Vertical Living in a Horizontal World

Summary

Podcast Summary: “Vertical Living in a Horizontal World”

Cornerstone Chapel - Audio Podcast
Date: August 2, 2026
Scripture Focus: Colossians 3:1-14

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the message centers on Colossians 3 and asks: What does it mean to live “vertically” in a world consumed with the horizontal? The teaching encourages listeners to embrace a heavenly perspective, prioritizing spiritual realities and godly living over earthly distractions or sinful habits. The passage outlines what Christ has accomplished for believers and describes how Christians should “put off” old, sinful patterns and “put on” the virtues of the new life in Christ—especially emphasizing genuine forgiveness.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Christ Has Done for Us (00:00–08:45)

• Raised with Christ (v.1)

  • We are all born with a sin nature; our spirits are dead until faith in Jesus brings spiritual life.

    “We have come to life because the very Spirit of God has come within our hearts.” (04:06, Pastor)

  • Referenced Ephesians 2:5

• Our Lives are Hidden with Christ (v.3)

  • Christ’s sacrifice covers our past; God chooses to forget our sins.

    “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (06:33, Pastor, referencing Psalm 103:12)

• Promise of Future Glory (v.4)

  • Believers will appear with Christ in glory—either at His return or when they go to be with Him.

    “I consider my present sufferings not worth comparing to the glory that awaits me in Christ Jesus.” (08:42, quoting Romans 8:18)

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2. The Call to Vertical Living (08:46–11:18)

• Christians are commanded to “seek the things which are above” and “set your minds on things above.”
• Living vertically means maintaining a heavenly focus even while actively engaged in day-to-day earthly responsibilities.

  “We have to live vertically in a horizontal world. … keep your gaze heavenward.” (09:20)

• Notable Quote from C.S. Lewis:

  “Aim at heaven and you’ll get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you’ll get neither.” (10:35)

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3. Putting Off the Old Self (11:19–15:54)

• Paul’s List of Sins to “Put to Death” (v.5–9; explained with humor and relevant examples)
  • Fornication (sex outside of marriage)
  • Uncleanness (immoral living)
  • Passion (impulsive behavior)
  • Evil desire, Covetousness (idolatry)
  • Anger (deep, settled resentment)
  • Wrath (explosive flare-ups)
  • Malice, Blasphemy, Filthy language, Lying
• Everyone struggles with something; this isn’t an exhaustive list.

  “Sometimes the old man or the old woman doesn’t want to go willingly — like an uninvited guest that once in a while will appear, but only to do yourself harm.” (15:44)

• The old self must be actively rejected and “shown the door.”

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4. Putting On the New Self (15:55–19:32)

• Virtues to “Put On” (v.10–14)
  • Tender mercies (compassion)
  • Kindness, humility, meekness ("strength under control"), patience, bearing with one another
  • Forgiving one another “even as Christ forgave you”
  • Above all: agape love (“the bond of perfection”)
• Key Insight:

  “Christianity is not just overlaying Jesus onto your current life... We have to die to the flesh, put off the old nature and put on the new nature.” (19:33)

• Jesus’ teaching: You can’t patch new on old (Mark 2:21 illustration, 20:05–23:11)
  • Engaging 1970s stories about patched jeans drive home the point.

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5. The Emphasis on Forgiveness (23:12–29:55)

• Forgiveness is singularly highlighted:

  “Forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” (Col 3:13, 23:15)

• Notable Quote:

  “I personally believe that the single greatest obstacle to spiritual growth in a Christian’s life is unforgiveness.” (24:30)

• True forgiveness mirrors God’s heart, who “remembers sin no more” (Jer. 31:34; also Hebrews 8:12, 10:17)
• Emphasis:

  “Forgiveness is a decision, it’s not a feeling. And forgiveness is a commandment, it’s not a suggestion.” (29:46)

• Encouragement to “forward give”—putting offenders in God’s hands, releasing the hurt, and trusting God to deal justly.
• Martin Luther quote:

