lust – JARRETT FLETCHER

Have you ever spent a long day working outside in the heat? During the warmer months, I spend at least one day a week working in the yard. After such a day, my clothes are usually a dirty smelly mess, and I have to shower before doing anything else. My clothes are so filthy that I almost feel bad even putting them in the dirty clothes basket alongside other dirty clothes (that aren’t nearly as dirty).

Now imagine what it would feel like to put those clothes back on after getting out of a nice long shower. It would be just…wrong. Why? Because after getting clean, you should put on clean clothes. You should adorn yourself with what is now true of your nature. You’re no longer a dirty sweaty mess, so you shouldn’t wear dirty sweaty clothes. You’re clean. So you should wear clean clothes. Simple enough, right?

This is essentially Paul’s argument in Colossians 3:5-17. Since we have died to our old selves and old ways, we should put off our old clothes. Since we have been cleansed and raised with Christ, we should put on new clothes of righteousness. But how do we do that? What clothes should we remove, and which should we put on? What does that look like in real life? This passage has the answers.

Grave Clothes

First, we must take off our grave clothes, “for we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God” (3:3). However, Paul uses much stronger language than just “putting off” our old clothes. He says that we are to, “put to death” certain characteristics of our life before Christ (3:5). We are to kill our old habits and ways- sexual immorality, impurity, passion (lust), evil desire, and covetousness (3:5). All of these lead to idolatry because we cannot pursue them and also submit to the Lordship of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, if you are still in sexual sin, you must put it to death. It is a suffocating garment of death that rots the soul and destroys relationships. Do everything you can to put a bullet in the head of sexual temptation and sin!

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Last week we looked at the subject of anger in Matthew 5:21-26. The main idea was that true righteousness is not characterized by outward behavior but a pure heart. Therefore, simply avoiding murder isn’t a defining mark of righteousness, but cleansing our hearts from underlying anger and putting on love, forgiveness, and compassion is. This is the kind of righteousness that Jesus is calling us to. It is the righteousness that the Spirit will create in the members of God’s kingdom.

In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes what true righteousness looks like in the context of personal relationships. To do that, he quotes the law and shows where the religious leaders only obey the tradition at the surface level. But he also reveals how the principle should be obeyed at the heart level, where almost all of us stand guilty. This is exactly what he did with murder, revealing that the heart behind murder is anger. Thus, anyone who is angry is, in some sense, guilty of murder. This revelation is painful, but we must remember that the righteousness described in the SM is not a prerequisite for salvation. We are saved by Jesus, who has paid the penalty for our unrighteousness and has given us his righteousness. He has also cleansed our hearts and given us his Spirit, by whom he will flesh out the righteousness that the SM speaks of in our lives.

In Matthew 5:27-32, Jesus continues his discourse on relationships by addressing the relationship of marriage. What does true righteousness look like in the relationship between husband and wife? Jesus points to two aspects of the law to answer that question: adultery and divorce.

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JARRETT FLETCHER

Tag: lust

Throw Away the Grave Clothes and Put On the Grace Clothes (Colossians 3:5-17)

A Thirst for Righteousness: The Antidote to Lust, Adultery, & Divorce (Matthew 5:27-32)