We come tonight to the third chapter of the inspired epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians, Colossians chapter three. Let's read the whole of the chapter. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. in the which ye also walked sometime when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, Forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts. to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, Obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. I know the bulletin says we're considering verse 1 tonight, but we're actually considering the first four verses, and I'll reread that a moment. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with God in Christ. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Apostle Paul has made it very clear. You and I are not saved by keeping commandments, not by keeping the laws and the commandments of God, not by keeping the laws and the commandments of men. Our salvation is by God's grace through Jesus Christ. We saw that this morning too, didn't we? Our justification is not by works, but by grace alone, through Christ alone, by faith alone. But the very same Apostle Paul who teaches that our salvation and the fullness of our salvation is in Christ, not in the works that we do, also teaches that you and I have a calling. There is no room for thinking that because you are saved by God's grace alone that you may live any way you want, that you may live a careless life, that you may live a worldly life, a sinful life. No, the very same God who through the Apostle Paul says you are saved by grace alone through Jesus Christ alone also calls you, I remind you, in chapter two, verse six, to walk in Christ. The very same God who says that you are saved by grace through Christ alone says, this is the life that I call you to live, the life that you must live, the life of seeking, and setting your affections on the things above." The Apostle Paul was not at all concerned that if he taught that salvation is all the work of Christ, that the Colossian congregation would then go on living in sin. I am not at all concerned that you as a congregation will think having my salvation through the work of Christ, I may set my mind, my heart on the things here below. God is not at all concerned. that saving you by grace is going to set you free to live a worldly, sinful life. No, the God who saves you through Jesus Christ calls you to seek the things which are above, and by that very word, this was Paul's confidence, this is my confidence, by the word of God, you will receive the power to seek the things which are above. So let's consider this text tonight under that theme, seeking the things above, or I put it in the title, simply seeking the things of heaven, because that's clearly what the apostle is speaking about. Seeking the things of heaven, first of all, the meaning of this, secondly, the possibility of this, and then thirdly, the reason for this. The text in verse 1 and in the beginning of verse 2 sets before us positively what our calling is. So we will start there tonight. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. And then verse 2, set your affection, or more literally, beloved, your mind, your thoughts, set that on the things above. Seek the things of heaven, set your mind on the things of heaven. And it's clear that the apostle wants us to see our calling in the light of the fact that Christ is in heaven. He makes that very clear in verse 1. So that If we want to say it very simply, we are to seek Christ. And we are to set our minds on Jesus Christ. And so when the apostle comes with this command and he says seek, and he uses a command here in the present tense, this is what you are to do now, but he uses this present tense in the sense this is what you're to do now and always. You may never stop, you may never take a break, you may never say, well, this is the portion of time when I'm to seek Christ, and here's when I don't have to seek Christ. He's saying, this is what you're to do always. He's saying, this is to be the whole of your life that you reckon that Christ is seated at the right hand of God in heaven, and now the whole of your life and all of your thoughts are to be dedicated to him. Seek to know Christ. Seek to know him as the preeminent one. Seek to know him as the one who, yes, is sitting at the right hand of God, but seek to know him clearly as the one who came into this world, who died for you. The apostle wants us to think about these basic facts about Jesus Christ and say, now, if you believe these things and if you seek to know and to grasp these things, this is going to be dominating for you in, life dominating for you as a Christian. Do you really know and believe? and live in the light of the fact that He is the only begotten Son of God? And do you really know and believe that there's this one man who sacrificed Himself in your place to pay for your sins? Do you really believe in His life-giving power? That He's the one who rose from the dead that he might raise you from the dead. Do you really believe, do you really grasp in your mind and in the whole of your life that this one man is seated in heaven? Not on some throne in Washington, D.C. or any other earthly capital. He is sitting at the right hand of the triune God. And do you believe that all of the history of the Old Testament led to His first coming? That really was the point of all history, beloved. All the history before His first coming. was planned by God and governed by God for this one grand event, that his son would die on the cross. And do you really believe that this is the point of all of the history since