Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: Rather than pursuing and seeking the things of this earth, possessions, achievements, those things—rather than setting our sights on the things of this world where so often worldly pursuits involve the entanglements of sin—rather than do that, instead aim at, pursue, drive after the things that are above.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I’m Steve Hiller and glad that you are with us today. Jonathan, I hear you saying that if you want to grow in godliness, it is important for us to be intentional. There's a work, in a sense, for us to do if we want to cultivate godliness and righteousness in our lives.

Jonathan Griffiths: I think there is an intentionality within this that we need to take hold of. Within the Christian life, everything rests upon the work of Christ, the finished work of Christ, and the work of Christ by His spirit. We can do nothing on our own. But that doesn’t mean that we ever sort of let go and let God and forget all effort.

Christ has done all things and He enables all things by His spirit, and because of that, we are called then to active participation in our growth in godliness. Some of the language that Paul uses in the passage that we’re going to be spending our time together in today is very active language, very intentional, very focused. He says at the beginning of Colossians 3, "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, drive after them." He says, "Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things on the earth." This is very focused. This is very intentional. It's enabled by the spirit, but our participation—our active participation—is essential.

Steve Hiller: Well, hope that you will participate with us as we open up God's word together. Colossians chapter 3, first 11 verses are where we're going to focus today as we continue the message, "Seeking Things Above." Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: I wonder what it is that your mind defaults to in your addled moments. When you're on a bus, on a train, on a delayed flight, when you're sitting at the doctor's office waiting to be called in, when you're just drifting off to sleep, when you wake up in the morning, when you're not reading or talking or working—what is it that comes to mind for you and occupies your thoughts?

Maybe it's a worry or a regret. Maybe it's a project or a dream. Maybe it's relationships or money, work or sports. I don't know what it is for you, but I guess you probably know what it is for you. We might say that the things that our mind defaults to, the things that it is most inclined to consider—these are the things that our mind is set upon. They are the things with which we are preoccupied, the things that we are concerned about or care about.

But if you're serious about following Jesus, growing in godliness, saying no to sin, Paul has an instruction and an admonition for each one of us. He says, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." We read that and we think, "Okay, Paul, that makes good sense. I get that. I'm with you. Good idea. Of course, that's what I ought to do." But then very quickly, reality hits, doesn’t it?

And we remember that the things of this world can be alluring and enticing and compelling to our minds, and it's not so easy to remove them from the position of default interest. We remember that the concerns of this world weigh heavily upon us, and it's not so easy to remove them from the position of default focus. You and I, when we pause to consider it, we know full well that shifting our focus from the things of this world to the things above will take some kind of initiative, some kind of help, some kind of strategy.

And here, I think we don't turn to a magic formula. We’re always looking for the special magic formula, and there isn't one here. We don't find some mysterious insight that only the insider can know. No, here we turn actually to the bread and butter of the Christian life. We actually return to basics. And the main engine here, it is the word of God. It's God's own voice as we hear Him speak in the scriptures. It's His word that turns our attention heavenward and reminds us of who it is that we are and where it is that we belong.

One of the most fascinating and in some ways the most impressive media organizations is the BBC, one of the greatest in the world, the British Broadcasting Corporation. Of particular note is its World Service branch, which reaches a massive global audience in over 40 languages. The BBC World Service began in 1932 as the Empire Service, and the idea was to reach English speakers throughout the empire.

King George V gave his first Christmas address at the time of the launch of the service and said that the idea was to reach, and I quote, "men and women so cut off by the snow, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them." It was a voice from home, wherever you in the world found yourself as a British subject—an opportunity even to hear from your king.

If we are to remember our home above, wherever we find ourselves on the earth below, we need to hear from our King, do we not? And He speaks to us. He has graciously given us His word, and the simple truth is this: we need to avail ourselves of His word and listen to His voice. We need to read it each day for ourselves. We need the rhythm of that.

I feel repetitive saying these things, and I wouldn’t repeat them but for the fact that I know I need to hear them. It's so easy, isn't it, to lose that discipline and to lose that focus in the busyness of life? Friends, we need the word of God at the center of our lives. We need the word of God at the center of our homes, with our families in one way or the other. We need to gather with God's people each week to listen to the preaching of the word.

COVID has been such a disruption of that, and many are still struggling to reestablish the pattern and how vitally important that is. I'm finding personally more and more that I want to build in other opportunities to hear the word in my own life. I have a little playlist of Christian songs that just remind me of gospel truth, and I find listening to that sometimes just does me good. I find having some podcasts from time to time with good Bible teaching available is such a help on a long car journey or when I'm doing a job around the house.

