The Heart of the Matter
Renovate

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We’re beginning a new sermon series today entitled, “Renovate.” We’re not talking about the renovation of your house. There’s been a huge surge in home equity loans in the past couple of years. I guess people were home during the pandemic and they looked at their home so long they started thinking they needed to remodel. For the last two years, according to reports, there have been more home equity loans and home renovations than perhaps any other couple of years in the history of America. We’re not talking about a surge in home renovations, though; we’re talking about a surgeon and heart renovation. I’m praying that there would be a huge heart renovation in our hearts and in this church.

In the book of Proverbs, it says, Proverbs 4:23 (ESV) “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Dallas Willard, in his book, “Renovation of the Heart,” says, “We live from our hearts.” We tend to think that if we could renovate our house, if we could renovate our job or get a new job, if we could renovate our marriages by trading that spouse for a new model, if we could renovate something outward that we’d be happy, but that’s not the way life works. Life change doesn’t happen from the outside in, it happens from the inside out. We live from our hearts.

No matter where you go and no matter how you change your circumstances, there you are because you have to take your heart with you. If your heart doesn’t change, there’s no real change.

What does it mean to let God renovate and transform our hearts? What does it mean to have the heart of Christ, the character of Christ? The apostle Paul was concerned about the church and the believers at the city of Galicia. He was brokenhearted that, after they came to Christ, they weren’t living in Christ. He writes this, Galatians 4:19 (NIV) “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” You see, that’s that’s what Paul was praying; with his broken heart. He said, ‘I feel like I need to give birth to this church all over again because you’re not living as if Christ lives in you.’

From birth, our character, our inner self, our heart, if you will, is being formed from the time you’re born and they slap you on the behind. From that first cry. from suckling at your mother’s breast, from the name that your parents give you, from the hug and the words from your father, from your siblings, from your grandparents, from your neighbors and the children you play within the school you attend, this whole time, your character is being formed; your heart is being formed, but because we live in a fallen world, our hearts are malformed. Our character is not the character that God desires for us. You already have a spiritual malformation of the heart, but He wants to do something new in you. He wants to make us like Jesus.

Maybe you’re here today and you’re asking, What is God doing right now? My life is in chaos . It’s in an uproar. I can’t figure out why this happened or that happened. God, what are You doing? Do you ever pray like that? God, what are you doing?

I know what He’s doing. He told me and if you read the Word, He’ll tell you, too. He cares more for your character than He does your comfort. He’s making you like Jesus. If you’ve given your life to Jesus, that’s what He’s doing. He’s making you like Jesus–that’s God’s will for your life, that you would allow the heart of Christ to be your heart, so that Christ is fully formed in you.

Our church’s invitation, that I repeated earlier, is to “Come as you are and be forever changed by the love of Jesus.” Come as you are, but don’t stay as you are. That’s our invitation. How are we doing on that? How do you feel like we’re doing? I hope that people are coming to faith in Jesus, not just faith not just saying, ‘I believe,’ but they’re actually following and becoming like Him.

May I say to you that it has been thirty-one years this month for me; thirty-one years since we planted this church, with seven people in my living room, counting me and my wife, Robin. Through the years, I’ve seen people come to Jesus and experience amazing transformation in their lives, so that their lives, their marriages and everything about their life improves and it is so much better than they ever dreamed or hoped for.

I’ve also seen people come and they just want this much of Jesus. They open up the door to the “house” of their heart, if you will, and Jesus can come in this far, but those other rooms belong to them. I’ve seen those very people be part of our church and there is no transformation in their lives. I’m not questioning whether or not they believe, because I can’t see their heart.

The bible says that man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on their hearts. Only God knows our hearts. Their marriage might be in trouble, they’re struggling with addictions, their kids are rebelling against them–their lives look exactly like the lives of the people that live in the world, apart from Jesus. Why is that? Are we giving people a false promise, a false invitation to “Come as you are and be forever changed by the love of Jesus” and it’s not true? No, it is true. It is true, but people aren’t willing, for whatever reason, or they’ve misunderstood. They haven’t given every arena of their heart to Jesus. They haven’t fully surrendered to Jesus.

Over the next eight weeks, I pray, as Paul prayed, that I’m willing to give “childbirth” again to this church. I’m willing to give birth to this church again, so that Christ might be fully formed in you, so that your life begins to look like the life of Jesus, that your heart is broken for this and that you would be serious about following Jesus.

