Christ is Life Podcast

This is an important section of this letter, it was really a great place for us to stop at. And then take a little break and pick up today. Because Paul is going to make a shift in what he's been doing the structure of this particular letter has been this in very general terms. So far, in chapters one and two, Paul's been writing what we call vertical indicative, and in chapters three and four, he's mostly going to give horizontal imperatives. And here's what that means. Vertical indicative is refer to something that is real or certain, an objective fact. And so Paul's been writing to make sure that they knew spiritual truth that they understood exactly who Jesus was and who he is, and what his finished work on the cross meant for them, and have even done to them if they've put their faith and trust in Him. They've received His salvation by grace. And so what happened is that he's been pouring out all of these things in chapters one and two about that. And now he's about to make a shift, and show us how that plays out in our lives, what it looks like he's been writing in chapters one and two, about the finished work of Christ in the new creations that we are in all the things that are different about us as believers. And now he's going to write out in these horizontal imperatives, these commands, what it practically looks like to walk out who we are, as new creations in Christ, these commands and these behaviors that he's about to get into, are really just descriptions of the new creation that we've become. So that will understand how it is that he works in us and through us. And so this is an important section, because really, Paul picks up in verse five, but the first four verses are kind of a transition or a hinge, if you will, he's wrapping up what he said here, and he's going to propel or launch us into these horizontal imperatives and what it practically looks like in this way. And it's so rich with what it is that we're to focus on, when it comes to living out the Christian life. As a matter of fact, these four verses that we're going to look like have become four verses that have changed the way I even see the Christian life and the way that I live out the Christian life on a daily basis. And I think that it can do the same thing with you. Now, because it's been several weeks. And some of you haven't been here. Let me just remind you of a few of the things that Paul was saying along the way, so that we'll understand this in context, there have been some false teachers who have been teaching a Jesus plus gospel of Jesus plus fill in the blank equals everything, Jesus is good, but you need to add these things. And then you'll finally have everything it is that you need. And this was what they were promoting things like Jesus, plus the Old Testament law, Jesus is good. But if you start making sure that you obey all of the laws, then you'll have even more than what you have with just Jesus. And you will have everything that you finally need for life now and for the life to come. Or they were teaching things like Jesus plus experiences, if you enter into it, and you really begin to feel things are a certain way, and that they're going great in your life, or you're able to have these kinds of vision experiences, then you'll finally have everything it is that you need. Or he was teaching about Jesus, or these false teachers about Jesus plus discipline are asceticism where you're kind of sacrificing and giving up a number of things. And if you show Jesus that you're super disciplined about religious things, and giving up that you're willing to give up all of these things, then you'll finally have everything he's good. But you got to follow through with these things here. And the apostle Paul, in the very last chapter begin to attack them for teaching this gospel, he calls them out and says, This may look like humility, but in reality, it's a false humility, what you're teaching here, he's saying, You guys have lost connection with the head with Jesus, He gives us body and head metaphor, where we're the church and the body and he's the the head and and you guys in teaching, these things have lost connection with him because he's the source. He's where everything is found. And the focus is becoming all these other things that are on the other side of the plus symbol. He's saying they're really only in appearance, it may seem like they're wise teachings, but it's really just surface level. Wisdom is all it is. And he says, You know what, at the end of the day, it's really self imposed worship. It may sound like it's good, but what it is, is is worship of self because everything gets put not on Jesus. But what comes after the plus look how good I'm following the Old Testament law. Aren't you proud of me, Jesus, you should be proud of me right? Look at my spiritual experiences compared to all the experiences as other people are having a look at how much I'm giving up, and how much I care about you, Jesus compared who's that worshipping, not Jesus, but your self. And so Paul gets all over them. Because the gospel, what it is that is true is a Jesus plus nothing equals everything kind of gospel. This is the good news about Jesus, he's gone to great lengths, throughout chapters one and two, to show the superiority of Christ, the supremacy of Christ, how they're rooted in him, they're complete in Him, and they have everything that they'll need, just in Jesus, you don't need to add anything to Jesus, because you've got everything that you'll ever need in him. And so now that he's taught them this truth, again, he's going to show them how it plays out in their lives, that they're rooted, and they are complete in Him. So let's walk through these four verses. Let me just read through them, and then we'll come back. And we'll kind of dive into them a little bit deeper as we go. Here's what Paul says, since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God, when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. So this hinge section, before we get into all these real practical behaviors, Paul actually starts off by giving two commands. So he already starts off with some of the imperatives right here, the two commands that he gives are found right here, set your hearts on things above or in Set your minds on things above. These are what you're supposed to do. I'm commanding you, Paul says, to set your heart on things above and to set your mind on things above. But notice