Chipping Away the Excess

I. Sculpting our lives requires moving what does not belong

1. Michelangelo approached sculpture by looking at the marble block and removing what did not belong.
2. He has created some of the most beautiful, detailed, lifelike sculptures

II. He through his tools at his sculpture of Moses and cried out, “Why don’t you speak to me?” –It was that lifelike

1. Through His word, God removes much from our lives to reveal what we were created to be
2. We accumulate many habits and characteristics from the world which we must remove if we would be like Christ

III. Just as chipping away at marble takes great physical and mental effort, so eliminating ungodly characteristics requires great sacrifice, diligence, and perhaps a life long struggle.

IV. The end result should be wonderful to behold, yet the glory will belong to God.

1. Put off sinful thoughts and actions
2. Ephesians 4:17-22
3. Began with a darkened mind that would not receive the light of God in His word
4. Blind in their hearts – willfully ignorant of God’s will

V. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

1. Worthless thoughts led to a useless life
2. Given to lewdness, uncleanness, and greediness: filthiness and selfishness

VI. The unworked marble has no real use until the hand of the master works it

VII. Without God’s touch, our lives will have nothing of real value

1. Colossians 3:4-8
2. Chipping away the excess means that we will eliminate specific characteristics

VIII. Put away the characteristics of the disobedient person, v.5

IX. The Colossians were not to stop with these, but also put off more evil attributes, v.8-9

1. We must thoroughly clean away the excess
2. The statue would not look appealing if there were still great parts of rock (unfinished works)

X. If we leave any sin, it can grow and flourish

1. Like leaven…a little can leaven the whole lump.

XI. Plant a sprig of crabgrass or some other weed and you can see how quickly it will spread throughout the yard.

XII. Matthew 12:43-45 – The demons seeking an empty place

XIII. We should never give the devil a foothold in our lives

1. It is a difficult lifelong task
2. 1 John 1:8-10 – We must continue to deal with sin as Christians

XIV. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 – Paul continued to diligently discipline himself

XV. 2 Timothy 2:15 – Be diligent to prepare yourself for judgment

XVI. Michelangelo’s finest works required a lot of time

XVII. We are trying to create the greatest work in our lives so the work will require lifelong effort.

1. The devil is trying to distract us from our work; he wants the work to be abandoned

XVIII. He tries to convince us that the work is too tough and we do not have the ability to create such a masterpiece.

XIX. He tries to convince us to spend time with foolish activities and to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin instead of dedicating ourselves to the hard work of forming a life in the image of Jesus.

XX. He constantly tells us that we will never be successful in our work

XXI. God teaches us otherwise

1. 2 Corinthians 4:10 – Jesus’ life manifested in our lives

XXII. The reason why we can have confidence is that although we are making changes according to God’s word, He is the master sculptor and works with us in making the changes, Ephesians 2:10.

XXIII. 2 Corinthians 5:17 – We are a new creation as Christians

1. The final product
2. The work will not be finished when we die, but God will complete us when we die
3. 1 Corinthians 15:42-50 – The resurrection will perfect us

XXIV. 1 John 3:2-3 – This is our hope

XXV. God will then take us to be in His home forever where we will live in harmony with God being everything that we were created to be.