Can we go on this journey together? I need it; we all do. That’s the beginning point – admitting your feelings is the beginning of healing. I need Jesus, do you? Are you willing to say, ‘I want to go on this journey because I want to become more like Jesus in 2023. I want to leave 2022 behind. I want less than me and more of Jesus in me. Mahatma Gandhi, who had looked closely at Christianity, remarked that if only Christians would live according to their belief in the teachings of Jesus, “we all would become Christians.”

Do we look any different than the people outside our church? If not, why not? The American evangelical church has been good at getting people into heaven, but, how have we been doing at getting heaven into people? We want to get you to heaven. Absolutely. How do you do that – by faith in Jesus, but we want to get some heaven in you and in me, so that we become more like Jesus, so that we start living like “kingdom people.”

Do you want this ? Do you want this, because I can preach my head off up here and it’ll just bounce off your ears. Jesus said, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he instructed believers that, since they had been raised to new life in Christ, God wanted to renovate their hearts. They’ve got a new life, but now they need a new character, a new heart. He wants to give them a new heart. He wanted to write His law on their hearts, so it was no longer on stone tablets but actually written on their hearts.

I believe today that we can surrender our hearts to God’s renovation, so that Christ is fully formed in our hearts. Let’s look at the book of Colossians, chapter three. We’re going to be talking today about three ways that we can yield to what God wants to do in our hearts, to renovate our hearts, making us more like Jesus.

Colossians 3:1-17 (ESV) 1If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7In these you too oncewalked , when you were living in them. 8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. This is God’s word.

HOW TO YIELD OUR HEARTS TO GOD FOR RENOVATION: 1. Set your hearts and minds on your new life in Christ.

Notice the verb, “seek,” in verse one. He says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” In the Greek imperative, these are command words – “seek” and “set.” It reminds me that, twice a year, we reset our clocks in November, setting them to standard time. Then in March, we’ll do it again. We’ll “spring forward” and we’ll lose an hour of sleep. We all just agree on it. We say, ‘okay, we’re all just going to do it. Let’s all reset our clocks.’ For a few days, we feel a little bit out of sorts and then “boom;” we reset our clocks and we say things to each other like, ‘I feel like I lost an hour.’ You didn’t lose an hour; you just changed your clock. You changed your focus.

Here’s what Paul is saying to us, in verse one, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.” Have you been raised with Christ? Have you received Christ as your Lord and Savior, so that you’re born again? I pray that all of you have, but I can’t see your hearts. Only God knows. Set your clocks on heavenly time, set your minds and your hearts on eternal things so that you have an eternal perspective and not so caught up in the temporary things of this world because your new life , is hidden in Christ in God.

Verses two and three say, “2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Hidden” could mean “safe;” you can’t lose your eternal life. It’s hidden where nobody can steal it. That’s a good perspective.

Here’s another perspective– it’s spiritual, so it’s unseen. Your new life is already there; Christ is at the right hand of the Father in glory and and your life radiates from Him as the source. That new life you have is already there; that’s a positional truth. Positionally, you’re already there. Experientially, you’re here, but positionally, you’re already there, so live by your positional reality rather than your experiential reality. Make a decision to set your watch on heavenly time because you are heading there.That’s where you are headed. Go ahead and set your watch on heavenly time; go ahead and start living like you are already there. Your heart is already hidden in Christ. It’s already hidden in Christ, in God, and no one can take it. He’s got it, so start living like that. That’s where my life is. That’s where my life source is.

Verse four says, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” There’s coming a day when the positional reality and the experiential reality will come into full alignment, because when Christ appears, you will be with Him in glory, which is already your true position but it becomes true experientially. We’re to live from the perspective that we are already there. As we think about each other and as we gather together on a day like today, we come together immersing ourselves in that reality that the Holy Spirit is in this room and that we we are surrounded by immortal creatures. I’m talking about you and me; we have infinite value. When we come together in church like this, we immerse ourselves in the “koinonia,” the fellowship of the saints and not only that, but in the Godhead of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We’re all in this room together. If you don’t feel it, then lean in closer. If you feel like you can do without it, you need to check your heart. We need this regular gathering– we gather for encouragement and power and we scatter for proclamation and living out the body of Christ. That’s why we’re here. This is a place where we gather to remind ourselves that we are heaven bound, we have heaven in our hearts and our lives are already there.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:33 (ESV) “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” All of this stuff that you need, you know, clothes, housing ,food… You need those things and He knows you need those things; seek Jesus first.

