Christocentric 6 – Finding Righteousness

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with us. We beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Many people in the world think that they are going to find righteousness in a new religion, but the Bible reveals that righteousness is only found in Christ.

Open with us to Colossians chapter three as we look at our righteousness and how that is expressed in our lives. It was one of the revolutions of the Renaissance period when, in the 16th century, mathematician and astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, a Catholic cleric, presented a new geometric mathematical model for what is called orbital mechanics, or the movement of the solar system.

For many centuries, the prevailing view had been geocentrism, the belief that the whole solar system revolves around the Earth. The Earth was considered the center of everything, with the Sun, the moon, the stars, and all the planets revolving around it. However, in the 16th century, Copernicus came forward and proposed heliocentrism, the idea that the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center of the solar system, and that we orbit the Sun, as do Mars, Venus, and all the other planetary bodies.

Over the next hundred years, names like Johannes Kepler and Galileo confirmed that this was true, and this has been the accepted view ever since. It's like, if you will, a huge yo-yo. Anyone ever played with a yo-yo before? I'll be honest, as the yo-yo goes down and sleeps, if you spin it around, you do the whole thing around the...

The yo-yo is essentially the Earth or the other planetary beings. The hand in the illustration represents the Sun, and the tension on the string that keeps the yo-yo from flying off in some erratic vector or path is what physicists and astronomers refer to as the centripetal force. This force holds it in place so that it won't fly off in an erratic path.

Our lives are kind of like that. All of our lives are on a path similar to that yo-yo, with some being more like the yo-yo than others. There are certain things that hold our lives in orbit, certain things around which we find ourselves circling. For some people, they orbit around their spouse, their kids, or their job. However, one of the greatest gravitational pulls for human beings is the gravitational force of religion.

Of the nearly 7.4 billion people that call this planet home, nearly every single one is religious in some way, shape, or form. Even though we have advanced scientifically, technologically, mathematically, and medically over the last 2,000 years, we are not so dissimilar to the people who lived during the time of the Apostle Paul. Two thousand years ago, they were a religious people, and although there were many different religious positions, we in our day are also religious people, with many different religious views and worldviews.

In the last 200 years, many in the scientific community have decried religion, claiming that it would die. Yet here we stand in the 21st century, and religion is just as strong now as it has always been. Even those within the scientific community who decry religion have become very religious about their science, because religion has a strong gravitational pull. We all know that the religious formalism or setting plays a significant role in this dynamic.

Especially, it can pull us in. We can experience this from even a young age. I can remember at age six, seven, or eight years old, I grew up in the earliest part of my life in an Episcopal Church over here in Vista. There was something about the setting that drew us in.

When I was nine years old, my family moved to London. I can remember, as a nine-year-old, going into central London and my mom taking me to St. Paul's Cathedral. When you go to the great cathedrals, and I have had the opportunity to visit many of them in Europe, you go to the Cologne Dome, or you go to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, or to St. Paul's in London, or one of the other cathedrals like Notre Dame in France. As you come into these places, the sights, the sounds, the smells, and the ceremony of it all are gripping. It is fascinatingly appealing to us; it draws us in.

I haven't had the chance to go to India, but I've talked with some friends who have traveled to places like India and some of the different temples. They have the same sort of formalism and setting that can draw us in and pull us to see these things and want to be a part of them. Religion can be very seductive because it makes us feel good. Something about those sights, sounds, and smells, along with the ceremony of it all, affects us at a deeply profound level. It pulls us in; it has a strong central or centripetal force.

That strong gravitational pull was being experienced by the Christians who lived in a city called Colossae 2,000 years ago. The religious formalism, the self-denial and self-discipline, the ceremonies, rites, and rituals—all these things were drawing them in like the tractor beam you all remember from some of those space science fiction movies. They were locked in the tractor beam, and it was pulling them in. That same sort of pull was drawing these people toward religion because religion makes us feel, and even sometimes appear, righteous. It makes us feel holy; it makes us feel special. Although religion can make us feel holy, as we've seen in the scripture that we've been looking at in the book of...

