All right, I invite you to turn to Colossians chapter 3 this morning and we'll be looking at the first four verses. In this section Paul is dealing with focusing on the false teacher that we've been looking at in chapter 2 to the true teaching. I know we live in a day where people don't like to hear negative things, but Paul has been giving us negative things in chapter two so he can give us the positives in chapter three. We have to know what to avoid so that we can rightly pursue the right thing, the correct thing. Paul has told us that we do not need to follow man-made rules because we are in Christ. Now man-made rules are easy. They're a dime a dozen and they probably went up due to inflation. But you know what I mean? They're cheap. Everybody's got an opinion, right? One of my friends says, opinions are like noses. Everybody has at least one. And it's so easy to follow after somebody who made up their own set of rules. but you and I are bound not to man-made rules, but to God's revelation, right? As Luther said so many years ago, that our conscience must be held captive by the word of God, right? And that's what Paul is addressing here in Colossians 3. He begins to describe for us what is a transformed Christian life. Warren Wiersbe said many years ago, it does little good if Christians declare the truth and defend the truth, but fail to demonstrate it in their lives. That's correct. Wiersbe is accurate on that. It is so easy to declare the truth. It's easy to defend the truth, comparatively speaking. It's hard. to demonstrate the truth at home, at work, right? It's hard to do. Well, let me say it this way. It's easy to be a Christian in church. It's when we get home. Sometimes it's even on the way home, right? It's on the drive home. Or sometimes it's on the drive to church. It's hard. It's hard at work. It's hard to deal with the pressures and the challenges of the Christian life. And as I've said before, as we said downstairs as well, but the battle against sin begins in our heart. It's in our mind. It's easy to do the externals and still have a heart and mind that are not aligned with God. It's called hypocrisy, right? People have been doing it for thousands of years. It's easy. Because we fear what people will say, oftentimes more than we are concerned with what God will say. Now Paul is going to give us some, I hope you can follow through this, that's why I put it on the overhead here this morning. I want to walk us through basically three things. He says you need to assume the reality of the past. We need to be reoriented. in the present and we need to hope for our completion in the future. But before we get to those three things about the past, present, and future, he says you need to follow this logical conclusion. Do you see that in chapter 3 and verse 1? Because of all that we have seen from chapter two and chapter one, in light of especially verses 12 and 13, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead, and you being dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions. Therefore, live differently. Therefore, it needs to impact your thinking. Because you can, as a believer, live in a comatose state, right? You could be a vegetable, so to speak. Are we allowed to use that term anymore? I don't know. But you could be in a non-responsive state externally and still live a life that is pleasing to God. Right? Why? Because it's here. It's in your thinking, it's in your heart. There are people who get to a point where they are paralyzed in different ways or they're unable to speak or unable to do a variety of things physically, but their life can still be honoring to God. Why? Because it's the heart and the mind. So Paul says, therefore, first of all, you need to assume the reality of the past. If you have been raised up with Christ and raised up by God the Father, if this has happened, and it has, but you need to grasp that you have been raised, resurrected, co-resurrected with Christ. You died with Christ, chapter 2 and verse 20, to the elementary principles of the world. Why, as if you're living in a world, do you submit to, submit yourself to decrees, these man-made decrees? If you have died, you have been resurrected. And this is true of all believers. Don't let anybody come along and say, have you been resurrected with Jesus? I have. I know not all Christians are, but I have. No, don't fall for that. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have died with Christ and you have, in fact, we're gonna see four things, but the first two here, you have been resurrected with him. Assume the reality of the past. Thirdly, you need to be reoriented in the present. And he says two things. And he gives us the what is, first of all, a passionate pursuit. He says, keep seeking the things above. Notice he does not say simply, think about heaven. Most believers think about heaven, right? Every now and then we go, I wonder what heaven's going to be like. That's good. It's not wrong to think about heaven, but he doesn't say simply think about heaven. Nor does he say simply think about heavenly things. You know those creatures that are described in the book of Revelation? I wonder what that's