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Colossians 3:1– 4(ESV)

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.

ME:

How many of you have ever wanted to show something to someone, but you couldn’t find it?

I very much like memes and funny videos. And sometimes I’m in conversations that remind me of something I saw on social media. So I will bring it up and start hyping up how funny the video is and I try to explain it but it doesn’t do justice. It’s something like, “that reminds me of this video of this kid I saw online who tried to attach his hamster to a kite, let me show you guys.” Your explanation will never do justice you just have to find it and show them. So I go through my files and try to look for the video. A minute passes of me just looking for it while everyone is staring at me and what was supposed to be this amazing moment of comedy turns into an awkward moment of stupidity.

And then what do I say? “You know what, I’ll find it later and send it to you.”

I hyped up this video and make it out to be the funniest thing ever, but after searching for it a while, what was supposed to be valuable, became very invaluable and unimportant.

WE:

I feel like there a lot of things we get excited about for a while, that we end up giving up on because it takes too long or because we lose sight of why it’s important. So we end up choosing to look for things that are convenient rather than things that are constructive. But that’s the culture that we live in and it effects our everyday lives. We can get things shipped to our doors today, we can find answers to hard questions with the click of a button.

What we can’t do quickly is find answers when it comes to purpose.

What job should I look for?

What college should I apply for?

Who’s the right person for me to marry?

What’s the best approach to parenting my kids?

What am I supposed to do with my life?

All of these questions are so important to answer, but they are irrelevant to the question that really matters, “What are you looking for?”

The answer to all of these questions have one theme in common and that is they all are for the benefit of self.

transition statement: The purpose for our lives is not based on what benefits ourselves it is based on what brings glory to God.

GOD:

Paul writes this letter to the Colossians church which is known to be a small town, compare to being in between up and coming Crown Point and the established Chicago. Colossae would be like Griffith, or Highland, not seen as too important. The city had influence of greek philosophy and Jewish ceremonialism since Colosse also had a Jewish population since Antiochus the great in 223 BC transported Jews to that region. So the church becomes susceptible to a range of pagan practices, beliefs, and Jewish tradition which Paul wants to bring correction.

In this letter, Paul speaks about the authority of Christ, his struggles of ministry, and what it means to be alive in Christ. Paul’s biggest focus for the Colossian church was to help them know their identity in Christ and how that needed to affect their day-to-day lives, and today that is our focus.

We are meant to know what we need to look for, we need to start with Christ.

Colossians 3:1 (ESV)

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.

Paul is saying the direction of our focus is above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. This kind of sounds abstract because if I told you to go head and look up right now you would just see a cieling, or outdoors you would see the sky.

Obviously Paul is not talking about literally seeking what’s above, but reminding us about the authority of Christ and the duty that we have as Christians.

Seek Christ and the lifestyle that follows after Christ.

Colossians 3:2 (ESV)

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

Paul is now encouraging believers to change their way of thinking. Not to be consumed by a lifestyle founded by selfish-ambition. The reason is because the direction of our thinking will determine the direction of our lifestyle.

So I have to ask you, what is the object of your thoughts?

Is it how you will benefit in your life?

Is it how much money you want to make?

Is it about what kind of house you want to live in?

It’s also important to note that when Paul says set your minds on the things above, he’s not just talking about things that you think about, but things that you desire. Do you desire a lifestyle that honors God, or do you desire a lifestyle that honors yourself.

Colossians 3:3–4 (ESV)

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.

Now Paul is giving us a reason to do what he asked us to do in the previous two verses. Why should we desire after a godly lifestyle? Why desire a life that honors Christ? Because you died with Him and your life is now united with Christ in God. When Paul says that our lives are hidden with Christ, it is referring to be hidden to the world and its temptations. Though we still struggle with sin, we can trust that Christ is victorious over them, and empowers us to have the ability to resist the world’s temptations.

And Paul even gives us a hope for the future that we will appear with him in glory. This means that when we come to be with Him in the future, when Christ returns and reconciles all things to himself, we will become like Him and have a renewed body that cannot be shaken or tainted by sinful desire.

YOU:

However, if you can all be real with yourself, life can be so consumed with struggle that you might forget where you need to be looking. You might look to the wrong things to find the right answers. But where does that really leave you? It’s possible to be so unsatisfied with life that you find satisfaction easily everywhere you look, but the question becomes what next? What do you turn to now? What are you looking for?

You can read a passage like this in the morning with your cappuccino and feel real good, but then what happens after that?

Paul and I are going to give you some ideas to help you and I to put more emphasis on seeking what is above so that we can live a purposeful life where Christ is the object of our focus.

Abandon The Old

When things get old or outdated, its normal for us to upgrade, get something new, and then throw out or abandon whatever is old. The old item becomes useless, no one ever upgrades to the newest iPhone and still uses the one that they upgraded from.

In the same way, in Christ we are made new. We are given a new purpose, given a new identity, and a new sense of value. However, we have the tendency to slip back into the old way of living. But we are encouraged to put that lifestyle away.

Listen to what Paul says here:

Colossians 3:5–10 ESV

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.

Paul lists all of the things that have to do with our old way of life and even adds that the wrath of God is coming on these things. That is nothing that we want to be a part of. Therefore, we need to work hard with God’s help to abandon this kind of living.

The same way you and I would abandon something that we no longer want to use, we need to be working on abandoning this kind of lifestyle in every way with all the help we can get from the Holy Spirit and the community of other believers who are also at work attempting to abandon this old way of life.

Next is

Embrace The New

I used to work at Champs Sports which is a shoe store branched from footlocker, and the amount of people that lined up for the newest Jordans every two weeks was insane. People had the desire for the new color way, the upgraded look, the desire to look good and have the attention on themselves when they walked around in their new Jordans. There was something about wearing the newest and most trendy shoe that made you just feel so confident. c