Colossians 3:1-4

- this morning we're going to move into chapter 3 of the book of
Colossians.
- I don't know about you, but the more I study this book, the more
convinced I am
- the American church in general
- and our church in particular
- and especially my own heart...

- needs the message of this book.

- I can't think of many things that would be more relevant and practical
for you and I to be studying (and challenging one another about) than
the message of this book.

- I want to especially thank those of you who have worked at being
faithful to SS -- and have done some study in this book on your own
during the week
- because surely this is important business.

- now, the book of Colossians is following a pattern that is very similar
to many of Paul's other letters
- in that the first half speaks of doctrinal truths, or positional
truths
- and the second half talks about the practical applications of those
truths to specific areas of life.

- this morning, we're looking at verses 1-4 of chapter 3, which serve as
the bridge between what we've studied so far, and what the Lord has
for us in the days ahead if He tarries His coming.

Introduction:

- you could title these verses--What Is Your Relationship To The World?

- it's very important for believers to understand how we are supposed to
relate to the world around us.

- we're not going to take time to fully develop that theme--but here's a
some passages to get our minds thinking in that direction:

1) John 17:18 - (our Lord said) - "As thou didst send me into the
world, I also have sent them into the world."

2) Matt. 28:19-20 - "Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations..."

3) Acts 1:8 - God has given believers the responsibility of spreading
the gospel even "to the remotest part of the earth."

- so there's no question that God does not want us to extract ourselves
from the world. (the world of people)

- if someone said, we're going to build a city out in the desert
somewhere -- and only believers are going to be allowed in --
that's the last place I'd want to live.

- John MacArthur, in his commentary on these verses, makes a good point
when he says, "Paradoxically, before Christians can reach the world,
they must first leave it."

- thats why the Scripture says things like:

1) (Christ) gave "Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out
of this present age."

2) Believers are of Christ's kingdom, which is not of this world (John
18:36.

3) We have overcome the world because of our faith in Christ (I John
5:4-5).

- now again, we could develop that topic a lot more, getting into
different ways the Scripture uses the word "world" and so on--but
we've made the point we need to make in order to move into chapter 3,
and that is that you and I must be regularly asking the question:
- what is my relationship with the world?
- and how does that stack up with what the Bible says about my
relationship with the world?

- with those thoughts in mind, let's read 3:1-4

- we said earlier that these verses are a transition between what we
studied last week and what we are going to study in the weeks ahead.
- that’s especially true in the first part of verse 1, where Paul says:

I. Believers Have A New Position

- "positional truths" are those things that happened to you and me as
soon as we trusted Christ.
- literally dozens and dozens of things immediately become true of a
person when they repent of their sin and accept the free gift of
salvation in Christ.

- Paul says that one of those things is that you are "risen with
Christ."
- when he begins that phrase with "if", he's not questioning whether
its happened.
- it's a first class condition and is best translated as "since."

- every person who is genuinely saved has "risen with Christ."

- positional truth comes up again in verse 3 when he says what?
(you are dead)

- now this sounds very familiar to what we've already studied.
- Where have these concepts already been mentioned?
- verses 11-15

- remember, we said last week, that when a person trusts Christ, they
are brought into "union with him."
- we are identified with his death, burial, and resurrection

- we die to sin and self
- we are raised to a new life in Christ

- I realize that those are high and lofty truths
- but if you and I are going to develop the right relationship to the
world, we've got to become more skilled at thinking on who we are
in Christ (or what our position is in Christ).

- let's take a small "vignette" for the purpose of seeing how positional
truth can change the way we handle life.

- Frank and Mary have been married 15 years.
- both have been saved in the last 5 years.
- marriage is good in a lot of ways but Mary does some things that
really bother Frank.
- one of them is--she doesn't always record the checks she's written
in the checkbook register.

- Frank's habit is to blow up when that happens, and stomp around, and
call names, and act as if the world is coming to an end.

- on this day, Frank is at Wal-Mart, and he writes check #953, and he
looks in the checkbook register and the last check recorded in the
register is check #949.

- what Frank does, and what Frank thinks, is going to reveal a lot
about his spiritual maturity.
- the issue of his position in Christ can be a great benefit to
him.
INPUT - how?

1) By recognizing that he's died to sin--therefore he isn't
a slave to sinful habits
- he doesn't have to respond to this in the same
old sinful way
2) he also need to recognize that he's died to self--
therefore he ought to be wondering--what is God's
purpose here?
3) he also needs to mull over the fact that he is now a new
man in Christ--and that perhaps God has given him this
situation as an opportunity to react differently than
he ever has before.

- good question to ask is -- are we benefiting from all the truth God
has revealed to us about our position in Christ?

- as you and I are doing that, the verses are "crystal clear" about what
ought to be happening.
- the rest of verse one says, "seek those things which are above, where
Christ sits at the right hand of God."

II. Therefore, Believers Should Have A New Direction

- Christians are always to be in the process of bringing their
practice in line with their position.
- there's always a gap between who were are positionally in heaven,
and what God wants us to be here on earth.
- we ought to constantly be seeking to close that gap.

- Paul is very clear in these verses about what that ought to look
like.

- he says, I need to talk to you about what you're "seeking"
- not like, seeking something that is lost
- but more like "seeking to obtain something."
- today, we would say it more like, what are you going after?, what are
you trying to achieve?, what is your direction?

- so this has everything to do with goals and motivation and drive.
- by the way, it's a present tense verb, you could rightly
translate it, "seek and keep on seeking"
- or, "go after, and keep on going after"

- now let's put a couple of other things along side of this from this
verse and then think about some applications:

- INPUT - what does the verse say should be the direction of what I'm
seeking, or trying to obtain.
- (the things that are above)

- obvious question is - "what are those things?"
- the answer comes in the rest of the verse:
"where Christ sits on the right hand of God."

