What do we call our Hispanic Church Plant?

• La Iglesia de Odessa, LIDO, for short. Same name as TCO except in Spanish.

Why Ray Sanabria?

• Ray served faithfully on staff at Idlewild for many years where he was Minister to Missions. He earned a Master’s degree from SEBTS. God birthed a desire in him to plant a Spanish-speaking church and he has a heart for reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The TCO Elders have met with Ray and fully endorse his leadership of this church plant.

What will be the structure of LIDO?

• LIDO will be a ministry of TCO operating as a church plant.
• From an administrative standpoint, inside TCO it is a ministry of TCO.
• From an operational standpoint, to those outside who we are seeking to reach with the gospel, it is a church plant. This means that when we invite people to come, we are inviting them to LIDO, our Hispanic Church Plant.
• Like other ministries at TCO, LIDO will submit a budget to the TCO elders and operate according to this budget.

Will TCO and LIDO operate as two autonomous entities with separate leadership?

• Any LIDO staff will be a part of TCO’s staff, will submit to the oversight of TCO Elders, and submit to our by-laws and guidelines generally as any other ministry.
• LIDO will be responsible for its own funding sources, unlike other ministries at TCO, which receive their funding through TCO’s offerings. All LIDO expenses will be paid from the giving of LIDO. Giving to TCO will not be used to operate LIDO.

Why are we doing this?

• In short, because we are commanded to steward our lives and resources for the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel.
• We exist to reach people and grow people in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• We also believe church planting is a part of the DNA of every church and there is a large population of Spanish-speaking individuals in our area to whom we currently provide no ministry.

What will this look like?

• On April 11^th, Pastor Ray will begin meeting with what will be called the “Church Plant Group,” or CPG for short. This group will worship with TCO at 9:15am and then meet in the third modular during the 11:00am hour to plan the launch of LIDO. The hope is that the CPG will grow into what eventually becomes LIDO, an official church plant. Once LIDO grows and is officially launched, LIDO will have its Grow Groups meet at 9:15am in the open classrooms and then LIDO will corporately worship at 11:00am in the sanctuary, opposite of TCO’s current schedule.
• General Information Meetings on LIDO will be held on March 21st and 28th after the 11:00am service for those interested in being part of LIDO and its CPG.

What will this cost TCO?

• With anything we do, there is always a cost. However, this will not immediately cost TCO any new dollars. We may decide voluntarily to contribute to LIDO from current sources such as our Mission’s budget, but that is yet to be determined. What we are offering to assist LIDO is the use of our facilities, eliminating the need for facility costs that can greatly hamper a church plant.
• We fully understand that there will be costs such as wear-and-tear on the building, use of resources, and opportunity costs regarding space usage, in addition to some groups having to shift around, share space, etc. But to be clear, any funds that are required to operate LIDO will come from sources outside of TCO’s current budget. At some point in the future, we will discuss how facility costs can be shared as LIDO grows.

How will we seek to merge the two groups into one body?

• We will incorporate both LIDO and TCO into the current Nursery, Preschool, Children’s Church, and Student Ministry structure on Sunday mornings, sharing volunteer responsibilities, as well. We believe this will help facilitate our desire that this be one church body meeting in two services.
• We will also jointly participate in ministries such as First Sunday Supper, Fellowship 3, Fajita Fridays at the Basham’s, and many more. LIDO and TCO will do some things individually, yet the goal is to have LIDO be part of TCO.

What about language barriers to our fellowship?

• Based on our meetings with Ray Sanabria and his experience and knowledge of the Hispanic population in this area, most people who attend LIDO will be bi-lingual to varying degrees.

Why would we start a separate service?

• This has more to do with culture than with language. Let’s be honest—culture matters. TCO’s worship and songs and style are a reflection of culture. The same will be true for LIDO. Additionally, there is something special about hearing the Bible taught in your heart or native language and worshipping in a style reflective of your culture. We believe LIDO will create this in a way that will attract people that otherwise TCO would not and, thus, the gospel will be advanced.
• Many bi-lingual Hispanics feel more comfortable speaking their mother language. And, there is an ever-increasing population of Spanish-speaking people moving from Central and South America to Tampa every year, who do not speak English at all.

How can I help?

• Pray for LIDO’s launch and that people are reached with the gospel.
• Invite people to LIDO that you believe would be interested.
• Give financially to LIDO as you are led. If you do, please indicate “LIDO” on the giving envelope or memo line on your check.
• Display a friendly spirit and share the love we have first received in the gospel as new faces appear on our campus.
• Be humble and flexible as we learn and make adjustments. This will require work from both TCO and LIDO, yet in this endeavor we can learn to sincerely love as we have been discussing right here on our campus.

What if I have additional questions?

• You can address additional questions to any of your TCO Elders either in person or via email at elders@churchatodessa.org. You can also email Ray Sanabria at raysanabria1@gmail.com.

Meditate on this passage. What Paul is calling us to here as believers is to display to others what we ourselves have first received from God by grace in the gospel. Keep that in mind. To not offer what we have first received would be hypocritical.

