Colossians 3:1-25
vs.1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God.
The Question is conditional. First, are you risen and alive with Christ, if we are then we must seek Jesus, and the things of Heaven/Eternity.
vs.2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
The word affection means the mind and the thoughts. This action of thought involves your will, desires, and conscience. You must first be risen with Christ (a new creature) before your will, desires, and conscience can enter into the Heavenly things. Unless the heart has been regenerated through the new birth, you will not have the desire for the eternal.
vs. 3 For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
To be risen with Christ, you must first have been crucified with Him. If we have been through the cross with Him, then our lives are washed in His blood, and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
vs. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.
If we have been crucified and resurrected with Christ, then He has purchased us. We have become His bride, and He is our husbandman and Lord that we must obey and follow. We long for the day we are united with Him.
vs. 5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Mortify - to put to death, to make powerless, impotent
Romans 8:13 say's for if you live after the flesh, you shall die; but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.
This is done by the intervention of others. Just as the Jewish leaders intervened (Matt. 26:59) to put to Jesus to death, it is through the Holy Spirit that we put to death the deeds of the Body. There is no greater picture of putting to death the desires of the flesh than Jesus in the garden prior to His crucifixtion. He didn't physically want to die, but through prayer (communion with God), he submitted His will (desires) to God's will and received the power of the Spirit to overcome. Look at Matt. 26:36-46 (vs. 41), Mark 14:32-42 (vs. 38), Luke 22:3-46 (vs. 40,46). His disciples said they would die with Him, but when they needed to mortify their will, they slept instead. As a result, they all fled from Jesus, just like we have done during persecution.
Galations 5:24 say's and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
If we are Christ's, then we must live and walk in the Spirit (vs. 25). We should produce the fruit spoken of in vs. 22-23.
Verse 5 of Colossians 3 sums up the works or desires of our members (flesh) in one word: IDOLARTRY! We might not build wooden statues to worship, but our idols are the god of self. We are selfish, self serving, and self gratifying. Self must be crucified if we are to be Christ's disciples. We must take up our cross and put self to death. Jesus commanded it. Look at these versus: 1. Matt 10:38-39 2. Matt. 16:24-26 3. Mark 8:34-37 4. Luke 9:23-27 5. Luke 14:26-27 Not only did Jesus command it, but He paved the way by setting the example for us.
Verse 6 For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience 7) In which you also walked some time, when you lived in them.
God's wrath is poured out against the disobedient, those who obey their flesh/members and serve self. If we are Christ's, we shouldn't walk in these anymore.
Verse 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
(3709) Anger - (Orge) to desire eagerly or earnestly (violent passion) wrath, anger as a state of mind. (settled habit of the mind) Aristotle says orge is desire with grief.
(2372) Wrath - (Thumos) a violent motion, or passion of the mind - more passionate and more temporary character of anger & wrath (thumos) is an outburst of (orge) anger.
(2549) Malice - (Kakia) wickness, an evil habit of the mind, while poneria (4189) is the act
(988) Blasphemy- (Blasphemia) The very worst type of slander. Wounding ones reputation by evil reports, evil speaking.
(148) Filthy - vile conversation, filthy communication - to be foul mouthed, shameful words coming out of the mouth.
Here Paul tells us to put off (cast off, put away, lay aside) these evil works and deeds. Each of these deal with the heart of man. The heart must be made new through the power of the Holy Spirit. God promises us a new heart.
Verse 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds;
Paul could be warning them to not tell lies here, but I think he is refering to the lies of a false witness for Christ. It seems to me, that in the context of verses 1-9 that he is saying: Don't say your life is hidden with Christ and that you are walking with Jesus if these evil works are present in your life. Don't try to make each other think you are something that you really aren't. Put to death the old man and his deeds and follow Jesus.
Verse 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.
He is finishing vs. 9, saying don't say you are a new man in Christ unless you really are, and that you are being formed in His image as a disciple of Christ.
Verse 11 Where there is neith Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, seythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Denomination, nationality, creeds, nor religion matters. What matters is that we are creatures in Christ. That our hearts have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and that we are living obedient to Christ.
Rest of Chapter 3 to come later......
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Morning Devotion with Kids - Thursday, November 5
It's been awhile since our last post, but honestly this was the last thing on my mind. :) We would like to be more consistent in sharing our lives with others. Therefore, my goal is to post every day sharing with you the devotion our family has every morning to start the day.
Today's devotion was on Proverbs 5:1-8 which states:
My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding; That you may observe discretion, And your lips may reserve knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, And smoother than oil is her speech; But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.
