Our relationship with Jesus Christ helps us put to death our old relationship with sin. Take a look with us at verses 3:5-6 and take the next step on this transformative journey through Colossians: The Connection That Counts.
Several years ago, I traveled with Pastor Darren, our worship director, and Kevin McCarthy, our other key worship leader, to South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to interview a man for our full-time tech position. We had to meet him at 6 p.m. for dinner, so I definitely made sure we saw the Little League World Series Complex.
We parked in the upper parking lot, and I walked down the steep hill to get a better look at the baseball diamond. The other guys walked in different directions to see what they wanted, then headed back to the Suburban. When it came time for me to join them, I decided to forgo the sidewalk at the far side of the massive hill and walk at an angle up the steep, grassy grade.
Did I say it was winter? It was, which meant the grass was wet and frosty. As I was almost at the summit, I saw Pastor Darren looking off into the distance at the field below. “Ah, I’m almost to the parking lot,” I thought. And that’s when it happened. I lost my footing on the slippery grass. This caused me to drop instantly to the ground on all fours. I used my grip to grab the grass to slow my descent, but that didn’t work. In a split second, my body weight, coupled with the weight of my backpack and good old gravity, caused me to shoot down that hillside like a missile. I think my hands left two dark, muddy soil tracks as I headed to the bottom. Right before I hit the flat part of the hill, I shot through the air, did a somersault, and then landed perfectly on my rear.
I sat there stunned for a few minutes, then I realized I had slimy mud all over me. So, I jumped up and walked up the walkway to the car this time. When Darren saw me, he started laughing and asked what had happened. After I explained, I think he laughed even harder. Believe me, with thirty minutes before a key interview, I wasted no time changing all of my clothes in the Suburban. I certainly didn’t want to show up for an interview with a new candidate for our staff covered in mud.
Take what happened to me on the hillside that afternoon as a picture of spiritual life. Muddy, destroyed clothing represents my old life as a non-Christian. Putting on new clothes in the car represents my daily challenge as a Christian. This speaks of changing from sin-stained clothes to donning pure, clean, and holy ones.
Paul speaks about this starting in Colossians chapter 3. In light of our new standing with God through our faith relationship with Jesus, the God-man Savior, we must now purposefully live holy lives. This occurs as we exchange old, sinful clothing or behaviors for new, holy ones. In verses 1-4, Paul challenges believers to maintain a heavenly mindset rather than an earthly one. Why? This lifestyle choice will positively impact your life by showing you what spiritual clothing you need to wear, and what needs to go. And speaking of what needs to go, Paul gets very explicit, for obvious reasons, starting in verse 5. From this verse until chapter 4, verse 6, the Apostle covers all the clothing we need to get rid of. I think the Spirit will speak to you as we move through these convicting verses. May you be moved to modify your spiritual dress.
The overarching theme of this entire section can be stated like this:
Your Christian Life Should Always Be Moving From The Old Life To the New Life (Colossians 3:5-4:6)
To motivate believers to head in this worthy direction, Paul presents two concepts. First, we have . . .
The Identification of the Wrong Clothing (Col. 3:5)
The opening word, Therefore, or oun (οὖν), links what Paul is going to say in light of what he just taught. Put differently, it introduces us to the logical outcropping of having a heavenly mindset. If you have this mindset, then you will, by definition, see the sinful clothing that has got to go.
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Col. 3)
5 Νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν ἀκαθαρσίαν πάθος ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρία,
The first word in the Greek sentence is the aorist (past tense) imperative, nekrosate (Νεκρώσατε). If it sounds familiar, it should. It is the bedrock of our medical term: necrosis. What is this? It is the premature, irreversible death of cells and living tissue that can be caused by things like infections, toxins, and trauma, which causes a lack of adequate blood flow. If you are in the medical world, you are probably familiar with the term necrotizing pancreatitis. This is a severe, life-threatening complication of acute pancreatitis where the pancreatic tissue begins to die due to a lack of proper blood flow. If not treated, it leads to death.
Why did Paul pick this somewhat shocking term? Because he wants believers to know that now they are free from the dominion and domination of the sin nature (Rom. 6:19ff), they are called to do all they can, coupled with the Spirit’s resident power, to kill off certain sins that are nothing short of a spiritual disease. We aren’t supposed to toy with sinful disease or clothing; we are to annihilate it in our lives. We aren’t supposed to rationalize it, either, “Oh, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” The Lord can. The dog needs an attitude adjustment, which starts with looking to heaven more often than not.