There is so much regarding the election, race, politics, COVID that seeks to divide and has divided, unfortunately even within the body of Christ. And almost all of the division is rooted in things and responses opposite of what Paul calls us to hear, what we have first received in the gospel.

Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another - how far would all of this go today in preventing division and fracturing of the body - if we simply treat others as God has treated us in the gospel.

Believer - rise above the noise and the nonsense of our culture. Fix your minds on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, of good repute. Gospel centered, God centered thoughts. Don't let the body be divided on these issues of the day. See them and respond to them thru the lens of your own salvation and the grace of God.

Do not be anxious, but with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be known to God and may the peace of God flood our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. The Lord is near.

Putting on love for one another which brings about unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Be thankful knowing that none of the chaos of our culture conflicts or compromises any promises of God. His promises will be true no matter who elected as president. No matter what comes. Don't respond as the world responds as without hope.

Seek to do and say all things in the name of the Lord Jesus. May He be glorified in how we respond during these days. May the hope we have in Him shine bright even if the candidate you voted for isn't elected, rightly or wrongly. Let the Word of God richly dwell and flow and regulate our speech and reactions.

God remains sovereign - therefore be at peace.

Listen to Jer. 29:7. As God sent His people into exile in Babylon, He commanded them to "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; FOR IN ITS WELFARE YOU WILL HAVE WELFARE."

Believer - that is relevant and applicable even today. This too is not our eternal home, our citizenship is in another city, and yet we sojourn here for now. Seek the good of the city. Pray for its leaders whether you voted for them or not (see 1 Tim. 2:1-4). Put on these things we see here regardless of whether they are deserved by others, knowing you didn't deserve them either when God offered them to you.

Do not respond to evil with evil. Do not seek your own revenge. Pursue peace as far as it depends upon you. And may we encourage each other in this together for the good the gospel and glory of God. Our king still reigns.

But if God chose me, then there is great security and peace in my life. But it also changes everything about the goal and purpose of my life and the reason behind me being chosen. In being chosen, there is great gratitude and thanksgiving and humility due to grace. And now in gratitude and thanksgiving, I become His joyful servant because of undeserved grace. And then to live for His glory is a joy and seems like the only right response due to His great grace.

And this has implications far beyond just us as individuals. The context here is about the body of Christ, the community and fellowship of all believers regardless of race or ethnicity or social status. All of us who are believers are in the family of God by God’s gracious choosing. Not because we are white or black or Jew or Gentile. But because of great grace.

This creates great unity, humility, gratitude, thanksgiving, or at least it ought to amongst us as a body. But if I chose and got myself in the family, then individuality makes sense. But that is not what this text says. We are a community established and sourced in God’s grace. We are to be about God and His glory. And thus everything else we see in Colossians flows from this starting point of God’s grace.

God’s choice of us as believers is the basis for everything we see in the remainder of Colossians. Starts here with grace. When I quit fighting what God’s Word clearly teaches and submit to it, even while admitting we might not totally have it figured out as I would say, the doctrine of election becomes a source of great comfort for me. It’s a comfort because God’s sovereign purpose to save those whom He has chosen cannot fail (see, Rom. 8:28-39).

I am in God’s family by His choosing. Let that wash over you believer. Let that comfort you believer. Let that free you up to recklessly chase after God and to seek first His kingdom, knowing nothing can separate us from His love because we have been chosen, adopted by grace. Let us share the gospel knowing that it is not up to us to convince anyone, but to share the gospel with love and grace and gentleness and pray that God would graciously save others thru the hearing of His Word. God’s grace is here for the taking. And that may sound weird given what we just looked at, but that is the truth. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Period. And that is by grace.

I challenge us to really consider this truth today. To contemplate our position before God, and our attitude and approach to God and His grace, to His commands, to the Word. Have we become forgetful? Arrogant? Proud? Haughty towards others because we have forgotten grace? Have you clothed yourself with that grace and what it means for your life?

Are we living out of the overflow of the grace of God in having been chosen? Have you even responded in faith to the grace of God in repenting of your sin? Has any of this brought about disunity amongst the body? Any repentance to one another that needs to be made?

Have you simply recognized grace and the gospel, acknowledged it, but not clothed yourself with it and applied it to your life, embraced it and enjoyed it as you were intended?

When we were in the DR, we had the privilege of delivering the gifts that members of TCO bought for each girl. And it was a joy to watch the girls open up the gifts. And there was one particular girl, I watched her and she simply held the gift, wouldn’t open it. And you could tell she was torn, struggling. I walked over to her and encouraged her to open the gift. Over and over I asked her to open the gift. I asked her “Why won’t you open the girt?” She could speak some English and she said she was scared it was not what she wanted, that she was praying for one gift. There was one gift she wanted more than anything else. I begged her to open the gift, to take the risk. And she did. And to her joy, and to my joy in watching her open the gift, it was what she wanted.

She immediately started yelling and crying, and other girls who knew what she wanted started yelling and crying. And she said “this is the one gift I prayed for, I wanted so bad for it to be this. I was crying, others in our group were crying, just seeing the joy of the girls enjoying what we gave them, what God had given them thru us.

