Expository Preaching
J. Michael Shannon and Robert C. Shannon
(c)opyright J. Michael Shannon, 1982
THE NEW LIFE WE CAN ENJOY
Colossians 3:2-17
Introduction:  To use something new, the old must go.  If we want new life, the old must go.

Proposition:  The Christian life involves a putting off and a putting on.

 I. THE OLD WAYS THAT MUST BE ELIMINATED, vs. 5-9.

A.  Improper sexual desires
B.  Improper worship
C.  Improper temperament
D.  Improper communication
II. THE NEW WAYS THAT MUST BE CULTIVATED, vs. 12-14
A.  Mercy
B.  Kindness
C.  Meekness
D.  Patience
E.  Forgiveness
F.  And, above all, love
Conclusion:  Salvation is not just for canceling out the past; it is also for enhancing the present and the future.  We must put off and put on certain things.  Our whole life must be lived in the name of Christ.

    It is interesting that one of the sub-culture groups in our day has adopted the bunny as its symbol.  This is the completely sex-oriented group that took its cue from Hugh Heffner and his Playboy Clubs.  Now a rabbit can only do three things: eat, reproduce, and run away!  Have you ever played the parlor game that asks what animal you would like to be?  Some would like to be an owl, very wise. S ome would like to be a turtle, long lived.  Some would like to be a bird and soar and sing.  But who would want to be a rabbit?  A dumb, cowardly rabbit!
 

    There are places in the United States where it is considered a mild insult to call a man "boy."  It was once a goal of every person to be thought a man or a woman.  Against this context, we must read the titles of today's pornography magazines, PlayBOY and PlayGIRL.  They are well named.  Their readers are immature, childish, and pathetic!
 

    In Paris, Montemarte means mount of the martyrs. At its foot, the streets are lined with porno shops!
 

    It is a common expression among golfers, as one approaches the ball he has just hit onto the green, "How do you lie?"  Sometimes one questions the answer and changes the question to an exclamation, "How you do lie!"  In fact, there are some cynical souls who trust no one.  Many do lie; but there are also many who will always tell you the truth.
 

    Have you ever seen one of those startling sentences lettered on a truck or van, "Blind Man Driving!"  Then you realize that it is a man who sells venetian blinds!  Or, the equally atrocious pun you see in some dry cleaner ads: "We dye to live."  All of us must die to live; not d-y-e, but d-i-e.  Over and over again in his letters, Paul uses death as the best illustration of the radical change that comes into our lives when we accept Christ.  The changes are so great that only terms like death and resurrection can describe them.
 

    Stephen Judy was convicted of murdering a twenty-three-year-old mother and her three children.  Interviewed two days before his execution, he said, "I can't say I regret it, honestly.  I don't lose any sleep over it."
 

    Again and again, God demonstrates that He can bring good out of evil.  The Black Plague was a great evil; but had there been no Black Plague, there would have been no Passion Play at Oberammergau.  This village, threatened by the Plague more than three hundred years ago, prayed to be spared.  They vowed that if they were, they would put on a play to honor Christ and would do it every ten years till the end of time.  The vow has been kept, and thousands upon thousands have been inspired by the Passion Play.

The Errors We Avoid (2:8-31)
Table of Contents
The Prayers We Offer (4:1-4)
Scanned and Proofread by Michael J. Riggs