really going to be like. That's good. It's not wrong to think about those things. But that's not what he's saying here. What he is saying is we must deliberately focus on Christ himself. We must think about Christ, where Christ is. What Paul is saying here by giving us this command is that Christian growth does not happen accidentally. You have to make a choice to be obedient to this command. Keep seeking the things above. Isn't this what we looked at this morning in Mark chapter 8? This is what Peter failed to do. Peter, you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Peter failed to do this. Now we can give Peter some slack because this hasn't been revealed yet. Colossians hasn't been written yet by what we see in Mark 8. But the point is, we see a good example of a bad example in Mark chapter 8. Peter failed to do this. And you and I, if I may be so bold, this is where we struggle. This is where we struggle. Keep seeking the things above. Notice what he says in this passionate pursuit. First of all, Christ's resurrection, where Christ is. What Paul is saying to these Colossian believers is that we are to be seeking a person, not merely a place. It's easy to say, oh, I just, I'm so tired of this world, I would just like to go to heaven. And that's good as far as it goes, right? But it doesn't go far enough. Why is heaven heaven? Not because of all the beauty, not because of the gold or the pearly gates or all those other things. It's because that's where God is. And that is where Christ now is because He has resurrected and He has ascended where Christ is. It's what theologians refer to as the Session of Christ. It's where He is seated on the throne at the right hand of God. Jesus himself said this would happen in Mark chapter 12 and verse 35. Jesus is seated at the right hand of his father. He is, if we can borrow an English phrase, he is the father's right hand man. But the sitting at the right hand means it is a place of unrivaled prestige and honor. This is why the two disciples later on in the book of Mark are arguing about who gets to sit at the left hand and the right hand of Jesus in his kingdom. They want the best seats possible and the honor. It's not just for viewing so they get a better angle on what's happening. It's because people get a better angle on them. Look who's at the right hand of Jesus. Jesus, however, is at the right hand of the Father, a place of unparalleled authority, a place of unparalleled responsibility, and it is where Jesus is exercising His divine sovereignty over all things. It is from this seat that He holds the universe together, right? He created all things and He holds all things together. Isn't that mind-boggling? that He can sit at the Father's right hand and keep every last atom, or atoms are broken down into different things as well, but every, the tiniest of little things that we haven't even discovered yet. Jesus holds it all together while seated at the Father's right hand. So Paul says you need to have a passionate pursuit. Keep seeking. But then he says, secondly, you need to be preoccupied. Now sometimes that's a bad thing, especially when you're driving. I was talking to someone the other day on the phone. They were on the phone. They were driving. And I said, so where are you? And he said, well, I'm, oh, I think I went through a town I didn't notice. I don't like to be on the same road when people are that preoccupied. However, we are called to be preoccupied. Notice what he says in verse 2. Set your mind. Set your mind. We are not only to seek heaven, We are also to think heaven. In other words, what? It does matter what we think. And secondly, we are responsible for our thoughts. I've run across too many people who say, God doesn't care what I think. He just is concerned about what I do. No. This passage tells us otherwise. It does matter what you think. It involves much more than just our thoughts. It involves our will. It involves a settled mindset that is concentrated on thinking about the things of God. Notice what he says, set your mind on the things above. And then he gives us the negative, not on the things that are on the earth, which would include those false teachers in chapter two. Be careful what you think. Paul is not saying that we must ignore earthly matters. God wants you to think about what you're going to have for lunch here in a little while, eventually. Right? It's not wrong. You need to think about food. You need to think about clothing. You need to think about your vehicle. You need to think about taking care of your house. That's all just basically basic maintenance, right? You need to do those things. You need to think about those things. But his point is, he is saying that we must reject an earthly mindset. We must learn to look at earthly things in light of eternity. It's a big difference. So now it's not a matter of being Nebuchadnezzar on top of the wall and saying, look at this great Babylon which I've made. Rather, oh God, you gave me Babylon, which is what Nebuchadnezzar learns, right, in chapter four. But God, you gave me Babylon and I'm to be a steward of Babylon and I'm accountable to you for how I take care of Babylon. Big