"New Life"

I remember in elementary school around 4th or 5th grade, one of my classmates was really really bad at basketball. He was a great guy, but was always one of the last to get picked. The problem was… he loved basketball. All he thought about was basketball and always watched and talked about basketball. But still a big problem… he wasn’t very good. Now he was one of the well-to-do families in Hawaii and his dad decided that maybe what he needed was private lessons. So I cannot remember who it was, but it was an ex-pro and his personal coach that took him in and coached him… He practiced and was coached 3 times a week for the entire summer. When the school year started, wow. He was not only getting picked first, he was starting to do the picking. It is amazing what a little coaching by a good coach can do.

Now remember, the apostle Paul and Timothy spent a great deal warning the Colossians about their preoccupation with the world and warnings against evil teachings which were stealing from the Colossians their wholeness and true joy in Christ. Now we see him provide a positive counterpart as he gives some, dare I say, coaching…? I don’t like saying this because I do not want us to confuse this with awful and atrocious life coaching stuff of today. Life coaching today has fallen into the guilty until proven innocent category. But I think that Paul and Timothy might just be doing a little bit of that.

He warned us to recognize and stay away from the errors, but now he is gonna tell us what it is that we need to be striving after. He is gonna show what it is that we should be seeking. He is gonna show us what it is that we should be setting our hearts, our desires, upon.

Many times we may get freaked out and scared because of error and walking the wrong path so many will resign themselves to just doing nothing. Doing nothing is a characteristic of a stone, not a child of God. In Christianity, we got to keep moving. We have got to keep walking. We may not be running, but if you walking its ok. Some of us might be crawling… but thats ok. Some of us might be doing the worm to move forward… its ok. As long as we are moving forward. In Christianity, if we do not move forward, we will sink.

One of the ways, growing up was hearing the voice of my coach yelling, “Sowers, why are you just standing there??? Move it. Oh… you got nothing to do, then run some laps. Oh… Sowers, you like to stand there and watch airplanes, then you can look up at the sky while you are doing 100 sit-ups. Sometimes we need some direction and motivation. But we need the right direction and the right motivation, from the right coach. We will see what it is today. Let’s look...

Colossians 3:1–2 NLT

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Seek

Set

Saved

The first thing we will look at today is the encouragement to seek after the higher things in life. Second, to set our hearts/desires on what is in heaven not what is on earth. And finally, we seek and set, because we are saved by the one who has the place of honor at God’s right hand.

Thesis: Though sin, the pattern of this world, and false teachers cause us to be directed and motivated toward the wrong things, it is the truth of scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to seek and set toward what is real, what will honor Christ, and what will last forever.

I. Seek

- The things above... be constantly seeking.

A. Paul had just got done warning us and as Christians I hope that we will heed the warning. Test yourself, make sure your faith is genuine. Remember, we don’t do the Jedi mind trick here. Yes, my faith is genuine Shane, do you know why? Many will say to Christ Lord Lord and He will say depart from me I never knew you. The people thought they were Christians. Self deception. Why it is important to know what you believe and why you believe it. “Just cause” is the broad path and a doorway to hell.

B. But now after warning us about the wrong path, they are now gonna point us in the right direction. We have a clear change at the beginning. The last chapter, the writers made it clear to the Colossians that they were dead to the world. They have nothing to do with it anymore. And now a new reality… they were raised with new life in Christ. Dead to the world but they are alive, but they are alive in Christ. The message of the cross without the resurrection is not the gospel. Good Friday without Easter Sunday is not good news for us nor for our Lord. To teach on the cross and all its implications without the resurrection and all its implications is very bad teaching indeed.

C. So what we see here is that it was not enough to remind the Colossian recipients of the lifestyle and religious practices that they no longer do or no longer need follow. Sure we are dead to them, but we are also alive to something. The message from Paul and Timothy would have been too much like the “Do not”s character of all Christianity.