  “Forgiveness is not an occasional art. It is a permanent attitude.” (28:18)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• C.S. Lewis on Perspective:

  “Aim at heaven and you'll get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you'll get neither.” (10:35, quoted by Pastor)

• On Not Just Overlaying Jesus:

  “You don't just put something new on something old. It's incompatible.” (20:07)

• On Forgiveness as Command:

  “So you also must do. This is a requirement for us as Christians to walk in the same forgiveness as we have received from the Lord.” (29:21)

• On the Struggle with the Old Nature:

  “You fold Jesus onto your life and just expect that that's okay. It’s not okay.” (20:11)

• On the Gravity of Unforgiveness:

  “Unforgiveness is one of the worst, most damaging traits that a person can have.” (24:49)

• Personal Transparency:

  “Now, to be honest, I see a few things in here that convict me. Don’t you feel convicted?” (15:54)

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Important Timestamps

• [00:00–02:49] — Reading of Colossians 3:1-14
• [02:49–08:45] — Three things Christ has done: raised us, hidden us in Himself, promises future glory
• [08:46–11:18] — The command to live “vertically”; maintaining a heavenly focus
• [11:19–15:54] — Listing and explanation of traits to “put off” (old self)
• [15:55–19:32] — Traits to “put on”; contrast between old and new nature
• [19:33–23:11] — Illustrating with 1970s jeans and Jesus’ teaching on new/old garments
• [23:12–29:55] — Focus on forgiveness; centrality to Christian living and spiritual growth
• [29:56–end] — Final prayer and exhortation

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a practical, Scripture-driven guide to “vertical living”: continually refocusing our lives heavenward, actively putting off sinful ways, and clothing ourselves in the virtues of Christ. The message’s heart is the call to deep, Christlike forgiveness—a “permanent attitude” essential for personal healing, restored relationships, and authentic spiritual growth.

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Tone: Warm, candid, and pastoral—challenging yet filled with grace. The teaching balances theological depth with relatable stories and clear, actionable advice.

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Transcript

[Pastor]

We're going to continue in our study through the book of Colossians. And we've landed here. Now, in chapter three, I am going to read the first 14 verses, and then we will study this passage together this morning. Here we go. Colossians 3, verse 1. If, then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears,

[Assistant]

then you also will appear with him in glory.

[Pastor]

Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil, desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Why, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian slave, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. And therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, 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. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. I've entitled today's teaching Vertical living in a horizontal world. Let's pause and pray. Father, thank you for this time now, in your word, as we open it, we pray that you would speak to our hearts. Lord, thank you that you're a gentle surgeon. You do your good work in such a tender way with us, and we pray that you would do your work in us today, that we might learn how to live vertically in a horizontal world. We give you all the praise, glory and honor. We thank you for your word. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for the cross. I thank you for all those here and those watching online. We just pause now in your presence to hear from you. So speak, Lord, as we listen. It's in Jesus name we pray. And everyone said amen.

[Assistant]

Well, Paul starts out this third chapter

[Pastor]

here by telling us three things that Christ has done for us in the first four verses, and I'll put the three things on the screen. Verse one, he tells us that Christ has raised us with him. You were raised with Christ. In verse three, he tells us your life is hidden with Christ in God. And in verse four, he says, you

[Assistant]

also will appear with him in glory. So let me first talk about what

[Pastor]

these three things mean for us. The first one is when he says, there in verse one, you were raised with Christ.

[Assistant]

He says that because, look, we are all born into sin. David writes about how surely I was

[Pastor]

conceived in sin in my mother's womb.

[Assistant]

So we all are born with a sin nature. And.

[Pastor]

And as a result, that's why we

[Assistant]

enjoy sinning, because we have a sin nature. And thus our spirit is dead within

[Pastor]

a body that is alive because of our sin nature.

[Assistant]

But when we come to faith in Jesus and when we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Spirit of God comes within our spirit and gives

[Pastor]

us life, gives life to that which was otherwise dead.

