The theme of this letter to the Colossian believers is Christ in You, the Hope of Glory. And the Holy Spirit desires to renew our minds through His Word so that we know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the only superior way to live life on planet earth coupled with His promise of eternal life and glory to come. So even though Paul's sitting in a jail cell in Rome, persecuted for his faith, he's burdened to write this letter to the church at Colossae to exalt Jesus Christ and show the sufficiency of Christ, that He is more than enough, that He alone satisfies the longings of our hearts and He alone sanctifies us through His powerful gospel. Now false teachers had promised satisfaction to the believers at Corinth. They had promised wholeness and fullness through a superior mystical knowledge along with a complex form of asceticism, which is denying the flesh, a form of ascetic Jewish legalism, keeping rules tied in with the worship of angels whom they claimed to be mediators between us and God. And all of this supposedly promised a means to an intellectual superiority, an enlightenment, and towards achieving moral perfection by allegedly subduing carnal fleshly desires. And that's pure heresy. It's false doctrine to deceive people in that day because it appealed to felt needs. And guess what? There are similar false teachings around us in our day as well. We were created to seek personal satisfaction. We were created for fulfillment in life. The problem is we look for it in all the wrong places. We look to it in our own self-esteem. We look for it in the human praise and ego strokes of others. We look for it in personal achievement in our work or in the pursuit of pleasure instead of finding satisfaction in Jesus and in Christ alone. Somebody as well said, because there's emphasis on self in our culture, those who are preoccupied with themselves are engaged in a mighty small occupation. So Paul argues, through the Holy Spirit's inspiration, that Jesus provides all of that. He's sufficient to provide eternal life, full and complete forgiveness of sins, spiritual wholeness, to live a new life of faith and obedience with a heavenly focus. And Paul had already laid out that reality of who Jesus is back in chapter 2, where he said in chapter 2, verse 3, that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So, if in Him are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, then He's far superior to any human philosophy that attempts to give us wisdom for living. Jesus alone is sufficient for all we need in life. Now in these four verses, chapter 3 verses 1 to 4, they're the hinge, they're the bridge from the great doctoral teachings of chapters 1 and 2 to the practical teachings of chapters 3 and 4. One commentator has written about these verses, this is one of the golden paragraphs in all of the Bible. It lifts the soul as with wings till we get a glimpse of the Exalted One sitting enthroned after His death at the right hand of the Father of power. And we realize that where He is, we His people are also there. And that's the basis of our regeneration, nothing less than Himself. And we look out from there towards our coming glory. You see, correct doctrine is vitally important. If the doctrine of Christ is not right, you won't get the practical part right. And some will sound like they agree with that and say, yeah, I agree, Christ is all I need. But then they minimize doctrinal teaching and careful exposition of the Word. And they rather maximize their own personal experiences. But that's a practice that's not faithful to the text of Scripture that tells us what we need to know in Christ. So, notice with me, please, verses 1 through 4. 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 of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." Let's unpack this text and see that Christ really is all we need. There are only two commands in this text this morning, and then there are multiple gospel realities regarding the person and work of Christ and how He transforms us. Notice please the initial instruction in verse number one, if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. Pursue eternal priorities. Here is a command sandwiched in between two dynamic gospel realities regarding the work of Christ on our behalf. The first side of the sandwich, so to speak, is our resurrection reality with Christ. If then you were raised with Christ, The core of the Christian faith is the truth that Jesus was raised triumphantly from the grave in time, space, history. That's a historical reality. And that resurrection power is the basis for you and me to conquer sin and live a life of obedience. Notice our spiritual position. since we have been raised with Christ. You say, well John, right here in my Bible it says if. Actually in the original Greek text this is a first class conditional phrase that literally means since we have been raised with Christ. If implies uncertainty. Well maybe we have or maybe we haven't. But in this construction Nothing's uncertain about it. It's been