what it is that he's commanding them to do is to focus on the vertical indicative VHS, he's giving an imperative and saying what you need to do, though, is focus on the indicative, all the things that I've taught you are true in chapters one, and two. And so Paul's going to start to again, get very practical in just a second. But he's grounding it on these two commands based on what it is that he says right here, up front. So look at this right here, I'm going to change to see if you can see this a little bit better. Everything that he says these commands that he gives us right here are grounded in what he says in this very first part. He says since then, so since what I'm about to say is true, then do this, then set your mind on things above, then set your heart on things above. Well, what is it, that's true. He says, since you've been raised with Christ, that's the spiritual reality. That's the indicative. That's what's true about you, since that's already happened. This is past tense that's already happened in your life, then set your hearts and your minds on those things above. Now, again, we're jumping into chapter three, Paul's already had two chapters worth of stuff that he's read or written, most of the time, these letters would be read in their entirety to the church congregation. So they would be familiar with what Paul just taught them about having already been raised with Christ. For us. It's been like four weeks since we looked at some of this stuff. So I'm going to show you a few things that Paul said that we've already looked at, to get you caught up, because he's grounding it on those things that he's already taught about. So look at this truth. This is so good. Paul, and Chapter One says, For he has rescued us notice that's past tense, that's already happened. What did he rescue us from the dominion of darkness? You've already been rescued out of the pit, you were in the dominion of darkness. But if you've said yes to Jesus, you're no longer in the dominion of darkness. You've been pulled out of that and brought us already present tense into the Kingdom of the Sun that he loves. Did you know that you're already in the kingdom?
You're not going to the kingdom one day, you're in the kingdom right? Now, if you've said yes to Jesus, you have been redeemed, you have forgiveness of sins, you're not going to get forgiven one day you already have forgiveness, Paul says of all of your past, present and future sins. So this is a spiritual reality that he's already taught them. This is another thing that he said. He said Once you were alienated from God, so that didn't used to be true of you again, you were in the dominion of darkness. You were a alienated from God, you are considered enemies of God because of your evil behavior. But now two of the greatest words in all of the Bible, right? But now he has reconciled you by Christ, physical body through death, to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation. If you've said yes to Jesus, did you know that you are already holy, that you're without blemish? And you're free from accusation? Isn't that good news? Oh, my gosh, that's such good news. The next thing you said is, is in Colossians, two or that I want to highlight when you were dead in your sins, so there was a time this was true, you are spiritually dead because of sin, and the uncircumcised flesh, God made you alive with Christ. That's what's true. Now, you are now alive with Christ. So when we come back to Colossians, three, and he says, since then, you've been raised with Christ. That's what he's been talking about how he's rescued you out of the dominion of darkness, you're already in the Kingdom of the Sun that he loves. All of these things are true about you. Now, one of the images that he gives us here is this after saying, set your hearts on things above, he points to Christ. So look, here, he says, where Christ is, and where is Christ, He says, seated at the right hand of God. So get this image in your brains, right? Paul's giving us this image, he says, that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God. So I thought about this for a while. And in the first service, I actually did it on this side thinking you guys are on the right, and somebody came up and said, You did it backwards. So I'm going to do it the opposite way, this time. All right. And so we're going to say that this is where God is seated in heaven in Paul is showing us here that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God. Now, the image of right hand in this language about sitting at his right hand, is a position of power. It's a position of privilege. He's giving us the image that Jesus is sitting in a place of authority. He's already talked about the supremacy and the superiority and authority of Jesus, all throughout Colossians, one and two, right? And he's giving us this image of power and prestige where Jesus is seated. And so that's, that's powerful in and of itself. But the most amazing thing in the world is that Paul said, you have been raised with Jesus. And so if God is sitting here, in Jesus is sitting here, and you've been raised with Jesus, then where are you sitting at this morning? You're sitting right here with Jesus. Look at verse three, doesn't that give new perspective? For you, dad in your life is now hidden with Christ in God. The world can't see that that's a spiritual truth. That's a spiritual reality right there. Now, again, I don't know what this image does for you. Maybe it's just me that the Lord was working on it this time. But this was such a powerful image, in my mind, it transformed and changed everything for me, because what I thought used to be true was that God was up there, and that I was down here. And yes, Jesus died for me. And I have eternal life. Because I've said yes to Him for salvation, and I've received His grace by faith in one day, I get to be here. Whenever I die in the more things that I do right now, by going to church and reading my Bible and giving and serving and all that stuff, the Navy, I'll get closer to God along the way. And then man, I can't wait till that one day I get there. But if this is true, how much closer could I already be to God? I can't get any closer through spiritual activity or a bunch of religious things that I'm trying to do. I'm in union with God right here, right now. It's not a place that I'm going to go one day. It's a place that I already am right now. And that changes everything for me. Because