[Assistant]

And in that sense, we have been raised with Christ.

[Pastor]

We have come to life because the

[Assistant]

very Spirit of God has come within our hearts. When we trust Jesus, when he forgives

[Pastor]

us of our sins, and thus he gives life to our dead spirits. And so in that sense, Paul says, there, you were raised with Christ. It's like you've been raised from the dead.

[Assistant]

That which was dead within your life,

[Pastor]

your living body has now become alive. You're spiritually alive. That's why Paul.

[Assistant]

Paul would write in a similar way in Ephesians 2. 5. He says, Even when we were dead, in our trespasses and sins, God made

[Pastor]

us alive with Christ Jesus.

[Assistant]

So there is this living experience that

[Pastor]

happens with our dead spirits when Christ comes into our heart and the Holy Spirit fills us, and then we become spiritually alive. So that's the first thing he says there. He says, you were raised with Christ. He says, don't forget that. The second thing he says in verse

[Assistant]

three is, your life is hidden with Christ in God. And what he means by that when he says, your life is hidden, he's talking about the old man, our sin nature, the part of us that died. Because when we renounced our sins and came to faith in Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ covers over our past. We are hidden with Christ because of his shed blood on the cross. He has now covered our sins by his sacrificial death. David would write something similar. In Psalm 32, verse 1, he said, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. That's Psalm 32:1.

[Pastor]

Now think about that.

[Assistant]

David is writing in a time when it was just temporary atonement for your sins by virtue of the sacrificial system, so the shed blood of animals would temporarily cover your sins. And David's writing there in Psalm 32:1, he goes, Blessed is a man whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sins are covered. And he doesn't even know what we know in the sense of the permanent, effective covering of our sins by the final sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world. So if David had reason to celebrate and rejoice because of the forgiveness of sins that the shed blood of animals

[Pastor]

covered, how much more do we have reason to rejoice because of the shed blood of Jesus on that cross that

[Assistant]

has now hidden all our sins in Christ.

[Pastor]

Amen.

[Assistant]

David would also say in Psalm 103:12, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed

[Pastor]

our transgressions from us.

[Assistant]

And isn't it wonderful to, to hear that? Because it means that when God forgives

[Pastor]

us, he separates our sins as far

[Assistant]

as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

[Pastor]

In other words, he's.

[Assistant]

He's not going to remind us of our past.

[Pastor]

Isn't that a wonderful thing to. To know? He doesn't, like, remind us. Now remember what I forgave you of, okay? Remember, like, as far as God is concerned, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us, he will not remind us of our past. He has covered it. He has nailed it to the cross. And listen, every time we still fail in sin, we can repent. Tell the Lord we're sorry, and he covers it again and he hides it under his blood. So this is our forgiving, loving Savior. And Paul wants us to know not only has he breathed life into your dead spirit, you've been raised with Christ, but also he reminds us here your life is hidden. Your sins of the past have been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. And if that weren't enough, everybody, he

[Assistant]

tells us in verse 4 that when Christ, who is our life, appears, here's the third thing. Then you also will appear with him in glory. And so when Paul writes this, he means either when Christ comes again and he appears, or we die to go to be with him and stand face to face with Him. He says to us, believers will spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. This is our appearing with him in Glory. This is the promise of heaven. Paul would remind us in Romans 8:18. I consider my present sufferings not worth comparing to the glory that awaits me in Christ Jesus. And so all of this language he's reminding us, look, you've been raised with Christ. Your sins have been hidden with Christ. You have the glory of heaven that awaits you. And with this in mind, Paul tells us in verses 1 and 2, look again at your Bibles. In the middle of verse one, he says, seek those things which are above. And verse two, set your mind on things above.

[Pastor]

You see that?

[Assistant]

He's saying, I want you to be reminded of what Christ has done for you.

[Pastor]

And now with this perspective, he says,

[Assistant]

I want you to seek those things which are above. I want you to set your mind on things above. In other words, look, folks, the Bible is always pulling our focus vertically. Seek those things which are above. Set your minds on things above. It is true we live on the horizontal, but as Christians, we are to think vertically.