Here is why I share that. You chose a girl to give her a gift. Grace. That girl could not make any claim on you, wasn’t deserving of the gift. GRACE. You picked a girl, didn’t mean anything against the others. You picked that one. Offered a gift.

Imagine for a moment if this girl I shared about just looked at the gift, kept it wrapped up. There is a pleasure and joy for them in simply having a gift, of knowing somebody cared. Some of them shared that. Imagine even if they opened the gift but didn’t take it out of the box and play with it. Not full joy that was intended by the gift.

The real joy we had was seeing them put on the shoes, take the dolls out and play with them, sing with the microphones. That was what they were given for, real joy in enjoying the gift, taking the clothes and wearing them, not just hanging them in their closet.

My fear is that might be some of us here today spiritually. We acknowledge the gospel, see it, look at it, don’t deny its existence, admire it, protect it, but we have not truly received it and clothed ourselves with it, found our joy in it, we don’t cherish it as our treasure.

Christianity is more than just acknowledging the gospel, or not denying the gospel. To receive it means to clothe ourselves with it, to take it out of the box and enjoy it, to find our joy in it. My fear is that some of us still have the gospel in a box on a shelf in our rooms and haven’t truly received it in the sense of finding our joy in it, clothing ourselves with it.

The gospel wasn’t meant to simply be admired or acknowledged. It was meant to be submitted to and to be enjoyed.

My fear is that might be some of us here today spiritually. We acknowledge the gospel, see it, look at it, don’t deny its existence, admire it, protect it, but we have not truly received it and clothed ourselves with it, found our joy in it, we don’t cherish it as our treasure.

 

The gospel wasn’t meant to simply be admired or acknowledged. It was meant to be submitted to and to be enjoyed.

Everything we see here rests on God’s grace in the gospel thru the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Everything goes back and is sourced in the gospel, in us having first received grace in our own lives, and that originating in God. Everything we are called to do and be as believers is sourced in God’s choosing to offer grace to us thru Christ.

What Paul says here is exactly what we see used as a title for God’s people throughout the Bible. Look at Is. 45:4 just for one example of this. The amazement of this passage is that what was once used for Israel is now being applied to Gentiles. Thru faith, we have become part of God’s family, but it is due to God’s choosing us, due to grace, not our own effort. No distinction in an adoptive and salvific way between Greek and Gentile. One family. By grace. By God’s doing and choosing.

Both the Greek words for holy and loved are in the passive tense, meaning the recipients didn’t do anything to earn or merit them. Totally of God. God is the one here doing the choosing. Look at Deut. 7:6 where God makes this clear with regards to Israel. Even in Ex. 19:4-6, God’s choosing is the basis for their being called to holiness and certain behaviors.

God’s grace at His own choosing is our source for everything. Oh that we would be awed by God’s grace. That we would let this sink in and stop fighting it. That if you are a believer today, it is because God, in spite of your sin, chose to redeem you to His glory and purposes.

It is clear from Scripture that God’s grace, in this case His choosing us, saving us, is not sourced or rooted in or contingent upon our response. It is God’s choosing that forms the basis for our response. And this choosing forms the basis for everything in our lives moving forward as believers. Grace focused and gospel sourced. We have been rescued, transferred into a new kingdom, new family, adopted, and that changes everything. And that was God’s doing.

When we discuss this topic, I realize that all sorts of thoughts and emotions well up. We start asking all sorts of questions, and many of them are rooted in a misunderstanding of grace, or the character of God and the reality of our sin, and its offense to God. We forget that God didn’t have to save anyone. He would have been no less God if He would have let us all pay the penalty of our sin ourselves. And instead, in the place of wrath and condemnation due our sin, He has offered grace. He has chosen to save the very sinners that were due His wrath. To give us a new identity, to adopt us, take us in as His own. Please think about that great grace. Let that grace and choosing clothe you today as a believer.

As we read further in Colossians we will see some commands from Paul, commands that call us as believers to live in a way that is consistent with our new identity in Christ. And these are sourced in grace, in God’s choosing of us, and we pursue them in gratitude and thanksgiving (v. 15) and in the strength God’s grace gives. And they all point back to grace we first received in God choosing us. To our identity in Christ.

One of the biggest issues we face as believers is forgetting God’s grace in our own lives, of assuming credit for things sourced in God’s grace. We become arrogant as believers, like we did things we didn’t, taking credit for things sourced in God’s grace, thinking we are better than those not saved, like we earned our current status before God. When nothing could be further from the truth. And this effects our lives and interactions amongst ourselves and the world around us. Again grace sourced.

Look at Deut 6:10-15and Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land. God rescued them from Egypt, maintained them and led them in the wilderness, brought them into the Promised Land and defeated their enemies, provided everything for them. What was the warning? Don’t forget that it was God who brought you here. Don’t forget that grace is the foundation and source. Israel being in the Promised Land was not their doing – it was grace. Same thing we see in regards to our salvation – don’t forget that it was God who chose you. Salvation is not your doing at its heart.

Our great tendency as believers is to forget grace, to lose our awe of grace, to lose the awe and wonder and amazement of our salvation. To lose our first love as Rev. 2:4 laments. To take credit at least in part for God’s grace in our lives. Don’t do it. Huge implications for forgetting God’s grace. For moving away from the gospel. Not growing up in respects to our salvation.

