Pursuing Self or Pursuing Christ?

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.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Pray

Big Idea - When I pursue Christ my selfishness begins to die and my freedom from sin begins to grow.

Hook - Mount Everest 29,000 feet above sea level. Climbers pursue this goal. They persue this goal, because they are passionate about pushing the limits of the human body and doing something that most will never do.

Over 296 people have died trying to reach the Summit. The last year that not a single person died trying to reach the top was 1977. All other years since have had deaths. Mount Everest is experiencing warming. Some of the glacier and ice near the edge of Everest are melting. What is being found as the ice pulls back?

The bodies of those who have fallen in trying to reach the top.

People were willing to die in pursuit of what they loved.

As individuals we pursue those things that we love - that we are passionate about.

Sometimes even to death.

Spiritually we are called to pursue Christ and what He loves.

1. Pursue Christ and what He loves vs. 1

***Is seeking better defined by persue your new heavenly identy?

verse 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.

If we are to pursue Christ, What does “Seek the things that are above” mean?

What does “Seek the things that are above” mean?

Maybe your version says, “set your heart on things above”

It is not the summit of Mount Everest - it is something much greater.

Seek the things that are above

- means - Pursue and keep pursuing Christ and what He loves.

It means that you have the responsibility to daily seek and pursue Jesus, and those things that Jesus thinks is important.

We know that what is important to Christ is rarely important to our unsaved world.

As Christ followers we follow Christ and learn to love what He loves.

Non-Christ followers follow self.

Application

Does Christ think that you praying for your neighbors salvation is important? Yes, pray for your neighbors salvation.

Does someone you know have a physical need?

Do they need a meal, yard raked or someone to hold their hand and pray with them?

We seek Christ and what He loves.

This is a spiritual mindset.

The way the language is written in the New Testament - This is not just a command to do one time, but to continue doing.

Parents - We train our kids. Don’t just bathe yourself one time. Every day keep bathing yourself. Pursue cleanliness every day. Don’t just brush your teeth one time - keep doing it.

In a similar way this is a command that is ongoing.

Pursue and keep on pursuing what Christ loves.

When I pursue what Christ loves, my selfishness begins to die and my freedom from sin begins to grow.

Transition - If I am to pursue Christ I must also...

2. I must set my mind on Christ and His desires, vs 2

2. I must set my mind on Christ and His desires, vs 2

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

Why did Paul write this? Colossians needed a reminder. There was a struggle with their sinful flesh.

Why did Paul write this? Colossians needed a reminder. There was a struggle with their sinful flesh to keep their minds on their agenda and what they want versus what Christ wanted.

If you consider someone who has had their life changed by Christ, seek Christ.

An outcome of being changed by God is that we seek to have more of the God who changed us.

Example- Have you ever met someone who was really godly and they seemed to just be drawn to God? It seems like their mind is set on God - focused on God all the time. Their relationship with God seemed effortless. It seemed like they could spend hours in the Bible and prayer and witness to anyone and not break a sweat. Their mind is always focused on Godly things.

B. Seek what is above?

Can I comfort you with these words - That person doesn’t exist.

C. Set you minds on what is above.

People who grow in godliness don’t do so effortlessly. They have prayed hard, beg God to have hearts affection for Him, purposed to train their mind to be set on Him, fight the temptation to think that just reading a verse in the Bible is good enough. They have to battle with their selfishness.

-Y

They do it because they believe Jesus is worth it.

They don’t do it in their own strength.

This godly person makes it look easy, because they have spent a lifetime working hard ..... battling for their faith .... trained their mind.

Paul reminds and challenges the Colossians to pursue Christ because they were struggling to set their mind on Him.

You are being challenged to pursue Christ this morning. Why?

it is our tendency to struggle with a selfish mindset versus a Christ focused mindset.

Do you remember the words to the song Come Thou Fount?

Come Thou Fount verse 4

Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let that goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above

D. Died to self (mortified) Romans

We are prone to wander, so we must seek and pursue Christ.

Bill graham said that having his daily time with God was one of the hardest things he did.

I’m told that, Bill graham said that having his daily time with God was one of the hardest things he did.

You may find this true too.

To set your mind of what Christ desires I challenge you...

Challenge - Every day set a time that you will spend in God’s Word and Prayer. Don’t just read a verse. Read a section, a chapter, two chapters.

Set your alarm on your phone or watch for multiple times during the day where you can stop and say a 2 minute prayer. These things help your mind stay focused on Christ during the day.

When I set my mind on what Christ loves, my selfishness begins to die and my freedom from sin begins to grow.

E. Christ will take you to glory

Transition - We see next that Paul shares the motivation for pursuing Christ.

Paul answers this question, Why set my mind on Christ?

3. Christ freeing me from sin is my motivation for pursuing Christ, vs 3-4

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

We pursue Christ and set our mind on Him because Jesus conquered our sin nature. When we are saved we receive power over our sin nature.

We make a choice to receive the power God has given us over sin and die to our sinful desires.

We daily make a decision to die to the desires of or flesh.

Listen to how describes what Jesus did on our behalf.

,  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

in this passage we see repentance

Repentance is - Died to sin, live in God

We turn our life from sin and follow God.

In this we have freedom over the control of sin;

Why Pursue Christ? Why set our minds on Jesus and the things He loves?

-He has set us free from Sin & he has also set us free from eternal death in Hell. We will appear with Him in heaven.

being connected to Christ gives us the power to set our minds and desire what Jesus loves. We have died to sin and empowered by God.