[Pastor]

We.

[Assistant]

We are to set our affections on things above. That's what he means here. So it goes to the title of the message. We have to live vertically in a horizontal world. We have to constantly, as Christians, be thinking heavenward. That doesn't mean you disengage from the world. I mean, we live here. We go to work here, we raise families here. Okay, we have to stay engaged, but this is not our home. And it's easy to get distracted by all the cares of this world and the worries of this world and the fears of this world and. And everything that we have to encounter from day to day. Which, by the way, Jesus said to us, in this world, you will have tribulation.

[Pastor]

He said, take heart.

[Assistant]

I've overcome the world. So, you know, nobody is pretending like we don't live in a reality that often includes heartache and hardship and death and sickness and loss and all this kind of stuff. But at the same time, the Bible's saying, okay, now look, that might be a reality for now, but keep your gaze heavenward. Don't forget your vertical alignment, because at the end of the day, that's our hope and that's our future that Christ has prepared for us. So we got to keep our eye on heaven. We got to keep one foot firmly planted on earth and live out our lives. Be salt and light. Be engaged in our world.

[Pastor]

But we better keep our perspective heavenward. We better keep our gaze fixed upward. That's what he's saying to us in his book Mere Christianity. C.S. lewis wrote this quote, Aim at heaven and you'll get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you'll get neither. And that's a true statement.

[Assistant]

We exist, we function, we go to work and school, we raise families on the horizontal.

[Pastor]

But we have to have a vertical mindset. We are to live vertically in a horizontal world. And in order to do this, the rest of this passage, Paul says, there's

[Assistant]

some things you need to add in your life, and there are some things you need to subtract. The way he words it, he says, there's some things you have to put on. And he says, there are some things you have to put off. Or even stronger, he says, put to death. And so he describes it like this.

[Pastor]

And we'll see this terminology here as we. As I take a look again with you at these verses. But he describes it like this. He says, look, there's an old man, all right, or an old woman.

[Assistant]

That's the old you before you got saved. And the old woman and the old man tend to, you know, live in sinful ways, because that's the way you lived before you came to know Christ. He says, but when you come to know Christ, you're a new person. And as a new man or a new woman, you need to put on new things. Like, look, what Christ does for us in our spirit is something we cannot do for ourselves. He redeems us, he saves us, he forgives us. But look, the Christian life is also a responsibility on our part in terms of what we have to put off

[Pastor]

and what we have to put on.

[Assistant]

There's a part that we are required to do. And this is what Paul is stressing with us.

[Pastor]

He says, because the reality is there's

[Assistant]

an old man in you, and there's an old woman in you. And there's a new man and there's a new woman, and which one are you going to live by?

[Pastor]

Because here's the truth, everybody. The old man or the old woman likes to come around every now and again, and they are not welcome.

[Assistant]

And if you entertain them, you will

[Pastor]

only bring shame to yourself, and it'll drag you down. So we have to constantly be showing the old man the door. Okay? So this is what Paul does. He makes a list here for us, and he tells us, there's some things I want you to put off once you put off the old traits. That verse, that's verses five through nine. And he says, I want you to put on some new traits. This is verses 10 to 14. So I want you to look at these verses again. With me, let's first look at the putting off the old traits. This is verses 5 through 9. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth. Now, I'm reading from King James, and that just sounds funny to me, like, put to death. Does this talk about church members? Put to death your members which are on the earth.

[Assistant]

He's not talking about church members. Yeah, sorry, we gotta thin out the crowd.

[Pastor]

We gotta pop off a few of you today.

[Assistant]

The ESV says, put to death what is earthly in you? NIV says, put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature. And then colon, and he makes a list.

