Living the Risen Life

Secular –         **Accident Investigation – down the road

                        ** Waiters – focused ahead

Biblical – NIV Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Personal –        In times of loss or crisis we take baby steps (death, grief, AA)

                        Tragedy in NY and Washington… on the news – families,

basics (**Wal-Mart vs. High end)

                        When as Christians we need to focus on eternity…

perspective

Bridge – Christian, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ – We need to be Living The Risen Life!

The Reminder – 3:1 Since, then, if you have been raised with Christ

• Setting up a condition based on the reminder- Since, then…** We have all been reminded of duties (anniversary, something someone has done)
• Look at the weight in the balance… raised – salvation, given eternity with Christ weighed against Paul’s next command…
• Perspective on our condition… ** Before and after weight loss commercial
• Raised in Christ explored
• RELATIONSHIP
• There is a correlation
• (look at overhead)
• Incarnation – deity set aside / limitations of man
• Trinity / community denied
• Death – punishment, humiliation, suffering
• Grave – ultimate humility
• Resurrection – all power, glory majesty – RAISED WITH
• Hope, Promise, Eternity
• Ascension – the future with him…
• This is about a past action –
• Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• Set up for a change (flowing into next point)
• NIV Romans 6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

The Responsibility – 1b set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

• Set your heart… Decide your priority

The Message…

“So if you are serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it! Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up and be alert to the things that are going on around. Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.”

• Setting your heart… is acting on it…
• To know something…. Intellectual
• Believing in life changing… true faith

James 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Paul and James on the same page!!

MacArthur, “The things above refers to the heavenly realm and hones in on the spiritual values that characterize Christ such as tenderness, kindness, meekness, patience, wisdom, forgiveness, strength, purity, and love.”

• Not to look to this world for:
• | TV and MagazineAdverts |

Moral systems

• Values
• Ultimate Reward
• Hope…

NIV Psalm 62:1 For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David. My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

** Where you sit in parliament tells of your alliance – How you walk as a Christian tells where you sit on eternal matters.

Psalm 110:1

The Reason – 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Gal 6: 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

2 Cor 5: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

• We died to sin in Christ – penalty paid, still sway and effect
• No condemnation

Life hidden in Christ

1)

• Joined with Christ (crucified, died)
• Now our life in Him – who redeemed us

1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—(partakers of the heavenly nature)… kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

2)

• New life concealed from the world
• Thwart mystic teachers – false teachers ascendancy in Christ

1 John 3:2 (not yet visible) Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

3)

• Eternally secure
• Out of reach of world / Satan

John 10 (not snatched) 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."

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

• Does not merely give life - Christ is our life!
• Giver, Sustainer…
• It’s that relationship – He is our lifeblood!

2 Tim 2:19 Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."

• The veil torn back – reality exposed, supernatural reality
• Sheep and Goats…
• Full realization of the promise of the resurrection!
•  

Conclusion:

The Reminder

The Responsibility

The Reason

The Revelation

Living the Risen life is living a life not centred on this world but living a life centred on the Son of God – the ascended Christ.