Colossians 3 Devo #1

Introduction

During our morning worship times, we’ll be doing some shorter devotions on Colossians 3 as that’s our main passage this week. This week we’re talking about Jesus being the light of the world and Jesus wanting us to let our light shine. How many of you have ever had a candle that you light and it makes your room smell better? My wife loves candles and every Christmas I go to Bath and Body Works and get her a couple of candles that I know that she’ll like. Question, does the candle do any good whenever it’s not lit? It smells good whenever you put it up to your nose… but it doesn’t help the room smell better and it doesn’t serve as a light unless the wick is lit.

In the same way, like we talked about last night, every single person is made in God’s image, and every single person reflects that image to an extent. If you look at any person, just like if you look at any candle, you’ll smell something - but just like a candle that is on fire provides light for the entire room, a Christian shines brighter and stands out more than a non-Christian who isn’t saved and hasn’t been set on fire by the Holy Spirit. It’s so important for us to evaluate where we are at today and this is what we’ll spend a little bit of time doing together right now as we look at this picture on the screen. What is this a picture of? (Baseball diamond)

If you have a pen and paper, draw this type of baseball diamond with the 4 bases.

Home - Before Jesus

First Base - Saved by Jesus

Second - Serving Jesus

Third - Making Disciples for Jesus

As you look at the bases and think about your own life - which base are you at? Some of you are here and you might’ve never heard about Jesus or maybe you’re here and you’ve never asked Jesus to save you, that means that you’re still at home. I’m glad that you’re here, but as we go on this week, I hope that you see that you need to do something with Jesus. If you are at first base, and you have been saved by Jesus, then your purpose is to serve Jesus and tell others about Jesus and to move from first base to second base. If that’s where you’re at, if you’re serving Jesus and telling others about Him, God wants you to help make disciples and help other people grow in their walk with Jesus too!

Which base are you at? Has your candle been set on fire? Are you shining bright? Or, are you still in need of Jesus Christ? Let’s look at our main passage in Colossians 3 quickly this morning

Colossians 3:1–2 CSB

1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Paul is the author of Colossians and he begins this letter assuming that these people have already been saved by Jesus. If you have been raised with Christ. What do you think it means to be raised with Christ?

To be raised with Christ means to be saved from our sins by Jesus!

According to Colossians 3:1, what are Christians supposed to do? Seek the things above!

How do we seek the things above?

By looking at things the way that Jesus does

By thinking about things the way that Jesus does in Scripture

By choosing to remember what Jesus has done for us and trusting in Him today

What are some of the “earthly things” that lots of people want in this world?

Popularity

Success

Money

Do you know what happens whenever you get those types of things? They fade away and they fail to provide you with what you thought they would. If you set your mind to be the most popular person in school, there will always be someone more popular at another school. if you set your mind to be the best basketball player or singer that you can be, there will always be a better basketball player or singer. Not that those are bad things - they’re good things! But that can’t be the focus of a Christian because if that is your main focus, you’ll be disappointed and one day you’ll be left feeling empty because that’s not God’s main focus and purpose for your life.

If you are a Christian, you have been saved by Jesus and Jesus wants you to live your life each day to glorify Him and one of the ways that we do that is by remembering what He has done for us and what He is doing for us today.

What is 1 thing that Jesus is doing for you right now?

Sustaining you - keeping you alive

He brought you to camp

So, He wants us to keep our eyes on Him and His plan and as we do that, we let our light shine and we look different from people around us who do not know Him as Lord and Savior. Ask yourself: Have I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to save me? Is my light shining today? Are my eyes focused on Jesus first?