[Pastor]

Fornication. That's sex outside of marriage. Uncleanness. That Greek word means immoral living passion. Now, what's wrong with passion? Like, you know, we talk about somebody's passionate about something. There's nothing wrong with it. In the Greek New Testament, it means impulsive behavior, evil desire and covetousness. Covetousness is greedy desire for what doesn't belong to you, which is idolatry. In other words, we begin to worship what doesn't belong to us because we covet that much. Verse 6. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked. Like, this is the old person. This is how you used to live when you lived in them. But now. Verse 8. But now everybody say, but now. See, now he's putting the emphasis. He goes, this is what we got to do. You are to put off all these. Anger, wrath. Okay, pause there for a second. What's the difference between anger and wrath? I had to dig it out myself. Anger is the Greek word orge, and it means a deep settled resentment. That kind of anger, it's down deep. Wrath is a different Greek word. It is thymos. It means sudden, explosive flare up that quickly dies out. And there's two kinds of anger, aren't there? There's the kind that you just bottle up because you're angry and it settles down deep and forms resentment. And there's the kind that just, you know, explodes and it's all, o, I'm biting my tongue on a joke right there, okay? But it's over quickly because you are. Oh, please, Lord, help me to get it back together. Because you, like, you fly off the

[Assistant]

handle quickly, but then you just kind of calm down, so that's bad, too.

[Pastor]

And then you have also on the list, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Since you have. Here we go. Put off the old man with his deeds. We'll pause there for a moment. Now, to be honest, I see a few things in here that convict me. Don't you feel convicted? And if you don't necessarily feel convicted because you don't see your sin issue on the list, please know you're not off the hook. I mean, this isn't an exhaustive list that Paul is writing here. Your issue might be gossip. Your issue might be you get drunk. Your issue might be jealousy or greed. Your issue might be unforgiveness. You know, look, we know our weaknesses and we know our sin issues, and we have to identify those things because it's part of the old man or the old woman that we need to rid from our lives. And like I said a moment ago, sometimes the old man or the old woman doesn't want to go willingly. Like, they're like an uninvited guest that once in a while will appear, but only to do yourself harm. So this is why Paul says here, you know, we have to get rid of these things. And whatever your particular thing is, your sin struggle, you know, the Christian life, it's not always just. I prayed to receive Jesus and. And now I have no struggles and I'm on my way to heaven. It can sometimes be a challenge to run the race with perseverance and to constantly be telling the old man or the old woman, you are not welcome here. Paul would say in Romans 7, 24 and 25, oh, wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so Jesus will help us. Jesus forgives us, Jesus restores us. But it's on us to put off the old ways and to put on the new ways of the Spirit, the old ways of the flesh, the new ways of the Spirit. So here's some things in verses 10 to 14 that he tells us to put on. Look at the list with me, verse 10, and have put on the new man or the new woman, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised, nor uncircumcised, or barbarian, Scythian slave, nor free, but Christ is all, and in all. In other words, this applies to Everybody. Therefore, verse 12. As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on. Put on tender mercies. Now, that Greek word means compassion, kindness, humility, meekness. Some people think that meekness is passivity. It's not passivity. Meekness is strength under control Long suffering, patience, 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. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And it is that Greek word agape there. So what's important to understand is that in order to live vertically, we have to regularly be dying to self, putting to death the old man, the old woman, putting on the new traits. Listen to me, everybody. Christianity is not just overlaying Jesus onto your current life. That is not Christianity. It's not just, okay, I'm going to

[Assistant]

pray a prayer, I'm going to just put Jesus on, but I'm still going to be doing all the things that I have been doing. It is the recognition that Christ in us is the hope of glory. And we have to die to the

[Pastor]

flesh, we have to die to self.

[Assistant]

We have to put off the old nature and we have to put on the new nature. Jesus reminded us of this very thing in, in Mark 2:21 when he said this. No one sews a piece of unshrunk

[Pastor]

cloth on an old garment or else

[Assistant]

the new piece pulls away from the old and the tear is made worse. What was he saying there? He's saying, look, you don't just put something new on something old. It's incompatible. So you just can't fold Jesus as something new onto your old life and just expect that that's okay. It's not okay. We have to always be wrestling with the flesh and dying to self and putting away the old man or the old woman. Because. Because you can't just sew a new patch on an old garment.

