Sermon Notes – The Church: A Passion for Purity

The Church: A Passion for Purity, Colossians 3:1-17
J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, preached May 2, 2010; listened to on June 5, 2010

Remember from last week that no one comes to Christ by watching your life. They only come to Christ by hearing the gospel. Our lives, however, either void or validate the message of the gospel.

Remember also that the blessing of God and accomplishing the mission of God depends on our purity. Knowing this we must be passionate about our pursuit of purity both individually and corporately.

There are two sides of church discipline: corrective (Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5) and preventive, the promotion of purity by instructing and encouraging. If we are faithful to pursue our own personal purity and fight to walk with the Lord then the need for corrective discipline diminishes. If we are faithful to seek other’s purity then the need for corrective discipline diminishes.

Knowing that God has chosen us for Himself, to be like Him and to proclaim Him, we are led to a passionate pursuit of our own personal purity as well as the purity of others.

Do you have a passion to be holy and pure before Christ in such a way tht people see the distinct purity of your life and it gives you an opportunity to share the distinct message of the gospel?

The pursuit of purity must be rooted in the gospel; otherwise it can become “works righteousness”.

1. This pursuit of purity flows out of a relationship with Jesus – Colossians 2:20 and Colossians 3:1

Christianity is not a list of “do’s and don’ts”, it is about a relationship. Scripture talks about knowing you are in Christ then be this kind of person. What we do flows out of what God has called us to be, out of love for Him.

Colossians 3:3, 5, 8, 9, 12, 15, and 16 all show us things to do. All of these, in context, point back to, and depend on, Colossians 2:20 and Colossians 3:1. The important word is “if”. “If” you have been crucified with Christ (meaning trust and faith in Christ) and “if” that has happened then let me tell you what you will do as a follower of Christ. This relationship redefines who you are, so you don’t do the things you did before but now do these things.

Colossians 3:4 now makes sense. It is not a burden to do these things but Christ is my life so they just flow out.

2. This relationship then leads to a new ambition to be like Christ – Colossians 3:5

We are a new person (2 Corinthians 5:14).. Our identity changes. We have been born again. Christ thus changes what we want. You hate sin, even though we will always have our sinful nature. We have a longing to be pure and holy. Romans 8:29 makes sense then as we are conformed.

If we don’t have this ambition then we don’t have new life in Christ.

3. This is all made possible by the Spirit of Christ –

You can actually do what you desire by the Spirit. Before the Spirit came you did not have the power. We have new desires and new power (Galatians 5:16). If you don’t know the Lord you have no issue with your rebellion. If you do know the Lord you are miserable in your rebellion.

There are times when those who know Him are out of step with the Spirit. How does this happen? In small steps you begin to get comfortable with something. There are rarely giant leaps into moral impurity. To those of us watching it may seem like a giant leap but it was a lot of small steps, becoming comfortable with our sin one step at a time. It is very subtle, one small step at a time. As we are walking away the Spirit inside us and God’s people around us should be warning us – if we listen and God’s people do their work.

One of His primary means of our protection is the presence of the body of Christ to warn and minister to us. God has given us the church to protect us so we must passionately pursue the purity of others also.

Our passionate pursuit of other people’s purity flows out of the relationship we have with each other through Christ. We are called to care more for others than ourselves and to passionately seek the purity of others.

As in our personal pursuit this flows out of a relationship with each other through Jesus (Colossians 3:12). Salvation brought us into a relationship with Him and each other. We are now a new people, a new nation and a new culture (1 Peter 2:9). We are connected by Christ. This does not mean everyone is a child of Christ. Only those who come to God through Christ are children of God (1 John 3:1). Whether you like them or not you have new brothers and sisters.

Because of this we have a new passionate concern for each other (Colossians 3:16). When you are sick, them I am sick so it is important for me to be concerned for you. We are one body. When one of your immediate family isn’t walking with the Lord, it affects the whole family. So it is with the church.

Hebrews 3:12-13 and Hebrews 10:23-25 are so important here. We encourage so no one is hardened, or blinded, and we take this encouragement in humility. If you stop going to church you take away that guardrail and are saying to God that you don’t need His protection.

It is un-Christian to not care about the spiritual life of your brothers and sisters. It is un-Christian to be friends but not be concerned about their purity. If you never talk about things of the Lord then you are not Christian friends and really not even friends, because you don’t care enough to talk about it. We need people in our life who love us enough to tell us when we are walking in the wrong direction.

We often talk about them but not to them. My sin is your problem and your sin is my problem.

How are you doing in the personal pursuit of holiness? How are you doing in helping others?

NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon via podcast. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.