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ប្រតិចារិក
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I thought it would be fitting this afternoon just to have a special message off of our message this morning. Ephesians 2 makes it very clear that when we trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior, that we are given new life. We are raised to spiritual life. Before salvation we're spiritually dead, but after salvation we are spiritually alive. But what Ephesians 2 does not do for us is it does not go into detail about that spiritual life that's now in us. And the key cross-reference for that, of having spiritual life, is Colossians chapter 3. So I thought it would be fitting since we spent a lot of time on speaking about having new spiritual life, once you're saved, that we might as well spend a little time studying what that means for us. So I thought we'd take a break from Hebrews before we really dig into chapter 11 and just spend some time in Colossians 3. So Colossians 3, and we already read it this morning for a cross-reference, but I'm going to go ahead and read it again. It says this, Therefore if any of you have been raised Up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, and you also will be revealed with him in glory. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead, to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge. according to the image of the one who created him, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and freeman, but Christ is all and in all." In other words, there is no distinction in salvation. God offers salvation to who? Anybody and everybody. And that anybody and everybody, if they put their trust in Christ, are now saved equally in Christ. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we ask that this afternoon we would come away with a greater understanding of this passage. Pray that we'd come away with a greater understanding of what it means for us to have spiritual life, that we would come away walking in that spiritual life, bringing glory to you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So as I already mentioned earlier today, we opened up Ephesians 2 talking to us about being raised with Jesus Christ from our spiritually dead position. In the context of Colossians here, in chapter 3 is a shift. The letter shifts from warnings against false teachers to practical living. So these four verses build off of and in contrast to the previous arguments employed against teaching that pushes a self-abasement idea, a pride, a worship of angels, and rejecting of Christ. That's Colossians chapter 2. So now he comes to chapter 3 and he says, Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, then you're to be seeking the things above. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, if you have persevered through the false teachings, if you're not, being pulled and dragged to the false teachings, which are against Jesus and the gospel. And the understanding is really it's a rhetorical statement or question. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ and the understanding is what? Those he's writing to are believers and they what? They have been raised with Christ. If you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above. So there should be a sign of life. Right? You think about it. Jesus came to Lazarus's grave and he said, Lazarus, come forth. And nothing happened. And Lazarus just stayed laying in the tomb and didn't start speaking or walking or showing any signs of life. And Jesus said, look, I raised Lazarus from the dead. What would people say? I don't think so, right? That's not what happened, of course. Jesus came up and he said, come forth. And Lazarus got up from out of the grave and he walked out and he spoke and he had a life. Because he was alive. There were signs of life. just also as the little girl who is raised up from the dead and then she has something to eat. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead and then He goes and He appears to His disciples and His followers and eats with them and drinks with them and speaks to them and then ascends to heaven. It's clear that there is life. When somebody is alive, there are signs of life. And that's, of course, in contrast to when we are spiritually dead. Last week, we talked about dead and not kicking, as opposed to this week, we're alive and kicking. Alive and kicking. Last week we talked about how from birth we are spiritually dead and showing no signs of life. Not kicking. But this week we see those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are alive and showing signs of spiritual life and kicking. Alive and kicking. So, that's what we're looking at this morning. If you have been raised up with Christ, which if you've trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I can tell you confidently you have been raised. You do have spiritual life now. If you are trusting in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you have been raised up by God with Christ. What is the response for us? Verse 1, we see the command, keep seeking the things, where? Verse 1, above. Keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Isn't it interesting to note the parallelism from Ephesians? It talks about being raised with Christ and seated with Him. That we spiritually are seated with Christ, that our salvation is as good as done. And here it says, you have been raised up with Christ, so keep seeking the things above where Christ is. So what is this? It's one evidence is a change of mindset. An evidence that you are now spiritually alive is instead of having a focus on the things here on earth, money, wealth, fame, friends, prosperity, etc. etc. etc. Your focus is now on who? On Jesus. On heavenly things. On the Word of God. It's a change of direction in life. Instead of following after Satan and the world and fulfilling the desires of the flesh, we are to seek those things which are above. We are to be seeking God. As we talked about in Titus, we are to have a God-word life. or to be growing closer and closer to God. This word seeking here is to devote serious effort. Devote serious effort or to realize one's desire or objective, to strive for or aim for, to try to obtain or desire. Again, we see that happen in people's lives all the time, whether it be in being employed somewhere and they devote themselves to that job so that they would gain raises and promotions, etc. Or a younger person who's into sports and they devote themselves to a sport. And each aspect of their life, it seems, points