If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Amen. Children, young people, kids, have you ever been around a dog that liked to play fetch? Maybe you have, or you've been around a golden retriever, or a Labrador retriever, and whenever you grab a tennis ball, okay, or a frisbee, what does that dog do? That dog is focused on you. You put your hand up, and that dog is looking right at that tennis ball, that frisbee. Their focus is on you. And you can't, you hide it behind your back. What does the dog do? Sits right there and looks right at you. You do a fake throw. I do that sometimes, I fake it. And the good ones will know, you still got the ball. They're very diligent. They're focused on that ball and they want that ball. And some of the dogs I've been around, I'm more likely to throw up my arm before the dog gets tired. They want it, they desire that. They're focused on that ball. And in this passage of scripture, Paul is getting at that idea. He wants Christians to be focused on heaven, on heavenly things, on Christ. Is it not your experience? I know it's my experience, but I'm often not as zealous, not as focused as those golden retrievers. Those Labrador retrievers often get, in different ways, sidetracked with earthly things. earthly things, things that are maybe not even simple themselves. They take the place of heavenly things, eternal things. We get sidetracked and our focus is diminished. Paul is a faithful pastor. He loves the Christians in Colossians. He's dealt with some of the doctrinal issues that they have. He's brought to them the truth of the faith. They struggled with getting off sidetracked from Christ, going after philosophy, going after the basic principles of the world, Jewish ceremonies, things like that. And he's been teaching them to get their focus back on Christ doctrinally. But now, here in this chapter, especially through this whole chapter. It's not just about the truth of the faith, but it's the life of the faith. The gospel transforms our life. He does the same thing in the book of Ephesians, the book to the Romans. No, he's focused on action. He wants them to seek things that are above. And the lesson that we learned this morning is very important. It's very important. Do you have a heavenly focus? I'm not asking you if you ignore earthly things. That's not what's being said here, as I'll describe in a moment. But is your life marked by one who knows that you're passing through and that eternity is a long time? And do you make decisions? And do you live your life daily and weekly and yearly with that in mind? It's very important. What we learn this morning, because of the power that they have in Christ, and because of the glories that await them in heaven, Christians are commanded to live a heavenly focused life. Because of the power that they have in Christ and because of the glories that await them in heaven, Christians are commanded to live a heavenly-focused life. I want to bring this lesson to you under three points. First, I want you to see the power of a heavenly-focused life. Secondly, the reason for a heavenly-focused life. And then finally, Perhaps most importantly, getting at the heart of this text, the command to live a heavenly focused life. Look with me at the beginning of verse 1 and also at verse 3. We see the power of a heavenly focused life. Now, in these four verses, Paul gives really two inducements, two motives for the one command that's in here. He knows that Christians can get down about their sin. They can get down by the fact that many times they are not heavenly focused. He wants to encourage them. He says in verse 1, if then you were raised with Christ. Then after the command in verse 3 he returns to that idea. He says for as a reason for the command for you died. He is going to get one idea. He's gonna get the idea that the gospel of Jesus Christ has at least two facets. It really has more than that, but two major facets. Okay, now the gospel is this. It includes this idea that even though you're a sinner, you violated God's law, If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you trust in Him and you rely on Him alone, just as you're sitting in that pew and you're trusting that pew to hold you up, if you rely upon Him, He'll forgive you of all of your sins and He'll make you righteous in His sight. If you confess your sins, He's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But what Paul is getting at here is the other aspect of the gospel. See, Christ does not just wash sinners of all the mud that's on them because of sin. He transforms them. He gives them power. He raises them up spiritually. If then you were raised with Christ, and that's what Paul's getting at here. He's really going back to verse 18, I'm sorry, verse 12. of chapter 2. You recall, one of the ways that Paul convinces them that Christ is so much better than all these other things. And Christ is sufficient as He gives them spiritual life. Verse 12 of chapter 2. They're buried with Him in baptism in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God. They're alive spiritually. Part of the problem with all mankind. Part of the problem that you had Coming out of the womb is part of being a son, a daughter of Adam and Eve, is that you're enslaved to sin and you're spiritually, even spiritually dead. But now we're alive. We can love