Filling the Spiritual Void

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Do any of the rest of you have clutter spots in your house? I’m not asking is your whole house cluttered, but do you have spots of clutter? Anybody?

Do you want to air some dirty laundry or tattle on your spouse and say where your clutter spot is? Okay, we have not rehearsed this. To my knowledge, she doesn’t know what I’m about to talk about.

But think, without saying anything, think about where our number one clutter spot is in the house. And on the count of three, we’ll say it together. You want to?

We may get this wrong, but let’s try it. One, two, oh, you know what it’s called? Okay, one, two, three.

The buffet. Yes, all right, we got it. The buffet.

We have this antique buffet, this piece of furniture that a friend of mine gave me years ago, it’s set in the entryway of our house. Beautiful piece of furniture, but it ends up being the catch-all for everything when we walk in. Probably because of where it’s located.

It’s right by the front door, it’s right by the laundry room door where we come in from the garage. And if any of you ever show up at our house and we don’t know you’re coming, you’ll probably see it stacked with mail, with newspapers, keys end up there, the kids diaper bags end up there, drinks end up there, as long as they’re not ones that will sweat. Because that’s the one thing we’re pretty good about is not putting anything there that’ll make a ring.

I mean, you’ll find everything. I found yesterday some metal clips I was looking for that you use to attach a flag to a flagpole. I mean, you can just find anything.

It’s like Mary Poppins’s bag. It just ends up collecting everything. And you know what?

We will go through periodically, especially if we know somebody’s coming, and we will clean that buffet off. We cleaned it off because we knew Bob and Polly were coming to watch the kids Thursday so I could go to the ultrasound. So we cleaned the buffet off.

I think it’s cluttered again already. I even went through and cleaned out the basket on it. We decided to get a little bit organized and put a basket there for the mail.

That gets filled to overflowing too. Crazy. So we clean it up.

We go to all that trouble to clean it up and it just collects stuff all over again. Do you have one of these magic clutter spots at your house? All right.

Not just us. See, not just us. Every time we clean it up, more clutter appears.

The one time I remember us going an extended period of time without clutter just reappearing there was back in the fall when we cleared it off and Charla decorated. She had some nice fall decorations, some little pumpkins, maybe a scarecrow. I don’t remember what all.

I found some pretty colored leaves in the yard and we put them there. It wasn’t so much that it was just new fall clutter, but it was just enough that we put stuff there that it really wasn’t convenient to stack all the stuff there. And the rest of it stayed clear.

It looked nice. Sometimes when we take the clutter away from any spot, there’s just a void there that’s begging for something else to be put there. And the only way it’s going to stay clean is if we put something there that’s going to keep it clean.

And our spiritual life can be the same way at times. About three weeks ago, the last time we were in the book of Colossians, we talked about some of the things that Christ calls us to cut out of our lives. We talked about some of the things that He says to get rid of, to put away.

He talks about fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language. There are a few lists in this passage in Colossians chapter 3. When we get to the end of that passage though, we come to another one that we’re arriving at tonight where he talks about some of the things that we put in its place.

Because spiritually we are just like everywhere else. If there’s a vacuum, if there’s an empty spot, if we clear away a spot, we have to be very careful to put something in the place of what we’ve removed so that it doesn’t just come right back. And so tonight I want us to look at Colossians 3 together as Paul talks about our spiritual lives Now, when we declutter our spiritual lives, God’s Word calls us to fill the spot with something better so that it stays clean.

We’re going to be in Colossians 3, starting in verse 12. Once you arrive there, if you would stand with me as we read together from God’s Word, if you’re able to do so. Colossians 3, starting in verse 12.

It says, 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, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you also were called in one body, and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. And you may be seated. We’ll come back next time and talk a little bit more about verse 17 next time as well.

But as you read through this list, see this stands in stark contrast to the verses just before it where he’s talking about these lists of things and these are not all the sinful behaviors that we as Christians should be trying to avoid, But they’re a good list of examples of the kinds of things that we as Christians should try to avoid. He gives these lists of things that you should be trying to take away. When you see this kind of clutter in your life as a Christian, you should be trying to get rid of it.

Now, this is not a message about do more, work harder, be better, and God will love you. We’re talking about the results of the change that He’s making in us. Because He loves us, because He has already forgiven us, because He has already saved us, These are the things that we should desire to get rid of because these are the things that are displeasing to Him.

He wants us rid of these things. We should cooperate in that. But we come to verse 12 and it talks about some of the things that need to go in its place.

