Colossians 3:17 Deep Dive // Follow Jesus (and Kill Your Zombie)

"We are called to live lives that reflect [Jesus]...It's not a chore, it's a choice. It's a freedom and a joy and an honor...You can be who you are, truly and fully, in Christ."

— Natalie Abbott

Today's episode: Natalie Abbott walks us through Colossians 3:1-17, explaining who we are in Christ, who we used to be, and how that changes everything! She helps us understand the two selves that war inside of in us. One self is full of life and peace and joy and even Jesus himself—and we are to daily put on this new self. The other self is more undead than dead, full of rot and filth, trying to drag us back into the grave. And we are called to kill it daily. Natalie encourages us that in the power of Jesus, we can do both! More than that, when we mess up, there is grace and forgiveness all the more.

This month's memory verse: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” — Colossians 3:17

Want to go even deeper in this month's verse? Study along with Natalie in the monthly Bible Study Membership.

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Links from today's show: 

• EASY Bible Study Method
• The One Story Bible by Greg Gilbert
• Our best-selling Anxious No More Necklace is back in stock! 
• Mark your calendars for our biggest Warehouse Sale EVER! 8/18 - 8/29

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey, welcome back. I'm Natalie Abbott. And today we are talking about Colossians 3, verse 17. It says this, and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. That's our memory verse for this month. And today we are gonna be talking about what it means and how we can live a verse like this out. But before we get started, I have a question for you. How are you doing at everything? At all of it, known and unknown, seen and unseen, how are you doing at every word, every single thing you speak or whisper or yell or type or subsequently delete or maybe every word you can't delete? Every action, big or small, exciting or boring, mundane, repetitive, once in a lifetime, life-giving or life-depleting, every single thing you do, all of it. Are you doing it all for Jesus in his name, as his representative, by his power, for his fame, under his authority, giving all thanks to God the Father through him? How are you doing at that? Okay, I know that was kind of an extended version of that question, but seriously, that's what it's asking us here. How are we doing at doing all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him? I think this verse, man, when I think about it, just at surface level, it feels like if I'm being really honest, it feels like a burden. It feels like I could never... Do that, so why would I even try? And I think that that's a temptation for us when we hear a verse like this, to feel this sense of defeatism or perhaps to have a sense of comparison or even legalism. So defeatism would say, I'll never be an Olympic athlete, so why even work out? It's basically giving up before you even get started. Whereas comparison is saying, this like, here I am looking at a verse like, well, at least I'm not as bad as so-and-so, this off the rail sinners. Or maybe it's at least it's not, I'm not as bad as I used to be, right? Still, there's this comparative element of like, not taking this first totally seriously and instead sort of deflecting. And then finally, you have this other temptation, which would be legalism, which is to say like, Actually, I'm doing pretty good. In fact, I have some rules that I've created in my own mind so that I can keep all the rules that I hear. And I actually do a really good job of like pulling myself up by my bootstraps. And here's the thing, like that is a crushing thing to live under this legalistic interpretation of a verse like this. But if we're supposed to live this out and these are all traps, like how do we really rightly read this verse? How do we live out something like this without being crushed under the weight of honestly what feels like something that's totally impossible? And yet here it is in the Bible. It is gotta be possible, right? It has to be possible. It's certainly beautiful. It's what I want my life to look like. I want my words to sound beautiful. like Jesus and I want my actions to look like Jesus and I want my heart to be so filled with Jesus that his spirit is who motivates and empowers and directs everything that I do. Today, we are gonna figure out how that is even possible, how a verse like this is even possible. We're gonna look at the context of our verse and read this verse like it's intended to be read, not as a chore. but as a real impossible choice, as a freedom and a joy and a deep honor. So that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna look at the context of our verse in Colossians chapter three, verses one through 17. And it's gonna tell us who we are, who we used to be, and how that impacts everything about how we live our lives. And just to give you a little aside, I absolutely love this section of scripture. I'm trying to memorize it right now. Colossians 3 verses 1 through 17, because it tells us very succinctly what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Paul wrote this letter to new believers that he had never met before. And so he's very, very thorough and detailed in this description because he doesn't want to miss a thing. He hasn't met them before. They haven't heard from him before. So he's covering all his bases and He even says that his goal is that they may be encouraged in heart, united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That's from the chapter right before our chapter, Colossians chapter two. Paul wants them to have complete understanding understanding and to know the mystery of God, which is Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That's his goal with what he's telling us here. He's telling the Colossians this as well, that this is who you are in Christ. This is who you were without Jesus and it changes everything. So I'm gonna read Colossians chapter three, verses one through 17. And I want you to listen for those three things, who you were, who you are, and how that changes everything. Okay, so starting in verse one, since then you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must also rid yourself of all such things as these. anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge and in the image of its creator. Here, there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart, since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Did you hear our verse, that last verse? It's like the culmination verse of all the things that you do. If you're gonna live out who you are, if you're gonna live like who God has made you to be, whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Okay, so that's our passage. And briefly, we're going to just go through and touch on each of the things that are true about who we are. Then we're going to look at who we used to be. And we're going to look at how this new life that we have in Jesus changes everything. When was the last time you saw someone fall in love with God's Word for the first time? These days, it's easy to scroll through our phones and harder to slow down with Scripture, especially for new believers. That's why the easy Bible study method from Coffee and Bible Time is such a gift. Guys, I love the ladies over there at Coffee and Bible Time, and