Dallas Willard says that spiritual formation follows a certain pattern. He calls it “VIM;” it’s an acronym. You might have heard somebody say, ‘Well, that person is full of vim and vigor.’ It means that they’re lively. Dallas Willard means it as an acronym– the V stands for vision, the I stands for intent and the M stands for means. He says that if you want to see transformation, you need them.

First of all, “V” is for vision. You need a vision for your destination. That’s what Paul is talking about. Your destination is Jesus and God’s will for your life is to become like Jesus, so, get a vision for that. We tend to set our vision too low. Some of us tend to aim at what we don’t want to be; we call it “sin management.” ‘I don’t feel like I can stop sinning, so I’m going to try to manage my sin.’ The addict says to himself, ‘I want to stop drinking. I want to stop drugging.’ Their vision is not drinking or drugging; that vision is too low. That’s not even a vision; that’s a goal. It’s a good goal, but all you’re thinking about is not doing something that you’re attempting to do. You need a better vision. Paul says to aim it at Jesus because, if you get a heart like Jesus, He will manage to help you with what you drink, what you eat, what you think about and how you feel. Get a better vision; once you get a better vision, you say in your heart, “I see it.” Some of you might be thinking, ‘Is that even possible? I’ve been a Christian for a while. Is it even possible to become more like Jesus?’ Yes, it’s possible. It’s possible for you, so you get a vision for it. You say, ‘I see it.’

The “I” is for intent. You say, ‘I want it.’ I want you to think about this for a second–the Father is in heaven, listening for somebody that “wants it.” That’s the movement of the heart towards faith. You don’t have to move far, just barely “stick your toe in.” He’s just looking for somebody that wants more of Jesus.

The “M” stands for means. If we don’t get a vision for wanting to be more like Jesus and getting the desire to say, ‘I want it,’ then, there is no sense in us talking about reading through the bible together, attending church, going to small group and all of that stuff. ‘I just don’t get anything out of church. Pastor, look, I signed up for this “Jesus” thing. Church makes me feel better. Once in a while, I can work it into my schedule. As far as small group, I don’t really like people very much.’ People sometimes are hard to get along with. Church doesn’t change you. You can go stand in the garage and it won’t make you a car. You can go stand in a church and it won’t make you a Christian. It won’t change your heart. I can’t change your heart. I’m just like you; I must have Jesus, but I can cooperate with Him. He uses certain means to help us work out what He’s working in us because grace is free. It’s opposed to earning. You can’t earn grace; grace is opposed to earning, but it’s not opposed to effort. It takes some effort. It takes some effort to get up and get those kids in the car this morning. Some of you had a horrible fight on the way to church today. It took some effort to get here; you almost turned around. Some of you had your last argument in the parking lot and then you got out of your car and pasted that smile on, that Christian smile. Do you want to be more like Jesus? It begins with saying, ‘I want it.’ Let’s keep going. The first way to yield our hearts is to set our hearts and minds on this new vision –I want to be like Jesus, I desire it and I intend to.

HOW TO YIELD OUR HEARTS TO GOD FOR RENOVATION:

2. Put off the old self, counting it dead in Christ. I want you to notice in verse five, it says, ‘Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:” In verse eight, it says, “But now you must put them all away:” In verse nine, he says, “… put off the old self…” You can see a couple of metaphors at work here. Paul is using verse 5 as the metaphor of death or the metaphor of the cross– to “put to death,” or, as some versions say , “mortify the members of the flesh,” to kill the old self. Don’t play with it. Christianity is not a self improvement course. It’s an invitation to “come and die” and then be born again to new life.

Another metaphor used here is in verse eight and nine – “put away or put off,” which is a kind of “clothing” metaphor. Put off your grave clothes from your old dead life so that you can make room to put on some new clothes. Put to death; stop playing with.