God with all of our heart and all of our soul. We can believe in Him. We can have joy and peace and self-control. And along with that, Really the same idea, verse three says, for you died. It's kind of an interesting paradox. There's paradoxes in the Christian faith. If you want to be great, Christ says, then be a slave, be a servant. Christians are those who not only are alive, but they're also dead. They're dead to the power and the slavery of sin. They're dead to the ways of this world and to the ruler of this world. That's what he means here. For you died, died to the world. Paul says in Galatians 6, 14, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. I came across a very useful illustration this week. One preacher tried to describe this idea and he compared Christianity, especially this facet of Christianity to the other religions. Imagine, for a moment, imagine you have a man in the deep end of a pool and he can't swim. And he's struggling and he starts to sink and he's losing consciousness and he's down at the bottom of a pool. Buddha, Confucius, they come by the poolside and they say, oh, you should have listened to me. You should have listened to me. You wouldn't be in this situation if you'd listened to me. The Pope, the Pope comes by, Mohammed comes by and he says, oh, terrible, let me get one of those long poles, you know, they used to clean the pole with. And he puts it down in there and he says, kid, take it, just help yourself. Just help yourself, just grab on. The guy's unconscious. See, one of the glorious things about the Christian faith is the fact that Jesus, you know, he comes by and he dives in. He dives in. He picks the man up. He brings him up on the side of the pool. He resuscitates him. He brings him to life. He says, man, go your way. You're alive. My dear friends, what Paul is saying here, it's not a question. It's not hypothetical. You're not doubting that they've been raised with Christ. He's making a statement. He says, you have the power to have a heavenly mind because you are dead to sin. Sin is no longer your master. You're alive in Christ. Christ is united to you by his spirit. He's working in you. He's your power. Listen, if I had to trust in my own power, I'd be miserable. If you had to trust in your own power to stay heavenly focused, that's depressing, but you're not. You are alive. And you may be here this morning, of course, and you may not be alive. Now, the Christian life is not just a straight trajectory to heaven. We often go through valleys. And I realize that. David went through a valley many times. I've gone through valleys. And I want you to think for a moment, if you are changed, if you are different from the world, if you have spiritual, true spiritual desires, do you even love being here? Do you like listening to scripture? Do you like listening to preaching? Do you love people who hate you? You may not be born again as it were, but I know that many of you, many of you are, And I want you to think about this. You are called to believe. Listen, you will do what you know and what you believe. If you do not believe that the gospel enables you to have a heavenly mind, you won't have a heavenly mind. You'll just be poor, pitiful, and the unforgiven. You're called to believe. This is your call to rest and to believe in Christ alone for your justification, for forgiveness of sins and for righteousness. You are to trust in Christ and His Spirit to transform you and to keep you focused. By the power of the Spirit, Christians can be far more focused than even a golden retriever. I want you to think about what you believe. Do you believe that? Are you frustrated with your sin? Are you frustrated that you often are not heavenly focused and you might have a good 2, 3, 4 weeks and then you just kind of peter out for 2, 3, 4 weeks? Trust in the Lord Jesus. Believe. You have to believe that you have power. This is a fact. Paul is making a statement. The power of heavenly focused life is in Christ by His Spirit. This is a great encouragement. This is how We do this. See, Paul is a good pastor. He doesn't just give them a command. He reminds them, if then, you were raised with Christ. Now, oftentimes, though, again, speaking for myself, we need more than just that. I mean, the question is, the world's got a lot to offer. I mean, do you ever think about that? I mean, I think as Christians in this country, we're wealthy. We're wealthy, even if you're poor. You're wealthy. There's a lot to be distracted about. And what Paul says here, secondly, is he gives a reason. He's saying, listen, Earth and all of its pleasures and all of its wonder, even good things, even things that aren't sinful in themselves, compare nothing to Christ and to being with Christ in heaven. We are to be heavenly focused because of the glories that await us in heaven. Those are the glories that await us in heaven. We pick up in verse three, going on into verse four. Verse three, he says, coming off the command to seek those things which are above, which I'll speak to in a moment, coming off the command to set your mind on things above. Again, he says, for you died, and he gives a new thought, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. What he does here in the first place is he answers an objection. He answers an objection. You may be thinking to yourself, I am not, I mean, I really struggle, Pastor Sam, with having a heavenly mind. I value the things of earth very much. I have little appetite for scripture. Is this really true for me? What he's saying here is he's answering objection. It's not apparent what we will be. The work of Christ in our life, the spiritual life, the regeneration, if you will, is hidden. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your life, your spiritual life, the life we have from Christ. Verse 4, notice he says, almost parenthetically, in Christ who is our life. He is our life in many ways. He's the power of the Christian life. He's answering an objection. Paul wrote this in Romans 7.15. Perhaps you can identify. For what I am doing, I do not understand. He's talking about a sin. What I'm doing, I do not understand. And what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. See, the work of God, the work of salvation is not complete. The work of sanctification, becoming more like Christ, is not complete. It will be complete in heaven. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Now some people take this phrase, and I want to speak to this for a moment. Some people say that your life is hidden with Christ in God as a reference to our union with Christ. That's a biblical truth. John 15, I am the vine. You're the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. That's of course very true. Don't believe that's what Paul's getting at here. Some people think that Paul's speaking about eternal security. Your life is hidden. It's protected. It's guarded in Christ. No one can snatch you out of my hand, Christ says. And that's true. It's a biblical truth. God's people will persevere because Christ will make them. No one can snatch them away. But I think we should take this phrase in connection with verse 4. In one sense, Christians are hidden. But in another sense, they will be fully manifested. Of course, that's not yet. It's in the future. All the glories of our salvation is coming. Verse 4, just no conjunction with verse 4. It's just one thought. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Glory. The bliss of heaven. No more pain. No more arthritis. No more ailments. No more sin. No more devil. Bliss. That is really the great thing. The main thing. That's where our focus is. That's why we strive for heaven because it's wonderful. It's where Christ is. It's where Christ is. One of the reasons why we read Luke 14 is because in Luke 14, there's a parable that speaks to this idea. See, you may be a person that's really wrestling with a lot of things, and you have many earthly pleasures that aren't even sinful in themselves, but you're infatuated with. Now, you may be under the lie of our culture that says, get it while you can. I mean, those pious Christians who like fast and you actually serve God and you know, go to church every week and you know, give their life, you know, missionaries who give their life to Christ, they're wasting their time. They're really missing out. That is a lie. It's a lie. Luke 14, why did people not come to the feast? Why did they not come commune with God? Which perfectly culminates into heaven. They were busy with the things of this world. They really thought the best thing was their work, or their relationships. Okay, there's people going after a piece of ground. Let's go and check it out. I bought a yoke of oxen, I need to test them. I have a wife. Things that aren't sinful, but they're not prizing heavenly things. Communion with God, especially. They've bought into a lie. Heaven's really all that great. Do you identify with that? Do you really prize heaven? Do you prize heaven? I struggle with this to some degree, of course, as well, and I want to encourage you. Do you think about heaven? Do you think about the glories of heaven that are coming to you? I want you to picture for a moment in your mind The thing that you value most in your life. It doesn't have to be sinful. Half of what I'm talking about this morning is just bad priorities. Certainly sinful things. Money is not sinful, but the love of money. The treasuring up of money. That's the idea I'm talking about. I want you to picture what is most important to you. The thing that gives you the most satisfaction. The most pleasure. The most joy. That thing. is a grain of sand on a beach compared to the joy and the pleasure of heaven and of being with your Savior. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him. We have so much to look for. We have so much to live for. Do you believe that? You have a reason. You have a very good reason to be heavenly focused. I'm so glad that our best life is not now. So glad. Perhaps you recognize it as a book title of a book that's written by supposed to be a Christian preacher. One of the worst titles any book trying to espouse Christian principles could be named. Your best life, isn't it? So glad that we have something to look forward to. So glad. I want to spend just about as much time as I've already spent on where we're going, where Paul is going, really the thrust here. See, Paul's about to get into a bunch of commands. And this really is a fundamental command. Before we can put off sin, which is the theme of verse five, and put on, which is the theme in verse 12, we really need to have this settled in our mind. And I want you to think about and wrestle