Starting Over Part 4:

A Change of Clothes

Colossians 3:5-11, Luke 5:36-39

January 29, 2006

A couple of weeks ago, Karen and I were in NYC to see a play.  We walked around a bit from Penn Station along Madison Avenue, and into the Fashion District. 

You could see all of the designers’ stores, the various, trendy fashion in the windows.  It seemed that nearly everyone walking down the street had new clothes, the latest fashion.

Talk about sticker shock!  Seeing some of the price tags of the clothes in the windows, I figured that if I tried, I would go broke trying to keep up with the latest fashions, let alone the cost of a personal trainer and liposuction so I could fit into them!

But we all need to update our clothing from time to time, whether because our ties are too wide or for some of us our midsections have gotten too wide.

Clothes are very important to us, and it’s very evident when we look at the economy. If we understand how many billions of dollars are spent each year on making, selling, and buying clothes, we realize that the clothes we wear reveal the image that we try to present to the people around us.

You’ve probably heard it said that “The clothes make the man.” 

There’s a book written about 30 years ago entitled “Dress For Success”. It sold very well at the time it was written and it is still selling today. We all want to dress in a way that’s appropriate for the environment in which we find ourselves so that we can project and reap the rewards of a positive image.

What are some special kinds of clothing?

Baptismal outfit; Wedding dress; burial suit. “Birthday suit”.

If I were applying for a big job in the corporate world, had the educational credentials, but went for the interview dressed in cutoffs and my Nike sneakers, with a t-shirt that said “Make Love, Not War”, somehow I don’t think I’m going to get that job!

On the other hand, if I went to apply for a job that involved hard manual labor (whatever that is) and went to the interview in a 3-piece suit and tie, wearing $200 shoes….well, I don’t think I’d get that job either! Why? Well, because I don’t look like a guy who’s going to want to sweat!!!

Here we’ve been talking about earthly clothing—which may or may not be important—but the spiritual clothing we wear can mean everything for eternity.
Our spiritual clothing is found by putting on Jesus Christ.

In our lesson today, the Apostle Paul is talking to the Christians at Colossae about a different “dressing for success”. Paul isn’t talking about the earthly clothes we wear—but he is talking about putting on the proper spiritual clothing.

Paul was telling them, and is telling us today that, in the spiritual sense, we need a change of clothes; we need to get rid of the old stuff and start over with a fresh wardrobe.

You see, the book of Colossians tells us that we need to put off certain things, like they were worn clothing. We need to put off certain habits, practices and tendencies which all come under the caption of sin, which separates us from God.

The problem is that we’re comfortable in them and we don’t like change.
Isn’t that true? How we love our old comfy slippers and those well-worn clothes we like to relax in – the familiar! These are the clothes our parents or spouses would like to put in the charity bag, but that we love to hang onto!
And besides, change?  Change is unfamiliar, a challenge, and implies a degree of risk.  Who wants to change?

Perhaps instead of change, we’ll just add a couple of new things to our comfy style that we already have.  Just put that new silk blouse on with our old tattered sweats; a nice jacket and tie with our favorite NY Jets jersey.  Mix ‘n (almost) match.

Even when it comes to our faith, we don’t want to change, to put on a new set of clothes.  We’d rather mix the new stuff with our old stuff.
Many of us have a “patchwork” religion of our own making, instead of trusting Christ alone. We just try to add Him to whatever is already in our lives—to fit him in where we can and when it’s convenient—but this will not work.

And in Luke, Jesus us tells that he has not come to patch up the old but to give the new.

Are you trying to find fulfillment in life by hanging onto something old when God is trying to offer you something new, a change or new beginning in your life?

You see, here’s the problem: We are all sinners separated from God.

The only way back to God is through putting off our old selves, our old clothes, and putting on a new life in Christ.  That is, to believe in Christ and to follow him.

This is the new beginning, the change of clothes that everyone so desperately needs. It can truly fill the emptiness in our lives.  Often people mistakenly think their emptiness needs filling with other things – maybe that new house, new job, or new relationship. We’ve talked about that.

But only Jesus can offer you a new life by having a personal relationship with Him. He will fill that empty hole by giving you a new life, a new heart, a new spirit. He can be trusted to keep His promises- He will never leave you nor forsake you. It won’t necessarily be the easy option, because we don’t like change, but turning to Jesus is the only thing that really matters for this life and the next. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to have the new beginning you really need.

Sure you’ve messed up, sure you may not think that you’re worthy—welcome to the club!

But if you read your Bible, you see that Jesus met unbelievers where they were, and he still does that today. You don’t need to be perfect to come to Jesus!
It is important for us to remember that the church is not a hotel for saints but a hospital for sinners who need Jesus.

And the only ones who can be saved are those who realize that they are lost.
Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Jesus offers us something totally new; something fresh and exciting- a chance to start fresh, to start over.

I remember watching bits and pieces of the Robert Blake trial.  I recall when the verdict was proclaimed not guilty.  The announcer’s next statement gave me the thought for what we find in Christ.  He said, “in just a few minutes, Robert Blake will walk out of this courtroom into a brand new life.”

That’s us!  We don’t deserve God’s love.  We don’t deserve God’s mercy.  As humans, we have a life which is troubled and selfish at best.  But when we accept God’s love in Jesus Christ, we put off the old life and put on a new one, a new one for all eternity.

Listen, I bet that very few of us here ever even think about eternal life.  We’re busy trying to get through this life.  And we do all we can to make this life last.

When I was growing up, there was an early morning exercise show with Jack Lalane—year after year, everyone I knew got older, but he seemingly never aged. As a young boy, I was almost convinced, that if you ate the food that Jack Lalane ate, did all the exercises he did, could swim in ice cold water, you would never grow old. I even bought a Jack Lalane juicer at one point.  But a couple of years ago, a Jack Lalane commercial came on for his juicer, and he has finally aged. He’s only human, as are we.

So today, I’m here to tell you that if you want a brand new life—you won’t find it in a juicer, you won’t find it in an exercise program, you won’t even get it

swimming in an ice cold river or in your old t-shirt and sweats—but if you accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that He’s alive forevermore, you can have a brand new life.

This is how we dress for success. How we “put off” the old and “put on” the new!

Have you heard that old saying, “all dressed up and nowhere to go”? Well, I can assure you—as Paul assures the Christians in Colossae —that when we “dress for success” as Paul described, we will definitely have somewhere to go!

And, the place we will be ready to go to will be heaven!

It doesn’t take long to make a change in your life that has eternal consequences:

Video: a matter of seconds

(during video, change into my pastor’s robe)

It only takes a matter of seconds to change our clothes.  To change from the clothes of this world to the new clothing—the new life—offered by Christ.

A chance to start over.

Look in the spiritual mirror of your mind.  What are you wearing? Is it time for a new wardrobe?

Is it time to start over?

Invitation.