God’s Prescription For A Healthy Heart (Colossians 3:1-17)
Introduction
We continue in Colossians. We’re in the second half of the book, which follows Paul’s typical order in his letters. The first half of the letter regularly focuses on our identity – that is, who we are in Christ. The second half focuses on what that new identity in Christ means for our everyday walk.
Last week, we heard the call:
English Standard Version Chapter 2
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith…
In light of all that Christ has accomplished for us and who he is as Savior and Lord, in light of who we are in him, walk in him.
Walk in him in a rooted way, stable like a healthy oak tree. Walk in him like a strong and well-made and long-lasting building kind of way. Walk in him having been established, rooted, built up in the faith.
Why? Because of verse 8: Walk carefully because there is a risk for every Christian of being taken captive by worldviews that are not founded on Christ, that lead our hearts to believe that Christ is not enough. That leads our hearts to seek another or to seek another way.
Paul cares a great deal about our sanctification – that is, how we walk in this world, because the Gospel of Jesus declares our victory over sin in the past, for the present, and the future. Jesus came to set us free from our sin and to daily renew us in the image we were created in.
Now, the text today is going to give a special emphasis to the forming of healthy hearts. Paul mentions our hearts three times.
Why does a healthy heart matter so much? Because everything you do comes from your heart. It is your inner man. Some have called the heart your “wanter.” Jesus said, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. But not just your mouth, your whole body. From the heart comes everything you do. Everything we do, we do because our heart wants something.
While our hearts were born bent towards sin, we’ll see that they are renewable and formable by God’s grace.
Paul teaches us that the ongoing embrace of the Gospel ofJesus is the prescription for a healthy heart. The Gospel calls us to:
Believe, behold, be formed. Say it with me. Believe. Behold. Be Formed.
Believe that your identity has radically changed in Christ
Behold Christ instead of the world
Be Formed In The Image of Christ
Let’s take those three points in order.
1) Believe That Your Identity Has Radically Changed In Christ
The battle against sin and the renewal of your heart starts with a deepening belief that Christ has changed us at the core. Our desires have changed. We were made new.
Look back at verse 11:
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
Identity statement number 1: You are circumcised by Christ, having put off the body of flesh.
Circumcision was a cutting off of a piece of flesh to symbolize Israel’s identify as the holy people of God. But Paul brings this whole practice into Christ’s domain, and shows it’s meaning and purpose as fulfilled in Christ. When we put our faith in Jesus, the Spirit of God completes a radical surgery on us, one that changes our desires, our identity, our hearts. This phrase “by putting off the body of flesh” doesn’t demote our bodies to being less important but rather redeems our bodies to become useful according to God’s design. So Christ has transformed us through his work into a holy people, a people who from the heart give our bodies for good works rather than to our sinful desires.
Verse 12 gives us another identity statement: “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
Identity statement number 2: You died with Christ and were raised with him through faith.
Symbolized in baptism, oh I love baptism, was the death of the old man and desires as it goes down into the water, and the resurrection of a new man being formed into the image of Jesus as it comes up out of the water washed and new.
Your transformation is so radical, the removal of the flesh so complete, that it should look as if the old self died and came back to life a new man in the image of Jesus. One song says, “Oh everything changed, it’s getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don’t walk like I used to, I don’t talk like I used to. I’ve been washed from the inside. Hallelujah, I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood” (The Blood, Bethel & David Funk).
Through faith, this is exactly what has happened to us. We are called elsewhere a new creation.
Look at another in verse 13:
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Identity statement number 3: God has forgiven you and set you free of your sins that once enslaved you.
These identity statements declare our victory in Christ over sin and the renewal of our hearts.
Our sin is what killed us. Our sin is what made us uncircumcised and cut off from God. Our sin left us with a record of debt before God. Our sin gave authority to the devil and his workers over us. Nevertheless, we wanted our sin. We were dead in our sin and ignorant to the reality that it was killing us.
But through repentance and faith in Jesus, we are no longer defined by our sin and unholiness and separation from God. We forgiven and set free. Christ has triumphed over our sin and Satan. But that triumph not only delivered us from our sin and declared righteous, but even more, made us alive in Christ. This means that we are new! Our hearts renewed. Our desires changed. We are no longer dead and slaves to sin, but now alive to God for good works.
The beginning of sanctification is a heart transformation, that we who were dead are made alive in Christ. No matter hard we fought to reach God and overcome sin on our own, it was not possible without him. The world will never stop offering you ideas that promises reconciliation with God and power over sin, but Paul says in verse 23 that they are empty of power: “they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” No man-made religion or philosophy can do it, but only Christ.
The sin battle, then, requires first that we believe the Good News of what God has done for us at a heart level, that we believe the good news that we have a new identity no longer defined by our sin.
But what do we do when we believe this is true, but the sin battle is still raging?
Well you need to meditate and read your Bible more, fast and pray more, pursue more spiritual experiences. You need to eat a certain way, study the trending Christian book… you need to know your personality better, get a therapist, get involved in more service, give more, do more, be more.
