Renewed
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
Text: Colossians 3:1-11
I. At times we stop and sigh. Wouldn’t it be nice to return to the days of childhood, when we didn’t have a care in the world? When we were ignorant of all the problems in the world and unacquainted with sin? - Matthew 18:3
A. In our reading, Paul speaks about the change that Christians should experience now that they have committed their lives to Christ
B. “Raised up with Christ” in Colossians 3:1 refers to baptism - Romans 6:3-7
C. Too often we think that all the effort to change comes before baptism, but change takes time and it takes effort
D. Interestingly, Paul calls it a renewal. We are returning to the state that we once had - Ecclesiastes 7:29
1. The world and its sins have pulled us away from God - Isaiah 59:1-2
2. But Christ is putting us back into a right relationship with God
3. This puts a hole in the idea that we are born sinful.
4. We are born righteous and become sinful - Romans 5:12
E. Being a Christian is about returning to the righteousness we had as children
II. You cannot be renewed if you are carrying your past sins with you
A. Being a Christian doesn’t stop the temptations, but we have to consider ourselves dead to sin - Colossians 3:5
B. In other words, it doesn’t matter how much I want to sin, the decision was made to leave sin behind in the watery grave of baptism - Romans 6:8-14
C. It is sin that got us into the mess our lives once were. Holding onto sin will lead to retaining God’s anger against us - Colossians 3:6-7
D. So we must lay aside our sins - Ephesians 4:21-22
III. But renewal implies that we learn what we are to become
A. Look at again at Ephesians 4:21. The truth teaches us how to change.
B. It requires a renewal of how we think about things - Ephesians 4:23; Romans 12:2
C. We are born again by God’s Word - I Peter 1:22-25
D. The Spirit who guided the writing of the Bible gives us the roadmap to how we change - Romans 8:2
IV. Change without a target is dangerous - Proverbs 24:21-22
A. We are to be renewed according to the image of God - Colossians 3:10
B. In the likeness of God - Ephesians 4:24
C. We are children of God and we should want to become like our Father - I Peter 1:14-16
D. Thus, as Christians, we are transformed - II Corinthians 3:18
V. When each of us change to be like God (and God is one) then the result is that we become one as well
A. There is no longer a distinction - Romans 10:12
B. That was Jesus’ prayer - John 17:20-23
C. Are you being renewed?