys in their white prison garb, they stood in front of 180 inmates who were in this program with them, and 30 so of us, and they began to sing. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:59.519 Let me tell you what, you've never grasped what it meant that Jesus has truly forgiven us of our sins and what it means to be a sinner. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:05.839 Until you've heard 180 men sing, I have been forgiven. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:12.960 You have brought me through this, and Jesus, you are my rescue story. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.039 I'm telling you, I sat there in conviction. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:25.920 And I thought we come into church and we sing and we value what the music was and was this and was that good, and I don't like this song and all this kind of a deal. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:40.240 Because it's easy for us to get a control of our life and do our life the way we want it and think we're in charge, and to relegate Jesus to just a piece of our life rather than the essence of our life itself. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:44.720 And we can hide that sin's not this bid, and I can do that. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:23:04.480 Nobody knows that, and I'm this, and I'm doing better than those guys, and I got okay, and we can compartmentalize Jesus, but let me tell you what, those men spend their day understanding that Jesus has forgiven them and has a plan for their lives, and when they sing Jesus rescued us from our sins, I'm telling you, they believe it. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.839 And people who see it believe it. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:15.839 And the Bible tells us that we are supposed to let the message of the gospel dwell richly in our lives. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:20.480 You want to know how your relationship is with Jesus? 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:23.920 What came out this morning? 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:28.160 What came out of your mouth and heart? 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:36.319 Were you attached to the magnitude of who you were before Jesus saved you? 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:45.759 Maybe you haven't done something that you ended up in a terrible place, but you know you could have outside the grace of God. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:52.160 Let me tell you what, I've lived enough life now I understand what I would have been without Jesus. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:57.759 I understand in deep detail where I could have ended up without Jesus. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:03.039 And when we say glory to Jesus, when we say the message of the gospel, let me tell you what. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:06.880 It means that you will not spend an eternity in hell. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:12.799 It means every question in your life, God has stepped in through Jesus and brought an answer to you. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:22.799 And we are to dwell richly in the picture that Jesus saved us and walks with us, and we have an eternity because of what he has done. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:35.200 If we are walking with him and truly growing in our relationship, these things begin to change how we see life and what we do. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:39.759 Big idea for us in this message is this. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:50.640 This walk with Jesus, this process of your triangle growing because these things are happening, these biblical principles are happening in your life. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:57.839 This is a dynamic growth process, and it requires change, and it requires us to be willing to change. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:06.319 It requires us to be willing to say, I am not going to do life the way I think I ought to do it because Jesus is calling me to do it a different way. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:18.799 It means that I'm taking the things that I cling to in my life, and I realize because Jesus saved me, he is the only source of life I have, and I have got to give that to him and let him have that. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:28.000 My life should be a constant process of, Lord, I am sorry, I repent of that, I forgive, uh, please forgive me for that. 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:29.519 That is not where you are. 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:31.440 That is not where you want to be. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:38.640 If I go that direction, it will distract me from you, who are the only source of life. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:40.480 And I'm going to give it up. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:26:18.000 We spend our lives in the broader church in today's culture comparing ourselves to someone else, or clucking our tongues about this or that, or we want to drink and social drink and engage in all these things that the world engages in, and we get in these theological arguments about water to wine and Jesus and all this kind of stuff when what we understand is if the world is telling you that thousands and thousands of people are dying from things like that, that our role as believers is to stand for something else and point people to the hope that is in Jesus. 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:36.960 We should look different in our lives, and there should be something going on that is driven by my sense of who I am in Jesus, that my only source of life is in him, and he is trying to do something in me to show the rest of the world that they can have it too. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:44.480 This is not a category of our life, it is an identity in who we are. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:52.559 The fundamental question in who are you must be answered in Jesus and nowhere else. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:57.519 Now, this dynamic process, he tells us what is involved in it. 00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:02.880 He says in verse 1, it's very simple. 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:10.319 He says in verse 1, if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where Jesus is. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:17.039 Set your mind on what is above, where Jesus is, and not on things on the earth. 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:24.240 My goal in life is not to make more money, it's not to be better than that, it's not to be better than them, it's not even to be a good person. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:36.400 My job is to be Jesus with skin on so people around us can see how Jesus lives, walks, loves them, how Jesus defines a life. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:38.160 That's what my job is. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:39.759 That's what my purpose is. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:40.400 Why? 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:44.079 Because the only source of life that I have is Jesus. 00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:46.880 I'm supposed to set my mind on Jesus. 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:48.960 That means you're supposed to be anchored in him. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:52.960 It is so, I was blown away with those prisoners. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:28:00.319 I was in one of those discussion groups with another brother from another church, and we were talking with these guys, and there's probably 40 guys in there. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:03.519 And I'd say, tell me about what's your picture of Jesus? 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:07.279 If we're supposed to set our minds on Jesus, we'll be like Jesus, give me your picture of Jesus. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:12.079 And I'm telling you what, these guys are quoting Scripture in chunks. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:20.000 I mean, they're quoting the, they're not telling you about Jesus healing the lame or the leper. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:25.119 They're not telling you about some lady come and touch Jesus' robe and all that. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:29.279 They're quoting the entire passage of Scripture to you. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:36.160 Do you know it that well? 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:39.200 Do you know Jesus that well? 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:42.240 Do you spend that much time learning who Jesus is? 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:44.720 You spend that much time focused on Jesus. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.839 Is He where you have set your mind? 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:51.440 And then when we set our mind, He gives us two other things we do. 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:55.680 We put off the actions that are the opposite of our identity. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.920 We put off those sinful actions. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:01.440 You see, we're supposed to be in the process of, ooh, that is not like Jesus. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:02.559 That is wrong. 00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:04.720 That tempts me to move away from Jesus. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:06.000 I gotta put that away. 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:11.119 That means when he convicts you of sin, you repent of that and you remove that out of your life. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:27.920 That means you remove the things that are structurally in your life that are not Jesus-like, that are not an example of Jesus, that are not an example of Jesus to your children, to your husband, to your wife, to your family, to the place where he's put you to work, where you're to be a testimony of Jesus, you're to remove those things out of your life. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:32.799 You're to put off those things that are not identified in the person of Jesus. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:36.480 And then you're to put on the things that look like Jesus. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.079 Now, watch how this works. 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:39.599 Set your mind on Jesus. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:40.960 Let's think about Jesus. 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:44.559 He took my sins, as it says in chapter 2, he nailed them to the cross. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:46.000 What are those sins? 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:49.359 Well, he gives us a list here. 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:56.000 Put to death what belongs to your worldly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, greed, idolatry. 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:57.359 Okay, like I got all that. 00:29:57.440 --> 00:29:58.240 Those are the big ones. 00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.400 Like, we put those, like, I'm not doing any of that. 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:01.200 Let's put those away. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:01.920 I got it, man. 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:03.359 That's right, Pastor. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:07.839 You preach on about that, you know, impurity and greed or whatever. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.440 You know, you like we love it when, you know, pound away, Pastor. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:12.880 Tell them about all that sin. 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:16.400 Look what else he says. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:19.680 Put away the following. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:20.880 Anger. 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:23.440 Anger. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:26.640 Who are you angry at? 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:29.599 Who are you angry at? 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:32.400 It's the same list. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:34.960 Slander. 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:38.000 Who you talk ugly about? 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:41.839 Who you talk ugly about? 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:46.720 Who are you gossiping about? 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:53.119 Who are you rendering opinions about that you don't agree with, that you don't like? 00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:59.440 Do not lie to one another. 00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:03.920 See, it's all the same thing. 00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:22.559 When we get a picture of who Jesus is, and we begin to set our minds on who Jesus is, and we see who Jesus is, and we see how loving he is, and we see his integrity, and we see his courage and going to the cross and we see his holiness, and we see how he functions and how he loves people and how he steps into lives and how he does all those things. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:27.839 It begins to see, okay, my life is supposed to look like Jesus, and this does not look like Jesus. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.920 That did not sound like Jesus. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:32.880 I don't think Jesus probably thinks that about that person. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:35.119 I don't think Jesus says that about that person. 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:36.960 See, it begins to change life. 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:39.680 Look at this language, filthy language. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:41.039 Holy cow. 00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:45.119 Man, in today's world, unbelievable. 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:51.440 I mean, listen, my previous career, my secular career, I know what filthy language looks like. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:53.519 I mean, I was a lawyer. 00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:57.839 People say that guy cusses like a sailor. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:31:59.279 Well, they're wimpy. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:02.799 They don't know how to do it, with all due respect to my Navy guys. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:05.279 Lawyers, they raise it to an art form. 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:13.519 They are educated in language, and they put filthy language in such flowery and aggressive terms. 00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:18.319 It is a strange work of art how well they cuss, right? 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:20.400 I mean, it's amazing what happens. 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:24.480 I went on a golf tournament, kind of law that I practiced. 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:32.960 We were human resources law basically, so we're playing a golf tournament, and it's union reps, it's HR people and lawyers and legal counsel. 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:36.880 So I get paired on a foursome, and they're mixing us all up. 00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:40.559 So I get in a golf cart and I'm waiting, and this guy comes up. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:45.599 He's about 6'6, weighs about 270, and it's all muscle. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:47.279 Big old huge guy. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:52.000 We introduce ourselves and he says, Hey, my name is so-and-so, so-and-so. 00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:56.480 I'm from Mississippi, and everybody there just calls me cornbread, so call me cornbread. 00:32:57.519 --> 00:32:58.240 Y'all got a picture? 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:00.880 I mean, nice guy, but I mean he was intimidating. 00:33:01.039 --> 00:33:03.440 He was a big hulking intimidating guy. 00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:08.880 We get to the first T box, and I mean it is 310 yards, it is gone. 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.160 I get to the T-box, I'm so intimidated at that point. 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:16.720 I slice it over and it's in the woods so far, we don't even bother to look for it. 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:21.920 I mean, he goes with second T, he hits it, I do the same thing, third one, I hit it in the water. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:29.440 We get to the fourth T box, and I'm telling you, he says, Are you sure you're a lawyer? 00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:34.000 I said, I said, Am I that bad off the T-box? 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:41.440 And he goes, No, I've seen a lot of lawyers who can't hit a drive, but I've never heard one not cuss when they play as bad as you're playing. 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:50.000 I'm telling you, nothing sets us apart like our language. 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:53.440 Nothing. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:57.440 And I hear people play with it. 00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:06.079 And I hear guys that it's okay that everybody at works does it, and we kind of talk that way here, and we talk this way at home or whatever. 00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:12.719 Kids in school, college, language is horrible in our world today. 00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:24.559 I'm telling you what, it's one of the fastest ways to set yourself apart is you communicate in a way that is honoring to Jesus. 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:26.960 You see, here's what's also happening. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:31.519 If I'm angry inside and I talk like this and I do that, I'm feeding my old self. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:39.840 I'm feeding my sin nature, I'm feeding my arrogance, I'm feeding my pride, and I am starving to death the Jesus part of who I am. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:52.880 And then when I get tempted in something bigger, because I've been feeding these other things and I've not been putting them off and I've not set my mind on Jesus, I am now susceptible to the big things that I thought were terrible. 00:34:54.159 --> 00:35:00.880 One of the pastors where I grew up used to say this all the time: Sin will take you farther than you want to go. 00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:09.119 It'll keep you longer than you want to stay, and it'll make you pay more than you want to pay. 00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:13.519 And so we're supposed to put that off, but you can't just put it off. 00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:15.679 You've got to put something else in his place. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:19.360 And he says, You put on who we are. 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:21.519 Now, look at the picture of identity. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:25.119 Therefore, God's chosen ones, you are holy, you are loved. 00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:27.360 He is reminding us why are we chosen? 00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:29.119 Why are we set apart as holy? 00:35:29.199 --> 00:35:30.079 Why are we loved? 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.159 It is because our life is with Jesus. 