Experiencing Heaven As We Seek Heaven
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Colossians 3:1–4 (KJV 1900)
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Eph 1 and 2 Jesus is at the right hand of the father
If ye then be risen with Christ,
Seek
“...where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”
All that we do is with heaven in mind
Whatever is happening at the right hand of God is where our affection is to be
The intercession prayer
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
The Worship in heaven is powerful
8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
That is where our affection is to be
In a place of victorious warfare and glorious worship.
We are crucified with Christ, risen with Christ to walk in the newness of life.
Our old nature has been nailed in Christ to the Cross, and laid in the grave; and that our real self, the second Adam, has entered the new world of resurrection.
understand that we are completely justified by the virtue of
By the virtue of your union with Christ you are completely justified
By our fellowship with Christ we are being sanctified
One day we will be glorified
“seek those things which are above”
We are to follow after the things of another world over the things of this current world
As we engage in spiritual warfare in this world
As we Worship the Lord with all our heart
We are influencing this current world in eternally
Some believe that if they set their affection on things above the issues on this earth will fall apart, the opposite is true - as we set our affection on things above we impact the world
2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
entangleth = ensnared
When we are entangled we do not worship properly
When we are entangled we do not intercede in prayer
Our Saviour sits at the right hand of God - He is the greatest friend
He is all-wise
All powerful and is sitting in the highest place of authority and honor
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
This is already done
We can live the life that Christ lived here on earth
holiness
Actions are purified
Motives are perfected
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
too often christians will try to excuse themselves out of genuine christianity
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
You can help the way you think
You can help the habits that do not please the Lord and leave you in guilt
You can - be renewed in the spirit of your mind
I. Our
“...Set your affection on things above...”
Set you love, set your passion
You choose where you place your affection
Set = there is a choice, there is volition involved
4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
What you seek after, you choose to seek after
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
What are you seeking after?
What are you minding?
No peace
No spiritual strength
Carnal or fleshly mindedness is hostile against God
To be heavenly minded is seeking what is above
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
The world is in opposition to the city we are going towards
We do need to take care of the necessities of life
Believers love the Lord far more than they dare to love any other being.
We hold all earthly comforts with a lose hand.
Our allegiance to heaven should be greater than our allegiance to any country
The World Is Crucified To Me
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
We died with Christ (3:3a).
The fullest explanation of this wonderful truth is found in Romans
68. Christ not only died for us (substitution), but
we died with Him (identification). Christ not only
died for sin, bearing its penalty; but He died unto
breaking its power. Because we are "in Christ"
through the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13),
we died with Christ. This means that we can have
victory over the old sin nature that wants to control
us.
When you accept what Christ did on the cross for you,
Our problem is we are trying to love two different worlds
2. Our True Life Is In Christ
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
The new man receives his strength from heaven rather than from this world
We are hidden in Christ (3:3). We no longer
belong to the world, but to Christ; and the sources
of life that we enjoy come only from Him. "Hidden
in Christ" means
security and satisfaction. The
eminent Greek scholar, Dr. A.T. Robertson, com-
ments on this: "So here we are in Christ who is in
God, and no burglar, not even Satan himself, can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus"
(Rom. 8:31-39) (Paul and the Intellectuals, Broad-
man, p. 98).
The Christian life is a "hidden life" as far as the
world is concerned because the world does not
know Christ (see 1 John 4:1-6). Our sphere of life
is not this earth, but heaven; and the things that
attract us and excite us belong to heaven, not to
earth. This does not mean that we should ignore
our earthly responsibilities. Rather it means that
our motives and our strength come from heaven,
not earth.
We send our treasure ahead
You have eternal security because you are hid with Christ!
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
You have a safe position
Victorious position
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
We have not physically seen Jesus, but we love Him
Joy unspeakable and full of glory
Who have you seen recently with joy unspeakable and full of glory
Our problem is our affections are on things on this earth
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Heaven is our home
But you will appear in a condition of honor and dignity- this is a state of being
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
This is speaking about what God makes us
We will be like Him
Christ Is Our Life
Why do we make our life about things
We are seeking materialistic things
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
2. Christ is
Jesus is going to appear with all of heavens glory
38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Jesus will appear with all
3. We shall appear with Him in Glory
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
Admired = we will marvel at him
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
When you see Jesus glory you will be immediately changed to be like him.
We are glorifed in Christ (3:4). Christ is now
seated at the Father's right hand, but one day He
will come to take His people home (1 Thes. 4:13-
18). When He does, we shall enter into eternal
glory with Christ. When He is revealed in His
glory, we shall also be revealed in glory. According
to the Apostle Paul, we have already been glorified!
(Rom. 8:30) This glory simply has not yet been
revealed. Christ has already given us His glory
(John 17:22), but the full revelation of the glory
awaits the return of the Saviour (Rom. 8:17-25).
Now, in view of our wonderful identification with
Christ, we have a great responsibility: "Seek those
things which are above"
(Col. 3:1). Through
Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension,
we have been separated from the old life of this
world, and we now belong to a new heavenly life.
But how do we
"seek those things which are
above"?
The secret is found in verse 2: "Habitually
set your mind-_your attention--on things above,
not on things on the earth" (literal translation).
Our feet must be on earth, but our minds must be
in heaven.
How I stand--and walk-depends on. where I sit;
and I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies!
When the nation of Israel came to the border
of the Promised Land, they refused to enter; and,
because of their stubborn unbelief, they had to
wander in the wilderness for 40 years (see Num.
13-14). That whole generation, starting with the
20-year-olds, died in the wilderness, except for
Caleb and Joshua, the only two spies who believed
God. How were Caleb and Joshua able to
"get the victory during those 40 difficult years in the wil-
derness? Their minds and hearts were in Canaan!
They knew they had an inheritance coming, and
they lived in the light of that inheritance.
The Queen of England exercises certain powers
and privileges because she sits on the throne. The
President of the United States has privileges and
powers because he sits behind the desk in the oval
office of the White House. The believer is seated
on the throne with Christ. We must constantly
keep our affection and our attention fixed on the
things of heaven, through the Word and prayer, as
well as through worship and service. We can enjoy
"days of heaven upon the earth"
(Deut. 11:21)
we will keep our hearts and minds in the heavenlies.
Are your affections on heaven so that you can’t wait to get there.