We who belong to God and are in His family by grace are privileged. Don’t forget that. It is a privilege to bear the name Christian. And this is all due to God’s grace. As we will see, when we get this right, humility is what is produced in our lives, unity is what is produced in our lives, thanksgiving is what is produced in our lives. God’s glory is what is produced in our lives. All sourced in grace.

Verse 12 makes it clear that is God who was the initiator behind our salvation. The reason behind everything we see here is that we are elect, holy, and loved because God took the initiative with us. God elected, God sanctified, God loved. God has graciously chosen us.

This means that if you’re a Christian it’s not because you first chose God, you didn’t figure God out, you have no reason to boast. Your salvation is because He chose you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5).

You and I believer have been chosen by God. Grasp that if we can. Let that sink in for a moment instead of arguing or fighting it. Let is wash over you believer. Try and grasp that truth. Find great comfort in that truth. God chose you. Not based upon anything you brought to the table. In spite of your sin, God chose you. He did everything needed and necessary for sinners to be redeemed and forgiven. He chose you before the foundation of the world, and made good on His choosing in spite of you. Be in awe of that amazing grace.

What Paul says here in Colossians is paralleled in Ephesians 4:25-32. This is not some sidebar, but a core truth Paul shared with believers across many different geographies, and it is just as true for us today.

What we see here is the reality that as Christians, we are commanded to contemplate our language in a new way in light of who we and others are in Christ thru the gospel.

All of this goes back to Col. 3:1-4, who we are in Christ, fixing our minds on that and then living in light of who we are in Christ. Look at verse 8. “But now” – Contrast from one time to another, then and now. In this case, the contrast between the new person we are in Christ versus the old person apart from Christ is to be seen thru our words.

Our Christianity, being in Christ, goes deep and effects even our words and the heart behind our words. The contrast is at every part of our being. Christ has access to every part of our being and has the authority to speak into every part of our lives. In the case of our text today, as a result of being in Christ, a whole new language springs up within us as believers. All flowing from a new heart. Really is a contrast of an angry heart versus a heart that rejoices in our salvation, as seen thru our language.

Look at what Matthew 12:34-37; 15:15-19 say about our language. At the end of the list there we see lying and slander. That’s exactly what we see in our text today. These are not to mark a believer’s life. They are to be put away. Shed from our being and mouth, all flowing from a new heart that beats for Christ and His glory. In view of who we are in Christ, and the joy that comes from that, we are to put away any language that does not represent our salvation and who we are in Christ rightly.

Look at Ephesians 4:25-29. Essentially the same passage as we see here in Colossians except Paul says it in a summative way in verse 29. Interestingly, the word translated for “bad” fruit in Matthew 12 passage is the same word we see here in Eph. 4:29 for “unwholesome”. Unwholesome words are seen as bad fruit, reflect a heart problem. Not in line with our salvation.

What we learn from these passages us that the deep renewal of salvation is to be seen even thru the words that flow from our heart and out our mouths. Our words tell on us because they are a window into our hearts. That’s the point. Verse 9 – marks the old man and thus is to be put aside, taken off as we will see. New creation – joy flows out. Seen in words.

It is interesting how Paul addresses this. He doesn’t just come out and command us to clean up our language. He doesn’t give us a list of words that are not vulgar or rotten or corrupt, but are pure and wholesome and creative and clear, and says start using these. That’s how we would approach this and do approach these issues. Paul gets at the source and something deeper, the heart and source of our words.

Instead of proposing clean language, he proposes a whole new way of thinking about language in light of the gospel and who we are in Christ. Instead of saying, "You don't need dirty language to communicate your intention," he says, "The root issue is whether your intention is love and a reflection of who we are in Christ." The real issue for Paul is not really language at all; the issue is love, as seen in the context of Col. 3:1-4. It is rooted in love for God and others. Language reflects heart.

The issue is not whether our mouth can avoid gross language, but is whether our mouth is being used as a means of grace and God’s glory. When you put Col. 3:8-11 in its context, and combine it with Eph. 4:25-31, you see how Paul shifts from the external evidence, words in this case, to the internal source, the heart. He shifts from what we say to why we say it. That's the issue. We are to be conveyors of grace we have first received from Christ, even in our language.

We see this in both Colossians and Ephesians and the idea of the body of Christ, the context of the “one another”. Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for edifying, as fits the occasion [literally: good for edifying of need—meeting a particular need is in view] that it may impart grace to those who hear.

Do you see the shift? He doesn't say, "Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but instead let fresh clean talk come out of your mouth." He says, "Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but ask this: Is my mouth a means of grace? Am I meeting a need with the words that are coming out of my mouth? Am I building up faith into the people who hear my words?" “Is my language in line with who I am in Christ and who my brothers and sisters are in Christ?” Paul says in essence, focus on the grace you have received, and let that grace flow to others thru your words. All goes back to setting our minds on the things above.