[Pastor]

Now look, I'll illustrate this because some of you, like I did, I grew up in the 70s, okay? I'm a child of the 70s, the

[Assistant]

decade of the 70s.

[Pastor]

Fleetwood Mac, the Brady Bunch, Okay?

[Assistant]

By the way, on television we only had three networks. Abc, NBC and cbs. I know for you younger generation, like only three channels. Yeah, only three channels. And by the way, if you wanted to switch a channel, you had to get up off the couch and actually go turn the channel, okay? But the 70s were also economically dark. The years of Jimmy Carter and gas rationing and inflation was sky high. And so you had to be frugal in the 70s.

[Pastor]

My parents were frugal.

[Assistant]

My mom, she would buy me jeans that I could grow into. So literally my jeans would be six inches too long. I'd be like, mom, I can't wear these. She'd just like roll them up and then as you grow, you roll them down. That's the way I grew up. And so. And that's what I did. I'd roll up my jeans, and then as I grew, I would unroll them. The problem is, you know, when you

[Pastor]

roll up your jeans and then it goes through the wash, and then the

[Assistant]

next year you unroll them, there's a ring where the old year was. And so as you're unrolling it over the years, people can tell how old your jeans are. Your jeans become like a tree stump, and they're, like, counting rings like, you've had those jeans eight years, haven't you? Yep, I've had them eight years. How'd you know? I see eight rings on your hem. And in addition, you know when you're wearing the same pair of jeans for eight years and you go outside to play? Because in my day, you went outside

[Pastor]

to play,

[Assistant]

you get holes in your jeans all the time. I blow out my knees all the time. So my mom. How many of you can remember the iron on patches? How many of you. Okay, for those of you you know, it kind of became a fad to rip your jeans.

[Pastor]

Now, you know, that's because kids don't

[Assistant]

go out and rip them as they're playing. So, like, we're gonna hire some people in a sweatshop in Thailand to rip

[Pastor]

our jeans, and then they actually look fashionable.

[Assistant]

Well, back in my day, when you

[Pastor]

rip your jeans because you went outside

[Assistant]

playing and I blew out my knees all the time, my mom would take the iron on patches, the jeans, iron on patches, and iron them on my knees. So now I got rings on my ankles, and I got patches on my knees. It wasn't a very pleasant sight. But you put those jeans through the

[Pastor]