When you say if you were to take a bulldozer and try to get rid of water in the ocean and you were to scoop out a big, think of the biggest bulldozer you could get. Is it a bulldozer when it’s got the crane thing on the end of it? I’m not real good with my terminology.

The big claw. Think of the biggest one you can get and take a scoop out of the ocean. What’s going to happen with that hole in the water?

More is just going to run back in there unless you put something else there. Unless you put concrete or dirt or something there. So the idea here is that it’s not just about taking away all these things.

It’s about what we put in their place that’s going to glorify our Lord. And the thing I want you to understand tonight is that Christian holiness is not just about what we give up, but about what replaces. it.

Sometimes we can think, or in our society, people can get the idea that a good Christian is somebody who doesn’t drink, who doesn’t chase women, who doesn’t. . .

We think of all the things they don’t do. And we might even describe ourselves that way. Well, I don’t do this, I don’t do this, I don’t do that.

You cannot have any vices and still be a long way away from what Christ wants you to be. Just being able to list a bunch of things that you don’t do doesn’t mean that you’re becoming holy in the way that He wants you to be. Because it’s about the things that we put in place there.

And there are three analogies that I saw in this text as I was studying it. Three things that Paul uses as analogies to describe the change that’s supposed to take place in us. It’s not just about getting rid of one thing, it’s about replacing it with something else.

And I want to walk you through what these analogies are. He uses the analogy, I think, of a change of clothing. And we see this in verses 12 through 14 where he uses twice the phrase put on.

Now this phrase put on is something you would use to describe clothing. That there are some things that we would take off and we would put on. So when you change clothing, and by the way, he says in verse 12, just to go back to those, he says put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering.

He says take those and put those things on. He says in verse 14, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Take that and put it on.

Wear it around with you. See, when we change clothes, it’s not enough just to take something off, right? As a matter of fact, it’s frowned on if you take something off and don’t replace it with something else.

People get upset, and rightly so. We as Christians, if we’re taking off the old way, he talks earlier in verse 3 about putting things off, removing those things. Verse 8, put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, envy.

If we take them away, It’s not enough just to take off that old garment. He says, put something else on in its place. And when we look at all the things He tells us to put on, and we could treat this like a checklist and say, well, I’m supposed to put on tender mercies.

I’m supposed to put on kindness. I’m supposed to put on humility. All of these things are important.

But rather than take the time tonight to delve into this as a checklist of specific things, I’d rather look at category. Look at these examples of the kinds of things that we’re supposed to put on. And the things that we’re supposed to put on when He uses this example of changing clothing, putting these things on, the change that Jesus makes in us, the transformation in our life is going to show up in graciousness and love toward other people.

As you look at these lists of things in verses 12 and 14 that He says to put on, it deals with that kind of thing. Graciousness and love, the way we treat other people, mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, which is another word for patience, bearing with one another, love, which is the bond of perfection. He says, take these things and put them on.

It’s not enough just to take off the jersey of hate. We’re supposed to replace it with the jersey of love and be on that team. So there’s the analogy of the change of clothing where he says put on.

We can also look at verse 15 where he says, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Now, English is a little bit different from Greek. Some of you may have picked up on that.

And there’s some extra words in here in the middle. I shouldn’t say extra words. They’re there in the Greek text.

But in Greek, let and rule are part of the same verb. That’s all one word there. That’s all one command.

So he’s saying let rule the peace of God. And he’s talking about really a change of citizenship. Who rules you?

Especially in that day and age when they had kings and they had emperors and things of that nature. Talking about who ruled you was where your citizenship was. If you were a Roman citizen, you were ruled by the Roman emperor.

If you were a Persian citizen, you were ruled by the Persian Shah. As we’re talking about earlier in chapter 3, being out from under the rule and out from under the control of some of these sinful behaviors, it’s not enough just to declare ourselves independent from those things. We are supposed to transfer our citizenship from being under the rule of sin.

Now let rule the peace of God within you. Let that determine what you do. let that call the shots and not just the peace but the god of peace.

It’s describing a change of citizenship and you would go just just like today most people do not give up citizenship in one country without taking it on in another country. There are some people who do it for tax reasons but it’s generally not a good idea for most of us. As a matter of fact if you try to renounce your citizenship most countries will warn you about the consequences of what’s going to happen if you renounce one without taking on another.