then, that this Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, he's going to come again? Verse four, Christ, who is our life, shall appear. Then shall ye also appear with him in glory. that every single moment of your life, this is the command, should be lived in seeking to serve him as king in his kingdom. The command then is much broader, isn't it? Than coming to church on Sunday and worshiping with the people of God. That's part of it. The command is much broader than having set times in your life as an individual to pray to God, to pray to Christ, to read his word. The command is much broader than you, this is important, but this is only a part of it, isn't it? You having set times with your family to worship together, to seek Christ. Catechism season will come upon us sooner than you think. That's important too, that our children and young people go to catechism to be instructed and in that way to seek to know Christ. Bible study season will come and that is an important exercise for the members of the church to avail themselves of this opportunity to come together with like-minded believers to seek the knowledge of Christ. But the goal is that all of life be lived with us being heavenly minded. That all of my life and all of your life will be looked at in the perspective of eternity and who rules from eternity and where we will live for eternity. That's hard, isn't it? If you're like me, you have probably found that it's possible to have certain Christian disciplines that you exercise regularly, and yet you are not always seeking the things above, not always heavenly minded. I don't forget to pray. I pray every day. I don't forget to read the Word of God. I read the Word of God every day. I don't neglect gathering with the people of God on Sunday. That doesn't mean when I wake up in the morning that I'm heavenly minded. That doesn't mean when I'm eating breakfast or when I am opening up my most likely my phone to read the news, to surf the internet, maybe to check out different social media sites, that I'm heavenly minded. That's the command of the text. That in everything that I'm doing, And in everything that I'm thinking, I'm thinking of Christ. And everything from the perspective of the reality that He rules. And that heaven is the destination that God has in store for me, my home. When you're at work, when you're home, when you're alone, When you're with family, friends, when you're dealing with pleasant people or circumstances, or the unpleasant people or circumstances, seek those things which are above. Set your mind to think in light of heaven. That's hard enough. Then verse two adds the negative. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Now we know that the apostle is not coming to us and saying, this is the kind of life that you are to live now as a living Christian, a life where just for the sake of self-denial, you are severe and strict and deny yourself many things. He has told us in chapter two, that's not the way it is. Your motto as a Christian is not taste not, touch not, handle not. Nor is the apostle obviously teaching you and me that it's right for us, because we are heavenly minded, to ignore earthly responsibilities. He makes it clear at the end of the chapter, doesn't he? He speaks of the relationships that we have, earthly relationships that we have. He speaks to wives and the importance of wives being heavenly minded in their submission to their husbands. He speaks of husbands and he speaks of the importance of husbands being heavenly minded towards their wives. Don't be bitter towards your wives, love them. He speaks to children and he says, this is how you're to be heavenly minded in your earthly relationship with your parents. Don't disobey them, but obey them. Fathers, be heavenly minded in your care of your children and don't provoke them to wrath. And then he speaks of servants. And we would say in today's context, he's speaking of the earthly relationship of employer to employee. He's talking about earthly work. And you have to be heavenly minded in the workplace. So there are many earthly activities and responsibilities that we have, we may not ignore them. We need to be diligent in them. But here's the hard part. Be involved in all these earthly activities, but always with an eternal perspective. looking at everything from the perspective of heaven and of Christ sitting on the throne in heaven. Part of your calling then is to be living in the world, but reconcile or account yourself, rather, to be dead to the things of the world. It's a hard thing. But I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a hint at how we are to seek the things of heaven and not the things of the earth when he says in John 12, verse 25, he that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. It's a bit of a paradox. but you are to hate this life to have eternal life. I think the Apostle Paul helps us understand what it means to seek heaven and not the things of the earth too when in 1 Corinthians 7 he says to us, you're to be as one who is married but unmarried. One who weeps, but doesn't weep. One who rejoices, but doesn't rejoice. And it's not so easy to understand what he means, but the idea is this, is you may live in this world, you may enjoy the things of this world, yet as one who is dead to them, who says, these things are not really of importance to me. And notice I don't say, These things are not of much importance to me. These things are of less importance to me than Christ. But when Christ says that you need to lose your life and you need to be dead to this world, that in seeking him and seeking the things of heaven, you're saying, Christ is my all. And isn't that what the apostle is saying over and over again here in chapter three? Do all things to the Lord, he is your fullness. And isn't that what he has been saying in chapter one and two? The fullness of your life is in Christ your head. So that you don't ever want, you don't want to be in a position where you have to choose between father or mother in Christ. But seeking the things above means you're prepared to say, my father and mother don't mean anything to me. Christ is everything to me. Seeking the things of heaven and not the things of earth means that you're willing to say, I don't want to have to choose this. But if I have to choose my job or Christ, My job doesn't mean anything to me because Christ is everything to me. And yes, that can be applied to dating relationships. And you young people may face that painful reality. This boyfriend, this girlfriend, this fiance, or Christ, Seeking the things above means Christ is everything to me. And I'm willing to let everything of the earth go. The calling is high. And not impossible. but possible. We need to see that in the text. First of all, the apostle calls our attention to where Christ is at. He sitteth on the right hand of God. The right hand of power. And who is he? Jesus Christ is the one who first descended, he first came into this world to die for us. And the apostle has told us already in chapter two that in his death we died with him. dead, now unto the world and unto sin. He rose again unto life and he sits at the right hand of God in heaven. And what the apostle wants us to understand then is the place of supremacy, of preeminence, and of power that Jesus Christ occupies. That says something to you, doesn't it? If our Lord Jesus Christ was anything less than the Son of God sitting at the right hand of God in heaven, we might wonder, how can I ever fulfill this high, hard, impossible calling to seek in everything the things of heaven? But the text goes beyond assuring us that Christ is in heaven. The text assures us of our regeneration. That's verse one, if ye then be risen with Christ. Christ has gone through a great transformation, hasn't he beloved? He has gone through this process where he came down to our life and suffered and was humble, but now he has risen and ascended and he is exalted and glorious. Through Him, you and I have gone through a transformation as well. We were dead. Dead in sin. Dead spiritually. But He has regenerated us. That's what He's speaking of here when He says, ye are risen with Christ. You are risen with the power of the life of Christ. As the Apostle says in Galatians chapter 2, you live! Nevertheless, Christ lives in you. You And so he says You're dead verse 3 There he means to sin And you have new life and he says your life is hid with God in Christ Now that word, hid, speaks to us of at least three things. First of all, there is much to your life in Christ that is unseen. No one can see it, including you. And there's no getting around that. We say that we believe in Jesus Christ. We say that we believe he's seated at the right hand of God. We say that we believe that we were dead, but now we are alive in Christ. But we don't know much about what our life will be. And there's even much about our life now. in the present we really can't see. To be a Christian means that you walk by faith and not by sight and there's much hiddenness yet to you. concerning the life that you have with God in Jesus Christ. But the second thing that we recognize here is that the apostle is saying, although that life, many aspects of that life are hidden to you and to all of those around you, you really have it. you really experience and enjoy life with God in Jesus Christ. Even as you live on this earth, even as you don't see what you will be in the future, even as there are many aspects to the life that you have with God that is invisible to you, the reality is as you live here in this life, you have your life in Christ. And so you really live and walk with Jesus Christ. You can't, well let me back up. Do you experience that? That you believe in Christ? that you were dead in sin, but you are no longer, that you used to love sin, you used to hate God, but now you have this life of Christ where you love God, you love serving Him. And you experience, don't you? You can't show this, really, to people. You can show them your fruits. But you can't say to someone, now look, I'm going to show you how God really is with me in my life. I'm going to show you how I cried out to him, Psalter number 187. And he heard my prayer. I'm going to show you how he answered me. I'm going to show you how his mercy has come upon me. I'm going to show you how he has assured me of the forgiveness of my sins. I'm going to show you how his spirit is working with me, in me. I'm going to show you how in my trials, in my life here on this earth, He's really with me, carrying me. You can't show that. But when the apostle says your life now is hid with Christ, he's saying you have that and you experience that. So first, there's much to your life you can't see. Secondly, there's much to that life you do experience now. And then thirdly, what he's saying here is Your life is safe. It's locked away, protected, guaranteed with Christ in heaven. I think you can get a sense of that when you think of a child who has some valuable possession that his parents say they have hidden away. Now there's something unsatisfying about that for the child. That means I can't see it. That means I can't spend time with it, experience it. But there's also something comforting. Mom and dad have hidden it away for safe keeping. Let's admit it, if