What does it mean to be a Christian?

Today Frode, Juliejean, (Hazel) and Robert are all choosing to be baptised. But what is it they are choosing? Well, they’re choosing to follow Jesus Christ. They are saying publicly I belong to Jesus.

But what does that mean? What does it mean to follow Christ? What does it mean to be a Christian?

I think if you ask most Norwegians today if they are Christian they would say yes. By which they mean they’re not Muslim or Hindu, they have some sense of a God, and they think church is a good idea and Jesus’ moral teachings were pretty good. But the Bible says that’s not a Christian. The devil believes those things!

It’s not just about going to church either. You can go to church for many years and still not be a Christian. You can say all the right things, do all the right things, be a good person – but still not be a Christian.

So, what is a Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian?
Well, being a Christian means, firstly

1. Being perfect, like Jesus – every day.
We cannot know God, unless we are perfect.
Oh. But I’m not.

2. Recognising my sin, so I need Jesus’ grace – every day.

Wow! Thank God for grace and forgiveness! Yes, but it’s not cheap grace. We are called to obey.

3. Fighting my sin, in Jesus’ power – every day.

1. A Christian is to be perfect, like Jesus, every day

Now you might think, hang on, isn’t Christianity about being a bit better, trying hard, being nice?
Unfortunately, many “churches” have ended up presenting a “Christianity” like that – even here in Norway.

But that’s not what the Bible says. Listen to Jesus’ words:

Mt 5:48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Let me read that again. Og på norsk: Vær da fullkomne, slik deres himmelske Far er fullkommen.
Seriously? Oh yes. This is in the middle of the sermon of the Mount, where Jesus commands his followers to love their enemies, to be faithful to your wife – even in your mind: a lustful thought is the same as adultery. Woah. He says you must never worry, because that means you’re not trusting God. Never break a promise. And on and on. Be perfect, like God Himself.

These aren’t suggestions! These are commands. This is what you must do to enter the kingdom of God.

So often we try to soften Jesus words - to make them reachable if we just make a big effort.
But that’s the point. We can’t do it. We have fallen short of God’s glorious standards. Even the best of us. Even in our best moments. We’re not perfect like God.
That’s the mistake the Pharisees made (the bad guys in the gospels - the religious leaders who ended up killing Jesus). They were trying to reach heaven by their own efforts. They thought “perfect” meant “good enough”. It doesn’t. It means perfect.

Leviticus (3. Mos) 19:2 The LORD … said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

This is echoed again and again throughout the Law. And the apostle Peter picks this up in the New Testament:
1 Pe 1:14–16 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

The Apostle Paul says the same thing in Rom 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. In the original Greek the verse literally says being holy is the only sensible or smart thing to do. In other words, not being holy is DUMB!

Hopefully by this stage you’re thinking “Uh-oh, I’m in trouble”. Because that is exactly the response we’re supposed to have. Meeting God is not “Hey buddy, how’s it goin’”. It’s “oh my goodness I’m going to die”.
Remember the prophet Isaiah’s reaction when he saw God: Woe is me! I’m doomed. I’m finished. For I am a sinful man, and I have seen God.
And the Apostle Peter when he realised that Jesus was God said “Get away from me Lord, I am a sinful man.”

Perhaps if apostles and prophets are reacting like that... maybe we should too? Fall on our faces before God. Get away from me Lord. I’m not good enough.

God’s goodness is a fierce goodness. He’s described as an all-consuming fire. The Temple has layers upon layers around it – not to protect God from the people, but to protect people from God! To come to God imperfect is to die.

But hang on. Isaiah wasn’t perfect – but he wasn’t killed. His sin was wiped away and he served God. And Peter too. In fact, none of the so-called “heroes” of the Bible are perfect! Adam disobeyed, Noah got drunk, Abraham slept with his wife’s slave girl, David stole his friend’s wife and then arranged his murder to cover it up, Moses was a murderer – and said no to God! And the list goes on. Gideon was a coward, Samson was a sex maniac, Jacob was a cheat, Joseph was boastful and arrogant. So what’s going on? Is God telling lies? Does he actually just want us to try our best?

No. Judgement Day will not like school today where “everyone gets a prize”. Only the winners win. Only those who deserve.

As Romans 2 points out Ro 2:5–6 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done.

Ok, but how did David and Abraham and all the other imperfect people – how did they know God.

Here’s the magic. Here’s what makes Christianity unique amongst all religions and worldviews: grace. Grace. God’s undeserved favour. Nåde. Ufortjent velsignelser.

When we come to God, realising we fall short of his standard – he responds in mercy. That is why Jesus came. He swaps places with us. He gives us his perfection. He takes our imperfection, our sin.
Instead of being judged by what WE have done, we are judged by what CHRIST JESUS has done! It’s a swap. (Vi har byttet ut vår synd, vår gjerninger med Jesu gjerninger, Jesu godhet!)

That is how a Christian can be perfect. Not in myself. But in Christ.

A Christian is to be perfect, like Christ, every day.

And we do that by:

2. A Christian needs to remember he is a sinner, needing Jesus’ grace (forgiveness), every day.

This is the key. We do not come to God in our own strength. But we come in weakness. Help.

Jesus told a story to illustrate this. It’s found in Luke 18:10–14 if you want to follow along in your Bibles.
“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee (the religious, good person, top of society), and the other was a despised tax collector (traitor, “Quisling”, bad person, bottom of society).
11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’
14 I tell you, this sinner, not the (good) Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The Pharisees eyes were on – himself. He trusted himself to save himself. Good luck.
But the tax collector, Oh he knew he had no chance! His eyes were on God. His trust was in God to save him. And the message of the gospel is that Jesus saves sinners who trust in him.

We come in weakness, we come in humility. This is the way of the Christian life. This is what following Jesus looks like.

I have been thinking recently about the weakness of Christianity. In many ways its stupid religion with stupid message. There’s a big holy God, and he going to strike us down – well we all feel guilt, so far so good. But because he loved us so much he came himself to die on a cross for us. What? And we don’t have to do stuff, offer sacrifices, etc. to earn our salvation. It’s all done. What? It’s just. Weird. It’s weak. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. Drop your sword. You can’t force people to become Christians because then it’s not real. And our God is hanging naked on a cross, broken, bloodied. It is a very weak message.

But it keeps spreading. Remarkable. Under terrible opposition. Over 60 million people have died rather than give up their Christian faith. 60 million martyrs. And that was 10 years ago. The number is higher now. They roll over and die. And yet this weak church is unstoppable. Unkillable.

I heard recently that the first missionaries arrived in Japan in 1549. Huge numbers turned to Christ. The Emperor got worried and banned Christianity under pain of death. Huge numbers killed because they refused to renounce Jesus. 300 years later missionaries are finally allowed back in. And they find… Christians. And now the church is growing. Slowly. But growing.
We were at a Christian convention this summer and at the prayer meeting a brother was going to share what God was doing in his country. Which country was that? North Korea.

Christians sin. The church gets corrupted, and makes a huge mess. Governments crush the church. Enemies inside and out. And yet it endures. It carries on. It grows. The church keeps growing. In the quiet, in the dark. Under pressure. Under threat, It GROWS. All over the world. Almost as if some unseen power is guiding it, protecting it, keeping it.

In its weakness the church is unstoppable. Because in our weakness we see the power of God.

There is no other explanation for the church, it is only God. I cannot explain why Frode, Juliejean, Hazel and Robert are standing here today. Except by the power of God. In their weakness, he has been strong, changing them to be more and more like Jesus. They are living miracles!

Christianity is not about huge monuments and displays of power and doing GREAT THINGS FOR GOD. It is coming before Him in humility each day, saying I can’t. I’m not strong enough – will you be my power, will you be my strength, will you be my righteousness today, Lord Jesus.

We come as we are. We start by admitting our sin, turning away from our sin (repentance), and turning to God. And we continue, by admitting our sin, repenting, and believing.

Every day we need to remember “I am a sinner before God” – and turn to Jesus in our weakness, saying forgive me. And then we remember that in Jesus we are declared perfect. We are given his perfection.

And because we belong to Christ, we want to obey him, we want to love him. And so we fight.

3. Fighting my sin, in Jesus’ power – every day.

Because we come as we are. But God does not leave us as we are. He changes us.

2 Co 5:17–18 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

This is the work of regeneration: of changing a sinner into a righteous person. God declares us righteous and then starts making us righteous. It is a work that will only be completed after we die – when we see him face to face we will be transformed in the blink of an eye. But until then each day we become more like Jesus. (Sometimes one step forward, two steps back). But he is at work in us.

Eph 4:24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

1 Cor 1:2 I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people.
He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

We fight sin, we obey, we are regenerated, not by being strong. Not by trying really hard like some spiritual superman. No. We continue how we started. By admitting our sin. By admitting that we are weak. In humility. And by throwing yourself onto Jesus and his strength and his power. We are holy only through Jesus Christ. So every day we put on our new nature – we decide to act like children of God.

There’s an old Sunday school song which goes: Trust and obey, trust and obey, there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Faith and repentance. It’s how we start. It’s how we continue. It’s how we end. And one day, we will see him face to face. One day his work in us will be finished, just as he promised. The last bits of the old sinful man will be burned away, and we will rise like a phoenix from the ashes – new, perfect, like Jesus.
As CS Lewis once said – if we could see ourselves as we will be – in all our glory - we would fall down in worship. That is what Christ has done for us. This is why we are being baptised. This is why we fight our sin. Because we are loved by Him. And we love Him in return. And we will be with Him. Perhaps today.

Are you ready?

Come as you are. And be transformed.

The problem of hypocrisy. Are Christians two-faced?

Hypocrisy means being two faced. Pretending to be something you’re not.

Now when I originally thought about this topic, I thought of it from the point of view of an outsider. A non-Christian saying “You Christians are such hypocrites. You pretend to be good but you’re not. You say you’re full of love but you’re just judgmental arrogant bigots. And anyway, my aunt was a Christian and was always criticising us and telling us off.”