difference. How I respond, think about my vehicle, or my house, or my job, or my family, or whatever it may be. God, I am a steward of this, and I am accountable to you for what you have given to me. Look at earthly things in light of eternity. Another way of looking at it is what John Kitchen has said. The reality upon earth is to be defined by the reality of heaven and not the other way around. What is the most important thing in life? Think about that question and think about the answers that you have heard from people at work. maybe in your family, maybe something you've seen in various media, what's the most important thing in the world? You're gonna get a different answer, right, if you're a believer? And if you're a believer that's going consistently and faithfully in the route you ought to be going, you realize that scripture truth defines tangible reality. It is scripture that is eternal truth, right? We're on dangerous ground when we weigh spiritual matters by what appears to be the facts based on limited earthly evidence. Let me give you for instance for that. What is marriage? What is a woman? What is a baby? Makes a big difference, right? Where your mindset is. He who sees only the earthly sees only partial reality. And that's where you and I are born, and that's how we live until God redeems us and transforms us. The one who sees only the earthly sees only partial reality. He misses the most vital pieces of evidence for interpreting reality in its fullness. You and I can look at this universe and stand in awe of a Creator God, not just in awe of a really cool camera on a satellite somewhere. Big difference. What do you see when you look at those pictures of space? Are you drawn to the wonders of the Creator? Or is it just really cool? It's a cool picture. Big difference. Paul says, you need to have a passionate pursuit, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. You need to have a preoccupied interest, set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. Now he gives us the why. Because you died. And your life has been hidden and it remains hidden, by the way, the Greek verb aspect here. Your life has been hidden and remains hidden with Christ in God. What is he saying? You are so identified with Christ, We have been liberated by what He has done, and yet we are so closely associated with Him. We have absolute security, right, as believers? For those who struggle with that, maybe you do more than you desire. Some people wrestle with that. How can I be saved if I struggle with these types of sins? What was I thinking? Your life has been hidden with Christ in God. How secure is that? It's perfect. Permanent security. You are concealed with Christ in God. In other words, you are perfectly safe. You are perfectly safe. Paul says, if you're going to grow in your Christian life and resist the temptations of man's teaching and manward rules, you need to, first of all, assume the reality of the past. Secondly, you need to be reoriented in the present. Thirdly, you need to hope for completion in the future. Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is always rooted in some revelation from God. Always. I can have hope because God has spoken. And because he has spoken, you and I can have hope for the future. Look what he says here. First of all, he says, when Christ, who is our life, is manifested or is made visible, and that day is coming. That day is coming. I don't know about you, There are times when my frustration with the world and the chaos of our culture, sometimes I long for the absence of that more than I long for the presence of Christ. I admit that. I need to love Him and long for Him to be manifested. Sometimes I long for sin to be removed, and it will be removed. But I need the presence of Christ more, right? Jesus is not to be peripheral to our lives. He is absolutely essential. And Paul says, when Christ, who is our life, is made visible, He is manifested, then He gives us this promise. then you also will be manifested. You also will be made visible with him in glory. Ponder that, right? You're sitting in Colossae in some increasingly obscure city because the highway department rerouted the main road past your town and your town is beginning to die. That's what's happening in Colossae. And you have become second-rate city in the region and life is not what it once was. Paul says to his believers, to the believers in Colossae, he says, I want you to know four things. You are associated with Christ in His death. You have died with Christ. You're associated with Him in His resurrection, in His life, and in His glory. Well, there ain't no glory in Colossae anymore. Right? It's gone. It's fading away. You ever thought about that? What an amazing thing it is for God to do for these insignificant pagans in an insignificant town? Just like you and me. Do we deserve those things that he has done for us? No. But doesn't it just cause you sometimes just to sit back and get overwhelmed? God, why did you do this? I don't deserve this." And God says, you're right. It's grace. But God, we're just insignificant people in an insignificant town. And as Francis Schaeffer said so many years ago, there