The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Book Of Colossians Part 2 (EP 20)

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

In this podcast, Bryce breaks down the Book of Colossians chapters 3 & 4.

What's going on, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And today we've got part two of the episode you just listened to on Monday on the book of Colossians. Breaking down the Book of Colossians. We did chapters one and two on Monday. We're going to do chapters three and four today. I think this one's going to go by a lot quicker than this. We're just going to go verse by verse, explain what it's meaning. I'm going to really touch by that powerfulness and how powerful the word of God is. So we just need to focus on the word of God and what he says rather than what man says. And if getting in the word is something you guys struggle with, I want to click on the description in my YouTube video on the Bryce Crawford podcast YouTube channel. We have a link to a free Bible plan.

It's a PDF you download. It's literally two chapters a day, five days a week, and you can read the whole Bible in a year. You can follow along at any time. I've got content on my Instagram that teaches it. So if you're trying to get in the word, discipline yourself, this free Bible plan might be the best way you can start getting in the word more. Or just have a plan you can follow. So if you want to click the link in the description of the Bryce Carford YouTube channel on this post. and if you want to support what we're doing, go to Jesusinthe street.com and get you some fire Jesus merch, gospel-centered merch to start gospel-centered conversations.

And let's get into the book of Colossians. We're picking up in chapter three. The title of chapter three is putting on the new self. Jesus Christ loves when you wear him, when you put him on. Our lives testify about something. We either testify about Jesus Christ or we testify about whatever is on the throne of our heart. So if you want to put something on, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I promise you, when you wear Jesus Christ, even if you don't say anything about Jesus, people know you're a Christian. Quick testimony, like I was in Petco getting stuff for our little Moses. And the guy leaned over the counter, didn't say anything about God. He leans over to me.

And he goes, hey, bro, personal question. Got to say this quiet because I'm at work. But what church do you go to? Like, I'm looking for a church to go to. I'm thinking like, dude, how'd this guy know I'm a Christian? But in reality, didn't say anything about God, didn't do anything. he just knew the spirit lives in me and the spirit attracts people there's something about the joy of the lord that brings people to you chapter three verse one if then you have been raised with christ there's a call

to action coming if you've been born again seek the things that are above where christ is seated at the right hand of god set your mind on things that are above not on things that are on the earth for you have died and your life is hidden with christ and god when christ to as your life appears, then you will also appear with Him and glory. What does it mean when it says seek things that are above? This is what it means. A lot of you guys DM me or message me and you say, man, I just can't stop sinning. It's like I can't stop.

I can't control it. I can't, but you guys put yourself in the situation. So a lot of times our sin issues isn't that we can't uncontrollably stop. It's just the fact that we're looking everywhere about heaven. But Paul says, seek things that are above where Christ is. So I can't remember if you guys knew my analogy I did with Genesis 3 about freedom from sin, but before Adam and Eve bit into the fruit, it's like they're looking at God. They're naked, but their nakedness wasn't an issue because they're looking here.

They're looking up. They're looking at God. And the second they sin, they're looking down at themselves. And so a lot of people are looking straight at themselves instead of looking at God. We need to be looking up. We need to be looking here. And so Paul is saying, seek the things that are above at the right hand of God. Set your mind on those things.

not the things that are on the earth because you have died and your life's hidden with Christ. Your life is hidden in Him, not the things of the world. Your life isn't hidden in sex. It's not hidden in drugs. It's not hidden in alcohol. It's hidden in Jesus Christ. So if your life is hidden in Jesus Christ, or if you claim that your life is hidden in Christ,

then seek the things that are above. Look to those things. Chase those things. Desire the heavenly things. Your flesh may desire the things of the world, but where the flesh is weak, the spirit is willing. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly to you? If you put something to death, you kill it.

You don't cut the tail off of a snake, because if you cut the tail off of a snake, it lives. It slithers away. Same thing with the lizard. If you cut the tail off of a lizard, it slizzles away, and it grows back. But if you cut the head off of a snake or a lizard, it dies immediately. So a lot of you guys, when you're like in this process of becoming a Christian, you're like, oh, I want to give up some things,

but I don't want to give up these things. So you're like, cut the tail off of sin issues, and not the head. But Paul and Jesus, call us to kill it. Kill sin. Sin was nailed at the cross, which means it died. It was crucified at the cross. And a lot of you guys are trying to resurrect something that was already dead.

Or you're trying to keep it alive. You're like watering these seeds. And everything, look, here's a sad reality. Everything that we consume is a seed planted in us, whether we want it to or not. Everything we consume, good or bad, what we watch, what we listen to, what we see, what we say. We consume everything. We consume more than we were actually programmed or probably destined to. to consume. We weren't meant to have access to everyone on the planet yet social media makes us have

access to everyone on the planet. Like we plant and consume a lot of stuff. And so what you consume is what you become and there's things in your mind that can be planted and grow infestor that don't need to. So Paul says put to death what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality, passion, evil desires and covetedness, which is idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming. In these you two once walked. were living in them, 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.