Now those are real issues and we’ll deal with them in a bit.

But I think the real problem for us here in this room is not that other people think that we are hypocrites – but that we think it.

Ever had this thought “I’m not good enough to be a Christian.”
Or “I keep sinning. I’m not a real Christian. I’m just a hypocrite!”
“I’m giving up. I can’t do this Christian thing any more. It’s too hard.”
“People are looking at me to show them Jesus. I can’t do that. I’d better stop telling people I’m a Christian.”

If we’re honest, I think we’ve all had these or similar thoughts.

And those thoughts show one thing. We don’t understand the basics of our faith! We don’t understand the gospel!

This is the gospel:

1. You are a sinner.

2. Jesus Christ came to save sinners (not good/righteous people).

3. In Christ you are declared righteous.

4. By Christ’s power, now live like a righteous person

We often jump to the fourth point: live like a righteous person – before points 2 and 3 Jesus Christ came to save sinners and If you are in Christ you are declared righteous. (and we leave out “by Christ’s power)
If we could do it ourselves, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come. And he wouldn’t have given us His Spirit!

Right, so this morning we’re going to look at the gospel.

1. I am a sinner

2. In Christ, I am righteous

3. By Christ, I am regenerated

1. I am a sinner.

(Can look these up & keep your finger there because we’ll go back three times)
Eph 2:1-3 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil...3 All of us used to live that way, following...our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Rom 3:10-12 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”
Gen 6:5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

If you are feeling like a failure this morning. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by sin. If you’re feeling like a “bad” Christian. If you are upset because you just can’t beat sin.
Good! That means the Spirit is at work in you. John 16:8 Jesus says the work of the Spirit is to convict us of sin, of righteousness available only through Jesus, and the coming judgement.

No non-Christian is bothered by sin. In fact, that’s the worst thing about becoming a Christian: realising you’re a sinner. And if you’re a new Christian – it doesn’t get any better! The Holy Spirit keeps revealing layer after layer of sin in our lives. Ugh.
That’s the Holy Spirit’s first job: convicting us of our sin.

So if that’s how you are feeling. Good! He is at work.

The first step in becoming a Christian and staying a Christian is admitting that you are a sinner, a rebel against God.

How do we know we’re becoming aware of our sin and admitting it? Our reactions to OTHER people’s sin starts to change. As we realise what sinful, well really, evil, selfish, people we are – we start to see other people as sinners who need Jesus. Rather than people to dominate. We get angry less often. Our anger is not so big. We might respond with a kind word instead of a hurtful one. Instead of standing up and punching someone, or swearing at them in the car, or writing a vicious email, we say ah, it doesn’t matter. I forgive them.
We start to think about other people’s needs a bit more. Maybe I can help my wife here. Or I’ll just do that for them, without expecting payback. Because that’s how Jesus is treating me.
This is called humility. Humility is not beating ourselves up saying oh I’m useless. In fact, humility is not inward-looking at all – it looks out, with Jesus’ eyes. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves, less.
The mark of a true Christian is humility.

It’s seen in loads of small changes which we might not notice which all adds up to one big sign: the Spirit is at work. Something’s changing in here.

And you know what. We often don’t see it. But other people do.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your sin – ask people what they see in you. Ask people here. We’re small enough that I know most of you fairly well. Ask me if I’ve seen changes in you.

We also miss the changes that are happening if we’re battling the BIG SIN in our lives. It’s all we see – so we miss the grace of God at work in other areas!

So, the problem of hypocrisy is defeated by admitting that we are sinners. We’re not hypocrites, pretending to be good. That’s the whole point. We’re not good. We need a saviour. We are sinners. I am a sinner.

So if someone says “You’re not good enough to be a Christian”: Agree with them! (And you can add “neither are you. That’s why Jesus came”).
Or if you get caught in a sin – apologise, make right, and explain this is why you’re so grateful for the grace of Jesus.
By the way, this is great for disciplining your kids. As a child you get caught in sin all the time! And it’s depressing. Why do I do this, Dad? Well, you’re a sinner. Rebel against God. You want to be God. Isn’t it great that Jesus came for people like us? Isn’t it great that we don’t have to pretend that we’re good (and try and make excuses for all the bad things we do) – but can admit we’re bad? I am a sinner. Praise the Lord for Jesus.

Because in Christ Jesus, a sinner like me, and you, can say

2. In Christ, I am righteous

Eph 2:4–5 We were dead in our sins...But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Rom 3:21-22 No-one is righteous...But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him... 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Gen 6:8 Everything we thought or imagined was only evil...But Noah found favour with the LORD.

God looked at this world full of sin. He looked at us shaking our little fists in his face, turning our back on him, putting crowns on our head and walking around pretending to be God. I’m God and I’m going to do what I want. He looked at us – and he loved us.
Whaat? He had compassion on us, loved us enough to shrink himself down, leave behind his glory and majesty and be born as a baby. Born right into our filthy world.
And not because we are loveable (or “worth it”) or our hearts reached out to him – we’re dead in our sins, whoever heard of dead people doing anything? - but because of His great love, of His great worth. Praise Jesus! We are sinners, yes, but we are forgiven sinners. And this is not because of anything WE have done but because of what HE has done.

Quick – what do you need to DO to become a Christian?
Go to church? Give money? Be good? No, Jesus isn’t Santa Claus (Julenissen).
Santa is Moralism. If you’re good, you get rewards. If you’re bad you get nothing (or punished).
Jesus is Grace. If you’re bad, you get rewards. (If you think you’re good, you get nothing, because you won’t turn to Jesus).

What do you need to do to become a Christian? Nothing. Nothing. NOOOOOOOTHING!
Accept what is given, and be happy.

It’s all done! As someone has said all other religions and worldviews say “do”. DO! Fast during Ramadan. Say prayers. Do good works. Be a decent human. Offer sacrifices to the gods. Be good.
But Jesus says Done. His arms stretched out on the cross, the lashes of the whip across his back, the nails driven through his hands and feet, he says done. Like a huge cosmic magnifying glass, all the sins of the world, your sin, my sin, sins in the future, sins in the past, all of it gathered from all of time and space and focussed on that one man on that one day on a hill outside Jerusalem. “It is finished” he said, as he breathed his last. Done.
His life given in exchange for yours. His righteousness swapped for your sinfulness. In Christ, you are perfect. In Christ, God does not see your sin – it is not counted against you. That’s why we can pray. Read the Bible. That’s why his Spirit can live in us and change us. If we weren’t perfect we wouldn’t even get near heaven’s gates with our prayers. But in Christ we’re right in the throne room, right on our Father’s lap. Hi Daddy, I’m here to talk to you.

That’s what Christ has done.

So if you’re feeling oh so down about your sin. Well, yes it’s right to feel like that – but don’t forget the other side. I am a sinner. But I am righteous. Rejoice! Oh, I am a sinner. But what JOY! I am forgiven.

What love!

This room is full of sinners. And praise God! The church is not a place for those who want to come and shine their halo, and have God bask in their glory – God coming down off his throne and saying oooh, well done. If you’re here thinking you’re better than everyone else – well, I’ve got news for you. Jesus met people like you. They were called the Pharisees. And they were hypocrites. Because they didn’t think they were sinners. They thought they were better than everyone else. And so they were always judging everyone, condemning everyone, waving the big finger around. And they killed Jesus. They claimed to love God – and killed Him! That’s hypocritical! So, if you’re trusting in your own efforts to impress God instead of the cross of Christ you’re a hypocritical Pharisee! If you think you’re not a sinner or if you think you don’t need forgiveness, or if the Cross doesn’t fill you with JOY. You’re a hypocritical Pharisee.

We who know we are sinners. We know the value of the Cross. Without the Cross, we are lost. Without Jesus, we are lost.

Thank you, Jesus that you came!

Maybe you’re sitting there thinking “I don’t know Jesus”. Well, no time like the present. Ask him. Remember, you don’t need to do anything to “get ready”. There is no “do”. Jesus says “done”. And so we can come just as we are. Come as you are is our tagline and is an outworking of the gospel.
In fact, Pray now. If you know Him, use this opportunity to thank him and praise him for his grace. Thank him that you are righteous because of the Cross. If not, pray this prayer after me. Dear Jesus. I am a sinner. I’ve ignored you. I’ve pretended I didn’t need you. I’ve done wrong things and made excuses. Take me as I am. I need your forgiveness. I need your grace. Amen.

I am a sinner.
In Christ, I am righteous.

3. I am regenerated by Christ.

Now this is I think where the problem of hypocrisy comes in. Because, you know, Christians ARE different. We are changed. We do become better. The Spirit works in us.
And so there is a right expectation that Christians will be different.
And in fact, we must be. If there’s no change in a person’s life, they’re not a Christian. Jesus said you will know them by their fruit.
If they’re arrogant, and refuse to admit their sin – that’s a BIG sign that they’re not a Christian but a Pharisee. They are hypocrites, and give a bad name to Christians everywhere. Because they call themselves Christians but aren’t actually Christians. So your aunt who was so horrible – maybe she wasn’t actually a Christian. There are many who call themselves Christians but aren’t, especially in this country. They’re trying to save themselves, and they end up bitter and angry and judgemental and depressed.
But you, brothers and sister. Fight your sin. Rejoice in the Cross. Let the Spirit change you!

Because we come as we are. But God does not leave us as we are. He changes us.

Ephesians: We were dead in our sins...But Eph 2:8–10 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Romans: No-one is righteous...But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him Ro 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

2 Co 5:17–18 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

This is the work of regeneration: of changing a sinner into a righteous person. God declares us righteous and then starts making us righteous. It is a work that will only be completed after we die – when we see him face to face we will be transformed in the blink of an eye. But until then each day we become more like Jesus. (Sometimes one step forward, two steps back). But he is at work in us.