We are to see everything about our lives, even our words, in light of who we are in Christ. Being a believer and the actions that flow from our position in Christ go so much deeper than just the external action, so much deeper than just yes or no. It is about what lies behind what we do or say. Our goals and motives.

This is exactly what Paul does here in Eph. 4:29. He says, "Let no rotten talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good," and then he shifts from the what to the why, "for edification to meet a need that it may impart grace to those who hear." It is not Christian just to stop swearing. It is not Christian just to put good language in the mouth instead. It is Christian to ask the deeper, internal question: am I speaking now to edify? Is your mouth a means of grace? Does it reflect who I am in Christ and who others are in Christ? Am I using my words to share and pass on grace that I first received in the gospel?

Do you see how all-encompassing and how far reaching our Christian faith must be? These are amazing verses about the grace of God in our lives.

A Christian is evidenced by a person whose rotten root within has been and is being made new by grace through faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of God has taken the hate and anger and resentment that spill over in mean and vulgar and irreverent language, and has covered them with the blood of Christ and killed them along with the old unbelieving self. The joy of our salvation overflows into even our words.

See your language in a whole new way. Both its source and its effects and intended effects. Glorify and evidence the work of God in our lives thru our language. Build others up thru our language.

If we are honest, we have a tendency to skip quickly over any verse that speaks of God’s wrath, unless it is speaking to someone guilty in our eyes, excluding ourselves. As if others deserved it more for their sin than we do or did for ours.

If we are honest, we tend to like to speak of God’s love more than His wrath. Or that wrath was something lost on the OT but now that we are under grace, not law, wrath is no longer in the picture as an attribute of God.

AW Pink sums it up for many of us in that we tend to think that we need to apologize for, or at least we need to keep it under wraps so people don’t think less of God. Like it is some dirty little secret about God we need to keep from the public. As if it were some blemish of God’s perfection. Something we almost resent about being a reality. Or that it is unwarranted, too strong a response to sin, or that it is reserved for only the worst of the worst sinners.

A study on faith maturity in Christians found that 97% found God to be forgiving, 96% said God was loving, but only 37% found God judging and 19% said God punished or disciplined believers who do wrong. Neale Donald Walsch in his best-selling book “Conversations with God” portrayed God as a chummy God who patronized sin, since there is no objective right or wrong. He said that God smiles on all we do and only asks that we do our best. Like a grandpa. And thus our hatred of sin becomes too shallow. And our lives reflect this belief.

The reality is that if you were to go to a concordance and look up the term wrath of God, you would find that there are more references in the Bible to the ager, fury, and wrath of God than there mentions of His love and tenderness.

The question becomes what is the wrath of God? How do we define it?

God’s wrath is His holiness stirred into activity against sin. Deep, intense anger towards sin. Fierce opposition to sin. The truth is that the wrath of God is an attribute of God as much as any other attribute, an attribute without which God would be less than God. God is not embarrassed about hating sin, exhibiting wrath against sin. It is directly linked to His glory. In fact, God is glorified thru His wrath against sin. Think about that. God is glorified in His wrath against sin. It is an expression of His goodness.

God’s wrath is birthed out of God’s holiness and in that is a hate for sin. It starts with a hate for sin. And if we are honest, that might be why we don’t react to sin the way God does and why we think at times His reaction to sin is overkill, because we don’t hate sin the way that God hates sin. We also have too low a view of God and His holiness.

As we have seen in Romans, the wrath of God is totally justified towards sinners due to their sinfulness. And it is not merely some futuristic thing. Look at Romans 1:18-19. God’s wrath towards sin is currently being dolled out against ungodliness.

What we must hold to is the truth that sinners will be held accountable to God for their sin. Please see the truth here. God’s wrath begins to fall into place even more when we realize His patience towards our sin and the revelation of Himself, especially thru Christ, and the way God made for us to avoid His wrath thru the crucifixion of His own Son. That God yet wishes to redeem us from our sinful destructive ways. We saw that is Romans 2:4 – His kindness and tolerance is to lead us to repentance. Even in sending His own Son, Jesus.

That is why Christ came. 1 Tim. 1:15 – Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...” That He would take all the wrath of God due sin and take it upon Himself, why John the Baptist declared upon Christ when He saw Him that He was “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Lamb died in the OT, the sins were placed upon the Lamb and it died or was the scapegoat to take the sins away from the people. That lamb in the OT pointed to THE LAMB who would come and once and for all would die for the sins of the world. That is JESUS.

Look at 1 Thess. 1:9-10; 5:9.

Jesus’s suffering came because He was the object of God’s wrath towards sin. Why was Jesus forsaken? Wrath of God towards our sin. The great news of the gospel is that Jesus’s death and resurrection satisfied God’s wrath for those who turn from their sin to Jesus for salvation. Look at Romans 3:24-26. Demonstration of God’s righteousness that God would be just in justifying sinners. Through the work of Christ, God’s wrath has been appeased for all who trust in Christ. The good news of the gospel is that believers are no longer under the sentence of divine wrath due their sin.

May we by God’s grace cultivate a hate for sin. Starting with our own sin. May we live in the overflow of our own forgiveness and grace received, and go and do likewise. Not backing down from sin and its wrath, but offering Christ, cherishing Christ in our own lives first. May others see this and be drawn to Christ themselves as we flee immorality by running to and being satisfied in Christ.

