Please turn with me in your copies of God's word to the book of Colossians. We'll be looking at chapter three, verses one and two this morning, but let us begin for context in chapter two and verse 20, reading through chapter three and verse two.
Colossians two, verse 20. Let's now give our attention to the holy, inspired and infallible word of God. If with Christ, you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why? As if you were still alive in the world? Do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things at all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Please join me once again in prayer, great God of heaven, speak now for your servants, listen and fill us with Your Word and Spirit to the praise of your glorious grace. We ask in Jesus name, amen, as we look at this rich passage this morning, dear believer, let me encourage you to taste and see who Jesus Christ is here and who you are in union with Him. First of all, we see resurrection life with Christ. That is our first point this morning, resurrection life with Christ. This is the first part of verse one, where Paul says, if then you have been raised with Christ. There Paul is drawing a conclusion based on what he's already said. As we saw at the end of chapter two, we died with Christ in His death. Union with Christ in His death means, among other things, that the believer is no longer determined and regulated by obligations that are of this world, the practices, the thought patterns of this sin cursed world are weak and worthless and union with Christ in His death frees us from the control and from everything that characterizes this old sin, cursed world. And it gets even better here at the beginning of chapter three, Paul draws the conclusion from what he's just said, that believer, you did not just die with Christ in His death. You have been raised with Him in His resurrection. When Christ died upon the cross at Calvary, you believer died in union with Him, and all that his death achieved is for you. But Christ is not dead any longer.
He was raised on the third day by imperishability, glory and power. He now lives by the power of an indestructible life. And he is not merely living. He is life giving. So when Christ walked out of that tomb, he brought you believer out with him, that's because as goes Christ, so goes the Christian.
When he died, you died with him, but now that he has been raised from the dead, you have been raised from the dead with him, and all that his resurrection achieves is yours in him. This helps us to appreciate a little more something of the glory of the resurrection. Don't miss the tents here in verse one, not you will be raised. This is not about our future blessing of bodily resurrection at Christ's coming. But what does Paul say?
You have been raised with Christ. This is already accomplished for you and applied to you. This is true of you believer right now in union with Jesus Christ, by faith, you have been raised with Him in His resurrection from the dead. Paul is showing us not what will happen to us bodily, but what has happened to us on the inside, as Richard Gaffin says so well, at the core of their being in the deepest recesses of who they are, believers will never be more resurrected than they already are. Paul here uses a rich word to show us that we have been raised with Christ.
This word that he uses presses home something of together, resurrection. Yeah, the point there is the inseparability between Christ and the Christian in Christ's resurrection. The thought here in particular is not that Christ was raised for us, though that is true. But here Paul's point is that we have been raised with Christ in His resurrection. It's not merely that we benefit from Christ's resurrection, but that we were included with him in being raised from the dead. That is the unbreakable bond that the believer has with Jesus, Christ, His resurrection is your own resurrection with him. And believe me, I know it's easy to get lost in wondering how these things can be, what the what it all means, how it all works. But let's not lose sight of the fact that this is gloriously real.
When you trusted in Christ, that radical change that took place in you came from the resurrection power of the risen Christ, and that same power that will eventually bring about the resurrection of the body and the new heavens and new earth. You believer, have a true beginning of that power within you because you have been raised with Jesus Christ. And so let us not treat these things as intellectual problems to solve or speculations. Let us simply in childlike wonder. Worship. The gospel is so much better than we realize. Let us not tone down or explain away these wondrous mysteries we see here. Let us be in awe of them. Instead. This is who you are, believer in living faith, union with the Lord Jesus. You have been raised with Him. Herman Ritter, boss puts it all together so well, as in Christ's death on the cross, the church has died to the powers of sin in the world. In the resurrection of Christ, it has been set at liberty for another in order to live for him under his government, for Christ himself. That is what this is all about, union with Christ and His death and resurrection frees me from the bondage of this old sin cursed world, and frees me to fellowship with Christ in His blessed kingdom, even now. That is our first point. Secondly, live your resurrection life.
Live your resurrection life.