And we are regenerated not by being strong. Not by trying really hard like some spiritual superman. No. We continue how we started. By admitting our sin. By admitting that we are weak. In humility. And by throwing yourself onto Jesus and his strength and his power.

How does this work in practice? Well, let me give you an example from my life. Anyone who’s seen my wife will know that I like beautiful women. Actually, I like women. That’s why I married one. I’m attracted to women. I am designed to be attracted to a woman. And I’m designed to have sex with a woman. That’s my wife, Debby. But I’m a sinner, and so my sexual urges, like yours, are messed up. And I could quite easily want to have sex with a woman who is not my wife.
Now the Pharisee in me says “I would never do that, I am too good.” The Christian in me says “don’t be a fool. I am a sinner. I recognise my weakness. I recognise that my heart is deceitful – I think up lies, excuses to cover my sin. I could easily fall into this trap. What makes me think that *I* could succeed where so many others have fallen.” So I pray. Lord, help me not to fall into temptation.
And I take action. I don’t put myself into situations where I could be tempted. I’m not home alone with a woman. I’m not in my office with a closed door with a woman, Etc. Not that anything WILL happen. But I don’t trust myself.
I have seen a good friend fall in adultery – and it happened so slowly little bit by little bit, excuse after excuse – until he was having an affair, cheating on his wife, something he swore he would never do.
I am a sinner. And so are you.
Living as a Christian is NOT pretending you’re superhuman or better than everyone else. Living as a Christian is realising you are a rotten sinner who will lie to yourself and to everyone around you in order to sin and to cover up that sin. Don’t trust yourself. Trust Christ!

I hope you are encouraged this morning. I hope you can answer the charge of hypocrisy not with being angry and defending yourself or other Christians who’ve done things wrong – but say yes, we are sinners. What they did was wrong. They need to repent. Turn to God and ask forgiveness. And make things right. But because they messed up doesn’t mean they’re not Christian. Christian’s are sinners like everyone else. We’re not better people. We’re just forgiven people. And you can be too. We’re messed up people in a messed up world. But Christianity isn’t about saying c’mon everyone forward march, get things right. But by saying there is hope. And that hope is in the Cross of Christ.

Psalm 1: True Happiness

Psalm 1

Imagine if I told you there was a way to be truly happy. A guaranteed method to experience joy!
Do you want to be happy? I do! To be happy, full of joy, at peace. What a delight.

Well, that’s what we find in today’s passage. The path of true happiness.

Happiness is difficult to get, isn’t it? Buying things promises happiness – fast cars, big houses, good food – but they rust or need painting or give us indigestion, and it’s gone. Experiences promise happiness but they disappoint or all too soon they are over.
People, people can make us happy! But they are sinners like us and will let us down - especially if you burden them with the impossible burden of making you happy all the time.

Happiness comes when you’re not looking for it. You cannot demand happiness, buy happiness, force happiness. Because happiness is a by-product of unselfishness. Only when we stop trying to make everything and everyone make us happy does happiness sneak up on us! Why? We were designed to be happy! That’s where our need comes from. It is God-given. The source of our happiness is not found within ourselves but in Him or reflections of Him. God is our happiness.

V1 Oh the joys of those… v2who delight in the law of God. The words translated “joy” in v1 is the word eh-sher, often translated Blessed or happy. In the Hebrew it literally says Blessed, Happy is the man... who delights in the law of God”.
And the “law” of God is Jewish shorthand for the holy Scriptures: the inspired (breathed-out) word of God.

So: you want to be happy? Delight yourself in the word of God!

Now this morning we’re looking at the first “Psalm”. The word Psalm is a Latin translation of the Hebrew “Tehillim” which means “song of praise”. Psalms are songs or poems, yes, but they are more than that: They are inspired songs. Inspired means words that God has breathed out and caused to be written. These are his written words.

Let’s turn to Psalm 1 and find out how we can be happy!

1. Happy is the man who turns away from sin and throws himself into God’s word

Ps 1:1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.

The first key to happiness is… repentance. Repentance: turning away from what is wrong or evil, and turning towards what is good and right.

Do not listen to the wicked, to what they say is true and right. Because out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if they are against God, their words, their “wisdom” is anti-God. It pulls us away from God.

Just think about some of the things we’ve been learning recently, and what the world says in contrast.

The Lord says “Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. The world says “Love money, money brings happiness”. God says “be generous, all you have is a gift”, the world says “grab all you can, because you only live once. It’s yours! You deserve it!”
Jesus says “Do not worry about anything, what you will eat, what you will wear – seek first the kingdom”. But we seek first our own kingdom, and live in fear, trying to protect ourselves from everything that could go wrong.
Jesus says “Go into all the world and make disciples”. The world says “Faith is private and shouldn’t be shared.”
Jesus says “I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except through me”. The world says “there is no such things as absolute truth – and that’s absolutely true!

The “advice of the wicked” is all around us. It infects us. It’s in the songs that we listen to on the radio, in our movies, books, articles, in our conversation. How do we not fall into just doing what the wicked advise?
By counter-acting it with delighting in the law of God. The more we fill our minds with His words, the less we will be fooled by the words of the world. When we know the genuine, the true, we will not be fooled by the counterfeit, the false.

And the battle starts here – in our minds. Rom 12:2 says Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may know what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We start by transforming our mind – absorbing the mind of God as we study his thoughts, and we will start to think more like God, seeing his will, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Let me read v1 of Psalm 1 again, Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.

Do you see the progression there: from following advice, to standing with sinners, to joining in with the mockers. We move from listening to wickedness, to approving of (standing with) wickedness, to joining in with those who mock God with their words or lives or actions.
And it’s easy. None of us ever sets out to sin, do we? But infected by worldly wisdom, we think “that sounds like a good idea – look at them, they look happy” and then in we go. Think about Eve and the forbidden fruit: listened to the advice of the serpent, stood listening to the serpent instead of leaving, and then joined in – mocking God’s word – “you know nothing, God!”.
And we’ve never stopped falling into the same trap as Eve!

If you’re battling with some sin, the first place you need to start is with your mind. You need to replace the lie with Truth. You need to delight in God’s word. If you’re struggling with greed – meditate on 1 Timothy 6. If you’re struggling with sexual temptation, meditate on 1 Corinthians 7. If you’re struggling with revenge or bitterness or anger or hate – read Galatians 5:19-22 The fruits of the Spirit. Or read the praise Psalms and simply rejoice in our great God. If your mind is filled with Him and His glory – everything else seems to fade away.

The first step in the path to happiness is repentance: turning away from what is evil, and turning towards what is good.

I’m sure many of you have heard the parable, supposedly told by an American Indian chief, of the two dogs inside? One dog represents the sinful or worldy man versus the other dog: the Spiritual man. And they are in a battle, a fight to the death. When asked which dog would win, the chief replies “The one I feed the most”.

There is much truth in that, and gets at what these two verses in psalm 1 are saying. Feed your soul, Christian! Delight in the words of God. Fill your mind with Him.

So what do we do with this?
Impossible application from this is to avoid going to church and Bible study, or to be lacklustre about it “I’ll go if I feel like it, I’ll go if nothing better comes up”. And to have an “oh, must I” attitude towards reading the Bible. The impossible application as a Christian is to resist God’s word. To be annoyed when he says no to things that you don’t want to do.

The true application is to delight in God and his word. To be filled with joy when we read his word or hear them preached. To love obeying him. To see that obedience brings life and joy and happiness. To really believe that happiness comes from obeying the Lord.

Possible application: Go to church and bible study. Make it number 1 priority – not the last thing you do, the first thing. No, it’s not a law. But it is weird if you don’t. Set aside time every day to read the Bible and pray. It’s not a law. But it is odd if the Bible says the man of God delights in the law of the Lord and we can’t even be bothered to read it.

So delight in the Lord and in his word. We know him. We love him. He loves us! That is deep joy.

Happy is the man who turns away from sin and throws himself into God’s word.

2. The man who delights in God’s word will prosper

3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. 4 But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.

So many of us struggle in our lives. Often we feel like our lives are empty, purposeless. What are we actually here for? Our lives feel like worthless chaff - the bits of the wheat plant that can’t be used and at harvest time is just flung up in the air for the wind to blow away.

Well, if that’s how you’re feeling, maybe it’s because you don’t actually know the Lord? It is warning to you to get right with him.
Or maybe we do know him but we’ve stopped delighting in his word? Maybe we’ve stopped meeting with his people or reading his word – or I know what it says but I’m disobeying?

How often in my life have I felt uneasy, angry, snapping at Debby or the kids (or both) – feeling unsettled, without purpose. And I think “what’s wrong with me?”. And then I think – when was the last time I spent some quality time alone with the Lord? Sat down and read His word, not for a Bible study or a sermon, but just sat down with Him and prayed and listened to Him.

Because when we delight in His Word we are rooted. Life flows through us. Like a tree planted by a riverbank we give out life. We draw from His deep reserves of joy and generosity and truth and love. And we start to reflect Him.

Isn’t that the type of people we want to be?

Christian and Johanna are a great example of this delighting in God’s word leading to being like a tree planted by streams of living water. As they have put the Lord first, as they have thrown themselves into ministry, as they have made Bible reading and church and Bible study their number one priority, wow, have they grown! And their joy in the Lord radiates out from them, and is shared with us, with their neighbours, with their job colleagues.

Do you want to be like them? Then delight in the word of the Lord.

They’re not the only ones. Many of you have experienced the same thing. Many of you have said that this church has changed your life. And that’s right, that’s what church should do. Because church should be a bunch of people together delighting in God’s word. His word is our life! As Jesus says “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4 quoting Deut 8:3).

Psalm 119, the biggest Psalm in the Bible, has, in almost every one of its 176 verses, the “word of the Lord”. The word of God is central to the life of God’s people. Our God is a God who speaks!