Colossians cannot make us holy. It has the ability to give the appearance of a feeling of righteousness but cannot actually make you righteous. We considered this together in Colossians chapter 2. You can open there if you'd like to. Colossians is near the end of your Bible. If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one.

Last week, if you were here, we were in Colossians chapter 2. If you weren't here last week, you can get the audio or the video on our website at lifeinconnection.com. There in Colossians chapter 2, verse 21, Paul says, "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle." These are concerns of religious form and ritualism. Paul continues, "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things that perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men.

Look at this verse 23. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion, false humility, and the neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Another English version, the New Living Translation, renders verse 23 in this way: "These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline, but they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires."

Like the psychic surgeries that were common in another generation and in Asian cultures, this form of religion can provide a placebo effect, where the practitioner feels or appears holy, but they are not, in fact, holy. Religious formalism can make you feel that way, but it can't actually make you that. Therefore, Paul in Colossians chapter 2 made the case for abandoning pseudo-righteousness in this kind of formalized religion. What we considered together is a vain holiness that isn't really real in any way. This philosophy is vain and deceptive and high-sounding, but at the end of the day, it's nonsense because it cannot actually fix you.

Psychic surgeries of another day reveal that every single one of our lives is like a body in movement on a vector, seeking a path. We are all looking for something to orbit, seeking a center. Paul is revealing here in this passage that if religious formalism becomes the central focus of your life, though it may have good feelings associated with it, it doesn't actually value you very much beyond this life. It is earthly and will perish with this life when this life perishes.

The sad reality, as we just witnessed very close to us here this last week in San Bernardino, is that there are certain things that also find themselves in the orbit of some religions—certain wicked practices, ideas, and thoughts that were expressed in San Bernardino this last Wednesday. We can say that it's not just Islam; there are also some within the orbit of the Christian religion who have done some pretty wicked and vile things in times past. This is where religion can become dangerous. As we start to feel holy and special, we look at those who are not a part of our religion, and we see them as not holy and not special. This can lead to the belief that they need to be done away with, and there is great danger in that.

Our lives are all seeking a center; we are all seeking something about which we will orbit. Paul, in Colossians chapter 3, begins to speak about the Christocentric orbit, the Christocentric life. Would you mind standing with me as we read Colossians 3, verses 1 through 17 this morning?

Colossians chapter 3: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of this earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all of these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. Here, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so also you must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you also are called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Father, in this passage of Scripture this morning, would You teach us? Give us wisdom and understanding. Your word is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword; it cuts deep into our lives and reveals the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Lord, it is by Your word that we are warned, rebuked, and corrected sometimes, but it is also by Your word that we are transformed more and more into Your likeness.

God, I pray that we would be made more like You, that we would lose the things in our lives that are not profitable, the things that ultimately do not bring You glory, and that our lives would be transformed by the renewing of our minds today. God, change us. We ask this in Jesus' name.

All those that agreed said amen. You can be seated.

Paul says, "If then you were raised with Christ." One commentator highlights that the word "if" that begins chapter three is the "if" of argument, and it's the idea of "since." So it could be read this way: "Since then you were raised with Christ." Paul assumes that those to whom he is writing are followers of Jesus. He takes for granted that the people reading this letter in his time would be followers of Jesus. He probably did not assume that 2,000 years later there would be people still reading this letter, but he assumes that they would be followers of Jesus. I hope that you are today. I hope that you're a follower of Jesus. If not, maybe a friend or family member brought you. God bless you; we're glad you're here, and I want to give you an opportunity later on to become a follower of Jesus.

Paul begins by assuming that you are a follower of Jesus, and he says, "Since then you were raised with Christ." Those raised with Christ are those who have put their trust and confidence in Jesus for their salvation. They are no longer trusting in their own abilities, their own efforts, or any other thing to make them holy. They have put their trust and confidence in Jesus for their salvation. They have been spiritually raised up. It's what Jesus describes when he spoke with a religious man named Nicodemus in John chapter 3 as the born-again experience.