Everything we see here is grounded in who believers are in Christ. That is what the “therefore” is there for. Our new identity in Christ is the BASIS for our separation from all sin. They are of this world, they are things we have died to. They are associated with our old nature. And are therefore to be aggressively put away from any association with our lives.

The language Paul uses here literally means to “kill” your sin. The verb Paul uses is going beyond simply seeking to suppress or control sin in our lives. Paul is calling for us to wipe it out completely, to exterminate our old self and its ways. It calls for decisive and immediate action regarding our sin.

Jesus captures this in Matthew 5:29-30 where Jesus says if your eye causes you to stumble pluck it out. Now we know that simply cutting out our eye won’t solve our sin problem, as our mind is still actively engaged in sin. But the point is to put to death our sin. Deal aggressively with our sin.

And there are specific ways we are commanded to deal with sexual sin and immorality. Look at 1 Cor. 6:18. Notice it didn’t say fight it, pray about it, let go and let God. We are commanded to fight against sexual immorality by fleeing it. Deal with it strongly by running far away from it, not being associated in any way with it. Trying to stand in its presence and resist it clearly doesn’t work. Read the headlines in our culture today and how many people are falling because of this one sin of sexual immorality.

Joseph gives us an example of this this in Gen. 39:12 with regards to Potiphar’s wife’s advances. Ran. Fled at his own peril.

What Paul lists here in this list in v. 5 all have to do with sexual sin. Immorality is the Greek word “porneia” and it is a broad term for any sexual activity outside God’s designed bounds of a heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman. Impurity is similar but points to our thoughts as constituting sin as well, lust in our minds that maybe nobody sees outwardly – deal with this sin strongly too. Passion and evil desire point as well to the inner lure to sexual sin, and how if we do not put these to death they eventually work their way into actions that seek to enslave and consume. All are deadly and destroy the person who doesn’t kill them.

You can’t read 1 Cor. 6 and not realize that there is something especially tragic and devastating about sexual sin. Again, finishing 1 Cor. 6:18, it says “every other sin is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Sexual sin is uniquely devastating and controlling.

This is just one area where Satan has duped us and through constant association has lowered our sensitivity and hate towards sexual sins. Barna Group statistics: 60% of teens seek out pornography weekly. Think about that. Almost identical stat for their fathers not so ironically. Listen to this crazy stat: 56% of people under 25 think that not recycling is wrong morally, whereas only 32% of people under 25 think that viewing pornography is wrong. Crazy that we are more offended by not recycling than we are by pornography. More offended for our environment than we are for our daughters and sons being caught in gross immorality.

And even here in 1 Cor. 6, look at verses 15-17, 19-20, where Paul states why sexual immorality is so devastating. He brings it all back to who we are in Christ and the fact that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are not to avoid sexual immorality simply due to STD’s or pregnancy or the effects on our lives as individuals, though I am not diminishing those. Who we are in Christ demands separation from sexual sins. To approach sexual sin otherwise and to engage in sexual sin amounts to idolatry.

Look at verse 5 at the end. Where all sexual sin originates in is greed, or covetousness, and at that root is idolatry. Covetousness and idolatry are at the heart of these other sins in that they reflect a lack of contentment in Christ, and so we look to fill the void with other things, namely the worship of self. We are not content with Christ or in Christ and so we replace Him with self. We think we deserve something so we pursue it no matter the cost, or without regard for God or others.

What Paul shows here is that every sin, especially sexual sin, finds it root in a refusal to worship God as the one true God and as such constitutes idolatry. This cuts to the heart of the others in the list, the motive behind them. Idolatry, a refusal to submit to Christ’s lordship. Self over God.

What we must realize based upon our text is that sexual sins fight aggressively at our ability to lead a Christ-centered life. That is why sexual sins appear in almost every list of vices we see in the Bible. Romans 1:26-7; 13:13: 1 Cor. 5:10-11; Eph. 5:3; 1 Tim. 1:10 just to offer a few examples. Sexual sin is uniquely devastating and very prevalent as our culture is seeing today. And regularly we see these connected to idolatry. Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5 just to show a couple examples.

Sexual sin ultimately displaces God as the proper and only object of our worship and replaces God with self. Christ is no longer pre-eminent. No longer unrivaled, supreme. We become supreme and our lusts and desires become supreme, and are fed at any cost. We take the rightful place of God in our lives. We call the shots and at the center of everything is our personal gratification, not the good of others or the glory of God. It goes against who we are in Christ.

This is one way that God’s people and the world are contrasted. Paul is emphasizing here the eternal relevance for a believer’s faithful submission to Christ. Hugely important. Believers are called to die to their former life as they participate in the worship of the risen Christ in how they walk as believers, separated from sexual sin.

We cannot be content with looking the part externally. We must aggressively seek to live out the fact that in Christ we have been freed from the power of sin. Again, all based upon who we are in Christ (Col. 3:1-4). Do not tolerate the slightest of sin as a believer. Be separated. Put the old self to death in light of your new identity in Christ and the power of the Spirit in you before it sucks you into destruction.

