………… "however, it's green"........ I remember expressing my disappointment when my mother informed me that the uniform I would be obliged to wear for attendance at my new senior high school was green. It seemed a poor reward for passing the acceptance exam; green was my least favourite of all the colours, but it looked like I would be living with those shades of green clothing for a good few years!
A school uniform was thought to be a great leveller, and with uniformity came equality, or so we were led to believe....but over the years, while many of my girlfriends matured, I remained a seven-stone straight up and down 16-year-old, it was clear from the fit of their uniforms that equality had now become a thing of the past!
Some people always found ways to make the uniform look different; when we used to parade into assembly, there was always a teacher checking the length of the skirts, the shirts tucked in, the ties knotted correctly, and shoes changed so floors were not damaged....but once out of the assembly, the skirts were rolled at the waistband, ties shortened, knots loosened and a more spirited appearance was evident....no doubt fuelled by a new rush of hormones and the attractions of a co-ed school.
Then you leave school, the uniform you were so reluctant to wear finally comes off…….and you put on the uniform of your chosen career, police officer, firefighter, nurse, postman….and the list goes on, and even if there isn’t a regulated uniform, then there is a dress code for many jobs, there is usually some way to identify, to attach a person to a particular or type of job…you dress according to what you are and there is usually some way to identify you……
…… this is where we're going to get into the Bible; in Colossians 3:5-14 Paul has something to say about uniforms; essentially, Paul says that a new man should wear new clothes.
We know from the first few verses of Chapter 2 in Ephesians that we were dead in our trespasses and sins; we followed our sinful desires, the passions of our flesh, and we were disobedient children….it was a dark picture that Paul painted. But then, in verse 4, we find that remarkable statement “but God ” - we were spiritually dead, but because God loved us, God's grace came and made us alive together in Christ and then Paul goes on to say that we are God's workmanship, His masterpiece, created for good works.
So, after three verses of darkness, sin, and death, we find a completely new creation in verse 10, and looking closely between the two states, we find a transition in the middle; we see a faith experience with Jesus Christ. That's what occurred to Paul on the way to Damascus, and it's what happened to us, albeit perhaps not as spectacularly.
Now that we are a masterpiece, a new creation, a new man, we have become disciples.
Disciples are lifelong learners, submitted to Christ as Lord, and committed in their hearts and minds to follow His words, deeds, and will forever… it's a lifelong experience, and when do we graduate? After five years? After ten years? ….no, no, we graduate when we get to heaven.
Christ has enrolled us in His Kingdom, effectively within His school; this is now our new learning environment. We are the students, and he is the Master. In Colossians 3, Paul argues that wearing the school uniform is necessary because what we wear reflects who we are. Because if you are a Christian, you should dress the part; it is fitting for a new (wo)man to wear new clothing.
When you are born again, when you become this regenerated person, when you have put your trust in Christ's person and work, and enter God's Kingdom, a significant shift occurs in your core nature.
You are a whole different person, a new creation.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Paul says in Colossians 3:5 and 8 that we need to put away or throw away sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. He also tells us that this can also include anger, wrath, malice, slander, lying and obscene talk; not only that, but we are to put these things off together with their practices. Practices here are the emotions, attitudes, and acts that having this old mindset would create and nourish.
Therefore, we should no longer wear old clothes; it is time for those attitudes, emotions, and practices we used to have to go.
What should we wear then because it's winter here and growing chilly outside? We must get dressed if we are going to school.
We get a clue about what we are supposed to put on in Colossians 3:12
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
These also are attitudes, emotions, and practices. So, the new self is the person who has a new bunch of attitudes, emotions and practices that Jesus has called us to put on in this school.
It's great that we know what to do, but how do we do it?
Perhaps we should strive to let go of our old attitudes and behaviours and develop new ones. But wait, this isn't a self-improvement course we've signed up for, where we'll work hard to transform ourselves. No, Paul informs us in Ephesians 4:23 what we should do.
.....and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds
But how do you become renewed in the spirit of your mind?
How do you have your mind renewed?
You fill your mind with the truths of God, the Word of God, the promises of God and the power of God so that all the deception and sinfulness of the world are pushed out.
You take the Word of God, and you appropriate it; you put it into action and make it a part of yourself, and you grow. It's like food….it is food! You take in the Word of God, eat it, and you grow, and so you need to eat more, and so you grow more…and on and on, and the more you eat, the more righteous, the more like Christ you become.
If the Bible says, "Do this," you do it; if it says "Don't do this" you don't do it; you believe what it says, accept it, and carry it out. And you grow…you grow in righteousness.
We find this truth of this in 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
I can hear you cry out now…… "But I read the Bible, and I try to follow the teaching of Christ, but I still sin."…you are not alone; we all make that same cry……and we make that cry because while we might be new creations, the flesh remains; we are in human flesh, and our flesh is sneaky because even though we have taken off those passions, emotions and practices…those old clothes, it will try and rummage through the dustbin, grab an old coat or dress and wave in front of you…."Put me on, put me on, you know I was your favourite, put me on."