We need the voice of God, and we need to hear His word. And alongside all that, we need to be with other believers who will bring encouragement to us, who will speak God's word into our lives and remind us of the truth. That's one reason again why the pandemic season has been so very, very hard for us. We've had these reduced opportunities to be with other believers, to encourage and be encouraged.

And for those who still haven't reentered those patterns of meeting with God's people, of being at church—and I guess I'm speaking particularly to those who are joining us from a distance—let me say to you, you need that. You need to be here. If you're going to have your mind set on things above, you need the help of Christian community to do it. You cannot go it alone. It will not go well for you.

Friends, how we need to hear the voice of the living God. How we need to feed on His word. How we need to help one another to do so, because the gaze of our heart, isn't this true, it slips down from heaven to earth below by default. And as that happens, when that happens, we are so much more susceptible to discouragement and disillusionment, to temptation and to sin.

The great gospel reality for the believer is that through Jesus, we have died to this world, and we have new life, a home in heaven above. Our response to these great things is first to seek the things that are above, to set our mind on things above. And second, it is to put to death what is earthly, as we see in verse 5. "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion and desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

On one level, it may seem that there is a sort of strange inconsistency in what Paul is saying here. Maybe you noticed it. In verse 3, he told us that we have died, died with Christ, died to this world. But now in verse 5, he tells us to put to death what is earthly in you. Well, hold on a second, Paul. Which one is it? You choose. Have we already died to this world, or do we need to put to death what is earthly in us? Surely it would be one or the other.

But Paul says, well, actually, it's both. And in this, we actually come to the tension that lies at the center of the Christian life and runs right through the New Testament. And it's the tension of the "now" and the "not yet." You see, you and I are a people who have been saved, who are being saved, and who will one day be saved. All of those things are true.

In Christ, through His redeeming work at the cross of Calvary, through His life-giving resurrection, through His glorious ascension, we have been given all things. All has been accomplished for us. There is nothing more we need. And yet we still await the outworking and the full outcome of this great salvation. And on a day to come, here is our glorious hope, He will save us from the presence and the experience and the influence of sin and evil once and for all.

We know Him, if we're believers. We love Him. We've been made holy in His sight, and yet here's the thing: we're still a sinful people, a people who fail and stumble and fall. Made holy, but needing to grow in holiness. Heaven is our home, but we still live here on the earth. And in all these ways, here is the thing: we are a people living in tension, in a kind of limbo. We live both in the now and the not yet of our salvation.

Paul and other New Testament writers can make these very, very lavish statements about what is true of us now in our salvation. They can make those lavish statements while at the same time calling us to strive and to hope for what is yet to come. And here is a case in point: we have died to the world, but we must at the same time actively put to death what is earthly in us.

And while the tension here may look rather odd on the written page, if we truly belong to Jesus, we know exactly what Paul is talking about. We know what he's talking about because we see that which is earthly within us all too readily and all too easily. The tension that he's talking about here, it's our struggle. It is the greatest internal tension of our lives for each one of us who believe.

"Put to death therefore what is earthly in you." It's natural to the earthly person to seek satisfaction and fulfillment from indulging the appetites of the flesh, to seek our heart's desire, the longing of our heart's desire in what the world affords. And of course, the world can't satisfy the human heart. That's the reality. We were made for more. We were made for God himself. But it's natural to the earthly person to turn to sexual immorality, to impurity, to passion, to sexual indulgence for satisfaction.

Paul is going to speak about other earthly inclinations and sins, and we'll see that in a few moments, but he starts with this major focus on sexual sin. And if we would wonder why we need only look to our contemporary world and culture, which is not so very different actually from the ancient world, and see that humanity in sin is profoundly lost in sexual terms and compulsively sex-obsessed. In seeking to find satisfaction in this world and without reference to God, the earthly person turns here very, very quickly for fulfillment.

And we can hardly pretend, can we, that we haven't noticed or that we are unmoved by these things? In a highly sexualized culture with an oversexualized media, you and I are confronted with these realities all the time, every day. And Paul was wise enough to the human heart to know that we believers would face a constant battle on this front. And he was wise enough to say to us, "Put it to death." Put it to death. That's the admonition. Avoid the compromising situation. Avoid the person, avoid the place, avoid the influence, avoid the source of temptation, avoid the media. Whatever it is, take the steps that are necessary to put it to death.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths, and a message called "Seeking Things Above," part of our series, "Walking Worthy," looking at the book of Colossians. Now, we're going to pause here, but we'll get back to the message in just a moment.

