11/13/2022 - Fix It!

(Opening Prayer)

Heavenly Father, be glorified this morning as we open your Word.

Open our ears to hear it. Open our minds to understand it. Open our hearts to believe it. Open our mouths to confess it.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You today.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.

(Welcome)

Welcome to Central. If this is your first time, I want to say, “Welcome Home!”

As an expository church, we prioritize preaching and teaching that focuses on a Christ-centered, holistic, and sequential approach to Scripture.

We enjoy preaching through books of the Bible and tackling each passage with a high view of Jesus Christ and an intent to be led into worship and transformation by what we find therein.

(Wreck It Ralph/Fix It Felix Jr.)

If you have ever seen the movie Wreck It Ralph, you may remember the character Fix It Felix. Fix It Felix was the main character in a retro arcade game that had one job—to fix whatever Ralph broke. The object of his fixing was this hotel building full of people. They would all cry, “Fix it Felix, fix it!”

Life can feel like we are Fix It Felix as we run around in our own lives and in the lives of others trying to “fix it!” We can never truly “fix it” but we keep trying anyway.

On the other hand there are those of us who may feel more like Wreck It Ralph. Everything our hands touch is destroyed. No matter how hard we try NOT to wreck it, we wreck it!

What are we to do? Maybe the “fixing” we are called to is different than we would expect.

(Series Introduction)

Today as we continue our Colossians series. We come to Colossians 3:1-4 and a sermon I have entitled, “Fix It!”

(Opening Context)

Paul is writing to a church he has never visited. He doesn’t know these people.

Paul wrote Colossians between 60-62 AD during his first imprisonment in Rome (Acts 28).

Paul also wrote Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon during this time.

Pastor Epaphras planted the Colossian church and came to Paul because they had problems that needed to be addressed.

Paul writes this letter in the midst of their many heresies with one solution in mind - Correct Christology.

A low view of Christ was the problem, Paul gave us a high view of Christ.

We have learned that the root of the dysfunction in Colossae, Hieropolis, and Laodicea was because of an incorrect view of Jesus Christ.

Paul reminds the people that Jesus is everything and understanding Who He is, is vital to living the Christian life in the way that He intends us to live.

Listen to what Paul says to the Colossian church.

Colossians 3:1–4 (ESV)

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

1. True Belief In Christ Challenges our Passion

Colossians 3:1 (ESV)

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Since believers have not only died with Christ but have also been raised with Christ (Rom. 6:8–10; Col. 2:12–13), they should set their hearts on things above.

That is, believers’ lives should be dominated by the pattern of heaven, bringing heavenly direction to their earthly duties.

“Set” (Gk. zēteite) means “to seek or strive for earnestly” (Rev. 9:6; 1 Cor. 7:27).

“Seek” — Paul’s remarks here echo Jesus’ instruction to seek first the kingdom of heaven (Matt 6:33).

Fixing their attention decisively toward “things above” involves centering their lives on the ascended (Eph. 4:10), glorified (John 17:5; Phil. 2:9) Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God (Ps. 110:1; Luke 22:69; Acts 2:33; 5:31; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22).

This is Christ’s seat of divine authority because He has defeated the forces of evil and death (Heb. 2:14–15).

Paul now draws together theology and pastoral counsel.

He constantly interweaves theology and practice, Christian faith and Christian life.

All theology has practical implications, and all practice has theological foundations.

He introduces this new section with oun (“then”), drawing an inference from what has come before.

In Colossians 3:1-4 Paul draws on theological foundations laid earlier in the letter and highlights the implications of these truths for the Colossian Christians.

Paul reminds the Colossians that they “have been raised with Christ.”

This same term, synēgerthēte (“you were raised with”), has already been used in Colossians 2:12 (Eph. 2:6), so Paul is drawing the Colossians’ attention back to the narrative of God’s actions in Christ, recounted in chapter 2.

Here he shows further implications of the believers’ union with Christ.

In fact, their participation in Christ impacts their identity so significantly that their attention is to be focused entirely on Christ.

Paul commands them to seek (zēteite, plural imperative) “the things that are above.”

The use of the neuter plural article does not define the nature of these “things” precisely, but the context makes it clear that the primary focus of attention is to be Christ, who is “seated at the right hand of God.”

“Seated at the right hand of God” A position of favor, honor, and authority (Psa 110:1; Eph 1:20).

In the OT, God’s right hand symbolizes strength and salvation (Exod 15:6; Psa 20:6).

That is, he is in the place of honor and authority. Paul’s words recall Psalm 110:1, with the implication that Christ is the one to whom this psalm points.

This is consistent with the importance of this psalm elsewhere in the NT, notably in Hebrews.

Psalm 110:1–3 (ESV)

1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

2 The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!

3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.

Christ challenges our desires so that we would desire Him above all else.

(True Belief in Christ Sets Christ as our One Desire.)

2. True Belief in Christ Changes our Perspective

Colossians 3:2 (ESV)

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Also Paul wrote, Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

That is, concentrate your concern on the eternal, not the temporal.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV)

18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

The similarity of the two commands in Colossians 3:1–2 reinforces their impact.

“Set your hearts on things above” zēteite, and “Set your minds on things above”phroneite.

The first suggests striving; the second suggests concentrating.

What does that look like? It reminds us of Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Paul was not enjoining an other-world asceticism; he had just condemned that (Col. 2:20–23).