And certainly in that day, you wouldn’t want to do it. So if you were going to move out from being under one king, you would go and find another one for protection. So this idea of letting the peace of God rule in your hearts, really talking about, it’s using this idea of changing allegiance from one king to another.

It’s going to show up in our unity with one another, in our thankfulness, in the way we respond to God and to one another. But above these, excuse me, verse 15, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which you were called in one body. We are, as believers, one body under the rule of the peace of God.

He says, and be thankful. Not just for the peace of God in our hearts, but be thankful in general. As Christians, we should be some of the most thankful, grateful people in the entire world. We’re not always, are we?

We don’t always live up to that. But we should be because we of all people should recognize what we deserve from God versus what we have received. And I don’t care how much has gone wrong in our lives, if there’s anything good that we’ve received from God, it’s more good than what we deserve when we recognize how we have lived in rebellion against God.

So there’s a change of clothing, there’s a change of citizenship that’s used as an analogy. There’s also a change of residence. When we look at verse 16, he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

And again, this let and dwell are together as one verb. And it’s describing somebody living somewhere, using a place as a dwelling. In this case, we are the house.

Now, sometimes a house will be emptied with nobody. Somebody moves out and nobody else moves in. That’s not a great thing to happen.

I’ve heard people describe this, and I think it’s true, that a building can start to decay faster when it’s not inhabited. I don’t know why it does that. But I’ve heard people describe it as a house dying, slowly dying because it’s not getting used.

I don’t know if it’s because we’re not heating and air conditioning it, or if there’s just nobody there to take care of it all the time. But just having a building sit vacant, it’s going to go downhill faster than if it’s occupied by somebody. And so it’s not ideal, if you own a house, it’s not ideal to have it just sit there empty.

They’re made to be lived in. And so as somebody who owns a rental property, from the time I moved out of that house, I couldn’t wait to get somebody else in there. Not only because I was paying two house payments, but also because I knew it was not going to be.

. . I moved out in the winter, I believe.

I had to go back and winterize the house and do all this preparation so that the house didn’t start to fall apart so that we didn’t end up with burst pipes so we didn’t end up with all kinds of problems, all sorts of headaches that really could have been alleviated if somebody had just lived there. And so ideally, if somebody moves out of a house, you’re going to have somebody else come dwell in that house in their place. And we as the house, he describes us as the dwelling place.

He says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you. It’s not enough that we take the things of the world and we kick them out. We need to replace them with something.

Something needs to live in this house. And he says, let the Word of Christ dwell there. And so as he’s describing this idea of transformation, this idea of us being changed from the inside out, he uses these three analogies.

That again, I would look at as a change of clothing, a change of citizenship, and a change of residence. And all of them demonstrate something about the change that takes place in us. And I think all three of them make the point that it’s not enough for us to get rid of one thing.

We need to replace it with something else. Each of these exemplify how the old way isn’t just left behind. It is replaced by Jesus Christ. We are not supposed to be neutral. And I think for a lot of people, that’s the idea of what it means to be holy.

Just the idea of neutrality. That we’ve gotten rid of these old sinful behaviors, so we’re good now. No, as followers of Jesus Christ, we replace those with things that glorify Him, and we actively pursue those.

We were over here actively pursuing these sinful behaviors and these sinful habits. It’s not enough just to kick those. We replace them with habits that actively glorify Jesus Christ. We pursue those.

As I’ve said to you, a body doesn’t typically remove one set of clothing without replacing it eventually with another. Not a good idea. Eventually, something else needs to go on.

A citizen of one kingdom doesn’t typically give up his citizenship without taking on another. And a house is not designed to lose the occupant without taking in another. Nudity is not an ideal way to live.

I know there are some people in our world who would argue with that. They have the right to be wrong if they want to be. One of the lessons we can take from the Garden of Eden, wear clothes.

God said so. Statelessness is not ideal. You run into trouble with one country, who do you call? First time I went to Mexico, one of the phrases I memorized was, I’m afraid I’m going to mispronounce it now that I try to do it in front of you all.

Demando hablar a la embajada americana. I demand to speak to the American embassy. You never know what’s going to happen.

I was shocked to find out the 14th Amendment does not apply in Mexico. Now, if you get in trouble in another country, you want to know who you can call on and what your citizenship means. If you are stateless, if you have no allegiance to anybody or anything, you’re out on your own.

And then again, vacancy in a house is not ideal. In each of these cases, something is removed, but the intent is that something else needs to be put in its place. And it is not enough to try to eliminate the influence of the world in our lives. That’s important.

