Sunday Sermon Colossians 3:1-4
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to First Community Church, where we worship God in Spirit and in Truth, one verse at a time, one book at a time.
Today, is a special day, for a special young lady named Arianna and we are glad that each one of you have joined us to celebrate what the Lord has done and what the Lord is doing in her life and in her family.
Let us not linger here in the introduction , but rather go before the Lord and see what He has planned for us this morning.
Prayer
Prayer
Read Colossians 3:1-4
Read Colossians 3:1-4
Review
Review
We we made it through the doctrinal section of Colossians 1-2>> Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Remember church, in the Pauline Epistles, Paul covers doctrine before duty, because one must know what they believe in order to know how the Lord wants them to behave.
In the final two chapters of Colossians, Paul moved into the practical application of the doctrines he had been teaching. After all, it does little good if Christians declare and defend the truth, but fail to demonstrate it in their lives. There are some Christians who will defend the truth at the drop of a hat, but their personal lives deny the doctrines they profess to love. “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16).
Where we learned that we are complete in Christ !
And that we do not need nothing else!
Paul had taught us that our identity is not found and will not be found in this world, that it is found in Jesus Christ.
He also taught us that the Gnostics and the Judaizers ( possibly the sect called the Essenes) were trying to confuse the Colossians by saying Jesus is good, but you need our secret knowledge.
They attempt to say the Bible and Jesus is ok, but we have other books that will enlighten you and help.
We have been given more light, new revelations.
We got it, everyone else is wrong!
By the way, we call this spiritual pride church!
Remember church, if it is new, it is not true! If it is true, it is not new!
That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.
3. Paul called out:
The Greek Philosophy that was pouring into the church and he warned us to beware of it and how it was coming in through the traditions of men and the elementary principles of the world and not according to Christ.
The Legalism that was pouring was pouring into the church from the small Jewish sect that lived in the area regarding diet and days.
Legalism is the religion of human achievement. It teaches that salvation is based on Christ plus human works. It makes conformity to man-made rules the measure of being saved or spirituality. Legalism fails to recognize the grace of God and the finished atoning work on the cross.
The Mysticism that was pouring into the church. The mystics were worshipping angels and intimidating the Colossians by saying you must have this experience or that experience to be super spiritual.
Mysticism- may be defined as the pursuit of a deeper or higher subjective religious experience.
Subjective means based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.
Objective means (of a person or their judgment) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.
d. And finally, the asceticism that was pouring into the church.
An ascetic is one who lives a life of rigorous self-denial.
Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, do do this, dont do that.
In other words, men will invent handle not, taste not, touch not systems of religion and will make up unbiblical rules and laws which are not found in the Word of God.
Spirituality is determined by one’s relationship with Christ and one’s focus on God’s Word. It is not determined by man-made dogmas, rules, and regulations church.
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
If denotes reality, as in 2:20, and is better translated “since.” Believers having been raised up with Christ is not in doubt.
The verb actually means “to be co-resurrected.” It is an accomplished fact.
Believers spiritually are entered into Christ’s death and resurrection at the moment of their salvation.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Here in this text we see the apostle showing us the union of the believer with the Lord, so that they have a shared life.
How about this one that goes perfectly with today’s service since there is a baptism:
Paul is calling us to seek those things above church, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Seek- ze-teo v. — to try to get or reach something one desires. To examine, to investigate, to consider, to aim for, strive for, and crave after.
Seek- zēteō here is an imperative written in the present tense that indicates continuous action.
Preoccupation with the eternal realities that are ours in Christ is to be the pattern of the believer’s life.
Jesus put it this way:
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Paul is teaching us that our preoccupation with heaven will keep us on guard against the false teaching of today and will help us to be armored up against the whiles of the enemy.
Paul is also teaching that instead of focusing on the do not touch, do not taste, do not handles, that we are to seek heaven.
We are not just talking about geography here, but rather spiritual values that characterize Jesus Christ like, tenderness, kindness, joy, meekness, peace, patience, wisdom, forgiveness, strength, purity, grace, mercy, love, etc...
To be preoccupied with heaven is to be preoccupied with the One who reigns there and His purposes, plans, provisions, and power. It is also to view the things, people, and events of this world through His eyes and with an eternal perspective.
So church, what are you seeking? What are you craving for?
We all make time for what is most important to us. What is most important to you?
Are you making time for Jesus?
How is your prayer time?
Did you study your Bible this week?
Have you noticed when you self-absorbed and earthly how miserable you become and how sin increases in your life?
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Church, Mo was seeking those things above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.
