Putting Off the Old Life| Part 2 | Colossians 3:5-11 | 8/9/26 AM

Paul calls God's people to remember that the old life was not just something out there somewhere. Paul says there was a time when the Colossians “walked” in those things, and that reminder keeps grace from turning into pride. God helped the believer grow, and that same God can help somebody else grow too. Paul will not let a changed life become a reason to look down on people still struggling in places grace has already brought somebody through.

Paul moves from the sins of desire to the damage those sins cause in relationships. The text says, “put off all these,” and anger comes first. Anger may sometimes be righteous, because God does get angry at sin, but most human anger is mixed with pride, self interest, resentment, or a desire to control what cannot be controlled. Wrath is anger that has simmered long enough to blow up, and Paul treats both the settled hostility and the explosive outburst as things that do not belong on the new man.

Paul then names malice, blasphemy, and filthy communication. Malice is that desire to harm another person, even when it hides behind a quick joke or a moment of frustration. God gives no exception for “that one person.” Filthy speech matters because God loves every human being, not a little bit, but enough for Christ to die on the cross. Degrading a person is not just disrespectful to that person. It is disrespectful to the God who made and loved that person.

Paul also says, “lie not one to another,” because lying belongs to the old man. The old life was shaped by deception, and Satan is the father of lies. A lie may come as exaggeration, a partial truth, a misleading impression, a broken promise, or pretending to be something that is not true. Truth builds trust, but lies can break it just like that.

Paul does not leave the Christian life as merely trying not to be bad. The text says the old man has been put off and the new man has been put on. Christ gives a new identity, renews the mind in knowledge, changes desires, and reshapes character and conduct. The focus is not simply, “do not get angry today.” The focus is, “be like Jesus today.”

Paul finishes by showing that Christ defines the new community. Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, bond and free all lose their power to rank people in Christ. Christ is all and in all. Heaven will not be divided into first class sections. One beautiful choir will sing, not “look at me,” but “thou art worthy.”

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Grace remembers the former walk Paul reminds the church that growth in grace should not make a person pious and full of self. The same God who helped one believer through old sins can help another believer through present struggles. Spiritual maturity forgets neither the mud it came from nor the mercy that lifted it. [19:14]
• 2. Anger often hides wounded pride Anger is not always sinful, but most human anger carries pride, resentment, self interest, or a hunger for control. Wrath is anger that has been left simmering until it blows up and damages somebody nearby. The believer is not helpless before anger, because the Spirit enables the old reactions to be put off. [22:53]
• 3. Words reveal the heart’s condition Filthy communication is not a small issue to God, because words can abuse, degrade, and corrupt people made in His image. The mouth often reveals the heart most clearly when life is not going the way somebody wants. Gospel change reaches speech, not only in happy moments, but in mad ones too. [31:25]
• 4. Small lies still destroy trust Lying does not only show up as a flat-out false story. Exaggeration, hidden truth, misleading impressions, broken promises, and pretending can all belong to the old man. Trust may take a long time to build, but deception can break it in a moment. [36:14]
• 5. Pursue Christ, not mere avoidance The new man is not formed by staring at the old sins all day and saying, “not that, not that.” Christ calls the believer to look toward Him, represent Him, and be shaped after His image. A heart consumed with avoiding evil can still be consumed with evil, but a heart pursuing Jesus gets much closer to holiness.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [13:54] - Singing Together Lifts the Heart
• [16:37] - Colossians 3:5-11 Reading
• [18:25] - Setting Affection on Things Above
• [19:14] - Remembering Where Grace Brought Growth
• [20:48] - Put Off Sinful Attitudes and Speech
• [21:17] - Anger and Wrath Damage Relationships
• [29:50] - Malice Has No Exceptions
• [30:36] - Blasphemy and Filthy Communication
• [35:25] - Lying Belongs to the Old Man
• [42:57] - Putting On the New Man
• [47:06] - Christ Defines the New Community
• [51:37] - Focus on Being Like Jesus
• [55:23] - Aiming Higher Than the Old Man

Bible Reading

Colossians 3:5-11
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you 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. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” [16:37]

Ephesians 4:26
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,” [22:18]

Matthew 12:34
“You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” [33:23]

John 8:44
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” [35:58]

Observation questions

1. In Colossians 3:8-9, what sins does Paul tell believers to “put off,” and which of those sins are especially tied to speech and relationships? [20:48]
2. According to Colossians 3:7, what reminder does Paul give about the believers’ former way of life, and why does that matter when thinking about other people who still struggle? [19:14]
3. What distinction is made between anger and wrath, and how are they described differently? [22:53]
4. What are some specific forms that lying can take besides telling an outright false story? [37:51]

Interpretation questions

1. Paul reminds believers that they “once walked” in these sins. How does that reminder guard a person from becoming proud, harsh, or impatient with others who have not yet grown in the same areas? [20:19]
2. Ephesians 4:26 shows that anger is not always sinful. So how can a group tell the difference between righteous anger over what offends God and selfish anger over wounded pride, resentment, or loss of control? [23:24]
3. Jesus says that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. What does that suggest about obscene, degrading, or cutting speech? Is the main problem only the words, or the heart that produces them? [33:09]
4. Paul says believers have put off the old self and put on the new self. How does that shift the Christian life from merely avoiding bad behavior to actively pursuing the image of Christ? [42:57]

Application questions

1. Grace remembers the former walk. Where is there a temptation to look down on somebody else because of a struggle the Lord has already helped with? How could remembering personal weakness produce more patience and prayer for that person? [19:30]
2. Anger often shows up when control slips away. What kinds of situations most often bring that out—waiting, being interrupted, family tension, unfair treatment, something else? What usually sits underneath that anger in the heart? [24:49]
3. Words reveal the heart most clearly when life is not going the way a person wants. What kinds of words tend to come out under pressure, frustration, or conflict? Are there patterns of sarcasm, cutting humor, raised tones, or degrading speech that need to be put off? [31:25]
4. Filthy communication degrades people made and loved by God. Is there anyone who has been spoken about in a way that forgets their worth before God? What would repentance look like in speech, tone, or even private conversation? [32:49]
5. Lying can show up as exaggeration, partial truth, misleading impressions, broken promises, or pretending. Which of those forms is most easy to excuse personally, and what damage might it already be doing to trust in relationships? [38:02]
6. The new self is not formed by staring at sin all day, but by looking to Christ. What would it look like this week to aim at being like Jesus in one difficult relationship or recurring struggle rather than only saying, “I must not do that again”? [54:19]
7. Christ is all and in all. Are there categories of people that are too easily ranked, dismissed, or kept at a distance? How can a group grow in seeing fellow believers first through their shared life in Christ rather than through background, class, personality, or culture? [47:06]