Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

3 Were you raised from death with Christ? Then look for the things which are in heaven. There Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

² Think about the things that are in heaven, not about things that are on earth.

³ Your old life died with Christ and your new life is kept with Christ in God.

⁴ Christ is our life. When he comes again and is seen, then you will also be seen with him. And you will be great.

⁵ So then, put to death those things of this world which are in you. I mean these things: wrong sex, things that are not clean, a heart that is burning to do wrong things, wanting what is wrong, and wanting to have what other people have. This last one is like worshipping an idol.

⁶ They are things that make God angry.

⁷ You used to do these things when you lived that way.

⁸ But now you must stop all these: being angry, hating people, wrong feelings toward others, saying wrong things about people, and dirty talking.

⁹ Do not tell lies to one another. You have stopped being the person you used to be who did wrong things.

¹⁰ And now you have become a new person. That new person is always learning more and more until he becomes like God who made him.

¹¹ In this new person, there is no difference between a Greek and a Jew. There is no difference between a man who is circumcised with the mark of the Jew and a man who is not circumcised. There is no difference between a person from a friendly country or someone from a country which is not friendly. There is no difference between a slave and a person who is free. Christ is everything and is in all of them.

¹³ One of the people in the crowd said, `Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the things my father left when he died.'

¹⁴ Jesus said, `Man, who made me a judge over you or gave me power to divide your things?'

¹⁵ Then he said to the people, `Take care. Do not be greedy in any way to get more and more things. Even if a man has much more than he needs, it cannot give him life.'

¹⁶ Then he told them a story. He said, `A rich man had a farm. The things that grew on it were many.

¹⁷ He said to himself, "What will I do? I have no place to keep all the food I have grown."

¹⁸ So he said, "This is what I will do. I will break down my storehouses and build bigger ones. I will keep in them all the food and everything I have.

¹⁹ Then I will say to myself, `Man, you have much in your storehouses for many years. Rest now. Eat, drink, and have a good time.' "

²⁰ But God said to him, "You are a fool! Tonight you will die. Then who will have all the things you have kept for yourself?"

²¹ So anyone who keeps things for himself is not rich in the way God wants him to be rich.'