Slides: Killing Ugly Urges

Killing Ugly Urges

Colossians 3:5-11

 

C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

There was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.

Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.

[Eustace hid in a cave to escape a rainstorm and found himself in a dragon's lair filled with treasure.] “They don’t have any tax here,” he said. “And you don’t have to give any treasure to the government… I wonder how much I can carry? That bracelet now… I’ll slip that on my own wrist. Too big, but not if I push it right up here above my elbow.”

[Eustace fell asleep, and when he woke up, he realized a dragon was nearby. Terrified, he ran to escape.] He rushed to the pool. His idea was to get into the water… as he bent towards the water, he thought for a second that another dragon was staring up at him out of the pool. But in an instant he realized the truth. That dragon face in the pool was his own reflection… He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep. Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself.

His first feeling was one of relief. There was nothing to be afraid of any more. He was a terror himself now… He could get even with Caspian and Edmund now… But the moment he thought this he realised he didn’t want to.

Life as a monster
He wanted to be friends. He wanted to get back among humans and talk and laugh and share things. He realized that he was a monster cut off from the whole human race… He began to wonder if he himself had always been such a nice person as he had always supposed.

Eustace tells how he became a boy again:

I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me… it told me to follow it. I knew I’d have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it.

A dragon undressing himself?
The lion told me I must undress first… So I started scratching myself and my scales began to come off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper, and then instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully… In a minute or two I stepped out of it. But just as I was going to put my foot into the water, I looked down and saw that it was all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as it had been before.

“Let me undress you.”
I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? Then the lion said, You will have to let me undress you. I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt.

Undragoned
The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off—just as I thought I’d done it myself the other three times, only they hadn’t hurt—and there it was, lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been.

New clothes
I’d turned into a boy again… After that the lion took me out and dressed me in new clothes—the same ones I’ve got on now, as a matter of fact.

Began to be a different boy
It would be nice, and fairly nearly true, to say that “from that time forth Eustace was a different boy.” To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun.

 

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: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, 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. (Colossians 3:5-11)

What is “therefore” there for?

… the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (1:27)

…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God (2:12)

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (3:3-4)

Killing Ugly Urges

• Facing ugly urges: Be aware of various types of sin, and be alert to your particular problems.
• Fighting ugly urges: Learn from God’s Word the best ways to battle your sins, and take action.

Facing ugly urges

• Desire: wanting what’s not rightly ours “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry”

• Destruction: wanting to wipe out others “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene [abusive] talk from your mouth”

• Deception: lying and misleading others “Do not lie to one another”

• Discrimination: pride and prejudice “not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free”

Desire: wanting what’s not ours

• Sexual immorality: (porneia) intercourse outside marriage

• Impurity: contamination of character resulting from illicit sex

• Passion: uncontrolled, addictive urges

• Evil desire: savoring the taste of temptation and wanting more

• Covetousness: wanting what God has given to someone else, not to you. Not satisfied with God and His gifts.

Destruction: wanting to wipe others out

• Anger: continuous smoldering of volcano

• Wrath: eruptions of rage, spilling lava

• Malice: desire to hurt someone

• Slander: (literally blasphemy) verbal attacks on others, who bear God’s image

• Obscene/abusive talk: filthy dirtying or abusive degrading; often both at the same time. For instance, the f-word is foul but also an assault. It’s verbal rape. 

 

Facing ugly urges

• Desire: wanting what’s not rightly ours “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry”

• Destruction: wanting to wipe out others “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene [abusive] talk from your mouth”

• Deception: lying and misleading other “Do not lie to one another”

• Discrimination: pride and prejudice “not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free”

Fighting ugly urges

•Shoot to kill: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”

• Fear God’s wrath: “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”

• Put your past behind you: “In these you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away.”

• Be who you are: “seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.”

• Make Christ your all: “Christ is all and in all.”

Kill what is rotten

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30)

 

Terminate temptations

The point is this: eliminate from your life, as much as is possible, anything that will cause you to stumble. If it’s a place, don’t go there. If it’s an image, turn away. If it’s a song, don’t listen. If it’s a book, don’t read it. If it’s a liquid, don’t drink it. If it’s a person, part company. (Sam Storms)

Fear God’s wrath

“Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.” (John Owen)

God’s wrath comes now and in eternity.

Ugly urges are a preview of hell. Hell involves:

  • a burning desire that cannot be satisfied

  • a flaming anger at God whose holiness is the only source of happiness

  • an unending lie without facing truth

  • eternal separation from Christ while wallowing in pride and prejudice.

Fighting ugly urges

• Shoot to kill: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”

• Fear God’s wrath: “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”

• Put your past behind you: “In these you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away.”

• Be who you are: “seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.”

 

Be who you are: the new self

“seeing that you have put off the old self [anthropos] with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.”

Christ is the image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15)

We are being remade to resemble Christ: Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:49)

Make Christ your all

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27-28)

What is “therefore” there for?

… the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (1:27)

…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God (2:12)

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (3:3-4)

Killing Ugly Urges

• Facing ugly urges: Be aware of various types of sin, and be alert to your particular problems.
• Fighting ugly urges: Learn from God’s Word the best ways to battle your sins, and take action.

Facing ugly urges

• Desire: wanting what’s not rightly ours “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry”

• Destruction: wanting to wipe out others “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene [abusive] talk from your mouth”

• Deception: lying and misleading others “Do not lie to one another”

• Discrimination: pride and prejudice “not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free”

Fighting ugly urges

•Shoot to kill: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”

• Fear God’s wrath: “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”

• Put your past behind you: “In these you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away.”

• Be who you are: “seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.”

• Make Christ your all: “Christ is all and in all.”

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: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, 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. (Colossians 3:5-11)