Paul then goes from preaching to “meddling.” In verse 5, he says, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality…” Sexual immorality is the mark of our age. The Greek word here is “porneia,” where we get the word “porn.” There’s so many men and even women in our church (I’m not talking about the people out there. I’m talking about those in our church) who are addicted to porn. Because it gets all of your heart, Paul says to “kill it.” All of these are kind of aspects of the body, because the heart is the seat of the will and the heart chooses to go to the left or to the right; there are pressures on the heart. One is our thought life, another is our feelings, another is our our bodily desires and outward pressure from peer groups. We’ll be talking about this stuff over the next few weeks. All of these seem to have a lot to do with the body–sexual immorality, impurity and passion, which is not the positive version of that word, but the negative–it could be translated an overpowering lust, evil desire and covetousness. Paul calls this idolatry; it is wanting, what somebody else has. Paul says to kill it; don’t play with it. Shoot it; stop playing with it. Kill it. Somebody might have to say, ‘You know what? I need to get off of Netflix and get on Pureflix or something like that because if I even see something, it triggers me to go to my porn addiction. I need to kill it. I need to stop lying to myself. If I really want to be like Jesus, I need to stop lying to myself instead of loving some fake image that’s not even real.’ This addiction has grasped and gotten its claws around the hearts of so many Christian men and pastors.

Verse 6 says, “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” Verse 7, “In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.” Now, verse eight says this, “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.” He’s more talking about the mind, the attitude of the mind. Put away anger.

There’s someone here right now and that’s the constant state of your mind. You stay angry; you stay offended. Then, you move to the darker form which is wrath; you start expressing it in physical ways, in verbal ways. The scripture says to put away malice, which is hatred. Malice is wanting to see something bad happen to somebody else, wanting to see something bad happen to those people that aren’t like me or that offend me. Slander is lying about people or telling things about people that aren’t true and shouldn’t be aired out. I’m slandering their name. Stop the obscene talk from your mouth. Yeah, but pastor, I work construction. That’s how all the people talk. You don’t know the “f” bombs they drop. If I don’t talk like the other people, I’ll be considered odd.

Because you’ve got your heart set on heavenly time, you’re odd. You’re a stranger in this world. “Your passport is stamped for heaven.” You’re not of this world, your life is hidden in Christ, in God. You’re not supposed to talk like that anymore. Stop pretending; keep one foot in the world and one foot like headed toward heaven. You must choose. I’m not talking about whether or not you’re a believer. I’m not challenging that. I can’t see your heart, but you’re not living like you’re a believer. Clean up your mouth. Do not lie to one another and stop lying to yourself.

Have you put off the old self, with its practices, and have put on the new self? You can’t put on the new self until you put off the old self. That’s like putting on clean clothes over dirty underwear. I’ll say anything to get your attention; this will be the only thing you remember about the sermon. God bless you. I’m sorry. Put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its Creator.

How did God make Adam and Eve? In Genesis 1:27, it says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female created them.” He made them and then sin caused the image to be warped and then, He sent Jesus.

In Colossians 1:15 it says that He is the image of the invisible God. He is the “Imago Dei.” He is what we were always meant to be. When we follow Him, He is forming us. He is renovating us, He’s making us what he always meant for humanity to be– these immortal creatures, made in the image of God . That’s what he’s doing right here. Put that on, it’s better; it’s “more better.” Put off those bodily desires. Put off this state of mind, this anger, this wrath and then put off these outward identities.

Verse 11 says, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” There is neither black nor white, red or yellow, republican or democrat, conservative or liberal, yankee or southerner. Christ is all in all. When you walked in this place and took a seat, you were seated with immortal creatures that are following Jesus. Their one and only identity is inward, not outward, having a heart that beats for Jesus. That’s who they are and that’s all they care about. All other things are secondary.

We live in an age of division and we carry it into the church. Our young people are being confused by it. Put that off; put it off . Make room for this new heart, putting it off requires some effort, but grace is opposed to earning not effort. Put off your old self.

Ephesians 4:22 (ESV) “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.” Romans 6:11 (ESV) “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

In John, chapter 11, one of Jesus’ friends named Lazarus died. He was in the tomb for four days when his sister, Martha, came to Jesus and said, “Jesus, If you would have been here, my brother would not have died.” He said to her, “Do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life?” She says, “I believe it, Lord. I believe that at the last days the resurrection will come and people will be raised.” He says to her, ‘No, I’m talking about now.’ She’s looking at him as if to say, What are you talking about? Jesus goes towards the tomb and the younger sister, Mary, comes to Him. She’s not the pragmatist that her sister, Martha, is. She’s weeping and Jesus, because He’s tenderhearted, weeps. He’s not weeping because Lazarus is dead. Jesus is the resurrection and life. He’s not afraid of death. Death has to run from life. He’s not weeping about that. The shortest verse in the bible is, “Jesus wept.” He was tenderhearted; He sees Mary and He weeps.Then, He asks Martha where Lazarus was laid. him? They take Him to the tomb there and He says, “remove the stone.” Martha says a very graphic thing; remember, she’s practical. The KJV version says it like this, “Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead for four days.” She is talking about how the body decomposes, but Jesus is not afraid of that either. Even if your marriage is dead and stinking it doesn’t matter to Him. Jesus says , “Lazarus come forth.” Lazarus obeys the command to come forth. Jesus raises the dead because He is life. Lazarus comes forth, but he still has a problem; he was wrapped up in grave clothes, stinky old grave clothes. Jesus turns to the crowd around Him and says, “Take off his grave clothes and let him go.”