done. We've been spiritually joined with Christ in His resurrection. God saw us raised with Christ nearly 2,000 years ago. When you got saved, you were spiritually joined with Christ in His resurrection. That's a present spiritual reality of our relationship in Christ. So, you know what that means? Resurrection power, that dynamic power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you and me to conquer sin in our lives and to live productive spiritual lives. This resurrection power. And then also it says, in reference to Christ's authority and power, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God as our King. And we just sang about that a while ago. Behold, your King. Nothing can compare. He as our King is seated at the Father's right hand on our behalf. Theologians call this Christ's session. He was crucified, He was buried, He was raised again, He ascended into heaven, and He is seated at the right hand of the Father, the place of authority, honor, and majesty. Jesus told the Jewish Sanhedrin in His trial, He said, Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God, Luke 22, 69. The writer to the Hebrew Christians said, when He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So as King, Jesus' authority is over all His creation and He's working in the circumstances of your life and my life to sanctify us and grow us in His image. But it's not only the place of authority, it's also the place where He is our priest, is our advocate, interceding for us in the tests and temptations of life. Paul wrote to the Roman Church, Christ who is even at the right hand of God who makes intercession for us. Right now, Jesus is not only our King, He's also our High Priest, representing us before the Father, praying for you and me as we undergo tests and temptations in life. And this is a truth we've got to keep in front of our minds when we're tempted. We think Jesus is at the right hand of the Father right now. He's praying for me that I don't blow it, that I don't fail Him and give in to this temptation. That's a powerful image to have in your mind. But even when we do fail and we sin, He's our advocate telling the Father, that's my child. I covered that sin with my blood. He, she has a no condemnation status. The hymn writer said, he ever lives above for me to intercede. Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayer, they strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive they cry, nor let that ransom sinner die. two glorious gospel truths sandwiching this command to pursue eternal priorities. In the book Council from the Cross by Dennis Johnson and Elise Fitzpatrick, Elise shares a practical way in which these doctrinal truths impact our daily lives. as we pursue eternal reality. She tells about having dinner guests, and thirty minutes before the meal, she realizes she's out of salt. So she thinks, I'll run down to the store right around the corner, get the salt and get back here in time. She goes, grabs the salt, jumps in the express lane, and guess what? There's a woman in front of her with a whole bag, a whole bag basket full, shopping cart of groceries, way past the minimum of ten. And she stands there and starts to fume. And she's looking at the minutes ticking by on her watch. But the Spirit of God impacts her hard to think, pursue eternal priority. So she starts by saying, you know what? In her own heart, you know what? That woman has broken the rules, but I'm a rule breaker too. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. Number two, Jesus died on the cross for my sin of anger that I'm being tempted to give into. and he was buried. He was raised the third day to conquer sin with resurrection power. And he's ascended into heaven. He's at the Father's right hand. He's praying for me right now so that I don't get upset and lose my temper and ruin my testimony. And by having gone through those gospel truths, she's able to extend forgiveness to that woman in her heart and replace the anger with forgiveness. So when she gets up to the cashier, the cashier is just a total apologetic and says, I'm so sorry you had to wait. We have people doing this all the time. And our manager said, don't tell them to go get another line, just process them through as quickly as possible. I'm so sorry. And Elise says to her, you know what? I'm a rule breaker too. I'm a sinner, and that's why I need Jesus as a Savior, and I would recommend Him to you as well." So instead of being in a situation of getting angry and losing her temper and blowing her testimony, she's able to walk through these gospel realities and give a gospel witness to the cashier. These eternal priorities, we have a choice. Am I going to focus on eternal matters, continually pursue kingdom realities? I mean, Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to us. He told us in the model of prayer, also in the Sermon on the Mount, pray for eternal priorities, for God's name to be glorified, for His kingdom and rule to come, for His will to be done on earth, these eternal priorities, praying for the will