So here, Paul is highlighting that if you're a follower of Jesus, then you've been spiritually born again; you've been raised from the dead. What kind of deadness? In Colossians 2, verse 13, he says you were, prior to this, dead in sin, dead in trespasses. That is the experience of all humanity ever since the creation, ever since the fall after creation described in Genesis chapter 3. Every single human being that has been born is born spiritually dead, and Jesus came to bring resurrection. So Paul says, "Since you've been raised with Christ, since by His work you have been made right..."

Saved, therefore, He has something for us to do. What we see in these very opening words, "Since you were raised with Christ," is this very important truth: point number one on your outline—religious efforts cannot save you, but Jesus can.

Religious efforts cannot save you, but Jesus can. This is why Paul has been saying that we need to lose that vain religious effort that we assume or hope would make us righteous. At the end of the day, it cannot make you righteous; only Jesus can. It may be a very simple point, but if you're attending church hoping that your attendance, good works, or not doing certain bad things will make you righteous, I'm here to tell you that it will never be enough. You need Christ. Jesus alone is the one who can make us right.

When you put your confidence in Jesus and your trust in Him for your salvation, then you have the experience that Paul speaks of. First, you experience a spiritual new birth; you have been raised to a new life in Christ. Secondly, you experience an internal transformation. Religion is all about externals—external displays of righteousness in form, ritual, and religious effort. But the work that Jesus does is an internal transformation. Paul speaks of it like this in Colossians 2:11: "You have experienced a circumcision made without hands, the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ."

So, the Christian, the follower of Jesus who puts their confidence in Him for their salvation, is spiritually reborn and internally transformed—something that religion could never do. Thirdly, not only are they spiritually reborn and internally transformed, but we who are followers of Jesus experience a death, burial, and resurrection unto newness of life. This is beautifully pictured through baptism. When you are baptized, a person goes down...

Under the water, and then coming up out of the water, we practice full immersion baptism here at Cross Connection. This is the experience or the symbolic display of dying and being buried with Christ, and now rising to walk in newness of life. The follower of Jesus experiences a spiritual new birth; they undergo an internal transformation—a death, burial, and resurrection. They are dead to sin and rise to walk in newness of life.

Additionally, Paul describes in Colossians chapter 2, verses 14 through 23, that the follower of Jesus also experiences a release from the bondage of law, sin, death, and judgment. If you are a follower of Jesus today, that is what you have experienced: a new birth, an internal transformation, a resurrection, and a release from the bondage of sin, death, and judgment. Religion cannot accomplish that.

Since this is the case, Paul states in Colossians 3, verse 1, "Since then you were raised with Christ." Now, something new begins. Look at the second part of verse 1: "Seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God." Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth. Since you have been raised with Christ, as a follower of Jesus, a Christian, seek those things which are above and set your mind there.

One commentator observed that the word "seek" implies a practical effort—actual steps that we take in our lives to seek and set ourselves in that direction. The other word, "set," is purely internal and mental; it refers to a mindset. Paul emphasizes that the whole of our being needs to be fixed upon Jesus. He becomes the central focus of our lives, and we begin to orbit around Him. He is our center; we are Christocentric. This is where Paul wants us to arrive in this passage. In other words, Christ's place, His dominion, and His power become the central force of your life—the pull of your life.

Point number two on your outline: Jesus must be the one.

Around which the Christian's life orbits, Jesus must be the one. This means that we need to leave the gravitational pull of earthly, worldly religious effort and be centered around Jesus. That's what it means to be Christocentric.

As Paul puts this forward, he says, "Okay, since you now have been raised with Christ, seek these things and set your mind on these things where Christ is," having Him as the focus. The immediate question that comes up in the mind of the person reading this is, "Why? Why should I do this?" Well, he answers the question there in verses 3 and 4.

"For," or "because," circle that first word. "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." If you are a follower of Jesus today, that means you have experienced a spiritual resurrection to a newness of life. In that, you have died to your old life. Paul says that old life is gone; it's no longer your focus. It's no longer who you are, and your new life is found in Him. It's hidden with Him.