D. The message of the resurrection has equally positive outcomes or fruit. He did not turn us into stones. They do nothing bad, but they do nothing good either. We are more like trees … we are supposed to bear fruit in the believer’s daily life. These things this one important piece easily pictures a sufficient counter weight from what they were being taught and what was so attractive to them.

E. The word here used by Paul is Zeteo… it does indeed imply a persevering effort. And effort that will not give up. But what is also pictured is not just a seeking to discover, but a seeking to obtain. As seen in the famous scripture verse...

Matthew 6:33 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

F. Dr. William Hendrickson writes,

- The emphasis, though, is not on the seeking but on the object sought. A precise rendering would be, “the things that are above [placed forward for emphasis] be constantly seeking.” Seeking to obtain is a common activity, but seeking to obtain the right treasures is not nearly so common, and therefore requires emphasis.

G. The things above is placed first to bring emphasis… things above…Seek!

H. Essentially, we are to seek with all that is in us, but we are to seek what is above because of our new identity we have in the living Lord. Maybe understanding it in light of identity will help us understand the re-orientating that is to be active and real in the life of a Christian.

I. Dr. DG Dunn writes - “It is the sort of change which follows from complete identification with another person or cause, when the service of that person or cause becomes all-consuming, the basic determiner of all priorities, the bubbling spring of a motivation, resolution, and application which perseveres despite even repeated setbacks.”

J. In the prior chapter, we saw that the Colossians were preoccupied with the World. Now they are encouraged by the Apostle Paul that they are not just to not be preoccupied with the world. But now they are to be preoccupied with the things that are above, where Christ is.

H. But lets take a deeper look at this by going to verse 2

II. Set

- From Seek to Think.

A. Paul and Timothy move quickly from the mode of seeking to now thinking. We need to set our minds on things that are above, not on earthly things. Sorry but the Bible does not agree with the saying your so heavenly minded your no earthly good. It is saying that the only earthly good there is comes from those who are heavenly minded.

B. Anno Phroneytay… could be understood as, keep thinking about. Or better yet…the present tense suggests “a habit of the mind.” Essentially, be mentally addicted to the things that are above. But Dr. Doug Moo adds something else to this...

- It may also be a further polemical dig at the false teachers, who are perhaps advocating a spiritual orientation that focused on the emotions at the expense of the mind.

C. This is a good illustration for our time today. Colossians is so today… for real. The first thing we should see is our cultures absolute downgrade and divorcing of our values and practices from any kind of thought? I wonder sometimes when I see our world and our culture, do we still use our brains? The apostle tells us to set our minds on things above, but do we even set our minds anymore? Do we even set our minds in the church? I’ll take it a step further… in 2022 it is not experience at the expense of the mind, it is experience trumps the mind.

D. One of the common things in a church me and Steve grew up in… was a serious downgrade of thinking and a huge upgrade on experience. Focused on emotions at the expense of the mind. The lead pastor of the church was pretty illiterate when it came to the scriptures and would always talk down to me about my studies of the scriptures telling me that all that knowledge will not help you become a pastor. All you Bible college people. His sermons are all about his experiences with God not the scriptures.

E. Its the seminary/cemetery slip of the tongue. If you have head knowledge you wont have any heart knowledge. Better to be an ignorant fanatic then to be a smart dry bone. And experience is authoritative today. A person’s experience is an authority and will trump what our heads tell us no matter how crazy it sounds. Many Christians believe that what they experience with the Lord is more important than what the Bible says. But Shane, do people really think that experience trumps the mind? Yes… because there are men and women with no formal biblical and theological training who believe that they are fit to be pastors, based on on their years of being a Christian.

F. I can perform heart surgery on you. But are you a Doctor? No. Did you go to med school? No. Don’t worry, I worked at the hospital for 20 years.

G. But what of us who use our minds? Great now we need to make sure it is set on things above. Listen to Dr. Kent Huges...

