Get Rid of the Old Stuff

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 10th of January, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  We also observed Holy Communion this morning.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Our risen and ascended Lord Jesus reached out and touched a man traveling along a dusty road one day and completely changed his life.  The Pharisee named Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christian converts and take them back to stand trial in Jerusalem.  But before he could complete that mission, or really even get it started, his life took a 180-degree turn.  Jesus blinded his eyes and gave sight to his heart, and Paul became a new man.

Now Paul soon realized that since he had been given new life, it was important that he, and all believers, maintain that “newness” and not go back to the old ways of doing things.  Please listen and follow along to what the Apostle Paul wrote in chapter 3 of his letter to the Colossians, verses 1 through 15, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is our life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory.

5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming on all who disobey Him. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and He lives in all of us.

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

--Colossians 3:1-15 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for making us new again when we accept Your Son Jesus as our Lord!  Thank You for giving us new life, another chance to get things right.  Please help us to keep this “newness” in our spirit by truly following Jesus and serving only Him.  And please, Father, protect us from all of Satan’s evil work in this world.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and purpose in our love and worship, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Blind our eyes to the faults of others and open our hearts to loving them as You love us.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Frances Ridley Havergal, English religious poet and hymn writer (among others, she wrote, "Take My Life and Let it Be") penned this little poem about the new year:

Another year is dawning,

Dear Father let it be,

In working or in waiting,

Another year with thee.

Another year of progress,

Another year of praise,

Another year of proving

Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies,

Of faithfulness and grace,

Another year of gladness,

The glory of thy face.

Another year of leaning

Upon thy loving breast,

Another year of trusting,

Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service,

Of witness for thy love,

Another year of training

For holier work above.

Another year is dawning,

Dear Father, let it be,

On earth, or else in heaven,

Another year for thee.

As I read that lovely verse, it seems to me that Ms. Havergal is making a New Year’s resolution.  But unlike most such resolutions, she doesn’t say a thing about going on a diet, or quitting smoking, or not watching soap operas all day long.  She is kind of promising to do a better job of time management, though.

Everything in that “resolution” is about God – about serving Him, spending more time with Him.  I think this is something we all need to resolve, to spend more time with God.  Wouldn’t you agree?

As I sort of alluded to in the invocation, the start of a new year is a good time to get rid of the old stuff in our life.  That’s pretty much what most New Year’s resolutions focus on: getting rid of old habits, changing one’s lifestyle in some positive way.  Even though we usually think of Spring as a time for a thorough cleaning, I believe the new year’s beginning is a great time to toss out the junk in our lives.

And a lot of our “junk” revolves around “things”, stuff we’ve accumulated.  Now when I say that, I want to be sure we understand that also - maybe mostly – includes our attitude about “things”.  Paul says we should set our sights on the realities of heaven, not the things of earth.  So right there is some of the old stuff we need to get rid of: our obsession with the things of this world.

But Paul goes on to say we need to do away with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, for these are all forms of idolatry.  Toss them out!  Get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language, and don’t lie to each other.  It’s time to strip off our old sinful nature and all its wicked ways and put on the new nature that God has given us through Jesus Christ His Son.

Now when Paul wrote a letter to one of the churches, it was really intended to be passed around and read by all the churches he had started or served.  So this letter to the Colossians would have also been read by the Thessalonians, the Philippians, the Corinthians, the Ephesians, even by the folks in the church in Rome.  The same holds true for the letter he wrote to the church in Ephesus, where, in the 4th chapter, verses 17 through 24, he said this…

17 As a follower of the Lord, I order you to stop living like stupid, Godless people. 18 Their minds are in the dark, and they are stubborn and ignorant and have missed out on the life that comes from God. They no longer have any feelings about what is right, 19 and they are so greedy that they do all kinds of indecent things.

20-21 But that isn’t what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about Him and learned about Him. 22 You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. 23 Let the Spirit change your way of thinking 24 and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please Him and be truly holy.

--Ephesians 4:17-24 (CEV)

Paul doesn’t hold back any punches, does he.  He orders all the good members of all those churches to stop living like stupid, Godless people.  And oh, by the way, he orders us, too, because God meant for us to read these letters in our time.

Paul orders us to get rid of our stubbornness and ignorance and greed.  If we don’t toss them out, our foolish desires will destroy us!  We’ve all seen cases where exactly that happened, where someone was utterly destroyed because they gave in to their base desires.

We must give up our old way of life with all its bad habits and let this new life through Christ Jesus take over.  Give way to the Spirit, and let Him change our way of thinking, our way of dealing with others, our way of coping with life.

Family, there’s no better time to get rid of the old stuff than right now.  For in just a few moments we will be partaking of the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus.  Paul tells us not to come to this table with any of that old, bad stuff still in our hearts.  We must be right with God, having forgiven old hurts, tossing out personal pride, flinging off biases and prejudices towards others.

Please take these next few minutes to get rid of that old stuff so we can all come to the table together with a right heart.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the one true Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, we’ve accumulated so much junk in our life.  Some things we’ve even taken to hoarding, refusing to get rid of them, things like hatreds and distrusts and fear.  Father, sometimes we just forget that You have given us new life through Your Son, and we revert back to our old self.  Thank You, Father, for this new life and please forgive us when we fall back into our old ways.  Please help us maintain that new person You made us.  Help us finally and completely get rid of the old stuff so we can better serve You.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be better, more faithful servants, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You were executed and died, punished for our sins.  But You didn’t stay dead!  You rose to new life so that we too could defeat death.  You were made new again and through You we too are made new!  Please, Lord, help us throw off the old person and truly be new.  Let the world see the new person in us so that they might see You.  Help us get rid of the old stuff that blinds us to God’s power and sovereignty, that causes us to look bad in God’s eyes.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we just won’t let go of the world and all its things.  Forgive us when we can’t release our hatreds and pride, our anger and greed, our distrust for those not like us.  Help us toss all that out so that people can see Your love through our love and service.  Help us be new.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal those hurts that separate and divide us, even within Your church family.  Help us remain true and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.