How we Ought to Live (in light of our new identity)

Colossians 3

12. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
16. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
17. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

New Identity

• Our new identity as Christians should affect our behaviour—the way that we live.
• New behaviour flows out of new identity in Jesus
• Our status today as beloved children means that we now need to live in the light of who we are now
• Using the metaphor of clothing, he tells us what sort of old behaviours we need to take off and what sort of new behaviours we need to put on

1 Peter 2

9. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Colossians 3

7. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
8. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10. and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Colossians 3

12. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
13. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
14. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

A New Motivation

• Our new behaviour flows out of our new identity

11. Colossians 3
12. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves…
1. Since, then, you have been raised with Christ

• The gospel is good news about Jesus
• God loved you first!
• Eph 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Colossians 1

12. …giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
13. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
14. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins

• Knowing who we are, and whose we are, will make the biggest difference in our lives!

Colossians 3

1. Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things
3. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

• So put on some new clothes that go with the new you!
• As we receive a new mindset of how God thinks about us as his dearly beloved, chosen, our behaviour begins to change.

Living in the security of being loved

• You know for sure that he already loves you, so put on behaviour that reflects his love

7. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived…

What to put on

• These are the characteristics of Jesus,
• “Forgive as Christ has forgiven you”
• compassion
• kindness
• humility
• Above all these things, put on love
• Knowing who we are informs how we live and affects our behaviour

Romans 12

1. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
16. Colossians 3
17. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Ephesians 3

17. …that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18. may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19. and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.