- INPUT - what do you think of when you think of the phrase, "the
right hand of God?"
- the place of God's authority
- the place of God's plan and program
- what the heavenly Father is wanting to see accomplished

- we're talking about a "heavenly preoccupation"
- we're talking about developing the desire and the ability to go
after (to seek, to want to obtain) the same thing in a given
situation that our heavenly Father wants to see obtained in that
situation.

- a key question this morning is -- could your speech and your
behavior rightly be characterized as having a heavenly pre-
occupation?

- in everything God brings into our life, big and small, He has
a purpose
- From the perspective of the throne of heaven, He wants
something accomplished as a result of everything that
happens to you and me.

- you and I ought to ask, on an average day, how concerned am I
about that?
- Vance Havner once said, "The tragedy of the times is that we are so
obsessed with the temporal that we are ignorant of the eternal."

- picture it this way:
- think of the child who's mom gives him five dollars and asks him to
go to the store and buy mild, eggs, and bread.

- the mom has a definite goals in mind for what that child is to do.
- but she has trusted him to make her goals--his goals.

- but we all know what very well may happen (probably because some
of us did this at one time or another)
- the boy gets to the store with the five dollars--and doesn't
get past the candy rack.

- he's heading home, mouth bulging with candy, happy as a lark,
completely unconcerned or unaware of the trouble that's about
to face.

- that’s the kind of lifestyle that Paul is trying to argue you and me out
of.
- how many believers become so preoccupied with the things of this
earth that what God wants to see accomplished is swept aside.

- now, let's work together at thinking about different areas of life that
this truth might affect.
- how would you fill in this blank?

- Your _______ reveals what you're seeking after. Or, your ________
reveals your level of "heavenly preoccupation."

- now, this thought is developed further in verse 2: (READ)

III. Therefore, Believers Should Have A New Mindset

- verse one is especially talking about speech and behavior
- what we do with our outer bodies

- but of course, as in many other places in Scripture, we're taught
here that our behavior is determined by our thinking.

- the new direction (goals) of verse 1 are made possible by the new
mindset of verse 2

- set your affection, or set your set your mind
- by the way, that too is a present imperative
- Amplified version - "set your minds and keep them set"

- INPUT - what are our thoughts supposed to be set on?
(the things above--i.e. the same things we were talking about
under verse 1)

- see, do you have a heavenly mindset?
- if we could scroll through your thoughts (the way we scroll
through a document on our computer screens) would we see clear
evidence of heavenly mindedness?

- that's why the Scripture makes such an emphasis of the fact that we are
not citizens of this earth.

1) Heb. 11:13 - "we are strangers and exiles on the earth."

2) Heb. 13:14 - "here we do not have a lasting city, but we are
seeking the city which is to come."

3) Phil. 3:20 - "Our citizenship is in heaven, from also we eagerly
wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."

- see, you and I need to ask ourselves, are we heavenly minded?

- now, I realize, someone might say:
"well, it's possible to be so heavenly minded you're no earthly good."

- I think we would have two responses to that:

1) then that’s not genuine heavenly mindedness

- genuine heavenly mindedness always results in earthly good
- that’s the argument of the book
- Paul is about to move into specific, practical areas of the Christian
life where you and I often struggle

- but he knows that we're not going to be able to change in those
practical areas if we're pre-occupied with the world.

- so genuine heavenly mindedness always produces earthly good.

2) Most of us are not in any danger of being too heavenly minded.

- this statement might have some value in pointing out a possible
ditch, but most of us are no where near it!

- Paul concludes this section with some truths that we can organize
around the fact that:

IV. Believers have A New Life

A. Your life is hidden with Christ

- In what sense is this true?

1) when you're saved, you're no longer on your own.

I Cor. 6:17 - the one who joins Himself to the Lord is one
spirit with Him."

in Christ, we are "partakers of the divine nature" - II
Peter 1:4

- that ought to give us great hope because we're not
talking about having a "complete life reorientation" on
our own.

- Gal. 2:20

2) it is concealed from the world

- the more you and I live in a way that is consistent with
what these verses are teaching, the more those around who
don't know Christ are going to be mystified.
- a person who wants to life for God is not going to make
sense to a person who wants to live for this world.

B. Christ is our life

- we're not talking about some sort of spooky "let go and let
God" -- or "just let Jesus do it through you" kind of a thing
- but nor are we talking about "pulling ourselves up by our own
spiritual bootstraps."
- or accomplishing what these verses are saying in and of
ourselves

- the fact that Jesus Christ is risen encourages us for many
reasons--and one of them is that He stands ready to help, and
bless, and strengthen the man or woman who wants to live for
Him.

C. One day, these truths will be revealed

- it's true that we're talking about living for a God we cannot
see
- we're talking about setting our minds and behavior on something that we
must take by faith.

- but the day is coming when glory of God's Person, and plan, and program
will be revealed.

- on that day, you and I will surely be glad that we tried to set our
affection on things above, and not on the things of this earth.

Conclusion - this is hard.
- true
- that’s why Paul was praying that this church would have spiritual
understanding in chapter 1.

- that’s why Paul has been emphasizing the preeminence of Christ

- that’ why he exposed the three wrong approaches to growing in Christ
- legalism, mysticism, and asceticism
- everyone of them is a shallow, simplistic substitution for
Christian growth

- Christian growth requires the kind of process we've been studying.
- but the results are surely worth it.