Sadly, this is what we often imagine to be the prescription for change. We are no different than the Colossians who were prone to grasp for a rulebook, or for some secret knowledge. We do this even with good things, means of grace like Scripture reading often becomes another thing to do to be enough, to overcome.
But Paul shows us that as we started with Christ, we must continue to look to Christ. This leads to point 2.
2) Behold Christ Instead Of The World
That’s what Paul unpacks in 3:1:
English Standard Version Chapter 3
3 If [or since] then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Again, Paul starts with our identity. You have been raised with Christ. Also in verse 3: Your old man is dead, and your new life is “hidden with Christ in God”. This is who you are.
I love that phrase “Hidden with Christ in God”. Your life is inseparably tied up in God. This is what it means to be alive in Christ.
What then? Since this is true, seek the things that are above. Why above? Because Christ is there.
If your life is tied up in Christ, but he is seated at the right hand of God and you are seated in the world and still have a body that was trained by the sinful nature for many years, then you must seek him. If he is your everything, he is the only one worthy of beholding.
Verse 4 drives this home: When Christ who is your life appears, when he comes back, then you also will appear with him in glory. This is like a baby who depends on his momma’s milk. The momma is that baby’s life, so to speak. So she looks for and watches and waits on her mother to come near. So it is with us. Christ is our life. So we ought to look for him, focus on him, behold him, wait on him like he is our greatest hope in the world. Paul declares that when he comes, we will appear with him in glory.
Church, we live between the first and second coming of Jesus. This time in God’s redemptive story is often called the already, not yet. Paul says in Ephesians that we are ALREADY seated with Christ in the heavenly places, but we are NOT YET with him. We still live here and await his return.
This calls for ongoing faith. We looked to him for salvation and we must keep on looking to him for our salvation.
So Paul says, seek Christ. Seek the things above, not the things on earth.
What you seek is informed by your heart. It is based in your desires. I like how the NIV translates this word: “set your hearts on things above. What does your heart want? Humans don’t look for things that they are uninterested in. That’s how we work. But Christians, we who believe that Christ is our true life, seek him. We set our hearts on him and his kingdom.
Set your hearts on Christ. And Paul adds in verse 2, “set your minds on Christ.” That is think on him. Meditate on him and who you are in him. Brothers and sisters, reading and meditating on Scripture or reading Christian books is good for you. I want you to do all of those things more. But the end goal must be to see more of Jesus. It has to be a pursuit of him. It’s not an end in itself.
How do you practically set your hearts and set your minds on Jesus as we live not above but below.
I do not believe that means that you shouldn’t think about the world, your family, good food, beautiful nature, or other things grounded in this world. But rather, I believe the emphasis is on what is first. These things cannot be ultimate. These things will pass away. They all make bad gods. They are just idols that cannot satisfy.
In verse 5, Paul gives a list of things that he considers “earthly”. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness…which is idolatry.
Don’t seek these things. Don’t let your mind fixate on these things. It is idol worship.
All sin is idol worship, the worship of created things rather than the Creator. But it’s all empty just like statues because it is empty of the true God who is your true life.
Seeking man’s approval in this world, seeking a utopia in this world, amassing wealth in this world all make bad gods.
Even the good things in this world: good sexual pleasure, good affirmation from others, good food and drink and comfort, good sports or games, good order, these are just little tastes of the goodness of God, but they are meant to lead us to God.
But because of our old sin nature, which was trained not to look for God and set our minds on God, love to turn these things into gods.
Which is why, we must set our hearts and minds on Jesus. Even in these good things. Paul says down in verse 17: “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Everything in his name is a life bound up in Jesus, a life centered on Jesus.
Seeking him above all else requires a practical decision. It requires a decision to set your minds on Christ in everything. Whether you are eating or working or playing, where is Christ in this? Am I seeking him or this thing as my good? If you set your heart and mind on money, your entire soul and body will be prepared to do whatever it takes to get money. But if you set your heart and mind on Christ, even the making of money can become a means of getting more of Jesus.
So walking in Christ demands a careful thought life, a diligent and proactive fight to set our minds on Christ first rather than this world first.
If Christ is our life, than this temporary world cannot contain what we ultimately need. Jesus and his kingdom alone is worth seeking with all of our hearts. Brothers and sisters, set your hearts and minds on Christ not this world.
What are you looking for? What does your eye long to find? If it’s not Jesus first, it will be something in this world, something rooted in the flesh, our sinful desires.
This leads to the last point.
3) Be Formed In The Image of Christ
As you set your hearts and minds on Christ, as you behold him even in your daily living rather than the world, you will be formed in Christ.
Look at verse 5:
English Standard Version Chapter 3
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Verse 9-10 is the key here: 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Christian, we used to walk in these ways, when we were enslaved to our sins, but in Christ you “have put off the old self with its practices” and you have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the image of God.
