Put Off The Old

Colossians 3, ESV
⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸ But now you must put them all away:

1. Put off sexual .

Matthew 19:3-6: ³ And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” ⁴ He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

• What does the say?

• What is the pattern?

Creation Pattern

Genesis 1:27-28: ²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.
²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:24-25: ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

What About the Rest of the Bible?

• Exodus 20:14 – Don’t commit adultery
• Leviticus 18 – Forbids incest, adultery, homosexuality, etc.
• 2 Samuel 11-12 – Adultery portrayed as negative
• Proverbs 5-7 – Warnings about sexual sin
• Amos 2:7-8 – Forbids incest and ritual prostitution
• Jesus – ⁵ [Jesus] said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? (Matthew 19:5)
• Romans 1:26-27: For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: ⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality…¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
• Ephesians 5:22-32: ²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord…²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…
• 1 Timothy 1:10: ¹⁰ the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine…

According to the creation pattern and biblical teaching, sexual intimacy is a good gift from God meant to be enjoyed in the context of a marriage between a husband and wife.

Resource for Parents: God’s Design for Sex, Stan and Brenna Jones

…anger, wrath, malice,

2. Put off sinful .

Anger: an appropriate response to

• Sometimes it is best to lovingly the person.
  “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” (Matthew 18:15)

• Sometimes it is best to the offense.
  “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

• Sometimes you can take actions to address the injustice.

Anger: an inappropriate response to a injustice

When I am angry, I should:

• Practice .
  “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back” (Proverbs 29:11)
  “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” (James 1:19)

• .
  

• Identify why I am angry.

• Determine the response.

…slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, 

3. Put off sinful .

²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29)

…seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. ¹¹ Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

• Become in who you already are in .