That's the command in verse one, seek the things that are above union with Christ in His resurrection means that we have newness of life in him, and that life must be lived out. You have been raised with Christ, therefore, live out your resurrection life in him. That is because you are to be in Christ, who you are in Christ, be who you are in Him. So now that the believer is raised with Christ, what is the believer to do? How do we live out that resurrection life? Answer in verse one, seek the things that are above. Think about what Paul is doing here. Here in verse one, Paul has gone from telling us to look back, and now he's telling us to look up. He pointed us back in time to the resurrection of Christ, and now he is pointing us upward to the ascension of Christ. That's what the things above are there in the rest of verse one, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So here we're not looking at the empty tomb where we've been raised with Christ.
We're looking rather to heaven, where Christ is enthroned in other worldly glory. So the movement here in verse one is from earth to heaven. Christ himself went from earth to heaven, in resurrection to ascension. And because Christ is in heaven, the believers attention must be not upon the things of earth, but upon the things of heaven. Living out resurrection life means setting your sights on what is heavenly, not on what is earthly, even as we remain upon Earth.
Progressing through our earthly pilgrimage, our focus is not upon Earth, but upon heaven.
That's the substance of that command there in verse one, seeking heaven and all that is associated with it, being disposed toward heaven, a heavenly mindedness. Now here is where the misunderstandings arise. Is Paul telling us that we shouldn't have jobs or care about our families, abandon all relationships and activity in the community? Is Paul encouraging us to be so heavenly minded that we're no earthly good.
Let me ask you to hold on to those questions, and we'll answer them as we move through the passage. For now, just appreciate what Paul is saying.
The Christian's identity is determined by Christ's act.
Nativity Christ's resurrection includes your resurrection with him, and Christ's ascension to heaven means you keep seeking all that is associated with heaven. Because Christ has been raised, you have been raised.
And because Christ has ascended above, seek the things that are above. That leads us, thirdly, to consider your heavenly orientation. Your heavenly orientation. Here we're focusing on what it means in verse one that Christ is seated at the right hand of God. You can see why the things above, the things of heaven, are worthy of seeking, because that is where Christ is. And since Paul has fixed our attention upon heaven, he now shows us what Christ is doing in heaven. He is enthroned at God's right hand. Think about why that is significant. Think about the right hand in Scripture. This has nothing to do with being right handed or left handed. If you look throughout the Old Testament, especially, you'll find that being at someone's right hand is the place of strength. It is the place of help, of righteousness, of honor, of wisdom. It is the place of highest blessing. To be at the right hand means to be honored, glorified, to be held in high esteem. Think also about the imagery of sitting as opposed to standing. Throughout Scripture, the servant stands and the king is seated. Christ is seated because he is the King of kings, supreme over all. But more than that, Think also about the priests. Hebrews 10, verse 11. Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly, the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, the priests of Israel stand for their work, showing that their priesthood and the animal sacrifices they offer never accomplish redemption, but Christ Hebrews one, three and four, after making purification for sins, sat down at The right hand of the Majesty on High having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs. So Christ, as our final high priest, does not stand but sits in heaven because he has secured an eternal redemption by means of His own precious blood.
Once and for all, Christ is seated in heaven because his finished work actually accomplished redemption and actually forgives sins. So putting it all together, Christ is the fulfillment of David's prophecy in Psalm 110 like David himself, David's Lord there would come to rule as king, but unlike David, David's Lord would come to be a priest forever.
Israel had kings and Israel had priests, but David's Lord in Psalm 110 is both King David could not provide the gift of atonement for his people because he was not a priest, and the priests could not rescue Israel because they weren't kings. But Christ is both Priest and King in one and the ultimate one. He is seated in heaven, both because he reigns over his kingdom and because his perfect sacrifice has, once and for all, accomplished your eternal redemption. And don't miss also that Christ is seated where at God's right hand, the one who was forsaken by God has been received into the closest communion with God. It was one of Christ's final words upon the cross, My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? But in heaven, Christ was told at his ascension, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Christ was abandoned by God upon Earth as he suffered the damnation that you and I deserve for our sins. But Christ was received by God into the highest heavens since he fully satisfied God's justice for us, Christ being seated at God's right hand in heaven is the outworking of his declaration upon the cross that it is finished. It means that your redemption is accomplished, that the evil spiritual forces have been disarmed and put to shame.