of God. And you know what God's will is for this age? It's for you and me to be making disciples because God the Father is composing a bride to present to His Son Jesus at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And we get to have a part in that as we spend time with people, with men, women, young people, sharing the good news, sharing Christ with them, seeing them come to saving faith, and then spending time to show them how to become Christ followers in their walk with the Lord. That's eternal priorities. Eternal priorities. And then notice also, we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done. And to pursue these eternal priorities, when we pray for His will to be done, we also need to pray what Jesus prayed in the garden, not my will. You see, as Jesus prayed that in the garden, He was getting His self out of the way. He was tempted at all points like as we are, so He was tempted to want His will. And He said, Father, not My will, but Your will be done. And so, as we pray, not My will, that means we deny self, the first step in following Jesus. Self has to be out of the way, because self-love is yours and My biggest challenge. We're in love with ourselves. We want everything to revolve around how we feel. Having been in the ministry for 46 years, I've seen people leave churches because they got their feelings hurt. They're not denying themselves. We want things to revolve around how we feel, around our opinions, around our perspectives, because you know what? We think we are right. One of our sons who's an insurance agent down in Georgia near Athens showed me a plaque at a little shop by his office. It says, I'm not arguing. I'm just explaining why I'm right. And that's what we think, because we're in love with ourselves. So if we're going to pray for Christ's will to be done, then we have to say, not my will. And then We're to pursue Christ's likeness as evidenced in the fruit of the Spirit. If we're seeking Christ, we want to know Him more deeply and become conformed to His character, then that means we will see the Spirit of God doing a work in our lives to produce the love, the joy, the peace, the patience, the gentleness, and self-control which is the character of Christ. But God's, these eternal priorities also include not only the character of Christ, but advancing the gospel for God's glory among all the nations on the planet. All the nations on the planet. In Psalm 96 3, the Holy Spirit inspired David one thousand years before Christ to write, declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all the peoples. God's concern for His glory to be demonstrated through the preaching of the gospel to all the nations on the planet. Global mission should be on our hearts if we're pursuing eternal priorities. What can we do to advance the gospel, especially in the hard places where there are unreached people groups? You know there's between 2,000 and 3,000 unreached people groups on the planet who haven't even heard the name of Jesus? I mean, in Roman Catholic countries, at least they've heard the name of Jesus. They know He died on the cross. They know He rose again. They just don't understand grace. They're off on grace. But we're talking about countries where they know zero about Jesus, where they have no copy of the Bible, where people have not ever met a born-again Christian. And we need to be strategizing for how we can see God's glory advance even in the hard countries that haven't heard the name of Jesus. So that's the initial command in this passage to pursue eternal matters. Notice, please, the subsequent instruction, concentrate on eternal priorities. Set your mind on things above. First he said seek, which means to pursue. Now he's saying set, present tense, keep on setting your mind on things above, on eternal matters. How do you do that? By concentrating on them. Now, we have to recognize, though, as we make this choice to focus on eternal priorities, we have to recognize what our default focus is, and that's temporal matters. Because Paul said, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. I loved what Don was saying a while ago when we realized that this troubled world is not my final home. And the things of earth will dim and lose their value if we recall that they're just borrowed for a while. You see, there are good and necessary things of earth that we concentrate on, our family, our spouse. I hope you're concentrating on your spouse to try and pursue their happiness over your own. We concentrate on our children. If you're a grandparent like I am, you concentrate on your grandchildren. We set our minds on them. We ought to concentrate on our local church. And there's no such thing as a perfect church. Somebody wrote the old ditty years ago, to live above With saints we love, oh, that will be glory. But to live below with saints we know, oh, that's another story. And we concentrate on our church. We concentrate on our jobs. We have to put food on the table. And we can be consumed with good temporal things, so much so we don't spend much