are no insignificant places, no insignificant towns. God is working in every place. And He's working here. And He's working in your life. Jesus will not be revealed in humility when he comes. He's not going to be revealed in suffering and shame. When Jesus comes again, right, he's going to be revealed in awesome splendor and glory. Right? Revelation chapter 1 describes who we will see. Let me wrap this up here. First of all, let me urge you, and as I urge myself, let us passionately seek to pursue this line of thinking and living for ourselves, for us. Not living for ourselves, but living and pursuing. We need to do this ourselves. That's what I'm trying to say. I'm not very good at English here. You and I individually need to pursue the things above. You and I need to set our minds on the things above. You and I alone are responsible. Now, the old saying is we can't keep the birds of the air from flying over our head, but we can keep them from building a nest in our hair, right? In other words, what? I can't keep the world from tempting us, can't keep Satan from tempting us, or our flesh from tempting us, but it's how I respond to that temptation. I'm responsible for that. So the world may try to bombard us with all kinds of anti-God, anti-Christian, anti-truth things, but you and I are called by the grace of God and enabled by the Spirit of God to pursue this line of thinking and this line of living. I can't do it for you, you can't do it for me. I couldn't do it for my children when they were under my roof, I can't do it for my wife. We are each responsible before God to passionately pursue the things above, to set our mind on the things above. And while we do that, let us passionately encourage others to pursue this line of thinking and living. That's why we get together, right, is to encourage one another and say, you know what, it is worth it. Pursue the things of God. Because the world says pursue the things that make you feel good. Do what you think is best. Pursue your own truth. Just love yourself before you love anybody else. And God says no. Deny yourself. Take up your cross daily and follow Christ. And I need to hear that from you as we gather after the service, as we gather for fellowship meals, we gather even before service begins, we talk and interact and we need to be reminded. I need to be reminded by you and I need to remind you to pursue the things of God. pursue them passionately and develop, by the grace of God, a mindset where my focus will be, my default thinking will be to the things of God rather than the things of the world. So would you pray, first of all, for yourself this week, that you would pursue these things and pray for one another, that we would, by the grace of God, learn what Paul has said here in Colossians 3. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth, because you died, and your life has been hidden and remains hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with him in glory. What hope, what hope that brings. Next week, Lord willing, I want to look at verses five through 11, and we want to look at the God word holiness, but Paul is going to express it with a bunch of negatives. He's going to say things not to do. We'll try to do that, Lord willing, next week. Let's pray. Father, we bow before you, creator of heaven and earth. the one who works all things after the counsel of your will. And Father, you in your grace and mercy have drawn us to yourself and redeemed us and transformed us. And Father, we would say first of all this morning, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your patience with us. Thank you for your purpose in, as Paul says in Colossians, excuse me, in 2 Corinthians, that we are being transformed. It's a process, a metamorphosis. But Father, it's a slow process at times. And sometimes we grow discouraged. Sometimes we grow tempted to be overwhelmed. And give us grace, Father, to keep focus. That the transformation, the metamorphosis is taking place. But we are responsible for what we pursue. We are responsible for what we think. And grant us grace to this end. And Father, we would also ask that you would give us grace to look for ways to stimulate one another to love and to good works, as the writer of Hebrews says. Give us grace to deliberately encourage other believers within this congregation. Give us grace to reach out of our comfort zone and to look for ways to build up and encourage those around us. Father, thank you that you have given us your word, and thank you that we can spend this time together this morning, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll ask you to stand for our benediction this morning, which is taken from the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. And I've said this so many, many times and you're probably tired of me saying this, but I just marvel at the providence of God as we made up our list of benedictions so long ago and how they just coincide with the passage for this morning. Hebrews 13 verses 20 and 21. The writer of Hebrews says, now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, may he equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. You are dismissed.