The head of the serpent has been crushed. The strong man is bound and. His house has been plundered. It means that Christ's defeat of his enemies is decisive and irreversible, and he has his enemies on a leash. It means that he is the risen and exalted savior of His Church, the matchless KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS, now and forever, and that is all the more reason why the church is to seek the things that are above heaven. The things that are above that is where our all sufficient and victorious Priest and King is. Heaven is where he is incessantly worshiped by angels and men as they cry out, holy. Holy. Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, the Lord Jesus is not that helpless baby in the manger anymore. He's not under the power of death and the grave anymore. He is risen and exalted to the incomprehensible glory and majesty and splendor of heaven. And since he is there, we are obligated and privileged to seek the things that are above. Fourthly, looking at our heavenly orientation. We want to look now at our earthly aversion, your earthly aversion.
Now that we've begun to see the heavenly orientation for those who are in Christ, along with that comes an earthly aversion, and that's there in verse two.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. So the things above are contrasted with the things on earth and the things above are clearly associated with heaven. The command here obviously involves avoiding all that is earthly and zealously pursuing all That is heavenly.
So what about that misunderstanding we brought up a moment ago? Is Paul telling us to be so heavenly minded that we're no earthly good. Well, think about why he's not saying that. Notice how Paul explains what he means by the things upon Earth later in verse five, what specifically are the things upon Earth, the things we are to avoid verse five, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. These are the kinds of things, the things upon Earth, the churches to avoid and to put to death. The earthly things there notice are whatever is sinful, whatever is against God's law, whatever is contrary to the things above where Christ is. So the contrast here between these two realms of earth and heaven. It is an ethical contrast. It is in that ethical sense that we must avoid Earth and pursue heaven. Why? Because Earth is a sin cursed realm, and heaven is a glory filled, God centered realm. Think of the relationship between heaven and earth, and the history of that relationship, since Adam sinned against God, Earth is now characterized by sin and death.
Think more about that contrast, heaven is that distinct created realm where God is glorified and enjoyed for his own sake. Heaven is the realm of ultimate and endless life and light and righteousness. And think about how throughout scripture, God gives us those visual aids to help us grasp the glory of heaven. Heaven is the house of God - Genesis. 28; the paradise of God - Revelation 2; a realm flowing with milk and honey - Exodus 3; a realm adorned with every precious stone and Jewel, sardius, topaz, diamond, Bell, onyx, Jasper, Sapphire, agate, chrysoprus, emerald, carnelian, chrysalis, Jason, Amethyst, pure gold and pearls - Ezekiel 28 and Revelation 21; it is a realm of rich food, full of marrow, of aged wine, well refined - Isaiah 25 and Psalm 63; It is a city where there is a river who streams glad in the hearts of its citizens - Psalm 46; and it is the house of God where worshipers feast in abundance, and God gives them drink from the river of his delights - Psalm 36 These are images that God has given to communicate to us something of the glory and splendor of heaven, because God is King, Heaven is a royal court, and because God is the God of glory, Heaven is a sacred temple of transcendence, glory.
In the beginning, God created the visible heavens and the earth. As a copy of heaven, a miniature version of heaven, and the glory of Eden especially, was a shadow of Heaven's glory.
But when Adam sinned against God, there was a rupture between heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are now realms of opposites, ethical opposites.
Heaven is the realm where God is central. Earth is the realm where man is central. Heaven is the place of creator worship.