Why did he make it a command? Because he knows us. If he had made it a suggestion, most believers would have taken their time addressing the command’s content. “Yeah, I’m busy right now at the Pentagon on a project while we are on a war footing. I’ll get to this Pauline stuff later.” It’s a command because Paul knows how skilled we are at putting things off, procrastinating, and enjoying a manana attitude. The aorist, or past tense nature of the verb, can be grammatically classified as an ingressive aorist. This emphasizes the beginning of an action, or it clearly describes the need to get to work. If you need a little spiritual push to start obeying this command, then you need look no further than what Paul taught the Romans in chapter 6, verses 13 through 14:
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom. 6)
Hence, in our Christian lives, there needs to be a radical removal of everything that keeps us from living holy lives for Christ. And the process is clear: Put to death those things that are evil, and wrap your hearts and minds around those things which are holy and righteous. We took off the muddy clothes and put on the clean ones.
What clothing presents a problem to believers? What sins trip us up and compromise our spiritual walks? Paul lists, or identifies, five tough ones that need immediate . . . and, should I add, constant . . . attention. We won’t be content with simply reading through them quickly. On the contrary, we need to pause at each one, understand what it means in Greek, and relate these findings to our lives so we know what we are dealing with.
First up…
Sinful Clothing #1: Immorality
The Greek word is porneian (πορνείαν). It is the basis of our word porno, or pornography. Lexically, Gerhard Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (pp. 593-594), which is the leading etymological work in the world, demonstrates how porneia in the ancient world denoted all forms of illicit and unlawful sexual activity, from adultery to homosexuality. It covers sexual sins committed by unmarried men and women outside the bonds of holy matrimony, and it deals with sexual sins committed within marriage, like adultery. Simply put, any sexual activity that deviates from God’s design for wholesome sex between a husband and wife is perversion and sinful. Our sinful culture has turned perversion on its head by saying that “all love is love,” so they can rationalize their sexual activity that deviates from God’s prescribed norms. Paul, by way of divine inspiration, is not so accommodating. He says that believers must put to death this propensity to engage in any sexually immoral behavior, whether it is living with a girlfriend or going to bed with a boyfriend before you are married.
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Col. 3)
5 Νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν ἀκαθαρσίαν πάθος ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρία,
We are to put to death sexual immorality when it rears its ugly head in our lives. We aren’t to play around with it, entertain it, make excuses for it, or purposefully befriend people who don’t think it is a big deal. We are to destroy it.
How do we go about this?
- If you are a slave to pornography, you confess it, ask other saints to hold you accountable, pray for yourself while asking others to pray for you, put filters on your computer and phone, and enroll in one of our purity classes for starters. And if you don’t think it is a pervasive problem, then think again. George Barna reveals in a recent study that 54% of practicing Christians consume pornography occasionally.
- If you are having an affair because the new person makes you feel so alive, realize you are only deceiving yourself. Break off the relationship. Confess to your mate what you’ve done. Seek forgiveness, and head to a good, sound Christian counselor to rebuild your life and marriage. One study reveals that 12.4% of those who attend church weekly and call themselves believers have affairs. For those saints who attend only monthly, the number jumps to 17.1%.[1]
- If you’re going too far with your Christian girlfriend or boyfriend, then stop being alone. Do things with couples. According to Align Life Ministries, 56% of Christian teens in the U.S. believe it is ok to have sex before marriage.[2] Paul would not agree because God would not agree. So, determine today to align yourself with God, not with your emotions or your friends’ thinking.
- If you are married and you live to flirt, confess it, and ask God to remove this drive from you. You might even like to read Jerry Bridges’ old standby book, Hedges: 7 Ways to Love Your Wife & Protect Your Marriage.
Are you struggling with sexual sin? Many do. That’s why it’s first up in Paul’s list of dirty clothing. If the Spirit is speaking to you right now, then you know you need to take definitive action before this sinful garment pollutes you further. Start with confession. Next, yield to the Spirit, asking Him to fill or control this tough area of your life (Eph. 5:18). Finally, bring the sin out from the darkness into the light. Sin has a hard time thriving when it’s exposed to the light, so bring it into the light by confiding in some saints you can trust with the disclosure.
Next up…
Sinful Clothing #2: Impurity
The Greek word is akatharsian (ἀκαθαρσίαν).
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Col. 3)
5 Νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν ἀκαθαρσίαν πάθος ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρία,
Literally, the word used to denote something dirty and filthy, like trash orLS
