How do you think Mary and Joseph felt when their 6-week-old baby was taken out of their arms by a strange man? They came to the busy city of Jerusalem to offer sacrifices as they were commanded by God himself, the same one currently held in that stranger’s arms. They were not expecting this to happen. Then, maybe the most surprising moment happens; he praises God and says he can now die in peace because his eyes have seen your salvation. He recognized this baby was the promised Savior. He sees his Savior and thanks God for him by praising God. Then, Anna comes up and does the same thing. She sees her Savior and praises God for him. Then, she proceeds to tellothers about him. Both of these faithfulbelievers see their salvation and show their thanks in their words and actions.
This is a natural response to a gift, expressing thanks. Some say thank you or write it out. Others cry in joy. In Colossians, Paul tells the church to puton and wear the new outfit God gave them out of thanks for and because of hissalvation, just as Simeon and Anna did. This is especially important for us as we begin a new year, not knowingthe blessings and challenges of this next year. So,
Put on the new outfit for the New Year and let it change you,inside and out.
What is the new outfit that God has gifted to you? It is your new life,which God gave to you when Jesus was raised from the dead. It is often contrasted against the old self. The old self is the sinner in us that willingly chooses sin. The old self willingly holds back love and forgiveness. It chooses to do the opposite of God’s commands. In fact, it hates God and doesn’t want arelationship with him. There is nothing good in the old self. Everyone is born with the old self. However, to those God chose, he gave a new self. The new self is the complete opposite of the old and better. It is important to remember that the new self is foreign to people, he is not natural. The new self is only given by God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the 6-week-old in Simeon’sarms. That new self freely loves to do God’s commands and rejects sin. His relationship with God is perfect and he does nothing to ruin that relationship. God has given you this newself, he chose to give it to you; it’s your new outfit to put on! Now, put on the very clothes he gives to youin thankfulness.
Paul tells the Colossians and us to put on five different relational attributes. We could easily spend a sermon on each one of them. For right now, we will briefly look at each attribute. The first is compassion,which is a deep desire to help others, especially those less fortunate. It’s that gut feeling when you see another’s pain goes and want to fix it. The second is kindness,which is helping others in a way they need. If someone needs a hammer, the kind thing is to give him or her ahammer, not a banana or screwdriver. The third is humility, which is looking at the needs of others as greater than yours. It is as if everyone is your boss at work and you do whatever you can to help him or her because they are greater than you are. The fourth is gentleness,which is not being harsh to others; instead, it is interacting gently and encouragingly. Finally, the fifth is patience,which is not being easily provoked in tough situations. The new self puts on these traits willingly.
Paul highlights two actions as well: bearing with one another and forgiving each other. To bear with each other means to carry the burden of another. This means recognizing the difficulty of another and helping them with it. If someone is struggling with sleep and theyare short with you, bearing with them means realizing what is going on and reacting with the previous attributes. Forgiving each other focuses on the undeserved and joyful releasing of someone from a debt. This forgiveness is to parallel God’s forgiveness, which happened when we only had an old selfbefore there was anything good in us.
Yet, the outfit needs love to tie it together, so put it on! Love is regarding someone highly. We naturally do this when we fall in love and it naturally leads to showing love in actions. Love binds the five attributes and two actions together because love is expressed to others in all these previousways. The new self will love in all these ways.
So, put the new outfit on! As a new self, you can’t help but put it on. Paul didn’t need to tell you. Like a good tree can’t help but bear good fruit, so also a new self can’t help but do all these things all the time. If this seems like a tall order for you,remember God chose you. He chose you to love you before you could ever love him, before the beginning of the world. He chose you and set you apart. He did it to make you perfect and create the new self in you, which is who you truly are. This is why both Simeon and Anna rejoiced in seeing Jesus, they knew who he was and what he would give them. You are the new self because God chose you and made you new. Let this outfit change you, from the insideout.
Paul doesn’t stop there but gives four more commands, which are addressed to the group and how they are to reflect this change happening inside the group to each other.
First, let the peace that originates in Christ rule in your collective hearts. Christ freely gives this peace, because he won it with his blood on the cross and wants his people to live in it with others. This peace is to be the referee in the lifeof the Christian, controlling and guiding their lives with each other.
Second, be thankful. A simple command, yet how hard is it to do? Thankfulness is a response to someone’s action or gift. If something feels deserved and less like a gift, the less thankful we are for it. Yet, if it is undeserved, aren’t we more thankful for it? The Colossians and all Christiansare to realize that everything they have is a gift and thereby live in the attitude of thankfulness, which will naturally also be pointed at each other.
Third, let the word about Christ live in your heart richly. Pardon the analogy, but let your heart be so full of God’s Word it is like the moneybag of a cartoon bank robber, which is so full it is bursting at the seams and flutters out as the robber is running away from the cops. This happens by teaching and warning others with God’s Word. After all, the teacher learns the most in class, not the student. Use God’s Word in song to do that! Use the hymns in our hymnals, which reflect not only the doctrinal beauty of God’s Word but also the emotional beauty. Use the words that not only touch the mind but the heart as well. As you sing and fill yourself, do it with gratitude!
Paul’s final command covers everything not listed. Whatever you do,whether words or deeds, do it as Christ’s hand of love, the love that drove himto sacrifice himself for all people. Living in line with God’s Word is God-pleasing in this way not only shows God’s love to the world but also is the way to show thanks to God for all he has done foryou!
Notice these last four commands are all focused inward, but are expressed outwardly. Let peace rule your heart, be thankful, let God’s Word dwell richly, everything you do, do in Jesus’s name, these are all things that result in God’s changing your heart’s focus on yourself to what God has done for you. Then, you will naturally overflow like an overfilled cup and into the lives of others,especially fellow Christians.
So, put on your new outfit forthis New Year out of thanks for the gift he has given you. Put it on regardless of the blessings and challenges in this New Year. He chose you, specifically, to have it and loved giving it to you. Our eyes have seen his salvation and now we get to live in it. Amen.
Dear Lord, you have given us our new self. Empower us to put it on and live ourlife out of thankfulness for all you have done for us. Amen.
