Sermon Tone Analysis

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...

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...

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.