time concentrating on eternal priorities. But there are also tendencies to concentrate on other temporal matters that are not core to our existence. And I'm going to touch on several applications here because the Scripture just says things on the earth. It doesn't spell it out. And listen carefully. None of these are sinful in themselves. I want to be clear about that, okay? But we ought to do a checklist. Sometimes we get so concentrating on sports that we neglect eternal matters. Or we can get so focused in concentrating on entertainment, music, movies, social media, computers, tablets. And again, these are not wrong in themselves. I've got a tablet right here. Smart phones, television, The educator Neil Postman wrote thirty years ago in a book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he argued back then that television as entertainment causes people to focus more on feelings and emotions rather than rational discussion so that people get programmed not to think but just passively observe. And he had no clue what would explode in the technological world when he wrote that thirty years ago in terms of computers, smartphones, tablets, and so forth. Hobbies we can get consumed with. Even politics. What's going on in our country the last two years has just mesmerized people's attention. But it's part of the things of earth. Even physical fitness. Now we ought to take care of our bodies. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. You only get one body to go through this life with. So we ought to be good temple keepers, taking care of the temple of the Holy Spirit. But some people can get obsessed with that. So we have to have a continual choice to concentrate. Hey, you get up in the morning, you say, am I focusing vertically on eternal principles or am I more focused horizontally on temporal matters? By the way, one way to help get an eternal focus is to get some kind of plan of Scripture memory. Even if you just memorize one verse a week, you say, well John, one verse a week, anybody can do that. That's not much. Yeah, but it may be more than you're doing right now. And if you do that for a year, at the end of the year, you will have learned 50 more verses than you knew previously. And that helps get our focus on things above. And you know what? An eternal focus brings joy. In the context here, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, they were dealing with a legalistic, ascetic, false religion that put them in bondage based on rules and don'ts. And you know what a telltale system of a system of spiritual bondages, there's no joy. It's just drudgery. But in Christ, there's fullness of joy. He said the night before He was crucified, these things I have spoken unto you that my joy might remain. That's enduring joy, not periodic, spasmodic joy, might remain and that your joy might be full. Christ promises with eternal priorities, fullness of joy. Have you checked your joy level lately? as an indicator of where your concentration might be. But there are several other gospel realities I want to run through right quickly. Two commands only. Pursue eternal priorities. Concentrate on eternal priorities. But notice these gospel realities that inform our decision. First, Christ is in heaven, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We sang a while ago Behold your God, seated on His throne, Jesus is at His right hand." What makes heaven heaven? Wherever Jesus is. That's the focus of heaven is the Lamb who was slain. People ask, well, where is heaven? Well, it's wherever Jesus is. Notice in verse 4, he said, then you will also appear with Him. with Jesus. Jesus Himself promised, I will come again and receive you to Myself, John 14, 3. The Apostle John wrote, we know when He is revealed we'll be like Him for we will see Him as He is. We need to meditate on that truth and renew our minds so that we do what the old song says and that is longing for Jesus. Second gospel truth, we died with Christ, verse 3. It just simply says you died. We died with Christ, he said back in chapter 2, verse 20, to the basic principles of the world. Paul said in Galatians 6, 14, we died to the world system. God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world, to break the control of society's allurements over us, society around us. appeals to us with consumerism, with materialism. I read a survey this past week about millennials Millennial Christians, all but nine percent, said they had no problem with consumerism and materialism. Well, how can you be laying up treasure in heaven? How can you be concentrating on eternal matters? Now, let me tell you something. You say, well, how did they get that way? Because those of us who were their parents were living it without verbalizing it, chasing after the American dream, the better life, having as high a standard of living as we can have. That's not the New Testament emphasis. We died with Christ. The world system, society should have little appeal to us who are dead in Christ. Also, our lives are hidden with Christ in God. It says