The old man is more than the old nature; it is the person you used to be before you knew Christ as Savior and Lord. The old man is all you have ever known. You are so familiar with this person. And people who know you are familiar with this person. Even though the words he (the old man) is whispering into our ears are mostly negative, unconstructive, unhelpful, off-putting, pessimistic, downbeat, harmful, depressing, disapproving, we still seem to believe all that is said versus what God is saying especially in tough times.
In tough time, the old man’s voice is the one that is always telling us to just stop and give up. The old man is saying “Don’t listen to that stuff, because you know you will only be disappointed once again”. The old man is really in a state of damnation therefore, what else is he to say. He is the one who is always in our ear seemingly telling us what is not possible, what can not happen, the reasons it can’t happen and the reason it is not possible. As I’ve said, the old man has been with you so long, the old man provides a false sense of comfort and familiarity.
We learned last week that God has no plans for the old man once he accepts Jesus Christ. That’s why we are told to put on Jesus Christ. God understands the new man is “new” to us. He knows it will take a little time for the new man to override the old man. He knows that sometimes the old man will win out especially if you are not feeding the new man. How do you feed the new man? By reading the word of God and by being in Bible class and Church services, and by being around other like minded Christians in fellowship will all help the new man to reach his/her full potential.
In Colossians 3:9-10 NIV it tells us, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off you old self with it’s practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator. Well, how do we put on our new self? It means to put your words into action. Your conduct must match your faith. Verses 5-8 talks about what the life of the folks were like at Colossi. Paul was not overly critical, but he was very frank with them. He showed compassion because he knows that the new self, the new man is being renewed. It is a process. But, it is one we should seek. We should want to reflect our creator. We should want to have the image of our creator.
Clearly, when you remove something, you should replace it with something else or you will leave a gapping hole for something else. Therefore Paul admonished them to clothe themselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. What does he mean by clothe. I love Paul’s writing, first, he tells us to put on Jesus Christ now he tells us to clothe ourselves with those virtues. To clothe means to cover, wrap up, to envelop, to bind, to enclose, to surround, to encircle, to join together, to connect, to combine, to unite, to tie, to fasten, to bring together, to come together, to merge, to become one.. He told them to bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances they may have against one another. He told them to forgive as the Lord forgave them. Then, he said, “And over all these virtues (qualities, character, and moral fiber) put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14 NIV). Once again Paul chose words that talk about clothing oneself. Can you imagine putting on your best outfit or the one you feel is attractive on you, but you leave out the one piece that will hold it altogether such as a belt or the perfect scarf. Without the belt, when you stand, you loose the rest. That’s what he is saying to us—without love, the thing that binds all the others, the others just fall out of place and become ineffective.
The new man has to be transformed (changed) from the pattern of this world as we are told to do in Romans 12;2. Romans 13:14 says rather (he refers back to the things he talked about in versus 11-13) clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
In Ephesians, Paul talks about how the church at Ephesus had been taught to put off the old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful (dishonest, cunning, untrustworthy, lying, devious, false-hearted) desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” Ephesians 4:25-32. Paul tells us we should be imitators of God in Ephs. 5:1. There is no reason for the old man to be so in charge of our lives. He has no authority or real power to do so. We are told in Romans 6:6 that our old self was crucified with Christ. Can you imagine that? Such powerful, awesome words. How many of us were born when Christ was crucified. Yet, we see that our old self was crucified. That is referring to the work that Christ did for all of us on the cross. It truly was as though we were on that cross along side of Jesus. The verse goes on to say, our old self was crucified, with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with.
What is the body of sin? It is our rebellious sin-loving nature inherited from Adam. In Romans 5:18 NIV, it says “consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men (referring to Adam) so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one Man (Jesus), the many will be made righteous.
Once again, there is no reason for the old man to be so in charge of our lives. He has no authority or real power to do so. Everyday, as we put on our clothes, we must make a conscience effort to put on Jesus Christ. Our virtues, our character our image must really reflect our creator. It can be done, because God has made every provision possible for the new man to live and live life abundantly.