-Christ followers will not receive the wrath that they deserve.

This is where “Died and Romans verse would be helpful

We die to sin and live for God, because we believe that Jesus is better.

Speaking of Jesus -

10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

,  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

We die to sin and live for God, because we believe that Jesus is better.

Jesus is better now and in the future in heaven, Jesus will be better then.

We turn our life from sin and follow God.

In this we have freedom over the control of sin;

-vs. 3, Jesus is better

Big Idea - WhI pursue Christ my selfishness begins to die and my freedom from sin begins to grow.

Transition - Because Christ is so valuable and sin is a threat to our relationship with Christ God commands us to do something radical.

Transition - Because Christ is so valuable and sin is a threat to our relationship with Christ God commands us to do something radical.

-vs. 4, Eternity with Jesus is better

Transition - If I am to seek Christ, my relationship to sin must change

4. I must murderer my sin, not manage it.

I must become a murderer of sin

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Illustration - When I got engaged and married my relationship with woman other than my wife had to change. Close friendships I had in college may still be previously with girls were no longer appropriate. My wife was the only woman outside of family that I could be intimate with, both physically and in conversation.

If I continued to have conversationally intimate friendships and had shared my heart with other young women those relationships would have killed my marriage.

Vs. 5 calls us to put to death the sinful in us. To murder them.

Note that so many of these sins that are mentions are sins of passion.

Note that so many of these sins that are mentions are sins of passion.

sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, coveting, anger, wrath, malice … then sins of the tongue: lying, obscene talk, slander.

No doubt every person in this room can identify with many of these sins listed. Not one of us are immune from fighting sin.

In fact in may be difficult for you to look at this list of sins in the scripture. Why? We can relate to these sins that we have allowed to be a part of our lives. We sin we cooperate with the enemy.

God has told us to put to death our sin, not manage it.

Illustration of Snake, cage suffocation.

So we as christians have a choice - let sin hang around and kill us or kill it first. Our temptation is to not murder our sin, but manage our sin.

Illustration of Snake, cage suffocation.

There is a story told of a man who owned a small 3 foot albino Burmese python, party trick ...

So we as christians have a choice - let sin hang around and kill us or kill it first. Our temptation is to not murder our sin, but manage our sin.

So we as christians have a choice - let sin hang around and kill us or kill it first. Our temptation is to not murder our sin, but manage our sin.

When I murderer my sin, my selfishness begins to die and my freedom from sin begins to grow.

Illustration of Snake, cage suffocation.

Manage or Murder

my selfishness begins to die and my freedom from sin begins to grow

5. Seeking Christ is for all kinds of people… Gospel

Transition - Finally we see that .

5. I Must Live by my New Identity of being a Child of God

“, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

As a Christ follower we have a renewed image of God in us. we have “Put on the New Self”

All people are image barers. There are characteristics of God that we see within all people.

We saw earlier that setting our minds on things above meant that we were to not only seek Christ, but the things that He loves.

As a Christ follower our soul has been refined and renewed into more of His likeness.

When someone is a Christ follower, they bare Christ’s image in a way that a non-Christian cannot. “They put on the New Self”

Paul makes a point about image barers in verse 11 that seems unnatural.

Verse 10 looks like it should read right into verse 12. But Paul stops his chain of thought and makes sure the Colossians know something.

We saw earlier that setting our minds on things above meant that we were to not only seek Christ, but the things that He loves.

Christ loves when the Gospel of salvation goes out to many different kinds of people. We see in Revelation that in heaven there are Christ followers from every tribe, tongue and nation that will worship Christ together.

We see in this passage that believing in Christ brings groups together that are different and some times hated.

Blacks, whites and illegal immigrants together. Trust in Christ brings political conservatives and liberals together. Trust in Christ brings capitalists and socialists together.

How can Christ bring these groups together?

Christ and what He loves is so much more important to the Christ follower than differences culturally, politics and economic philosophy.

Can I challenge you with a question?

Could you worship Christ in peace along side a Christian liberal, mexican, illegal alien?

As strong as you are in your political viewpoints, I hope that you love Christ and pursue what He loves more fervently than any political belief.

Transition - What if you are not a Christ follower? What does this pursuing Christ look like?

What if you are not a Christ follower? What does this pursuing Christ look like?

Let me share with you a one verse parable given by Jesus.

New International Version (NIV)

Therefore

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

When you seek Christ - when you pursue Him and find Him, you are willing to give all that you have because Jesus is so valuable. If you seek him you will find Him if you seek Him with all of your heart.

When you seek Christ - when you pursue Him and find Him, you are willing to give all that you have because Jesus is so valuable.

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

When you seek Christ - when you pursue Him and find Him, you are willing to give all that you have because Jesus is so valuable. If you seek him you will find Him if you seek Him with all of your heart.

We give all that we have to know Christ.

Why? Christ is the great treasure that is worth giving all of our selves for. He gave all of Himself to save you when He died on the cross to make a payment for your sin.

Unbeliever - Will you say Yes to Jesus today? Trust Him and give all of your life to Him?

Believer - Will you today, not just make a greater commitment to pursue Christ. Will you take a specific action?

-Will you go visit a friend and take a moment before you leave to pray with them?

...

-Will you write someone a note/card and share an encouraging scripture with them?

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-Will you take time to listen to someone who needs your attention and tell them you care about them?

When we

Big Idea - When I pursue Christ my selfishness begins to die. I become free to minister to others.