That’s important to go through the beginning of chapter 3 and say, are there any of these kinds of things? Not just this specific list, but are there any of these kinds of things that I see in my life, these things that dishonor Christ, do I see any of them? And then get rid of them.

And realize we can’t get rid of them on our own, but deal with Him about Him getting rid of them. Ask Him for His power to get rid of them. But we have got to put something else in its place.

If you’ve ever tried to give anything up, you’ve got to realize how powerful it is if you don’t have something else to put in its place. I loved Coca-Cola. I used to drink tons of Coca-Cola and sweet tea.

Some of my favorite things. When I realized how bad sugar was for me, I’m not saying you should never have sugar. I’m just saying, I realized I had a problem.

I had to have something else to put there. I tried just drinking water and unsweet tea all the time, but I’d find myself wanting my Coca-Cola. And it was really tempting.

It was really tempting to just say, I’m going to go back and start that sugar up again. Until my wife introduced me to something called Coke Zero. And no, this is not a commercial for Coke Zero.

It’s just an example. And now we buy tons of the stuff. And there’s probably some stuff in there that’s not, It’s not a perfect analogy because there’s probably some stuff in there that’s not great for me too, but it’s not loaded down with sugar.

And I had something to replace that with, and now I don’t want regular Coca-Cola anymore. As a matter of fact, I tried some a few weeks ago, just a sip of it when I was giving some to Madeline, and I couldn’t take it. It was too sweet.

I had to have something to put there. People, when they try to give up cigarettes, talk about needing something to put in its place, whether they need something to do with their hands holding on to a pen, or they need the nicotine gum or something. But just trying to get away from the cigarettes is not enough.

Those cigarettes are going to come back if you don’t replace them with something at least for a little while. Folks, our sinful habits are that way too because it’s part of our human nature. We talked about that this morning.

We have this sinful nature that we are born with and if we don’t replace what we take away with something else that actively seeks to glorify God, we’re going to focus on what we’ve given up and we’re going to think, gee, I’m sure glad I’m not out chasing women anymore. It’s been weeks since I’ve been out chasing women. and you think about it and you think about it until maybe it wouldn’t hurt to go out and chase women just this once.

Just an example. We’ve got to replace it with something else. Those things that don’t glorify Him, we get rid of them, but we fill that void with Christ and the things that glorify Him.

Instead of thinking about the things that we give up, our focus needs to be on the things that we’re putting in their place. Growing in kindness. Growing in humility.

Growing in long-suffering. Developing the kind of heart that by the power that the Holy Spirit gives us, we’re able to forgive one another more. He says bearing with one another and forgiving one another in verse 13.

That doesn’t always come naturally, but that is a skill that we can build with His help. Becoming more thankful. Learning.

Becoming more wise as verse 16 says. Where we’re able to teach and encourage one another. Where we overflow with praise.

He talks about psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with grace in your hearts toward the Lord. where we overflow with a kind of grace and thanksgiving. And this is key to all of it.

Verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Don’t think about the things that He calls you to give up. Think about what you can do to glorify Him.

And we’ll talk about that a little bit next week as it applies to the relationships. At this point, chapter 3 of Colossians moves from being very theological to very practical. Kind of stepping on toes a little bit. Some of my toes get stepped on as it says, here’s how you take the things that I’ve taught you and put into practice.

As we talk about the glory of Christ, here’s how you put it into practice. Here’s how you reflect that. It comes down to focusing on the things that bring Him glory.

And too many times we let Christianity be characterized by the things we give up. We don’t do this. We won’t do this.

We shouldn’t do this. The world tends to think of us in terms of all the things that we’re against. Instead, we need to focus on what we’re for, which is actively pursuing things that bring glory to Jesus Christ. As he says, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father through Him. So take both of these together.

And as he says, take these things and when you find them, rip them out. Don’t be like Lot’s wife and have to take one last longing glance at what you’ve left behind. Remember, she left Sodom and Gomorrah and had to look one more time.

God turned her into a pillar of salt. Don’t long for those things. Don’t focus on what you’ve given up.

I was going to say don’t think about it, but we are human. We’re going to know what we’ve given up. But don’t focus all the time on what you’ve given up and what you can’t do and won’t do and shouldn’t do.

Focus on what He wants you to become and what He does want you to do. Pursue those things. The more we set our heart on those things, the more natural it will become to pursue them as He works within us and He transforms us from the inside out.