Colossians 3:8-9 (NKJV) But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.
The Apostle Paul depicts the old man as wild, sharp tongued, blasphemous, having anger issues, deceitful, unscrupulous, untruthful, foul mouthed, living a licentious lifestyle, full of prejudice, walking in darkness and void of genuine love, an immoral and unethical person, and a slave to sin. Man is generally proud and self-centred and sin is self-centred and living a life apart from God. The old man is one who thinks and believes that they are a self-made man, the master of their own destiny. They identify themselves as the mini god in this world until they are humbled by the hard knocks in life.
As Christians, however, the old man is considered dead the moment we accept Christ into our lives. Regardless of whether we have been baptised or not—as baptism is an outward expression of our inward conviction—we have this inward conviction that our old man is symbolically dead and buried with Christ when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. That’s when our new man begins.
Galatians 2:20 (NKJV) I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Our old man could have developed our identity based on our sense of self-worth, and our self-worth could have subtly become a god in our own sights—we are proud of it. Sadly, many of us won’t realise this until everything that we hold so dearly crumbles. Achievements are not wrong if they have been given by the Lord, but they are the wrong foundation for our identity because they are temporal. It is what the Bible calls “sinking sand” which will not hold us up when the storm in life hits us.
Therefore, let us renew our minds to have our identity in Christ as it is the right foundation.
Sermon Series: A New Identity after His Resurrection
旧人在哪里？
歌罗西书3:8-9 但现在你们要弃绝这一切的怨恨、恼怒、恶毒（或译：阴毒）、毁谤，并口中污秽的言语。不要彼此说谎，因你们已经脱去旧人和旧人的行为，
使徒保罗将旧人描述为野蛮、言辞尖刻、亵渎神、易怒、诡诈、不择手段、不诚实、口出恶言、生活放荡、充满偏见、行走在黑暗中、没有真诚的去爱、不道德和不道义的人，也是罪的奴仆。人往往是骄傲和以自我为中心的，而罪是以自我为中心并过着与神隔绝的生活。旧人认为并相信他们是靠自己奋斗成功的人，是自己命运的主人。他们将自己视为这个世界中的迷你上帝，直到他们被生活中的艰难重重打击而谦卑起来。
然而，作为基督徒，当我们接受基督进入我们的生命时，我们的旧人就已经死了，不论我们受洗与否。因为洗礼只是我们内在信心的外在表达—当我们接受耶稣做为我们的主和救主时我们有这样的内在确信，我们的旧人象征性地与基督同死和埋葬。从那时起，我们开始成为新造的人。
加拉太书2:20我已经与基督同钉十字架，现在活着的不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着；并且我如今在肉身活着，是因信神的儿子而活，他是爱我，为我舍己。
我们的旧人可能会根据我们对自我价值的感觉来发展我们的身份，并且我们的自我价值可能已经悄然成为我们自己眼中的神—我们为此感到自豪。不幸的是，很多时候我们直到我们所珍爱的这一切崩塌了才意识到这一点。如果成就是主所赐的，那它们并不是错的，但它们是错误的身份根基，因为它们是暂时的。这就是圣经所说的“沙土”，当生活中的风暴来袭时并无法支撑我们。
因此，让我们更新我们的心怀意念，将我们的身份建立在基督里，因为这是正确的根基。
讲章系列：祂复活后给你的新身份
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