wash cycle a few times, and sure enough, the patches start to. They start to bend, they start to curl, and eventually they come off. And so when Jesus says this, you don't put a new fashion, old garment. I'm like, yep, I get it. I was raised in the 70s. I know exactly what he's talking about. Okay? And the larger picture is we can't just fold Jesus onto our old ways. And when the old ways creep up, we have to show the door to the old man. We have to show the door to the old woman and say, you are not welcome here. This is who I used to be, but I'm not that way anymore. And you follow Jesus by putting on the new things that are consistent with his spirit. Now, in just a couple minutes left, I want to focus on one of the things that Paul says to put on, and the reason I'm going to focus on this one is because there's only one in the list that Paul says to us. I want you to do this. I want you to put this on in the same way that Christ has done it for you. Do you see which one that is? It's verse 13. I'll put the verse on the screen for you. He says, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. The one thing on the list that Paul emphasizes in terms of what Christ has done for you and me is forgiveness. Now, yes, it is true. The next verse, verse 14, Paul says, above all this, put on love. But it's interesting that in the whole list, Paul does not say love like Christ loved. Be meek like Christ was meek. Be humble like Christ was humble. Be patient like Christ was humble, even though he was all those things and is all those things, and we should put on all those things. The one thing that he emphasized was forgiveness. He says, I want you to forgive as Christ has forgiven you. You know, it's interesting too, in what we call the Lord's Prayer, when Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. The one part of the whole Lord's Prayer that he emphasizes is the part of forgiveness. He comes back to it at the end of the Lord's Prayer, and he says, if you forgive men their trespasses, then they will be forgiven. If you don't forgive men their trespasses, then neither will your Father in heaven be forgiven. Neither will you be forgiven of your trespasses by your Father, which is in heaven. He puts his emphasis on forgiveness, and Paul does the same here. I'm going to tell you something that is my personal opinion, but it's by my observation, in 35 years of pastoral ministry, I personally believe that the single greatest obstacle to spiritual growth in a Christian's life. This is true, I think, for anyone who. But just talking, particularly for believers for the moment, the single greatest obstacle to spiritual growth in a Christian's life is unforgiveness. When a person is unforgiving, it's like a cancer and it destroys the person from the inside. And it can destroy marriages, it can destroy friendships, it can destroy families, it can destroy businesses, it can destroy churches. I'm telling you, unforgiveness is one of the worst, most damaging traits that a person can have. This is why the emphasis here is on we got to forgive as Christ has forgiven Us. Because at some point in your life or another, you will be hurt. You will. You will be offended. And by the way, you will hurt and you will offend somebody, too. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is intentional. Other times it is unintentional, but it still hurts. And we can all be guilty of it, and we can all be affected by it. And Paul says here, I want you to forgive as Christ has forgiven you. This is not an option. Jeremiah would say this. He would quote God. God in Jeremiah 31:34 says, For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. Why do I point that verse out? Because that's the disposition of our Father. When he forgives us, he remembers our sin no more. See, I hear too many people say, well, I'll forgive Him, but I won't forget. That's not forgiveness. And by the way, when it says here that God says, I will forgive their iniquities and remember their sins no more, it's not that God is forgetful. It means literally in the Hebrew, I will choose to no longer hold this offense against them. That's God choosing to no longer hold any offense against us because when we ask for his forgiveness, he forgives us completely. Okay? And for some of you are like, well, yeah, but that's Jeremiah 31:34. It's the Old Testament, you know, okay, but Jeremiah 31:34 is quoted twice in the New Testament in Hebrews 8:12 and in Hebrews 10:17. This is Old Testament as much as it is New Testament, because this is God's heart that he has forgiven us. And then he calls us to forgive others. And when we forgive others, it is freeing for us. It is liberating for us. Because no longer are we bound by the hurt or the offense. And at the same time, we're forward giving them to God, forgiving. We're forward giving them to God. We're saying, God, you can deal with this person, and I'm going to trust you to work out what you need to do in their life as much as you can work out what you need to do in my life. My life. And in asking for God's forgiveness and then in extending forgiveness towards others, it just might save your marriage. It just might restore that broken family relationship, and it just might heal you of your own hurts and offenses. Martin Luther once said, quote, forgiveness is not an occasional art. It is a permanent attitude. End quote. See, forgiveness is a decision. It's not a feeling. And forgiveness is a commandment. It's not a suggestion. You See the way this verse ends, verse 13. So you also must do. This is a requirement for us as Christians to walk in the same forgiveness as we have received from the Lord. And I'll close with what Jesus said in Mark 11:25. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. So forgive me. Friends, we have to live vertically. We have to put off the old ways, put on the new ways, keep this vertical perspective toward heaven and practice all these things, especially forgiving as Christ has forgiven us. Amen. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank youk for your word today, the challenging parts of it and the encouraging parts of it, because it's all from you. Would you please help us, Lord, in our battle against the flesh, to put off the old ways and to put on the new ways that are in Christ, that we might live vertically in a horizontal world, with our eyes fixed above, with our affections set above, living out our lives on this earth until such time that we appear with you in glory. Thank you Jesus, for the cross, for your forgiveness, and for your mercy in our lives. May we extend that same forgiveness toward others, Lord, as you have done for us. And we give you all the praise, the glory and the honor in Jesus name. And everybody said Amen and Amen. God bless everybody. Have a great day.