Colossians 3:5-11
Textual Introduction: In light of what Paul has said in the previous passage, this passage might be considered instructions on how to live now that you’re dead.
Because this is such weighty material, I’ve decided to treat it in two messages.
This and the next passage are complementary. This passage tells the Christian the attitudes and behaviors to eschew; the next speaks of the attitudes and behaviors to embrace. One speaks of what we are to put off, the other what we are to put on.
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Hollywood is famous for taking liberties in its treatment of historical subjects, particularly Biblical subjects.
At the same time, Hollywood’s treatment of subjects like the moral life of ancient Greece and Rome has been fairly accurate. Films like Gladiator and Spartacus which depict callous violence and moral license are quite faithful in their portrayal of the culture in which the church of Jesus Christ was born.
Let me share just a few facts about the morality of the Roman world in the first century.
* Divorce was widespread. One noblewoman reputedly had had fifteen husbands. Most Roman aristocrats had illegitimate children.
* Leaders were famed for their immorality. Nero, who was emperor when the letter to the Colossians was written, was notorious for his immoral behavior with both men and women.
* Prostitution was not only practiced it was encouraged by both the Greek and Roman authorities. It was widespread throughout the empire. Worship in some of the pagan religions involved ritual prostitution.
* Dinnerware used in Greek and Roman homes sometimes depicted images of sex acts off all kinds.
While the records of immoral behavior primarily concern the upper classes, the Roman writer Petronius says the common people were often as involved in such behavior as their more prominent neighbors. Merchants sometimes sold incantations by which an injured spouse supposedly could place a curse on his or her unfaithful partner.
Now, I’m not giving a lecture on Greco-Roman morals; I want you to have a picture of the culture out of which the Colossian Christians came. They were born in a society in which the sensual was prized and gratification of sexual desire was readily available. And for many, the notion of not gratifying those desires was unthinkable.
If you’ve noticed some similarities to our own culture, don’t be surprised.[1] So much in our culture is driven by appeals to sexual desire. The notion of chastity is considered old-fashioned and abstinence is mocked. In our fiction, the celibate hero or the virginal heroine is for children’s books. For those characters that are a little older, the notion of ‘waiting until marriage’ seems quaint or self-deceiving. In fact, where the notion of ‘waiting’ finds a place in a story line, it has become “waiting until I’m ready,” never “waiting until marriage.”
It’s not just on TV or in the movies, is it? At the work place we know those for whom the marriage vows are meaningless. There may be a co-worker who has multiple affairs and rationalizes it by pointing to a spouse who just doesn’t understand. We might like to say that this doesn’t involve us, that sad as it is, we aren’t affected. But, I wonder if that’s true. I can’t help but wonder if every story we hear about the strength of our own marriages makes us wonder about our partners. This distorted sexuality that shapes our culture is destructive.
Strangely enough, there have been some signs that a new generation wishes things were somehow different. But they don’t know where to begin. They have so often been told this is the way everyone behaves, they believe anything else involves repression and is unhealthy. I read of a young woman who had grown tired of her “partying” lifestyle with its expectation to “hook-up” with near strangers. She shared her feelings of weariness with her counselor and the counselor asked why she didn’t just stop. Stunned, she asked, “You mean, I don’t have to do what I want to do?” Deception about sex is hardly new. Decades ago, C.S. Lewis said, “For the past twenty years you and I have been fed all day long on good solid lies about sex.” The church has known this all along, now those outside the church seem to have caught on.
We’d like to offer something different to such young people—and not a few older people who are caught up in this sensual culture. But it’s not going to be easy because what Christianity has to say about sex is so often distorted.
Sometimes ill-advised Christian writers have contributed to the distortion. Sometimes malicious critics of Christianity have contributed to the distortion. Often those who want license to do whatever they please distort what the Bible says in order to discount it as irrelevant.
With this in mind, let me take a moment to set the record straight. The Bible tells us that God created us with a sexual nature. We are sexual beings. Our sexuality does not define us but neither does it degrade us. Our sexuality is a gift from God.