Earth is the place of creature worship. Heaven is the realm of righteousness and life. Earth is the realm of sin and death. The Devil was cast out of heaven in the beginning for his rebellion against God, but Earth is the place where the devil rules and prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
Heaven is the realm where God is glorified and enjoyed for his own sake, and earth is the realm where God is denied, forgotten, hated or manipulated for the creatures selfish ends, heaven is blessed and earth is sin cursed. That is why you'll remember Isaiah was wrecked when he saw the Lord Jesus in the glory of heaven ahead of time, and was ashamed of his sin when the light of heaven shone upon him. And a major feature here in Colossians, of why Heaven is what we are to pursue and set our minds on, is because that is where Christ is. Heaven. Is not heaven a place to look forward to. It is not heaven because there is no sin or pain or death. Those are nice byproducts. Heaven is heaven because it is the dwelling place of our Savior, our beloved, the one who is chief among 10,000 the one whose love is better than wine, as the lovers praise one another in Song of Songs, as the one who possesses resurrection life. Christ now dwells in the realm of that life, and now that we are in union with this risen savior, we are citizens of that heavenly
place. Philippians 3: 20, we are no longer enslaved to the patterns and practices and lifestyles and ways of thinking that characterized this sin cursed world. So not only did Christ bring us out of the tomb when he was raised, more than that, when He ascended into heaven, he took us there with him too. Ephesians, two makes this clear, God made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ, Jesus, we who were far from God because of our sin, have now been brought near to God, as Christ has taken us to God in heaven itself. Heaven is our home, because Christ is there, and that means that as long as we are on earth, we are strangers, pilgrims, just passing through on our way home, and we do not fit in here. This the sinful earthly things do not define us anymore. Our identity is determined by the Heaven dwelling savior. Think about what we saw in larger catechism 53 how the significance of heaven for our present earthly life is explained there. Let me just summarize what we read earlier, how Christ, in His exaltation and ascension, he raises up our affections there.
place. Philippians 3: Christ, in His ascension, raises up our affections to heaven. Now that he's been raised and is ascended to the realm of incessant worship, then you and I believer in union with Him, are citizens of heaven to live for Christ's sake and glory, even while strangers on Earth listen how Gerardus Voss puts it, precisely because Christian other worldliness is inspired by the thought of God and not of self, it involves No danger of withdrawing as a monk or indifference to the present world, the same thirst for the divine glory, which is the root of all heavenly mindedness, also compels the consecration of all earthly existence to the promotion of God's Kingdom. In other words, being heavenly minded will make you of supreme good here on Earth, as you show a selfish sin cursed world what it means to glorify and enjoy the Triune God, by God's grace, whether it's at work or school or family or recreation, wherever God has put you, you.
place. Philippians 3: Live your life in this world as a citizen of Christ's kingdom, which is not of this world. We live out that resurrection life that is ours in Christ, in allegiance to the holiness of heaven and not to the wickedness of this present evil age. Let me bring up another aspect of what it means to set our minds upon the things of heaven, something that Jesus himself brings up in Matthew four and Matthew 16.
place. Philippians 3: Think of when Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. What did Satan's temptation look like? As he said, you haven't had anything to eat for 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus, You must be hungry if you're to the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Don't live in weakness, Jesus, take the easy way out. Don't deny yourself, indulge yourself. Let me show you all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus. Look how easy and pleasant life is for them.
place. Philippians 3: They have no pains until death.
place. Philippians 3: Their bodies are fat and sleek.
place. Philippians 3: They are not in trouble as others are. They're not stricken like the rest of mankind. Jesus, you've had a rough few weeks.
place. Philippians 3: Take the easy way out all of this I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.
place. Philippians 3: Now, what was the major through line of Satan's temptation there, avoid suffering and take it easy. Think about later on when Jesus explains the necessity of His suffering to the to the disciples, and they fail to comprehend this. Matthew 16. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and the third day be raised. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. What is going on there? Peter has just confessed verses earlier in Matthew 16, Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus commends Peter for his true confession. So why does Peter rebuke Jesus for this talk of suffering and death?
place. Philippians 3: Because Peter failed to see that suffering must come first for both Christ and the Christian, and only afterwards does glory come. That is the order suffering and then glory. There are no shortcuts, no bypassing suffering to go straight to glory. The cross must come before the crown. Peter hears Jesus talk about the necessity of His suffering and crucifixion, and he responds in other in so many words, Jesus, what are you talking about?