We need the church. We need some help getting those stinky clothes off. Sometimes, we don’t even know that we have them hanging on us. We come out of the restroom with something stuck to our heel; we walk through the mall, thinking “we’re all that and a bag of chips” and then we realize we have toilet tissue stuck to the heel of our shoe. You’re laughing because this has happened to you. We need each other to get the stinky clothes off.

Larry Crabb says, “When we ignore what’s happening on the inside, we lose all power to change whawe do on the outside. We rearrange rather than change, and in so doing, we never become the transformed person God calls us to be.” We need heart change.

HOW TO YIELD OUR HEARTS TO GOD FOR RENOVATION:

3. Put on the new self, which is being renewed in Christ.

We have a new perspective– put on the new self, which is being renewed in Christ. Verse 10 hints at this: “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Then in verse 12, he begins to tell us what that looks like: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,” What does it look like to put on the new self? We see in verse 12 that he says to “ “put on then.” If you have put off the old self and if you have put on the new self, we’ll put some of these articles of clothing on because they’re part of the ensemble.

What are some of the features? “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones…” That’s who you are now; you are in Christ, in God. You’re God’s chosen people, holy and beloved, put on compassionate hearts. Get some compassion and kindness; put on some kindness, put on some humility. Get some meekness and patience; put on a little patience, put on compassionate hearts. Learn to bear with one another; literally, learn to put up with one another. That’s some great marriage counseling right there. Learn to put up with it because you’re a mess too. We’re all sinners saved by grace, so learn to bear with one another. Stop being so easily offended all the time. In fact, become unoffendable because your identity is so hidden in Christ, in God, that nobody can touch your life. It’s hidden in Christ, in God. That’s who we are; that’s our identity. No one can touch our identity; no one can tell us who we are or where we are headed. Weknow who we are; we know where we are headed, not because we are somebody but because He’s somebody and that somebody lives in us.

Verse 13, “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Before you even meet, already decide to forgive. “As the Lord has forgiven you;” draw on that. Verse 14, “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” After you put all that on, put on love. It just makes the whole ensemble look good together. Put on love because it binds it all together in perfect harmony. It’s the outward garment. If you want to know the chief thing of all, it’s love. Put love on and then let the peace of Christ dwell richly in you. It’s in the imperative. Well, it sounds like it because it is going to require effort not earning. You can’t earn it.

Here’s the thing–He’s made all of these clothes already. Jesus has made them all. They’re all hanging in His heavenly closet. Here’s some patience–look at that; it’s brand new for 2023. Just reach into your heavenly closet, because you’re already there, and pull out some patience. That requires some effort not earning because you didn’t buy it. Your heavenly Father bought it through the purchase of the redemption of Jesus by grace. “You are saved through faith not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God, not as a result of works so that no man should boast.” The next verse says, “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” Let’s put on some patience. Let’s put on compassionate hearts. Let’s put on some forgiveness. It requires some effort; we have to reach in there and get it. We can’t earn it but we can reach in there and get it.

God, I have a bad habit of yelling at my children. They just get to me sometimes. They push all of my buttons and I just lose my temper. I’ve just been excusing it saying, ‘well, that’s how I was raised and that’s just me.’ That’s the old self; don’t play with it. Shoot it, kill it, get it off or put it away if it’s part of those grave clothes. Put on patience. I am the “new me.” People don’t get to me anymore. My kids don’t get to me like they used to. When I feel that happening, when I feel the old self trying to get my heart again, I get a hold of Jesus and I reach back in my heavenly closet. The new me doesn’t yell at my kids now .