Scott asked the kids....what is this talking about? He then shared with them it is talking about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of this world. The wisdom of God is the Cross of Christ. Where we deny ourselves, die on the cross and follow Him. In following that we have discretion, understanding and knowledge. We have eternal life through Christ Jesus. He asked them to give examples for wisdom of this world. One was popularity. The wisdom of this world would tell you that in order for people to like you you must be attractive. The wisdom of God tells you that what's inside is what makes you beautiful. A converted heart is the most beautiful thing compared to beauty on the outside. The wisdom of this world will lie to you. The Proverb stated her lips drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil. The wisdom of this world will entice you and draw you with smooth words and things that your flesh likes. But in the end...she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. In the end the wisdom of this world brings death. Scott used the illustration of a balance (scales). He put 70 years on one side and eternity on the other. Seventy years because that is the average life span of most people. Some may live longer, but seventy is average. He then would call out wisdom's of this world (it's all about you, your happiness, etc..)...which side do you think was affected? He talked about doing things and then later regretting it. Like overeating. Yeah it tastes great while we're eating, but afterwards you are miserable. Or you do something wrong and you know it's wrong and guilt sets in. You wish you wouldn't have done it.....yeah your flesh wanted to do it, but man I wish I wouldn't have done that. The judgment of sin even starts here. So to say you are going to have seventy years of just pure pleasure and you'll worry about eternity later is foolish. Will either walk in the wisdom of God here...and God give us wisdom not so we can't do a bunch of things, but to keep us from the heart ache. The regret and guilt...ultimately death. Guess what happens during drunkenness, not only do you wake up the next day feeling bad, but your hurt people. You say and do things that cause hurt in peoples heart which causes a separation in relationships. It can get you into other sin too. There are versus that warn us to not follow after the wisdom of this world. The wisdom of this world is all around you saying....get all you can get, be all you can be, enjoy life to the fullest. It is all a lie. We were created to worship God. We were created by Him to walk in communion with Him. We did not come from monkeys or an amoeba....we are created beings, created by a living God who breathed his very breath into us giving us life. If we don't walk and commune with Him there is something that is missing and that is why we go searching for the things of this world...trying to fill a void that he put in us . Only He can fill that void. Giving a place of contentment and peace. That is His wisdom. That is His Word. That is what He's called us to walk in.
Today's devotion was on Proverbs 5:1-8 which states:
My son, give attention to my wisdom, Incline your ear to my understanding; That you may observe discretion, And your lips may reserve knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, And smoother than oil is her speech; But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it. Now then, my sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.
Scott asked the kids....what is this talking about? He then shared with them it is talking about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of this world. The wisdom of God is the Cross of Christ. Where we deny ourselves, die on the cross and follow Him. In following that we have discretion, understanding and knowledge. We have eternal life through Christ Jesus. He asked them to give examples for wisdom of this world. One was popularity. The wisdom of this world would tell you that in order for people to like you you must be attractive. The wisdom of God tells you that what's inside is what makes you beautiful. A converted heart is the most beautiful thing compared to beauty on the outside. The wisdom of this world will lie to you. The Proverb stated her lips drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil. The wisdom of this world will entice you and draw you with smooth words and things that your flesh likes. But in the end...she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. In the end the wisdom of this world brings death. Scott used the illustration of a balance (scales). He put 70 years on one side and eternity on the other. Seventy years because that is the average life span of most people. Some may live longer, but seventy is average. He then would call out wisdom's of this world (it's all about you, your happiness, etc..)...which side do you think was affected? He talked about doing things and then later regretting it. Like overeating. Yeah it tastes great while we're eating, but afterwards you are miserable. Or you do something wrong and you know it's wrong and guilt sets in. You wish you wouldn't have done it.....yeah your flesh wanted to do it, but man I wish I wouldn't have done that. The judgment of sin even starts here. So to say you are going to have seventy years of just pure pleasure and you'll worry about eternity later is foolish. Will either walk in the wisdom of God here...and God give us wisdom not so we can't do a bunch of things, but to keep us from the heart ache. The regret and guilt...ultimately death. Guess what happens during drunkenness, not only do you wake up the next day feeling bad, but your hurt people. You say and do things that cause hurt in peoples heart which causes a separation in relationships. It can get you into other sin too. There are versus that warn us to not follow after the wisdom of this world. The wisdom of this world is all around you saying....get all you can get, be all you can be, enjoy life to the fullest. It is all a lie. We were created to worship God. We were created by Him to walk in communion with Him. We did not come from monkeys or an amoeba....we are created beings, created by a living God who breathed his very breath into us giving us life. If we don't walk and commune with Him there is something that is missing and that is why we go searching for the things of this world...trying to fill a void that he put in us . Only He can fill that void. Giving a place of contentment and peace. That is His wisdom. That is His Word. That is what He's called us to walk in.
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