place. Philippians 3: You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. You said, so you're not going to suffer.
place. Philippians 3: That's beneath you. You shouldn't talk this way. Jesus, having you read Daniel seven about the exalted Son of Man, you are going to have nothing but glory. Peter thinks he's doing Jesus a favor, trying to get him to avoid suffering. But whether he realized it or not, Peter's attempt to get Jesus to avoid suffering was the exact same thing that Satan tried to get Jesus to do, plain and simple. If Jesus follows the advice of Peter in avoiding suffering, there is no salvation for sinners.
place. Philippians 3: Peter failed to see that the exalted Son of man in Daniel seven must first be the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 to allude to ritterboss. That's why Jesus responds to Peter so strongly. In Matthew 16, he turned to Peter and said, Get behind Me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. That same kind of language Paul uses, it's like Jesus is saying Satan already tried to get me to avoid suffering.
place. Philippians 3: Peter, he was wrong to do that, and you are wrong to do it too.
place. Philippians 3: If you think that I can avoid suffering, or that anyone who belongs to me can avoid suffering, you are earthly minded and satanically influenced this the pathway of suffering self denial and humiliation is the only way to glory. Peter offered Jesus an earthly reward, but thankfully Jesus, Jesus gives us a greater inheritance of suffering unto heavenly glory. Can you see how Jesus and Paul are telling us to have the same mindset from different angles. What Jesus calls the things of God, Paul calls the things above and what Jesus calls the things of man, Paul calls the things on earth.
place. Philippians 3: So to put it all together, whether. It is open and outright sin, whether it is a life of ease, influence and power without cross bearing and weakness, these earthly man centered ways of thinking are inappropriate for the citizens of heaven to set our minds upon.
place. Philippians 3: The things of heaven is to be thoroughly and consistently more and more with each passing day, abiding in and ruled by our risen Savior. It is to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. It is to live out of the newness of life that is ours in his resurrection. It is to turn as as Voss Put, put it in one of his sermons, to turn spontaneously and instinctively to the presence and smile of our Savior as a flower seeks the face of the sun. It is to live knowing that everything associated with our heavenly homeland is worth living for, worth suffering for, and worth dying for. It is to live every moment in conscious back and forth communion with Christ, to own him and be owned by him in the friendship of his covenant, to glorify and enjoy him as the highest blessedness and reward as we close, Sinclair Ferguson gives an illustration about a friend of his, who was an astronaut, NASA has made provisions for astronauts to be as comfortable as possible up in the space station. But one thing that not even NASA has been able to fix is this constant background headache that astronauts have while they're in space for weeks and months on end, even with proper nutrition, enough oxygen in the space, in the spaceship, an astronaut is always going to have this nagging headache, because on some level, the human body knows it does not belong in space. In a similar way. Because Christ has been raised and has ascended to heaven, the believer will not feel at home in this world. The bride will always long to be with her bridegroom. And so as you progress through your earthly pilgrimage, believer making your way to your heavenly home, remember that you are in a strange and foreign land. You are a pilgrim and stranger here, your home is in heaven, not here, like our forefathers, press on toward the heavenly city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God, and desire that better heavenly country Hebrews 1314, here we have no lasting city, But we seek the city that is to come.
place. Philippians 3: This earthly wilderness is turned away from God in His glory, characterized by the worship of the creature and destined for judgment. And if that is you, hear the voice of the Lord Jesus from his word, turn from your sin and rest upon him alone for your eternal salvation. Believer, you, as a citizen of heaven, raised with Christ, have been turned back toward God in His glory, to love him fundamentally for his own sake, and are destined for glory at His coming. That means that as long as you make your way through your earthly pilgrimage, you are going to have a holy background headache, because like the astronaut in space, you are not home yet, but in the meantime, fix your eyes upon your risen Savior, who dwells in heaven, who has opened up that way to heaven. For you run the race that is set before you, and don't lose sight of the finish line and whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, acknowledge, promote and reflect the glory of your risen and ascended savior in a darkened world that desperately needs to see him and may God work within each one of us This true, heavenly mindedness to the praise of his glory, amen.