I had it, I might lose it. But mom and dad have hidden it. They're protecting it. It can't be lost. It's going to be preserved. Beloved, that is what this word that the apostle uses in the text indicates. God has given you life in Jesus Christ. He has raised you to a life and he's saying this is the reality, the life that you now have is not an earthly life. It's not. It's not a life that belongs to this earth. It's not a life that comes from this earth. It's a life that comes from heaven, but now he's saying it not only comes from heaven and is a heavenly life, but really it's hidden there, locked away. And so we say, well, Left to myself, I would never seek the things of the kingdom of heaven. I would never continue in the life of Christ and seeking him and his things. I'd lose it. Left to myself, I'd lose my faith. I'd lose my salvation. I'd perish. Beloved, that's the confession we make. In the canons of Dora, it had five. And yet, we persevere because we are preserved by the grace of God. He says, I have hidden your life in heaven with God, in Christ. And by his power then, beloved, we don't become perfect. but we begin to live this life. Where I say, you say, I'm not going to think so much about the things of this earth. I'm not going to cling to the things of this earth with my mind. I'm not going to make them my priority, the most important thing in my life. I'm not going to cling to these things with my hands, with any of my being. I'm going to think more and more about Christ and the riches and the treasures of His invisible eternal kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. And the reason we do this, beloved, is first of all because God commands us to do this. Are you heavenly minded? Then right there, you have all the reason you need to say, I'm not going to think anymore on the things of this earth, but I'm going to think on the things of heaven. Because the commandments of God don't come to me as burdens. They don't come to me condemning me. The commands of God come now as those things which God says to me, here's what you do to serve me in my kingdom. Secondly, beloved, we need to remember in this text and in all of scripture the rule, the principle of the way that God works. And the rule is this. You find what you seek. You find what you seek. Now, don't think of it this way. salvation and the grace of God is lost to you, you go on a search and you find it. No. God finds us and then gives us the grace to seek him. But the rule is that how you live And what you seek in your way of life is what God will give to you. That's what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you. This is what you find in Isaiah chapter 55 verses six and seven. Isaiah is serious and God is serious through the prophet Isaiah saying, if you continue in wickedness and sin, then you are not going to find anything but the wrath of God. But seek God, call upon him. and you will find abundant mercy and pardon. So it is, beloved, in this text. If you find that life is hard for you, you find that there's not much joy, there's not much hope in your life, you need to look at what you have been seeking. God is warning you through this command. It's a positive command, but the negative warning comes. Seek the things of this earth, and that's what you'll find. You want this earth's riches. You want this earth's fame and prosperity. You want this earth's joys. You can find it. And you're going to find that that's not Christ or his fullness, but that's nothing but emptiness. But see, Kevin, set your mind on knowing Christ and his grace and that you are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and that he is with you and that he's caring for you. That's what you'll find. So beloved, God commands us. He encourages us that what we seek by his grace we will find. And then finally, seek the things of heaven because heaven is where you're going. You may say this, beloved, I seek the things of heaven and not the things of earth because I want to go to heaven. It's not as though, and you know this, seeking the things of heaven is what gives you the right to go to heaven. You know the only one who gives you the right to go to the glory of heaven is Jesus Christ. But you also know, and God makes it clear in this passage, the way to that future life in heaven for you is not the way of seeking the things of this earth, setting your mind on the things of this earth. Jesus tells us that's the way to destruction. But the Lord, who's given you life, who's raised you from the dead, and who has given you the hope of life in heaven, has put you on the path that leads to heaven. And he's calling you tonight to walk upon that path. by not seeking the things of earth. But if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. And that's the way to be able to say, yes, verse four is true. When Christ, who is our or my life, shall appear, then shall I appear with him in glory. Amen. Father in heaven, thy word is timely, a word that we need to hear today and we know always as we live in this world. Help us, Father, to let go of the things of this world with our minds and also with our hands and with the whole of our being. Help us to cling to Christ and the things of His kingdom. We pray, O God, that in this world that is a spiritual wasteland, that as we seek the things of the kingdom of heaven, that thou wilt indeed open the door unto us. and give unto us all of thy grace and mercy. And bless us individually and as a congregation that we may enjoy the riches of Christ Jesus as we walk by faith and are moving closer and closer to our home in heaven. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.