Paul is saying, if you're a born again Christian, then anger, malice, slander, and sin shouldn't be a part of your daily routine. We recognize the process of sanctification, the process of being made holy that if you're chasing Jesus. the possibility. It's not guaranteed, but there's a possibility that you might stumble and fall, but get back up and chase Jesus. So Paul is it saying, hey, sanctification isn't going to happen. Signification is going to happen. But he's saying that these things shouldn't be a part of your daily life. These things should start happening less and less and less and less if you're chasing Jesus.

Because that's a part of the old self. The old self, anger, anger, wrath, malice, sexual immorality, sin issues were your daily life. Not anymore if you're put on in the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator, renewed in the knowledge. How do you renew your by reading the word of God. Romans 12 do not be conformed to this world will be transformed by the renewal of your mind. We're going to get into that in a moment. Here there is not Greek and Jews circumcised

and uncircised barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another,

forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Okay. So let's go back a second because this whole chapter is about putting on the new self. Paul says put to death earthly things and he lists them off. And then he says, but put on compassionate

heart, kindness these things. He's giving you the dues and don'ts of living in the spirit. That's what he's doing. He's giving you the dues and don'ts of a born again Christian. He's giving you the dues and don'ts of the gospel of living out the gospel. That's what he's doing. And above all these put on love, which binds

everything together and perfect harm which connects back to Jesus is the greatest commandment loving the Lord your God like you don't have to physically put these things on these things will naturally manifest through you if you're loving the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and sure it's crazy how much we repeat the same things it's crazy how we repeat many of the same things the podcast episode because all sins from loving Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength if you're not doing that then you're going to manifest anger malice maybe sin issues and this is and that because you're loving something else other than Jesus. What is it? Come on. Above all these things. Love one another because it weaves things together and puts everything together, binds everything together in perfect harmony.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Let's be thankful for the work Jesus is doing in us. Let the word of God dwell in you richly. What does it mean for something to dwell in you richly? To dwell in you abundantly. How do you let the word of God dwell in you abundantly? You have to read the word. And that's what we're doing right now. But when you're reading the word and consuming the word, it will dwell in you in abundance the more you do it. And because you are dwelling in the word, you're abiding in him.

To abide means to remain in God. And when you remain in him, you're going to dwell in the word richly and let it dwell in you. Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your heart to God. And whatever you do, and word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. That's interesting. do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As a Christian, our lives are living epistles in the sense that when people look at us, they're going to say, oh, that dude's a Christian, how do they live their life? So if you claim to be a Christian, an anger, malice, slander, obscene, talk, sin issues manifest through you, then two things are going to happen. Either someone's going to say, oh, as a Christian, I can still do those things, and they're going to permiss sin issues, and they're going to permit, anger, wrath, smowlish, things of the old self. They're going to permit those things because they see someone labeled as a Christian doing those things.

Or on the other end of the spectrum, they're going to look at someone who claims to be a Christian and those things manifest through their life. And they're going to say, oh, I don't want anything to do with that. That looks nothing different than the life I live right now. So why would I claim to be Christian? Why would I do that? Those are two things that could happen to that. So as Christians, we have to understand that everything that we do is going to reflect Jesus Christ's heart. whether it reflected in a true manner or not.

Because we can reflect it in a true manner by letting the Word of God dwell richly in us, or we can let Christ's character reflect falsely by not spending time with him. And then the fruits of death, the fruit of sin, not the fruits of the spirit, the fruit of the old self is going to manifest through us. And even though it's not Jesus Christ, because we claim to be Christian, people are going to permiss that. And people are going to say, oh, that's okay or oh, I don't want to be a part of that. So we got to be careful, like, claiming to be Christian.

Like, I don't want to be in this lukewarm state. We're like, oh, I'm Christian, but I still do these things. No, because that promises those things. No, I want to be a sold-out fool for Jesus. That's what I want to be. Verse 18, wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting for the Lord. Husbands, love your wives. Do not be harsh with them.

Children, obey your parents in everything. For this pleases the Lord. Fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Bond servants. Obey in everything, those who are earthly masters. not by way of eye service as people pleasers but with sincerity of the heart fearing the lord whatever you do work heartily as for the lord don't halfway serve the lord like we live in a generation right now we live in a time period in america right now

where we halfway do things we give it like 50% effort it's like oh i'm gonna i'm gonna do a halfway do it i'm gonna cheat on my test i don't feel like doing homework can someone send me a picture of it oh, I don't need to go over the, I don't need to trim the edges of the grass with the weed eater. I just need to cut it and then I'm done. You know, I'll do it quick. That's what it is. It's like I'll do it quick. That's what we say.