What are these spiritual blessings, and what do they do for us? What do we experience partially today that we will experience fully later? Contrary to some beliefs, they are not some mysterious power or cosmic connection reserved for a select few. They are the key benefits of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. These truths must permeate our lives.

Specific Spiritual Blessings we have as believers from being in Christ:

A. The ELECTION as saints. Ephesians 1:4 says that He has “chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” God has chosen to make us holy and blameless, and all because of His love, His good pleasure, and His grace (verses 5–6). What a blessing, that “even when we were dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:5), God chose to extend His grace to us and offer us salvation. This is even more amazing when we realize that He made that decision before sin even entered into the world.

B. The ADOPTION as His children. Not only has God chosen us to be made holy, but He grants us full status as His children, with all the benefits thereof. John 1:12says, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” When we believe the gospel, we receive full access to the Father, able to call out to Him as His children.

C. We are FULLY accepted by grace.The third spiritual blessing is in Eph. 1:6, where we are made “accepted in the beloved.” The word is related to grace and gives the idea of making us graceful or favorable through Christ, the beloved of God. When we put on Christ, the Father sees His loveliness when He looks at us. The blood of Christ has taken away the guilt of our sins, and we stand before the Father as perfectly accepted.

D. We receive REDEMPTION through His blood. Redemption speaks of buying one's freedom, paying a ransom. The price for our sins, the payment to buy us out of eternal condemnation, was fully paid by the blood of Christ. In Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but we become slaves to God. Since we are bought and paid for by His blood, we have an obligation to glorify God in our body and spirit (1 Corinthians 6:20).

E. We receive the FORGIVENESS of our sins. Eph. 1:7 also describes the fifth blessing. It is closely related to redemption, but looks at the other side of the coin. In paying the ransom for our sins, the debt of sin was canceled, and we were forgiven. We no longer have the burden of guilt for violating God's holy laws.

F. We can KNOW the will of God. The sixth spiritual blessing listed is knowing the mystery of His will (Ephesians 1:8–10). God has given us wisdom and insight through His Word and has shown us His desire to bring all things together to glorify Christ. Since all of creation was made by Him and is for His good pleasure (Revelation 4:11), the consummation of His plan is when everything and everyone is brought in line to glorify Him. By aligning ourselves with Him by faith, we become part of His perfect plan and purpose.

G. We receive an INHERITANCE. Eph. 1:11 says that another blessing is the inheritance that is given to us through Christ. What is included in that inheritance? “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). The riches of glory, the presence of God, the eternal home – these don't even scratch the surface of all the blessings that belong to our inheritance.

H. We are SEALED through the Holy Spirit. Another blessing is found in Ephesians 1:13, which is the sealing of the Holy Spirit. When we become God's children, He places His mark of ownership on us, guaranteeing our eternal security. This is spoken of as the down-payment of our full redemption, to hold us until the day Christ brings us to Him.

How do we access all of these blessings? They are readily accessible to everyone who is in Christ Jesus. The way to be in Christ is to repent, or turn away from our sins (Acts 17:30), confessing to God that we are sinners (Romans 10:9). When we believe that Christ died to take our punishment and now lives to give us new life (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), He grants us forgiveness of sins and all the blessings that accompany that salvation. But their fullness is future. It is not of this world.

Phil. 3:20 – “our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for it” it says. We wait for the fullness of the blessings. They are ours, but not fully here in this world. We have a hope, future, welfare – all are in Christ. And they fully await us. God’s character allows and fuels our faithfulness while we wait. Romans 8:18 says that it will all be worth it when we are glorified.

While we wait, what fuels us? Look at Titus 2:11-14. God’s grace is the focus. The gospel. It teaches us to deny the world.

Do we still struggle with sin and its effects? Of course. The reign of sin is broken, but its presence is still there. But consider yourself, see yourself and your new identity of being in Christ lead to a new mentality that says you are dead to sin and alive to Christ. Let that birth a new mentality in us. And allow us to wait faithfully and patiently. 2 Cor. 5:18 – do not look to what is seen but to what is unseen.

Nothing compares to what God has given us in His Son. Find your identity in Him alone. Turn your eyes to Jesus alone. Christ is enough. Supreme. Unrivaled. Pre-eminent in everything.

If we are honest, there are many things every day that compete for our attention and affection. Especially now: COVID-19, election, race relations, you name it. The list goes on and on of things that battle for our attention and attempt to occupy prime real estate in our minds. The battle here is for our preoccupation, our heart and mind, because we follow what we dwell on. Our hearts and minds follow what we dwell on. We live out what we dwell on. That is what Paul is saying here.

It is so easy for all of us to let our minds become fixed on things other than who we are in Christ – things like our sin, guilt, lies we have been told, things we have been deceived about, our circumstances, all earthly and temporal things. When we go here, we are prone to falling prey to trusting in everything the false teachers put forth – rules, angels, traditions, trying to gain spiritual fullness on our own, putting our hope in an elected official or political party – all shadows of Christ, all things that are destined to perish and have no strength against the flesh. And these things fight for our preoccupation when our preoccupation is to be on Christ and His work, things above, not the things of man and this world.