Beyond just the new life being with Him, there is coming a day when He will return, and you, follower of Jesus, will return with Him in glory. Jesus spoke about this in John's Gospel. In John chapter 14, He said to His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places. Were it not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

That is the promised hope of the Christian life. This place is not our eternal home, thank God. Since this is not our eternal home, our focus is elsewhere. I have a very real experience going on in my life at this very moment that illustrates this perfectly. My house right now is filled with about five feet of boxes everywhere; we're moving into a new place.

I love our house. We've been there for 78 years, and I truly cherish it. However, a couple of days ago, I walked out front and noticed a big gopher hole in my yard. I thought, "Not my house!" Normally, I would walk out and think, "Oh goodness gracious, I'm going to kill that sucker." But this time, I realized it wasn't my house.

This is how the Christian life needs to be viewed in relation to this world. Yes, we love what God has given us here, and we are called to be good stewards of His creation. But at the end of the day, this is not my eternal home. Our mindset should shift, and our focus must be on Him. We need to become Christ-centric in our perspective.

There used to be a saying among some that Christians are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. Has anyone ever heard that before? Sadly, that's hardly ever true. More often than not, we are neither heavenly minded nor earthly good. But God wants to change that.

Paul's counsel is to seek those things which are above and to set our minds there. How do we do this? Colossians chapter 3, verse 5 states, "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth." Taken out of context, that could be really bad. But what are the members he is talking about? Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

We need to put to death sexual immorality and impurity in our lives. Lust, wicked desire, and a greedy desire for the things of this world—covetousness—all fall in line with that. The King James Version says to mortify these things and to have a murderous ambition towards sexual immorality, evil lust, greed, and covetousness in our lives. The root of these issues is hatred.

Why should we take this Christian position? Look at verses 6 and 7 of Colossians 3.

One of the wonderful things about the way that the Apostle Paul's mind works is that, in reality, he was kind of a lawyer. He anticipates the questions of his audience. As he is saying here that you need to put to death these things, he anticipates the question: "Well, why? Why should I do that?" The answer is simple: because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

Here’s a very simple point, point number three on your outline: everything Jesus hates, I should detest. How do I know if Jesus hates something? Well, when He says He’s going to pour out His wrath on it, He doesn’t like it. So, if God is going to pour out His wrath upon fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, and idolatry, I would suggest you might want to stay away from those things. If He hates it, you should hate it. You should detest it.

You may have been immoral in the past. You may have been filled with covetousness, having a strong, wicked desire for the things that other people have, which leads to planning to try to obtain what they have or to steal it. Maybe you had those things dominating your life before you were a follower of Jesus. Well, now that you are a follower of Jesus, stop it. It’s simple. You don’t need to understand Greek to know that. Don’t just become more religious; Paul says to become righteous.

The reality is that many of us can live after religious ritual and formalism and still be wicked in our hearts. You can do and say all the right things in church, have all the right movements, and still be wicked in the heart. Paul says, "Don’t become more religious; become more righteous." Walk out your righteousness. How? Look at verse 8: "But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language."

Your mouth is now the root of the actions of fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, and idolatry. In verse 5, these are the mental mindsets spoken of in verse 8: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language. Paul says to put these things off. If you're a follower of Jesus today, these are to be set aside and no longer walked in. Why? Because these things lead to the sinful activities described in verse 5, upon which the wrath of God will one day come.

So, put away anger. What is that? It's a violent temper. Put away wrath. What is that? It's the boiling over of that violent temper in passionate, heated anger. Malice—what is malice? It is a seething internal ill will toward somebody else. It's that thought when you think of a person you don't like very much, and they just popped into your mind. Now you start thinking about them, and inside you go, "Man, I wish that guy would get hit by a truck." It's an internal seething anger that you can gloss over with a kind of pie crust Christianity that looks really good. You might say, "Oh yeah, they're so nice," while in your heart, you're just going along with that internal seething ill will.

Have you ever gotten one of those apple pie things from McDonald's? It looks nice on the outside, but when you bite in, it's blistering hot inside. That's malice.