with The command to have a heavenly focus. You have a reason. You have the power. What does it mean? The command to a heavenly focus life. You see that in the middle part of verse 1. There's two commands. First one is, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. This is a command. Again, The idea isn't just desire and savor, but it really addresses the whole life. You live your life with a focus on heaven. You live your life with an eye, as it were, to heaven. Your decisions you make, the relationships that you have, that you invest in. This is some of the idea. The phrase here, Seek those things which are above." What are we talking about? You know, heavenly things. It's kind of fuzzy, perhaps. He says, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. This is an interesting phrase. What does it mean? I mean, God doesn't have a hand. Of course, Christ is God and I am not challenging that. What does this mean? What it means is that Christ is Lord. He is Governor. He is sitting. Kings and judges, they sit on their throne and they rule. Christ has accomplished redemption. He ascended into heaven as the Meteoratorial King over the nations and over the church. He rules. He has all majesty and all honor. That is what it means to sit at the right hand of God. Ephesians 1, 20-22, Paul gets into that parallel passage. There is honor. This is a phrase of honor and majesty. In the Old Testament, again we have to read the Bible with understanding. Paul is a Hebrew of Hebrews. He knew his Old Testament. Notice 1 Kings 2, 19. Solomon is wishing to honor his mother Bathsheba. First Kings 2.19, Bethsheba therefore went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne, and had a throne set for the king's mother. So she sat at his right hand. What's the idea? Honor. Majesty. Christ, in all his heavenly glory, sits as Lord with all the majesty, all the honor that's his as the mediator. And this is where we are to focus. Seek those things which are above, Christ himself, heavenly things, etc. Now, there's an objection here. There's a wrong understanding. Paul is not saying, have nothing to do with earthly things. He's not forbidding the use of earthly things. I don't want you to be here. And to think, well, you know, I have a low status in the society, and I don't have an education, and I'm poor, so I fit this bill. You can be poor and very much desire chiefly in your heart to be rich and have status. Can you miss it? Of course, you can be very wealthy, and you can use those things for God's pleasure, you know, for His will, and not love those things. He's not forbidding the use of earthly things. It's a heart issue. I want you to think about your heart. The Christian says this, as the deer pants for the water books, so my soul pants for you, O God. That's the heart of a Christian. What this passage is getting at is the heart. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. But having said that, I do want to challenge you. Do you seek those things which are above, or are you distracted? There's been news about the Christian church in China. A lot of our Chinese brothers and sisters are in jail. In that environment, I suppose, they don't struggle as much with worldliness. They know what it's like to be a Christian. It means suffering. It means difficulties. Here in America, we're not persecuted like that. It's very easy to be a worldly Christian here. To name the name of Christ does not mean that you're going to go to jail potentially. I think it's something to think about. Do you have a heavenly mind? Do you seek heavenly things? Do you have time for prayer? Do you have time for Bible reading? Do you have time for this church? Fathers, do you have time for your kids? Souls live forever? Do you have time to share the gospel with someone? See, a heavenly mind. Do you make decisions with this question in your thought process? What will bring more glory to God? A or B? That's a heavenly mind. That's what it means to seek, to desire, to savor those things which are above. That's what it means to have a heavenly focus. Now, Paul is practical. The Christian faith is practical. And verse two is another command which serves as a means to the command that I just explained to you. How can you practically seek those things which are above? And he says, what do you think about? He brings their attention to their mind. Verse two, another command, more or less subordinate to the previous. How are we gonna do this? Set your mind on things above. Not on things on the earth. Now, biblically speaking, the mind and the heart are very much connected. The heart thinks, biblically speaking. I'm not speaking medically, of course. I want you to think about what you think about. Not just, you know, are you infatuated with something? Of course, that has a negative connotation, but what do you spend your time more or less thinking about it. Maybe you do struggle having the heavenly focus. Reorient what you think about it. I'm going to pick on myself for a moment. Because I want to be clear here. It's important to be clear. To illustrate a point. The Bible, Christian faith is not about rules. It's about a relationship and it's about a heart. A heart focus. So take my own life for example. You all know probably that I love college football and I love Star Wars. It's one thing for me to watch a college football