Verse 15, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” The word, “rule,” could be translated from the Greek word, “umpire,” so if you feel something stealing your peace or you’re starting to feel anxiety or you’re starting to feel worry, you can kill it. You can throw it outside the house and put on prayer because the bible says, “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, make your request be known to God.” Turn your worries into prayer. Worry is not a bad habit. Jesus says, “Do not worry.” Worry is the opposite of faith. Yeah, but I come from a long line of worrywarts. My grandmother was a worry wart. My mother was a worrywart and I, too, have followed suit. I am a worry wart. What you’re saying is that your grandmother was a sinner, your mother was a sinner and you are a sinner too. That’s what you’re saying, so don’t play with it . Kill it, throw it outside; “umpire” it. This “umpire” is the peace of Christ. It is like an umpire. That’s a ball, Don’t swing at that one. That’s a ball; it will cause you to lose your peace. Verse 15 says to be thankful; this is not a suggestion. Yeah, but I don’t feel thankful. Okay, check your heart. Why don’t you feel thankful? You’re supposed to be thankful. If you have the heart of Jesus, you’re thankful.

Verse 16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” How do you get God’s word in you? There’s only two ways: Through your “eye gate” and your “ear gate.” That’s the only way to get the word of Christ in you so that it lives in you richly. You need to read it and you need to hear it. If you read it aloud, you get it through both “gates” simultaneously. You get a “twofer” out of it if you read it aloud. You need to memorize large doses of God’s Word before it will live in you richly, dwell in you richly. That way, you can teach and admonish one another because that’s the way we’re supposed to live. We’re supposed to sharpen each other and help each other. We’re to get that piece of toilet paper off their heel when they’re coming out of the restroom. We are supposed to help each other grow more like Jesus and the way you do it is with the word of God. Not with your words and your opinions, but with His.

When we get together , we’re supposed to sing psalms,hymns and spiritual songs. That’s three types of songs. We do our best to try to cover all types of songs. Some of you come late because you don’t like the singing part. This is not a suggestion. You get the word of Christ dwelling in you richly as you sing it. Yeah, but I don’t have a good voice. I don’t see that here. I don’t see, ‘except if you don’t have a good voice.’ I want to hear some bad singing next Sunday. I want somebody next to me that may be singing off key, but with tears flowing down their face because they love Jesus and they don’t care who hears their voice. They don’t care who sees their hand go up. They don’t care who as long as He sees. Sing and do it with thankfulness in your heart.

Paul says that whatever you do, do everything, like, you could sign Jesus’ name to it . If you are a teacher, teach those kids like you could sign that Jesus did it. If you work at a construction company, whatever that is you are building or whatever that is you are digging, it looks like something Jesus did. He could sign His name to your work. If you’re a CEO of a company, lead that company like Jesus is leading it. Whatever you do, let your heart beat for Jesus, so that everything you do is an expression of praise, glory and worship.

Don’t just worship on Sunday. Worship seven days a week with all that you say and you do. Romans 13:14 (ESV) “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NKJV) “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who work s in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” His grace is already at work in you. Your part is to work it out.

That’s what we’re going to be talking about for the next few weeks in our daily journal. Let’s work out what God’s working in us and know what the goal is– for our lives to start looking like the life of Christ in this world.

Will you make a commitment over the next eight weeks, as we begin to talk about our thought life, our feelings, our body, our will, our social relationships and our identity? We’re going to be talking about all of these things. Will you make a commitment to really lean in on these eight messages and do the 40-day journey of the daily journal. I highly recommend you commit to being in a small group, a community group, where you can “unpack” it with other people and really talk about what you’re learning. I’m asking you to do that. I hope you’ll do that .

Let’s close in prayer. Lord Jesus, thank You for Your word. Lord, would You break, remold and renovate our hearts so that we become more like You? If you want this, my friend, right where you are, tell the Lord that you want it. You want to be like Jesus. If you’re here today and you’ve never given your life to Him, the first part is to want it and then, in wanting it, you say, ‘I believe it and I repent of my sin. I don’t want the life I used to have. I want a new life in Jesus. I believe He died for me and that He was raised from the grave and that He lives today. I believe He died for my sins, so I could live as a follower and as a child of God.’ If you believe that you can express it in your heart right now. Just say, ‘I believe it and I receive it. I want Him as my Lord and Savior.’ Others are here and you’ve done that. You’ve received and you believe in Jesus, but you recognize you haven’t been following Him. You’ve been holding back parts of your life. Would you do something about that right now and say, ‘Lord forgive me. I give You (fill in the blank.) I give You my anger. I give You my addiction. I kill it. I leave it behind. I give You my obscene language. Take it away and don’t just take it away, but replace it with that new aspect of Your heart–patience, love, joy, peace and kindness. Lord make me more like You.’ We pray it all now in Jesus’ name. Amen