Monday – June 20, 2016
Monday again already! Time for us to prepare our hearts (minds) to receive the Word of the only Living God. If any of us have a frown and a dreading like this little boy, let’s choose to lose it. Let us ask the Lord to help us with an attitude change for our own good and to further the Kingdom of God.
Before we jump into our Bible Study let me point out that today is the summer solstice. A solstice is when the northern or southern hemisphere is either maximally tilted toward or away from the sun. So for us in the northern hemisphere this is the summer solstice however for folks in say Chile it is the winter solstice. For us in America or above the Equator it is the first day of summer but in Chile or below the Equator it is the first day of winter. Now back to Colossians.
Colossians 3:9-11 (KJV)
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Seems like the advice not to lie, tell untruths, or be deceitful one with the other is good advice especially for the people of God. Not lying is one of the big ten for God.
Exodus 20:16 (KJV)
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Then the Apostle Paul goes on to say in the same verse to “put off the old man with his deeds”. Let’s go ahead and explore this a little more again. Let us look at another passage that will look very similar and should reinforce this Truth.
Ephesians 4:22-25 (KJV)
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
There is an old man to put off, eliminate from our thoughts, words, and ways as we are transformed more and more into the image and likeness of God. The word ‘conversation’ in Ephesians 4:22 means behavior so Paul is saying the same thing as in Colossians 3:9 when he says to “put off the old man with his deeds”. Notice that the development of this new man in both passages is associated with a renewing of our knowledge and a renewing of the spirit of our mind, all the same thing. We looked at this to some degree last week so let’s refresh ourselves.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (KJV)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
You may recall how I spoke of how the word ‘thing’ and the word ‘word’ frequently could be substituted one for the other. If there is a new creature then we know there was an old creature, or as we have read in the preceding passages an old man. But praise the Lord we are new men being transformed day by day more and more into His very image and likeness. To be clear we are not old men becoming new men, we are new men becoming more and more like Him!
First step to becoming a new man is to be in Christ which happens the instant we make Him the Lord of our life, Lord of all of our life. If one is not in Christ he/she is a dead man/woman walking. That person is alive naturally with regard to the physical body, and perhaps they may even know some Scripture (soul or mind), they may even be a pastor or a priest, but the spirit man is dead unable to hear from God, and they are headed to hell not being in the family of God. There is a form of godliness which ends in destruction. There are those who profess to be this or that denomination but they have never made Christ Jesus Lord of their life. They are in fact not Christians. Being a Christian is to have a very personal relationship with God. The depth of the relationship with God varies dramatically from person to person depending on teaching and the diligence of the person to search the Scripture. We will delve right back into this tomorrow.
By Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