He was saying that life in this world will be better if it is lived by a power beyond this world, the power of the resurrected, ascended, glorified Christ.

The “earthly things” (lit., “things upon the earth,” 3:2; the same Greek words are used in v. 5) to be avoided are moral, not physical (immorality, impurity, lust, etc., in v. 5).

Paul was not encouraging a kind of Gnostic disdain for material things.

Every physical thing God created, including the body and sex, is good (Gen. 1:27–30; 1 Tim. 4:1–4).

However, since having a physical body does give occasion for the works of the (moral) flesh (Rom. 7:4–6), Paul warned against setting one’s affections in this area and perverting God’s purpose for them.

“Things on earth” — Paul probably has in mind the empty human traditions and worldly elemental forces he spoke against throughout Colossians. 2.

Ephesians–Philemon (Commentary)

3:2 Paul then issues a second, virtually synonymous command using the verb phroneō (cf. Phil. 2:5).

Paul calls for a deliberate act of the mind to focus on the things above.

This is further clarified by a contrasting negative statement (ta anō phroneite, mē ta epi tēs gēs) calling Christians to direct their minds away from “things that are on earth.”

Christ Changes How We See Everything

(True Belief in Christ Sets Christ as the Lens by Which We See Everything Else.)

3. True Belief in Christ Consumes our Person

Colossians 3:3 (ESV)

3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

At the moment of his salvation, a Christian died to the evil of the “flesh,” the sin nature (Rom. 6:3–8; Col. 2:11), and his life is now hidden with Christ in God.

“Hidden” implies both concealment and safety; both invisibility and security.

He is not yet glorified, but he is secure and safe in Christ.

In fact, Christ is his very life.

Christ said He was going where “the world will not see Me anymore” (John 14:19).

The imperatives are followed by a theological rationale, marked by the explanatory conjunction (gar): “for you died.”

This reference to the death of the believer is rather different from what was said in the earlier part of Colossians 2.

There, the believer was “circumcised” and “buried,” but the only mention of death related to the condition of those who “were dead in your trespasses” (2:13).

That was a death that led to helplessness and hopelessness. But a little further on, Paul says, “with Christ you died” (Col. 2:20), indicating a death that occurs in union with Christ.

This death brings liberation. Paul’s thought is very similar to that of Romans 6: a destructive relationship has been brought to an end through death, and that death has brought freedom from that which once held the believer captive.

Because Christians “died,” their lives are now “hidden with Christ in God.”

This language stretches our capacity for understanding the glories of the gospel.

Paul’s statement bears possible echoes of OT texts such as Psalms 27:5–6; 31:19–20; Isaiah 49:2.

The perfect form of the verb kryptō may suggest security in a place of safety.

Cryptocurrency Security and Safety Illustration

In this respect, it is similar to Paul’s statement in Colossians 1:5 that the Christians’ hope is kept for them in heaven.

It may also suggest that there is more to the experience of these Colossian believers than can be seen with human eyes.

Christ consumes us until He is all that is seen in us.

(True Belief in Christ Leads Us Into the Life Given to Us Through Christ.)

4. True Belief in Christ Confirms our Position

Colossians 3:4 (ESV)

4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary (3:3–4)

But when He will appear at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:16–18), believers will appear with Him and will be glorified.

As John put it, “We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (i.e., believers will be glorified as He is glorified; 1 John 3:2; cf. 1 Cor. 13:12; Col. 1:27).

So Paul added a new direction to the believers’ focus of attention: they should look upward to Christ’s reign over them in heaven and also forward to His return for them in the clouds.

Paul underscores the significance of Christ for the believer: Jesus is not peripheral to life; He is life.

He imparts God’s life, and He is the center around which life should be oriented.

The believer’s life is hidden in God, and the world does not recognize it.

Here, Paul reminds the Colossians that they will share in Christ’s glory when He returns.

The fundamental nature of the change that has taken place is expressed in the remarkable statement, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

The past life of the believers came to an end when they died with Christ.

Now the only life they have is life in Christ, so much so that Paul can say that Christ is their life.

However, it is important to note that, while there is a measure of future expectation expressed here, Paul’s language emphasizes a reality that has already begun in the present.

And that change has already begun, both cosmically and personally, because of what God has accomplished in Christ.

The repetition of the phrase “your life” emphasizes that the experience of the Christian, the person united to the risen Christ by faith, is indeed life.

(Airplane “Listen to His Voice” Video-7:58)

(Invite Worship Team)

Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 (CSB)

2 keeping our eyes on Jesus

Hebrews 12:2 (LEB)

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus

Christ confirms those who have fixed their eyes on Him.

(True Belief in Christ is found when we set our lives upon Christ, in faith)

So, how do we “Fix It?” We “Fix It” by fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ!

(Closing Tension)

True Belief in Christ Challenges our Passion

True Belief in Christ Changes our Perspective

True Belief in Christ Consumes our Person

True Belief in Christ Confirms our Position

(Response Card)

1. Would you like to become a believer in Jesus Christ? (Yes/No/Already Am)

2. How is Christ challenging your passion? (Blank Lines)

3. How is Christ changing your perspective? (Blank Lines)

4. How is Christ consuming your person? (Blank Lines)

5. How is Christ confirming your position? (Blank Lines)

6. How do you need to respond to the preached Word today? (Blank Lines)

7. Do you have any prayer needs today? (Blank Lines)

(Closing)

(Give Response Card instructions, etc.)