Below is kinda a condensed version of four talks I have previously given twice at youth camps years ago. I ended up giving this talk twice to some older folk and then at this combined high school gathering. Surprising I didn't have to alter much between the talks as the Bible is radically relevant to those who are 15 and 85.
I love a good transformation. I’m not talking about tadpoles to frogs or caterpillars into butterflies. I’m talking about home renovation shows. I love seeing the before and after shots. Generally, before I do anything handy at home I take a before shot and then an after shot. My Instagram feed is full of before and after shots. There could be a garden full of weeds and then after a day of hard work you can see there are were actually nice plants in the garden. Or I might have oiled my deck or trimmed a hedge.
But we as Christians are something much better. We are better than a clean deck or a weeded garden or a restored axe. We have been raised with Christ. We are a new creation, the old has gone the new is here (2 Cor 5:17), and this is us presently. Today I just want to remind you of who you are in Christ.
3:1-4 Our life and mind
At the start of our passage, it says we have been raised with Christ. If you are a Christian this means right now, present tense, we are with Christ - and because of this, we are to set our hearts and minds on things above. In Christ, we have died and been raised with Him and He is now with the Father.What are your goals? What makes you tick? What do you want out of life? What would you be devastated about if you didn’t get it? I ask these questions to people all the time now and it is really interesting to find people who are different than me. There are people pleasers, high achievers and relational type people. Who are you?
What do you think about when you have nothing to do? What could you be filling your minds with? Do you know anything to be true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, excellence and worthy of praise? (Phil 4:8)
If you drew a pie chart of your week, how much time would it say you spent watching TV or chatting with friends online compared to spending time with God in the Bible and in prayer? Do you have the right balance?
Are your desires for Christ? Do you live for Him?
What you believe about the future affected your behaviour today.[1]
Do you have a fear of missing out? We are told You Only Live Once, that death is the end of us all, so our time here needs to be spent consuming and enjoying and taking what we can. But as Christians our life has already died with Christ; now Christ, who defeated death is our life. One day He is going to come back and we are going to live with Him forever. If you believe this then that will affect our behaviour today. You will give up things of this world and replace them with new things, knowing that you will not miss out, knowing that Christ is your life and your glory.
3:5-11 The before shot
The passage goes on to talk about our Christian makeover, our Christian wardrobe upgrade. This makeover comes from our new motivation of setting our heart and mind on Christ. But first, the before shot.The passage is quite frank. We are to put to death sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. We are to also get rid of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips, and we are to not lie. These things we are to take off. They are dirty clothes; we are to take off these actions and kill them. They do not fit with who we are now in Christ. For we are being renewed in Christ, to be more like Him, and Christ wasn’t sexually immoral, he didn’t lie or swear. He didn’t lust after women and wasn’t greedy. He didn’t use His position for gain or glory but instead gave of himself. And we are to have this same humble mindset (Phil 2:3-5) and to live different[2].
3:12-14 The after shot
Now, to be honest, I will not remember what you are wearing a week from now, but I will remember how I was treated. If you were rude or sharp or just generally annoying, I will remember that, but I will also remember if you were kind and accepting, encouraging and welcoming to me.
How are you going with forgiving and loving others? Forgiveness is hard, it is unnatural[3]. Counties don’t forgive others, cats don’t forgive dogs, people hold on to grudges all the time. But we as Christians have been forgiven much. Our sins have been taken away. God has thrown our sins into the sea (Micha 7:19) and placed a giant “no fishing” sign next to it[4]. Our sins are gone. It is because we have been forgiven much, that we know first hand what it is like to be forgiven, that we are now free to forgive others.
We must also love. Love comes from God (1 John 4:7). He first loved us, so we can love others (1 John 4:19). Love is patient and love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor 13:4-6)
As a Christian God showed His love for us in this, that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).
How are you going with loving and forgiving others? These are our new clothes. This is what we are to wear. We are dressed differently to the world. When people hurt you, think of Jesus. When people upset you, think of Jesus. When people wrong you, think of Jesus. Jesus died for you. He has forgiven you and shown you the love of the Father. Our eternity is secure, nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even death (Rom 8:38-39) so we are free to forgive and love.
3:15-17 Let the peace of God dwell and be thankful
We are to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and let the message of Christ dwell in our minds and be thankful.
We are to cast all our anxieties on God because He cares for us (1 Pet 5:6-7). We are not to worry about our lives, clothes or food because our Father knows what we need (Luk 12:22-24). We should have peace knowing that God our loving Father will never leave you (Heb 13:5). We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1) so we can now live a peaceful life with others.
You know what a peaceful life looks like? We have already seen this. It is to put off the old self and to put on the new self. A peaceful life does not lie or get angry with others, it does not gossip or swear. Instead, a peaceful life is known to be loving, kind and compassionate; humble, gentle and patient with others. We are not drama queens, but instead, we are part of a royal nation chosen to declare God’s praises (1 Peter 2:9).
And that is why we sing. We declare God’s praises and music helps lifts our emotions from an intellectual idea to something more personal. And we sing together, united in thanks, teaching and encouraging each other while also giving thanks to God.
And we have much to thank God for, but I will just end with just this one thing.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people (Col 1:3-4)
we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will… so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way (Col 1:9-10)Paul goes on to say:
For he [Jesus] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1:13-14)
I don’t know how often you just sit and thank God for the Christians around you. That you sit and reflect on how God has saved you from darkness, how we have the forgiveness of sins, and this is not just for you, but for a whole bunch of people.
You, you, in particular, has been rescued from darkness. You have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Thanking about this will give you peace that leads to thankfulness. It will lead to a life that is able to love and forgive others.
As a Christian, you have been given new clothes. You are to put off your old wardrobe and put on the new. Now, we think about Christ, our life is safe with Him. We have been loved and forgiven and He has granted us peace. So give thanks, and that is what I am going to do now.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus. That He rescued us from the dominion of darkness. That we couldn’t have found a way out of our sin, but you brought us into a new kingdom, the kingdom of the Son you love. We thank you that we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin.
Help us to set our hearts and minds on your. For us to put off our old self and to put on the new. Enable us to forgive and love others, because you have done that to us. May your peace rule our hearts and may we be always thankful for what you have done for us.
In Jesus name Amen.
[2] I know the grammar is bad I took this from my Philippians talks ripping off the Apple slogan "think different"
[3] I think I stole this from Philip Yancey years ago
[4] I heard this second hand recently from someone at church
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