Audio Recording

Sermon Outline

Speaker: Rev. Scott Strickman
Sermon Series: Maturing in Christ

Colossians 3:5-11 (ESV)
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Sermon Outline
Maturing in the fulness of the life Jesus invites us into requires intentionally putting an end to former ways.

1. What is the problem?

v5 “what is earthly in you”
v5 “covetousness, which is idolatry”
v5 “sexual immorality…”
vv8-9 “anger…”
v6 “On account of these the wrath of God is coming”

2. How do you address it?

v5 “Put to death”
v8 “put them all away”
vv9-10 “put off the old self with its practices”

3. Why is this important?

v11 “but Christ is all, and in all”
v10 “the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator”
v11 “Here there is not…”

Prayer of Confession
Our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer: you invite us to seek the things that are above, but we have oriented our lives towards the things of earth. We confess we have been covetous. We have been ruled by selfish desires. We have fixated on things people have, and have treated people as though they were things. We are guilty of the very ways you have warned us to put aside. Our lips have exposed that our hearts are not right. Forgive every expression of sin, and free us from the power and presence of sin within us. We turn to you, receiving the life of Christ through faith, and commit to walking in him. Amen.

Questions for Reflection

Does it seem that the world that you see and experience is all that there is? How do people live when they assume there is nothing beyond this world and that life ends when you die? What changes with the belief that there is a God we can know and that we are eternal beings?
What are some good things that are natural to you (desires, instincts, habits)? What are some problematic things?
How does corruption make good desires harmful? What happens when people are controlled by problematic desires? What is the impact?
What are helpful ways of trying to control problematic desires? What should we avoid?
Which model for dealing with your sin is most appealing to you: fighting it/going to war to defeat it (put to death); putting it away (recognizing it needs to be contained and dealt with); putting it off (like changing an old garment)? Are you neglecting any of the means or approaches? Why?
What happens if you focus only on the good things offered in Christianity and pay no attention to the hard work of dealing with sin? What happens if your focus becomes dealing with sin and you ignore the positive aspects of looking to God with hope and for satisfaction?
What does it mean that Jesus offers us a “new self” which is being renewed after the image of its creator?
What are simply implications of “being renewed”? What are reasonable expectations for a maturing/growing life?