Much of the weakness, lack of power and error in today’s Christianity can be traced back to one thing – our attitude towards the “law of God” the words spoken by God once for all time. We substitute with music and emotion, with “prophecies” new words from God which are more acceptable to us, or we fill it with ritual and religion – anything to avoid reading and thinking about what God has really said. Or we just go full liberal and completely ignore his word and overturn what he has said.

Much of the weakness, lack of power, and error in our own lives can be traced back to one thing: how we view God’s word written here for us in the Bible. Do I avoid his word in my life?

And just in case you’re thinking but it’s just a book, that God threw a book at us and said read that and then left… no, His Spirit is here with us, and when we open the Bible those words come alive with the Spirit’s power. As we obey blessings flow out. Is that not true? Have we not all experienced that? As we obey, take that scary first step – in that moment we are suddenly aware that the Spirit has been alongside us all the time, and as we obey we see!

Delight in the law of the Lord. Embrace his word. And be not like chaff - blown by the wind – but like a tree of life deeply rooted in Christ’s life-giving waters.

Happy is the man who turns away from sin and throws himself into God’s word. Happy is he, because the man who delights in God’s word will prosper, deeply rooted, full of joy.

3. Happy is the man who knows the Lord, for he will be saved

5 [The wicked] will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. 6 For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

It is a serious business with eternal consequences. The godly, the one who delights in the word of God, and avoids sinning - that person, they are the one who will not be condemned at the time of judgement.

So don’t fail. Because if you fail to delight in the Lord, if you fail to meditate on his word day and night. If you fail to bear fruit every season and prosper in all that you do – you will be condemned. Worthless, like chaff, scattered in the wind. Do not fail!
Sinners will have no place among the godly. The path of the wicked leads to destruction.

Let’s pray.

Almighty God, your word is clear. If we fail to delight in you, we will have no place among the godly. Please Lord, help us not to fail, because we don’t want to go to Hell. Amen

>>> Sit down

But wait a minute! I don’t delight in the Lord day and night. And, unless I’m very much mistaken, you don’t either. My life is not lived in complete obedience to Him. And neither is yours.
And if that’s the case, then we have a problem. Because according to Psalm 1, that means that we are the wicked!

This was a problem the Psalms understood. There is this tension throughout the book between knowing what the man of God should be and do – and the knowledge that, however hard we try we fall short.

A quick search of the book of Psalms for the word transgressions or sins gives 192 verses: and scanning through them we see how the Lord hates sin, the realisation that we sin, and therefore our only hope is confess our sin the Lord Ps32:5 I said “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord” – and amazingly the Lord has mercy. 32:5 continues And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

Now to the Psalmists this was a mystery. How could God forgive those who continually fall short? How could God bless those who did not delight in the law of the Lord? How could he treat us, the wicked, as if we were the righteous?

I want you now to read Psalm 1 again. This time recognizing that we are the wicked; who then is the righteous one? Who is the Psalmist describing?
....

Who did only what his Father willed? Who brought life wherever he went? Who prospered even amongst his enemies? Whose path did the Lord watch over, even unto death and beyond? Who did not advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers, but instead delighted in the law of the Lord?
Jesus. Jesus is the great hero of Psalm 1. And he is the answer to the Psalmists puzzle: How can God treat the wicked as the righteous?

The answer is through the great swap on the Cross, where Jesus took your wickedness and my wickedness upon himself, and walked the path of destruction, the path to hell that we deserved. And he gave us his perfection, his righteousness, his delight in the Lord. Given to us.

So we can say we are blessed. Blessed beyond belief! We have a new heart, new desires. We suddenly WANT to listen to God’s word. We WANT to be with his people. We WANT to be with Him. Just like Jesus because His Spirit lives within us.

That’s why someone who claims to be a Christian but doesn’t delight in God’s word – disobeys it, ignores it, is never in church or studying the Bible, someone who says “I know, but…” whenever confronted with the word of God – are they really a Christian? If you’re in Christ you become like him.

So if you’ve found yourself drifting away from the Word, being ho-hum about church, trying to ignore God. Whatever the reason: repent, turn around, away from wickedness, and embrace the forgiveness that is your in Christ Jesus.

And then, in joy, remember that His Spirit is within you and start living like it: taking delight in the law of the Lord. Rejoicing that this God whom we serve, this holy, powerful, pure, perfect God – has made a way for people like us to know him and enjoy him forever.

Because the wicked may be destined for destruction, but the forgiven are destined for Eternal Joy. A celebration of our God, a festival of delights, never-ending. That’s what we were built for, and, in Christ, that is our future. Put your roots down into that glorious truth, and spread the joy of knowing God.

Happy is the man who repents, knowing that he is forgiven in Christ, and so delights in the word of the Lord. For he is in Christ, and His Holy Spirit is a river of life in him.

Let’s pray (properly this time!)

Lord, we repent of disregarding your word. Help us to delight in you. Help us to put church and Bible study first, help us to set aside time to be with you each day, help us to obey you in everything, however hard or costly that might be. Thank you for your forgiveness.
Thank you Jesus for not stumbling, for delighting in your Word, and for giving us your Spirit that we may too delight in your Word. Thank you for taking our wickedness, so that we who were chaff can now say “The Lord watches over my path”. Oh how we bless your Name!

Exodus 1-20 overview: The God who rescues

Exodus 1-20

An Australian preacher called David Cook tells the story of the time he invited a friend of his who was very legalistic, very religious - thought you could earn salvation by obeying God and by being good – he invited him to a talk on the ten commandments. The next day David asked his friend what he thought and his friend said “you know what really struck me: you said 2 comes before 3” “What?” thought David “that’s what he got out of it? 2 comes before 3? What a useless....” But he’s right and it’s a deep insight. Look at chapter 20. 2 comes before 3

2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

3 “You must not have any other god but me.

Rescue before law. Salvation before obedience.

God does not save the Israelites because they were good obedient religious people. He saved them while they were disobedient slaves – and then called them to obedience. Obedience is the result of salvation, not the cause.

And if we get that the wrong way round we do not believe the gospel, but man-made or Satanic religion. You cannot please God through obedience but only through his sovereign grace. 2 comes before 3.

That is why Jesus came to seek and to save the lost – as we’ve been reading in Luke’s gospel. He came for sinners, not religious performing monkeys. Praise the Lord.

We’ve learned a lot from Exodus these past few months, but this morning I want to zero in on the central themes of Exodus and particularly what they reveal about the God whom we serve.
God’s sovereign power to save.
God’s sovereign power to judge.
God’s sovereign demand over our lives.

And we see illustrated in the great works and miraculous signs of Exodus the greater work, the greater miracle, the greater rescue in Jesus.

1. God’s sovereign power to save

Exodus opens with the Israelites very quickly in trouble. A new king comes to power, sees the Israelites as a threat, and decides to enslave them and to kill all the baby boys.

The Israelites are in trouble. And so in 2:23–25 [T]he Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.

And we go yay! It’s kind of like the moment in Die Hard when Bruce Willis’ character, John McClane, now has a machine gun. Ho.Ho.Ho. The turning point. The advantage has swung to the hero. Or in the recent men’s 50km at the World Cup in Sweden when Petter Northug was in fourth place – and then suddenly starts his sprint.

Something’s going to happen. Something magnificent. God knew it was time to act.

Actually, we lose a little bit in the translation. Because the original Hebrew just says “God saw the people of Israel... and God knew”

God saw. And God knew. And it’s just another indication of the character of God. He does not watch from a distance. Like in Genesis 16 when the Lord “sees” Hagar, whom Abraham and Sarah had just terribly abused. In her suffering – the Lord sees her, and knows her situation and meets her. He is the God who sees. The God who knows.

It is one of the great mysteries of our faith that we find revealed in the Bible a God who knows us. A God who shares our pain and suffering. A God who became human in order to save us.

John 1:14 So the Word became human and made his home among us.

Luke 1:35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.

Our Lord Jesus laid aside his majesty, was born as a baby, in order to live as one of us, to be the Son of Man as well as God’s Son, so that he could rescue us. He heard our cries as we groaned under our slavery to sin, with our king, Satan, the devil, seeking to kill us and destroy us. And he saw. And he knew.

You see, Exodus, for all its displays of power: plagues, pillars of fire, the sea rising up and parting – all of that is just a shadow, a mere shadow, of the reality of Jesus Christ and his saving work. That is where we really see God’s power to save. The Exodus is just a picture of that.
Want to know if Jesus can save? Look at what he does in Exodus, as he leads his people out – the angel of the Lord in the pillar of fire.
Want to know if Jesus can sustain us, provide for us? Look at how he provides for his people in the wilderness. Manna from heaven – every day for forty years, without fail. Water from the Rock, miraculously given at the right time.
Want to know if Jesus can protect us? Look at the waves crashing down on the Egyptian army as His people go through the same waters safely. Look at the ring of fire protecting the people from their enemy. See them arrive safely at Mount Sinai, just as He promised Moses.

God has sovereign power to save!

But wait there’s more. Because his salvation plan starts before we are even aware that we need saving. That’s how in control he is! The people cry out to God at the end of chapter 2 “Please save us”. But look at the beginning of chapter 2, and what do we see? Ex 2:1 About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months.
Before the people even cry out to God their saviour has already been born. Moses was the chosen saviour, kept miraculously safe through, ironically, Pharaoh’s own daughter. The plan to save was already in motion even before the people cried out to God. 2 Ti 1:9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
Rom 5:8 (NIV) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God saw our helpless situation. God knew us. And he set his plan in motion planned from before time even began: to save sinners like you and me. He himself would be the miraculous saviour. He himself would take the judgement we deserve upon his shoulders. He would face darkness and death and go through it.

The first thing we see in Exodus is God’s sovereign power to save. He decided out of his own great love, to rescue us. He is our saviour.

But the second thing we see in Exodus is God’s sovereign power to judge.

