Raised with Christ: Putting Off Sin, Putting On Love

Paul begins not with a list of failures but with the settled reality that believers have been raised with Christ. Christ holds their life hidden in God, safe and secure, and Christ himself is their life. The gospel therefore makes honest self examination possible, because sin neither needs to be hidden in pride nor allowed to crush people in hopelessness. Christian growth begins with, “Since you have been raised with Christ,” and then calls people to live in the light of who they now are.

Paul turns hearts and minds toward things above, where Christ reigns, not to make Christians useless in the world, but to reorient life around Jesus, his character, his priorities, and his coming kingdom. The question beneath outward behaviour is, “What do I love? What do I desire?” Good things can glitter and then twist. Food, comfort, recognition, possessions, control, and even busyness can become disordered loves that ask created things to give security, comfort, or worth that they cannot finally give.

The seven capital vices name these deeper patterns beneath particular sins. Sloth, for instance, is not merely laziness on the couch; sloth is refusing the demands of love, and it can look very busy. Sin damages people because distorted desires spill into relationships. Greed makes generosity feel threatening, anger wounds, slander tears down, lying makes genuine relationship impossible, and sexual sin turns a neighbour into an object of gratification.

Paul therefore says to put to death what belongs to the earthly nature. Grace is not God politely overlooking the things that are wrecking people. Grace forgives, and grace patiently frees people from the old self as the new self is renewed in the image of its Creator. God refuses the lie that long standing sinful patterns are simply “who I am,” because Christ has given his people a truer identity: chosen, holy, and dearly loved.

Paul also refuses to make sanctification merely a matter of putting things off. The new clothes of Christ’s people are compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. Christlikeness means more than becoming slightly better behaved versions of ourselves. Christ is building not a decent little cottage but a palace in which he intends to live.

Love makes this work deeply relational. Compassion needs another person’s pain; patience needs someone who tests patience; forgiveness needs someone who has wronged another. Paul expects churches to contain difficult people, grievances, and differences, because forgiven people learn to forgive people. Christian commitment finally brings every word, action, desire, possession, and relationship under the gracious lordship of Jesus.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Identity comes before honest repentance Paul grounds change in union with Christ, not in fear of rejection. Christ makes believers safe enough to name sin without excusing it and secure enough to face it without despair. The old patterns may be real and serious, but they are not the truest identity of those whose lives are hidden with Christ in God. [30:50]
• 2. Vices twist good desires The seven capital vices glitter because they often begin with something good. Desire for comfort, recognition, food, security, or control becomes destructive when it takes God’s place and begins directing life. Disordered love does not merely break rules; it slowly deforms a person’s capacity to love God and neighbour. [34:44]
• 3. Sin never remains private Paul’s list shows how inward desires overflow into fellowship, families, friendships, and workplaces. Anger wounds, greed withholds, slander destroys reputations, and lies make real relationship impossible. Sin always reaches beyond the individual because people made for love are harmed when love is turned inward. [37:34]
• 4. Grace patiently makes people new Grace does more than forgive the past; grace begins the longer, patient work of freedom and renewal. God confronts what is wrecking people because God is committed to making them new. The new self grows as old patterns are put off and Christ’s life is put on. [40:34]
• 5. Love is sanctification’s true direction Paul places love over compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness because love binds these virtues together. Christlikeness is formed among real people whose weaknesses, wounds, and differences create occasions for bearing with one another. Forgiven people forgive, loved people love, and grace received becomes grace extended. [45:37]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [13:15] - Colossians 3 Reading
• [24:41] - Glittering Vices and Christian Growth
• [27:11] - Sloth as Refusing Love’s Demands
• [28:55] - Remember Who You Are
• [32:47] - Set Hearts on Things Above
• [36:17] - Put Sin to Death
• [38:35] - Naming the Deeper Patterns
• [41:57] - Put on the Life of Jesus
• [45:20] - Sanctification Is a Shared Work
• [47:50] - Commitment Begins With Offering Ourselves
• [49:15] - Every Part of Life Under Jesus

Bible Reading

Colossians 3:1-17
“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. 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.” [21:45]

Observation questions

1. What statements does Paul make in Colossians 3:1–4 about believers’ past, present, and future relationship with Christ? [30:11]
2. What kinds of actions and attitudes does Paul tell Christians to put to death or get rid of in verses 5–9, and what patterns can be seen in that list?
3. What qualities are believers told to “clothe” themselves with in verses 12–14, and which of these qualities especially involve other people? [42:36]
4. How does Paul connect “whatever you do” in verse 17 with gratitude and the name of the Lord Jesus? [49:21]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does Paul begin with believers being raised with Christ and having their lives hidden with him before addressing the sins they must put off? How does this order protect believers from both pride and hopelessness? [31:14]
2. What does it mean to set hearts and minds on things above while still living faithfully in ordinary relationships, work, family life, and responsibilities? [33:41]
3. Paul calls greed idolatry and groups anger, slander, and lying among sins to be put away. What do these commands reveal about the way inward desires affect other people? [37:34]
4. Paul describes believers as having put off the old self while also being renewed. How can both of these be true when long-standing sinful patterns still remain difficult to change? [41:11]

Application questions

1. When sin is exposed in life, is the usual response more likely to be hiding, excusing, comparing, or despairing? How might the truth that life is hidden with Christ create freedom for honest confession? [32:17]
2. What good desire is most likely to become too important at this stage of life—comfort, recognition, control, security, possessions, food, or something else? What effect does that desire have on relationships? [34:02]
3. Sloth can be a refusal of love’s demands, even when a person is very busy. Are there responsibilities, relationships, or needs that busyness may be helping someone avoid? [27:14]
4. Is there a recurring reaction—such as anger when challenged, a need to control outcomes, withholding generosity, or replaying an offence—that may point to a deeper desire? What might be desired so strongly that it is shaping that reaction? [40:01]
5. Which “new clothes” from verses 12–14 are most needed in one current relationship: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, or love? What could putting on that quality look like in one specific conversation or action this week? [43:10]
6. Is there a grievance that needs to be brought honestly before God and considered in light of the forgiveness already received in Christ? What would it mean to take a first wise step toward forgiveness without pretending that the wrong was insignificant? [47:15]