Moses was in position to the most powerful ruler in the world but he choose to be afflicted rather than to indulge in the riches of Egypt and in the pleasures of sin church.
We live in a materialistic and individualistic culture today.
The right hand of God is a metaphor for power, authority, and preeminence church.
Jesus says it like this:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus is telling us church, where are treasure is, there are hearts will be also.
Where is you heart? Are you fixated on earthly obtainments? On your self? What consumes your thought life church?
Our thoughts determine our destiny church!
Jesus shared this parable:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
So again, the verb “set” is in the present imperative, which means a continuous, ongoing effort is required.
We are to persistently seek and keep on seeking.
Life abounds with examples of the persistence we are called to:
Albert Einstein was dismissed from school in Munich because he was thought to lack interest in his studies. He next failed to pass an examination to enter a polytechnic school in Zurich. He became a tutor for the boys in a Zurich boarding house, but was soon fired. But he persisted over and over again, and you know how that story ended.
Or consider the folklore about Lou Gehrig who, as an awkward rookie, was observed by Ty Cobb, who said, “Look at those piano legs—he’ll never last.” But with all his shortcomings, he set an all-time record of 2,130 consecutive games, the “Iron Man” of baseball.
Or there is the fabled record of archaeologist Howard Carter’s monumental persistence through tons of rubble and discouragement and ridicule which eventuated in his finding the priceless tomb and treasure of Tutankhamen, King Tut.
Or how about Joni Eareckson Tada who writes: When a broken neck ambushed my life and left me a quadriplegic, I felt as though God has smashed me underfoot like a cigarette. At night, I would thrash my head on the pillow, hoping to break my neck at a higher level and thereby end my misery. After I left the hospital, I refused to get out of bed; I told me sister, “Just close the drapes, turn out the light, and shut the door.” My paralysis was permanent, and inside, I died.
That’s how I felt. But after weeks in bed, I got tired of being depressed, and I finally cried out, “God, if I can’t die, please show me how to live!”
From then on, I would ask my sister to get me up and park me in my wheelchair in front of my Bible!
She sought heaven church, and now she has a global ministry that has brought thousands to Jesus Christ!
This seeking ought to pervade our conversations, friendships, studies, work—even our play. And when it does, it affirm the Supremacy of Jesus Christ in our lives and our his Lordship over our lives.
Seeking has to do with the will church, while setting has to do with the mind.
Let’s look at our next verse:
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Set-phro-neo- to concentrate v. — to direct one’s attention and thought to something, to set ones mind on, to ponder, to keep thinking about, to fix ones attention on.
The parallels what Paul just said in verse one.
He is moving from seeking to setting here church
Again, this is an imperative that is in the present continual tense.
This means that seeking and setting your mind or the KJV says your affection on demands continual action on our behalf.
God is Sovereign, but He has given man responsibility here church.
What we set our minds on determines the direction of our lives.
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Christians are not only to seek heaven but think heaven.
Christians are to train their minds for spiritual realities.
We are to spend daily time in the Word of God and in prayer.
We are commanded to think Christlike about life.
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
Paul had been in the ministry about 40 years when He said he had not attained church, but notice that he said he reaches forward and presses toward the goal.
This is a metaphor of a runner running a race and reaching for the goal line.
Does this runner have the goal in mind??
Note: he said the mature will have this mind.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Church, these are heavenly things that the Lord desires us to focus on here.
The believer’s whole disposition should orient itself toward heaven, where Christ is, just as a compass needle orients itself toward the north.
Obviously, the thoughts of heaven that are to fill the believer’s mind must derive from Scripture.
The Bible is the only reliable source of knowledge about the character of God and the values of heaven. Paul describes that preoccupation here in:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Such heavenly values dominating the mind produce godly behavior.
Sin will be conquered and humility, a sacrificial spirit, and assurance will result.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Note: Paul writes that we serve the Law of God with our minds church
But we will not do this, if we are not in the Word of God!
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Have you died church? Is your life hidden with Christ in God?
Where is your focus? Have you really surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
Are you seeking the things of this earth and depressed? God is calling you home!
Prayer
Prayer
Baptism
Baptism
Birthday Juan
Birthday Juan
Announcements
Announcements
Are there any announcements?
I wanted to take a moment to say thank you! Thanks for all you do here at the church, in your families, places of employment, communties, and school.
You are the hands and feet of our Lord
Know that you labor is not in vain church and that you are storing up treasures in heaven.
Praise God for Mark’s great report that his cancer is in remission!
I would like to start a class in April called the Conqueror Series for Purity. This is a class for men who struggle with sexual addiction and lust.
If your interested, please see me after or give me a call.
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission Starts Now!