Now, put off blasphemy. For most people who have had any connection with religion, blasphemy is to speak ill of God. However, the word here has nothing to do with God in its original context. Blasphemy is simply ill speaking of someone else. Malice always bubbles over into gossip—slanderous, injurious gossip. Put it away, Paul says. Your orbit is Christ; that's not a satellite of the orbit of Christ. Blasphemy, and I know many of you are Christians, often comes out like this: "We need to pray for so-and-so."

Really, why? Well, let me tell you about the prayer; it starts there, doesn't it? Guilty as charged: filthy language put away. What is that? Foul, obscene speaking of others. These things, Paul says, are unbecoming of a follower of Jesus. You cannot be consumed with these in your life and still be orbiting Christ. If these things define your experience from Monday to Saturday, no amount of religious effort on Sunday will undo it.

Put off all these, and in verse 9, do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds. Now notice what Paul did there in verse 9. He says that if you're a Christian, you have, in the past tense, put off the old man. It is done. You have put off the old man with his deeds. In verse 10, he continues, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

Where there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Here, he says to put off these things, and with the put off, there is a corresponding put on in its place. Replace it with this action or this mindset: put off wrath, malice, gossip, immorality, greed, and put on the new man, which is created anew in righteousness.

Paul, in Second Corinthians 5:17, says if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. All the old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new. How many of you are thankful today that all the old stuff has passed away? You are a new creation in Christ. Therefore, having died to the past, Paul is saying now live in the righteous present. This is possible by the power of Christ in us.

Point number four: the righteousness of Christ enables my righteous living. The righteousness of Christ enables my righteous living. Religion will never do.

No amount of confession, no amount of formalized prayers, no amount of fasting, and no amount of religious effort or good works will enable you to walk in righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is the enabling power to make wicked people righteous. But what's my part? What should I do?

Well, Paul gives us a list of things. Look at verse 12 of Colossians 3:12. "Therefore, as the elect of God, as those that are chosen by God, holy and beloved," here are some really good things to hold on to if you're a follower of Jesus.

Number one, God chose you. Number two, He loves you. And number three, you are holy because He made you holy. Now, whether or not you believe those things, that's what the Bible says about the Christian: God chose you, God loves you, and God made you holy. Therefore, live out your holiness as a beloved, chosen child of God.

How? Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ

Put up with them, and then you have to forgive them, pardon them with Christ-like pardon, and then love them. Above all these things, love them. He says, "Let the peace of God rule your heart." What does that mean? Be a peacemaker. Reach out to that person you didn't like because they said or did something you didn't like, or stole your jelly-filled doughnut, or whatever it may be. I realize I might gloss over some really heavy things that people have done to you in your life. Here, with a Christ-centric life, He says, "I want you to love that person and forgive him."

Don't you realize they're so unlovable? You were unlovable, and God loved you. By God's power and strength, you can do what He has called you to do. All the religious formalism cannot deal with the wicked heart of malice and hatred towards someone else.

Righteous living is more important than religious living. Now, don't misunderstand; religious habits and discipline can be good if those things point you closer to God. If those things draw you closer into worship of Jesus, they can be good. But when those things become the central focus around which you orbit in your life, then they become a distraction. Righteous living is more important than religious living.

As I said previously, it's possible by the power that Jesus has given to us. But the question is, how do I progress toward righteous living? How do I progress toward being tenderly merciful, kind, humble, meek, long-suffering, forbearing, forgiving, loving, and peacemaking? How do I get there? Paul gives us four steps in verses 16 and 17. He boils it down to these four steps, which, when I share them with you, you're going to go, "Come on, really? That's it?" Yes.

Number one: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. How do I become more tenderly merciful, kind, humble, meek, long-suffering, forbearing, forgiving, loving, and peacemaking with people? Number one: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

This is the Word of God. It is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart, and it transforms us from the inside out. As God's Word goes into our hearts and minds, it makes us more like Jesus. Therefore, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Here we are, just coming up on the end of the year and the start of a new year. Many Christians, at the start of the new year, will say, "All right, this is the year to read through the Bible in a year. Here we go: Genesis 1 on January first and five or six other passages." Then, January 27th comes, and you're thinking, "Okay, I'll do that next year."

