Sunday’s Sermons

Text: Colossians 3:1-4                                                      6/3/07 AM

Thesis: Christians, having died with Christ, now live by seeking and setting their minds on the things that are above.

Intro:  A common question among Christians of all ages is, “What now?” Now, that God has changed me by faith through grace what do I do?

I have by faith joined Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection so does that mean I get an unrestricted hall pass for the rest of this life or are there some requirements to fulfill?

What is a 10 year old believer to do? What is a 15 year old believer supposed to do? What if you are 26, 43, 65, or 78; what does God expect from your life?

Let’s find out together

Read Colossians 3:1-4

I) Since you are a Christian seek the things that are above

Every Christian is called to pursue the things of God realizing

a)      There are no excuses in the Kingdom of God

i)        There are not two classes of Christians. There is no distinction, though we want to make one, between those God expects to worship him with their lives and those God does not expect to worship him with their lives.

ii)      The word if in verse one is best understood as since. Since you have been raised with Christ. There is no believer who has not died with, been buried with, and been raised with Christ.

iii)    It’s a package deal. If you are a believer here this morning you have already been raised with Christ.

iv)    Since Christ has defeated the grave, by faith in Him, you too have defeated the grave. It is a sure deal.

v)      Everyone of us here this morning who claims to be a Christian must therefore also understand the claims Christ has placed on your life.

vi)    You are not a jellyfish in the ocean of life. You are a bulldog who loves to fight for the glory of Christ.

vii)  To seek the things that are above means to

b)      Be bulldog-tenacious for the things of God

i)        Thankfully I’ve never experienced it but I have been told that it is near to impossible to get a bulldog to release once it has set it’s jaws.

ii)      In our neck of the woods we’re probably all a little more familiar with the jaws of a pitbull.

iii)    Pitbull/Bulldog the family resemblance is in the jaws. They want to get the neck and when they are there they don’t want to let go.

iv)    To seek means to devote serious effort to realize your desire or objective. It means to strive for Christ.

v)      It means to aim for Christ. It means to try to obtain Christ and to desire Christ (BADG, 428).

vi)    I have a question for the younger in our congregation today: Harry Potter, in the game of quidditch, played what position?  Seeker

vii)  The seeker’s sole purpose is to catch the Golden Snitch. He doesn’t score points or play defense. He chases the Golden Snitch in an attempt to catch it before his opponent does.

viii)            To the seeker all that matters is catching the snitch. To the bulldog all that matters is clamping down and not letting go. To the Christian all that matters is Christ.

ix)    Now this does not mean we should all quit our jobs, stop parenting our kids, declare bankruptcy, and just think about Jesus all day.

x)      As we’ll see in the weeks ahead seeking the things that are above has some very specific ramifications on our lives today.

xi)    But not to get too far ahead we’ll stick to our text before us.

xii)  Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

xiii)            The idea is put well in the phrase, “seek to know Him and make him known.”

xiv)            Christ taught us in Matt 6 to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

xv)  Turn there with me in your Bibles to Matthew 6. Read verses 31-33.

xvi)            The same word, the same command to seek, is found in Colossians 3 and Matthew 6.

xvii)          Every Christian is commanded to submit to the rule of the Sovereign King and every Christian is commanded to seek the expansion of that rule on this earth so that He is obeyed on earth as He is in heaven.

xviii)        And all this seeking must center on Christ.

xix)            If we sent a report card home with each of you for your momma to sign how would you do on the seeking the things that are above category?

xx)  We’d probably score pretty high on seeking the things of the world like money, power, and fame but how about service and sacrifice.

xxi)            Service and sacrifice not because you have to because that is the joy filled life Christ lived.

xxii)          Are you serving anyone? Are you serving anyone outside of your family or little circle of friends?

xxiii)        Lost people serve their families and little circle of friends. The Pharisees served their families and little circle of friends and Christ told us that our righteousness must exceed their if we want to see the kingdom.

xxiv)        We need you to serve in our nursery during VBS. We need you to open your home and serve fellow members and lost people and visitors.

xxv)          We need you to seek Christ here at Mambrino Baptist Church by laying aside the stuff that will not last past your death and seek Christ and his kingdom.

xxvi)        If you don’t know where ask me afterwards and we’ll find a place and I guarantee it won’t be easy.

xxvii)      It won’t be easy but it will be eternal because it will honor Christ. By your seeking you will show that Christ is seated at God’s right hand.

xxviii)    By your serving you will show that Christ is to be honored over everything and everyone in this world.

xxix)        Do that by serving and do that by sacrificing.

II) Since you are a Christian set your mind on the things that are above

Read verse 2

a)      Adopt an eternal mindset not a temporal mindset

i)        The call to set your mind is not solely a reference to your affections or feelings; it is much larger.

ii)      The command to set your mind deals with your affections but also with the aims and motives of your will (O’Brien, 163).

iii)    The question that gives the diagnosis of the heart is what do you think about?

iv)    Again, the easiest thing to do is not thing about Christ and thekingdom of
God.  All you have to do is live your life like you’ve always lived your life and you will fail miserably at setting your mind on things that are above.

v)      The reason is before faith in Christ, before we are made new by the Spirit’s work of regeneration we are hard wired to think about the things of the world.

vi)    Things like sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. We are told in verse 5 that those things are earthly.

vii)  Just think about you and what makes you happy and you’ve got a pretty good picture of what is earthly.

viii)            Wake up in the morning, ask yourself what you want to today, do not consider the kingdom of God, and you’ll end up right in the middle of earthly stuff.

ix)    Don’t do that!

x)      Set your mind on the things of God. This isn’t something you do once in your life or every once in a while. 