If you've never been and checked out our website before, I hope you'll do so. Come to encounterthetruth.org. There, you're going to find our weekly e-devotional. You can check that out. You can sign up for our newsletter as well as links to connect with us on social media. You can also go to our YouTube channel. You're going to find that on YouTube; simply look for Encounter the Truth. And that's a great way, once you've liked and subscribed to that YouTube channel, to stay up to date on new messages and content from Jonathan. So again, go to YouTube, look for Encounter the Truth, or our website, encounterthetruth.org. Let's get back to the message. Again, here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Avoid the compromising situation. Whatever it is, take the steps that are necessary to put it to death. Now, I don't know what that will mean for you, but I expect for those struggling, battling, stumbling, falling in this area, I expect that you know. I expect you know very well. And Paul says take the drastic steps that are needed in the power of the spirit and put it to death. Kill it, because if you don't kill it, it's going to kill you.

I was out in a shed in our backyard this week tidying some things, and I noticed some movement over toward my left. I looked down and I saw that I was actually sharing this enclosed, small space with a nasty little snake, a nasty little snake that was actually—I often go into that shed barefoot, actually. So, I was wearing shoes, which I was quite glad about. But I found myself there with this snake. It was actually decent enough to politely slither away under the wall and disappear for a time.

But I found myself thinking what it is that one needs to do with a snake that is sharing one's space. I don't think that this snake was especially dangerous, but snakes can be, of course. And with a snake, I think it's probably important not to engage the snake unless you mean to kill it. I mean, giving the snake a friendly tap on the head will lead to trouble. Playing with the snake will lead to trouble. Trying to pick it up for a little conversation—not advisable. No, it's got to be a fatal blow to the head, doesn’t it? Sexual temptation, it is a python with its eye upon us. We need to put it to death, says Paul.

He now broadens out very slightly from sexual immorality in the middle of verse 5 and speaks of evil desire, and that's quite general, I guess. What are you desiring that you know is evil, wrong, ungodly? And then covetousness—hungering for more and more, desiring to have more of what your neighbor has, greedily longing for possessions and experiences, indulgences that God has not given you. And Paul says at the end of verse 5 that covetousness is actually idolatry. What an insight that is. It is actually a God-replacement that you worship when you pursue it.

All this, he says, is earthly, and we need to take all drastic steps necessary to put it to death. We need to take drastic steps because sin is serious. It is because of this very ungodliness, verse 6, says Paul, that the wrath of God is coming upon this world. You see, the world around us says that sexual immorality is meaningless. Isn't that the message? It's unimportant. The world around us would refrain from calling any desire of any kind evil. And as for covetousness, well, greed is good, says Wall Street. Isn't that the line? Greed is the engine of capitalism. But God says that these are the very sins that call down judgment from heaven above.

These were things that used to characterize our lives, verse 7, says Paul. "In these you too once walked, when you were living in them." But we died to this world. We died to sin. And Jesus has made us new, and so we mustn't walk in them any longer. And here again, here is this tension. Here is the tension. Paul knows that we need to hear this, because he knows that these things still have a tug on our heart. He knows that the temptations and issues are real for us. That's why he's addressing them.

The Bible is immensely realistic. You see, you and I, we might try and put on a pious front and pretend that no temptation touches our heart, but Paul, he's wiser than all that. He sees through that. Let’s stop pretending, Paul insists. Let’s get serious, and let’s put these things to death. Now, we might feel that the list of sins already given is quite enough for one day. That's enough. Let’s go and have our lunch or whatever. We've been made to feel uncomfortable enough.

But Paul actually continues, and the pain increases as he moves from the sin of our own heart to focus on the matter of our treatment of one another. That's where he goes next, verse 8. "But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."

Here are things that you and I must put away. Anger, wrath. Anyone you're angry with just at the moment? Situation of hurt, wrongdoing, injustice—and it just it rises in you just as you think of it now. It rises within your heart. You feel the anger rising. And to be honest, you're kind of nursing the anger, nursing it, keeping it alive because you feel that you are entitled to this anger.

Malice. Is there someone you actually would secretly like to do harm in some way, undermine their flourishing to spite them for what it is they've done? Slander, obscene talk. How do you speak of others? How do you speak of those whom you dislike, those who've hurt you, those whom you resent or envy?