now if I'm in this place of closeness and intimacy, and with his authority and his power and his strength, then I'm able to live down here in a different way. But if I view him up there or me down here and we're just separated then. Wow, that's not great news for me, just good luck for me and good luck for you. Right? So this transforms, and really does change everything I think. Okay, so when I was thinking about that and thinking about that image, I was also reminded of something when I was studying that one of the commentators said about these years, I just really appreciated the way that he worded it. So I just wanted to read this really quickly to you before we go on. Here's what one commentator named FF Bruce says about this passage, he again says, You died. And as for the new life on which you have entered its true abode, is where Christ Himself is your life is the life of Christ maintained by in being by him at God's right hand, instead of waiting until the last day to receive the resurrection life, those who have been raised with Christ possess it here. And now the new creation, the Regeneration has already begun in you spiritually, that is to say, in Christ, you belong all ready to the age to come and enjoy its life. I guess the question is, are you enjoying the life that you have? Or are you still trying to get somewhere that you think you need to be that Jesus says, you're already there and you already have? My hope is that you're enjoying the life that you already have. And you're living from Jesus and not trying to live for Jesus. Here's one of the things that the Apostle Paul says in another place, he says here to set our hearts and minds on these things above any other excuse me, he says here, in Second Corinthians, the letter that he wrote to the church at Corinth, he says it this way, so we fix our eyes, not on what is seen. But what is on scene, since what is seen is temporary, right, so we're connecting these two here, and what is unseen, is eternal, he's connecting those, there. So set your hearts and minds on things above. And then we fix our eyes, not on what is seen for what is seen as temporary, what's unseen, as he ternal, here's an image that has helped me that's not an image, I'm going to draw you an image, okay. And, again, this is not original, I didn't come up with this. These are things that I've seen other people teach on, or I've read in different books before. But again, it's really helped me picture this in a different way. And so I just want to make sure you don't miss this and see if God would do the same thing through you, as well. Paul says in that verse, that there's an eternal realm, and a temporal realm that we are in the eternal realm is the realm of the on scene, in the temporal realm is the world of that we see, this is a realm of spirit. This is a realm of matter. The eternal realm is a place where things are complete and whole here, things are in process. In this realm, things are change, less, they don't change, they just always are here, things are always changing. This is a realm that is timeless, this is around that is time based, right? This is the realm of I Am, things just always are, this is the realm of I am b
Come in. Now, we know that this is the realm that God exists. But again, what we saw earlier, this is just a different way of kind of picturing this reality right here. We're saying that you and I are all readily already spiritually seated in Heaven with Him in the spiritual unit. First Corinthians 617 says, he who is joined to the Lord or he is united to the Lord is one spirit with him. You are one Spirit united to God in this way. So at the very core of your being, this is who you are, you are complete. There is no need to change because once you've been made complete, and you exist in the realm of I am, you don't need to change in any way, shape or form. You are already who God made you to be. Now, the truth of the matter though, is this is in a spiritual sense. You have certainly exist in this temporal realm. Scripture tells us that we have a body duh, right and that we have a soul or we have a mind. We have emotions, and we have a will where we make choices based on things So things in this realm are changing, right? It's no secret that our bodies are changing. And some of us do it faster than others, right? But the body is changing, we're going to feel different emotions, they're going to change at different times, I'm going to think about different things. And that's going to change, I'm going to make different choices here. All right, so we see how we exist in two places kind of at one time. But here again, is the beauty of it, we're still joined in this particular way. So we have the opportunity, even though all of this is going on, to live from here, instead of living here and for God in some way. Now, what this really says, Paul says, is to set your hearts and minds on things above. So we're to think above the line, we're not to set our focus on earthly things, and all that's going on here yet. I think this is what most of us do. We spend most of our time focused on what we're feeling. And whatever it is that we're feeling, we go, Well, what does that say about who I am? And where I'm supposed to be? We spend most of our time focused, not here, but here and what it is that I'm thinking? And what does that say about who I am or where I'm supposed to be? I'm thinking about all the choices that I've made in this realm and going, well, if I've made that choice, what does that really say about me, if I would still choose to do those things, we're looking out here into the seen world somewhere, and seeing all that goes on, and takes place in our world. And we're trying to process that about what it says about us what it says about the world that we live in, and where I'm supposed to be, I'm comparing myself to other people, and I need to get there, I need to get over here or be somewhere else in this world. And Paul says, no, no, I want you to flip that. I don't want you thinking and processing it in this way. I want you thinking here in what that says about what it is that you're feeling. I want you to look your focus here. And what that says about what it is that you are thinking, I want your focus here, and what that says about the choices that you're making, I want your focus here. And so when you see what's going on in the world, what I'm saying about what is what is going on in the world, and who you are in that