- As the story goes, penny-pinching Jack Benny was walking along when suddenly an armed robber approached and said, “Your money or your life!” There was a long pause as Benny did nothing. The robber impatiently cried, “Well?” Jack Benny replied, “Don’t rush me! I’m thinking about it.” Millions of people today think their things are their life. I once saw a poster which pictured a coffin with pallbearers and the deceased’s possessions: a mansion, a helicopter, nine cars, including a Ferrari, a Rolls, an M.G., a Porsche, etc., with the caption: “He who has the most toys when he dies wins.” For many, this is the philosophy of life.

H. Sadly, many in the Church are not far behind: Here is something from Oz Guiness...

- Theologies compete brazenly to rationalize wealth, success and material blessing. Prosperity doctrines gush forth from rallies, radio and television. (“God’s got it, I can have it, and by faith I’m going to get it.”) Even Psalm 23 has been revised (“The Lord is my banker, my credit is good. He giveth me the key to his strongbox. He restoreth my faith in riches. He guideth me in the paths of prosperity for his name’s sake.”) From the gravediggers files.

I. People today spend not because they need, but for identity. Paul says in response that we are not to set our minds “on earthly things.” This includes not only material possessions, but the immaterial things of this world: earthly honors, position, advancement. We must note that Paul is not suggesting that the Christian withdraw from commerce and any possibility of prominence or achievement. Taken to absurdity, there would never be a Christian surgeon or chef; there would be no excellence. The difference is that the Christian is no longer to see these things as if they are all that matter. Moreover, his mind-set is to be dominated by “things above.” Paul is precise in his command: “Set your minds on things above” and keep it that way. Implicit here is the idea of concentration.

J. We see in these verses the “Great Divide” in the Christian life. What we set our minds on determines our seeking and thus the direction of our Christian lives. What do you think about when you have nothing else to do? Some common-sense qualifications are in order here, because we all variously daydream about our favorite team or a coming vacation or our yard. Sometimes we are under such pressures at home or work that we can scarcely think of anything else. But these things aside, do our minds regularly go up to Christ and “things above”? If they do not, we are in trouble. The Bible says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34; cf. Matthew 6:21). What will the divine postmortem reveal to be our highest priority? A dress? A fishing pole? Christ?

K. We must also remember that our mind-set is a deliberate act of the will. We set our minds on taking a vacation. We set our minds on buying an object. We set our minds on finishing a project. We can set our minds on “things above.”

In addition, we need to hold loosely to the things below, our possessions. Remember the parable of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to sell all he had, and the man went away sorrowing. The truth is, every one of us is that rich, young ruler. Every one of us has incredible wealth—more things than we know what to do with. Because of our possessions, it is difficult to set our minds on things above. There are two ways to hold something: with a clenched fist or with an open hand. A good exercise for each of us is to learn to regularly give something away which we value very much.

III. Saved

- But He clenched His fist for us.

A. And He was not willing to give us away. Even though we do not what we are commanded to do. This is the fullness of how we are to understand sin. Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. It is both positive and negative. It means anytime we are not being or doing what God requires, we are sinning. Anytime we do what God forbids we are sinning. Doing and not doing is a transgression of God’s law.

B. Setting our minds and hearts on the things of the world is sin. Not setting our hearts and minds on what is above where Christ is, is sin. And with sin comes death. The wages of sin is death. The horrible consequence of sin lining us up for an eternity facing the wrath of God. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Eternal darkness. Eternal fire. Eternal damnation. The hands of the living God. Crushed in his hands for eternity.

C. But salvation did come. Salvation came with Christ. When Christ came to open up his hands to take the nails that we deserved for us and died the death we should have died after He lived the life we should have lived. Did we sin? Oh yes we did. But Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He came to seek and save that which was lost.

1 Peter 2:24 NLT

He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.

D. And salvation is here. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.

E. And the Bible says… Once He has you in the palm of His hand, He will never let you go. He will not give up on us. He will hold us. He will keep us. He will cause His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us. He will lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. A peace that transcends all understanding.