But, as with all such gifts, it can be misused and abused. The Bible makes it clear that marriage is the only proper avenue for the full expression of our sexuality.
The Bible never condemns sexual behavior between a man and a woman who are married—to each other.
The Bible never approves sexual intimacy between a man and a woman outside of marriage.
The Bible offers counsel and instruction for those men and women who are not yet married or who, for any reason, are not likely to be married.
Many people today have never heard these simple truths but they are a starting place to get out of the mess our culture is in.
Oxford scholar E. David Cook writes about the Christian view of sex.
Sexuality is God’s good gift and is to be enjoyed and celebrated. It is a wonderful servant, but always in danger of becoming a powerful and destructive master.
What Paul is writes to the Colossians reflects that viewpoint. He begins by warning them of the danger of being mastered by their sexual nature.
How strange it must have seemed to those raised in the Greco-Roman culture to hear the early Christian preachers advance an ethic built upon the Ten Commandments.
Even after being converted many of these Christians must have struggled with the temptation to return to some of their old practices and attitudes. It must have been hard for them to resist the enticement of what was once so much a part of their lives. Every day they faced a struggle for integrity in a spiritually unsympathetic culture, a struggle to be truly Christlike.
What’s a Christian to do in such circumstances?
AS WE SEEK TO BE CHRISTLIKE
IN A SPIRITUALLY UNSYMPATHETIC CULTURE
WE ARE TO BE DEAD TO A DISTORTED SEXUALITY.
To these Christians in Colossae Paul says, “Put to death…whatever belongs to your earthly nature…”
This is a direct command. It is not "allow to die" but "Put to death"--the Christian is to take an active role in the process. It envisions a real effort by the Christian to short-circuit those forces, internal and external, which would prompt him or her to live in a way which ignores their new identity in Christ.
That which is to be put to death is an outgrowth of the "earthly nature". Williams renders it as "lower earthly nature." The reference must be to the element in our fallen human nature which remains powerful despite our having aligned ourselves with Christ. In addressing the issue, Paul is revealing himself to be a realist. He understands that even Christians are subject to the temptation to make gratification the chief goal of living.
Exactly what qualities are we to put to death?
1. sexual immorality--There were many opportunities for sexual misbehavior in the first century. So, the term Paul uses is a generic term for all kinds of wrongdoing in our sex lives. It could refer to fornication, adultery, homosexuality, spousal abuse, pedophilia, prostitution, and even pornography. The Apostle had to constantly warn his readers about such sins. In our own age this remains a problem.
2. impurity--Gets to the heart of the matter. The problems on the outside reflect problems on the inside.
3. lust—The utterly self-centered desire to have another. Consider this contrast between the selfless ideal of love and the selfishness of lust: Love says, "I love you and I want the best for you.” Lust says, “I love me and I want you."
4. evil desires--synonym for lust, carries notion of passionate desire for that which is forbidden. The word “evil” is important; "desire" is not bad in itself. The Bible writers understand that sexual desire is part of our human nature and frequently emphasize its beauty within the confines of marriage.
5. greed—How does “greed” fit this context? Greed places my desires at the forefront of my choices. The seeds of idolatry are in greed because I place my desires on the throne instead of God’s desires. Paul may see a kind of greed involved in the act of adultery, a greed which says, “I have my wife and I want yours as well.”
In the face of these powerful human passions, Paul tells the Colossians they are to be as though dead. The dead are not greedy. The dead do not have evil desires. The dead are not lustful. The dead have no impure thoughts. The dead do not engage in sexual immorality.
This might seem a strange thing to have to write to Christians of all people. Aren’t Christians above such things? Aren’t Christians immune to the temptations of their culture? Aren’t Christians naturally deaf to the Siren calls of a society where sensuality reigns?
The answer to those questions is “No.” It was “No” in the first-century and it is “No” in the 21st century.
We are all susceptible to the temptations of a culture obsessed with the sensual.
For some of us those temptations may come at the office, at school, at a neighborhood gathering, on a business trip, and sadly, but honestly, they may come to us as we participate in our church life.