game and to think about college football on Saturday for a few hours. It's another thing for me to know within five minutes when Auburn has signed a five star recruit. See the difference? It's one thing for me to know and just study and just be infatuated with something. It's otherwise not simple. I want to challenge you. You know, take Star Wars for a moment. It's one thing to go watch Star Wars in the theater, to enjoy it. We believe in part of the Lord's Prayer that we are to ask for a competent portion of the good things of this life and to enjoy God's blessing with them. We are not ascetic, living in a monastery and neglecting ourselves is really what holiness is. That's not Christianity. But it's one thing to go watch Star Wars, it's another thing to read blogs and find out where they're filming the current movie. And oh, they're at Jordan, they must be, you know, filming, going in this direction for the movie and be infatuated with where the next movie's gonna be. And if you're not into Star Wars, I apologize, maybe you don't connect to the illustration. You should be watching Star Wars. What do you think about? If you struggle with seeking those things which are above, take a Christian biography. I want to be practical for a moment. And read a Christian biography. Missionary biographies are very challenging. John G. Payton. Read the first hundred pages of his autobiography. It will challenge you. You're thinking about heavenly things. You're learning. You're seeing someone's life in context. And you're like, you know what? My life's in context. Now you could take Reformation Women, another book published by Reformation Heritage Books. You can just read about these women during the Reformation and just be encouraged. You're thinking about heavenly things. You're reminding yourself of your context. And this is what what Paul says, and he specifically says it in contrast to earthly things. There's a command, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. It's impossible to be infatuated with Christ, to be infatuated with things in this world. This passage of scripture teaches us Because of the power that they have in Christ and because of the glories that await them in heaven, Christians are commanded to live a heavenly focused life. William Borden, perhaps you've heard that name. William Borden was born in 1887 in Chicago. He was an heir of millions of dollars. His father earned, struck it rich in the Colorado silver mining industry. He lived a privileged life, though growing up in an unbelieving home. At the age of 16, he traveled the world. He went to Yale. He went to Yale, one of the most prestigious schools. Very privileged life. He came to faith at a young age, just as he was entering into college, through the preaching of R.A. Torrey. While he was at Yale, he was a wrestler, member of the crew team, involved in student activities and Christian activities. Charming guy, handsome guy. Much to the regret and to the sadness of his father, he decided to go to Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1912, he graduated from Princeton. He didn't want to just be a Christian. He wanted to give his life to public ministry. At the age of 24, he was the director of the Moody Bible Institute, and he was a member of the North American Council to the China Inland Mission. As part of that council, the China Inland Mission, he felt a tug on his heart to go to China and to be a missionary to a particular people group in the far west of China who spoke Arabic and who were Muslims. At the age of 25, he goes to Cairo, Egypt to learn Arabic and to train for that. And within a week of being in Cairo, Egypt, he becomes sick with spinal meningitis. And he dies. He dies. Away from his family. Primal life. And there was many people that were saying, what a waste. What a waste. What's interesting is that William Borden had a motto that he kind of developed in his early adulthood and it's reported that he wrote this on a note on his deathbed. And he wrote, no reserve, no retreat, no regret. No reserve, no retreat, no regret. William Borden had a heavenly focused mind. He lived a heavenly focused life. My question to you this morning is not, are you willing to go to Cairo? My question this morning is, are you willing to give up your fortune? My question to you this morning is, are you living a heavenly focused life? Do you long for Christ and for heaven? Do you know how wonderful it will be? Do you know that he commands you to do that and that he enables you to do that. Are you living a heavenly focused life? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise your name for your goodness to us, for washing us clean of all of our sin, of pulling us out of a pool while we were dead, while we were drowning, and bringing us to life. Father, you are a good God. Although we do not deserve any of these things, yet still you prepare for us a place in heaven which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor can we even imagine how great it will be. And we ask that you would give us focus that you would help us to keep our hearts directed to the things that are eternal, to the things of the church, to the things of Christ, to have a heavenly focus. We ask that you would grant us this grace, for we ask these things in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Amen.