What Paul says here is more than fleeting or passing thoughts towards who we are in Christ. Believers are commanded to dwell intently on the things above. Paul uses this verb “to think” 23 times in his writings. Huge. What Paul is saying here is that as we dwell on who we are in Christ thru the gospel, our minds are transformed to find joy in obedient submission to God’s will. Look at Romans 12:1-3. Do you see the connection? The idea of orientation shows up here again in verse 2. Orienting ourselves around who we are in Christ. Reasonable response to the gospel.

Look at Phil. 4:8-9. Right thoughts lead to right practice all based upon who you are in Christ. Looking at the gospel transforms us. Dwelling on who we are in Christ transforms us. Why? Because Christ has defeated everything that poses a threat to us here on earth. Satan is a defeated foe. Nothing can separate us from God’s love because of the gospel. Christ is our hope and remains our hope.

Satan seeks to distract us from a heavenly preoccupation thru the things of this earth – sin, suffering, worry, doubts, fears, circumstances, politics – all things sourced in earth and temporal. And Satan seeks to use these to take our focus and worship off of Christ, the one and only rightful recipient of our worship.

Anyone ever heard the saying, or even said the saying, that says “he or she is so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”? I get what people are trying to say when they say this, though I rarely if ever have met someone so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.

What Paul says here in Colossians 3:2 and even verses 1-4 as a whole would put forth exactly the opposite approach to our lives, and dare I say Biblical truth, that our problem is that we are not heavenly minded enough and so we end up being no earthly good. The reality I think we would all agree to is that we don’t think of the gospel and who we are in Christ enough.

Believers are to allow their identity in Christ to create a new mentality in them that is Christ focused so that we can be effective here on earth. The gospel and our salvation become the filter through which we interpret everything. New realm in which we dwell. We need our minds renewed to this reality, hearts revived to this reality. This only happens through God’s Word and the work of the Spirit in our lives so that we are useful here on earth.

See Gal. 2:20. The fact that Paul had died with Christ fueled his present living. A new identity led to a new mentality and thus new way of life. All sourced in who he was thru the lens of the gospel. Dead to the old, alive to the new.

We need a new perspective and mentality on how we view all of life. We need to focus on Christ in the midst of this world, not seek to escape this world or make this world our home by settling in and being too comfortable and focused on the things of this world. We are here on mission. Hebrews 12:1-2 stuff. Fix our eyes on our Lord and commanding officer and His promises in the gospel. Filter everything through the promises of God that are ours thru the gospel. Knowing nothing can separate us from these.

Look at v. 1. Everything about our life is to be focused on who we are in Christ. We are to take everything back to the sure and certain position and status we occupy as believers and build our lives on this foundation. Everything in our lives is to be taken back to the gospel thru which we have been saved and built upon the facts of who we are in Christ.

This is not inconsequential or unimportant. We are talking about true power to live out the Christian life. Look back at 2:19. We saw it from John 15 – we must abide in Christ alone for strength and power to live as believers. Apart from Christ we can do nothing. Nothing of real and eternal significance will be accomplished in our lives apart from our abiding in Christ.

Spiritual fulfillment is found in understanding and applying who we are in Christ to our everyday lives by faith. This is the issue here – where is fullness found? In externals, such as drink and food and festivals and visions and such? Or in Christ? What Paul says is the same thing he always has said throughout the NT and specifically Colossians – fullness is found in Christ.

Look at Col. 2:8-10. Fullness is found in Christ. Believers are complete in Christ and their fullness is found in being in Christ. Look nowhere but Christ. Turn your eyes upon Jesus as the song says. Focus on who we are in Christ.

Why we say we can never move beyond the gospel. We need to grasp more and more the gospel and its implications on our lives, the power to live as we have been called to live. To look for other things or the things of this world to do for us what only the gospel has done shows that we still need to grow in our understanding of our salvation and the gospel. That we need to grasp more fully the gospel and its implications for our lives. They didn’t understand their completeness in Christ.

Our starting point for everything in life is us going back to who we are in Christ. Abiding here in this truth. What kingdom do we belong to? Whose am I? Whose glory am I here to declare and seek? And then let these answers dictate our living. Believers are to seek the things above by setting our minds on Christ and daily committing to the values and ethics of Christ and His kingdom. This would address so much of what we struggle with and the lies we believe about God and ourselves.

Christianity is seeking to align our lives with our true identity in Christ so that we experience real fullness. Our earthly living then becomes a picture of our reconciliation with God thru Christ and the gospel. It is living now in light of who we are and will be fully in the future. It is another way of saying that we live to the glory of Christ. Our pattern of earthly living reflects the heavenly reality of who we are in Christ.

Let this be you believer. Fix your mind on the things above, even now in the time we live. How applicable is this truth for today and these times. Let the certainty of God’s promises bring peace to these troubled and uncertain times. Fill your mind with these through Bible study and let God’s faithfulness overwhelm you and guide you no matter what we face.

Not the election. Not COVID-19. Not masks or no masks. Fix your mind on God and His promises thru the gospel.