For some of us those temptations may come in music, on TV, in movies, over the Internet, or through reading books and magazines.
The temptations are so strong and we seem so weak that Paul’s demand that we be dead to their allurement seems to be asking the impossible.
The Reality of God’s Wrath
This is true even as we recognize that God’s wrath is directed toward those who make such behavior the hallmark of their lives.
We don’t hear much about God’s wrath these days. It’s estimated that more than 96% of Christians believe God is a loving God but fewer than 40% of Christians believe that God really judges sin and about half that many believe he punishes sin.
Yet, according to the New Testament, the wrath of God is a reality. God’s anger against sin is seen both as a present reality and as a future reality.
As a present reality God’s wrath is seen in a remarkable way. In Romans 1-3 Paul says that God responds to the sinful quest of those who rebel against him by giving them what they want. Sin carries the seeds of its own punishment.
In time, the Roman Empire would crumble, in part, because of its commitment to decadence.
We look at rampant immorality and depravity and say, “God is going to punish that behavior.” Paul looks at it and says, “God already has.”
David Garland of Truett Seminary at Baylor University writes:
“The surprising thing about Paul’s understanding of God’s wrath…is that the immorality and the foolishness is the punishment, not simply the cause for punishment. Moral perversion and mental pollution are the result of God’s wrath, not the reason for it. This means that we are punished by the very sins we sin. If we shut our eyes to the light we go blind; if we decide to shut our ears to the truth, we go deaf. If we exchange the true God for a false one, become like the gods we serve.”
Time and time again, the very corruption which manifests God’s wrath, the ruin which happens when God lets us have our way, causes us to wake up to the folly of ignoring God. Remember, it was in the pigsty the Prodigal “came to himself.”
This is the redemptive work of God’s wrath as we experience it as a present reality. At the same time, the Bible sternly warns that there is another aspect of God’s wrath. One which is experienced by those who steadfastly refuse to wake up. That experience of wrath has eternal dimensions.
Our Model of Purity
As Paul was calling these Christians away from one way of life, he is also calling them to a new way of life. That’s implied in his words: “At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them.” This new way of life is a way marked by purity.
But it’s difficult because all around us there are temptations. We know better than to boast we are not at risk and wonder how we can withstand it.
While you may yearn to live in light of this call to a new purity, you know that the only way you can live above the temptations of this sensual society would be to manage your sexual desires as Christ would. That may be strange imagery for us to ponder. Yet, if we take seriously what say every Advent season about Christ becoming fully human, we will acknowledge he faced sexual temptation.
He faced it but never succumbed. He never used another human as a mere source of pleasure and gratification. He was our model.
We can’t know the details of his struggles but we can detect some clues about how he won the victory over these temptations. We need to look at the guidelines that ordered his life.
· He recognized that his highest obligation was to God’s will. John depicts him telling the crowd: “… I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me…”
· He refused to be controlled by his physical hungers. After fasting for forty days, he was still able to declare, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” There was nothing wrong with eating but to give in to indulge at that time and that place would have been wrong.
· He maintained an attitude toward others that would never allow him to view them as object for the gratification of his desires. His whole attitude toward people was one of respect. He was especially a model for how he treated women. There was never any question about the purity of his relationship with them.
We don’t need to know the details of his victory over temptation if we can incorporate these principles into our daily living.
Conclusion
National leaders, sports figures, stars of the entertainment world, business leaders have all been in the headlines lately due to their succumbing to their sexual passions. Sadly, sometimes the names of Christian leaders fill those headlines as well, guilty of the same sin.
Paul calls us to a higher way of life. He calls us to demonstrate our claims to new life in the most private realms of our life.
Perhaps he knew that if we could maintain our integrity there, it would be maintained in every other realm of our lives.
[1] In fact, while the Romans once believed morality was based on absolutes, by the first-century they believed social morality was based on custom, not on the decrees of some divine lawgiver. In the past fifty years our culture has moved from the morality based on moral absolutes to one based on cultural relativism.
