Dancing with Jesus Into a New Life

Paul begins with the great change that comes through saying yes to Jesus. Believers have been raised with Christ, and that means they are not who they were before. Christ sees the wallflower, the invisible one, the one who wonders if anybody cares, and calls that person out onto the floor. His love gives new worth, new purpose, and freedom from the old condemning voices that kept defining life.

Paul calls hearts and minds to look up, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. The heart and mind name that deep place where identity is held and where a person has often let the world decide who they are. Christ redirects that focus. His invitation is not to stare down at every step, trying to get all the rules right, but to look at the dance partner and learn to move with him.

The image of dancing brings out the difference between relationship and legalism. Legalism keeps its eyes on the checklist: do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. Christ calls believers into a living relationship, one where his movements shape their movements and his presence gives courage even when the steps feel awkward. Their lives are hidden with Christ in God, enveloped by him, and designed to become a reflection of him.

Paul then names the old dance steps that no longer belong. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying belong to the life once lived, not to the new life Christ has given. These sins are not abandoned to earn God's love. They are put away because God's love, grace, and gifts have already been received.

The old self-centered ways tear others down and ignore the new steps of Christ. The Spirit supplies the partnership needed to unlearn those patterns, especially when anger, desires, words, and habits reveal what still lives in the heart. Grace does not make the old steps acceptable. Grace makes it possible to leave them behind and return to the One who still wants his people to dance.

Christ breaks down the old categories that divide people. Christ is all and is in all, and his love gives equal value to every background and every person. His sacrifice changes the past, transforms the present, and invites believers to take even small steps onto the dance floor with him.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Christ gives a new identity [33:31] Christ does not merely improve a person's old self-image. His mercy and grace set people free from the world's false verdicts about their worth. His love establishes a value that suffering, rejection, failure, and shame cannot finally take away. [33:31]
• 2. Look up at the partner [37:33] Paul calls hearts and minds to focus on Christ rather than obsessing over religious performance. Legalism watches the feet and fears every misstep, but relationship looks to the face of Jesus. Christ teaches faithful living through nearness, attention, and trust. [37:33]
• 3. Old sins are old dance steps [42:02] Paul names sinful patterns as things that no longer fit those who are alive with Christ. These patterns are not harmless leftovers from a former life, because they distort God's design and damage relationships. Christ's grace gives both the reason and the power to lay them down. [42:02]
• 4. Grace changes what love requires [42:44] God's love is not a reward for successfully completing a spiritual checklist. Grace comes first, and changed choices grow out of a grateful relationship with God. Love for Christ begins asking what blesses him rather than what can be gotten away with. [42:44]
• 5. Christ is all and in all [47:24] Christ tears down the labels that people use to rank, exclude, or dismiss one another. His presence gives every believer a shared dignity that is deeper than ethnicity, social standing, background, or reputation. His new life forms a people defined by his love rather than their old categories.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [23:45] - Learning to Dance
• [25:20] - A New Dance With Jesus
• [26:20] - Colossians 3:1-11
• [28:25] - Jesus Invites the Wallflower
• [32:59] - Knowing How Loved You Are
• [34:30] - Set Hearts and Minds Above
• [35:55] - Learning to Look at Jesus
• [38:28] - Hidden With Christ in God
• [40:02] - Leaving the Old Dance Behind
• [42:24] - Grace, Relationship, and New Steps
• [45:16] - What Will Be Given Up?
• [47:24] - Christ Is All and In All
• [48:30] - Prayer for New Steps

Bible Reading

Colossians 3:1-11
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” [26:24]

Colossians 2:20-23
“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” [37:58]

Colossians 3:12-17
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 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. 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.”

Observation questions

1. In Colossians 3:1-4, what does Paul say has already happened to believers, and where does he direct their hearts and minds?
2. What two groups of old patterns does Paul name in Colossians 3:5-9, and how do the sins in each group affect a person’s relationship with others? [44:20]
3. What images does Paul use for the change from the old self to the new self in Colossians 3:9-10?
4. According to Colossians 3:11, what social, cultural, and personal categories are no longer the basis for ranking people in Christ? [47:31]

Interpretation questions

1. What does it mean for a believer’s life to be “hidden with Christ in God”? How does that truth give security to someone whose identity has been shaped by shame, rejection, or failure? [39:10]
2. Colossians 2:20-23 warns against rule-based religion, while Colossians 3:5-9 gives strong commands to put away sin. How can someone tell the difference between legalism and a grace-shaped desire to obey Christ? [42:30]
3. Why does Paul connect greed with idolatry? What might greed reveal about the desires, fears, or loyalties in a person’s heart?
4. Paul says that Christ is all and is in all. How should this reshape the way Christians treat people whose background, reputation, culture, or social standing is different from their own? [47:47]

Application questions

1. What false verdict about your worth are you most tempted to believe—perhaps that you are unseen, unwanted, a failure, or not enough? How does being loved and redeemed by Christ speak into that particular lie? [33:31]
2. What most often captures your heart and mind during an ordinary week: Christ’s presence, people’s opinions, anxious circumstances, success, or something else? What could help you “look up” to Jesus more intentionally? [35:11]
3. Is there an area where following Jesus has felt more like nervously checking spiritual steps than trusting a relationship with him? What might it look like to pay attention to Christ rather than merely trying to avoid mistakes? [37:33]
4. Which “old dance step” named in Colossians 3 is most likely to show up in your life right now—anger, hurtful speech, dishonesty, greed, sexual temptation, or another pattern? What situation usually brings it out? [44:42]
5. Because grace is already given, believers can honestly bring their sin to Jesus rather than hiding it. What is one specific pattern you need Christ and the Spirit to help you unlearn this week? [45:16]
6. Is there someone you have quietly dismissed, judged, or treated as less valuable because of their background, views, status, or past? What would it look like to recognize Christ’s dignity in that person? [48:30]