Believe in what has already been done for you. Behold Christ instead of the world, and as you do you will be know what God is like and begin to look like him.
But notice that this is not a passive process, even as setting your hearts and minds on Jesus is not passive. There is other action necessary in the sanctification process.
“Put to death” and “put away” what is earthly, that is, what does not align with Christ and who you are in him. “Put off” and “put on”.
Because of who you are and who you are becoming, get out your knife and slay everything that is a counterfeit joy. Kill it. Put sin to death. Put sin away like its a dangerous poison on your skin. Put sin off like its a moldy and smelly outfit. Why? Because sin will kill you.
Look at verse 6:
6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
First off, the wages of sin is death. The first death is separation from God. This is God’s merciful way of saying, if you choose sin, you get cut off from the fountain of all good and abundance. But there is a second death coming, which the book of Revelation shows as the full pouring out of God’s wrath, with a punishment depicted as a lake of fire, where the devil, his angels, and all who follow him, will suffer forever and ever.
Glory is coming for all who are in Christ. But darkness and gloom and death for all who choose idols of this earth. So put that to death or it will kill you.
A healthy heart in Jesus must not allow anger and bitterness to fester. It doesn’t allow dishonesty and cutting or inappropriate speech. Before Christ, we set our minds on these things, we allowed our hearts to do whatever felt right. But now, in Christ, we take control of our hearts.
We tell our kids all the time, you are the boss of your heart. You have to rule over it and tell it what to desire.
Look at verse 12:
Verse 12: 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 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.
Again, it looks like putting off and putting on.
So then, what does putting on the new self look like?
It looks like beholding Christ and what he is like until your hearts our changed and begin telling you that it is best to walk like Jesus.
Let me unpack this.
Setting your minds on Christ is a call to behold him. When you behold him you will find in him these characteristics: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, longsuffering with others, quick to forgive. You find love, which binds all of this together. You will find peace. Thankfulness.
What Paul is calling us to is to behold Jesus and become the one we see. As he forgives, you forgive. As he is full of peace, let peace rule your heart. As he is full of love, love one another. As he is full of humility and meekness, walk in humility and meekness.
In Galatians, Paul calls these traits the fruit of the Spirit. There are two paths, walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. Walking in the flesh is to choose your own path, to live according to your desires. But to walk in the Spirit is to choose to walk as Christ walked, to love what he loves, hate what he hates, and do all in his name in order to please him, whether word or deed.
So the prescription God gives us is not special rules, or religious practice, it’s not worldly labels or identity statements, whether male, female, pastor, doctor, pro-athlete, actor, Jew, rich or poor. None of that matters. What matters is that you have embraced Christ through faith and that you keep your eyes fixed on him. Who is he? What does he love? Now, Lord, help me to put away the old man separated from him and put on the new man who is united to him by the Spirit.
Finally, Paul gives two very practical ways for the Christian to believe, behold, and be formed in the image of Jesus. The Word of God and Christian worship and fellowship.
First, verse 16: 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
How do we know what Jesus is like? Through his Word. We set our minds on him by letting his Word dwell in us richly.
That is, we meditate on it day and night. We study it. We memorize it. We hide it in our hearts so that we know him and what pleases him. That requires that we take time with God’s Word. We choose to say no to worldly pleasures and comforts sometimes in order to invest in this process of taking God’s Word into us.
Second, in addition to personal investment of time and money and energy of taking God’s Word into our hearts, we do this primarily in Christian community to that same end. The church is given by God to you for both output and input. Input: for your deepening knowledge of who God is through the ministry of others. Through teaching and admonishing work of others, through singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to you and with others…
Output: likewise, you participate in this process of teaching and admonishing, singing and worshiping in thanksgiving to God.
As we do, our hearts are filled with the knowledge of God. Our hearts are filled with the Word of God. We get to know Christ and his character through one another’s action both in Word and deed.
Not only through others ministry of the Word but through deed. Because you are Christ’s body, you are the hands and feet of Jesus. Actions of love and service to others, as we’ve said before, is an expression, a manifestation of Jesus to one another.
This is why it is so important that we live out verse 17 in our community and in the world, that everything we do is in the name of Jesus.
Everything we do, word or deed, done in his name. He must be at the center of our speaking and our actions. Seeking the one who is above doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy this earth, but that you understand the why behind this earth, the why behind marriage and family, the why behind sexual pleasure, the why behind food and entertainment, and money and power.
Sanctification for the Christian requires the ongoing process of Believing, Beholding, and Being Formed. 1) Believing that your identity has radically changed in Christ 2) Beholding Christ instead of the world 3) Being Formed In The Image of Christ. As we behold our Jesus, identifying the things that are not like him, putting them off and putting on what is like him. Little by little as we do that, our hearts our renewed to align with our identity as saints of light in God. As our hearts our renewed and redeemed, made healthy in Christ, we will find our behavior aligning with Christ’s more and more and more, so that you become unrecognizable to others.
Let’s pray to that end.