I have found, and you might have experienced this as well, that both by personal experience and observation, many Christians try to binge on the Bible. By week three, they purge, and they never grow because they're not digesting the Scripture. So, this year, I want to make it easy for you.

If you look on the back of your sermon guide, there's a little picture of a Bible there, and it says "the listening plan." I made a tool for you at the listeningplan.com. You go there, subscribe with your name and your email, and every single weekday morning, you're going to get an email on your smartphone. That email will contain a short devotion, and there will be a little link that you can click to listen to the audio of the Scripture for that day.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I want to make it easy for you to consume the Scriptures. I stumbled upon this a few years ago while preparing to teach something. I found that there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. When I heard that, I grabbed my phone and asked, "Hey Siri, how many weekdays are there this year?" She replied, "Myles, there are 260 weekdays this year." I thought, "Well, that's a coincidence: one New Testament chapter every weekday."

So, if you go through the New Testament this year, every weekday, five days a week, you can sign up at the listeningplan.com. You will receive an email in your inbox with the listening for that day, whatever it is, and you can listen to it right there while following along with the devotional.

I guarantee that if you let the Word of God dwell in you richly from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016, you will grow in tender mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, forgiveness, love, and peacemaking. I guarantee it. Why? Because God's Word is powerful.

Admonishing one another is an important aspect of fellowship. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another. We conducted a survey here at the church a couple of weeks ago, and one of the findings was that only twenty-eight percent of our church is involved in connect groups or home groups. In 2016, we want to reach fifty percent or more. We want you to be in fellowship with people.

Why spend time with other Christians? Because as iron sharpens iron, being around other believers in fellowship allows God to transform you. You will never grow to the fullness of maturity in Christ by yourself; you need others in the body of Christ. Paul emphasizes that if you want to grow in tender mercy, meekness, forbearance, forgiveness, love, and peacemaking towards others, you must engage in teaching and admonishing one another.

Consider what happens when you're in fellowship with someone and you share about a person at work that you don't like. For example, you might say, "Hey, you know what? You shouldn't be like that; you need to forgive that person." You wouldn't come to that realization alone, and you don't normally tell yourself that. Sometimes, you need to hear it from someone else, like Scott or Mike, who might say, "That's really not a very Christian-like thing to say." This kind of growth happens in fellowship.

Paul also instructs us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another. He further encourages us to engage in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord. What does that sound like? It sounds like worship. There is nothing more Christocentric than corporate worship. When we gather together and worship, we are setting our minds on things above. Corporate worship will transform your daily life because you cannot spend time in the presence of God and not leave changed.

Finally, Paul states in verse 17, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." The New Living Translation puts it this way: "And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him." The fourth step that Paul gives can be summed up with one word: mission. The mission is this: if you change your mindset and realize that everywhere you go this week, you are on a mission.

An ambassador and representative of Jesus, it will change the way you live. We often think that pastors and missionaries are the only ambassadors of Jesus, the only representatives of Him. However, every follower of Jesus is an ambassador of the Kingdom of God.

When you're about to lose your cool with someone who made you mad, and suddenly you remember that you are a representative of Jesus, it will change the way you respond. I am praying for you that you can't get that thought out of your mind this week. When you're about to have an argument with your spouse or when you're about to yell at that person who just cut you off, I hope you see, as I do all the time, the Cross Connections sticker in your rear-view mirror. Remember that you are a representative and ambassador of Jesus. It will change the way you respond, and I guarantee it.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Be in fellowship with other believers and worship the Lord God with others corporately. Recognize that you are an ambassador of Jesus, and you will see these things begin to change in your life. I guarantee it.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father, none of the religious things we can do—fasting, self-denial, self-discipline, circumcision, baptisms, or whatever it may be—make us kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, or peacemaking. The Lord Jesus, Your word, the fellowship of the body of Christ, worshiping You, and recognizing our mission in You transforms us.

So God, I pray that You would help us to recognize and identify this week, to walk in these things, and to spend time with You and in Your word. Lord, make us more like You. As we finish up 2015 and come into 2016, I pray that this next year would be a year of growth for each of us unto maturity, and that our lives would shine brighter for You, for Your glory.