2. God’s sovereign power to judge

Ex 7:4-5 [The Lord says:] ...Pharaoh will refuse to listen to [me]. So I will bring down my fist on Egypt. Then I will rescue my forces—my people, the Israelites—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. 5 When I raise my powerful hand and bring out the Israelites, the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

Ex 7:17 So this is what the LORD says: “I will show you that I am the LORD.” Look! I will strike the water of the Nile with this staff in my hand, and the river will turn to blood.

Ex 8:22 But this time I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live. No flies will be found there. Then you will know that I am the LORD and that I am present even in the heart of your land.

God is the judge of the world. He made us. He owns us. And his judgement on our sin is therefore right. His judgement, however, is not without a purpose: then you will know that I am the Lord. I am Yahweh.

We are made to glorify God. That is our purpose. All of creation calls out “glory to God, glory to God”. Look up at the stars on a clear night and you can almost hear the Milky Way, millions of stars crying out “glory to God”. You drive through Telemark and see the beauty around you crying out “glory to God”.

But we? We rebel against God. We ignore God. We don’t want to give God glory but to glorify ourselves. I am the great I am. I am number one in my life. I am all that matters.

Ex 10:1–2 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Return to Pharaoh and make your demands again. I have made him and his officials stubborn so I can display my miraculous signs among them. 2 I’ve also done it so you can tell your children and grandchildren about how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and about the signs I displayed among them—and so you will know that I am the LORD.”

Ex 12:12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!

Ex 14:18 When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the LORD!”

Ex 20:2 “I am the LORD your God...You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.

To set ourselves up in opposition to God is foolishness indeed. Pharaoh did – and the Lord took his rebellion seriously. Time had run out for him: the Lord, horrifyingly, said you will now not repent, you will be stubborn and you will face my judgement. There is no way out. And what a judgement he faced!

Opposing God = FAIL! But that’s what I do every time I disobey his commands. Every time I look at his word and think, naah, I disagree. Every time I ignore him and dishonour him. Our attitude is like that of Boromir of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings. When Boromir finds out that the King is in front of him, the heir to the throne of Gondor, he says “Gondor has no King. Gondor needs no King”.
Is that not the attitude of so many around us? Is that not the default attitude of our own hearts? Oh what fools we are when we, like Pharaoh, fancy ourselves as equals to the Almighty God.

For one day all of us will know that HE is the Lord, and not me. A pastor in the US called Mark Driscoll said that we need to understand 2 things: 1. There is a God. 2. You are not Him.

Funny, but very very true. 20:3 I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.

You see, the Lord God will be glorified whether we like it or not. He will either be glorified in salvation and joyful obedience – or he will be glorified as he destroys those who rebel against him. Israel – saved, brought out by His mighty arm – glory to God. Egypt – in rebellion, refusing to acknowledge God – who is this God – instead turning to other gods, worthless idols which cannot speak and have no power. Judged. Destruction, darkness, and finally death covered the whole land of Egypt.

It is a stark picture and a sober warning to us here in Norway, thousands of years later. Learn from the Egyptians. Their voices cry out to us across the ages – do not rebel like we did. For one day, suddenly, God’s judgement will fall and there will be no chance of repentance. Suddenly you will stand before the Holy God whether through your death or the return of Jesus, and he will open up the book of your life and what will it say? Perfect obedience to God? Honoured him with every breath? No. It will say “sinner”. Rebel. Imperfect. Unholy. And you will be cast out into the outer darkness where, Jesus says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Yes, it is meant to be scary! It is meant to make us afraid. It is meant to make us act! To seek God. To cry out for mercy. Yes God is sovereign to judge, but he is also sovereign to save, and if he can save people like the Israelites, if he can save a failure like Moses – a murderer, a coward, running away and hiding in the desert – well, there is hope that he can save you and me is there not? So if you haven’t asked him, fall to your knees and plead with him to have mercy on you. And so on that Final Day when the judgement falls “sinner, OUT!” – suddenly Jesus will step forward and say wait, not thi one, his sins are covered by my blood, the price has bdeen paid, I have taken his life and he gets my life. And the gates will open to Eternal Life. Will Jesus step forward for you? Do you know him? If not, ask him now. If you need help to pray Christian will be at the back of the room. Go to him and he will help you pray and ask Jesus to save you.

I’m now going to spend some time talking to the Christians. Those of us who have been saved – 2 comes before 3, salvation before obedience. But, 3 does follow 2 – obedience follows salvation, and so I want to end off by challenging us with

3. God’s sovereign demand over our lives

20:1 Then God gave the people all these instructions (commands).

In chapter 3 God calls Moses to be the rescuer of his people. Moses says no. God says oh yes you will. Moses belongs to God. Ex 3:14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

6:6 “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the LORD. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.

Now there is a great comfort in belonging to God, in being saved by him – but there is also a great demand there. To belong to God means that you belong. To God. All of me, all that I am, my thoughts, my actions, my reputation, my future, my money, my family, my time – belong to you O Lord. Of course, everyone belongs to him anyway – we’ve just stopped pretending that we don’t. We know that we belong to him.

So, if you belong to him, then live like it. Make decisions in the light of the fact that you belong to him. The Israelites have been a crushing disappointment haven’t they? Moaning and groaning, longing to go back to slavery in Egypt – what is wrong with them? And so they pierced themselves with many unnecessary sorrows. Why?

Brothers how often do we do the same thing – deliberately do what is wrong when we know it is wrong and suffer the consequences. Or take so long to do what is right. Even simple things like find a church, find a place to live near the church, then find a job near where you live – so simple. Priorities right: spiritual food, a place to serve God’s people, people who will encourage you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. That’s what we NEED. But no we panic and we seek a job first, yes I’ve got that, then we find a nice house because we need that and then we thing Oh, oh dear, I need to find a church. Oh that one will do. And we suffer the consequences because we’re not thinking Christianly about these things. Who do you think provides “your” job, provides “your” salary? Is it not the Lord? Of course it is. He is sovereign over us. He is our Father. So trust him. Risk obeying him. It is glorious when you do and dull when you don’t.

What does Jesus say “seek first the Kingdom, and all these other things will be added”.

Oh Lord, expand my vision of you to fill my mind. I am so stupid when I make decisions, so blind, so hard-hearted. Lord, be my wisdom, be my faith, because I just can’t seem to trust you. I need to pray that kind of prayer more, and, I’m sure, so do you.

The Israelites were in the desert for goodness sake. There is nothing there but rocks and dust. You are in serious trouble if you’re there with no food or water (or a car to get you out of there. The desert can KILL you. And they were about two million people, plus herds etc. Panic, panic. But the Lord knew. The Lord saw. The Lord is sovereign. And so for forty years the Lord provided food and water sustained the people. Shouldn’t this be a lesson to us. Oh, that was then we say, as if that excuses our lack of faith now. Same God. Same ability to provide. And Jesus said “don’t worry about what you will eat or wear but seek first the Kingdom” and “your Heavenly Father knows you need these things”

Time to wrestle yousrself to the ground and say “Time to repent, time to change. Confess your sins, plead with the Lord to help, and then trust that his Spirit is at work in you – and He is – and then make deliberate decisions to change the way you live.”

And remember as you do this that you do this as a beloved child of God because 2 salvation, comes before 3 obedience. Praise God that he is sovereign to save, sovereign to judge, and sovereign over us.

Colossians 3:12-17 Do everything in the name of Jesus

Colossians 3:12-17

What does it mean to be a Christian? What does belonging to Christ actually mean?

Aslaug Marie is being baptised today. What does that mean? She’s saying “I belong to Jesus”, publically. What does that mean for her? Does that mean she’s got to start dressing like an 18^th century woman, carrying a big Bible, and start scowling at everyone whenever they break the “rules”. Well, if she does, I think the Apostle Paul might have a few words of correction for her!

Because today’s passage is quite a useful answer to exactly that question. What does it mean to be a Christian? How are we to live as “Christians”? What does it look like?

We’re going to use v12 as our guide: Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

1. Since God chose you

2. To be holy

3. You must clothe yourselves

1. Since God chose you

Remember I told you a few weeks ago to look out for the joining words like “therefore”, “so”, “because”… and “since”. Because these build on ideas already explained. That’s why chapter 3 is chapter 3 and not chapter 1. Otherwise we might think that being a Christian is all about being good!

Paul begins the letter not by saying “behave” but by pointing out the truth: 1:6 they heard the Good News about Jesus, they understood it, they accepted it, and it changed their lives. 1:6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

He then prays that they will have the strength they need to live in the way that honours God. 9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. And 11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. See, it’s not something that we generate ourselves. We cannot obey God. We need his power. It is his Spirit who enables us to live as Christian people. Only through Christ and thought his Spirit can we live lives pleasing to God. Everything else is a waste.

And that’s why Paul can say (with a straight face) at the end of v11 May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. Religious people are generally quite unhappy, trying to please God all the time by their own efforts. Feeling either guilty – or superior. But Chrsitians are filled with joy – look what Christ has done! I’m forgiven. I’m set free. Christ loves me. What grace!

We are saved by grace. 3:12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves

It is from God. Not from us. Aslaug Marie is not being baptised today because of her efforts, but because of Christ’s mercy.
Of course, she made the effort to think, to investigate, to get up early and come to church, to listen, to pray – but she would never have done that if the Spirit of Christ was not at work in her. 4 years ago she was as anti-Christian as you could get. It annoyed her that Debby was a Christian. She thought Christianity was rubbish and was actively hostile, and, in her experience, there were good reasons for it. She had met the “church”, but had never met Christ. And, in his mercy, Christ met her and changed her completely, totally, from the inside out. That’s what we celebrate in baptism. God chose her, chose us who belong to Christ, to be holy, the people he loves.

Isn’t that amazing? Wooohoo!