you're hidden with Christ in God. There's a physical hiddenness where Jesus right now is hidden from the world in heaven. He said in the upper room, a little while longer and the world will see me no more, John 14, And then two chapters later he said, speaking of the Spirit's work, convicting of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more. So Christ is hidden from the world. And those of us who are known as Christians, we're different from the world, but you know what? The world really doesn't understand our relationship with Christ and our position in Him. The world doesn't know what makes us tick, so to speak. And Scripture also teaches that we are citizens of heaven, Philippians 3.20, our citizenship's in heaven, from which also we eagerly await the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body according to the working by which He's able to subdue all things to Himself. So there's a physical hiddenness from the world, but there's also a spiritual hiddenness in terms of our security and safety in Christ. And actually This is incredible. It's double coverage. Paul says to the believers at Colossae, you are hid with Christ in God. That's double coverage. How do you get out of that? Well, if you've been genuinely regenerated, you never want to get out of that relationship with Christ in God. And this dynamic life is to be evidencing fruit before a watching world. They don't understand what makes us tick, but they ought to see our good works, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 16. See our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. Then he says, notice please, Christ is our life. Those five words, Christ who is our life, have opened incredible insights and truths to God's people down through church history. Jesus is not only our rescuer, our friend, our king, But He is life itself, central, inexhaustible life. Jesus doesn't just give life. He is life. He said in the famous verse in the Upper Room, John 14, 6, I am the way. He didn't say I point the way. He said I am the way. He said I am the truth. He doesn't say I teach you truth. He says I am the truth and I am the life. You see, life outside of Jesus for a non-Christian is just mere existence. Often they exist from one high to the next with a valley in between or from one thrill to the next. or from one weekend to the next, or from one pleasure to the next, an existence without any purpose or meaning. But Jesus is incredible life Himself, freely given to those who belong to Him. So, brothers and sisters, do you realize not what you have in Christ, but who you have in Jesus? Nothing compares to Him in or out of this world. Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. I also said in verse 4, Christ will come again at His glorious appearing when Christ appears. Jesus is coming again, folks. He'll keep His promises to appear. The second coming is the goal of New Testament prophecy. It's been the blessed hope of the church throughout the ages. Looking, Paul wrote to Titus for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Titus 2.13. When I was in college in the late 60s and early 70s, There's a great emphasis on preaching and teaching on end-time prophecy, on the rapture, the coming of Christ. Unfortunately, it went to extremes with approximate date setting. They would say, well, you know, we don't know the day or the hour, but we can tell the times or the seasons and we can figure out. Israel was established in 1948. Jesus said this generation will not pass away. Generations, 40 years. So that means Jesus has to come back by 1988. That's the kind of stuff that was going on. And they were trying to identify the old European common market with Daniel's ten toes from the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, attempting to tie it in with the revised Roman Empire. And then there was great speculation about who the Antichrist would be. Some even said that Richard Nixon's Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, would possibly be the Antichrist because he was Jewish. And he got way out of hand. But now, nearly 50 years later, we hear very little about the Second Coming and the imminent return of Christ in terms of the watchfulness Jesus commanded. I used to challenge parents at our former pastorate in Georgia, teach your children to look for Jesus. Ask them, kids, what might happen today? And the answer should be, Jesus might come today. Now, you don't ask them every day because then it gets worn out and routine. One family came back the first time I challenged about that the next Sunday and said, Pastor, guess what? We asked our kids this past week what might happen today. You know what they said? We get to go swimming today? No, that wasn't the answer they were looking for. But we ought to be teaching our children to look for Jesus. We ought to get up each morning and say, Lord, is it today? Will I see you face to face today? We've lost that anticipation, I'm afraid. Dr. M. R. DeHaan, who started a radio Bible class, they produced the devotional guides, Our Daily