Set your Affection on things above

Heavenly Focus: Living Above the Fray

Bible Passage: Colossians 3:1-11

I am so thankful that God put my wife in my life, honestly if it wasn’t for her I would probably still on the path to hell.

Growing up I didn’t go to church hardly at all and if we did it wasn’t even a bible preaching church. As I got older I had this idea that the way to heaven was through doing good things and praying consistently but I was missing one key component to it all.

Pastor Tom took the Bible and showed me that anything good that I do does not get me to heaven, the only way to heaven is through Christ alone. So many people have gotten this idea of good works and giving money will help us in to heaven.

Our Belief in Christ is what gets us to heaven, its when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We repent of our sins and follow Christ we turn and walk away from our sinful life that we lived before and walk in Christ.

Revelation 20:15 “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The reason for Christ taking the punishment we rightfully deserve is so we would have a place in heaven with him, but just because we accept Christ doesn’t give us a free pass to sin and keep in our old ways.

We as Christians should live according to the bible and with God in our hearts and lives daily. we should walk with God and allow our desires to align with what Christ wants for our lives.

Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

We are conformed to his image and what he finds good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Today I’d like to take a brief moment and show you how we should “set your affection on the things above”. As we should live as Christians in Christ.

Please open your bibles to Colossians 3:1-11 and please stand with me as we read Gods word.

Colossians 3:1–11 KJV 1900

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

**Pray to open the service**

1. We should be Pursuing a Heavenly Perspective

Colossians 3:1–2 “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

When we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we are opening our hearts to him and we change. We become a new man.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

If we look at the picture of Baptism after we give our hearts to God, it represents something, it represents and shows what Christ did for us.

Colossians 2:12–13 “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”

We should be setting our affection on the things above and praising God for what he has done for us. We as humans will get side-tract on what is important in life.

Growing up I always heard get a good job and make good money, so we can be comfortable. Is it wrong for people to make good money?

No, It’s not wrong to be setting good, but it is wrong when we are focusing on that solely. The bible tells us that we should lay up treasures in heaven.

Matthew 6:20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:”

we are to set our affection on the things above, we are to serve our King Jesus Christ and not the worldly things like possessions, money, hobbies. We should be willing to rely on God and willing to share what he has done for us.

How do we set our affections on the things above?

When we love something we are gonna brag about it, we are gonna show it off, we are gonna share it with people.

We need to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

When we are whole heartedly affectionate for Christ and what he has done we are more willing to share it with people. Why would we share it with People?

We have promises from God, and he keeps his promises.

2. Our Promised Life in Christ

Colossians 3:3–4 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

When we get saved we are no longer the person we was before. We are now in Christ alone.

We will one day stand before God, If your in Christ he is our representative. God doesn’t see me he sees Christ, the nail pierced hands.

Christ promised us that he would return one day.

2 Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

When Christ returns and the rapture happens we will appear with him in Glory.

Glory! doesn’t that excite you?

“We will appear with him in Glory” God doesn’t break his promises and doesn’t leave us astray either.

We are in Christ!

We are in Christ and we have promises we should really obey God with the things that he doesn’t like. We need to put sin to death.

3. Put Sin to Death

Colossians 3:5–7 “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.”

We as Christians are to live according to Christ not according to what we like or do not like. We need to walk with God daily, if we are still holding on to the things of this world or our lustful desires God will not Bless.

As we live our life we are to keep our minds and hearts pure, meaning what we see, hear or think about.

There was a young kid on a youth group who asked his friends what 'keeping your mind pure' meant. One replied, 'Does it mean I can’t think about pizza?' It turned into a comical discussion about how even the innocent thought of pizza could lead to wanting a whole pizza—and the struggle of self-control! Keeping our minds and hearts pure is much like choosing what pizza toppings to have; we must pick wisely so that our desires lead to good choices.

As we think of silly things like pizza but those of you here that get indigestion understands exactly why we need to choose our pizza topping wisely.

This goes with our walk with God and how we take to the worlds idea of “fun and Cool”. Working in a world of hate and filthiness can lead us to fall away from a pure heart and mind but also push us from being close to God.

I can remember several times when I worked construction, the filthy language and jokes on the job site. People are constantly looking for things to talk about at work, especially things that are just nasty.

We need to cut off those parts of our life that keeps us away from God.

When we cut off those parts of our life that is pushing us away from God it will allow us to grow closer to God and open our hearts wider so we can continue to put on the new life in Christ.

4. Putting on New Life

Colossians 3:8–11 “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”

By cutting out the bad things in your life will help you grow but the Bible also tells us that if we disobey God in these areas we will see the wrath of God. We will be punished and we will not like it.

Many times these things that are listed in Colossians 3:5 can also lead to being angry and can lead to inappropriate behavior. We want to grow in the Lord, we want to see many blessings from the Lord but he isn’t gonna bless if you are doing things against his will.

When you live in the worldly way of life and constantly see the junk and filth it will cause you to be super unhappy and hate everything about life.

But when we walk in the Lord and are constantly filling our minds and hearts with Gods word we become happy and excited about life.

I can remember a time not long ago I had went back to work and worked at a solar company and as I woke up every day and went to work, I wanted to keep the right heart about it.

Though there were days that was harder than others I still kept the right heart about it. I met this atheist and he really didn’t believe that God was real but he was so upset with me he says I don’t know why your so happy today sucks.

I look at him and replied well it is still a good day cause God is good. As I walked away Adam says why are you happy all the time? I responded with the same thing as before because God is good, He says your weird.

Listen I do not care if I am the weird one God is good all the time. Like Psalm 118:24 says, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!’ A simple reminder can keep our hearts happy, no matter the busyness or junk around us.

When we walk with God daily we are happy and life has a different feeling, when we live our life with the junk and filth we feel the urge to lie about things to make it sound better. “I caught a fish this big”

Colossians 3:10 “And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”

With Gods help we can see our life change for the better because as it says in verse 11, “But Christ is all and in all”

Colossians 3:11 “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”

We are to be ambassadors for Christ, how is it that we fill our head with junk but think that we are gonna be the witness for those that need to hear the Gospel?

Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Philippians 3:7 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”

Everything in life I do for Christ and his furtherance of the kingdom.

Conclusion

We need to set our affection on things above, Your probably thinking “bro Tyler I don’t think I wanna be know as the Jesus freak at work”.

Why not its fun to be different, It’s also comforting knowing that I am gonna be in good favor with God because I live my life according to his word.

The most comforting thing to know in life is that God sent his only son to die on the cross for me, even though I do not deserve the grace that he is willing to give me.

Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

One day Christ is gonna return and we are gonna either be called up or we are gonna be left behind.

I know where I will be when that happens, do you?

Would you stand with me with every head bowed and every eye is closed no one is looking around cause I don’t want anyone to be embarrassed but I do want to pray for you.

Let me ask you a question this morning, Do you know with out a doubt that heaven is your home?

If your answer is no would you be willing to slip your hand up?

Are there things in your life that are displeasing to God?

I am not gonna get specific but if there is would you be willing to slip your hand up?

We are not promised the next minute, hour, or even tomorrow why wait?

Here in a moment I am gonna pray as soon as I finish praying the music is gonna start playing, this is a time for you to come forward and give all your issues and struggles to God.

This is also a time where you can come and give your heart to God and receive that free ticket to heaven with God.

****pray to close service****