And no matter what happens, nothing can change our status as beloved, holy people of God. Because it is God’s action, God’s initiative. Our sins are covered, past present and future. Paid for on the cross. 1:13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

We live in the Kingdom of Jesus. We have been moved from darkness to light. And because Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, supreme over all creation. Because he holds all of creation together. Because he is the head of the church. Because he defeated the evil spirits, triumphing over the cross, and they now have no authority over us. Because of all this, we are secure. Do not be afraid. His grip is strong. His grip is secure. Trust yourself to him.

So even if we are attacked and thrown out of our homes for our faith. Even if we and our children are beheaded and crucified and mutilated and murdered – we are not afraid, for we belong to Christ. What is this body, what is this life, compared to the glory to come? As Billy Sunday apparently said when confronted by two Mafia hitmen who told him that he’d better stop preaching, otherwise they would kill him – “Sirs, are you really threatening me with Heaven?”

We are secure, no matter what this life may throw at us. Since God chose you. We are secure, even though we are weak and full of sin, because He is strong and full of mercy.

2. …to be holy

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves

We’re not just saved from sins, but saved for godliness. It is a swap. Christ takes our sinful life, and we receive his perfect life, lived in praise of God the Father.

Grace is given to us for a reason. We are to be holy. We are to be like Christ.

12 clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.

Who does that sound like?

Jesus. Jesus is tender-hearted, full of mercy – he went to the Cross for his enemies, full of kindness, humility – he did not consider this rescue mission beneath him, but went willingly, shrunk himself down to a human being, and suffered death, even death on a cross. That is humility. “He laid aside his majesty, gave up everything – for me? – suffered at the hands of those he had created.”

Jesus is gentle, and endlessly patient. Three years he taught the disciples and yet they were still “so dull” and understood very little. Yet He did not abandon them. He had chosen them, they were his – and, as we’re reading about in Acts, they changed the world.

13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

That’s Jesus. Be like Jesus. I am amazed at how good this church has been so far at this. Forgiving each other. Oh, we’ve offended each other many times, but each time forgiveness is freely offered. It’s brilliant. So I thank you for making allowance for my faults, for freely forgiving, as we have been forgiven. Let us hold short accounts with each other, being open and honest with each other, being quick to forgive, and stressing that we love each other14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.

This church is getting a reputation for harmony. We are being known for how we look after each other. And that is a good thing. Because our focus isn’t on “how do we look the best to outsiders” – because that never works. But as we focus on Christ. As we are consumed by his goodness and mercy to us. As we are stunned by our own sinfulness – and then overawed by his grace in forgiving us – what joy it is to forgive others. What joy to serve each other. What joy to genuinely love each other.

I am so excited today with Aslaug Marie and with Sara. What joy we have. This is our family! It’s brilliant!

So, since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, we clothe ourselves with Christ.

3:10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

3. You must clothe yourselves

So, how do you become like Christ? Put on your new nature, v10 says. Clothe yourselves, v12 says. V13 says make allowance. V14 clothe yourselves. V15 let peace rule. Be thankful. V16 teach and counsel each other. These are all action words.

But I thought Christianity was all about grace? Let go and let God, and all that?

It is. But grace is not dead, but living. Faith is active and is seen. The gospel “changes lives” we read in chapter 1. And someone who says they are a Christian but has no changed life… probably isn’t.

So, what’s the difference then between living faith and dead religion? Aren’t they the same? Isn’t it just a bunch of rules to follow? Don’t lie, be nice, don’t argue with each other.

Well, what does the Bible say? What does Colossians say? This was dealt with in chapter 2, remember? Col 2:23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
Religion leads away from God.

Why? Why would a very decent person, highly disciplined – a good person not be acceptable to God. I know plenty of “good” people who aren’t Christian. Why aren’t their good deeds acceptable to God? Why does Colossians say that they, basically, belong to the devil?
Why does God say that?

Because he cares. As long as we think that we are good enough without God, we cannot be saved. As long as we trust in our own righteousness, our own goodness – we will not accept the righteousness of Christ. Your goodness might come through being a decent person, or following the rules of your religion – maybe Islam, or Hinduism, or New Age, or even churchianity (that’s Christianity without Christ- when you go to church and behave like a Christian without knowing Christ and accepting HIS righteousness).

You see, our goodness is not good enough. God’s goal with us is to prepare us for the glories of Heaven, to be shining like stars with the very goodness of God – NOT to be in an eternal “Polite Society Tea Party”, or the “Slightly Better than Everyone Else” group, wearing uncomfortable clothes with starchy collars and pretending that we all want to be there and plastering a false smile on our face and pretending to be interested in everyone else – but actually really thinking “when can I leave and do what I want”. That’s how many people in the West, here in Norway, do “Christianity”. A big show of good behaviour – but it is all for nothing. Because you know what you can’t fake? Love. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
Genuine love – being willing to sacrifice yourself, your own interests and desires and time and energy for other people with no reward – that’s love. And that you can’t fake. That has to be given to you. That has to bubble out of you. And that’s why liberal churches grow smaller and smaller and angrier and angrier, and why churches that have lost their grip on the gospel and are filled with unrepentant sinners pretending to be good people and are full of bitter arguments and fighting that has gone on for decades and are split right down the middle.

By this will all men know that you are my disciples: that you love one another. Said Jesus

It is the mark of a Christian. Love. Particularly love for our brothers and sisters. Which is why v12-17 has such a feeling of community, of family about it. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

We’re meant to live well together. We’re meant to look after each other, to love each other. We’re meant to teach each other the gospel. We’ll be reminded of that today during the baptism and dedication. Together we take responsibility for Sara and for Aslaug Marie. They are our sisters in Christ.
We are to live in such a way that the message about Christ lives in us – we are display windows for the gospel. We are the shop windows for the gospel – people look at us, look at the way we treat each other. Christianity is not just a Sunday event. Look at v17: 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Everything we do. Everything we say. We do and say bearing the name of Jesus. We represent him. If the ambassador from South Africa says “Boo, Norway sucks!”, what happens? It’s a diplomatic issue between South Africa and Norway because the ambassador represents his country, South Africa. It’s not just about him. He represents his country.

We represent Christ. We have been given the job as his ambassadors. And he has given us his Spirit so that we can do the job.

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with Christ.

In summary, Since God chose you – salvation is God’s business, God’s action. So if you do not belong to Christ, you must pray to God and ask Him to work in your heart and to change you. Only he can save you.
And if you do belong to Christ, then know that you are secure. That nothing can separate you from Christ’s love. Not ever.

…to be the holy people he loves – we are chosen to be HOLY. That is, to be like Christ. Again, this is not something we can do, but is a gift from God. His Spirit changes us from the inside out.

…you must clothe yourselves with [Christ] Faith is active. So if we say we believe something, then we act like it. His love overflows out of us. And so we love our Christian family, like Christ loved us.

We are chosen, to be holy, like Christ.

Colossians 3:1-17 Anger, war, malicious behaviour, lying...and Christ.

Colossians 3:1-17

One of the best days in my Granddad’s life was the day he was dismissed from the British Army after World War 2. No more marching. No more fighting. No more war. No more standing to attention. No more of the Sergeant shouting and screaming and yelling at them. Free. He was free.
Walking away after he was dismissed, he saw his sergeant approaching. Immediately his arms went straight at his sides, his chest went out, his whole posture stiffened and changed as he went to attention and his hand was ready to salute.
And then he remembered. “I’m free”.
And all the attention went out of his body, his hands went in his pockets, and he whistled a happy tune. The sergeant was furious, his face turning bright red, looking like he was about to burst – but his rage was powerless. He had no authority.

How often do we stiffen to attention and salute and obey the old sinful nature within us? How often do we forget that we are free, and keep living the old way? We live like we’re in the Army, instead of living as free men.

Brothers and sisters, live as free men and women. Live as those who have been set free by Christ. Why go back to the old way of living? Why listen to the world, your own sinful desires, and the devil? Why allow yourself to be ruled by the old nature?

We have died to that old life. It no longer rules over us: it is dead. We are alive to Christ. As we see in this passage, death is the pathway to life. And only when we understand that, can we start to live like Christ.

1. Death leads to life

2. Live for Christ: anger does not rule you

3. Live for Christ: be like him (Put on the new nature)

1. Death leads to life

3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. 5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you

Christian, you are dead. So live like it! You are dead to the old life, alive to the new, the new life of Christ. You have been raised to life like Jesus, perfect, holy, full of love and compassion and righteousness. You are now tender-hearted, kind, humble, gentle, patient, forgiving, loving, at peace (v12-15). That is who we are in Christ. That is what we were made to be. Imagine a society like that!! That is what the new creation will be like one day. We will, all of us, be like Jesus.

So let us lift up our eyes to heaven. Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

And if we are looking up to heaven, our vision filled with Christ, then we will see our sin as the dirty enemy it truly is. In the presence of Christ Almighty do you want your mind to be full of lust? In Him, can you lie? With Him by your side can you be full of rage?

5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.

Last week we dealt with these verses. If you weren’t here, download it listen to it, particularly if you struggle with sexual sin. In other words: all of us! No matter what your sexual sin, your sexual struggle, you are not judged here. You are welcome here. There are things in our past we are ashamed of, just like you. But you know what. We have been declared holy and blameless. Our sins have been confessed and forgiven. We have made right and asked for forgiveness where we have had to make right and ask for forgiveness.

God does not call the holy, but the broken. That is why Jesus came. You cannot deal with your sin. But he can, and has.
So if you are a sexual sinner, you are welcome here. Actually, let me correct that: you are a sexual sinner, and you are welcome here. You are among friends. And we urge you, turn to Christ – he is the only one who can wash away your sins, set you free from addiction to your bodily urges. Only he is a better vision.