How about lying? Ever tempted to massage, bend, or reshape the truth? See, it's all pretty ugly stuff, isn't it? But Paul puts it before us, not to condemn us, but because he's not so naive to think we don't need to hear it for our good. He knows these can be issues for the believer, and so Paul says stop doing them. Stop doing them. No, stop doing them, not least because now in Jesus, verse 11, we have been made one. In terms of our relationships, divisions and barriers between us, resentments have been broken down by the gospel, and we're one in Christ.

See, there's a hard emphasis here on taking action, on concrete steps of obedience. We can't escape that fact, and we need to learn to take it seriously. The Bible gives us concrete instructions, concrete commands, and we need space in our Christian understanding to receive those. Sometimes we hear presentations of the Christian life that make it sound like we just sit back and watch it take place as God does everything and we have nothing to do. Well, we don't just sit back in the Christian life and wait for God to do anything as though we're mere spectators, like moviegoers watching the film of our own life play out on the big screen while we eat popcorn and enjoy the show.

No, the Christian life, I'm afraid to say, it involves action, it involves effort. But Christian obedience is not the same as what the legalist was prescribing in chapter 2. We don't seek to obey in order to be accepted or saved. We seek to obey in the power of the spirit because Jesus has cleansed us, because in Him we died to the world, and in Him we have been made new. This is the outworking of our salvation, not the basis of our salvation.

We're not in this alone, and we don't act in our own strength. We have put off the old self, verse 9, in Christ through His saving work. We've put on the new self, verse 10, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. We are a people who are being renewed. God is doing that. As He speaks His truth into our lives, we learn truth from His word, we gain knowledge of the truth, and He is then at work in us by His spirit, making us to be more like himself. He's doing it, but He calls us to action.

Friends, there's so much there, and there's so much more we could say. If you have not been challenged by what we have seen in these verses, I can only conclude that you must have been asleep for the duration. You see, none of us can read these words, and none of us can hear these words and not feel challenged, and not feel rebuked on some level.

So, let me simply ask you: where is the challenge for you personally? What is it? What is it that you must take away and pray through and work through and ask brothers and sisters to pray for alongside you, to uphold you and to walk with you through? There must be something for each of us. There surely is.

How do we pursue godliness of life, holiness of character? We begin with the gospel reality of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. And if you have not started there, friend, if you haven't come to the cross of Calvary to have your sins addressed and to receive forgiveness and new life in Christ, that's where you've got to start. Nothing else will happen of good if you don't start there.

We begin at the cross, but having begun with gospel reality, we take seriously our response. In the power of the spirit, we seek things that are above, and we set our mind on heavenly things. We put to death what is earthly within us. May God give us grace for this, each one of us. Let’s commit ourselves to Him for the days ahead.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth, wrapping up our message "Seeking Things Above," part of our series, "Walking Worthy." And if you missed any part of today's broadcast or any previous broadcast in the series, you can come and listen online at our website, encounterthetruth.org.

The podcast, the radio program, all that we do here on Encounter the Truth is supported by your generosity. So, thank you for giving to this ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book called "Can We Trust the Gospels?" And Jonathan, why did you pick this book?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, I think it's so important for us who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to know that our access to the truth of who He is and what He said is reliable. We look to the Gospels to give us the word of Jesus and to show us the person of Jesus, but we've got to ask the question: are these documents reliable?

And Peter Williams has done us such a great service in this book because he's not only answered the question in the affirmative and said "yes," he's given us arguments to bolster that case. And I believe we need to engage with those arguments carefully. I believe we need to think these things through. I believe we shouldn't be scared of examining evidence. And Williams has laid out the evidence very clearly in a very accessible way and in a very helpful way.

And I just feel so strongly that our listeners need to have access to these arguments, access to this evidence. And I think that engaging with it, reading it is going to be a tremendous encouragement. I also want to say, if you're someone who's exploring the faith, you'll want to think these things through—is the Bible reliable, are the Gospels a true record? I'd encourage you to think that through, and I'd love to get this book into your hands to help you think it through carefully and clearly.

Steve Hiller: Again, the name of the book is called "Can We Trust the Gospels?" and it's our thank-you gift to you for financially supporting Encounter the Truth this month. You can find out more or give online at encounterthetruth.org or call us at 1-833-998-7884. That's 1-833-99-TRUTH or encounterthetruth.org. You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M1, or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004.

For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Breetta, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.