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:47.280 It is because for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him will never perish, but have everlasting life because the certificate of our deaths were nailed to the cross because we were raised with him through baptism in the likeness of his resurrection, because our life is with him. 00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:55.599 He is reminding us who our identity is, and he says, because of your identity, we're not just putting on that old stuff, but we're putting on Jesus. 00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:00.159 Put on heartfelt compassion. 00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:03.119 Now that's a picture of Jesus, is it not? 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:12.559 You read in Matthew where the Bible says Jesus has been preaching to a crowd and he finishes preaching, you got all these people out there, and the Bible says it gives us this insight in the heart of Jesus. 00:36:12.719 --> 00:36:18.239 He looked up and he saw the crowd, and the Bible says his heart was filled with emotion. 00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:27.039 He broke with emotion, and it says, because he saw the masses of people as sheep without a shepherd. 00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:30.960 I read one time, one guy's description of that. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:37.760 He's in a crowd like that, and he's looking at all these people, and he's he's trying to figure out how to do ministry to them, and he's hurting for them. 00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:47.280 And that scripture comes to mind and he says that God said, Look, all these people that you're looking at, they are living a life that I did not design for them to live. 00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:52.880 They are trapped in something else other than what I designed for them. 00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:56.960 And the Bible says when Jesus saw that, he was moved with compassion. 00:36:57.199 --> 00:37:14.000 There's the story of the man who was a beggar and he's sitting at this gate and he's blind and he's been blind his whole life, and the Bible says that Jesus comes up to him and he spit in the mud and he made like a paste out of the mud and he wiped it on the man's eyes. 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.199 Now that's a bizarre way to do that, don't you think? 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:22.400 I mean, like, Jesus, just or give the brother some glasses or something. 00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:24.239 I mean, like, that's gross. 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:25.760 Why do it that way? 00:37:26.239 --> 00:37:32.159 Heard God say, that dude had probably been spit on his whole life. 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:40.880 And Jesus took what was hurting in his life and he turned it into healing. 00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:48.960 He took the ridicule of man and he turned it into the healing of God. 00:37:49.840 --> 00:38:06.400 I guarantee you that man would never in his life ever spit on anyone, either physically or even proverbially, because he knew he had been spit on, but Jesus stepped into his life and healed the point where he was broken. 00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:17.599 Listen, you why does the Bible tell us to be in the Word of God, to encourage each other, to let the message of the gospel dwell in us richly? 00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:31.119 It's because we are to be in the book of Mark, in the book of Matthew, in the book of Luke, in the book of John, and we are to be looking at these pictures of Jesus, and we are to be letting it dwell in us, and we are to be thinking about this is who Jesus is. 00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:32.960 This is what Jesus did. 00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:37.840 I am supposed to have spent enough time in the Word of God that it is soaked into my soul. 00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:54.079 So when I get in this spot and I see this person, and I am tempted to speak out of anger, or I'm tempted to slander them, or I am tempted to look at them and look down on them and look in a different way, that what resonates in my heart is Jesus would never say that. 00:38:55.039 --> 00:38:57.199 Jesus would never do that. 00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:00.960 Jesus would not think that way. 00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:03.519 And I'm able to put that off. 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:25.360 And I'm able to put on what I've been reading and understanding about Jesus: compassion, love, and humility, I reach into that person's life to elevate them so that they can see Jesus instead of how I would have responded. 00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:32.000 That's why, when the Holy Spirit is directing Paul to write this, he says, above all, put on love. 00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:34.320 Why does he say above all? 00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:38.400 What's the best description we can have of Jesus? 00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:40.480 That he loved. 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:44.719 That he loved beyond anything we can imagine. 00:39:45.840 --> 00:39:54.480 That when he bore my sins to the cross, that means he picked them up on purpose on himself. 00:39:55.039 --> 00:40:11.440 And no matter how heavy the weight of my sin is, he bore that to the cross so that every debt could be nailed there and forgiven and paid for. 00:40:13.039 --> 00:40:21.119 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. 00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:34.880 And then Jesus says this new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you. 00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:53.280 And when you put that picture of bearing our sins to the cross, and that's how Jesus loves us, and he commands us to love that way, that's exactly why in the book of Galatians, chapter 6, the Bible says this bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. 00:40:54.159 --> 00:40:55.840 Above all, put on love. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:41:00.639 In our lives, we're to spend our time dwelling on the person of Jesus. 00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:06.559 If you're not having a quiet time, just in all love, I want to tell you, shame on you. 00:41:09.440 --> 00:41:17.519 And my heart breaks for you because you're missing all that God wants to show you and teach you if you'll spend time with Him. 00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:26.400 I want the message of the Messiah to dwell richly in your life. 00:41:29.679 --> 00:41:30.880 Put off those things. 00:41:31.039 --> 00:41:35.440 If you'll spend time with the Lord and you'll get that picture of Jesus, be ready. 00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:39.840 He's gonna say, Don't do that. 00:41:40.079 --> 00:41:41.280