There is no room for sexual sin in the Christian, so put it to death. There is no room for greed in the Christian, so strip it off. Greed says “I’m worshipping something else. I’m looking to this thing to satisfy me” – instead of looking to Christ. Strip it off, put it to death. And if that means you close your eyes during the adverts and avoid the shopping mall and stop looking on finn.no then good for you. Do whatever you need to do to get rid of greed in your life. That goes for food too. We probably all of us here eat too much and exercise too little. I know I do. Greedy little piggy. Look to Christ, not to food to satisfy.

We must put to death these things, brothers and sisters, because they belong to the old life – and we have died to that old life. We must not go back under the authority of the Sergeant, standing to attention, obeying his every whim. We are free! Let’s live as free men. No sexual sin, no impurity, no lust, no evil desires, no greed for we have found what is real, what truly satisfies.

Let Christ rule your sex life, you thoughts and actions. Let him fill your needs and lead you away from greed. We have died to that old life, and live for Christ. Death leads to life.

2. Live for Christ: anger does not rule you

7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behaviour, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

Paul now changes the picture from death/life to clothing: stripping off and putting on. Rip off the old life, put on the new life of Christ. And part of what belongs to the old life is anger and rage. Rage. That fury which bubbles underneath the surface in all of us, just looking for an excuse to come out.

We have a problem with anger, rage and malicious behaviour. These come so naturally, so easily to us.

My children regularly disagree. “I say Kaleb, would you mind terribly giving back that toy that you just took from my hand.” “Certainly, just as soon as you stop driving it into my foot and messing up my game.” “Oh, I am so sorry, I do apologise”. Is not how things normally go. Things escalate rapidly: Stop it! No, YOU stop it. Give it back! Not if you don’t stop it! No! Yes! Give it! Nyahh, nyahh! Graaaaaah! AAAAAAAHHH! And enraged they fly at each other grabbing and hitting and kicking.

Now what’s remarkable about that picture is that we’ve never taught them that. We’ve never sat them down and said “Now, first you yell and scream, then you go red in the face, then you insult him, and then you hit her there, and...” No, we say the opposite time and time again. But blind rage comes so easily to us. Revenge. Maliciousness – because they deserve it. Kids fighting over toys is one thing, and we shake our heads and go “huh, kids” – but we adults do the same, and it becomes deadly serious. Hamas shoots rockets at Israel, and Israel hits back. Both sides enraged by the other, until the actions and reactions leave thousands dead and thousands more wounded. In Mosul Muslim warriors are enraged at the “blasphemy” of Christians and Shia Muslims, and run rampage through the town murdering anyone who stands in their way, and justifying it through selected suras in the Khoran. Our anger is the just anger of Allah they say, while holding up the heads of innocents.
How is this possible? How can ordinary men and women be so easily converted into murderous lunatics, so full of rage and anger against their fellow humans?
The Nazis managed to turn ordinary Germans into murderers. They would be sitting down to a pleasant meal with their family only a few hours after savagely beating, stripping, and gassing Jews.
And here we have our own Anders Bering Breivik, so enraged by the policies of the Arbeiderpartiet that he plans and executes the cold-blooded murder of children and teenagers – and to this day thinks his actions are justified, in fact, good, instead of monstrously evil.

There is something wrong deep within us.

And I say “us” because we are just the same. The same anger, the same rage burns in us, just in more socially acceptable ways. The guys cuts us off on the road, and we fly into a rage. At work, we complain about our colleagues or our boss behind their back, all the while presenting a fake smile to them. And then we mistreat those under our authority. Maybe we take out our anger on them, using cutting words – slander, malicious behaviour, lies. Whatever it takes to build us up and to tear them down.

Now this might sound way too extreme. Seriously, you’re comparing me snapping angrily at a bad driver to..to murder? Really? Well, let’s take us out of a situation where irrational anger is frowned upon and socially unacceptable and put us in a group baying for blood in front of someone we intensely dislike. The crowd is shouting, egging us on – glory awaits in giving in to our anger, our hate – and if we don’t we will be an outcast, disloyal to the cause, shunned perhaps even beaten or killed. You still think you wouldn’t give in to your rage? You still think you’re so peaceful?

In 1994 the country of Rwanda exploded into bloodshed as ordinary people turned on their neighbours and murdered them because they were of a different tribe. Doctors let patients die, teachers murdered their students… over half a million people died in less than 100 days.

What is wrong with us? It’s sin. The root of this anger, this rage that flares up so quickly, is idolatry. Idolatry of self. “I believe I am God” is the root problem. That is what sin is: replacing God with something else (most often me). And when people do not do, say, or believe what I do, say or believe. How dare you disagree with me? How dare you get in my way? How dare you have a different opinion? Feel my wrath.

Someone once said “What would happen if you put a weapon in the hand of a two-year old in a temper tantrum?”.

7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behaviour, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

Strip off the anger, put on the new man. As the words are about to flood out, pray! Say, Lord, I hate this person right now, please help me to love them, please help me to see them with your eyes.

Strip off the old. Put on the new.

3. Live for Christ: be like him (Put on the new nature)

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. 12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

CS Lewis once described Christianity as a renovation of a house. He compares our lives to a run-down house in need of repairs. At the beginning, you can see him fixing up the roof, and replacing windows and fixing the pipes – all good things, and you feel better. But then he starts tearing down walls, and digging new foundations, and putting up a whole new wing over there, and lifting the roof off to put a new floor – and it’s painful! It hurts. It’s HARD! You see, you thought you were just going to be a nice little garden cottage – but Jesus is transforming you into a palace. Why? Because it’s his house, and he’s the King.

Being a little bit better is insulting to the King. We are not called to be slightly nicer than everybody else. That’s religion. That’s a self-help program. That’s a waste of time – chapter 2 told us that. Christianity is a program of perfection, of pure holiness. It is utterly extreme in its demands. We are not called to be better. We are called to be exactly. Like. Jesus.

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

A while ago there were little bangles that really popular with WWJD on them: “What would Jesus do”. They were a little bit silly, I suppose, but they really got to the heart of this truth: that we are to be like Christ in everything we do. Look at v17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
In everything we do. We are not to be like each other, or like this church group or that type of Christian. But we are to be like Christ. He is the standard, he is the goal. Because one day we will be with him, in his very presence. His holiness burns like the noonday sun, his righteousness a blazing fire. And anyone who is not perfect will be destroyed in his presence. Remember the Temple in the Old Testament, how no-one could go in to God except the High Priest and even he had to first be made holy through lots of sacrifices and elaborate rituals. How not even Moses could see God’s face without being destroyed? How Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark of God’s Covenant as it was about to fall off the wagon it was on – and was struck down dead because he was unholy and the Ark was holy?

We will be in the presence of the Living God, in his terrifying holiness! And we will be seated on his lap, our Abba, our Daddy, because he who began the good work in us will complete it. We will be made holy. We are declared holy. We are being made holy. Be like Christ.

We have died to our old life, and now live for Christ. Our new life is Christ’s life, and we are being made like him. That is our goal, our destiny. That is the Holy Spirit’s work within us.

So, no more sexual immorality, but love. No lust, but kindness. Not evil desires and malicious behaviour, but mercy and gentleness. Not anger and rage but patience, harmony, and forgiveness. Not greed, but thankfulness.

What would Jesus do? Well, often we know exactly what Jesus would do. My Dad wore the bangle he said to ask not what would Jesus do, but what will Jack do?
This week, before you act, before you speak, ask yourself what would Christ say? What would Christ do? And then do that.

Colossians 3:5-17 Kill and live

Colossians 3:5-17

Have you ever wondered why we go through books – why we start at the beginning of Colossians and go through to the end? Or when we do a more topical sermon we always set the scene of where we’re preaching from – tell you a bit of the context?
I wonder why more churches don’t do this. It is bizarre to me – just as bizarre as someone who reads the books on their bookshelf by pulling a book at random, opening to a random page, and then thinking hard about that page. But it is not only bizarre (strange) but it is also dangerous. Let me illustrate:

Colossians 3:5-17 is all about how to please God. Like it says in v24-25 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done.

He is our Master, and will pay us back if we do wrong. So we must not do the wrong things , and we must do the right things. Otherwise we will be punished. Dt 4:24 (NLT) The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God.

So, how’s your performance. Are you a sinner, loving the earth? Or are you righteous? Are you full of lust and sexual sin (v5). Don’t lie to me! I can see your lust from here. The wrath of God is on you! 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.
And are you greedy (v5)? For you are an idolater! Get rid of it, you sinner. Instead you must be merciful, kind, humble, gentle, patient. Now do it.

How does that make you feel?

If you’ve been coming to Rock Church for a while you’re probably feeling a little off-balance right now. Thinking that’s not quite right, there’s something wrong with this message. And that’s right – it’s a message completely devoid of the Gospel. It had Bible in it, it seemed to be the passage – but I was using the Bible to support MY ideas, rather than preaching the Bible’s ideas. It was all stop doing this and start doing that. It was try harder, do more. And that’s the opposite of the Gospel. The Gospel is that Christ has done it.

Beware the preacher who preaches out of context.

There’s another version designed to make the congregation feel better at the expense of other people. This is where you change the focus of the text off the Christians (which is who Paul is talking to) to the non-Christians “out there”. It’s the Paradise Hotel or Jerry Springer version – you know, that type of TV show which exists to show people at their worst so that you can feel better about yourself. Many churches do this, and so the “pastor” rails against the sexually impure – these divorcees and unmarried people fornicating, these homosexuals – because of them our country is facing the anger of God. Look at v6. The Bible says it and I believe it. And so as God is my witness I will fight against the scourge of gays in this country….

A text without a context is a pretext for a con. In that little example there I made “the Bible” say what *I* wanted it to say. Which was “I hate gays”. How many churches and sermons are full of bigotry and hatred dressed up in Christianised clothing. In context this is exactly what Paul is warning us against! Not pride, but humility before the Lord. Not looking at the sins of others, but looking at our own sin. Not judgementalism and hatred, but peace-making, gentleness, kindness, love. Be like Christ, who went to the cross to die for his enemies. And so if gay people are really your enemies, then if you belong to Christ are you ready to die for them? Are you ready to welcome divorcees, fornicators into your home, your church? Are you willing to recognise that you too are a sinner, just like “them”?