xi)    We are told to set our minds on the things of Christ repeatedly, over and over. This is a discipline that takes energy and effort.

xii)  What does it look like? It looks like the basics of bible reading, detailed study of passages, Scripture memory, and meditation on God’s word.

xiii)            It looks like times of prayer when you ask God to change your wants to conform to His wants instead of always trying to change God’s wants to conform to what you want.

xiv)            Your mind is like a garden. At salvation God comes in and digs out all the kaleche and replaces it with fertile river bottom soil.

xv)  The problem is in this world we are surrounded by fast moving weeds and Satan loves to come and put weeds in our minds.

xvi)            We must guard the garden against that stinking snake and we must tend the garden so it grows.

xvii)          The fruitfulness of your life is tied directly to the health of the garden of your mind.

xviii)        Proper fertilization of sermons, scripture, prayer, and accountability are a must.

xix)            When a weed comes in you must be quick to rip it out of the ground roots and all. Find out how it got in and pray for God’s strength to remove it and fix that gap in your defenses.

xx)  Weeds come in through so many ways like TV, movies, the internet, conversations with certain people, memories of past sins, music, books, the newspaper, old wounds, not feeling appreciated, and pretty much every area of life.

xxi)            We must pursue those things which belong to the heavenly realm where Christ reigns; our minds, our attitudes, our ambitions, our whole outlook much be characterized by our living bond with the ascended Christ (Bruce, 131).

III) Think eternally because you are joined to Christ

a)      You have died with Christ

i)        If you are a Christian you have no excuse not to set your mind on the things above because you died with Christ and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

ii)      At salvation God gave you a new mind. The old self was crucified with Christ. The old is gone and behold the new has come.

iii)    What you must decipher is if that ever really happened.

iv)    Is there a hunger for holiness in your life? Is their conviction for sin? Is their joy in the things of God?

v)      You cannot serve two masters. You either died with Christ or you didn’t.

vi)    So, have you died with Christ? Have you given up control of the dead fruitless garden of your life?

vii)  If you have then

b)      Your life is hidden with Christ

i)        There are two different ways to apply this truth to our lives and both are correct.

ii)      First, the fact that ever believer’s life is hidden with Christ in God speaks to our security.

iii)    It should call to your mind the gospel of John chapter 10 and the strength of the Father’s hand.

iv)    Turn to John 10. Read John 10:28-30

v)      This passage affirms the sovereignty of the Father’s hand.  No thing and no one is greater than the Father.

vi)    This passage also affirms the unity of the Father and the Son; they are one.  Colossians 3:3 uses the phrase Christ in God.

vii)  They are unified in purpose and in strength. If, by faith, you have died with Christ, been buried with Christ, and arisen with Christ then nothing can change that because you are with Christ in God.

viii)            Rest today in God’s sovereign strength.

ix)    The second aspect of our lives being hid in Christ is the aspect of the unknown.

x)      1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

xi)    We do not have a clue what it’s going to be like after our death and resurrection.

xii)  It’s hidden from you and it’s hidden from the world.

xiii)            Am I going to make it? Am I going to get in? To some of you this is a constant struggle.

xiv)            Colossians 3:3 is a call to faith- God I trust that I truly am is hidden in Christ. I struggle with sin and doubt but I place my faith as best as I am able in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

xv)  Hide me in Him. I don’t see in my life what I want to see. I don’t see the faith and obedience I want to see but I trust one day I will. I trust that

c)      When Christ appears I will be with Him

i)        Read verse 4

ii)      God, my mind is not what I want it to be. My life is not what I want it to be. I do not lead my family, I do not love my spouse, I do not serve Your church like I want to but I hope in the fact You will not leave me in my sin and struggle.

iii)    I will one day appear with Christ in glory. The struggle will cease. The battle will be done. The frustration will all come to an end.

iv)    I confess today that I am not who I want to be. I understand that tomorrow I am not be who I want to be but there is a great day coming.

v)      There is a glorious day coming when I will be made completely like Christ. I will be pure, free from all sin and temptation. Faithful in all my ways.

vi)    To set your mind on the things above is to believe that, to hope in that, and to work toward that.

vii)  To seek the things above is to understand that

d)     Christ is your life

i)        Christ is the source and pattern of our life (Hendriksen, 142).

ii)      What is your life?  Some people’s jobs are their lives. To some people a particular sport or sports is their life.

iii)    What matters most to you; that is your life.

iv)    What do you think about? What are you intentional to put in front of you?

v)      Is it Christ? Remember, rules are easy to follow. Don’t quiet your conscience this morning with rules like church attendance, not getting drunk, and doing what you think is right.

vi)    On any given Thursday does Christ cross your mind? If He doesn’t when you realize it do you confess of that sin and seek the things that are above?

vii)  I’m not asking the worn out question: “if you died tonight do you know for certain you’d go to heaven?”

viii)            I’m asking, “Is Christ your life?”

ix)    Is Christ important to you? Do you ever think about Him? Do you want to obey Him? Do you understand that he is a King worthy of giving your life to?

x)      Don’t be a legalist, don’t be self-righteous, don’t go to hell thinking everything is okay.

xi)    Is Christ your life? IS CHRIST YOUR LIFE!?!

xii)  I have a feeling that there is much confession and repentance to do.

xiii)            Some of you are so confused right now about who you are or what you are in Christ you can’t stand it.

xiv)            If you want to talk; let’s talk. If you want to pray; let’s pray. If you want to come up here and get on your knees in submission to the king then do it.

xv)  Whatever God calls you to do please do it. Do not leave this place without setting your mind on Christ.