they've developed a simple four-step framework to help women open their Bible and actually understand it with clarity, joy, and purpose. So whether you're walking alongside someone who's new to the faith, or you're just looking for God bless you. I want to tell you about a new Bible that's out from Crossway. It's called the One Story Bible, and it shows how the entire Bible is one story about God's plan to redeem the world through Jesus. It has conversational commentary from Pastor Greg Gilbert woven throughout the entire ESV text. This Bible helps readers, whether new or seasoned, see how every part of Scripture fits together and points to Jesus. I wonder if there's a person in your life who needs a Bible like this. I became a believer when someone gave me a Bible with helpful commentary in it. Okay, so I just want you, if you're listening to this right now, I'm gonna talk about who you are, what this passage says about who you are. You might just wanna close your eyes as long as you're not driving and just soak this in because this is, I mean, Paul is just saturated these 17 verses with again and again, these beautiful truths about who we are in Jesus. So listen along with this. You have been raised to new life with Christ. Your life is securely kept with Christ in God. Jesus is your life. When Jesus returns, you will be united with him in glory. When you embrace Jesus, you gave up your old ways. Jesus has given you a new way to live. As you know Jesus more and more, you look more and more like him. Christ is in all believers, regardless of race, or gender, power, or prestige. Christ is in you. Jesus is your everything. God chose you. God made you holy. And God loves you dearly. Finally, you are forgiven. These are all the things that are true of you when you follow Jesus. You have this new life life, this new way of living. God has said, you are holy. You are set apart. I see Jesus when I see you. You are forgiven. But right up butted against that, Paul tells us who we used to be. And so now I'm going to tell you who you were according to this passage. In the same way that you have this new self that is alive, you also have An old self. And your old self is dead. You have an old mind that is focused on earthly things, on sinful things. And you also have an old nature, which is marked by old ways. And Paul lays some of those out for us, like sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying. These are the things that characterize your old self in your old ways, which are all now dead to you. Now we're going to look at who you are and who you were and how that impacts everything. Okay, so clearly there has been this massive transformation that has happened, right? In verse one, Paul says, therefore set your mind on, not on earthly things, but on heavenly things and to set your heart on heavenly things. Like there is a massive change that has happened. You have been raised with Christ. You were supposed to set your mind and your heart on the things that are alive to you and simultaneously kill things what is already dead in you. So even though there's this image of your old self that is now dead, it is not buried yet. Your old self is more like a zombie. It is like an undead self that is following you around. It's the shell of who you used to be. It is trying to trip you up and pull you back into the grave. But Paul says, therefore, you've been raised to life. That something new has happened, right? So there's this new self that is also at work in you. And Paul is saying that new self needs to be a zombie killer. Every single day for the rest of your life, you are called to kill those old self ways. You are called to kill that old self, to actively kill. Stop living in all of those ways that we just read, those ways that we're like, man, I don't want that to be true of me. I don't want to be characterized as somebody who's angry all the time or who's always lusting after things or who's mind is set on things that are debased, right? That's not who we want to be. When we read about all the things that are true of us in Christ, like, man, that's who we want to be. But how do we do that? We are active participants in this. This is why Paul says, put off your old self, kill your old self ways. And here's the beauty. Even when you mess up, you are forgiven. Remember that list of what I said about is true in the new self? Like you are forgiven. God still sees you as holy because of Christ. So there is always grace for you. And here's what's beautiful about Because of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, we can actually be who we are. We can live this new life that we've been given in Christ. And like our verses, we can do all things in Jesus' name. So what does that look like? How do we be who we are? Our verses tell us we clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. We bear with one another. We forgive one another because the reality is like, again, we are going to mess up. And over all these things, we're going to put on love and we're going to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. And we're going to let the message of Christ dwell among us as the people of God. We're going to teach one another. We're going to encourage one another. We're going to meditate on God's word. And then finally we get our verse. And whatever you do in word or deed, like every single part of all of your everything, do it all in the name of Jesus under his authority, by his power, for his glory, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Guys, this is what we want, isn't it? We wanna look like Jesus. We wanna act like Jesus. We want when people hear what we say to sound like Jesus. More and more as we grow in our faith, as we grow in holiness. Guys, we are projects. We are a mess. We are not finished. And God is pleased to work in us. And we are called to live lives that reflect him. And like I said at the beginning, it's not a chore. It's a choice. It's a freedom and a joy and an honor. This isn't legalism or pointing fingers or being defeated by where we failed. This is walking in the power of the God who loves us, who has called us, who has chosen us, who has made us holy and who is wondrously at work in us. You can be who you are truly and fully in Christ. That is life. the beauty of our verse. And if you want more, you can join me all month long. I wrote a 12 session Bible study. You can get it at dwelledifferently.com. We're gonna be digging even deeper into this passage and other sections of scripture that help encourage us and challenge us and personalize what all of these verses mean to us so that we can not only remember the truth of God, but we can live it out. Thank you so much for joining me today. Guys, this is my prayer and my hope for you this month that this verse would not be a burden, that it wouldn't be a chore, but a choice. See you again soon. Don't hit fast forward because you're going to want to hear this. And I am just barely containing my excitement. We have our warehouse sale, which is our biggest sale of the year. This August, the 18th through the 29th, we do it once a year and we sell all kinds of stuff. We open up the vaults and we have old verses. We have key tags, tattoos, and verse cards that you can buy separately, which we never sell. We have massively discounted verse kits for gifts that you can stock up on for retreats, your Bible study, your church. Great. Bye. Bye. Bye. you