So what does this passage say? What is it that makes this a gospel passage, and makes our two preachers that I started with wrong? It is the word “so” or as other translations translate it “therefore”. Of course, it’s not just that – the gospel is sprinkled everywhere through this passage – v7 you used to when you were part of this world (past tense). V10 you are renewed V11 Christ is all that matters and he lives in all of us, v12 God chose you to be holy, v14 the Lord forgave you, v15 the peace that comes from Christ. It’s everywhere – for those who are reading with open minds. But if you are reading for a religious list, if you are reading for a way to be right with God by your own efforts, if you want to find a way to make God owe you – you will miss them, and you will miss the word “so”.

When you’re reading the Bible be on the lookout for these words like “so” because” “since” and “therefore” – and when you see them ask what they are there for. What’s the therefore there for? Especially just before a list of “this is how you are to behave”.

David Cook, an Australian minster, was telling the story of inviting some of his gym buddies, who all happened to be Roman Catholic priests, to a talk he was giving on the 10 commandments. One of his friends came, and afterwards David asked him what he thought. His friend said “what really struck me is that 2 came before 3”- David thought “whaaaat? What kind of great thought is that? 2 comes before 3 – that’s what he got out of it?” But it was a great thought: Ex20:2-3 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me”.
Notice the order. God says “I am the one who has redeemed you, now live this way”. He does not say “now if you want to be redeemed, live this way”. Redemption is always first. Never tell people a gospel of morals without its redemptive context. We are saved by grace, not good behaviour!
David said “for my friend it was a great breakthrough that redemption (v2), must come before lifestyle (v3)”

It is the great message of grace that runs throughout the Bible, and it’s the same message here. Paul lays out the lifestyle of the redeemed, the saved, the Christian, after first reminding us of the grace of God which saved us. So let’s remind ourselves of the “therefore” – what’s the context.

Turn back to chapter 1, and look at v2. The letter is addressed to God’s holy people, literally “saints” in Colossae, who are known 1:6 as people whose lives were changed by the Gospel. When we come to Christ we become, in an instant, saints. God’s holy people. Because the gospel is not “try really hard”, or “despise all the sinners and fornicators around you” but look at v13. The Gospel is 1:13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Just like in Romans, just like in the story of Abraham, we find that being a Christian is not a philosophy or even a lifestyle, but is a spiritual transfer from darkness to light, from judgement to blessing – and no matter what we do, we are blessed by God, because Christ’s actions are viewed as our actions. Abraham kept sinning – for example lying about Sarah being his sister instead of his wife – because he couldn’t quite believe in the promises of God – that God would be faithful towards him even when he was faithless. But, as we saw, God was faithful.
How often are we like Abraham, disbelieving God’s promises, thinking our performance somehow changes things. Look at v13. HE has rescued us. HE transferred us. HE purchased (redeemed), He forgave our sins. All of them. If we could really grasp that, it would transform our lives. What freedom we would know! Truly forgiven. Truly blessed. That is the truth. We live in the realm of blessing.

Col 1:21–22 (NLT) This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
You are holy and blameless. Why? Because you are in Christ, and Christ is holy and blameless.
Our response is in v23 Col 1:23 (NLT) But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.

Believe it. Act like you believe. Live in a manner that agrees with your beliefs.
At the train station I stand on the platform as the train hurtles towards me because I believe that I am safe. Normally if a huge chunk of metal was racing towards me I wouldn’t stand only an arm’s length away! But I know that the train will follow the tracks and will go safely past me. I am safe. I act in accordance with my beliefs. I don’t leap into the air shouting “look out!” and running as hard as I can off the platform and out of the train station.
But how often are we doing that as Christians?
God says do not fear. He says that the forces of darkness are powerless over us. Col 2:15 (NLT) In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. But often we are afraid of evil spirits, of ghosts, of curses, of the “evil eye”, of the tokolosh. Oh there can be real power there – but Christ has shamed them publically and stripped them of their power. If you are in Christ, you are safe. If you are not in Christ, you are not safe.
He says in 2:8 that we are not to be captivated by the empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.
But how often are we! We are fooled by the rhetoric, the clever speeches, the flash delivery, the “science” backing it, the zeal of the people delivering the message, and of course, the core of truth in many of these philosophies. But they miss Christ – and without him wisdom is just foolishness. As v2:17 he is the reality these philosophies are searching for. In Christ is found true feminism: women honoured for their womanhood in all its different forms, not a one size fits all, but each woman showing off her unique gifts and beauty to the praise of her Saviour. In him is found true consumerism: the things that promise satisfaction are put in their proper place, and we find satisfaction in Christ – and then those things are ours to enjoy, to use to the praise of God. An example is the Farm – given by God, used to his praise and glory so many times. All of us have experienced hospitality, warmth, fun, beauty there. My parents delight in the farm because they delight in the Giver of the farm, and delight in using it to his praise and glory.

See, the secret to Christian life is death. It is to die to your self and your own interests, and live for Christ. Only when we lay aside ourselves can we truly live.

Colossians 3 is a real trap for us. We can look at it as a list of behaviours, and try to squeeze ourselves into that list, contorting ourselves to fit it – shouting look God, look, see, look, aren’t I a good boy, hurry up and look, I can’t hold this for much longer…
Or we can die to self, stop being preoccupied with our performance, and live for Christ. For his life is ours, we must let it shine out. That’s all chapter 3 and 4 is. Showing us what this new life looks like. Showing us what we are, and are becoming in Christ. We are holy and blameless. That is what we are. And we are becoming holy and blameless as his life in us shines out all the brighter.

Col 1:27 (NLT) For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Christ lives in us. Colossians 3 is not a list of how to live, but a description of Christian behaviour. How will you recognise Christians? Because they start more and more to live like this, like Christ. They start to look like Jesus. 3:10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

And the way to live like Christ is not try really hard – but to surrender yourself to death. I must give up my life, my pride, my reputation – remember Paul’s hard-to-preach words in chapter 2 about suffering (download the sermon if you haven’t – it’s sermon 5, called “true Christianity”). As we die, our new life in Christ is seen.

Death is the path to life. It’s sprinkled all throughout this chapter: v3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.;
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you;
7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world;
11 In this new life…Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. We need to die to world’s way of thinking – the lie that we can save ourselves. Trying really hard seems the wise way, but it is empty and pointless. 2:23 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. What kind of people are we when we follow this way of thinking? Graceless, harsh, superior. With an appearance of false humility. Exactly the opposite of Christ, and exactly like the Pharisees and religious leaders who put him to death!

We must put it to death v5. In fact, the word in v5 is “nekrosate” lit. kill. We must KILL that old way of life. Surrender to the cross. It is an active act of faith.

So, practically, how does this work out? How does v5 work out in practice, with its warning against sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires, and greed? And v8 with anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language, and lying (v9)?

Well, firstly we must believe that these are sins, and stop trying to justify or explain away our sin. Put to death or sinful self-justification! And acknowledge, yes, I am sexually immoral. Yes, I am greedy. Yes, I am full of impurity and lust and evil desires. Yes, I am a liar, and angry, and a slanderer. Only then will we be willing to take action against it, to put it to death.

Let me give an example: If Debby is not at home or about to come home, I will not invite anther woman into my house. So if you’re standing there on the step, ladies, and Debby isn’t home, you’re not coming in! Why? Because I don’t trust myself. And you know what – I don’t trust YOU! We are sinners. Sin is destructive. Part of me wants to tear down and destroy all that is good. Satan waits like a roaring lion, ready to devour. We want to sin. That is who we are without Christ. Now, we probably wouldn’t, but I won’t take that chance. And, gentlemen, if you come a-calling when I’m not home and Debby is, well, you’ll be standing on the steps as well!
So, first we must recognise all the sinful, earthly things lurking within you (v5).

Secondly, we need to take action. I must kill that part of me, the old me, the old sinful man. (v5 Nekrosate: put to death). Remind him that he is dead. I cannot sin, I say, because dead men cannot sin! I have died to this life – Christ is my real life (v3). I used to do these things when my life was part of this world (v7) but no longer.

Thirdly, recognise that this is a struggle to the death. Our goal is to kill our sinful desires, not make life comfortable for them! So often we walk right into situations we shouldn’t. We follow the same tired old paths towards our sin again and again.

In the film the Matrix, Neo, the main character is faced with a choice. He’s standing in the doorway of the car, not knowing whether he can trust these people he’s just met. As he stands and looks down the street, the easy option, the safe option, one of them says to him “Neo, you know that street, you know where it leads…” and he gets into the car, and into a whole new world.

We know where our sin leads. We have been down that road before – some of us many times. Don’t go there. Instead, lift up your eyes to heaven. Keep your eyes fixed on Christ. And a whole new world is open to you.

To sum up then. V6 is true: Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. We are sinners, and we desrve his anger. And if we are not in Christ, we will face his anger.
But to avoid his anger we don’t try really hard to impress him. No. We come to him and say “Help me”. We come to Christ, and follow him to the Cross, the Cross of our salvation. And we leave our old life there with him, and he takes our sins, our old life, and it is nailed to the Cross with him. And then as he is resurrected, we too are raised to new life.
And so we are now saints. Holy and blameless. Christ is in us – and his new nature starts to affect the way that we live. New speech. New actions. New feelings. New love. We are new.
Put to death the old life. Kill your sin. Lift up your eyes to Christ and embrace him.

Father, thank you We do not come to church to pretend that we are good. We come to church to be reminded that we are sinners, that we are saved by grace, to confess our sin, and to celebrate the Good News that Christ died to save sinners. Help us to strip off the dirty rags of the old sinful life, and put on the royal robes of righteousness. Amen