towards that one direction of going in a specific direction. If you've been raised to life, to spiritual life, then your life, yes, you may do different things in your life and have recreation and a job and a family and other things, but all of those things are to aim around one person. And who is that? Around Jesus Christ. You are to have your mind or to be seeking or devoting yourself to things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So when one recognizes the meaning of seek here and considers the context of what Paul is saying, we are to devote ourselves to heavenly things where Christ is the result, where Christ is the result will be a life of living for God and not things that perish. Also not things that do not profit. In other words, he's coming off of chapter 2, which is full of people trying to say, don't eat, don't touch, don't do this, don't do that, and adding on or priding themselves on supposedly having visions of angels, etc., etc. He's saying, don't be focused on these silly earthly things, rather be focused on the gospel and be focused on Jesus. So as opposed to these ceremonial man-made religions that are noted by prideful self-abasement, etc., and selfishness, we see Ephesians 2.6 says, we are no longer citizens of this earth. We're called out of living for this temporary world and its priorities. We are seated above with Christ. We're to be laying up for ourselves treasures where? In heaven, where moth and rust don't corrupt. Where thieves do not break through and steal. Because if you're laying for yourself up treasures on earth, moth, rust, they corrupt. Thieves break through and steal. Everything here on earth is temporary. But the treasures and rewards in heaven, they are eternal. We are to be leaving behind the tax tables and love of money for following after a new master. and loving God, leaving behind worship of creation and self and worshiping the Creator, doing all from eating or drinking for the glory of God. That is spiritual life. One commentator says it this way, we're not to strive for heavenly status. Catch this. We're not to strive for heavenly status. since that has already been freely given us in Christ. We were already told in Ephesians 2 that we are seated with Christ Jesus where? In heavenly places. We have received a citizenship that is not of this earth. We are headed one day for heaven. That is our home. Not here. We're just strangers passing through. Alright? So, this verse is not telling us that our whole life is striving for a heavenly status. Why? Because that status has already been freely given to us in who Christ Jesus is. So what does it mean? Rather, we are to make that heavenly status the guidepost. for all our thinking and acting. Catch that? We're not striving for it. We have it. Therefore, it's a guidepost. And by using the present tense, Paul indicates that believers should be constantly occupied in striving for this orientation. All right? So in other words, to use an off illustration, it's not like Who won the World Cup this past year, France? There you go. All right, so it's not like sorry all of you Croatians. So France won the World Cup and you had players that have trained their whole life working towards that moment. But they were not World Cup champions until when? The moment they won that game. So all their hard work, all their effort, all the time they spent, all the sacrifice of eating pleasurable foods instead of healthy foods, etc. etc. went in with the purpose of at one point obtaining World Cup Championship status. That is not what is happening here. What's happening here is God saying, listen, if you've been raised with Christ Jesus, you are now a citizen of heaven. You're now seated with Christ presently in the heavenly realms. Will one day it be fully realized? Yes, when we see Jesus, when we are physically in heaven. But until that time, you already are. So therefore that your life that you're living now is not striving to obtain that. It's using it as a guidepost so that your life that you live now would be in alignment with who you already are and one day will be. Does that make sense? So it is a guidepost, this status that you already have freely given to in Christ is a guidepost for all of our thinking and our acting that you are of the heavenly realm. You're just a stranger passing through this earth. And that is the location where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. It's a place of authority and prominence. This follows right in line with the display of God's power that is at work in us. It is shown by Jesus Christ rising from the dead, being seated in a place of authority, giving us head over the church, a church which also formerly was also formerly dead people. spiritually dead, but now alive, raised with Jesus, living for that heavenly realm. That is the church. He goes on further, not only seeking the things which are above, devoting yourself to the things above, that seems to show action, but also, verse 2, setting our minds on the things above, not on the things that are here on earth. So we are to be setting our minds, it's a present tense imperative, or in other words, right now, do it. Don't delay. Right now, right here, continually think on these things that are above. Have your mind set on eternity. Thinking of God and the wonderful gifts that we have in heaven, the blessings which he has blessed us with. If you are thinking on heavenly things, on your Savior, your status, your heavenly status, God's blessings, what will you be seeking? Of course the answer is the things which are above. So we see as we are seeking the heavenly things, what will our mind be thinking about? Heavenly things. And you see, it feeds off of one another. The more time you spend thinking upon the things of the Lord and your heavenly status, the more time you're going to spend living for those things. The more time you're spending on those things, serving the Lord and spending time in scripture and seeking, using your heavenly status as a guidepost and where will your mind go to those very things. It goes hand in hand, back and forth, and back and forth. It stands in stark contrast to the deceived, unbelieving world, and what they live for in their end. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. That's Philippians 3.19. Being dead in trespasses and sins, followers of the prince of the power of the earth, having the spirit of disobedience. We are no longer that. We are now sons and daughters of God and Christ. What's interesting is he has this. He says, verse 2, look at it. The first part says, set your mind on things above. Could he stop there easily? Absolutely, right? It's very clear. Set your mind on things which are above. But he doesn't stop there because he knows we're weak. He knows we struggle. So He goes on and not only does He give us a positive command, set your mind on things above, but then He gives us a negative command. Verse 2, not on the things that are on earth. Because He knows that even as He commands us, set your mind on things above, He understands that we're weak and we're going to be tempted and drawn away to set our minds where? On things around us. On the temporal things. So he commands us in the very same sentence, the very same verse, not on the things that are on earth. It is like he brings this in because he knows that we are in a constant battle. There is no easy one time setting our mind on things above. You recognize that? It's not like you hear this message today and you say, I'm going to start thinking on things above. And you walk out of here and you never struggle again. It's the wrong mindset. That's not the case. It is a continual battle, a continual struggle in our lives, as each temptation, as each trial, as each hardship comes, as each easy moment of life comes, to start focusing rather than on Christ and the heavenly things and your heavenly status, to be caught up with the cares of this world and the here and now. Yet it is not that ought not be what marks a child of God. Rather, we are to be thinking upon eternity. It is easy to be drawn back to having a mindset, drifting back to pre-salvation. The whole world around us is pushing us to live for the dead, empty, and meaningless world. Just flip on the TV, watch a single commercial, and you understand there is constant promotion of living for the here and now, the things of this world, fulfilling the desires of your flesh, rather than living for eternity. And the encouragement here, as we continue on, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. In other words, your physical flesh, the sinfulness, that has been put to death alongside of Christ. And now you've been given that new spiritual life alongside of Christ's resurrection to live a life that's glorifying to God. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So it's a parallel to being dead with Christ, your life is hidden with Him. It's what we illustrate every time somebody is baptized here. The statement is what? You're buried in likeness with His death, raised to walk in newness of life. So, MacArthur says it this way, our blessings are in heaven. Ephesians 1 verse 3. The angels are there. Ephesians 3 verse 10. Christ is there. Ephesians 1 20. And we, through our union with him in his resurrection, exist in the heavenly realm. Ephesians 2 verse 6. Because the things most important to us are in heaven, we must not be entangled in this present world. Life is now with Christ. Notice all the mentions of Christ in these four verses. Think about it. If you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ. Verse four, when Christ is revealed, or when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Over and over again, we see Christ is the focus. This is our new life. It's not trying to please man-made rules or regulations or traditions, self-abasement or pleasures, or this world. No, it is Christ. Philippians 1, for me to live is Christ. The pulpit commentary says our future destiny with our present redemption is wrapped up in Christ. Our life is not only with Him, it is Himself. It is Him. He is its source and ground, way and rule, means and end. It's all. Everything you are, everything you will be, every aspect of your life ought to be Christ. Because you are raised in spiritual life along with Him. And lastly, in God. Believers share a common life with the Father and Son. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, 17, that the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. Believers are partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1, verse 4. In other words, our life is hidden with Christ in God. We have new life along with God. Centered in God means that the hidden life is secure, unable to be touched by anyone. It's another commentary. Centered in God means that the hidden life is secure, unable to be touched by anyone. Isn't that encouraging to think your spiritual life is alongside of Christ, hidden in Christ, in God. Can that spiritual life be touched? Could that spiritual life be taken away or lost? Absolutely not. May it never be. And we see then, looking to the future, verse 4. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. We continue on in the spiritual life that is invisible, made evident by new actions and life. But it will be made visible, 100% revealed, authenticated when we see Jesus. So we press on and we live as those who we really are, alive in Christ with a citizenship not of this world, but of the future. Therefore, because of these things, because you have new spiritual life, because this life causes us to start thinking and seeking the things which are above, the eternal things, not the temporal things, Therefore, we are to consider the members of our earthly body as dead. No longer are you dead spiritually, you're alive spiritually. But before salvation, you are alive to what? To sin, to rebellion. But now, after salvation, you are dead to sin. You're crucified along with Christ. Physically, in that sense, but raised spiritually, given new spiritual life. So that, though you are still tempted, though you still are weak, though you still will sin and struggle, you do not have to say yes anymore. By God's grace, by the power of His might that's at work in you, you are able to say no. You are able to say yes to God and no to your sin, where before, all you could do was say yes to your sin and no to God. Now you have the freedom, now the chains have been broken for you to say no to that which used to keep you captive. A simple illustration, once bound completely by chains by Satan and your sin, now you're set free of those chains, you go over to the new kingdom, but Satan's still throwing darts, alright? You still might feel the pull, the temptation, but your chains are freed. Your chains are broken. So therefore, because of these things, because one day you will be revealed with Christ in glory, because you are seated in the heavenly places, therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to what? Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. In other words, as there is immorality in your life or impurity, giving way to sinful passions, giving way to evil desires, giving way to greed, all of those things amount to one thing or are summed up in what? Idolatry, which is placing something before God. Having an idol is placing something before God. So therefore, if you are risen with Christ, which if you've trusted in Jesus Christ, you are. So because you have spiritual life, consider the members of your earthly body as dead. Or in other words, put into action that truth. They are dead to that thing. They no longer need to respond. And therefore, your life ought to be marked by a saying of no to your sin. When you feel the old temptation, the old trials, the old passions, which once had control of your life, you're now able to say, no. The picture here is something dead does not respond, as we've already talked about from Ephesians 2. You don't go up to something that's dead and expect it to respond. Just as when Jesus was at the tomb of Lazarus, He says, open the tomb. And their response is what? We don't want to open the tomb. He's been dead four days. It would smell. You can't do anything. There's no point in opening up the tomb. And Jesus says, open it. Why? Because when He speaks, there is a response from something that was once dead or someone that was once dead. That's unexpected. And in that same way, what it's saying here is, listen, if you're now in Christ, you now have spiritual life, you no longer need to respond to sin. So when sin comes knocking at the door, when sin pokes you to entice you to sin, to do wrong, to turn against God, to go back to where you once were, you have the ability to say what? No. You have the ability to ignore it. Will you always ignore it? Will you always say no? No. But you can. And you ought to. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. So verse 6, understand if you are in Christ, Christ cannot deny himself, so therefore you will never be denied, and you will never see the wrath of God, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. So the temptation is to say, well, if I'm forgiven, if I'm freed, then I can do what? I can sin all I want. The point of Paul here is, no, listen, put to death those things, consider them dead. For it is because of these very acts, because it is because of sin, that God's wrath will come upon the sons of disobedience, or those who reject Jesus Christ. So if you've been forgiven, if you've received spiritual life, You've been given the freedom to live now for God, to live for eternity rather than temporal things. Don't go back and live for the temporal things because it's those things which you were saved from. It would be like, If you were diagnosed with some awful sickness and the doctors were able to understand that it was because you ate something very specific, or here we go, an allergy. I have family members that have very bad allergies towards nuts, towards peanuts. It would be like my nephew getting a hold of a peanut butter bar and eating it and needing to be rushed to the hospital. And the doctors are able to save him, give him the right medicine to stop it. As soon as he gets released from the hospital, he goes straight back from where he came from and takes another bite of that peanut butter bar. Everybody would say, no, you don't get it. You just had to be saved from that. That same way, we get saved. We trust in Jesus. We're forgiven. We recognize that Jesus died for us to free us from our sin. And once we are freed, and we are given spiritual life, and we're told, you now have a place in heaven. You now have eternal life. We say, all right, great. I'm headed there one day. I'm going to go back to my peanut butter bar. It's foolishness. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. Verse 7, And in them you also once walked when you were living in them. In other words, you were there at one point. But now, verse eight, you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth. Don't lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices. And you have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. In other words, we don't have time to go completely into it, but it's simple. It's simple. Listen, when you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you said what? You said no to your sin and yes to Jesus. So don't slip back into the wrong mindset of saying yes to sin and no to Jesus. Don't go back to where you once were, because you once were a child of wrath. headed for destruction, but now you are God's child, headed for eternity in heaven. Seated with Christ in the heavenly places, having spiritual life, to walk in the newness, to bring honor and glory to God, your salvation is meant for whose glory? God's, to show the riches of His glory, to show the riches of His mercy and His grace and His love in us for ages to come. That is the purpose of your salvation. So therefore, Since you have been raised up with Christ, seek the things where? Above. Set your mind on things above. Don't sit back into where you came from. Don't go back to that which was meant to kill you. Don't go back to that which would be hostile to you, a decree of debts against you. Jesus nailed those to the cross. So set your mind on things above. Seek the things which are above. What are those? God. God's attributes, the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, hope. kindness, letting all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice, and the opposite, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you, and love one another, even as Christ has loved you, laying down His life as a sweet-smelling sacrifice. Those are the things which are above. Those are the things which will have a lasting, eternal impact. Not this world. So brothers and sisters, may we live not for the temporal things. Number one, don't slip back into your old sinful ways. Number two, don't be caught in things that aren't necessarily sinful, but just aren't profitable. Don't be living for the temporal. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Father, would you help us to have the proper mindset in this life? That we would be a group of people that love you and love your word. Love Jesus and recognize that we are headed for eternity with you. That it is far better to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven, rather than here on earth. Everything here on earth will pass, but Lord, that which we do for you out of love for you and service will last forever. Pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.
Alive and Kicking
ស៊េរី Exposition of Ephesians
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