particular world. And so with our focus here, we're able to process those things in a different way, where God is involved in the activity in us and through us, set your hearts and minds on things above. Really quickly. Let me just highlight this in a slightly different way. Because I think it'll really help pull everything together. Whenever we're talking about this. Again, we've got the eternal realm, and the unseen and the seen and all the above here. And here's the thing, we obviously know again, that God exists here, and that God is a Father, he is the Son, and the Holy Spirit three in one three distinct persons, one essence, one God, not three gods, right, but we've lived in this realm is a spirit, a body, and a soul. So again, body, soul, and spirit. But Scripture tells us that because of sin in our lives, indwelling sin in our lives, that we are spiritually dead, we read that verse earlier, right, we're empty, we are cut off from our life source, we are separated from him in this wait, if this is true about you, you're going to feel that if you're dead, you're going to feel dead. And you're going to keep looking to your emotions in what it is that you're feeling to try to find life, you're going to look to your mind and what is it you're thinking to see if you can figure out what is going on, you're going to look to your choices to try to find life and experience things. And you're going to look to your body and the things out in this world to try to find the life that is missing at the very core of your being in because this was true. And there was nothing that we could do to make ourselves undead. And to get rid of the sin that is all the way cut us to the core in our nature of who we are. God said I will allow my one and only Son to leave the glory in the riches of heaven, and to come here into your realm into this world of matter and be born into this world. And he is the only one being born into this world with no sin that lived the perfect Christian life. Why? Because he was living from his source, the way the Christian life was meant to be lived completely dependent on the father and when he at the end of his life had no sense himself to pay for he could pay for your sins in my sins and all of our sins on the cross that we couldn't get rid of that was causing our spiritual death. And then God raised Him from the dead and then he assists handed back to the Father and is sitting at the right hand of God the Father now in a place of authority, and then at Pentecost, he sins, the Holy Spirit. So now when you and I, by His grace, say yes to Him and the forgiveness that He purchased for us on the cross, then he can take care of our sin problem. In now, sin moves out away from us, and we become alive, we're completely forgiven at the core of our being, we no longer have a sin nature, we still have indwelling sin, we're still going to feel like cine, we're going to think about sending, sometimes we're going to choose to sin, but look where the sin is not, it's not at the core of our being, because this is the same picture as this God and you. It's spiritual realm. So this is true inside you. And you're already in the eternal realm here. But now we have a contact point, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. And there's a contact point, just like a radio wave has to have a contact point with an antenna, to be able to come through something, there's a contact point that can influence your mind and what you're thinking in the contact point that can influence your emotions and the choices that you're making, and your body. And now he can work through you from things that are hidden and people can't see in his life gets expressed into the world in a visible way. And people get to see Jesus on display. So set your heart and mind on things above. What's true of you here, not what you think is true based on what you're feeling or thinking down here. And it's completely different. I hope these images help you this is what has helped me a time when I now think of these verses that we read earlier, I see them in a whole new light. So now I'm gonna go back and read that and see since I've been raised with Christ, and now I've got this image in my mind, and I've got the line and how I'm there. And when I set my hearts and minds on things above, I'm there where Christ is. And when I think about my, I've been I've died and my life is now hidden with Christ in God, I understand I used to, I would read that. And I would go, what does that even mean? My life is now hidden with Christ and God. But when I saw these images are like, Oh, I get that what that means now. And now it's impacting the way that I live in a different way. And then we didn't touch on this. But as we end he says, When Christ who is your life, by the way, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory. So we're already there. We're already in the kingdom. But there will be a day when our soul and body will go above the line as well, right where we'll receive a new body in that way and will appear with Him in glory. And what again, what a glorious day that will be it will no longer at that point be hidden to the world. Right now. It's in that unseen spiritual realm, but it'll be on full display. Everyone will see on that day, what is already true of us now. And I think that's the biggest takeaway is what we're seeing about is true of us. Now, I think a lot of us as Christians are missing out on who we already are now, the eternal life that we already possess now and can live from now and enjoy. Now most Christians are trying to become someone that God has already made them into No wonder the Christian life can be met with frustration and failure and doesn't seem to make sense sometimes.
So don't let that be you. Set your hearts and minds on things above quit looking to your thoughts, and your emotions and actions to determine what that says about you and where you need to get one day and look again above the line where you already are and who you already are. And allow those truths, to speak to what you're feeling to speak to what you're thinking and to speak to what you're doing in this world. It will make all of the difference. One is you living for Jesus. The other is you living from Jesus. We were made to live from Jesus as dependent beings. It's not religion, its relationship. It's Grace. May we live from Jesus and who we already are in Him. As we set our hearts and minds on things above, Would you pray with me?