But Paul says, work heartily for the Lord. Give it your best effort in everything that you do. Give 110%. I want to give my all to him. Because God is most satisfied with us when we are most satisfied in him. what i mean by that is when we're giving him our all we're able to reflect the fullness of jesus christ's character whatever you do work heartily for the lord and not for men knowing that from the lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward you are serving the lord christ for the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong

he has done and there is no partiality that's judgment judgment for sin the wrongdoer will be paid back So it's interesting because in Philippians, Paul writes in prison, you know, whether people preach the gospel for selfish gain or whether people preach the gospel out of a pure heart, I'm just glad that the gospel is being preached. That's true. But at the end of the day, people's motives and ambitions will be judged righteously. And the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done. The wrong wouldn't be preaching the gospel. The wrong would be his selfish motives. So people will be judged.

And this isn't just about preaching the gospel. This is about sin issues. This is about what is manifesting out of your life. This is about what's on the throne of your heart. This is about what you serve. Chapter 4. Masters, treat your bond servants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.

Because that goes back to the thing before, when he says he's judging with no partiality. This means that the homeless man on the corner and the richest student in America, the richest student in America won't be treated or judged less than the homeless student on the corner. They're both going to be judged the same. There's no partiality. That's the same way.

It has like a lot of treat people like to treat celebrities different than the normal person when they're both. They're both the same. Someone that's a celebrity isn't going to be treated differently than a person that's living in a third world country. They're both going to be treated the same. There's no partiality. God doesn't partially judge. He's a just judge. Further instructions, chapter 4 verse 2.

steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with Thanksgiving. He charges us to pray earnestly, pray a lot. But he says, with Thanksgiving. Give Thanksgiving in prayer. Don't leave that out. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open up a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Paul is saying, this is how I talk. The word of God and Jesus Christ is my authority. and so pray that God continues to open up opportunities for us. That's my prayer for you guys. Like, will you guys pray for the ministry that Josh and I do that God will continue to open doors for us to minister to people and let the Word of God manifest through our life? Walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of the time. Some things you can say to certain people and others you can't.

Sometimes you can be a little bit more firm with people. Sometimes you can be a little bit more gentle with people. Sometimes you can say more. Sometimes you only need to say less. Walk in wisdom. Jesus says be as wise as serpents, but as innocent as doves. Be shrewd. Be very detailed and careful at the moves you make, but be as innocent as a dove.

Let your motives be pure. I love this next verse. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Seasoned with salt. If you take salt and you put it on the end of your finger and you lick it, it's kind of like, it's going to be like, Mmm, you know, it's got that sting to it. Not a bad sting, but the flavor is sharp. And so you might not have to say a lot,

but if the word dwells in you richly, your response will have a sharp impact on the heart across from you. So when he says, let your speech be seasoned with salt, let it be seasoned with the grace of God, but the power of the word of God. Let it be seasoned with that. And then he gives some final greetings. Tychus will tell you about all my activities.

He's a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a fellow servant of the Lord. And that actually really convicted me. Because a faithful minister, a faithful servant of the Lord, is going to be reminding believers that their identity is in their sonship with Jesus and not in their sin. That's what being a faithful servant of the Lord is towards Christians. And a faithful servant of the Lord towards non-believers would be calling them out of their sin

and saying, hey, there's more for you. You don't have to be a sinner anymore. You can be a son or a daughter of the most high. That's what a faithful servant looks like. He's calling people higher. I've sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we ought to and me encourage your hearts. And with him,

Onisimus, our faithful and beloved brother who is one of you, they will tell you of everything that has taken place here. And then he continues to talk about people that he's sending and his beloved friends. And then verse 16, and when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of Laotasia. See that you also read it there.

And say to Archipas, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. I think the moral of Colossians, the book of Colossians, is going to be the new life that we have in Jesus Christ. It's that when you wear Jesus Christ and you love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you will naturally manifest the heavenly things.

And when you love Jesus Christ with your whole heart, you're going to be seeking the things that are above, which are at the right hand of God, as it says in chapter 3. And lastly, they really highlighted Thanksgiving and prayer. I really love that. That's a necessary ingredient in the Christian life. It's to be thankful, have a grateful heart, gratitude, and Thanksgiving. With gratitude and Thanksgiving in our daily life and our prayer life, it's going to combat the devil with sin temptation in your life

when you have a grateful and thankful heart for what the Lord is doing in your heart. So guys, I'm just going to pray for a fresh hunger for the Word of God as I did in the last episode. We'll see you guys in the next episode. Jesus, I thank you for people watching and listening in this. God, will you just give them a fresh hunger for your word? God, will you give them fresh discipline to seek you in the heavenly places? Keep their minds above you, renew their mind daily through your word. God, will you just give them intimacy and more increasing their life?

In Jesus' name, amen, guys. Thank you so much for watching. If you're watching, subscribe to us on the podcast, channel, Bryce Carver podcast on YouTube. Follow us on Spotify and Apple. Follow us on Instagram. Love you guys. See you guys next time.