Or even worse, there was one item, one practice, one desire you couldn't quite bring yourself to throw away, so you hung it in the back of the wardrobe….just in case…ladies you know what it's like when you try to have a clear out!....and then you get invited out by your non-Christian friends, and you don't want to be the odd one out, you don't want to look different so your flesh grabs the old dress or the shirt, the old desires, and urges you to put it on.
Remember the school uniform from the start? It's as though we've been enrolled into this class of Christ; we've put on the uniform, walked past the teacher checking the skirt length…and then turned our skirts over at the waistband to look like we used to do; we've sat at the back of the class, wistfully thinking about our old lifestyle, and only looking up when the lesson is something that tickles our ears. It's no wonder that Paul describes the Christian life using words such as race and running, boxing, wrestling, striving…and why, in 1 Corinthians 9:27, he says he has to discipline, some translations say he has to beat his body to keep it under control…by that he means he subdues his appetites, his desires.
However, there is good news as well; we have a promise from God, so it's not all struggle and strife to graduate from this Christ-centred school into which we have been called.
The promise is that if you are a Christian, if you are one who has repented, turned from your sin, and put your faith and trust in who Jesus is and believes that by His death and resurrection, Jesus paid for your sins, then you are a new creation, you have been born again by God, and you are brand new.
Even though you now have a likeness of Christ today, this likeness must continue to develop and expand in order for you to become more and more like Him. Eventually, though, you will unquestionably and indeed become like Him…..This is God's promise.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
God has made the incredible promise that you will become like Jesus Christ. This is the promised progress, the promised outcome; once you graduate from this school, you will be like Christ. Is there any other school guaranteeing you will graduate and pass with flying colours?
How is this going to come about? How is God going to do this? We said earlier, didn't we? We said we take the Word of God, and we appropriate it; we put it into action, make it a part of ourselves, and grow. It's like food. We take in the Word of God, eat it, and grow, and so we eat more, and we grow more…and on and on and the more we eat, the more righteous we become.
But it gets better because we're not left to struggle alone; we get help to do this; we get a personal tutor. The Holy Spirit is given to us, and because the Bible is the primary means of the Spirit's action and communication in our lives, the Holy Spirit shapes who we are now into the person God wants us to be by working through the Word. The Holy Spirit shapes us according to what the Bible teaches when we read it.
To put on the new clothing and discard the old, we require the assistance of the Holy Spirit. As He assists us in putting the Word into practice, the Spirit shapes us into the likeness of Christ. Because it's okay to have a list of do's and don'ts, I said earlier that we are to do what the Bible says do and not to do what the Bible says don't do, but we have to allow the Holy Spirit to help us.
We are unable to alter our behaviour, attitudes, emotions, and practices on our own because we are dependent on God for support. Instead, we must ask God's Spirit to work in our lives to enable us to carry out what Paul instructs us to do in Ephesians and Colossians: putting off the evil behaviours and putting on the righteous behaviours because we have responsibilities to be obedient to God.
And here is where we see a problem because if you haven't been transformed, if you haven't repented and turned from your sin and turned to and trusted Christ as saviour and Lord, then to do what Paul says we should do is impossible; it's simply impossible.
Perhaps there are some reading this who don't know what it is to be a new creation, to have a new nature, a new life, a new lifestyle. Perhaps you've never truly repented; you've never truly turned away from your old way of life and turned to a new way of life that follows Christ; you've never truly put your faith and trust in who Jesus is, that He is the Son of God, and that He paid for your sins through His death and resurrection.
If that’s you, then you can't be a new (wo)man, you can't change, all you can do is keep on with the old person that you don't really like but you’re unable to change yourself…you can't put on any new clothes because you don't have any to put on….but you can have today because maybe today is the day you will open your heart to Jesus. You can do that exactly where you are right now: open your heart to Jesus, trust Him, tell Him you want to turn away from sin and unbelief, that you want to trust and have faith in who He is and what He has done and then trust and embrace Him as your Lord and Saviour.
Tell Him you want to be a different person, a new woman, and if you mean it, if your heart is sincere, He'll make you into a new creation in a split second, and your new life can begin right now, right this instant.
But perhaps some of us as Christians, as new creations, are having some problems with the new (wo)man because the flesh keeps running and grabbing the old clothes and waving them in front of you. You keep putting them on and walking out into the world wearing these old clothes, and the world can't see any difference, they can't see the new (wo)man underneath…and you don't like that because we really want to show off our new clothes don’t we ladies, ….and just to let you know I'm in that group some days. So why don't we spend some time today and tell God that and ask for help? Pray that you will come to know the breadth, length, height and depth of God's love, this love that Paul describes in four dimensions, the dimensions he uses to demonstrate how unimaginable and vast God's love is, a love that goes where it is needed, a love beyond human knowledge, a love that guarantees that the good work that God has started in us He will bring to completion at the day of Christ. Amen
Absolutely brilliantly and I loved the analogy of school uniform-bought back memories! Thank you for a good reminder this Christmas-needed this!