Colossians 3:1-17 - A Change of Mind

Colossians 3:1-17

Not Carnality but Christ

1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Character of the New Man

12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

A change of mind is needed when we put on Christ.  If we truly have died to ourselves and have been made alive in Him by faith in His word and work and are found in Him, then we should be looking for and earnestly seeking the heavenly things of His kingdom from where He reigns sovereignly over us all.  Our lives have been bought back from the spiritual death of sin’s bondage and we are now tucked away in Him as alive from the dead in our spiritual resurrection by grace.  We are confident also that when He returns bodily that we shall also be raised bodily with incorruptible bodies in that resurrection of all the dead 1 Corinthians 15:21-22) and then be with Him forever in His glory before His face and throne of grace (Revelation 22:3-4) where we will worship face to face apart from the very presence (Romans 8:20-21) of sin!  We need a change of mind to focus on what is to come as well as what we should pursue until that day with this end in mind.  The list of things to put off and put on (Ephesians 4:22-24) as we are being transformed in body and soul by God’s work in us (Romans 12:2) to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29, Philippians 3:21), which is the original image of God in which mankind was created (Genesis 1:26-27) to be before sin entered the world.  Some of these called out here are most troublesome and are identified as sexual immorality, misdirected desires, moral impurity, and the idolatry of coveting instead of exhibiting godliness with contentment (1 Timothy 6:6) as the true value to be gained for eternity.  We are to desire what God desires (1 John 2:15-17) and pursue what makes us acceptable to Him and not our own misdirected desires in sin; we should aim the direction of our lives (Philippians 3:8, 10-11) to be more like Him as demonstrated in His Son come to live among us and show us how we should be.  We do well to remind ourselves that these ungodly pursuits are the mark of the lost sons of disobedience among whom we once walked side by side but have been rescued by Christ from the penalty of that life of sin and should do all we can to avoid repeating those offenses against our Savior.  The attitudes we are to put off include rage, fierce anger, ill-will to others, slander against those we don’t like or disagree with (such as politicians!), obscenities, and lies.  These do not reflect God’s character and therefore should not be part of our own.  What are we to do then?  We are told to put these off by His Spirit (Romans 8:12-13) and put on the godly traits and actions in mind and deeds that reflect the image of God recreated in us at our new birth.  This means we do not compare ourselves with others and imagine we are any better because of race or nationality or career or even gender.  In Christ we are all equal because He lives in each of us and loves us the same, just as we are to do with each other.  There is no discrimination or prejudice in God’s kingdom since we are equally accepted and acceptable in the Beloved.  The list of attitudes and actions we are to clothe ourselves with are enumerated here for us to dwell on and work into our lives.  We are called to humbly put on peace, compassion, and forgiveness with each other as we consider how Jesus loved and forgave us and continues to forgive us (1 John 1:9) when we fail in our sin.  Above all these things, love holds them all together as we let Christ rule our hearts and guide our responses and intentions.  If we allow the peace of God to be our sovereign and not our own desires, we will live pleasing lives with thankful abandon.  This means we need to daily put God’s word in our hearts and minds that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:11-12) as we minister to one another.  Our worship times together should reflect this putting on of godliness and thanksgiving by our hymns of grace that exalt our Lord as one people saved by grace and seeking harmony in growing in the faith of the Lord Christ.  As this passage summarizes, we should do everything in His name with thanksgiving together as sinners saved by grace and pursuing perfection that we will only fully attain in eternity.  This all starts with a change of mind as we put on Christ and put off our old man’s thoughts and actions to learn new habits fit for the kingdom we all inhabit.