Bread, which thankfully have gotten more meat in them. He had a big plaque in his office on the bookshelf in his study with bold black letters that read, Perhaps Today. That's a focus on eternal priorities. And the last one is, we will be glorified with Him. You also will appear with Him in glory. Can you imagine that? It's staggering. I think, me? John Hutcheson? I don't deserve to stand with Jesus in the brilliance of His glory. You don't deserve to stand with Jesus in the brilliance of His glory. We're not worthy, but Scripture tells us He's counted us worthy because of what Christ has done on our behalf, 2 Thessalonians 1, 5 and 11. Paul wrote, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. This is the fulfillment of our sanctification in which we're fully sanctified in glorified bodies. Christ has been working to restore us to the glory He intended for us in His original creation. Adam and Eve sinned. They fell from the original glory of perfection. And as a result, all of us, the sons and daughters of Adam, fall short of the glory God originally intended. Jesus suffered to bring many sons to glory. We were built for glory. We have a hunger for glory. But in our fallenness, we seek our own glory, our own reputation, our own worth, instead of Christ's glory and reputation and worth. A number of you know my brother-in-law, Lois' oldest brother, Bob Bixby, went home to be with the Lord three weeks ago today. He had served 12 years in Central African Republic, more than 30 years in France, where he planted a church in a university city, reaching international students in France. He preached on Sunday morning from Hebrews 12 about Jesus. And they had a meal afterwards in the church, and he told his wife Bonnie, he said, you know what, my chest is really feeling heavy. It's like I've run a 25K marathon. He says, I think I need to go to the ER and get it checked out. She said, well, here, let me finish up with the crockpot and I'll go with you. He said, no, you'll be fine, I'll go. So he gets in the car and goes to the ER. She gets a friend, Bonnie gets a friend, goes after him, gets to the ER, and there's no Bob. He didn't make it to the ER. He had enough presence of mind that something was coming on. He pulled off into a side parking, on-street parking, and slumped over the wheel at 70 years of age without any noticeable health problems. And within two hours of preaching of Jesus, he saw Jesus face to face. They looked at his Fitbit. His heart didn't spike. His heart rate didn't spike. It didn't sputter. It didn't skip. It just stopped. and he went into the presence of Jesus. Now, what's fascinating is New Year's Eve they had a service at that French church and one of the lay elders passed out scripture references written on paper to all the different people there and Bob wrote in his journal He said, the paper I drew was Philippians 3, 20 and 21, which I will personalize for myself as I enter into 2017. Because this elder had challenged the people to stand firm in the faith and not abandon God's Word in 2017. So Bob says, I got Philippians 3, 20. Let me paraphrase it for my own life. My homeland is in heaven. This is a verse I read a while ago. from which in 2017 I will await expectantly the coming of Christ Jesus my Lord, who will transform this sin-infected body of mine, rendering it like Christ's own glorified body by His own authority, which will subject everything under His own power. And then he wrote a good passage to guide my year. And in less than 60 days, he was in the presence of his Savior. He had and he focused, he pursued eternal priorities, he concentrated on eternal priorities. So do you see what the scripture means when we're instructed to pursue eternal priorities and to concentrate on eternal priorities? Now we have to live life here on planet earth, but we need to be asking ourselves, where's my focus? Is it vertically or is it horizontally? We long for the sweet by and by of heaven, but we have to live in the nasty now and now on planet earth, but we can do so joyfully concentrating on eternal priority. So, Christ really is all we need as He satisfies our longings to know God. Do you really believe that? Christ is all you need to satisfy your deepest longings? And what joy and fulfillment result from a focus on eternal priorities. There's great joy in that, in the midst of the troubles and the trials of life. And longing to see Jesus daily, asking the Lord, Lord is it today? Are you coming back today? I want to live with that anticipation. Longing to see Jesus daily enables us to focus on eternal priorities. Father, we are so earthly bound. We do find ourselves so often focusing on things on the earth instead of on things above. And I pray that these wonderful gospel realities would so affect our minds that we would make the right choice one day at a time to pursue eternal priorities and to concentrate on eternal priorities. And then we will look forward to hearing Jesus say, one day, well done, good and faithful servant, for the glory of Christ's name we pray. Amen.